“And Yosef (Joseph) was brought down to Mitzrayim”. Gen 39:1
This is a difficult lesson to learn; and especially complicated if all one’s ever experienced is captivity. For purposes of survival, people in captivity carve safe spaces within enemy territory just to have a chance of keeping their sanity – because if they’re not mindful – they can easily forget about the system that surrounds them, and even in some extreme cases begin to believe that it is home. To combat this – the people in the know understand that as a matter of survival they must continually remind their descendants of their origins, often stirring the memory by explaining it in memorable heart-warming names. The goal for their predecessors if for them to internalize that no matter how good captivity may feel at the moment because of efforts to make it livable, it is still captivity, and still abnormal.
Our culture uses “the Land of Milk and Honey” as an aphorism to combat the feeling of comfort that we may feel in the land of our captivity. The experience of Yosef has embedded within it several lessons that may be applied for this same reason.
Lesson 1: Yosef being brought down to Mitzrayim (“Egypt”[1])
This is a heavy statement. Firstly, the experience of Mitzrayim for him was created to be a humbling experience; just as when his fathers “went down” generations before, and just as Yehudah “went down”, not into Mitzrayim, but away from his brothers during his generation. The experience was self-induced; meaning that there was something in him or them that needed to be tried. He needed to be refined. What’s interesting about the wording for Yosef was that he was ‘brought” down. In other words, he didn’t “go down” because he wanted to. He went down because he had to. But what about him needing refinement?
Lesson 2: Yosef was sold to Mitzrayim – not to an individual. To a system. To a people group with long established policies, procedures, practices, and loyalties. Although he was kept in the house of Potiyfar (Potiphar) he was sold to the empire. It says something about how he appeared to people – even in his downtrodden state to be elevated – but that’s not the point here (that’s another blog topic). The point is that he was sold into an entire system – populated by individuals that drove it. Potiyfar was an official in the system. And Yosef was automatically recognized as a star. He was discussed far and wide throughout Mitzrayim. He was liked so much that he was made lord of Potiyfar’s house. This aura around Yosef stemmed from his being such a good son to his father, Yisrael. He knew how to obey. He did what was asked – and was very good at it. He basked in it so much that sometimes he went too far – especially when it came to interacting with his brethren – almost corrupting that love he claimed to have for his father (Ever love your father so much that you begin to do things just for him to tell you good job – even doing things that he doesn’t ask you to do? This is how a young man can put himself in the way – by fooling himself to do what he himself wants to do not necessarily allowing the space for his father to direct him). Although it was not a perfect love yet it was beautiful and it was way beyond what others perfected. It immediately translated into the courts of Potiyfar, and even later into the prison that he was held in.
The way Yosef is described gives every indication as to why any woman would be infatuated with and smitten by Yosef. He was a young man, but even at that young age embodied the beauty of the house of Yisrael. He was honest. He told the truth. He didn’t engage in wonton talk. He worked hard. He handled his duties. He was loyal to his father. He was loyal to his master, and he understood boundaries. He understood property. He understood what belonged to him and what did not.
When Potiyfar’s wife attempted to seduce him his first retort was along the direct lines of property; not wanting to repay his master’s kindness with evil. The second line of response went to the ultimate line of property; not wanting to sin against his Elohiym – who provided him the opportunity while in captivity to even learn the lesson and elevate within the house of Potiyfar. This, in fact for him, was what he was more worried about. Even if he did the thing and it was not known to Potiyfar or the people in the house – he was aware that his Elohiym knew all. He was aware that engaging in such an offense would mean doom for him and his soul. He dodged a bullet - for something else very sinister was at play.
And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto him according to them, saying, See, he has brought in an Ivriy (Hebrew) man to mock us (make us into a joke). He came to me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice. And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled, and got him out. And she laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. And she spoke unto him according to these words, saying: The Ivriy (Hebrew) servant that you brought in unto us has attempted to mock me (make me into a joke).
-Gen 39:13-15
As Potiyfar’s wife accused him of attempting to rape her, claiming that “this Hebrew servant is here to mock us”, another realization kicked in – and this is the crux of the second lesson. They (the people of Mitzrayim in and outside of the house) were acutely aware that he was not of their people and of their heritage – no matter how high he rose within the ranks. She fed into this sentiment with her remarks; that “Ivriy servant” came to mock “us”; not “her”, but “us”. She was aware of the power imbalance that he was a foreigner and she was a national. He was a servant and she was the wife of the master. The power, as she imagined it, was on her side. She was confident that the servant would be silent. Firstly, she assumed that he would either succumb to her advances, or if he refused, certainly would not ever speak up about what was happening and run the risk of being labeled as a rabble rouser. Maybe it was a test of his loyalty? If so – he passed with flying colors. His not allowing himself to be seduced allowed for greater things to be bestowed upon him. His refusing to drink the drink of self-aggrandizement kept him from having worse things done to him. Although he was eventually imprisoned, he learned the lesson that no matter how high you get up in another man’s country or house – that house remains his house and his people will be loyal to him. But the silver lining to this is another lesson he learned (Lesson 3) was that no matter where we are – even in captivity, The Creator will intercede – if we remain loyal to our fathers’ principles and ethics. Captivity is a tricky situation. One cannot become drunk off of their own success, believing in it so much to cause oneself to forget that the goal remains to leave from captivity. To return home to land that is ours with rules governing us that are ordained from above is the goal.
One final example from Yosef’s experience in Mitzrayim gives us some insight. After the entire ordeal with his brothers - Yosef finally welcomes his Father’s house to Mitzrayim. He meets with five of his brothers and orders them to tell Pharoah that they are keeper of cattle and not shepherds. When the time comes to follow through on his request to relay the narrative about their profession they do not heed his advice. Rather they do exactly what he asked them not to do. Not much is said about this in the narrative. Many theories abound but nothing more is said in the text about who the five men were. Because no grand finale emerges from this situation the reader should take care not to ignore the relevance of its inclusion in the text.
Maybe there was some jealousy? Maybe a bit of “you’re right but we’re still older than you” syndrome? We know that all of the brothers were not in on this misrepresentation, which tells us that some (not all) still held on to the notion that Yosef did not know what he was talking about – although he was positioned as the second in command in all of the land in the midst of a highly political time – with famine still being in the land. And they were still in the land of their captivity. The reuniting and reconciliation was not yet complete. More work had to be done to make the reconciliation real. The next time we hear of the brethren directly we hear of the Pharoah not knowing Yosef and Yisrael. We have to ask ourselves - what happened during that period of time? What happened to cause a new king to arise and “not know” Yisrael – when the King that ruled before had Yosef as his Prime Minister?
The final message here is that the work of refinement is never ending. One cannot rest on the victories. Our being delivered from trying times or enlightened to new possibilities does not entitle us to a free pass of irresponsibility. Our deliverance, whether it be from impending danger or our own ignorance should empower us to be more intentional about modeling the works of righteousness. We are still held accountable. Every thought and every act counts. Taking it for granted will be as spitting at the opportunity that the initial deliverance afforded us.
Yosef was a mighty man. We honor our ancestor’s sacrifice. And we reflect on his experience – not just to brag about our greatness, but to translate those times of captivity and achievement over to these times and this captivity that we’re in – reminding and causing ourselves to constantly remember to act in a way that ensures that we are the light that we have been called to be.
Peace be to you. Peace be to your house. And peace be unto all that is yours! Shalom Shalom!
Bn Shmû ÉL is a loyal son, committed father, founder of HaDBR Media, Chief Editor at Bn Shmû ÉL Publishing House, and author of The Land Of Milk and Honey: The Heart Of The World. https://www.bn-shmu-el.com/shop .
[1] The quotation marks around “Egypt” means that the writer does not exclusively equate Mitzrayim with ancient Egypt. There’s much nuance and context that has gone unexplained about this topic.
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