You're listening to the Allander Center podcast with Dr. Dan Allen.

This week, Dan continues a series engaging the chaotic stories of four characters in the Old Testament,

Jacob, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Jonah.

Dan dives into the life of Joseph, an epic story full of political intrigue, family

division, betrayal, envy, and ultimately, the bold hope that our own stories might join God's story

of reconciliation and new life. The story of Joseph is just an epic story.

It's one that I assume that most of you have a pretty significant sense of understanding.

So let me just highlight a few of the things that sort of hold the story together.

So let me go through the broad-reaching story. Joseph is the 11th son of Jacob, renamed Israel,

and he is Israel's favorite son. And he created this ornate robe for his boy, and it set up this

strong valence of jealousy among the other boys. And in addition, Joseph had a great gift of being able to discern or to be wise in the

reading of the heart of dreams. And that particular gift really almost can be called a therapeutic

gift, the ability to read the inner world for what it might mean for the outer world.

Of course, it's more than just a good psychotherapeutic grasp. It is actually the ability to hear from God what the future holds from the dreams of those that are presented.

And so you've got the story that Jacob sends Joseph off to be with his brothers.

The brothers see him from afar, decide to kill him.

Rubin basically goes, no, let's not kill him. Let's just put him in this pit.

And then some Medianites are kind of coming by people who are not traitors in rebellious,

but a traitor of goods. They sell him. He's taken to Egypt. He's purchased by Potipher, who is high-ranking officer

in Pharaoh's political sphere, and he is given power, and he turns everything to gold.

Potipers' wife wants to have an affair.

He refuses over many months.

...