Lives of Scripture

Joseph, Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's firstborn, was his father's favorite, marked out by a special robe -- favoritism that fed his brothers' hatred, sharpened by Joseph's dreams of his family bowing to him (Genesis 37:2-11). The brothers seized him, threw him into a pit, sold him to Ishmaelite traders, and deceived Jacob into believing him dead (37:18-35). In Egypt, Joseph served in Potiphar's house with integrity, refusing Potiphar's wife's repeated advances -- and was imprisoned on her false accusation for it (39:1-20). In prison he interpreted fellow prisoners' dreams accurately, and two years later interpreted Pharaoh's dreams of coming famine, so Pharaoh set him over all Egypt at thirty years old (40:1-41:46). When famine drove his brothers to Egypt for grain, Joseph tested them before revealing himself, weeping openly: "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (45:1-15; 50:20). He settled his family in Goshen, provided for them through the famine, and before his death made Israel swear to carry his bones to Canaan when God brought them out -- a final act of faith in God's promise (50:24-26). Joseph's life is a sustained testimony that God works through betrayal, slavery, and injustice to preserve His covenant people.