Take Two

When the sons of Israel go to Egypt and meet their brother Joseph, it may seem like Joseph is playing cruel mind games with them out of some sense of petty vengeance. But I think Joseph wanted to prove as much to them as to himself that they weren't the same jealous bunch that plotted to first kill and then later just enslave their younger brother. Joseph gave them a second chance under carefully controlled conditions to prove that they could put the needs of their brother, even their highly favored younger brother, above their own and make sacrifices and offer up their own lives or the lives of their children as collateral. Forgiveness only works because each of us has the capacity for change. Given a similar challenge to one we failed in the past, there is the possibility that this time we succeed. I know that the decision to sell their brother into slavery had a huge impact on those men's lives, and when they were given the opportunity to sell out their brother again, this time they made the right choice.