Acts 7:9-16 - Joseph’s Suffering and Exaltation

Introduction

     In the previous section (Acts 7:1-8), Stephen presented the first part of his message which demonstrated God’s work in history through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who fathered the twelve patriarchs (Acts 7:8). In the following sections, Stephen is showing God’s work through Joseph (Acts 7:9-16), Moses (Acts 7:17-43), and that He ultimately does not dwell in human structures such as the tabernacle and temple (Acts 7:44-50). The final part of Stephen’s message was intended to show God’s work in Jesus, the Righteous One, who was betrayed and killed by the Jewish leadership (Acts 7:51-53). 

     In the current section (Acts 7:9-16), Stephen briefly explains how the patriarchs rejected and mistreated Joseph. However, the one they had rejected, was the one whom God had chosen to be their deliverer. And though they had rejected Joseph the first time, they welcomed him the second time (Acts 7:13). We will see Stephen repeat this narrative with Moses (Acts 7:17-43), who Israel rejected the first time, but welcomed the second time (Acts 7:35). The final part of Stephen’s message will point out that his generation was guilty of rejecting and murdering Jesus, the Righteous One whom God had chosen to be their deliverer (Acts 7:51-53). Biblically, we know Jesus was rejected at His first coming, but will be accepted at His second coming.

Text

     Stephen opens this pericope with a brief overview of the Joseph narrative, saying, “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him” (Acts 7:9). Though the Jewish leaders would not make the connection until later, Stephen was comparing them with ten of Joseph’s brothers who had become jealous and sold him into slavery. Likewise, it was because of a similar mental attitude of sin the Jewish leadership had mistreated Jesus, as Matthew records, it was “because of envy they had handed Him over” to Pilate to be crucified (Matt 27:18). Though Joseph was mistreated by ten of his brothers, we are told that “God was with him” (Acts 7:9b).

     Because God was with Joseph, He “rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household” (Acts 7:10). Historically, we know God rescued Joseph, but only after allowing Joseph to suffer unjust persecution for a time. Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers (Gen 37:23-28), Potiphar’s lying wife (Gen 39:7-19), and was placed in prison for two years (Gen 39:20). Though Joseph suffered at the hands of wicked people, God used their sinful choices to bring about a greater good. Similarly, God worked through wicked leaders—both Jews and Gentiles—to bring about the death of Christ and our salvation (Acts 2:22-24; 4:26-28). Throughout Joseph’s time in Egypt, God was with Him “and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt” (Acts 7:10b). God has a way of directing His people to meet others. We should realize there are no accidental encounters in this life, but that God directs our lives in such a way that everyone we meet is part of His sovereign plan. The possession of wisdom in God’s servants is an indication of His favor toward them. And God, who had granted Joseph wisdom and favor in the sight of Pharoah, made Joseph “governor over Egypt and all his household” (Acts 7:10c). God was in charge of Joseph’s advancement, and this is true of all believers. We read in Hannah’s prayer, “The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam 2:7-8). Peter’s instruction to believers is, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Pet 5:6).

     While God was advancing Joseph in Egypt, He was also controlling the regional weather that would result in a drought and famine over the land. Prior to the famine, God had given Pharoah two dreams that revealed He would cause seven years of prosperity to come and then He would bring seven years of drought and famine on the land (Gen 41:25-31). From Genesis to Revelation, God governs the lives of people and nations. Human rulers exist because of His plan, for “It is He who changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding” (Dan 2:21). Joseph told Pharoah, “God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do” (Gen 41:28), and “as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about” (Gen 41:32). It is this historical event that Stephen draws from, focusing on the time of the famine, stating, “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food” (Acts 7:11).

     Stephen tells us, “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time” (Acts 7:12). Jacob was moved by the hunger pains God controlled, and in this way, the Lord moved His people geographically to the place He wanted. The suffering from the famine was the vehicle God used to get His people to Egypt in order to full His promise to Abraham (Gen 15:13). When Joseph’s brothers visited him the first time, they did not recognize him, and he did not make himself known. But Stephen tells us, “On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh” (Acts 7:13). According to John Polhill:

• "What Stephen did emphasize, however, was the seemingly insignificant detail that the brothers made two visits and only recognized Joseph on the second. Why this emphasis? The same would be true of Moses later on in Stephen’s speech. His fellow Israelites did not recognize him either on his first visit but rejected him (Acts 7:27-28). Only on his second visit did they recognize him as the one God had sent to deliver them from Egypt (Acts 7:35-36)."[1]

Charles Ryrie adds:

• "Stephen then passed to Joseph (Acts7:9-16) possibly because Joseph is such a good type of Christ. He was sold because of envy (cf., Mark 15:10) but God was with him (cf., Acts 10:38); there was a famine, which pictured Israel’s condition at that time; and it was the second time when Joseph was revealed to his brethren just as it will be at our Lord’s second coming that Israel will recognize Him."[2]

     Historically, we know Jesus was rejected by His people when He came the first time. John tells us, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). However, when Jesus comes to earth a second time, Israel will receive Him. Through Zechariah, God said, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zec 12:10). And John wrote, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” (Rev 1:7). God has not broken His covenant with Israel, for “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Rom 11:2). For though “a partial hardening has happened to Israel” (Rom 11:25), and they are currently under God’s judgment (Matt 23:37-39), there will come a time in the future, after the Tribulation, that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26), and this according to God’s sovereign plan.

     After Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers, he invited the whole family to come to him, that he might care for them. Stephen says, “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all” (Acts 7:14). This is amazing, for the one who had been treated with hostility, rejected, and sold into captivity, was the very one who became the deliverer of those who mistreated him. This is love. This is grace. According to Warren Wiersbe, “Joseph and Moses…have this in common: they were both rejected as deliverers the first time, but were accepted the second time.”[3] Jon Courson states:

• "During a time of famine, Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt for help. They stood before the Prime Minister of Egypt, not recognizing him to be their own brother. As Joseph began to question them when they appeared before him a second time, they admitted that they had sinned greatly against their brother. Then, in that powerful emotional scene, Joseph said, “I am Joseph” (Gen 45:4). It wasn’t until the second time they saw him that Joseph’s brothers realized who he was. So, too, after going through a time of famine, drought, and tribulation, Israel will finally recognize Jesus in His Second Coming (Rom 11:26)."[4]

     At first glance (prima facie), there seems to be a discrepancy between Stephen’s record of “seventy-five persons in all” (Acts 7:14b), and the account by Moses who told us there were “sixty-six persons in all” (Gen 46:26b). How do we explain this? Earl Radmacher offers the following solution:

• "Stephen stated that seventy-five people in all went to Egypt. Genesis 46:26 indicates that sixty-six people accompanied Jacob to Egypt, not including Jacob, Joseph, and the two sons of Joseph. Stephen derived the number seventy-five from the Septuagint translation of the OT. The translators apparently added nine wives (Gen 46:26 says the number sixty-six did not include the wives). It was only nine and not twelve because the wives of Judah and Simeon had died and Joseph’s wife was already in Egypt."[5]

     Stephen skips ahead in his message and mentions the death of Jacob and the patriarchs, saying, “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died” (Acts 7:15). And then jumping ahead four hundred years, he says, “From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem” (Acts 7:16). Being removed from Egypt occurred during the time of the Exodus, when God was working through Moses to liberate His people from Egyptian bondage. But we seem to have a problem as Stephen states that Jacob was buried at Shechem (Acts 7:16), whereas Moses wrote in Genesis that his sons “buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (Gen 50:13), which was where “Abraham buried Sarah his wife” (Gen 23:19), and where Abraham himself was buried (Gen 25:9). After Israel had entered the land under the leadership of Joshua, we’re told “they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem” (Josh 24:32). In Acts 7:16, Stephen reports that Abraham purchased the tomb in Shechem, whereas Moses records that Jacob “bought the piece of land…for one hundred pieces of money” (Gen 33:19). So who bought the burial place at Shechem, Abraham or Jacob? Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The simplest explanation is that Abraham actually purchased both pieces of property and that Jacob later had to purchase the Shechem property again. Abraham moved around quite a bit and it would be very easy for the residents of the land to forget or ignore the transactions he had made.”[6]

     In summary, Stephen revealed how the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and mistreated him by selling him into slavery. But God was with Joseph and endowed him with wisdom and favor in the sight of others and, over time, elevated him to the position of governor of Egypt under Pharoah. Eventually, God created and controlled a famine that moved His people geographically to Egypt in order that they might be saved and cared for by the very one whom they’d rejected. In this way, Joseph becomes a type of Christ, Who was mistreated and rejected by His people, but will be accepted at His second coming.

Present Application

     Stephen thought and spoke from a biblical worldview, seeing God at work in the details of people’s lives. He personally saw himself in the historical flow of God’s plan, and could therefore see himself speaking and acting for God. Likewise, believers today who live in the biblical worldview develop a personal sense of destiny, seeing our lives as part of the fabric of God’s eternal plan that is being worked out moment by moment in the everyday details of human history. The circumstances of our lives are not accidents, but divine appointments, designed by God to grow us spiritually and to advance His eternal plan for His glory and the edification of others.

     Though Joseph suffered at the hands of his jealous brothers (Acts 7:9a), we’re told that “God was with him” (Acts 7:9). As Christians, we too know that God is with us, as God Himself said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb 13:5). So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” (Heb 13:6). And though Joseph suffered unjustly for a time in prison, we’re told that God “rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household” (Acts 7:10). God, in His sovereignty will, on occasion, bring a person low in order to humble him, but then later exalt him to a place of honor where he can serve as a trophy of His grace (see 1 Sam 2:7-8).

     Though Joseph was mistreated by his brothers, later in his life, he interpreted their behavior from the divine perspective, telling his brothers, “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen 45:5). And Joseph repeated himself a second time, saying, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen 45:7-8a). And later, he told them a third time, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen 50:20). As Christians, we are called to renovate our thinking and learn to operate from the divine perspective (Rom 12:1-2). When we do this, we experience a paradigm shift that allows us to be able to frame life in way that gives us a confidence to face difficulties, for “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). Operating from divine viewpoint allows us to rise above the trials and hardships of life and to live by faith and not feelings. In this way, we can live as God intends and find stability and purpose in the details of life that He controls. 

Dr. Steven R. Cook

 

[1] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 192.

[2] Charles C. Ryrie, Acts of the Apostles, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1961), 46.

[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 431.

[4] Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 674.

[5] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), 1379–1380.

[6] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1, 431–432.