Joseph

Joseph’s story begins with a coat and a calling. As a teenager in his father’s house, he wore a garment that said, without words, “You are favored.” “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children… and he made him a coat of many colours” (Genesis 37:3). That visible favoritism, combined with God-given dreams of sheaves and stars bowing down, stirred something dark in his brothers. Scripture says they hated him, envied him, and “could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:4, 11). In their minds, Joseph wasn’t a brother to cherish; he was a threat to remove.

The day came when their simmering jealousy boiled over. Sent by his father to check on them, Joseph arrived in simple obedience—“Here am I” (Genesis 37:13)—only to find himself the target of a murderous plot. “Behold, this dreamer cometh,” they said (Genesis 37:19). They stripped him of his coat, cast him into a dry pit, and finally sold him for twenty pieces of silver to Ishmaelite traders. While Joseph was carried away toward Egypt, his brothers dipped his coat in goat’s blood and handed it to Jacob, letting their father draw his own sorrowful conclusion: “Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces” (Genesis 37:33). One son went down into slavery, another sank into lifelong grief.

Yet the very next chapter of Joseph’s life opens with a quiet but powerful line: “And the LORD was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2). He is now a servant in the house of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. Everything has been taken from him—home, freedom, family, reputation—but one thing remains: the presence of God. That presence makes a difference. Joseph becomes a prosperous man, not because his circumstances are pleasant, but because God’s hand rests upon his work. Potiphar sees it. “His master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3). Soon Joseph is overseer over all Potiphar’s house.

It is in that place of trust and apparent success that one of the most severe moral tests of his life occurs. Potiphar’s wife sets her eyes on Joseph and repeatedly pressures him to sin. Joseph’s answer reveals his inner compass: “There is none greater in this house than I… how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Notice where his loyalty lies. He does care about betraying his master’s trust, but ultimately he sees sin in relation to God. Day after day, he refuses to listen to her. When she finally grabs his garment and demands, “Lie with me,” he leaves the garment in her hand and flees (Genesis 39:12). He would rather lose his cloak and his position than his purity.

His reward, humanly speaking, is devastating. Potiphar’s wife twists the story, accuses him of assault, and Joseph is thrown into the king’s prison. From favored son, to faithful servant, to falsely accused prisoner—yet Scripture repeats the same anchor: “But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy” (Genesis 39:21). In that dark place, he again proves faithful. The keeper of the prison eventually trusts Joseph with all the prisoners, and “that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper” (Genesis 39:23). Whether in a house or a dungeon, Joseph keeps walking with God, and God keeps working through Joseph.

In time, two royal officers—the chief butler and the chief baker—are placed under Joseph’s care. Each has a troubling dream. Joseph notices their sadness and asks, “Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?” (Genesis 40:7). Even in his own confinement, he is attentive to others. When they tell him their dreams, Joseph’s response is simple and God-centered: “Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you” (Genesis 40:8). He interprets both dreams accurately—the butler will be restored; the baker will be executed. Joseph asks the butler to remember him, but once restored, the man forgets. For two full years, Joseph remains in the shadows (Genesis 41:1, 23).

Then God moves. Pharaoh has two disturbing dreams—about fat cows and lean cows, full ears of corn and blasted ears. None of Egypt’s wise men can explain them. At that moment, the butler remembers his fault and speaks of “a young man, an Hebrew,” who interpreted his dream in prison and was right (Genesis 41:12–13). Joseph is hastily summoned, shaved, and brought before Pharaoh.

Standing in the court of the most powerful ruler in the land, Joseph has an opportunity to take credit. Pharaoh says, “I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it” (Genesis 41:15). Joseph immediately redirects the glory: “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). He listens, then explains: the two dreams are one message. There will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of severe famine. God is showing Pharaoh what He is about to do. Joseph goes beyond interpretation and offers a plan: appoint a wise man, gather a fifth of the harvest during the good years, and store it to sustain the nation during the famine (Genesis 41:33–36).

Pharaoh and his servants recognize the wisdom as something more than human: “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” (Genesis 41:38). Joseph is elevated from prisoner to prime minister. Pharaoh sets him over all the land of Egypt, gives him his own ring, fine linen, a gold chain, and the second chariot. The command goes out before him: “Bow the knee” (Genesis 41:43). At thirty years old, Joseph steps into the role God has been preparing him for all along.

During the seven plenteous years, Joseph gathers grain “as the sand of the sea” (Genesis 41:49). He marries Asenath, and two sons are born before the famine begins. Their names quietly reveal his inner journey. The first he calls Manasseh—“For God… hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house” (Genesis 41:51). The second he calls Ephraim—“For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Genesis 41:52). He has not forgotten his family in the sense of erasing memory; rather, God has healed the sting and turned affliction into fruitfulness.

When the seven years of famine come, the whole region suffers, but “in all the land of Egypt there was bread” (Genesis 41:54). People cry to Pharaoh for food, and he sends them to Joseph: “Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do” (Genesis 41:55). Psalm 105 later summarizes it this way: “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant… Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him” (Psalm 105:17–19). The chains, the pit, the false accusations—all were part of the “trying” that shaped Joseph into a man God could trust with great responsibility.

Eventually, Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt seeking grain. They bow down before him with their faces to the earth, not recognizing him (Genesis 42:6). The dreams of his youth are literally fulfilled. When Joseph finally reveals himself, his words show how he has learned to see his life through God’s purposes rather than human wrongs: “I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt… 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). He repeats it: “God sent me before you” (verse 7), and “it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (verse 8). Years later he will summarize it in that famous verse: “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20).

Joseph’s story, taken as a whole, shows us a man who walked through betrayal, slavery, temptation, false accusation, and long delays—but kept his integrity and his trust in God. He resisted moral compromise when no one from home was watching. He served faithfully in low positions as if they were high callings. He saw God’s hand even in the sins others committed against him. And he allowed God to transform his wounds into channels of blessing for others.

For us, Joseph’s life is a reminder that moral freedom and victory over temptation don’t usually happen in easy places. They are forged in pits, prisons, and pressure. But the same God who was “with Joseph” in every season (Genesis 39:2, 21; Acts 7:9–10) is with us still—shaping our character, testing our faith, and preparing us for purposes we can’t yet see.

As you dig into today’s Study Notes, remember: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth… for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous” (Joshua 1:8). If you’d like practical help to keep Scripture alive…

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