Genesis 39:1-23
1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an
officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the
Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he
became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His
master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did
to prosper in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him;
he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5
From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had,
the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the
Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had
in Joseph's charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the
food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7
And after a time
his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." 8
But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me here, my
master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything
that he has in my hand. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he
kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then
could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" 10 And although
she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to
be with her. 11 One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work,
and while no one else was in the house, 12 she caught hold of his garment,
saying, "Lie with me!" But he left his garment in her hand, and fled
and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and
had fled outside, 14 she called out to the members of her household and said to
them, "See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came
in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15 and when he
heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled
outside." 16 Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home,
17 and she told him the same story, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you
have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18 but as soon as I raised
my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside."
19 When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying,
"This is the way your servant treated me," he became enraged. 20
And
Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the
king's prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. 21 But the Lord
was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favor in the sight
of the chief jailer. 22 The chief jailer committed to Joseph's care all the
prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one
who did it. 23 The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph's
care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it
prosper.
The message
Two weeks ago, we started our long Advent (3 months instead of 4 weeks).
This is the wait and preparation for Christmas, for the kingdom of God to fully
enter our world, for the word of God to be made flesh and dwell amongst us in
Jesus. The past 2 weeks were about God’s promises, First, that God would never
again send a flood to wipe out all life, spoken to Noah and confirmed by a
Rainbow. After this, it is the promises of land, blessing and descendants
spoken to Abram a few generations later. The rest of our long Advent will be about God
keeping these promises. Today, we hear a part of the story of Joseph, an
example of how God’s promises will be kept, despite sin, interference, Jealosy,
questionable decisions, people abusing their authority, taking advantage of
others and looking out for themselves.
The story of Joseph is also filled with social justice issues we still
face (or look away from) today.
We have passed over a lot in the 25 or so chapters of
Genesis between last week’s reading and todays.
We have missed the story of Jacob (he will be the focus of today’s bible
study after church) but I wanted to share some brief history, to help
understand how Jacob’s youngest son Joseph got to Egypt. Jacob is a major figure in the history of
Israel (Jacob’s name is later changed to Israel and his 12 sons become the 12
tribes of Israel). He is the son of
Issac and Rebekah and the grandson of Abraham and Sarah. Jacob is the second of twins (his slightly older brother is Esau). Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright.
Jacob travels to several places, experiences 2 strange visions (Jacob’s ladder
and wrestling with an angel) finds wives
(you could have a bunch back then) and has children. Joseph is the 12th and youngest of
Jacob’s children but is favored (unusual, unexpected for the time, the first
born was supposed to be favored).
Joseph’s brothers are jealous, go on a trip with him, leave him to die
in the wilderness and tell Jacob he was killed by a wild animal. Joseph is
picked up by slave traders and ends up being sold to Potiphar, an officer in
Egypt, which is where we are introduced to him this morning.
Today’s reading is not the most popular or well known part
of Joseph’s story. Joseph’s story, his
life, faithfulness and work are set as an example of God’s providence, of God
working to bring good from bad, of God keeping those promises even when it
seems impossible. Despite being in prison and accused of a serious violation,
Joseph will once again find favor with very powerful and important people, this
time, the Pharaoh himself. Joseph interprets a dream for the Phaorah which
predicts 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of famine in the land. Like he
was in Potifar’s household and in prison, Joseph is put in charge of something
very important, this time, it is the food reserves of Egypt (that’s a big deal
during a famine). Joseph sells and trades this food and ends up buying all of
the land and animals of Egypt for the Pharoah (which are sort of leased back to
the people in a fair way). Joseph has climbed well above Potifar, his former
owner. When famine hits Israel and Joseph uses his authority to bring his
father Jacob and his family to Egypt, where they can eat and live. All of the
betrayals, lies and bad actions come together and serve to save Israel from
starvation. Joseph looks back on his
experiences, his murder by his own brothers, the lies of Potifar’s wife and his
wrongful imprisonment and says this was all done so I could save my family. In
Genesis 45,we hear one of those powerful moments of revealing, when Joseph
tells his brothers who he is (they before him in fear and begging for food)
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer
to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you
sold into Egypt. And now do not be
distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me
before you to preserve life. For the
famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in
which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to
preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God;
he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over
all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up
to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord
of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.
The whole story of Joseph is one of trust in God, admitting
there are things we do not understand and embrace of the fact that God’s will
be done. Today’s selection is not meant
to stand on its own, it plays a role in a much bigger picture. Without being
falsely accused of sexual assault, Joseph would not end up in jail, without
being in jail, Joseph would not have had the opportunity to interpret the
Pharoah’s dream, which directly lead to his rise to great power in Egypt, a
position more than sufficient to save his family from starving and settling
them in a new place.
Throughout the story of Joseph, we hear the same thing over
and over again, whatever Joseph did prospered, Potiphar quickly realizes that
Joseph runs a great household, puts him in charge and goes to sit by the
pool. The man in charge of the jail
realizes Joseph runs a great jail, turns it over to him and goes to sit by the
pool with Potiphar, Even the Phaorah, the most powerful person in the world, realizes
despite famine and difficulty, Joseph can run the Egyptian empire pretty well,
turns it over to him and goes to sit by the pool with the other 2 (well pharaoh
probably has a nicer pool he can go sit by). Joseph does not sit by the pool, choosing what
is right and faithful over what is easy or comfortable. The city of God, the
community formed by God is rooted in doing the right thing, confronting wrong
and evil.
In more ways that we might expect, today’s reading is
today’s headlines and we have lots of chances to be like Joseph. Major parts of
the story of Joseph and his brothers involve issues we face today. There is human
trafficking, bringing people from their homes to be slaves, to be abused in a
new, strange place, cut off from loved ones.
There are more slaves in the world today than ever before. We deal with false imprisonment. . In the U.S.
we have an incarceration crisis, The
U.S. represents five percent of the world’s population, but houses twenty-five
percent of the world’s prisoners. Conditions in prison are way below world
standards and the system does not seem to work in terms of deterrence or rehabilitation. People abuse laws, traditions, wealth and status to get what they want. The story of Joseph will soon turn into an
immigration crisis, a few generations after Joseph and the famine, the people
of Egypt will protest that the Israelites are too many, too rich and not
assimilating. In response the descendants of Joseph, who saved Egypt from the
feminine, are enslaved.
The issues are still here and so are people doing the right
thing. I think of the new Nike Ad, featuring Colin Kapernick, the NFL
quarterback who has been blacklisted, not playing due to his protests over
police brutality (through kneeling or sitting during the national anthem before
games). The ad says believe in something,
even if it means sacrificing everything.
Something in this goes beyond agreeing or disagreeing with his view
or approach. The faithful part here is that Kapernick could easily go sit by
the pool and let someone else do it. He
is not yelling God has blessed me to get another touchdown, he is not claiming
God has blessed me to win the super bowl.
Instead, It is God has called me to do what is right, to speak up on
behalf of others, to not accept these things. . The city of God, the community
formed by God is rooted in doing the right thing, confronting wrong and
evil. Let’s go and do the same.
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