A teaching on Genesis 37–50

Joseph: what you meant for evil, God meant for good

Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison, Joseph was raised up to save many lives. His story is one of the great encouragements of Scripture for anyone who has suffered unfairly, and it points us to Christ.

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”Genesis 50:20 (King James Version)

The pit

Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors” (Genesis 37:3). He dreamed that his brothers would bow down to him, and their envy turned to hatred. When he came to them in the fields, they stripped him of his coat, threw him into an empty pit, and sold him to traders for twenty pieces of silver. He was seventeen years old, and he was taken as a slave to a foreign land.

Scripture never tells us that Joseph cursed his brothers or turned away from God. Saint Stephen would later sum up his story in one line: “The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him” (Acts 7:9).

The prison

In Egypt, Joseph served Potiphar faithfully, “and the LORD was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2). When Potiphar's wife tempted him, he refused: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). She lied about him, and he was thrown into prison for doing what was right. Even there, “the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy” (Genesis 39:21). He helped two of Pharaoh's servants, and the one who was restored forgot him for two more years.

When Joseph was finally brought before Pharaoh, he did not take the credit for himself: “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). He was faithful when no one was watching, patient when no one remembered him, and humble when he was raised up.

The palace

Famine brought his brothers to Egypt, and they bowed before the governor of the land without knowing him. Joseph tested them, and when Judah, the brother who had once sold him, offered himself as a slave in place of young Benjamin, Joseph wept aloud and said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life” (Genesis 45:4–5).

Years later, when his brothers feared his revenge, he answered with the words that sum up his life: ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. “And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them” (Genesis 50:21).

Joseph points to Christ

Through Joseph, God kept alive the family of Jacob, and in it the tribe of Judah, from whom Christ would come. The Church has long seen Joseph as a picture of Jesus: the beloved son, rejected by his own brothers; sold for pieces of silver; falsely accused, and numbered with two prisoners, one raised up and one condemned; brought up from the pit to the right hand of the throne; the one through whom bread was given to a starving world, and who forgave those who wronged him and saved them. What Joseph's brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. What was done to Christ on the cross, God used to save the world.

Three simple practices

1. Name the pit honestly. Joseph did not pretend that what was done to him was good. Tell God plainly what has hurt you.
2. Stay faithful in small things. In Potiphar's house and in prison, Joseph did the work in front of him well. Do one faithful thing today that no one will notice.
3. Choose forgiveness. Pray by name for someone who has wronged you, and ask God to bring good from it that you cannot yet see.

Watch Joseph's story

The story of Joseph is told in three short videos with sacred art and Scripture. Part 1 is ready now; Parts 2 and 3, The Prison and The Palace, are coming soon.

A closing prayer

O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer (1979), Proper 4 (traditional).