Transitioning from Potiphar's House to the Palace

“And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison” (Gen. 39:19-20).

Joseph is one of the greatest types of Christ found in the Word of God. God gave him a dream that predicted his brothers bowing before him in homage. This is a picture of Christ when He returns at His second coming when Israel will bow before Him and weep bitterly because of what they did to their Messiah.
When Joseph’s dreams were told to his brothers, they hated him so much that they desired to kill Joseph, but Reuben stepped in and saved Joseph’s life by not allowing the others to kill him. Instead, they made the decision to cast him into a pit. A group of merchantmen came along, and his brothers sold Joseph to them as a slave. The merchants brought him to Egypt where Joseph was purchased by Potiphar, the captain of the Egyptian guard.

It would have been easy for Joseph to look at his circumstances and become bitter about all that was taking place in his life. I imagine that great doubt flooded his mind regarding the dreams that the Lord had given him. Despite his circumstances, Joseph humbly submitted himself to his current situation. By doing so, he found himself remarkably blessed in the house of Pharaoh. “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” (Gen 39:4).

As a servant to Potiphar, Joseph was prosperous and blessed. God blessed Joseph while he was in Potiphar’s house, but Potiphar’s house was not the place that God intended for Joseph to stay. God had always intended to bring Joseph to the palace of Pharaoh. God had always intended to bless Joseph by making him second in command of all of Egypt, but the only way to the palace would be through the prison.

We think that God could have just used Potiphar to help Joseph get to the palace. Potiphar was not there when Pharaoh had these terrible dreams that were troubling him greatly, but a butler was. Joseph never interpreted a dream of Potiphar’s, but he did for this butler. It was only in the prison that Joseph could have met the butler. God has blessed you greatly, and now you feel like you are in the prison. You did nothing to deserve this prison period of your life, but yet here you are. God uses trials, tribulations, and difficult situations to move us along in this Christian journey. You may feel like you are all alone and everyone has forgotten you. God has not brought you to this place to leave you here. Your trial has an expiration date, this thing has now come to stay, but will pass. God wants to move you from Potiphar’s house to the palace, but for a season, you have to embrace the prison.

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1 Comment

  • A1
    Bruce Medici from Rhode Island
    May 01, 2019 at 11:53 PM

    One of the greatest biblical stories. Just when we think all is lost,we find God has had his hand on the situation at all times. Bless you.

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Parisragan1

Paris, accompanied by his wife Marybeth, coordinates and oversees <a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/crossfire/unite">Crossfire Unite</a> fellowship groups. He is a regular teacher on SBN’s “<a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/crossfire/gotc">Generation of the Cross</a>” with Gabriel Swaggart. Paris is a workshop instructor and assists with Church Needs for the <a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/iyc">International Youth Conference</a>, and he has been an evening professor at <a href="https://jsbc.edu" target="_blank">Jimmy Swaggart Bible College</a> since the spring of 2017. He oversees all Crossfire Unite Student Outreaches. Paris also contributes writings to the <a href="https://gabrielswaggart.org/crossfire/blog?author=paris%20ragan">Crossfire Blog</a>.

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