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The story of Joseph in Egypt starts with examining Joseph’s place in the family of Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, two wives and two concubines. The two wives were named Rachel and Leah. Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel and worked for her father for seven years in order to win her hand in marriage. Rachel’s father tricked Jacob and sent her older sister Leah to the marriage bed instead. Jacob loved Rachel so much that he worked another seven years to finally win the woman he loved.
Because Leah was not loved, God opened up her womb and she began having sons while God closed Rachel’s womb for a time. Rachel eventually gave birth to two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. She died giving birth to Benjamin, the youngest. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. He loved Joseph more because he was born to him in his old age and because he was the son of Rachel, the wife that he loved.
Genesis 37 reveals that Joseph, at the age of seventeen, was a shepherd like his brothers, the sons of his father’s concubines. Jacob made a splendid robe for Joseph, often referred to as the “coat of many colors”. Joseph’s brothers were mad with jealousy because they knew that their father loved Joseph more than any of them.
To make matters worse, Joseph was a bit of a tattletale and was always reporting to Jacob about the brothers’ misdeeds. Joseph also had dreams, which he revealed to his brothers. These dreams portrayed the brothers and Jacob bowing down to worship him. When the brothers were totally fed up with Joseph, they decided to do something about him.
One day, when the brothers were out in the fields, Jacob sent Joseph out to see if the flocks and his other sons were all right. When Joseph approached, the brothers grabbed him, tore off his robe and threw him into a dry well. Some wanted to kill Joseph but Reuben, the oldest brother, convinced them not to and they finally sold Joseph to a caravan of passing Ishmaelites.
In Egypt, the Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of the palace guard. The Lord blessed Joseph and Potiphar eventually put him in charge of his whole household. The Bible reports that Joseph was a good-looking young man and he attracted the attentions of Potiphar’s wife. She tried unsuccessfully to seduce him. At one point, she grabbed him by his robe and as he ran away she was left hanging on to only the robe.
Frustrated, she accused Joseph of taking advantage of her and he was thrown into prison. God blessed Joseph, even in prison, and he was put in charge of the prison while there. Later, the king’s wine steward and baker offended the king and they were thrown into prison also. The steward and baker had dreams, which Joseph was able to interpret for them. Joseph revealed that the wine steward would get his job back but the baker would be executed. The steward promised to help get Joseph out of jail. It happened just as Joseph said but the steward forgot all about Joseph.
Two years later, the king had a dream, which no one in the palace could interpret. The steward remembered Joseph and the king sent for him. Joseph interpreted the king’s dream to mean that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. The king put Joseph in charge of everything so that wheat could be stored up for when the famine came.
The famine did come, just as Joseph had said. During the seven plentiful years, Joseph had built up huge stores of food and grain for the people of Egypt. When the famine arrived, there was enough food for everyone in Egypt. Eventually, the famine had its effects on Canaan also and Joseph’s half-brothers went to Egypt to buy food. Jacob kept only Benjamin, Joseph’s full brother, at home.
When the ten brothers arrived in Egypt, they did not recognize Joseph but Joseph knew who they were. Joseph made them promise to go back home and return with Benjamin if they wanted to buy grain. He kept their brother Simeon in jail as a guarantee that they would return. Jacob was upset and was afraid to let Benjamin go too. He had already lost Joseph, Simeon was in jail and now he risked losing Benjamin.
Jacob finally relented and the brothers returned to Egypt. Joseph tricked them by planting his gold cup in Benjamin’s bag and then accused Benjamin of stealing it. When Joseph heard the brother’s talking and worrying about their fate he finally revealed who he was and they had a joyous, tearful reunion. The brothers went back to Canaan to get their father Jacob and the family was given land and food in Egypt during the famine.
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