Will someone come for Simeon?
It has been months since the brother’s left, and we know what Simeon and Joseph don’t – that Jacob was not going to risk Benjamin to rescue and restore, to deliver and return Simeon.
They had confessed the reality of Joseph’s distress of soul as they tossed him to languish in the pit, as they sold him to slavery in Egypt (42:21)… would they show responsive concern for Simeon or will he be disposable?
In John 13:35 Jesus says that “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” – conversely in 1 John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”.
‘A life that God has changed will be marked by love for others generally and for God’s people particularly. It would be as unthinkable for you and me to claim to have been changed by the power of the gospel without showing evidence of loving the brethren as it was for Joseph to believe that his brothers had changed without seeing evidence of their love for each other.’ – Voddie Baucham Jr.
We noted last time that Jacob was not at the place where he was trusting of his other sons, certainly not enough to trust them with the life of Benjamin. The transformation, evidences of which we have seen, are not yet sufficiently obvious to Jacob for him to trust them. A good reminder to us that there is a difference between saying that God has changed me and for those who are around me to say I have truly changed.
In the face of mounting pressure for survival Judah steps up, declares himself to be surety for the safe return of Benjamin and by consequence for the safety of the family.
In so doing Judah validates Leah! Leah was the woman Jacob was tricked into marrying (Gen. 29:24–25). She was his wife of obligation, an unlovely (v. 17) and unloved woman (vv. 30–31), whom he never really wanted. Nevertheless, she is the mother of the son of promise!
Judah has stepped into his broader covenantal role. He has finally come forth as the head of the family, the one to lead the next generation into the fuller expression of God’s promise to the patriarchs – and in due course to be the forefather of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.