THE ELEVEN STARS (8).

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*THE ELEVEN STARS (8).*

*Scripture Treasure.*

Gen 42:5-23

*And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.*

*And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.*

*And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.*

*And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.*

*And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.*

*And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.*

*We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.*

*And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.*

*And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.*

*And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:*

*Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.*

*Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.*

*And he put them all together into ward three days.*

*And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:*

*If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:*

*But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.*

*And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.*

*And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.*

*And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.*

*Insight and Highlight.*

Let me not go through the darkness of life before my light would shine.

*Scripture Commentaries.*

Reuben knew the other brothers had intentions of killing Joseph. The intentions by the other nine brothers was to *".....let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams."* Gen 37:20.

Reuben (to, complete the ten), when he heard it *"......delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.* (Gen 37:21).

He said to them *".....Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.*", Gen 37:22.

They obeyed Reuben and threw him in the pit but stripped him of his clothes of many colours, Gen 37:23-24.

Reuben only knew Joseph was not in the pit when he returned, Gen 37: 29.

Reuben, however did not know about the selling of Joseph to the Midianites (because he was absent) and the deception to take *".......Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;....."* and the eventual cover-up to Joseph's father that *"......an evil beast hath devoured him;...."* Gen 37:31-35.

Reuben did not know of the cover-up to their father Jacob. In fact he thought Joseph had truly died. He said in

Gen 42:22 *Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.*

So also the other brothers thought Joseph had died. When they got to Egypt, none of them recognized Joseph but Joseph knew them Gen 42:8.

The other brothers plotted to sell Joseph, took him out of the pit and sold him to the

Ishmeelites who then *".....brought Joseph into Egypt."* Gen 37:28.

The ultimate plot to totally get rid of him, not caring what would eventially become of him (since they chose not to kill him), was eventually complete but none of them knew about Joseph's new destination to Egypt.

The story teaches us that association with or knowledge of evil is enough to establish participation in the evil. We must be careful with those we associate with (1 Cor 15:33).

Evil association could darken or delay your light from shining.

Reuben did not reprove them nor did he expose them but 'fellowshipped' (associated) with them.

Many people get into problems today not for active participation in evil but for being in the midst of evil doers to catch knowledge of evil plots.

The story teaches us how pain often fails to go away though the circumstances causing such pain may be in the past.

Wounds, though may go through healing, but scars remain to remind us of the tragic circumstances.

While those who cause wounds may have forgotten, the person on whom the wound is inflicted will forever remember.

Daily as they live with their scars, they also live to connect with their sufferings, if they are to stay alive.

While some may give up on life, those who struggle to stay alive must do so connecting with the pain daily.

This is the evil children of men do to fellow children of men when they do evil.

The brothers did evil. It hunted them but were not sure if the evil of their past was behind their hostile treatment in Egypt but they know there was a connection between their past evil and their current 'captivity'. They were bound and imprisoned for a while in Egypt.

In Gen 42:17, Joseph puts all ten brothers *"into ward [prison] three days"*

After releasing them from the three-day imprisonment, Joseph bound Simeon. He *"bound him before their [the other brothers'] eyes".* Gen 42:24.

*Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.* (Prov 11:21).

Reuben may not have known about the cover-up to their father that Joseph was killed by an evil beast but he was an active participant in a deep-seated hatred to throw him in a pit that *".....was empty,......"* with *".....no water in it."*, Gen 37:24.

Was this not a sin against God and the child (ref to his remarks in Gen 42:22).

Whether or not Reuben knew about the cover-up or whether or not he knew about the eventual sale and transition of Joseph to Egypt, he with the ten brothers were accessories after the fact of premeditated murder attempt of Joseph. None of them was guiltless!

Ten brothers almost traded their stars to a dimness and fate of spies (Gen 42:8-14).

Only one star (Benjamin) partook in no evil. He enjoyed pleasant feasts (Gen 43:34) but went through many unpleasantness.

He was subjected to accusation of theft of Joseph's silver cup (Gen 43:15), the fear of a long separation from his father (Gen 42:4, 28) all arranged by Joseph to taunt and test if his brothers were still wicked or much better than before.

Who do you associate with?

Do not get into trouble before your God-given star would shine!

*Remorse corner.*

Eph 5:11 *And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.*

*Call to Word action.*

Exd 23:2 *Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:*

*The Christian clarion duty.*

Eph 5:21 *Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.*

*Prayer.*

Lord, do not allow me to fall into wrong associations. Let me not associate with wrong people who would obstruct or delay my star from shining in Jesus name.

Good morning all and have a blessed day.

God bless you.

Shalom.