THE SELLING OF JOSEPH TO EGYPT

 The selling of Joseph to Egypt is an event in the bible whose root could be traced back to God's promise to Abraham. After Abraham obeyed God and left to an unknown destination, God made a promise to him. God said to him  "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing"[GEN. 12:2].

Then in Genesis 15: 13-14, God made a formal covenant with Abraham in which He predicted a four-hundred year stay in Egypt and return to the promised land. God said "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance".  This is the beginning of the people of Israel through whom Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God will come into the world. 

Abraham had a son Isaac. Isaac had a son Jacob and Jacob had twelve sons and became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. One of Jacob’s twelve sons was Joseph. He was 17 years old here and was posturing the flock. Joseph’s brothers hated him because they percieved him as threat to their livelihoods and social status.

Jacob's eldest son was Reuben and Reuben was born by his senior wife Leah. Joseph was the first-born son of his junior wife, Rachel whom he labored 14 years for. Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife. Under primogeniture, Jacob's vast holdings of land, cattle, and slaves, and the blessing of God, must go to his eldest son after death.

Rachel and Leah mostly managed to get along, they had a fierce rivalry because of Jacob’s affection and approval for Rachel. This rivalry naturally spilled over onto their sons. Rachel died giving birth to her second son, Benjamin and Jacob loved Joseph the more after Rachel’s premature death. The brothers had to consider the very real possibility that Jacob might deem Joseph instead of  Reuben his eldest son and will him all his possessions.

Again was his famous “coat of many colors”, a sign of not just affection, but of rank. They percieved it as a sign of his father's choice of Joseph as the heir to his possessions. Joseph then had two dreams and in both of them, his eleven brothers and his parents bowed down to him. His brothers became jealous and hated him fo the dream. Genesis 37:8 says "his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words"

The day came when they could vent their rage against their brother. His father sent him to go and check after his brothers. They saw him coming and said "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams"[GEN 37:19-20]

Reuben tried to save Joseph by suggesting he should be thrown into a pit in the wilderness instead of killing him. When Joseph came to them, they threw him into a pit but when they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead and heading for Egypt, they lifted Joseph up from  the pit and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. They kept his special coat, the coat of many colors, soak it in animal blood, and his father assumed he was eaten by wild animals. The brothers thought that was the end of Joseph.

When Joseph arrived Egypt with the Ishmaelites, he was bought by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. Joseph served Potiphar faithfully and Potiphar made him overseer over his household, he placed everything in his house under the charge of Joseph. As time goes on, Potiphar's wife developed interest in Joseph and asked Joseph to sleep with him but Joseph refused. Joseph said to her "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"[GEN 39:9]

The vicious woman became infuriated and lied against Joseph, accusing him of forcefully attempting to sleep with her. When her husband heard the accusation, he threw Joseph into prison. In prison, Joseph totally unaware of what God was doing in all his misery, he again served the keeper of the prison faithfully and was placed in charge of all other prisoners in the prison. 

After sometime, Pharaoh's butler and Baker offended him and he threw them into the same prison with Joseph. They both had a dream on one night and Joseph correctly interpreted the dream and they saw the gift in him.

Sometime later, Pharaoh too had a dream and Joseph is eventually brought out of prison to interpret the dream. His interpretation proved true and his wisdom seemed compelling to Pharaoh and Joseph is made commander in Egypt. Pharaoh said to him “Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled"[GEN 41:40]

Seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine struck the land, just as Joseph predicted in his interpretation. Joseph already averted starvation in Egypt by gathering huge reserves of grain during the seven good years. Eventually, Joseph’s brothers heard that there was grain in Egypt, and they went for help. When they first met Joseph, they didn't recognize him but eventually, he revealed himself. 

Joseph is now thirty-nine years old and twenty-two years had gone by. They were stunned. They tried to get rid of the dreamer, and in getting rid of him, they fulfilled his dreams. The brothers bowed down at last to him. Eventually, he invited them to live in Egypt to save their lives, and the fulfillment of the distant prophecy that Abraham’s seed would sojourn four hundred years in Egypt began.