This chapter is based on Genesis 39 to 41.
Meanwhile, Joseph was on the way to Egypt with his captors. In the distance the boy could discern the hills among which lay his father’s tents. He wept bitterly at thought of that loving father in his loneliness and affliction. Ringing in his ears were the stinging, insulting words that had met his agonized pleadings at Dothan. With a trembling heart he looked forward to the future. Alone and friendless, what would be his destiny in the strange land to which he was going? For a time, Joseph gave himself up to uncontrolled grief and terror.
But even this experience was to be a blessing to him. He had learned things in a few hours that years might not otherwise have taught him. His father had done him wrong by his favoritism and lack of discipline. This had angered his brothers and provoked the cruel deed that had separated him from his home. In his character, faults had been encouraged, and he was becoming self-sufficient and demanding. He felt that he was unprepared to cope with the difficulties facing him in the bitter, uncared-for life of a slave.
Then his thoughts turned to his father’s God. He had often listened to the story of the vision that Jacob saw as he fled from his home as an exile and fugitive. He had been told of the Lord’s promises to Jacob, and how, in the hour of need, angels had come to instruct, comfort, and protect him. He had learned of the love of God in providing a Redeemer. Now all of these precious lessons came vividly before him. Joseph believed that the God of his fathers would be his God. Then and there he gave himself fully to the Lord and prayed that the Keeper of Israel would be with him in his exile.
His soul thrilled with the high resolve to prove true to God, to act as a subject of the King of heaven. He would meet the trials of his life with inner strength and perform every duty faithfully. One day’s terrible calamity had changed him from a pampered child to a man,—thoughtful, courageous, and self-possessed.
Arriving in Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, captain of the king’s guard. Here, for ten years, he was exposed to temptations in the midst of idolatry, surrounded by all the pomp of royalty, the wealth and culture of the most highly civilized nation then in existence. Yet Joseph preserved his faithfulness to God. The sights and sounds of evil were all around him, but he was like someone who neither saw nor heard. He did not permit his thoughts to linger on forbidden subjects. The desire to gain the favor of the Egyptians could not cause him to conceal his principles. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was a worshiper of Jehovah.
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. ... And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.” Potiphar’s confidence in Joseph increased daily, and he finally promoted him to be his steward, with full control over all his possessions. “Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for bread which he ate.”
Joseph’s industry, care, and energy were crowned with the divine blessing; even his idolatrous master accepted this as the secret of his prosperity. God was glorified by His servant’s faithfulness. He intended that the believer in God should appear in sharp contrast to the worshipers of idols so that the light of heavenly grace would shine out amid the darkness of heathenism.
The chief captain came to regard Joseph as a son rather than a slave. The youth was brought into contact with men of rank and learning, and he acquired a knowledge of science, languages, and public affairs—an education needed by the future prime minister of Egypt.
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