Genesis 40

v1-4: “The corridors of power are unpredictable places, and nothing is more unpredictable than the favour of rulers.” Even Joseph experienced this unpredictability, as Potiphar, who was the captain of the guard, “assigned [him] to look after [the baker and cupbearer], which suggests that he now began to be reconciled to him and perhaps to be convinced of his innocence, though he did not dare release him for fear of offending his wife.”

v5-7: A willingness to share in the suffering of others “helps to bring compassion toward those who suffer.” Let us “concern ourselves with the sorrows and troubles of others, and to ask the reason for the sadness of our fellows’ faces. We should often consider the tears of the oppressed,” because “it is some relief to those who are in trouble to be taken notice of.”

v8-19: The role of ministers is only to be interpreters. “They cannot make things different from what they are. If they are faithful, and their message proves not” to be pleasing to their hearers, “it is not their fault.”

v20-23: The ingratitude shown by the cupbearer to Joseph, who “had ministered to him, sympathised with him, helped him with a favourable interpretation of his dream,” is nothing compared to the ingratitude we show toward the Lord Jesus. “We forget him… even though we are often reminded of him.”

Genesis 41

v1-16: Of course “it is best to remember our duty and to do it at the right time.” But if we don’t, “the next best thing” we can do, “is to remember our faults, repent of them, and do our duty eventually.” It better to do it late than to do it never.

v17-32: Times of plenty may be followed by times of great scarcity. “We must learn how to live” wisely when “in want, as well as how to live in plenty.”

v33-45: In the promotion of Joseph we see “a type of the exaltation of Christ.” As Joseph is the gatherer, keeper, and dispenser of all the stores of grain, so Jesus “is the gatherer, keeper, and dispenser of all the stores of divine grace.”

v46-57: Go not to Joseph, but to Jesus, is our message. This is where mercy and grace in our time of need is found.

Genesis 42

v1-20: “We all need something to wean us from this world and make us long for the better one.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “to whom Canaan was the land of promise,” all “met with famine in that land,” which not only tested their faith “to see whether they would trust God… even though he should starve them,” but also “to teach them to look for a better country.”

v21-28: The conscience can bring “to mind things long since said, done, and forgotten, to show us where we have erred.” One means “of awakening our conscience and of bringing sin to our remembrance” is suffering.

v29-38: It is possible that because of “our ignorance,” and “the weakness of our faith,” we “think that what is really for us is against us.” Jacob thinks that everything is against him, but all these “were in fact working together for his good and the good of his family.”