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
I was recently blessed to be able to give an interview, along with our Household Goods coordinator Mike Cable, to the Christian radio station K-LOVE for a weekly segment they do taking a closer look at Christian charities.
As the providence of God moves forward, Joseph finds himself as an Egyptian official with his brothers whom he has not seen in 20+ years bowing before him as they seek to buy grain.
In this moment Joseph decides to test his brothers, it seems with the hope of determining if they've changed or not since they betrayed him. His brothers reveal that they believe this test has come upon them as justice from God for what they did to Joseph, so they recognize that their actions were wrong, but that's only one step in the process of repentance. The full answer will await their return along with Benjamin to Joseph.
Lastly, the episode also illustrates how broken emotionally Jacob (Israel) is all these years after the death of Joseph. It is this emotional scar that the jealousy of Joseph's brothers caused, something else for which they are responsible.
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.
