After listing the descendants of Esau, the Bible returns to Jacob, and specifically, to the story of Joseph. And what an incredible story it is! Now Joseph is the kind of person we all want to be, right, apart from a little naivety in spilling his guts about his dreams. (As it turns out, though, God was in the naivety as well!) Joseph resists temptation, maintains his integrity, and doesn’t give up when things go horribly wrong for him. Joseph seems to patiently wait on the Lord, and the Lord is frequently said to be with Joseph. In the end, Joseph is second-in-command of Egypt, which turns out to be God’s plan for preserving his people! Joseph is quite a guy!
Now right when the story of Joseph is unfolding, the Bible gives us a side note on the life of Judah. It seems like an interruption of sorts. We’re talking about Joseph, and this story of Judah is tossed in, and then we return to Joseph. Why is Judah here? For one thing, it gives us a comparison of Joseph and Judah. Joseph is the kind of guy we want to emulate. As it turns out, Judah is not! Judah’s life is far from the cry of Joseph, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
If you or I were writing the Bible, which one of these brothers would we place in Jesus’ genealogy? Joseph right? But it is God’s plan to send the Messiah through the descendants of Judah. Again, in the most unlikely of places, and again, I believe, to emphasize the wonder and glory of his grace! God is doing so much in these narratives. He is accomplishing many things through Joseph and through Judah. He is doing many things in our lives today as well. We identify more often with Judah probably rather than Joseph. Remember, that’s not an excuse for our sin, but it is a good place for God’s grace to show up!
I said earlier that Sarah baffles me. Well, so do Jacob and Judah and how many others! God often chooses weak vessels for certain, and I am glad of the hope for me in that! But something that I remind myself of is that we have these stories of all of the sins and stupid mistakes of these men and women because THEY told the stories on themselves, knowing that God would get the glory ultimately. Who else would have known Judah's story? But he told it to the rest of the family and heard it repeated as family history (did he wince each time that story came up?) for generations until Judah had passed from the scene and Moses could finally write down all of the collected stories. God had His hand in which stories were remembered and saved for us. He wasn't giving us fairytales where the good guys are always good and the villains are always predictably bad. Am I willing to let God use my experiences, good and not-so-good, if He will get the glory? And if some brother or sister will learn something more of His grace from the telling of them? I'm not certain I'm as honest as Sarah and Jacob and Judah.
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