The Joseph Project and Jesus

Summary

I

A while back I had a Christian friend in another state who was an avid supporter of one of the two major political parties in the United States. He gave large donations to candidates of his political party and to political action committees that supported his party. Since he was a moderately wealthy person, these donations were probably substantial. He also attended strategy meetings at the political headquarters downtown. Before elections, he put signs up on his front lawn. He hosted social gatherings in his living room to build momentum for his party. He knocked on his neighbors’ doors and urged them to vote for his party’s candidates. And between elections, he kept up a steady stream of letters to Washington, D.C., advocating for this or that public policy. Although he never ran for office himself, he did everything else he could to help his party win. In a word, my friend was politically savvy.

II

The stories about Joseph in the book of Genesis portray him to be one of the most politically savvy persons in the entire Bible. It’s an engaging story. A spoiled peasant kid from Palestine rises to become the second most powerful person in Egypt, which was considered in those days to be a superpower of the ancient near East. Along the way, Joseph has lots of adventures. He is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, falsely accused of sexual impropriety by his owner, and put into prison. Yet our intrepid adventurer successfully emerges from every difficulty and miraculously ends up as the king’s right-hand man. From that exalted position, he exercises enormous wealth and political power.