Judah, Repentant
Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.
Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!
How should we punish you?
We wanted you dead, but why that crime
when lesser would do.
Buried in slavery enough for you.
So we lied to Jacob.
Interred in Egypt far from your father,
what more could we ask?
But the crime that we birthed
punished us with taunting mirth;
your flaunted coat launched such trouble
that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble.
What was Judah thinking?
Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers. A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery. It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar. Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Whew! Who knew what a bad decision could lead to. It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences. The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations. Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful. Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell. Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)
The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc.
Summary of the chiasm:
1)the origin of the moral crime
-
the stinging central sin (in bold face)
-
the consequences and guilt
Note the symmetry: the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat… the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.
Let me know how it works for you.
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.
Posted May 1, 2026, 3:56 AM UTC