Joseph one of the children of Israel, with a story to reflect on true love. Can you imagine that his brothers would sell it? This is the Joseph's story, a young man who despite being sold, never stopped loving his family
Joseph's story
José's story is really fascinating. He was a young man who went from being a slave to being the prime minister of one of the most important nations. Joseph is the eleventh son of Jacob and Rachel.
When Jacob and Rachel conceived Joseph, Jacob was already very old, so he had a different relationship with Joseph than he had with the rest of his children. José from a very young age was of good character and good behavior. He fulfilled his duties and warned his father of the bad steps his brothers were going through.
Genesis 37:3
3 And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he had him in his old age; and he made him a coat of various colors.
These representations of love and affection that Jacob had for his son aroused the jealousy and envy of his other brothers. The relationship between José and his brothers was always tense and their relationship with him was dominated by anger and jealousy.
In the story of Joseph, it is revealed that like his father Jacob, he was a greatly used servant of God. Through dreams, the Lord showed Joseph situations that were about to happen.
One of these dreams revealed to Joseph that he would reach an important position that even his brothers should obey him, since he would rule over them. What made them even more angry and his rejection of José was increasing.
Genesis 37: 8-11
8 His brothers answered him: Will you reign over us, or will you rule over us? And they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
9 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying: Behold, I have dreamed another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.
10 And he told his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him, and said to him: What dream is this that you dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers come to bow down to the ground before you?
11 And his brothers were envious of him, but his father meditated on this.
Despite the great love that Jacob felt for his son, he did not understand the things that were going to happen. That is why when he was about to tell him one of his dreams, Jacob rebuked him, since he did not understand why his children, his wife Rachel and he would bow down to Joseph.
However, Jacob knew that Almighty God was revealing some purpose through this dream and that some meaning had been hidden. That is why Jacob meditated on these words in order to understand Jehovah's thoughts.
His brothers seeing not only the love that Jacob had for his son but seeing how Jehovah manifested himself in Joseph, they really came to hate Joseph. They conspired against him, to the point of wanting his death.
This action was prevented by his brother Rubén, who refused to shed his brother's blood.
Genesis 37: 20-22
20 Now then, come, and let us kill him and throw him into a cistern, and we will say: Some evil beast devoured him; and we will see what will become of his dreams.
21 When Reuben heard this, he freed him from his hands and said: Let's not kill him.
22 And Reuben said to them: Do not shed blood; cast it into this cistern which is in the desert, and lay no hand on it; for delivering him thus from his hands, to bring him back to his father.
This shows us how anger, envy and hatred can blind us to the point of committing violent acts, even on our loved ones.
The brothers sell José
Israel, also known as Jacob, sends his son to look for his brothers who were grazing the sheep and asked him to tell him how his sons and sheep were when they returned.
José did not know that that day his brothers had conspired for him to die, so without hesitation and without fear, he went to fulfill what his father had entrusted to him.
When his brothers saw that José was approaching, they turned back to each other to definitively end the life of their younger brother. Rubén again felt fear and proposed to his brothers to throw him into a cistern, while they determined what they would do with him.
Genesis 37:247
24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern; but the cistern was empty, there was no water in it.
When they managed to subdue Joseph and throw him into the cistern, they began to think about the fate of their brother. At that time, he approached a caravan from Egypt that was buying slaves, who were in perfect condition to work for Pharaoh.
His brothers without hesitation, understood that it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of José, without having to kill him. So they sold him to the Egyptians so that he would become a slave to Pharaoh.
Genesis 37:28
28 And when the Midianite merchants passed by, they took Joseph out of the cistern, and brought him up, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
On the other hand, they would tell their father that José had been devoured by beasts of the field, so that he would not go in search of José and thus achieve what they had longed for, a life without his younger brother.
Genesis 37: 33-34
33 And he recognized her, and said: My son's tunic is; some evil beast devoured him; Joseph has been torn to pieces.
34 So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
The story of Joseph shows us how his brothers of Joseph let their emotions dominate them, without really thinking about the consequences of their actions. Really José was not to blame for the love that his father had for him. Neither was he responsible for the bad attitudes that his brothers had on a daily basis.
What they did not tell was the wonderful plan that Jehovah of armies had for Joseph's life.
Joseph arrives in Egypt
Jehovah is omnipresent and saw the actions that Joseph's brothers had against him, so he was always with him, accompanying him and giving him his favor. Joseph was purchased by Potiphar, who was Pharaoh's captain of the guard.
Genesis 39: 2-3
2 But Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
3 And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that whatever he did, Jehovah made prosperous in his hand.
He takes José to his house to be his butler. During his stay in the captain's house, José earned the appreciation of his master. This by the grace of Jehovah, who blessed the works of his hands.
Potiphar's wife began to desire Joseph and on more than one occasion she set traps for him to fall into the desires that passionate her. Joseph knew that he could not betray Potiphar but above all the God of his father, since he knew that if he fell before the passions of this world, the favor of Jehovah would immediately leave his side.
This really made the captain's wife angry so she decided to lie to her husband, he was filled with great annoyance and took his slave and imprisoned him.
José interpreter of dreams
Another revelation in the story of Joseph, by not giving in to sin and temptation, the favor of Jehovah did not depart from him, which is why he won the trust and mercy of the head of the prison, who placed him as responsible for all those who were imprisoned there.
Among the prisoners were two men who were serving time for greatly enraging Pharaoh. One of them was the head of drinks, who, having a dream that he did not understand, was greatly saddened.
So Joseph asked the head of cups to tell him his dream and, under the mercy of Jehovah, interpret it for him. So he did and the Lord revealed to him the interpretation of this dream. Giving it to the chief of cups, he asked him to remember him when the pharaoh restored him to his functions again.
Along with them was also the one who was the chief of the bakers and like the chief of the cups, he had a dream that he told José. Unlike the chief of the cups, his dream announced that the Pharaoh would hang him.
On the third day, the dreams that both bosses had were fulfilled. The chief of the bakers was sentenced to hang and the chief of the glasses was reinstated in his position, but he did not remember José as he had asked him to.
Joseph and the Pharaoh's dream
After two years, Pharaoh had two dreams that greatly disturbed him, since he did not understand their meaning. So he sent for all the sorcerers and fortune tellers in the nation so that they could interpret his dreams.
They failed to understand their meaning so Pharaoh did not have the peace he was looking for. The head of the cups, upon hearing of these things, remembered José and how he interpreted with certainty his dream and that of the head of the bakers.
For what he told Pharaoh about Joseph and this in great despair he quickly sent for him to give interpretation to both dreams. Being presentable to appear before Pharaoh, Joseph by the mercy and blessing of Jehovah, heard the dream and gave him the true interpretation of it.
Genesis 41: 25-28
25 Then Joseph answered Pharaoh: Pharaoh's dream is oneself; God has shown Pharaoh what he is going to do.
26 The seven beautiful cows are seven years old; and the beautiful spikes are seven years: the dream is oneself.
27 Also the seven skinny and ugly cows that went up after them, are seven years; and the seven small and withered spikes of the east wind, seven years will be of famine.
28 This is what I reply to Pharaoh. What God is going to do, he has shown to Pharaoh.
Finding favor in the eyes of Pharaoh by the interpretation of dreams, he therefore ordered that he be placed as the governor of Egypt.
Genesis 41: 33-36
33 Therefore let Pharaoh now provide himself with a prudent and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Joseph the governor of Egypt
José was a governor full of wisdom thanks to the Most High and fulfilled his obligations with care and dedication. He made the best decisions and took care of each plantation and extension of land, to prepare satisfactorily, before the years of drought that would come upon the nation.
Genesis 41: 48-49
48 And he gathered all the food of the seven years of abundance that was in the land of Egypt, and stored food in the cities, putting in each city the food of the surrounding countryside.
49 Joseph gathered wheat like sand from the sea, much in the extreme, until it could not be counted, because it did not have a number.
Once the famine came to the nation of Egypt, Joseph opened the barns to sell food to each family that was there and face the drought.
Joseph is reunited with his brothers
When famine touched all the nations of Egypt, Joseph's family found it necessary to buy food where his brother was, not knowing that he was the governor.
José immediately recognized his brothers and treated them with resentment for everything they had made him live without any justification. As governor, he sent them to jail under the accusation that they were spies.
However, José could not hold a grudge for so long because it was not his nature to be like that, so his soul was broken and he sent them out of jail, except one. José demanded that they look for his younger brother to verify that they were not spies.
When they found themselves before this test, they understood that everything that was happening to them was because they had done that evil to their brother. Regardless of his pleas and pleas, without thinking of what his father would suffer.
His brothers looked for Benjamin, Joseph's younger brother, and upon meeting him, Joseph showered great blessings on him.
Genesis 43:29
29 And raising his eyes Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said: Is this your younger brother, of whom you spoke to me? And he said: God have mercy on you, my son.
There came a time when José could no longer hide his true identity from his brothers and that is when he decides to tell them who he really was. One of José's greatest wishes was to know if his father was still alive.
One of the most powerful messages that we find in the story of Joseph is that when he revealed himself to his brothers, he did not judge them but had understood that everything had been a plan of Jehovah.
When Egypt and Pharaoh found out about everything that had happened, he sent Joseph's brothers to look for their father so that he could be reunited with his son after two years.
Joseph sees his father
Just as they had been ordered in the story of Joseph, his brothers went to tell their father Jacob the good news, but he did not believe all the wonders that his sons had told them.
Until he saw the cars that his son had sent to take him to meet him again. Jacob's joy and happiness was great and he went to Egypt to see his son Joseph again.
Once together, they both hugged each other and, crying, Jacob felt that he could die peacefully because he had once again seen the face of his beloved son.
Genesis 46: 29-30
29 And Joseph harnessed his chariot and came to meet Israel his father at Goshen; and she manifested herself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck for a long time.
30 Then Israel said to Joseph: Let me die now, since I have seen your face, and I know that you still live.
The story of Joseph reveals to us great lessons that as Christians we must take into consideration in the circumstances that surround us. Do not succumb to the passions of this world, stand firm and faithful to Jehovah to find his favor, do not make decisions based on emotions and of course understand that everything that happens around us is for some divine purpose.
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