Joseph awoke every morning probably never knowing whether the cupbearer had said something (but Pharaoh did nothing), or whether the cupbearer had resumed his position, remaining ever silent about Joseph’s dream interpretation. Genesis 41:1 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream. Two full years. Watching. Waiting. Seeing if anything would change.Two full […]
Joseph was probably both gratified and sad about the outcome. He was glad that the interpretations from God were correct, and happy also for the cupbearer’s being restored to serving Pharaoh. However, he must have been sad that the baker was killed. After all, relationships even in prison are relationships nonetheless, and they can be […]
Time went by and relationships formed. Mundane, so they seemed. Commonplace is what they appeared to be. After all, what kind of relationships could exist among fellow prisoners? Actually, a shared road of suffering and common experience often form a foundation of deep friendship. The cupbearer and baker may have felt it for Joseph, and […]
Genesis 40:1 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same […]
Had Potiphar been mad primarily at Joseph, he could have executed him then, there in front of his wife, no questions asked. But Potiphar had likely seen God’s favor that followed Joseph and noted that his wife seemed awfully comfortable with that trophy cloak as a souvenir. He probably knew she was a liar from […]
Joseph—he was trying to do everything right. He tried avoidance, reason, diplomacy, theology, and escape. He didn’t expect false accusation as the result of his fleeing the scene of Potiphar’s wife’s unwelcome advances. Genesis 39:13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 […]
Joseph was contented. He was a slave but a privileged one because Potiphar clearly saw the blessing and didn’t want to jeopardize it at all. Joseph lived in his master’s house and had a very good life, for a slave, that is. Genesis 39:6 “So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph […]
Fast forward through a chapter of Genesis and we catch up with Joseph far from home. He was formerly Daddy’s favorite with a coat of authority, but resented by his brothers, and now he’s the slave who had been in the Ishmaelite caravan to be sold a second time, first by family and now by […]
A perfectly imperfect plan…ruined! Reuben had been off somewhere while his brothers were making plans (to foil the plan they didn’t even know existed because Reuben had been keeping it secret). Genesis 37:29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. The tearing of his own […]
