Jared Schipper - Judah - In His Family - Class 1 - A Difficult Family Situation

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Good morning and welcome. Thank you for the invitation to come this weekend. It’s a great thing. I’m excited. I hope that you will learn some things through this weekend as well. So we’re going to talk about Judah, the son of Jacob, the fourth son of Jacob, the 4th grandson of Isaac and Rebecca, and he’s the 4th great grandson of none other than Abraham and Sarah. That’s the family that this man grows up in, this young boy grows up in.

2. 0:42

   It’s the special family that God chose out of all the families down through history. God said Abraham’s family, you know, Abraham, lots of grandchildren, lots, but he chose the Isaac family. And Isaac had lots of grandchildren too, like Dukes and all important grandchildren. And he chose the Jacob family and Judas, the fourth boy.

3. 1:14

   We are talking about God’s special chosen family, but it’s far from ideal. It’s far from perfect. There’s nothing about it that looks good on the outside. And that’s where I want us to start by thinking, what makes an ideal family? Do you grow up in an ideal family? It puts perspective on our family, our family, and I’m assuming your family, when you look at this family that God chose, he chose to work with them. He chose to call them the family of faith. And they’re like the backbone family of the Bible. We’re part of God’s family too.

4. 2:13

   Yeah, thousands of years down the the generations, but we’re part of that same family. And it’s reassuring because I’ll admit we have family problems. I’m talking about my family I grew up in, not my direct family that’s here.

5. 2:30

   Everybody has family dramas, right? It just happens when you live that close to people and you grow up together. But the problem for Judah was that he carried baggage, he carried childhood baggage with him through into his early adult life. And there was resentment, there was regrets. And those things shaped his mind and his outlook on life.

6. 3:04

   And it meant that he made some really dumb decisions in his early adult life, really regretful decisions. We’re going to talk about that. We’re going to look at that this morning. Forgive me, I need to say this upfront. Our first two studies are going to go all downhill. All the negatives, all the bad things, I hope I won’t feel leave you feeling despondent by the end of this morning. But we’ve got to set the scene of where Judah’s life took him before we appreciate where he could then turn around to become.

7. 3:48

   So the rest of the studies are all upwards. But forgive me if you’re feeling after this morning a little bit like, oh heck, that’s heavy. Where’s the positive stuff? So forgive me on that. But the exciting thing about Judah’s story is God never gave up on this man. He kept working with him. He kept going through the process of appealing to Judah’s conscience and eventually Judas sinful way of life caught up with him and we’re going to see how that happened. We’re going to see that it was actually quite brutal in the way he was forced to face up.

8. 4:31

   It was an embarrassing confrontation for him, but he had to face up to reality. So he had to make a choice. He had to face up, be a man and call it what it was, and deal with the consequences of his choices.

9. 4:50

   His life was one of the most amazing examples of recovery, and that is what I want. Everybody, if you please, take anything away is the story of the man. Judah is about recovery. It’s about turning around and coming back. In the New Testament, we have an amazing story of recovery. Saul became Paul the apostle.

10. 5:24

    Saul went around killing people, persecuting people, putting him into prison. Next thing we know is he’s giving his life to preach the gospel around the world. Well, if there’s an equivalent in the Old Testament, it’s Judah may not know this story quite so well. Well, I’m hoping you’ll learn a little more this weekend by our time that we’ll spend on it. And I’m going to suggest to you that Judah becomes greater than Joseph.

11. 5:52

    You probably know the storyline of Joseph quite well. You probably think Joseph’s the great one in the family. He’s the one that we read about this morning. No, we were reading about Judah just as much as we’re reading about Joseph. And pull some of that out so we can look at these stories which you’ve probably heard in San Esqual, you’ve probably heard some other study weekend on Joseph. You only understand half the man, Joseph if you don’t know Judah.

12. 6:23

    And you’ll never appreciate Joseph if you don’t know Judah because the two men are set in contrasts against each other. Interestingly, before we get into this, just to give the perspective of how big and how important Judah is in the Bible, I think Jesus Christ gave us a parable based on Judah’s life.

13. 6:48

    I think he modelled the parable of the prodigal son on Judah. Remember the prodigal son who was all bitter and twisted and went and asked his dad for the inheritance, said give me what I can so I can go out and live life up, go and have the good times with everything that the world had to offer.

14. 7:07

    He was looking for happiness. He was looking for what wealth could buy him. He was living it up with hearts, only to find that a famine brought that prodigal son home to his dad. Why? Because he realized that life, even as a servant in his

15. 7:37

    father’s house, is better than everything that the world has to offer. And that really is the story of Judah. You can have everything the world has to offer. You can go and try it. Judah did, but he chose to be a servant to give his life for his brothers in his father’s house because that was the best way to live. And so Judah, like the prodigal son, returns home a very different man.

16. 8:16

    So I’m suggesting to you that Judah is the prodigal son of Luke Chapter 15. But let’s get into our story this morning. As I mentioned, Joseph and Judah are two men who are set in contrast to each other. Joseph is that perfect boy who did everything right. He was just like Jesus Christ, not a foot wrong in his whole life. There’s nothing that Joseph does wrong. Find it.

17. 8:50

    It’s just not there. And I find him such an incredible example that almost feeling just he’s just up there. He’s untouchable. So forgive me for this weekend if you love Joseph, but we’re just going to put him on his pedestal over there a little bit untouchable and we’re going to focus on this man Judah. I find him a lot easy to relate to. Judah was you could summarize him as a moral failure. His life was flawed in so many ways, so many mistakes that he made.

18. 9:30

    But the difference is he got over it. He changed, he overcame. And that’s why he inspires us to change our lives, to overcome weakness, to take responsibility for our actions, for our decisions, and let that transform us. And so as his own dad says, you’re the boy that your brothers are going to praise.

19. 10:00

    We can see it at the end. He actually says, Judah, you’re the son that your brothers are going to bow down to. Hang on, just think about that. That was Joseph’s dream, right?

20. 10:20

    But Judah is given that blessing by his father Jacob at the end of his life. Why? One very simple reason. Because he did the same thing that you and I can do, the same thing we’re called to do, face up to the realities and make some changes. So let’s get to know the family. You probably know the story of Jacob, who by Laban was tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. And Jacob did that silly thing of marrying two women. Not because getting married is a bad thing, but marrying 2 Sisters is a very dangerous thing to do. Luckily Australia outlaws that.

21. 11:15

    But not that that was all. He then goes and also has children to each of those sisters servants. This was a complex family. In today’s society, we talk about dysfunctional families. So that’s the PC way of saying it, that there’s problems, there’s challenges, maybe multiple step relationships in everything where it’s complex.

22. 11:50

    Well, there’s already 4 mothers in this family. That’s a polygamous family. I mean, that’s enough even in Kenya to be awkward. Just been to Kenya, you can see the challenges that that has on people. And we’ve got an enormous family. There’s twelve sons, all from different mothers. And we’re going to pick on this one here, Judah, this or this weekend. There’s one sister that we know of quite well. Her name’s Dinah.

23. 12:19

    I’ve added that in because it’s important. We’re going to talk about her, but don’t forget, there is actually a lot of other daughters of Jacob. We can prove that. We just don’t often talk about it because the Bible doesn’t focus on the daughters. But it’s one big family, and it’s a messy family.

24. 12:38

    Things don’t go smoothly and that’s the picture I want to create for us this morning is to understand the tension that went on in that family. So we need to jump all the way back to Genesis chapter 29 at the end of the chapter to 30 where we start getting introduced to this family.

25. 12:57

    You could look at the final verses if you want to. It’s verse 32 year olds. It’s up on the screen. We’re going to see that Leah, who was the first wife for Jacob, was tricked into marrying. She was desperate for Jacob’s love. She wanted his attention. And it comes out because in her first child that she has, she named him Reuben.

26. 13:21

    And that means look a son. And the Bible tells us that she said that she felt that God had looked on her and had pity because she was oppressed, She was unappreciated. And her response is, surely my husband’s going to love me now. So they’re the two wives that are competing between themselves. Let’s look at the next verse.

27. 13:46

    She has another child, and this child is called Sibian. That means heard. And so because she knows that she’s unloved, she’s hoping that Jacob’s going to hear that, see that she is giving him sons, and we’ll love him. Let’s continue on in the next story. Hopefully my husband will show me some affection this time.

28. 14:09

    And so she called him Levi. And Levi means joined. You might be thinking, why am I telling you this stuff? This is the way the Bible introduces the family.

29. 14:23

    Imagine if your parents introduced you to say, yeah, we named our first child bitter. And we named our next child angry. And the next child, we called them resentful. And so when poor little child goes up to the shop or the school, wherever gets their name called out, bitterness, resentment and anger, there you are. You got to understand it that way because that’s what it means in Hebrew.

30. 14:51

    When their name is said, that’s what it means. And so Leah has named her children because of the deep seated emotion that she’s feeling.

31. 15:05

    So what I’m trying to show to you is this is not something that was down there not talked about in the family. Everybody knew that this is the drama. Everybody knew that this is how complex life was in this family. It continues on. Well, brought tears to Leah’s eye. But let’s continue on in verse 34. She has another child and this is Judah. And notice the change.

32. 15:33

    She says that this time I’m going to praise God. So Judah was born at a time when she was thinking differently. She had a different perspective, but that perspective wasn’t embraced by anybody else. Because at that time, Leah’s sister is looking over at her jealous Lee with envy, with resentment. You’re going to hear those words keep coming out in this family because they were deep seated feelings. Leah’s sister is looking at sorry. Leah’s sister Rachel is looking at Leah. And she saw that Leah had children, but she couldn’t give Jacob children.

33. 16:22

    And so she became jealous. My translation says yours might say envy. Envious. That’s how she’s looking at the other mum in the family. And So what does she do? She bails up Jacob one day and just gives it to him. She says give me children or else I’m going to die. Whoa, OK, because I’m God, I can give you a child, sings Jacob and listen to his response.

34. 16:55

    He says exactly that. Jacob’s furious at Rachel and he says, what do you think? I’m as good as God who kept you from having the children? In other words, Rachel, you’re the one with the problem, not me. Because these having children own your problems. Can you feel that? Can you feel how that Rachel is blaming Jacob? Jacob gets furious at her.

35. 17:23

    This is the resentment that’s going on. So the response from Rachel is go and sleep with my servant called Bilhar. So Jacob does and Rachel servant has a child called Dan because Rachel says God’s vindicated me. Do you feel the vindictiveness in that?

36. 17:51

    Then she has another child by Bilhar and she says I fought a desperate battle or struggle with my sister and I’ve won. Just imagine living in a family where that’s the way your mums talk. So Leah gives Zilpah, her servant, to Jacob and has a child and goes, how fortunate

37. 18:23

    another one. Do you feel that that’s what she’s named the child? It’s not just what she’s thinking. This is what these children are called. And then she has another one called Asher. And she says, everyone’s going to call me happy because I’m winning.

38. 18:47

    This is the family, the family that God chose to work with, remember, but this is the family and put yourself in that that Judah was growing up in, far from supportive. Now it’s at this same time that Reuben went out into the field because he started to grow up a little bit and he’s actually found some mandrakes. Now, in case we’re wondering what mandrakes are, people seem to back in that time think they’re an aphrodisiac which had some sort of sexual stimulants of some form. Whatever it was, that’s what they thought. And Reuben brings it home to his mum and says here you go. Obviously Reuben understood there was problems in the family.

39. 19:36

    Well, Rachel says, can I have some of those mandates because she wants to have children herself. And Lee’s response is, hey, is it enough that you’ve stolen my husband away? The King James says, are you going to take away my son’s mandrakes as well? Rachel’s response is, oh, OK then. All right. He’ll go to bed with you tonight. In exchange for your son’s mandrakes, they’re trading relationships.

40. 20:08

    Do you feel that? Jacob comes home from the field that evening and Leah went out to meet him, so he didn’t even get in the door of the house. And she says you have to sleep with me tonight because I’ve bought you.

41. 20:25

    Well, I just want you to appreciate the tension. I’m sorry to talk about this stuff like the first half an hour or 15 minutes of event up here. I’m sorry. Apologize. I said it was a rough first too. Sorry, but this is the family. Imagine growing up in this. You know there’s another problem in this family. In verse 43 of chapter 30, it says that Jacob was working hard and achieving lots of things.

42. 20:57

    He increased exceedingly and had large flocks and maidservants and men servants. This is one of the other problems that this family had, and it might sound funny, it might sound weird, but having lots of things and money doesn’t fix problems, and it didn’t fix these problems in their family either. Truth is, money doesn’t fix problems. That makes problems that are different. Oh yes, money can cover over and give a thin facade or gloss of everything being good and happy, but it doesn’t fix the problem of what’s underneath.

43. 21:49

    All it does is complicate the issues with a veneer of short term apparent happiness because you’ve got something new. Distraction. You know, this family got to a point where they actually had to run away from the rest of their family because the wider family hated them that much.

44. 22:13

    Just grasp that they had to run away from Laban’s family because things were getting so difficult. Let’s look at a different story then this. Remember, this is what the Bible’s telling us. I’m just picking out the eyes of what the Bible is telling us. I want to talk about this family’s pecking order, all their priorities, who’s the most important in this family.

45. 22:41

    And it’s not by age, it’s not by the parents down. It’s a very unique order. You need to understand this. We can read this story. We’ll read it through Genesis 33, verse one. Jacob looked up and he saw, he saw his brother, who was coming along with 400 men towards him. So he divides the children among Leah, Rachel and his two female servants, or the handmaids. And here’s the order.

46. 23:08

    He put the servants and their children out in front. He put Leah and her children behind them and Rachel and Joseph behind them. Just imagine that situation. They’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks that this is going to be a difficult moment because Jacob has to face up to his brother Esau, who he’s done The Dirty on.

47. 23:33

    And it’s scary for Jacob, understandably. It’s scary because there is 400 armed men coming to you and your family. Jacob’s family is probably at this time not even 50 when you include all the servants and everybody else and there’s 400 armed men that are coming towards you. We’re told that. And the rest is chapter 30. I don’t know the actual verse.

48. 23:58

    So what does he do? He divides up the family and he puts the servants and their children out in front, and he puts Leah and her children next and puts Joseph next, and he’s organizing all the families got the gift. That’s way out in front as well, so that Esau gets the gift and then he meets the servants and their children, and then he meets Leah and her children. And then at the back there’s Rachel and special Joseph. Just imagine rehearsing that moment in the family. Does everybody know where they’re meant to stand? Does everyone know the groups there? No, no, Joseph, come back here, Joseph, back here with your mum at the back and your Judah and you know that the people that aren’t valuable being put out there in front of you. Let’s put that in modern terms.

49. 24:54

    That’s what Hamas does with human Shields. That’s what’s happening. We’ve got the less valuable people being put out the front so they can be the bullet pillows, right? This is not just talked about, this is real. That’s what happens in that family. There’s a very clear order of priority and Judah’s not part of the special family.

50. 25:30

    Judah is part of the second rate family of the unloved wife who isn’t as valued and doesn’t get the time and attention given to him. Let’s just think about how Judah would see this, how he would feel about something like this. Imagine it in your house. We’re not talking about who gets the biggest piece of chocolate cake, right?

51. 25:57

    We’re talking seriously when there’s a risk of death, who gets put out in the front line. That’s the way this family was behaving. Understand that when Jacob had some spare time, he didn’t spend it with Reuben, Simeon and Judah. He’s over in any Rachel’s tents spending time with. We can work off this one spending time with special Joseph.

52. 26:34

    So this would create resentment. Do you understand that? Can you see how Jacob would be always or just simply not spending the time to give Judah the opportunity? So where would you to learn things? Imagine how Judah would learn to light a fire to. I didn’t ride a bike and say maybe he rode a sheep or horse or something. Who taught him to do that?

53. 27:01

    That’s meant to be the father’s job, teaching the son, right? Where did you to learn those things? He learned it from his older brothers. They’d be the ones that would show him Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. You know, Jacob would be talking about. I meant to put this slide up before. Sorry I got distracted.

54. 27:21

    Judah observes all these things in his life, and he’d spend his time learning from these brothers, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, whoever they were. I just want you to picture the scene that that’s how Judah would grow up and he wouldn’t just hear about it, He would feel it and that would shape his perspective and define his position in the family.

55. 27:42

    But I want you to think about the fact that Jacob would equally keep talking about these promises God’s given. Our family promises. God’s blessed our family. We are a blessed special family is what Judah would regularly hear Jacob saying. I want you to think about how Judah would feel because he wouldn’t be feeling like he’s chosen, He wouldn’t be feeling special.

56. 28:14

    He wouldn’t be feeling like the blessed child in the family. He knows his position. He knows his pecking order. And that’s what Judah experienced. And I keep saying that because to talk about it’s one thing to grow up with that is very different. Let’s be blunt for a second. And I’m a parent.

57. 28:41

    Jacob’s wrong. Bluntly wrong. He created that problem. And guys, your parents aren’t perfect. They’re learning how to parent. They’re learning how to do parenting. Parents make mistakes. Jacob was making a mistake, and Lear and Rachel were making some dumb mistakes too.

58. 29:14

    But that had consequences and that flowed through into the family. And if you feel some of that emotion in whatever way in your family, make a choice this weekend. Stop it going to the next generation because Abraham did that to Isaac, Isaac did that to Jacob, and Jacob’s doing that to his boys.

59. 29:46

    Now we learn these things from my parents and her parents. Mistakes have impacts on us, and we make the choice whether we’re going to overreact and go to the opposite extreme and do even more silly things just to be different, or we don’t even realize that we’re doing the same thing. And we repeat that now. Next study, we’re going to see the Judah repeats what his dad did to him in the way he was brought up. We had those choices.

60. 30:32

    You’ve got to think carefully about that, and I want you to understand that life is not fair. God never promised that it would be fair, but God said I’m in control on its rights, and that’s the way God’s family is. We’ve got to suck it up sometimes and accept that that for a while things might not go to plan, but you’re going to see that for Judah’s life. It does in the end, but he had a choice initially. He chose to carry the bag of resentment and make dumb choices.

61. 31:06

    He realized that that didn’t work. And that’s the choice we have to make is we can complain about our upbringing, about what our parents did wrong and all those sort of things, or we can learn from it and do better, talk about it. It’s a really important lesson. You’re going to see that come out quite a bit.

62. 31:31

    Sadly though, Judah chose to play the victim card. It’s like of all of the cards, he chose to play that one. Let’s continue the story, though. Next story in their family life, there’s the story of Dinah, their daughter. Now, if you remember, Dinah was the daughter of Leah, that’s Judah’s family, and she went out to check out the local girls. And while she was out having an afternoon with the local girls, she met a guy.

63. 32:00

    And you know where the story ends? Messy. I call the rest of the stories in this family. We’re not going to go into the details of how and the why, but what I want you to appreciate that this is Judah’s family. This is his blood sister and his Blood Brothers. We’re told we don’t have time to go to Genesis chapter 34 in detail.

64. 32:23

    We’re just going to skip through it. Judah heard or sorry, Jacob heard what happened, that Dinah had been defiled. So the message came out of the city in those first 4 verses that Dinah has been taken advantage of by the local Prince.

65. 32:42

    And Jacob did nothing about that until his sons. So if you look at your little chart, we’re grown men Now they’re out in the field doing the work. He did nothing about it until they came home. This little child with all the time frames, what you’ll see is that Jutter is now a grown man. He’s well into his 20s by this phase, this stage. Now Shekin’s father, the prince’s father, comes out to speak to Jacob about the situation. And Jacob’s sons, they come in from the hill field when they heard the news, and they’re offended. And they’re angry because Shechem has disgraced their sister.

66. 33:25

    And that’s what matters. They think that Dinah was raped and they’re angry and they want revenge. But what’s Dad doing? Nothing. Nothing. So they come home and they push for some action and there’s an agreement. There’s a whole deal and won’t go into all the story about it, but basically end result is Simeon and Levi are the two older brothers of Dinah, Judah’s older brother.

67. 34:01

    And they go and they kill the whole city. Do you know what Jacob does? He gets angry at Simeon and Levi. Why? Because you’ve embarrassed me, is what Jacob says. I don’t have the verse. Sorry. I thought it was up there. Jacob gets angry at Simeon and Levi because they embarrassed Jacob in front of the locals.

68. 34:29

    What’s the issue, dad? She in verse 31, Reuben and Simeon and Levi say, dad, they can’t treat our sister like a prostitute. That’s their attitude and Judas watching this, and they’re right. Jacob’s wrong and Judah watches the way dad is treating his blood sister and his Blood Brothers that he looks up to.

69. 35:06

    And all Jacob’s interested in is special little Joseph. Not saying that Judah is correct or balanced in his perspective, the way he looks at this, but understandably, he’s a bit difficult about it. There’s another problem in this family. Reuben also gets involved in a relationship with Bill Ha, who’s one of Jacob’s servant wives, through Leah. In case we didn’t have enough awkwardness in this subject of this nature in our topic, I’m sorry that happens at the same time.

70. 35:44

    And then we come to this story, and that’s the background to the story that you read this morning. That’s the family dynamics. Let’s now think about that story. You probably know the story of Joseph quite well. I’m assuming that you’ve heard it in Sunday school. I’m assuming that you’ve heard it in the youth group somewhere. You know the story of what Chapter 37 says. But I want you to just bluntly listen and look at how clearly the Bible tells us about the issues in this family. Yes, there was inferiority that had been filled for years. There was resentment that had been growing for years. But chapter 37, verse 4 says they hated Joseph and could not speak a nice thing to him about him or anything. They couldn’t say a nice thing to Joseph. That’s the way it started at the beginning of chapter 37. Just imagine that.

71. 36:46

    I hope there’s no one in your family that you can’t say something nice to at some point, like hopefully on their birthday, something that’s not where these families are. In verse 5, the Bible then tells us they hated Joseph. Yet the more that’s not just repeating it, it’s yet the more so there isn’t enough hating that they can’t speak to him.

72. 37:11

    They hate him even more than that. And then in verse 8, we’re told it again. They hate him even more than not, more than that, more than that. And then in verse 11, we’re told the real motive of what was causing this, and it was envy. Your Bible might say jealousy. That’s the motive.

73. 37:29

    That’s what’s driving them. You don’t understand that envy is a dangerous thing, how it grows. Jealousy that someone’s got something that you don’t have grows because it sits deep down there in US and it clouds our judgement of that person. We can’t see anything good that they could do. All we see is the negatives and we dwell on that and we make it worse than what it actually is.

74. 38:00

    You know that envy got so bad, they actually started planning how they’d kill him, and they actually agreed. It’s one thing to dream about that. I have vivid dreams. I have crazy dreams, so that’s one thing to dream. I don’t think I dream about murdering people, just in case you’re wondering, but it’s one thing to think that yourself. Just imagine telling your brother or sister that that’s what you’re going to do to your other brother, and then to talk about it to 12 of them, or sorry to 10 of them, to agree to kill him.

75. 38:37

    That’s where the bitterness is at. That’s how bitter and angry and twisted they are. Is Joseph worthy of that? Absolutely not. Well, sorry, little detail in there. It’s exactly the same as Jesus. Same motivation is what killed Jesus was jealousy, envy to him by the Pharisees?

76. 39:01

    What was Joseph’s response to that? Was Joseph egging you on? But Joseph always spoke to his brothers in a peaceful way. He was always kind to them. In chapter 37, verse 4, Jacob actually sent Joseph off to go and see if it was well or peaceable with his brethren and the flocks. And that’s what Joseph went to do. He was going for their good.

77. 39:32

    He was going to check out the situation to make sure that everything was OK and bring back a report of anything they needed. And what are the brothers thinking? They’re thinking how to kill him. Just grasp that it’s important because we’re going to see this pop up again later. Even later in Joseph’s life, after everything’s happened, all he can ever do is speak peaceably to them and ask about their welfare or what’s good for them.

78. 40:03

    It’s important quality. Try to let your words be sweet, the things you say about people be things you’re happy to have come back on you because that’s what Judah in particular does and he gets it. Come back on him. But I want you to consider verse 18 and just understand what this means. Grab a Bible marking pen, pencil, something, and just carefully look at this verse.

79. 40:30

    This verse says that Joseph’s brothers saw him from a distance and before he reached them, they plan to kill him. It’s one thing to get angry with a person because you’ve been camping with them for two nights at a study weekend, a night done with the fact they make a mess of the room and they’re annoying and they just won’t sleep and they keep talking and you’re starting to get annoyed at them, right?

80. 40:57

    That’s one thing. You know this carefully. Joseph’s brothers saw him from a distance. Joseph didn’t have a chance to say a word. He didn’t have a chance to say a thing, and they were planning to kill him. That’s because they hated him so much from what he did last time they saw him, which has to be a while ago because Jacob has sent Joseph down to see how they’re going. That’s the level of resentment that’s growing in this family that they just, the very sight of him is enough to make them want to kill their brother.

81. 41:39

    That’s strong emotions. I want you to picture that scene. Here they are. They’re, they’re doing whatever they do while they’re meant to be looking after their flocks and they look out there in the distance and they see this guy walking over the hill with a colorful coat. If it was colorful, who cares?

82. 41:54

    Whatever. It actually was something that identified Joseph because of his coat. So they knew that it was Joseph, right? They see him from a distance. And so they start planning, not how they give him a rough time, but it’s rough. He’s rocks at him as he comes. They plan how to kill him.

83. 42:16

    That’s intense. That’s like zero to 100 in like 30 seconds without a word or thing done or said. I just want you to appreciate what that was like for Joseph as he walked up closer to his brothers. And he’s like, well, well, like, feel the tension. Could you feel that as you’d walk up and they’re angry enough to kill him? Do you think Joseph felt that?

84. 42:48

    He did. We’re told that later. Imagine what it was like when your brothers then jump on you, grab you, and they throw Joseph into a dry pit. We’re told that specifically in the Bible it was dry. So what does that tell us? It’s not just muddy, gross at the bottom. A dry pit typically means it was a rubbish tip. Dead animal bodies, lots of other mess won’t go into too much maybe, but let’s be specific about some things. They say it’s quite normal to have snakes and other dangerous things that have fallen down inside there and that’s what they throw Joseph into.

85. 43:33

    They treat him as a piece of rubbish with the intention to kill him. That’s where they’re at, and that’s where we get you to start speaking out, and that’s where we start hearing what Judah really thinks. They throw him into that pit and they sit down, we’re told in verse 30 or sorry, verse 25, and they ate their lunch.

86. 44:00

    Just imagine that they sit down to have a feed while they’re hearing Joseph’s cries coming out from the pits. Brothers, why? What are you doing this for? I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just here to help you. Don’t kill me. And they eat their lunch and imagine the scene. They’re looking over those same hills and they see some traders coming.

87. 44:31

    And Judy goes, hey guys, what’s the point of killing our brother? That means we’ve got to do all the hard work and we’ll get our hands dirty. We could get paid to have him killed. Wouldn’t that be better? That’s Judah’s logic.

88. 44:56

    That’s the way Judah thinks. Yeah. There’s probably a bit of reservation with actually killing his brother. And I think deep down, Judah has a bit of that conscience and it holds him back. So he says to his brothers, come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, who actually distant family relatives, and let’s not let our hand be upon him.

89. 45:23

    He’s our brother. He’s our blood brother. And it’s hard to kill somebody that is your blood brother. And no doubt they talked about it and they’re content with the idea. It saves us doing the awkward moment, and we can say we didn’t do it.

90. 45:53

    And so the Midianites, as they came a little bit closer, were called over and Judah, Reuben or not Reuben, sorry, Simeon and Levi, no doubt, because Reuben walks away, draw Joseph up out of the pits, but lift him up. And they sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And Joseph went to Egypt. So easy to read that story.

91. 46:21

    Just imagine that. Just grasp that what that would have been like. You’ve lifted your brother out and he knows what’s happening. And you’re standing there trading. What’s he worth? Come on, give us 30 now. He’s worth 15. Who did that? Who did that deal?

92. 46:47

    Surely that was due to it was his idea. He was the one that came up with it. He’s got to take the lead on that. Imagine talking over your brother doing that. Imagine when he is then stood up and he looks you in the eye, having heard what you just did about him.

93. 47:10

    And then they tie him up and they start walking away. And you know, that moment scarred Judah for the rest of his life. We’re told that later we’ll look at that minute or later study. That moment of Joseph being taken away scarred Judah’s mind. He couldn’t forget it. 20 something years later, it still haunted him.

94. 47:35

    And your conscience, young people, is a wonderful thing. It’s a wonderful thing because it stops us. It makes us think about the decisions, the choices and the actions we’ve made. And that moment scarred Judah. Oh, I’m sure that Judah danced around and tried to make some event out of it and distract himself from the pain of the reality of what he had just done.

95. 48:01

    We can continue the story on. Ruben comes back saying what’s going on? They had to explain it. They’re then having to concoct some story as they’re walking all the way back home to their dad. How are we going to tell dad? The problem is Reuben doesn’t agree with us. Reuben’s not happy. There’s a problem between the brothers, not only about what they’ve done, but how they’re going to lie to their dad.

96. 48:24

    Can you imagine that moment? That’s where it starts getting difficult. And then imagine getting some blood, putting it on that coat going. How do we fake it? Like, how much blood should we put on? How do you make that look real? They’re awkward conversations, really awkward conversations. But that shows the hearts of Judah.

97. 48:50

    Cold indifference because bitter, envious emotions. And then I just want you to think about who was it that bowed up their dad and said, is this your son’s coat?

98. 49:12

    Can you imagine looking in those eyes of your dad and passing over a piece of clothing and saying, can you figure out who that is, if that’s your special son’s coat or not, when you clearly don’t care about that brother, but you know your dad does and you know what you did to him and you’re pulling the wool over your dad’s eyes. Just think about that emotion because you dwell on it, or Judah had to dwell on it for days. The way Jacob behaved and responded to it was he tore his clothes and he started mourning.

99. 49:56

    But let’s read the Bible carefully. What does it tell us? The Bible’s very specific in what it says. Jacob tore his clothes, he put sackcloth on himself, and he mourned for his son for many days, many days. It was quite normal to mourn for 30 days. They mourn for Jacob when he died for 40 days. So we can only assume that that’s more than the normal. OK, that’s a long time to start feeling awkward. Now I want you to appreciate how awkward all his sons and daughters, and that includes Judah, stood beside him, consoling him.

100. 50:46

     Can you imagine standing beside your dad trying to say it’s OK, dad, it’ll be OK. Yeah. I don’t know what happened to him. Yeah, we don’t. Yeah. Yeah, it could have. He could have been a wild base. Yeah, it’ll be OK, Dad. Trying to console your dad for a month. Jacob’s totally overreacting.

101. 51:16

     I’m not denying that. Because this is his special child, he refused to be consoled. He kept pushing them away. But just grasp the lies that were being told for that many days to their dad, just to his face at a time when he’s mourning.

102. 51:38

     And Jacob says I’m going to go to the grave mourning for my son. And that’s how Joseph’s dad wept for him while bitter Judah in his resentment to Joseph faked it that he cared and kept telling lies for days.

103. 52:03

     And by day 10, the novelty starts wearing off. And how does Judah start feeling, Come on, dad, get over it. And he starts getting resentful to his dad because of the way his dad’s behaving.

104. 52:26

     That’s the tension in this family. Can you feel that? If there’s nothing that’s going to come out of our story this weekend, it’s being truthful. It’s being honest. And that was an utter lie. Just grasp that. One lie after another lie after another lie. Slept on, woke up in the morning to the same emotions. And Judah lived with that for 20 years, and it played his conscience.

105. 53:01

     And conscience is the way God works in our lives. He lets that little voice warn us in the back of our minds that the decision we are making is not good. It’s a beautiful little phrase and it goes like this. It says conscience warns you like a friend before events punish you like an enemy. Your conscience is that voice that’s warning you. It’s saying don’t go there, do something different. Don’t do that before the consequences of your dumb decisions come home for the rest of your life. You know, that moment was so intense that the Bible then gives us an incredible contrast.

106. 53:54

     I love the Bible the way it does this. The next chapter that we’re about to be open with in chapter 38 opens by saying, And it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren. Oh, OK. He just went down. No, his conscience drove him away because it was too hard in that family.

107. 54:21

     Judah made the choice to leave his family and chapter 39 opens with and Joseph was brought against his will down to Egypt. Judah chose to leave his family, to leave the ecclesia, his youth group, and he chose to go his own way. Dumb decision. Joseph was forced to do that and broke his heart. And that’s how polar opposite these two boys are. They’re so extreme opposites.

108. 55:05

     And that’s why we appreciate Joseph when we understand Judah, and we understand Judah when we appreciate Joseph. We’ll pick up in Chapter 38 after a break.