Questions for Thought
- What are some rules for living we could learn from Joseph?
- Why would a father show partiality to one child over the others?
- What should our reaction be toward those who have hurt us in the past?
In the last blog, we saw how Jacob returned to his home place with gifts for his brother, Esau. Jacob brought with him his 11 sons and a daughter. His 12th son, Benjamin, was born to Rachel on the journey home and at his birth, Rachel died. In Genesis 35, just before the death of Rachel, we have the account concerning God telling Jacob his name would no longer be Jacob but he would be called Israel. Here in verses 11-12, God again renewed the promises made to Abraham. God told Israel to be fruitful and multiply and He promised him nations would come from him along with kings. In addition, God gave the land promised to Abraham to Israel.
Beginning in Genesis 37, Israel’s favorite son, Joseph, becomes the leading character in the account of God’s people. In Genesis 37:3, we read how Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. Actually, he was the firstborn son of Israel’s favorite wife, Rachel. Israel showed his partiality here by making Joseph a coat of many colors. When the other brothers realized Joseph was the favorite, we read in verse 4 they hated him and could not speak peaceable to him. Is that not similar to what happens today when children realize the parents have a favorite?
Joseph had several dreams in which it appeared he was to be over his brothers. It was not enough for him to have the dreams, but for some reason, he felt a need to tell the others about his dreams. So in verse 8 of Genesis 37, we see the brothers hated him even more because of his dreams. In one of Joseph’s dreams, he and the brothers were binding sheaves in the field and his sheaf stood upright while the sheaves of the brothers bowed down to Joseph’s sheaf. In another dream, the sun, moon, and stars bowed down to Joseph. If only they had realized the prophetic nature of those dreams.
On an occasion, the brothers had gone to feed Israel’s flock in Shechem and Israel wanted Joseph to go check on them and return to Israel to let him know all was well. Joseph did not find the brothers in Shechem, but someone there told him he had heard the brothers say they were going to Dothan, so Joseph also went to Dothan. The brothers saw Joseph coming and they made plans to kill the “dreamer” as they called him. They thought they would put his body in a pit, and say an evil beast had devoured him. Reuben persuaded the other brothers not to actually kill him but just to put him in the pit. He had planned to get him out and take him back to Israel.
When Joseph got to where his brothers were, they stripped him of his beautiful coat and put him into an empty pit. One of the brothers, Judah, convinced the others they should make some profit from Joseph so they agreed to sell him to some merchantmen headed to Egypt. It seems Reuben was not with the brothers when they sold Joseph as he came along later to get him out of the pit and did not find him there. He went to the brothers in distress saying the child was not in the pit.
The brothers took Joseph’s coat and dipped it in the blood of a goat they had killed. Then they took the coat to Israel and told him they had found it. They asked if it was Joseph’s coat. Of course, Israel knew it was Joseph’s coat and he assumed an evil beast had killed Joseph. Israel mourned for many days. Can you imagine how these sons must have felt, that is, if they had any love at all for their dad.
Now Judah, the one who convinced the others to sell Joseph, married a Canaanite woman and had three sons by her. His oldest son, Er, married Tamar. Because Er was wicked, God killed him so Judah told the second born son to marry Tamar and raise up a child for Er. Onan did not like the idea of raising a child in his brother’s name, so he chose to ejaculate on the ground instead of making Tamar pregnant. The Lord then slew him. The youngest son was not old enough to marry so Judah told Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s house until Shelah, the youngest son was grown. It seems Judah may not have planned to have Shelah marry Tamar since in Genesis 38:11, it says Judah was afraid Shelah would also die.
In time, Judah’s wife died. Oh, these evil men. Judah went to sheer sheep and he must have been looking for a woman. Tamar found out he would be coming her way so she made herself look like a prostitute and waited for him. Sure enough when Judah came by and saw her, he wanted sex with her. She agreed, if he would give her something. He promised her a kid from the flock. She asked for a pledge until she got the kid and he gave her his signet, bracelets, and his staff. Tamar became pregnant by Judah, her father-in-law.
When Judah returned home, he sent a kid to Tamar by his friend, who was supposed to pick up the pledge. The friend asked around concerning where the harlot lived and the people of the area said there was no harlot. The man returned to Judah and told him there was no harlot there and Judah said to forget it and let her keep the pledge so he would not be shamed. In about three months, people told Judah his daughter-in-law was pregnant and he said to bring her and burn her. When they brought her out, she sent the pledge to her father-in-law and told him it was by the owner of this property she was pregnant. Judah admitted what he had done and said she was more righteous than himself because he had not given her his last son as he should have. Tamar had twins named Pharez and Zarah. Pharez is listed in Matthew 1:3 in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, the merchants took Joseph with them to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar who was one of Pharaoh’s officers and captain of the guard. God was with Joseph and made him a prosperous man. When his master saw how the Lord was with him, he made Joseph an overseer of his house and put everything he had into Joseph’s hands. He trusted him with all and God blessed Potiphar’s house because of it.
But as in so many Bible accounts, there had to be another evil person. This time it was Potiphar’s wife who wanted Joseph to have sex with her. Joseph refused her many times and when she realized she was not getting anywhere with him, she decided to set him up and make it look bad for him. Joseph was in the house alone with her and she again asked him to go to bed with her. He refused and tried to get away but she caught his garment and as he left he pulled out of it and she kept it. She called the men of the house and told them Joseph had tried to lie with her and when her husband came in, she told him the same story. He, of course, had to do something with Joseph so he had him put in prison but the Lord was still with Joseph and caused the keeper of the prison to give Joseph a break. The keeper put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners and gave him free reign.
During this time, the king got very mad at his chief butler and chief baker and had both of them put in prison. They were placed under Joseph’s care. Both of them had a dream and they were both sad. Joseph saw it and asked what was wrong. They told him they had dreamed and there was no one to interpret the dreams. Joseph told them interpretations belonged to God and he asked them to tell him their dreams. The butler told his dream in which a vine with three branches in front of him budded and brought forth grapes which he took and pressed into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph told the butler the dream meant in three days he would be back working for the king. The baker then told his dream in which he had three white baskets on his head. The birds ate from the baskets. Joseph told him in three days his head would be lifted up and he would hang on a tree where the birds would eat his flesh. Joseph asked the butler to remember him when he returned to Pharaoh so he might be brought out of prison too.
Both dreams came true just as Joseph interpreted them, but the butler forgot to mention Joseph until two years later when Pharaoh dreamed two dreams which his men could not interpret for him. The butler told Pharaoh about Joseph and how he had interpreted both his and the baker’s dreams correctly. The king called for Joseph and told him his dreams.
In the king’s first dream, he saw seven fat cows coming up out of the river and feeding in the meadow. Then seven lean cows came up and ate the seven fat cows. In the second dream, he saw seven good looking ears of corn come up on one stalk and seven thin ears come up after them. The seven thin ears devoured the seven full ears. Joseph told Pharaoh the two dreams were actually one dream and the answer to the dreams would come from God. He said God had showed Pharaoh what He was about to do in the land. The seven good cows and the seven good ears represented seven good years when there would be much food grown. The seven poor cows and thin ears represented seven years of famine that would consume the land. Joseph told the king he needed to appoint officers over the land who would take the fifth part of the harvest of Egypt every year and store it for the years of famine.
Pharaoh saw the Spirit of God was in Joseph and he chose him for the job of preserving the food for the years of famine. He made Joseph a ruler over all the land of Egypt. Joseph began gathering the food and when the seven years of plenty were over and the famine years came, Egypt had plenty of food. Other countries came to Egypt to buy food because the famine was in their lands too.
Israel found out there was corn in Egypt so he sent his 10 sons down to buy food. He did not send Benjamin with them. Since Joseph was the one who was selling the food, he saw the brothers when they came. They even bowed to him as had been indicated in one of Joseph’s dreams. Joseph did not let them know who he was and he even accused them of being spies come to spy out the land. They told him a little of their background including the fact there were 12 of them but one was with their father and one was no longer with the family. Joseph told them the only way they could prove they were not spies was to bring the youngest brother to him. Joseph had all of them put into prison for three days and then he let them out and told them to take the food and go home to their father but then to bring him the youngest brother. The brothers had a conversation among themselves concerning what they had done to Joseph not knowing Joseph was right there and could understand everything they said. He made them leave Simeon with him until they returned with Benjamin.
Joseph had their money put back in their sacks and sent them on their way. When one of the brothers opened his sack later to feed his animal there was his money. The other brothers found their money in their sacks too. When the brothers got home and told their dad what had happened, Jacob would not let them take Benjamin. He told them they had bereaved him of his children Joseph and Simeon and they were not going to take Benjamin too.
As time went on, in Genesis 43, the famine continued and Israel’s family again needed food. The brothers refused to go down to Egypt without Benjamin, so Jacob agreed to let him go. Judah agreed to be surety for Benjamin telling Jacob if he did not bring the boy back he would bear the blame forever. Jacob sent a present for the “man,” Joseph, and double the money in each sack. The brothers went back and stood again before Joseph. When he saw Benjamin was with them, Joseph told the ruler of his house to prepare a meal for them as they would be eating with him at noon. The brothers were afraid and said it was because of the money which was returned in their sacks on the first trip. They talked to the steward of Joseph’s house and told him what they had found and he told them not to be concerned because their God had given them the treasure. Then he brought Simeon out to them.
The brothers got their gift ready for Joseph and when he came in to eat with them, they gave it to him. He asked them about their father and they told him he was in good health and they again bowed to Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin, he asked if this was the younger brother of whom they had spoken. Joseph was so overcome with seeing his full-blooded brother he had to leave the room and cry. When he went back out to the brothers, he had a place set for himself alone, one for the Egyptians in the room alone, and one for his brothers alone since the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews for it was an abomination. The brothers were amazed when they found themselves seated according to birth. Then when the food came, Benjamin’s portion was five times the amount of the others. They had a good time eating and then Joseph had his steward fill their sacks and again put their money back in the sacks. In addition, he had the steward put Joseph’s silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.
The brothers headed home but as soon as they had gone out of the city, Joseph sent his steward after them and he told him when he caught up with them he was to ask why they rewarded evil for good. The steward did so and the brothers did not know what to do. The steward accused them of taking Joseph’s cup. They told the steward whichever of them had the cup should be put to death and the rest of them would become bondmen. They had no idea the cup was going to be in Benjamin’s sack. The steward went through each brother’s sack ending at Benjamin’s where he found the cup. The brothers were crushed. They packed up all their sacks and went back to Joseph’s house. He was still there. They went in and told Joseph God had found out their iniquity and they were Joseph’s servants. Joseph told them he only wanted as a servant the one with whom the cup was found. Then Judah spoke up and told Joseph how Israel would not let Benjamin come with them until they refused to return to Egypt without him and if they went home without him Israel would die. He told Joseph he had become surety for Benjamin and he begged Joseph to allow him to stay and send Benjamin home.
Joseph could not hold back any longer and he had all of his servants leave the room. Then he spoke to his brothers in their language and told them who he was. He told them not to be upset or angry with themselves because it was God who had sent him before them to preserve a remnant or a posterity in the earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance. He told them to go get his father and their possessions and come to Egypt to live. He said they would dwell in the land of Goshen and he would take care of their needs. He told them there were still five years of famine to come.
When Pharaoh knew Joseph’s family was coming, he was pleased. Joseph had told his family to tell Pharaoh they were workers in cattle so they would be allowed to live in Goshen. Pharaoh told Joseph to let his family dwell in Goshen and to make them rulers over his cattle as well. Joseph took care of all of Israel’s family throughout the duration of the famine.
Joseph also took good care of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He sold the Egyptians grain until they ran out of money. Then he traded them grain for their cattle and flocks. Finally he bought their land from them and made them into servants for Pharaoh so everything in Egypt became the property of Pharaoh. After the famine, Joseph gave the people seed and told them one-fifth of their crops was to be for Pharaoh each year. The people agreed telling Joseph he had saved them.
Israel remained in Egypt 17 years. At the age of 147, he called Joseph to him and told him it was time for him to die. He asked Joseph to carry him out of Egypt and buy him in his family burying place. He also told Joseph the two sons Joseph had before Israel arrived in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh, were to be Israel’s and any other children he had after Ephraim and Manasseh would be Joseph’s. Jacob then gathered all of his sons together and told them what would happen to them in their last days. When he spoke of Judah, from whom our Lord Christ descended, he said as recorded in Genesis 49:10 “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
When Israel died, Joseph had him embalmed and he and his brothers took his body to the family burying place and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah which Abraham had bought in the land of Canaan. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Leah were all buried there. After Israel’s death, the brothers were very worried about what Joseph would do to them. They sent a messenger to tell him Israel had said for him to forgive the trespass of his brothers. The brothers also fell down before Joseph and told him they would be his servants. Joseph did not hold anything against them and he promised them he would take care of them. Upon his death, he told his brothers God would visit them and when He did they were to take his bones with them out of the land. Joseph was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt.
In the next blog we will learn how the Israelites became slaves in Egypt and how God gave them the deliverance of which Joseph spoke before his death.
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