THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #11 | JOSEPH: THE FATHER OF LOVE #12

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3692

THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #11

JOSEPH: THE FATHER OF LOVE #12

We sometimes overlook Joseph's significance when Genesis devotes its longest chapters to his life.

He was the first Jew in exile who did not succumb to the predominant culture of his forced domicile in Egypt. 

His example inspired his people in later centuries when Jews were hounded out of various countries because of waves of anti-Semiticism.

A good example is the Feast of Hanukkah which symbolizes Jewish ideological independence. 

The Maccabees, who fought the Greek-Seleucid conquerors, not only demanded sovereignty. They opposed the conqueror’s attempts to impose the Hellenistic culture on the Jewish nation. The independence they fought for expressed more than national ownership of a piece of land. It expressed the right of the Jewish nation to live a spiritual life, with loyalty and devotion to the values inherited from their ancestors.

This devotion to God does not come out of nowhere. It is the result of Joseph's example which continued to inspire countless Jews throughout the generations, and we cannot help but be amazed by their courage and loyalty to the covenantal love of God.

When Joseph rose to relative greatness in the house of his master, “who all he had he gave into his hand,” the master’s wife tried to seduce the handsome young man. She tried to tempt him day after day, but Joseph stubbornly rejected her.

He told her: "Now how can I commit this great evil, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39, 8-9)

Joseph only had his father's teachings to establish his firm foundation of faith before his brothers sold him off as a slave. He was just a teenager then.

But he never forgot the covenant established between his great grandfather Abraham and God.

This spiritual lesson ought to impress us to school our children in the fundamentals of Christian faith from a young. 

For it will stand them in good stead wherever they are in the future. And needless to say, their parents are the best examples of faith in Christ.

That was Joseph's legacy to us. We are in the world but not of the world.