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Towering Figures of the Old Testament |
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Joseph
His Youth |
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Introduction |
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Joseph, the dreamer, is the eleventh son of
Jacob, the firstborn of Rachel, and the
immediate ancestor of the tribes of Manasses and
Ephraim. Joseph is witness to some very wicked
deeds of his brothers, that Joseph reported to
his father. That along with the fact that Jacob
is partial to Joseph provides seeds of hatred
and jealousy that ends in Joseph being sold to
the Egyptians.
To cover their deeds, his brothers dip Joseph's
fine tunic of many colors that their father made
for him, in the blood of a goat, and send the
blood-stained tunic to their father. At
the sight of this blood-stained garment, Jacob,
whom at this time God names Israel, naturally
believes that a wild beast had devoured his
beloved son, and he gave himself up to the most
intense grief. |
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The story
of Joseph begins the realization of the word of
the LORD that the Israelites will be slaves to a
country not their own. |
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Joseph’s Dreams |
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At
seventeen years old Joseph tends the flocks with
his brothers in Canaan, and gives bad reports
about his brothers to their father. |
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Being a child of his old age Israel loves
Joseph best of all his sons and he makes him
a long tunic. Noticing that their father
favors Joseph his brothers hated him all the
more that they do not even greet him.
Joseph has a dream, which he relates to his
brothers, where Joseph saw him and his
brothers binding sheaves in the field.
Suddenly his sheaf rose to an upright
position, and the sheaves of his brothers
formed a ring around his sheaf and bowed
down to it. His brothers accuse him of
imposing his rule over them and they hate
him all the more.
Then he has another dream, which again he
relates to his brothers, where Joseph saw
the sun and the moon and eleven stars were
bowing down to him. When
he tells it to his father, his father
reproves him |
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saying that how a dream could be that he,
his mother and his brothers are to come and
bow to the ground before him. |
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One day Israel sends Joseph
to see if all is well with his brothers who had
gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem.
Joseph arrives at Shechem and he finds that his
brothers had gone on to Dothan, so he follows
his brothers.
His brothers notice him
from a distance, and before Joseph reaches them
they plot to kill him. However, when Reuben
hears this, he tries to save Joseph but instead
they should just throw him into that dry cistern
in the desert. Reuben is secretly planning to
rescue Joseph from their hands and restore him
to his father. |
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Joseph Is Thrown into the Cistern |
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So when Joseph comes up to them, they strip
him of the long tunic he has on. Then they
throw him into the cistern. While having
their meal they see a caravan of Ishmaelites
coming from Gilead, their camels laden with
gum, balm and resin to be taken down to
Egypt.
Then Judah tells his brothers that there is
nothing to gain by killing their brother. He
suggests, instead that they sell Joseph to
these Ishmaelites. So they sell Joseph to
the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
Then the traders pull Joseph up out of the
cistern and take him to Egypt. When Reuben
goes back to the cistern and sees that
Joseph is gone, he tears his clothes in
distress.
Then Joseph’s brothers dip his tunic in the
blood of |
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a
goat that they slaughtered. They then send the
tunic to their father with a message that they
found tunic and they ask him if this is
Joseph’s.
Israel recognizes the tunic and concludes that
his son was devoured by a beast. Israel then
mourns his son many days despite consolation
offered by his other sons and daughters.
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Joseph is Sold to the
Egyptians |
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The Midianites, meanwhile, sell Joseph in
Egypt to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and
his chief steward. But since the LORD is
with him, Joseph gets on very well and is
assigned to the household of his Egyptian
master. When his master sees that the LORD
is with him and brings him success in
whatever he did, he takes a liking to
Joseph. He makes Joseph his personal
attendant and puts him in charge of his
household entrusting to him all his
possessions.
Thus the LORD blesses the Egyptian's house
for Joseph's sake. In fact, the LORD'S blessing
is on everything he owns, both inside the house
and out. Having left everything he owns in
Joseph's charge, he does not have to worry about
anything.
Joseph is Seduced |
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Joseph turns out to be strikingly handsome
man, and his master's wife tries to seduce
him. But Joseph refuses because his master
trusts him with all he owns and because to
commit so great a wrong is to stand
condemned before God. She tries to seduce
him day after day but Joseph refuses.
One day Joseph comes into the house to do
his work while none of the household
servants are |
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around. His master’s wife grabs hold of him by
his cloak and seduces him again. He runs away
but he leaves his cloak in her hand.
She then accuses Joseph of trying to seduce her
but he ran away leaving his cloak behind with
her when she cried for help. She keeps the cloak
with her until his master comes home and then
she tells him the same story.
When the master hears his wife's story he
becomes enraged. He seizes Joseph and throws him
into the jail where the royal prisoners are
confined. But even while in prison, the LORD
remains with Joseph and makes the chief jailer
favor him.
The chief jailer puts Joseph in charge of all
the prisoners in the jail, and everything that
had to be done there is done under his
management. |
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Some time afterward, the royal cupbearer and
baker offends to their lord, the king of
Egypt, and Pharaoh puts them in the same
jail where Joseph is confined. The chief
steward assigns Joseph to them, and he
becomes their attendant. After some time in
jail, the cupbearer and the baker both have
dreams on the same night, each dream with
its own meaning. When Joseph comes to them
in the morning, he notices that they look
disturbed.
When Joseph asks royal cupbearer and baker
what is distressing them, they answer that
they had dreams, but there is no one to
interpret them. Joseph says to them that
interpretations come from God, and asks them
to tell him the dreams.
The
chief cupbearer tells Joseph that in his
dream he |
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saw a vine in front of him, and on the vine were
three branches. It had barely budded when its
blossoms came out, and its clusters ripened into
grapes. He continues that Pharaoh's cup was in
his hand; so he took the grapes, pressed them
out into his cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand.
Joseph tells him that his dream means that the
three branches are three days and within three
days Pharaoh will pardon and restore him to his
post. Joseph tells him that he will again be
handing Pharaoh his cup as he used to do when he
was Pharaoh’s cupbearer. Joseph also asks him to
remember him and to mention him to Pharaoh, so
he too, will out of jail. He tells them that he
was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and
here he had not done anything for which he was
put in prison.
When the chief baker sees that Joseph had given
this favorable interpretation, he also tells him
his dream. In his dream he had three wicker
baskets on his head. In the top one were all
kinds of bakery products for Pharaoh, but birds
were pecking at them.
Joseph tells him that his dream means that the
three baskets are three days and within three
days Pharaoh will have him impaled on a stake,
and the birds will be pecking the flesh from
your body.
On the third day, which is Pharaoh's birthday,
he restores the chief cupbearer to his office,
so that he again hands the cup to Pharaoh.
However, just as Joseph said the Pharaoh impales
the chief baker. However, the chief cupbearer
forgets about Joseph. |
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For the
Complete Story of Joseph, please use this
links. |
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Joseph Becomes a Caretaker of all Egypt
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Joseph Meets His Brothers in Egypt
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Joseph Is Reunited with his Father in Egypt
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament
Stories (Discovering the Bible)
(Hardcover) by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold
by Victoria Parker (Author)
This book provides known Bible stories from
Israel in the Promised land to the Story of
Ruth. It has the stories we grew up with but it
adds historical and religious facts to each
story. It tells the stories gearing them toward
elementary school children. |
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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the
Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to
decline his assignment from God; the Moses who
dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten
Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of
God's people in all of history. Through his
faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually
chose to follow God's will through difficult and
seemingly impossible situations.
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction &
Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic
books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of
style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the
Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision
of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying
and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a
wealth of commentary and perspective on this
book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey
(Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
Matthew E. Bunson |
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100 popular
saints illustrated with art works taken from
international galleries. The saints are listed
alphabetically in a valuable table of contents,
with a larger list of patron saints following
the text. Inclusion is based on popularity
within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith
more appropriate for gift-giving than for
libraries. |
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Apologetics |
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Mary
and the Saints |
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Mass
and the Eucharist |
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Prayers |
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Novenas |
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The Rosary |
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Traditional Prayers:
Discover the origin of your favorite prayer. We might
even have the original Latin version, too. |
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Novenas:
Learn how
to say a novena in honor of your favorite
Saint.
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Archived Articles |
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Prayer Requests |
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Tours and Pilgrimages |
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