Joseph: From Prisoner to Prime Minister

By Russell Taylor

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob and his wife Rachel. Joseph was special to Jacob because his mother was Rachel who he had a special love for and he was born when Jacob was old. He tended to show favouritism towards Joseph, and this made his older brothers jealous and plotted to kill him.

However, they didn’t succeed, but Joseph’s life was changed dramatically. Firstly, he became a slave, but then was given a position of power and authority.

This authority was used to save his family and the Israelite nation from extinction. This is a reminder of what Jesus had to go through to save us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Russell Taylor
• Release date: Oct 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005782825

Russell Taylor

Russell Taylor was employed for many years in the engineering department of a large steelworks in North East Wales. Following the closure of a large part of the works in 1980 he worked in Local Government in Management Services and Housing Maintenance. After taking early retirement in 1996 he joined the staff of Emmaus Bible School UK where he was involved in their prison ministry. he has also been involved in a broadcasting ministry with GBS Radio but is now enjoying writing.He is married with one daughter and two grandchildren and is active as an Elder in an independent chapel in North Wales.

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JOSEPH

From Prisoner to Prime Minister

Russell Taylor

Copyright 2020 Russell Taylor

Published by Russell Taylor

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment.

Unless otherwise stated, scripture is taken from the New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All right reserved.

Table of Contents

1. Genesis 37:1-11

2. Genesis 37:12-36

3. Genesis 39

4. Genesis 40

5. Genesis 41:1-36

6. Genesis 41:37-57

7. Genesis 42:1-24

8. Genesis 42:25-42

9. Genesis 43

10. Genesis 44

11. Genesis 45

12. Genesis 45:7-1 & 46:28 – 47:11

13. Genesis 47:11-27

14. Genesis 48:1-22 & 49:22-26

About Russell Taylor

Books by Russell Taylor

Chapter One

Genesis 37:1-11

His Youth

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob. We read of his birth in Genesis and that his mother was Rachel (Genesis 30:22-24). He was born when Jacob was quite old (v. 3), and as a result, Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons.

Jacob had waited a long time for Rachel to have a child. He had fathered 10 sons and 1 daughter by three different women before God allowed Rachel to have a child. We must always remember that Joseph was conceived when God decided. At one point, when Rachel was pleading for children, Jacob said: Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? (Genesis 30:2).

After much prayer we read that, God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son (Genesis 30:22, 23). Although Joseph had this special love for Joseph, he says of all his children that they are: "the children God has graciously given (him)" (Genesis 33:5).

We define God's grace as being the love that God can and does give us which we don't deserve. In many respects Jacob, didn't deserve God's grace. He robbed his older brother Esau of his birthright by buying it in exchange for a bowl of stew. He then cheated him out of his father's blessing. When Esau realised this, he went to his father and said, He has cheated me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing (Genesis 27:36). Since then the name Jacob has come to be associated with deceptiveness.

In Jeremiah we read: Everyone take heed to his neighbour, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbour, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity (Jeremiah 9:4).

The NIV puts it this way: "Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver (margin – ‘a deceiving Jacob’), and every friend a slanderer."

We might also say that Jacob was wrong in having two wives and two mistresses. It would definitely be wrong today, but the Ten Commandments which forbade adultery hadn't been given to the people at this time. They came into being several hundred years later. However, Genesis 2:24 does imply only one wife, because we read: A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Jesus confirms this when He says, Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:4-6).

Joseph is only mentioned briefly in the next few chapters, so we don't read anything of his childhood. But he must have had a difficult one. There was deceit. His father deceived Laban (His father-in-law) in order to become rich (Genesis 30). There was theft. His mother stole the idols which were worshipped by the family (Genesis 31:19). There was rape. His sister, Dinah was raped by Shechem (Genesis 34:2). There was murder. As a result of this rape, two of his brothers committed murder and theft (Genesis 34:25-29). There was jealousy. There was jealousy between Leah and Rachel who were the two wives of his father (Genesis 30:1).

In addition to all these, his mother died when he was young, so he would have had to rely on his father more than his brothers. I have heard from several men in prison who blame their childhood and family background for the way they have ended up. I think this is just an excuse.

One person I spoke to told me that many people who have been in prison for similar crimes to his, have blamed their circumstances on something they have witnessed in their childhood. He went on to tell me that after going on a therapeutic course in the prison, he realised that he committed his crime purely because he wanted to.

When you consider what Joseph witnessed, he should have turned out much different to how he did. But out of this family background came someone who is probably one of the most godly men to appear in the Old Testament.

The next time we read about him he is a young man of seventeen, out tending his father's flocks with some of his brothers (half-brothers) (Genesis 37:2). He was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. These were Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Bilhah who was Rachel's maidservant and Gad and Asher, the sons of Zilpah who was Leah's maidservant (Genesis 35:25, 26). His brothers were obviously jealous of him because he was his father's favourite and because of this Jacob, "made him a tunic (coat) of many colours" (v. 3). This was meant as a mark of distinction to show that Jacob had a special affection for him.

This made his brothers hate him even more and made them feel inferior. After all, he was the son of the woman who their father loved more than anyone else, and they were only the sons of Jacob's mistresses (the servants of his wives).

However, he uses his position as his father's favourite son wrongly and had become a very foolish and irresponsible teenager.

1. He is a tell-tale (gossip). He gossips about his half-brothers to their father. We read he, brought a bad report of them to his father (v. 2). I get the impression from reading this that Jacob put Joseph in a position of authority over his brothers, or at least over his half-brothers. If this was the case, then Jacob obviously acted unwisely by putting him over his older brothers who would have had much more experience of tending their father's flock.

Jacob was obviously not happy with his sons' behaviour (either towards each other or with regard to the animals), so he sends Joseph to find out what they are doing and report back to him. The fact that we are told that it was a report leads me to think this.

So Joseph reported back to his father. What he told them wasn't good. It was a bad report of them (v. 2).

It appears that because Joseph was his father's favourite, he may have thought himself better than these four older brothers, and also because their mothers were the maidservants of his father's wives. Looking back to Abraham's son, Ishmael, you see that he didn't have equal rights with Isaac, but this was for a different reason. Ishmael was the child of Sarah's maid, and Abraham had been promised a son by Sarah, therefore he was not the child of the covenant that God had made with Abraham, so it was God who did not give him equal rights.

This story of Joseph also brings out one of the failings in man, and that is favouritism. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons (v. 3), but God has no favourites. Paul tells us, "There is no partiality (favouritism) with God" (Romans 2:11). Peter says, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34).

Right back from the time the Law was given to the Children of Israel, God had said that they should not show favouritism (Leviticus 19:15). He also said they must not to go about spreading slander or gossiping about others (Leviticus 19:16). Why? Because we are all the work of His hands. "He (does not) regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands" (Job 34:19).

When we come to verse 3, several things can be seen: First, the writer uses the name Israel, for Jacob. This was his spiritual name. It was the name God gave him after he wrestled with God in prayer at Peniel. God had said to him: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed (Genesis 32:28). By using the name Israel when talking about the relationship between father and son, the writer is probably indicating that Joseph was also a godly person. We find later in this biography of Joseph that this was indeed the case.

Secondly, he was loved by his father. In fact Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other children. This was because of his love for Rachel and because Joseph had been born after he thought he wouldn't have any more children.

Thirdly, we read that Jacob made him a special garment. This was an outward sign of this special love he had for Joseph. The coat was so special, it made him stand out from the others as the one who was loved the most. It was also Jacob's way of letting the family know that Joseph had been chosen to be his heir. He would receive what was known as, his birthright, which would give him a certain amount of honour and authority in the family.

As far as these brothers were concerned, they were as much a part of their father’s family as Joseph was. They were all older than Joseph and they didn't like their father showing favouritism to this one son.

2. He is a Dreamer: He had at least two dreams. In the first one, he and his brothers were binding sheaves of corn in the field. Suddenly his sheaf rose and stood upright and the sheaves of the brothers gathered round it and bowed to it (v. 7). I believe that Joseph is saying that, although he is one of the youngest in the family, one day he is going to be someone