Joseph

Week 3 Genesis 43-Exodus 12

I always have a good feeling about Genesis 37 because now I’m reading the story of Joseph.
Rating the best stories in the OT is a dumb-but-fun exercise that I’ve done more than once. I think my top five best stories would pretty much have to include Joseph, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, and Jonah. I know, I know…what about Noah, or Abraham, or Jacob, or Moses & Pharaoh, Samuel, David, Elijah, Nehemiah, Job? All I’m saying here is that in this little game of making up a numbered list Joseph is in my top five (probably top three; my top spot is reserved for Esther).
Anyway the Joseph story is one of the very best. His brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. Joseph the slave landed on his feet – he was soon identified as a capable manager by a man who was a capable manger himself. So, the best of a bad situation.
The capable manager had a capable wife who capably managed her own interests. She was powerful, influential, beautiful, feral. She told Joseph she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him and he gave her a principled answer – it’s kind of funny when you read the conversation, the exchange is ludicrous. It’s like the guy standing alone in the public square looking down the barrel of the tank.
It’s a great chapter in Joseph’s story. Maybe not the very best part of the story. But a great story.