Joseph’s parents were Jacob and Rachel. Jacob loved his son, Joseph greatly to the extent that he made Joseph a long robe because he was his son of old age. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his eleven brothers. Because of the love Jacob had for Joseph, his brothers hated him. The hatred got deepened when Joseph told his brothers about the two dreams which he had and the interpretations of the dreams which showed that he would be their leader in future. The eleven brothers were angered by this and they plotted to kill him.
The eleven brothers went to graze their father’s cattle at Dothan near Shechem and Joseph was sent by their father from Hebron to find out how they fared and to give them food. When they sighted him coming, they planned to kill him and to report to their father that a wiid beast had killed him. However, Reuben cautioned against killing him.” Shed no blood”, he said. Instead, Reuben made a suggestion that Joseph be thrown into a well with the intention of rescuing him later and presenting him to their father. They heeded his advice.
While eating, they saw a caravan of Ismaelite traders going to Egypt. On Judah’s suggestion, Joseph was sold for twenty shekels of silver and was eventually taken to Egypt.
Joseph was again resold to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers. He became his chief steward. When Joseph refused to have an illicit affair with Potiphar’s wife, he was unjustly sentenced to prison. In the prison, Joseph perfectly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s chief butler and baker, the butler was later restored to his former position.
After some time, Pharaoh had a dream. Everybody including Pharoh’s magicians tried in vain to interpret the dream. It was then that the butler remembered Joseph in prison. Joseph was sent for. He interpreted the king’s dream correctly. As a result, he was made a governor in Egypt.
Two leadership qualities of Joseph are:
(i) Joseph feared God as the fountain of knowledge. He served his master Potiphar with his whole heart. He was faithful to his master. Even when his master’s wife wanted him to sleep with her, he feared God and did not fall into that temptation. Although he was jailed, God raised him up to a higher position,
(ii) He had great concern for those around him. When he was in prison, he loved his fellow inmates. This good quality of his made the butler to remember him in time of need.
0 Comments
Comment