The final family story is primarily about Joseph, whom God uses to rescue Israel (and the nations, thus blessing them, Gen. 12:2-3) from famine so that the promised seed can be preserved. You will find reading this story to be a different experience from what has gone before, since it is a single cohesive narrative (the longest of its kind in the Bible) . . . Note how it begins and ends on the same note – his brothers bowing to him (37:5-7; 50:18; cf. 42:6). Look for the various themes that hold the story together: God overturns the brothers’ evil against Joseph; he allows Joseph to languish in prison (which came about because of Joseph’s refusal to sin) but finally rescues him and elevates him through his divinely given ability to interpret dreams (note the repeated “the Lord was with Joseph,” Gen. 39:2, 3, 21, 23).

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book, 32.