The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.
Genesis 39 ends where it began — with a man who has lost everything and still has the one thing that matters. Joseph is a slave, then a convict on a false charge. Yet the chapter's closing line explains his whole life with one reason, and that reason is not his talent.
The Reason Behind Everything
The verse does not say the jailer trusted Joseph because Joseph earned it. It gives a cause outside of Joseph altogether. The name used for God here matters too: "the LORD" in modern versions, "Jehovah" in older ones.
William KellyHere again he comes into suffering. Here again men wrongly misrepresent and slander him, and rush him into the dungeon. But Jehovah was with Joseph in the prison, just as much as in Potiphar's house. Verse 2 says, He was with Joseph. Verse 21 says again, He was with Joseph, "and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." It mattered little where he was, since Jehovah was with him. What a difference it makes when God is with us — God in the special, known relationship that the name "Jehovah" implies here and everywhere.
Proof That God Was Enough
Joseph's surroundings changed completely between chapter 39's opening and its close. The result did not change at all, and that repetition was itself a message to him.
J. G. BellettAs soon as he is in Potiphar's house, everything under his hand, committed to him by his master, prospers. And a change of scene works no change in this; for as soon as he is in prison, we read the same record of him, and see the same circumstances around him. The keeper of the prison puts the same confidence in him that his master Potiphar had; and under his hand in the prison all things prosper, as they had in the Egyptian's house. So Joseph had full witness from God that God was sufficient for him.
The Prisoner Who Ran The Prison
The keeper "paid no attention to anything" — a strange thing to say about a man in charge of the king's prisoners. The verse before explains why: he had handed everything over.
F. B. HoleSo we find everything in the prison "committed to Joseph's hand." The record makes the extraordinary statement that "whatever they did there, he was the doer of it." The young man thrown in as a prisoner becomes the super-efficient deputy of the jailer, and ends up controlling the whole place! We wonder whether any prison has seen anything close to this since that day. The keeper had no work and no worry left. He no doubt took the salary, and Joseph did the work.
Suffering For Doing Right
Joseph was in that cell because he refused to sin. The Lord's care there reached his feelings, not only his work.
L. M. GrantHow good it is that everyone who suffers for righteousness' sake will have the gracious sympathy of the Lord! He will not give him up to self-pity and depression... It may seem strange that this could be true of a prisoner, but it does show that Joseph was not of a negative character, but positive and faithful.
Joseph suffered twice over, and men who shared none of his faith could see how he held up.
William KellyHis brothers' cruelty was unnatural, and it ended in his slavery. Worse still was the new trial that came through a guilty woman. In both Joseph suffered, for love and for righteousness' sake. In both Jehovah stood by His wronged servant, and made His favour rest on him even while he suffered... Violence did not overcome him, and neither did corruption. He overcame evil with good. People who did not know God saw it, even if the evil state of his brothers blinded them for a while... Slaves and criminals do not, in themselves, win the approval of their guardians, as everyone knows.
A Picture Of Christ
The pit and the prison together cast a shadow forward. Joseph's hand in Potiphar's house and his hand in the dungeon point to two different things.
F. B. HoleHe had now tasted the bitterness of both pit and prison. Taken together they foreshadow Christ going down into death as a result of the malice of man. But there the power of His hand was felt. The skill of Joseph's hand in the house of Potiphar may remind us of the mighty hand of Christ in His matchless life. But in the closing verses of our chapter we see pictured the power of His mighty hand in the dark domain of death.
The Trade Worth Making
Put the chapter's two places side by side. The verse gives a plain rule for weighing any situation.
G C WillisHe did not look to anything that was under his hand, because God was with Joseph and made all that he did to go well. Before this, in Potiphar's home, God made everything go well. Now, while Joseph was in the prison, God did the same. It is much better to live in a prison with God than to live in a king's house without Him.
Summary
- Cause — The verse gives one explanation for Joseph's whole story, and it is not his ability: the Lord was with him.
- Constant — The same record follows Joseph into the great house and into the dungeon. A change of place changed nothing.
- Character — Suffering for doing right did not turn him bitter or passive. He overcame evil with good, and people who did not know God could see it.
- Charge — The prisoner ended up running the prison. The keeper checked nothing he had handed over.
- Christ — Pit and prison foreshadow the One who went down into death. His hand proved mighty even there.