Joseph Recognised by His Brothers, by Peter Von Cornelius
[Talk given at a Family Service in the Brecon Presbyterian Church]
Joseph had ten older brothers and one younger. His older brothers hated him because he was the favourite of their father Jacob. One day Joseph’s father gave him a very special ornamented robe with long sleeves. It was the sort of garment only worn by an important man. Jacob was treating Joseph as if he was the head of his brothers. And Joseph also used to tell tales on his brothers when they did wrong. So they hated him.
The dreamer
And Joseph was a dreamer. One day he told his brothers how, in his dream, they had been binding corn in the field when suddenly all his brothers’ sheaves bowed down to his. And in another dream the Sun and Moon and eleven stars had all bowed down to him. This was too much even for Jacob. So he said, “Will I, and your mother, and your brothers all bow down to you?”
One day Joseph was sent by his father to see how his brothers were getting on with tending the flocks – he was sent to check up on them. When they saw him coming from a distance they said, “Here comes that dreamer, let’s get rid of him”. Some wanted to kill him, but eventually they just grabbed him and threw him down a pit. It was a dry water cistern. Joseph cried for help but the brothers ignored him and sat down to enjoy their lunch. Eventually they sold him off to some traders who were on their way to Egypt.
In Potiphar ’s house
So Joseph ended up in the slave market in Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar , the chief of the palace guard. Joseph had had a hard time, but in Potiphar ’s house God blessed him. He was so good a servant that Potiphar put him in charge of the whole household. Everything went smoothly and Potiphar prospered. But after a while Potiphar ’s wife began to notice Joseph – he was a very handsome young man of about 18. She was filled with desire for him. “Come to bed with me!” she demanded. Now Joseph could have done this. He would have been well treated as Potiphar ’s wife’s “toyboy”. No doubt he would have got away with it. But Joseph knew in his heart it was wrong. “My master trusts me with everything. He has kept nothing back from me, except you because you are his wife. And it would also be a sin against God.” Potiphar ’s wife was persistent – every day she pestered Joseph and tried to get him to lie with her.
One day she came into the house while Joseph was doing his household duties. There was no one else there. She grabbed hold of his robe and said, “Come to bed with me!”Joseph ran off, leaving the robe in her hands. Then Potiphar ’s wife was angry – she had been rejected. She screamed out to the servants and told them that Joseph had tried to rape her. When she told Potiphar, he was angry, and had Joseph put in prison.
In prison
But in the prison God was still with Joseph. The prison warder, when he saw how competent Joseph was, put him in charge of the whole prison. Joseph did all the administrative work and the everything ran smoothly. The story of Joseph is full of ups and downs. We’ve already seen some of them. But there are a lot more to come!
Reading: Genesis 40:1-8
1 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.
4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men— the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison— had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, Why are your faces so sad today?
8 We both had dreams, they answered, but there is no-one to interpret them. Then Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.
Genesis 40:1-8 (New International Version – UK)
We’ve just heard how the cup bearer and the baker of Pharaoh had dreams they could not interpret. With God’s help Joseph was able to explain the dreams. The cup bearer had dreamed of a grape vine with three branches which budded and blossomed before his eyes and then produced grapes. Then, in his dream, he took the grapes, squeezed the juice and gave the cup of grape juice to Pharaoh. Joseph saw that this was a sign that the man would be forgiven by Pharaoh and restored to his high position. When that happens, Joseph said, “Get Pharaoh to let me out of this prison. I haven’t done anything wrong!”
The baker, when he heard the favorable interpretation, eagerly told Joseph about his dream. He had dreamed of three baskets of cakes which he was carrying on his head. And the birds were coming down and pecking at the cakes. Joseph said, “In three days time Pharaoh will lift up your head – but not in the good way he lifted up the cup bearer’s head. No, he won’t restore you to honour. Instead he will lift up your head on the gallows! And so it happened just a Joseph had predicted: the cupbearer got his job back but the baker was hanged.
But when the cup bearer got his old job back he forgot all about Joseph and left him there in the prison!
Pharaoh’s dream
Joseph spent two more years in prison before something else happened. Pharaoh had a dream, a very strange one. Seven fat cows came out of the Nile, followed by seven skinny ones. And the starved and skinny ones swallowed up the fat and sleek ones. Again he dreamt. This time seven plump ears of corn were followed by seven withered and blasted ears. And the withered ones swallowed up the plump ones.
Pharaoh woke up with a start! He didn’t like these dreams one bit, even though he couldn’t tell what they meant. He called or all his wise men and magicians, and not one of them could interpret his dreams. Then, at last, the cup bearer remembered Joseph. He told Pharaoh about this Hebrew slave who had predicted everything that happened to him and to the baker. “Call him at once,” said Pharaoh . So they hurriedly brought Joseph out of the jail. They gave him a wash and a shave and put clean clothes on him, and brought him before Pharaoh .
“I hear you can interpret dreams,” said Pharaoh.
“No, not I, but God can explain them,” said Joseph.
So Pharaoh told his dreams and Joseph explained them with God’s help. The seven fat cows and seven fat ears of corn represented seven years of plentiful crops. They would be followed by seven years of famine. And the years of famine would be so severe that they would eat up all the harvests from the good years.
Joseph said, “Pharaoh should find a wise man and put him in charge. He should collect one fifth of each of the good harvests and store away the grain as provision for the bad years which will follow. “What a good idea,” said Pharaoh, “And who is better fitted to do it than Joseph?”.
So Joseph was made the second in command over the whole land of Egypt. He had full authority to implement the famine relief strategy.
Ruler of Egypt
So Joseph became a great man and married the daughter of one of the priests and ruled the land of Egypt under Pharaoh. And then it came about as Joseph had predicted. And Joseph so organised things that there was no starvation in Egypt. But the neigbouring counties were hard hit by the famine and people flocked to Egypt to buy the surplus grain.
One day some Canaanites came to Egypt on donkeys with bags of silver to buy food. Joseph immediately recogised them as his brothers – but they didn’t recognise him. After all, he was now a full grown man in his thirties and he was wearing Egyptian clothes and was clean shaven. He didn’t look like a Hebrew at all. And he was speaking Egyptian and communicating with them through an interpreter.
Joseph was disturbed in mind – he had mixed feelings. On the one hand he was glad to see his brothers and he desperately wanted to hear about his father. On the other hand, could he trust them? They had sold him as a slave. They had even talked of killing him. How could he know whether he could trust them? Testing his brothers So Joseph decided to test them. He accused them of being spies and put them in prison. Then he sent them home but kept one of them – Simeon – as a hostage.
Later, when they returned with Benjamin the youngest brother, Joseph played a trick on them. He planted a silver cup in the neck of Benjamin’s sack of grain and then accused him of theft. The brothers were aghast. They believed that this had come about as punishment for what they had done to Joseph almost twenty previously. Judah offered his own life as a slave in exchange for Benjamin. How could they return to their father Jacob without Benjamin the youngest? It would break Jacob’s heart which had already been shattered after the disappearance of Joseph.
Now Joseph could stand it no longer. He ordered out all his servants and he wept loudly before his brothers as he told them he was Joseph. They were stunned and shocked. They couldn’t believe it. How could this man be Joseph? And if he was, what then? Would he not now take his revenge on them?
Reconciliation
But Joseph said, “Don’t be upset, it has worked out alright. God has sent me to Egypt ahead of you so I could save the lives of all of us. Go back to my father. Tell him I am alive and now in charge of the land of Egypt and then come and live here in this land where there is plenty of food.”
Pharaoh was pleased when he heard about Joseph’s brothers. He invited them to go home and bring the whole family to Egypt. And so Jacob came at last to Egypt to meet his son who was now such an important man. And he saw his two grandchildren, Joseph’s sons. And he was presented to Pharaoh and lived the rest of his life in the land of Egypt. After Jacob died his body was embalmed after the custom of the Egyptians and carried back to the land of Canaan for burial. And then Joseph’s brothers were afraid that he would now take his revenge on them – now that their father was dead. So they sent a message to Joseph saying that Jacob, before his death, had asked that Joseph would forgive them.
Joseph wept when he heard this – he had already forgiven his brothers years before. He was grieved that even now they didn’t trust him. They didn’t believe him when he said he had forgiven them. Joseph said, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good! He brought me to this position of power so I could save the lives of many people”. So he spoke kindly to them.
Conclusion
What do we learn from Joseph ? Life is full of ups and downs but God is in control. He was even in control when Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave, and when Potiphar’s wife accused him, and when he was forgotten in jail. God was still in control and brought good out of the situation. Like Joseph we have to learn to trust God. if we are faithful to God he will be faithful to us. He is the Faithful One.
Theres a little song in the old Scripture Union hymn book “Sing to God” – No. 130
Joseph had eleven brothers
Joseph had eleven brothers, and they wished him far away. Sold him for a slave in Egypt for some silver coins one day.
Refrain: He remembered the Lord in the land of Egypt and the Lord remembered him.
He worked very hard for his master and was treated like a son. Until he was thrown in prison for a crime he hadn’t done.
He worked very hard for the warder and took care of all the men. He explained their dreams but he longed to have his freedom back again.
Pharaoh had two dreams that bewildered him till Joseph made them plain. He was given power and appointed to take charge of all the grain.
Joseph’s brothers travelled to Egypt; no where else could they buy bread. They didn’t know this great man was Joseph; they were sure that he was dead.
He discovered that they were sorry for their cruelty and greed. Told who he was and forgave them and he helped them in their need.
(Sister Oswin)
We have to learn to forgive – just as Joseph did.
