Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.” Genesis 30:23–24
There is so much sometimes in a name. In this beautiful text, Rachel makes a little play on words that is lost in translation. Joseph’s name comes from the verb yasaph, which means “to add.” The word for “take away” is asaph. She says, “God has taken away [asaph] my reproach. The Lord shall add [yasaph] to me another son.” Joseph’s mother regarded his birth not only as a blessing from God, but also as a promise of even greater things to come. She could remember this every time she spoke his name. From Joseph we learn so much, but it isn’t what happens to Joseph that makes his story so remarkable; it is how Joseph responds.
From Joseph we learn that life isn’t always fair. Joseph didn’t grow up in a model family. The first thing we read about Joseph is when he tells his father of the misconduct of four of his brothers (Genesis 37:2), who are the sons of two women given to him by his two wives in an attempt to settle their competition for Jacob’s affection. Simeon and Levi put an entire village to the sword when its prince defiled their sister. Reuben committed fornication with one of his father’s concubines. And Judah had twins by his daughter-in-law when she disguised herself as a prostitute. These are the people with which Joseph shared the first 17 years of his life! Add to this the fact that Joseph was hated cruelly by his brothers for their father’s favoritism toward him and the fact that he was mistreated at every turn.
From Joseph we learn that we can do the right thing no matter what. Joseph refused to allow circumstances to dictate his actions. He refused to sin when sin looked like the only option. Even when he was overcome with emotion, he allowed reason and mercy to win the day. Joseph’s story was all but relived by Daniel several centuries later in Babylon. Like Joseph, this young man refused to defile himself when it seemed that he had no choice. He too was hated and yet was exalted because of his faith in God. Daniel must have found great comfort in the story of Joseph’s life, and we can find comfort in it when we find ourselves suffering for doing right.
From Joseph we learn that some things should be remembered and others forgotten. Joseph was forgotten by Pharaoh’s butler (Genesis 40:23), but not by his family (42:21–22, 36). Joseph tried to forget the ill treatment he had received from his father’s sons (41:51; 50:15–21), but he would never forget his father’s God. People around him must have wondered why he would feel such loyalty to a foreign god that had served him so ill. Why would he not serve the gods of the Egyptians, especially since he was a prince among them? Joseph never forgot his God simply because God never forgot him (39:1–6, 20–23).
God turned a mess into a masterpiece in Joseph’s life, and He can do the same for every one of us if we will serve Him faithfully through good times and bad.