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Homework: Who read the chapters? Did you go any farther?
Did everyone pray the Holy Spirit prayers? Does anyone want to quickly share something that is not too personal? We have a lot to cover today, but we love testimonies too!
Did you ever stop and think that many people’s ancient relatives survived this famine in the Joseph story and that’s why they’re alive today? And if your family isn’t from the middle east, then they may have survived the bubonic plague many years later. Amazing!
Let’s get into this week’s study! We’re going through Genesis 40 and 41. I removed some words for time’s sake, so please go back and read the story later. Today, we’re going to see Joseph’s transformation from arrogant to humble. Joseph was highly intelligent and blessed, but nowhere near ready for what God had planned for him.
Joseph didn’t have access to 1 Peter 5:6-7, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; so this verse still applies to the story.
6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Humbling yourself under God’s Hand isn’t a bad thing. It just means that you willingly submit to humble yourself with His help and direction. Why do it this way? Because there’s safety under the mighty Hand of God. If we don’t work on our Attitude City by reading the Word, praise and worship, and spending time with Him; we could be in the process of paving the path to receive a bad harvest. Humbling ourselves under the Mighty Hand of God can hold off that bad harvest until it’s eliminated, and we never receive it. Amen! The second part of this verse is about casting your care on Him. We don’t have to care about our status, are we important, will we be recognized for our talents, and so on. Humbling yourself will allow God to handle the recognition for you. When we try to press for recognition, we can sometimes attract the wrong kind of recognition or even accidentally slip over into unrighteous behavior trying to climb the ladder of success. We’re all heard statements like, “You make an omelet you have to break a few eggs.” A way to downplay saying how you have to crush people to get ahead.
Let’s look at Joseph’s transformation, as we keep in mind how we’re instructed to become humbled.
Genesis 40 NKJV
1It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended … the king of Egypt. 2And Pharaoh was angry with … the chief butler and the chief baker. 3So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 4And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; … for a while.
We read the “prison” being called custody, house, prison, and place. As I mentioned in the last study, this was just a room not far from the king’s court area. I would assume, the prison being close to the pharaoh’s court, it wasn’t a disgusting place. Egyptians were very clean people. I’m not suggesting it was luxurious, but what I am suggesting is that there probably weren’t any more roaches, rats, and other bugs in that prison than anywhere else.
Again, we went over in this in the last study, that the captain of the guard was Potiphar or another captain of the guard that worked with Potiphar. There probably was some familiarity with Joseph.
5Then the butler and the baker … had a dream, …. 6And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. 7So he asked Pharaoh’s officers … “Why do you look so sad today?” 8And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”
This is a good change! Joseph didn’t say anything about himself at first.
The butler goes on to tell Joseph his dream, and then Joseph interprets the dream by the power of The Holy Spirit, of course…
14But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. 15For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”
Joseph is calling the prison a house, which lines up with archeology and Egyptian history. Then, as he feels sorry for himself, telling his sob story, the prison turns into a dungeon. The meaning of dungeon in Hebrew is pit or hole. This was a feel-bad-for-me drama, because it was a house or room as Joseph said before. This would have been a great time for Joseph to stop and ask God how do You want me to get out.
This is a good point to stop and discuss ancient Egyptian court. The Pharaoh would take people out of prison and hear their cases when he felt like it and when he had time. According to ancient Egyptian historians, the prison room wasn’t very large because people were often placed in there, soon judged, and sentencing was carried out immediately. Most common punishments were scourging, slavery, exile, or death. In Joseph’s case, the captain of the guard did not tell the pharaoh about his case and obviously had no intention of ever telling pharaoh about his case. This way Joseph could be kept working in the prison for the rest of his life. That’s why Joseph’s request was to mention him to pharaoh.
Another interesting thing to note here, Joseph is asking the butler to mention him to Pharaoh. What in the world is he thinking? He could be charged with rape and sentenced to exile with mutilated genitals. Joseph is still confident in what he thinks are his own abilities to find favor with Pharaoh. But here’s the thing, favor was never his ability. This conversation shows us that it’s likely Joseph isn’t giving all the glory to God quite yet. The Bible is subtle with clues, which is why we should always ask the Holy Spirit to read with us. It’s much better reading with Him!
16When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, …. And he goes on to tell his dream.
The baker jumps in on the deal, but because he was going to die, Joseph doesn’t make a request of him. Maybe he should have! Joseph apparently deemed him useless to his cause.
20Now it came to pass on the third day… he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker…. 21Then he restored the chief butler ... 22But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
It doesn’t say God caused him to forget, as commentaries sometimes like to add. We can’t lay blame on God for this. Just because God didn’t cause him to remember, doesn’t mean this was His grand-divine will. If Joseph, or anyone else for that matter, wants God to move on their behalf, we have to do things His way. Sure there’s grace, but at some point, the Lord expects that we leave Attitude City or at least pack up our belongings to start the moving process.
Genesis 41 NKJV
1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years…
That’s how long it took Joseph to change. We have the Bible and the Holy Spirit; we shouldn’t take two years to change. But for Joseph it wasn’t just humbling himself and giving God all the glory that needed to change, but his heart towards his brothers had to change too. We can’t hold on to unforgiveness and expect our prayers to be answered (Mark 11:25-26), no matter how desperate the situation. Joseph wasn’t permitted to behave this way, and neither are we. Yes!! God has grace available, but it’s best to always make it a habit to never live near the edge of God’s grace.
(1) Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. … 4So Pharaoh awoke.
Basically the dream was that 7 skinny cows ate the 7 fat cows.
5He slept and dreamed a second time; …. 7So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.
Same dream, but with grains.
8Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.
Uh oh… God shut up the demons in the magicians.
9Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 10When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11we each had a dream in one night, ... 12Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; ...
The butler called Joseph a “servant of the captain of the guard,” not another prisoner. We see from this that no one there believed the rape story either. His case was never going to be heard, because they wanted to keep him. His label was changed from slave and prisoner to servant. Servants in ancient Egypt were treated more humanely than slaves. That being said, the chief butler saw him as the same working status as himself. This tells us that Joseph was being treated well.
13And it came to pass, just as he interpreted … 14Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh.
Interesting note : Egyptians kept their faces shaved, and even their heads. They often wore wigs instead of growing their own hair, because that’s how they dealt with lice. In the ten plagues of Egypt, we see God sent them lice. It was one more way for God to let them know, He can’t be overcome.
15And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” 16So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
So the last time Joseph interpreted dreams, we read Joseph’s motive was “get me out of here.” This time we see Joseph acknowledging God’s work differently. We can’t really blame Joseph for feeling like he wants to be sprung from the joint, but we must realize the greater the responsibility that the Lord has planned for us, the more we must be ready with showing God’s love to people and giving Him all the glory.
17Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: ... So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”
God shut the mouths of the demons! They couldn’t even make up an interpretation.
25Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; … 28… God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
God did not need Joseph’s brothers to sell him in Egypt to get to this point. I’m sure most of us have heard that view taught through the years. God never required a disaster in Joseph’s life or in our lives for something to work out according to His plan. He had Moses walk up to the Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” There is no reason why Joseph couldn’t finish his training with his father, Jacob, and then journey over to Egypt to interpret the dream. God could have set this situation up many different ways or sprung him from prison at any time!! God’s timing was in Joseph’s hands, as our timing is in our own hands.
Our lesson to learn from Joseph’s mistake, either for our life or to minister to others in love, is that if we feel trapped, like we’re spinning out wheels, God isn’t the one with a mysterious clock waiting for it to strike. We accidentally missed something somewhere, and we are the ones who must go back and see where we accidently veered off the path and left off with Him.
29Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 30but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. 31So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. 32And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
You might be wondering as to why all this hoopla with the Egyptians. For many years I couldn’t understand why, then the Lord revealed it to me, God was gathering the wealth of the middle east in one place so He could later turn it over to the seed of Abraham. That was God’s Master Plan, and no one was going to stop Him. Amen!
Galatians 3:29 NKJV
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We are Abraham’s seed. If God wants to gather the wealth of the middle east terrorist for our church, I wouldn’t stop Him! He’s welcome to establish it in our church and in our lives, amen!
33“Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. … then Joseph goes on to repeat the wisdom he received from God on how to handle the famine, how much to collect and where to store it. He concludes with… 36Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine … that the land may not perish during the famine.”
This time Joseph didn’t mention how he was in prison or the dungeon for no reason, stolen away from the Hebrews, or mention how great he was. He finally had the heart of a servant and God’s interest in mind, and that’s what God is looking for in all of us.
Matthew 23:11-12 NKJV
11But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Mark 10:44-45 NKJV
44And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
We don’t hear what happened in those prison years, but we can see some type of change had taken place in Joseph’s life. The best way to think of this situation is if you have an educated arrogant wealthy teenager fresh out of college, how do you think they would behave if you let them run a large company? For God, that company was the entire middle east. Uh… oh! Right?
We have to remember that it’s easier to fall on your face in failure when the situation is small, than later down the road when things are more difficult. It’s like parents who carry their child in life and when their “child” is 30 years old they decide he has to learn his own lessons. The fall and the failure of a job, apartment, car, and credit at 30 years-old is a whole different story than a lazy irresponsible 18-year-old young adult on their couch. That’s the same situation here with the Lord. It was far better for Joseph to fail and reap his rewards of pride and arrogance at a young age in Potiphar’s house and prison, then the Lord allow him to walk into running a country, dealing with multiple nations, when God could no longer protect him from reaping a bad harvest. Did you ever stop and think, if arrogant 19-year-old Joseph ran Egypt, how long until his attitude problem started a war? Think about it. There was ancient middle eastern world-wide famine, and NO WAR for him to handle. That alone is the Hand of God.
James 4:6 NKJV
… “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
Again, because it’s so important to remember this, if someone wants to get out of Dodge City and stop spinning their wheels, the way out we learned from Joseph’s story is to give God the Glory for His works in your life, forgive those that wronged you, and humble yourself under the Mighty Hand of God. The lower you’re willing to bow to the Lord, the greater the grace you’ll receive.
Let’s talk about Paul briefly before we close for this week. Paul was easily the most educated author of the Bible. He was well educated in scripture, languages, culture and even tentmaking. The Holy Spirit comes upon him, and he’s given even greater gifts from God. He writes to the Corinthian church and says in
1 Corinthians 2:1-2 NKJV
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I’m not a fan of modern translations, especially for study, but we’ll read the Common English Bible just for understanding and idea’s sake:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 CEB
1When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. 2I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. 3I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. 4My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 5I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God.
Wow! This is a true picture of New Testament Biblical humility. Paul could have easily told God’s secrets to the people. He was an expert in speech and wisdom. He did have convincing wise words! But he laid all of that aside to let the Holy Spirit demonstrate His power to the people. His reason was so that their faith would be in God and not in man. Mediate on Paul’s actions as you fall asleep tonight. Paul, standing in front of a crowd to hear the Word, laid aside his speech abilities and wisdom. That’s why he was in fear and trembling!! That leaves us with the questions, “How far are we willing to go to promote the Lord? What are we willing to lay down?”
Next week we will pick up reading in Genesis chapter 42. Please remember to bring your notebook. I believe the Lord wants to prepare us for greater things. Some of us have been believing and looking for a big end time revival. We want to be involved! We don’t want to stand on the sidelines and say, “I saw that!” but “I was there!” If we’re in our spiritual Promised Land, we’ll be part of the revival.
Homework
- Read the Joseph story, Genesis chapters 40 and 41.
- I want everyone to read 1 Corinthian 2:1-5 in different translations, because we’re not trying to memorize the words, but understand the concept of humility and what Paul sacrificed.
- Mediate on how low you’re willing to go to be humble, how much of yourself are you willing to empty out for the gospel’s sake
(Prayer Points:
- As we go through our week, Holy Spirit please remind us of the lessons that we have been learning
- Lord, we know that we could all use more humbling under Your Mighty Hand, so please reveal to us what areas need work, so that we can receive more grace.
- Right now, we submit ourselves to You to learn how we can be humbler, so that Your will can easily be carried out in our lives.
- We submit to Your breaking of the hard places in our lives so that we can be moldable like clay in Your hands
- Please do a mighty work inside us quickly, so we can accomplish everything You have called us to do.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.)
