Forgiven Forgotten and Fruitful
Joseph is a type of Christ:
Both were the favorite son of a wealthy father: Gen. 37:3, Matt. 3:17 - were rejected and hated by their brothers; - were sold for the price of a slave: Gen. 37:28, Matt. 26:15 - their brothers conspired to kill both of them; Joseph eventually was not killed, Jesus was; - Joseph reconciled with his brothers, and soon he raised them to honors, Jesus did the same, he died for our redemption; - Joseph fed with bread all the people in the 7 years of shortage, Jesus is the "bread of life" Jn.6:48-58; - Joseph was the Savior of his people and of the gentiles, Jesus, the Savior of all mankind, in an eternal dimension; - Both loved those who hated them, pardoning them, and even raising them to honors: Gen.50:20, Matt. 5:44 - were shepherds: Gen. 37:2, John 10:11-14 - were taken into Egypt to avoid being killed: Gen. 37:28, Matt. 2:13 - began their ministry at the age of thirty: Gen. 41:46, Luke 3:23 - were filled with the Spirit of God: Gen. 41:38, Luke 4:1 - were humble and unspoiled by wealth: Gen. 45:7-8, John 13:12 - loved people freely: Gen. 45:15, John 13:34 - gained the confidence of others quickly: Gen. 39:3, Matt. 8:8 - gave bread to hungry people that came to them: Gen. 41:57 - resisted the most difficult temptations: Gen. 39:8-9, Heb. 4:15. - were given vision into the future: Gen. 37:6, Matt. 24:3. - were hated for their teachings: Gen. 37:8, John 7:7 - were falsely accused: Gen. 39:14, Mark 14:56 - were silent before their accuser: Gen. 39:20, Mark 15:4 - were condemned between two prisoners: Gen. 40:2-3, Luke 23:32 - were not recognized by their own brethren: Gen. 42.8, Luke 24:37. - became a servant: Gen. 39:4, Phil. 2:7- became a lord / Lord: Gen. 45:8, Rev. 19:16.
Meaning of his name - Gen 30:24 Joseph = Addition - Gen 41:45 Zaphnath Panaea - Revealer / Savior
Occupation By occupation. Joseph was a Shepherd "feeding the flock". Christ is the good shepherd. John 10:11
His Coat of many Colors Coat of many colors = a garment which was worn as a mark of distinguish
Judges 5:30; II Samuel 13:18.This was Jacob’s object to distinguish Joseph
Joseph sent forth by his father. Jacob sent forth Joseph.
Joseph was sent forth from the valley of Hebron. Hebron means fellowship, communion. Valley means peacefulness, rest. Jesus was sent forth from Heaven, from the fellowship of Father.
Joseph came to Shechem - Gen. 37:14.Shechem means shoulder, burden bearing, suggests service and subjection, Shechem - Gen. 34:25-30, Place of sorrow, sin, evil passions, and blood - He took the servant’s place (Phil 2:6,7)
Joseph now became a Wanderer in the field - The field = world, John 7:53; 8:1.
Joseph seeks until he finds his brethren. - He did not return to Hebron, Unwearied lover. Joseph went after his brethren And found them in Dothan. Dothan = Law or customs.
Joseph is sold Judah made the bargain. Judah - Hebrew, Judas - Greek. Judas sold Jesus for 30pieces of silver
Joseph’s blood sprinkled Strained Coat. They presented to his father blood sprinkled coat. The blood of Jesus - the blood of animals - anticipation.
Joseph was the means of Blessings to one, Judgment to other Butler was lifted up. He had the cup in his hand. Baker means human Labor, no deliverance is for such people. Precious blood of the Lamb through which all will be delivered
Joseph’s Exaltation was followed by a season of plenty - II Corinthians 6:2. = Our dispensation of Grace.
The present dispensation is by far the longest. What a period of Grace. How few were saved from Abel to the Flood! How few were saved during the times of Patriarch! How few among Israel from the days of Joshua! How few during the ministry of Christ! But 120 in the upper room.The earth is now bringing fruit in abundance (Joel 12:24) much fruit.
Joseph’s Exaltation was also followed by a period of famine). (Gen. 41:53,54 Prosperity was only in Egypt (only in some places the God is worshipped in spirit and truth). Famine all over the world - Just as the 7 yr. a complete period points to Grace so the 7 yr. of famine look to that which shall follow Rom 11:25, Tribulation, Jacob’s trouble. Daniel 12:1; Mk 13:19,20. In Anti Christ’s time all over the world will be under his control. Amos 8:11,12; Rev.3: 10; Is 55:6. There are two types of Famine. Literal Famine and Spiritual Famine. What will one do when the Holy Spirit will depart from this world? Famine in word means there will be no word of God.
The first detail in the typological picture has to do with his birth, which like that of several others who are types of Christ, was a miracle, for his mother Rachel was barren, (Ge 30:1,22) the miracle of his birth pointing to the miraculous birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The next mention of him is seventeen years later (Ge 37) where the detailed description of his life begins and continues through the remaining chapters of Genesis. The gap between his birth, and the beginning of the detailed account of his life, points to the scriptural silence relative to the time between Christ’s birth and the beginning of His public ministry.
Ge 37:2 presents him as a shepherd “feeding the flock” with his evil brethren, a typological picture of Christ, the good Shepherd, feeding the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” with the spiritual food of the Word of God, “with his brethren” the evil leaders of Israel.
The coat of many colors or pieces, the symbol or evidence of Jacob’s love for Joseph, had its counterpart in God’s opening the heavens on two occasions to declare of Christ, “This is my beloved Son,” Mt 3:17; 17:5.
His brethren’s intense jealous hatred of him recorded in Ge 37:4 was the symbolic anticipation of the same jealous hatred of the evil Jewish leaders against Christ, see Mt 27:18; Mk 15:10.
Joseph’s foretelling his future exaltation and glory, as revealed in two dreams, and recorded in Ge 37:5-11, had its fulfillment in the Lord’s use of the Scriptures to declare to the Jews His own future exaltation and glory - and with the same result: “they hated him yet the more.”
Ge 37:12-17 records Jacob’s sending Joseph out of the vale of Hebron (meaning communion, and being a type of heaven), to “see whether it be well with thy brethren,” corresponds to God’s sending the Lord Jesus Christ out of heaven (where they had enjoyed eternal communion) to seek the welfare of His Jewish brethren. (The nameless man, incidentally, who directed Joseph, is a type of the Holy Spirit who directed all the activity of the Lord’s earthly life. Other examples of the same type are the nameless servant sent by Abraham to seek a bride for Isaac; and in the NT, the nameless man bearing the pitcher, who led the disciples to the upper room where Christ ate the last Passover and instituted the Lord’s Supper).
The significance of its being recorded that instead of being where they were supposed to be, at Shechem, meaning shoulder, and representing strength and security, the evil brethren had gone to Dothan, meaning double decree: double sickness. There could be no more fitting symbol of the state of the nation to which Christ came. They too, departed from the place appointed by God, were living under the “double decrees” of law weighted down by additional restrictions of their own making, with the result that there was “double sickness” in their midst: their disobedience had robbed them of the blessings God meant them to enjoy in Canaan; but worse, it had robbed them also of eternal blessings in heaven.
“And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him,” Ge 37:18. This is the symbolic announcement that Israel’s attitude to Christ had long been foretold by the prophets.
Ruben’s attempt to deliver him out of their hand points to the attempt of the few godly amongst the Jewish leaders to deliver Christ, see Lk 23:50-51.
Since garments represent righteousness (either the filthy rags of self-righteousness, or the righteousness of Christ which clothes the believer), their stripping Joseph of his coat of many colors, foreshadows the Jews’ stripping Christ of righteousness by attributing His miraculous power to Satan, and accusing Him of blasphemy.
Their casting him into the pit which had “no water in it” is the typological figure of their consigning Christ to death, but the absence of water in which he would have drowned, is the symbolic announcement of the truth that Joseph was delivered from death, that deliverance being a figure or type of the Lord’s being raised up out of death.
It is significant too that while Joseph was in the pit his brethren “sat down to eat bread,” Ge 37:25. While Christ fulfilled the type of Joseph in the pit (the intended place of his death), His brethren the Jews also ate bread: they kept the Passover.
The sale of Joseph for twenty pieces of silver, in response to the suggestion of Judah, reminds us that another of the same name (Judas is the Greek form of Judah) sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. The pretense that he had been killed by a wild beast, had its fulfillment when the Jews had the Romans carry out the actual execution of Christ, see Jn 18:31. His being carried down to Egypt is the symbolic announcement of the Lord’s turning to the Gentiles after being rejected by Israel; and the blessing of Potiphar’s house under Joseph’s management, speaks of the blessing of the Gentiles through the gospel in the early days of the apostolic age. In connection with this, it is instructive to note that Potiphar means my affliction was broken.
Since imprisonment in Egypt was almost invariably tantamount to a death sentence, Joseph’s imprisonment resulting from the false charge brought against him by Popiphar’s evil wife, seems to be the symbolic announcement of the truth that Christ’s death was to make atonement for the sins of the Gentile as well as the Jew, so that the Gentile was therefore also responsible for His death.
The prosperity enjoyed by the jailor who had entrusted Joseph with all his affairs, seems to portray the spiritual blessing of the Gentiles who trust Christ as Savior, and who commit their lives to His control.
we have in Genesis chapter 41 the promotion of Joseph to be ruler of Egypt, and his being given a Gentile bride; events which point to that soon coming day when Christ will reign as King of kings, having by His side His bride, the Church, the Gentile bride given Him by the Father during this present age of His rejection by Israel.
Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Genesis 41:50-52 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Zaphnath-Paaneah - “treasury of the glorious rest”
Asenath = “belonging to the goddess Neith” the inference here is that she was a priestess of the ancient goddess Naith – Earth Mother who tradition says was mother of Isis, Horus and Osiris three of the chief gods of Egypt.
Poti-pherah = “he whom the Ra gave” – the sun god priest of On – the city of on – the chief city of Egyptian science – the religious capital – Her past is blotted out – not recorded in the book – all that mattered is that she became betrothed to Joseph
Manasseh – forgetting
Ephraim – fruitful
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another— to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
41:45. “And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah, and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.”
In harmony with the Scriptural principle that a change of state is indicated by a new name, Joseph as ruler of Egypt, was called Zaphnath-paaneah. Many take this name to mean revealer of secrets, but in the very reliable Dictionary of Scriptural Proper Names, by J. B. Jackson, it is given as treasury of the glorious rest.
It is easy to see in Joseph, the revealer of secrets, a type of Christ, “In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and through Him those Divine secrets are made known to believers. But the second meaning goes far beyond Joseph, for only Christ could be described as the Treasury of the glorious rest. A treasury is where wealth is stored, and it is only in Christ that men find, not just rest, but a rest that is glorious.
A third suggested meaning of Joseph’s new name is Savior of the world, and no comment is necessary on the aptness of that meaning in its application to Christ.
Joseph’s Egyptian bride is very clearly a type of the Church. She was a Gentile, and the Church is distinctly Gentile. He received his bride during a time when he was rejected by his brethren, as Christ has received His Bride during the time of His rejection by Israel. Her name means I shall be hated: she has stored up. The fitness of the first cleaning as descriptive of the Church is found in the Lord’s own words, “And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake” (Mk 13:13).
The significance of the second meaning is more difficult to decipher, though the thought suggests itself that the Church consists of those who have “stored up” for themselves eternal life, and also an eternal treasure.
On, the city of which he was priest or prince (the latter is thought to be the more accurate), means vigor: strength: iniquity.
In our unconverted state our spiritual father was “Potipherah” (Satan), and his city was “0n” vigor: strength: iniquity in opposition to God.
41:51. “And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh which means causing to forget, for God, saith he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.”
Having found Asenath’s ancestry to be representative of a characteristic of the Church, we should recognize also that other characteristics are portrayed by her two sons. She represents that characteristic which is connected with the origin of those comprising the Church: we were evil, that is why we needed a new birth. In Manasseh and Ephraim, however, we are shown those characteristics of the Church which are derived from Christ, and while it is still true that even as believers we continue to manifest much that belongs to our evil past, there is also the happy truth that as new creatures in Christ, we also manifest something of His nature.
As Manasseh was the reason for Joseph’s forgetting his past toil, so is every believer a reason for the Lord to “forget” His travail toil at Calvary. But as the children inherit some of each parent’s characteristics, so do believers inherit Christ’s, and one of those characteristics is the ability to “forget.” Paul said, “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore ... be thus minded,” (Php 3:13. We should certainly seek to learn from our mistakes, but nothing is gained by dwelling on past failures.
Joseph’s fruitfulness is seen in his two sons, for while his own name is rarely found in the lists of Israel’s tribes, those of his sons are rarely absent. But Joseph’s fruitfulness is a type of Christ’s. As has been discussed already, those two sons may represent the Jew and the Gentile making up the Church, whose members Christ describes as “the children which God hath given Me” (Heb 2:13). That fruitfulness of Christ, typified in the fruitfulness of Joseph, is a characteristic of the “children” who constitute the Church. The very existence of the Church on the earth today is the evidence of that fruitfulness. Had past generations of believers not “reproduced” themselves in spiritual sons and daughters the Church would have died out.
A word of explanation may be necessary here in regard to the two meanings of the name Ephraim. They are not as disparate as would at first appear. The ash-heap indicated the size and prosperity of the city to which it belonged, and the spiritual lesson being taught in these two meanings is that spiritual fruitfulness will be in direct proportion to the degree that we are willing to consign to the “ash-heap” the things that would hold us back in the heavenly race. Paul is the outstanding example of such a man, and the secret of his spiritual fruitfulness is found in what he has written, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ” (Php 3:7-8).
41:53. “And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.”
So will it be in regard to this present age. The very abundance of the Gospel has led many to despise it, but in the ending of the years of plenty in Egypt God would bid men see the truth that the spiritual plenty of this age will also have an end. And the same truth applies to the post-Rapture era. The plenty will quickly give place to the terrible judgments of the great Tribulation. Hence God’s warning, “Behold, now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Co 6:2), and again, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27).
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.—Genesis 50:16,17
Text: Genesis 37:1-11 ADAM - JOSEPH the SEVENTH - Equals fullness or complete, the number 7 complete!
