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No.5.
pp. 186 - 191
Jacob's Two Sons.
The reader may feel that a mistake has been made here, for Jacob had 12 sons and also
a daughter. Although this is true, there are two who specially carry the story and the
purpose on to the end of Genesis. They are Joseph and Benjamin.
There are seven great types of Christ found in the book of Genesis:
A
| ADAM. Sin and death. Return to the dust (3:).
B | ABEL. Accepted offering (4: 1-4).
C | SETH. Substitution. "Instead" (4: 25).
D | NOAH. Atonement. "Pitch" (6: 14).
C | ISAAC. Substitution. "Instead" (22: 13).
B | JUDAH. Surety. "Instead" (44: 33).
A | JOSEPH. Preserver of life. "The coffin" (45: 5; 50: 26).
Some may wonder why Abraham does not figure here, but he was more a type of God
the Father, Who "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom.viii.32).
Jacob's record opens in Genesis with the words:
"And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
These are the generations of Jacob . . . . ." (Gen. 37: 1, 2).
Jacob's generation was not written as from Padan-aram the home of Laban, but from
Canaan, the land of promise, and does not commence with Reuben the firstborn, but with
Joseph. Again, the record does not say `now Jacob loved Joseph' but "Israel loved
Joseph", indicating that this love was something over and above natural affection. The
coat of many colours was no mere dressing up. It marked Joseph off from his brothers
both as the heir and priest of the family. The consequence of this preferment was that
`his brethren . . . . . hated him'. When Rebekah prepared Jacob to deceive Isaac and so to
procure the birthright, she took `raiment of desires' literally (Gen. 27: 15), and
throughout the Scriptures clothing has a symbolic value.
The dreams of Joseph were of great importance and were misunderstood by his
brothers and even his parents. We must remember that, in Joseph's day, there were no
written Scriptures and as far as the record goes, no one who possessed the gift of
prophecy. Dreams were probably rare then, and God used them to make known His will.
They were not given to Joseph for himself; they were prophetic. Even the dreams of this
period run in pairs as follows:
First pair.
Joseph dreams of pre-eminence.
Prison.
Second pair.
Prisoners' dreams interpreted.
Deliverance.
Third pair.
Pharaoh's dreams interpreted.
Glory.