Sometimes God’s glory is easy to see. Sometimes we are
sitting on top of the mountain watching the most breathtaking sunrise and the
entire world is going our way. More often than that, we find ourselves mired in
sin, suffering or other circumstances that make God’s glory seem miles
away. As we have progressed through our Biblical heroes we have seen a
lot of sin but we have also seen God’s amazing, redemptive power still uses
sinners for His glory. This week’s story, the focus isn’t about sin as
much as it is suffering and circumstance and how God’s grace and His glory are
still there even in the midst of it all.
I have been asked to share my testimony before and I have
always said it wasn’t remarkable. I was about 7 years old when I walked down
the aisle of an old country Baptist church. I read John 3:16 and accepted Jesus
as my savior. So, if you fast forward 30 something years, I guess you
would expect everything from that point on to have been all smiles with nothing
but peace and prosperity. If that’s what you expect you would be wrong. My
testimony doesn’t necessarily speak to salvation as it does to God’s protection
and provision. My parents were probably too young to have kids when I was
born, both of them had addiction issues at the time and both would spend time
behind bars. I was passed around from grandparents to aunts and uncles,
returning to my mom’s care every time she would “get her life
together”. I didn’t really know my dad until I was older. I
remember having no food in the house at all. I distinctly remember the
beginning of the month when we would get our WIC basket with off brand cereal,
some fine yellow cheese, powdered milk, and that disgusting generic peanut
butter. I witnessed more domestic violence and substance abuse than any kid
should have to witness. I truly believe everyone involved in raising me
did the best they could at the time; however through no real sin of my own and
despite putting my trust in God at a young age I often times found it very hard
to see His glory.
As I begin preparing for this week’s post looking at Joseph,
I started to wonder if, because of his circumstances, he too didn’t often find
it difficult to see God’s glory. In looking at Judah in a previous post I
talked a little bit about Joseph’s story, but nowhere near enough to do it
justice. In today’s post we are going to discuss some key events and how
God’s hand of providence was there even when Joseph felt like it was miles
away.
As far as background, Joseph was Jacob’s 11th son
and his first son with Rachel, the woman he really loved. All of his other
children had been born to Rachel’s sister Leah or to one of his concubines.
Because of his love for Rachel, and because he had waited so long for Joseph,
Jacob preferred him to all of his brothers. Jacob’s
favoring of Joseph was not a secret; all of his brothers could see it. Even though he was the youngest, scholars
believe at the age of 17 he was already put in a position of authority over his
brothers. His dad had also made him a special coat that wasn’t just fancy to
look at but also was likely a symbol of the authority he had over his
brothers.
“Joseph,
a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of
Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father
a bad report about them”. Genesis 37:2b
When the Bible mentioned that Jacob brought back a bad report
about his brothers some people immediately think this is referring to some type
of childish tattle telling. More likely
this is more of a supervisor reporting back to the “big boss” about workers who
were not behaving as they should be. Perhaps Jacob had put Joseph in the
authority role, but his older more experienced brothers didn’t respect him or
recognize his authority. In any case
between knowing their dad favored Joseph, being put under his authority, having
to look at his special coat their dad made for him, the animosity grew between
all the brothers to the point that they didn’t even speak to Joseph.
3 Now
Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born
to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When
his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated
him and could not speak a kind word to him. Genesis 37:3-4
Joseph didn’t ask his dad to love him more, he didn’t ask his
brothers to hate him, but also didn’t help things either. I can see this 17
year old man-child relishing his role as favorite son. I can see him taking
advantage of the authority he was given. His biggest issue though may have been
he didn’t understand how much his brothers hated him. Joseph had a dream, in the dream it indicated
that he would reign over all of his brothers. Even after all the animosity was
already present, Joseph excitedly shared his dream with them.
His
brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule
us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Genesis 37:8
Perhaps Joseph was young and naive and thought his brothers
would be super excited about his dream, maybe he was an arrogant jerk who
wanted to rub their noses in it, or perhaps he just had no concept of how much
jealousy and resentment they had for him; either way, he shared not just the
one dream, but also a second dream that included his parents bowing down to him
as well. This dream was enough to not just get an angry response from his
brothers but also a rebuke from his dad as well.
The next time the brothers took the livestock to graze, Jacob
sent Joseph to go check on them. As a kid I think I envisioned Joseph just kind
of bounding up full of teenage energy just kind of wanting to hang out. In
truth the brothers were close to 70 miles away from home and Joseph was most
likely being sent as a supervisor to check on them. He was to make sure they
were grazing the sheep the right way and that they weren’t misbehaving. As we
noted in some previous posts, based on some of their actions, they probably
needed someone to check on them; however they didn’t want it to be Joseph.
As they saw him approaching all their hatred boiled over; I
am sure they thought “here comes daddy’s little boy in his fancy little jacket
to tell us how to do our jobs.” As we discussed in Judah’s story, the brothers
first wanted to kill Joseph but eventually decided to sell him into slavery
instead. So now Joseph is stripped of
his special coat and of his position of authority; he is taken from the home
where he is loved and now becomes someone else’s property. That must be a
pretty hard place from which to see God’s glory.
The traders who bought Joseph took him on to Egypt where they
sold him to one of Pharaoh’s officials where he had become a household servant.
On a side note I have not found any accounts where slave traders or slave
owners in that time treated their slaves with any type of kindness or
dignity.
God’s providence was still covering Joseph because he rose
quickly to a place of trust in his Egyptian Master’s home. Joseph worked hard
and took care of everything his master wanted him to take care of. The
household flourished and the master gave Joseph more and more trust and
responsibility. Joseph had again
ascended to a position of authority and even though he was now a slave, he was
treated well and given dominion over the other slaves. That is until once again
circumstances turned against him as his master’s wife began trying to seduce
him.
Now
Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his
master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’
8 But
he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern
himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my
care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master
has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then
could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’ 10 And
though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or
even to be with her.” Genesis 39: 6-10
Like with his brothers Joseph tried to do the best he could
with the authority he had been given; but again things seemed to happen to him
that he couldn’t prepare for. After rebuffing her advances many times Joseph
again found himself alone with his Master’s wife. This time she was more persistent,
insisting he go to bed with her right then. In a moment of panic, Joseph ran
away; but he left his cloak behind.
One
day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household
servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said,
‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the
house Genesis 39: 11-12
I am sure there is probably some theological thought about
him leaving his coat/cloak behind every time something bad happens, but I am
not smart enough to know what it is. Angered
about being rebuffed yet again and probably scared that someone would find her
with Joseph’s cloak, the Master’s wife began to scream that Joseph had raped
her. She claimed that he had left his cloak behind when she started to scream
and resist him. Of course this made the Egyptian master extremely angry. He had
trusted Joseph with his household and now he is being told Joseph raped his
wife.
Surely one of Pharaoh’s officials could have had Joseph put
to death. He was nothing more than a Hebrew slave who had disrespected him and
defiled his wife. Some scholars believe the Egyptians actually believed Joseph,
others believe he was embarrassed by the entire situation. For whatever the
reason instead of having Joseph killed he threw him in prison.
Now through no real fault of his own, Joseph has gone from
the favorite son of a rich man in Canaan to a slave and now to a prisoner in an
Egyptian prison. Again these are tough circumstances from which to see God’s
glory and provision. Joseph remarkably still wasn’t broken; he continued to
always do his best and continued to serve the God of his father.
But
while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him;
he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So
the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was
made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden
paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with
Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Genesis 39:20-23
Joseph had once again made the most of his circumstances and
had risen to a position of authority even amongst the prisoners. Even being in a position of authority, he was
still a foreigner in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, a place he wound up
staying for many years. It must have been very difficult, but Joseph never lost
sight of God’s glory and His provision, even though it would have been very
easy to.
While in prison, Joseph interpreted a dream from Pharaoh’s
chief baker and his cupbearer. It was good news for the cupbearer, not so much
for the baker. The cupbearer promised
Jacob he would remember him when he got out of jail, but he didn’t, not for
another 2 years. Finally, when Pharaoh had a dream no one else could interpret,
the cupbearer remembered Joseph. After
languishing in prison for many years, Joseph was called to interpret the dream.
So
Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he
had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
15 Pharaoh
said to Joseph, ‘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.’
16 ‘I
cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘but God will give Pharaoh the answer
he desires.’ Genesis 41:14-16
Joseph had not lost sight of God’s power and glory despite
his circumstances. He was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and was not only
granted his release from prison, but was also granted a position working as an
official second only to Pharaoh himself.
39 Then
Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no
one so discerning and wise as you. 40 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.’ Genesis 41:39-40
This is a seminal moment in history for the Egyptians, and
the Israelites. With Joseph having such a high position of power, he was
eventually able to move his father and his brothers to Egypt. This was
important for a few reasons. First it helped them survive the great famine that
occurred at the time. Secondly because of their status as foreigners the
Egyptians would not marry and procreate with the Israelites. This was important
to help them build their faith in God and hopefully turn away from some of the
behavior they had fallen into in their homeland. While living in Egypt, even
though they eventually became servants Jacob’s family, the Israelites grew to
be a mighty nation with a rich history and a deep culture. When Jacob and his
family arrived in Egypt there were 70 in there party. A couple hundred years
later the Bible says when the Israelites left Egyptian captivity there were
more than 600,000.
Despite every negative circumstance, despite how easy it
might have been to take his eyes off of God, Joseph was always under God’s
grace and provision. When his brothers hated him, when he was a slave, when he
was falsely accused of rape, and when he was a prisoner God was providing for
him in ways he couldn’t even imagine. In
our lives we encounter so much hardship every day; it’s so easy to lose sight
that God is still at work in our lives. It wasn’t easy for me to think God
could use me when I was growing up as a poor son of an addicted mom and a
broken family. It also isn’t easy to imagine He would want to use a slave that
became a prisoner from a family that didn’t even want him.
He can use us regardless of our circumstances. His grace is
always more than sufficient
Joseph dealt with a lot of circumstances but kept his eyes on God. We will look more at his life next week including how he sought to get a little payback at his jerky brothers.
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