Genesis 39:2a: The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.

Presented to Swift Current Corps, July 10, 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Only a portion of the full sermon was actually preached. To read the shortened version click HERE

 

I used to love The Family Circle /Family Circus comics as a kid.[1] Rebecca really loves them now as she has a lot of my old comic books that she will read and re-read to herself and sometimes she invites me to read them with her as well. I pulled out a few pictures of family discord or arguments from Bil Keane’s comics here – they actually aren’t so easy to find.

This Family Circus seems to work pretty well together. Today we are going to talk about a family on the other extreme. Today we are going to speak about Joseph’s family.

Genesis 39:2a says, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” Now Joseph was born in what would be modern day Iraq, the same as his great grandfather. His dad and granddad, however, were born in Palestine. Joseph was the second youngest of 12 sons and at least one daughter – a good Saskatchewan farm-size family. Joe’s dad, Jacob - sometimes called Israel - worked for his father-in-law as a herdsman, a shepherd in what would be modern day Iraq when Joseph was born. He raised goats and sheep until one day Joseph’s dad secretly quits his job; Joseph’s mom steals a bunch of statues of idols from her dad -who remember is her husband’s boss- and they flee the country as fast as they can. Now as you can imagine, they don’t get too far with 11 or 12 children and a whole bunch of sheep and goats in tow but they try to sneak away and they are caught fleeing but providentially Joe’s mom doesn’t get caught with the idols she stole because when her dad’s servants are looking for them she sits on them and then tells her dad that she can’t get up because she was having her time of the month. Joseph’s mom and dad then survive this ordeal and get to where they are going – Palestine, where Jacob, Joseph’s dad, was raised (Genesis 31). This happens when Joseph is a little kid.

Now if you think that Joe’s dad here had problems with his in-laws, that was nothing compared to the problems he had with his own family before Joseph was born. Remember, we just said he fled his in-laws place in the midst of secrecy. Well, do you know how he wound up meeting and staying with his in-laws in the first place? It was because he made his own family so mad at him that he had to flee his home before they killed him (Genesis 27:41-46). He got along okay with his mom. He was a bit of a mama’s boy actually. But he was always lying, tricking. And Joseph’s dad’s name, Jacob, do you know what it literally means? It means the deceiver. And he lives up to that name: he arguably tricked his brother, Joseph’s Uncle Esau, out of his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) and he definitely tricked his father, Joseph’s Grandpa Isaac, into giving him Uncle Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27:1-40) – then he fled the country. So there were, needless to say, tense times when Joseph’s dad returned home with Joseph, and the other children. As a result of the tension and Jacobs’s anxiety (probably, cf. Genesis 33:1-11)[2] Joseph’s dad lies to his Uncle Esau one last time –even though Uncle Esau forgives him everything - before they decided to just part ways and live apart (Genesis 33:13-17). That is a little bit about Joseph’s dad.

Now about Joe’s mother: Joseph’s mother – Rachel- wasn’t his dad’s first wife. Joseph’s dad loved his mom and he wanted to marry her but on his wedding night he got so drunk that he actually married her sister …by accident and consummated the marriage with her sister… by accident (Genesis 29:22-25). In those days they didn’t really have divorce. Joseph’s dad still wanted to marry Joseph’s mom so he married her too (Genesis 29:26-30). Now here is something that I find interesting as well: it says that Joseph’s dad, Jacob, didn’t like his first wife – who was Joseph’s Aunty Leah– very much but… that didn’t stop him from having four children with her (Genesis 29:31-34), so I think he must of liked her a little bit – those kids, Joe’s older half-brothers came from somewhere. Now if you think Joseph’s family is messed up now, it gets worse. But remember, Genesis 39:2a says, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

Joe’s mom is jealous of her sister having these four kids with her husband because she can’t get pregnant. Now, in those days there are no fertility clinics so in order to address the fact that she can’t have children with her husband, Joseph’s mom Rachel, tells one of her employees – her maidservant, Bilhah - to go and have sexual relations with her husband and Rachel will keep the child (Genesis 30:1-7). Joseph’s dad seems to be okay with this and apparently he has ongoing relations with Bilhah for quite some time (anything to keep his wife happy) because she gives birth to 2 sons.

Now if you think this is messed up, it gets worse still: Joseph’s Aunty Leah who is still married to Joe’s dad becomes jealous that Rachel’s employee (now Jacob’s concubine) is having children and giving them to her sister so she goes to Joseph’s dad and tells him to go and have relations with one of her employees – her maidservant, Zilpah – so Jacob, Joseph’s dad, being the dutiful husband of two sisters that he is, has relations with Zilpah and they have a child (Genesis 30:9-13). Eventually Rachel too has a child and that is Joseph; then years later after they move to Palestine, she has another child, Benjamin.  Joseph’s mother then dies in childbirth (Genesis 35:19). But, Genesis 39:2a, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

So this is what Joseph’s family looks like. Joseph has 4 half-brothers from his dad and his Aunty Leah, who is his dad’s first wife. Joseph has two half-brothers from his dad and his Aunty Leah’s employee. He has two-half brothers from his mom’s employee and he has one younger full-brother plus at least one half-sister.

Now needless to say this was not the best home environment in the whole world. It doesn’t get much better either. As you can imagine Joe’s half-brothers don’t always get along with each other, him or their dad. There is a little bit of rivalry and Joseph’s dad makes it a whole lot worse. He’s really not a great dad. He has absolutely no control over his sons and let me tell you a little bit about how Joseph’s brothers turned out.

His oldest brother Reuben at some point has an affair or at least a one-time encounter with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. Bilhah, if you remember, was Joseph’s mother’s servant that she gave to Reuben’s father to make children. So Reuben has this affair with the mother of his two younger brothers, Dan and Naphtali. Reuben has relations with his half-brothers’ mother and his dad finds out about it (Genesis 35:22). Remember too that Reuben, his dad, his mom, his dad’s concubines, and all Reuben’s brothers are living together in the same place. It was a bit of a mess. They’re just blessed that Bilhah didn’t get pregnant from that[3] – this family tree is confusing enough. That was Reuben.

Judah, another one of Joseph’s brothers later gets into this really confusing mess when he sleeps with his own daughter-in-law who was pretending to be a prostitute and then she gets pregnant (Genesis 38).

And then there is Levi and Simeon, two other of Joseph’s half-brothers. Their full sister was sexually assaulted by a Hittite named Shechem. Shechem’s dad brings him over to meet Jacob to try to make amends. His dad says that he will do whatever they ask to try and make it right. Joseph’s brothers imply that all is forgiven - their two family groups will intermarry, they say. Their sons will take the other’s daughters as their wives and vice versus with everyone living happily ever after as one family group but there is just one condition, Shechem and all the Hittite males living in the area must get circumcised. They do and when all the adult males are at the height of their pain from the procedure, two of Joseph’s brothers Levi and Simeon sneak into the camp and kill them all and steal all their possessions and even carried off all their women and children. Jacob then decides it is time to move again (Genesis 34). But we are coming quickly to the time, Genesis 39:2a, where “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

To recap, this was Joseph’s family growing up: his dad is a deceiver who caused problems with his brother and didn’t get along with his in-laws; his mom is a thief – not only that – what she stole were idols of foreign gods. Joseph’s dad has children with a number of different women and Joe’s oldest brother has an affair with the mother of a couple of his own half-brothers. Another brother of Joseph’s runs into the problem with the prostitution scandal and two more brothers trick and murder a whole community’s males before the rest of his brothers carry of all their possessions, their wives and their children. If you think your family growing up was a little messed up, Joseph can give you a bit of a run for your money in that regard, I’m sure. But remember that, though this may not seem like a great life, still to come Genesis 39:2a states, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

This now brings us to Genesis 37. Joseph is no longer a child. Here we meet Joe as a young man of 17 years old. Now 17 – even if some people don’t think so in today’s world – in those days it is plenty old enough to be carrying your own load in life. People would often be starting their own families by then. Not Joseph. Joseph, like we said was a little bit spoiled (Genesis 37:3,4). There was no physical reason that we know of as to why Joseph couldn’t be out in the fields working with his brothers but he wasn’t and not only was he not working like his brothers but when he got the opportunity, it says –Genesis 37:2- he tattled on his brothers. He told on them. But still to come, Genesis 39:2a, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

And there is more: Not only did Joe report on his brothers to his dad but Joseph’s dad made no bones about the fact that Joe was his favourite son; so while Jacob sent his other boys out to work for a living he lavished at least one fancy gift on Joseph (a coat of many colours, ornamental robe, or a long-sleeved garment depending on your translation) [4] who he let stay around the house.

Now Joseph’s brothers, after we find out that Joseph is spoiled and Joseph tells on them, Genesis 37:4 states that “when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” So the family relations are heating up a little bit. There is more than a little bit of understandable rivalry between Joseph and all his half-brothers. It is in this context that Joseph, this privileged son, has some dreams. These dreams’ – which have the apparently obvious interpretation that his whole immediate family, including his brothers and his father will bow down to him – are fine but maybe not so wise is the fact that Joseph tells his brothers and his dad the dreams. As you can imagine, this does not go over quite so well with his brothers. Genesis 37:8b “…and they hated him all the more because of his dream AND what he said to them.” His brothers had absolutely had it with him; so when a while later their dad sends Joseph to find them with the flocks they decide to take action. They have had enough. They take him, throw him into a pit and try to decide whether they are finally going to kill him or not. Remember – as least two of the brothers had murdered people before (Genesis 34:25). It is then that some slave traders happen by and the brothers decide to take advantage of the situation and they sell their brother into slavery, telling their father that he is dead. The salve traders sell him into slavery with an Egyptian official.[5] He is 17 (18 at the oldest by now) and about to begin a life of slavery. It is at that point that we run across this interesting verse. It is at this point that the verse that we keep coming back to appears in the narrative; Genesis 39:2a, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

Joseph’s family life, as we have been discussing, was not the greatest but as one can imagine a terrible home life probably beats being a slave in a foreign country but it is as a slave where it records Genesis 39:2, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” This is key. This prosperity is not wealth. He is a slave. This prosperity is not luxury. He is a slave. This prosperity is not freedom to do what he wants when he wants. He is a slave. Joseph is a teenager who has been sold into slavery in a foreign country – where I imagine he doesn’t yet even know the language. He is a slave completely against his will without even specified terms for release. This is the condition that he is in when where it records Genesis 39:2a, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

Let me tell you some more about this prosperity.[6] While Joseph is a slave, his master’s wife takes a liking to him. She wants to fool around with him a little bit – have an affair. Joseph will have none of this and spends much of his time trying to avoid her. She finally gets so upset at Joe for not giving into her attempts at seduction, that she accuses him of sexual assault and his master has Joseph thrown into prison. This is what it looks like in the house of his Egyptian master when and where it says that the LORD was with Joseph and he prospered.

Joseph is then sitting in prison in a foreign country charged with a crime that he didn’t commit with no specified length or end to his sentence. This prison, while it was reserved for prisoners of important people, was no 21^st century Canadian prison (not that these are a picnic by any means) - there is no TV, no Charter of Rights and Freedoms, no early parole; just a dark dungeon, or a pit as some translations (KJV, ESV) refer to it, where you live out your days with the other prisoners. This is what it looks like when, Genesis 39:2a, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” This is what his prosperity looked like. No money, no luxury, no freedom, just slavery and then just sitting in a dungeon (or pit) in a foreign country with no hope of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. How many of us would consider this prosperity? I want us to remember this to the next time someone that believes the prosperity heresy tells us that when you are a good Christian you won’t get sick and you will always have all the money and freedom that you want. It is not true. That is NOT what God’s prosperity looks like. What God’s prosperity in our lives looks like is when God’s work is being done through us.[7] Joseph prospered with no money, no luxury, no freedom, just sitting in a dungeon (or a pit) in a foreign country with no hope of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Genesis 23b reiterates directly in the prison context, just like in the slavery context, so that we don’t forget, “that LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” And this success and this prosperity are mentioned after he was sold into slavery and then when he is spending time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The Lord’s blessing on Joseph is NOT mentioned in the context of his being released from slavery and prison. His prosperity is noted in the 13 years (almost half his life to this point) that he spends in slavery and later confined in prison.

This is significant. It doesn’t tell us that he prospered and the LORD was with him when he was the favourite son of a well-to-do herdsman who received special attention and pampering from his dad. The author of Genesis doesn’t specifically say that the Lord was with Joseph and that he prospered when he was riding in the chariot alongside Pharaoh and receiving all the benefits and privileges of being second in command in the entire Egyptian empire. It says that he prospered when he was in slavery and it says that the Lord gave him success when he was in prison. Success and God’s prosperity is not financial well-being and a self-indulgent, easy life at all. What prosperity is is when God’s work is being done. When Joseph is worshiping, serving, and giving credit to God in the midst of his suffering is where we hear of the LORD’s blessing and where we see Joseph’s real heart of worship.

 

I think that this is important for us today as we worship the Lord. We need to recognize the really tough times -when we are in the pits of our lives- as opportunities to be encouraged to serve and to worship the Lord. These times are not definitely divine punishment; these times are definitely not times of being forsaken by the LORD. God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). Instead when we are in the dungeons and pits of our lives, when life is its most challenging, when we are completely overwhelmed and when we cannot solve our problems on our own, if we take the focus off our predicament and off of our own selfish desires (as legitimate as they maybe) and if we instead concentrate on the LORD and fully trust and worship Him; if we do this then I believe that we will find that even in these times of trouble and distress that –like Joseph – we will see the LORD is with us and that we will prosper in our worship and in our relationship with God even and especially in our very trying times.

Let us pray.

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[1] Bil Keene, The Family Circus, Available on-line at www.familycircus.com

[2] Cf. Fredrick C. Holmgren, “Holding Your Own Against God! Genesis 32:22-32 (In the Context of Genesis 31-33),” Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 44, no. 4 (1990): 5-17. It may not just be family discord that kept them separate. It may have been a desire to maintain the benefits of his independence, birthright and blessing. If his family intermingled too closely with the larger Edomite populations they ran the risk of being absorbed into Esau. This also could be a reason God kept them apart.

[3] Cf. Michael Ramsay "Word Study: to bless, blessing (Hebrew: brk)," Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Fall 2005). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com./Word_Studies_Michael_Ramsay.htm#blessing 

[4] T. Desmond Alexander, ESV Study Bible on-line. Note on Genesis 37:3: The Hebrew expression used to denote this cloak is used elsewhere only of a garment worn by King David's daughter Tamar (see 2 Sam. 13:18). The actual design of the cloak is uncertain; as the esv footnote explains, the translation here is based on the understanding of the Septuagint translators (Gk. poikilos, “many-coloured”). The alternative is “a robe with long sleeves” (cf. the text and esv footnote of 2 Sam. 13:18, which uses the same Hebrew expression). Available at: http://www.esvbible.org

[5] Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 196: On the name Potiphar, recognizably Egyptian, see the brief discussion in The New Bible Dictionary  (ed. J. D. Douglas et al., 1962). Officer is strictly ‘eunuch’, but the term became a general synonym for ‘courtier’. The translation captain of the guard is debatable but probably right. The alternative is ‘chief butcher’, supported by etymology (from the verb ‘to slaughter’, as in 43:16; cf. 1 Sam. 9:23f., ‘the cook’), also by lxx and by the use of a similar title in Egyptian for a kind of major-domo (J. Vergote, Joseph en Égypte, Louvain 1959, pp. 31–35). Captain of the guard, however, accords with Potiphar’s command of the prison (40:3f.) and is clearly correct in 2 Kings 25:8.

[6] John H. Sailhamer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Genesis/Exposition of Genesis/VI. The Account of Jacob (37:1-49:33)/E. Joseph in the House of Potiphar (39:1-23), Book Version: 4.0.2: This is not a story of the success of Joseph; rather it is a story of God's faithfulness to his promises.

[7] John H. Sailhamer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Genesis/Exposition of Genesis/VI. The Account of Jacob (37:1-49:33)/E. Joseph in the House of Potiphar (39:1-23), Book Version: 4.0.2