One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Wednesday, January 19th Potiphar Throws Joseph In Prison, Joseph Interprets Dreams, Jesus Tells the Parable of the Four Soils
Click Here To LIsten to the 4 Audio Lessons
Click Here to Read Genesis 39:1-41:16
These three chapters are very compelling. Joseph's life, his relationship with God, and God's presence and provision in his life are riveting.
Potiphar, a very important official in Pharaoh's ranks, hires Joseph as a servant. The Lord is with Joseph in everything he does for Potiphar. And in fact Potiphar realizes the Lord is with him in whatever way he understands the Lord. With Joseph in charge, he has no worries about anything happening in his household. So he gave Joseph COMPLETE control of all of his household. Given Joseph was a Hebrew slave, this was no small thing.
Potiphar's wife is quite fond of Joseph as well. She throws herself at him several times looking to go to bed with him. Joseph shows amazing self control, and the reason he can have such restraint is that Potiphar had put his absolute trust in Joseph. Potiphar's trust is the reason he is now the head of the house. Secondly, he withheld acting on his impulses because it would be a "great sin against God".
Potiphar's wife is not used to not getting what she wants continues to make advances at Joseph unsuccessfully. Finally, in her frustration she rips a piece of Joseph's garment during her last attempt to seduce him. This causes her to have an idea how she might get back at him. So she screams and tells the servants that Joseph had tried to rape her. When Potiphar gets back he is furious and throws Joseph in prison. Poor Joseph is given a raw deal again.
There is a very clear theme in today's reading. Verse 21 says, "But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden." Despite the terrible circumstances Joseph was in, he got to see the Lord's favor. Soon the prison warden, like Potiphar, entrusted Joseph with the most important duties because when Joseph was in charge he had no worries.
Next, we see Joseph's gift at interpreting dreams. Two of Pharaoh's servants, the baker and the wine steward, had been thrown into the palace prison as well. They both had dreams. They asked Joseph to interpret them. Importantly Joseph says, "I can't do anything but if God chooses he can". We see his complete reliance on God for his gifts and true humilty.
To summarize the rest of the story, Joseph correctly interprets the dreams of both of these men correctly. The interpretation of the dream for the cupbearer went very well for him. As for the baker, his dream spelled his doom. Both dreams came true at Potiphar's birthday celebration, but the cupbearer forgot to give Joseph any credit so he remained in prison.
So TWO FULL YEARS later, the Pharoah has a dream and when he asks if anyone can interpret it, the cupbearer finally remembers Joseph and what he did for him. When the Pharaoh calls him out of prison to have him interpret the dream, Joseph once again says,
“It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” 41:16
So many people, when bad things happen to them, blame God and some even walk away from God. But Joseph is an example of someone who waited on God's deliverance from the unjust treatment not once, but two times. And it only gets better from here.
"Joseph seems much wiser and perhaps humbler than he was before. If it was true that in the past he told his brothers his previous dreams in a self-glorying way, any such self-confidence was now gone. Joseph knew that God alone had the answer. God’s work of character building was being accomplished in Joseph, even when he perhaps thought nothing was happening." (Guzik)
Click Here to Read Matthew 12:46-13:23
The True Family of Jesus
Jesus clarifies who his true family is when he is told his mother and brothers are outside. He points to his disciples and says, "These are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does my will is my brother, sister and mother."
I don't think Jesus is disrespecting his family. He is pointing to his divinity. Though he is born into a specific family as a human being, as God, he came to claim those who would follow him as his sons and daughters. This is why when we see someone in church we can say, "Hello brother. Or, hello sister."
We are the family of God and each one of us is a part of it. When we do God's will we bear the family resemblance.
Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed
This is one of the best known parables Jesus used in teaching about the kingdom. The process of scattering seed was very familiar to his audience as a lot of them were farmers. This parable might be called the, "parable of the four soils". As we will see the seed only produced fruit when it took root in the right kind of soil.
Out of the four soils, three of them were not conductive to growth. One was rock hard. Another was shallow. And the last one was thorny. As such, when the seed was scattered and fell on to these soils none of them came to fruition. The hardened soil never took the seed at all. The shallow soil showed promise, but since the soil was shallow and the seed hadn't rooted, the plant withered under the hot sun. The thorny soil showed some promise, but the thorns eventually choked out any hope of growth.
But the main point of the parable is the seed that landed on the fertile soil. Not only did the seed take deep root, but because the condition was perfect, it grew and produced a exponential growth.
The disciples don't get what Jesus is saying and wonder why he tries to communicate truth with such confusing parables. Why did use this particular method?
"Jesus explained that He used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened further." (Guzik)
“The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth.” (Barclay)
Finally, Jesus interprets this parable for them.
The hard soil represents those who hear the gospel, yet the devil comes snatches what is in their heart, so they can't understand or apply it or come to faith.
The shallow soil represents those who hear the gospel of Jesus and it takes some root and brings some joy. They start to grow, but then the problems and worries of this world cause them to fall away.
The rocky soil represents those who receive the Word of joy but the worries of this life choke out what God wants to do in this person's life. They don't trust God with the most pressing issues of their lives.
Lest we get too depressed, the fourth soil shows us what we are meant to look like as a true believers in Christ. This person not only hears God Word. They understand it and put it into practice. This causes the Word of God to take root in their life and they become fruitful multiplying themselves several times over. This is what means to be a fruitful and effective Chrsitians. We listen, understand, and apply God's Word. As we grow, God uses us to disciple and reproduce the life of another brother or sister in Christ.
The other thing that hit me was that we are probably never always exclusively one type of soil at all times in our lives. Our soil condition may change from time to time. We might have been very receptive of God's word and willing to obey, only to move to have a hardened heart, which blocks God's word. Or, we may move from being fruitful to letting the cares of this world overwhelm us, so we focus more on them than God.
Click Here to Read Psalm 17:1-17
Many believe the context of this psalm was when King Saul was hunting down David in jealousy that David had a better following than he did. This is why David asks God to search his heart and examine if he has an impure motives. He thinks he doesn't have any, but he lets the Lord be the judge of that. It reminds us that we might think we are acting or thinking pure but sometimes our sinful nature is very deceptive. We sometimes deceive ourselves thinking a lot more highly of ourselves than we ought.
Despite this tendency in human nature, David is fully reliant on God's grace and kindness as he says,
"Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. By your mighty power you rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies. Guard me as you would guard your own eyes. Hide me in the shadow of your wings." Verses 7-8
Solomon moves to very relational language of a father and son. We all need mentors in life who guide us and help us to grow in our understanding and wisdom.
"Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them." Verses 4 and 5
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