DTEB, “The Danger of a Critical Attitude”

Prov. 10:18 “The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,

and whoever utters slander is a fool.” (English Standard Version, bold font mine for emphasis)

Num. 14:36 “And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—

Num. 14:37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. (English Standard Version, bold font mine for emphasis)

Do you talk badly about people behind their backs?  I did not think I had this problem until I went to church this morning. One of the many things I love about my church and my pastor is that I almost always come home both encouraged and encouraged to change.

This morning, my pastor began a series of sermons on the life of Joseph as recorded in Genesis 37-50. To my delight, he started with where we all ought to begin: Joseph had some problems, and he had some lessons to learn. I suspect we all need to read the story of Joseph and our own story that way.

Here is the early part of Joseph’s story:

“Gen. 37:2   These are the generations of Jacob.

 Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Gen. 37:5   Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: ⁷ Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Gen. 37:9   Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” ¹¹ And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.” (English Standard Version, bold font mine for emphasis)

Pastor Todd pointed out that there were potholes on Joseph’s road to finding and following God’s will for his life. Pastor also pointed out that these potholes were largely of Joseph’s own making.

Often, we tend to read Joseph’s story backwards. We begin (in our minds at least) with the fact that Joseph is an ancient rags-to-riches story. By the end of the story, Joseph seems both successful and like a nice guy, so we tend to read his perceived nice-guy-ness back into the earlier parts of his story.

However—and I am trying to think of a nice way to say this—the truth is that, early in his life, Joseph was a jerk. Sorry to burst your biblical bubble.

Consider, for example, the following comment by the narrator in verse 2: “And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.” It is easy for us to say, “Well, so Joseph brought his father a bad report about his brothers. That’s probably because they were doing something bad!” However, the biblical text itself doesn’t say that Joseph’s brothers were doing anything bad. Of course, we could also say that the biblical text doesn’t say that they were not doing anything bad either.

Here is the thing, though: the Hebrew word translated “report” in verse 2 has negative connotations for the one who is doing the reporting. The Hebrew word (transliterated dibbah) suggests a slanderous or defamatory report. Slander does not suggest that Joseph was bringing a truthful report concerning his brothers. He was a tattletale, and his tales weren’t necessarily factual reporting.

This same Hebrew word for a slanderous or defamatory report occurs only 9 times in the whole Old Testament. Three of these uses occur in the verses that lead off this post. According to Proverbs 10:18, the person who practices slanderous speech is a fool.

In Numbers 14:36-37, it gets even more serious. When the people of Israel were on their way to the promised land, the spies who brought back a bad report concerning the land to Moses and the people of Israel died of a plague. So, if we don’t want to be a fool or die of a plague, it might be good to not speak badly about people, things, and places.

Of course, we might make some excuse for Joseph. After all, he was only seventeen. He was just a teenager. Okay, some allowances might be made for him.

On the other hand, I am over four times seventeen. As the pastor spoke, I felt the Holy Spirit saying to me, “You struggle with this, you know?”

Ouch! So, today and every day, I need to be more careful about how I speak about others. In this election cycle this might be especially important. But I don’t have to be talking about politics for this to be an issue. I need to avoid this in connection with everyone. After all, I don’t want to be a fool or die in a plague. I would rather you would not experience those things either, dear reader.