I know I have not done one of these in forever, so I thought I would start them back up again. Here is the link for the others I have done already: What the Bible means to me-a 16 year old Girl on her way to becoming a Woman of God

    The goal, I hope, for these posts is to strengthen you in your walk, for you to get a double portion of what is in the Word, to give a little of history, and to maybe even give you new info that you haven’t read or seen before.

    So to start back up I am going to be talking about Joseph.

    As I was reading his story, these are a few things that I gained from it. We have all heard the story in church or in movies, but when reading about him, I noticed a few more things that what I had been taught.

    Joseph had a really hard life. He had to move a lot when he was young. His mother died when he was young. He had 11 other brothers, not to mention sisters.

In his youth his brothers hated him because of his father’s favoritism of him. That jealousy was so bad that they sold him into slavery. The Bible doesn’t give every much info about him being in the slave caravan, but I wonder what we was thinking.

    He was now a slave. He went from being the son of a man who wrestled with God, to being a slave in Potiphar’s house. WOW!! That must have taken a lot out of him. But he kept his trust in God to bring him safely through this mess.

    Being a slave in Potiphar’s house and having the knowledge that God had given him, he rose from a slave to a manager of Potiphar’s home. A Hebrew slave was in charge of a very rich and powerful Egyptian’s home, money and all his belongs. That sure is a far cry from the Joseph that first came to Egypt, a scared young adult far from his home. He changed in some ways, but was the same in many ways too.

    He was in charge of Potiphar’s home, doing what he is supposed too, and then it all comes crashing down. Again.

    Potiphar’s wife decides she doesn’t want to be faithful to her husband. She wants the nice young man who has this sense around him of being more (having the spirit of God) than everyone in Egypt. So when she pushes herself on him and he resists, she lies to cover to make sure she isn’t the one to blame and Joseph gets sent to prison.

    I wonder, Joseph was a trustworthy man and I am sure he didn’t lie, so why would Potiphar put him in prison?? He knew that his wife was lying. But I suppose that he didn’t want to look like a man who had a unfaithful wife, so he blamed the Hebrew slave. In the Dreamworks movie, Joseph: A Man of Dreams, It shows that Potiphar believe Joseph but he still put him in prison, for his appearance. I wonder if that is what happened.

    Joseph was in prison for 2 long years. But his attitude NEVER changed. He had the same attitude as the one he had at his father’s house, as he did in the slave caravan, as he did in the slave blocks in Egypt, as he did being a slave in Potiphar’s house, as he did being Potiphar’s manager, and he did when he was first sentenced to prison.

    He treats everyone in that prison the same way he treated his father, the slave drivers, and Potiphar. Therefore winning everyone’s favor and respect. And again, he rises to the be in charge of the whole prison.

    It is VERY hard to maintain that kind of balance in your attitude. We get upset because someone bagged our groceries wrong, or someone passes us on the highway. Look at Joseph’s life. His attitude stayed the same no matter what.

    Then after the 2 years, he gets a summons to go to Pharaoh. Pharaoh needs some dreams interpreted, and a man, whom Joseph already interpreted his dreams, and the prison master both recommend him.

    He goes to Pharaoh and tells him what they mean. The Pharaoh is relieved and disturbed by this. Joseph then offers his wisdom from Above, and tells Pharaoh what the best way to deal with this problem. Pharaoh, seeing the wisdom of Joseph and the man he is, appoints him to be in charge of this huge responsibility and Egypt. After he grants him his freedom. Joseph, wanting so very badly to go home and tell his family he is fine and alive, sacrifices himself and helps Pharaoh save his people.

     For 14 years Joseph takes care of Egypt. Then during the 7 of famine, as he is passing out the notes that give food to the people, he sees 10 familiar faces: His brothers.

    When he sees them, he pretends not to know them. He acts rough toward them like an Egyptian would, not because of what they did, but because he wanted to know if they recognized him. They didn’t.

     I wonder what Joseph felt like; when his brothers who he grew up with don’t even recognize the brother they sold.

    He pretends to act like they are spies in order to gain information on his family. Then he puts them in prison for 3 days. All the while they are thinking this is happening because of what they did to Joseph. He is standing listening to them talk about it. They don’t know it though, as he spoke through a translator to them. Reuben tells his other brothers that they should have listened to him, by not selling Joseph.

   After he left the prison he went to his room and wept.

    I can’t imagine what he is feeling, but I can see him just crying. He has not seen these betrayers for years, and yet I bet he was filled with so much love just by seeing them.

    After awhile he went back to them and let them all go except Simeon, who he kept as leverage til the others brought Benjamin back to him. He sent them back with the grain they requested and the money that they had paid for it.

   After much discussion with Jacob, the brothers are finally on their way back to Egypt with Benjamin. Joseph had kept Simeon well fed, and in good condition.

   When the brothers arrive in Egypt, and Joseph sees Benjamin, he can hardly contain himself. He holds a banquet in honor of him. He releases Simeon. During the banquet, he watches everyone- taking in his family.

   When he sends them on their way he hides his cup in Benjamin’s bag as a test for the other brothers. When he threatens to take Benjamin as a slave, they give their lives for him. Much changed from that time so long ago when they gave his life for money.

   I bet he prayed that they hearts would change towards their half brothers. I bet he felt relieve when he saw that act.

   After he sees what they have done, he is moved and reveals himself. They are in awe! They are ashamed. They are afraid of what Joseph might do to them. But he comforts their fears. He makes them go and get Jacob to come live with him in Goshen. Life was good.

   Joseph had a lot of trust in God to be able to go through all that. I only hope that I can attain just a tenth of the trust that Joseph showed through out his life.

   If you think about it Joseph faced many of the problems that we face today. He faced being picked on by siblings, being put out by them (although I don’t think that anyone now a days would sell their bro or sis into slavery). He was made to work at a job, he was tempted to keep his purity, his integrity, he was then falsely accused of an act he didn’t commit, was sentenced for it, he served for it.

   Joseph has to be one of the best role models that we can use to be the man or woman that God is creating.

   There is a lot more in Joseph’s life than the one that Sunday School teacher teaches or a Christian movie tells. There are so many more lessons that we can learn from him that they don’t teach.

   Joseph was a man that pushed against all odds and beat them. He trusted God all through it knowing that it would end for the better, even when it looked like he was alone. He kept his faith, his good attitude, and his integrity.

   I wonder why the brothers treated their half brothers from Rachel like they did. Most of them didn’t have the same mother any way. But they stuck together and outed Rachel’s. I know how children are, and I don’t think that think of those things on their own. I think that maybe they were influenced by mothers, who were jealous. Therefore their mothers are partly responsible for Joseph’s troubles.

   I hope that this makes you want to take a little more time when you read the story of Joseph.

  I know that now when I read my Bible I try to read it a couple times just to make sure that I don’t miss anything that the Lord wants me to remember.

Commented by totustuus

Great post about Joseph! You're right...we can only wonder about what he was feeling when all of that was going on.

I'm more than halfway through David Copperfield...chapter 40 I think. So far I've really enjoyed it. I love how Dickens develops his characters. Some of them are quite funny.

Thanks for your comment,
Sylvia