In this episode, Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the Biblical and historical story of Joseph and how it relates to human trafficking survivors today. Sandie observes how we can integrate an understanding of this ancient case study into how we fight against human trafficking and respond to survivors in our communities.
Key Points

Sandie looks at the story of Joseph through the perspective of Genesis 16:8 when the angel of the Lord said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Similar to Joseph, human trafficking victims typically have dreams of success when they're young, causing them to be more likely to take risks and experience dangerous situations.
When Joseph weeps at the sight of his younger brother, he exemplifies how successful survivors are still susceptible to sorrow and grief over their past.
Understanding where people have been is not only important for rehabilitating human trafficking victims, but also in improving our relationships in our own communities.
Sandie says, "And I am always reminded that while bad things happen to good people and those things can be redeemed, that we don't attribute the cause of those bad things to God, but God does redeem." [00:08:55]

Resources

Genesis 16:8
Genesis 37-50

Are you enjoying the show?
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at feedback@endinghumantrafficking.org.
Transcript
Dave: [00:00:00] You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 191, Joseph: An Ancient Human Trafficking Case Study.

Production Credits: [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning., maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. And as you expect on each episode of the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, Sandie we're taking everyone to Broadway today, right? I think that's what you told me.

Sandie: [00:00:53] Yeah that's right. That's right and you're going to start us off with the theme song.

Dave: [00:00:57] Go go go, Joseph. You know what they say. Hang on now Joseph you'll make it someday. Sha la la Joseph. That's the one we're doing, right?

Sandie: [00:01:06] That's it. That's it. Wow. How many of you remember coloring the coat of many colors from the story of Joseph.?

Dave: [00:01:15] Yes of course of course. I remember my brother singing that soundtrack all around the house. He was Joseph in production in our local community.

Sandie: [00:01:23] Oh my goodness. Well you know this month, every year at our church I'm asked to speak on Freedom Sunday. January is our National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. And so, I just came back from Istanbul last week and then on Sunday was able to bring awareness and understanding about some of the issues around human trafficking and use a case study from the Book of Genesis. And that's where Joseph comes from people. He was not dreamed up in a graphic artist studio. He was a historical figure.

Dave: [00:02:10] And interesting about this story a lot of us are familiar with it either because of our Sunday School curriculum or because we've seen the Broadway show and the popularized version of it. But one of the really interesting things about this story is, although it is an ancient story, how many similarities there are with some of the things we see in modern-day trafficking, aren't there?

Sandie: [00:02:34] Absolutely. And I think one of the things,