Last week on #CanonicalMondays (read here), we looked at how Joseph succeeded in refusing temptation, unlike Adam and Eve, and unlike Abraham. And now this week, we are going to see how Joseph’s success in Egypt translates into success and life for Israel and life for the Egyptians.

To get us ready to see Joseph contrast Abraham, let’s review what we learned a few weeks back (which you can re-read here): Abram sojourns to Egypt because of a famine in the land in Genesis 12. And as he enters into Egypt, he looks and sees that his wife Sarai is very beautiful and is therefore afraid that he will be killed on account of her. So, Abram tells her to say that she’s his sister so that his life will be spared—that he will be treated well on her account (which, of course, is after his experience with the LORD God who promises to bless him and give him a land and make him into a nation. Things won’t go well because of his wife, things will go well because of God…).

But Abram is right about Sarai’s beauty, the Pharaoh of Egypt does see that she is very beautiful and takes her into his house to be his wife. But because God has established in Genesis 2 that marriage is between one man and woman and that they are glued together as one (and should not, therefore, be separated into other marriages), God sends plagues on Pharaoh and his household. And Pharaoh understands the reason for this and so, he gives Sarai backs to Abram, and kicks them out of Egypt (the place of food) for the evil that was done to him.

After that quick walk through Genesis 12, let’s come back to the story of Joseph we observed last week:

Joseph refused to be involved in the breaking of the marriage covenant between Potiphar and Potiphar’s wife when she tries to seduce Joseph (Genesis 39). If you’ve been reading the past weeks of Canonical Mondays, you connected the pieces and saw how this narrative of Joseph is a positive story compared to the parallel events and themes in Abraham’s narrative failures, which also picture the failure of Adam and Eve.

Now let’s see that as the narrative in Genesis 39 continues, things go downhill for Joseph. After his success, he seems to be punished! We read that Potiphar’s wife lies about Joseph (deception is a reoccurring theme in these stories: first with the Snake, and again with Abram deceiving Pharaoh) and for years, Joseph is thrown into jail (where the Lord continues to bless and elevate him). Joseph finally gets out of jail by rightly interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams about the years of plenty and the years of famine that are coming. Because of God’s hand on Joseph, Pharaoh elevates Joseph to second-in-command.

For the purposes of the blog this week, we’ll skip of the scenes of Joseph being reunited with his dastardly brothers jump to the ending portions of his story.

Let’s see how his experience in Egypt is contrasted with the story of Abram in Egypt:

First, we see that the beautiful person (Joseph) avoids breaking a marriage covenant and remains righteous (cf Gen 3; Gen 12; Gen 16; Gen 20; Gen 26).

Second, we that Joseph seeks the good, not for himself, but for the people he comes in contact with. Abram’s reason for saying Sarai was only his sister was self-focused: he deceived so that he would not be killed. Joseph, on the other hand, first seeks the good of his master’s estate (Potiphar, Gen. 39:4-6) and then manages the prison (Gen 39:22-23), and then become second in command over all of Egypt, and is responsible for sustaining the lives of all the people there through famine, as well as the seed of Israel (Gen. 47:25; Gen. 41:40ff; especially note how all the people’s of the earth came to Joseph for food, which is reminiscent of the promise of God to Abram to bless the nations through him). 

Third, we that Israel’s move to Egypt was secured through the actions of Joseph, and that they were allowed to remain there because of the preserving work of Joseph in that land. Unlike Abram, who was cast out with all of his people and belongings (Gen. 12:19-20), Joseph’s family was given possessions, food, and the best portion of the land (Gen. 47:6,11-12). Notably, this portion of land is described with a word deriving from “tov,” (מֵיטָב) just as the Garden land was described (טוֹב).

Fourth, in that good land, the offspring of Israel was given food, just as the Garden was filled with good food (an orchard from which Adam and Eve could eat their fill; Gen. 2:16). And in this good land of Goshen, we are told that Israel multiplied greatly, in parallel to both the Creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28) and the promise of God to Abraham and his descendants, that they would multiply (Gen. 12:2; 15:5; 17:2-6).

RECAP:

In Genesis 12, Abram acts in self-centered deception in Egypt and gets kicked out of a good land of food (cf Gen. 3, Adam and Eve getting kicked out of a good land of food) during famine. But his great-grandson Joseph, who acts righteously (Gen. 39:9 ) and serves the interests of others, is increasingly elevated to a position in which he able to save Israel and the nations from famine (death), and then reason that the offspring of Israel are settled into a “tov” land (Goshen), where they are fed and grow into a multitude!

Joseph succeeds where his forefathers fail, in resisting temptation and in settling his family in a good land with food.

Joseph is a better Abraham and a better Adam.

He brings God’s people back to the Garden, a true foreshadowing of Jesus!