JOSEPH IS TAKEN TO EGYPT

GENESIS 37–46

The family of Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob had a purpose to accomplish in the Promised Land. By the time we reach Genesis 37, we have come to wince whenever we read that a member of this family is even thinking of setting foot outside the Promised Land (cf. Gen. 26:2). So when we read that Joseph has been sold as a slave and taken to Egypt, we expect misfortune and pain will follow. But in the end, we learn that this trip to Egypt precipitated a family migration that was part of God’s plan rather than a diversion from it. The Lord allowed Joseph to be taken to Egypt for two important reasons that become apparent when we consider the circumstances in which this family found itself: first, to provide a place of refuge for the small number of Abram’s descendants to increase numerically into a nation, and second, to provide a place to escape the wickedness of Canaan.

As the oldest son of Jacob’s wife Rachel, Joseph was given the distinctive patriarchal coat—the symbol of authority worn by the head of the family. This position of authority fueled powerful flames of jealousy in his siblings, who were the children of Leah and of Jacob’s concubines. They conspired to be rid of him by selling him into slavery to Midianite traders who were en route to Egypt (Gen. 37:17–28). At first, Joseph’s stay in Egypt brought misfortune (Gen. 39). But in time, Joseph’s God-given ability to interpret dreams brought him before the royal throne.

Pharaoh had become undone by troubling dreams that Joseph alone was able to interpret. The dreams were a message from God signaling seven years of agricultural abundance that would be followed by seven years of oppressive famine (Gen. 41:1–40). Working quietly behind the scenes, the Lord propelled Joseph from prison to prominence. Pharaoh placed him in charge of a massive public works project designed to store food during the years of plenty and to organize a distribution plan for the years of famine (Gen. 41:41–57).

Other famines had been mentioned in Genesis, but this one was particularly severe. The rainfall shortage did not just impact a region but a continent, causing the predictable flow of the Nile River to be compromised for successive years. Only with advance warning and the savvy leadership of Joseph was disaster averted for thousands who were at risk of starvation, including the family of Jacob.

Using Egypt like a lifeboat, the Lord brought the family of Jacob there and settled them in the fertile region of Goshen, located in the northeastern portion of the Nile delta.17 Their location became a matter of importance to the writer of Genesis, who made formal mention of it eight times within two chapters (Gen. 46:28 [twice], 29, 34; 47:1, 4, 6, 27), noting in particular the high quality of this land (Gen. 45:18, 20). While this region was not part of the Promised Land, it was part of God’s plan (Gen. 45:8–11). Jacob’s heir, Joseph, was in a pivotal position of authority in Egypt. The Lord used him to provide vital food supplies that would preserve Abraham’s descendants along with all of Egypt during this famine.18

Joseph was responsible for building the storehouses located adjacent to this mud-brick pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara in the vicinity of the Faiyum.

River of Joseph (Bahr Yusef).

But Egypt was more than a physical lifeboat. The family of Jacob had other problems that needed to be addressed as well. After Joseph was taken to Egypt as a slave, the Bible interrupts the account to bring us a glimpse of life back in Canaan (Genesis 38). What we read is a tawdry tale that strongly suggests the family of Abraham had begun to assimilate into the idolatrous ideals and lifestyle of the Canaanites. Goshen provided food and a greater degree of cultural isolation (Gen. 43:32; 46:34), enabling this family to recollect their purpose as messengers of the one true God. So while the earlier chapters in Genesis led us to view Egypt negatively, the closing chapters of Genesis reveal the two reasons the Lord allowed Joseph to be taken to Egypt. There the Lord used him to preserve Abraham’s descendants in the face of famine as well as to isolate them from the idolatry prevalent in the Promised Land.

Depressions surrounded by covered wall remains once functioned as a granary at Hawara, dating to the time of Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt.

Joseph is taken to Egypt