The Bible, Slavery, and a Higher Purpose
What Joseph's Story Could Revealing to Those in the African Diaspora
The story of Joseph’s life in the book of Genesis has been one of my favorite stories for the past 5 or 6 years now. Every time I read it, there is something else from the story that is illuminated for me. This time around, I’ve heard parallels being drawn between Joseph and the African diaspora, and I would like to share that and my own opinions on it.
The parallels are ones that I find both powerful and accurate. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery just as thousands of years later, African leaders sell Africans into slavery. Joseph spends time in prison for doing nothing wrong much like Africans taken from Africa and their descendants spend a time imprisoned by forced labor, beatings, rape, and other unimaginable horrors for the ‘crime’ of having dark skin.
If you will humor me, dear reader, for just a few moments, I would like to continue drawing parallels; not so much from the past, but for the present and future.
Joseph spent about 3½ in prison on a false attempted rape charge brought on by the wife of an Egyptian official he served. The wife was attracted to Joseph and often tried to get him to have sex with her, and he would refuse every time. One time, however, she grabbed his robe and tried to force him onto her. He jumps out of his coat and runs away, and she then concocts a fake story that Joseph tried to rape her. She takes his robe to her servants, and eventually to her husband and tells them this fake story. Her husband, the official whose name was Potiphar, believed her and had Joseph thrown in prison.
It is worth nothing that Joseph has a gift, which is part of what got him sold by his brothers in the first place. Joseph had a supernatural gift of interpreting dreams. This was something he had at a very young age, and would infuriate his brothers when he would share with them; particularly the ones about them being subservient to him. The fact that he was the second to youngest, and his father made it known that he was the favorite didn’t help very much either.
In prison, Joseph continues to use his gift of interpreting dreams. While in prison, he makes the most out of his terrible situation and does what he was made to do. To cut the story short, he interprets two of the prison mates’ dreams as they share them with him. To one, Joseph interpreted that he would be restored to his job serving the Pharaoh. To the other, Joseph interpreted that he would be hanged. Time went on, and it turned out that Joseph’s interpretations were right for both prisoners. To the one who was restored, as he was being released, Joseph asked him to tell Pharaoh about him. The freed prisoner said he would, but scripture records that he forgot all about Joseph for two years.
At the end of that two years, Pharaoh has a dream that none of his magicians can interpret. It was then that his servant, the freed prisoner, remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him and what he did when they were prison mates. It is the next part of the story that has gripped my heart.
Genesis 41:14-15 says:
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
Then Pharaoh shares his dream with Joseph.
Young Joseph was jumped by his brothers, tied up, thrown into a hole, and bought as a slave by foreigners (the only reason they did this was because one of the brothers talked them out of outright killing him). He then worked as a foreigner in Egypt when eventually he is falsely accused of sexual assault and thrown under the jail for almost 4 years. Cut off from his family completely, Joseph has no idea how his father is doing, whether his brothers feel remorse, or if they would ever return to rescue him, or if this is all some sort of big sick joke that will fix itself soon. Then, when it seems as though he has a chance to be released, the man he asked to vouch for him forgot him for two years. This alone would cause anyone to become embittered to the point of giving up on life itself. Joseph, it would seem, in each of these situations, chose to move forward however he could, and this situation in Pharaoh’s presence was no different.
Joseph responds to Pharaoh in Genesis 41:16:
Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Joseph then interprets Pharaoh’s dream. He tells Pharaoh that his dream tells of two times that are coming; seven years of abundance followed by seven years of severe famine. Joseph not only does that, he tells Pharaoh what he should do about it. Pharaoh is so impressed, he appoints Joseph to such a high position, only Pharaoh on his throne was above Joseph. With this new position, Joseph implements the plan he proposed to Pharaoh, and during the seven years of severe famine, not only was Egypt sustained, but the whole of the known world, including Joseph’s family.
Joseph was able to rise to such a position in the most powerful country in the known world because of two reasons:
The Lord’s hand was on him
He moved forward
What Joseph did as Prime Minister of Egypt saved the world. It was then that he had the revelation that all that he had been through was leading him to that point. He was sold and carted off to a strange land to ultimately reign and preserve all lands with his divine vision.
But what if Joseph had decided to not move forward? What if Joseph spent 3½ years in prison sulking, brooding, plotting revenge on his brothers, Potiphar’s wife, and the entire corrupt, racist Egyptian empire? He had every reason to feel this way. What if, while Joseph was in Pharaoh’s courts, instead of interpreting the dream, he took the opportunity to tell him about Potiphar’s lying wife, his brothers selling him into slavery, and Egypt’s hatred toward Hebrews which bred a corrupt criminal justice system? What if he decided to not even open his mouth and speak because he didn’t want to ‘consort with the oppressor’? What if he had just told Pharaoh to straight up go to hell?
Well first off, Joseph would have either been thrown back in prison, or beheaded. But more importantly, millions would have died in the incoming famine, most likely including his own family.
As tragic as Joseph’s story had become, he had a crucial role to play. The world was going to need someone with answers, and it just so happened that G-d gave the answer to him.
Now for us—and by ‘us,’ I mean Africans in the diaspora—we too, find ourselves in a very peculiar place. Not all, but many of us are here because our ancestors were sold into slavery. And, like Joseph, we now are partakers in what is, for the time being, the most powerful country in the world. We are represented in virtually every facet of Western society. We are doctors, lawyers, engineers, senators, congressmen and congresswomen, presidents, and much more. As my father tends to say:
“We suffered centuries of slavery, another century of Jim Crow, and still achieved great things. We still built Black Wall Street. We still built the Tuskegee Institute, and birthed the Harlem renaissance… we moved forward.”
But why are we really here? Beyond the obvious, why did G-d allow for us to be in this country? What is our purpose at this time? Why did many of our ancestors have to be sold, stripped from their families, packed into ships (where some died in transit), and brought to the Americas?
I will not and never will pretend to have all of the answers. Again, this is my opinion, but if we are to continue to look at the story of Joseph as a blueprint, the answer to that question is: to save the world.
For the world’s sake, Joseph was forced into Egypt ahead of a terrible famine to prepare the kingdom, and for the world’s sake, I believe many of our ancestors were forced to America because collectively, we have a task to complete that will ultimately benefit the world, but more specifically our brothers and sisters in Africa.
In 2021, I wrote a piece called ‘Africa is Rising Indeed,' about a new generation of Africans taking more ownership of their lives, and even putting themselves at great risk doing so. As you will see from that piece, I am in no way depicting Africa as a lowly, helpless child that needs charity, but rather a sleeping giant that many evil forces are trying to keep asleep. This piece is not to say that Black Americans will swoop in and rescue ‘the poor Africans,’ but rather, we have an opportunity to assist and even play a crucial role in Africa’s rising. We’ve done it before in the 1930s when Black Americans in Harlem demonstrated, militarily trained , and even fought alongside Ethiopians in their war against aggression of Mussolini and his Fascist Italy.
A very dear friend, Charles Jacobs, a pioneer for freeing modern day African slaves, told me that he believed as an Ashkenazi Jew that Black Americans have a “holy power.” A very weighty moral authority that comes from our centuries of brutal abuse, persecution, but also perseverance and triumph. As tirelessly as he has fought for decades to abolish slavery in Africa mainly done by Arabs, he believes that if more Black Americans joined his organization and the others he partners with, we could end slavery tomorrow. This man used to spend his youth, time, and resources, buying large amounts of slaves from places like Sudan and Mauritania, and freeing them, and he says this work could be over in a matter of days if more Black Americans took up the same effort. That is power. That is something that cannot be replicated, as hard as some may try to do. That is true power. That is a holy power.
We are supposed to help change the world for the better, and we cannot do that unless we move forward.
Before Joseph died, he tells his brothers that when they eventually leave Egypt (about 430 years later), they, meaning their offspring, should carry his bones with them to the Promised Land. While he lived, Joseph never made it back to the land of his father, but his descendants eventually did, and they prospered.
What does that mean for us in the diaspora?
The answer to that is way beyond me. I’m just one of many people in the African diaspora with a point of view. I will not presume to direct all diaspora Blacks as to what to do with their lives. I can only speak for me and my household, as my namesake says in the scriptures (Joshua 24:15). What I can say is that some of us are beginning to move back, and in increasing numbers. My earnest prayer is that as some of us relocate to the continent, that we are bringing our gifts, abilities, and willingness to learn with us. But that sentiment is an article for another time.
Joseph saving the world from famine was not the end of his story, by the way. Eventually, he was confronted with his brothers, who, not knowing if he was even alive, did not recognize him at first. G-d still had a plan for Joseph’s personal healing, as He does for all of us. His hand is on us. However, sometimes like Joseph, we will only find our healing by moving forward.
More on this to come…
The entire story of Joseph can be found in Genesis chapter 37-50.