Detestable

DEVOTION

GENESIS

DETESTABLE

Gen 43:26-34

26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, "How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?" 28 They replied, "Your servant our father is still alive and well." And they bowed low to pay him honor. 29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?" And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son." 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. 31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, "Serve the food." 32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's portion was five times as much as anyone else's. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

NIV

Once again his brothers bow before him to the ground. Joseph sees his brother Benjamin for the first time in many years and he is so moved he must leave the room so he can weep tears of joy. The rest of this portion of the story is filled with the customs of Egypt. The arrangement of guests, the larger portion for the guest of honor, the Egyptians not even using the same knives as the Hebrews, even sitting at  a different table, however his brothers feasted and drank freely in the presence and with Joseph. It was an overall good time with all twelve of the brothers together, although Joseph was the only one at this point who knew they were the twelve brothers. We are not privy to the conversation during this feast, but we can only imagine the brothers were beginning to feel more confident in their relationship with this lord of the land. Yet Joseph had one more act of trickery up his sleeve before he reveals to them his true identity. But for now all is well, Joseph is enjoying being surrounded by his brothers. He honors Benjamin the brother of his own mother. What lesson can we learn from this reunion of the twelve, from this feast and freely drinking? It is curious that Joseph’s servants ate separate from him as well because he was a Hebrew. They knew he was a Hebrew although he was the second in command of all Egypt. So to them, using any knife he used was still detestable. That is strange. They are his servants yet they still remain true to their custom and belief. This could be a lesson. Although, we like Joseph ,are foreigners in the land. We may not be in as powerful as a position as he was, yet like the Egyptians, the world holds fast to it's customs, seeing our ways somewhat detestable. They are friendly, we can feast and freely drink with them,  but they still hold us and our way, detestable.   But conversely, maybe we should identify with the Egyptians in this case and freely feast and drink with the unbelievers but hold to our customs finding their ways detestable. That is to say we should be friendly with them, inviting them to dine with us, yet not using the same utensils, not accepting their ideologies and  holding their beliefs, but not them, as detestable. We should love them, but not their ways. The Egyptians dined with the Hebrews, showing them kindness and honoring them, but they would not accept their ways, as they were not Egyptian. It is true that unbelievers can become believers and then we can not only dine with them, we can have fellowship, joining together in the same belief. But until then, their ways must remain detestable to us.