Thoughts on the Story of Joseph

Dr. Ziegler has been working his way through Genesis on the Lutheran Hour. (If anyone wants to hear any of the messages, they are at lhm.org or on the Lutheran Hour app.) At any rate, when he was talking about Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery, he said, “These guys were thugs.” I had never thought of that in quite so blunt a way, but they really were—grown men mugging a teenager. And, they were the House of Israel, God’s chosen people. Such a reminder that God works through grace, not by merit.

Also, reading the account of Pharaoh’s dream reminded me of the TV show “Shark Tank.” God didn’t just give Joseph the meaning of the dream. He gave him a business plan to pitch to Pharaoh. It was really that plan that convinced Pharaoh to put Joseph in charge.

By the way, isn’t it chilling to consider that it seems that every prison sentence seems to have been effectively for life back then? The LSB footnotes indicate that Pharaoh did apparently issue pardons on his birthday, but there is no indication that Joseph was sentenced to 15 years or some other fixed term. He seemed to be stuck there until someone decided to turn him loose. It is a wonderful blessing to live in a land governed by law rather than fiat.


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