When they arrive in Egypt, the merchants put Joseph on an auction block. And he's thinking, "Life as I've known it is completely over. There's no one to call. There's nobody that's going to come to my rescue. Nobody is even going to know. I don't even know what these people are saying. I don't even know the language. Life, as I've known it, is over."
As Joseph stands on the auction block, a captain of Pharaoh's guard walks up and says, "I'll take him". He is taken down and handed over to one of Potiphar's servants, and they march Joseph off to his home. Now all of a sudden he's a slave. Remember he's the favored son who had slaves and now, he is a slave and a servant in the home of a family where he probably doesn't even know the language. Talk about uncertainty!
Then here's this strange verse in the Bible, "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. And the Lord was with Joseph." Wait a minute. And the Lord was with Joseph?
If your response is anything like mine, I'm thinking, "Oh, no he wasn't". If the Lord had been with Joseph, he would be home with his dad. If the Lord was with Joseph, his brothers would be in Egypt, building pyramids with no quarters for the Coke machine! Anybody who is that evil and that wicked is not going to be allowed to take hold of somebody the Lord is with and sell them into slavery. "And the Lord was with Joseph".
I'm glad the author told us that because if he didn't, you and I would conclude God had abandoned Joseph. Or God was mad at Joseph. Or God had decided to bless the ugly brothers instead of the faithful son. Or that God got confused. You know, something's gone awry in the universe. The author says, "No, no. the Lord was with Joseph".
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