Scott Bolzan was in the middle of his usual morning routing as the CEO of a jet management company called Legendary Jets. On his way to get coffee, he stopped in the men’s room, and slipped on a puddle of what he thinks was cleaning oil. He says, “All I remember is my feet going above my head. That’s the last actual memory that I can recall.”
Bolzan awoke in the hospital. “He kept repeating what had
happened, saying, ‘It was oily, it was slippery, I couldn’t get up,’” says his
wife of 26 years. Scott said that a beautiful woman was standing over him. “I
didn’t know who anybody was, all I know was that she was different.” Only later
did he learn that she was his wife. “She came up to me and gave me a hug and a
kiss, but I had no idea who this person was.”
Bolzan had suffered a blow to the back of his head and was
treated for a severe concussion. After three days in the hospital, he was
released and sent home. The doctors told him that he would be a little fuzzy,
but would recover within a week.
Scott remembered the disorientation that followed the fall.
“On the way home, it was, again, anxiety,” he said. “I’m like, ‘where am I
going, what is this going to bring me now? Where do I live, what do I do?’ And
then we walk in this house and I’m like, ‘OK, where do I go?’” On the outside
he seemed fine. But what Bolzan didn’t tell anyone was that everything seemed
foreign. He had no recollection of anything. Not his wife, not his children,
not a single thing in their house. “Nothing looked familiar, not one thing,”
said Bolzan. “You know, I’m sure I showered in that bathroom a thousand times,
but nothing looked familiar… I started opening drawers and I went into my
closets… I just started looking at things, but nothing looked familiar, but it
looked like it would fit me so then I started rationalizing things: ok, maybe I
did live here, maybe this is my house.”
But even more disturbing was that he had no clue who he was.
“It was just a lost feeling of not knowing where I am in this world and who I
am,” said Bolzan. It was later discovered that the fall had caused no blood
flow to the temporal lobe, the part of the brain that stores memory.
When you come to the first chapter of Exodus you read a
statement that smacks of Scott Bolzan and his accident. The Bible says, “Now
there arose a king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” At first glance you
say, “Of course he didn’t know Joseph, it’s 400 years later. Four hundred years
have elapsed between Joseph’s salvation of Egypt and this new Pharaoh.” And
while that may be true for 21st century Americans who can’t remember
many lessons of the past, especially when it comes to authoritarian government
overreach, nothing about the Ancient Near East mirrors modern-day American
amnesia.
When the Bible says that the new Pharaoh did not know
Joseph, it means that he forgot the entire history of his nation. Remember that
the Egyptians build pyramids for precisely that reason – to remember their
past. But this Pharaoh forgot.
Think of it. He forgot the seven-year famine. He forgot the
meteoric rise of that Hebrew servant and ex-con who single-handedly saved the
nation from starvation. In a culture that prided itself on remembering, he
forgot.
It’s hard to imagine until you examine your own Christian
life and you see how frequently we forget our Joseph. It’s as if the Bible
anticipates the extent of our common amnesia by ending the Book of Genesis the
way it does. What we have in chapter 50 is a complete portrait of who Jesus is
and what He’s done. The resemblance is uncanny. No wonder every New Testament
writer finds Genesis their primary source of explaining the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Jesus is all over the Book of Genesis, particularly in Genesis 50 and our
final glimpse of Joseph.
We will wrap up our 47-week study of Genesis this week with
a message entitled, “Prone to Forget.” The text is Genesis 50: 1-6, 12-26. In
preparation you may wish to consider the following:
1. Why does the Bible repeatedly warn us about the importance
of remembering?
2. Where do you see Jesus in Genesis 50?
3. What does verse 24 say about Joseph’s view of the future?
4. How shocking is this statement in light of his audience?
5. What one sentence does the writer of Hebrews use in
describing Joseph?
6. Why does the writer consider these words rather than what
Joseph says in verse 20?
7. Do you think that Joseph’s brothers are accurately
representing what their father said before he died?
8. What does verse 25 tell us about Joseph and Jesus?
9. What one attribute of Joseph do you think is the most
comprehensive when you consider his life, particularly in this final chapter?
See you Sunday!
