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16. Joseph is sold to Egypt.

The foreign merchants brought poor Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the king's chamberlain, as a hired servant. But when the eunuch recognised Joseph's understanding and piety and saw that he was useful to him - a pious and understanding heart finds friends everywhere - he became more and more fond of him and at the same time put him in charge of all his property. Joseph was suddenly a happy man, but Potiphar's wife was a very wicked woman, and she forced Joseph to be very unfaithful to his master. Joseph said to her, ‘How could I do such a great evil and sin against my God?’ Once again, this is a little star proverb, with which one remains on good paths and comes to God, even if it should be through a prison.

When Potiphar's wife could not get her way and finally had to fear that she would be betrayed, she said to her husband: ‘The Hebrew servant whom you brought into the house has done me a great disloyalty against you.’ The descendants of Abraham were called Hebrews in Egypt. That is why she said: ‘the Hebrew servant’. When his master heard his wife's speech, he became very angry and had Joseph thrown into prison unheard and unjustly. Thus ended Joseph's good days in Potiphar's house.

But God's grace does not remain behind wherever a pious and innocent heart is thrown. It makes itself known to him in one way or another. God guided the bailiff's heart about the royal prisons so that he soon gained a good trust in Joseph and entrusted him with the supervision and care of all the prisoners. As a result, he once again had a few happy days.

At the same time two of the king's noblemen, the cupbearer and the baker, were also sent to the same prison for an offence, and Joseph was given charge of them as of the others and served them. But one morning when he came to them, they were very sad and told him that each of them had had a dream and that there was no one to interpret their dreams. Joseph said, ‘The interpretation of dreams is from God, but tell me about yours.’

The cupbearer began: ‘I saw a vine that had three branches. It greened, it grew, it blossomed, and its grapes ripened. I pressed the grapes into the king's cup and put the cup in the king's hand.’ Joseph said: ‘That's right! The three branches are three days; in three days the king will raise your head and restore you to your office. Remember me when it is well with thee, and have mercy on me, that I may be delivered from prison.’ -

The baker said: ‘I carried three baskets on my head and in the top basket all kinds of baked food for the king, and the birds ate from the basket on my head.’ - Joseph said, ‘The three baskets are three days. In three days the king will raise your head and hang you on the gallows.’ As I said, so it was done. After three days, the king reinstated the cupbearer and had the baker hanged. But the cupbearer no longer remembered Joseph, that he had delivered him.

People often forget the faithful service that has been rendered to them and the thanks for it. But God does not forget innocence. He knows the right hours of joy and knows well what is useful to us. If only he has found us faithful, sincere, without hypocrisy, he will come before we know it and let many good things happen to us.

After two years, Pharaoh also had a dream. Pharaoh, that is the king. He saw seven beautiful, fat cows coming out of the water and then seven lean cows. The lean cows devoured the fat ones and did not get any fatter. Again he saw seven ears of corn growing on one stalk; they were full and thick, and again seven thin, withered ears of corn; these devoured the full ones and yet did not grow thicker. This meant that evil and barren times would come for cattle breeding and grain cultivation.

When Pharaoh was troubled about this dream, the cupbearer remembered his sin of forgetting Joseph, and told the king that there was a Hebrew man in the prison who had once interpreted their dreams for him and the hanged baker.

Immediately Joseph was brought before the king, and the king told him his dream. Joseph said: ‘The interpretation of the dreams is from God. - There will still be seven rich, fruitful years in Egypt; after that there will be seven barren and lean years in Egypt. There will be great distress and the land will be devoured.’ Joseph then advised the king to have granaries built and to collect and store the fifth part of all the grain for seven years for the years of distress. This speech pleased the king so much, and Joseph showed so much understanding, that the king said, ‘Where can we find a more understanding man than Joseph, in whom is the Spirit of God?’ So he set Joseph over all his house and over all his land and raised him to great honour. He took his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand; he clothed him with white silk and adorned him with a gold chain; he made him ride in a royal chariot and proclaimed before him that he had entrusted him with a fatherly care for the land. So he became the first in Egypt after the king and faithfully and wisely fulfilled everything he had advised the king himself.

This is the marvellous way Joseph had to go: from his father's house into a deep pit; from the pit as a sold servant to Egypt into Potiphar's house; from Potiphar's house into prison; from prison into the king's palace. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before the king.

Notice in this story about the dreams: Joseph interpreted three dreams. Many a deceitful or simple-minded person wants to imitate him. If anyone comes to you and wants to interpret a dream, say to him, ‘The interpretation is from God; but first prove to me such examples of godliness and righteousness as Joseph showed in Potiphar's house and in the prison, and then I will believe your interpretation that it is from God’.