Exodus 1:6-12
Exodus 1:8 (NKJV) Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
As we begin Exodus, we immediately encounter the shadow of Joseph. If we do not understand Joseph, we will not fully understand Exodus. Previously, we looked at the opening verses of Exodus and considered the family that became the nation of Israel, God’s own special people. As we see how God worked in the life of this family, we will gain a greater understanding of God and His works. Here again is the family tree.
Joseph was a chosen vessel of God, used to prepare the way for the family of Israel to be protected and multiplied in Egypt. Joseph’s story is not merely about a man betrayed by his brothers. It is about the hidden providence of God, the God who protects and multiplies us.
Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob (Israel), the first son of Jacob’s wife Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel uniquely, and Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn son, became the object of Jacob’s favoritism. Jacob made this painfully obvious to everyone when he gave Joseph a “coat of many colors.
To understand how deeply Jacob favored Joseph, consider an incident that occurred many years later. By that time, Joseph was serving as prime minister of Egypt. During a time of severe famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food. Joseph tested his brothers by insisting they bring their youngest brother, Benjamin, to Egypt if they ever returned. Later,Joseph framed Benjamin for theft.
The brothers all tore their robes in grief. They were not willing to abandon their little brother to slavery and imprisonment. Judah, the fourth son of Leah, pleaded with Joseph to punish him in Benjamin’s place. Listen to what Judah said concerning his father:
Genesis 44:27-29 (NKJV) 27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; 28 ‘and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. 29 ‘But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’
Let’s look a little closer at this statement. Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, born by Leah, Jacob’s first wife, was quoting his father. Jacob says, “My wife bore me two sons.” With this statement, Jacob shows his heart. In Jacob’s heart, Rachel remained the love of his life, and Joseph and Benjamin held a uniquely treasured place in his affections. The “coat of many colors” was a visible symbol of Joseph’s exalted position in the family. Whenever Joseph wore it, the entire household was reminded of Jacob’s favoritism.
This favoritism produced deep bitterness among Joseph’s brothers. Therefore, Joseph was set apart from his earliest days. Joseph appears to have carried himself with youthful confidence, only intensifying his brothers’ resentment. When Joseph went out to check on his brothers while wearing the special coat, he was not dressed for field labor. The coat symbolized privilege, authority, and distinction.
Joseph was only seventeen years old when his brothers decided to kill him. Reuben intervened to spare his life, and eventually Judah suggested they sell him as a slave instead.
This is why Exodus tells us Joseph was already in Egypt before the rest of Jacob’s family arrived there.
A high-ranking Egyptian official purchased Joseph. Even as a slave, Joseph prospered. He eventually rose to become steward over his master’s household. God was preparing Joseph by teaching him responsibility, administration, leadership, and faithfulness.
But Joseph’s trials were far from over.
His master’s wife repeatedly tried to seduce him. Day after day, she urged him, saying, “Lie with me.” Joseph refused her advances and ultimately was falsely accused and thrown into prison.
Psalm 105 gives us insight into what Joseph experienced there:
Psalm 105:17-19 (NKJV) 17 He sent a man before them-- Joseph--[who] was sold as a slave. 18 They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.
Joseph suffered deeply. He was in chains, and the iron fetters hurt his feet. A literal translation of verse 18 says, “Iron hath entered his soul,” (YLT)
Iron passing through Joseph’s soul is not a reference to Joseph being as strong as iron. No, rather it tells of great, deep suffering. Joseph’s suffering was not merely physical. Pain entered the depths of his soul.
Yet Psalm 105 also reveals what God was doing through Joseph’s suffering. “Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him.”
God was not merely preserving Joseph. God was preparing Joseph.
Joseph suffered in obscurity for nearly a decade. Think about that. Years passed in darkness, chains, disappointment, and apparent abandonment. Yet all the while, God was shaping Joseph into the man He intended him to be.
Let us pause and consider suffering for a moment. Joseph’s suffering was not meaningless. God used suffering as a tool of preparation.
Please consider the words of Scripture:
1 Peter 1:6-7 (NKJV) 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, [being] much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
Notice Peter’s words carefully: “if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.”
That phrase “grieved by various trials” can sound mild to our ears, but the Greek word translated “grieved” speaks of deep emotional pain, severe sorrow, and anguish. It is used to describe the pain of childbirth.
Do not pass over this too quickly. Peter compares suffering to the refining of gold in fire. When you suffer, remember this: God’s people suffer greatly, but never meaninglessly.
Notice how 1 Peter 1:6 begins: “In this you greatly rejoice!”
Compare this to James 1:2-4.
James 1:2-4 (NKJV) 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Although there are times when we feel abandoned or even think God is against us, Scripture teaches the opposite. God disciplines and trains His people because He loves them.
Jacob spoiled Joseph, but God shaped Joseph.
God took a favored and immature young man and forged him into a wise, faithful servant who would preserve nations and save his own family from destruction.
Please remember this: your suffering does not mean God has stopped loving you. Very often, suffering is one of the chief tools God uses to prepare His people for His purposes.
Even when sinful men intend evil against us, God is still at work.
We need to return to Psalm 105 because it reveals the great truth running beneath Joseph’s entire story.
Psalm 105:17 (NKJV) He sent a man before them-- Joseph--[who] was sold as a slave.
“He sent a man before them.”
Long before Jacob’s family knew they would need deliverance, God had already prepared the means to preserve them.
Before the famine came, God had already sent Joseph.
Before Israel needed protection, God had already positioned Joseph.
Joseph later understood this and said to his brothers.
Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) “But as for you, you meant evil against me; [but] God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as [it is] this day, to save many people alive.
This is one of the great comforts of the Christian life. We are God’s people, but that does not exempt us from suffering. Rather, we trust that God works even through suffering for our good and for His glory.
Romans 8:28 (NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.
Joseph was called according to God’s purpose. Therefore, his suffering served a divine purpose.
And because this is true, we can obey the words of Christ even in the midst of fear, confusion, and pain.
John 14:1 (NKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
The same God who guided Joseph through betrayal, slavery, false accusation, chains, and prison is still ruling over the lives of His people today.
God had not forgotten Joseph.
God had not abandoned Israel.
God will never abandon you.
And God will never abandon His people.
We have this promise.
Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV) [Let your] conduct [be] without covetousness; [be] content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
