Joseph exalted in Egypt Gen 41:37-57

Introduction

Joseph has had many ups and downs over the last 13 years since the focus of Genesis shifted to him.

He started as his dads favorite, with a coat of many colors, and had dreams that had his family bowing down to the ground before him - an up

Then he goes out to check on his brothers and the sheep and they make a plan to kill him, but instead choose to sell him into slavery - a down

He gets sold to the house of Potiphar a high ranking official in Egypt and rises quickly in the leadership of the house, so much that he is put in charge of everything and really has free reign - another up

As he is living in the house of Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife tries to get Joseph to sleep with her and when he doesn’t, she makes up a story about how Joseph came onto her, and when Potiphar heard this he threw Joseph into a prison - another down

Joseph gets thrown into prison, but the chief guard takes notice of him and puts him in charge of the prison. Nothing went on in the prison without Joseph knowing about it - another high in his life

As Joseph is in prison the chief baker and butler offended the Pharoah and ended up in the same prison as Joseph. During their time in prison they both have a dream, the butler has a good dream and gets out of prison three days later and Joseph just has one request for him “When you get out and settled don’t forget about me” then the chief baker tells Joseph his dream and he ends up being hung three days later. When the butler gets out he forgets about Joseph - another low

Last week we left off with the baker remembering Josephs ability to interpret dream’s. No one in Egypt could interpret Pharaohs dream, but Joseph had the ability given to him by God to interpret dreams, and so Pharaoh called him out of prison, he cleaned himself up and came before Pharaoh and interpreted his dream - another high

In the Christian life there will be ups and downs, but everything that happens is for our good and God’s glory. None of the bad or good is wasted in a life yielded to God.

This morning we are going to look at the result of Joseph interpreting Pharaohs dream.

Pharaoh notices the spirit of God in Joseph vs 37-38

After seeking all the wisest men and magicians in Egypt, Pharaoh came to a Hebrew and had his dream interpreted.

Look what Pharoah said about Joseph

Genesis 41:38 “38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?”

I think of the 4 Hebrew children in Babylon

Daniel 1:8-21 - Turn.

Focus on verse 19-20

Do people notice the Spirit of God in our lives?

Joseph brought to power vs. 39-45

Because of the Spirit of God being in Joseph look what Pharoah said about him

There is none discreet a you are

Discreet means prudent, wise in avoiding errors or evil

There is none as wise as you are

Then we see the privileges given to Joseph

He was put over the house of Pharoah

Everyone would obey what he had to say

The only person who was above Joseph in Egypt was Pharoah himself.

Joseph was put over all the land of Egypt

Pharaohs gifts to Joseph

Pharaoh took the ring off his hand and put it on Josephs hand

Pharoah arrayed or dressed him in fine linen

He put a gold chain around his neck

Josephs position

Joseph was given the second chariot he had and everyone would bow the knee

Joseph was made ruler over all the land of Egypt

Look what Pharoah said in vs. 44

No one would lift a hand or a foot in Egypt without Joseph knowing about it.

Josephs name change

Josephs name was changed by Pharoah to Zaphnath-Paaneah which likely means something to the affect of a revealer of secrets

Pharoah gave Joseph a wife named Asenath who was the daughter of the priest of the sun god.

Joseph went all over Egypt

Joseph stores for the Famine vs 46-49

Joseph was 30 years old when all of this happened and he went out from Pharoah and travelled all over Egypt storing up all of the extras during these 7 years of plenty.

Joseph gathered all of the food during those seven years and laid it up in different cities.

Look how the bible describes how much corn he gathered in vs 49

Have you ever picked up a handful of sand and tried to count how many pieces are in your hand?

It was so much corn they couldn’t even number it.

Josephs family vs. 50-52

Joseph had two sons before the famine came

Manasseh - vs. 51 for the reason

Ephraim - vs. 52 for the reason

Joseph leads through the famine vs. 53-57

After the seven years of plenty, the seven years of dearth or famine began

The famine didn’t just affect Egypt, it affected all the lands.

There was bread in Egypt even in the midst of the famine, because of the wisdom given to Joseph by God

When all the land of Egypt was famished or starved, they started crying to Pharoah.

Pharoah sent them to Joseph and told them whatever he tells you to do, you do that.

The famine wasn’t centralized in Egypt the Bible tells us that it was all over the face of the earth.

Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the goods to the Egyptians, but it didn’t stop there. People from all countries came to buy corn because of how bad the famine was.

Conclusion

Its amazing how Gods plan works, I’m sure as Joseph was sitting in prison, he never thought he would be 2nd in command in all of Egypt, really saving the world from starving.

let me encourage you with this, I may not know what your’e going through, but God does and he is working it for your good and his glory