Continuing our wrapping up of Genesis, I’ve already pointed out that the people through whom God chooses to advance his mission are flawed. Adam, Noah, Abraham, all had serious shortcomings.

I noticed further that people have ups and downs (in either order), and God still uses them. For example, we have this lovely sentence about Jacob’s firstborn, Reuben:

While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. (Genesis 35.22, ESV)

It costs Reuben his rights as firstborn (see Genesis 49.3, 4). But even so, it’s Reuben who prevents Joseph from being killed by the other brothers:

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. (Genesis 37.18 – 22, ESV)

And Judah? Judah who takes Reuben’s place as the leader of the family (See Genesis 49.8 – 12)? It’s Judah who sells Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37.25 – 28) and fathers twin sons through a daughter-in-law whom he thinks is a prostitute! (You can’t make this stuff up – see Genesis 38.) The daughter-in-law, Tamar, actually makes Jesus’ genealogy.

BUT, Judah demonstrated a huge change of heart and growth in character when Joseph tested his brothers. Judah is the one who stepped up to take responsibility:

Then Judah went up to [Joseph] and said, “…please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.” (Genesis 44.18, 33, 34, ESV)

As my friend Fisher DeBerry, former head coach of the Air Force Academy Falcons football team, used to say:

You’re only as good as your last play! – sign in Fisher DeBerry’s office

That sign can be read negatively or positively as, “Don’t tell me how good you used to be…” OR “No matter what you did yesterday, let’s step up today.” The Bible is the story of real people with noble behavior and unimaginably evil behavior (sometimes the same people!).

¹⁰  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹²  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103.10 – 14, ESV)

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)