Potiphar was so pleased with Joseph’s work that he put him in charge of the whole household. The Lord was with Joseph and made him successful. Because of Joseph, the Lord blessed and the whole household and Potiphar became a very wealthy man.
The only problem Joseph had was that Potiphar’s wife was a very spiteful woman. She wanted Joseph to be unfaithful to his master. But Joseph refused. He said that he could not sin against God or break Potiphar’s trust in him. So, Potiphar’s wife told her husband lies about Joseph and said that Joseph had attacked her. Potiphar was so angry that he had Joseph thrown into Pharaoh’s jail.
Joseph never lost faith in God and he believed that God was still with him even though he was now in prison. The prison Governor was very impressed with Joseph’s willingness to help and he soon put him in charge of all the other prisoners.
Joseph became friendly with the butler and the baker who were slaves in Pharaoh’s household. One night both men had strange dreams that really worried them. The next morning, they told Joseph about their dreams and asked him if he had any idea what they meant.
Joseph told them that God had given him the ability to explain what dreams mean. So, both men told Joseph their dreams and he explained to them what the dreams meant.
The butler dreamt that there was a grapevine and that he was holding the kings cup and that he had squeezed juice from the grapes into the cup. Joseph told him that the dream meant that in three days he would be pardoned and released from jail and will return to serve the Pharaoh. Joseph asked him to please remember him when he returns to Pharaoh’s service.
Then the baker told Joseph his dream. The baker had dreamt that he had three bread baskets on his head and that birds had come down and eaten the bread. Joseph told the baker that the dream meant that the Pharaoh would cut off his head.
Josephs interpretations of the dreams became true. But once the baker had been released and reached the safety of Pharaoh’s court, he forgot all about Joseph.
Next week we are going to hear about how Joseph came to serve in Pharaoh’s Court. Like Joseph we are also living in troubled times. But we must never lose our faith in God because God is protecting us.
- Thank you Rev Peta May for this week’s lesson.
