Joseph–God’s Wise Preparation (vv. 16-25). According to verse 6, the Jewish people are the descendants of Abraham, who believed God and received the covenant, and also the sons of Jacob, whose sons built the nation of Israel. In Joseph’s dreams, God had promised him that his brothers would bow before him one day, but He did not explain how this would occur. Envy and a family quarrel took Joseph to Egypt, where he prepared the way for his relatives and kept them alive during the famine (Gen. 50:20). But before he became the second ruler of Egypt, Joseph experienced great suffering in prison, for in God’s economy, suffering precedes glory (1 Peter 5:10), and being a servant precedes being a ruler (Matt. 25:21). But the word that God gave Joseph came true, and Jacob and his family moved from Canaan to Egypt (Gen. 46, the land of Ham; vv. 23, 27; 78:51; 106:22; Gen. 10:6). It was there that God in His grace turned Jacob’s family of seventy persons into a nation so large and powerful that it threatened the security of Egypt. No matter how dark the day, God always sends His servant ahead to prepare the way. God permitted the Egyptians to persecute His people, for suffering is one of the secrets of fruitfulness. God did not force the Egyptians to hate the Jews, nor did He force Pharaoh to harden his heart. The Lord arranged the circumstances so that Pharaoh and his officers could either obey or disobey His Word, and their repeated disobedience hardened their hearts more. The record in Exodus reports that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 7:13-14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34-35; 13:15), but also that God hardened it (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). God sent the plagues, but Pharaoh would not obey. The same sun that melts the ice will harden the clay.