The Need For Bread

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE NEED FOR BREAD

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

The story continues to find Jacob finally conceding to send Benjamin with the other brothers so they can buy more grain. It seems that starvation is a massive motivation to do what one does not want. However, we do not understand if there was such a great, or severe famine in the land of Canaan how it is that Jacob had his sons take balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds with to Egypt. Of course, all of that, except the nuts, was not eatable, still if they were that hungry, to the point of starving to death unless they had grain, could they not eat Pistachios and almonds to fill their stomachs. Again, we still wonder about all the livestock, what happened to the great amount of sheep, goats, cattle, and camels that Jacob acquired when he left the household of Laban? Is bread that life-sustaining without it they would die? But our story is not about all our questions, but about Jacob consenting to send Benjamin. Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated as bereaved means to be childless. It is used to mean a miscarried, to show bareness, and as an adoption. It appears that Jacob’s thought was that Joseph and Benjamin were his only sons that mattered to him. However, the story is about his being hungry forcing him to do what he did not want to do. Of course, we are not starving for food, but should we not be hungry for Jesus? The condition of man before Jesus was being starved to death. There were some, like Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Isaiah, and the other prophets, David, Solomon, and a few others, who understood who God Almighty, El Shaddai, Jehovah, was, however, Jesus is the bread of life, the bread that sustains life, just as Jacob and his sons understood their need for grain to make bread for themselves, to sustain their lives. We can feed our bodies, and we can assist others, giving them food to feed their bodies, but no one can feed our souls except Jesus. He is the bread we need to not die, but live. He has told us that even though we die, in the body, we will live. We are not our bodies, they are but a temporary shelter for our spirit, or our soul. Jesus promised if we eat from the bread of life, we will live, and our spirits will not be harmed by the second death. Let us always feast upon the bread of life, Jesus. Let us remember, that the food of this world might give us some pleasure in our mouths, and feed our decaying bodies, but Jesus gives us the ultimate pleasure in our spirits, giving us eternal life. With Jesus, we will never starve.