The Joseph Cycle

But Leah, Dinah’s mother, smiled 
At Joseph, lovingly, across 
The bed, and said, “Joseph, the loss 
Of my own daughter would not make 
Me doubt your chastity or take 
My daughter for a wench. I know 
Why she lies here like this, and so 
Do they. It was the filthy rape 
Of Shechem. Simeon may drape 
His guilty conscience with some slur 
Against my daughter’s character 
And your uprightness, but it will  
Not stand. When angry brothers kill 
In vengeance, troubles come. Tonight 
My daughter lies with some Hittite  
Disease, and Levi schemes to blame, 
With Simeon, the boy whose name 
They most despise because you are  
Your father’s favorite son by far. 
Oh, they made boast to Jacob, sure, 
That no Hittite would ever lure 
A Hebrew girl into his bed 
Without the price of his own head. 
And they made good their word with plot 
And trickery. (Deceit is not 
So quickly crushed, but deeply runs 
Between a father and his sons.) 
Yet they will blame my daughter’s death 
On you, and use her final breath 
To justify their jealousy, 
And, if by any means, to see 
Your father lose the apple of  
His eye, and steal an old man’s love.” 

The lad looked up from Dinah’s face 
And stared at Leah’s piercing grace: 
“I thank you, madam, for your trust. 
Not once did I so much as lust 
At your fair daughter; though I do 
Confess to love my sister. True, 
She is a fair and winning maid, 
But I have fixed my heart and stayed 
My mind to die, or go to pit 
Or dungeon first, before I sit 
On scented sheets with any maid 
Unmarried to my soul. I’ve prayed 
Now every night that she would wake, 
And I am much perplexed, and quake 
With baffled fear that she will die. 
Oh, Leah, why? Why, Leah, why?” 
  
“Perhaps,” she said, “the answer lies 
Not so much in the minds of wise 
And learned men, as in the long 
Obedience that fights the wrong 
And does the right, no matter what, 
And waits to see the answer cut 
In living stone, and really wrought 
In flesh and blood before it’s taught. 
Perhaps the answer is the same 
As why your brothers hate your name. 
Is not this hate a hundred times 
More evil than your sister’s “crimes” 
Of burning fever and distress, 
And slowly breathing less and less? 
And is our God less able to  
Remove the heat of rage t’ward you, 
Than to defeat the raging flame  
Of Dinah’s raped and burning frame? 
I think not, Joseph. Rather both 
Are easy for our God.  One oath 
From heaven’s throne, and she would rise. 
One more, and all your brothers’ eyes 
That hate you now would weep. And so 
The answer why they hate, will show 
The answer why your sister lies 
Unwaking through your prayers and dies. 

There is a meaning, Joseph, in 
The hatred of your brothers. Sin 
Does not have power to nullify 
The deity of God. Ask why 
Your sister lies unconscious there, 
And why they hate in spite of prayer. 
But do not be in haste, or chide 
Your God, that he should wait and hide 
His purposes for now. He knows 
When we should understand, and goes 
About his work with perfect pace. 
And putting every piece in place, 
He leads a faithful man at last, 
By night, to stand where he can cast 
His eyes in light across the ways 
That made no sense for years, and praise  
The hand that led him all his days, 
And brought him through the baffling maze.” 
She stopped and looked in Joseph’s eyes 
And prayed that God would make him wise. 

“I marvel, Leah, that you do 
Not hate me like the rest. You knew 
The dreams I had as soon as they 
Were told – that all of you some day 
Would bow to me: the sun, the moon, 
Eleven stars, like cedars hewn, 
Will fall before the hated boy. 
And now my brothers would destroy 
A son of Israel before 
They put their faces on the floor 
At his conceited feet. But you 
Are different, Leah. Why?”  
  
          “It’s true, 
I know the dreams. And I believe 
That they have come from God. I grieve 
That all my sons are blind, and can 
Not see the first fruits of a plan 
To humble them and save their souls.” 

Then Joseph said, “But, Leah, Why? 
You see.  You have another kind of eye. 
Where did you get this sight?” She gazed 
A long time at her daughter’s glazed  
And half-shut eyes, then said, “I watched 
Your mother die because a botched  
Delivery of Benjamin  
Left her to hemorrhage within. 
And as I watched, God turned my life 
Around.  I was the other wife, 
The second choice, the undesired. 
He slept with me, it was required. 
I’ve known the favored place, first in 
My husbands arms, and then I’ve been 
Rejected just like you. And I  
Have tasted hate and wondered why. 
But as I watched my sister and 
Your mother die, I saw the hand 
Of God.  Rachel was beautiful, 
And I was plain, and worse, as full 
Of envy as an evil heart 
Could be. And when she died, my part 
Might well have been to revel in 
Her woe, except that all my sin 
Swept over me and crushed my vain 
Desires, and gave me more disdain 
For my own enmity than all  
Her favored charm. It was a call  
To wait, before I judge the ways 
Of God. Who would have thought my days 
Would be the more and better ones, 
And I, not she, would bear six sons  
Of Israel? And yet, dear son 
Of Rachel, it is you, not one 
Of my six sons, that God exalts 
In dreams, while all the ugly faults 
Of mine are on display.” She paused. 
  
And Joseph said, “Has not this caused 
You to resent the ways of God?” 
“O Joseph, learn to kiss the rod, 
My son. You will be tested soon, 
And in the midst of sunny June, 
Your winter will arrive. And though 
I sit here in my winter’s woe, 
I know that spring will come, and God 
Will smile, and lay aside his rod. 
Be sure the wheel will turn again, 
And one of my own sons will then 
Be lifted up with scepter in  
His hand, perhaps, and conquer sin.” 

At daybreak Jacob came to get  
His son. The old man touched the wet 
And fevered skin of Dinah’s face, 
Then said to Joseph, “Go and trace 
The path your brothers took last week 
With all our flocks beyond the creek 
Of Hebron. You will find them t’ward 
The plains of Shechem. They’ve ignored 
My word to send me news again, 
And I am worried that the men 
There might have made a raid against 
The boys.” So Joseph stood, and sensed 
A chapter in his life was done. 
He stooped to kiss his sister one 
More time, and then before he went, 
He turned to Leah for consent, 
Who smiling, said, “She’ll be all right.  
Remember what we’ve seen tonight.” 

As Joseph meets the rising sun 
And we light advent candle one, 
Remember that the question, Why?, 
Is answered not with skill, but by 
A long obedience and fight 
That hates the wrong and loves the right. 

Part I 
Part II 
Part III 
Part IV 
 
Copyright  1997 John Piper 
Piper's Notes