Genesis 43:16–34
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
A guilty conscience is a terrible interpreter of events. When a man knows he has done wrong, and has not dealt with it rightly, he begins to see threats in the rustling of every leaf. An act of unexpected kindness is not received as kindness; it is suspected as a trap. A summons to the boss's office is not a potential commendation; it is the prelude to being fired. An invitation to dinner is not a gesture of fellowship; it is the fattening of the calf before the slaughter. The man's guilt is a pair of dark, distorting glasses, and everything he sees is filtered through the lens of his own transgression. He projects his own untrustworthiness onto others, especially those he has wronged. This is precisely where we find the sons of Jacob. They are men haunted by a twenty-year-old crime.