Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace

A powerful man stands in a palace in Egypt, weeping so loudly the whole household can hear. In front of him are the brothers who once sold him as a slave. They do not recognise him. Not yet.

Joseph was one of twelve brothers, the sons of Jacob, a herdsman living in Canaan. Jacob had a favourite, and everyone knew it. It was Joseph, the son of his old age. Jacob gave him a special robe, richly ornamented. Joseph also had dreams. Sheaves of grain bowing down to his sheaf. The sun, the moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. He told his brothers about them. That did not help. Genesis says his brothers hated him, and could not speak a kind word to him.

One day Jacob sent seventeen-year-old Joseph to check on his brothers, who were grazing the flocks far from home. They saw him coming in that robe. “Here comes the dreamer,” they said. Some of them wanted to kill him. Reuben, the eldest, talked them out of it. So they stripped off his robe and threw him into an empty cistern, a dry pit in the ground. Then a caravan of traders came by, carrying spices down to Egypt. Judah had an idea. Why not sell him? So they did, for twenty pieces of silver. They dipped the robe in goat’s blood and took it home to their father. Jacob wept, and would not be comforted.

In Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. And Genesis says something that echoes through the whole story. The Lord was with Joseph. He worked hard, and Potiphar put him in charge of everything. But Potiphar’s wife lied about him, and Joseph was thrown into prison. Even there, the Lord was with him. Two of Pharaoh’s officials, his cupbearer and his baker, had troubling dreams, and Joseph explained them. It all happened just as he said. Then Pharaoh himself dreamed. Seven fat cows swallowed up by seven thin ones. Seven full heads of grain swallowed by seven withered ones. Joseph was brought up from the dungeon. “I cannot do it,” he told Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer.” Seven years of plenty were coming, then seven years of famine. Store up grain now. Pharaoh put his own signet ring on Joseph’s hand, dressed him in fine linen, and hung a gold chain around his neck. The slave from the pit was now second only to Pharaoh in all Egypt.

The famine came, just as God had shown. It reached Canaan too, and Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain. They bowed low before the governor. They had no idea it was Joseph. He tested them. He spoke harshly. He kept one brother, Simeon, and demanded they bring the youngest, Benjamin. Later, he had his silver cup hidden in Benjamin’s sack. And then Judah, the same Judah who had once sold Joseph, stepped forward and begged to become a slave himself, so that Benjamin could go home to their father. Joseph could not hold back any longer. He sent everyone else out of the room, and he wept aloud.

“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here. It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”

Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept too. He kissed all his brothers. And after that, Genesis says, his brothers talked with him. Pharaoh sent wagons to bring Jacob and the whole family down to Egypt, where there would be food for all of them. And an old father, who had mourned his son for more than twenty years, heard words he never expected to hear. “Joseph is still alive.”

The details of Joseph’s promotion fit ancient Egypt well. Pharaoh gives him a signet ring, which carried the royal seal and the authority to act in the king’s name. He dresses him in fine linen, the cloth worn by Egypt’s officials and priests. And he places a gold chain, or collar, around his neck. Egyptian tomb paintings and reliefs show officials being honoured in just this way, receiving gold collars from the king as a reward for faithful service. Scholars of ancient Egypt such as Kenneth Kitchen and James Hoffmeier have pointed to scenes like these as background for Joseph’s story.

Joseph’s story is told in Genesis, chapter thirty-seven, and chapters thirty-nine to forty-five. His brothers meant him harm. God brought good out of it. And Joseph chose to forgive. So here is something to think about. Is there someone you find hard to forgive, and what would one small step toward them look like?