The Man

Genesis 47:13-26

We abruptly leave the emotion of family reunion to see Joseph at work as shrewd (cold?) administrator. We know that this earthly business is part of the fulfillment of the dream. I talked yesterday about vision and how tough it might have been for Jacob to keep hope in the vision he had been given. Well, when you deal with vision you also necessarily deal with processes for communicating it, implementing it, and celebrating it. This is all critical if it is a vision to be shared, which it is, or there is little point in it in any context we would deal with vision. But in this case (in today’s passage), did the vision and the dream also specify how what was to be done should be done? Looking back, what Joseph interpreted to Pharaoh only said what had to be done in broad terms. Then Joseph was appointed administrator/ruler. Nothing was said about process. That was entrusted to Joseph. No detailed action plan was discussed. Now we see how it is done, in rather stark terms. So the question I’m asking is, “Was this process also what God intended, with the people giving up everything to the point of selling themselves for food? Sure, hard times call for tough measures, but as part of God’s plan could there not have some other way? And what was done with all that money? Where did they put all that livestock? What, exactly, did it mean that all those people became slaves of Pharaoh? One thing it meant was that it set the stage, an economic structure, in which we’ll find Joseph’s own people in a state of utter bondage!

The Bible generally takes a rather pessimistic view of human governance, but it doesn’t commend theocracy either. That’s even worse. You end up with war in the name of God and all that. What you generally get is the idea of government as a kind of reluctant necessity. Paul said to support government because it tends to work for order more than disorder. But there is something out of kilter with it, by nature. When Joseph acts as worldly administrator, even as part of God’s plan, I see a different Joseph than the one who wept on his father’s neck and told his brothers not to whack each other. The Book of Revelation sees commerce, the military, and government becoming more and more one, with a consolidation of power over freedom and individuality. Worldly power has a way of bringing out our need for control and influence and remaking people and things in our own image. It’s the response of some to childhood fears that they have never left behind. If you control as much as you can around you, you are helping to make sure nothing will hurt you, call you stupid, pick you last or turn you down for a date. You do the picking. You set the agendas. You arrange and rearrange everything in your environment. Anyone you work with who has legitimate authority of his or her own is a threat. You work to undermine that authority and replace it with your own constructed variety. Maybe you have this in your workplace. It’s my impression it’s mostly people like this running our world, and that’s really scary.

Prayer:
Your Word, Lord, shows Jesus calling really ordinary people to be the means, your instruments, clay in your hand, to shape a new world. Daily let me humble myself before you, be your slave, divest myself of all pride and all need for control, putty in your hands to do what you desire and only what you desire, and do it to my utmost and with whatever gifts and abilities you have given me for that purpose and that purpose alone. Through Christ. Amen.