“Sow What?”

Dianne Olsen, SW Washington

 

  In Genesis 37-43, we read about Joseph. That is a story that would make it on the Oprah show had it occurred in this century; it entailed deception, jealousy, resentment, and blood. I have four brothers, so I can relate to Joseph. I will paraphrase it, loosely. Joseph was favored by Daddy-O, making the brothers jealous and resentful of Joseph. Then Joseph has dreams about his brothers bowing to himself, and that really gets the brothers in an uproar (nothing like a little pride!). So the brothers are out pasturing when they see Joseph coming and begin to plot his death (can you feel the love?). Reuben, does not want them to kill Joseph, but suggests they throw him in a pit.

  So, that is what they do (perhaps the first version of hide-and-seek?). Apparently all this plotting makes them hungry, so they sit down and eat lunch. Then Judah gets an idea to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelites, and they get 20 shekals of silver (imagine what they could have gotten on Ebay!). So to cover up what they had done, they dipped his “coat of many colors” into some goats blood and showed it to ole’ Daddy-O to make him think Joseph was dead, a plan that worked. I was run over by the neighbors’ goat when I was eleven, I knew then they were bad news!

  Okay, so now I fast forward. Eventually Joseph ends up being the head dude for Pharaoh because he can interpret dreams, and tells Pharaoh there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, so go to Costco buddy, and stock up, which is exactly what he did. And when the famine came, Egypt had plenty of goodies stored up, making people come to Egypt from all over (including Canaan, where Joseph hails from) to buy food.

  Fast forward again; ten of Joseph’s brother’s travel to Egypt to buy some food, bowing to him as earlier predicted, without recognizing Joseph. So Joseph attempted to elicit a confession from his brothers by telling them to bring back to him their youngest brother, which of course, would be impossible, since they had sold him years before.

  One of the many things you can take away from this story is this: It is an illustration of Galatians 6:7, “…you reap what you sow…” Joseph’s brothers thought they had long gotten away with their sin, but years later it caught up with them. They sowed deception, greed, jealousy and pride.

  How many times in our lives do we think, “Oh good, I seem to have slid under the radar on that one!”, only to get busted years later. I do believe that when we confess our sin before the Lord, turn away from it, and seek to live a pure life, we hit the home-base safe. But it is the “un-confessed” sin, the “hidden” sin that can come back to haunt us when we think we have “gotten away with it”. Sow what?