Genesis 45:1-11
Our Old Testament lesson from Genesis is about God working out his good purposes. The twist in the story is that God works out his good purposes even as human beings sin. In the story of Joseph and his brothers, God takes what human beings meant for evil and God uses it for good.
The main character in the story is a man named Joseph. Joseph is an important person. He is the second highest ranking official in the Egyptian government after Pharoah (Pharaoh is the king, the leader of Egypt, and at the time, Egypt was the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world. These are the same Egyptians who will later, in the next book in the Bible, Exodus, brutally make the Hebrew people – Joseph’s descendants – their slaves).
The thing about Joseph is that he is not an Egyptian. Rather, he is a Hebrew. His father is Jacob (also known as Israel), the same Jacob from last week’s reading who had a dream that he saw a ladder to heaven (where we get the song Jacob’s ladder) and wrestled with God in the night. Joseph is the youngest of twelve of Jacob’s sons (twelve is an important number in the Scriptures – there were twelve tribes that made up the Israelites, the ancient Jewish people, and Jesus had twelve disciples). Joseph came to be the second most powerful person in Egypt because of his brothers.
Here is the conflict in the story: Joseph is in his position, not because his brothers wanted to help his career, but because they wanted to harm Joseph. They were jealous of him. One day while they were all working together, eleven of Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him and cover it up by saying a wild animal got him. But then one of his brothers came to his senses enough to persuade the others not to kill him, but instead throw him in a pit and leave him for dead.
All seemed lost for Joseph, and his brothers appeared to get away with their crime. In a God moment, Joseph is rescued by some strangers who then keep him as their slave. Long story short, Joseph rescuers and captors eventually trade him away and he becomes a slave to a high ranking Egyptian official.
The Scriptures describe Joseph as a hard working man, with a good head on his shoulders, with strong morals, and someone who is wise and a natural leader. Joseph has the ability to see things as they are and see the consequences of actions. He is someone who was in the right place at the right time and used it to his advantage. Joseph eventually becomes second in command to Pharoah because of these personality traits. How he got there is strange for us to understand, but here it is: Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dreams to him that Pharoah could not understand.
The dream is important to the story, so here is a quick summary: Pharoah has a dream that seven fat, healthy looking cows and seven full, healthy looking wheat stalks came out of the Nile River. Next in the dream, seven sickly, thin cows and seven sickly looking heads of wheat also come out of the Nile River too. Pharoah was confused by this and didn’t know what his dream could mean. He eventually found Joseph, who interpreted the dream as God’s warning that famine and economic hardship were coming. The seven healthy looking cows and stalks of wheat represented seven years of plenty, and the seven sickly looking cows and heads of wheat that followed represented seven years of famine and economic depression.
Pharoah is so impressed with Joseph’s wise advice that he makes him his second in command. Joseph begins a massive, country wide savings program to prepare for the coming seven years of famine. He orders that any surplus grain, any extra flour, and profit be saved for the upcoming struggle of famine and economic hardship that God showed him was coming in Pharoah’s dream.
The story comes full circle because Joseph’s father, Jacob, sends his eleven brothers (who remember he hasn’t seen in years and who the last time they were all together, tried to kill Joseph, but instead decided to throw him in a pit and leave him for dead) – Jacob sends his eleven sons to Egypt to buy grain because their family is also impacted by the famine and economic hardships. When the brothers make their way to Egypt and the deal to buy grain is almost completed, the brothers are taken to Joseph to finish the sale. Joseph immediately recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him and the great man that he has become.
This is where our reading from Genesis 45 picks up this morning. In our reading, Joseph is overcome with emotion. In what must have been a dramatic family reunion filled with the possibility of lots of tension and anger after betrayals, hit jobs, and years for bitterness to eat at their souls, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Is he still bitter from all that they did to him? Will he repay them an eye for an eye and leave them for dead? Joseph reveals himself, “I am Joseph; is my father still alive?” he asks. Joseph’s brothers are stunned and afraid to even speak. Joseph then explains to his brothers all that this means.
I am your brother Joseph. I’m the one you sold into Egypt. Don’t be upset. And don’t be angry with yourselves because you sold me here. God sent me ahead of you to save many lives. For two years now, there hasn’t been enough food in the land. And for the next five years, people won’t be plowing or gathering crops. But God sent me ahead of you to keep some of you alive on earth. God sent me here to save your lives by an act of mighty power. (45:4-7)
Joseph later tells his brothers that while they intended for evil and planned to harm him, God used it for good and planned that all of the bad things that happened to him would be used for good. Without Joseph, the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – whose descendants include people like Moses, King David, and Jesus himself – they would not be because Jacob and his family would have starved and not survived the famine.
A second story: I read a biography of a man named Eldon Hostettler of North Goshen, Indiana this week. Eldon was ninety one when he died about a decade ago. He was born into an Amish family, but eventually left and became Mennonite because he couldn’t reconcile the rules with his faith. Eldon had an eighth grade education, but went on to patent 65 different inventions, including automated chicken feeders and waters and other farm equipment that changed how poultry farming was done.
What ties this story to our story from Genesis is Eldon’s beginning in the world. The doctor who delivered him was Jewish doctor named Dr. Black. When he was born, Dr. Black told Eldon’s father that Eldon “was a real God send” and that Eldon’s father should bring the baby Eldon to the Jewish temple in Ligonier, Indiana., so they could perform the usual Jewish rite.
Eldon’s father waited until he was 70 to tell him that after the Jewish ceremony for this Amish baby, the Rabbi told him that Eldon was going to be an influential person in the world.
“He said at the time of the circumcision he didn’t give the rabbi’s comment much thought. But later he realized that I would never have been able to do what I did without that blessing.”
Eldon left the Amish church at eighteen, which then eventually set him up to marry and begin working on a poultry farm. He had children and eventually became a manager at the poultry operation in Indiana. It was there that he figured out how to design more efficient and effective feeding and watering systems. From there, he started his own company, Ziggity Systems, and with his 65 patents, their products are now used worldwide in poultry farming.
In the day to day of life, it can be hard to see God’s hand at work. It is easy to become impatient with God, forgetful of God, or to give into the temptation and believe that God doesn’t care about us. But our reading from Genesis this morning is a word from Lord to us that Lord has his own purposes and reasons and that those purposes and reasons are for good and that God can even take what is meant for evil (think Joseph’s brothers wanting to kill him and leave him for dead) and use them for good.
In a way, that is how the gospel story works too. If you think about Good Friday, the day the church sets aside to mark the crucifixion and death of Jesus, from the disciple’s and Mary’s point of view, it was far from good. In fact, it was a horrible day. Their leader and friend, Mary’s son – was executed for no good reason other than the fact that some of the religious leaders were afraid of Jesus and his message. Yet, we call it Good Friday. Why? Because after the fact, the disciples and Jesus’ earliest followers realized that it rhymed with Joseph’s story – what people intended for evil (Jesus’ crucifixion), God used for good; and the world has never been the same since Jesus’ resurrection because people continue to gather together in his name, worship God, live as he taught, and hope, pray, and work for a better world where the hungry are fed, the sick are healed, the outcast are welcomed in, people put down their swords and weapons, and enemies are blessed. That’s the revolutionary message of Jesus Christ.
I would like to close by encouraging you to consider how your experience in life might relate to Joseph’s. Do you see God’s hand in the hardships and sufferings you’ve had to face, the crosses you’ve had to bear, and even the evil that might have come to you? Can you see how your experiences might be like that of Joseph’s in that what human beings meant for harm and evil in your life, God instead planned and used for good?
This is a very personal thing for each of us and it’s not my job or any Chrisitan’s job to tell you how God might be working in your life. We also shouldn’t want something bad or evil to happen to someone just to say that God can use it for good. That’s wrong. Sometimes people say the phrase “everything happens for a reason” and while that might be true, it’s often very unhelpful to hear and say, especially when you are suffering from a great tragedy and hardship. Here is something I believe: God has created each of us in his image, and made you a son and daughter and wants a relationship with you, and not through someone else’s opinion.
Sometimes God’s purposes are not clear for a long time, until one day they are clear. The church word for understanding God’s purposes in your life is discernment. Joseph went about his life for years before realizing that God used what he went through, the betrayal and near death experience, to help save his family. But his time separated from his family must have also been spiritually profitable because he was able to find it in his heart to forgive and reconcile with his brothers even after their betrayal. But that took years. He also led his own life and used the gifts God gave him apart from his family. God works on a much longer timeline than we do with more twists and turns than we’d like. But God’s purposes are good. And God is powerful in that he can take even what human beings intended for evil and harm, and use it for good.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Work Cited
Schrag, Paul, et al. “Eldon Hostetler: Blessed to blaze new trails.” Anabaptist World, 01 09 2014, https://anabaptistworld.org/eldon-hostetler-blessed-blaze-new-trails/. Accessed 16 August 2026.