James Nisbet Commentary - Genesis 41:41 - 41:41

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James Nisbet Commentary - Genesis 41:41 - 41:41


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PRISON TO PALACE

‘Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.’

Gen_41:41

Pharaoh was a wise king. When he found a man of capacity and honesty like Joseph, he made use of him. And he did it in a royal style. He gave him a place in which he could use his qualities for the kingdom, and he invested the place with dignity and honour. The story is illustrative of the free and sweeping way an Eastern monarch ruled. But it is true of the life of Eastern lands to-day. A late Prime Minister in Persia rose from a humble place and lowly lineage to the first place in the kingdom, just as Joseph did in Egypt.

I. It does credit to Pharaoh that he admired and sought the qualities which Joseph possessed.—The Spirit of God was in him, and he had discretion and wisdom. There will always be work in the world ready for the man of whom this can be said. Discretion and wisdom are terms applicable not so much to the intellectual life as to character; to the man as a whole. The wise man is the man who knows how to do and when to do, and who does. And no man can have the Spirit of God in him doing his full work who will not become such a wise man, calm and prudent in judgment, strong and patient in plan and purpose, and steadfast and reliable in the discharge of duty.

II. Joseph accepted the position Pharaoh offered him.—It might have been dangerous for him to decline. It was surely dangerous for him to accept. There were the certain jealousies of those who would be supplanted by him, and the natural opposition of old officials and established families to an upstart, just out from prison, and with a dark history behind him. Moreover, the work before Joseph was appalling. But young as he was, he took it up. A man need never be afraid to take up any work which God gives him. He is pursuing the perilous course who runs away from God’s call, however solemn and astounding it may be. It is an easier and a happier thing to be a prime minister at God’s call and with God’s help than a hod-carrier without God. All work is easy which God gives man, and all work hard when He does not give. In prison Joseph at once acted upon all the knowledge he had of God’s will and purpose.

III. Joseph had not sought this office, nor interpreted dreams in order to get it.—He believed that he was in it for the sake of the conditions, the knowledge of which had been the means of putting him in it. And he went to work to gather the grain which the land brought forth in handfuls. What he predicted in God’s name to others, he acted upon in God’s strength himself. Joseph lived his own gospel, and at once laid out his might in accordance with it. Thou that preachest that another man must not lie, dost thou lie? Thou that tellest men to prepare for judgment, art thou prepared? Thou that preachest of a holy God, art thou clean in thine inward parts? The consistency of Joseph calls all who preach to others or who think that they believe for themselves, to act upon their beliefs and not use them merely as the means of livelihood, as stock in trade in conversation, or as mental notions untranslated into act and moral nature.

Illustration

(1) ‘How casual seem the results of God’s providence! In after years, the butler might say, “By merest chance I was in the same prison with him, and happened to dream a dream, which he interpreted, and so he became ruler of Egypt.” The history of the world all hinges on seeming chances of this sort. Oliver Cromwell was on board of ship ready to start for America, when Charles I. stopped him. How nearly his services were lost to England!

The great struggle of the Dutch against Spain for religious liberty might have been fruitless, but for the storm which raised the sea, and broke through the dykes and permitted the Dutch galleys to sail over the fields right to the besieged town of Leyden with provisions and men. Our accidents are God’s designs, and the little things as well as the great are all of His appointment.’

(2) ‘There were good reasons for the time of waiting that Joseph had in the prison-house. What did it do for Joseph’s character? Perhaps it cured a tendency to undue self-esteem; certainly it helped to nourish self-control. Nothing does that so well as being compelled to wait, when we want to work. Compare the influence of David’s time of persecution on his fitness for his kingship. Joseph also had to learn this very valuable lesson, that if a man takes care to keep his character good, God will have both him and it in His safe keeping, and by-and-by make the goodness plain to everybody.’