Why did Joseph become a prisoner/slave...

[Rachel72]

I noticed that Joseph wsa sold into slavery, and then later, after he interpreted the king's dream, the king made him a ruler.

Why did this happen? Was it just pick on Joseph day that he was put into slavery?

Rachel72

[Marnie]

While in prison, Joseph interpreted some dreams, word got back to the king, who was having bad dreams.

The Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who interpreted the dream and gave then gave him good advice. In return for this advice, Pharaoh released Joseph from prison, gave him a position of leadership in the land, and because of this, Egypt was spared from suffering a terrible famine. And, because Joseph was in a position of leadership, he was able to get his whole family into the only place that had food: Egypt. You could say, all these bad things happened to Joseph for the sole purpose of perserving the entire Jewish nation.

That's why. The key verse is also my favorite verse in the whole Bible:

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.--Gen. 50:20

[Giaour]

Joseph had a bunch of brothers that were extremely jealous of him.

Joseph was dad's favorite and they hated that.

Not to mention that Joseph had dreams about his brothers someday bowing down to him.

They thought he was arrogant.

So, one day Joseph was sent out to meet his brothers in the field and they lost it.

They plotted to kill him and ended up throwing him in a pit to die.

They took his new robe ( that his dad especially gave him) and put animal blood on it to show their dad that he was dead.

Well, some travellers found him in the pit and took him as a slave.

While a slave, he got accused of a crime and was sent to prison.

There he met 2 guys that he interpreted their dreams for them.

Well the one guy got out and told his master about the dream interpreter and Joseph was sent to him.

Joseph told the king what his dreams meant (years of feast and years of famine)and Joseph was right about it.

So Joseph was put in charge of the food stocks for the king.

Well, when the famine happened, Josephs dad sent his sons to get some food that Joseph had stock piled up knowing the famine was coming.

The brothers did indeed end up bowing down to Joseph as he had told them.

But the brothers didn't recognize him.

After some mind games by Joseph, he got them to bring their whole familys and their dad back to live with him and he told them who he was.

So that is how he went from a slave to a man of prominence.

Cliff notes version.

You really should read about him in the Bible.

Awesome story.

[Yah'sGirl]

Hi Rachel,

First read Genesis Chapter 37, Chapter 39-49. This is the whole story. You must consider Joseph's dream to understand what happened. Remember he had a dream that all of his brothers would essentially bow down to him. There is a bigger picture going on here that is beyond Joseph, but is a part of the prophetic plan of Yah (God-Psalms 68:4-His True Name) for the restoration of the lost sheep of the House of Israel that Jesus said he came for in Matthew 15:24 "But he answered and said, I am not sent "but" unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

There was a promise made to Abraham, that he would be a father of many nations. The promise was passed down to Isaac and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, who are beginnings of the 12 tribes of Israel, and the "beginning" of the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. The 12 son's of Jacob were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Gad, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. Joseph was the son of Jacob's beloved wife Rachel. She also had another son named Benjamin. The older son of his wife Leia (who was hated or loved less) was Reuben and the older son of his wife Rachel (the beloved) was Joseph. Typically the heir of the promise or inheritance when a father dies is his eldest son, however Reuben broke a commandment of God when he slept with his father's wife-Bilhah. But according to the law in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 it states..

15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: 16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

This is too much to explain here, but I trust that you will read the scriptures and allow Yah to give you the understand. I will set it up, but it is more than we have been taught in the church and the scriptures bear it out about Joseph from slavery to ruler. In Genesis Chapter 49, as Jacob was dying he called his 12 son's (tribes) to bless them. He told Reuben the son of the hated and the firstborn that he was unstable as water and shall not excel. The word "excel" there mean to be dead, as a corpse-literally or figuratively. Because he defiled his bed by sleeping with one of his wives. He essentially in Chapter 48:5 took Joseph's two sons to be his own, and he passed the blessing of Abraham, which was also his blessing to Joseph

[Fr Chuck]

Of course we have no way to prove God's reason, one of course was to prove it was God's doing, not mans, and it was also perhaps that testing we go though, to make us stronger in our faith

[st. Worm]

marnie quote:

"You could say, all these bad things happened to Joseph for the sole purpose of perserving the entire Jewish nation."

SW:

Exactly. The invisible hand of God working to preserve his people and the line which would ultimately produce the Savior of the world. We see a similar work of God to preserve his people in the book of Esther, placing her in a key position working through an unlikely set of circumstances at just the right time to preserve the nation from which the Christ would come in human form.

[Rachel72]

[quote name='Giaour' date=

Cliff notes version.

You really should read about him in the Bible.

Awesome story.

Edited June 26, 2006 by Rachel72

[st. Worm]

quote:

"God must have seen something very special in Joseph to give him the ability to interpret dreams."

SW:

Dear soul, it wasn't that God saw something special in Joseph, he created something special!

[Rachel72]

quote:

"God must have seen something very special in Joseph to give him the ability to interpret dreams."

SW:

Dear soul, it wasn't that God saw something special in Joseph, he created something special!

Light bulb just when on, duh! Thanks SW.

[EricH]

It is because of God's presence with Joseph:

And the LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

Genesis 39:2 NASB

But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

Genesis 39:21 NASB