Joseph in Prison

The relentless drumbeat of God’s faithfulness and blessing

Commentary on Genesis 39:1-23

Dennis Olson

Last week’s narrative lectionary text featured God’s decision to change course in order to redeem creation. Instead of a worldwide flood (Genesis 6–9), God began to concentrate on working intensely with one family—Abraham and Sarah. God made a promise that the descendants of this elderly and unlikely couple would become the mediators of God’s blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:1–3).

The narratives that follow in Genesis recount multigenerational and often dysfunctional family stories of sons and daughters, wives and children. The members of this family line have many interactions with peoples of diverse ethnicities (native Canaanites; the Egyptian Hagar, and her son Ishmael; Esau, the twin brother of Jacob and ancestor of the nation of Edom; and others). Three themes weave their way in and out of these family stories throughout Genesis 12–50.

1) In spite of continued human failures and conflict, the 10 genealogies, or family trees, that form the literary backbone of Genesis (for example, 5:1–32; 11:10–26; 46:8–27) express the relentless drumbeat of God’s faithfulness and blessing, which gives life from generation to generation to the family of Abraham and Sarah. And through them, God also blesses “all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:1–3).

2) God and human decision-makers throughout Genesis tend to defy convention and favor the youngest and most unlikely members of families. Over and over, the youngest prevails over the customarily most entitled and eldest firstborn offspring (Abel over Cain—Genesis 4:1–16; Isaac over Ishmael—17:20–21; Jacob over Esau—25:23–26, Rachel over Leah—9:16–18; the younger Joseph and his brother Benjamin over the other elder sons of Jacob—37:2–8; 49:1–4, 22–27).

3) In response to the earlier stories in Genesis of human violence, revenge, and estrangement (4:8; 23; 6:4, 11), we see occasional glimpses of reconciliation and forgiveness among family members and nations that offer signs of hope (Esau forgave his brother Jacob for deceitfully stealing Esau’s birthright and blessing as the eldest son—25:29–34; 27:1–41; 33:1–11; the two sisters, Rachel and Leah, overcame their envy for one another and cooperated in overcoming their infertility—30:1–24; Joseph forgave his brothers for plotting to kill him and selling him as a slave—37:1–4, 25–28; 39:1–23; 50:15–21).

Items of clothing as markers of transition in the Joseph story

This week’s Narrative Lectionary text functions as one exemplar of an extended series of Joseph’s downfalls and elevations, transitions from high to low and back again to high. Joseph moves from favored son to Potiphar’s slave, from slave to manager of Potiphar’s household, from manager to prisoner, from prisoner to second-in-command of all Egypt next to Pharaoh. Preachers may want to include parts of the broader Joseph story beyond what this week’s reading designates to give listeners some sense of the larger plotline of the Joseph story in which this particular episode is situated.

A repeated motif that weaves its thread throughout the entire Joseph narrative of Genesis 37–50 and that marks each of these dramatic transitions in Joseph’s life involves the appearance of some key item of clothing. The “ornamental robe” given to Joseph by his father Jacob marked Joseph in his prominent role as his father’s most beloved son (37:3). When Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph as a slave, the brothers stripped Joseph of his “ornamental robe” and soaked it in goat’s blood so that their father Jacob would erroneously conclude that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal (37:23, 31–33).

After Joseph had risen in status to manager of Potiphar’s household, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of sexual assault, which led to his demotion and imprisonment. Potiphar’s wife managed to grab Joseph’s “garment” as he fled from her. She used his garment as evidence for her accusation against Joseph (39:10–18).

When Joseph was called up from prison to the throne room of the Egyptian pharaoh in order to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph “shaved himself and changed his clothes” (41:14). As a result of Joseph’s dream interpretation, Pharaoh promoted Joseph to become second-in-command of all Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph a signet ring and then “arrayed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck” (41:42).

A final marker of a transition for Joseph was his gift of “garments” to his elder brothers, whom he generously forgave and treated with compassion (45:22). No longer the 17-year-old spoiled brat that he was at the start of the story, Joseph had become a humble and kind leader who wielded power with grace and compassion. As Joseph confesses to his brothers at the end of Genesis, “Have no fear. Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people” (50:19–20).

Preaching themes

The rich narratives about Joseph provide many possible explorations for sermons. Here are a few that come to mind.

1) The shaping of the character of God’s people through adversity (see Romans 5:1–5).

2) The faithfulness of God to fulfill the promises of God even when challenges that seem to contradict those promises overwhelm us. Through Joseph, God was working behind the scenes to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah—to bless their descendants (Joseph’s own family) but also to bless “all the families of the earth” (Egypt and beyond—Genesis 12:1–3; 41:53–57).

3) God sometimes makes good come out of deep suffering—an insight, however, that is best discovered by the sufferers themselves after some time has passed, not a word that should be suggested by others to a sufferer in the midst of intense grief or tragedy (45:4–15; 50:19–20). The Old Testament book of Job reminds us that some unexplainable heartbreak and misfortune may simply be part of a greater divine mystery that exceeds our human understanding.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

God of presence, you remained fully with Joseph when he sat long years in a prison for a crime he did not commit. Help us to see that you are always with us, so that we might live faithfully in your world. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.