Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 41 closes its account of Joseph's rise with two small details: his age, and a journey. Why does the writer stop to tell us he was thirty? And what does it mean that a former slave now crossed the whole country as its ruler?
Thirteen Years Between the Prison and the Palace
The number thirty is not there for decoration. Count back from it and you can measure how long Joseph waited. One commentator finds the same age at the start of Jesus' public work.
L. M. GrantAt this time we are told Joseph's age was 30 years (v. 46), the same as that of the Lord Jesus when He began His public ministry (Luke 3:23). So his combined time as a slave and in prison was 13 years. Now he goes out throughout all the land of Egypt. There he supervises the plans to gather into many storage places the huge amount of grain. That was only one-fifth of the overflowing abundance produced during the fruitful first seven years.
Those thirteen years were not lost time. Another writer reads them as the making of the man who could hold the job:
A J PollockNow we see how God fulfilled the dreams of the boy of seventeen. In the years between, He was preparing him for this wonderfully exalted position by passing him through this dreadful experience. Steel is heated and cooled, heated and cooled, until it is well tempered. In the same way Joseph would develop character and trust in God that would serve him well.
Thirty, the Age for Service
Thirty was more than Joseph's age. Scripture attaches that number to the start of God's service.
H. B. CoderSurely there are lessons to be learned from these facts. Thirty years was the God-appointed age for the Levites to enter their service (Num. 4:3); it was at that age our Lord was presented to Israel and entered His ministry (Luke 3:23).
Standing Before Pharaoh — a Rejected Man in a New Glory
Joseph now serves a Gentile king, with a wife and sons given him in Egypt, while his father's household lives far off. One writer reads the arrangement as a picture of Christ.
William KellyThen comes another wonderful working of God. The sheaves had not yet stood and bowed; the sun, moon and stars had not paid homage yet; but all was to follow not long after. The famine pressed on the land where Jacob lived as a stranger. Meanwhile Joseph was in Egypt with a new family, the children of the bride given him by the king. This clearly matches the place of Christ: cast out by Israel, sold by the Gentiles, but exalted in an entirely new place and glory. There He too can say, during His rejection and separation from Israel, "Behold, I and the children God has given me." Nothing could be plainer than the application of the type.
Why His Age Comes After the Marriage
The order of the sentences matters too. Genesis names Joseph's wife in verse 45. Only then does it give his age.
Michael HardtThe next verse (v. 46) mentions that "Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh." Some have noticed the timing of this remark: it comes after the mention of Asenath. They take it to illustrate that the church was already in the Lord's mind and in God's mind before He began His public ministry at age thirty, and before He gave Himself for her on the cross. Whether or not this is directly intended in the type before us, we leave to our readers to consider — but the fact is certainly true.
Older translations read "stood before Pharaoh" where the ESV has "entered the service of Pharaoh"; the writers quoted here use the older wording.
Going Out: the Same Man in a Higher Place
The verse does not end with the honour but with the journey. Power did not change Joseph's character; it only widened the field where it showed.
William KellyFaith marked Joseph's policy all through, and his wisdom became more and more obvious. And if this was true of the type, what is it with Him whom he represents on high? And what will it be when He takes the world under His rule, and all the earth is filled with the glory of the Lord? A godly Israelite called to govern Egypt could not have the light that the Lord's death, resurrection and ascension give to the Christian... But according to the measure granted then, Joseph was a bright witness of faith in that day. He was as honest in his high office as when he was a slave of the foreigner and the one his brothers persecuted.
Summary
- Thirteen — Sold at seventeen, ruler at thirty. The gap counts the years of slavery and prison God used as a workshop.
- Tempered — Heating and cooling temper steel. The suffering shaped the character the new job needed.
- Thirty — The age Levites entered God's service, and the age at which Jesus began His public ministry.
- Standing — Cast out by his brothers, Joseph now stands before a Gentile king with a new bride and family. It pictures Christ, refused by Israel and glorified elsewhere.
- Going out — He leaves the throne room to work. He is as honest in high office as he was as a slave, with faith shaping every decision.