The gospel according to Joseph: Tested and transformed

Genesis 42:1-17 ESV

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 ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.  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 men. Your servants have never been spies.”  He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve 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.” But 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.” And he put them all together in custody for three days.

Genesis 45:1-15 ESV

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.  So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

God is always at work for our good. Even when he appears to be against us. Even when He does not appear to be working at all.

God's Goal

In any given moment or situation, God can be working thousands of things out for His goals. He's the ultimate multitasker. Consider the recent news about Ebola. God could working in Christian health worker's lives. He could be using this deadly disease to give Christian health workers an opportunity to witness to other health workers. He could be teaching people here in the United States about the brevity of life. God is using this evidence of brokenness, this disease, for good.

Consider the lives of Joseph and his family. His brothers sold him into slavery and deceived their father about his death. For over twenty years, this deception has stood. No repentance, no restoration, no rebuilding. This family has been spiritually dry. We avoid facing the sin in our lives, but God will not let it stand. God will bring it to the surface. He will confront us about the sin in our lives. God sends a famine. The brothers don't want to deal with it. The father sends them to Egypt, to where they had sold their brother.

God's Methods

God uses his instruments carefully. Joseph appears to be taking revenge on his brothers. But that's not true. He does not crow over them and bully them as was fully within his power to do.

They said they were honest men. But they had lied to their father and given him so much pain in their lies about Joseph. They are thrown in jail in false accusation. This is a reminder of how they had treated their brother in selling him unjustly into slavery.

Simeon is left in jail and they go home with grain and money. Leaving a brother behind... Doesn't this sound familiar? They are told that they must bring their youngest brother in order to prove their innocence.

They go back to their father and ask for Benjamin. Their father, who still plays favorites, refuses. Benjamin is his new favorite. So what then of Simeon? He waits in jail... Till they run out of grain. Their father relents and lets them take Benjamin.

They come back and meet Joseph again unaware. So Joseph treats Benjamin as a favorite. He wants to see how the brothers react. Joseph was the favorite and they treated him harshly. Would they do the same to Benjamin? When Benjamin is found with the "stolen" cup, they have another opportunity to their brother Benjamin under the bus. But they do not, they remember the heart of their father. One of the brothers even offers himself in Benjamin's place.

God's Heart

There is intermittent kindness and harshness. But behind all this is the heart of love. Joseph is testing his brothers to confront then in their sin. And not for revenge, but rather to heal them and have them repent of their sin.

Joseph had every right to avenge himself, but he does not. Instead he seeks out their good. There is a greater Joseph to be found in Jesus. He takes in all our sins and loves us. God may appear to be harsh at times with us, but He was doing these in love. May we take heart in this during times where God appears to be testing us and treating us harshly.

The gospel according to Joseph: The temptation of Joseph

Genesis 39:1-23 ESV

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an 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 that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 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 than 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.  But one day, when he went into 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 out of 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 me to lie with me, and I cried out 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 me 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.”  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 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.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The obvious temptation

Joseph was a good-looking guy. The wife of Potiphar noticed him. She wants to sleep with him. But there some other things to note. He was sorely tempted. Joseph is a young man, teenaged or early twenties. He was not asked to sleep with his master's wife. He was commanded. Remember that Joseph was a slave with no rights. Getting sexual favors from your slaves was a norm in this context. It would have been entirely excusable to the people of this time.

Joseph understood the all encompassing and entangling nature of sin. It seeks to kill and destroy. How can we see this? He ran away. He avoided her at all costs. He knew that to disobey her would have serious consequences, but he still did so.

He calls sin, sin. He avoids rationalizing. He does not stay near his master's wife. When she grabbed his clothing, he ran away without it.

But more than this is another idea. Joseph considers sin to be a personal offense against God. God wants good for us, sin goes against that. It is not just a set of rules, it is a personal offense. God has worked to bless the household through Joseph and he knows this. Sin hurts God.

The subtle temptation

Joseph ran from temptation. He did the right thing... And is now sitting in a jail cell. God says he was with Joseph. But consider this... Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He works up in slave ranking in an important household. Then he runs from temptation and gets falsely accused and thrown in jail. Joseph must've been tempted to doubt that God is working for his good. What is this? To be rewarded for doing good with trouble? The presence of God does not mean the absence of trouble.

Not only that, but God is preparing Joseph for the future. He was learning to administer and manage responsibilities and the people. He was managing the household of Potiphar. Then a jail. To finally the nation of Egypt. But there was no way Joseph could have done this in the house of his father. He didn't have the skills. He had to be in Egypt and had to meet the Prince of Egypt. God was working through this mess, impossible for Joseph to know or understand at the time.

The wife of his master represented an abuse of power. He was responsible for the household, by the blessing of God. His could he abuse what God has placed into his hands? By running from this remain, he was learning to not abuse power. This becomes ever more important as God gives him ever greater responsibilities... To end in the salvation of his family. His troubles became a blessing to those he loved.

The ultimate power to fight temptation

Jesus, our friend and savior, was slain by sin. He is the greater Joseph, whose troubles bought us blessings. How can we consort so closely with the one who killed or dearest friend? He will stop loving our sin when we understand that it stabbed and pierced the incarnate heart of God, Jesus.

The gospel according to Joseph: The hidden hand of God

Genesis 37:1-36 ESV

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen 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 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 his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.  Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers 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 sun, the moon, and eleven 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 that 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 saying in mind.  Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, 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 Shechem. 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 pasturing the flock.” And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.  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. Come 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 Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; 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 to his father. 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 it.  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 profit is it 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, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened 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 twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.  When Reuben 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?” Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the 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 robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all 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, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Rev. Charles Han

If God is in control of my life, does he know what He is doing? We all have our doubts, from looking at our unexpected/uncomfortable circumstances, crushed hopes,  disappointment, and disillusionment. This story should reassure us. God works through sin, through trials...

Dangers of sin

Joseph grew up in a household filled with strife. Filled with sin and dysfunction. The focus moves from Jacob to the next generation. Joseph was the eleventh of twelve sons. He appears as this upright and responsible son. He's a teenager of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel. Jacob favored Joseph... And made him a many colored robe. His brothers were jealous of him and filled with murderous envy. Joseph was keeping watch over his older brothers... He strikes as a self-absorbed, prideful, conceited, young man. This is not a picture of traditional family values. We see a picture of favoritism, pride, and envy.

We don't see the harm from our sin. Jacob doesn't see the problem of favoring Joseph. His other sons don't see the problem in envying Joseph. Joseph doesn't his pride. Are there songs that we are complacent about? Will we wait till they explode?

Hidden hand of God

God is not mentioned in this passage. But there are a number of coincidences, first they are not shepherding in the usual place. They are shepherding near a major trade route to Egypt. And the sons wish to kill Joseph, but Reuben convinces them to throw him in a pit. He was planning to rescue him later, but instead the other sons sell him as a slave. Once there, he is accused of a crime and imprisoned... Eventually, he rises in the ranks to become the Pharaoh's prime minister.

But what is Joseph thinking? When he is sold as a slave, he must think his life is over. God did this. God broke up the lives with heartbreak. Jacob was left in mourning. We can't see how this was necessary. But God works through this. God takes Jacob's idol from him. God breaks down the pride of Joseph. God wanted to use Joseph for great things, but first He had to prepare Joseph.

Pattern for redemption

God has to break your pride, your misguided affections, and your will for sinful things. God breaks us of these things in order to use you for His purposes.

Why or how can a good God allow us to go through all this suffering, sin, and pain? This is a major reason why people will not put their faith in God.

But Joseph's story echoes a greater story. Jesus was sold for thirty protects of silver. He was stripped naked. He was slain to save us. Like Joseph would later save the family from famine.