Silver
coins and the betrayal
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it
if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let
us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our
brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28 Then
there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out
of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and
they brought Joseph into Egypt. Anger and jealousy are two
strong negative emotions and if not dealt Biblically at an earlier stage, it
will spiral down to devastation and for the detriment of both the parties.
Anger and jealousy are two strong negative emotions and if not dealt
Biblically at an earlier stage, it will spiral down to devastation and for the
detriment of both the parties. Very often I have related these strong negative
unbiblical emotions to a sine wave, which is a mathematical function. The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical curve that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It is named after the function sine, of which it is the graph. If we observe the sine curve which is red line, it has
valleys and mountain tops and it gets repeated over a period of time. Though it
is a mathematical function, I am using this to elaborate and explain how
jealousy can perpetuate over a period of time. Bible says who can stand before
jealousy, and if not guarded it is very repetitive and it has the capacity to
destroy a person. Please refer to my article on ‘taming the untamed emotions’.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_wave
The sine wave or
sinusoid is a mathematical curve that describes a smooth
repetitive oscillation. It is named after the function sine, of which it
is the graph. It ...
Over time it can go into peaks
and valleys and when people are in valleys of sin, it would be detrimental to
their health. In other words, non-organic illnesses can become organic, if
proper attention is not given to these emotions. These emotions should be
handled immediately before they would go in a spiral and it is God’s beautiful
way of telling us something is not right and we have to make it right before
God and man. The anger and jealousy
reached a peak for Joseph’s brothers and Joseph was sold for measly 20 pieces
of silver. What Joseph did not understand at this point of betrayal was that
God had other plans in his life to prosper him. He least understood that he
would be exalted and through him give a means by which both Gentiles and the
Jews would be saved.
In the life of Jesus, He was betrayed by His
closest and was sold for 30 pieces of silver by Judas. 14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went
unto the chief priests, 15 And
said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they
covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from
that time he sought opportunity to betray him; Matt: 26:14-16. This is in
fulfillment of the prophecy by Zechariah and here God was priced and betrayed
for 30 pieces of silver! ‘And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the
potter”—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces
of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.’ Zec: 11:13.
Potiphar’s
wife cries rape
17Then she told
him this story: "That Hebrew slave
you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18But as soon as I screamed for help,
he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 19When his master heard the story his wife
told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with
anger. 20Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while
Joseph was there in the prison; Gen: 39:17-20. Joseph’s
life went on a spiral of troubles from one to another at this stage, and he
soon finds himself accused of a crime that he did not commit and was thrown in
prison where he had no say even though he is innocent.
This is similar to the false
accusations of Jesus and His trials and He had done no wrong but He did not
stop the accusers because God has a Divine plan! 55 And
the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put
him to death; and found none. 56 For many bare false witness
against him, but their witness agreed not together. 57 And
there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, 58 We
heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within
three days I will build another made without hands. 59 But
neither so did their witness agree together. 60 And the high
priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing?
what is it which these witness against thee? 61 But he held his
peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto
him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus
said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power,
and coming in the clouds of heaven. 63 Then the high priest
rent his clothes, and saith, what need we any further witnesses? 64 Ye
have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be
guilty of death.
Butler, Baker and Joseph’s ministry in prison
4And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with
them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward. 5And they dreamed a dream both of
them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation
of his dream, the butler and the
baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.Gen:40:4-5.
Each dream has its own meaning and we see here that God had a Divine plan even
while Joseph was in prison. The cupbearer and the baker of the King of Egypt
had a dream and Joseph was ministering to them. We see here Joseph was not
alone even in the prison and this can be symbolized for Jesus in His prison,
upon the cross. Jesus was crucified with two thieves one on each side. 38 Then were there two
thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left; Matt
27:38. If we analyze the dreams of
the butler and the baker there is release and exaltation for one and death for
the other.
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed
on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But
the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou
art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we
receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And
he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. One prisoner and thief would die and one prisoner and thief would find
real life and be released and exalted into a higher place. This is indeed one
of the most amazing salvations ever to happen!
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