The Secret of Joseph's Success — Faith, Excellence, and Turning the Other Cheek

Reading the Story Like a Novel

The story of Joseph is one of the longest stories in the Bible. Here is the key: if you cut into any part of this story and separate it and analyze it you probably will come up with the opinion that this is a terrible tragedy of a family that is falling apart and an old father that is not able to take care of his own family and make peace and order among his own sons. It would be considered as being a totally dysfunctional family. However, if you back up and look at the whole story, the whole narrative of the story of Joseph, you see that each picture in the story, each scene in the plot is like a freight train where each car is hooked to the next and is pulling the other cars, with each car connected to the other, and even though each car is full of sadness and horrible events the train itself is headed in a happy direction toward a happy ending.

Probably the greatest lesson from this Torah portion is that God can use what seems like mistakes, jealousy, hate, problems, even injustice, and get good out of these problems and tribulations. Of course, during the period that you are going through the hard times, you are miserable, maybe bitterly hopeless, and angry. I am sure that when Joseph was in the well and his future was so unsure, his condition was not so cheerful. I am sure that when he was sold to Potiphar as a slave he couldn't see much hope of fulfilling the dreams that God gave him in his youth.

The Power That Kept Joseph Going

What was the power that enabled Joseph to excel in every situation and float above the dim reality of his present situation? Here are the points that I believe Joseph took into account to be able to raise above his present reality and come under the blessings of God: Stop! Look around for an opportunity to excel. Seek always to become needed and useful even under the most difficult circumstances, like being put in prison falsely accused of sexual abuse of the wife of your boss! When you don't feel blessed look for ways to serve and bless others and make them happy.

There is one thing that is very noticeable in the story of Joseph. Joseph never complains. He accepts the situation and no matter where he is placed his service is noticed and he is upgraded and raised to high positions in every circumstance. This attitude and force in Joseph's character, I attribute to the faith that Joseph had received through his dreams. He believed that he will be great and his brothers will worship him. This faith in God's promises was the force that kept Joseph sane, and allowed him to focus on his work and to be successful and to display excellence through his service. Joseph understood the principle that Paul so wonderfully states in Romans 8:28:

When the Apostle Paul wrote this in Romans chapter 8, he really meant that "all things" — the good the bad and the ugly — work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Of course, remember my dear brothers, "all things don't always work together for the good of those who don't really love the Lord!" Just make sure that you and your family truly love the Lord and you will see that all things work together for you who love the Lord — and while the interest is collected in this life, the principal is collected in eternity.

Here is a short list of what we can learn from the story of Joseph in the Torah — Joseph went: from riches to poverty; from being loved by his father to be hated by his brothers; from poverty and jail in the Egyptian prison (for a false accusation, while being totally innocent) to becoming second to the great Pharaoh. Joseph did not return evil for the evil that his brothers did him. By Joseph's following words we can see that he understood the principle that the apostle Paul stated:

No Birth Without Pain

If we could understand this principle that is so prevailing in the whole Bible, and in our Jewish history as well, even until this very day, we would be so much more secure and so much more convicted and encouraged even through the days of stressful events. Our insecurities and doubts come from the fact that we don't understand that some things don't happen without pain, and without suffering. The best example of this principle is a woman who is giving birth. There is no birth without at least some pain and suffering. Every time that we want to change and improve something in our own lives and in our world it involves stress, pain, suffering, sometimes mocking and ridicule, and other times physical abuse and beating.

I personally have experienced three times attempts on my life. The first time was on Mount Zion coming out of the Yeshiva in the mid 1970's. The second time was when at 3:00 a.m. two Molotov cocktails penetrated our big bay window in the living room. One of the bottles actually exploded and burned our new leather sofa. I was able to put the fire out because we had fire extinguishers at home. The third time was when someone at 5:00 am removed the lug nuts and cotter pin of the right front wheel of my car. Fortunately the right front wheel broke when I was a few yards from a red light.

In my case, every time the opposition intended horrible evil, the Lord turned it around and created great opportunities for sharing the Good News. In the case of the two Molotov Cocktails, it happened at 3:00 a.m., and at 6:00 a.m. all the Israeli Television and News networks were in my apartment interviewing me, and they broadcasted the news of the attempted bombing every hour on the hour throughout the whole day. I had 3.5 minutes of time to share who I am, why I think that the Molotov cocktails were lobbed into my living room, and how long I thought these attacks might continue. Yes, even the most horrible things that happen to us create opportunities for great things to happen for the Kingdom of God.

Turning the Other Cheek — Joseph Taking the High Road

Joseph was not only faithful to the Lord. He was also faithful to his father Jacob, and to his brothers — the same brothers who hated him so much that they could not even say "shalom" to him. When Joseph arrived in Shechem and his brothers were no longer there, since Joseph was well aware that his brothers hated him, he could have returned home and told his father Jacob, "I went to Shechem just as you sent me to look for my brothers, but they were not there and I have no idea where they have wandered off to!" This would have been the normal behavior of a person who is sent on a mission that is not pleasant or profitable or interesting for him. However, not Joseph. Joseph took the high road, not the low road of doing the minimum required to just get by. Joseph walked the second mile when he could have walked the first mile and had a good excuse to just get by.

This attitude of Joseph is a winning attitude. It is the same attitude that Yeshua our Messiah instructed us to have. This cleaning up of the bitterness that so easily can, and sometimes does, nest in our souls is an essential both Old and New Testament principle. The teaching of Yeshua to turn the other cheek to those who slap us on the one side is not original with Yeshua — it is a principle that already Jeremiah had, and before Jeremiah King David had. David had two opportunities to kill his enemy, the one who was seeking to kill him, King Saul. David didn't kill King Saul in both opportunities. He demonstrated his ability to kill Saul in front of the army of King Saul, by showing the corner of Saul's outer garment, and on the other occasion David waved King Saul's sword and water basin that was right inside Saul's tent, in order to show that he could have killed him, but didn't.

Where did Yeshua learn the principle of turning the other cheek? Here it is:

The book of Lamentations was written by Baruch the son of Neryah, the personal secretary of Jeremiah. Jeremiah suffered terrible abuse from the royal house, and also from the false prophets and priests. He is the one who was beaten, put in jail, and cast into a well, and kept on speaking the truth of the Lord against all odds. The interesting thing is that, in Jerusalem, in the city of David, the personal seal of Baruch son of Neryah was found as an indisputable witness — a physical witness — that Baruch the son of Neryah was a real person, and that he had deposited a document in the royal archive that was in the King's palace.

When we read the whole story, we see that even the darkest chapters are not the end, but part of God’s greater plan that turns suffering into salvation.