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. xli. 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 Egyptian brings to light the true meaning of the name and
its prophetic import. Zaph-en-to
was a title of the last of the Shepherd Kings of Egypt and means “The nourisher
of the world”. Zap means
“abundance”.
"Its well ascertained meaning is ‘food’,
especially ‘corn’ or ‘grain’ in general" (Canon COOK).
Nt (nath) is the preposition “of”, common on the early
monuments. Pa is the definite
article “the”. Anch signifies
“life”. Thus one name of Memphis is ta-anch,
the land of life, or, the land of the living.
The name therefore means “Food of the life”, and is a far-off echo of
that wondrous claim which the Greater than Joseph was to make when He said “I
am the Bread of Life”.
Is there not also an echo of Pharaoh’s
words in the lips of Mary? Pharaoh said,
when the people had no bread, “Go unto Joseph;
what he saith to you, do” (Gen. xli. 55). Mary said to the servants, when they had no
wine, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it” (John ii. 5).
Genesis xlii. resumes the broken thread of the story of
Jacob and his sons. One event however
has happened that it is important to remember.
Joseph blesses the Gentiles during his rejection by his brethren. Joseph is united to a Gentile by marriage
while exiled from his father’s house.
The names of his two children speak of forgetting his toil and his
father’s house, and of being fruitful in the land of his affliction. The famine at length appears and among those
who are forced to sue at Joseph’s feet are his ten brethren. The story is a long one and we will not spoil
it by attempting to summarize, we know how it all ends. The outstanding typical features number among
them the following:--
1.
THE REPENTANCE OF ISRAEL. — When Joseph’s brethren came before him and
are charged with being spies, they aver that they are twelve brethren, the sons
of one man in the land of Canaan; and
behold say they:--
“The youngest is this day with our father,
and one is not” (Gen. xlii. 13).
The mention of the fate of Joseph and the
harshness of their treatment at the hands of the ruler of Egypt causes their
conscience to awaken and they said:--
“We are verily guilty concerning our
brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we
would not hear; therefore is this
distress come upon us” (Gen. xlii. 21).
Reuben uses even more forceful words: “Behold, also his blood is required” (Gen.
xlii. 22). The type is clear. Israel must repent before they can be
blessed.
2.
THE REVELATION TO ISRAEL. — “Then Joseph could not refrain himself … I
am Joseph” (Gen. xlv. 1-4). When
Israel’s blindness is removed and for the first time they recognize the Lord
Jesus as their Messiah, “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and
shall mourn for Him” (Zech.xii.10) is the word of prophecy.
First there is the revelation of the Person,
“I am Joseph”. Then follows the
revelation of the Purpose, “God did send me before you to preserve life
. . . . . to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Gen.xlv.4-7).
3.
THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. — Joseph could not be content until “all
Israel” were safely beneath his care.
Benjamin had been brought before him by the strategy of love, and now
nothing must hinder the journey of his father Jacob.
One more feature of fundamental importance
is marked for us in Hebrews xi. If we
were to select the one act in Joseph’s life which should eclipse all others as
an act of faith, we hardly feel that the one selected by the inspired writer
of Hebrews xi. would be our choice. There in
Heb. xi. 22 we read:--
“By faith Joseph, when he died, made
mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.”
“Concerning his bones”! What is there in these words to deserve such
prominence? Joseph linked the
deliverance of Israel with resurrection.
4.
THE RESURRECTION OF ISRAEL. — Joseph stresses the fact that the land of
promise was that which God sware to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob (Gen. l.
24), and Christ shows that the title “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”
proves the doctrine of Resurrection (Matt. xxii. 23-33). Ezekiel.xxxvii. connects resurrection with restoration.
We are conscious that much more precious
truth lies near the surface of this remarkable history. We have indicated a few fundamentals of
dispensational importance. One more
feature must bring this paper to a close.
The dreams of Joseph, though their realization was postponed, were
eventually realized, but the postponement shut the door upon Israel for a time
and opened it to the Gentiles. So the
rejection of Christ by His brethren, their refusal to “have this man reign over
them”, deferred the time of their restoration.
When Israel is at length restored the Gentiles will have been blessed
for a period of two thousand years, or as the type has it, “For these TWO years
hath the famine been in the land” (Genesis xlv. 6).
The Lord who was despised and rejected
shall yet be honoured and exalted, and in this glorious fact is all our hope
and desire.
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