Peggy Roe, Member, Board of Trustees 

Genesis 45:4-8
“Then Joseph said…., ’I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God….” 

Reflection:
The story of Joseph is framed by the intention of his 11 brothers to murder him and the final resolution when they seek his mercy. Along the way, Joseph evolves from a willful teenager into a mature adult who relies on his God-given talents to rise to an unimaginable position of power. During the process of evolution, the outcome is uncertain and is dependent upon God’s divine presence. The transformative event occurs when God, who intercedes throughout the evolutionary process, brings Joseph both into full maturity and into full union with His divine plan. There are several events that foretell this revealing moment.

The story begins with a rocky start for Joseph, who is the favorite—and youngest—child among Jacob’s 12 sons. When Joseph interprets two of his own dreams and predicts that all 11 brothers, as well as his mother and father, will bow down before him, his angry and jealous brothers decide to dispose of him. Ultimately, Joseph’s prophecy becomes true, but not until well after the 11 brothers have thrown their youngest sibling into a pit with intent to murder him. Relenting over their decision, the brothers sell Joseph to some traders who are passing through Canaan en route to Egypt.

Joseph’s fortunes begin to change upon his arrival in Egypt when he leverages his God-given ability to interpret dreams as a means of launching his ascent to power. Falsely accused of a crime by his Egyptian employer, Joseph lands in another pit—this time a prison—and successfully decodes the dreams of his jailers, imploring them to remember his talent in the future. Eventually, one of the jailers does suggest Joseph’s name to Pharaoh, when not even the ruler’s most prized magicians fail to interpret his deeply troubling dreams. Joseph predicts seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Convinced that God has inspired Joseph to reveal these truths, Pharaoh promotes his protégé—a Jew, no less—to be second in command over all Egypt. When the famine comes to Egypt as well as to surrounding nations, Joseph’s brothers travel from Canaan to plead for food.

When Joseph first encounters his brothers, he is privately brought to tears at seeing them and also learning that his father is still alive more than 20 years after Joseph was thrown into the pit. He drives a hard bargain for the food his brothers want to purchase, then surreptitiously returns their money in their bags of grain. When the brothers return for additional grain—after Joseph has kept one brother for ransom—the transformative event occurs. Joseph, now a fully mature adult, reveals himself as the missing brother, offers full redemption for his brothers’ sin, and reclaims their father as his own. Most important, Joseph reveals that none of the preceding events was accidental, whether his dream interpretations, his rise to power, or the reunification of his family. Instead, he reveals that God inspired and orchestrated the events so that He could keep his Abrahamic covenant and prosper the Israelites as his chosen people.

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, you are a transformative God. Please keep our hearts and minds open to your plans for us: ‘plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future,’ just as you did for Joseph and his family. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.