Joseph in Prison
39:19 to 40:23
This was no accident. But Joseph seems as though he is in a hopeless dilemma. He is not only a slave, but also a slave who has been falsely accused. Potiphar was going to bury him in prison to cover up the scandal in his own household. Joseph’s one ray of hope was that the cupbearer would remember him to Pharaoh. However the cupbearer was so elated with going back to work that he forgot all about poor Yosef. In spite of the discouragement, however, Yosef believed that El Shaddai was with him (49:24), and there were fruits of faith that were there for all to see. He was faithful in every relationship in his life. He was faithful to his father. He was faithful to Potiphar. In prison, he was faithful to the warden. Later on we will see he was faithful to Pharaoh and his own brothers who had sold him into slavery in the first place. And he was always faithful to the LORD, giving Him the glory.603 But while it seemed like Joseph was forgotten in prison, ADONAI had not forgotten him. Yosef waited for the exact moment that God needed him, and Yosef was ready.
There is also one thing that is very noticeable in this account. Joseph never complains! He accepts the situation he is in no matter what. Because of the dreams he had received from ADONAI (see Iz – Joseph’s Dreams), faith in the promises of God was the force that kept him going. We also have God’s promises: We know the God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with His purpose (Romans 8:39).
The rise that Joseph would receive in the royal government of Egypt was quite impressive when we consider the hostility of the Egyptians toward the Semites. But the Egyptians were not ruling at that time. Joseph was living in Egypt during the reign of the Bedouin Semitic conquerors, the Hyskos who ruled in Egypt sometime between 1700 and 1550 BC. They had taken over the government of Egypt rather peacefully by taking advantage of weakened Middle Kingdom leadership.They were not Egyptian, but from the East. Apart from the sovereign grace of ADONAI, this explains why Joseph would rise to such great heights, becoming Prime Minister of Egypt. Only Pharaoh was greater. And being a Semite, that Hyskos pharaoh was looking for all the help he could get, swimming in the shark infested waters of the Hamitic Egyptians.
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