Person of Honor

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

PERSON OF HONOR

Gen 44:14-20

14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, "What is this you have done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?" 16 "What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's slaves — we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup." 17 But Joseph said, "Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace." 18 Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' 20 And we answered, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

NIV

It was Judah who gave his personal guarantee to his father that he would bring Benjamin back to him. He told his father that if he did not then he would accept the blame and the guilt for the rest of his life. Judah takes the lead in speaking to Joseph, although he does not know Joseph is his brother, he considers him the lord, equal to Pharoah. Is Judah a man of honor, trying to keep his word, or simply not wanting the shame, the guilt, the blame for the rest of his life? There is more to this conversation, but it is the honorable Judah who we ponder on for a lesson. Did not any of the other brothers have anything to say? Of course, it was Judah who gave his father his word. Rightly, Judah would make this effort to save the situation. He reminded Joseph that they simply answered his questions about their family. It does appear Judah is honorable and does want to spare his father the pain of losing Benjamin. Here is where we are interjected into the story. Because we are people of honor, we would never want to cause other people any pain. But the real story is the honor of God. We deserve the pain of death, the first death and the second death, whatever that may be. But because God is the highest form of honor and never wants to cause us pain, he sent his Son Jesus to take all our pain, all our guilt and shame, all our blame, so that we are free from it all, simply because of the love of our Father. As Judah was willing to offer himself, God did offer himself, for us, so that we could go home, instead of being a servant, and slaves to another master in a foreign land. Jesus showed us the way to live with honor, integrity, honesty, uprightness, ethically, morality, with virtue, goodness, right principles, decency, fairness, justice, and reliability. Can we overcome the self within enough, that self-concern, not wanting the blame, to be that person of honor? With Jesus, we can do all things, for he gives us the strength to be that person of honor.