Joseph's Role in the Bible

Joseph was the son of Jacob by Rachel, the wife that Jacob truly loved. Joseph was Jacob's favorite and because of this he was hated by his older brothers.
Joseph often had dreams in which his brothers would bow down to him, and when he shared the dreams with his brothers it made them hate him even more.
One day Jacob sent Joseph to find his brothers while they were out tending the sheep. When they saw him coming, they planned to kill him but then decided to sell him to some Midianite merchants who later sold him as a slave to the Egyptians.
Joseph's ability as an interpreter of dreams brought him to the attention of the Pharaoh, and before long he rose to be a powerful and important official in the Egyptian government.
When famine forced his brothers to come to Egypt seeking food for their families, Joseph had the chance to punish them for what they had done to him. Instead, he forgave them and told them to bring all their families to Egypt and live under his protection.

Joseph's Background and Ethnicity

Joseph, as the great-grandson of Abraham, was a descendent of Shem. Like the descendants of Ham, the descendants of Shem would be considered Black today.
Joseph's grandmother was Rebekah, the daughter of a Syrian.
The fact that Joseph did not appear to his brothers to stand out from the other Egyptian officials of that time would indicate that, like them, he must have been African in appearance.

What Can We Learn from Joseph?

As an adult Joseph had the opportunity to punish his brothers for the terrible thing they did to him, but he chose instead to forgive them.
Joseph could have forgiven his brothers with his mouth but not his heart by forever reminding them of the wrong they had done to him; but his forgiveness was complete.
Joseph could have gotten even with his brothers by making them feel small because he was so much wealthier and more powerful than they; but instead he shared his wealth with them and all their families.
Even during a time when people believed in "an eye for an eye," Joseph knew that holding grudges and focusing on getting revenge required negative energy that could hurt him as much as those who had wronged him.

Joseph’s Role in the Bible