# 407 The Royal Rule That Sets Us Free

The Book of Genesis

Day 407

Ge 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me."  37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you." 38 But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave."

Just listen to Jacob go off on his sons! He blames them for all the grief that has come his way and manages to imply once again that Benjamin remains his lasting favorite son. Perhaps this bitterness towards his sons is a coping mechanism for Jacob, after all, it was his idea in the first place to send the 17 year old Joseph off on a trek to Shechem from which he never returned, and in that sense, he is likely dealing with some unwarranted guilt of his own!  

Oh that tricky old devil! He can even use grief to drive wedges between loved ones.  

No matter the circumstance the blame and shame game has been around a long time and often used to cover our own shortcomings. It takes the spotlight off us, and shines it on others. And here’s the thing: Most people don’t even realize that they are doing it, and in the end they make themselves and those around them miserable.

Jacob’s real problem is still his unbalanced affection toward the children of his beloved Rachel. The Bible remains us that love is to be without partiality. (See James 2, Rom 2:11) 1 Tim 5:21) In his book The Message,  Eugene Peterson writing in James 2, calls it the “royal rule.”  We are to love others as we love ourselves! He then refers to that rule as the rule that “sets us free!”

And as we, readers of the story of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and their 12 sons find ourselves in the middle of this unhealthy family spat, we begin to see how true that statement is! Because at this point the only one “free” in this family is Joseph, and this former slave is free because he freely forgives!