GENESIS 41 - Enduring Faithfulness

Introduction

I want to begin this morning with a story—one that is all-too familiar for far too many Christian families. It is a story about a woman named Grace, who has a son, Christopher, that is constantly on her heart and in her desperate prayers. Christopher was a bright, adorable little boy who grew up to be an intelligent, resourceful young man. His dad died when he was three, so he learned quickly how to be the man of the house for his mom, and was smart, hard-working, loved his mom and loved Jesus—Sunday School, youth group, went on every summer missions trip with their church. He went off to college and got a great degree in finance, and before he even graduated had been offered a job with a high-powered venture capital firm. The week after his graduation ceremony, she watched him board a plane for his new job—managerial position in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

She didn’t see him again in person for the next twenty years. He rarely ever contacted her; most of what she knew about his life she saw on social media. As the years went on, she began to see posts about his job—he was climbing the ladder fast, making piles of money and eventually moving into the COO position and all the influence and power that came with it.

But at the same time, she would see posts about his social life; he quit using the name Christopher (Christ-bearer) and started going by the name “Amir” (rich man, lord) because of his wealth and influence. Then came the pictures of the beautiful Muslim woman he married (in a Muslim wedding ceremony), and eventually pictures of two grandchildren that she never met. Grace has never once seen a post or a status to indicate that he had even looked for a church or was involved in any Christian endeavors at all. He is living halfway around the world with a Muslim name, a Muslim wife and kids, rich and powerful beyond his wildest dreams. And she is heartbroken.

Now, does any of that story strike you as familiar? Because aside from the way Christopher left home, the architecture of that story comes straight from Joseph’s story in Genesis 41! I wanted to introduce this sermon with that story to illustrate the way we are so quick to entirely miss the point of this chapter. How many Sunday School lessons have you heard about this chapter (or sermons, for that matter) that treat this account like a wonderful Hollywood movie climax? “Here is the poor, righteous Joseph, mistreated for decades, now getting his vindication before everyone! See kids? Stay faithful to God, be honest, work hard and someday you too will be rewarded like Joseph!!

Reading this chapter like that goes against everything that Moses is seeking to demonstrate. This is not Joseph’s shining moment of glory and vindication; this is all about the faithfulness of YHWH to keep His covenant promises to His people! This is not a chapter about Joseph finally getting to the destination of his life; this is a story of Joseph’s utter separation from every aspect of his identity. It’s not a “rags to riches” story, it is the ultimate “fish out of water” story! If anything, this is a story of the remarkable grace of God to keep Joseph faithful to Him despite every reason in the world to walk away from Him!

This is how I want to show you the message of this chapter, that

You ENDURE in your FAITH because of God’s ENDURING FAITHFULNESS to His promises

This chapter demonstrates systematically how Joseph was removed from every element of YHWH’s redemptive plan, and yet YHWH was faithful to keep Joseph’s faith alive. The chapter opens with another series of dreams, where Pharoah sees fat, healthy cows eaten up by skinny, starving cows (vv. 1-4), and then full, healthy ears of grain being swallowed up by shriveled, dead ears of grain (vv. 5-7).

In verses 9-13, the cupbearer finally remembers the prisoner he met in Pharoah’s jail who knew how to interpret dreams—Joseph is rushed out of jail and cleaned up:

Genesis 41:14 LSB

Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they rushed him out of the pit; and he shaved himself and changed his clothes, and he came to Pharaoh.

The detail there that Joseph had to shave before he entered Pharoah’s presence is important: Pharoah was revered as a god, and so mortals who entered his presence had to be ritually pure (among other things, there could be no hair on Joseph’s body). Joseph is increasingly out of place—he has gone

I. From the TRUE God to a FALSE god (Genesis 41:37-45)

In Verses 25-32, Joseph does for Pharoah what his brothers wanted to kill him for: He gave Pharoah the interpretation of his dreams. The seven fat cows and seven full ears of grain represented seven good years of plenty and abundance; the seven starving cows and the seven withered ears represented famine and loss.

And for the first time ever, Joseph was thanked for interpreting a dream! Joseph received

A new GRATITUDE for his GIFTS

Pharoah didn’t threaten to kill him, he didn’t forget about him and throw him back in jail again—instead, this pagan king who was revered as a rival god to YHWH, this ruler of the land outside the land of YHWH and outside the covenant of YHWH—this was the first man who honored Joseph for his wisdom and insight!

Genesis 41:41–42 LSB

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.

Look at how Joseph is being pulled away from his identity as a member of YHWH’s covenant! When his story began, he was living as a faithful member of YHWH’s covenant people—a direct descendant of Abraham and a faithful son (the only faithful son) of the patriarch Jacob. In Canaan, he was in charge of his father’s flocks and herds; here he has been given charge over the entire Egyptian empire! The coat his father gave him has been destroyed, and replaced with

A new SYMBOL of greater AUTHORITY (v. 42)

Greater prestige, greater recognition, greater honor:

Genesis 41:43–44 LSB

And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

Here is authority and power far beyond the wildest dreams of that Bedouin shepherd teenager that left his father’s tent one day to check on his brothers and their flocks in Shechem. New respect, new authority coming from a pagan king and rival to YHWH and His covenant.

Joseph goes from the true God to a false God, and as the account progresses we see him going

II. From a FAITHFUL identity to a PAGAN identity (Genesis 41:45-46)

Look at the next two verses:

Genesis 41:45–46 LSB

Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and passed through all the land of Egypt.

Joseph is futher separated from YHWH and His people as he is given

A foreign NAME (v. 45)

Names are massively important among God’s covenant people—YHWH gives Abram a new name in Genesis from “Exalted father” to “Father of a multitude” (Gen 17:5) to show how He was going to bless him in the covenant. God changed Joseph’s own father’s name from Jacob (supplanter) to Israel (strives with God) to show how He would deal with His covenant people. Centuries later Nebuchadnezzar would try to strip away the Hebrew identities of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah by re-naming them after Babylonian gods, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.

Here we see Pharoah acting as a new father to Joseph; taking for himself the right to change his name from Joseph (meaning “God has added”) to “Zaphenath-paneah”, an obscure wording that may mean something like “the god who speaks living words”, possibly referring to Joseph’s god-like wisdom and authority.

And along with that foreign name, see that Joseph is given

A foreign WIFE (vv. 45)

Joseph’s new father not only arranges a new name for him, but also arranges his marriage. Throughout the story of the patriarchs, the patriarch always searches out a faithful member of the covenant seed for his son’s wife—Abraham found a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24), Isaac found a wife for Jacob (Genesis 28). And not only that, when Jacob’s brother Esau went and married Canaanite women, it was considered an unbearable tragedy:

Genesis 27:46 LSB

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

But here in Genesis 41, Joseph’s new father finds him an Egyptian wife:

Genesis 41:45 LSB

Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.

Joseph was now connected directly to Pharoah’s bloodline—Pharoah was worshipped as a manifestation of Ra, the Sun God. Potiphera the priest (whose name means “He whom Ra has given”) was the chief priest of the temple of Ra in the Egyptian city of On. Do you see what is going on here? Pharoah is adopting Joseph into his family as a son!

Joseph has a new identity—named by his new father, adopted into his father Pharoah’s family. And with that foreign name and foreign wife came

A foreign DOMINION (vv. 46-49)

Genesis 41:46–49 LSB

Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and passed through all the land of Egypt. And during the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. So he gathered all the food of these seven years which happened in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

I want you to understand how complete this transformation was for Joseph—he has been utterly removed from the Land that God swore to give to him. He has been completely erased from the lineage of the patriarchs—his seed will now be Egyptian instead of Hebrew; his children will be considered descendants of Ra, not bearers of YHWH’s covenant promises.

For the past thirteen years of his life, Joseph has had no contact whatsoever with anything from YHWH’s covenant or His people. In fact, his worst sufferings and his greatest dangers were at the hands of YHWH’s covenant people; the only kindness or honor or respect that he ever was given—the only people who really believed in him were people who rejected YHWH and stood outside His covenant.

Genesis 41 spans seven years of Joseph’s life—seven years of being utterly and thoroughly transformed into an Egyptian man. He has gone from a true God to a false god; he has been transformed from a faithful identity to a pagan identity. And one more transformation takes place in Verse 50:

Genesis 41:50 LSB

Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.

The most powerful transformation of all—now he has sons. For so many young people who walk away from the faith of their families, it is when they have children that the break is complete. It is one thing to turn aside from the covenant faithfulness of YHWH yourself, but when you begin raising your children apart from that covenant faithfulness, you have made the final declaration of rejection.

So this is the moment when the son of Jacob shows his quality: What is he going to do? Here is the tipping point for the rest of the book of Genesis—in fact, here is the tipping point for all of God’s providential plan for His covenant people!

It is the year before the famine came—the Land YHWH promised His people will stop bearing seed; there is a real threat that Abraham’s line is going to die out as this tragedy unfolds. And the fate of that land, that seed, that covenant rests in the hands of a man who has spent more time as an Egyptian than as a Hebrew; will Joseph remember the covenant of YHWH?

And here is where the amazing, unshakeable faithfulness of God shines forth in this account. As the last days of prosperity slip away and the specter of famine looms, the fate of God’s covenant people turns

III. From a threat of DISASTER to a gift of GRACE (Genesis 41:51-57)

In Verses 51-52, Joseph names his sons:

Genesis 41:51–52 LSB

And Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” And he named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Joseph gives his pagan demigod Egyptian sons Hebrew names. “Manasseh” means “made to forget”. Joseph says that “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household”. Joseph isn’t saying he has “forgotten” his father’s household in the sense that he is abandoning them—he is acknowledging that YHWH has given him grace to

Let GO of his PAST (v. 51)

As one commentator says:

Joseph’s choice of this name is a tremendous picture of grace. God alone can be credited with keeping a seventeen-year-old, who experienced all that Joseph did, from becoming a thirty-seven-year-old filled with bitterness, resentment, and hatred toward those who had inflicted hardship upon him (Baucham, V., Jr. (2013). Joseph and the Gospel of Many Colors: Reading an Old Story in a New Way. Crossway.)

Remember, by giving his sons Hebrew names, he was essentially identifying them with a band of murderous men who wanted to kill him. But Joseph had truly forgiven his brothers by this point; he wanted those men to be part of his family!

By naming his son Manasseh, Joseph was “forgetting” the trouble and pain and hatred of his father’s household toward him. He was letting go of the past, and in his second son’s name, Joseph was

HOLDING on to the COVENANT (v. 52)

Look with me at Verse 52:

Genesis 41:52 LSB

And he named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

“Ephraim” means “fruitful”—but take careful note of how Joseph regards the fruitful blessings God has given him—He has made him fruitful in the land of his affliction! Even after twenty years in Egypt, Joseph does not consider it his home! Even in this land that has lavished him with wealth, recognition, power and authority; even this place that has given him a wife and children and family and belonging, Joseph still recognizes that being separated from God’s Covenant promises and Covenant people is an affliction! He is not at home in Egypt, he will never be at home in Egypt. He is a Son of YHWH’s Covenant, and he declares that he will raise his Egyptian demigod sons as members of YHWH’s covenant!

Once again, understand that the only way that Joseph could possibly hold on to his faith through twenty years of Egyptian influence and indoctrination and temptation and compromise and peer pressure and wealth and power and influence is because of the unyielding faithfulness of YHWH to His promises. God had promised to bless all nations through Abraham’s seed, and so He was going to use Joseph to preserve Abraham’s family through all of the death and destruction that was about to fall on Egypt and Canaan and that entire part of the world.

Christian—you endure in your faith because of God’s enduring faithfulness to His promises. He will never go back on His promises to save you, no matter how hard this world tries to tear you away from Him. God’s purposes for Joseph and for His promises to Abraham’s seed were never in jeopardy! God saw to it that Joseph never lost his way in Egypt.

And if God could strengthen Joseph’s faith against all of the faith-destroying forces of his Egyptian exile, then surely, Christian, He is able to hold you fast against all of the ways your sojourn in this dark world will try to destroy your faith! It is not your grasp of Christ that saves you, Christian, but His grasp of you!

John 10:27–28 LSB

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish—ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Christ will never let go of you, Christian—the temptations for power and prestige and popularity and riches will not entice you away. The threat of suffering, imprisonment, ridicule, false accusations, injustice and persecution will not tear you away from Him! Is your faith weak? A weak faith can lay hold of a strong Christ!

And for you who are heartbroken over a family member who has been swallowed up by Egypt; know from God’s Word this morning that He has not lost sight of them! That even if they have moved beyond the reach of your hands, they will never move beyond the reach of your prayers because they cannot move beyond the reach of God’s hand! Never give up praying for them as they wander, because the same God Who preserved Joseph’s faith through twenty years of pagan Egyptian pressure is the same God that promises to preserve theirs! You have real hope in your prayers for them, because you are praying to a faithful God Who delights to bring the wanderer back to Himself!

And if you are here this morning and you see yourself in this story; Egypt has swallowed you up—you have left the Name of Christ behind and now go by a different one; you are trusting in other promises instead of Christ; you have a different life now; one that offers you more recognition, more honor, more satisfaction and success and belonging and promises you a better future and greater reward than you can have from following Christ. You have wandered so far away and have done so many things and have changed so much you wonder whether you can ever come back again.

See here what God’s Word promises you—God is faithful to uphold your faith! The same God that preserved the flame of Joseph’s faith through two decades of Egypt’s false promises of power and wealth and divinity is able to restore you to Himself—and

1 Corinthians 1:8–9 LSB

...will also confirm you to the end, beyond reproach in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believe this promise today—His Word is sure, His promises cannot fail. Call on Him in repentance, plead with Him for mercy based on the shed blood of Christ and He will restore you to Himself! He will bring out the best robe of His righteousness to put on you; He will put His ring on your hand and the shoes of the good news of peace on your feet; He will set His banquet table and make you His guest of honor as He celebrates His precious child who was dead and come to life, who was lost and now is found! There is nothing but misery and darkness waiting for you when the false promises of the false gods of Egypt are revealed for the empty lies that they are; there is nothing but eternal joy and peace and forgiveness and restoration and righteousness ahead of you when you come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Ephesians 3:20–21 LSB

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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