2022-Q2-L12: Joseph, Prince of Egypt

Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 41:37-46; 1 Kings 3:12; Genesis 42; Rom. 5:7-11; Genesis 43; Genesis 44, Genesis 45.

Memory Text: “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt’” (Genesis 41:41, NKJV).

Scriptures:

• 1 Kings 3:12 (ESV): 12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
• Romans 5:7–11 (ESV): 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Joseph themes

• Joseph's name: "add" or "take away"
• Initially, Joseph was in the right: father, house, land, robe, name, "priesthood".
• Joseph was in the wrong: master, house, land, robe, name, and priesthood.
• Genesis 41:52: The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
• Joseph and Judah similarities and contrasts. Both have two sons. Reuben offers his two sons to Jacob later in the story.

Pharaoh's dreams

• See Sefer Bereishit for relevant Rabbi articles in Genesis.
• The first pair of dreams happened at different times. Yosef first dreamed about the sheaves, and told his brothers, and then dreamed about the sun, moon and stars. The second pair of dreams occurred on the same night, but to two different people, while the third pair is dreamt by one individual on a single night.
• Pharaoh's dreams. The dream is repeated three times: Once by the narrator, once by Pharaoh (when relating it to Joseph), and once by Joseph (interpreting it to Pharaoh).
• There is a subjective "wrapping" in the dreams as told by Pharaoh. In other words, Pharaoh's impression and description was extreme and troubling.
• There is the "kernel" of objective truth in Joseph's interpretation. In other words, he saw past the subjectivity and "read" the immediacy of the events to happen, and he saw the need to offer a solution to Pharaoh as he saw it. How did Joseph come up with this solution? It's possible that he developed this idea when a slave to Potiphar and when a prisoner in the jail. There were obvious periods of plenty and want. He knew that in periods of abundance, one stores things for the times of want.
• Joseph understood what troubled Pharaoh. He saw that Pharaoh understood that he was to face a crisis and did not know how to deal with it.
• Question: Why is Pharoah struck with terror; why does he believe that the decree of famine is absolute, that it will bring about annihilation, while Yosef immediately understands that the famine is something that can be dealt with?
• Answer: Yosef's view is an expression of a "Jewish" way of handling a harsh reality, while Pharoah's view is the expression of a pagan consciousness.
• Two world views. Pharoah lives within a deterministic consciousness. If something has been decreed, there is nothing to be done – certainly not on the level of practical action. Reality weighs down on us, and all we can do is to recognize it. Yosef presents Pharoah with the Jewish alternative: the reality is admittedly harsh, but it should be perceived not as a disaster, but rather as a mission and responsibility. The famine is a fact, but the task of leadership is to find ways of dealing with the suffering that it is likely to cause.

Joseph's pivot point

• Up until he is before Pharaoh, the events in Joseph's life act upon him, he is dispatched by his father, he is sold into slavery, cast into prison, and so on.
• The transition from passivity to activity in his relationship to dreams is that of being well anchored in reality, from determined to determiner. Yosef, who has been pushed around at the mercy of his environment, now becomes its director.
• How does he change his situation from "fate" to "destiny"?
• When Joseph awoke from his dreams he ran to tell his brothers. What he failed to do is ask himself the question: What is this telling me? What is the dream charging me to do? With which mission is it entrusting me?
• The purpose of prophecy. The prophet does not proclaim a prophecy in order to say what will be, but rather in order that we will know what we must do in relation to it. If the threat is punishment, then the call is to repentance. The story of Jonah is a classic example.
• Therefore, it can be said that Joseph took on the role of a prophet (in the Jewish sense) rather than a simple diviner of future events.
• Moreover, Yosef understands that the Egyptian context of the story is only the outer "shell." More profoundly, he understands that Pharoah's dream is not meant for Pharoah at all, but rather for himself – Yosef. And not only in order to save Yosef or to "organize" him a good job, but in order to bring him face to face with his destiny.
• In Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph sees a hint of his own dreams as a teenager. The ears of corn; the ears of plenty; his sheaf standing tall and firm above his brothers. Joseph knew how to interpret the dreams because they were meant for him all along.
• For Pharaoh these dreams represent a problem and disaster, but for Joseph this represents an opportunity. Never let a crisis go to waste, the saying goes. The crisis in Pharaoh's story is understood by Joseph as a window (or door), beckoning him to enter. The place where Pharoah is helpless – that is where I am able to act. Yosef's audaciousness is surprising, but it has a religious foundation: If I have come this far, if Pharoah needs me, then there must be something to it. God does not perform miracles for nothing.

Deterministic, Choice, Causality

• Deterministic (prophetic). Joseph's destiny (from fate to destiny) turned at the interpretation of Pharaoh's drreams.
• Moral choice. Joseph acted in accordance with moral uprightness and faithfulness in order to fulfill the "vision" given to him by God.
• Causality. Joseph transitioned from the level of being acted upon, to the level of acting in order to influence. Joseph becomes an economic, moral and spiritual leader in every sense of the word.

Joseph and Goshen

• First, Yosef obtains the land of Goshen for his brothers, and, according to the text, "gave them a possession." Thus their status is made equal, at least formally, to that of the Egyptian citizenry.
• They possess their portion of land and it becomes their inheritance, at the very same time that the Egyptian citizens lose their possession of the land and become Pharaoh's servants. Thus their status is greatly upgraded, and they in fact become "preferred citizens" – like the priests of Egypt, the only ones who own property.
• The easy conditions and stability also apparently served as a convenient basis for accelerated natural increase, which stands out all the more prominently against the background of Egyptian constriction.
• First, "they dwelled… took possession… and were fruitful and multiplied," specifically, "in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen." Later on, "they increased and swarmed and multiplied and grew exceedingly great, and the land" – meaning, not only the land of Goshen, but all of Egypt — was filled with them."
• Yosef's actions in Egypt grant him the status of a sort of "founding king" with respect to the tribes of Israel, as he leads the family through the corridor that lies between the tribal situation and the national state. Thus, Yosef becomes a sort of fourth forefather, or first king, in the history of Israel.

Joseph's loyalty

• Joseph is an example of moral excellence.
• Joseph learned and showed loyalty to his father, Jacob. He learned to love God and to strive for moral excellence.
• Joseph was exceptionally loyal to Potiphar, his master. To the point where he was willing to risk misunderstanding when tempted by Potiphar's wife.
• Ultimately, Joseph manifested loyalty to God when he was brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. He gave all credit to God in the interpretation of dreams. Pharaoh recognized this and even mentioned it when he promoted Joseph to be prime minister.

Joseph's brothers in Egypt

• Parallels between Laban chasing after Jacob, asking for his idols which Rachel had hidden, and Joseph chasing after his brothers on the second voyage back to Canaan and accusing them of stealing his divining cup.
• Laban - God appears to Laban as he chased Jacob that he should not speak to him evil or good.
• Joseph tells his steward to make this statement: Why have you repaid evil for good?
• Genesis 30:27. I have observed the signs (divination) that God has blessed me by you.
• Jacob said to Laban, whoever has taken your idols shall not live.
• Judah said to Joseph's steward, whoever has taken the divining cup should die.
• Laban, in searching for his idols, he started with Leah, then the two maid servants, then Rachel.
• Joseph's steward started the search for the cup from the oldest to the youngest.
• This suggests that Joseph is the "new" Laban.
• An aspect of deception relative to favoritism. Jacob deceived Isaac because he was unfavored, Simeon and Levi deceived the Shechemites because they saw (in part) that they were unfavored, both here and in the hatred and sale of Joseph. See Genesis 37:4.
• Joseph was favored to his father, Jacob. But, he was unfavored to his brothers. In a sense, Joseph played the role of his brothers against them, to see how they would respond to the treatment that he received as a teenager. Joseph also played the role of Laban.
• As Jacob learned empathy in the hands of Laban, in how he deceived Esau. So, Joseph's brothers learned empathy in how they mistreated Joseph in selling him into slavery.
• Only after Jacob had learned the lesson himself, only then could he be reconciled to Esau. The same dynamic in the story of Joseph and his brothers.

Jacob and Israel

• Jacob is called Israel when he sends Joseph to his brothers in Genesis 37:13. Then he is not called Israel until Genesis 43:6.
• With the loss of Joseph, Jacob became despondent. But in chapter 43, with Judah's prompting, Jacob became Israel again. See Yaakov and Yehuda.
• The quality of grappling, wrestling, fighting to establish our destiny and not accepting what seems to be given, is first evinced by Yehuda in this conversation, and it immediately calls forth the source of that quality in Judaism, the name Yisrael.

Four sections of the Story of Joseph

1. The rift in Yaakov's family; the family is together in Canaan. A disunited family.
2. The trials and tribulations of Yosef in Egypt until he becomes the King's viceroy. The descent of Joseph and then ascension. Upon reaching the station of viceroy, Yosef completes his process of cleansing; he is now ready to fulfill his role in the support of his family during the famine, and in reunifying them under his patronage in Egypt.
3. The trials and tribulations of the brothers in their descents to Egypt until Yosef reveals his identity to them. The brothers undergo their own suffering, reminding them of their sin towards Yosef, their brother, and towards Yaakov, their father. They become aware of the need to atone for their sins with regret and suffering, and to radically change their attitude towards the unity of the family.
4. Reconciliation in Yaakov's family; the family is together again, this time in Egypt.

Jacob's (i.e. Israel's) descent to Egypt

• The descent to Egypt became a period of exile as prophesied to Abraham.
• Jacob/Israel did not descend to Egypt in chains, but he was lead by his son, Joseph, to Egypt. And in pleasantness lived there the balance of his life.
• In a similar way, Jesus was taken to Egypt with his parents having the magi's gifts as spending money.

Joseph, not forgotten

• A Tragic Misunderstanding. Rabbi Shimon discusses why Joseph never called home when he became second to Pharaoh.
• Our entire outlook on this story changes if we understand that Joseph did not know that his brothers had fooled his father with the coat, the blood, and the lie that Joseph had been devoured by wild animals. Such thoughts never occurred to him! So, it was Joseph who spent thirteen years of slavery in Egypt and the following years of greatness wondering: "Where is my father? Why has no one come to look for me?" All the factors are now reversed when seen from Joseph's point of view.
• Joseph's wonder at his father's silence is joined by a terrible sense of anxiety which grows stronger over the years, as seasons and years pass and no one comes. Joseph's anguish centers on his father: the voice inside him asking "where is my father?" is joined by another harsh voice: "Why did my father send me to my brothers that day?(see 37:13) Perhaps, his brothers had succeeded in convincing Jacob to disown Joseph!
• It is suggested that the hint is when Joseph names his first-born.
• Manasseh. Genesis 41:51: Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh [a], “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”
• [a] "Manasseh” sounds like the Hebrew for “forget”.
• Apparently, then, Joseph's entire world is built on the misconception that his father had renounced him, while Jacob's world was destroyed by the misconception that Joseph was dead. Joseph's world was shaken when his brothers stood before him, unaware of his true identity, and bow down to him. At that moment, he questions this new reality:
• "...he remembers the dreams he dreamt about them..."(42:9)
• He is thrown back into the past. Stalling for time, he begins a line of inquiry - and action - which is geared to one end: to find out why his father had rejected him, if at all.

EGW:

• PP 222.3: There are few who realize the influence of the little things of life upon the development of character. Nothing with which we have to do is really small. The varied circumstances that we meet day by day are designed to test our faithfulness and to qualify us for greater trusts. By adherence to principle in the transactions of ordinary life, the mind becomes accustomed to hold the claims of duty above those of pleasure and inclination. Minds thus disciplined are not wavering between right and wrong, like the reed trembling in the wind; they are loyal to duty because they have trained themselves to habits of fidelity and truth. By faithfulness in that which is least they acquire strength to be faithful in greater matters.
• PP 222.4: An upright character is of greater worth than the gold of Ophir. Without it none can rise to an honorable eminence. But character is not inherited. It cannot be bought. Moral excellence and fine mental qualities are not the result of accident. The most precious gifts are of no value unless they are improved. The formation of a noble character is the work of a lifetime and must be the result of diligent and persevering effort. God gives opportunities; success depends upon the use made of them.
• MH 487.2. So long as we are in the world, we shall meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper; and it is by meeting these in a right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. If Christ dwells in us, we shall be patient, kind, and forbearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations. Day by day and year by year we shall conquer self, and grow into a noble heroism. This is our allotted task; but it cannot be accomplished without help from Jesus, resolute decision, unwavering purpose, continual watchfulness, and unceasing prayer. Each one has a personal battle to fight. Not even God can make our characters noble or our lives useful, unless we become co-workers with Him. Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory.

SUNDAY. Joseph's Rise to Power. Genesis 41:37-57.

From the lesson: Fu

MONDAY. Joseph Confronts His Brothers. Genesis 42.

TUESDAY. Joseph and Benjamin. Genesis 43.

WEDNESDAY. The Divination Cup. Genesis 44.

THURSDAY. “I am Joseph Your Brother”. Genesis 45.

FRIDAY. Further Thought: Ellen G. White, “Joseph in Egypt,” pp. 213-223; “Joseph and His Brothers,” pp. 224-232 in Patriarchs and Prophets.

“Joseph was satisfied. He had proved his brethren, and had seen in them the fruits of true repentance for their sins.” — Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, book 3, p. 165.

APPENDIX

Genesis 44:14b-34 (click for the full Bible text)
44:14-15 Brothers fall to the ground before Joseph; Ge 44:14-15 practice "divination" (i.e. by way of the silver cup)
	44:16 Judah acknowledges the brothers' guilt Ge 44:16
		44:17 Joseph's judgment: Benjamin shall remain Ge 44:17
			44:18 Judah's request for Joseph's judgment reversal; Ge 44:18 "let not your anger burn against your servant"
				44:19-20 Two brothers; one is deadGe 44:19-20
					44:21-22 "Bring him down to me"Ge 44:21-22
—	—	—	—	—	—	44:23-24 Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, Ge 44:23-24 you shall not see my face again.
					44:25-26 "We cannot go down"Ge 44:25-26
				44:27-28 Two brothers; "one left me"Ge 44:27-28
			44:29 If harm happens to him, I will die with sorrowGe 44:29
		44:30-31 The consequences if Benjamin does not returnGe 44:30-31
	44:32 Judah's basis for Joseph's reversalGe 44:32
44:33-34 Judah will substitute himself for Benjamin (fig. drinks the silver cup)Ge 44:33-34

The Plan of Salvation in "Type"

• The silver cup a type of Christ's baptism. This silver cup was used for divination ("Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination?" Genesis 44:5). The silver cup would likely contain wine when used.
  • Jesus used the "drinking of the cup" as a type of his death on the cross (Matthew 20:22; 26:39; Luke 22:20, etc).
  • The silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack, so he was to receive the punishment for his (presumed) theft before Joseph.
  • But Judah chose to figuratively "drink the cup."
  • Silver was also used for money and is a type for redemption in the Bible (e.g. Jesus betrayed for 30 pieces of silver).
• Jacob a type of the Father. Jacob has two favorite sons, Joseph and Benjamin. "One left me" (v.28) and one I'm afraid to lose (v.29). The oldest is the one who left him and is presumed dead, and the remaining one is the youngest of all his sons.
• Judah a type of Christ. Judah offers to take the place of Benjamin (v.33-34). "Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers" Genesis 44:33.
• Joseph a type of the Accuser. The "dead" son (Joseph) becomes "the accuser" of the living son (Benjamin) by having the silver cup placed in Benjamin's sack (v.2). The name given to Joseph by Pharaoh means "the revealer of secrets [tr. from Josephus]" (Genesis 41:45). See on Zaphenath-paneah.
• Benjamin a type of Adam. Judah says of Benjamin, "His father loves him (v.20). Benjamin is "the boy (v.22)," "the youngest brother (v.23)." When Benjamin was born, his dying mother, Rachel, called him Benoni or "son of my sorrow" since he was born in her death. But Jacob said he will be called Benjamin, "son of my right hand," instead. Benjamin may have been left-handed and, therefore, holds the father's right hand (Judges 20:15-17).
• Going "down" to Egypt. Going down to Egypt led the brothers first to judgment (revealing of hidden sins), then to deliverance (forgiveness from Joseph).