Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
We all love the stories which are ‘rags to riches’, ‘peasant to king’, ‘unknown to celebrity’, don’t we? Perhaps one of the greatest of all time is the true story of the young man named Joseph whom we yesterday watched be sold as a slave, by his brothers, to a passing caravan heading to Egypt!
At that moment in the story, it is actually a ‘riches to rags’ story, for Joseph was the favorite son of his father Jacob. The brightly colored coat he wore was evidence to everyone even from a distance. The brothers knew Joseph would probably inherit a double or triple portion of their father’s blessing even though he was not the first born son of the family. In fact Joseph was the 11th born, second to last, yet Jacob showered his love on Joseph because he was the firstborn of the woman who had captured his heart, Rachel.
By the time Joseph is being dragged down the road toward Egypt, his mother was dead, having died giving birth to her second son Benjamin. You probably know the famous story of Joseph being sold as a slave to an Egyptian official named Potiphar who quickly elevated Joseph to overseer of all his servants and responsible for his estate.
Genesis 39 gives us the sad story of the attempted seduction of servant Joseph by his boss’s wife, Mrs. Potiphar. Of course, her husband believed her story and Joseph was thrown into prison even though it was a fabricated lie. Deceit is a major part of our world, isn’t it? In fact, would you agree it’s a part of EVERY person’s story. At some time in your life, perhaps many times, your life has been impacted by deceitfulness, yours or other people’s, right? It’s Satan’s primary tactic and deceit always harms whoever it touches.
Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers sold him as a slave. They told his heartbroken father Jacob they had found his brightly colored coat out in a field torn and blood soaked. He must have been attacked and killed by a wild animal. Of course, the brothers had torn the coat, killed a lamb and splashed the lamb’s blood on the coat...deceitfulness. Jacob went into a season of deep grief. I think we could call his grief a depression. His beloved Rachel was dead, his favorite son Joseph was presumed dead. There was constant bickering among his remaining sons. The family which had inherited God’s Covenant of Land and People was in shambles. (Genesis 37,38)
13 years later the Pharaoh of Egypt had two dreams which seemed to him very significant, but he was frustrated that none of his advisors could interpret the dreams for him. Then someone remembered Joseph down in the dungeon. He had interpreted some dreams of other prisoners, and he was brought before the Pharaoh. Of course, they cleaned him up first… a bath, a shave, new clothes and sandals. The prisoner in rags was about to meet the most important, powerful man in the world. Genesis 41 is that remarkable encounter between a penniless slave and the Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh said: “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’ Joseph replied to the Pharaoh, ‘I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” (Gen. 41:15,16)
That brief exchange has always amazed me. I’ve often wondered what kept Joseph believing in the God of his ancestors when so much injustice had happened to him from his brothers, his boss and wife and even those who had evidently forgotten him down in that dungeon? Somehow, down deep in his soul, young Joseph held tightly to the belief that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was sovereign overall and would accomplish His promises and His purposes even though we have no record that prior to this moment of standing before the Pharaoh Joseph had any personal, powerful encounter with God, like his father Jacob, or his grandfather Isaac, or his great grandfather Abraham had experienced.
But God did give Joseph a clear and accurate understanding of Pharaoh’s dreams which warned of 7 years of terrible famine which would follow 7 years of great harvests. God also gave Joseph wisdom to propose a plan of holding back some of the excess of the harvest so there would be food sufficient for the famine years.
Pharaoh was stunned by Joseph’s wise explanation of the dreams and even wiser recommendation for navigating the treacherous years ahead. Thus, the most important and powerful man in the world, the Pharaoh of Egypt, proclaimed in his throne room, for all his officials to hear these words: “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you…I will put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger…” (Gen. 41:37-43) The entire conversation probably took less than 30 minutes, and suddenly prisoner, penniless Joseph had become the second most important and powerful man in the world! How does that happen? Only God!
You may remember this remarkable story continues by telling us Joseph did a phenomenal job of leading the entire nation of Egypt in wise management of those 7 years of bounty, storing up great quantities of grain, and then sure enough, just as predicted, a devastating drought and famine spread over the land.
But the famine was widespread throughout the entire region, not only in Egypt. Thus Joseph’s brothers and their families and his aging father Jacob living back in the land God had given them, soon found themselves hungry and needing food for themselves and their livestock. So, Jacob sent some of his sons to Egypt to buy the food which had been wisely stored up from the previous years of bounty.
It should not be difficult for us to imagine the crowds of people coming to the storehouse cities to buy food. Egyptians of course but also people from all the surrounding regions affected by the famine. Then one day, as Prince Joseph was watching over the distribution of food he noticed them… his very own brothers were in the line awaiting their turn to buy food.
Of course they were strangers in Egypt, not understanding the language being spoken by the grain sellers, and while I’m sure they noticed the important looking Egyptian official watching over the transactions, they had no idea it was their brother Joseph whom they had sold as a young slave more than 20 years before!
Now this is a great place for us to pause and reflect, do you agree? Let’s just stand over there, out of the way of all the busyness… the donkeys and their big grain sacks, the piles of grain being shoveled into those sacks, the money tables where the buying and selling is going on, the long lines of people waiting their turn, and over there, the very important Egyptian Prince watching over everything, with his bodyguards standing alongside him.
As you probably know, God was working a very strategic plan here which would accomplish His Covenant promises. The events of the next few years and the story of Joseph, his brothers, their families, and their descendants, his aging father Jacob, this Pharaoh and the Pharaoh’s who would follow him for the next four centuries, would all play an important part in the remarkable story of God accomplishing His Covenant Land and People promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, including this Joseph who appears on this day to be an Egyptian Prince!
Have you learned, my friends, to recognize when God is working behind what is obvious in front of your eyes, to accomplish His greater purposes? How has God done that in your lives and join me right back here tomorrow when we discover what God did here, in the middle of this famine, for His great glory, and to accomplish His Promises!
Today’s Scriptures are Genesis 37-42.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 37-42 Genesis 37
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Genesis 38
Genesis 39
Genesis 40
Genesis 41
Genesis 42
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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