Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 39-41.

First I want to take note that it was thirteen years from when Joseph started this sequence of events and when he entered into Pharoah’s service as the second most powerful man in Egypt.  I am not sure there what significance that has, but those recording the events thought it was important to note that he was 17 years old when the events began and that he was 30 years old when he entered Pharoah’s service.  Let’s follow what happens to Joseph from when he was 17.  I am going to guess that Joseph was no more than 18 when his brothers turned him over to the slaver traders who took him into Egypt and sold him there.  Which means he would have probably been between 20 to 25 years old when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him (I would guess he was closer to 20 than to 25).  He then spends several years in prison before providing a dream interpretation to Pharoah’s cupbearer when he was 28.  Now let’s track Joseph’s life up to this point.  At 17, his wealthy father used him as his right hand to manage his assets, sending him to check that his older brothers were managing their father’s goods properly.  His brothers betrayed him, made it clear they were thinking of killing him until one of them convinced the rest to sell him into slavery.  As a slave, things couldn’t get much worse, but Joseph keeps his head up and is soon running his master’s household.  Then his master’s wife tries to seduce him and when he will not give in, accuses him of rape.  He is sent to prison, which is a worse place then when he entered slavery.  But, he continues to keep his head up, maintains his faith in God, and rises to a position of some respect.  I want to note that even though he made the best of his circumstances each step was worse than the one before.  From his father’s right hand man to chief slave of a wealthy man to managing the prisoners, as a prisoner, in a jail.  He gets an opportunity to do a favor for a man with the ear of the ruler of the kingdom, but nothing comes of it (or so it seems).  When he finally comes before the Pharoah, he says that he cannot do as Pharoah asks, but that God can.  Despite things going wrong for him repeatedly, Joseph never let himself become mired in despair.  Each time he found himself in a worse situation he merely did the best he could in the circumstances in which he found himself., trusting God to take care of him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.