Joseph, the Forgiving Ruler

Have you ever been in a situation where everything in your life just goes wrong? Where no matter what you do, you feel like you are just hit again with trouble after trouble?

Who gets the credit?

Notice what Joseph says whenever Pharoah asks Joseph if he can interpret it. He says that he cannot, but God can.

Joseph tells Pharoah “what God is about to do”. Joseph shows the urgency of Pharoah taking action. Joseph has patiently waited, but here he knows God is about to act. Joseph tells Pharoah exactly how he should prepare for this famine so that the country can prosper.

-Joseph just uses common wisdom, but in doing so he allows Egypt to prosper.

-But at no point does Joseph believe He is the one who did this.

Joseph is given authority over all of Pharaoh's house, second in command in Egypt. He is given the signet ring, giving him authority to act on behalf of Pharaoh.

Joseph had been sent into slavery at the age of 17, now thirteen years later he became 2nd in Egypt, then another 9 years later his brothers will travel to Egypt.

What is important is that in Joseph’s success he does not forget the Lord, we see this in the names of his children. It is easy for us to “pray” when things are bad in life. But when we are successful we can start to think it is because of our own ability.

-Remember what we said last week, those who are faithful in a little will be given more to be faithful with.

-Sometimes when we are given a lot of authority at once, we don’t know what to do with it.

-In 2018 , a study came out that said 78% of NFL players and 60% of NBA players experience “financial hardship” after they retire. 15% of NFL players file for bankruptcy.

What the steward says to the sons of Jacob shines through in Genesis 43:23–26 “Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and got feed for their donkeys. Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.”

-God gets the credit for all the blessings that Joseph gives to His brother. He is the one blessing this entire ordeal.

Who has the authority?

Notice, that even a ruler like Pharoah, one who considered himself to be a god, is under the authority of Joseph’s God.

We see this in the dreams. They use Egyptian language and figures With the Nile being a source of the famine, but we see the grain gone and the livestock dying. This is a challenge to the gods of Egypt.

These dreams show that no matter how powerful and successful any nation or person that they are still under God’s authority.

Genesis 42:9 says that with his brothers in front of him, bowing down, he “remember his dreams about them”. Now, if it was me, I am probably thinking about shoving it in their faces how great I am. But Joseph does not consider his authority to be his own, he recognizes that God has given him this authority.

Jacob trusts in God’s authority

-Genesis 43:11-14

-Jacob doesn’t know what will happen but he puts the fate of his family in God’s hands.

Who deserves forgiveness?

When someone wrongs you how do you respond?

Jacob’s response to us might feel vengeful, but in fact he is attempting to see if the hearts of his brothers had changed. To see if they were acting honestly now. He in fact is very merciful to them.

-The brothers ate while he was in a pit, Joseph brings them to his table

-His brothers took all of his clothes, he gives them gifts

-They sold him into slavery, he brought them into royalty

-His final test was to bring his brother Benjamin to Egypt and to see if they would treat him like they treated Joseph 20 years earlier. He wants to see if they have changed.

Have you ever just waited for someone to do something or say something so that you could uses that comeback you have just been WAITING to dump on someone? You look for the opportunity for the “gotcha!” moment. Jacob has this chance and he doesn’t take it

Consider this...often people know when they have wrong other people. But how we respond to people will either bring them to dig their heels into their wrongness or to seek forgiveness.

-Notice the brothers in v. 21 and 28, they believe this trouble coming upon them is because of what they did to their brother 20 years earlier, they are still haunted by that choice

-Often many of us are haunted by our past choices.

We also look at what Judah asks in Genesis 44:16 ““What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.””

What is the answer to his question? Can any of us justify ourselves?

Sometimes in shows or movies there is this theme that people “never change” but this is not accurate. People can change, especially when God works in people’s hearts. Do you know what really makes people change? Forgiveness, when people have been forgiven they are often willing to change. Not always will they change, but it gives them a desire to change.

-We can forgive others if Joseph can, knowing we are participating in God’s divine plan for others.

Allow God to help you forget your hardships and be thankful for the ways He provides for you.

Genesis 41:51–52 “Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.” And the second son he named Ephraim and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.””

In Genesis 45 Moses says that it wasn’t his brothers who sent him there but God.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 50

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

We see from the standpoint of Joseph’s brothers that we can have guilt over our past sins, over choices we made that we now regret. But God demonstrates his ability to restore broken relationships. In this way Joseph reminds us of Jesus, as ones who bring reconciliation. (what is reconciliation?)

-Through the suffering of Joseph and his forgiveness of them, he saves his people.