Joseph, Son of Jacob! Part I

The life of Joseph is one of the most prolific events in the Old Testament. One can easily identify with many parts of the story, seeing as there are a multitude of lessons to learn from, especially if it is read several times.

Before Joseph was born, his father Jacob had gone to uncle Laban to get married. While there, Jacob liked the cousin Rachael; the uncle said the dowry would be seven years of service on the farm. So Jacob worked for his uncle for seven years and was ready to get married. Laban had an older daughter named Leah and Jacob did not know that the prevailing custom is the older must marry before the younger sister. So Jacob married Leah and had to work seven more years to marry Rachael. After seven more years Jacob married the girl he initially liked (Rachael), and she bore him two sons, Joseph and Benjamin (she sadly died giving birth to Benjamin).

I believe Jacob seemed to favor the two brothers Joseph and Benjamin for a couple of reasons; they were orphans, he loved their mother and worked so hard to marry her, and she had passed away. Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph was very obvious, and it triggered jealousy and hatred by his other ten brothers toward him. I have to say that Joseph loved God, and God began revealing to Joseph through his dreams that he was going to be used for God’s Kingdom. This angered the brothers even more and they began to instigate his elimination. One day, as Joseph was sent by the father to take food to the brothers, the brothers sold him as a slave to a caravan of merchants heading to Egypt. In Egypt Joseph was sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard (which was a very important position). In all of these events God’s hand was over Joseph.

Potiphar saw the goodness in Joseph and gave him charge of his house and all that he possessed. The Bible says that God blessed Potiphar because of Joseph. The Devil is never happy when he sees certain victories and successes in the lives of believers. In this story, the Devil started his evil work by having Potiphar’s wife chase Joseph, and as expected, Joseph fled the scene; eventually the wife lied and she had Joseph thrown into prison. The Bible says that God was with Joseph in prison. If nothing else, this story confirms the fact that God never leaves or forsakes us.

Joseph found favor in the heart of the jailor and was given charge over the prisoners. Two of the former workers of Pharaoh were in prison; the baker, and the wine server. Both had dreams and Joseph’s interpretation of their dreams turned out to be correct. Joseph asked them to put a good word to Pharaoh about him, if they had a chance. The baker died and the wine server forgot about Joseph until Pharaoh had a dream, which no one could interpret.

I will continue this message in the next post. For now remember that man may forget us, but God never forgets us. Thanks be to God!