בִּלְעָדָי אֱלֹהִים יַעֲנֶה אֶת־שְׁלוֹם פַּרְעֹה

/bil'aday/(bil-ah-DAI)

apart from, besides, without; used to disclaim that a thing lies within one’s own power

Joseph could have taken the credit and bought his freedom with it. Instead he gives it away in his opening sentence. The man with nothing left tells the man with everything that the only thing worth having – the answer – is not his to give.

The same construction appears in Genesis 14:24 and later in the prophets when the LORD declares, “apart from Me there is no Savior” (Isaiah 43:11). Joseph stands before a throne and uses the word a creature should use – emptying himself of credit before he is handed a kingdom.

The Forgotten Man God Did Not Forget

The Name on the Bottom of the List

The long silence before the lifting is not proof that God has forgotten you. The rescue comes at His hour, and when it comes it is plainly His.

From the Pit to the Right Hand

Watch the verbs pile up once Pharaoh decides. He removes his own signet ring and puts it on Joseph’s finger. He clothes him in fine linen. He places a gold chain around his neck. He has him ride in the second chariot. And he sends heralds ahead of the chariot to make the whole land do one thing: bow. That is the center of the chapter, and it is the center of the whole Joseph story. The man who was stripped of his coat and thrown in a pit by his brothers is dressed by a king and given a ring. The man who was sold for twenty pieces of silver is set over the economy of an empire. The man who interpreted a dream for two prisoners now feeds the world. Pharaoh keeps only the throne for himself; everything else passes into the hands of the Hebrew who came up out of the dungeon that morning. “Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you” (v. 40). And notice why. Pharaoh says it out loud: “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you” (v. 39). The exaltation is not a reward for ambition. It lands on the man who had just said, “I myself cannot do it.” In Scripture this is the pattern, not the exception. The lowly are lifted; the empty hands are the ones that get filled; the one who refuses the credit is the one God can safely raise.

BRIDGE TO CHRIST

HONEST-EXAMINATION

Where in your life are you sitting in a kind of dungeon, having done the right thing – and reading God’s silence as proof that He has forgotten you?

1. Joseph’s first words before the throne were “I myself cannot do it.” What credit are you holding onto that you would have to lay down before God could safely lift you?
2. What promise has someone failed to keep on your behalf – and how might God be the One who remembers when people forget?
3. If your standing were given to you, the way Joseph’s was, rather than climbed toward, what would change in how you carry yourself today?

TAKEAWAY

Today, name one thing you have been straining to make happen by your own power – one room you keep trying to break out of. Set it down with Joseph’s words: “I myself cannot do it, but God will give a sound answer.” Then do the small, faithful next thing in front of you, and leave the lifting to Him.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

FURTHER READING

The Prisoner Lifted to the Right Hand of Egypt

Joseph