Chapter 39

Joseph becomes a Servant. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, was an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, who bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. What a contrast from being the beloved son in his father’s house to the position of slave in Egypt. But this was nothing compared to the voluntary self-humiliation of Jesus. He was the One who took the servant place and voluntarily entered the world as a servant.

Joseph was a prosperous servant.

· Genesis 39:2-3 The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did …

Here Joseph is seen prospering. How this reminds us of the first psalm.

· Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

The opening verse clearly speaks of Jesus. It was in Him that these verses were fully realized.

Joseph’s master was well pleased with him.

· Genesis 39:4 …Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

Joseph was entirely different from any other servant that Potiphar ever had. Joseph served his master faithfully. So it was with Jesus. He was and is different from any other servant God has. So faithfully did He serve God that He could say, “The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” (John 8:29)

Joseph, the servant, was made a blessing to others.

· Genesis 39:5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything

Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. Likewise, God the Father entrusted to His Son everything He had, including His Divine character, and the possessions of the world. The outcome of the Son becoming the Servant of His Father has been that the Lord has blessed the church for the sake of the one that Joseph foreshadowed. The “Egyptian’s household symbolizes the world and God has bountifully blessed the world because of Jesus.

Joseph was a goodly person.

· Genesis 39:6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Joseph was no longer living in his father’s house in Canaan, but instead, he was a bond slave in the Egyptian’s house. The same was true of Jesus. He zealously did the will of His father. Finally, on the Cross, Jesus performed the ultimate act of service when he gave His life for sinners.

Joseph was severely tempted , but did not sin.

· Genesis 39:7-12 Now Joseph was well built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his coat and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

In chapter 38 we skipped over a passage in which Judah was guilty of unfaithfulness. It is interesting that the un-faithfulness of the one is placed before the faithfulness of the other. Joseph’s temptation foreshadowed the temptation of the Lord Jesus, the last Adam, and His faithfulness in refusing the temptations of Satan, which was in contrast to the failure of the first Adam. The accuracy of the type may be further seen in that Joseph’s temptations were dividing into three parts (verses 7,10, &12). Joseph was tempted not in Canaan by his brethren, but in Egypt (symbol of the world), by Potiphar’s wife. The temptation of Jesus came not from His brothers according to the flesh, but from Satan. Joseph repeatedly resisted the temptation, as did Jesus. There is one interesting difference: when Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph’s coat, he fled from her. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He directed Satan to depart from Him.

Joseph was falsely accused.

· Genesis 39:16-18 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

There was no basis for a charge against Joseph so a false one was devised. So it was with Jesus who was without sin. His enemies, the chief priests and the elders and the council brought false charges against Him.

Joseph offered no defense.

· Genesis 39:19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.

We should remember that when Joseph was being conspired against by his brothers, he was passive and offered no resistance. He behaves in the same way in the current accusation against him. There was no mention of the injustice being done to him. No. He quietly endured the wrong. Isaiah tells us:

· Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.

Joseph was cast into prison.

· Genesis 39:20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

Here is a situation in which, if we read between the lines, we are likely to learn quite a bit about this woman and the state of her marriage. Her character is immediately in question based on her attempts to seduce Joseph. Then when she is rebuffed we see the scorned woman emerge with her deception. Then she outright lies to the servants and to her husband. Now let’s look at Potiphar’s action. First, he is obligated to take some action. So he puts Joseph in prison. Ordinarily in the times we are studying, he would have put Joseph to death. We get the impression that this was not entirely new to Potiphar, for his wife to be unfaithful.

But back to our type. Just as Joseph, though completely innocent, was unjustly put in prison, so Jesus was unjustly sentenced to death by one who repeatedly said that he found no fault in Him. Now notice the parallel between the acts of Potiphar and Pilate. It is likely that Potiphar did not believe the accusation which his wife brought against Joseph, but for appearance sake, he had Joseph put in prison. Clearly Pilate did not believe there was any guilt in Jesus and even said so. He didn’t want to give his consent for Jesus to be crucified. He too, knew the character of the accusers. But for appearances sake---as a Roman officer---he passed sentence.

Joseph suffered at the hands of the Gentiles.

Not only was Joseph envied and hated by his brothers, and sold into the hands of Gentiles, but he was also treated unfairly by the Gentiles too. As for Jesus:

· Acts 4:26-27 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.

Joseph, the innocent one, suffered severely.

In Stephen’s speech we find a statement which bears this out.

· Acts 7:9-10 Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt….. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.

What indignities, trials and pains, he was called on to suffer.

· Psalm 105:17-18 …and he sent a man before them---Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons.

These verses certainly remind us of Jesus, who was mocked and spat upon, scourged and crowned with thorns, and nailed to the cross.

Joseph won the respect of his jailer.

· Genesis 39:21 But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness, and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

God gave His Son favor in the eyes of the Roman centurion.

· Luke 23:47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

So once again the type fits.

Chapter 40

Joseph was numbered with the transgressors.

· Genesis 40:1-3 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.

Joseph was not alone in the prison of shame and suffering. Nor was Jesus as He hung on the Cross. Just as there were two accused criminals crucified with Jesus, so there were two offenders imprisoned with Joseph. But the analogy extends even further than this!!!

Jesus was the means of blessing to one, but the pronouncer of judgment on the other.

· Genesis 40:5-17 After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men---the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison---had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?” “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in his hand, and I took grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.” “This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.” When the baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” “This is what it means,” Joseph said. The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat your flesh.”

Joseph’s fellow prisoners each had a dream, and in interpreting them, Joseph said that the cupbearer would be freed from prison and restored to his former position, but the baker would be hanged. The Holy Spirit had good reason for including all these details. First, the cup into which the grapes were pressed, suggests to us the precious blood of Jesus, by which all who believe are delivered. The baskets of bread of the baker, who was not delivered, suggests human labor which is powerless to deliver man from his sins. So it was at the Cross: the thief went to Paradise and the second man was condemned.

Joseph evidenced his knowledge of the future. In interpreting the dreams of the two fellow prisoners Joseph foretold the future destiny of the two men. But in doing this he was careful to give the glory to God. So the One whom Joseph foreshadowed also made known what should come to pass in the future and He too gave the credit to His heavenly Father. (See John 12:49)

Joseph’s predictions came true.

· Genesis 40:20-22 Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand, but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

So Joseph’s interpretation of future events came true. Likewise, we can be certain that every word spoken by Jesus is true and will come to pass.

Joseph desired to be remembered.

Joseph had asked the chief cupbearer to remember him to Pharaoh. Periodically we remember those words of institution of the Lord’s Supper, in which we are implored by Jesus, “This do in remembrance of Me.”