New Page 0

What a difference a chapter makes! We just left Joseph in prison, forsaken and seemingly forgotten, and now he is going to get the “Get out of jail” card free! (Tony Bennett sang about it in “Rags to Riches”)

It all starts with Pharaoh having a strange dream about cows eating cows and grain devouring grain. Notice how God uses dreams at this stage several times, earlier with Jacob’s ladder, and then with Joseph, then the Baker and the Bucher, and now with Pharaoh!

God can/will use a vast array of means and methods to connect with us and accomplish his perfect plans!

There is no doubt that God originated these dreams, sent them to Pharaoh, and in turn caused him to act the way he did which accomplished God’s plan all along! (Even though it seems almost always to us there would have been a better or easier way to do the same thing!)

King Solomon clearly understood this, that although he was King, it was the supreme King – God, who was clearly in charge:

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. (Proverbs 21:1)

All of us should be grateful of this and our faith and trust in God will grow deeper if we can only grasp this truth that God is in charge! Even though he uses us, desires us to work and interact with others, yet behind the scenes, God is directing our paths, and everything all around! (I have coined a name for it – The Magnificent Mundane)

1. Patience – (Like Timmy & the Professor) It is remarkable to discover that Joseph was about 17 years old when he was dragged to Egypt, and now he is about 30 years old (Genesis 37:2 /41:46)! That is at least 13 years (more on the possible significance of 13 coming) of a young man in his prime spent wasted as a slave and prisoner in a foreign land! (See Psalm 105:18 – we find that this prison was no country club, his feet were hurt with shackles of iron)

Be careful if you ever pray to God asking for patience! It is something that we all need, but only as God directs and allows us to develop, why? Because the Biblical formula is this: Trials & Tribulation = Patience! But we all need to have this quality developed in our lives, and should expect the conditions that bring it to us.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2)

Another word for patience is longsuffering, and it is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit that God desires to work into our lives – (Galatians 5:22)

In fact, one of God’s own characteristics is longsuffering, so it should be no surprise that he desires to work this into our lives;

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)

2. Contentment – Joseph is an incredible example of trusting God in spite of any circumstances around him! (The text doesn’t say this, but we can extrapolate this clearly from Joseph’s behavior) All Christ followers should be moving forward in a sense of contentment, it is not optional, but a Biblical command!

Therefore I say unto you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Jesus) (Matthew 6:25)

(This verse is actually only one, but in context there are ten verses all about contentment from Jesus)

I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4: 11-13)

I believe that the opposite of a sense of contentment, is a sense of entitlement.

“I don’t deserve this!” “This isn’t fair!” “God must have deserted me.

Unfortunately, these are some of the most common statements that we see today quoted in the news by people who have suffered pain, or some tragedy. If anyone in the Bible could’ve thought like that, besides Job, it was Joseph!

He was a handsome young man, in his youthful prime, the son of a very special man (Jacob) who had direct communication with the one living God, and part of a special new family with unlimited potential, and whose great grandfather (Abraham) would become, (and probably already was) one of the most revered and respected man who ever lived!

But everything seems to go wrong, he gets sold by his brothers as a slave, falsely accused of adultery and thrown in prison to rot for years!

Based on Joseph’s own words in these last chapters, he clearly developed a sense of contentment rather than entitlement, and is a beautiful example for all of us today!

3. Hope – This is the third main lesson that we can learn from Joseph. Once again, although the text does not say that he had hope, based on his words and behavior, we can extrapolate this about Joseph!

Somehow, God got through to Joseph and he deeply trusted in God, and believed that somehow, someway that God work come though for him. (Maybe it was his initial dream, or there were many God connections personally to him all those years that he was in prison, we don’t know)

But the important thing to know is that Joseph had a sense of hope. If he didn’t, he would have been bitter and bankrupt in his faith! Another reason that I know he had hope is because hope is the end result of a chain of characteristics which follow one after another beginning with our initial faith towards God;

Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character, hope. (Romans 5: 1-4) NKJ

Do you see the divine equation? Faith = Peace = Tribulations = Perseverance = Character = Hope!

Of course, this doesn’t mean that it must always come in that exact order or not at all! And it doesn’t mean that Joseph didn’t have hope all along! But it is one sure Biblical order where we find hope linked in a chain and listed in a particular order, and we can be sure that by the end of Joseph’s ordeal, he was firmly rooted in a deep hope and trust in God!

One great example of hope can be seen in the movie, “Shawshank Redemption”. The main character, Andy (Tim Robbins) is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and then spends twenty years chipping away a hole/tunnel behind a picture in his cell, to finally escape to freedom.

All those difficult years, he had to have hoped to continue work each day on his escape plan, but finally upon obtaining freedom, it all seemed worth it and he had a new and deeper sense of real hope and a changed character!

I don’t want to make a big deal of this as to go over the deep end in these things (many people do) but since once again we have encountered this in scripture, I feel that we must make mention of it.

There is a science known as numerology where scholars study the relationship of numbers and how they relate to each other and many other links to discover interesting connections.

Biblical numerology is very interesting because if God carefully arranged all the words/numbers of scripture (He did) then we should expect to find a deep and detailed ordered arrangement of these things filled with great meaning and links! (We do)

In fact, we have stumbled on to one in our text; Genesis 41:46 tells us that Joseph was 30 years old upon his huge promotion next to Pharaoh in Egypt. This marks a big division in Joseph’s life! The previous division was when he was sold by his evil brothers which started the whole saga of this story!

When did that happen? See Genesis 37:2 – we are told that Joseph was 17 years old at that time. (If chapter 37 is written in chronological order, then we can assume those events all happened probably one after another that same year of Joseph’s life)

Therefore, Joseph spent 13 years enduring a very bad ordeal in Egypt! (30-17=13) Right there, upon discovering that fact, should appear as a huge red flag waving to any serious Bible student! Why? Because the number thirteen is always portrayed as judgment/sin/hardship/evil all through the Bible!

(In Joseph’s life it is more sin/evil (his brothers) and hardship (to Joseph)

We have already looked at the first occurrence of the number 13 in the Bible, Genesis 14:4 …in the thirteenth year they rebelled. This right away links 13 with rebellion!

When we find the very first occurrence of any word/number/phrase stamped with some meaning that also occurs throughout the rest of the Bible, we can be sure that God stamped it like that for a reason!

The second occurrence of 13 is found again in Genesis 17:25 – where we are told that Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised. Ishmael was Abraham’s son from Hagar, and represented the flesh, sin, and was rejected as the promise son!

Every occurrence and multiple of the number 13 in the Bible is linked with rebellion, apostasy, defection, corruption or some like idea.

Bullinger probed into the line of Cain and found the number 13, and multiples of it, overflowing everywhere!

(Also the name of Satan/Lucifer in both Greek and Hebrew, as well as Antichrist, are all saturated with this number as well)

As you can imagine, you could almost drive yourself crazy and become consumed with this if you weren’t careful! Why do I mention it? What does it all mean for us here and now?

If God is so exact and precise to so carefully arrange every word and number in the Bible to be linked with its meaning, and if God is so exact and precise to carefully observe every sparrow that falls, if God is so exact and precise to actually know the number of hairs on our heads, and to even have named every one of over trillions of stars, then he is also quite able to help us every day in our daily struggles of life as we move forward in our journey to him!

Before we move on, one more mention of numbers. The Bible tells us that Joseph was 30 years old upon entering his life’s work of literally saving the world! (Genesis 41:46) Is there any significance to this number? Yes!

David was also 30 years old when he became king of Israel, even though he was first anointed for that role much earlier. (I Samuel 16: 11-13)

Any person trained to be a Priest in Israel could not fully enter that position and serve until he reached the age of 30. (Numbers 4: 46-47)

Finally, Jesus did not enter into his earthly ministry until he reached the age of 30! (Luke 3:23)

This indicates that there should be a period of years dedicated to preparation for anyone called into serving in the ministry. (Some make it a hard rule and set the age at 30 because of these examples) However, I believe that the age of 30, can and should be a good, solid example to possibly use, but not necessarily use as a rigid rule.

Also, there are scriptures which indicate a general example of spending at least three years in study/preparation: - Such as Paul (Galatians 1:15-18) who spent three years, and the twelve disciples who all likewise spent three years with Jesus before they were sent out.

Because of those scriptures, and others, I would encourage any person who believes that they are called into full time ministry, to first be at least 30 years old, and also to have spent at least three years either in school training for that position, and/or at least three years as an apprentice working with and along someone else already doing that work.

(There are many examples of people rushing into ministry after their conversion because of their initial zeal and excitement, only to fall flat on their face later and many even giving up on their faith. Especially in Christian music – Bob Dylan & B.J. Thomas are two notable examples from the past)

Finally, I want to focus and highlight the incredible link between Joseph and Jesus once again! There really is no other Old Testament person who more typifies Christ than Joseph, and we can learn more of God’s ways and attention to detail into all of our lives by observing it.

In conclusion, I’d like to focus on the amazing type, and link that Joseph was to Christ! You may look at the sub-title “Savior of the World” and think that I am being overly dramatic and exaggerating Joseph’s role somewhat, right? I am not, because Joseph really was used by God to literally save the world at that time physically from the terrible famine, and even beyond that, this literally was the new name given to Joseph by Pharaoh!

(See Genesis 41:45) Joseph’s new Egyptian name is – Zaphnath-Paaneah (Take that Spell-Check!) Ancient names like this can have various meanings and shades of similar meanings, (Revealer of Secrets) but one of them for sure is – Savior of the World! Indeed he was!

Note: Joseph’s Egyptian wife – Asenath – (A Gentile woman) is seen by some Bible scholars/students as a type of us – The Church – since we are also Gentile and the bride of Christ given to him like Joseph was given Asenath. However, it is significant that Joseph’s age is stated after he was given his wife. (Jesus was also the same age of 30 when he began his ministry) So if you follow that through…then possibly Asenath more represents the nation of Israel, who is also known as The Wife of Jehovah God, namely, God and his people as seen all through the Old Testament.

There are many links of Joseph – Jesus, but here is a listing of some of the main ones dealing with our text;

Note: One final link – from Genesis 37 – 38 chapters, nothing is mentioned at all about Joseph’s brothers or family – (Israel) – they only re-surface during the time of severe famine.

This closely parallels the prophecies in the Bible involving the last days, after the rapture, when the Great Tribulation will be happening on earth (also known as “Jacob’s Trouble”). It is during this time when many Bible students believe that God will once again begin dealing with the nation of Israel. The time clock has been stopped, so to speak, regarding Israel. God is still concerned about them, but this age in which we now live is regarded as “The Church Age” where God is focused on all the non-Jewish people of the world – Gentiles.

But just like in Joseph’s case, during the terrible time of famine and trouble, his family (Israel) appears, so also, possibly, is the link to the Great Tribulation time when God will once again deal with Israel, and they “appear”.

In essence, many people believe (I am one also) that ever since the utter destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, we have been living in the age of grace – as mentioned earlier. This age will soon come to an end, probably at the moment the rapture occurs. It helps me to visualize this long period of the Church age as one long parenthesis that will soon run its course!

We do not have the time to go into this in depth here and now, but the most important text supporting this is found in Daniel 9: 24 -27.

In our next session, get ready for this, I want to cover five chapters! Please read Genesis 43 – 47. This will cover the rest of Joseph’s story, which is best all seen and understood in context without dividing it up.

If you want to plan and read ahead, the following one will cover the final three chapters; Genesis 48 -50.

This will leave time for me to focus on some previously covered topics in Genesis much more in depth, and conclude the book more thoroughly.