Genesis 39:20
And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
Joseph's master cast him innocent into the gloomy prison where the king's prisoners were bound in fetters. He suffered there for virtue and integrity because he would not yield to sin and transgress God's law after his master's wife falsely charged him with a foul crime. God did not forsake him in the dungeon but kept His eye upon him, gave him favor with the keepers, and soon committed the charge of all the prisoners to him. The adversity, hardship and discipline were God's design to prepare him for greater usefulness, honor and exaltation to share the throne of Egypt, turning the enemy's devices and the wrong done him to good. Conscious of innocence and right, he did not sink in despair but trusted God with reputation and interest, remaining patient, hopeful and faithful, and thus stands as a representative pattern of integrity for youth to build character to stand the test of the judgment.
Unjust Imprisonment Explained
This imprisonment came at the end of ten years sold to Potiphar, captain of the king's guard, in the midst of idolatry and surrounded by royal pomp, wealth, culture, and the sights and sounds of vice. There Joseph preserved simplicity and fidelity to God, as one who saw and heard not, never letting thought linger on forbidden subjects. He was not ashamed of the religion of his fathers and made no effort to hide that he was a worshiper of Jehovah in order to gain favor. The Lord was with him and made all he did to prosper, so that Potiphar's confidence increased until he promoted Joseph to steward with full control over all possessions. That prosperity was not a direct miracle but industry, care, and energy crowned with divine blessing, which Joseph attributed to God's favor and which even his idolatrous master accepted, so that in purity and uprightness the believer stood in marked contrast to idol worshipers and the light of heavenly grace shone amid heathen darkness.
He was put into prison though innocent, suffering for virtue, righteousness, and integrity because he would not yield to sin and refused to transgress God's law. His master's wife revenged herself upon the virtue she could not subvert by falsely charging him with a foul crime. Through no fault of his own he was falsely accused and imprisoned after being sold into Egypt and entrusted with great responsibilities. His master's doubts about the charge spared his life, yet innocence and integrity did not prevent suffering and apparent disgrace.
He was cast into a gloomy prison bound with fetters, a place where the king's prisoners were bound. In Egypt he was surrounded in that bondage by idolaters. He entered having lost his liberty, imprisoned as a slave and treated as a felon and criminal under a degrading false charge. Though virtuous and strong in purpose he was maligned as one who had done wrong, his virtue trampled while the one who had wronged him prospered.
God Present in Prison
God did not forsake Joseph in prison but kept His eye upon him, and gave him favor with the keepers so that the charge of all the prisoners was soon committed to him. He turned even that misfortune to blessing, overruling the wrong done to him and turning the enemy's devices to good. He safely guarded Joseph's reputation, blackened though it was by a wicked accuser, until in His own good time He caused it to shine, and after temporary humiliation and disgrace He exalted him.
The temptations, adversity, hardships and discipline suffered in prison were part of God's design, and affliction there was preparing him for greater usefulness. He was suffered to be afflicted for a time to prepare him to fill an important position, for responsibility and honor, and the prison itself became the way to his elevation. That experience which preceded prosperity and honor taught him obedience and humility before he was exalted to share the throne of Egypt. His captivity was within God's providence so that he would bring to a heathen nation the blessings that come through knowing God. He was to represent Jehovah without compromising faith or identity as a worshiper of the living God, and because in adversity as in prosperity he honored God, God honored him.
Though darkness in the dungeon seemed to extinguish every hope, his faith held fast and God had victories in store for him. God brought him out of the dungeon and made him a light to the world. God watched his conduct in integrity and the fear of God just as He watched the wicked conduct of Eli's sons, and each was rewarded according to deeds before heaven's universe. The verse means the Lord remembers and keeps His own in the trying hour when bound in chains, shut in by prison bars, and cast into unjust and cruel bondage. Though they endure privation and suffer want of food they are not left to perish, for angels provide the righteous with food and water while judgments fall on the earth.
Pattern for Faithful Suffering
Conscious of innocence and right, Joseph did not sink in despair when cast into prison for a crime he had not committed, but still trusted in God and placed his reputation and interest in God's hands, remaining patient, hopeful and faithful while affliction prepared him for greater usefulness. His courage and uprightness were tested by hardship through no fault of his own, yet he was not discouraged, for God's care and guidance remained with him even when his master's doubts about the false charge only spared his life and left him in apparent disgrace. Innocence and integrity did not prevent his suffering, and darkness in Egypt seemed to extinguish every hope, but his faith held fast to God who would bring him out of the dungeon to share the throne and make him a light to the world.
He bore that suffering for righteousness meekly, without murmuring or complaint, with self-control and patience in adversity, refusing to deviate from righteousness while walking with God. Imprisonment humbled him but did not degrade him, for his religion kept his temper gentle and his sympathy warm, and he remained cheerful, useful and sympathetic toward his fellow prisoners, serving his suffering companions and putting Christian principles into practice after losing his liberty under a degrading false charge. Even while his virtue was trampled and the one who had wronged him prospered, his unwavering fidelity was left on record for the benefit of all afterward.
He carried religion everywhere, showing the same sacred regard for God's will in the prisoner's cell in adversity as when exalted to great wealth and high honor next to the king. Kept pure and untarnished by love and fear of God through complete consecration, his all-pervading godliness was the secret of unwavering fidelity, proving that character that holds to God in adversity, hides in Jesus, holds Christ's hand, guards against presumption, suffers rather than sins and gains victory over self is undimmed by prosperity. Tried and proved and standing firm to principle through imprisonment, he became a representative man and pattern of integrity worthy of imitation by youth who must build characters to stand the test of the judgment and decide eternal destiny in this probationary time for which there is no second probation.
His course stands as an example to all generations that those exposed to the severest temptations have a defense at hand in God as a present help and His Spirit as a shield, that it will be their own fault if they are not preserved, and that virtue faithfully kept will in time bring its own reward. He could not be turned from the truth because he had light in himself, which comes from not believing a thing simply because others say it is truth, but taking the Bible, searching it for oneself, and pleading with God for His Spirit to know truth and understand its principles. His unjust imprisonment for virtue and integrity illustrates Christ, who was holy, meek, good and guiltless, yet rejected and despised because His righteous self-denying life rebuked sin and corruption, hated by corrupt professors and rulers, falsely accused by hired witnesses, mocked, insulted and put to a shameful death. Meekly forgiving His murderers while suffering cruel torture, Christ rose from the dead, ascended to His Father, received all power and authority, gives gifts to men, freely pardons all who come repentant confessing sin, and will exalt the faithful to His throne as heirs to the inheritance purchased with His blood.
As one of God's appointed witnesses in all ages who for truth's sake expose themselves to reproach, persecution, calumny and prison, Joseph shows that close connection with God does not bring prosperity in the things of this life but may bring sore trial and affliction. Maligned and persecuted and put in prison because he preserved virtue and integrity, he is an example of how God leads His children through trial to perfect trust, for followers of Christ will often be sorely tried and it is through much tribulation that they enter the kingdom. Providence can turn persecutors' schemes to good and exalt the sufferer in His own time, and steadfastness in divine might witnesses to the faithfulness of God's promises, His abiding presence and sustaining grace, though the world cannot discern such moral value with God. His part is a work of faith to calmly repose in God in the darkest hour, however severely tried and tempest-tossed, feeling the Father is at the helm and looking beyond time and sense to eternal riches, enrolled as a citizen in heaven's records with promise of an inheritance of greater value than earthly riches that will satisfy the soul, with final reward of exalted greatness and enduring eternal weight of glory as one whom God has made heir of all things.