A plan

DEVOTION

GENESIS

A PLAN

Gen 43:1-14

43:1 Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little more food." 3 But Judah said to him, "The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.'" 6 Israel asked, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?" 7 They replied, "The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. 'Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?" 8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice." 11 Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift — a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

NIV

Jacob has a change of heart and as such at least in this portion of the whole story he is referred to as Israel instead of Jacob. Is that because he now is more concerned about the lives of all his family instead of just himself? The last statement of this dialog between him and his sons is: “As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” There seems to be a little oddness in this portion of the narrative however. It would seem they are once again with no food to eat. Almost to the point of death if they do not get more grain from Egypt because the famine is severe in the whole land. What are their flocks and herds eating, have they all died? Doubtful. Why don’t they slaughter one of the sheep or goats, or even a camel to have meat to eat? Why must they have grain? To make bread? Then Israel tells his sons to take balm, honey and some spices and myrrh alone with pistachio nuts and almonds as a gift for the Lord over the land of Egypt. Why are they not eating those nuts with honey? Why do they have them if there is a severe famine in the land? Did they have a large storage of them before the famine hit? We just do not know the answer to these questions, but it still is odd they had all that around them and they needed the grain, which is considered by our scholars to be corn rather than wheat or rice. The argument Judah makes about be able to take Benjamin makes perfect sense and that would seem why Israel relented. If they do not go back to Egypt with Benjamin, then Benjamin will die anyway from starvation. So maybe it is not because of a changed heart that Jacob is referred to as Israel here. Maybe it is just a case of self-preservation of both himself as well as the rest of the family. But what about the promise from God? When Jacob had that vision of the ladder or stairs with angels ascending and descending and the Lord God told him he would give him all this land and his descendants would be as many as the dust of the earth, uncountable in other words. Had Jacob forgotten what God had promised because he was out of grain?  Looking far ahead we know ultimately he and all his family ends up in Egypt in the region of Goshen, a plush area. But we also know as they grew in numbers they were enslaved for hundreds of years enduring hard labor. Was that the fulfillment of Gods plan or the result of not trusting in God? Were their actions a forerunner to the famous English quote:  “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” which means when the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge? This is humanism at its finest. Where is their trust in God? Oh right Jacob does ask that God almighty grant them mercy before the man. They worked out their plan of action, then asked God to bless their plan. Perhaps Israel is simply Jacob after all. Yes they survive because of this plan, but again they survive only for their descendants to be enslaved for many years until they cry out to God. This whole story, in fact throughout all of scripture it is about trusting God. Trusting him not only for our salvation, but trusting him for every aspect of our lives. This includes his provisions for our sustenance. Yes, we have jobs, we need to work, just as he told Adam that he would have to toil the ground all the days of his life. We are supposed to work all the days of our lives. But we also are supposed to trust him to supply with the work. He told us to go forth into all the world to preach the gospel. Some might consider that to mean the physical world and thus give that command over to those we support to go. But we have not gone anywhere, we have not fulfilled that command. Yet if we see it as going into the world of construction, the world of medicine, the world of business, the world of engineering, the world of education, the world of politics and on and on the list goes, then we can be that missionary in our part of the world. We can trust God to direct our paths, instead of making our own plans for life and then asking God to bless our plan. How would this whole story have turned out if Israel said to his sons; "Let it be what it will be, God will provide a way, remember what he promised me about how many descendants I  would have. He will not let us perish, he will not only provide but he will multiply us beyond count." Although our lives are lived out according to a plan, the question is whose, ours or his?