Great Leadership
Here in Genesis 41 we gain another great glimpse of Joseph’s
faithfulness. Even after being in
slavery of one kind or another for 13 years – he was 17 when his brothers sold
him and he was 30 when Pharaoh pulled him out of prison – he was still faithful
to God. What a testimony of faith: 13
years of “bad luck” could not shake Joseph’s faith! In fact, those 13 years of bad luck was
really God teaching Joseph how to be a true servant leader – a task that his
father Jacob had abdicated when he gave Joseph the coat of an overseer. Here Joseph proves the literal example of
what Jesus tells us in Luke 16:10 – one who is faithful in little will be
faithful in much. Joseph is faithful
when there is little reason to be faithful, thus God can expect Joseph to be
faithful when there is much reason to be faithful.
The Nile
There is a great theological debate here in this chapter
that we will revisit at the beginning of the Exodus story. The Egyptians revered the Nile as a god – or
at the very least as the direct product of the gods’ handiwork. When the gods were happy the Nile flooded and
brought vast quantities of rich silt up out of the banks into which the
Egyptians could plant their crops. When
the gods were angered the Nile didn’t flood and the Egyptians paid the consequences
of their lack of belief.
Now, along comes a dream about the Nile that the court
magicians cannot – or worse, refuse – to interpret. The only one who is willing to interpret is
Joseph, who very clearly gives the glory of the interpretation to his God, the
God of Abraham. The statement being made
here is that the God of Abraham and Joseph is far stronger than the gods of
Egypt.
In many cases, this oversight of Pharaoh with respect to the
power struggle between the God of Joseph and the Egyptian gods will set up the
conflict between Moses and the Pharaoh of Moses’ day. The whole story of the Exodus is compounded
by the same issues we have here. The only
difference is that there will be years to let the conflict fester between the
Hebrew people and the Egyptians.
The Dreams
The dreams of the Pharaoh serve two major purposes. Of course, the serve the overarching story as
a means to elevate Joseph and provide for the descendants of Abraham survive
the coming famine. That’s the major
overarching point.
But the subtle point behind the dreams is to demonstrate God’s
grace. God tells Pharaoh about the
famine beforehand. In fact, God tells
Pharaoh about the famine while there is a superabundance of grain in the
land. Pharaoh has an opportunity to
prepare for famine. In fact, this
chapter reads as though without these dreams, Pharaoh would not have thought to
prepare against famine in the time of abundance.
God’s grace is amazing.
God’s grace falls upon those who love Him and those who ultimately
reject Him and seek another god to worship.
God loves the people of this world, and he sets up Pharaoh with the
resources and access to the wisdom to do what is required. He is indeed a gracious God.
Joseph’s Marriage
There is one aspect of this story with which I do continue
to struggle. I wonder why after so many
negative illustrations of the sons of Abraham marrying Canaanite women we see a
positive marriage between Joseph and an Egyptian woman. Certainly God is not saying that the
Egyptians were more acceptable than the Canaanites – for neither culture honored
Him.
Rather, I wonder if there is more to the story than we can
know. Perhaps Joseph was one of the
lucky few who were able to lift his wife up in faith rather than be dragged
down into unfaith as is far more often the norm? Perhaps the real commentary is that Joseph’s
heart was pure and thus who he married wasn’t important whereas Esau’s and
Judah’s heart was impure and thus the fruit of the marriage is evidence of
their rebellious nature? Whatever the case,
we can say for certain that Joseph’s marriage produces children whose Hebrew
names imply that God is still being honored within the family.
The Providence of God
Finally, as we look forward to tomorrow let’s look again at
the providence of God. God has shown
Joseph that He can use the events of the world to lift him up. The seven years of feasting give Joseph
something to do as he fills the storehouses of Egypt with the wealth of
grain. The seven years of famine give
Joseph the ability to demonstrate his ability – from God, of course – to save
Egypt.
However, God has another surprise for Joseph. God will not only use the famine for the
benefit of lifting up Joseph in power but also to bring Joseph back into
relationship with his family. God is
able to use both the good and the bad things in this world to His glory. And that’s a pretty cool thing to think that
our God is not limited to only using the good.
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