This blog serves as an outreach for Pastor Randy Powell of the First Baptist Church of Franklin, PA. Feel free to ask questions or send me an e-mail at pastorpowell@hotmail.com
In a fairly rare biblical narrative in which each person does the right thing {The baker confesses his mistake and tries to make amends, Pharaoh listens to God's warning and acts accordingly, and Joseph once more acts by faith to become the man his journey has prepared him to be}, the chapter tells of the intersection of a regional crisis of epic proportions with the personal vindication of one man after long suffering.
In the end, Joseph's elevation to leadership in Egypt reminds us that we all need to be ready, willing, and able when an opportunity to serve is shown to us.
This portion of Joseph's life is a familiar one when we consider the Hero's Journey. Joseph is in the process of becoming the man whom God was able to use to save his people from famine. He learns not only faithfulness in his difficult situation as someone unjustly imprisoned, but also to trust God to do something he's never done before: interpret dreams.
The key for Joseph: When he recognized God's hand at work in the dreams of the cupbearer and baker, he chose to act by faith.
Genesis 39 conveys the story of the first ten years (appx.) that Joseph spent in Egypt as a slave. While far from the life he had been living, or could have wanted, Joseph was faithful in the little things nonetheless. The LORD was with Joseph, blessing him in his circumstances, although not removing him from them.
One such circumstance was the unwanted advances of Potiphar's wife. To these, Joseph responded with maturity by refusing to betray Potiphar's trust and refusing to sin against God.
In the end, Joseph's integrity cost him as Potiphar's wife used her power over him to punish his refusal with a false accusation. Yet, the LORD was with Joseph, even in prison where he remained faithful.
NOTE: The story of Potiphar's wife has bee used egregiously by some commentors as a cudgel against those who make an accusation of sexual abuse. This is NOT what the text is teaching because Joseph was not a man with power over a women who has been accused of abusing it, he was the powerless one. The story is about abuse of power, not gender.
The last section of Genesis focuses on the family of Jacob, primarily the interactions between his favorite son, Joseph, and Joseph's 10 jealous brothers.
In chapter 37 we see the seeds sown of what is coming through Jacob's clear favoritism, Joseph's "tattling" on his brothers to their father, and finally Joseph's foolish decision to tell his brothers about not one but two dreams in which they bowed down to him.
With anger at Jacob's favoritism, and jealousy stoked by Joseph's apparent arrogance (or at best cluelessness), the brothers' desire to do something about it simmers until opportunity arrives. That opportunity is the arrival of Joseph, alone, to visit them.
The hearts of Joseph's brothers were set to murder, but providential grace gave them an opportunity to choose a lesser evil by selling him into slavery.
The unnamed servant of Genesis 24 (we will assume him to be the same servant as in Genesis 15, Eliezer, for simplicity's sake) plays a key role in the transition of the covenantal promises of God to Abraham to the next generation of Isaac. It is Eliezer's faith that the LORD chooses to use to guide him to the selection of Rebekah as Isaac's wife. He steps out in faith by praying for guidance, God delivers it.
This serves as a powerful reminder to us that God's will is unfolding around us each day, we are called to participate in it by faith.
What is the cost of redemption? In the climax to the story of Ruth, Boaz and another potential kinsman-redeemer discuss the cost of redeeming the land of Elimelech. At first, when it seems like a sweet business deal, the other man is interested, but when Boaz reveals that the land will not permanently pass to the one who redeems it because he will also acquire the obligation to marry Ruth and produce and heir to continue the line of Elimelech, the other man suddenly changes his mind; the cost was too high. Boaz, because of the high value that he places upon Ruth, gladly steps in and fulfills the role of the kinsman-redeemer. God subsequently blesses, Ruth and Boaz with a son, Obed, who is symbolically placed upon the lap of Naomi to show that he will inherit from Elimelech. At the end of Ruth, we also learn that Ruth will become the great-grandmother of King David, thus also including her in the line of the Messiah.
Two important lessons jump out at us from the finale of Ruth. (1) The high cost of redemption for Boaz reminds us of the much higher cost paid by our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus, to redeem us from our sins. Jesus paid it all to redeem humanity, paid with his life, but also gained for himself and for God's glory from among the Lost countless ones who trust in him unto salvation. (2) God was still willing to bless Naomi, even though she had earlier lost her faith. The will of God was at work in Naomi's life, even if she didn't realize it, even through her darkest moments. Naomi may have given up on God, but God never gave up on her.
In this second message from Ruth, of five, we see the full impact of the sorrow from Naomi's loss of her husband and two sons reflected in her statements of bitterness directed at "the Almighty" whom she holds responsible for her losses. Naomi does not hide her true feelings, or pretend that she's fine with what the will of God has done in her life, no, Naomi is honest, and that honesty at this point in her life equals disappointment with God.
Ruth, meanwhile, sets about looking for a solution to the desperate circumstances facing herself and her mother-in-law as widows by participating in the process that the Law of Moses sets forth to help the poor: gleaning. Ruth follows behind the harvesters in the fields, working hard, hoping to gather enough grain to feed herself and Naomi. The hard work of Ruth draws the attention of the owner of the field, Boaz, a relative of her late father-in-law Elimelech, whose field, "as it turned out" she ended up working in.
While Naomi struggles with her bitterness, and Ruth begins working to try to survive, the hand of God is already at work, molding plans for Ruth and Naomi that include far more than just surviving.
