Joseph

A Life of Providence, Injustice, and Forgiveness

Brian S. Bailey, Katie LC Philpott

• Publisher: Earthen Vessel Publishing
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780990727774
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Biography

God's providence is a key concept biblically, yet increasingly Christians do not comprehend this doctrine. Many today are practical deists; they believe in God the creator, but consider him distant and largely uninvolved in the day to day events of their own lives.The life narrative of Joseph as found in the book of Genesis shows us clearly that God is involved in every event of our lives, just as he was in the life of Joseph. This involvement in Joseph's life and in our own is through God's providence. The Anglican theologian, J. I. Packer, tell us that "providence is a continual exercise of that same energy [the universe creating energy] where by the Creator...involves Himself in all events and directs all things to their appointed end....Christians are never in the grip of blind forces; all that happens to them is divinely planned." What this means is that God was involved and in control not only of Joseph's rise to power in Egypt but also in the hard events of betrayal, slavery, false accusation and abandonment. These terrible events took Joseph by surprise but not his God. God's providence brought suffering into the life of Joseph, but that suffering had a purpose. The results of the bitter drink of suffering ultimately saved many, including the young Hebrew nation. Joseph's life shines a spotlight on the truth that God utilizes our afflictions to work his purposes in our lives and in the lives of others. We need this perspective that Joseph developed about his life. Joseph saw the hand of God, and because he did, he responded to his brother's betrayal with forgiveness and grace, not vengeance. Forgiveness and grace is the way of the cross; it is the path we are called to walk as Christians.

Chapter Twelve

Injustice, Falsely Accused for Righteousness’ Sake

Part 1

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” (Genesis 39: 6b-7)

Life, often, this side of heaven, is not fair. Injustice is rampant. Injustice surrounds us. Injustice is a by-product of a fallen world.

At the time of this writing, the verdict in the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin trial was just announced with Zimmerman being acquitted. Protests are currently sweeping the nation in response to what is perceived by many as an unjust verdict. Regardless as to how we as individuals may line up on this verdict, what cannot be ignored is that perceived and actual past injustices call this judgment of the courts into question in the minds of many.

The names of injustice are legion. It may be rumors spread around the water-cooler at work or even, regrettably, the church pew. Sometimes injustice comes in the guise of promotion denied for reasons unrelated to job fitness but for, in the mind of the applicant, slight or insignificant factors. Maybe the injustice is bound in government or corporate policy that is unresponsive or uncaring about individual needs and circumstances. Sometimes, injustice is far more cruel, more heinous because it involves an abuse of the legal system. Our narrative with Joseph shows this is not a new problem.

In his book, An Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, John Grisham tells us the story of a man accused and almost executed for a crime he did not commit. Ron Williamson dreamed of playing major league baseball but alcohol and injury curtailed his career in the baseball minor leagues, so he returned to his home in Ada, Oklahoma. Depressed over his failure, Williamson turned increasingly to drink which lead to erratic behavior, making him a community nuisance.

On December 8, 1982, a local waitress was found brutally murdered in her apartment. The police investigation was frankly poor and no immediate arrests were made. However, that would change five years later when Williamson and a friend were arrested for the murder. Ultimately, with questionable evidence, Williamson was placed on death row. Ron Williamson was mentally ill; prison for him was a living hell. His experiences on death-row exacerbated his mental and psychological decline.

After eleven years on death row, Williamson and his friend were exonerated and won a judgment against the city of Ada. As it turned out, another man was convicted of the murder in 2006.

When I first read Grisham’s book it left me almost physically ill. Prosecutorial misconduct, playing loose and fast with the facts of the case to achieve a conviction, is a total subversion of the justice system. As much as we might like to think differently these injustices do occur and innocent men and women are sent to jail for crimes they have not committed. Now I am not naïve; I know there are many imprisoned who would quickly maintain their innocence all the while lying through their teeth. But as Grisham’s book shows, there are people who were falsely accused and falsely imprisoned. It makes us wonder how many have been unfairly executed over the years. Placing anyone on death row should require incontrovertible evidence.

We as Christians should care deeply about the whole issue of justice versus injustice, for Scripture has much to say on these matters. It is clear that God is vitally concerned that the poor and the sojourners receive fair treatment. We see this in both the Old and the New Testament.

Justice and judgment are inclusive. Justice demanded judgment for the spilling of Abel’s blood, for example. Justice is demanded of us by God in the Pentateuch: “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge” (Deuteronomy 24:17). The law of gleaning, for example, was designed to help feed the poor and the foreigner.1 Land property rights were protected from generation to generation. Under the Torah law people had a right to their ancestral property, and if it was sold due to financial reverse, there were legal remedies to redeem said property.

It is clear from Scripture that the reality of some people prospering more than others was acknowledged. Any stigma against wealth was not on the issue of wealth itself. However, if that wealth was gained through oppression and injustice, then it was roundly condemned.

What is clear from even a casual reading of Scripture is that leaders were expected to promote justice. Justice was addressed by the great kings of Israel, by David and Solomon both in the Psalms and the Proverbs. However, in the aftermath of their regency, injustice became more and more an issue in Jewish society.

For example, we read in 1 Kings 21, King Ahab wanted to purchase an adjacent piece of property to his palace and plant a garden. The owner of the property, Naboth, was loath to sell his ancestral land and refused to do so. Naboth was perfectly within his rights to keep his land. Ahab’s evil wife had Naboth murdered so that her husband could take the land. For this terrible injustice, God sent the prophet Elijah to King Ahab and pronounced a judgment of death upon him.

As the nation of Israel spiraled downward religiously and ethnically, God called out to the people through His prophets, demanding that they act justly toward others but the call was unheeded. Ultimately, the judgment the prophets warned of transpired. The nation was overrun, Jerusalem was ransacked, and the Temple destroyed. Many of the Jews were forcibly expatriated with their captors and spent seventy years in Babylon.

When Nehemiah was tasked with rebuilding Jerusalem, a problem he encountered was the oppression of the poor remaining in Jerusalem by the wealthy and aristocrats. There were food shortages and the people were reduced to selling their property and even their children to purchase food. For those who borrowed money, they were being charged exorbitant rates, which were in violation of the usury laws in the Torah. Nehemiah put a stop to all of this, demanded justice, the return of land to its proper owners, and the ending of usury. Again, the wealthy were not criticized for their wealth, but they were roundly condemned for gaining further wealth at the expense of justice and in taking advantage of the poorest among them.

Doing justice sits at the very apex of godly ethics in the Old Testament. We read in Micah, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) In the New Testament, Jesus continued the demand for justice. In particular Jesus stood for justice and righteousness (and we should say that justice and righteousness are intertwined once again) when he cleared the money changers out of the Temple. The money changers were extorting their temple clients and Jesus, in so many words, called the extortionists thieves.

In the writings of Paul, in particular in the book of Ephesians, Paul told Christian slave-owners to treat their slaves with dignity and humanity. He reminded the slave-owners (analogous to today’s business owners) that they have a master as well, a master that they must answer to for how they treat those who work for them. In the push for social justice today, many forget that there is also a justice responsibility of the slave, or what would today be the employee, to treat their owner properly and work diligently and fairly for their owner. Equity in treatment, fairness in behavior, should go both ways. Christian business owners should be the best employers and Christian employees should be the best employees. That is justice.

We as Christians should strive through God’s grace to be the most just of people and to stand for justice in society and in the workplace. We should also strive for justice in the legal system as well. Striving for justice is not job one for us however. First and foremost, we are called to be God’s people and to share Jesus, the cross, and the empty tomb. We are not, regardless, to be absent from the battle front for justice in our society. We also recognize that good Christians disagree as to what justice looks like in all situations. A thorough examination of that point is not the focus of this book. But it is clear from Scripture that we need to have an open heart for others and an open heart to share the love of Christ creatively in the community. (See “*Note:” at chapter end.)

Those who have never been falsely accused cannot begin to appreciate the painful wasp-like sting to the soul of a false accusation. It is bad enough to be falsely accused in the court of public opinion, and as we have seen, infinitely worse to be false accused before the authorities, as in Joseph’s case.

It all started with Joseph being an attractive young man. “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance,” our text tells us. There is nothing wrong with being attractive to the opposite sex; that is part of God’s design and attractiveness is a factor in our sexuality. We are created sexual beings. The problem here is not that Joseph is a good-looking young man- the problem is who considers him good-looking. We read that his master’s wife cast her eyes on him and propositions him or literally, “… his lord’s wife lifteth up her eyes unto Joseph, and saith, `Lie with me” (YLT).

From the text we know that Joseph has done nothing wrong. There is no evidence that he had flirted with this woman or otherwise invited her intentions. He had not, in the parlance of our day, led her on. Potiphar’s wife has been the initiator in all of this. She saw this young man, saw that he was attractive, and began to lust for him.

We learn from this situation that our eyes can betray us. What we see or allow ourselves to see can stir up sin within us. Of course, it is not so much this seeing of something that may become a point of temptation as it is what we do with what we’re seeing. Jesus tells us that sin begins in the heart. (See “**Note:” at chapter end.) In other words it is what we do with the stimuli that our sight perceives that can become a problem for us. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16 KJV) We can also look at the history of King David and his consort-turned-wife Bathsheba to see this dynamic at work.

In 2 Samuel chapter 11 where at a time when kings would go to war, David decided to stay in Jerusalem. One evening, when he was walking on his rooftop he happened to see a neighboring woman who was bathing on her rooftop. He saw her in her nude beauty, made inquiries, and had her brought to him so that he might seduce her. David’s lustful eyes brought him to a point of sin where he committed adultery and to cover up his adultery, murder. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made the point that if our eye offended us we would be better to gouge it out. Of course, Jesus is using literary exaggeration h...