Lessons #01 and 02
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Is everything against you?
(Intricacies of Outworking of Plan of God)
INTRODUCTION
The study we are about to embark on is concerned with the intricacies of the outworking of God’s plan. However, I have given it a title in a question form: “Is everything against you?” as it will appear on our website. I have done so for three reasons. First, it is my hope that when you think that everything is against you, you will remember this study, or you could go on the church website and relisten to this study to recognize that everything is not against you but that God is working out His plan for you. Second, it is because this title captures how most of us feel many times in our lives when one painful event follows another. We even have a saying “when it rains it pours” to express the idea of one trouble after another. Take for example, suppose your spouse becomes sick for some time, followed by say a parent becoming sick. To care for both, you take off several days from work. This is eventually followed by your being terminated from your job because you have missed many days of work. On top of this, suppose that your parent dies then followed by the death of your spouse. At this point, you are probably going to ask the question: Why are all these happening to me? So, you get the point that the question is one that is commonly asked when we face one painful event after another. Third, this study was pressed upon me by the Holy Spirit when I read this question in the mouth of Jacob after his sons conveyed to him that they could not return to Egypt to purchase more grains unless Benjamin accompanies them to Egypt. Hearing this, Jacob spoke what is recorded in Genesis 42:36:
Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”
The statement You have deprived me of my children implies that Jacob thought his sons were responsible for the supposed death of Joseph. That aside, you notice the last thing Jacob said after he spoke of events that he felt were stacked against him. It is this statement Everything is against me that the Lord impressed upon me to expound in order to cause all of us to focus on the intricacies of His plan than to ask the question or to make the statement that reflects the sentiment of Jacob in the passage we cited. We should, of course, understanding that a purpose of the OT Scripture for us today is so that we learn from the examples of those in the past what we should or should not do as, for example, the Holy Spirit informed us through the pen of Apostle Paul, after citing the failures and God’s judgment of those in the time of Exodus so we can learn to avoid their failures, as we read in 1 Corinthians 10:11:
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
This being the case, our study is also so we can avoid the kind of statement Jacob made since we have fuller revelation of the Scripture than he did. He did not know that what he perceived as being against him were events God used to fulfill His plan for his son Joseph and for his benefit.
Be that as it may, we indicated that our study is concerned with the intricacies of the outworking of God’s plan. To ensure that no one misunderstands what I mean by the intricacies of the outworking of God’s plan, let me be clear as to what I mean in using the word “intricacies.” The English adjective “intricate” has two meanings. It may mean “difficult to resolve or analyze.” Another meaning is “complicated” in the sense of having many complexly interrelating parts or elements. While it is true that in most cases the plan of God is difficult to resolve or analyze but that is not the focus of our study. It is the second meaning of God’s plan having many complexly interrelating parts or elements that is the concern of our study. Therefore, when we speak of the intricacies of God’s plan, we are saying that God’s plan involves many elements to it that are interconnected although that may not be obvious to us. This being the case, this study will involve examination of examples of God’s plan that are clearly worked out in the Scripture for which we have various elements that led to the final outcome of His plan. This study is related to our study titled “The Sovereign Plan of God” but with a major focus on the outworking of God’s plan than we did when we considered this topic.
There are three propositions that we want to focus as we examine the examples of the outworking of God’s plan recorded in the Scripture. The first proposition is that we generally do not know what the outcome of God’s plan is as events unfold in our lives, but He does. The second is that the working out of God’s plan may appear messy that may lead us to think that everything is against us. Our use of the word “messy” is primarily in the sense of extremely unpleasant or trying. Third, God’s plan usually involves events that to us may appear unrelated to each other in accomplishing His plan for us but not to Him. These three propositions we will show to be true when we examine the outworking of God’s plan in the two examples that we are going to use to show the intricacies of God’s plan. However, let me be clear that the major purpose of this study is so that no matter what transpires in your life, you should never become despondent and utter the words Everything is against me. Therefore, I am going to try to drive this truth into your mind in the three weeks we will spend in this study. I will end by stating what you should do to apply this study.
OUTWORKING OF GOD’S PLAN IN JOSEPH’S LIFE
Our first example of the outworking of God’s plan is Joseph and so we begin to consider how the three propositions we stated are illustrated in his life. The first proposition we stated is that we generally do not know what the outcome of God’s plan is as events unfold in our lives, but He does. This was certainly true in the life of Joseph. The plan of God for Joseph was for him to be the agent of Israel’s preservation during the infancy of the nation. This plan was one that Joseph declared to his brothers after he revealed himself to them, as recorded in Genesis 45:4–7:
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
There are three fundamental truthful principles that Joseph conveyed to his brothers. The first is that there is no need to dwell in the past failures since such were included in God’s plan. This truth is what he meant in the instruction of verse 5 do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here. When we look at our past failures, we could become depressed over them and become angry as to how we could have been so foolish to do whatever failure that may have occurred. Frankly speaking, we cannot change anything about our past failures. We cannot change them although in some situations we might be able to take actions to remedy our action that impacts other people. By this I mean, we cannot ignore the concept of restitution if we defrauded a person in the past as unbelievers or even as believers, as implied in Numbers 5:5–7:
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty. 7 and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged.
Apart from actions that may require restitution, the truth is that there is nothing we can do about our past failures. We should not dwell in them since the enemy of our soul, Satan, may use past failures to torment us and to cause us to belittle the forgiveness of our sins achieved on the cross by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The correct approach regarding past failures is usually to forget them and recognize that once we admitted any sin before God, it is forgiven. Apostle Paul demonstrated to us his approach regarding past failures in Philippians 3:13:
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Part of what is behind for the apostle is his failure, especially that of persecuting the church. Of course, forgetting what is behind also involves past spiritual successes. We should not dwell on them to the point that we are not progressing spiritually because we are always going back to them but are not using them to be reasons to advance further in our spiritual life. I am saying that you should not use your past devotion to the study of the word of God, for example, in such a way that you are not spending more time in the word of God because you are living on your past devotion to the word of God. Anyway, Joseph communicated to his brothers that their past failure could not be changed. He indicated to them that it is, in fact, part of the outworking of God’s plan for him and Israel as a whole. The second fundamental truthful principle that Joseph conveyed to his brothers in Genesis 45:4-7 is that God controls every events of life. This, he did, by assuring them that they were not the architects of his being sold into slavery. He did not give them any credit for his being sold as a slave to Egypt as he stated in last declaration of Genesis 45:5 God sent me ahead of you. The brothers knew they sold him into slavery, but Joseph said it was not them but God. Again, he conveyed to them that their action is part of the plan of God for him. The third fundamental truthful principle that Joseph conveyed to his brothers in Genesis 45:4-7 is that God uses events in our lives to bless others or to bless us. It is this principle that Joseph conveyed by announcing to his brothers God’s plan for his life, which is the preservation of Israel as he stated in Genesis 45:7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Be that as it may, the first proposition we stated is that we generally do not know what the outcome of God’s plan is as events unfold in our lives, but He does. Reading what Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 45:4-7, may give the impression that Joseph knew what God’s plan for his life was much in advance prior to the time he communicated to his brothers. This was not the case. It is only as God had unfolded clearly to him through events that happened to him in Egypt that included his being promoted to the number two man in Egypt that he realized what God’s plan for him was. We are certain that Joseph did not know what God’s plan for him was until God worked out several events in his life to lead him to the conclusion of God’s plan for him. How can I assert that Joseph did not know what God’s plan for him until God worked out certain events that enabled him to acquire the understanding of God’s plan for him in Egypt? This is because of his complaint that sounded like statement of his father Jacob that is the basis of the title of our study, that is, the statement of Genesis 42:36 Everything is against me. Of course, Joseph did not use these words directly but that is the way to interpret his complaint after he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s official, as we read in Genesis 40:14–15:
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 For 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.”
The sentence that indicates Joseph saying that everything is against him is 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. If Joseph knew ahead of time what was God’s plan for him, he would not have made this complaint. Thus, the first proposition that we generally do not know what the outcome of God’s plan is as events unfold in our lives, but He does is confirmed in Joseph’s life.
The second proposition we stated is that the working out of God’s plan may appear messy that may lead us to think that everything is against us. Let us examine how this proposition worked out in the life of Joseph but before we do, we should remember that the outworking of God’s plan usually involves several events. Any unpleasant event would lead a person to question why the unpleasant situation is occurring in the person’s life but it is generally when unpleasant events occur one after the other that we may be tempted to ask the question: Why is everything against me? We say that because of Jacob’s experience. When he received the report from his other sons of alleged death of Joseph, he was grieved, as we read in Genesis 37:33–35:
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him.
Jacob could have questioned inwardly why Joseph would have died as he would have thought based on the report of his other sons, but such thought was not verbalized so we have it in our Scripture. However, when a second event occurred that implied the potential of losing another child as he perceived it, then he made the statement that is the concern of our study, that is, the declaration Everything is against me of Genesis 42:36. You see, it is because another event occurred that reminded him of the disappearance of Joseph that caused him to think events were stacked up against him. My point is that Jacob did not complain aloud about everything being against him when Joseph was thought to be dead. He could have said that everything was against him because his favorite wife, Rachel, the mother of Joseph had died and now Joseph appeared to have been killed but he did not. Thus, it is likely when he thought of three events that have happened to him that involves loss of his wife and children that he felt everything was against. Hence, our point is that it is not usually one unpleasant event that leads a person to think that everything is against the person but collective, unpleasant events.
In any case, there are three messy events in the life of Joseph that support the second proposition that the working out of God’s plan may appear messy that may lead us to think that everything is against us. The first messy event in the life of Joseph that eventually led him to think that everything was against him is his brothers’ mistreatment of him. This mistreatment consists of two elements. The first is throwing him into a cistern, as stated in Genesis 37:24:
and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
You can imagine the shock Joseph might have felt when his brothers threw him into a cistern that is without water. Apparently, it is not easy for a person thrown into such a place to come out without being aided. This we deduce because when Jeremiah was imprisoned in a cistern, he had to be helped to come out of it, as we read in Jeremiah 38:11–13:
11 So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13 and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
Thus, when Joseph was thrown into a cistern, he must have felt helpless and probably confused as to what was happening to him at the hands of his brothers. But that was not all. The second element of his mistreatment was selling him as a slave, as we read in Genesis 37:28:
So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Again, we cannot imagine what Joseph was thinking at the point that his brothers sold him., He would have thought that his life was over and that he would never again see his father and brother Benjamin. Certainly, his sale to the merchants was an unpleasant experience for him so that we can say that the first messy event in the life of Joseph that is part of the outworking of God’s plan for him is his mistreatment by his brothers that eventually led to his being sold as a slave.
A second messy event in the life of Joseph as God worked out His plan for him is the attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife and being lied against, as we read in Genesis 39:11–19:
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. 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.
There are two elements to this second messy event, attempted rape of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife’s lie, but the messier of the two elements is the lie told against Joseph. You know how you feel when someone lies about you and you cannot defend yourself, so you can understand how Joseph must have felt. The messy situation for him is that his cloak was used to support the lie. The fact that Potiphar’s wife had in her possession Joseph’s cloak, made her lie to be believable to anyone that hears it. Thus, Joseph was placed in an unattainable position of impossible self-vindication. It is God who created the unattainable position that Joseph found himself so that there would not have been a way for him not to be in prison. I am saying that when God wants to work out His plan He places us in a position that we do not have a way out of whatever it is that is being worked out in His plan. The supposed evidence of Joseph’s cloak in the hands of Potiphar’s wife is difficult to overcome. In effect, he faced a difficult situation that from a human perspective demands his death but, of course, because God was working out His plan using a messy event in Joseph’s life, he was not killed. This led to the third messy event in the life of Joseph.
The third messy event in the outworking of God’s plan in the life of Joseph is his imprisonment by his master, Potiphar, as recorded in Genesis 39:20:
Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison,
There is no indication that Potiphar tried to get Joseph’s side of the story probably because his wife had in her possession Joseph’s cloak. It might not have occurred to him that it is possible that the wife could have gotten hold of Joseph’s cloak in another way in order to frame him. That, of course, was because the outworking of God’s plan often involves messy events. So, Joseph probably was not given the opportunity to defend himself, putting him in a painful situation. The pain he felt at this point was probably more of the fact that the master who had trusted him as to have entrusted everything in his household under his care would think that he betrayed his trust. Persons with integrity become crushed when their truthfulness is doubted or when they are viewed as betraying a trust someone has on them. The point is that it was a painful situation for Joseph that his master would not believe him when he knew that the wife lied against him. Anyway, it is this last event of putting him in the prison that caused Joseph to think that everything was against him as he vented in the declaration we considered previously, that is, Genesis 40:14–15:
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 For 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.”
Verse 15 is essentially Joseph’s way of saying that everything was against him. He referenced the first event of being sold into slavery. This was most certainly followed in his mind by the attempted rape of Potiphar’s wife and her lying about it that landed him in prison. Thus, it was after one painful event after another that Joseph eventually verbalized the same declaration of his father, Jacob, when he stated that everything was against him. Joseph knew from human perspective that there is no justification for the messy events that have so far unfolded in his life as he found himself in prison. Nonetheless, the truth is that the three messy events that we have considered in the life of Joseph confirm the second proposition we stated regarding the outworking of God’s plan which is that the working out of God’s plan may appear messy that may lead us to think that everything is against us. This brings us to the consideration of the illustration in the life of Joseph of the third proposition we have stated.
The third proposition we stated in connection with the intricacies of the outworking of God’s plan, if you recall is that God’s plan usually involves events that to us may appear unrelated to each other in accomplishing His plan for us but not to Him. There are several events that are recorded in the life of Joseph that when each is focused without looking at the totality of the events in his life as narrated in the Scripture we are about to consider, would suggest no connection between them in bringing about God’s plan for Joseph to be the agent of the preservation of Israel in its infancy as a nation. This notwithstanding, we will weave together the various events that seem unconnected as narrated in the life of Joseph to show that with God every event in Joseph’s life was part of carefully connected events intended to achieve His plan for Joseph. As we consider each of these events that we will examine, I will continue to show how they are connected or strung together by God to lead to the final outcome that we have of Joseph being God’s instrument for the preservation of Israel in her infancy. In other words, we will show that one event leads to another event or connected to a given event although on a surface reading from human viewpoint they may appear to be unconnected.
A first event that was necessary in ensuring God’s plan for Joseph was fulfilled that does not on the surface appear to be connected to His plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel is the love his father had for him. This love is described in Genesis 37:3:
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
Jacob’s loving Joseph more than any of his other sons, is an event that God brought about that may seem not to relate to the final outcome of God’s plan for Joseph, but it is. That it is, will become clearer as we consider subsequent events in the life of Joseph. That aside, we contend that the love Jacob had for Joseph is part of God’s working out of His plan. We say this because of the reason the Holy Spirit provided for Jacob’s love for Joseph. We are told that the reason was because Joseph was born to Jacob when he was old. This reason given for Jacob’s love for him is interesting since Benjamin was the last son born to him when Jacob was older. Therefore, if there is anyone that he should have loved because of being born in his old age, it would have been Benjamin; but that is not what we read. The implication that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons that would include Benjamin is that such love was from God to advance His plan for and through Joseph.
Love, as we have explained in the past, is a thought action phenomenon. Consequently, Jacob showed he loved Joseph more than the rest of his sons by making for him a special robe as in the last clause of Genesis 37:3 he made a richly ornamented robe for him. It is important that we recognize that an intent of the Holy Spirit, among others, is to convey to us that love is that which can be recognized by action not merely by word. I mean that it is better to show your love for a person through your action than to utter words to the effect that you love a person. This is what Jacob did. He demonstrated his love for Joseph. This demonstration of love had the effect of his brothers hating him, as we read in Genesis 37:4:
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.
This verse provides another reason Joseph’s brothers hated him; a previous reason concerned the unflattering report he gave to Jacob about their conduct, as stated in Genesis 37:2:
This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Another reason Joseph’s brothers hated him is given next in the second event we will consider.
A second event that was necessary in ensuring God’s plan for Joseph was fulfilled that does not on the surface appear to be connected to God’s plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel concerns his dreams. The first dream is given in Genesis 37:5–8:
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
The Holy Spirit wanted us to recognize that Joseph’s dream resulted in his brothers’ hatred of him. This is the reason their response to his dream was first given in verse 5 before the dream was narrated. Joseph’s brothers understood the meaning of the dream, that is the reason they questioned if Joseph would reign over them. The second dream is given in Genesis 37:9–11:
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
It is clear Joseph’s dreams resulted in hatred and jealousy of his brothers because they understood the implication. Joseph himself would have understood the implication of the dream but probably did not know what to make of it since he was the eleventh son of Jacob. Someone could say that Joseph invited trouble by telling his dreams since he must have known its implication. This sounds logical but does not agree with God’s plan. Bear in mind that Joseph did not cause himself to have these dreams. God gave them to him, and they are what we call “revelatory dreams” since they were prophetic in nature regarding what would happen in the future. The God who controlled all events in human history to ensure His plan is fulfilled, gave Joseph his dreams and caused him to make them known to his brothers. This is because it is the implication of Joseph’s dreams that caused his brothers to plot to kill him although eventually, they sold him into slavery, as narrated in Genesis 37:18–20:
18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
Verse 10 of Genesis 37 indicates that it was not just that Jacob’s sons were jealous of their father’s special love for Joseph that caused them to want to get rid of him but because of the implication of his dreams as in the last clause of verse 20 Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams. Joseph’s brothers were afraid that his dream could come true so the only way to stop it is to get rid of him but they did not calculate the fact no human can thwart God’s plan as Job confessed after the Lord confronted him for his complaints against Him, as recorded in Job 42:2:
“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
It is because God’s plan could not be thwarted that He used Reuben’s advice to foil the plot by Joseph’s brothers to kill him, as recorded in Genesis 37:20–24:
20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
That God foiled the plot to kill Joseph should assure you that He would do whatever is necessary to keep you alive to fulfill His plan for you. That aside, it should be clear that Joseph had no choice in the matter of events that unfolded. God gave him dreams that he had to let his brothers know to put God’s plan for Joseph rolling. In effect, if one reads only the dreams of Joseph and never realize how they were fulfilled, the person would not see any connection between these dreams and Joseph serving as God’s agent of preservation of Israel in her infancy as a nation. I am saying that what seemed to be unconnected from human perspective was in fact a link in the chain of God’s plan for Joseph. The dreams, as we have stated, are from God who gave them to connect to the next event that is necessary for the plan of God to be fulfilled. In effect, without these dreams, we would not have the first messy event in the life of Joseph that ensured God’s plan would be fulfilled. We are saying that if Joseph had not narrated his dreams, his brothers would not have sold him into slavery. If he were not sold into slavery, we would not have the story of Joseph in Egypt that was necessary to fulfill God’s plan of revealing His glory to the nations of the world. You see, God had revealed the purpose of raising up Pharaoh of the time of the exodus to be so that His name would be recognized by people on the earth, as we may gather from Exodus 9:16:
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
By the way, it may not even appear that this purpose of God’s plan is related to the words of the Lord to Abraham of what would happen to his descendants in Genesis 15:13–14:
13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
The events described in these two verses would not have taken place if Joseph did not narrate his dreams to his brothers that ensured he was sold into slavery. The point is that Joseph narrated his dreams to his brothers was an event in God’s plan that could not go unfulfilled. In any event, a second event that was necessary in ensuring God’s plan for Joseph was fulfilled that does not on the surface appear to be connected to God’s plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel concerns his dreams.
A third event that was necessary in ensuring God’s plan for Joseph was fulfilled that does not on the surface appear to be connected to God’s plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel is the special blessing of being in charge of Potiphar’s household. This special blessing of Joseph is described in Genesis 39:2–4:
2 The LORD was with Joseph and 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 favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
Our interest in this passage is with the evidence of God’s blessing on Joseph. The first evidence is that of being a special slave to Potiphar as in the verbal phrase of verse 4 became his attendant. Literally, the Hebrew reads he served him. This is because the Hebrew word (šārǎṯ) used basically means “to minister to or wait on another, human or divine.” In this verse, it is used in the sense of “to wait.” In effect, the word is used in the sense of serving or waiting upon Potiphar in a more personal way. To wait on Potiphar in a more personal way may not seem to us as a promotion or blessing to Joseph but it is. For in slavery system, it was considered a high honor to personally attend to the master. The slave who personally attends to the master enjoys privileges and food that the other slaves did not. Furthermore, serving the master in a personal way also reduces the suffering a slave experienced. Hence, when Joseph waited personally on Potiphar it was indeed a promotion or blessing of the Lord. Anyway, the first evidence of God’s blessing on Joseph while a slave in Potiphar’s house is the promotion of being his personal attendant. A second evidence of the blessing of the Lord on Joseph while a slave in Potiphar’s house was his appointment as the administrator or manager of Potiphar’s affairs. This is the essence of the last clause of verse 4 and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Literally, the Hebrew reads and all there are to him he put in his hand. Joseph was in charge of everything that belonged to Potiphar in the sense that he was the sole administrator or manager of Potiphar’s estate, so to speak. This was certainly a high honor to Joseph, that although he was still a slave he was certainly higher than all the slaves that belong to Potiphar. Furthermore, to set Joseph over all that belong to Potiphar is a commentary on the type of respect and confidence that he had in Joseph. This fact probably caused Potiphar to feel that Joseph betrayed him if he believed his wife’s report of attempted rape. As we have already mentioned, the confidence Potiphar had on Joseph was shattered so that Joseph felt the pain of being perceived as being disloyal to Potiphar who trusted him as to place him in a position of such authority and responsibility in his estate.
The two evidences of God’s blessing on Joseph in the house of slavery that we stated do not appear on the surface understanding to have anything to do with God’s plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel but they do. Both blessings of Joseph being Potiphar’s personal attendant and the sole administrator of his estate were necessary to advance God’s plan for Joseph. But before we show how that was the case, let me remind you that God is the One who brought these blessings on Joseph. In effect, it is in God’s plan to bless Joseph although his blessing would result in a painful experience to him because we have already considered that God’s plan may appear messy as He uses events to advance His plan.
Be that as it may, Joseph being promoted to the personal attendant of Potiphar and his sole administrator advanced God’s plan for Joseph in that both promotions led to the unpleasant event of attempted rape of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife. How is that you may ask? Let me begin by making a general remark about women and power. Most women are attracted to men with power and wealth or are good looking. This explains why many women vie for the attention of the wealthy and the powerful. You see, young women try to warm their way to persons that they perceive as being powerful and wealthy because they want to share in such wealth or power. Of course, women who themselves are wealthy and powerful are still attracted to such men not so much because they want wealth but because they want to be associated with such influential men. I suspect that some of you women may say that I do not know what I am talking because you are not guilty of what I have described. Of course, even if you think that way, I do not believe that you are being truthful to yourself considering your entire life as a woman. I am saying that now that you are older and wiser, you may dispute my point because it does not apply to you at your age but can you say truthfully that that did not apply to you when you were younger or as a teenager. That aside, I am not fond of making statements when I teach the word of God that has no biblical basis. This being the case, let me show you from the Scripture that even women who are wealthy and powerful themselves are attracted to men with power and wealth. Before I get to the example that indicates women who in their own right are powerful and wealthy are attracted to men of power or wealth, let me first use an example that may not be well-known to illustrate my point. The example is King Saul’s daughter, Michal, that was said to be in love with David, as we read in 1 Samuel 18:20:
Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.
It does not appear that Michal was attracted to David because he was powerful and famous but that certainly was the case. Michal would not have heard of David so as to be attracted to him except that he had become famous in Israel as indicated in the songs of women recorded for us in 1 Samuel 18:6–7:
6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. 7 As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
The phrase David his tens of thousands conveyed that David had become powerful and poplar as a brave soldier. Saul understood this phrase as stating that David had become more famous than he as a military leader, as indicated in 1 Samuel 18:8:
Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?”
Furthermore, the Scripture tells us of the attitude of Israel and Judah towards David, as recorded in 1 Samuel 18:16:
But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
Hence, we could deduce that David had become famous in Israel. His fame was a reason Michal was attracted to him. That aside, the example of a woman who was powerful and wealthy that was attracted to a man of wealth and power is the Queen of Sheba. She was attracted by King Solomon’s fame to visit him, as stated in 1 Kings 10:1:
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
Queen of Sheba confirmed that what attracted her to Solomon was indeed true in 1 Kings 10:6–7:
6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.
At the end of Queen of Sheba’s visit, we have an interesting statement that is difficult to interpret in 1 Kings 10:13
King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.
The problem of interpretation is how to understand the sentence all she desired and asked for. Ethiopian tradition understood this to mean Queen of Sheba wanted to give birth to a son of Solomon. Hence, the tradition claims that she gave birth to a son named Menelik, whose father was King Solomon. Jewish tradition is similar to this interpretation in that it is claimed that the royal Abyssinian line was founded by the offspring of Solomon and the queen of Sheba. Regardless of the proper interpretation of the sentence, the point is that a powerful woman was attracted to a famous and wealthy man, which is the point that I wanted to illustrate from the Scripture. So, you should not argue with my statement that women are often drawn to wealthy and powerful men.
In any case, we assert that Joseph being promoted to be the personal attendant of Potiphar and his sole administrator advanced God’s plan for Joseph in that both promotions led to the unpleasant event of the attempted rape of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife. It is because of the position of Joseph that he certainly had more contact with Potiphar and his wife. Such contact gave the wife the opportunity to watch Joseph more closely than other slaves. Consequently, she became attracted to him because of her husband’s attitude towards Joseph although he was a slave of the husband. Thus, we read of her attempted rape of Joseph in Genesis 39:6–12:
6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. 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 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.
Please note the last clause of verse 6 Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. This clause was not a passing clause. No! The Holy Spirit included it to convey the fact that Joseph was not only in a position of power in the household of Potiphar which could make Potiphar’s wife find him attractive but also that he was handsome. The two combinations caused problem for Potiphar’s wife that she desired sexual relationship with Joseph. Of course, the attraction of wives to slaves in the ancient world was not rare as some people may think since lonely women of the ancient world sought the companionship of slaves. Thus, it is not strange that Potiphar’s wife desired to have sexual relationship with Joseph and so her attempted rape, which was necessary to progress God’s plan for Joseph. In any event, a third event that was necessary in ensuring God’s plan for Joseph was fulfilled that does not on the surface appear to be connected to God’s plan for Joseph as His agent of preservation of Israel is the special blessing of being in charge of Potiphar’s household. We have two more events to consider but we are out of time, so we will pick these up in next study. Meanwhile, let me remind you of the third proposition that we are applying to the life of Joseph which is that God’s plan usually involves events that to us may appear unrelated to each other in accomplishing He plan for us but not to Him. Understanding of this proposition should help never to say “everything is against me” because you face series of unpleasant events in your life.
11/06/20