Joseph Outshined his Brothers

“By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones” (Hebrews 11:22).

— Todd Alexander

The Apostle Paul includes Joseph in his long list of heroes of faith. The faith of these heroes, demonstrated in their life experiences, gave them a “good report” before God (Hebrews 11:2). Paul explains that their faith at work was driven by their hope for a better, heavenly country (Hebrews 11:13‑14).

We examine Joseph’s life for details of his faith at work, his submission, and his obedience to the will of God. As Paul concluded, we expect Joseph’s hope for a future paradise was his inspiration, his future purpose that framed a life consecrated to God.

Through the Abrahamic Promise, which God confirmed to their father Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 35:9‑15), God invited Joseph and his brothers to come to Him in faith and enjoy its future blessings. Joseph would answer that call, and his life would unfold as a legacy of resilient faith at work.

On the contrary, Joseph’s brothers were stuck in the past, seeking vengeance and looking for an advantage over him. Joseph’s fleshly‑minded brothers were blind to God’s invitation to faith (Genesis 37:4‑8).

Maintaining his faith in God in a hostile environment was not easy for Joseph. It was a battle between his sense of justice and his enemies’ injustice; his merciful heart and their cruel wickedness; his humility and his brothers’ pride (Genesis 39:1‑23).

God was with Joseph through every struggle. But like us, Joseph could only see the evidence of God’s power in retrospect. His faith was required to drive his daily struggle to trust in God to strengthen him through crisis. Thus, Joseph became one of the heroes of faith.

The Apostle Peter outlined the practical building blocks of our faith at work. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (2 Peter 1:5‑7).

With these graces of the Spirit, the Apostle Peter provides a roadmap to the early church for living an obedient life in submission to God. We see these graces reflected in Joseph’s experience, and he inspires us. Let us overlay some of Peter’s building blocks of faith onto Joseph’s life to learn some valuable lessons.

Faith

There must have been something different about how Rachel raised Joseph compared to how Leah and Jacob’s concubines raised his brothers. With different mothers, there would have been a natural separation in the household, and perhaps Rachel’s superior temperament resulted in a thoughtful education for Joseph in godly matters (Genesis 29:17). Also, as the son of Jacob’s old age, and the child of is favorite wife, perhaps Jacob paid more attention to developing the faith of young Joseph.

Results matter when raising children. As a child, Joseph outshined his brothers in faith, wisdom, and loyalty to their father. A child’s love and trust in their parents are models for the same love and trust in God when becoming adults. The Apostle Paul says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Joseph was inclined to see his life experience through the eye of faith more than his brothers.

God went before Joseph and prepared his way. One example is the moment Joseph shared his dreams with his brothers at the tender age of 17. God gave Joseph dreams which revealed his future success. Perhaps Joseph sought his brother’s enthusiastic support, but his early faith manifested naïveté and pride and instead invoked their jealousy. But God’s strange and wonderful plan was to take Joseph out from under their influence. When injustice seems to prevail in our lives, it may be God’s way of bringing us into a new land with new challenges and opportunities.

When Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery, his coat of many colors was taken from him, and faith became his only possession. Though he was poor in the eyes of his brothers, he was rich in faith toward God. Faith was now his inner garment of beauty, his secret source of personal strength and inspiration.

“And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:2‑3).

Joseph did not rest on his faith; he fortified it with diligent work and faithful service to those God put over him. Joseph’s values guided him. He moved forward in his relationship with God, and Joseph’s faith gave him quiet confidence, hope, and the strength to continue (Isaiah 30:15).

Joseph’s success would soon be interrupted by the false accusation of assault against Potiphar’s wife. He was sent to prison, where he was again diligent in his work and faithful to those God put over him. Joseph’s experience in prison is an example of our sanctification: active submission to the will of God in our lives. In his prison experience, Joseph showed us five essential elements of a developed faith under God’s sanctifying hand: self‑awareness, self‑regulation, internal motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Joseph’s faith gave him the confidence to speak before Pharaoh and to deliver the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream. “And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. And for that, the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass’” (Genesis 41:16, 32).

Much later, we see the lovely result of a mature life of faith in Joseph’s response to his brothers. “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7). After several years of his brother’s deception, he finally had the opportunity to exact revenge on them. However, by faith, Joseph chose to sow peace instead: faith in God, faith in his brothers, and faith in the power of God to unify his family.

Virtue and Knowledge

The grace of virtue refers to moral excellence. Joseph displayed moral excellence in business dealings and in the forgiveness of his brothers. In contrast, his older brothers had been morally weak and had not shown the faith of their father.

While Joseph suffered in an Egyptian prison, his brothers maintained the lie of his death to their father, Jacob. Perhaps they initially justified their lie because their father mistrusted their ability to manage the sheep business. Holding fast to the lie of Joseph’s demise for two decades demonstrated a lack of virtue. Jacob’s house experienced a famine of faith and surely had no rest.

Just as Jacob trusted Joseph to report back to him about his brothers, Potiphar put the same confidence in Joseph’s moral excellence and business acumen. “And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field” (Genesis 39:4‑5).

God’s great differentiators of moral excellence and knowledge set Joseph apart from the others. Pharoah took notice of these qualities in Joseph, and God continued to bless him with revelations that convinced Pharoah Joseph was the ideal supreme administrator Egypt would need to survive the coming famine. “Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine” (Genesis 41:33‑36).

Self‑Control and Patience

Joseph’s faith in God’s favor was the beginning of his success. With God’s favor came the temptation to be lifted up in pride, but Joseph was kept on track to receive God’s blessing through his patient submission to God’s sanctifying hand. Joseph succeeded in God’s providence because of his humility and faith at work.

God sent Joseph to Egypt for an education, and Joseph made the most of it. He submitted to the difficult experiences and, through struggle in an ungodly environment, practiced a remarkable feat of self‑control and faith, thereby gaining the victory. “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:8).

Even so, we are in antitypical Egypt for our education, the destruction of our self‑will, and the corresponding growth of our new creature. Like Joseph, we must follow a simple formula. “Commit thy works [of faith] unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established” (Proverbs 16:3).

Conclusion

Joseph pictures a life of faith lived during the permission of evil. His experiences show us how God permits evil to achieve a greater purpose in His people. Joseph’s experience shows us how to live a consecrated life in this present evil world at the end of the Gospel Age Harvest. While we are gifted with a much greater revelation of God’s plan, our roadmap of faith is the same as in Joseph’s life.

Joseph’s success encourages us to be diligent, hold on to our faith, live a virtuous life, learn the truth of God’s word, exercise self‑control, be patient and godly, be kind to our brethren, and practice selfless love. Developing these graces of the Spirit under the providence of our Heavenly Father should be our only desire.

When we look at the detail and intricacies of prophetic truth that God reveals to us in the scriptures, we often look at them academically. After all, the holy prophets sought this academic knowledge of God’s plan (1 Peter 1:9‑10). But let us not forget that the heroes of faith went through their experiences with very little foreknowledge, but with an abiding trust in God and their invitation to be part of His family.

Joseph outshined his brothers in faith, resulting in God’s favor. The dreams God gave him anchored his faith in a hopeful future. However, God allowed Joseph’s goodness to be tested through his experiences with evil. Joseph showed us how to face that struggle with his most valuable asset: faith.