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Joseph was bound to make known his dreams, for they were a communication from
God Himself and could not be kept secret. The reaction of his brothers very closely
anticipated the attitude of the Jews against Christ centuries later:
"Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And
they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words" (Gen. 37: 8).
Stephen, in Acts 7:, uses the story of Joseph stressing `the second time' and of
Moses, `whom they refused', to enforce the lesson upon his own countrymen (7: 13,
35). It can be no accident that Judah (Judas in the Greek) suggested selling Joseph for
twenty pieces of silver (Gen. 37: 28).
Joseph's pathway to the throne of Egypt via prison, sets forth in type the two advents
of Christ, who, during the interval while Israel suffered want, was being used to bless
Gentile Egyptians and who married a Gentile wife. While there is still disagreement over
the exact meaning of the title Pharaoh gave to Joseph, namely "Zaphnath-paaneah"
(Genesis 41: 45) which the A.V. margin renders `a revealer of secrets', the possibility is
that it can mean `abundance of life' or `of food for the living' (see The Companion Bible
note). If so, it was anticipating Christ as "the Bread of life". The words "what he saith
to you do" (Gen. 41: 55) is echoed by Mary "whatsoever He saith unto you, do it"
(John 2: 5), even as the words `his father observed the saying' (Gen. 37: 11) remind
one of Mary who `kept all these sayings and pondered them in her heart' (Luke 2: 19,51).
The necessary stages of prophetic foreshadowing can be summed up thus:
(1)
The repentance of Israel (Gen. 42: 13, 21, 22).
(2)
The revelation to Israel (Gen. 45: 1-4 cp. Zech. 12: 10).
(3)
The restoration of Israel (Gen. 45: 7, 11; 46: 6).
(4)
The resurrection of Israel (Gen. 49: 29; Heb. 11: 22).
So far we have been concerned with one son of Israel, Joseph, who is a very rich type
of Christ. Who is the other, without whom the type is not complete? Let us first enquire
why Joseph was so called. The verb `to add' in Hebrew is jasaph and is so translated in
the A.V. 39 times, its first occurrence being in Gen. 4: 2 where we read that, after the
birth of Cain, `she (Eve) added to bear his brother Abel' (she again bear in the A.V.).
Here, at the beginning of the book, the birth of two sons is recorded, one being added to
the other and setting forth the two opposing seeds from Cain and Abel. The other pair at
the end of Genesis, which we are now considering, uses the very word "jasaph" or
"Joseph" because his mother Rachel said:
"The Lord shall add to me another son" (Gen. 30: 24).
In Gen. 35: 16-18 we have the record of the birth of Rachel's second son during
which she died and "as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name
Ben-oni: son of my sorrow". In the ordinary course of things, no husband who loved his
wife as Jacob had loved Rachel would have altered her last wish, but Jacob was
constrained, (we believe by the Lord) to name him Ben-jamin, `son of my right hand'.