No other story in the Bible has stirred up my
emotions like the narrative of Joseph. Here is a true story of betrayal,
jealousy, death plot, false accusation, character assassination and in the
finale exaltation of Joseph for his faithfulness. It is extremely difficult to
serve in impossible situations and the story of Joseph is one of that, and I
believe his faithfulness in little things rose him up to a higher position
because he served God with supreme faithfulness. Time and again we see God is Sovereign
in all situations and circumstances and He proved Himself to be very faithful.
This is a beautiful but painful story where the Divine intervention and human
intervention played a huge role and we have so much to learn and draw from it.
‘Joseph understood what they were saying and removed
himself from their presence because he was caught in emotion’.
... Bernhard Lang, Joseph in Egypt
noun
plural noun: emotions
1. a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's
circumstances, mood, or relationships with others:
"she was attempting to control her emotions"
2.instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or
knowledge:
"responses have to be based on historical insight, not simply on emotion"
Berating, belittling,
criticizing, name calling, screaming, threatening, excessive blaming, and using
sarcasm and humiliation are some forms of emotional abuse. Blowing your flaws out of proportion and
making fun of you in front of others, is another form of emotional abuse. Over
time, this type of abuse erodes your sense of self confidence and self-worth.
No one has the right to do this to someone because as believers our self-worth
and self-esteem comes from the Lord, because we are children of God, Who is the
master artist formed us in our mother’s womb and called us by name.
Verbal Assaults can happen the following ways and this can over a period of time destroy
one’s value and self-worth. Very often people who verbally assault the others
are very insecure people and they have done this when they were young and this
continued in their adulthood. Abusers project their words and actions very
often towards a non-suspecting victim, because they are hurt from child hood
and have not dealt with the wounds in a matured way so far. They now become
abusers and do it to others and this has developed to a pattern of abuse. Emotionally
wounded victim wound others and victimize people around them and very often
they could be close relations or some family members or we can find such people
even in work places. Here in the story of Joseph we find that his brothers are
very insecure and jealous and they are abusing Joseph to the point of selling
him off to Potiphar.
Suffering
Servant
Joseph is
one of the most striking Old Testament character who was pictured as the true
Messiah the son of David. He suffered so much at the hands of his brothers
before He was exalted, and this pictures the suffering servant Jesus Christ.
Joseph is the preeminent Old Testament type of Christ, the suffering servant King
and the patterns of Joseph’s life foreshadow and point forward to the life of
Christ. The chronological order may differ from that of Christ but the patterns
are very similar. As it is written in God’s Word the son of David, and from the
root of Jessie Jesus brought glory to Israel and peace to the whole world.
Dream of
Joseph concerning his brothers
Joseph
when he was growing as a child in
his father’s house Jacob along with his eleven brothers was different. He was a
the favoured son of Jacob and the following dream clearly states that Joseph
would rule over them one day and for this reason his brothers hated him so
much. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph
more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made
him a coat of many colours; Gen:
37:3. 5And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his
brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto
them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For,
behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also
stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance
to my sheaf. 8 And 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; Gen:
37:3-5. While Jesus was in this earth while growing up faced similar trials and
hatred from his actual brothers.
Jesus in His earthly ministry in his home town and
other parts faced tremendous trials and persecutions. 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother
called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses,[a] Simon, and Judas? 56 And
His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So
they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without
honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Matt
13:55-57. His own brothers did not believe Jesus and the national leaders went
to the extent of calling him demon possessed and they
were asking for more signs. 5 For neither did his brethren
believe in him; Jn: 7:5.
Conspiracy
against Joseph
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came
near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19 And
they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Gen:
37:18-19. Joseph’s life was very uncomfortable when he was growing up with his
fathers. His father’s special love for him would have been one of the reasons
why his brothers were angry with Joseph apart from his dreams about them. When
Joseph saw his brothers near Dothan, before he would reach them they plotted to
kill him and they said to one another here comes the dreamer! Brothers probably
would have thought that if they would kill him, that would be the end of his
dreams and this tell us something more about his brothers. His brothers thought
they can take the actions in their hands and they did know very little that
God’s plan would eventually prevail.
The
seven deadly sins, also known as
the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a classification of vices (part of Christian ethics) that has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians concerning
fallen humanity's tendency to sin.
In the currently recognized version, the sins are usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Each is a form of Idolatry-of-Self wherein the
subjective reigns over the objective.1
Jealousy is
tyrannical. It is catastrophic. It is metaphysical. It feels controlling
and you cannot escape. It feels as if every particle of self-control you
have in your entire being is vaporized in one fell emotional swoop. It brings
people to the end of themselves in a millisecond, and they are no longer the
same people.2
Jealousy and envy of Joseph’s brothers led to a plan to destroy Joseph. In
the same way leaders of Israel hated Jesus because He did not submit Himself to
their rules and pattern of life and always showed through God’s Word and deed
that He was above their rules and them. When Jesus claimed to the religious
leaders that He came from heaven and He is greater than Abraham this was met with
great venomous reaction and this forced them to plot to take His life.
Religious leaders knew not the God of Abraham, but they knew about Him through
what is written! Their knowledge of God was only in theory but they could not
understand what Jesus is saying to them, because of their own blindness of
heart and mind. 3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the
scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who
was called Caiaphas, 4 And consulted that they might take Jesus
by subtilty, and kill him; Matt 26:3-4.
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