This may be very obvious to most, but in the second verse of Chop 'Em Down [video | lyrics] off his Live at Stubb's album, Matisyahu eloquently and succinctly tells the story of Joseph in Genesis Chapter 30-something:
Joseph descended sold as a slave
thrown into a dungeon cause he wouldn't be swayed
Interpreted pharaoh's dreams and Egypt was saved
Stock piled food for seven years of rain
sold to all the nations when the drought came
Joseph rose to power and the Yiddin stayed
They started to build and success was made
Pharaohs getting worried let's make 'em pay bound in chains
First born were sent down to their graves
Moshe (Moses) was saved and a prince he was raised
Hashem (God) spoke to him here's a message to relay
Take my Nation from Mitzrayim (Egypt) I see they're suffering
Hard hearts ego breaks take sparks and make ways
Trail blaze through the wasteland breaking the chains
Its also the same story they made a Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway show called "Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" out of starring Donny Osman as Joseph, which is just fucking terrible. Nevertheless, the way Matisyahu tells the story here, regardless of your faith, is effective. I've both read the story in Genesis and seen the Broadway show, but I had never really grasped what actually happened in the story until I heard this song. Maybe its just me, but I doubt I'm alone.
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