Sermon Tone Analysis

Recap of Story

11th of the 12 sons of Jacob

Was despised by his brothers, who plotted to kill him, but instead sold him to midianite traders for 20 shekels of silver, then lied to their father by dipping his coat into goats blood and saying that they found it.

back in chapter 37.

He arrives at Potiphar’s house and he is made overseer of Potiphars house because the Lord caused everything that he did to succeed

But as he refuses to lay with Potiphars wife she falsely accuses him and he finds himself thrown in prison for something he didn’t do.

Last time we looked at chapter 40 where the kings baker and cupbearer wind up in prison with Joseph, where he is able through the power of God to interpret their dreams correctly, and asks of the cup bearer to remember him when he gets out, to bring his predicament to the attention of the king.

yet, chapter 40 ends with the statement

Chapter 41

The patience of Joseph, the Humility of Joseph, the Appreciation of Joseph

Patience

Genesis 41:1-

Well what do you know!

That cup bearer finally got around to remembering Joseph a whole two years after the fact.

Which means for more than 2 years Joseph was imprisoned for something he didn’t do.

Now we can figure out from v. 46, that Joseph was 30 when he began working for Pharoah, and we know from that Joseph was around 17 years old when he was sold into slavery.

Which means by that from at least the age of 28 -30, Joseph was in prison.

Yet when you look at the end of chapter 39, we are told that the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners, and I think that would require some amount of time to pass for that level of trust to there, so it wouldn’t at all surprise me if Joseph spent anywhere from 3 to 5 years or more in prison, for not only for something he didn’t do, but for DOING WHAT WAS RIGHT!

We talked about last time how amazing it is that Joseph at the age of 17 had such a great grasp on his faith in God.

Isn’t that what we are training our sons and daughters to do?

To go out into the world and to live Godly lives when we aren’t around because they have their own faith and can stand on their own two feet?

Joseph had that!

But when we are honest, isn’t it a whole lot easier to have faith in God when things are going well for us?

Wasn’t that the exact point that Satan tried to make when God pointed to Job as a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?

What was it that the devil said?

Does Job fear God for no reason?

You’ve protected him, you’ve blessed his work, you’ve increased his possessions, Of course he is faithful to you!

Take it all away and he will curse you to your face!”

And of course we hear much about the patience of Job, how he underwent trial after trial and yet never cursed God.

But there is another character here in Joseph that I think we should also turn to as a model for patience and how to endure less than ideal circumstances.

Joseph spent a total of 13 years as nothing more than a slave, an owned piece of property, and he spent 2,3,5, maybe even 10 years of that time locked up in a pit for doing what was right.

How many of us would keep a patient head on our shoulders and not have a complete meltdown about how unfairly we were being treated?

I mean, if God is with you and you’re spending years in prison, how can it be that his enemies run free?

We would likely have all kinds of questions, doubts, fears, and we might even lose hope.

But Joseph persists in his patience.

Humility

Genesis 41:14-

Joseph has been humbled during his time in prison, Remember this is the same guy who when he was seventeen 13 years ago, had some dreams of his own.

Sheaves bowed down to my sheaf

Sun moon and stars bowed down to me

Now while these dreams are going to indeed be proven true in the chapters to come, we are told that Joseph revealing this dreams to his brothers added to the already existing tension in the house.

A more humble person may have kept the dream to himself, but Joseph seems to have wanted the world to know what God had shown him and it was this in part that sets the entire events of him being sold into slavery in motion.

In fact, when his brothers see him coming to check on them, they refer to him as “The dreamer” Oh Look, here comes that dreamer!

But here Joseph states humbly that he can’t interpret the dream, He says, it is not in me.

Now a younger Joseph, might have approached this very differently.

I mean I probably would have tried to bargain with Pharoah.

Sure I’ll interpret your dream, but first you need to promise me that you’re going to take care of Potiphar’s wife for me for lying, then I need some back pay for the time I’ve been in prison, then I’m going to need a private camel so I can go back to my family.

Then and only then will I interpret this dream of yours!

But Joseph doesn’t say anything like that, He merely says, I can’t interpret it, but God can.

Genesis 41:17-

So he interprets

7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine

v33 Doesn’t request that Joseph himself should do it.

Appreciation

Gen 41:37-

Joseph is renamed - v. 45 Zaphanath-paneah - Savior of the world

In many ways of course that’s exactly what he turned out to be.

Without God giving him the ability to interpret the dream and prepare for it, how many would have perished?

And of course you can’t hardly read that name and understand it’s translation without thinking of the parallels with Christ.

There are many, but we will wait to look at that until later.

v51.

Manasseh - the hebrew word for forget

v. 52.

Ephraim - being fruitful or Double fruits.

How many times do we see men and women who after they strike it rich, or make it big, forget where they came from and who they really are?

We often times call that getting the big head don’t we?

Once we reach a level of wealth or power we tend to start thinking we did it ourselves.

This principle is well known throughout human history and spoken about in

Prov 30:

Yet we don’t see that happening with Joseph!

He knows exactly who’s been with him, who carried him through the tough times, who was with him at Potiphar’s house, who was with him in prison, and who has elevated him to where he is at the end of chapter 41.

Conclusion

The patience, humility, and appreciation of Joseph apparent in chapter 41 is a blessing to us all and serves

Ways in Which Joseph Prefigured Jesus Christ 1.

He was loved by his father (37:3).

John 3:16 2.

He rebuked his brethren (37:2).

Jesus rebukes his fellow Jews-John 8 3.

He was a shepherd (37:2).

Jesus was the Good Shepherd -John 10:14 4.

He opposed evil (37:3).

Jesus – John 7:7 5. His master was pleased with Him (37:4).

Jesus – Matt.

17:5 6.

He was hated by his brothers (37:4, 5, 8).

Jesus – John 5:18; 6:41; 10:30-31 7. Future sovereignty foretold (37:5-9).

Jesus – Isaiah 9:6-7; Matt.

26:64; Luke 1:31-33 8.

He was envied by his brothers (37:11).

Jesus – Matt.

27:17-18 9.

He was obedient to go where his father sent him (37:12-13).

Jesus – 1 John 4:10 10.

He seeks the welfare of his brothers (37:14).

Jesus – John 1:11; 3:17; Matt.

15:24; Rom.15:8 11.

He was humiliated (ch.

37:23-28).

Jesus – Matt.27:29-41 12.

He was sold into the hands of his enemies (37:26-28).

Jesus – Matt.

26:14-15 13.

He was sold by one close to him, Judah (37:26-28).

Jesus – Mark 14:10 (The Anglican translation for Judah is Judas.)