Joseph in Egypt, Monday, January 14, 2013

First let me say that I do not intend to post in this Bible blog every day; it takes too much of my time. Also, if you are wondering about the chapters I have skipped, that is partly due to the Essential 100 plan, which is presenting only 50 representative passages from the Old Testament, and another 50 from the New Testament, but I am skipping even some of its selections due to being busy on other things.

Genesis 39, 40, and 41.

You will have noticed that Joseph has a lot to do with dreams. Dreams get him in trouble with his brothers and his father. Joseph, what were you thinking? How did you expect them to react to dreams saying they would all bow down to you? (Genesis 37) But he was only 17 at the time, and evidently a bit naïve. Then, in these three chapters, he interprets dreams by the baker and the cup bearer, and then by Pharoah. Charles Fillmore says that Joseph represents our faculty of imagination, which he classifies as one of the twelve abilities making up Christ consciousness. That makes sense; dreams and imagination logically go together. Egypt, on the other hand, always represents sense consciousness and subconsciousness. Joseph descends into Egypt; the imagination descends into the subconscious. Result: lots of dreams! Despite the fact that it was “evil intentions” on the part of his brothers that got him there, the passage tells us that “the Lord was with him.” It seems as though this is a part of the plan, and we have no record of Joseph complaining about his plight. Instead, he brings blessing wherever he goes.

Neveretheless, he does get into more trouble. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him and, rejected by Joseph, she fabricates a rape charge against him and has him imprisoned. Joseph then becomes top trustee in the prison and brings blessing to that environment as well. It is only because of whom he meets and befriends in that prison that, eventually, his ability to interpret dreams comes to the attention of Pharoah. The sequence of events reminds me of the Buddhist story of the farmer, his son, and the horses, where one “tragedy” after another turns into a “blessing,” which in turn leads to another “tragedy” and then a blessing...proving that we cannot classify things as good or bad; they just are what is. Joseph, we shall see in later chapters, sees it all as good. “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). A Course in Miracles agrees: "It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion" (M-4.I.4:5-6).

Symbolically, we see here that when our imagination is tempted by sense consciousness, and refuses the temptation, there can be an internal backlash. We may feel deprived or depressed. A Course in Miracles speaks about something similar in the growth of “the teacher of God,” which refers to all of us, since we are all here to pass along everything we learn. It says that at times we feel called upon to give up something seen desirable or valuable, and experience it as a kind of sacrifice, despite the fact that the something is actually without true value for us. Many men, confronted with a wealthy woman wanting to seduce him, would go along without question and count it as good fortune. Joseph probably felt some sense of sacrifice. The Course says:

"There is, however, no point in sorting out the valuable from the valueless unless the next obvious step is taken. [Actually giving up the valueless.] Therefore, the period of overlap is apt to be one in which the teacher of God feels called upon to sacrifice his own best interests on behalf of truth. He has not realized as yet how wholly impossible such a demand would be. He can learn this only as he actually does give up the valueless" (M-4.I.5:4-7).

That sense of sacrifice is what I mean by “internal backlash.” The key point here is that it all does work together for Joseph’s good, and that of his entire family (to say nothing of the whole nation of Egypt, and surrounding countries who are able to endure the famine because of the plan he institutes). We need to waste no time indulging our imaginations in “what might have been.”

As is often the case, there are many symbols here I’m not interpreting. Here’s one more snippet: What is interesting is the position of authority given to Joseph, symbolizing the imagination, ruling over all of Egypt (sense consciousness, or the body). Fillmore, in Mysteries of Genesis, says, “…the body should be ruled over by the spiritualized imaginative faculty working under the direction and by the power of Spirit.”