Genesis 39:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 39:1

Comments

Potiphar is a chief officer of Pharaoh’s crack troops in defending the capital. They didn’t want betrayal from captain of the guard, so this man would have been well-paid so that it wasn’t worth his while to rebel. He is to be the first one to provide a home for Joseph. As we read these events, we can bring all the hindsight that Scripture gives us, and observe the providence of God unfolding before our eyes. Even now the dream is being fulfilled, but in ways which show us that God indeed moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. How many actors carry out their role, unaware of the part they are playing in the drama of redemption, but their part is vital to the whole. The Ishmaelites conveyed Joseph to the very place that God wanted him to be. Hall says, ‘Little did they think that they had in their hands the lord of Egypt, the jewel of the world.’ Yet they played their part skilfully and no doubt treated Joseph with the contempt that Satan intended in an effort to convince Joseph that he was utterly rejected by God. At this time Joseph could see nothing of where he was going. Surely he though of his dream often in these dark times, but it seemed that obstacle was laid on obstacle, burying forever the possibility of its fulfilment. How abandoned he must have felt, far from his father’s love, sold from one person to another – an object to be traded – unable to get word to him, though he knew his father would have done anything to deliver him.

Application

Our beginnings are often very humble and God does not exalt us to quickly so that we don’t become proud. He is teaching us that exaltation comes only from him, that the world is naturally against us and mistreats us. This hatred may even be seen within the family circle, as here with Joseph. What God has for us is so much better than what we would provide for ourselves. We will appreciate heaven all the more for having passed through this world with all its trials and hardships. These things also develop character traits which we cannot otherwise learn – patience, trust in the Lord, an insight into the nature of the world.

Christians do not have a dream to tell them their future life on earth, but they have a promise of God which cannot be broken, that he has given us eternal life, that he will bring us to glory. They can keep their eye on this promise as they travel through life, and the many other promises he has given them, and while at times the way ahead appears dark, there are many times they see prayer answered and know God is with them still and will bring them to their destination.

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Genesis 39:1 Commentary and Bible Study