Genesis 39-41:45
You remember from the previous story that Joseph's brothers sold him to the Merchants who was on their way to Egypt.
The merchants went to Egypt and there they sold Joseph to Potiphar as a slave. Potiphar was the head of the guards who had to guard the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
The Lord was with Joseph and therefore it went very well with him. Because Potiphar saw that the Lord was good to Joseph, he became well-acquainted with Joseph and appointed him all over his household and all his belongings.
God blessed everything that belonged to Potiphar. Joseph was now in charge of everything he owned. Potiphar was not concerned about anything, except the food he ate.
Joseph was well built and handsome. As time goes on Potiphar's wife began to look at Joseph and she fell in love with him. She had detained and tried to seduce Joseph every day, but he did not listen to her.
One day when she and Joseph were alone in the house, she grabbed him and forced him to sleep with her. Josef pulled him out of her grip and went outside.
When she saw that she had a piece of his garment in her hand she shouted loudly. Everyone came to see what had happened. She lied to them and told them that Joseph forced her to sleep with him.
When her husband Potiphar came home she showed him Joseph's garment and lied to him about Joseph who forced her to sleep with him. When Potiphar heard what his wife told him, he was furious and gave orders for Joseph to be taken to prison. Although Joseph was in prison God continued to show his kindness to Joseph.
The commander of the prison began to trusted Joseph and put him in charge of all the prisoners.
One day two servants did something wrong to the Pharaoh. These servants were the baker and the man who served the wine. Pharaoh became angry and put them in the same prison as Joseph.
One night both of them had a dream. Joseph saw that the two men were worried. He asked them what was wrong. They told Joseph that they each had a dream. And there is no one who can explain it to them. Joseph told them that it is only God who can interpret dreams.
They then told the dreams to Joseph. The wine server told Joseph he dreamed he saw a vine. On the vine were three branches that grow flowers and become grapes and he took the grapes and squeezed the juice into the Pharaoh cup.
Then Joseph said, the three branches meant three days. Before the end of three days, you will be forgiven you will do the same work for Pharaoh as you did before. Joseph also said to him But please do me a favour tell Pharaoh about me so that I can get out of this prison. I have done nothing wrong! I should not be in prison.
When the baker saw that the wine server's dream was good. He said to Joseph, I also had a dream.
I dreamed there were three baskets of bread on my head. In the top basket were all kinds of baked food but birds were eating this food.
Joseph said to him; The three baskets meant three days. Before the end of three days, the king will take you out of this prison and cut off your head! He will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat it.
Three days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday. He gave a party for all his servants. At the party Pharaoh allowed the wine server and the baker to leave the prison. He freed the wine server and gave him his job back.
But Pharaoh hanged the baker, and everything happened the way Joseph said it would. But the wine server did not remember to help Joseph.
Two years later Pharaoh dreamed that there were seven healthy, good-looking cows eating grass and seven sick cows eating grass.
The seven sick cows ate the seven healthy cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
Pharaoh went back to sleep and began dreaming again. He dreamed that he saw seven healthy heads of grain and seven thin heads of grain the seven thin heads of grain ate the seven good heads of grain. Then the Pharaoh woke up again.
Then the wine servant remembered Joseph and said to Pharaoh, I remember something that happened to me. You were angry with the baker and me, and you put us in prison. We told our dreams to Joseph and he explained them to us. He told us the meaning of each dream, and what he said came true. He said I would be free and have my old job back, and it happened. He also said the baker would die, and it happened!
So Pharaoh called Joseph from the prison.
Joseph said to Pharaoh, There will be seven good years and seven bad years. The seven bad years of hunger will come after the seven good years. Joseph said to Pharaoh, You should choose a wise, intelligent man and put him in charge of Egypt to collect food from the people during the seven good years and store it until it is needed.
So Pharaoh said to Joseph, God showed these things to you, so you must be the wisest man. I will put you in charge of my country, and the people will obey all your commands. I will be the only one more powerful than you. Then Pharaoh gave his special ring to Joseph. The royal seal was on this ring.
Pharaoh also gave Joseph a fine linen robe and put a gold chain around his neck. Then he told Joseph to ride in his second chariot.
The Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, Zaphnath-Paaneah and he gave Joseph a wife. Her name was Asenath and she was the daughter of Poti-Pherah, the priest of On.
This was a very long story. Joseph was now only 30 years old and in the next story, I will tell you what happened to Joseph further.
Thank you for reading.
Sources: ERV Easy to read Bible, ICB International Children's Bible, The Message Bible, The New King James Bible.
Images: freebibleimages.org
