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God Meant it For Good:  The Life of Joseph Part One

Introduction:  What Was So Special About Joseph?

K.  Elijah Layfield

     Once a month, for the next few months, I will be writing on the life of Joseph.  The reason for picking Joseph is as simple as my pastor asking me to do a Bible study on his life, and as complex as my own need to hear how God loved Joseph and orchestrated his life.  Joseph's life was a living illustration of Romans 8.28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." This promise, when fully realized, can and will revolutionize the way a Christian lives, loves, and dies.  And without a life like Joseph's, we are stuck in the prison--wondering how the promise is going to turn out.  Or we wonder if we are left out of God's providence.  Instead, God reveals through Joseph that He was with us at all times, and He never left us, and He meant it for our good so that we might become passionate for His sovereignty and glory.
     How did God begin His story about Joseph?  Where did God start out in turning things to his good?  Was it when he was born.  Was it when he was in the pit, or became a slave, or was imprisoned, or when he ruled over Egypt?  No, God was at work in His sovereign plan before Joseph was even born.  It's really easy to see this by the circumstances leading up to Joseph's birth.   
Now everyone believes that they are living in exciting times.  But the past has its own exciting times, and Joseph was born in his own exciting times.  In fact, the life of Joseph's parents and grandparents are more exciting and drama-filled than any made up soap opera.  And in studying the life of Joseph, we pick up right in the middle of a family that knew first-hand about drama.  We pick up in the house of Isaac, son of Abraham.  Isaac had two sons, the firstborn was a fiery man named Esau and the other was  the trickster, Jacob.  Through Esau's own sinfulness and Jacob's deception, Esau had lost both his birthright and blessing to his younger brother Jacob.  Outraged by his brother's treachery, Esau vows to kill his brother.  Jacob flees by using the pretence of finding a wife, which he actually does.
     From the moment he lays eyes on Rachel, Jacob loves her.  He loves her so much that he vows to work for her father, Laban, for seven years in order to marry her.  "So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her" (Genesis 29:20 ESV).  But on the wedding night, foul play is afoot.  Jacob receives his bride, and in the morning he realizes that he had been married off to the wrong sister!  Laban had deceived Jacob into marrying Rachel's older sister, who was—it seems—the less beautiful of the two sisters.  Laban allows Jacob to marry Rachel as long as Jacob agrees to serve another seven years for Rachel and stay married to Leah.
     "When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren" (Genesis 29:31 ESV).  Here, God was already at work and it wasn't pleasing to everyone.  Leah bore Jacob four children and Rachel couldn't take it anymore.  " When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”" (Genesis 30:1-2 ESV)  All of this inner strife in the family is leading toward an explosion.  But it doesn't stop here.  Six more children are born into the family, none by Rachel.
     "Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” And she called his name Joseph (which means "may he add"), saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!” As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country" (Genesis 30:22-25 ESV, emphasis added).  Notice how interesting it is that at the birth of Joseph, the 11th child, Jacob decides to move and set out on his own.  Joseph becomes the hinge on which the family turns.  He is the long-awaited "love child" of Jacob and Rachel.  He seems to be the one "thing" needed to start a new life for this family.  So we begin to see all of this back story pointing to a conflict for Joseph.  Leah and her children are resented; and Joseph is the center of the family.
      We don't hear about Joseph for 17 years, then we read, "Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him." (Genesis 37:1-4 ESV)  This is where we leave Joseph.  He's the favorite son.  He gets the most from his father, not the firstborn.  He tells on his brothers and that hate him.  And we are back where we started with a family in turmoil with a brother being hated.  Talk about your drama! 





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