Digging in and under Scripture

Our pastor asked me to be in a small study group that he runs to help him prepare for his weekly sermon.

We met last week. I loved it. We returned the second night ready for more.

The passages are in Genesis 37 and following, about Joseph. We skipped 38 for now, and covered 37 and 39.

Most of us know the outlines of Joseph’s narrative: brothers hate him, father’s darling, sold into slavery by his jealous siblings, dreams, blamed for a seducing wife, becoming a leader in Egypt, saving the country from famine, finally reunited with his family.

But there is more. There is a story of humanity. The brothers’ hatred is not just a plot device. Joseph is not just a little tattle tale 17-year-old with a regal tunic. We had one discussion so far, and I know there are so many details here. For example, his brothers had gone to Dothan. It was 50 miles from where they were supposed to be, in Shechem. Good grief. They probably were hiding something from their father. Jacob is deceived by his sons by the same method he deceived his father—goat skin! Joseph somehow is true to God despite his upbringing—how did that happen? Who was teaching him the stories and the truths?

And we come to 39:1: “Potiphar bought Joseph.”

“Bought Joseph.” “Bought.”

Like millions of people throughout history, he was chattel, a slave, a belonging, a piece of property to be disposed of or used or sold again.

How did he become a slave? Because it was acceptable. He did not have ID or a passport. He had no constitutional rights. He wasn’t a citizen. He had no power over his life because . . . he was powerless. Why could his brothers sell him? Why was there no argument about his status?

Why does this still go on today? We think we are so evolved, but there is similar buying and selling of human bodies and souls today. How does this go on? Because it is doable. Like everything else.

But he was bought and sold. No power over his own life, except his work ethic, natural smarts (he picked up Egyptian pretty fast), and emotional intelligence. Oh, yeah, and mostly (really, all) God’s grace. And he didn’t lose hope or integrity.

Potiphar’s wife is cast as the icon of Proverbs, the evil woman. She persisted in her seduction of a good-looking young Jew, then pulled the race card when all she got was his tunic in her grasping hands. Potiphar, in my reading of the subtext, knows she’s lying but has to save face; his mentee Joseph goes to “the king’s prison” and I suspect got a “put this guy in a good position, he’s smart and knows his stuff” recommendation.

Joseph seems too good to be true; as one participant noticed, we don’t have any inner monologue for Joseph, not until the end. He didn’t despair but he also wanted out (chapter 40) and knew how to take advantage of opportunities, and there is also nothing wrong with that.

I like the reading of the text with different viewpoints and turning actions over to look at the little bug and even little wonders beneath them. We don’t have enough of that; we have a lot of one-way, authoritarian, passive or pacifying ways of teaching rather than teaching that empowers learners to draw their own conclusions while “iron sharpens iron.”