Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”
Genesis 50: 15 (NRS)
Scripture: Genesis 50: 1-21
This devotion is the first in the four-part When We’ve Been Wronged series. Let’s face it, people are always hurting others by an authentic or perceived wrong. Our gut reaction is to pay them back in kind. That isn’t exactly the way God wants us to handle it. This devotion looks at what revenge is and whose it is.
Cliff Notes
- Many people strike back when they feel someone else has wronged them.
- God says that we are not supposed to perform these acts of vengeance, paying back evil for evil.
- Instead, we are to let God extract vengeance.
I wrote this devotion about a year and a half ago. It was actually a rewrite of something I had previously started. The timing of the rewrite was at the beginning of my spiritual tornado.
It came up in the queue today to work on to schedule so you could read it. Oh, man. I need to hear this today. But God is leading me to turn this into a series. So, once again, I am preaching to the choir here. Come join me in my attempt to hear what God is telling me.
Regarding the Brothers
All those years – wasted. Wasted denying their guilt. Wasted justifying the means with the end. Wasted worrying whether revenge would come. Wasted because they refused to admit their actions were wrong and to tell Joseph, “we’re sorry.”
So, for 70 years, Joseph’s brothers wrangled with unfinished business. They hid behind Dad’s robe, secure in the fact Joseph would do nothing while his precious father was alive.
They probably thought Joseph was too busy accomplishing the reason he was in Egypt to worry about seeking recompense for how he got there. Joseph was a success. He had bigger fish to fry.
Now Jacob was dead. Everything had changed.
How Did Joseph React?
Or did it? Did Joseph finally have his brothers thrown into prison? He could have, you know. It was probably tempting to make them face what he, himself, had faced. The only difference was they had “committed the crime” where Joseph hadn’t done anything wrong other than possibly being an arrogant brat.
Joseph could have had them killed. Remember it had been one of their options to leave him in the pit to die.
Now, he was an important man in Egypt. No one would have questioned his requests – this was their savior. What he wanted, he was entitled to get.
And knocking off his family members? What ruler didn’t to that in that day and age? No, everyone who knew the true story probably spelled revenge S-W-E-E-T.
What Does the Bible Say?
In Bible speak, the word is vengeance. That is a kind of old-fashioned word. There are several different aspects in it.
The act of vengeance is to punish someone. It is directed specifically at a certain individual or group of individuals.
The punishment is seen as retribution. The person who is performing the act of vengeance does not feel like they are the one who “started it.” Their act is a response.
It is a response to an injury or a wrong. The person is hurt or angry enough to (usually) lash out to punish the other person.
Using today’s wording, we would say we were taking revenge. Close. We probably use this wording because it seems like it is talking about the act itself. We are action-oriented people.
Revenge is God’s Job
There are a couple verses that point blank tell us that revenge is God’s job. Probably the most familiar verse on the topic says, “Don’t seek vengeance. Don’t bear a grudge; but love your neighbor as yourself, for I am Jehovah” (Lev. 19: 18 LB).
There are two others. “The LORD will take revenge and punish them; the time will come when they will fall; the day of their doom is near” (Deut. 32: 35 GNT). “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs — O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud” (Ps. 94: 1-2 NKJV).
A verse that adds to this is Exodus 14: 14. “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14: 14 ESV). This is when the Israelites were at the Red Sea, pinned between it and Pharaoh’s approaching army.
God will fight our enemies for us. He will retaliate for us. He has our back. But this will not necessarily happen on our timetables.
To read How Can We Wait Silently While Not Being Silent?, click the button below.
Oh, man! You mean, God won’t slap them down now? Doesn’t He know what they did to us?
That is one reason why we try to take things into our own hands. We go ahead and avenge ourselves.
Don’t Do It
The Bible is also clear that we shouldn’t take it on ourselves to extract vengeance. First Peter 3: 9 says, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing” (NLT). First Thessalonians 5: 15 says, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (ESV).
It is easy to want to avenge ourselves. We do take it on the whole “eye for an eye” bit in Exodus 21: 24. But that is another verse taken out of context. What is being talking about here is the law regarding violence. It is talking crime and punishment. It is talking violence, not insult.
But don’t we consider striking back to be human nature? I mean, a lot of times it happens without our thinking about it – especially if our weapon is our tongue.
So, What Are We Supposed to Do?
What God is calling us to do is counterculture. That is huge. So, we are leaving that for the next devotion.
God. Life is hard. Situations happen to us where we end up lashing out at others because of perceived wrongs. Lord, You have told us in Your Word not to take vengeance. Help us to focus on You and where we need to be. Help us always to remain Christ-like. Help us to do so in these situations. Amen.
What do you think? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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Should Believers Seek Revenge? – Seeking God with Elaine
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