Parentage and Early Life
Joseph was the eleventh son of the patriarch Jacob and the firstborn child of his wife Rachel. He was born in Mesopotamia before the family migrated to the land of Canaan.
Jacob demonstrated a unique favour for Joseph above his other children, as he was the son of his old age. This preference was physically signified by the gift of a tunic of many colours. The brothers of Joseph hated him for this favour and for his practice of bringing bad reports of their conduct to their father.
Joseph experienced two prophetic dreams which further intensified the hostility of his siblings. In the first dream, the family was binding sheaves in a field, and the sheaves of his brothers circled and bowed to Joseph’s sheaf. In the second dream, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed to him. While Jacob rebuked Joseph for the suggestion that his parents and brothers would bow before him, he kept the matter in his mind.
Betrayal and Sale into Slavery
At age seventeen, Joseph was sent to Shechem to check on his brothers and the flocks. He eventually tracked them to Dothan, where they conspired to kill him and cast him into a pit. Reuben, the eldest brother, intervened to save Joseph's life, suggesting they cast him into a dry pit in the desert with the secret intention of returning him to Jacob. While Reuben was absent, a company of Ishmaelite and Midianite traders passed by on their way to Egypt.
Judah proposed that they sell Joseph rather than kill their own flesh and blood. The brothers pulled Joseph from the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of gold. To conceal the crime, they dipped Joseph’s tunic in the blood of a slaughtered kid and presented it to Jacob. Jacob identified the garment and concluded that a wild beast had devoured his son, leading to a prolonged period of mourning.
Servitude and Imprisonment in Egypt
Joseph was brought to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. The Lord was with Joseph, and he achieved such success that Potiphar made him the overseer of his entire household and all his possessions.
Joseph is described as being handsome in form and appearance. Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce Joseph, but he refused her advances daily, stating he would not commit such wickedness and sin against God. When she eventually caught him by his garment, he fled outside, leaving the cloth in her hand. She used the garment to support a false accusation of attempted assault, and Potiphar placed Joseph in the royal prison.
In the dungeon, Joseph again found favour with the chief prison keeper, who placed all prisoners under Joseph’s authority. Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker, who were confined for offending the king. He correctly predicted the restoration of the cupbearer and the execution of the baker within three days. Joseph requested that the cupbearer remember him to Pharaoh, but the official forgot him for two years.
Rise to Governance
Pharaoh eventually experienced two troubling dreams regarding seven fat cows consumed by seven gaunt cows, and seven plump ears of corn devoured by seven blighted ears. The cupbearer then recalled Joseph, and the Hebrews’ servant was summoned to court. Joseph credited God for the ability to interpret and explained that seven years of great abundance would be followed by seven years of devastating famine. He advised Pharaoh to appoint an intelligent man to collect one-fifth of the produce during the years of plenty as a reserve.
Pharaoh recognized the Spirit of God in Joseph and appointed him governor over all the land of Egypt, second only to the king. Joseph was thirty years old at the time of his exaltation. He received Pharaoh’s signet ring, fine linen garments, a gold chain, and the second royal chariot. Pharaoh named him Zaphnath-Paaneah and gave him Asenath, the daughter of the priest Poti-Pherah, as his wife. During the years of plenty, Asenath bore Joseph two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Management of the Famine
When the famine arrived, it affected all lands, but Egypt had grain due to Joseph’s foresight. Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to both the Egyptians and all other countries. As the famine depleted the resources of the Egyptians, Joseph collected all their money in exchange for grain. When their money failed, he accepted their cattle and horses as payment. Finally, he purchased all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh in exchange for bread, with the exception of the land belonging to the priests. Joseph established a law requiring the people to return one-fifth of their harvest to Pharaoh perpetually.
Reconciliation with Israel
Jacob sent his ten eldest sons to Egypt to purchase grain, keeping the youngest, Benjamin, at home for safety. Joseph recognised his brothers, but they did not recognise him. He tested them by accusing them of being spies and imprisoned them for three days. He demanded they bring their youngest brother to prove their honesty, retaining Simeon as a hostage. Upon their return with Benjamin, Joseph was moved to tears. He provided a feast where Benjamin received five times more food than the others.
For a final test, Joseph commanded his steward to hide his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. When the cup was discovered, the brothers returned to the city in despair, and Judah offered himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place to spare their father the grief of losing another son. Joseph could no longer restrain himself and revealed his identity to his brothers. He comforted them, stating that God had sent him before them to Egypt to preserve life during the famine.
Final Days and Burial
Pharaoh invited Joseph’s family to dwell in Egypt, and Jacob migrated with seventy-five souls to the land of Goshen. Joseph presented five of his brothers and his father to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed the king. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years. Before his death, he adopted Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own children, granting them inheritance rights among the twelve tribes. In blessing them, Jacob crossed his hands to place his right hand on the younger, Ephraim, despite Joseph's attempt to correct him.
Following the death of Jacob, Joseph commanded physicians to embalm his father, and the Egyptians mourned for seventy days. Joseph received permission from Pharaoh to bury Jacob in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan, as he had sworn to do. Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years. He saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children and the children of Manasseh’s son Machir. Before his passing, he made the children of Israel swear to carry his bones out of Egypt when God eventually led them back to the land of promise. He was placed in a coffin in Egypt until the time of the Exodus.
Theological and Typological Significance
Joseph is regarded as a righteous man and a significant type of Jesus Christ. The church fathers often identify him as Joseph the Chaste due to his resistance to temptation. His life is interpreted as a pattern of suffering followed by exaltation. Like Christ, Joseph was the beloved son of his father, was betrayed by his own people, and was sold for pieces of gold. His unjust imprisonment and subsequent rise to the right hand of the ruler of the world prefigures the Passion, burial, and Resurrection of Christ.
Joseph’s role as the saviour of his family and the Gentile world from physical death mirrors Christ’s role as the Saviour of humanity from spiritual death. The preservation of the Hebrews in Egypt through Joseph ensured the continuity of the lineage through which the Messiah would be born. His concern for the removal of his bones to Canaan is seen as an early expression of faith in the general resurrection of the dead. Joseph is celebrated for his submissive will, which worked in synergy with the divine plan to turn human evil into a saving purpose.