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What would you do if your family sold you into slavery just for being jealous of you? That is what happened to Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Follow Joseph as he is also put into prison for false charges, forgotten, and how his gifts of dream interpretation dramatically change his life one day. Through his abuses, we explore his faith in God and enduring hope. This is Part One of an exciting two-part series.
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Bible Study Notebook From Karen Robinson! Check it out!
Hello everybody. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for supporting me. It’s been a crazy few weeks, let me tell you. But first I wanted to mention new YouTube subscriber, Pat Warren has subscribed. Thank you so much, Pat. Welcome. I hope you get a blessing from the episodes. And so I do a little housekeeping today as I have the last few weeks.
I have transitioned from the old web hosting to the new one, but not to get too technical, but the backup for my site from my old host was incomplete. And so was not able to transfer over. So basically, I am having to start over. Now, I had some pages of my website saved, but the, the blog, the podcast page, my store, my music page, they’re gone.
I have to input everything back in there, all over again. Uh, today I finished resetting up the podcast feed. Uh, so it’s been a bit of a nightmare. I was really frustrated and discouraged yesterday. My wood master, who was awesome, Etana Holowinko from Jazz Society, she’s been helping me.
And this is what she said. I wish that I could wave a magic wand and fix everything, but I can’t. Uh, it is unfortunate that I lost all the data, but I do have some of the pages. I do have my, all my podcasts are all saved on my computer. My music saved on the computer. Just gonna take some time to put everything on there.
So when you go to my website, you will see my site is under construction, so that’s what that is. But you will be able to, view all of the podcasts on the YouTube channel. Hasn’t affected that. I do have last week’s podcast on the audio feeds, it just shows that I don’t have any previous podcasts, so it’s kinda weird until I add them all back in there.
pray for me on that. I do have some downtime coming up. I have two surgeries the end of May and I will be on bed rest for two weeks and then in July I have another, surgery, which will be another two weeks. So I do have some downtime thankfully, that I could work on these episodes and, put the podcast and the website back together.
So pray for me on the surgeries and pray, I can get this thing back up and running cause it’s taken four years to get it looking the way it has and everything is the way I want it, and now it’s like climbing up that mountain again. So that’s all I’m gonna say about that. But we have a great episode today.
I’m deciding, I am going to do Joseph these next two weeks because we were just talking about in the previous episodes, Jacob’s family and Dinah and her being violated. And so I thought, well, I’m just gonna do Joseph’s story because he’s next in the Bible. And if you’re not familiar with Joseph’s story, we’re we’re talking about.
Jacob’s son, Joseph, not Joseph and Mary. Jesus’ parents. So, just to differentiate, if you’re not familiar, and I’m probably gonna do a two-parter here because I wanna take my time and, talk about all the nuances of this story. And I tell you what, by the time you’re done here, you’re going to love Joseph.
He’s going to be your favorite too. And
there’s, there’s a lot of nuggets here to go through,
I hope that you enjoy it, that your bible’s out. We are going to start in Genesis chapter 37, starting in verse one.
Maybe I should do this beforehand. For those of you who did not listen to the previous episode, where does Joseph fit in the family? He is one of the sons, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Just for review. In birth order is Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naftali, GAD, Asher, Isschar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin. So these are the 12 tribes of Israel and Jesus comes from the line of Judah. That’s really important to know, but not necessarily for this particular story, but,
but anyway. So here we are in Genesis 37 verse one.
Jacob lived in the land of his father’s Sojourning in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of the them to their father. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a robe of many colors.
But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. So here is the start of Joseph’s story. He’s a teenager and he’s in charge of the flock of sheep with his brothers, and his mother’s name is Rachel, but his other brothers had different mothers.
So Joseph and Benjamin had the same mother. And we’ll talk about that more towards the end of the story. And so you think that Joseph is a tattle teller at this point? Because Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. If you read the previous chapters of Genesis, um, these brothers are not saints, let me tell you.
They are very flawed men.
I’m trying to find the right words to describe them, but they are not angels. They have done some really horrible things and apparently Jacob trusts Joseph to watch the flocks and report on what his brothers are doing, and there’s a lot of favoritism in the story. But Jacob lost his wife, Rachel, and
I think he’s in mourning and he’s clinging to his two youngest children
and making Joseph a robe of many colors. that pretty much puts a target on his back. That really screams of favoritism by his father and all of the brothers hated him for it. I mean, we’ve all been through that. If you come from a large family or even if you have one sibling, sometimes you may have felt that you were, uh, weren’t treated as nicely as your other siblings.
So his brothers hated him and,
and his brothers are much older and should be mature enough not to let a coat colors from between them or to harbor bitterness in their heart. So let’s move on to the rest of the story. Verse five. Now, Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, hear the dream that I have dreamed.
Behold, we were finding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheath arose and stood upright. And behold your sheaths gathered around it and bowed down to my sheath. His brother said to him, are you indeed to reign over us or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the son, the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you and his brothers were jealous of him.
But his father kept the same in mind. So you’re thinking, boy, this kid is a bragger, a tattle tail. Uh, maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. And I wished felt that way too. I thought, boy, if I had a dream like that, I probably wouldn’t tell anybody. But who was giving him the dream? It is God who’s giving him the dream.
And when we see the rest of the story, we will see why Joseph is dreaming this dream. And the brothers and the father even don’t believe him.
I don’t know what they think. They think he’s delusional? Dreams were taken very seriously. Visions were the way that God would communicate to a lot of the patriarchs. A lot of people in the Bible,
I don’t know if God still uses dreams today. Some people would say so, but we’re sure in the Old Testament dreams were very descriptive and they meant something, and we’re gonna find out what this dream is later. But Joseph doesn’t know what it means and his family doesn’t know what these dreams mean.
I will say in verse nine when it says, the 11 stars were bowing down to me. 11 stars are the 11 brothers,
and that will be in the future.
Let’s read on him.
Verse 12. Now, his brothers went to pastor their father’s block near Shecham. You remember Shecham from our last story, verse 13. And Israel said to Joseph, are not your brothers pastoring the flock at Shecham? Come and I will send you to them. And he said to him, here I am. So he said to him, go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word.
So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron and he came to, Shecham. And a man found him wandering in the fields and the man asked him, what are you seeking? I am seeking my brothers. He said, tell me please, where they are, pastoring the flock? And a man said They have gone away where I heard them say, let us go to Dothan.
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
So again, you see Jacob sending his son Joseph to go and check in, on his brothers. Now, maybe it was a welfare check. We will give Jacob um, the benefit of the doubt. That. Hey, we haven’t seen them for a few days. Are they doing okay?
Maybe he said, see if it is well with your brother. We’re gonna say it was a, a check to see if they were okay.
And Joseph’s a very obedient kid. He does what his father asks.
Verse 18. They saw him from afar and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another. Here comes this dreamer kill. Now let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams.
But when Ruben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life. And Ruben said to them, sh throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him. Father,
I’ll stop there. This is really unbelievable that these 11 men,
and they are definitely men, are jealous of a 17 year old boy and enough to kill their own brother.
What kind of people are these brothers? And I told you, they did not live a blameless life. They lived an ungodly life a lot of times. But I have to say that Ruben seems to be one of the guys that has a little bit of sense. We can’t kill our own brother, let’s just put him in the pit.
And then he was planning on coming and getting him out when everybody was gone. Most likely sneak out there later and get him out. But that’s not how it went because the brothers, you know, overruled his suggestion. Uh, Ruben’s, the oldest, you would think that his younger brothers would listen to him, but he apparently has no, um, sway in their decision.
They just have a lot of hate and bitterness, and they are intent on harming their little brother.
Let’s go on to verse 23. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in Now, if you’ve listened to the previous episodes on other prophets, uh, let’s see.
Daniel and Jeremiah, they were thrown into pits. These pits had multiple uses. They could throw dead animals down there. You could use it with a toilet, you know, squat at the edge of the pit. But normally these kinds of pits held rainwater.
And maybe it was a blessing that there wasn’t any water in that pit,
but this is very scary for a young boy. So what happens after they throw him into the pit? Verse 25. Then they sat down to eat and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum balm and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, what proffitt, is that if we kill our brother and conceal his blood, come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our own flesh, and his brothers listen to him.
Then Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shackles of silver. He took Joseph to Egypt. Now, let’s unpack this a little bit here.
Joseph’s in the pit and he’s screaming and pleading for his life and crying. And this is devastating to him cause he didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this. And the brothers are sitting next to the pit and having a picnic. I mean, really. Uh, Ishaelites, if you’re familiar with, Abraham’s sons, you have Isaac, and then you have Ishmael.
If you remember from, one of our previous episodes talking about, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar. So the Ishmaelites likes have their own nation, so they’re kind of relatives, kind of cousins here and down further, you see the word Midianite. These are the same.
Ishmaelites are also called Midianites, so don’t be confused with that. But they’re selling him to these traitors that are going down to Egypt and 20 sheckles of silver is not very much. I don’t think they did it for the money. I think they just wanted to get rid of the kid. Who was always checking on them and saying that they were gonna bow down to him, and they were sick of his favoritism from his father.
They just wanted to get rid of him. I think if he split ’em up, then you got two shackles a piece. Maybe
let’s go to verse 29. Apparently Ruben had gone off somewhere. It doesn’t say where he went, but he didn’t realize what was going on. When Ruben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, the boy is gone and I, where shall I go?
So, tearing your clothes back on that day, that was a sign of mourning. That was an outward sign that you were really, really upset and it’s usually about the death of somebody. Or there are times, like in the New Testament, you will see the high priest tearing his clothes when Jesus says that he is the son of God.
It’s another example. So lots of different reasons to tear your clothes, but that’s what that means. Verse 31.
So Ruben did not know where Joseph was. He must have thought that Joseph was killed already in verse 31. Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in blood, and they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, this, we have found, please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.
And he identified it and said, it is my son’s. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his garments and put sack cloth on his loins and mourned for his son. Many days, all his sons and all of his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, no, I shall go down to sheol to my son mo urning. Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potipher of pharoah, the captain of the guard.
So this is a obvious, they’re trying to hide that they sold their brother and they’re trying to fake Joseph’s death. And this phrase is ridiculous. Identify whether it’s your son’s robe or not. I mean, come on, anybody within, um, 10 miles of the place, but know that that is Joseph’s coat.
There wasn’t anything else like it. And. Jacob puts on sack cloth and sackcloth is kind of like a potato sack. That’s what you would wear, during a funeral, when you’re mourning. Kind of like where we wear black in our society. Uh, you would wear a sack cloth if you were mourning somebody’s death.
And it talks about his sons and daughters trying to comfort him. wanted to mention daughters. He does have a daughter Dinah that we know for sure. And so we’re not sure if the other daughters are Jacob’s daughters or his daughter-in-laws. Cause in scripture, the language, it could be either his own daughters or his son’s daughter.
We’re not really sure which is which. But he’s saying, you know, he is going to go down the sheol. sheol is a word that means the grave. Some people call it hell, it’s kind of a mistranslation calling it hell, but it’s, the word sheol is supposed to mean the grave.
okay, so here we go. We’re gonna go see what’s going on with Joseph going to, Egypt.
And I’m going to mention, we’re going to skip chapter 38. Because although it’s a story of Judah and Tamar, not Tamar, king David’s daughter, which we have done a story on her, but this is a different Tamar. This is Judah’s daughter-in-law. We’re gonna skip that for now because it’s not relevant to our story.
It does show what a scoundrel Judah was, but God still uses him to bring Jesus through the line of Judah. And that’s kind of what that story’s about, is we need to have an heir. That’s all I’ll say about chapter 38. You can read that for yourself. So
we’re in chapter 39 and Joseph was taken in chains, to Egypt. That was quite a walk. He was probably walking alongside the caravans. And his hands are tied and his feet are in shackles, and I believe that he takes the route of the King’s Highway in Israel and he goes past his mother’s grave.
It must have been really hard. And he’s scared. He does not know what’s going to become of him, and his brothers betrayed him. He just passed where his mother’s buried. This is the lowest point of his life. What did I do this or being sold in his slavery? Well, let’s read verse one. Now, joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potipher, an officer of Pharoah, the captain of the Guard in Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had from the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all the land and over all that he had.
The Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So we left all that he had in Joseph’s charge. And because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.
So let’s talk about this some more. I’m sure that’s pretty miserable to be a slave, an Egyptian slave at that. But the Lord was with Joseph and I’d like to point out that Joseph wasn’t feeling sorry for himself and refusing to do anything or being difficult. He was doing a great job for Potipher. Potipher noticed his hard work, his ethics, his integrity, and that’s an example of what we should be at our jobs.
Regardless of what kind of work you’re in, what industry you’re in, your boss wants you to make them money. Your boss wants them to prosper. That’s why you are there. They didn’t hire you for your good looks or your personality. I mean, that might have been a, deciding factor at the end. But you are there to make your employer money.
And we should be, as Christians, we should be the hardest working people at our jobs. We should be the ones coming in early, staying late, being pleasant to our coworkers, being honest, you know, meeting our deadlines, doing all the things that is required of us, and then maybe a little extra. And I know firsthand that is really hard to do because work is work,
but here, you know, the Egyptians are not believers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They worship false gods. And they notice when somebody’s doing a good job, they’re noticing that the Lord Joseph’s God is prospering Joseph. So they’re smart enough to give him a lot of responsibility,
and that’s the way he is from here to the rest of the story, he’s a very hard worker. Okay, so let’s, go on to the next section. I think this is the end of verse six. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance and uh, I will mention really quick, there aren’t too many instances where the Bible mentions somebody’s appearance is good looking.
I think they mentioned David was handsome. They mentioned I believe Sarah Abraham’s wife was beautiful. Those are the ones that come to mind. But they’ve described Jesus as just ordinary looking. I can’t remember what the verse is, but they don’t call Jesus good looking.
All of you that have watched Jesus of Nazareth with Robert Powell with the blue eyes, uh, he’s a very good looking man. Apparently in the Bible he is just an ordinary looking guy. Nobody would’ve noticed him except that he was healing people and casting out demons. So let’s go on
verse seven. And after a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master’s wife, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house. And he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house. Then I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph Day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her, or to be with her. Let’s stop there and chew on that for a little bit.
So I’m going to assume that Potipher’s wife was beautiful as well. It doesn’t mention anything about her appearance, but usually leadership, they get the most beautiful, uh, selection of women.
And so she is hitting on Joseph. She is extremely, um, a aggressive in this and Joseph, I mean, I have to hand it to him. He came from being sold into slavery and I’m sure he is in the prime of his life right now. If you were 18 years old, you would probably not turn down too many opportunities to sleep with a woman who wanted to sleep with you
and. Who would blame him if he thought, well, I’ve been through all of this. I’m a slave. Although I’m in a good place as a slave, I’m still a slave. Look at all what I have gone through, all the things that I have suffered. I deserve to dissipate in some pleasure for once. But that’s not how Joseph is.
Joseph, his integrity, his belief in the Lord, his faithfulness to God is still very, very strong. And he says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? I mean, yes, he did mention Potipher. Look, he put me in charge of his entire house.
But how can I sin against God? That was his underlying thing.
I cannot sin against God, having sex with Potipher’s wife is adultery. I’m not going to do this. I’m not gonna listen to her. I’m not gonna lie with her. I’m not going to be with her in any way. He was trying to avoid her, and that’s what you’re supposed to do. Joseph did the right thing. I also like to say that it is a myth that men like to have sex all the time, and they would take any opportunity whatsoever that’s presented to them to have sex, and they don’t care who they’re sleeping with or who they’re betraying. All guys wanna do is have sex, sex, sex. And they don’t have any scruples at all.
I don’t believe that to be true. There are plenty of men out there. Yes, I acknowledge you guys that are listening. There are plenty of guys out there that have sexual integrity. They’re not out there sleeping around. They have self-control and they’re celibate until they are married and they’re trying to honor God with their bodies.
So those of you that are doing that out there, hats off to you. And Joseph is one of those. So we have to stop doing. The whole you know, she’s doing him a favor. Yes, there are men that are like that, that would take any opportunity whatsoever.
So let’s go on to verse 11. What’s what’s gonna happen here?
But one day when he went out to the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outta the house.
She called to the men of her household and said to them, see, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice, and as soon as he heard that, I lifted up my voice and cried out. He left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house. Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story saying The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us came in to laugh at me.
But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. All right. Again, Joseph is doing the right thing. He ran away and he ran away, uh, probably in his loin cloth. She had his robe. Sometimes extreme measures are needed to get out of a situation, depends on your situation.
Um, but I pray that the Lord gives us opportunities and escape routes when we’re in dangerous types of situations that really mar our integrity. And you’re already seeing what kind of a woman this is. She is not honest, she is not faithful to her husband. She is creating this story. And, look, she is blaming her husband.
He brought this Hebrew into the house, like, well, this Hebrew is making the house very successful, bringing a lot of money into the house. So I have a feeling that the, the men in the household didn’t believe her. I have a feeling that Joseph’s, reputation was so stellar that nobody believed her.
But are you going to say anything against the woman of the house? No, you’re not.
But Joseph’s in a pickle right now.
Okay, so where does Potipher think of all this? Verse 19. As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, this is the way your servant treated me, his anger was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all of the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge.
Because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.
So it says that was angry. Now the passage doesn’t really say what he was angry about. I really don’t think that he was angry with Joseph. He knew Joseph and his character. Now I believe that his anger was kindled against his wife or the situation that his wife put him in, because here Joseph is making his house successful, making him money, making him to prosper.
And then you’ve got potipher’s wife accusing Joseph of raping her basically when actually it was her trying to rape him.
And I think that Potipher was in a, a big predicament because I
think Potipher believed that Joseph was innocent, but he couldn’t just punish his wife. He couldn’t do that.
Obviously she has a big mouth and she would’ve told everybody that Joseph, tried to rape her and it would’ve been probably trouble for Potipher. I believe that Potipher gave Joseph Mercy by putting him in the prison into the pit because he had the power to execute. Joseph’s a slave
and he rules over Joseph,
but I think he decided to put Joseph into prison because at least he would be alive and, maybe things would calm down later. I don’t know. That’s me being a little speculative, a lot of things that aren’t in the text, but we can kind of gather some. Some truths from what we’re reading so far that this wife was not an honest woman.
So here, Joseph’s in another pit prison with all of the king’s prisoners, and again, the Lord was with Joseph. We mentioned last week that
God doesn’t promise to keep us from suffering or bad things happening to us. And that’s a hard pill to swallow because we think of God as like a genie in a bottle, and we ask God to rescue us from whatever trouble we’re in or whatever suffering we’re going through. And yes, God wants to answer our prayers.
But what he wants, first of all, is relationship with us. And sometimes we ignore God until bad things happen. Am I right? things are going good. Your job’s going great. You got money in the bank. Your kids aren’t sick. You and your wife are getting along. You and your husband are getting along and you kind of forget about God.
That’s human nature. And God knows that. but God allows trials to happen because he has a purpose for them. what God does promise is that he is going to be with us through the suffering, to comfort us and to guide us if we’re listening. If we are listening, and Joseph, even in the pit, even in prison, he is still faithful.
He catches the eye of the keeper of the prison. This is incredible. I mean, he is an extraordinary young man. It is very obvious here, the keeper of the prison saw Joseph and his morals and integrity and loyalty. I don’t know, it doesn’t say if he volunteered for helping out the prison or God put it in the hearts of the keeper.
It doesn’t really give us those details, but, the jailer did the same thing that Potipher did, put Joseph in charge of everything in the prison because the Lord was with him. And so, again, another example of the unbelievers are watching us and our testimony before these unbelievers, wherever we are, is important.
And it says that the Lord made it succeed.
So we remember that Joseph’s the one who receives dreams from God and he receives the gift of interpreting dreams. If you remember when we studied Daniel, Daniel also had this gift of receiving visions from God and interpreting other people’s dreams and visions correctly. Now, if you could not interpret the dreams correctly, that meant you were a false prophet.
Oh, that is a big distinction. So we’re going to see here in chapter 40 of Joseph’s Interpreting two prisoners’ dreams.
Now verse one, sometime after this, the cupbearer of the King of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their Lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharoah was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the Chief baker. And he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. In the prison where Joseph was confined, the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them and he attended them.
They continued for some time in custody.
So I always wondered what the baker did to get the Pharoah angry. How can you mess up as a baker? You make bread, you make cakes. What’s there not to love? Right? And the same with the cup bearer. Now the chief cup bearer, is somebody that has to taste all of the food.
The chief cup bearer tastes all of the Pharaoh or the king’s food and drink to make sure that it wasn’t poisonous. That’s quite common with royalty of any kind throughout history. You had to do this because being poisoned, even by your own family was a, um, regular occurrence. And so I’m kinda wondering what the cup bearer did to deserve being put in prison.
I mean, how can you go wrong? Right. Uh, I digress, but they’re in with Joseph, so they’re in good hands for a time being and he must have chatted for a while and. Gotten some sort of a relationship. So let’s hear about their dreams. Verse five
in one night, they both dreamed the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison, each his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody and his master’s house, why are your faces downcast today?
They said to him, we have had dreams and there is no one to interpret them. And Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me. Nine. So the chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, there was a vine before me. And on the vine there were three branches.
As soon as it butted its blossom shot fourth, and the clusters ripened into grapes, Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. Then Joseph said to him, this is its interpretation. The three branches are three days. In three days, Pharoah will lift your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Farrell’s cup in his hand as formally when you are his cup bearer.
Only remember me when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house where I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also, I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.
So this passage, it’s pretty self-explanatory because Joseph explains the cupbearer’s dream. And he’s asking , Hey, tell everybody up there to get me out of here cuz I’m here as an innocent person. I didn’t do anything to deserve being down here.
So let’s see what happens to the chief baker? What is his dream about Verse 16, when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, I also had a dream. There were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket, there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating out of the basket on my head, and Joseph answered and said, this is its interpretation.
The three baskets are three days. In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat the flash from you. Yikes.
So verse 20, on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all of his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker. Among his servants, he restored the chief cup bearer to his position and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Yet the chief cup bearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Yes, he has been forgotten once again and he has been in prison a long time.
Let’s see here.
Now, this has been 13 years from the time that he was sold into slavery until this present time, 13 years. He’s, he’s been in slavery and, uh, most of that has been in the prison.
So he waited two years before the cop bear remembers Joseph. So let’s look at chapter 41. First one. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
And the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke and he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of green, plump and good were growing on one stalk and behold, after them sprouted, seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears and Pharoah awoke and behold, it was a dream.
So in the morning his spirit was troubled and he sent and called for all of the magicians of Egypt and all of its wise men. Pharoah told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. That’s because these dreams are coming from God and the divination people on his team did not, um, know what the interpretation was.
Verse nine, then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with its servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. We dreamed on the same night he and I each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.
When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream and as he interpreted to us. So it came about, I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged.
So yes, the cup bearer. Finally, remembering Joseph after two years, and thankfully they called Joseph to come and interpret this dream or these two dreams rather, and this changes his life. Verse 14, Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh and Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream and there is no one who can interpret it.
I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Joseph answered, Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. So Pharaoh goes on to tell him, his dreams, which I’m not going to reread,
but he says in. Verse 24 and I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me. Verse 25, then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one God has revealed to Pharaoh what he’s about to do. The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years.
The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty. Throughout all the land of Egypt.
But after them, there will arise seven years of famine and all the plenty will be forgotten In the land of Egypt, the famine will consume the land and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow or it will be very severe.
And therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years and let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh.
For food in the cities and let them keep it, that food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt so that the land may not perish through the famine. Okay.
So there’s going to be a great famine that is coming and Joseph is warning him to, to prepare for this famine. And unlike previous prophets like Daniel or like Jeremiah who told, who warned people about what was to come and didn’t listen. Pharoah actually listens to Joseph and takes the interpretation very seriously, which saved everybody’s lives, including Joseph.
He is now out of the pit here shortly we’re gonna find what happens to him. They don’t just put him back into the pit, that would be a mistake. but basically they’re going to take a fifth of everybody’s, grain, kind of like a tax and put it in the grain storage. And then when the famine comes.
Then they’re gonna sell it back to them. And if it sounds a little strange, yes, I thought so too that you’re selling me back the grain that I gave you. Um,
I don’t really know that much about economics of Egypt, but this is going to save everybody. So in verse 37, Joseph is going to rise to power beyond his wildest dreams. This proposal, please, Pharaoh, and all of his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this? And whom is the spirit of God?
Then Pharaoh, said to Joseph, since God has shown you all of this, There is none so discerning and wise as you are, you shall be over my house and all of my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne. Will I be greater than you. Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you all over the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck and he made him right in the second chariot and they called out before him, bow the knee! Thus he set him all over the land of Egypt.
Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no one shall lift up, hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah and he gave him in marriage Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of on. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. There’s a lot going on in this passage, so let’s talk about this.
They gave him a job, a very high and prestigious job, even more than, he had in the prisoner in Potiphers house. He is second in command to the Pharaoh. That is just crazy, isn’t it? That is unbelievable that he is. Going from the pit to second in command. I wonder what people thought of that, but they’re going to see that he is a good man and he is going to help them in the trials that are coming.
And that cignet ring is a big deal. If you remember back when we did Esther’s story, the king gave Mordecai Esther’s uncle a cignet ring, and that’s basically his seal. So you have power to make decisions and make laws and et cetera. Uh, he gets a new outfit, some fine linen. They gave him a gold chain. Uh, he gets to ride in the second chariot.
That’s a huge deal. They go out and parade him before the city and they say, this man is in charge. You need to bow before him.
In Joseph’s new name, he gets an Egyptian name, which is hard to pronounce and spell. I’ll still call him Joseph as much as possible because, uh, that’s a tongue twister. so he marries an Egyptian woman, a daughter of an Egyptian priest. And I’m kind of wondering,
I assume it was an arranged marriage, that it must be a big honor to marry the daughter of the priest. I don’t know if he had a choice in the matter, but I always wonder if she was a believer in the God of Abraham. But I’m willing to bet that you spend enough time around Joseph and his faith. You are going to be a believer very shortly because as we already know, he’s a, a fantastic man of God.
So I am going to venture that she became a believer as well. Let’s go to verse 46. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of the king when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So remember, he was sold into slavery at 17, so this is a very long time. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
During the seven plentiful years, the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. He put in every city of the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea until he ceased to measure it where it could not be measured.
Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, joseph called the name of the firstborn, Manassah, where he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house, the name of the second he called Ephraim where God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.
But you really have a lot of compassion here for Joseph. He has been through so much, and even though he is like second in command in Egypt, he’s got probably a beautiful, family now. He still, remembers God and he names his kid. Based on the feelings that he has, for what happened to him, God’s made me fruitful and he still calls it the land of my affliction, which is interesting.
God’s made me forget all of my hardship in all of my father’s house. So maybe not forget like you don’t remember it all, but maybe it isn’t as painful anymore when it goes through my thoughts. That’s what I’m thinking. So verse 53, the seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come.
As Joseph had said, there was famine in all lands, but in the land of Egypt, There was bread when all the land of Egypt was famished. The people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go to Joseph. What he says to you do, uh, I just noticed that he called him Joseph. I guess it’s interchangeable.
So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians where the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe over all the earth.
The whole world came to Egypt to get Korean. That’s incredible. Okay, the plot thickens here because guess who else is starving? His brothers and his father back in Canaan. So we’re on chapter 42. First one, when Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, why do you look at one another?
And he said, behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die. So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt, but Jacob did not send Benjamin Joseph’s brother with his brothers, or he feared that harm might happen to him.
Thus, the sons of Israel came to buy. Among the others who came where the famine was in the land of Verse six. Now, Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land, and Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them.
Where do you come from? He said, they said from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them, and he said to them, You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. They said to him, no, my Lord, your servants have come to buy food.
We are all sons of one man. We are honest, man. Your servants have never been spies.
He said to them, no, it’s the nakedness of the land that you have come to see. And they said, wait, your servants are 12 brothers. The sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more. Joseph said to them, it is, as I said to you, you are spies. By this
you shall be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you and let him bring your brother while you remain confined that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh. Surely you are spies.
Then he put them all together in custody for three days.
On the third day, Joseph said to them, do this and you will live. For I fear God, if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households. Bring your youngest brother to me so your words will be verified and you shall not die.
And they did. So then they said to one another. In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us. Verse 22, and Ruben answered them, did I not tell you not to sin against the boy, but you did not listen?
So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. They did not know that Joseph understood them, or there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept, and he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with green and to
replace every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded up their donkeys with their green and departed.
I think I’m going to stop here
until next week.
So come back next week for part two of Joseph’s story and hear the exciting finale. And, um, you can read ahead. This is why I’m doing this series is I want you to get in the Bible, I want you to read about these incredible men of God, women of God, and be encouraged yourself.
And so yeah, read ahead if you want, or you can wait till next week to hear what happens to Joseph and his brothers.
you have a great week. God bless you. We will see you soon.