Day 1 - From Privilege to Palava

Hey People! How’s it going? My name is Joseph. Let me tell you a story about my life – how I went from comfort to the Pit, detoured via Potiphar’s house to Prison, and then finally ended up in the Palace. It’s a bit long-winded, but here we go …

It all started when I was a teenage boy, wide-eyed and full of dreams about the future. In fact, it started way before then!

You see, my father Jacob, loved my mother Rachel very dearly. So as expected, the children he bore through her were special to him, especially because they waited for years before my mother bore children naturally. I happened to be the first child that she gave birth to herself (P.S. She had previously arranged for her servant girls to have children with my father on her behalf, but that’s a story for another day).

Being the first of the only two children that actually came from her loins, I was automatically my father’s favourite. If you don’t believe me, check out Genesis 37 for yourself! My father had a special robe made for me, just to demonstrate how much he loved and doted on me. You all know it as “the coat of many colours”. I wonder why people assume it had many colours because the Hebrew word used in that verse to describe my robe is ‘pas’, which means ‘palm’ or ‘sole’, suggesting that the robe extended to my wrists and ankles. Anyway, I digress. The important thing to note is that it was a special robe; a gift from my father; a token of his love.

To be honest, thinking back to those “hay days”, I guess some of that special treatment may have gotten to my head. At some point, I even had two very distinct dreams – one in which my elder brothers bowed down to me, and another in which even my father and mother bowed down to me. Instead of me to keep these things to myself, I even had the guts to tell them. Talk about boldness. Omo!* One thing I will say in my younger self’s defence though, is that I didn’t give myself those dreams. It was God revealing my future to me, many years before those things actually happened. Nevertheless, there is wisdom in how we handle such matters. I have certainly learnt that the hard way. *Ouch*

Having such bold dreams and daring to share them, only caused more enmity between my brothers and myself. I just couldn’t understand why they were not as amused as I was. I mean, I thought “Why can’t you guys just be happy for me!? After all, at least someone will make the family proud!”. Then one day (somebody repeat after me, “one day…”), my father sent me on an errand to go and check on my brothers. This was not the first time that he would send me to check on their activities. I think some of their resentment may also have stemmed from the fact that I snitched on them often. I mean, someone has to be responsible! Anyways, little did I know, that this was an errand that I would never recover from. As the servants waved goodbye to me, I skipped along in the direction of Shechem.

Arriving there, I noticed that I didn’t hear the familiar bleating of my father’s sheep. There was no sign of my brothers either. I began to get a bit worried, but a man noticed me roaming about and when I asked if he had seen my brothers, he directed me to Dothan. Apparently, they had headed on there. I shook my head in slight disapproval because I recall my father saying he sent them to Shechem, not Dothan. Hmm! These naughty brothers of mine. Ahh well, I headed on to Dothan to find them, and not long after I arrived in the town, I saw them in the distance. As I got nearer though, I noticed that their countenance was more aggressive than usual. In fact, was it mischief I saw in their faces? Aha! That was it! They finally had the opportunity for revenge, and they certainly took it.

Before I could even think, one of my brothers grabbed me roughly by the shoulder, while another one yanked my coat off me. I couldn’t even so much as struggle, because they were all older and much stronger than me. I heard them snarl at me as they threatened to kill me. I wailed and pleaded for them to spare my life, but they refused to listen. I couldn’t believe my ears – they actually wanted to kill me! Me – Joseph, their little, innocent brother. I’m not exactly sure which struck me more – shock at the extent to which they were willing to go to eliminate me from the picture, or hurt because they felt that way towards me in the first place.

Finally, Brother Reuben stood up for me and managed to convince them to throw me into a dry pit instead of killing me outright. I later found out that he had intended to come back afterwards and rescue me secretly. However, he never got the chance. I learnt many years later that my brothers had covered up their wickedness by dipping my coat in a young goat’s blood and sending it to my father in pretence that I had been killed. Poor goat. In fact, poor me!

Back to that day … while Bro Reuben went off to check on the flock, a group of Ishmaelite and Midianite traders were travelling by. From the Pit, I couldn’t quite hear what my brothers discussed with them. All I remember hearing was some haggling and then, the jingling of coins – one, two, three … twenty of them. I also remember thinking to myself “Wait, No … They’re not planning to sell me off are they?!?” Before I could even complete that thought, I was pulled forcefully out of the Pit and thrust into the traders’ hands. The traders shackled my feet and secured me with iron chains, before dragging me along with their camels. All the while, my brothers looked on and laughed at me. How could people be so cruel?! I begged my brothers profusely, but they wouldn’t budge. I screamed and screamed but no one came to my aid.

“To Egypt, we go”, I heard one of the traders say. What would become of me in Egypt? I wanted to go home. This was a horrible nightmare, one that I so desperately wanted to wake up from. I cried and cried until I had no more strength. Where was God in all this??? My father had taught me about Yahweh, the God of Israel. I had heard of the many miraculous things He had done for our people, even Grandpa Isaac and Great-grandpa Abraham specifically. I prayed to Him to intervene, but nothing happened. Or so it seemed …

We made a few stops en route. At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes, I could see pyramids in the distance …

*Omo! – a Nigerian expression, which is used to emphasise a point, and could mean “seriously!”

Reflection:

Are you currently facing a difficult challenge, which is making you doubt God's presence?

Read Psalm 61:1-3. How does it feel knowing that you can call on God from wherever you are? Please be encouraged - remember that God is our refuge and is FAR higher than any challenge staring you in the face. Why don't you bring your concerns to Him today?