God's Holy Presence

Joseph of the Old Testament is a good example of God’s Presence with His faithful people who obey Him. Sadly, Joseph experienced some hard times and mistreatment by others. First, Joseph was thrown into a deep well (cistern, pit) by his brothers at the age of seventeen (17) and eventually sold to Ishmaelite and Midianite merchants, who sold Joseph into Egyptian slavery. Later, Joseph was falsely accused of sexual assault by an adulterous and lying woman, although Joseph was innocent of any wrongdoing, and then Joseph was unjustly imprisoned in the king’s prison (another pit) for a crime he did not commit. While imprisoned, the Sovereign LORD God promoted Joseph and continued to show Joseph His eternal love and grace, elevating Joseph to a high rank within the Egyptian king’s prison. 

 

One day, Joseph met two senior royal attendants of the Pharaoh, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, who were both imprisoned for angering and offending the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Both prisoners had a dream one night, and the cupbearer and baker presented their dreams to Joseph as God’s Holy Spirit living inside Joseph gave Joseph the spiritual gift of dream interpretation. Joseph correctly interpreted the cupbearer and baker’s dreams, in which the cupbearer was restored to his royal position by Pharaoh’s side, while the baker was eventually put to death by Pharaoh. However, Joseph remained unjustly imprisoned for two more years, even after his correct dream interpretation. 

 

Eventually, the Pharaoh of Egypt had two strange but divine dreams that confused Pharaoh and his wise men (magicians), but only Joseph, with his divine wisdom from God’s Holy Spirit, could correctly interpret and explain Pharaoh’s dream.  With God’s divine help through His Holy Spirit, Joseph announced to Pharaoh that Egypt and the world would experience seven years of abundance, followed by seven years of severe famine, hunger, and scarcity. Joseph then recommended that Pharaoh implement a plan to save the people. Pharaoh saw Joseph’s divine wisdom, intelligence, administrative planning skills, and excellent discernment, which Joseph attributed to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Consequently, Pharaoh released Joseph from prison and promoted Joseph to be ruler (governor, chief administrator) over all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. 

 

Joseph was thirty years (30) old when he entered the service of Pharaoh as ruler (governor, chief administrator). Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-panel, an Egyptian wife who gave birth to two healthy sons. Joseph gave his two sons Hebrew names, Manasseh and Ephraim. As ruler of Egypt, Joseph implemented a wise and trustworthy plan to store grain during times of abundance, which would eventually save his father, Jacob (also known as Israel), and his brothers from hunger and starvation in Canaan (present-day Israel-Palestine) during times of famine. 

 

The book of Genesis notes that Joseph was a loyal and hardworking man of integrity, living a blameless life of faithful obedience to the Sovereign Lord God, even during times of trials and testing. Joseph was a well-built and handsome Hebrew man of integrity filled with the Holy Spirit’s gifts of intelligence, divine discernment, prudence, understanding, and wisdom. Despite his mistreatment, Joseph never abused God’s grace by living a wicked and evil life that sinned against God, but he lived a faithful life that feared and honored God, and God graciously filled Joseph with divine wisdom and abundant favor (grace). Joseph honored the sanctity of marriage and never yielded to adultery and sexual temptation, unlike his brothers Reuben and Judah, who both yielded to sexual sins and temptation. All sins are against the Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth. 

 

The living Sovereign LORD God and His Holy Presence continued to be with Joseph, and He favored and promoted Joseph, making him prosper and succeed in