Bible Study Materials

Genesis 39-40

by Paul Choi   05/16/2022  

Question


God was with Joseph

(Joseph’s life at Potiphar’s house and in prison) Lesson 25

Genesis 39-40

Key Verse: 39:2

  1. Look at 39:1-6a. How might Joseph have suffered? How did he overcome himself? Why was he successful in Potiphar’s house? (2,3,5)

  2. Look at v 6b-23. How did Potiphar’s wife tempt Joseph? How did Joseph keep from falling into sin? How can we overcome sexual temptation today? (Pr 5:3-4, 6:26, 8:13; 1Co 6:18-20, 1 Ti 6:11-12, Ro 8:5-8; 12:1-2, Gal 5:16, He 12:16)

  3. What does it mean that "God was with Joseph"? What can you learn from Joseph's faith and life? Look at 40:1-23. Describe Joseph’s life in prison.

  4. What were his prison mates’ dreams? (9-11, 16-17) What did Joseph teach them and how did he interpret their dreams? (8,12-13, 18-19) What happened to them? (20-22)


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BibleNote


God was with Joseph

(Joseph’s life at Potiphar’s house and in prison) Lesson 25

Genesis 39-40

Key Verse: 39:2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 

Joseph is known as the fruit of Genesis. God showed an example of how to live as the people of God through Joseph’s life. When we learn the God of Joseph, we learn what kind of life we should live as a people of God.

Joseph was prosperous in Egypt because God was with him. God was with him because Joseph was with God.

  1. Look at 39:1-6a. How might Joseph have suffered? How did he overcome himself? Why was he successful in Potiphar’s house? (2,3,5)

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Joseph might have suffered from loneliness and fear in the foreign country. He could have blamed his brothers who had sold them.

He was sold as a slave, but he did not become slave of hatred and anger.

He trusted in God and believed in his sovereignty over his life.

He believed that in all things God works for the good for his good purpose.

What did Potiphar see in Joseph’s life? He saw the God of Joseph. The secret of our success is the presence of God. God is with us and we need to be with God.

  1. Look at v 6b-23. How did Potiphar’s wife tempt Joseph? How did Joseph keep from falling into sin? How can we overcome sexual temptation today? (Pr 5:3-4, 6:26, 8:13; 1Co 6:18-20, 1 Ti 6:11-12, Ro 8:5-8; 12:1-2, Gal 5:16, He 12:16)

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Spiritual crisis and temptation come in the time of prosperity. We should be careful when we think we are standing. ( )

Sexual temptation is crucial to young or old, to man or woman, to all of us.

Joseph was young and handsome. He was targeted by the immoral woman. But Joseph kept himself away from her. He made an environment for unnecessary struggling. He was not with the woman. He was with the Lord.

He feared God. He also was faithful to his master Potiphar even though he was the gentile. Joseph was faithful to human master and faithful to God.

For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.

26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

  1. What does it mean that "God was with Joseph"? What can you learn from Joseph's faith and life? Look at 40:1-23. Describe Joseph’s life in prison.

God was with Joseph. God protected Joseph from temptation, strengthened him when he was depressed, guided him when was lost, gave him wisdom when had to make decision…

Joseph’s personal relationship with God made him faithful. To have personal relationship is very important in time of blessing and suffering.

Joseph lived as a shepherd life in the prison. He was not fatalistic, but optimistic for his future. How to see your life and your situation is very important…fatalistic or optimistic? Crisis in Chinese (위기) has two meaning: danger and opportunity. We can use crisis for an opportunity to experience the power of God. Jesus said in John 9:3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 

We should not give in our fate, but use it for an opportunity to reveal God’s glory and experience God’s presence and God’s power. Amen.

  1. What were his prison mates’ dreams? (9-11, 16-17) What did Joseph teach them and how did he interpret their dreams? (8,12-13, 18-19) What happened to them? (20-22)

The Cupbearer and the Baker

40 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.

After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10 and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”

12 “This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15 I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”

16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.[a] 17 In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

18 “This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”

20 Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— 22 but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Joseph told them that God gave them their dreams about their future & destiny.

Joseph taught them who God is. He made every opportunity to teach about God.

Joseph told them the truth. He did not have sugar-coated in his interpretation.


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