Good day. Thanks a lot for the feedback on the post on Sarah and Hagar. I appreciate every perspective that was shared. I hope to address the issues raised as much as possible as I progress with the series.
I managed to miss out yesterday that God promised to establish Hagar and those particular blessings were tied to her submission (to Sarai) in that situation. I hope to expound on this as the series progresses.
This post is the second in the series. The first one is about Sarah and Hagar. Here is the scripture for today:
Genesis 41:39-41
New International Version (NIV)
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.” So, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”
In this instance, Pharaoh proclaimed to Joseph, in the presence of whoever was in his palace that day, that Joseph was in charge of all his palace and his people were to SUBMIT to Joseph's orders.
Why were the Egyptians supposed to submit to Joseph's orders? Because Pharaoh said so! It didn't matter whether they liked Joseph or not. They didn't even have to like what Joseph was asking them to do but they were to submit to his orders anyway. (Hopefully, the wife should agree to marry a man whom she respects). However, there is a catch!
What if Joseph was asking them to do something that was in DIRECT conflict with what they KNEW Pharaoh wanted? For example, what if Joseph ordered them to move from Egypt to where Jacob and his brothers were and asked them to establish a new kingdom and leave Pharaoh alone in Egypt? Where the Egyptians to submit to that kind of order from Joseph? No! Why? Because Joseph's authority was DELEGATED authority. His authority derived it's legitimacy from Pharaoh and Joseph could only issue orders that were consistent with what Pharaoh approved.
When he wanted to introduce taxes, he had to get approval from Pharaoh first. If Pharaoh had said no to the introduction of taxes, Joseph had no authority to ask the Egyptians to pay taxes.
In a marriage where both parties have agreed to do the love/submission thing, the husband has DELEGATED authority. If he is asking his wife to do what is outside of the Lord's will, the wife does not have to obey him. She should obey God rather than man. The man should get his heart right with the Lord and stop abusing his DELEGATED authority. He needs to be obeying the Lord's order before he dares bring up the "S" word.
I am sure there are other lessons to learn from this scripture. Please feel free to share.
#SubmissionSeries
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