Daily Devotion for 31 March 2023 (Lent 5, Friday)

• Psalm 22
• Psalm 38
• Exodus 5:1—6:1
• Mark 15:33–47
• Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, IV, 21–32

Commemoration

Today we commemorate Joseph, Patriarch. Son of the patriarch Jacob and his beloved wife Rachel, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, who told his father that he was dead. Unjustly accused in Egypt, because he refused the invitation of his master’s wife to commit adultery with her, Joseph was thrown into prison, where he interpreted dreams for two fellow prisoners. When pharaoh, some time later, had a pair of dreams that none of his wise men could interpret, one of the men who had been in prison with Joseph recalled the earlier interpretation of his dream and Joseph was called to stand before pharaoh. God granted Joseph the right interpretation of pharaoh’s dreams, and Joseph was made overseer of Egypt — instructed and empowered to preserve Egypt from the coming years of famine. Eventually, Joseph’s brothers would come from Canaan to Egypt to buy grain (as the famine was severe and widespread). Joseph used the opportunity to test them, to see what kind of men they had become. Finally reunited with his brothers and, later, his father, Joseph lived to old age in Egypt and was embalmed, but his body was transported from Egypt to the Promised Land when the OT Israelites were later led out of Egypt during the Exodus. Joseph is remembered, in particular, for his uprightness and for his forgiveness of his brothers.