In Genesis 44, we see Joseph testing the brotherly love of his brethren. Before the brothers returned to Canaan, Joseph instructed his steward to place his royal silver cup in the bag of Benjamin to make it as if he had stolen it. After his brothers had travelled some distance, he ordered his steward to track them down and arrest the one who had possession of the silver cup.
The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Benjamin was sentenced to be jailed. The brothers were horrified. They returned to Egypt with Benjamin to face Joseph.
Judah, who was responsible for watching and making sure nothing happened to Benjamin, poured his soul unto Joseph to allow him to take the place of Benjamin. He said losing Benjamin would certainly kill his father. He volunteered to take the place of Benjamin. Now, it’s up to Joseph.
Why did Joseph want to frame his brothers? One reason I can think of is because when Benjamin came not the first time, he was thinking that he had been disposed of as himself had been. Hence, he insisted that Benjamin should be brought before him.
Now that he knew Benjamin was alive and well, the next thing was to test how Benjamin was treated by his brothers. The cup in the sack was to test their brotherly love towards Benjamin. Joseph found that his brethren loved Benjamin and one was willing to take his place in prison.
Would you take the place of a brother who is in prison? Judas would. Our Lord Jesus did even better – He died for the sins of all men: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
If it were twenty years earlier, Joseph’s brothers would be glad to leave Benjamin in prison and report to their father that the governor of Egypt imprisoned him and they could not do anything about it. But today they were a different people. Why?
One reason is because they had matured. Twenty years ago, they were young and jealous. Now they were older and had children of their own. They would have a favourite child of their own too and they wouldn’t want their other children to kill their favourite son or daughter. They understood more about parenting than they did twenty years ago. They had matured.
The apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:5-7 exhorts us to give all diligence to add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
The Greek word “brotherly kindness” is “philadelphia” and means brotherly love. Do we have brotherly love for our brothers and sisters in the Lord? Christ commands us to love one another (John 13:34). The inspired writer exhorts: “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). Paul likewise exhorts: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love” (Romans 12:10).
If you have been a Christian for twenty, thirty or forty years and you have a brother you cannot love, you are like Joseph’s brothers twenty years ago who sold their brother; you have a death sentence hanging over your head: “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14b).
God warns that the Christian who does not love his brother does not have eternal life (1 John 3:15). He who says he loves God must love his brother also (1 John 4:21). Do you love your brother?
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