Manasseh: Let that stuff go!

One of the interesting things about not growing up in church, with all the Bible stories, is that, I tend to often read them differently. And when I say read them differently, what I mean is, you know, when we're familiar with things, oftentimes we can we can miss details. Have you ever read a passage of scripture that you memorized, but when you read it, there's a word or two that's in there that you hadn't been quoting when you quote the verse. We do that when we're familiar with things, stories, even the familiar stories in the Old Testament.

Lets have a fresh look at the story of Joseph. We usually read the Old Testament like it's a fable. We read the story and then try to find the moral of the story. And so, we read the story of Joseph, and we see Joseph, the faithful son who was hated by his brothers, and then they put him in the pit to sell him into slavery, and then he goes from the pit to Potiphar's house, and then he goes from Potiphar's house to prison, all because of his faithfulness. And then the next thing is he's elevated from prison and he's Pharaoh's right hand man, the number two in charge in the most powerful nation so when we tell our children the story we tell it as a story about a young man who was faithful, and who got blessed by God for his faithfulness.

But what if I told you that that was not the point of Joseph's story. In fact, that was almost the exact opposite of the point of Joseph's story. What if I didn't just tell you that, What if I actually showed you that that is almost the exact opposite of the point of Joseph's story. I think it's actually better than what we think it means.

Let us begin with some background so that we can understand the Book of Genesis. There are a number of ways that you can divide the Book of Genesis. One way that you can divide the Book of Genesis is into these scenes of the generation of and eleven times we see this phrase in Genesis, and every time the story takes a new turn and there is a new point of emphasis, For instance we find this in chapter 2:4, 5:1, 6:9.. and from these 11 shifts, we see different key characters and in the chapter 37:2 we get the generations of Jacob. So based on the literary structure of the Book of Genesis, the story of Joseph is not about Joseph. It's about Jacob.

There's another way that we can look at the Book of Genesis, and it's by these recurring themes. There are three themes. They're the themes of land and seed and covenant. From the beginning, even in the Creation account, we see that God creates the heavens and the earth. We have the land, all of these plants from their seeds multiplying. In chapter two you get the man, and so we get the covenant. And first we get the covenant of works.

We also see that in the Fall. Man is kicked out of that land. But there is a covenant, and in that covenant there's a promised seed. In Genesis chapter twelve, with Abram, before he's Abraham. We have this covenant about Abram being made a nation which is a seed, and that he would have a land. We see this land seed and covenant, over and over again.

So lets now hold these two things together and read this story again without assuming.

There's three sets of dreams, three pairs of dreams. Actually in Joseph's life. First, there's this pair of dreams that he shares with his brothers and doesn't go so well. His brothers hate him. They already despised him because he's the favorite son. He gets the fancy robe. And now there's this dream that had them all bow down to him. So they get the opportunity and they decide, in their jealousy that they are going to kill him, but they don't. They sell him into slavery instead all because of his dreams.

When he's in prison, there's another pair of dreams of two servants of the king, two servants of Pharaoh, and he interprets their dreams and it happens exactly as he says. And then Pharaoh has two dreams and he cannot interpret these dreams, and all of a sudden, the king's servant from prison remembered that Joseph could interpret dreams, and so Joseph comes and he interprets the dream and says that there was going to be a famine following years of plenty.Therefore they ought to store up during those seven years of plenty so that they can have grain seed during the seven years of famine.

I want us to see what happens after this Genesis 41;37 forty one thirty seven. Lets now read it like people who haven't read it before. I want you to see the irony in what we're about to read. Moses's point here is almost the exact opposite of what we've come to assume.

Beginning in verse seven.

This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants, And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God?

Stop right there? This is ironic. Why is it ironic? Why do his brothers hate him? His brothers hate him because God gives him a dream. He interprets the dream rightly, which means he gives his brothers the word of God, and they not only don't believe Joseph, but they hate him because of the word that came. Now he stands before a pagan king, Pharaoh, and Pharaoh says, I believe you. That's irony. It's meant to be ironic. By the way, that's not good. It's not good that the covenant people of God don't believe God's messenger, but this pagan believes God's messenger. That's a problem.

Verse thirty nine.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.

By the way, when he mentions God, don't get confused. He's not talking about Yahweh. He is saying that this is supernatural or divine. He's not saying that he believes that this is Yahweh.

Verse forty

You should be over my house.

Every house that Joseph serves prospers. Whose house is Joseph supposed to be prospering? Jacobs. So when we read Pharaoh saying you shall be over my house, what we're supposed to be reading is - wrong house. This is not a good thing. There's more,

And all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne, will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.

What are the themes? Land, seed, covenant? What land is Joseph supposed to be in. He's supposed to be in Canaan. He's supposed to be in the land of Promise. By the way, in the overall story of the Bible, Canaan is the land of promise. What land in the Bible's story is the theological opposite of Canaan? Egypt? Wrong house, wrong land. Do you think Moses (the author) is trying to say this is a good thing.

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him and garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck

Joseph was identified at the beginning of the story by the robe that his father put on him. Now he's in the wrong house, in the wrong land, wearing the wrong robe, and essentially he now has the wrong father again. How can we at this point conclude that this is the blessing.

And he made him to ride in the second chariot, and they called out before him, bow the knee.

There's another great irony. His brothers want to kill him because of his dreams that seem to imply that they were going to be bowing the knee to him. They would rather kill him than bow to him. But the Pagan king says, bow the knee, and the Egyptians gladly do it.

Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and while without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphanath Panaya,

Wrong name. He has a covenant name that identifies him with the covenant people of God. Now a pagan king gives him a pagan name.

Here's what's interesting to me about the way we read this story. We read this story in a way that completely contradicts the way we read other parts of the Bible. Because when we read the story of Daniel and his friends getting Babylonian names, we don't consider it to be a blessing, right? No one thinks that it is a great thing that these guys are brought into this land and get new names. That's an insult to the people of God and renaming them, takes away their covenant names that point to their affiliation with Yahweh.

And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of potifera priest of On

Wrong life. Not only is she a pagan, she's the daughter of a pagan priest. Jews avoided foreign wives, not because their ethnicity or their nationality, because if that was the case, Moses would have been in trouble but because of their theology. So anywhere else we find Jews marrying and getting mixed up with pagens we condemn it but when it comes to Joseph we ignore it and say "Yes, kids, you too can be like Joseph. If you're faithful, you can end up in the wrong land, in the wrong house, with the wrong father, wearing the wrong robes, with the wrong name, and the wrong wife. Hallelujah. "

So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

Maybe you're saying, I'm not convinced. It's kind of a little complicated, but I'm not convinced that this means that I'm reading this story wrong.

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plentiful years, the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it, and Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea..

By the way, when God made the promise to Abraham about his offspring, He said they would be like the sand of the sea. There's a point being made here.

..until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured. Before the year of famine. Two sons were born to Joseph, Asanath the daughter of Pataphara, priest of owned bore them to him Sonai.

He's got two sons.

Joseph called the name of his first born Manassa, for he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name of the second son he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

The names of these sons make the same point that a proper reader of the earlier paragraph makes.

First of all, notice that he gave his son's Hebrew names, not Egyptian ones. This is an important point. He gave them covenantal names, seed- land - covenant. Joseph is identifying with the Covenant. He's identifying with God's covenant people.

The first son's name is Manassa, " God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." It's interesting if I were to translate this, the word Manassa means I let that go. How would it work? Imagine talking to Joseph back then..he seems to be living the dream for a person who was born a little peasant shepherd and now is the number two in command in the most powerful nation that the world has ever seen...

You seem to have made it Zaphenath-paneah. You got a wife, you got a child. You ride around in the second chariot. Wow, what's your boy's name? Manasseh? That sounds Hebrew? It is Hebrew? Why would you give your boy a Hebrew name?

Because I am a Hebrew and Pharaoh might be able to change my name, but he doesn't get to name my sons, and my sons are children of the Covenant, just like me.

That's interesting because, why would you name your child after the Hebrew people who abandoned you?

Because I let that stuff go.

Didn't they sell you into slavery?

Yes, but I let that stuff go.

They never came looking for you, they never came to find you.

You're absolutely right, and I let that stuff go.

Joseph chose to be identified with the Covenant people of God, as opposed to being identified with the enemies of God. Joseph chose to think about his life through the lens of God's Covenant promises and not through the lens of his past pain. He let that stuff go. Listen, some of us need a Manassa.

There are some of us who are holding on to things right now and identifying ourselves not as redeemed people of the Covenant, but as damaged people from our past. And you need a Manassa. You need to let that stuff go.

"Yeah, well, I have problems. I have trust issues, I have these issues. "

Manassa, let that stuff go.

That's not who you are.

Yeah, but you don't know my past. I've been wounded in the past. I've been mistreated in the past.

Yes, Manassa, that's not who you are.

The blood of Jesus can cover that. Let that stuff go.

But if you think the name of his first son was powerful, just in case they didn't get the message, right, he did it again.

Zaphenath-paneah, you had another son. I guess you gave him a Hebrew name too,

Yes, I gave him a Hebrew name.

What does his name mean?

His name means "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

Wait, what? okay, you became fruitful here but wouldn't the land of your affliction be the place where they hated you enough to plot to murder you and then put you in a pit so that you could be sold into slavery?

No, that's not the land of my affliction. This is the land of my affliction.

Why?

Because I am part of the covenant people of God, and the place for me to be is the land of the Covenant. I don't care how wealthy this land appears to be. There is no wealth like being in the presence of Yahweh. So anything outside of his presence is the land of my affliction.

Being an American and a holder of the magic passport, when people find out that you choose to live somewhere else, there's always that question.. Like you know, Zambians asked me this all the time because, most Africans will give vital parts of their anatomy to come here. So when one of us chooses to go and live somewhere else, their first assumption is you must have messed up bad, did you get kicked out?

I love getting those questions so that I can tell them that I am looking for a city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. And until I get there, wherever I live is the land of my affliction. This is not my home. This is not as good as it gets.

Our best day here pales in comparison to any day in glory. We are citizens of the New Jerusalem, and this is not the new Jerusalem.

Joseph lives in that same tension that we live in. This is the land of my affliction. But I'm doing everything in my power to be a blessing to this land because it's where God has me right now. The apostle Paul talks about this tension when he says, for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Heaven is our home. But in the meantime we are called to advance the kingdom wherever the Lord has called us to be, but never getting too comfortable, because wherever it is, no matter how good it may be, at the end of the day, it is the land of our affliction.

Joseph's not saying, if only my brothers could see me. I made it, Mama, we made it. This is it. No, Joseph says, this is the land of my affliction. Greatest country the world has ever seen, I'm number two in command, and this is not my home.

Well, that leads us to a question and to my third argument, lets move forward in the story a little bit to chapter forty five. Now, as you get to chapter forty five, here's what has happened.

Joseph's brothers have run out of food because of the famine, but they hear that there's food in Egypt. They come to Egypt in order to get food. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but his brothers don't recognize him, and so Joseph proceeds to test his brothers. The first test is tied to the very reason that Joseph was sold into slavery.

One of the reasons that they hated Joseph was because Joseph was the son of the wife whom Jacob loved. That's what made him the favorite son Joseph. Jacob was a terrible father, and he was open about this and essentially said to his boys, I love his mama, yours not so much. He's my favorite, you, not so much.

But there was one more son born to the favorite wife, and that was Benjamin. When the brothers show up, Benjamin is not with them, so Joseph has no idea if they've done away with him too because of the same jealousy. So he tests them to know if Benjamin's still alive.

He also tests them to see if their character is changed by keeping one of the brothers there, to see if they're going to abandon him, and they don't. And then there's a final test. The final test is he plants the goods.

He takes Benjamin and he says, this one's going to jail. Y'all leave, he's staying. And then the final test, one of the brothers distinguishes himself by basically saying take me instead of him. Now hold on to that and listen to Joseph's interpretation of these events, Chapter forty five, Verse one.

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, make everyone go out from me, so no one stayed with him. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.Is my father alive. But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

Can you imagine they have no idea what's going on. Stuff keeps showing up in their bag. Their little brother's about to be kept here. Daddy's gonna die, like literally, if we go home without Benjamin, Jacob's gonna die. And now he says, hey, guys, it's me Joseph, is my father alive? And they can't even answer. They can't even speak .

Verse four.

So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please, And they came near, and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

Can you can you imagine now They're like, okay, Dad probably will die, but we're gonna die first.

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here and here it is. God sent me before you so that he could show you what happens when you're faithful. No, God sent me before you to preserve life, for the famine has been in the land. These two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Joseph says, God sent me here to save you. But it's more specific than that. Remember the seed- land - covenant. The fall happened in chapter three, and then there's a covenant promise in the form of a curse of the serpent. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, in between your seed and her seed. You're gonna bruise his heal. He's gonna bruise your head." God makes this promise that there is one coming who is going to undo this curse. Next chapter is the first murder, The seed of the serpent, Cain kills the seed of the woman Abel.Why do I say that Cain is the seed of the serpent? because John says so in John 3:12

Right after that, we're introduced to Seth, and then in chapter five there are ten generations between Adam and Noah. Through the godly line of Seth, the promised seed has been preserved. Now, Noah has three sons, but only one can be the promise Seed, and eventually we find out that it is Shim who's the promise Seed. Eventually we come to Abram, who is the promised seed.

And then Abram has two sons, but only one of them can be the promised Seed. Interestingly enough, his wife is beyond the seed bearing years, but miraculously he still gets the promise seed. And so Isaac is the promise Seed. And then all of a sudden, with Isaac there are twins who come. Which one is going to be the promise seed? Is it the firstborn? No, it's not. It's the one who comes after him who's the promise seed. And so it's not Esau, it's Jacob. And now with Jacob there are twelve sons.

Which one of these sons is the promised seed. Well, we don't know. And it seems like the story focuses on Joseph, so you might think, actually it's Joseph who's the Promise Seed, But he's not. Joseph is just there to preserve the Promised Seed.

But who's the promise Seed. Well, the Promise Seed identifies himself just before Joseph identifies himself to his brothers, and interestingly enough, the way the Promised Seed identifies himself is very telling as to why he's the Promised Seed.

Benjamin is about to be kept behind, and Judah, the Promised Seed says to Joseph, it'll kill my father. So in essence, Judah the Promised Seed offers himself as a substitute in the place of the one whom his father loves, which is exactly what the Promised Seed would do.

But don't run too fast, because Judah has another son who identifies himself as a promised Seed. You see, Judah's creator son David, actually identifies himself as the Promise Seed. One day when in the valley there is a giant who is challenging Israel and says, send me a man to fight with me. This is a battle of champions.

I will represent my people. You send me someone who will represent your people. And so King David, before he's King David goes down into the valley to face Israel's enemy as Israel's covenant representative. And while he's in the valley, he defeats Israel's enemy on behalf of all of Israel, which means that Israel is victorious because all of Israel is in him the promise Seed.

When he wins this victory, and then there is a greater David who identifies himself as the Promised seed to which all the other promise seeds point, and he does what Judah and what David did all in one fell swoop.

He offers himself as a substitution atoning sacrifice for the sons whom his father loves, and then, through dying a death that they deserved, goes into that great valley and defeats the enemy on behalf of all of those who are in him by faith.

You see, Joseph didn't go to Egypt so that we could tell our children, be faithful and you'll be rich and famous. Joseph went to Egypt so that Judah the Promised Seed wouldn't starve, so that David the Promised Seed could be born, so that Jesus, the Promised Seed, could save his people.

That's the point of the story of Joseph, not some moralistic, materialistic fairy tale. No, it's the heart of the gospel. It's the providence of God. And by the way, saints, that's just good news. When we look at God's providence and see that God uses a famine, God uses slavery, prison, all of these kinds of things that would make us look and say, God, you forgot, You've forsaken me.

And Providence says, You don't see the end of the picture. You're in the pit, so I can save you. You're going to be a slave to Potiphar so I can save you. You're going to prison so I can save you. You're going to Egypt so I can save you. Because providentially, every last bit of this is necessary so that I can deliver you from the land of your affliction. You see, it is this providence that gives us hope in the midst of our darkest days.

It is this providence that says, no. This is not the new Jerusalem. No, this is not as good as it gets. But this is where the Lord has me right here, right now, out saying, so, I don't know. I don't know who you are, what you're dealing with, never met most of you, But I do know this.

God always saves his people. Flee to Christ. Put your faith in him. Remind yourself of God's providence and all of the things that had to happen in order for Christ to even be born, let alone die for sin and raise again on the third day. And if God did all of that in order to rescue the sons and daughters whom he loves, how much more can we trust him in the midst of difficult circumstances. Have things been bleak lately? Yes they have. God is good. But guess what?

When God turns these things around, and I believe that he will and when all of a sudden there are answered prayers, and we can say, remember back in those days where things were so bleak and times are just glorious. Don't forget wherever you are in that moment that's still the land of your affliction, and we're still not home yet. So what do we do?

We make it as much like home as we can, which is exactly what Joseph did in Egypt, even in little things like the naming of his boys. So, until God reveals what it is that he, through his providence, is accomplishing through your dark days, and when you don't see it, just say Manassa.

Let's pray

Our good and gracious God, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the God who made the world and everything in it, the God who created and sustains the universe, the God who holds the worlds in the palm of his hands. God, we bow before you as a humble and grateful people, recognizing that you are good even when our circumstances are not, recognizing that you are sovereign and in control, even when we don't see what you're doing, Recognizing that you are indeed working all things together for the good of those who love you and who are called according to your purposes.

Father, we pray that, in the midst of our difficulties, in the midst of our darkest days, that you would grant us faith, that you would grant us hope, that we would be marked as people who trust you in spite of our circumstances, that you would mark us as a people who are citizens of Heaven.

And because of being citizens of heaven, we are magnificent citizens of any other place that you've called us to live. And we pray that our citizenship in heaven would make us a fragrant aroma to those who are around us. And Father, we do look forward with anxious anticipation to the coming of our great King, the King of Kings and Lord of lords, at the end of the age, when all things will be made right, all things will be redeemed. In the meantime, grant us faith to live in that tension between the already and the not yet, where for us to live as Christ and to die is gain.

And grant that we might serve you with all the moments in between. For we pray these things and ask these things in that name that is above every name, and the name of the promised Seed, who crushed the head of the serpent. Jesus our soon coming, King, Amen.