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The Path of Leadership

Words of Faith Final

The Path of Leadership
Words of Faith 6-30-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 37
[19] "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. [20] "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."
[21] When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. [22] "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
[23] So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe--the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-- [24] and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
[25] As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
[26] Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? [27] Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.
[28] So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
[29] When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. [30] He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

A terrible plot was hatched against Joseph. It was not a well-planned plot. The plot was one of improvisation that festered out jealousy. The fiasco of the brothers was part of the legacy of weak leadership inherited from Jacob.
How stunning it must have been when the very brothers Joseph surely looked up to suddenly seized him and threw him in a pit. What is this? But there were two brothers among the ten who just couldn't go along with the plan.
Reuben tried to gain an opportunity to restore Joseph to Jacob. He persuaded his brothers not to commit such a crime by suggesting they throw Joseph alive into a cistern. Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later. We don't really know the motive of Reuben. He may have been seeking to regain the favor of Jacob for himself with a dramatic rescue of Joseph. Reuben had lost favor with Jacob through a moral failure when he slept with Bilhah (essentially a stepmother! 35:22).
Reuben probably struggled with his role as oldest as he watched the favor of Jacob go to Joseph. He had stood silent while his younger brothers Simeon and Levi avenged the rape of their only sister Dinah. Yet now, his word of persuasion saved Joseph from immediate destruction. But would Reuben have the intestinal fortitude to actually rescue Joseph? He delayed, and finally, someone else had to act!
It was Judah who ultimately preserved Joseph. Judah led the effort to sell Joseph as a slave to traveling merchants. Judah's motivation seems to be clear. He somehow understood that no matter how great their hatred, committing murder would forever haunt them. With the brothers intent on disposing of Joseph and already committed to doing something, selling him as a slave seemed the best option for preserving his life.
The brothers sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver. We cannot help but think of Jesus, who was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. We should also remember that it was from the line of Judah that salvation would come through Jesus.
The contrast between Reuben and Judah is a powerful one.
Reuben was a weak leader. As the oldest brother, he should have nixed the idea of attacking Joseph and been willing to die if necessary to protect him. But Reuben had long since surrendered his role as leader. He had squandered his moral authority by sleeping with Bilhah, the mother of two brothers. There was no respect left. He had also been weak at the time of Dinah's rape. The best he could do here was to prevent the immediate murder.
Judah was a younger brother, yet, in desperation, he made the only possible suggestion that could preserve Joseph. Judah's motives were pure, and his moral authority intact.
The scene begs the question: What kind of leader will you be? When the time comes, will you have the moral authority to step up and be followed? When the time comes, will you have faith in God and the courage to do the right thing? Our decisions today lay the groundwork for the leadership we will provide tomorrow.

Father God, make me into the leader You desire me to be. Give me a pure walk so that I may have the authority needed when the time comes. Give me pure motives. Give me wisdom. Give me strength to act. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.