Joseph
in
Bondage
GENESIS 39 – 41
39:1-6
"Now Joseph had
been taken down to
The LORD was with Joseph. What else
needs to be said? If the Lord is with you, brother, that is all that matters in
this whole wide dark world! As you have it in
Romans 8:31-32, 35-39...
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
"Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor
any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So it was with Joseph in
There's one other very important thing here … did you notice that it says that Joseph was handsome in form and appearance? When the Word of God says that someone was a “looker” you can take it to the bank, they were a “looker.” In Joseph’s case, his face was handsome and his body was study in the male physic. In form and appearance, he was like Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, “David”. We read in II Samuel 11:2, that Bathsheba was beautiful. So, we can rest assured that she too was a "knock-out". We have the Word of God on it. On the male side of the equation, Joseph was Bathsheba's equivalent. He possessed stunning good looks. Now, from what I have observed in my short lifespan, those qualities are not always a blessing. In fact, they can be a curse. For those who possess such qualities, they can become the source of great trials and grief. So it was with Joseph. His looks immediately attracted Potifer’s ungodly wife like a bee to honey. Yet, we find no indication here that Joseph had become proud or vane because of his good looks. Thus, he was able to stand against the advances of Mrs. Potifer. He was a remarkable young man of God.
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39:7-12
"And it came to pass after these
things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, 'Lie
with me.' But he refused and said to his master's wife, 'Look,
my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all
that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he
kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?'
So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day,
that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.
But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work,
and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him
by his garment, saying, 'Lie with me.' But he left his garment in her
hand, and fled and ran
outside.”
Joseph is a study in servanthood. Not only was he faithful to his God, but he was also faithful to his employer. When Potifer’s wife made advances to him, he said, "Look, my master trusts me with everything. How could I possibly betray him?" As they say out west, "Joseph rode for the brand". That is as it should be with any employee, by the way. Employers have the right to expect loyalty from those who are working for them. This axiomatic principle was important in the eyes of Joseph. Also, notice that Joseph told Mrs. Potifer that to lay with her would be a great sin against God. This young man certainly had a firm grasp of spiritual reality. He was keenly aware that all sin was ultimately against God. He knew that when one sins, in the final analysis it is a rebellious slap in the face of God. All sin is against God, beloved. Joseph had it right. God is love, the New Testament declares (I John 4:8). Therefore, all unloving acts are contrary to him and grieve him. Is committing adultery with a neighbor’s spouse the loving thing to do? No. It is a very unloving act rooted is self-centeredness and aimed at the neighbor’s spouse and at God himself. That is why, when the Law came along, it was written, “Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). In the New Testament we read…
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou
shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself.” Galatians 5:14
I believe that this was an immense trial for young Joseph. He was, after all, human. And, he was at that age when male hormones are running wild. I marvel at his self-control, don't you? Our text says that "day by day" she was after him. She constantly sought opportunities to be alone with him. She perfuming her bed and no doubt displayed her body and used all manner of enticements. Every time Joseph turned around, Mrs. Potifer was there. "Here, I am. I'm yours for the taking!" But, praise God, Joseph stood firm. He passed that test with flying colors. Yet, my heart goes out to him. It certainly couldn't have been easy. And, he could not escape the temptations. All he could do was endure them. And, endure he did. We have all been in a similar situations where we just couldn't get away from a temptation. Yet, by the grace and strength of God, we found we could stand ... just as Joseph did. When I think about the sexual temptations that young and old alike are facing in our society today, I feel sad for my kids, grandkids and loved ones who must cope with such seeming "over the top" temptations. Everywhere one looks, it seems like Potifer's wife is there beckoning. "Here I am. I'm yours for the taking!" What is the child of God to do? The Bible counsels us that the answer is three-fold.
First, like Joseph, we must "endure".
As you have it in
James 1:12...
"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."
Second, we must arm ourselves.
As you have it in
Ephesians
6:13...
"Therefore take up the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
God does not send his soldiers into battle unarmed! He sends us armed to the teeth so that we can win. Are you familiar with the armor that God has provided for us believers? Get out your Bible and turn to Ephesians 6, and study it. Study it carefully, so that you can put on your armor every single day ... first thing. You and I are in a war. This is our protection. It is very important.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you might be able to stand against the wiles
of the Devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:11-12
Third, when it comes to sexual temptations,
the Bible says we must flee. That is
exactly what Joseph did, by the way. He fled from Potifer’s
wife … even pealing out of his coat in the process. I Corinthians 6:18-20 says ...
"Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual
immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's."
This is one area of our lives where we just can't fool around. Don't even think about hanging around where there are sexual temptations present. Get out of there and get out fast! Satan will lie to you and say, "Your can handle this. You’re strong. Why you’re a mature Christian. No problem!" One second of disobedience to God’s command to flee sexual sin can result in disaster. It has been said of Billy Graham that he wouldn’t even enter an elevator if he would have to be alone there with a person of the opposite sex! Why? Because that great evangelist was a lot like Joseph, that’s why. God's word says, "Flee". The question for you and I is, “Will we obey?” May I say to you, quite candidly, I believe that the day Potiphar’s wife physically laid hold of Joseph … if he had stayed one more second … he would have been a goner. He would have been a dead duck and God's plan for his life would have had to have been radically altered. If we don’t flee in those situations ... we will fall.
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39:13-23
“And so it was, when she saw that
he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men
of her house and spoke to them, saying, 'See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew
to mock us. He came in to me to lie
with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened, when he
heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me,
and fled and went outside.' So she kept his garment with her until his master
came home.
Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, 'The
Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he
left his garment with me and fled outside.' So it was, when his master heard the
words which his wife spoke to him, saying, 'Your servant did to me after this
manner,' that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was
there in the prison. But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He
gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the
prisoners who were in the
prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did
not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it
prosper."
Psalm 105:18-19 speaks of Joseph’s imprisonment as follows...
"They hurt his feet with
fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the
time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him."
Joseph suffered in spades for doing what was right. He suffered unjustly. He even went to prison for it. For several years, he was seemingly forgotten and abandoned. It was Joseph's test. The questions were, “Faced with all that injustice, would he blame God?” “Would he become bitter?” “Would he brood over all the unjust things that had happened to him?” The answer turned out to be, “No.” He passed the test with flying colors. He kept the faith. He stood firm. His ankles were rubbed raw by his fetters but, spiritually, he continued to stand. How are you doing with the testing of your faith, dear saint? Are you standing? Philippians 1:29a says...
"For to you it has been
granted
on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in
Him, but also to suffer for His sake..."
Peter writes to us believers in
I Peter 1:6-7...
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto
praise, honor, and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ...” (KJV)
"Beloved, I beg you as sojourners
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among
the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your
good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." I Peter
2:11-12
Listen, dear saint, whatever you are going through, whatever temptations and trials are your experience, they are there to make your faith more perfect. Then, when your Lord appears, all you have gone through will result in praise, honor and glory for you and for your Lord alike. So, stand firm, beloved saint. Your vindication and reward draws near. Joseph’s faith was truly tried in the furnace. And, though he probably didn’t understand it all at the time, his faith was being refined and worked toward a time of great glory and praise and honor for him and … so it will be for you and I as well.
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40:1-8
"It came to pass after these things
that the
butler and the baker
of the king of
Pharaoh’s chief butler and his chief baker somehow got
themselves into hot water with their ruler and both were subsequently thrown
into the clink. While there one night, they each had a dream. Both men
recognized that their dreams were not ordinary dreams. They were disturbing and so so real. Instinctively, each of them knew they had received a revelation.
Then one day, Joseph walked into their cell and noticed their long faces. “Why
are you guys so sad looking?” he asked. “We each have had a dream,” they replied, “and there is no interpreter of it.” “Do
not interpretations belong to God?, Joseph replied.
Don’t you just love it! What simple theology. What a straight forward statement.
What a testimony. “Tell
them to me, please," he said.
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40:9-15
"Then the chief butler
told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, 'Behold, in my dream
a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it
budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.
Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into
Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.' And Joseph
said to him, 'This is the interpretation of it: The
three branches are three days. Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your
head and restore you to your place,
and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner, when
you were his butler. But remember me when it is well with you,
and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of
this house. For indeed I was stolen away
from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should
put me into the dungeon.'"
When the Lord speaks to his children, often it is immediate and unmistakable. Such was the case with Joseph's silent request to God here to give him the interpretation of the butler's dream and it was granted. Joseph told the Chief Butler his dream meant that he would be set free and restored. No doubt, the butler was ecstatic. Seizing the moment, Joseph asked him for a favor ..."When this comes to pass, please don't forget me. Mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of here. I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews.”
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40:16-23
"When the chief baker
saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, 'I also
was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head.
In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds
ate them out of the basket on my head.' So Joseph answered and
said, 'This is the interpretation of it: The three
baskets are three days. Within three days
Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree;
and the birds will eat your flesh from you.' Now it came to pass
on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that
he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief
butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he
restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he
placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker,
as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not
remember Joseph, but forgot him."
The Chief Baker then shared his dream with Joseph but Joseph had to tell him bad news. “Three days from now you will be hung.”
Joseph's interpretations of both the butler's and the baker's dreams were fulfilled to a tee. But, Joseph’s hope to extricate himself from prison by having the butler put a good word in for him with Pharaoh didn't pan out. The butler simply forgot him and Joseph was doomed to spend two more years in prison. How difficult and discouraging that must have been. When something like this comes upon us, one of the most difficult things for us is to leave it with God … to just wait upon the Lord to resolve it. Those waiting times can be very profitable and good, however. While we wait, we can discover that his strength can be our strength. We can learn to trust him on a deeper level than ever before. And, we can learn to accept whatever the Lord's will is for us. Over and over again, the scriptures exhort us to wait on the Lord. He knows what he is doing and he will work it out. So, don’t be anxious. Our God has everything under control. He hasn’t forgotten us. We must simply wait. Here are a few of my favorite scriptures on the subject.
"He
gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall,
but those who wait on the LORD
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Isaah
40:29-31
"Wait on the LORD; Be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!: Psalm 27:14
"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD." Psalm 31:24
"Therefore be patient,
brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the
precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the
early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your
hearts,
for the coming of the Lord is at hand." James 5:7-8
There are no shortcuts to getting on with God’s plan for your life, beloved. Whatever it is, it will happen in due time under the omnipotent and all loving hand of our God. He will bring us to where we need to be both physically and spiritually. Times of waiting on him are invaluable parts of the process of our maturing and our sanctification. "Wait on the Lord". But, let’s be exact, here. Now, it doesn’t say for us to just wait, does it? No. It says, “Wait on the Lord.” Go often before his throne and just look up into his wonderful face and tell him, “I’m waiting Lord ... I’m waiting for you. Thy will be done”.
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41:1-8
"Then it came to pass,
at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had
a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat;
and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came
up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by
the other cows on the bank of the river. And the ugly and gaunt
cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh
awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time; and
suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good.
Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang
up after them. And the seven thin heads
devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and
indeed, it was a dream. Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was
troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of
Two full years after the baker and the butler’s dreams had come, Pharaoh himself had two dreams. Interesting. Gee, I wonder where those dreams came from? Do you think maybe God was at work and that he hadn't forgotten Joseph's circumstances after all? Pharaoh dreamed about fourteen cows and fourteen ears of corn. In each of his dreams, the seven fat ones ate up the seven thin ones. No one could interpret the dreams. De ja vu!
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41:9-24
"Then the chief butler spoke to
Pharaoh, saying: 'I remember my faults this day. When Pharaoh was angry with his
servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both
me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night, he
and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. Now there was a young Hebrew man
with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we
told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us;
to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. And it
came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He
restored me to my office, and he hanged him.' Then Pharaoh sent
and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the
dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.
But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret
it.' So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 'It
is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.' Then
Pharaoh said to Joseph: 'Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river.
Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed
in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very
ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the
Suddenly, it all came back to
Pharoah’s
baker. He remembered that a young Hebrew man had correctly interpreted his and the butler’s
dreams when they were in prison. Quickly, he told Pharaoh all about it. In
the “for what it is worth” department, verse 13, indicates that there had been a
change of Pharaohs since the butler and the baker were
in prison with Joseph. Subsequently, Joseph was sent for, cleaned up and escorted
in to Pharaoh. He said, “I understand you can interpret
dreams.” Joseph answered, 'It is not in me; God will
give Pharaoh an answer.”
It has been said that there is no limit to what can be accomplished when one doesn't care who gets the glory. There is a lot of truth in that. Yet, it is so tempting to steal off a little bit of it for ourselves, is it not? Clearly, one of the great strengths of Joseph's character was the fact that he consistently refused to take one iota of God's glory for himself. He always gave God the credit and all the glory for everything. Hence, he was a wonderful and highly effective servant in the hand of the Lord. In Isaah 42:8a, the Lord says...
"I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another..."
Pharaoh’s dreams were proof-positive that the Lord was on the move again in relation to his plan for Joseph and his people, Israel. Joseph's faithful waiting upon the Lord was about to pay off. Pharaoh proceeded to tell Joseph his two dreams. He finishing by saying, "I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me"
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41:25-36
"Then Joseph said to
Pharaoh, 'The dreams of Pharaoh are one;
God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do:
The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven
years; the dreams are one. And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after
them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are
seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to
Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. Indeed
seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the
God revealed the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams to Joseph. Then,
as it had done before with the baker and the butler, Joseph faithfully revealed
their meanings to Pharaoh. Afterwards, and unsolicited, Joseph proceeded to suggest a
plan for Pharaoh to follow to save his land. Joseph was a natural at
administration as we have already seen in his story. So, he told
Pharaoh
he needed to find a wise man to put over
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41:37-45
"So the advice was good in the eyes
of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his
servants, 'Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom
is the Spirit of God?' Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Inasmuch as God
has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall
be over my house, and all my
people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will
I be greater than you.' And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'See, I have set you over
all the
The scripture that comes to mind here is
I Peter 5:6-7...
"Therefore humble
yourselves
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
This is precisely what Joseph had been doing and it is
precisely what God did. When Joseph was in prison, he didn't bellyache and
complain. He merely submitted himself to the Lord's will for his life, hard as
it was, and as unclear as it was. Then,
at the right time, the Lord exalted him over the entire
"This is a faithful saying: For if
we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure,
We
shall also reign with Him." II Timothy
2:11-12a
"But hold fast what you
have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works
until the end, to him I will give power over the nations; 'He
shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to
pieces like the potter's vessels'; as I also have received from My Father; and
I will give him the morning star.
He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelation
2:25-29
Joseph certainly learned something of what it meant to be
exalted by the Lord. In one fell swoop he was lifted up from the filth of a
dirty prison to become the pampered, robed and bejeweled ruler of a nation
... complete
with runners who ran before his chariot crying, "Bow the knee!"
I wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Potifer responded to that,
aye?! But, beloved, keep in mind that what Joseph experienced down there in
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
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41:46-49;
53-57
"Joseph
was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of
"Then the seven years of plenty
which were in the
I'm going to split out verses 50-52, at this point, and save my comments on them for last.
First, note Joseph's age here. He was 30 years old
and had spent 13 of those years in
Second, note that all that the Lord predicted
in Pharaoh’s dreams came to pass precisely.
As you have it in
Isaiah 55:10-11...
"For as the rain comes down, and
the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower
and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My
mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
One of the
things that give us confidence in the Word of God is how that the many
prophesies found there have been fulfilled to the letter. There are literally
hundreds of them. Many, are prophesies about Jesus' first
coming. Each and every one were fulfilled to the letter ... his virgin birth (Isa. 7:14) ...
the exact town where he would be born (Micah 5:2) ... the exact nature and
minute details of his crucifixion (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) ... his resurrection
(Psalm 16:10) ... and on and on. These fulfilled scriptures build great
confidence in the unfulfilled prophesies that are yet to come to
pass ... prophecies of our Lord's second coming to our world, for instance, (John 14;
Acts 1; Rev. 19; II Thes. 1). In other areas, there are also a multitude of
fulfilled prophecies. For example, in the book of Isaiah, the person and name of
Cyrus was given hundreds of years before he was born (Isa.44:28; 45:1-5).
Jeremiah prophesied the exact length of time that
Coming back to our text, under the administration of
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41:50-52
“And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom
Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: ‘For God has made me
forget all my toil and all my father's house.’ And the
name of the second he called Ephraim:
‘For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.’"
On top of all the other blessing Joseph
received, God also blessed him with a wife and two sons. These two boys would later become the two
half tribes of twelve the tribes of