Once a young boy and his friends decided to visit a village. It was a long journey, so they got thirsty in the middle of the journey. They went to nearby houses and asked for a glass of water, but they were denied a drink. Some asked them to drink filthy water, saying they were born to drink it as such. And some treated them very badly. This made the young boy to become Babasaheb, the power, an identity of his community; he was admired and praised, and many youngsters took him as their role model.
As we all know, Genesis is the first book of the Bible. The author of the book gives more importance to the family narrative from Genesis chapters 12–50. Here, the author is very focused on the act or the will of a particular family. From the beginning, we see God’s presence with them—by choosing Abraham as his people for salvation. Throughout this narration, God never ever failed to restore, support, strengthen, and establish his people in this family narration.
Later, that’s what we see in Jesus as the fulfilment of God’s plan as a universal mission to restore support, strengthen, and establish humankind.
As we see in Genesis, it was the 2nd year of the famine. Chapter 47, verses 1–12 is a continuation of Genesis 46.
In ancient times, the land of Egypt was known as the oldest, wisest, and richest nation on earth. It is a long and thin country, running along the banks of the Nile, hemmed on both sides by desert. The people of Egypt were convinced that they live in the best land on earth, because of their fertile soil called black land around the Nile and surrounded by the red land for the source of precious metals and semi-precious stones. The red land was a barren desert, the sand waste of the desert around them kept the armies away from Egypt. And the annual flood of Nile made their land yield two or three good crops a year. Even the poor who lived by his hunt lived comfortably and warmly.
Because of the rich natural habitation, the Egyptians believed that everything around them was a gift from God. This made them more spiritual and made them feel superior to others. None of their customs and ways of doing things were invented by humans; everything was given by God at creation and could not be changed. So, the nature of the Egyptians is more rigid towards their religious customs and teachings.
In this state of nature, Joseph already met his father and brother and explained to them how to speak and what to say to Pharaoh in chapter 46. In verses 46:34, we see Egyptians detesting Hebrews because of their job as shepherds. In chapter 47, Joseph meets Pharaoh along with his five brothers and father. And they told him that they wanted to live in Goshen because there were no pastures left in Canaan on account of the famine. Jacob was 130 years old and blessed Pharaoh. Though Pharaoh gave them permission to settle in the best land of Egypt, it was not an easy journey for Joseph to become the governor of Egypt. From slave to the authority.
Joseph’s substantial faith in God raised him to the great height. Even in the midst of suffering, he never despised God, but his faith grew stronger and sustained. His faithfulness reminded him to trust in God’s plan, and he never deviated from God’s way. He made wise choices during his trials and proved that he was faithful and obedient to God’s words.
Being a slave is not easy to compare with. The punishments of a slave are crueller than any other. The naive and favourite son of Jacob lost all his credibility because of jealousy. His brother’s jealousy made him a slave, but God’s providence made him governor to rule over them. God restored Joseph with more blessings and sustained him in a high position where his dreams were fulfilled. His brother bowed at him, and Joseph reigned over them. He gave them the land to settle on and provided food according to their numbers.
Faithfulness: Joseph’s faithfulness was not only to His God but also in his work towards his master, Potiphar, which made him make the right decision by preventing him from making mistakes in the sight of both his master and God. His loyalty and truthfulness made him reach great heights.
He was more fruitful in Spirit, that he was able to forgive his brothers, and love them, he provided them with land and food when they were homeless.
Our God is a God who keeps his promise and who never forsakes or leaves us. He keeps his word to his people. He restored the Family of Jacob with Joseph and Joseph was restored with his family. God sustained their family through Joseph’s suffering and Joseph become the blessing for the whole Egyptians.
When we are obedient towards God and fruitful like Joseph, God will bless us and through us our neighbours around us will also be blessed. Non-person is a person who is neglected or not been recognised by society. To go back to the story, I shared in the beginning, the young boy Ambedkar’s love for his family and for his people, his self-control and ambitious heart paved the way for him to get dignity and good life for his people. In the same manner, when Joseph was not even recognised as a person by his community, it is through God’s mercy and his faithfulness in God that let him to receive favour by his superiors. Without God, he won’t be a person, but with God, he became a person. Let’s be obedient in our life and be fruitful in spirit. Amen
