To My Daughters:
Spending lots of time in the "Joseph" section of Genesis. There is so much application here...so much to meditate on. This verse, however, in Chapter 44 really gave me pause this morning. (Judah is speaking to Joseph here)
Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
Judah who had forsaken his brother Joseph and convinced his other brothers to sell him to a company of Ishmaelites as a slave was now willing to intercede for his youngest brother, Benjamin. In fact, he was not only willing to intercede, he was willing to take his place and become a slave so Benjamin could return to His father. Are you getting the beautiful picture that is being painted here?
Judah whose name means Praise...from whose descendants the Messiah would come....was not only willing to intercede for Benjamin...He was willing to take his place and become a slave. What a beautiful picture of what Christ does for us. He took our sin and the penalty for our sin upon Himself...died in our place so that we could return to our Father in heaven.
What's more...Judah is a picture of a changed life. He started off foolishly...see chapters 37 and 38 of Genesis, but by God's grace marked a new beginning here. I think the actual change occurred back in Genesis 43 where Judah told his father that he would be surety for Benjamin.
Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”
Truly it was a new and changed Judah that stood before Joseph. This should be an encouragement to each of us today. God, by His grace, can give you new life. He can restore the years that locusts have eaten. He can work all things that have occurred in your life together for good. Your only job is to believe and trust Him to do the work That is what faith can do...and that is the only work of God...to believe. Judah saw his sin...he saw his need and humbled himself before God, his father and his brother, Joseph. God's response is seen in the blessing that comes to the entire world through the descendants of Judah...the Messiah. I love how Chuck Smith puts it: "God's Grace Changes Everything."
Love
Mom
