Have you ever noticed how quickly life can turn around? Joseph goes from prison rags to royal robes in a single day. That’s what we see in the rest of Genesis 41.
Genesis 41:37–57 (ESV)
This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.
Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
What a turnaround. Just hours before, Joseph was a forgotten prisoner. Now Pharaoh himself is exalting him, giving him authority over the whole land of Egypt. He is dressed in royal clothes, given a new name, paraded through the streets while people bow before him.
But even with all this glory, Joseph never forgets what God has done. The names of his sons say it all. Manasseh: “God has made me forget all my hardship.” Ephraim: “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Joseph knows who lifted him from the pit to put him in power.
And notice this: when the famine comes, Pharaoh tells the people, “Go to Joseph.” Joseph has become the source of bread, not just for Egypt, but for the whole world.
Do you see how this points us forward? Joseph is a shadow of Jesus. Jesus, too, was lifted up from suffering and humiliation to glory and authority. And just as the world came to Joseph for bread to survive, the world must come to Jesus for the bread of life. He is the one who gives us what we truly need.
For us, this passage is humbling but encouraging. It is humbling, because all the good in our lives comes from God’s hand, not our own. Sure we can trick ourselves, look over the kingdom we have been put in charge of and say to ourselves “I have done this”, but we haven’t. Everything we have is a gift from God that has been sovereignly put there for his purposes.
At the same time this passage is encouraging because the same God who was with Joseph in the pit and the place of power, is with us in Jesus himself. He is with us in our afflictions, he is with us in the pit, and he is with us in the places of power. No matter where we go, we carry God-with-us, with us.
Prayer
Father, thank You for exalting Joseph and providing bread through him. Thank You even more for exalting Jesus, who gives us the bread of life. Help us to remember that every blessing comes from You. Teach us to trust You in hardship and to look to Christ for all we need. In His name, Amen.