Sermon from May 30, 2010
"The Triumph of Joseph"
Genesis 40-50

Would you allow me to access the secret places of your heart? I don’t want to invade your privacy. I only want to send my ambassadors there – my words. Even my words cannot go alone. The Holy Spirit must go with them and give them a credible hearing. Here is a summary of the message they bring today.

The Eternal is unhurried and still,
The Temporal strident and loud;
Silently, over the strife on earth,
Moves the will of God. (William Raabe, in Our Heavenly Father, Helmut Thielicke, 13)

The temporal, strident and loud, is there for all to see throughout the story Genesis tells about Abraham and his descendants. The eternal is also there, unhurried, silent, and so still as to seem absent altogether. People of faith look for the eternal within the temporal. Joseph did that. We begin the conclusion of his story in Genesis 39:20.

A False Start
Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. For the second time Joseph fell victim to someone else’s anger and deceit. For the second time in his young life his world fell apart. And where was God? How soon do you need to know the answer, and will you recognize Him when He shows His hand? The rest of the chapter makes sure we keep looking for Him.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Joseph was in jail unjustly and indefinitely. I’m glad he found favor with the warden, but stone walls do very much a prison make and iron bars a cage for the human spirit, which God created to go freely upon the earth. Be patient. The eternal is unhurried.

Yet the eternal does move. Pharaoh had put two of his officials in jail. Genesis 40:5 picks up the action: 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. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?

“We both had dreams . . . but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

He interpreted the cupbearer’s dream to mean that he would be restored to his former position in the king’s court. He interpreted the chief baker’s dream to mean that he would be executed. If Joseph was wrong about the chief baker, do you think the chief baker would ever have forgiven him for frightening him like that?

Joseph’s integrity put him at risk, as it had put him at risk with Potiphar’s wife. He hoped it would also be his ticket out of prison. Look at verse 14. He said to the cupbearer, “When all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.”

His interpretation of their dreams was spot on. Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, and the cupbearer went back to butlering in the royal palace. Joseph had high hopes for an early release. Verse 23: The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. The opening six words of chapter 41 express the price Joseph paid for that forgetfulness: when two full years had passed.

It is a turn of events that causes some people to turn against God. It must have been a bitter moment for Joseph, as days of high hopes turned into weeks of low hopes and finally into two years of no hopes for release. Then, God intervened in ways no one could have guessed.

Into the King’s Court
Genesis 41:1: When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream. Dreams got Joseph into trouble. Dreams are about to get him out of trouble. Pharaoh had two dreams. Let’s read them.

He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up, took two Tylenol, rolled over, and fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted – thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.

We would say it was those bean burritos he had too near bedtime, but Pharaoh thought they had a hidden meaning, and he set out to find someone to tell him what the dreams meant. They searched far and wide and found no one who could do it. Verse nine: Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings.” Verse 12 cuts to the chase. “A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us . . . And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us.”

Pharaoh wasted no time. Verse 14-16: So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. Pharaoh said, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” Joseph’s reply shows how little his extended jail time had affected his faith. It didn’t affect his ability to interpret dreams either. Verses 29-30 sum up the meaning of the king’s dreams. “Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.”

Joseph also demonstrated administrative wisdom by offering Pharaoh a plan to protect Egypt during the famine. Verse 43 shows us just how far Joseph came in a short time. Pharaoh had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Do you remember God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants? All peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Thus, “silently, over the strife on earth, moves the will of God” and the blessing extended far beyond Egypt. The stage was set for one of history’s memorable reunions.

The Will of God
Verse 57 is the hinge on which the story turns. And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world. Genesis 42:1 is classic. When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” “Don’t just stand there staring at each other. Get going!” “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” He did not send Benjamin, the only other son born to Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah.

Verse six: Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. And so it came to pass that Joseph’s boyhood dreams came true in ways no one could have imagined and with a specially delicious twist in verses 7-8: As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.” Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. The story now unfolds in three movements: brothers tested, brothers broken, and brothers reunited.

Joseph accused the brothers of being spies. The brothers defended themselves by revealing more than they should have. Verse 13: But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

Joseph put them in custody for three days, and at the end of three days put them to the test. Verses 19-20: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.”

They agree. Simeon stays in Egypt as a hostage, and Joseph sends them on their way with all the grain they bought and more. To their consternation, they also discovered the silver they paid for the food in their food sacks. Joseph put it there, but they didn’t know that. They were terrified of being accused of theft and said at the end of verse 28, “What is this that God has done to us?” Something better than you deserve, brothers.

They return home and tell Father Jacob all that happened. Jacob refuses to send Benjamin to Egypt. The deal is off. But hunger is a marvelous persuader. They were running out of the grain they had bought in Egypt, and Jacob told them to go get some more. Genesis 43:3: But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

Jacob was between a rock and a hard place. He finally gave in and you can feel his agony in verses 13-14: “Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” He also ordered them to take back the silver they had found in their sacks and double it. He didn’t want silver to jeopardize the return of Benjamin and Simeon.

The brothers returned to Egypt with Benjamin. They had passed the test. They were about to be broken. Joseph received them. They offered double the silver they had found in their sacks. Joseph said there must have been some mistake. He had received payment. Then Joseph met Benjamin and lost it. Verse 30: Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.

They feast with Joseph, and Benjamin inexplicably receives preferential treatment. The party ends. The next day, they load up with more grain and head back to Canaan with Benjamin and Simeon in tow – mission accomplished.

Except that Joseph had hidden his own silver cup in Benjamin’s personal sack. They had barely left the city, when Egyptian authorities overtook them and accused them of stealing Joseph’s silver cup. Of course, they all denied it and even rashly went on to say in Genesis 44:9: “If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” The search of the sacks begins.

“Is it Reuben? No. Is it Simeon? No. Is it Napthali? No. Is it Dan? No. Is it Asher? No. Is it Issachar? No. Is it Levi? No. Is it Zebulun? No. Is it Gad? No. Is it Judah? No. Is it him? Could it be, could it be, could it be, could it be, could it be could it be, could it possibly be Benjamin? Yes. Yes. Yes.” (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Webber & Rice)

The brothers are shattered. They are brought back to Joseph. They do not deny the theft. Judah speaks for them all. He tells the story of Jacob’s agony in verses 27-29: “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’”

Then Judah shows true brokenness. Verse 33: “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.” That is redemption. That is God’s people acting like God’s people.

Genesis 45 celebrates the brothers’ reunion. Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

And you don’t want to miss verse seven. “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” Years later, Joseph would interpret all that happened to him in these majestic words: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” – Genesis 50:20.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
Let’s learn that verse by heart: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” – Genesis 50:20.
And here is a prayer for the week or for the occasion. “Lord, when my world falls apart, help me to trust you that you are good.”

Nothing embodies this truth more than the death of Jesus Christ, a weak and foolish thing, if ever there was one. But the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. “The cross represents the inversion of all human values . . . Darkness overtakes the light, and in that moment the light disperses the darkness.” (We Hold These Truths, Murray, 175-176)

Why is all this not the most important reality in your life? Why do you not rise up in rebellion against yourself that you have pushed something this good to the margins of your life? Why not come to your senses and acknowledge that God is God, and Christ is the Savior of the world, and the Church is the most important community on earth?