Truth Rightly Divided

Genesis Study 17

Bible Class – Study #17 (Gen 41-42) – Notes and Discussion questions

Genesis Study #17: The elevation of Joseph

Main passage of study: Gen 41:1 – 42:38

Related passages: Pt

A: Dt 32:14; Eze 17:10; Da 2:1-3; 4:5
B : 1Sa 2:8; Da 2:28; 4:7; 1Co 2:10
C: Ge 47:24; 2Ki 8:1; Job 33:14-15
D: Da 5:14, 29; 6:3; Mt 13:54; Ac 7:10; Php 2:9-11
E: Ge 48:5; 49:22; Ps 105:16-17; Jn 2:5
F: Ge 12:10; 37:7,9; Ac 7:12
G: Pro 17:3; Jn 1:11
H: Ge 37:21-22; Lu 23:41; Ro 2:4, 15; 12:20
I: Ge 37:33; 43:9, 14, 21; 44:29

Outline & Notes

  1. Pharaoh’s dream received– Gen 41:1-13
    1. The sovereign’s overnight revelations – Gen 41:1-8
    2. The servant’s overdue recollections – Gen 41:9-13
  2. Pharaoh’s dream recounted– Gen 41:14-24
    1. The detainee summoned – Gen 41:14-16
    2. The details shared – Gen 41:17-24
  3. Pharaoh’s dream revealed – Gen 41:25-36
    1. The unity of the dream – Gen 41:25-27
    2. The urgency of the dream – Gen 41:28-32
    3. The utility of the dream – Gen 41:33-36
  4. Joseph’s ascent in Egypt– Gen 41:37-45
    1. Joseph’s pronounced appointment – Gen 41:37-41
    2. Joseph’s public acknowledgement – Gen 41:42-45
  5. Joseph’s administration over Egypt– Gen 41:46-57
    1. Joseph’s storing of grain – Gen 41:46-49
    2. Joseph’s sons – Gen 41:50-52
    3. Joseph’s selling of grain – Gen 41:53-57
  1. The brothers’ condition threatened– Gen 42:1-6
    1. A pressing need – Gen 42:1-2
    2. Paternal nervousness – Gen 42:3-4
    3. A prophesied kneeling – Gen 42:5-6
  2. The brothers’ character tested – Gen 42:7-20
    1. A test of their intentions – Gen 42:7-13
    2. A test of their integrity – Gen 42:14-20
  3. The brothers’ conscience troubled – Gen 42:21-28
    1. The brothers’ accusation of heart – Gen 42:21-22
    2. Joseph’s affection of heart – Gen 42:23-24
    3. Joseph’s abundance of heart – Gen 42:25-26
    4. The brothers’ alarm of heart – Gen 42:27-28
  4. The brothers’ concerns transmitted – Gen 42:29-38
    1. The brothers’ recounting – Gen 42:29-34
    2. Jacob’s reaction – Gen 42:35-36
    3. Reuben’s responsibility – Gen 42:37
    4. Jacob’s refusal – Gen 42:38

Since Joseph had those prophetic dreams as a teenager in his father’s house, he had to endure a number of trials and afflictions from the hatred and rejection of his brothers to being falsely accused, unjustly incarcerated and seemingly forgotten in a dungeon. But God had not forgotten and God’s time for Joseph to be exalted had come. God’s sovereign hand is on display as He disturbs the sleep of one of the most powerful men in the world and confounds the mystical minds of Pharaoh’s magicians so that the way might be paved for Joseph to rise to prominence in God’s program. The severe circumstances of the foretold famine will not only bring all of Egypt into a position of crucial dependence upon Joseph and his administrative abilities but will also force Joseph’s brethren to come face to face with the one that they had wronged so many years before. Though they don’t yet recognize their brother, the wheels of the journey toward true repentance and reconciliation are set in motion, Joseph shows them tough love and undeserved kindness in order to ascertain whether they truly are the honest men that they claim to be.

Textual notes

● Pharaoh’s ‘magicians’ would have been some sort of sorcerer-priests with claimed knowledge of sacred arts and astrology and the ability to foretell the future.

● Joseph told Pharaoh that his dream was given to him twice “ because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” As we have seen previously, two is the number of witness in Scripture and though God needs not to repeat something to make it true, He often does so graciously to impress upon us the importance of His truth.

● The meaning of Joseph’s new name given by Pharaoh, Zaphnath-Paaneah (Gen 41:45), is rather obscure and difficult to determine. The Bible often gives us the meaning of names (as with Joseph’s sons) but that is not the case here. Undoubtedly, the name was of Egyptian origin and was given so that Joseph, as a ruler of Egypt, could be known by an Egyptian name. Scholars have suggested that an Egyptian interpretation might be ‘the god speaks and he lives’ . Based on a Hebrew etymology, scholars have suggested a meaning of ‘the revealer of secrets’. Then, influenced by the Greek rendering of the name in the Septuagint and the Latin rendering in the Vulgate, the meaning, ‘saviour of the world’ has also been suggested.

● Gen 42:28 is the first time we read of any of Joseph’s brothers mentioning God directly.

Discussion questions

1. Waiting upon God is a common theme in Genesis. What can we learn from Joseph having to wait ‘two full years’ from when the butler was released and 13 years to see his own dreams from ch.37 begin to be fulfilled?

2. What elements of Pharaoh’s dreams would have been particularly disturbing to the Egyptian sovereign?

3. What lessons can we draw from Joseph’s redirecting Pharaoh’s focus to God and off of himself as regards the interpretation of his dreams?

4. The Lord always equips and prepares His servants for the work that He calls them to do. How did the Lord use the trials and tribulations of Joseph’s life before this to prepare him for this period of exaltation and responsibility?

5. There is prudence in making practical preparations for future needs with resources that God gives us today but the Lord Jesus also taught that we should not lay up treasures on earth but rather in heaven so where might a Scriptural balance be found?

6. What pictures of Christ can we see in Joseph from Genesis 41?

7. The way of spiritual progress and healing is often through trials and difficulty. How do we see God’s providence in the lives of Jacob and his family in the arrival of the severe famine at this point in the narrative?

8. Is Joseph being too harsh on his brothers when they come to Egypt to buy grain? Is he being vindictive because of the hurt that they have caused him or is there wisdom in his approach?

9. Why do you suppose that Joseph pretended not to know his brothers or to understand their language? Was he being deceitful by doing so?

10. Why might Simeon have been chosen as the one to be detained in Egypt? What else do we know about him?

11. How do we see development in Reuben’s character in this chapter?

12. When the brothers discover their money returned to them in their sacks, they seem to assume the worst. What role does our conscience play in our relationship with God and what should the believer’s response be to a troubled conscience?