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There are some questions have obvious answers…
But there are other questions that have obvious answers…that are wrong.
For example, who did the US hockey team defeat in the gold medal game in 1980?
Well this event is famous for ‘the miracle on ice’ where the US beat a superior Soviet team at the peak of the cold war…It is a question with an obvious answer…but it is an obvious answer that is wrong. The famous game against the soviets was a semi-final game. I had to go on Wikipedia to find out that they beat Finland 4-2 in the gold medal game.
Or what about….Who won the Oscar for best film in 1998?
Well the most memorable film moment of 1998 was Spielberg and Hanks collaborating for that epic D-day scene and one of the finest films in years…Saving Private Ryan. It’s the obvious answer…but it’s an obvious answer that is wrong. In one of the most inexplicable moments in Academy history, they honored a totally forgettable film that year called “Shakespeare in Love?”
So, let’s do one more:
“Who are the 4 Patriarchs in Genesis?”
Well after we’ve spent the whole year studying Genesis, that is a question with an obvious answer. We have spent most of this year talking about 4 dudes: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
It is a question with an obvious answer…an obvious answer that is wrong. You see, Joseph gets most of the 4th generation press. We’ve been talking about him for several weeks. More pages of your bible are dedicated to his story than Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.
And as we have seen for the last couple weeks, he was an impressive guy – you could even argue that he is the most impressive of the four. But the rest of the story does not go through him. The Genesis story of God’s plan of human rescue and redemption goes through one of Jacob’s other sons…It goes through Judah.
So tonight I want to ask a very basic question. Why Judah?
After his birth, (which Alyssa already told us was kind of special) Judah is only mentioned 4 times in the Genesis narrative…but he is mentioned nearly 800 times in the rest of the Bible.
When the prophets talk about the divided kingdom years later they use a short hand referring to the northern kingdom as Israel, Joseph or Ephraim (Joseph’s son) and to the southern kingdom, the one that persists, the one that produces Messiah as Judah.
But that seems a little like saying Wow, Steven Baldwin is my favorite actor, or Cooper Manning is my favorite quarterback. In both cases there is a brother (or two) that seem like more obvious choices.
So what we are going to do with most of our time tonight is just tell Judah and Joseph’s intertwined stories. It unfolds in the latter chapters of Genesis as a play in 4 acts.
But to do this, I want you to imagine the story with me. Sometimes I think people find the scriptures dull because they read them dully. They do not read with their imaginations. Sometimes I feel like we find the scriptures dull because we’re dull these ancient texts burst at the seems with story….but you have to be willing to read slowly enough.
Sometimes, in ancient literature, a single adjective carries a lifetime of hurt or joy and decades pass in the space of a period…and the text often just reports the facts leaving it to you to reconstruct the emotion, tension and drama. So tonight, I’ve asked a couple of friends to help us imagine thee intertwining stories of Joseph and Judah that unfolds in 4 acts…
…and it starts with Act 1 where Judah and his brothers selling Joseph to slave traders and pretending he was dead. Most of the brothers just wanted to leave Joseph to die, but it was Judah that had the idea to sell him into slavery.
Act 1: A Crass Calculation
JUDAH (Played by Peter Nittler)
No! No! Is that? Is that Joseph?! Oh COME on, this was supposed to be a Josephless outing. And why is he running like that? (waves) ya we see you, ya we hate you, and your coat doesn’t help.
He’s probably coming to tell us his latest HILARIOUS dream… that sometime in the future, someone will make a musical about his life, and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat.
Something tells me I’m not the only one who would rather greet Joseph with a holy fist than with open arms. Who can blame us though, I mean the shear ARROGANCE of this punk makes me want to vomit on his coat just to say, “I thought it could use more color”…
And to make it worse, our father LOVES Joseph…I’m serious. It’s inconceivable.
I’m not sold on this whole “let’s kill the dreamer thing” cuz like… Murder’s… like… kind of a big deal… but I wouldn’t mind seeing him gone… so here are some pros and cons
Pro’s… well, no more Joseph, no more OBNOXIOUS coat, I could live the rest of my life in the sheer euphoria knowing that none of his “dreams” came true.
Con’s… if there need be any… murder’s bad I guess, APPARENTLY he is family, I guess there’s potential for guilt at some point in my life, and it will cripple my father but most importantly, his murder gives us nothing in return, yes there will be no more Joseph, but there will also be no extra fortune in it for me if he dies…
I say we sell him. He can live the rest of his life in captivity bowing down to all while no one bows to him, while I can live the rest of my life in utter freedom and bliss with Joseph only as a memory I can surely suppress!
Speak of the serpent, are those Midianite traders?! Guys wait up, do I have the man for YOU?! What’ll you give me for a potentially crazy youngster with rockin abs and a fierce imagination… 20 shekels… SOLD.
JOSEPH (played by Landon Ellis)
Oh, those brothers of mine. It’s just like them to pull this kind of stuff. They think they’re so hilarious trying to rile me up like this. Pretending to throw me in a pit and leave me there to die, then getting my hopes up by pulling me out of the pit, only to have a VERY convincing acting troupe stage a fake transaction where I’m sold into slavery! I mean, imagine if they weren’t pretending, imagine what kind of trouble I’d be in…
You really gotta hand it to ‘em though. It must’ve been a huge project. And THAT’S probably why they left me at home when they went out to “tend the flocks”…they had to finish scheming their big plan!
You know, I actually thought they might’ve been mad at me. I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous; who could be mad at the youngster in the cute colorful coat? But seriously, they’ve all been acting a little weird ever since I had my dreams.
Ah, but they don’t know that I know what they’re up to. So the jokee becomes the jokER! I’ll show them; I’m going to remain calm, cool, and collected.
This is taking a while though. They’re gonna kick themselves when we have to walk back in the dark. If they were smart they would’ve gotten me back before bedtime.
I wonder…noooo…you don’t think…they might’ve actually…SOLD me? They didn’t ACTUALLY want to get rid of me…they weren’t ACTUALLY going to KILL me, were they? I mean, Dad might’ve showed me a little favoritism here and there, but…I’m the obvious choice! I…if this is real…oh crap.
Which brings us to Act 2. If you’ve been coming to these talks, Act 1 is familiar… but Act 2 is a little less talked about…you see Act 2 includes the sex scenes Genesis 38 and 39. You all heard Adam’s talk about Joseph’s sexual purity in Genesis 39. But what you may not know is that Genesis 38 is a strange story about Judah’s sexual brokenness. Genesis 38 never made much sense to me. It occurs in the middle of the Joseph story…and does not really move his story forward. But I’m convinced that its narrative purpose was to set Joseph’s sexual purity against Judah’s sexual brokenness and to show us the turning point for Judah. The author is keeping us up to date with Judah…and is brutally honest about his failures. This is where Judah hits bottom.
Act 2: A Sexual Contrast (video)
Judah
Ok doc let me catch you up… So if we’re keeping score I fathered 3 lads within 5 verses.
My first born got SMITED by God for wickedness… can you believe that? SMITED, I sold my own brother into slavery, what in the world could this have done that was THAT much worse than that.
And so now I gotta deal with his poor widow, Tamar…anyway, so I try to the noble thing and tell my second son, Onan… you know… do your brotherly deed if you know what I mean, become acquainted with your brother’s wife.
But Onan, poor poor Onan. I loved that boy. But that’s exactly what he was, a boy trapped in a man’s body (not like in a costume, just immature)... He pretty much just used her for sex. Well I don’t think that pleased God too much cuzzzz he got smited too…
So back to our score keeping, we’re down to one… and that number is rapidly approaching zero… And I didn’t want Tamar to have to deal with yet ANOTHER dead son of mine so I told her to wait until Shelah had grown up before they became… one…
Now… umm… doc, remember I was lonely, I had just lost two sons and I’m still reeling from the loss of Shua. Ah doc, she was a beauty...a little outta my league, you know how that goes… Anyway, I was heartbroken and looking for some… companionship…
So I’m out there looking for my friend for the evening and I see this gorgeous young lady who’s hair looked like a dark waterfall and who’s eyes looked at me like they already knew me…
Problem is doc, she did know me… she knew me well… she knew me well enough to get exactly what she needed from me and then disappear in the morning.
You see, my friend that night wasn’t REALLY a prostitute, she was ummm...The one I THOUGHT was a prostitute and who I (cough) ...laid with…. Was actually... Tamar, my firstborn’s wife.
Mmhmm… swallow that one for a second. I guess she was mad I didn’t give her Shelah… Heck of a way to get back at me, huh? And then I forced her to go public and realized …she really is “more righteous than I”
Doesn’t stop there Doc oh no no no no no (shaking head)… She got knocked up. YUP, gotta add two more youngsters to the list… Perez and Zerah… tainted children forever… the sons of my sin and the sons of my shame
The final score? Three.. a tragic tragic three.
JOSEPH (video)
What am I in for? What am I in for??
I’m in for being “handsome in form and appearance”. THAT’s what I’m in for. What, what…doesn’t make sense you say? Ah, yes, well let me explain.
This dingleberry I was working for, Potipher—he’s got this real treat for a wife. Can you believe this? Whenever I see the woman she comes up to me and starts begging, “Joseph, Joseph, lie with me”.
Well, I am a man of principle, and one whom the Lord has blessed thank you very much, so I responded, “Potipher’s wife, you are very beautiful and I’m flattered, and, well, not surprised by your desires; however, your husband has kept nothing back from me in this house except you. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
Well, one day she got a little physical and she tried to grab me. Luckily, I’m elusive enough that she only got a hold of my garment…but I gotta say, first my rainbow coat gets stolen and now this! Maybe I just shouldn’t wear clothes and save everyone the effort of stealing them! But I digress.
Anyway, once she got a hold of that, she lied to her husband and said I tried to sleep with her! And what’s worse, he believed her. After years of my faithful service…
And so that’s it, that’s why I’m here with you in prison. No due process, no lawyer. The only real criminal is HER, for stealing my clothes.
And that’s Act 2. Genesis 38 not only makes the story of Potipher’s wife look tame it makes the plots of most soap operas look tame. Judah has sex with a prostitute, only it isn’t a prostitute…it’s his dead sons’ wife (and yes, sons’ plural). And she gets pregnant with twins. And Judah is about to have her burned alive, when she reveals that he’s the daddy. But then we get, what I believe, is Judah’s turning point. He comes to a point of realization and repentance…the text is pretty clear that after Onan died he never really intended to take care of Tamar…But in that moment, he stops blaming Tamar or God saying “she is more righteous than I.” Act 2 ends with Judah repenting of sin and providing for his daughter in law. Which brings us to Act 3.
Years later, Joseph ends up reunited and reconciled to his brothers who sold him but they still have a dark history between them and they’ve been separated for decades, so they are practically strangers. The text gives us a climactic reconciliation scene. But real reconciliation is a long difficult process. Forgiveness takes a moment reconciliation is hard work that takes time.
I imagine that Joseph must have eventually had some intense times with the brothers…including Judah. Imagine what it would have been like for Joseph and Judah to sit down after decades of separation and both of them still carrying the memories of the dark events that separated them. Maybe, let’s say, at Benjamin’s wedding.
Eventually Benjamin would have gotten married and Joseph would have thrown him an elaborate Egyptian wedding. You see, old people experiences weddings differently than young people…get reflective and sometimes melancholy, especially if there is an open bar…and they think about the big events that have set the trajectory of our lives…So let’s set Act 3 at Benjamin’s wedding after the brothers have been reunited.
Act 3: A Complicated Reunion
Judah: Is anyone sitting here? (gestures at an empty seat)
Joseph: Looks like you are!
Judah: So Joseph, an Egyptian wife eh? And your boys are almost the same age as Perez and Zerah. Boy, they grow up fast, don’t they?
Joseph: They sure do. Your boy’s mom was a Canaanite from what I hear!
Judah: That’s right, you’re not the only one in the family into exotic women. I wish you could have met Shua…Man, I miss her. Anyway, its great you threw this big wedding for Benjamin…but your boys are the only ones who have any idea what to do at an Egyptian wedding.
Joseph: Well, I was 17 when I ‘left home’ (air quotes) – I’ve had some time to acclimate.
Judah: Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. Um…I’m sorry I sold you to slave traders. (dead pan)
Joseph: Yeah, that sucked.
Judah: You know, I REALLLLLLY hated you.
Joseph: Is that so? You know, I’m not sure you understand how apologies are supposed to work.
Judah: Remember that night at the Jabbok River? When we first came into the promise land?
Joseph: Jabbok River? Uhh, I don’t think so.
Judah: You couldn’t have been older than 4 or 5. You might have even slept through it. But I was a teenager. I knew that Dad thought uncle Esau had brought an army to that river to slaughter us. And what does he do? He sends me, my mother and my brothers first to face our deaths. And he hides you and your mom – the loved wife and her precious son - behind us…hoping that Uncle Esau would be so distracted slaughtering us that you could sneak to freedom. You were too young to understand. But Rueben, Levi, Simeon and I…we knew what was going on… the thing is, we were ALREADY bitter about the way Dad favored PERFECT Joseph and Rachel. But that night... as we crossed that river... Terrified... our fear turned to hatred…we hated you.
Joseph: Judah, that was out of my control.
Judah: Yeah, but that didn’t matter. When we sold you into slavery, I didn’t even think twice…I thought with you gone, Dad would have more time and interest for us.. The unloved sons. But Reuben slept with his concubine and Levi and Simeon slaughtered a village and, really, Benjamin became the center of Dad’s world. Same old same old.
But then, decades passed. And then I lost sons. And the nights began to get long. And I had time to think… how horrible we were… how horrible I was. And I began to imagine where you were and what became of you…and it haunted me.
Joseph: Judah…What you meant for evil, God meant for good. I’ve already forgiven you. We’re cool. (awkward silence) …Hey I think it’s time for the Egyptian chicken dance.
Judah: Oh, yeah, totally, chicken dance, for sure!
(Landon and Peter do a couple steps of the chicken dance which transitions to ‘walk like an Egyptian’)
Act 3 intermission
But to really understand how complicated the brother’s reconciliation would have been, we have to talk about the story of their reunion. You see decades after Joseph is sold, a famine hit the entire region, and Jacob sent the brothers down to buy grain from the only place that had it…Egypt. Where Joseph was in charge. And he recognized them, but they didn’t recognize him. And the stuff Joseph does is really weird.
He accuses them of being spies, jailed them for three days, eavesdropped on their conversations by pretending not to know their language, he took Simeon, one of Leah’s sons hostage and had him tied up in front of the brothers and told them if they ever wanted to see him again they had have to come back with Benjamin (the youngest of the brothers and Joseph’s only full brother who his mom, Rachel, died delivering – and who their father loved too much to send on the dangerous journey to Egypt). But then he sent them home with food and their money which totally messes with their heads. When they ran out of food they went back with Benjamin and Joseph welcomed them but then he framed Benjamin for stealing palace treasure, pretends to have figured it out by magic and takes Benjamin as a slave.
Bottom line of this story, Joseph used his power to toy with them. A lot of people will try to justify Joseph’s behavior here. One theory is that he is trying to lead his brothers into repentance. But I don’t think that is what’s going on here. Joseph might be the most admirable of the patriarchs, and as we’ve seen over the last few weeks has heroic moments…but he is not a hero. One of the themes of Genesis we have hit again and again this year is that the Bible only has room for one hero, Jesus. The people in his story are a total mess. Joseph has some great moments, but this isn’t one of them. When he messes with his brother he is being a jerk.
You see Mirolslov Volf who is a Christian theologian from Serbia, and witnessed some of the genocide there, says that the greatest violence that an oppressor does to the oppressed is to fill their hearts with hate. So that when the oppressed get power, they become oppressors… he says
“One of the most insidious aspects of the practice of evil (is that) In addition to inflicting harm, the practice of evil keeps re-creating a world without innocence. Evil generates new evil as evildoers fashion victims in their own ugly image.”
That is what I think is going on here. Joseph brother’s betrayal has festered in him for years …And so he just messes with them. And he does a lot of crying …he literally leaves the room crying 4 times in the passage. Dude is a mess. Until Judah steps up and puts an unexpected end to it all.
When the brothers face Joseph's charge against Benjamin, it is Judah who does the talking. He tells Joseph how fragile their father is and how losing Benjamin will kill him. And then says this:
Genesis 44:33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
And Joseph immediately reveals himself and embraces his brothers. So, with that let’s get back to the wedding
Joseph: Well while we are repenting…I guess it is my turn.
Judah: Your turn? What do you mean?
Joseph: So you know when the famine hit, and dad sent you and the brothers down to get some grain?
Judah: Yeah, and we showed up asking you for food…except we had no idea it was you.
Joseph: Yeah, well, I recognized you from the moment you walked in. And I basically toyed with you.
Judah: Yeah, that sucked. I mean, you called us “spies”! “Spies?” was that the best you could come up with? Real creative.
Joseph: Well, maybe it wasn’t my most inspired work, but it all led to framing Benjamin, and forcing you to leave him behind as my slave.
Judah: I knew it! I knew it was you!
Joseph: What can I say? I hated you. Those long nights with the welts from the Midianite whips against the Sainai sand as I marched for months to my new life of slavery…unending days in an Egyptian prison eating garbage and living within 10 feet of my own excrement…years of loneliness…decades of homesickness…I had some time to think about what you guys did to me…and then you just show up, out of the blue, and need me…but have no idea it’s me. And so I messed with you.
Judah: And we did whatever you asked…because we needed food.
Joseph: Until I forced you to leave Benjamin behind. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I was certain that Benjamin, my mom’s only other son, would be the new favorite. And knowing how you guys got rid of me—I figured that you’d just cut your losses with him. But not this time. At least not you, Judah.
I couldn’t believe it. Leah’s son, the son of the unloved wife, offering himself in place of my brother…Rachel’s kid. Your love for Dad was bigger than your bitterness toward my mom. That changed everything, Judah. That act healed our family. Decades of mutual anger, hate and violence…undone with a selfless act. You were the very one who sold me into slavery because I was Rachel’s son, and yet you offered to sacrifice yourself to free my replacement.
Which leads us to Act 4 and the scripture Rebecca read. You see, at the end of Genesis, as Jacob is dying, and he prophesies over Joseph’s sons. And he blesses Joseph’s younger son Ephraim.
And then he turns to the rest of his sons. And he has very terse and biting words for some of them. Reuben, Levi and Simon each get blasted rather than blessed. But after Joseph’s sons he has the most to say to Judah. And I imagine what he had to say to Judah must have been confusing to everyone.
So let’s go back to our characters for one last scene. For Act 4 imagine Joseph and Judah, who over the years became friends as well as brothers, passing their last days as a couple old coots on the banks of the Nile…and they try to make sense of this.
(costume change – old dude cloths) - suspenders, socks/sandals
Act 4: A Confusing Prophecy
Joseph: Dude, we got old!
Judah: Hmm? What’s that you say?
Joseph: (shakes his head) Do you ever wonder about Dad’s prophecy over us?
Judah: From time to time…BRUTALLY awkward event, all of us brothers in one room while pops either tore us to shreds or drowned us with affirmation... You were definitely Dad’s favorite right up until the end there, weren’t cha?
Joseph: Yeah, but your blessing was different. The more I think about it, the more I think you’re the one of us that’s really going to be great. You’re the one who’s going to matter.
Judah: Oh, stop it!
Joseph: Seriously! I mean: “Your brothers will praise you,” “Your father’s sons will bow down to you” – those were MY dreams…and then the kicker: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.” I might’ve gotten some nice blessings from Dad, but your descendants will rule. Abraham’s story goes through you, Judah.
Judah: But that’s what makes no sense … Yahweh’s covenant going through the line of the brother-seller?!
Joseph: Through you and the son you made with your sons’ widow who you thought was a hooker.
Judah: (winces) Yeah, weird right? I totally don’t get it.
Joseph: I didn’t either…for years. But now I have an idea.
Judah: Oh do you? Well, please…elaborate!
Joseph: I keep coming back to that day…that day you healed our family with your offer to sacrifice yourself. I wonder if that isn’t the kind of thing that our story is all about…if self donation isn’t precisely the kind of thing that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would make his story about.
You see, the story goes through Judah. And not just Judah, but Tamar and Perez. Genesis 38, the tawdry sex scandal with Tamar, seems like a totally unnecessary passage, until they show up 44 words into the New Testament. As Matthew is laying out the genealogy of Jesus it reads:
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
And so this whole story leads up to a very simple question…Why? Why Judah? Why Tamar? Why did God send his story of redemption through them? Let me conclude with two thoughts about why this is precisely the kind of thing the God we have learned about throughout Genesis would do:
1) Because the story of Jesus is a story of God bringing beauty out of hopelessness and degradation. The story of Judah and Tamar is HORRIBLE. It is sad, and sick, and entirely without heroes. But it ends with repentance. And so it is exactly the kind of story that the God of the Bible would use to knit into his cosmic narrative of redemption. And if he can use that kind of story…if Judah and Tamar are not out of reach to live lives of purpose and worship…neither are you.
2) Second, Because Judah’s act of self donation is precisely what The Story is all about. Judah and Joseph do not know where their story is heading. They just know that Yahweh has chosen their family to somehow bring his grace and favor to the whole world. But we know how that story goes. We know that the climax of that story is that the cycle of evil and vengeance is undone by an act of God’s self donation. In Jesus, the God of Genesis steps up, in a confusing but fundamental way, to sacrifice himself on our behalf. And so, despite his checkered past, Judah’s act of self donation is what the story is all about.
The story is about Jesus reconciling people to God and each other by sacrificing himself.
And so that is how we can live as children of the covenant to. We look for ways to diffuse vengeance and speak grace by self donation. We follow Jesus just as Judah prefigured him in self giving love even for those who are mistreating us…and especially for those we have wronged.
Note: This message started its life as a blog post
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