Jacob's Dream To Joseph's Death

by Keith Dorricott, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Category: Across The Bible Centuries | May 1988

Much space is devoted in Scripture to the details of the lives of Jacob and his son Joseph - the last twenty-six chapters of the book of Genesis. Since these things were written for our learning. What are we today expected to learn from them?

God always begins with the individual. In the lives of six men over the space of more than two thousand years throughout the book of Genesis, we see clearly illustrated the progress and development of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ today. It begins with Adam, who became a sinner, and progresses to Noah, who was saved from destruction by the grace of God. Then comes Abraham and his life of faith in the promises of God, separating himself from everything that would keep him from those promises. And Isaac, the child of promise, was the son who enjoyed the benefits of everything that his father gave him, just as we enjoy the benefits of sonship today.

Now we come to the final two in that chain of development. It is just as clear in their lives too that the grace of God is not restricted to providing eternal salvation, but extends in all respects to the life that follows it. Not only have we been saved by grace, but we have been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in

them" (Eph. 2:8-10).

The grace of God is very evident in the lives of both Jacob and Joseph - in how they were chosen from among their brothers, how God spoke to them, how they were protected in foreign' lands, and how they fulfilled His purpose for them. And yet, in many respects they were very different.

Jacob

Esau was the firstborn, but it was Jacob who obtained the birthright and the father's blessing. "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Rom. 9:13). God said that Esau was a profane, a godless, person (Heb. 12:16). He put less value on his birthright, with its spiritual significance, than on satisfying his hunger. Thus, Jacob instead was included in God's covenant with Abraham and Isaac. Here we see another example of that mystery divine election and human free will in harmony. Esau lost the birthright by his own choice, but it was in order that God's purpose in election might stand (Rom. 9:11).

God repeated the pattern with these two brothers which He had stared with Cain and Abel, and had continued with Ishmael and Isaac. He was setting aside the first, that He might establish the second (cf. 1 Cor. 15:46,47). The first represents what is natural within us, which cannot of itself fulfil the purpose of God; the second represents what is of spiritual origin, and which must predominate if the purpose of God is to be realized.

Jacob's aspirations for the birthright and for his father's blessing were worthy, but his means of obtaining them were wrong. Such actions were typical of his early life. His name was "supplanter"; he was the one who took what was not his - by deception and human effort. Later, he met his match in this respect in Laban, who deceived him in giving him Leah as a wife instead of Rachel, and cheated him of his wages. But Jacob was a chosen vessel. He had to learn by his own experience that the end does not justify the means; the purposes of God could not be accomplished by the power of the flesh, but only by divine means. And this lesson was finally learned at Peniel (the face of God), when he came face to face with the angel and wrestled with him. The flesh was strong in Jacob, but the spirit must prevail, and so Jacob's natural strength was disabled permanently. It's a lesson that is just as vital today for us. The apostle Paul said "in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). It was a hard lesson then, and a hard lesson now. But it is necessary if the

supplanter (Jacob) is to become the prince of God (Israel).

Jacob's life is an illustration of the life of human service for God. It is far from a perfect course; it has its ups and downs, its detours, its successes and failures. But through it all, the constant factor is the unchanging grace of God.

Jacob's dream at Luz in Genesis 18 marks a particularly significant development. It was at this juncture that God intervened in Jacob's life not only to confirm to him the covenant of his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, but also to give an initial glimpse of the profound truth of God living among men. It struck awe into Jacob and he called that place Bethel (the house of God) - nearly three hundred years before the first actual house of God would be built upon the earth. But, as in so many other things, God had planted the seed in the book of Genesis, and it would become a dominant theme from Exodus on.

How appropriate it is that this should occur in Jacob's lifetime. For as Abraham is an illustration of God the Father, the source of all things, and as Isaac and Joseph are illustrations of Christ the Son, Jacob is like ourselves - struggling human servants among whom God wishes to dwell and to have serve Him. To Jacob, God first shows in what place that service will in future take place.

But Jacob didn't stay at Bethel. He didn't even stay in the land newly promised to him. He went instead to Padan-aram, and many years passed before he returned. Eventually he retraced his way back to the land, and back again to Bethel, but this time to be especially impressed with the God of that place: "El-Bethel" - the God of the house of God. God, as always in His grace, had not forsaken Jacob after all those absent years, and again He confirmed the covenant of promise to him. The God of the house is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and now of Jacob - and the God of Israel.

Joseph

Not just one, but all of Jacob's sons (twelve in all after the birth of Benjamin in the land) are included in the covenant promise. But again it was not to be the first (Reuben in this instance), who would be given the highest place.

Jacob portrays for us an experience of service and of increasing spiritual maturity. This culminates in the life of Joseph, the last of the great men of Genesis, who portrays the necessary consequence of that maturity suffering, and ultimate glory.

"All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution", we are told (2 Tim. 3:12). "In the world ye have tribulation" the Lord Jesus told His disciples (John 16:33). And it is only if we suffer with Him that we can expect to reign with Him when He reigns (2 Tim. 2:12).

Perhaps there is not a more complete type or illustration of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in His life on earth in all of Scripture than Joseph. He was especially loved by his father Jacob, hated and delivered to death by his brothers who did not understand him, and wrongly accused of sin. He resisted severe temptation, gave glory to God in all trying circumstances, revealed the word of God to others in godless places, forgave his brothers' sins against him, and was exalted to the highest position. In these broad outlines, and in so many of the details also, from childhood to death, Joseph magnifies the person of Christ.

And is this not what the mature, experienced, suffering Christian does too. He is a portrayal of Christ to those around - a "letter from Christ" as Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV).

Unlike Jacob his father, there is no waywardness or self-will in Joseph's life, no recorded failure or inconsistency. He too left the land of promise, but not of his own volition. Even when in high position in Egypt his mind was on the land, and he foresaw when God would lead his descendants back again, and he desired that his own remains be buried there (Heb. 11:22).

Joseph was one of those few men in Scripture - Daniel was another whom God was pleased to give positions of power and status in earthly kingdoms. Joseph did not covet this position; he did not exalt himself. He foreshadows Christ, who humbled Himself: was highly exalted by God the Father and will reign on this earth on the throne of David. His kingdom will be from sea to sea, and He must reign until all His enemies are put under His feet. And as it had been in Jacob's life, so in Joseph's: the elder must serve the younger (Rom. 9:12).

The final chapter of Genesis, covering the end of Joseph's life, is worthy of special note. Jacob dies in Egypt among his sons, and so the purpose of God moves one step further. The children of Israel are in Egypt, where they must remain until they are later, under Moses, redeemed from it. After Jacob's death, the brothers of Joseph are very afraid that Joseph, in his position of power, might now take his revenge on them, although many years had gone by. But Joseph's reply is remarkable. "Am I in the place of God?" (50:19) - an

expression also used by Jacob in chapter 30:2. "Ye meant evil ... but God meant it for good". He understood that revenge is never justified. "Vengeance belongeth unto Me; I will recompense, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:19) - He reserves that right for Himself. How hard it is for us to learn to leave the revenge and the recompensing to God who judges righteously.

Jacob learned that spiritual power, not natural power, is the key to effective service for God. Have we learned this? Joseph showed that a life of faithfulness to God involves suffering, but that the ultimate reward of that suffering is greater glory. This truth, too, has not changed from then until now. Have we learned it?

How far has each of us come in our spiritual development? Have we learned each lesson well enough that God in His grace can move us on to the next step? Have we wrestled with God at Peniel, and so come to El-Bethel? Have we suffered the persecution of Christ so that there is waiting for us the eternal weight of glory? If so, then these divine revelations from the early chapters of the Bible will have accomplished their purpose for us.

Keith Dorricott, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | May 1988
Across The Bible Centuries