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Except Your Brother Be With You

An humble soul knows that since he broke with God in innocency, God will trust him no more, he will take his word no more; and therefore when he goes to God for mercy, he brings Benjamin, his Jesus, in his arms, and pleads for mercy upon the account of Jesus.

-Thomas Brooks, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ from Works vol. 3, p. 20.

  • And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you (Genesis 43:3).

As the brothers of Joseph could not come before him without Benjamin, so we will not come before the Father without Jesus as our Brother.

0 comments

  1. Y says:

    Hi there. I like to visit your blog every now and then 🙂
    I don’t quite understand what it is you’re getting at with this post.
    In the story of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt, it seems to me like Jesus is the Christ-like figure (in some respects), in that he forgave his brothers completely of their reprehensible action and his heart, in its most truest state, longed to be reconciled to them.

    On the surface level, I understand that (what I think) you’re saying is that Jesus is the reason why we can come to the Father, just as Benjamin was the person the brothers needed to bring back to Egypt to prove their honesty. But I feel like you’re grasping at a deeper analogy than that, and I’m not quite connecting the dots. How is Benjamin the Jesus-like figure in this story? Or am I completely off the mark in what I think you were communicating?

    • Heath says:

      I have two comments to try to answer your question. First, Joseph is certainly a Christ-figure in the story. But he is not the only Christ figure in the story of him and his brothers. For instance, Judah in some sense is more of a pointer to Christ than Joseph. Judah, not Joseph, is the one through whom the Messiah will come. When Judah is born, his mother Leah is able to find contentment in God despite her husband Jacob’s lack of love for her (Gen. 29:35). It is of Judah that Jacob prophesies that ‘the scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be’ (Gen 49:10). Jesus is the ‘Lion on the Tribe of Judah.’ He’s the one through whom Jesus will actually come. I only point that out to say that you cannot say that ‘so and so is a Christ figure’ (in this case Joseph) and him alone. He is one, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the only one. There are pointers to Jesus all over the Old Testament, sometimes more than one in a given story, and the little incident with Benjamin, at least according to Thomas Brooks, whom I quoted, is one such pointer, even if you don’t want to go so far as to call him a figure of Christ.
      Second, If nothing else the anecdote serves as a biblical illustration of the principle of approaching authority through the presence of a mediator or relative. I don’t think it’s necessary to say that he is a ‘Jesus-like-figure.’ But you can say that this little anecdote points us to a gospel principle. The Puritans loved to take little snippets like that and use them to illustrate New Testament principles. I think reading the Old Testament in that way is in line with the way the New Testament writers interpreted it.
      I hope that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to think about it.

  2. Y says:

    *Whoops, I meant to write “Joseph is the Christ-like figure” (which you already gathered, based on your response). Yes, Jesus it the most Christ-like figure of all 😛

    Anyway, definitely appreciate your thoughtful response, and I get what you’re saying. Your points have made these stories that much more richer and nuanced! Thanks 🙂

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