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THREE MEN: WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NAME TO APPEAR
By Ada Brownell
THREE MEN: WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NAME TO APPEAR
By Ada Brownell
Three men. They rubbed shoulders in a
palace and then in prison. Two weren’t worth mentioning by name. The other
fellow’s name has been on people’s lips for centuries.
The butler and the baker had names, of course, but they were not
included in the biblical account that tells us about them..
But we won’t forget Joseph. Today’s youth would have called
Joseph “hot” in his youth. I despise the term myself, but you know by the way
Potiphar’s wife flung herself at the young man his handsome face could put
girls’ hearts in a flutter.
Some biblical scholars believe Joseph lived about four thousand years
before Christ.[1] That’s a long
time ago for his name to come up now. Even though Joseph has no last name, his
name will never be forgotten. Joseph is on the minds and lips of many people
even today because of who he was and what he did.
Who could forget the sound of Joseph’s weeping in the desert cistern as
he heard his brothers planning to kill him and then deciding to sell him as a
slave? His years in prison suffering because he wouldn’t tumble into bed with
Potiphar’s wife, who then ripped her dress and accused him of rape? Or after
Joseph’s promotion to governor, his heart-wrenching sobs when he recognized his
brothers bowing before him asking for food in
Pharaoh’s Egyptian palace?
Or can any Bible student
forget how Joseph forgave those brothers and fell on their necks, weeping and
kissing them?
And what Joseph said? “But
as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to
bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”[2]
Our tongues still speak
Joseph’s name with respect because of who he was and what he did.
Joseph’s name remained on a small pyramid in Egypt,
according to Bible historians and archaeologists, until Moses led the
Israelites in their exodus. When Joseph knew he was dying, he prophesied God
would take them from Egypt back to their own land, and when they went asked
them to take his bones with them. The Bible says the Israelites took the bones
back to Israel, and Joseph was reburied in Shechem. That’s where the Jews of
modern times found a tomb they identified as Joseph’s in 1921. His name
appeared on the tomb in the heart of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. But then on
February 23, 2003, the carved stone over the grave was destroyed and the tomb
vandalized and filled with burning garbage. In February 2008, vandals set
burning tires inside the tomb. Yet, until September 2008, Jews journeyed to the
tomb to pray, although Muslims have attempted to make it a holy site to Islam.[3]
Despite the damage to his tomb, Joseph’s name is
remembered—not because it is so unusual, but because it belonged to an unusual
man.
Where would you like your name to appear? How about
the Lamb’s Book of Life? Different from some Who’s Who books, you aren’t
required to pay a fee or buy that edition. An entry is no cost to you—but a
huge amount already has been paid in blood for your name to be included. That’s
called redemption because we were born into sin and the penalty for sin is
death. But we can accept this gift with more joy than if our name appeared in
lights or on a best selling book.
Jesus told his disciples to rejoice that their
names were written in heaven.[4]
The last book of the Bible, Revelation, has multiple references to the “Book of
Life.”[5]
Revelation chapter 20 describes the vision the
Apostle John saw of the Great White Throne Judgment: “I saw the dead, both
great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened,
including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to things
written in the books.”
[1] You can read about Joseph and his family in Genesis 30–50. Even
the creation account didn’t use this much space!
[2] Genesis 5:19–21 NKJ
[3] David M. Rohl and Dr. Thomas S. McCall, Th.D., “Pharaohs and Kings:
A Biblical Quest,” Levitt Letter,
June 1999.
[4] Luke 10:20
[5] Rev. 3:5; Rev. 20:12; Rev. 21:27
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