Genesis 39:1-6 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian… Our common expression, "He's a lucky fellow," is hardly a phrase that we expect to find in Scripture. But it does occur, in Wycliffe's version, in this very thirty-ninth chapter of Genesis. The second verse, as rendered by the earliest of Bible translators, runs thus: "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a luekie felowe." Both the words "lucky" and "fellow" lost dignity between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, and King James' translators wrote instead "a prosperous man." But it is useful to refer to the older and more colloquial form, to emphasize what is really a most important though little recognized truth, namely, that a "lucky fellow" is not he that is rich, not he that makes a good stroke of business, not he that wins a coveted post, but he of whom we can truly say, "The Lord is with him." For see who it is that the Bible calls a "lucky fellow." Would any of us call Joseph "lucky"? Yes, says a sharp boy, I should; for in one day he became the greatest man in Egypt next to the king. The teacher who gets such an answer as this will himself be lucky! There is nothing like a half-wrong answer to emphasize the right one. The rejoinder will be — Very well, but look and see when it is that Joseph is called a "lucky fellow." The phrase is not used of him when he becomes virtual ruler of Egypt, but long before that. It is just when he begins his life as a slave in a strange land. And the narrative is going on to tell of his encountering sore temptation, false accusation, unjust condemnation, and the horrors of an Egyptian prison. It is at the beginning of all this that he is called a "lucky fellow." Why? Because the Lord was with him. (E. Stock.) The Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. — Parallel Verses KJV: And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. |
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