By Olubunmi Adebayo
*The story of how Joseph dismantled his own disqualification was a classical example of turning a situation of impossibility into a possibility.*
*The odds of the disqualification against Joseph were so staggering. Just imagine the following :*
*A) He was a slave: The first level of disqualification against Joseph by which he shouldn’t have amounted to anything worthwhile was that he was a slave. Joseph had earlier been sold into slavery because of the envy of his senior brothers :*
*Gen 37: [4] “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him”.*
*[5] “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more”.*
*[9] “And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me”.*
*[11] “And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying”.*
*[26] “And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?”*
*[27] “Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content”.*
*[28] “Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt”.*
*Note that Joseph was not just a mere slave, but a slave in a strange land, with no one in Egypt being able to trace his ancestry of liberty, i.e, his link with anyone that was a freeborn.*
*B) In addition to being a slave, Joseph was also a prisoner:*
*Gen 39: [19] “And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled”.*
*[20] “And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison”.*
*Joseph was an example of a political prisoner, no wonder he was kept at the Maximum Prison of the nation, where those who offended the king were kept :*
*Genesis 39: [20] “And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison”.*
*C) Unfavourable Security Report :*
*If you want to appoint anyone into a high office in our contemporary time, an office like that of a Governor, SECURITY REPORT will have to be obtained and it must be favourable so as not to warrant disqualifying the person.*
*The man that was meant to put the security report together on Joseph was the Commander of the Brigade of Guards to King Pharaoh. A man whose report was to be taken seriously by the king. A report which wouldn’t have been favourable to Joseph going by the fact that it was this same Officer of Pharaoh that sent Joseph to prison on the allegation of attempted rape on the wife :*
*Genesis 39 [1] “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither”.*
*Despite all these parameters of disqualification standing against the personality of Joseph, he still became a ruler in Egypt because he succeeded in dismantling the stronghold of disqualifications against him.*
*How did he do it?*
*We shall be looking at this tomorrow, God willing.*
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©️ Olubunmi S Adebayo
