Genesis chapters 37-50
Joseph a type of Christ-chapter 37
Beloved son of the father 37v1-3
"And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his fathers wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours."
Joseph, without question, is a type of Christ in many ways, more than anyone in biblical history. In the course of these 13 chapters we will find a number of parallels which are very informative, the reality of which were fulfilled in Jesus. We begin with the special relationship with his father, he was the eleventh son of Jacob, but was favoured above all the others. Scholars are not sure of the meaning of the coat of many colours, but we know it was a coat of special distinction. For reasons of his own, Jacob conferred honour on his youngest son, which may have had overtones of supremacy. Jacob had a bad example in both his parents who favoured one or other of their children, and in the narrative the type is not perfect. However, what is clear, it points to One who is beloved of the Father, Christ Himself. The term "only begotten", which is used five times in scripture is monogenes, only one of its kind. God loves all people, but He has a special love for His Son, whom He calls "the beloved"-Ephesians 1v3.
Hated by his brethren 37v4-11
Three times in the verses, is the evidence of their hatred of Joseph-v4, "When his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him"; v8 when Joseph declared the dreams to them "they hated him yet the more for his dreams and his words"; v11 "His brethren envied him...". This hatred led to worse behaviour later, and points to Christ who was similarly hated. The hatred toward Christ is known to all, and He expressed it in the following scriptures; John 7v7 "The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, for I testify of it that works thereof are evil"; John15v18 "If the world hate you, it hated me before it hated you."; John 15v23-25 "He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause." When God gives special gifts to some, which He has every right to do, it evinces jealousy and hatred in others. As scripture proclaims "Jealousy is cruel as the grave", no one suffered more this way than God's beloved Son.
Sent by the Father to visit his brethren 37v12-17
There is no knowing why Jacob sent his favourite son to visit his other sons who were keeping his flocks, supposedly in Shechem. A clue may be in the fact that when Joseph sought them they had moved to Dothan. Dothan means "two wells", and at Shechem was Jacob's well (John 4v5-6). This well, according to chapter 29, was sufficient to water Jacob's flock, as well as all of those around. Perhaps Jacob suspected his sons would not be content at Shechem, and would seek other pasture. He sent Joseph to report. We do know that Dothan was on the busy commercial route between Egypt and Syria, and the brothers had an eye on trade as a reason they left their father's well at Shechem. When we apply this to the mission of Jesus into the world, God knew exactly the state of things; He was sent for a specific reason. When He came, like Jacob's sons, the world had moved away from feeding at the well of the Father, and sought out other worldly wells. They were drawn by materialism, fascinated by the creation, rather than the creator. When Jesus came it was on a rescue mission, failing which the world is doomed. Consider the mission of Christ.
Galatians 4v4-5 "When the fulness of the time was come, God SENT FORTH His Son...to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons".
John 3v17 "For God SENT NOT FORTH His son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
1st John 4v14 "We have seen and do testify, that the Father SENT THE SON to be the Saviour of the world."
Like Israel of old, the world had forsaken God, the fountain of living waters-Jeremiah 2v13, and hewn them out broken cisterns that cannot satisfy. This led to evil deeds as we shall see in the next portion.
Maltreated by his brethren. 37v18-36
They conspired against him "And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him"-v18. For no reason, except irrational jealousy, they plotted to kill him. They did the same to Jesus:
Matthew 12v14 "Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against Him that they might destroy Him". This was no ill-feeling, this was murder in their hearts!
Matthew 26v3-4 "Then assembled the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill Him".
Mark 3v6 "And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him".
Others include; Matthew 26v16, v59; John 5v18; John 8v37, v40; John 11v57. The Jews, the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, the elders, the High Priest, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and even one of His apostles conspired to kill Him.
They mocked Him "And they said one to another, Behold this dreamer cometh. Come now let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, some beast hath devoured him: and we will see what will become of his dreams." 37v19
The reality is that in this world, the most insulted person is God, and His Son received the same malicious slander.
Romans 15v3-from Psalm 69v9, "The reproaches of them that reproached thee, have fallen on me". Soon into His public ministry the insults came, and continued to the end. Joseph was mocked because of his dreams; Jesus because of the prophecies written about Him. He was despised and rejected of men..."-Isaiah 53v3. They called Him a drunk-Matthew 11v19, because He sat down with publicans and sinners. They said He was controlled by Satan-Matthew 12v24. The thieves with whom H was crucified, mocked Him; all that passed by the cross mocked Him; the chief priests mocked Him; the soldiers mocked Him; the Pharisees mocked Him; Herod and his men of war set Him at nought and mocked Him; the people said He was a Samaritan, a bitter racist insult, and they said He was a devil. It is highly unlikely we grasp the mockery to which He was subjected, yet not a word in protest, no retaliation, no threats of vengeance escaped His lips. No protest came from Joseph.
They stripped him, and cast him in a pit, and sold Him to strangers
The link to Jesus is incredible. The soldiers of Pilate stripped Him, parted Hs garments and cast lots for them-Luke 23v34; Matthew 27v27-28. They placed on His head a mock crown and on His body a mock robe, and in His hand a reed for a sceptre-John 19v2-5. The Jewish authorities delivered Him to the Romans, and Judas betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites as a slave, for twenty pieces of silver and taken to Egypt. Jesus, as a babe had to flee to Egypt for His life. The comparisons are too many to ignore. The story of Joseph is as close to the life of Jesus as any other.
No comments:
Post a Comment