Joseph, from slave to governor

The story of Joseph is one of the most gripping in the whole Bible. It has every element of a great novel: a favourite son, envious brothers, a coat of many colours, prophetic dreams, a sale into slavery, a temptation refused, an unjust prison, an unexpected rise, a worldwide famine and a tearful family reunion. But above all it is the story of how God works behind the scenes to turn evil into good. It fills the last fourteen chapters of Genesis, 37 to 50.

The beloved son and his dreams

Joseph was the son of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, born when Jacob was already old. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours” (Genesis 37:3). That coat was a sign of preference that stirred his brothers’ envy; they could not speak peaceably to him.

Joseph had two dreams. In the first, his brothers’ sheaves bowed down to his. In the second, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. When he told them, his brothers hated him even more, and even his father rebuked him, though he “observed the saying”.

Sold by his brothers

One day Jacob sent Joseph to see how his brothers were getting on as they fed the flocks. He found them at Dothan. Seeing him coming from afar, they said: “Behold, this dreamer cometh.” They plotted to kill him, but Reuben suggested throwing him into an empty pit, intending to rescue him later. They stripped off his coat and threw him into the pit.

While they ate, a caravan of Ishmaelites passed by carrying spices to Egypt. Judah proposed selling him, and they sold him for twenty pieces of silver. Then they dipped the coat in a kid’s blood and sent it to their father. Jacob, believing a wild beast had devoured his son, tore his clothes and mourned inconsolably.

In Potiphar’s house

In Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. “And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man” (Genesis 39:2). Potiphar put him in charge of his whole house. But Potiphar’s wife set her eyes on him and pressed him day after day. Joseph refused with words that reveal his integrity: “how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). One day she caught him by his garment, and Joseph fled, leaving his garment behind. She accused him falsely, and Joseph went to prison.

In prison: faithful in little

Even in prison, “the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy”. The keeper of the prison put him in charge of the other prisoners. There he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker: the butler would be restored and the baker executed. It happened just so. Joseph asked the butler to remember him, “yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him”. Two more years went by.

Before Pharaoh: from prison to palace

Pharaoh had two dreams no one could interpret: seven fat cows devoured by seven lean cows, and seven full ears of grain devoured by seven thin ears. Then the butler remembered Joseph. They brought him out of prison, shaved him, changed his clothes and presented him to Pharaoh. Joseph said humbly: “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

He explained that seven years of plenty would come, followed by seven years of famine, and advised storing a fifth of the harvests. Pharaoh acknowledged: “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” He appointed him governor over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty. He had spent thirteen years between slavery and prison.

The brothers in Egypt

The famine came and struck Canaan too. Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain, but kept Benjamin at home. The brothers bowed before the governor without recognising him: Joseph’s dream was fulfilled. Joseph recognised them, spoke roughly to them and tested them. He accused them of being spies, kept Simeon and demanded that they bring Benjamin.

When they returned with Benjamin, Joseph received them in his house. Seeing his younger brother, he was deeply moved and went out to weep in secret. Then he put his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack and, when it was found, said Benjamin would remain as his slave. Then Judah, the very one who had proposed selling Joseph, offered to stay as a slave in Benjamin’s place so as not to cause his father’s death. The brothers had changed.

“I am Joseph”

Joseph could no longer restrain himself. He sent all the Egyptians out and, weeping aloud, said: “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?” His brothers were terrified. But Joseph said to them:

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”

Genesis 45:4-5

Joseph embraced Benjamin and wept, and kissed all his brothers. He invited Jacob’s whole family to live in Egypt. When Jacob heard that Joseph was alive, his spirit revived: “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” The reunion of father and son after twenty-two years was deeply moving. Seventy people of Jacob’s house settled in the land of Goshen.

“God meant it unto good”

After Jacob’s death the brothers feared Joseph would take revenge. But Joseph wept and spoke one of the most important sentences in the Bible about God’s providence:

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

Genesis 50:20

Joseph died at a hundred and ten. Before he died, he made the Israelites swear to carry his bones to the promised land. Centuries later Moses kept that oath (Exodus 13:19), and his remains were buried in Shechem (Joshua 24:32).

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

Favouritism and envy destroy families. God is with us even in slavery and prison. Integrity is worth more than comfort. Faithfulness in little prepares for much. God’s timing is perfect, even when it seems we have been forgotten. Forgiveness can heal a broken family. God turns evil into good.

On the road to Jesus

Joseph is one of the fullest figures of Christ in the Old Testament. He was loved by his father and rejected by his brothers. He was sold for pieces of silver, as Jesus was betrayed for thirty. He was falsely accused and suffered innocently. He was placed between two prisoners, one of whom was saved and the other not, as Jesus on the cross between two criminals. He was exalted from humiliation to glory, and all bowed before him. He provided bread to save the world from famine, like Jesus, the bread of life. And he forgave those who wronged him. What men meant for evil at the cross, God meant for the greatest good: to save much people alive.

In the next episode we pause to meet Job, a righteous man who suffered greatly and whose book faces the hardest question: why do the righteous suffer?

Prayer

Lord, like Joseph, sometimes I don’t understand what is happening to me. Help me be faithful in prison and in the palace, to reject temptation and to forgive those who have hurt me. I believe you can turn to good what others meant for evil. Thank you for Jesus Christ, rejected by his own and exalted to save us. Amen.