Genesis

THE outstanding feature of Joseph’s life was faithful loyalty to God under all circumstances. He carried his convictions with him and lived them out. The well-known phrase, "When in Rome do as Rome does," has brought infinite trouble upon those who have followed its guidance. Joseph never compromised his position, and as a consequence he never lost spiritual power or weakened his witness for God. Someone has said that true independence is to act in the crowd as one thinks in solitude. Joseph had already influenced the keeper of his prison, and we are now to see still more strikingly the proof that the Lord was with him.

In the course of Joseph’s incarceration two very notable people became inmates of the same prison, the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. To these two men Joseph was appointed as servant, and in this simple fact was found one of the main links in the remarkable chain of providences associated with his life. None of us liveth to himself, and no one could have foreseen that the association of these two important servants of Pharaoh with the Hebrew slave would have brought about such far-reaching results. The smallest circumstance in life has its meaning, and it may be literally said that we do not really know the profound significance of many of the simplest details. Happy is the man whose eye is open to see the hand of God in every-day events, for to him life always possesses a wonderful and true joy and glory.

Again we observe the characteristic of faithfulness to duty which actuated Joseph at all times. Although the circumstances were hard, and his own position was the result of gross injustice, it made no difference to the faithfulness and loyalty with which he did his duty. The circumstances were all the harder because, as it would seem, it was none other than Potiphar (Gen 40:4) who appointed Joseph to attend to these prisoners. A wounded spirit who can bear? And yet there is no trace what ever of any bitterness, but on the contrary, a magnificent and even massive silence amid all the misunderstanding, slander, and injustice. There are times in life when silence is indeed golden, and when to speak would be to demean one’s self. Joseph had learned the secret of suffering uncomplainingly, and in the strength of his personal trust in God he won the victory over self.

It is also well worth noticing that Joseph’s faithful loyalty to his religious convictions did not stand in the way of his earthly promotion. The men of the world are not slow to detect real character, and to take advantage of it. Other things being equal, a business man, although utterly irreligious, will trust a true Christian as an employee before one who makes no such profession. Genuine loyalty to God will always express itself in absolute faithfulness in every-day duty.

Once again Joseph was to be associated with dreams, for his two prisoners, the chief butler and the chief baker; each dreamed a dream in one night. Dreams were regarded as of great significance in Egypt, and we are therefore not surprised to read that the men were puzzled and sad by reason of their inability to understand the meaning of what they had dreamed. Joseph was quick to see their sad countenances, a simple but significant testimony to his attitude of cheerfulness and the absence of self-consciousness. He possessed that finest of all gifts, a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize. Very quickly he inquired of them as to the reason of their sad looks, and he was told the cause. Now if Joseph had been in the habit of looking on life with the eyes of a cynic he would have had nothing more to do with dreams. He might have said that he had had personal experience of the futility of such things in the fact that his own dreams had been so entirely dissipated by his experiences. But so far from this spirit being shown, Joseph at once invited the chief butler and the chief baker to tell him their dreams, saying that interpretations belonged to God. How real God was to Joseph all this time! He never went back from his early convictions, but was true to his home-training in spite of everything that he had suffered. It takes a real man to hold fast to his integrity in the midst of suffering such as Joseph experienced, and to keep the spiritual life free from fret, strain, hardness and despair. Does not all this put us to shame as we contemplate, perhaps with astonishment, the profound reality of the consciousness of God in the life of Joseph?

Not the least remarkable point in his character was the combination of ability and agreeableness. By sheer force of personal power he raised himself, or rather was raised by God, to a position of trust, and at the same time manifested such personal amiability and attractiveness that he became acceptable to those around him. It is not often that we find so delightful a combination of personal characteristics. Sometimes we find ability without attractiveness, in which case the man is admired and even respected, but is feared, and people are apt to keep him at a distance. On the other hand we sometimes find agreeableness without ability, which gives the man an attractiveness for a while, but his superficiality at length becomes evident and his amiability counts for very little in the eyes of earnest and serious people. When, however, ability and attractiveness are combined, we have a man of real power whose influence for good can scarcely be limited.

Joseph’s readiness in approaching Pharaoh’s two officers is a striking illustration of the need of faithfulness in little things. He did not wait for some great occasion, but was found faithful in the path way of every-day service. True life will always strive to be at its best, and instead of waiting for great occasions, will make every occasion great.

The combination of Joseph’s testimony to God with reference to interpretation, and his invitation to them to tell him the dreams, is another interesting feature in his life. God was the Source, but His servant was the channel of the interpretation. This has always been God’s method of revealing His will. The human interpreter has always been necessary and doubtless will be to the end of time.

First the chief butler’s dream was told and interpreted, and after the revelation of forthcoming restoration for the butler we have an exquisite human touch which reveals the heart of Joseph. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. Joseph rightly took the opportunity of appealing to this man to use his influence to get him out of the prison. Hitherto we have been impressed with the marvellous silence and self-control of the prisoner, but these verses clearly reveal what he felt, and go to prove the truth of the Psalmist that the iron entered into his soul.

Then came the chief baker’s dream, and he, elated by the favorable interpretation of the former dream, fully expected a similar happy ending to his imprisonment. We observe here the remarkable faithfulness of Joseph, who told the baker quite frankly that a very different issue awaited him. The courage shown in this faithful revelation is noteworthy. Not even for his own advantage would Joseph swerve one hair’s breadth from the pathway of truth. That which God revealed to him he passed on to the chief baker without addition or subtraction.

It is, perhaps, not unduly imaginative to think of the day when the prison-doors were opened and the butler was allowed to go free. We may picture him bidding him farewell to Joseph with an assuring look and an encouraging word, and telling him that he would not be forgotten. And then again the doors were closed, and Joseph was still inside, wondering, doubtless, how long it would be before he would find deliverance. The story closes with the pathetic words, "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him." This must have been a terrible experience, for it was the deepest pit of his humiliation. Joseph must have been tempted to hate the world and surround himself with a wall of hardness and selfishness. Instead of this, we do not find that there was any feeling of bitterness or rebellion, or desire for revenge. Two years elapsed, and we doubt not that they had a steadying effect on Joseph’s character as he waited for the fulfilment of God’s purpose concerning him. He learned that there was something far more satisfying than recognition by man, the consciousness of doing the will of God. This is without exception the deepest joy in life.

These two years of waiting must also have had the effect of maturing whilst steadying Joseph’s character. It is not too much to say that the self-possession and dignity which he showed when he stood before Pharaoh had their foundations laid during these two years. From time to time he would doubtless hear what was going on in Egypt, and perhaps in connection with the Court, and yet day after day passed without any remembrance from the one whose dream he had interpreted. But we are perfectly certain that he never regretted putting God first and allowing God to take care of His servant’s interests. If only we take care of our character, God will take care of our interests and reputation. Daily faithfulness in ordinary duties is the very best preparation for future service.

Joseph found plenty of work to do and was enabled to bear his own sorrows and troubles in ministering to the needs of others. These two years were in some respects the most vital and critical in his life. The deeper the foundation, the more durable the building; and in these two years the foundations of his future influence were laid deep and strong. Some might have thought that the forty years spent by Moses in Midian keeping sheep, were unworthy of the man’s position; but the keeping of the sheep was the making of Moses. So also these two years of quiet endurance in prison went far to make Joseph the fine man he afterwards became.

The one dominant thought that runs through the chapter is the relation of God to the ordinary everyday life of His people, especially in the time of suffering, sorrow, hardship and disappointment.

The prison was a place is where Joseph was fitted for his life-work. Men of the world would have described this as hard luck: but to Joseph it was part of the providence of God. God always sends His servants to school in order to fit them for future work, and it is necessary that they should have a thorough education. Training, whether physical or moral, must necessarily be attended with hardship; and those whom God uses most have to be trained in the hardest schools. No chastening is pleasant at the time; but in the retrospect of experience no servant of God would ever be without the discipline which has enabled him to enter more thoroughly into the purposes of God and to help more really his fellowmen.

When Joseph was taken from home and sold into slavery everything seemed to be against him. When he was cast into prison as the result of calumny, again everything seemed to combine to crush him. When the hope of deliverance through the influence of the chief butler was deferred until at length there seemed to be no hope of freedom, everything must have appeared dark and forbidding. And yet probably Joseph never forgot those early dreams at home of the sheaves making obeisance. God was working His purpose out; and though it was impossible to realize it at the time, we know that afterwards Joseph fully understood that God’s time of deliverance was by far the best. God is never before His time but He is never behind. The clock of Divine providence keeps strict time, and has never been known to vary either in one direction or the other.

In spite of everything that was against him, Joseph was victorious by the grace of God. Whether it was silence after calumny and injustice, whether it was cheerfulness amidst hardship, whether it was quick sympathy with the sorrows of others, whether it was patient endurance amidst hopes deferred, he was more than conqueror; and the secret of it all was, the Lord was with him. The test of character lies in the spirit being unprovoked, though faced by constant friction and opposition; and the test of ideal service is its continuance when unrecognized. True life consists in going on, without placing any limit to goodness of character or faithfulness of service, even though neither should be acknowledged on earth; and this is only possible by the grace of God. In a certain coal-mining neighborhood, where almost everything was covered with coal-dust, there was a beautiful white flower perfectly free from dust. When someone who was strange to the place remarked that the owner must take very great care of the flower to prevent it from being covered with coal-dust, another who was standing by threw over the flower some dust which at once fell off, leaving the whiteness and beauty as exquisite as ever. The explanation was that the flower had on it what might be called an enamel which enabled it to receive the dust and throw it off without feeling anything of the effects. So it was with Joseph. His character was covered with the enamel of Divine grace, and all these sorrows and troubles came upon him and left him untouched except for the increased strength and power that came to him from God.

And so the message to us all is that we are to wait for God. Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (Jam 1:4). Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise (Heb 10:36). "In patience ye shall possess your souls" (Luk 21:19, R.V.). And the secret of waiting for God is waiting on God. By simple trust and constant prayer, by loving fellowship and faithful obedience, we are enabled to wait for God so as to be ready when He calls. His summons to higher service comes in unexpected ways and at unexpected times, and if it does not find us ready we shall inevitably be passed by. So while we wait patiently for Him let us rest in the Lord, and then, like the servants of David, we shall be able to say, Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my Lord the King shall appoint.