ACTS 7: 9 & 10

Oftentimes, when one thinks of the patriarchs, you think of men who were honorable, noble, venerable, and righteous. For me, who comes to mind are men like Abraham, Enoch, Job – men of integrity and men who truly endeavored to walk with God in a manner worthy of emulation. However, these patriarchs alluded to here by Stephen, in his defense of the faith and the gospel, were definitely not so! They were indeed patriarchs but not of the same caliber and pedigree as Abraham. From the outset, Stephen informs us that they were patriarchs, but instead of following in the tradition of sobriety and righteousness, they were driven by hatred, vicious vitriol, cynicism, and cruelty.

Stephen professes, “And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt . . .” Acts 7:9. They sold him without looking back. They sold him in spite of his pleading with them not to be sold, and they saw the anguish of his soul beseeching them not to, but they plain refused to show mercy. They sold him for twenty pieces of silver to a group of Ishmaelites. They engaged in human trafficking, insensible to the fact that this was their younger, innocent, blood brother. In fact, at first the plan was to senselessly slay him, to murder him and to shed innocent blood – because of envy and hatred.

The passage simply again speaks of man’s cruelty to his fellow human beings. It highlights human depravity at its lowest level and how evil we can become, even to our kin. It speaks about the cruelty and viciousness of envy, causing us to seriously pray, “O God, let there be no inkling of envy in our hearts.” May we learn again how to be truly happy and excited over our brother’s successes, dreams, and accomplishments. It is almost unthinkable how vicious and callous they had become toward their own brother. Driven by envy, they preferred him dead. Their plan was to slay him and cast him into some pit like a piece of trash and forget about him altogether.

However, one thing they never calculated, failed to see, or could not see was what Stephen so assiduously points out: “But God was with Joseph” (Acts 7:9). At the beginning, it really seemed as if the patriarchs had won, but that was only a delusion. When God is with us, no conspiracy contrived on earth or in the nether regions of darkness can prevail. These patriarchs were powerful. It was ten against one! They ganged up on innocence. They took counsel together to completely annihilate and thoroughly eviscerate Joseph and his dreams – to undo the dream and the dreamer, but all they could only do was to propel and accelerate Joseph into His God-orchestrated destiny!

It really seemed dark and impossible for Joseph, but Joseph was divinely accompanied and sustained. Every time he rises, he is dashed down and disappointed, but it wasn’t long before Joseph somehow came to the realization that God is not only God in Canaan, but He is God in Egypt. In the saga of Joseph, the prisoner becomes prime minister. The slave becomes the governor. The oppressed becomes the ruler. The dream becomes reality. God kept intervening! The more they pushed him down is the more he kept rising. You can’t keep a good man /woman down! “But God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house…” (v.10). Evil had to bow!