Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Wednesday, July 25, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 80
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: After all the impressive advocacy work done by Reuben that succeeded in securing the safety of Joseph from his blood baiting brothers, later events when Reuben was temporarily absent from what originally could have been rightly termed a crime scene, but for the cool head of Reuben, showed that the persuasion, admonition and command to stay off Reuben weren’t well received by the other brothers. Palpable anger was still there, only temporarily suppressed by the presence of Reuben, an authority figure, influence and power, in the absence of their father, Jacob.
Reuben’s temporary absence had unknown to him, already created a favourable ground for the festering of evil ideas that had previously been successfully suppressed or put on hold for lack of opportunity. Any real hope of Joseph surviving death or the ordeal of the pit, depended wholly on Reuben. Unfortunately for Joseph, the Ishmaelites passed by. These were merchants travelling from Gilead to Egypt. Reuben’s absence, together with the nomadic Ishmaelites, provided a perfect scenario in opportunity and time for the brothers to quickly dispose of Joseph before the arrival of Reuben.
Judah, the fourth in seniority among the brothers, saw a perfect opportunity of a double win situation with the approaching Ishmaelites, coupled with Reuben’s absence, to quickly dispose of Joseph instead of killing him and soiling their hands with blood in the process. That way, the evil, blood baiting brothers would have both succeeded in achieving their lifetime dream of getting rid of Joseph from their way and making money from his sale as well. They wouldn’t have to worry about the abomination of killing one of their own brothers and having to grapple with the guilt of their brother’s blood on their conscience for a lifetime.
There were obvious leadership failures on the part of Reuben worth taking note of. First, knowing the volatile situation in having to rescue Joseph from a knife edge, it was inconceivable that he would abandon Joseph alone in the pit in the care of his assailants. This rare and unexpected chance afforded the assailants the privilege of the luxury of time and opportunity to put their evil plans to work. Second, Reuben failed to delegate his authority to the next senior brother after him and hold him personally accountable for the safety of Joseph. That way, he would have protected Joseph with his life. Third, Reuben could have chosen to allow Joseph to accompany him to wherever he was going. These three initiatives would have made it practically impossible for the brothers to implement their evil plan to sell Joseph for twenty pieces of silver, just as Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver for the price of betrayal by Judas Iscariot.
Food for thought: Negligence in leadership role can create a festering ground to be stabbed in the back by others.
Declaration: Because of this, the administrators and regional authorities tried to bring allegations of dereliction of duty in government affairs against Daniel, but they were unable to find any charges of corruption. Daniel was trustworthy, and no evidence of negligence or corruption could be found against him. Daniel 6:4 (ISV)
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
