The Life of Joseph (1)

The Word of the Lord is just like a gold mine. The gold of the Spirit lies clearly and abundantly revealed upon the pages of that Word. But for it to profit us, we need to receive the spade of the Spirit so that we may dig in this gold mine. We need the courage and the understanding to follow the different avenues of this mine, and then we will see that it is a mine that can never, never be emptied. When we search that Word of God, then it is so necessary that we pray for the spiritual light from heaven. The psalmist says in Psalm 36, “For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.” Each time we need that light from above to read and understand the Scriptures. As we start this series on the life of Joseph, we will see that throughout his life he was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope that the Lord may bless it to your heart and give light by it upon your pathway of life.

Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. Jacob at this time was one hundred eight years old. He had been ninety-one years old when Joseph was born in the land of Padanaram. Jacob was working for his father-in-law there, earning a living. At the beginning of chapter 37 we read that Joseph was seventeen years old.

When we read the history of the previous chapter, then we see that all who are of the world seem to prosper and blossom much more than those who live close to the Lord. What is of the Lord seems to be kept low to the ground. Jacob still lived in tents and went from one place to another with his flocks. He traveled, you might say, throughout the land, and not one acre could he call his own. In chapter 36 his twin brother had already been a king for many years, and he had sons who were living as princes. He was established in the world here below. Esau was a man who served the world, and Jacob was a child of God. It seems as if it goes so much easier for the world than for the children of the Lord. You might say, Why is that? Well, my friends, the people who serve the world here below have it only for a short time. When they leave this world, they leave it all behind. But when the child of God départs from this world, he goes upward to heaven to be with God. The Lord deerns it necessary, deerns it fruitful in their life, that they not grow so fast, that for them it is more a creeping than a running. They do not shoot up so high but stay close to the ground. Esau enjoyed all the riches of the world. Jacob must learn to be satisfied with the promise that he was an heir, the promise that God gave to him in Genesis 35:11, “And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.”

Israel loved Joseph more than all his other children. Is that right, when you have such a large family, to love one more than all the others? They all are souls upon the way to eternity, and yet one is loved more than the others. I would say that it is not right because as a parent you should have every one of your children bound upon your heart in prayer to the Lord. Why is it that Jacob loved this one son above the others? There were two reasons for this: the one was fleshly favoritism, and the other was a spiritual bond that he felt with his son. Joseph was a son of his wife Rachel. She was the woman who was loved by Jacob. He had four wives but really loved only one. She was the love of his heart and the love of his life. But Rachel was unfruitful for a long time. Remember when she cried unto Jacob, saying, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1)? We then read in verse 22 of the same chapter that “God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.”

Jacob also had a spiritual bond with his son Joseph. Something had taken place in Joseph's life, and he was different from his brothers. The Lord had looked upon him and given him a new heart. I think that Jacob must have seen the first markings of that new beginning in the life of this child when Joseph was young. He must have thought, “Is it God's work in his heart?” How can we tell that Joseph is a boy who feared the Lord? We read in chapter 37:2, “Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.” Their evil report means his brothers' evil report. Those brothers hated and despised him. Why did they hate Joseph? They hated him because of what was living in his heart. They hated him because of that tender conscience that was within him. What a different life Joseph had. He was growing up in a home where they mocked him and the fear of God. You might also say that they hated him because of that coat of many colors that his father bought him. His father had bought him a coat that princes would wear. Did they hate him because of his coat? I do not think this was the whole reason; no, they hated him because of how he lived. They hated him because when they wanted to do something that their father should not know about, then he spoke up and warned them. You could see in his life and hear in his talk that he was converted.

Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. We see here a boy seventeen years old with a sorrow in his heart when he saw his brothers and the life they were living. He went and spoke unto his father about his brothers. Do you know what was sad in the life of Jacob? He did not punish these boys for their evil doings. Maybe he could not handle them anymore because they were grown up. Why is it that a father cannot govern his own house anymore? Is it because he begins too late to lay the foundation in their young lives?

The Lord gave Joseph dreams. Today we are careful with dreams because God speaks through His Word. In Joseph's time it was different. He lived during the time when God revealed things in the life of His children by way of dreams. Think of his father Jacob in Bethel. When Joseph was seventeen, God spoke to him in dreams. Joseph told his brothers about the first dream. “Your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.” Joseph did not understand it fully, and his brothers did not understand it at all, but it caused hatred in their hearts for him. The second dream was different. He told it unto his brethren and his father. “The sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” His father rebuked him, saying, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” Oh, Jacob, have you forgotten that the Lord spoke unto you in a dream? It says that his father rebuked him, and yet it says something wonderful in verse eleven. “But his father observed the saying.” Like Mary in the New Testament, Jacob pondered the saying in his heart.

Martin Luther once said that the Lord Jesus Christ is found on every page of the Old Testament. We may see Him time and time again in the history of Joseph. Joseph was beloved of his father; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was loved from all eternity with an eternal love by His heavenly Father. Joseph received a coat of many colors from his father; the Father in heaven clothed His Son with a garment of eternal love. Joseph was hated by his own brothers; Jesus Christ had many enemies, but He was especially hated by those of His own nation. Joseph made known the counsel of God in the home of his parents; Christ made known that full counsel of God pertaining to the salvation of His people. We read in verse sixteen, “I seek my brethren.” We can see a little into the heart of Joseph. He was seeking those that hated and despised him. That is now the same with that blessed Savior, who seeks those who are lying deep in sin and trespasses. He seeks those who can never come to Him, but who must be sought for by Him.

— to be continued —

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