The Story Of Joseph Part 8--In Jail

 Genesis 39: 20-23

Joseph's brothers had hated him for being their father's favorite, sold him to a caravan headed for Egypt, and Potiphar bought him as a house slave. Since Joseph was faithful to God, He blessed whatever Joseph did, and Potiphar made him manager over everything he owned. 

Then Potiphar's wife threw a monkey wrench into Potiphar's works, and accused Joseph unjustly in being rejected by him.

(20) So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. 

Potiphar didn't put him in the common jail where criminals were incarcerated, but in the elite jail for those who offended Pharaoh, the king. 

By this time, most likely several years have passed and Joseph must have been in his twenties by now.

(21) But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. (22) The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. 

Just as the Lord was with Joseph in Potiphar's house, now He is blessing what Joseph does in this prison house, and the chief jailer made him a trustee, with responsibility over the other prisoners.

(23) The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. 

Just as Potiphar was able to leave him in charge, so now the chief jailer could also see that Joseph was capable, honest and responsible, so he also could give Joseph a free hand in what he needed to do in the jail, just as Potiphar did over his property. 

Joseph is still maintaining his faithfulness to his God, even in the midst of all the idols and idolatrous attitudes of the people around him, who didn't know about his God. And God's influence in Joseph's views and attitudes gave grace in the eyes of his authorities over him, to grant him more freedom of movement and action. 

But he was still in jail, unjustly, for maintaining his integrity. 

O my Father, even when Joseph was unjustly incarcerated, You were still with him, and His trust in You did not wane. And Your blessing on everything he did also did not diminish. Which was noticed. 

O Father, may Your blessing be on what my hands do, also, that others will see my trust in You, and realize how good You are. Send out all of Your children, Father, to tell everyone about Your love. Only love can counter the hatred that has been so prevalent lately in our societies. Open their ears and hearts to receive Your love, and their minds to understand Your ways for their own good. 

My Father, please help every living person have the opportunity to seek You, and to accept and receive Your gracious and generous gift. Let them all have a clear choice, and draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story of Joseph Part 7--He Ran From Temptation

Genesis 39: 6-20

We have seen how Joseph's skillful management of Potiphar's estate has been so successful that Potiphar left him in charge of everything, and didn't have to bother with any of it with Joseph there.  

(6) ... Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. (7) It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." 

Oh-oh, now comes some intrigue! Let's see what is going down here. 

He's a very handsome and capable and confident young man, and Potiphar's wife has a roving eye! Joseph would be a prize catch for her, if she can seduce him! 

(8) But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. (9) There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?" 

This is going to mean trouble for her. She is the master's wife, and can do whatever she wants, but now this slave is not going to obey her and give in to her seductions. 

He tells her that his standards are very high, and that his master trusts him, he will not take for himself what his master has reserved (or must have reserved) for himself alone, and he also does not want to commit this grievous sin against the Lord God who he worships.  

(10) As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. 

Potiphar's wife does not understand his standards, and she thinks she can wear him down, ragging on him every day, day after day after day. She just doesn't get that he is faithful to his God, she's probably never seen this kind of resolute before. He doesn't even want to be in the same room with her. 

So she is going to force his hand. 

(11) Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. 

Where was everyone else? She's sent all the other servants out so she can be alone with him; then he'll give in, because he'll think that he won't get caught. I wonder how many times she's done this! 

(12) She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. 

And she makes her play for him. She grabs him and tries to force him to her bed! But he won't fight to get out of her clutches, he just slips out of his garment she's gripping tightly, and runs away from her. He's got to get out of there as quickly as he can. He knows to run from temptation! 

(13) When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, (14) she called to the men of her household and said to them, "See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. (15) "When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside." 

Now she has to give all the rest of the servants the story they are to back her up with, and you know they'll have to stick by her or she's slander them, too. 

(16) So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. 

Now she'll play the "poor, pitiful me" game, for Potiphar's sake. 

(17) Then she spoke to him with these words, "The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; (18) and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside." (19) Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, "This is what your slave did to me," his anger burned. 

He realizes that his wife just caused him a lot of grief. He has to protect the reputation of his household, but it means losing the best manager he's ever had, and probably also the blessing of his God that prospered the estate so much. No wonder his anger burned! 

(20) So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. 

Potiphar didn't send him to the common jail, where the criminals went, but to the elite jail where the king's prisoners were put. But he was still fired from his job, and in jail. 

We know that God is guiding and directing and leading Joseph in every step of his journey, and we see that Joseph has such a grounding in his faith in God, that he trusts Him enough to be faithful to His high standards of conduct. 

Joseph had the sense to run away, and not try to argue his way out of temptation. We can read in I Corinthians 10: 13 and 14, that God will "make a way to escape" and that we are to "flee" the temptations that come over us. Contrariwise, we are commanded to, "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4: 7). 

So Joseph was wise, even in his youth, to run away when he was cornered. So we all are to run away when we are faced with the temptation to do anything against ourselves, each other, or our Lord God we worship. This calls for discernment, to discern what would really be loving, and what would be only co-dependent. 

But when we face bare evil, this is not a temptation, it's war; and we are to be wearing the Armor of God to take our stand in the battle, and after having done all, we will be able to stand (Ephesians 6: 13). 

O my Father, thank you so much that Joseph was able to withstand the constant barrage of Potiphar's wife, and to flee the situation before he would be compromised. Thank You for his strength and his faithfulness to You, Father, even when circumstances looked contrary to him. You were purposefully placing him where he would need to be, to fulfill Your plan for him. 

My Father, You have planned out each of our paths we are to walk, and You also strengthen us when our circumstances seem contrary to us. You are worthy of our complete trust, so that we also can maintain our integrity without being compromised when we are cornered. You have said that there would always be a way out, so that we can be confident in every temptation, that we never have to give in, to look for the way out to run away. 

O Father, You are so good to us! Please send out all of Your children into all the nations of the world, so that every living person everywhere will be introduced to You, in Your Love, and Your provision in Your Son to rescue all of us from ourselves. Bring every one of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family, Father, and fill Your great house with all of Your uncountable progeny. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, do come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story Of Joseph Part 6--Success In Egypt

 Genesis 37: 36; 39: 1-6 

We've seen how Jacob's sons hated Joseph for being Dad's favorite, so they were going to kill him, but they sold him instead, to the caravan that just happened to be passing by. And the Ishmaelites who were from Midian put him on the slave-block in Egypt. 

(36) the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of the bodyguard. 

This is the last verse in chapter 37, which sets up resuming this story in Chapter 39 after talking about Judah in chapter 38. 

(1) Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. 

The man, Potiphar, who bought the slave, Joseph, worked for Pharaoh; he was the commander of the military bodyguard for Pharaoh himself. 

(2) The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 

So Potiphar bought Joseph to be a house servant. 

(3) Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. 

Right away his master saw that whatever he did worked out really well, and it looks like he recognized that it was the Lord God that Joseph worshiped who was causing him to be successful. 

(4) So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. 

This success had Potiphar promote him to being his personal assistant, and he even had him decide matters concerning everything he owned, both in the house  and even in the fields he owned. 

(5) It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. 

Potiphar noticed that since Joseph was advising him in whatever matters he asked him about, whenever he did what Joseph said, it turned out profitable, no matter what area the expertise was in. 

(6) So he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. ...

So Potiphar let Joseph directly manage everything he owned, and he didn't even need to hear about anything, because he knew it would go well with Joseph in charge. The only thing he decided for himself was what to tell the cook to make for dinner! 

It looks like Joseph made life a lot easier for Potiphar, taking care of everything for him. This is the attitude that every successful employee has toward their employer, to make them look good, to prosper them, not thinking of themselves. 

I think this bode well for Joseph when trouble occurred. 

O my Father, You love us so much, and You want us to love You back and to love one another as You have loved us. Please help us to love our employers and serve them as Joseph served Potiphar. He is such a good example to follow in our work careers. 

My Father, teach us how to love one another in all of our relationships with one another, to learn what would be actually loving compared with what would only be co-dependent. We are so susceptible to the lie that helping someone when they are capable of helping themself is loving, when it is actually only serving our own self-image as someone who "helps." 

O Father, send out Your children to share with the whole world how much You love us. You love us so much that You will hurt us, though You will never harm us. And You sent Your own beloved Son to hurt on our behalf, to die in our place, so that we could live. Please bring all Your embryos to the birth into Your family, and fill Your great house with Your uncountable children. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story of Joseph Part 5--Jacob Mourns

 Genesis 37: 29-35

Reuben saved Joseph's life by talking them out of killing him as soon as he approached, so they threw him into the pit and had lunch. Now Reuben comes back from wherever he's been (taking care of the flock?), unaware that his brothers sold him into slavery. 

(29) Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. 

He must have thought that they'd killed him anyway!

(30) He returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?" 

He's dreading facing his father Jacob without Joseph! 

(31) So they took Joseph's tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; 

Now here's what they did: they staged a show for their father. 

(32) and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, " We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not." 

Here they can claim that they didn't lie--but they did deceive him, so that he would come to a false conclusion. 

(33) Then he examined it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!" 

Which he did, just as they wanted him to do! 

(34) So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 

Jacob went into deep mourning at the apparent loss of his favorite son. This is how his other sons loved their father, to break his heart like this! Their hatred for Joseph overshadowed everything else.

(35) Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him. 

They all tried to console him, but the loss was just too great for Jacob. He concluded that he would never get over this grief, he would always miss this son of the wife he loved, and would die and go to the place of the dead (Sheol) still grieving. He didn't think it would ever get any better. 

O my Father, I pray for all those who have lost a child. That must be the most grievous grief, as children are not to go before their parents. Jacob's heart was rent into tiny bits, and he didn't think it would ever mend. 

But You are a God of comfort! You comfort the brokenhearted, and You were gracious and You gave Jacob another son by Rachel, the twelfth son. 

O Father, Your ideal is for one man to have one wife for life, but when Jacob's double-dealing was turned back on him by Laban, he ended up with two wives, which wasn't fair to Leah. But, Father, this family's dysfunction is a lesson to all of us, that Your way is best, after all. 

And this story of Joseph is a very interesting journey You led him through. You prepared him, even at the tender age of seventeen, to be able to spend many years of turns in the road, before his dreams came to pass. 

My Father, You have given us the whole story, the whole Big Picture of Your great Plan of the Ages for Mankind, and You have given us Your Spirit to teach us Your Truth so we need not be surprised when we encounter what You have told us will come. 

Strengthen us, Father, to persevere and endure as all the anger of the devil is unleashed against us, and as we stand and see Your wrath poured out on the world around us without touching us. 

That is what You said would happen, and I see so much of it beginning to take place already. Keep me strong with my feet on the Rock, and I will not be moved. 

Father, send us out while there is still time, to share with every living person how much You have loved us, and sent Your own Son to save us from ourselves! 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story of Joseph Part 4--Sold

 Genesis 37: 18-28

Jacob had sent his youngest of his 11 sons, Joseph, to search for his brothers who were shepherding the flock miles away from home, and he finally found them. 

(18) When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 

While Joseph was still some distance away from them, they recognized him, and before he could hear what they were saying, they plotted to put him to death. This is some serious negative passion being expressed here, this family is very dysfunctional. This will not be the only "sin" these brothers will commit against the family. 

(19) They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer! 

(20) "Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!" 

They were thinking about the dreams Joseph had told them about, with their sheaves and the stars representing them bowing down to Joseph as though he were a king they would do obeisance to. They already hated him for being their father's favorite, and they resented him and were jealous of him. They couldn't see anything about him to say anything nice about. 

(21) But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, "Let us not take his life." 

(22) Reuben further said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him"--that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. 

But Reuben tried to talk them out of it. He wanted to make sure that he could be brought back home again to his father. So he rescued him from immediate death. 

(23) it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; 

(24) and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. 

(25) Then they sat down to eat a meal. 

By the time Joseph came to them, they had decided, and they grabbed him, tore off his fancy robe, and threw him into a hole in the ground, a dry cistern. Then they sat down to leisurely eat their lunch, a meal Joseph could have brought to them. How cold! What unfeeling apathy! 

And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. 

While they ate, they looked up and saw a caravan approaching. 

(26) Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 

(27) "Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers listened to him. 

Now Judah speaks up, as he sees an opportunity to gain a profit off of selling their brother into slavery. And they all listened to his "good idea." So Judah also saved his life, from being left to die in the pit. 

(28) Then some Midianite traders passed by, 

They are Ishmaelites by bloodlines, and they are Midianites by where they come from geographically. These are the samy guys, people. 

so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. 

Twenty shekels of silver was the price of a slave. A shekel was twenty gerahs (Exodus 30: 13; Ezekiel 45: 12), which came to 2/5ths of a troy ounce of silver, or about eleven dollars that they received for him.  

Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. 

So these traders brought Joseph into Egypt as a slave to be sold on the block. 

His brothers thought they'd never see Joseph again. Little did they know, until years later, that their evil scheming would set up everyone for where God wanted them to be! 

God is so wise and smart and clever that He uses even evil and destructive decisions to further His will for all of us, for our good, both now and forever. And He will have all the credit, all the glory for He planned all of it out ahead of time. 

O my Father, You knew what would happen, and how Your chosen people would be, and You still gave them every advantage. 

Now today, Father, now that Your Son has come to be our Lamb of God to die for us, and You raised Him from the dead, now You give us even more advantage than Israel, in giving us Your own Holy Spirit to live in each of us. Now we have Your Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Strength, Spirit of Wisdom, Your very Spirit of Life itself. 

My Father, You gave us Joseph to see so much of Christ's character. So far, we've seen his unquestioning obedience to his father Jacob, and his betrayal by those who were close to him, his own brothers, being sold as a slave. 

Father, You have loved Your Son as Jacob loved Joseph. Jesus obeyed You every moment and every step He took, and every word out of His mouth, and every act and miracle, and even His death was in obedience to Your will. And He was also betrayed and sold by His close friend, His own disciple. 

O Father, send out Your messengers and missionaries to all the world. Let every living person hear and respond to Your Love, Your generous and gracious gift, to seek You, and accept Your Salvation; or to reject You and suffer the consequences. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever, Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story Of Joseph Part 3--Obedience

 Genesis 37: 12-17

We just learned that Joseph was one of twelve sons of Jacob, and that because he was the baby, he was his father's favorite; which caused his brothers to be jealous of him, and think badly of him. 

Then he had a couple of dreams that made them dislike him even more. 

(12) Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem. 

We see here that they were shepherds. 

(13) Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said to him, "I will go." 

(14) Then he said to him, "Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 

Joseph was not working with his brothers, he was left at home when they went out, and Jacob sends him out, maybe with a lunch for them, to see how they're doing, and he obeys his father and goes. 

(15) A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" 

(16) He said, "I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock." 

(17) Then the man said, "They have moved from here; for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 

Some unnamed guy sees him looking kind of aimless, and asks him what he's doing, so he goes all the way to Dothan to take his brothers their lunch. He doesn't have any problem being the errand boy here, and goes as far as he needs to execute his mission for his father. 

Everything we've seen about Joseph up to this point is directly leading to how he will end up in Egypt. It has to be God's hand that is guiding this young man's steps. Even though Jesus will not derive from Joseph's line, but of his brother Judah's, Joseph is still a type of Jesus, in so many ways. 

O my Father, please help us to realize that we all as Your children need to be illustrations of the character of our Lord Jesus. Teach us how to think Your thoughts, to have Your attitudes, and to accomplish Your will for each of us as we live our lives. 

O Father, help us to understand that when other people act against us, to realize that it's not to harm us, but to bring about good for everyone. Even if they intended it to harm us. Your purposes will be accomplished through our choices, and when we cooperate with You and not let others upset us, but continue to trust You through it, then You will even reward us for what we're doing in Your power. 

Father, send out Your children as Your messengers and missionaries, to share with everyone how much You love us all. Let every person hear to want to know You, and draw near to You. Fill Your great house with all of Your uncountable family, Father. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

The Story Of Joseph Part 2--Dreams

 Genesis 37: 5-11

The Dreamer.

God often gave dreams to certain chosen ones, especially before Scripture was written. 

(5) Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 

(6) He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have had; 

(7) for behold we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf." 

(8) Then his brothers said to him, Are you actually going to reign over us? Are you really going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and his words. 

Who else would he share this information with, but those he lived with, and who were in the dream. But it didn't help with the relationship he had with his brothers. They already hated him.

(9) Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, "Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 

(10) He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?" 

(11) His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. 

Now God repeated the dream to him, and included his parents, also. Would these dreams come true, were they a prophecy? All he can do is just remember that he had the dreams and wait and see what would happen. 

His brothers were jealous of him, taking their father's love, but was it his own fault? His father Jacob responded as though Joseph was thinking more of himself than he should, but he just kept it in mind. 

Here we see that God is already working in Joseph's thinking, maybe to encourage him later when hard times come. It will be many years he will have to hold on, so God is preparing him for what is to come. 

O my Father, You are so good to all of Your created beings. You made Mankind to be Your own children, and You do everything possible, and even the impossible, to draw Your chosen ones to Yourself, while still allowing us to make a free choice. 

When You show Yourself to someone, though, how can we not be entranced and enamoured with You? How can we not draw closer to You, and want to love you back? 

You gave Joseph such an encouragement to sustain him when You knew how much he would have to suffer before he would be able to enjoy prosperity. 

And, Father, You gave me the desire to share Your love with people all over the world. And it has been many years, and I am still wanting to be Your foreign missionary! Father, are you just sending my writings abroad, or are they going ahead of me? Will you be sending me out there? 

O Father, send out all of your children, to every living person! They all need to hear from Your messengers and missionaries who can carry Your story, Your love, everywhere, into every nation! Everybody needs to hear, and open their minds and hearts to understand how much You love everyone! So they will be able to choose to turn to you, while they still have a free choice, before You allow the enemy to deceive them in such a way that they will no longer have freedom of choice, and cannot turn to You! 

My Father, bring all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family, and fill Your great house with all of Your uncountable progeny! 

And at the end, every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come!