It’s true that in God’s story, he has used people who have made mistakes. Jesus’ ancestor Judah is the one who suggested selling his brother Joseph into slavery and later, he didn’t honor his daughter-in-law. He learned that she–who pretended to be a prostitute — was more righteous than him. Later on, another prostitute was used (Rahab).

When Joseph was in his character building arc, the Lord was with him and made him succeed and gain favor with his bosses so that he would get experience in management.

But it wasn’t just the gift of dreams or developing management skills, Joseph grew because he recognized GOD’S involvement. He didn’t get full of himself like he might have as a kid when his daddy was spoiling him. He had learned humility and responsibility. That’s why he was able to be respectful and say no to Potiphar’s wife coming on to him.

But although he had done well in refusing, his cloak was again used in a lie that left him worse off than before. Where his multi-colored robe (a symbol of his lack of humility) was part of a lie that he’d been killed, his new robe was used in a lie that he’d tried to rape Potipher’s wife. Why did that happen? Should Joseph have given a bad report to Potiphar like he used to with his brothers? I can’t think of anything that indicated that he still needed to be taught a lesson…but maybe it wasn’t about punishment.

Although he was in prison (worse than being a slave), God was still with Joseph and AGAIN made him succeed and further built up his resume for management. Maybe that’s why it happened. Not as punishment but to promote him in an unexpected way to continue his training while putting him in position for the next phase.

If not for his position in prison, Joseph wouldn’t have met and helped the cupbearer with his dream. When he was a kid, Joseph cared only for his own dreams and didn’t notice how they affected others. As his character developed, he saw how the other prisoners seemed down and could use his gift not to exalt himself, but to bring understanding to others.

However, again Joseph did the right thing but he wasn’t immediately rewarded for it. When the cupbearer got out of jail, he didn’t hook Joseph up with a good word to get him out of jail. I guess it wasn’t time yet. He had to wait 2 more YEARS for the opportunity to interpret the Pharaoh’s dream. That was 2 more years of training in managing the prison.

All the magicians and wise men couldn’t interpret Pharaoh’s dream. But Joseph–a prisoner and a manager–could. Couldn’t he have been free and God make him a prophet or a wise man? Maybe, but that’s not what God did. Instead He blessed and developed in him the skills that would lead to helping the problem. A magician or wise man wouldn’t have the management skills to lead a country through famine.

FINALLY Joseph got another promotion–this time a good one–because it was time to put his training to use.

It’s been said that God is patient because he doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, but it can be frustrating experiencing how he takes his time. Joseph was about 17 when he had his dreams about his family bowing down to him. Then he went through all those years of being enslaved and imprisoned so that at age 30 he would be in a position to realize that dream. It wasn’t just humility that he had to learn, he had to learn to work/manage/lead. But by the time he made it, he wasn’t even thinking about that dream. He wasn’t complaining about all that time or the work.

In Josephs original dream, his whole family bowed down to him. When his brothers came from Canaan to buy grain, the dream was incomplete. I think the fact that Jacob (Israel) had kept Benjamin behind was a sign that the family hadn’t changed enough. Jacob was still showing favoritism.

Joseph decided to test his brothers to see if they had changed or if they would still betray their own blood. Through this, he learned that they did feel remorse for how they had treated him.

The brothers complied with Joseph’s demand to leave one behind. And just like when they were younger, the brothers gained silver but lost one of their brothers. Test: would they leave that brother in prison like they left Joseph? Take the money and grain and leave their brother behind?

Joseph had to learn to be humble, and his family had to grow too. They claimed to be honest men, Joseph wanted them to prove it. They had lied to their father before and betrayed him, what would they do this time?

Returning to Canaan and telling their father the situation, Jacob still showed signs of needing to grow because he didn’t seem grateful for ALL of his sons equally. He spoke as if he only had 2 sons instead of 12. But Ruben (the oldest?) offered his own sons and promised to bring the baby brother (the new favorite) back. He had failed Joseph, but didn’t want to fail again.

Jacob was so stubborn and stuck on his favoritism, it seemed he would have LEFT SIMEON in jail rather than risk losing Benjamin. It was only after they ran out of food again that he spoke of sending the brothers back to Egypt. Back to Egypt for food, not one of his sons. And he was upset that they were honest in admitting they had another brother (a contrast from when he was upset from their earlier lie that Joseph was dead).

Judah displayed growth. Once he’d been the one who let jealousy drive him to sell his brother. Now he had changed enough that he was willing to take responsibility. Not only that, but it seemed he recognized and accepted that Jacob simply didn’t care about him as much as his brother. He didn’t let that get in the way of doing the right thing. Perhaps the situation with his daughter-in-law had taught him about righteousness and keeping his word.

The brothers demonstrated their honesty by confessing that they’d all found their silver back in their bags the first time. However that could be intrepreted as self-serving because they were afraid of being persecuted. All the brothers–including Benjamin this time–bowed to Joseph. But the dream was not yet fulfilled.

I think it was another test that Joseph gave his full-brother Benjamin much more than the others. But the brothers passed the test again. Instead of being jealous to see Benjamin being spoiled like they had been about young Joseph, they simply ate and shared with him.

Joseph secretly planted one of his silver cups on Benjamin. When accused of stealing, all the brothers were so convinced of each others’ innocence, they said if any of them had stolen it, let that one be killed and the rest of them made into slaves. They had a unified front. When it was revealed that the cup was in Ben’s bag, they all tore their clothes and went back to the city. They didn’t argue or try to save themselves and ditch Benjamin. Judah’s redemption continued as he did try to include Benjamin as a slave with the others instead of letting him die. The brothers all came together, and remained unified–better they ALL be slaves than to leave one behind.

And the final bit of proof that the brothers were changed, Judah knew how much his father loved Benjamin and he didn’t let jealousy corrupt him. Instead he chose to honor his promise to bring Ben back safely and he again showed honesty by telling Joseph the importance.