"My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colours, He worketh steadily.
Oftimes He worketh sorrow and I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads were as needful in the skillful weaver's hand,
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."
- Anonymous
"The scriptures give us the opportunity to watch some great people come out of broken homes. Abraham was one whose life was threatened by family members. Joseph was another. We are told of his brothers that 'they conspired against him to slay him' (Genesis 37:18). And yet few men rose higher in life than these two. It may be hard for people who suffer from imperfect families to convince the Father on judgement day that their lack of devotion and obedience ought to be excused because of what happened in their homes."
(Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11, "How Can I Do This Great Wickedness?")
We see in Joseph of Egypt a perfect study in commitment, dedication, determination, persistence, endurance and faithfulness to God under any circumstance. Joseph is a perfect example of someone 'willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him' (Mosiah 3:19), willing to endure valiantly through trials with faith unshaken, not knowing the reason why. Father Lehi lamented over his son Lemuel by saying: "O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 2:10). This is exactly what Joseph was like: firm, steadfast and immovable like a valley. Jesus claimed if we had faith 'as a grain of mustard seed' we could move mountains (Matt 17:20). The brother of Jared did just that (Ether 12:30) and proved that even something as formidable as a mountain can be moved but the valley, however, is firm, steadfast and immovable. This was Joseph of Egypt. Because he was steadfast and trusted God in all things, God made of him a mighty man, a prototype of the Saviour himself.
At the tender age of 17 Joseph was torn away from his family by the brothers who were supposed to love him and protect him and spent 13 years as a slave or a prisoner. You could say he had every reason to believe that the Lord had dealt with him unjustly despite his devotion to the God of his fathers. Joseph, however, knew he had an important destiny which was revealed to him through his dreams, and he chose to continue to believe in God by recognising opportunities that could turn his tragedies into blessings. He trusted the Lord at every turn throughout all his tribulations. The scriptures are replete with the Lord's promises that He will prosper those who keep His commandments (1 Nephi 2:20, 1 Nephi 4:14, 2 Nephi 1:9, 2 Nephi 1:20, 2 Nephi 4:4, Jarom 1:9, Omni 1:6, Mosiah 1:7 etc) As Joseph sat in prison, stripped of his position and livelihood and unjustly accused because he chose to resist evil, he could have been excused for believing that this promise did not apply to him. Joseph, however, proved that God keeps his promises under any circumstance. Where ever Joseph was, he endeared people to him because 'the Lord was with him'. We read in Genesis chapter 39:
"And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw the the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored." (Genesis 39:22-6)
Imagine having earned such respect and trust of someone that they put all their financial affairs in your hands, to the point that they don't even know how much money they have but trust that you would provide their next meal. This is the kind of man that Joseph was. This kind of trustworthy and good character can only come through obedience to God and his commandments. Consider this:
"This blessing comes only by obedience, and in this case it came to a young man who had every excuse to be disobedient. His faith in God had not seemed to help him avoid troubles. His obedience to the commandments had not prevented tragedy. He cannot ask the bishop for an interview nor seek a blessing from his father. No thoughtful members of his priests' quorum will be by to offer support in his troubles. He is alone and utterly on his own. He has no reason to keep the commandments unless he wants to. If he does not, other than God, who will ever know?" (Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11)
Joseph's ultimate test of faith came in the form of a woman. This test of faith became the crowning glory of proof that he would never stray from his faith and commitment to live God's laws. Joseph referred to Potiphar's wife's invitation as 'great wickedness' (Genesis 39:9). The following insight into Joseph's character helps us have appreciation of Joseph's tenacity and his ability to overcome what could have been an overwhelming sense of hopelessness as his life took a turn for the worse:
"Young man, a thousand miles away from home, can you keep the standards of your mother and father? One man changed the history of the world by taking into a foreign country these standards: He was good looking, he had personality; he was young. Because of his physique and general carriage, he carried prestige. She was a woman of importance - yes, I presume she was attractive. She tempted him once - she tempted him twice - yes, and many more times. Each time he remembered the teachings of his folk at home. He looked sin in the face and stood like a rock. Yes, as the saying goes, he took it on the chin. For just a moment what a price he paid to keep straight - and don't forget he was praying all the time. When she found herself unvictorious, she caught his garment as he fled. The sample of the clothing was shown to her husband and if we can use our imagination, a remark from her treacherous lips went to her husband about as follows: "Well, here's the evidence. You thought he was lily-white, didn't you?" Into a dark dungeon he went for two years. And he was still praying. And when he was sold into Egypt by his brothers for a few pieces of silver, he was praying. Does the Lord really answer prayers? But let's shift to the last act of our play. The curtain goes up with an entirely different scene. "And they came from all nations to buy corn". Who was head of this great commissary department? Who was it that was next to the king of the land? Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, the boy who could say "no" - the lad who took the standards of his parents into a foreign land! It was that boy who stood at the crossroads all alone". (Bisop Marvin O. Ashton, Improvement Era, Vol. XIviii, December, 1945, No. 12)
Joseph never failed to recognise that something good always comes out of something bad. He believed that even his unjust imprisonment was a blessing. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs quotes Joseph as saying "I gave thanks to the Lord and sang praise in the house of darkness, and how I rejoiced with cheerful voice, glorifying my God, because through her trumped-up charge I was set free from this Egyptian woman".
(James H. Charlesworth, The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments)
It is staggering to think of what lay on the line when Joseph was tempted by his master's wife. Had Joseph succumbed, his destiny, the destiny of his family and the destiny of his descendants would have all been in peril. Had he chosen the life of sin, he would never have become the man that he became. Joseph became the temporal saviour of his father's house by saving them from famine. According to the dream he had where his brother's sheaves of grain bowed to his, Joseph was elevated to his position, not to be worshipped by his brothers, like they had supposed, but to serve them. Their bowing 'was an act of receiving their brother's help, not meant to establish some kind of family pecking order'. (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)
Just as Joseph saved his family temporally, his progeny is to become spiritual saviours to their brethren of Israel and the rest of the Father's children. The JST records the responsibility of Joseph's seed in our day:
"Wherefore thy brethren (the other tribes of Israel) shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins (Ephraim and Manasseh) for ever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin". (JST Gen. 48:10-11)
"During this last dispensation, Joseph's descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family. With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities". (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)
"It is Ephraim who is building temples and performing the ordinances in them for both the living and for the dead. When the 'lost tribes' come, and it will be a most wonderful sight and a marvelous thing when they do come to Zion, in fulfillment of the promises made through Isaiah and Jeremiah, they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim, the 'firstborn' in Israel". (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:252)
What a glorious destiny Joseph stood to lose! When his father Jacob gave Reuben, his first born, his final blessing he began the blessing with some powerful words, "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power....".(Gen. 49:3) What amazing words those are. Reuben was the birthright son who stood to receive the priesthood blessings of the fathers and through whom the patriarchal line should have continued but Reuben did not abstain from temptation like Joseph did. Reuben committed a terrible sin by committing adultery with one of his father's wives, Bilhah. Because of this he lost everything. What should have been an amazing blessing ended with:
"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it..." (Gen. 49:3)
Because he was 'unstable as water' Reuben's birthright was inherited by Joseph who received a double portion for his sons. If you poured water into different shape glasses, the water would take the shape of the glass that it is in. If however, you tried to put a brick into three different containers, the brick would not change its' shape. The containers would have to change their shape instead. While water is changeable, variable, mutable, unsteady, uncertain, transitory and unstable; a brick is entirely opposite. While Reuben was 'weak as water', Joseph was as strong as a brick and because of it, he in the end had it all.
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