Joseph is the house of Potiphar.
I. PURCHASED AS A SLAVE.
1. A sad lot. Worse even than being kidnapped by strangers, Joseph had been first sold by his brethren; carried into Egypt, he had there been exposed for sale in a slave-market; and now, as if he had been a beast of burden or a captive taken in war, he had been a second time purchased for money. Few fortunes are more touchingly sorrowful or more deeply humiliating than this which was now measured out to Jacob's youthful son.
2. A common lot. Happily in our land, and indeed wherever the gospel prevails, it is not a spectacle that can now be beheld—that of men trafficking in each other's flesh. But in those days the horrors of the auction block were not infrequent sights, and Joseph, in being sold and bought like goods and chattels, Was only experiencing a fate which had been undergone by many previous to his times, and has by myriads been suffered since.
3. An appointed lot. As everything on earth is, so was Joseph's sad and sorrowful estate assigned him by Heaven; and the recognition of this doubtless it was by Joseph that prevented him from mur-touring, and apparently inspired him with a cheerful confidence, even in the darkest times.
II. EMPLOYED AS A SERVANT.
1. Eminently prosperous.
2. Greatly rewarded. Joseph was—
III. BLESSED AS A MAN.
1. He enjoyed Divine companionship in his sad captivity. "The Lord was with him;" a compensation rich enough to be set against the miseries of bondage and exile, as God's people, when similarly situated, have not un-frequently experienced (cf. Acts 16:25; 2 Timothy 4:17).
2. He obtained Divine assistance in his arduous duties. When the circumstances of Joseph's lot might have induced despondency, indifference, inaction, carelessness, and inattention, Divine grace so upheld and cheered him that he was able to go about his duties with alacrity and cheerfulness, so that everything he turned his hand to succeeded.
3. He received Divine favor in the eyes of his master. For Joseph himself to have secretly known that God approved of his person and behavior would have been an ample consolation to his sad heart; but to obtain the good-will of Heaven so conspicuously that even his heathen master could not avoid observing it was surely a signal honor.
4. He attracted Divine blessing towards his fellow-men. "The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake." Here was a clear experience by Joseph of the truth of the Abrahamic blessing (Genesis 12:2, Genesis 12:3). In this also Joseph was an eminent type of Christ.
Lessons:—
1. Patience under suffering.
2. Contentment with one's lot.
3. Fidelity in service.
4. The secret of prosperity.
5. The obligations of masters towards servants.
6. The value of religion to a workman.
7. The profit of a pious servant.