survival of the fittest will surface, and 9 times out of ten the animal instinct side of human nature is going to rule, and that murderer is going to rise to the top, and if he is not the leader, he will certainly contend with leadership, and there will be a change in hierarchy, or either there will only be one of two more things, another murder, or a compromise. Believe what you want, but those, in most situations, are the facts of life.
Now Reuben, he was wise enough to know
he couldn’t talk any total harm from the boy by hands of his brothers, their hearts were set on evil and he couldn’t match testosterone for testosterone, so he chose compromise and wits. We have already seen how he talked them into throwing the boy into a pit instead of killing him after they beat him down in jealousy, and then later Reuben snuck off to the pit by himself to get the boy, only to find he was gone, and he thinks his brothers have killed Joseph, and now he is a little scared of Simeon and Levi whom he is certain are murderers and likely have been bragging for years about the time they went as just two men slew an entire city! But after finding that pit empty, Reuben, he had to be wondering if the rest of them had also become
murderers!
His conspiring Brothers already knew what he was up to because he went to that pit without them, and Reuben had to be in fear of his own life, horrified by what they let him think they had done…so he goes along with the story of finding the bloody coat and never tells Jacob the truth of the events prior to Josephs disappearance. For 22 years Reuben would be in the dark, not knowing if his brother’s killed Joseph or not. For 22 years They have watched the toll their actions took on their family all these years, on their dad, on their relationships with
one another, and now they are in an ultimate situation of divine justice, in prison for something they didn’t do and after 3 days, and fearing for their very lives as they stand
accused of being spies, they have had a lot of time to think about all the things they did do.
I once had a friend who went to prison, actually a couple who told me similar so it must be a popular notion promoted there, anyway, this friend told me about a sign on the wall he read everyday. He had broken into some homes, like one or two, three at the most, but none the less head broken into about 3 homes and stolen.
And when caught… he was convicted of breaking into 17 homes, 14 of which, were cold cases and crimes he had nothing to do with!
But he got the blame...And the paper told that the police had caught the culprit to an outbreak of a string of burglaries. Had they? No… Did he deserve to go to prison for breaking into 17 houses …no, did he deserve to go to prison for breaking into 2 or 3 houses, certainly. The sign on the wall addressed the common phenomenon of men in prison proclaiming their innocence, and while some rare case certainly are, the sign read…”BE GLAD YOU”RE NOT IN HERE FOR THE THINGS YOU DID DO!”
HE said he read that sign every single day and prison made him grow up. He said if had
went to Prison for the Cocaine he once delved in, he would have had a longer sentence
than he got for the break-ins! Still, paying for 14 crimes he did not commit, was sobering
to him. He paid his dues to society, and while he died tragically at a young age after having a brain aneurysm, in the last years of his life, he lived honorably.
So here they are, the older brothers of Joseph, sitting in prison, and they are thinking about that one thing that stands out above all else, that one crime to which they are all connected….and somebody says…”This is all our fault, we hated Joseph we he told us about his dream, we saw his anguish when he was trying o tell us the matter to warn us, and we wouldn’t listen, and now here we are…” and they all start agreeing in similar fashion, almost all of them, see, they afraid of being prisoner, and now they are reminded they sold their brother to be a prisoner, and 9 of them are feeling they are getting just what they deserved, but one of them has been in the dark all these years, and he is angry at all of them, and he is about to let him have it…and he says “DIDN”T I TELL YOU! I TOLD ALL OF YOU, NOT TO HARM THE BOY! “
And now 9 others fall silent, and Joseph watches and listens, learning for the first time, Reuben may have been present when he was put in that pit, and absent when he was sold into slavery, but his heart was absent the whole time in those matters, he never wanted harm to come to his brother, and these 9 jerks have let everybody believe for years that Joseph was dead, and let Reuben believe they were murderers. How many times since, in matters which Reuben had the authority of birthright to guide a situation must some of those rebellious brothers mimicked Simeon and Levi, acting as though they possessed testosterone they did not truly have. How many times when in Reuben’s presence, must one of the younger, when told to do a thing against his will by Reuben , just puffed up, gave him “THAT LOOK”, glared at him with “THOSE EYES” and said, “You better be careful you don’t end up like Joseph?”
Oh, the WICKED leverage Reuben’s Silence placed upon his own head, and The evil control some of his younger brothers must have gained in using that leverage forward from that day in letting him believe they had killed the boy!
All these years Reuben has carried the guilt of blood on his hands, needlessly so, cruelly so by the deeds and lies of his brothers. How he must have grown at times to despise Simeon whom he left in charge when the time came when he went to tend the flocks for his turn, oh it must have silently festered for years, and now after years of being in an emotional prison, He is in a physical one for a thing he has not done…surely his heart must have thought
” Simeon that murderer.”
Every time Reuben saw Simeon try to console their father Jacob in his grief, surely then his contempt must he grown, his testosterone must have bled through and now it was his turn to give “THAT LOOK” to cut his eyes through Simeon’s soul in the contempt of Righteous indignation. Oh I will bet in that moment, a murderer dropped his eyes to the floor, a man “meeked up” into a boy in the presence of his older brother and his father, and all these years, all this time, Reuben has carried this weight of guilt in silence.
And now they all start saying….”This is all our fault, God is punishing us, and this is all our fault..”
And Reuben speaks up and says…”OH NO, GOD MAY BE PUNISHING “US”, but this is not “OUR” fault, this is “YOUR FAULT ,” THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO HARM THE BOY, AND NOW HIS BLOOD IS REQUIRED!” REUBEN STILL THINKS JOSEPH IS DEAD! And they sit silent, guilty, still unable to admit to having deceived even Reuben, and Joseph learns that all this time, they have let Reuben believe they killed him. Now forgiveness starts to seep into Josephs heart. And the brothers go back to Canaan and who gets left behind to rot in jail?
Whom was it who was in charge of all in Jacobs absence, it was Reuben
The first born son, but whom was it in charge of all in Reuben’s absence, it was Simeon, the second oldest son, and the oldest in the camp when Judah proposed to sell the boy into slavery. In a sense, these men, conspired to kill Joseph, and Reuben talked them out of it, then Reuben goes to tend flocks and Joseph is in that pit, and they all know they can’t just leave him there, they know there is going to be a reckoning, and they certainly know Joseph is a spoiled brat and a tattle tale, surely they must have been worried, as good as those blows felt to them in their jealous rage when they beat him down, surely they knew they had to do something to cover their tracks, and the oldest in charge, he is not a murderer, he is a mass murderer, as is the one below him in rank. Surely it would have been easier to kill him and be done with it than to argue with Reuben of the matter, even if there was only staunch silence such thoughts must have ran rampant through the minds of all in the camp, and Then Judah proposed a plan to sell the boy into slavery. Judah’s solution, delivered the boy’s life, and later we will see the truth of Judah’s nature, if he is worthy of attributing such to his character even in the guilt of his poorest of acts.
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