GENESIS: Snoopy's Short & Snappy Review

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paradox3 said:
Joseph is emerging as a biblical hero!

Despite being sold into slavery and imprisoned, he holds responsible positions. He is successful and God is with him. And he is physically attractive to boot. To say nothing of being a morally upstanding character.

He is quite the contrast to some of those brothers of his. He was his father's favorite son and he has turned out well.
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So within a short time, ( as the footnotes say in "o",) he changed from a liar, a tattletale and an arrogant young man?
And now it is the wife who is the liar?
I'm not buying it....it's a one sided report probably written by a man BUT it could be true...still it's a one sided story....but then again God is on Joseph's side and believes him not the wife....and we all know God chooses the most righteous of men don't we?( sarcasm)
 
We are getting many stories in Genesis about people behaving badly. This wife of Potiphar is no exception.

There is nothing in the text which suggests Joseph actually had sex with her. I believe that she was lying.
 
paradox3 said:
We are getting many stories in Genesis about people behaving badly. This wife of Potiphar is no exception.
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What do we know of her character other than this? Joseph seems to know how to work a crowd ( hmmm, who does that remind me of) including his Dad....jumping from the last to the first of his brothers in his Dad's eyes.
 
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Tangent Alert. The Netflix series Unbelievable takes a look at the treatment of sexual assault survivors. An interesting side story concerns the faith of one of the female detectives.

Highly recommended.
 
Waterfall said:
What do we know of her character other than this? Joseph seems to know how to work a crowd ( hmmm, who does that remind me of) including his Dad....jumping from the last to the first of his brothers in his Dad's eyes.
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The Genesis narrative suggests to me he was always the favorite son. It gives us the explanation that Joseph was born late in life to Jacob.

He was also the firstborn of Rachel who was Jacob's first love and favorite wife.

I agree with your comments that Jacob was a tattletale and arrogant character before being sold off by his brothers.
 
Was Joseph arrogant or socially naive? He shared his dreams before he understood what they implied. Remember Genesis is q collection of stories which are a mix of fables, sarcasm (tower of Babel), events which may have substitute characters and settings, theology, philosophy, and probably history. The authors of the version assembled in tbe exile in Babylon had a purpose for the assembly of the Torah, the legitimization of Judaism as they saw it. The most important part of the Joseph story is setting the stage for the Exodus which is crucial to Jewish identity. The story was told to reveal a God who shapes events to reach a desired end. In this case, that end is a servant of God's who leads in saving thousands to millions of people from starvation and gaining unbelievable status as a foreigner in the mighty kingdom of Egypt.

Joseph is mostly an instrument for God to use in moving the story forward in this story. It is marginally about the real Joseph, if there was one.
 
As the favored son, Joseph was likely in a position of privilege.

The privileged often do not recognize the extent of the privilege they actually hold. They can come across as arrogant and entitled due to this naivete or blindness.
 
The Spiritual takeaways from this Chapter is ---

1 Loyalty to God ----the first commandment -Love God with all your heart --soul --mind and strength ---which Joseph is showing here ---by refusing to give into the lust of adultery that is calling to him ----when you Love God you want to please Him and stay away from Sin -----

Joseph keeps his passion and emotions under his control ----

Proverbs 25:28 ESV​

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.


2 Resist Temptation when it comes your way by submitting to what God wants and the devil will flee from you ---

James 4:7
AMP
So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.


3 Stand for what is Right when evil accuses you wrongly and you suffer ----

1 Peter 3:14 and 17 Amp B

14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness [though it is not certain that you will], you are still blessed [happy, to be admired and favored by God]. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR INTIMIDATING THREATS, NOR BE TROUBLED or DISTURBED [by their opposition].

17 For it is better that you suffer [unjustly] for doing what is right, if that should be God’s will, than [to suffer justly] for doing wrong.

God was with Joseph as he was in prison and Joseph was blessed ----

Genesis 39
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.

23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Proverbs 10:22

CEV
When the Lord blesses you with riches, you have nothing to regret.
 
Good morning. Here is Genesis 40

Snoopy's Snappy Review:
The Royal Baker and the Cupbearer might remind you of fairy tale characters. Or Alice's Wonderland :D

www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 40 - New English Translation

The Cupbearer and the Baker - After these things happened, the cupbearer to the king of Egypt and the royal baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was enraged with his two officials, the cupbearer and the baker, so he imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard in...
www.biblegateway.com www.biblegateway.com

The Royal Baker and the Cupbearer have offended Pharoah and been thrown in prison. Joseph is their attendant. On the same night they each have a dream which Joseph interprets.

The Cupbearer's dream means that Pharoah will reinstate him in three days. Joseph requests that he speak to Pharoah on his behalf.

The Royal Baker can expect to be beheaded in three days. His head will be impaled on a pole and birds will eat his flesh.

A feast is held on Pharoah's birthday for all his servants. He is said to "lift up" the heads of the chief Baker and the chief Cupbearer. The Cupbearer is restored to his former position and the Baker is impaled.

The Cupbearer forgets about Joseph.
 
What is the meaning of this gruesome little story? It establishes Joseph as a reliable interpreter of dreams which he says come from God.

Interesting that the Cupbearer forgets all about Joseph and his request. Is this meant to illustrate a lack of gratitude?
 
It also reminds me of all the casual promises that are made and broken:

"Sure. I'll say hi the next time I see her."
"Let's get together for a drink sometime."
'I'll stop by the next time I am in the area."

Sometimes such agreements are more important to one party than the other.
 
The Cupbearer might have been traumatized by the beheading of his colleague. Just imagine seeing the baker's head impaled on that pole when you once worked with the guy.

I probably wouldn't want to risk antagonizing such a boss or ruler. Better to "accidentally on purpose" forget Joseph's request for advocacy.
 
So we see that Joseph was put in charge of the cupbearer and the baker -----and he attended to them ---so this to me says he listened to them --which shows Joseph was compassionate towards the 2 --and probably to others in the prison as well -----

the Hebrew word for attended

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon:
qâshab
to hear, be attentive, heed, incline (of ears), attend (of ears), hearken, pay attention, listen,
to pay attention, give attention

Joseph tells the 2 who had the dreams that God interprets dreams ---so here Joseph is giving God the Glory for the interpretation of the dreams not himself -----

God is to get the Glory not us ---and Joseph complies with this when he says to them --

verse 8
8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

Now here is the thing here ---Joseph conveyed the good and bad interpretation to each one -He did not shy away from telling the baker his fate ----

We today don't like telling other the real truth of what the scripture really says ---we like to water it down to the nice and fuzzy feeling stuff ----and that is bad for the soul ----be a Joseph and tell the truth behind the words ----

Obviously the baker was guilty of whatever crime he committed and death was his punishment -----it is the same today ----the cupbearer was innocent ---and was restored --
paradox3 said:
Interesting that the Cupbearer forgets all about Joseph and his request. Is this meant to illustrate a lack of gratitude?
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I personally think God was incharge of this forgetfulness from the cupbearer because Joseph's time was not right yet for him to get out ------as at another time here we will see the reverse ---

Everything happens on God's timing not ours ------God know the right time for Joseph to be remembered --we have to be patient in our waiting for the right time for God to act ---and many want what they want NOW ----and then think God is not there for them when they don't get what they want right away ==

This is where Joseph excelled as he wants to get out of prison but serves rightly while he is in there ---his Faith in God is not wavering ---it is steadfast ----
 
So many possible explanations for the memory lapse of the Cupbearer!

I found a few commentators with the same idea as @unsafe. (God doing all things in God's own time.)
 
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