Joseph - A Saviour Of The World

by Guy Jarvie, Glasgow, Scotland | Category: General | Jun 1989

The story of Joseph (Gen. 37-50) thrills every age group. His reverence for God and his love of righteousness are a great encouragement to young disciples, and to us all, to follow after righteousness and truth even in an unclean world.

In his early days Joseph saw the double life of his brothers, and this he would not cover up. He told his father about his brothers' doings, and they hated him for that. They hated him more because his father loved him. Their opportunity to get rid of him came one day and they would have slain him but for Reuben's intervention. When Reuben was not present the brothers took Joseph out of the pit into which they had thrown him and sold him to some Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They were glad to get rid of him although they saw his distress and never forgot it. They failed to reckon with God.

Down in Egypt Joseph met with temptation to moral sin. "How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? He asked. He came victorious from the temptation, but he was put into prison. The Lord was with Joseph, however, and gave him favour with the keeper of the prison. All that Joseph did, "the Lord made it to prosper".

When the Lord's time came, Joseph was brought from the prison to the palace to tell Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams. He became the ruler of Egypt as Pharaoh's prime minister. The seven years of plenty were followed by the seven years of famine as Joseph had said they would be in his interpretation of the dreams. The famine was world-wide, and only in Egypt could corn be bought. Joseph was called Zephenath-paneah, a name of unknown derivation, but traditionally translated as saviour of the world.

In due time, with many others, Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy corn and there they met Joseph who sold the corn. He knew them, but he was a stranger to them. They bowed to him with their faces to the ground, and Joseph remembered the dreams of his youth that had foretold this. "Ye are spies", he said. They answered, "Nay, my Lord,... we are true men He put them all in ward for three days, where they had time to think. He heard them speaking among themselves saying, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul". Joseph turned away and wept for he loved them still, but they had yet to confess their sin to God before peace could come to them. Sin will not go away until it is put right with God.

David, in his day, had an experience similar to the one Joseph's brothers had. He wrote, "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old... I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" (Ps. 32:3-5). John the apostle wrote, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

When Joseph took his brothers out of the prison, he bound Simeon before their eyes. The rest of the brothers were sent home. with full sacks to tell their father that Simeon was in prison in Egypt, and that the ruler in Egypt had said they must bring their brother Benjamin with them when they returned.

The famine drove them back again to Egypt and to Joseph. This time Benjamin was with them, and again they bowed to Joseph. They were given a wonderful reception and were entertained in Joseph's house. It seemed that all was well and that they could forget their fears. But that could not be. Joseph loved righteousness, and he knew that sin must be confessed to God before peace could come.

They left with full sacks feeling that they could at last relax for they were going home and Benjamin and Simeon were with them. But a silver cup of Joseph's was missing, and his steward who pursued after them found it in Benjamin's sack. They rent their clothes and returned to the city. Joseph was waiting for them, and they fell before him to the ground. "What deed is this that ye have done? he asked. Judah answered for them all when he said, "What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: we are my lord's bondmen".

They had reached the truth, and confession before God, forgiveness and peace were near. Judah pleaded for mercy, and Joseph revealed himself. He said as he wept, "I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? His brothers could not answer him; they were troubled at his presence. "Come near to me", Joseph said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt... Be not grieved... for God did send me before you to preserve life". Then Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them, and after that they talked with him.

Joseph's brothers could not weep as he did. They had seen the sinfulness of sin, and they could not grasp the wonder of Joseph's mercy and love. When Jacob, their father, died seventeen years later, the brothers came again to Joseph, and falling on their faces they sought his forgiveness for their sin. Joseph wept again when they spoke to him. He said, "As for you, ye meant evil against me, but God meant it for good ... to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And He comforted them, and spake kindly unto them".

It is on the Lord's day, at the breaking of the bread, that we can recall the magnitude and mercy of the love of God, who sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world. But we have yet to see His glory. Then, in nobler strains, we will praise the God who loved us, and His Son who died for us. Let us not withhold our praise and adoration when we keep the Remembrance.

When Joseph's brothers went home with full sacks and good things from Egypt, they had much to give and much to tell - chiefly that Joseph was alive, and that he was the ruler of Egypt. Then would come their confession, that it was they who had sold him into Egypt, but it was God who had sent him. The brothers would be changed men. No longer would they live a' double life. They had seen the righteousness and the mercy of God in Joseph. Israel said, "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die".

We also have seen the righteousness and mercy of God in Christ, and our lives have been changed. "The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us" (Rom. 5:5 RVM).

Joseph and his father and his brothers passed on, and the dark days of slavery came. Every Israeli child would be told of the great work of Joseph and that he said that God would surely visit them, and that they would return to the land that was promised to Abraham, their great forefather. Joseph also said that they must carry his bones to that land. And so the light would shine in their hearts even when they were made to serve with anguish and cruel

bondage (Ex. 6:9).

"Their cry came up unto God and God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant... and God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them" (Ex. 2:23-25). Deliverance came at last, and they sang; "I will sing unto the LORD for He hath triumphed gloriously" (Ex. 15:1). And with them were the bones of Joseph.

The light shines in our hearts also, for we look forward to the coming of our glorious Lord, when the dead in Christ will rise first. Meantime we must "war the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience" (1 Tim. 1:18). The powers of darkness are strong and deceptive. We must put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11). This is vital, and so is "all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph. 6:18). "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us". Nothing shall "separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:37,39).

Guy Jarvie, Glasgow, Scotland | Jun 1989
General