The story of Judah

I love the story of Joseph. The kid who was sold into slavery then innocently thrown into prison, but ultimately came the second most powerful man in Egypt and the one who saved the country from the effect of the famine. And how he forgave his brothers and provided for them too. But the story of Judah, his oldest brother, is a bit different.

Judah is well-known for being the one who wanted to kill Joseph (it was only because of Reuben that he survived). But his darkness didn't end there. In Jewish custom at the time, a widow married the brother of her dead husband. However, Judah lost two sons, and was afraid to let his daughter-in-law, Tamar, marry his third son. But Tamar wanted to carry on the family line, so she disguised herself as a prostitute and intercepted Judah while he was travelling, and he slept with her. When he found out Tamar was pregnant he was furious and ordered her to be put to death. Until, of course, the truth came out that it was his fault. So now you see a bit of what Judah was like and the mess this family had become.

Now, from this Tamar gave birth to twins. One of them was Perez, and he was in the ancestry of Jesus. In other words, God, the High King of all Kings has rooted himself in human history in this messy dysfunctional family situation! What's more, one of Jesus's titles is the "Lion of Judah". So not only does God associate with this guy, he's in His list of titles. Forever! Isn't that pretty crazy that such a good and perfect God would do that!

However, there's more. When Joseph's brothers travel to Egypt (for food), before revealing himself to them, he tricks them to test them. He puts his cup in Benjamin's sack, pretending that Benjamin had stolen it and therefore would have to stay to be his slave. At this, Judah offered himself to stay in Benjamin's place. Now his heart had changed. First, he sold his brother into slavery. Now, he was willing to lay down his life for his brother.

So here, in Judah, we have a picture of Jesus - God's redemption. Despite the messiness of Judah's past, Judah's heart is changed and his relationship with his brother Joseph is restored. God's grace on and through Joseph has reached out to Judah. Not only that, he offered himself to save His brother. Sound familiar?