Weekly Bulletin

Joseph said to his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.  So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.       Genesis 50:19-21

 

“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper…. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”      Jeremiah 29:7, 11-13

 

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.         Jesus to the disciples, John 15:12-14

 

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.       Ephesians 4:32-5:2

 

 

The Bible’s Book of Genesis is usually thought of as two or three separate sections.  The first eleven chapters are considered to be Moses’ recording of pre-literary oral traditions which include and explain (1) the origin of the universe, the created world, and everything in it; (2) the origin of sin and its consequences in humans’ existence; (3) the Great Flood, God’s choice to start over and rebuild the human race through Noah’s family; and (4) the Tower of Babel failure which scrambled humans’ languages and sought to teach them not to think they could ever achieve God-status.  Genesis chapters 12-38 are referred to as the Mesopotamian section which tells of God’s decision to befriend, redeem, and begin making himself known to humanity through Abram and his descendants Isaac and Jacob.  The events of those chapters begin around 2100 BC in the region which stretches from the Persian Gulf northwestward along and between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers through northern Arabia.  Those events then continued primarily in Palestine, the area southwestward along the Mediterranean coast.  The focus of the Egyptian section of Genesis (chapters 39-50) shifts around 1900 BC to the northeastern “corner” of the African continent to which the Hebrew people eventually migrated in order to survive a severe drought and famine in Palestine.

 

The central character of Genesis 39-50 is Joseph, the first son born to Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel (the younger of Laban’s daughters, for whom Jacob had to labor 14 years) in response to her fervent prayers.  Joseph was the precocious, self-focused “favorite son” who provoked his eleven brothers to jealous anger and resentment by tattling on them (37:2) and by flaunting the “richly ornamented” cloak Jacob gave only to him.  Then he started telling his brothers about dreams he was having in which he was in positions of superiority and authority over them.  That stoked their anger and resentment to new levels.  When he told his father about one such dream in which even Jacob and Rachel bowed down to Joseph, Jacob felt it necessary to tell him to knock it off (37:10,11). 

 

Sometime later, Jacob assigned seventeen year-old Joseph to go to the fields to find and check on the well-being of his brothers and the flock they were grazing.  When they saw Joseph approaching, the brothers’ resentment boiled over.  They quickly plotted to kill him, put some blood on his ornate cloak, and take it home to Jacob with the story that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.  Only Joseph’s brother Reuben objected to the murder plan.  He successfully argued that they instead should just leave Joseph alive in a dry cistern too deep to escape.  After that was done, some of the brothers saw a trading caravan passing by on its way to Egypt.  Judah convinced the others that they could make some money by selling Joseph to the traders as a slave, but tell their father the wild animal lie.  That’s what they did, and it broke Jacob’s heart (37:31-35). 

 

In Egypt, Joseph was sold as a household servant to a high-ranking military officer named Potiphar.  The biblical narrative states that “the Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered.”  Potiphar noticed Joseph’s exceptional character and abilities and eventually put him in charge of his entire estate.  That went well until Potiphar’s wife became sexually attracted to the handsome Hebrew and repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempted to lure him into a tryst.  Joseph explained his refusals to her as deriving from both loyalty to his boss (her powerful husband) and his desire not to sin against God (39:9).  Her final attempt resulted in Joseph’s fleeing from the house without his cloak, and in the wife’s angry lie to other servants and to Potiphar that Joseph had tried to assault her.  An enraged Potiphar immediately had Joseph thrown into the Pharaoh’s prison.

 

In Prison, Joseph’s early days were much the same as his arrival at Potiphar’s house had been.  Again it was written that “the Lord was with him,” and he soon won the trust of the warden and was put in charge of the other prisoners and the daily running of the facility.  Sometime after that, the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and his baker did something which angered the king, and he had them sent to prison where they were placed under Joseph’s supervision.  One day, Joseph noticed that both the cupbearer and the baker were depressed, and he asked them why.  He learned they each had had a troubling dream, the meanings of which they could not figure out.  Joseph told them that “interpretations belong to God” and asked for the details.  After hearing about the cupbearer’s dream, he discerned that three days later, the cupbearer would be acquitted and returned to his position.  Joseph asked him to put in a good word about him to the Pharaoh when he was back in the palace.  The baker’s dream, however, did not have such a happy outcome.  Joseph’s interpretation was that in three days, he would be hanged.  Three days later, both of Joseph’s interpretations came true.  Unfortunately, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph.

 

In the Palace     Two years later, the Pharaoh had a troubling dream (Genesis 41) which none of his wise men or magicians could explain.  The cupbearer suddenly, remorsefully remembered Joseph and told the Pharaoh about him.  Pharaoh sent for him, and after he was shaved and given new clothes, Joseph was brought before the king.  He gave the Pharaoh the same disclaimer he had given the cupbearer and the baker, that as a human he could not interpret a dream, but his Living God could.  Pharaoh told him of dreaming about fattened cows and starving cows, and about healthy crops and withered crops.  After listening, Joseph told him the dream meant there soon would be seven years of plentiful harvests, then seven years of relentless famine.  He advised the Pharaoh to appoint a wise administrator to oversee the collection and storage of twenty percent of the nation’s harvest during the abundant years, then to direct the distribution of the reserves during the years of famine.  Pharaoh made the logical, prudent decision to put Joseph in charge of that massive task.  After thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner, he had gone from prison to palace in one interview — not bad.  He was thirty years old.

 

On the Job      The end of Genesis 41 tells of Joseph’s ascension to power in Egypt which was second only to that of the Pharaoh himself.  He married an Egyptian woman who gave birth to Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim, and for fourteen years he successfully carried out the famine preparation and response project, not only for Egyptians, but for people from other countries in the region who ran out of food.  Chapters 42-50 tell how that included Jacob and his clan in Canaan.  When they learned food could be purchased in Egypt, Jacob sent all of Joseph’s brothers except Benjamin (the second son of Rachel) to procure whatever food they could.  Joseph was the on-site official at the distribution center when they arrived, and he recognized his brothers right away.  They, however, had no idea the stern Egyptian in his official regalia was their brother.  Joseph interrogated them about their homeland and their family, then jailed them for three days as spies.  Before he relented and sent them back to Canaan with grain, he required that Simeon be kept in jail as a guarantee that the others would return with Benjamin.   One could wonder whether Joseph truly didn’t trust them – they had, after all, once threatened to kill him – or whether he was just enjoying the opportunity for some payback.

 

In the Family     On the trip home with the grain, the nine brothers discovered that the money they had paid for it was still in their sacks (as Joseph had instructed his workers to do).  They and Jacob worried that if they went back with Benjamin, they would be arrested as both spies and thieves, even if they paid back the money.  Only after that grain ran out, and with Judah’s guarantee of Benjamin’s safety, did Jacob relent and agree to let him be taken to Egypt (43:11-14).  When the brothers arrived, Joseph served them a feast at his house, raising their fears he might have them harmed while out of public view.  Instead, Simeon was restored to them, they were allowed to keep their silver, and soon they were headed back to Canaan with new sacks of grain.  Joseph again set them up by having his agents put his royal silver cup in Benjamin’s grain sack, then sent them to arrest him for stealing it.  He let his brothers agonize awhile over the thought of losing Benjamin and the sorrow that would inflict upon their father, but finally he couldn’t stand it any longer.  He revealed his identity to them – terrifying them – and expressed his forgiveness for their mistreatment of him years before (45:1-14). The brothers were reconciled, and they soon returned to Canaan with abundant provisions and with instructions to bring their father Jacob and all their households, flocks, and herds to Egypt to live in the region of Goshen for the final five years of the famine.  Jacob ended up being there seventeen years before his death (Gen. 45,46,47).

 

What Does It Teach?    I always enjoy the story of Joseph – a little because he sort of gets even with his mean brothers, but mostly because it shows God’s desire and ability to transform lives, if we’ll let him.  Several of his spiritual qualities stand out to me.  (1)  He was spiritually attentive.  Like his great-grandfather Abraham, he believed God, and believed God was speaking, if he would just listen.  That quality enabled him to interpret dreams to help others.  (2)  He exercised sexual and moral discipline long before there was a Law of Moses saying he should.  I attribute that to his serious listening to God.  (3)  He sensed that God was with him, even in the most precarious circumstances.  By listening to God and obeying as a slave, then a prisoner, then an aide to Pharaoh, he was able to excel in his work for God’s glory and humans’ benefit.  (4)  He allowed the Lord to give him wisdom for the famine that demonstrated prudent stewardship of resources, not consuming everything during abundance so there would be food to share during scarcity.  (5) Spiritually, Joseph grew out of self-focused, insensitive arrogance into visionary mercy. He grew to see that God was at work even in his brothers’ mistreatment of him years before, and forgave rather than holding a grudge against them.  Those are New Testament traits in an Old Testament person.  I pray that Joseph’s example challenges each of us to learn and live them.

 

 

 

 

 

1)  How do you think Joseph knew that sexual intimacy with Potiphar’s wife would be “a wicked thing, a sin against God”?

2)  What other important spiritual lessons besides those above do you find in Joseph’s story and life?

3)  Why is it so difficult to forgive someone who has intentionally wronged or harmed us?  How can it be done?

4)  How do you think the traumas of Joseph’s life affected his brothers over all those years? Affected the family dynamic?