THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
Genesis (Chapters 37-45)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Kevin Pendergrass.
Welcome to the Gospel of Christ. This is the fourth and final lesson in our study of the Book of Genesis. In this lesson, we will be studying the trials of Joseph. We will look at how Joseph dealt with those trials, and how, during all of those trials, he never forsook the Lord.
The story begins with Joseph as a young man at the age of seventeen (Gen. 37:2). Jacob, Joseph’s father, loved Joseph more than any of his other children. In fact, he loved him so much that he gave Joseph a tunic of many colors. Because of this, Joseph’s brothers hated him and became jealous. They wanted to be their father’s favorite. Genesis 37:4 says, “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.” The brothers had a problem with hatred and jealousy. But that was not where it ended. Joseph made the situation worse. He had two dreams. Yet that was not the problem. The problem was what he did with those dreams. In the dreams, Joseph had his brothers bowing down to him as king. His brothers hated him even more because Joseph went and told them about the dreams. If Joseph had kept the dreams to himself, perhaps there would not have been quite as big a problem. The brothers were already jealous of Joseph, so this series of events certainly did not make the situation any better. Joseph’s brothers hated him more and more, and became more jealous of him because of the dreams. This lays the foundation for who Joseph was, and why his brothers hated him and were jealous of him.
Now I want to look at the trials of Joseph, and some of the things he went through in his life while always keeping God first in his life. Genesis 37:12-16 says,
“Joseph’s brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ So he said to him, ’Here I am.’ Then he said to him, ‘Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.’ So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’”
Jacob told Joseph to go into the field in order to find his brothers who were feeding their flocks so that he could make sure that everything was all right. Vers3 18 goes on to say, “When they [Joseph’s brothers] saw him afar off, even before he came near them they conspired against him to kill him.” Think about the hatred that it would take to want to kill someone. You may have thought evil of someone in the past, and repented of that. Perhaps you even were jealous of someone. But to come to the conclusion that you are so jealous of someone, and you hate someone so much, that you want to kill him, would be a sad, terrible, and sinful anger. Verse 19 says, “Then they said to one another, ‘Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, “Some wild beast has devoured him.” We shall see what will become of his dreams!’” But Reuben, as verses 21-25 explain, Reuben interceded,
“But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, ‘Let us not kill him.’ And Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him’—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.”
The brothers stripped Joseph of his tunic of many colors, and threw him into a pit. Verses 25-27 state,
“And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.’ And his brothers listened.”
What was Judah’s idea? His idea was that instead of killing Joseph, the brothers should sell him into slavery in order to get something in return. So that is what they did. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites as a slave. Think what Joseph has been through thus far. His tunic of many colors had been stripped from him. He had been thrown into a pit with no water. And then he was sold into slavery. But what did Joseph do? Did he forsake God? Absolutely not!
In Genesis 39:1-2 we see Joseph’s next trial. The Ishmaelites sold Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians.
“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.”
The Bible tells us that although Joseph was sold to Potiphar, God was with Joseph. This shows us that Joseph was not forsaking God. He had not turned his back on the Lord. God will never leave us or forsake us if we are following Him. We find some encouraging words in Joshua 1:9—“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” We are not to be afraid, but are to have courage because God is with us wherever we go. Even when we feel lonely, or when we feel like we are the only person who is doing the right thing, we must remember that God is with us. Paul, in writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:16-17 said, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” Everyone had forsaken Paul. But the Lord stood with him and strengthened him. Isn’t that encouraging? Whenever we feel like the entire world is against us, we can know that when we put God first, He is still with us. He will give us the comfort that we need.
Now, however, things start to look up for Joseph. Even though he was sold into slavery, things start to look up. Genesis 39:3-4 says, “Joseph’s master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.” Things are going very well for Joseph. Verses 5-7 state,
“So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’”
Things were going well. But then Potiphar’s wife said to Joseph, “Lie with me.” She wanted to have sexual relations. The Bible says in Matthew 5:28, “I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The Bible speaks often against sexual immorality. If a man even looks upon a woman with lustful thoughts, he has committed adultery in his heart. How does one fall into sexual sin? The answer is that he does it the same way a person falls into any sin. In James 1:14-15 we are told, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” This is how one falls into sin. It looked like Joseph could have fallen into sin. Potiphar’s wife said, “Lie with me.” Wouldn’t it have been easy for Joseph to give in to such temptation? He might have thought, “I probably need to do this because if I don’t, she may start saying bad things about me. So I’ll give in.” But that is not what Joseph did. The Bible teaches us in Genesis 39:8-9 what Joseph did:
“He refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’”
When one sins, he sins against himself first and foremost. But sexual sins are against a person’s own body. In 1 Corinthians 6:15-16 the Bible says,
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’”
We must stay away from these types of sexual sins. Joseph knew that. He said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” When we sin, we are sinning against God. We need to think about that more often. When we are violating God’s Word and His will, we are sinning against God. This breaks God’s heart. It hurts Him to see us do that. We might think, “I’m just going to do it a couple of times, and then I’ll change.” This breaks God’s heart. Our desires, heart, and mentality is not right with God. Don’t sin against God, because if you do Isaiah 59:1-2 says that our sins will separate us from God. If we want to be faithful, we cannot commit sin. Joseph knew that.
So what happened? Did Potiphar’s wife say, “OK, I admire you for not giving in”? No, she did not say that. Did she finally say, “I’ll just give up and quit bothering you about this”? No, she did not do that either. Genesis 39:10 tells us that “As she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.” Day by day she pressed Joseph to commit sin. We do not know how many times this occurred, but we do know that it occurred on multiple days. This was something that was continual because she always pressed him to sin. Someone might think, “Maybe Joseph was strong the first time, but the second time he gave in.” No, Joseph did not do that. We must remember that God will never give us more than what we can bear. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 the Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” That is a promise from God through His Word, saying that He will not allow more things to come upon us that we can handle. When such things do come our way, there is a way of escape. Should that bring us comfort? Absolutely! We should remember that God will not allow us to be subjected to more than what we can handle. Our burden may be more than someone else has. But it might be less than someone else’s, too. God knows each individual, and what that individual can handle. Even though Potiphar’s wife continued to press Joseph, he did not give in. The Bible says in Genesis 39:11-12,
“It happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.”
Finally Potiphar’s wife had had enough. She had continually bothered Joseph, and was determined to have her way with him. She grabbed Joseph’s garment—and when he felt it, he left his garment behind and ran! The Bible teaches us that we must flee from sin. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:22 that we are to “flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” When sin comes our way, we must flee from it. We do not need to run to it, but instead run from it. That is what Joseph did. He even left his garment behind.
Was Joseph rewarded immediately for doing the right thing? Was he given a “get-out-of-slavery” pass because he did the right thing? No. Genesis 39:13-18 says,
“And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, ‘See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.’ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.’”
What did she do? She lied. Joseph did the right thing, yet she said that he was the one who tried to force her to do things that were wrong. Genesis 39:19-21 says,
“When his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘Your servant did to me after this manner,’ that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
Joseph did the right thing. Yet he was put in prison?! Yes—because he was being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. It would have been easy for Joseph to think to himself, “Lord, I’ve never forsaken You. I’ve always followed you. Now I do this—and I’m put in jail because of it? If I had had sexual relations with this woman, I would not have ended up in jail.” Those thoughts, according to the Scriptures, never entered Joseph’s mind. Instead, he was ready to suffer for righteousness’ sake. Even though he was being punished, he had done the right thing. And he knew he was right. In 2 Timothy 3:12 we read, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” If we are living godly lives, we will suffer persecution. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Joseph was put in prison. But the Lord was with him. So what happened while Joseph was in prison? In prison with Joseph were a baker and a butler who had worked for Pharaoh. Genesis 40:1-7 tells us that both of these men had dreams. They asked Joseph about their dreams. Joseph then said, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.” Joseph was willing to act on God’s behalf because God was with him. He was willing to tell what their dreams meant. Verses 9-11 state,
“Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, ‘Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.’”
In verses 12- Joseph said,
“This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.”
Joseph asked the butler to remember him when the interpretation of the dream came true so that he could mention Joseph to Pharaoh, who would be able to release him from prison. In verse 15 Joseph explained, “For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.” In verses 16-19 we go on to read,
“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, ‘I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.’ So Joseph answered and said, ‘This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.’”
If I had to be one of those two men, I definitely would want to be the butler because the dream about the baker was not at all good. So what happened? The dreams came true. Genesis 40:21-23 goes on to say,
“Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”
Here is another trial that Joseph had to endure. Joseph likely thought, “This will be my way out of prison because the butler will be delivered, and he will tell Pharaoh about me so that I, too, will be delivered from prison.” But what happened? The butler forgot to mention Joseph to Pharaoh—until Pharaoh himself had a dream.
In Genesis 41:8-14 the Bible tells us about Pharaoh’s dream. It was then that the butler remembered Joseph, and how he had interpreted his dream. He said to Pharaoh, “There was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream” (vs. 12). They brought Joseph to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. And the interpretation turned out to be true. In Genesis 41:8 we read, “Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.” Verse 9 tells us, “Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, ‘I remember my faults this day.’” That is when the butler told Pharaoh about Joseph. Isn’t it good that the butler recognized that he had made an error? Sometimes people make promises in mail by saying, “When I get out, I’m going to this or I’m going to do that.” Then they get out and forget those promises. The butler recognized his error, and then told Pharaoh about how Joseph had interpreted his dream correctly. In Genesis 41: 37-41 the Bible says,
“So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’”
Finally Joseph was being delivered. God had always been with Joseph through his trials. Now we are able to look back and see God’s providence at work. We can see how things were starting to come together for Joseph. Things worked out so that Joseph was basically the governor of Egypt.
In chapter 45 Joseph is finally revealed to his brothers. It is it at that point that we read in the following chapters about how Joseph’s brothers ended up bowing down to Joseph. His dream from many years earlier had finally come true. His brothers felt bad, of course, about what they had done to Joseph. In Genesis 50:20 we find the key verse of this entire story. If we want to emphasize something in this lesson, this is what it needs to be. Joseph said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Joseph acknowledged that his brothers had done evil things to him in an evil way. But Joseph also acknowledged that God had allowed those things to happen because He knew the outcome, and was going to be with Joseph. God was at work through His providence. When people do bad things to you, do not do bad things to them. Always seek God first, and God will be with you.
Joseph went from being a seventeen-year-old dreamer who had been put into a pit and sold into slavery by his brothers, and who then was tempted by Potiphar’s wife and eventually put in prison—to being the governor of Egypt and having his brothers bow down to him. We must never lose our faith in God during the trials that come our way. James 1:2-4 teaches us that when trials come our way, we need to “count it all joy.” Those trials make us who we are. They build character in us. They give us patience, and make us better people. We need to learn those things from Joseph’s life.
Are you a Christian today? Have you obeyed the Gospel (2 Thess. 1:7-9)? If you have not, then you need to go to God’s Word and hear what it has to say to you (Rom. 10:17). You must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Jn. 3:16). You must repent of your sins (Acts 3:19). You must confess Jesus Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:10), and you must be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38). If you have yet to obey the truth, we pray today that you will obey the Gospel of Christ.
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
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1. This lesson is about Joseph. According to Genesis 37:2, how old was Joseph when we are first introduced to him?
2. According to Genesis 37:3, what mistake did Joseph’s father Jacob make regarding his son?
3. On what errand did Jacob once send Jacob, according to Genesis 37:12-16?
4. According to Genesis 37:20 what did Joseph’s brothers decide at first to do to him?
5. According to Genesis 37:25-28, what did Joseph’s brothers actually end up doing with him?
6. What important concept for Christians is found in Joshua 1:9?
7. According to 2 Timothy 4:16-17, the apostle Paul felt all alone on one particular occasion. Yet who did he say had “stood with him and strengthened him” at that point in time?
8. According to Genesis 39:5-7, what temptation did Joseph endure when he arrived in Egypt as a slave in Potiphar’s house?
9. According to Genesis 39:8-9, what was Joseph’s first response to this temptation?
10. According to Genesis 39:12, what was Joseph’s second response to this temptation?
11. What does 2 Timothy 2:22 admonish us to do?
12. According to Genesis 39:20, what happened to Joseph as a result of his determination to do what is right?
13. What important piece of information is contained in2 Timothy 3:12 for all Christians?
14. What point did Jesus make in Matthew 5:10 during His Sermon on the Mount?
15. In Genesis 40:5-8 we learn of two men who were sad because of something that had happened to them. Why were they sad, and what did Joseph do about the situation?
16. One of the men mentioned in Genesis 40:5-8 was a butler. What did Joseph tell him would happen to him? And what did eventually happen to him?
17. One of the men mentioned in Genesis 40:5-8 was a baker. What did Joseph tell him would happen to him? And what did eventually happen to him?
18. In Genesis 41 we learn that the Egyptian Pharaoh had a dream, and that Joseph was called to interpret the dream. What was the dream; what was its interpretation; and what was the end result of Joseph’s having interpreted it?
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