Recap: (see genesis 35b) We have just started the last section of Genesis and we have seen how Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. We then saw how Judah became the forefather of David, and Jesus.
Read Genesis 39:1-23 (As the study on chapter 40 is short we will do it as a second part to this study)
Now we are able to return to the story of Joseph. Again there is much discussion over who Pharaoh was, but one of the Hyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty is a possibility. The Hyskos (Egyptian for ‘Foreign Rulers’) had overpowered the previous Egyptian dynasty and had established themselves as Pharaohs of ‘the New Kingdom’.
1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
As we saw earlier, it is more than likely that traders in high-end luxury goods would have connexions in high places, and that a better price could be obtained in those circles. So it is not surprising that this well-built and handsome (v6) young man should end up in the household of one of Pharaoh’s most senior officials.
But at the same time, the Lord was in control!
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
Neither Joseph nor Potiphar would have realised at the time just what excellent training Joseph was receiving. From age 17 to his mid-20’s Joseph was steadily given more and more responsibility, until he was giving orders in the elite of Egyptian society.
But at the same time I like to think that Joseph may have realised that the Lord’s hand was on him!
6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Unfortunately it also meant that Potiphar’s wife too had nothing to do!
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’
8 But he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’ 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even to be with her.
Note (v9) that Joseph was not only concerned that he would betray his master’s trust; he would also be committing sin against his God. Note too that he made sure that he did not allow himself to be in a position where he could even be tempted to sin: ‘he refused . . . even to be with her’.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
So far so good. Joseph had again preserved his honour; however ‘hell has no fury like a woman scorned’ and Potiphar’s wife had been rejected once too often.
13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. ‘Look,’ she said to them, ‘this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’
16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger.
I wonder: with whom was he angry? Joseph, or his wife? He knew the character of both.
Potiphar had to take action. What options were available in those days for a senior army captain to punish a slave who was guilty of such an act?
20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
The suggestion is that this was no common cell, but actually a detention facility within the Captain’s own house (Genesis 40:3), set aside for the prisoners of Pharaoh himself. It seems that Potiphar may have actually been on the side of Joseph. Here he would be able to oversee Joseph’s welfare and possibly he passed on the thought that Joseph could be trusted!
Could any of us have planned the events which we have looked at so far, that brought Joseph from Mesopotamia to The Pharaoh’s prison at this point in history?
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder. 22 So the warder put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
It is not often that we are able to see at the time why we are where we are. It is usually only in later years that we are able to look back and say with John Newton:
‘Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.’
Chapter 40
Read Genesis 40 1-23
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.
Again, this seems to be more like temporary ‘house arrest’ rather that a harsh punishment. And note the phrase in verse 6: ‘When Joseph came to them’ which indicates that Joseph had a separate room.
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.
These were no ordinary dreams, forgotten as soon as we awake. They were still vivid in the minds if the two prisoners, and obviously they had each told the other, but that had not eased their dejection. The fact that the two men had separately had such similar dreams was too much to be a coincidence.
7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, ‘Why do you look 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.’
Joseph wasn’t taking the place of God! But he knew God and was confident that he would reveal the meaning of the dreams to him.
9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10 and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes.11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.’
12 ‘This is what it means,’ Joseph said to him. ‘The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
God did reveal the meaning to Joseph, and so for him it became obvious. More than that, Joseph must have believed that the dream was from God and that what he had described would certainly take place. So he added:
14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15 I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.’
Although life was bearable in prison, Joseph was still keen to get out.
(The Hebrew word for dungeon is usually translated ‘Pit’ or ‘Cistern’ – a bit of hyperbole on Joseph’s part!)
16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favourable interpretation, he said to Joseph, ‘I too had a dream: on my head were three baskets of bread. 17 In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.’
18 ‘This is what it means,’ Joseph said. ‘The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.’
We asked just now what punishments were available in those days – this seems to have been one option – just for making Pharaoh angry (v2)!
Again Joseph is given a detailed interpretation which would not have been obvious without the Lord’s help.
20 Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21 he restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand – 22 but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
Joseph had been given the dreams’ interpretation with vivid clarity, and events turned out exactly as he had predicted. But for now, that hadn’t helped him at all:
23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
