JOSEPH: PRINCE OF EGYPT - Chapter Two

This is the second installment of my Joseph series. The first installment was posted last week. The next installment will be posted next week.

TWO

SLAVERY

While Jacob mourned, the hitherto beloved object of his grief began to adjust to his new diminished status and foreign surroundings. Here was the necessary part of his dreams that was not foretold. In this instance and in many others, the destination of God’s choosing is reached through an unexpectedly arduous and painful journey, featuring sudden jolts and twists that are painfully and painstakingly character building. And so, stripped of comfort and convenience and indeed of all he knew, Joseph’s faith took center stage. On that harrowing journey from Canaan to Egypt, Joseph abandoned his affectations and reacquainted himself with God. He must have made very good use of the things he observed his father do and say in the pursuit of his faith.

Joseph’s transition from teenage vanity to spiritual maturity bears remarking upon. At that former stage of his life, Joseph was secure in his father’s love and protection. He was first and preeminent in Jacob’s affection. There were visible tokens and expressions of this fact to assure him. Joseph reveled in it. It defined him. During this period, even his dreams, the communication that came directly to him from God, independent of his father, seemed to validate his elevated status. Thus, Joseph’s nascent relationship with God and his relationship with his father, Jacob, seemed to be of a piece. Given that, Joseph may have conflated the two especially since there was nothing in his youthful experience that suggested otherwise.

In this state of mind, nothing could have prepared him for the shock and horror of being suddenly and violently torn from the security of his father’s love and protection. In a matter of hours, the life he knew was altered and transformed decidedly. If Joseph believed previously that the path to the fulfillment of his dreams and his God ordained destiny lay in his father’s bosom, the events of that memorable day suggested otherwise. The poor lad must have laid a host of long held and unexamined assumptions to rest on that fateful journey. It was not only his physical and familial comforts that were taken away, his ultimate destiny as he conceived of it was in the balance. The terror and uncertainty of it all must have affected him profoundly. He for whom favor and certainly were things to be taken for granted became intimately acquainted with broad disfavor and vast uncertainty. Still, it could have been worse. Had the first instinct of his brothers carried the day, Joseph would be dead. It is instructive that even in their jealous rage, the intercession of one brother against the majority spared Joseph’s life. Things could have gotten better still for Joseph, but the jealous others made sure to dispose of Joseph before Reuben could rescue him and restore him to Jacob’s embrace.

In this helplessly parlous state, Joseph found God. For himself. It is common in human nature to assume, and with some justification that the love and favor of men is a sign of and an extension of God’s love and favor. A spiritual life nurtured exclusively in this comfort zone and sweet spot will remain embryonic and one-dimensional. Often, the road to spiritual maturity usually passes through radical testing, disruption, or as in Joseph’s case a removal of that status quo. And so, having nothing else to depend upon, he threw himself upon God’s favor and keeping. The succor and assurance he found there is evidenced by the presence of God with him, notable administrative success, and in the high office and disposition of the man to whom he was sold in Egypt. Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh and a captain of the royal guard.   

With the spiritual equilibrium acquired through trial, came a measure of humility and an increased capacity for social skills and interpersonal relations - qualities sorely lacking in Joseph’s conduct in his former life. The rapid and comprehensive manner of his progression in Potiphar’s house clearly indicates that the sterling qualities Joseph acquired were not just a matter of survival or self-interest. He was a man transformed, quickened and enabled by God’s presence. Joseph’s acumen and excellence did not go unnoticed for long. Potiphar observed it and made him a member of his personal staff. Joseph promptly outgrew that role. With the benefit of close observation, Potiphar promoted him, putting him in charge of his entire household and everything he had.

It would be unseemly to be glib about the grand success Joseph achieved in Potiphar’s house. Joseph was a foreigner to Egypt and a slave to boot. He arrived Egypt on the heels of the most traumatic experience of his life. He had no history of servitude to draw upon. He had never been to Egypt before. He was a traumatized youth with no experience of condition or place. When he entered into Potiphar’s house, he was lowliest of slaves on account of his status and of being recently acquired. Even so, a short while thereafter, having demonstrated outstanding qualities and abilities, he was made the head of the household. Joseph had earned a place of distinction higher even than Potiphar’s servants who were neither slaves nor foreign. It was an astounding, unusual and unnatural feat and progression, made possible by God’s presence and the keenness and maturity of Joseph’s relationship with God.

The vast irony of Joseph’s exalted position in Potiphar’s house, juxtaposed with the love and favor he enjoyed in his father’s house cannot be missed, nor should it be gainsaid. Where the latter was unmerited and acrimonious, the former was earned with diligence and application. In his father’s house, Joseph was born into a position of favor. In Potiphar’s house, nothing was guaranteed except his lowly status. There, a favored son. Here, a slave. And yet, in both circumstances and in a remarkable irony, Joseph ended up in a similar favored and exalted position. The pendulum of destiny had swung back from the opposite extreme. This time however, Joseph was as different from his former self as a son is to a slave. The foregoing provides the strongest hint so far in this narration, of destiny as a matter of Divine orchestration. It would not be the last.