Another great sermon by Voddie Baucham:
Pastor Baucham begins his study of Joseph by quickly
recounting Joseph’s history. Among
Jacob’s 12 sons, Joseph was loved most by his father--because he and Benjamin
were the only sons of Jacob’s true love, Rachel. (Keep in mind, he had had two wives and two
concubines). He gave Joseph a special robe as well. Joseph had dreams; in one of them, his
brothers and father bowed down to him, which he made an unfortunate decision by
telling this to his 11 brothers. They
hated him, and in their jealousy decided to kill him—but they ultimately sold
him into slavery. His new master was
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.
Potiphar eventually let Joseph rule his household because he had
integrity--and his master was blessed when Joseph was around. But Joseph was seduced
by his master’s wife, and he said “how can I do this great wickedness against
God?” When he rejected her, she told
Potiphar that he attempted to rape her. He
was thrown into jail. But he endured, still
was honest, and he was eventually allowed to run the jailer’s duties—now all
the prisoners were under his authority. Two dreams by prisoners who had
offended the Pharoah were brought to him for interpretation. He told them God
can give an answer, and indeed, God told him that one would die, the other
would be elevated to the Pharaoh’s side again.
Both those came true, but the one who rose to serve Pharoah forgot about
him. Not a word is said about any
bitterness that most of us would feel if we were Joseph. “Bad luck” seems to stalk him. But he always had integrity and testimony for
God, even though he was still stuck in jail.
But his opportunity came.
The Pharaoh had two dreams, and the servant remembered what Joseph did
and told Pharoah. He was pulled out of prison,
cleaned up and the Pharoah told him that he must tell him what he dreamed, and
the interpretation of them. God gave it to him, and he gave full credit to God,
and explained it as seven good years of harvest, followed by seven years of
famine. Pharoah believed him. Joseph was emboldened to suggest that they
should save 20% of the surpluses the first seven years, and suggested how they
could do that. The Pharaoh liked his administrative style and boldness, and
incredibly put him, a Hebrew, a prisoner, in charge of the entire kingdom’s
economy, the world’s greatest kingdom to that point in time. He was Pharaoh’s right-hand man, second in
command only to himself, and gave him his signet ring, beautiful clothes, a
gold chain and a wife, who produced two sons for him.
At this point, Pastor Baucham, says, this is how most people
tell the “moral to the story” to their children: Because he was faithful to God, even in
difficulty, God eventually blessed him. And
here he is, as proof, with power and position.
“But,” says Pastor Baucham, “what if I told you that that was not the
point of Joseph’s story? What if I told
you that that is almost the opposite of the point?” He then relates what God really wants us to understand,
with Scriptural proof to back it up. It
ends up being a greater moral to the story, and is one of the many treasures I
have gotten from Pastor Baucham. He calls it the “Inigo Montoya” twist on the
story (from “Princess Bride”) that Baucham is so good at. Paraphrased: “You keep on telling this story;
I do not think it means what you think it means.”
He begins his explanation on the real moral to the story with
how Genesis is a series of “this is the generations of…” followed by a name,
like Noah or Shem. Those are called
toledoth in Hebrew. There are 11 of
those in Genesis; the last one, in Genesis 37:2, is NOT the generations of
Joseph, who we think is the main character in this phase. No, it is the generations of Jacob. So, based
on this, the story of Joseph is not about Joseph, it’s about Jacob.
Another way that might pique your interest is this: there are 3 themes that recur throughout the Old
Testament. They are land, seed, and
covenant. Even in the Creation account, “the
generations (history) of heavens and the earth.” The phrase “He created the
heavens and the earth” is the land.
Then He creates the plants from their seeds. Then when you get Adam, He makes a covenant
with him.
In the Fall of Adam and Eve, we see this trio too: Man is kicked out of the land (Eden), and
God tells of a promised Seed in making another covenant. It is most obvious with Abram: God promises (covenants with) him a nation
(seed), and he is to move to take up possession of a land. Finally, as the former slaves move through
the desert in Exodus, they (the seed of Abraham) are moving to the promised, or
covenanted, land. So let’s read Joseph’s
story with these facts primarily in view.
Also, Pastor Baucham urges us to also see the irony
in what we’re reading from Genesis 41:37 on. When you see it, you get the point
of what God wants you to really learn from this story. It goes like this:
In Genesis 41:37 we see how the Pharaoh believed Joseph’s
interpretation of his dreams. “Can we find a man like this in whom is the
spirit of God?” This is ironic: Because his brothers hated him for his
interpretation of another dream (that they would bow before him). His interpretation to his brothers eventually
was right, and it was from God. But they
did NOT believe it or accept him because of it. Now he stands before a pagan king,
who DOES believe him. That’s irony. Pharoah recognizes when he sees something
supernatural, too. But the Jews did not accept that possibility, and here they
were the covenanted people of a supernatural God. All of this does not make the children of
Israel look good.
Secondly, whether Pharoah knew it or not, every house that
Joseph serves prospers. Note that in
41:40, Pharaoh said, “You shall be over my house.” So Pharoah is now going to be the latest one
to get some blessing. The thing is,
whose house is Joseph supposed to be prospering? Jacob’s. So we conclude: “Wrong house.” This
also is not a good thing. Thirdly, Pharaoh said in verse 41, “I have set
you over all the land of Egypt.” Remember
our three things: land, seed,
covenant. What land is Joseph supposed
to be in? Canaan, the land of
promise. And what land is the
theological opposite of Canaan? Egypt. So now it’s wrong house, wrong land.
And v. 42, “he clothed him in garments of fine linen.” Think of Joseph’s
previous special robe. So we conclude: Wrong
robe. And if it looks like
Pharaoh has adopted him—which means, for present purposes, he has the wrong
father. Again, not good. Is there
any way, with these hints, that Moses, the writer, is trying to say, “This is a
blessing—Joseph’s got everything right, he’s on top of the world.” Absolutely not. Finally, in verse 45, Pharaoh called Joseph
Zaphnath-Paaneah. It means God (the Egyptian
god) speaks and he lives. (Oh, I forgot to tell you: If the Pharoah’s soothsayers had the wrong interpretation,
or couldn’t guess the dream, they would die. No pressure on Joseph, right? But he stayed calm, because he was confident
in God.) Anyway, it was the Wrong
name, giving credit to their god. He has a covenant name that
identifies him with the people of the real God. Now a pagan king gave him a pagan name. This
pagan name points to his affiliation with a pagan god. Then he gave him in marriage to the daughter
of the priest of On (another pagan god).
Wrong wife. Perhaps you’ve read how Ezra, among others, urged the
people to put away these foreign wives (Ezra 10:3). And how Solomon got in trouble by doing that,
too. Not because of their being foreign,
or having a different ethnicity. But
because of their worship of false gods—it would be marriage to an unbeliever. Which God was against. We agree with those Ezra statements, so how
do we tell our kids, on the Joseph story, “Yes, kids, you too can be like Joseph.”
Sarcastically, Dr. Baucham says what we should point out to the kids: “If,
children, you’re faithful, you can end up in the wrong land, with the wrong father,
with the wrong robe and the wrong wife, and wrong name.” Of course, none of this was Joseph’s
choice. He was in the center of God’s
will, whether he knew it or not—he was where God wanted him to be.
Well, if you’re not convinced of this new look at Joseph’s
endgame—would you believe it if Joseph says it?
Beginning in Genesis 37:50, it says “To Joseph were born two sons…he called
the name of his firstborn Manasseh; “for God has made me forget all my hardship
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.” The names of these
sons make my same point. Note that he
gave his sons Hebrew names, not Egyptian—he gave his seed, covenantal names. He was thinking of Canaan, his real home,
when he said Egypt was “the land of my affliction.” Anything short of God’s will was an affliction.
Now you have the three:
Land, covenant, seed. Let’s look carefully at their names, again. Dr. Baucham comes up with a loose but
accurate translation of Manasseh--it means, “I let that go.” He imagines a conversation on the street. Let’s say an Egyptian friend greets Joseph
and says, “boy, you’re living the dream now.” At some point he tells him the
son’s name is Hebrew, and says, “Pharaoh gets to change my name, but he doesn’t
get to name my son. He’s a child of the
covenant.” The friend says, “why would you name him after the Hebrew people who
abandoned you?” His answer: “Because I
let that stuff go.” Even though they sold
him into slavery. Joseph had no
bitterness. He still chose to be
identified with the covenant people of God rather than Egypt, which, despite showering
him with wealth and position, he knows were still the enemies of God. All pagan gods are demons, and they are God’s
enemies. He stayed faithful to God, despite
how he could present a good case to God for complaint. He chose to always look through the promises
of the covenant, not through the lens of his past pain. He let that stuff go.
Some of us need a Manasseh, too. We are holding onto things, and are not
looking at ourselves as redeemed people of the covenant, but as damaged people
from our past. You need to let that
stuff go. “But I have trust issues, I have been poor.” Manasseh.
Let it go. That’s not who you
are. The blood of Jesus can cover that.
Just in case they didn’t get the message, his second son
means, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” You might ask, if
you were Egyptian, “didn’t our nation bless you? And wouldn’t the land of affliction be the
place where they hated you, and were willing to murder you?” No, because Joseph knew that he was still
part of God’s covenant people, and the place for him to be is the land of the
covenant. “I don’t care how much I
obtained wealth here; there is no wealth like being in the presence of Yahweh,
our Lord God. Anything out of God’s
presence is affliction.” Dr Baucham then
spoke personally: he is spending the majority of his time in Zambia, and he is
asked repeatedly why he chose Zambia over the U.S.(he was born in Los Angeles). He answer:
I am looking for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And until I get there, wherever I live is the
land of my affliction. (He is speaking of heaven vs. earth). This is not my
home. This is not as good as it
gets. Our best day here pales in
comparison to any day in glory. He
concludes that Joseph is doing what we should be doing: this present evil world is the land of our
affliction, but I’m doing everything in my power to be a blessing to this land,
because it’s where God has me right now. We man our post, and advance His
kingdom wherever the Lord asks us to be.
Never get too comfortable; remember it is the land of our affliction. Paul
talks about this tension, too, when he quotes: for me to live is Christ; to die
is gain.
So, Joseph doesn’t choose the path the way most people would,
nor does he fight the path God put him on. His faith is deep and unmovable,
even though he can’t see the external blessings of God’s covenant.
Did you know that, despite his character, Joseph is not the
promised seed from whom the Redeemer would come? Of Jacob’s sons, God picks Judah as the
promised seed. Joseph had an important
role—he preserved the promised seed, from famine. All Joseph knows is, obedience and the
resulting peace are his friends. Peace,
for him, is in the midst of God’s will. God’s will is sometimes unknown; He
makes a promise, and definitely has exciting ways to complete it!
So what’s the end of the Joseph story? From Genesis 42ff,
Joseph’s brothers show up to get food.
Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him. Joseph will test his brothers. First, remember that Joseph was the son of
Jacob’s favorite wife. The other son
born to her was Benjamin; but he didn’t see Benjamin, and assumes Benjamin
didn’t travel with them. (Maybe Jacob
wanted to protect him). Joseph doesn’t
know for sure if he is alive or dead; who knows, he wonders, maybe they did the
same treatment to Benjamin that they did to him. As a plan to see Benjamin, he insists that
they come back with Benjamin, and he tests their character by holding hostage
one of them—would they abandon that hostage?
When they return with Benjamin, as a final test, he tricks them into
thinking that they have stolen his goods, and then insists that he keep
Benjamin as penalty. He tells the rest of them that they may now
leave; Benjamin will remain as slave.
But Judah distinguishes himself by saying, take me instead of him (Gen.
44:18ff).
Now Joseph reveals
himself, and when they recover, they thought, Dad might die, but we’re going to
die first! (They thought Joseph would seek revenge). But Joseph had great mercy, and finally
reveals himself. He said, “God sent me
here before you to preserve life….to preserve a remnant (or posterity) for you…it
was not you who sent me here, but God…he made me lord of all Pharaoh’s house….to
save you.”
Think much about Joseph’s condition, and how God blessed him
spiritually, giving him peace and contentment no matter his surroundings.
Can you apply this to your own life, by building up his many godly character
traits? Are you a real member of the
kingdom of God, and how our real goal and real treasure is in heaven, and in
the center of God’s will?
Joseph is considered a type of Christ, in being rejected by
his brothers, but saving his elect anyways, from dying from famine. I hope you like this new way to see Joseph.
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