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well beloved Son to His brethren in the flesh: these received Him not, but rather said,
"This is the heir; come, let us kill Him".
We learn from the last verse of Gen. 37: that Joseph was sold to Potiphar; and
then, before we are told anything further, a part of the life of Judah is interjected, the
theme of Joseph at Potiphar's house being resumed in chapter 39: Judah falls into
temptation, and the signet, bracelets and staff which he left behind are a witness against
him. Joseph stands firm under a similar temptation; and the garment which he left
behind, though used against him falsely, was a witness really of his integrity. Joseph
stands where Judah falls: how this is repeated in the temptation of Christ is recorded in
Matt. 4: Those three temptations in the wilderness have their parallels in the wilderness
wandering of Israel, the three quotations used by Christ being from the book of
Deuteronomy.
The pathway to glory for Joseph was via prison and shame. It was so with his blessed
Antitype too, Who declared that He must needs have suffered these things and to have
entered into His glory. When Joseph was in the house of Potiphar, we read, "The Lord
was with Joseph" (Gen. 39: 2). This is repeated when Joseph was cast into prison
(verse 21). This must have been the great sustaining fact upon which Joseph leaned
during his severe trial. It was the consciousness, too, of the Father's nearness that was
the great joy of Christ during His earthly ministry. We have reached the lowest depth of
Joseph's trials. The rejection and the loss are to be followed by acclamation and honour.
This we must leave until we can devote more space to it.
We conclude this section with the quaint rendering of an early English version:--
"The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a luckie fellow" (Gen. 39: 2).
#38. Joseph--The Dominion Realized. (Gen. 40: - 50:).
pp. 36 - 39
Joseph sets before us in his remarkable career a clear type of that feature which is so
prophetic of Christ--"the sufferings and the glory that should follow".
We left Joseph in our last study together in the lowest depths; we shall not leave him
in this paper until we see him seated at the right hand of Majesty. The dreams of Joseph
led to his exile; the dreams of Pharaoh led to his exaltation.
"And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is
none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto
thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou"
(Gen. 41: 39, 40).
Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah. The A.V. gives a possible meaning
in the margin by considering it a Coptic word, but more recent discovery in Ancient