“THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH.”
By G.
This statement is made several times in connection with the career of Joseph. It comes especially in contrast with his trials and temptations. His brethren sold him to Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver, about eleven dollars. If they divided the money equally, each one received about a dollar and ten cents. This was their estimate of the value of a young brother whom they envied and hated. But God was with him. Did God release him from the Ishmaelites?—No; but He went with him to Egypt. Arriving in Egypt, the merchantmen sold Joseph to an officer of the king’s guard. Neither did the Lord interpose to prevent this transaction; but He continued with Joseph. God does not have any less regard for Jacob’s son because he becomes a chattel of Ishmaelite speculators, nor yet when he becomes the servant of an Egyptian. It was a great fall for the favorite son of a rich father to be reduced to the position of a bond slave in a foreign country; but the Lord didn’t lose sight of him. This fact should be an encouragement to every child of God, and enable him to learn the lesson of contentment in any and every condition. Paul says, “I have learned, ‘in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’” Phil. 4:11. In Joseph’s case the evidence that God was with him was shown in his conducting himself in such a way that “his master saw that the Lord was with him.” Here is another lesson. It is important that the Christian so live as to show that the Lord is with him. Jesus gives us a point right here: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. Joseph showed himself a man of integrity; he demonstrated that he loved God by showing a regard for His law.7The Word says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3. Joseph’s personal integrity is evidence that God was with him, for he could not have shown such a characteristic without the Spirit of God. He succeeded because he yielded to the Spirit of God, and allowed himself to be led by that influence. The Spirit also moved upon his master, and enabled him to see that Joseph’s good work was due to the wisdom of his God. In all this God was making the wrath of man to praise him. Joseph’s faithfulness to his Egyptian master was proved for ten years, and he was trusted implicitly with everything that his master had. “He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat.” But while Joseph was enjoying the confidence of his master in such a wonderful degree, the tempter came in a most subtle manner to overthrow him. His master’s wife was the medium through which he was tempted to violate the law of his God. But he remained steadfast, saying, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Then came false accusation, under circumstances which had a very damaging appearance, so much so that his master felt constrained to cast him into prison. Here, again, it is said, “The Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy.” As at first he found grace as a servant before his master, so now as a prisoner he found favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. “And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it,” or, had the charge of it. “The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” The Lord will dwell anywhere, or engage in any honest calling, to protect His children. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Ps. 91:1. But both as a servant and as a prisoner, Joseph was sorely tried. He was not put over everything that Potiphar had at first. That position came to him after faithful service at menial work. He was not at first put in charge of all the prisoners, but after he had proved himself trusty and patient and faithful. David says of Joseph in prison, “Whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron; until the time that His word came; the Word of the Lord tried him.” Ps. 105:18, 19. The Lord permitted him to be sorely tried for the truth’s sake, because He was preparing him for a position of great authority and responsibility. He was passing through the experiences of those in humble positions, of those undergoing penalty, so that when he should become practically ruler of the then leading nation of the world, he would know how to sympathize with all classes. He was learning the lesson that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” He was a type of Christ, of whom it is said that “in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” Heb. 2:17, 18. But we have still further testimony that the Lord was with Joseph in prison, in the fact that while there he was endowed with wisdom to interpret prophetic dreams. Two of the king’s officers, his chief butler and his chief baker, offended him, and were put into the prison where Joseph was confined. They each dreamed a dream one night, and as Joseph was looking after the prisoners in the morning, he noticed that these two looked very sad. When he asked them the reason of their sadness, they said, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.” Then Joseph answered, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you.” Now if “interpretations belong to God,” why did Joseph ask that the dreams be told to him? Was it not because he believed that God was with him? This was his testimony to his faith in God, and he was conscious that God would honor his faith. Then Joseph’s sympathy had been drawn out for the men who were in trouble, and he was anxious to help them. To this end he would seek relief for them at the hands of the living God, in a way that would give Him the glory. The two officers told Joseph their dreams, and he gave the interpretations, which were fulfilled in three days. The butler was restored to his office, and the baker was hanged, according to the prediction of the Lord’s prisoner prophet. When Joseph told the chief butler of his good fortune, he asked as a return favor that that official would speak a good word for him to the king. Joseph told him who he was, and that he was in prison for no fault. One would naturally suppose that such a request from a benefactor would be speedily attended to; but somehow the man was so elated with his own success, and so absorbed with his official duties, that he forgot the poor Hebrew servant in the prison. So Joseph was given another lesson in patient continuing in well doing. He was left in prison another two years. But God did not forget him. It was true all the time that “the Lord was with Joseph,” and His Spirit was impressing upon the young man’s character the severe lessons of those years in the school of bitter experience. God so overruled that this course of labor and discipline and suffering were of more practical value to him than the same number of years in the greatest of the world’s universities. Like Moses attending the sheep of Jethro, he was learning lessons that “all the wisdom of the Egyptians” could not have taught him.