BIBLE PEOPLE | JOSEPH, SON OF JACOB

1. Bible People

a) The Bible is an historic record of real people and places. 

b) Here is a brief biography of such a person during Bible times.

2. Joseph, a son of Jacob (Israel)

a) Joseph was one of 12 sons of Jacob. He was the first born son of Rachel (Genesis 30:22-24). He received preferential treatment which angered his ten older brothers. His brothers faked his death to their father Jacob, and sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelite traders who were on their way to Egypt. God gave Joseph the power to interpret dreams, and when the Pharaoh had two disturbing dreams, Joseph was brought before the Pharaoh, and interpreted his dreams, of seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine (Genesis 41:8-32).

b) Joseph also suggested how to put this foreknowledge to good use, by storing produce in warehouses. Pharaoh charged Joseph, then at age thirty the rank and authority of a viceroy. When the famine came, it effected Canaan whereupon Jacob sent all his sons, except for Benjamin, to Egypt to buy food. Joseph broke down on seeing his brothers (they did not recognize him at first), gave them food, and eventually had his entire family move to Egypt to live.

c) Jacob's family of seventy people traveled to Egypt, and multiplied into a few million before Moses led them out. Joseph had two sons by his Egyptian wife (Asenath), Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph died at age 110, his body was embalmed in Egypt, and his bones returned to Canaan in the Exodus. 

d) The name Joseph means "May God increase." 

Comments