A Devotion from John Bloom
WHY DOES GOD GIVE us more details about Joseph’s life than any other individual in Genesis? Genesis has an interesting structure. It zooms over the creation account (about 3 percent of the book) like a rocket, soars over the millennia between Adam and Abraham (about 15 percent—dropping speed and altitude over Noah) like a jet, and cruises over Abraham (21 percent), Isaac (8 percent), and Jacob (23 percent) like a helicopter, hovering here and there. Then it sort of drives down the road of Joseph’s life, devoting to it nearly 30 percent of its content. God is always intentional in his proportionality. More does not necessarily equal more important in God’s word economy. The epistle to the Ephesians is much shorter than the narrative of Joseph’s life, but it is not less important. However, more does imply take note. There are crucial things God wants us to see. God has many reasons to drive us through Joseph’s life, some more obvious than others. Let’s look at one perhaps less obvious reason.
On this drive, if we’re paying attention to the scenery out the windows, we see a startling and unnerving level of God’s providential involvement in the details of Joseph’s life. Here are some of the scenes (warning: some of these scenes you may find disturbing):
Joseph’s place in the patriarchal birth order was part of God’s plan (Gen. 30:22–24).
This means Rachel’s agonizing struggle with infertility was part of God’s plan (30:1–2).
Jacob’s romantic preference of Rachel and therefore his (probably paternally insensitive) favoritism shown to Joseph was part of God’s plan (29:30; 37:3).
Joseph’s prophetic dreams were (obviously) part of God’s plan (37:5–11).
His brothers’ jealousy (note: sibling rivalry and family conflict) was part of God’s plan (37:8).
His brothers’ evil, murderous, greedy betrayal of him, and Judah’s part in it, was part of God’s plan (37:18–28; 50:20).
His brothers’ twenty-plus–year deception of Jacob regarding Joseph was part of God’s plan.
The existence of an evil slave trade at the time was part of God’s plan (37:26–27).
Potiphar’s complicity with the slave trade and his position in Egypt was part of God’s plan (37:36).
Joseph’s extraordinary administrative gifting was part of God’s plan (39:2–4).
Joseph’s favor with Potiphar was part of God’s plan (39:4–6).
Potiphar’s wife’s being given over to sexual immorality was part of God’s plan (Gen. 39:8–12; Rom. 1:24).
Potiphar’s wife’s dishonesty was part of God’s plan (Gen. 39:14–18).
Potiphar’s unjust judgment of Joseph was part of God’s plan (39:19–20).
The particular prison Joseph was sent to—the one that would receive the cupbearer and the baker— was part of God’s plan (39:20).
Joseph’s favor with the prison warden was part of God’s plan (39:21–23).
The high-level conspiracy against Pharaoh and its exposure resulting in the imprisonment of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker were part of God’s plan (40:1–3).
Joseph being appointed to care for the cupbearer and baker was part of God’s plan (40:4).
The dreams the cupbearer and baker had were (obviously) part of God’s plan (40:5).
Joseph’s compassionate concern for their troubled hearts was part of God’s plan (40:6–7).
Their trusting Joseph’s integrity enough to confide their dreams in him was part of God’s plan (40:8–20).
Joseph’s discerning the meaning of their dreams was part of God’s plan (40:12–13, 18–19).
The Egyptian judicial processes that exonerated the cupbearer and condemned the baker were part of God’s plan (40:20–22).
The cupbearer failing to remember Joseph for two years was part of God’s plan (40:23–41:1).
The timing of Pharaoh’s dreams was part of God’s plan (41:1–7).
The inability of Pharaoh’s counselors to discern his dreams was part of God’s plan (41:8).
The cupbearer remembering Joseph and having the courage to remind Pharaoh of an event that might re-arouse suspicion was part of God’s plan (41:9–13).
Pharaoh’s being desperate enough to listen to a Hebrew prisoner was part of God’s plan (41:14–15).
Joseph’s having discernment of Pharaoh’s dreams was part of God’s plan (41:25–36).
The miraculous amount of immediate trust that Pharaoh placed in Joseph’s interpretation and counsel was part of God’s plan (41:37–40).
Joseph’s being given Asenath (an Egyptian) for a wife was part of God’s plan (41:45).
Joseph’s two sons by Asenath, Manasseh and Ephraim, were part of God’s plan (41:50–52; 48:5).
The complex confluence of natural phenomena that caused the extraordinarily fruitful years followed by the extraordinarily desolate years, with all the resulting human prosperity and suffering, and the consolidation of Egyptian wealth and power in Pharaoh’s hands were part of God’s plan (41:53–57; 47:13–26).
The threat of starvation that caused terrible hardship and fear and moved Jacob to send his sons to Egypt for grain was part of God’s plan (42:1–2).
The brothers’ safe journey to Egypt and Benjamin’s nonparticipation was part of God’s plan (42:3–4).
The brothers’ bowing to Joseph in unwitting fulfillment of the dreams they had hated was part of God’s plan (42:6).
Joseph’s whole scheme to test his brothers was part of God’s plan (42:9–44:34).
Simeon’s being chosen to remain in Egypt was part of God’s plan (42:24).
Jacob’s refusal to release Benjamin to return to Egypt causing the delay of the brothers’ return and Simeon’s bewildering experience in custody was part of God’s plan (42:38).
The relentless threat of starvation that prompted Judah to make his personal guarantee of Benjamin’s safe return and forced Jacob to finally allow Benjamin go to Egypt was part of God’s plan (43:8–14).
The success with which Joseph was able to continue to conceal his identity and pull off the framing of Benjamin for thievery and all the anguish the brothers experienced as a result were part of God’s plan (43:15–44:17).
Judah’s willingness to exchange his life for Benjamin’s out of love for his father, and thus initiating his own sale into slavery, like he had initiated Joseph’s sale into slavery, was part of God’s plan (44:18–34).
Joseph’s timing in revealing himself to his brothers was part of God’s plan (45:1–14).
Jacob’s being told by his sons of Joseph’s survival and position in Egypt and, consequently, the exposure of his other sons’ twenty-plus–year deceit regarding Joseph’s disappearance and all the accompanying relational pain were part of God’s plan (45:25–28).
God’s directing Jacob to move to Egypt was (obviously) part of God’s plan (46:2–4).
The relocation of the entire clan of Israel to Egypt, where they would reside and grow for 430 years and eventually become horribly enslaved, thus fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:13– 14, was part of God’s plan (46:5–47:12). If we wished, there are more sightings we could include from this drive. But these give us a lot to chew on.
Joseph had a unique role to play in redemptive history. But God’s intricate involvement in Joseph’s life is not unique to him. God is just as involved in the details of our lives. One of the many reasons God gives us a closeup of Joseph’s life is to show us how active he is, how he never leaves us or forsakes us all along the way, in both the good and the evil things we experience (Heb. 13:5). Joseph knew God’s nearness when he woke from his prophetic dreams and probably when he experienced remarkable favor. But how near did God feel to Joseph in the pit of his brothers’ betrayal, or shackled in the Ishmaelite caravan, or when falsely accused of attempted rape, or stuck for years in the king’s prison, forgotten? Yet we see that God was there all the time working all things together for good for Joseph and millions of others (Rom. 8:28). Yes, God was even working the evil, heinous things people did to Joseph for good. We can say that, because that’s precisely what Joseph himself said to his brothers about their betrayal of him: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20). The detailed narrative of Joseph’s life, among many other things, is a loving letter from your Good Shepherd (John 10:11)—the same Good Shepherd who guided Joseph through green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death, pursuing him with good all the days of his life (Ps. 23:1–6)—to remind you that no matter what you are experiencing, sweet or bitter, good or evil, no matter how long it’s lasting, he has not left you alone (John 14:18). He is with you (Ps. 23:4), he is working all things together for good (Rom. 8:28), and he will be with you to the end (Matt. 28:20).