Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 41:50 (New Living Translation)

During this time, before the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.

This is a key part of the (hi)story of Joseph in Egypt. He married Asenath. They had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Those two sons were counted among the sons of Jacob and took an equal place among the 12 tribes of Israel.

Wait a minute. Asenath, the mother of these two honored boys and the wife of the savior Joseph, was the daughter of an idolatrous priest. Potiphera led the worship of Egyptian idols.

Talk about “being unequally yoked with an unbeliever” (see 2 Corinthians 6:14), this is about as bad as it can get. Right?

At this point, I am supposed to throw in a brilliant “yes, but consider.” Sorry, I don’t have one. Of course there is, “yes, but God was working in Joseph’s life and God had a plan and God would…” We can always go to the words of the song, “God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.” And we can always claim “God is working here” when we see a Christian enter an ill-advised marriage or business partnership or fill-in-the-blank-with-an-impending-disaster.

In the case of Joseph, it worked. We can always cite cases where it didn’t work. In my (sometimes) humble opinion, I side on the safe side. Marry smartly. Associate smartly. And “smartly” means “Godly.”

And more than anything else, whatever situation we find ourselves, let’s look to God. God will give us today what we need today. And that is a blessing far greater than anything we deserve.