Bible Survey - #8 - Genesis 37-50

From Canaan to Egypt through Joseph

God brought Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, very low before lifting him up on high. Even as a a very young man, Joseph received the Word of God through dreams, indicating that the Lord would put him in a special position of honor, and that his brothers would bow down before him. They envied Joseph, and brought great grief upon their father's life by selling the boy as a slave, and then lying to their father about his son's death.

From that moment of brutal rejection, Joseph was brought even lower, first as a slave in an Egyptian household and then as a prisoner in Pharaoh's jail. As a stranger in a land that was not his own, Joseph lived honorably and submissively. He suffered because of the sin of those who abused him or who forgot about him.

Yet Joseph was a man who knew God, and who knew that God could reveal the mysteries of other people's dreams. From the depth's of a dungeon, God lifts Joseph up to the king's right hand. This son of Jacob is given all power and authority in Egypt under Pharaoh.

His heavy suffering and his later exaltation to such a powerful position in one of the most dominant empires of the ancient world prepares us for the coming of Jesus. Our Lord was brought down to the manger, the cross, and the grave, but now He is our King at the right hand of God.

The favored son of Jacob was betrayed,

Abused by men, forgotten, and alone.

But God who knows the secrets of our dreams

has raised the lowly One to heaven's throne.