20260920 Genesis 39:1-41:57 The Gospel Pattern: From Humiliation to Exaltation to Save the World

Psalm 8:5-6 describes humanity this way, “You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” Psalm 8 interprets Genesis 1-2. Adam and Eve were crowned with glory and honor. God gave them dominion over the rest of creation.

In Genesis 3 the couple underwent a test. They failed. They sought independence from God.

In response to sin, God pronounces judgement, and he promises a cure for sin through one who would crush evil in Genesis 3:15. The rest of Genesis continually highlights the tension between human sin and God’s plan to make things right.[i]

Genesis 39-41 offers the clearest picture yet in Genesis of how God will save the world through a descendant of Adam. Genesis 39-41 is a summary of the Bible. It presents a Son of Man who passes the test of temptation. He suffers for being faithful. He is thrown in a pit before being exalted on high for the nations find salvation in him by coming to his table.

Genesis 39-41 contains three big movements. Each contains a big question that summarizes the movement. In the first movement, Genesis 39:1-23, Joseph enjoys Genesis 1-2 divine blessings before he faces his Genesis 3 test. In the face of temptation he asks, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” He passes the test but is thrown in a pit or prison. In the second movement, God is with Joseph in prison and he interprets four dreams with confidence in God asking, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” The third movement presents Joseph is exalted by Pharaoh and commissioned to rule on his behalf. This third movement begins with Pharaoh’s question: “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” In these three movements, Joseph succeeds where Adam failed offering a foreshadow of the work of Christ, the last Adam who is to come. The beginning of Genesis introduced a problem, the end of Genesis offers the solution.

First, Genesis 39:1-23 Joseph, a New Adam who Passes the Test.

The question that summarizes this movement is “How then Can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:1-23

Genesis 39 continues where Genesis 37 ended. Joseph’s brothers had thrown him in the pit (Gen 37:24), and they ate bread (Gen 37:25). Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

Gen 39:1-6 is about the Lord's presence with Joseph and Joseph's success in all he does. Potipher saw Joseph's success and made him an overseer over everything he had and the Lord blessed Potipher's house. The echoes of Eden resound in this fruitfulness and blessing.

Generally, the movement that follows the theme of Eden blessing in Genesis, is sin. Genesis 39:6-20 is full of Genesis 3 echoes with deceit and temptation to take what does not belong to us. Only in Genesis 39, where Adam failed, in his Genesis 3 test, Joseph passes the test.

According to Gen 39:6b “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.”[ii] In the next verse, Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph, the same way Eve had her eyes on the forbidden fruit. Potipher’s wife also becomes the tempting snake when she says, “Lie with me.” In this rendition of a Genesis 3 test, Joseph is the forbidden fruit, and he is also the woman being tempted by the snake. Joseph passes the test, he says in Gen 39:9, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” In Genesis 39:10, the narrator confirms the Genesis 3 echo when he writes, “He would not listen to her,” in contrast to Adam who listened to the woman in Gen 3:17. This temptation was ongoing. One time when Potiphar's wife was tempting him, according to Gen 39:12, she caught his garment. Joseph got away without his garment. She told her husband that Joseph was the one who wanted to lie with her. So Joseph is thrown into his second pit, a prison.[iii]

The chapter ends as it begun. The Lord was with Joseph in his humble state. According to Gen 39:21, “The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Then like Potiphar did earlier, “the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison.” According to Gen 39:23, “Whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.”

Application

Now, this is what this text teaches us.

First, our sin, is primarily against God. Joseph’s words in Gen 39:9, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” reveal that when we sin against people, we sin against God. David teaches the same lesson following his sin with Bathsheba, in Psalm 51:4, he writes, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

This means that we cannot ever justify sin on the grounds that “It does not hurt anyone.” Sexual sin, harmless deception, greed, resentment,  even if they seem to harm no one, they are sins against God. Christians, we are a people who never has a good reason to sin.

A second lesson concerns success. In Joseph's account, God was with him, and he was successful. Success is not connected to Joseph's skill or devotion but to God's presence. God was present and everything Joseph set out to do was successful. The same way God was with Joseph and everything he did was successful, by his Spirit God is with us and we can be successful in all we do.

Now, let me define success. While it is clear that in Genesis 39, everything Joseph did succeeded , the context is that he refused to sin against God. Biblical success is doing God's will. When John the Baptist’s was beheaded for being a faithful messenger, he was successful, not a failure. Part of Joseph’s biblical success was being thrown in prison for being obedient.

There is a couple who were foster parents for many children over the years. No matter how long the children stayed in their home, they were dedicated to share the love of Christ and the gospel with each child. When the children left their home, they tried to stay in touch when appropriate. A few years ago, I spoke to one of their now grown-up foster children. He was not a Christian but spoke of how this couple’s love changed the course of his life. Last year, he became a Christian and got baptized. God was with this couple and they were successful. They waited 20 years for this outcome. Even if this young man never came to saving faith, God was with this couple. They walked with God and their faithfulness in itself is success.

God is with us, as we walk with him, even when we feel like we are in a pit, our life, biblically, is successful.

Second, Genesis 40:1-41:36 Joseph, a New Adam who relies on God for Knowledge and Wisdom.

This second movement is summarized by this question: “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

Genesis 40:1-41:36

In the second movement of our text, God is with Joseph and God gives Joseph the interpretation of two sets of two dreams.

The first set of two dreams occur in Gen 40:1-23. God gave Joseph the interpretations as a means to get him out of the pit of prison. The King of Egypt's cupbearer and the baker were sent to prison. They each have dreams. They both want an interpretation and Joseph tells them, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Then, Joseph hears their dreams and offers their interpretation. Joseph tells the cupbearer that in three days, Pharaoh will restore him to his office. In Gen 40:13, Joseph says, “Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house.” Joseph also interprets that in three days, the baker will be killed. Both of Joseph’s interpretations come to pass. The chapter ends with these words in Gen 40:23, “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.”

In the next chapter, Genesis 41, two years have passed, and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt has two dreams in Gen 41:2-7. In the first dream, seven healthy cows feed on grass before seven thin and ugly cows eat the seven healthy cows. In the second dream, seven thin ears of grain swallow seven ears of grain that are full. It is only when Pharaoh wants interpretation that the cupbearer remembers Joseph.

In Gen 41:14 Pharaoh sends for Joseph. First Joseph reminds Pharaoh that only God interprets dreams, and he offers the interpretation of his dreams. Both dreams have the same message. According to Gen 41:29-30 there will be seven good years in Egypt followed by seven years of famine. In Gen 41:33 Joseph's counsels Pharaoh to appoint a wise man over the land of Egypt to oversee the collection and storage of food for the famine. In Gen 41:32, Joseph says, “the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.”

Application

The big application for us from this second movement is that “Interpretations belong to God.” In Genesis 1-2, God offered interpretation. God was the one who declared what was good and what was evil. In Genesis 3, the sin, the taking of the fruit of knowledge of Good and Evil was defying the statement “Interpretations belong to God.”

We must humbly rely on God’s revelation and submit to it. Where Adam failed, seeking independent autonomy for knowledge, Joseph succeeded by trusting that interpretations belong to God. To Pharaoh, Joseph said, “the doubling of the dream means that the thing is fixed by God.[iv]

Interpretations belong to God, and what reveals indeed happens. I want to show that we possess God’s interpretation. First, God’s commandments interpret what is good and what is evil. This story of Joseph offers us God’s interpretation of the world, giving us a pattern of what is to come. I’ll get to that in the next point. God’s word also offers the right worldview.

We live in a world with so many narratives and worldviews that try to make sense of the world we experience. We need to remember that still "Interpretations belong to God." In the Bible, Apocalyptic literature is not primarily about predicting future event, but rather as the Greek word suggests, it unveils. God interprets our world.

As we navigate this complicated world, the books of Daniel and Revelation reveal that evil governments that demand our total allegiance will continue to exist and there will be false religions that draw us away from God.

Unhealthy forms of nationalism draw people away from God and so does every worldview whether it is another religion or school of thought like Atheism or Marxism. Interpretations belong to the Lord. Both Daniel and Revelation have the same message. Not only do they warn us of what to expect in the world, they also encourage us to persevere with Jesus by providing a picture of the sure outcome of the future. In Daniel 2, a stone smashes the parts of a statue that represent different empires. It reminds us all evil empires will pass. While Revelation revisits world history over and over and ends with a picture of the New Heavens and New Earth, to remind us of awaits us.

When we doubt Jesus, when we fear laws that may restrict our freedom of religion, when we worry about money, or wars, or another pandemic, apocalyptic literature warns us against false teaching it warns us against trusting in worldly governments when we are discouraged by the weight of the World, apocalyptic promises Evil has an expiration date. In Christ, the ultimate outcome is secure. Interpretations belong to God.

Third, Genesis 41:37-50 Joseph, A New Adam who is Filled with God’s Spirit to rule with Wisdom to Save the World

The third movement is summarized by the question: “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Genesis 41:37-50

Following Joseph’s offering of the interpretation of the dreams, Pharaoh says in Gen 41:38, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” This final section of Genesis echoes the beginning of Genesis. Genesis began with the Creator and Ruler of the Universe who appointed a creature to rule as his representative. God breathed into the man’s nostrils, the breath of life. God gave human beings dominion over the created order. Following sin, and following the raising up of chosen ones who fail, we wonder, how will God fulfill his promises and bless all families of the earth.

In our text, Joseph reminds us of Adam who was crowned with honor and glory to have dominion and extend God’s Blessing to the world. Joseph reminds us of Adam and anticipates the work of Chrit.

In Egypt, Pharaoh was like God. In Gen 41:40, Pharaoh appoints Joseph over his house and his people. According to Gen 41:42, Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s. Pharaoh clothed Joseph in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

Joseph is clothed once more. Adam clothed himself with fig tree leaves, but God reclothed him. Joseph was clothed in Gen 37 with a garment of many colors, then stripped and thrown in a pit. Joseph faced the Genesis 3 test. He passed the test but was again stripped of his garment by Potiphar's wife and thrown in a second pit. Now, in Genesis 41, once more, Joseph is elevated and clothed by the most important human ruler of his day. The signet ring allowed Joseph to act in Pharaoh’s name. Joseph is Pharaoh’s representative like Adam and Eve were to be for God. This picture of Joseph offers an illustration of God's original plan for human beings and it offers us a pattern of a human being who passes the Genesis 3 test, will suffer, be elevated to bless the world.

The salvation through Joseph is modeled on Salvation through Noah. The language for Noah's preparation, his protection in the arc, and the destructive nature of the flood are similar to Joseph's preparation, his protection in Egypt that serves as his arc during the destructive famine.[v]

Throughout the upcoming chaos, Joseph enjoys Edenic gifts. According to Gen 41:45, Joseph is given a new name, “Zaphenath-paneah” which means “The Deity says he will have life.” Adam names the woman – “Life” or Eve in Hebrew. Now Joseph’s name in the mist of the deadly famine, means Life!

Joseph also enjoys the Edenic gifts of marriage and children. He is given an Egyptian wife. While most of the time, marriage to a daughter of a foreign God is prohibited, there is a sense that this marriage to a foreigner serves as a picture of the end times union of the nations.[vi] Joseph has two children – Manasse because he forgot the hardship in his father's house, and Ephraim, because God has made him fruitful in the land of his affliction.

Genesis 41 combines the themes of Eden and the themes of Noah and the flood. Joseph tastes Eden while the world will be de-created through a flood-like famine, in his Arc-like sanctuary in Egypt. According to Gen 41:53, under Joseph's direction Egypt stored food for seven years and then in Gen 41:56, the famine came. According to Gen 41:57, “all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.”

Genesis 39-41 contains the arc of the Bible’s story. It began with blessing, followed by a Gen 3 test, that followed with hostility, God’s chosen one is thrown in a pit, then exalted, and it ends with the nations gathering together for food.

This pattern occurs in Gen 20-21 that ends with a Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech. Or again in Genesis 26, with Isaac and Abimelech which ends with a Covenant and a meal. And again Genesis 29-31 that ends with a Covenant and a feast between Jacob and Laban. Already in Genesis, the repetition of nations gathering for food anticipates the world-wide peace at a banquet with all the nations.

After Joseph’s brothers threw him in the pit, they ate bread (Gen 37:25). Now we read in Gen 41:54, during the famine, there was bread in Egypt. The sons of Jacob deprived their brother, but look at who’s eating bread now!!

Application

While Adam was crowned with glory, he was in a sense clothed with God’s robe and God’s signet to rule to be fruitful and fill the whole earth, that the whole world would enjoy Eden life. Adam failed, but Joseph offers us a picture of one who is to come who blesses all the families of the earth.

The application is not, be faithful and maybe you will rule and save the world. Rather this text presents God's salvation for the starving nations who are all gathering in one place to enjoy God's rescue. Ultimately the place or rather the person in whom we enjoy God’s rescue is Christ. This picture of the salvation of the nations is first and foremost a call to come to Jesus, rest in Jesus, feed on Jesus.

From this place of rest, and spiritual nourishment, we can live out our calling as humans crown with glory and honor. We can live out our calling to love the nations and share God’s blessing to the world with the gospel message.

We live in a world that is starving for truth. In our modern world, we have mastered the "how" of existence with technology advancement. But, the secular worldview struggles to provide answers to the human heart's deepest questions like the problem of suffering, the basis of human rights, or problems of identity. Secularism offers no hope and it cannot.

We can feed the nations by offering Christ as he is presented in the gospel. Christianity offers a narrative that makes sense of the world we live in and offers hope for all people. We must be a people who shares the hope of the Gospel with the nations that are in a spiritual famine. We want all people to find their fill in Jesus. We want people to know Jesus, treasure Jesus, and feast with us on Jesus at the Lord’s Supper.

Practically how do we do that? It starts by living according to the message we have for the world. Like Joseph who enjoyed Eden during the flood, we enjoy Eden in Christ. We turn away from our idols and false Eden to enjoy Christ, the Church, friendship, Marriage, Children, Work as gifts from God.

Second, we must be with people. We must let them know we are Christians. Because of all the suffering in the world, even if it is with colleagues, unbelieving family members, or friends at school, conversations about life will come up. We have an opportunity to share the Hope that we have in Christ. Our ability to witness is not tied up in how good we are at keeping God’s law. Most of all, we show Christ in our weakness.

As sinners who have tasted forgiveness in Jesus, we model repentance, we model forgiveness, and we model finding refuge in Christ.

Conclusion

This account offers us a picture of what God intended for humanity through Joseph. While the first Adam failed, Joseph offers us a picture of Jesus who is to come. Psalm 8 comments on Gen 1-2. Humanity has been clothed with glory to have dominion of the world. Humanity failed to live out their calling. Now Joseph gives us a picture of what is to come. There will be a man who will pass the test. Jesus will be tempted in the wilderness for forty days with the same temptation of the Garden of Eden, tempted to eat food and to be exalted by the devil.

Before Jesus is crucified, he prays in a garden. He is betrayed by Judas. In Mark's Gospel, there is a strange scene in Mark 14. A man is seized. He runs away without his garment. As far as I can tell there are only two stories in the Bible, where a man is seized and loses his garment as he runs away. It is almost like at Jesus’ betrayal we are supposed to get a flash of Joseph to echo back the whole story, of a man who passes the test, who will be sent into a pit, only to be exalted to bring a blessing to all the families of the earth.

After betraying Joseph, his brothers ate bread together. Once the famine, comes, it is Joseph who offers bread. In a world of sin and suffering, Jesus offers us himself, the bread of life that we are about to feast on at the Lord Supper. We are the nations who find rescue in Jesus who feed on him.

Christian, we are people who feed on Jesus. Now, we get to participate in Joseph’s faithfulness and Jesus’ faithfulness to be part of feeding the world with the bread Jesus offers. We are sinners who trust in Christ. We have been saved from the flood-like famine judgment that is to come and we are re-commissioned for God’s purposes.

We are called to be ambassadors imagining what on earth as it is in heaven looks like for us in our relationships, families, schools and jobs. In the face of temptation we ask - “How then Can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen 39:10) To understand world history, we declare “interpretations belong to God!”

And as we look to Christ—the true and final Adam—we declare with joy: here is the Man in whom is the Spirit of God!"

 

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[i] There is judgment when God casts the couple out of his presence. There is judgment with the flood, judgement with plagues in Egypt, judgment with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and so on. Noah offered a type of the savior to come. He went through the deadly flood, surrendered himself with a sacrifice, which led to a blessing for the nations. Abraham offered up his son, God promised to bless the world in him. Jacob the trickster surrendered himself going before the rest of his family to face his brother Esau, before God spoke to him, the same words he spoke to Adam and Noah. In Gen 35:11, God says, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”

[ii] This phrase was said of Sarah in Gen 12:11 before she was taken by Pharaoh in Egypt, and also of Rebekah in Gen 26:7.

[iii] This is the third account in a row, with a prominent garment. In Genesis 37, Joseph had a garment of many colors. In Gen 38 Tamar took off her widow’s garment to deceive Judah. Now, Joseph once again loses a garment that symbolized his place of honor. The connection between Genesis 39 and 38 allows for a comparison between Joseph and Judah. While Judah slept with his daughter-in-law, Joseph was a noble man devoted to God.

[iv] If we remember that Joseph also had two dreams in Genesis 37. Because of the doubling of Joseph's dream, we can know for sure that Joseph will end up exalted over his family.

[v] Joseph's preparation for the destructive famine who prepares for the famine which is a new kind of flood, through which Egypt serves as the new type of Arc that makes it through the decreation of the world wide famine. In preparation for the flood Noah had to gather food for himself (Gen 6:21) – Noah. According to Gen 41:31, the famine would bring “a total end to the land … for it will be extremely heavy” just as the flood according to Gen 6:17 was going to “ruin all flesh in which is the breath of life, and everything that is on the land shall

perish.” According to Gen 41:56, the famine was strong and over all the face of

the land. According to Gen 7:23, the flood blotted out “from upon the face of

the land.” Pharaoh must act so that “the land will not be cut off” in Gen

41:31, following Noah’s actions God promises not to cut off all flesh again

with a flood.

[vi] Among the descendants of Noah, Joseph is a descendants of Shem and Egypt from Ham. We have a unifying of what was separated by sin.