Joseph: The Man And The Ruler

by Dyer, H. | Category: Types And Shadows In Genesis | Nov 1955

Joseph's name is found among those men of faith who have been accorded a place on God's "roll of honour" in Hebrews 11.

"By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones" (verse 22)

The Holy Spirit in this chapter selects from such men's lives outstanding examples of their faith. One would hardly have expected He would have taken the closing scene of Joseph's life as the most outstanding proof of his faith.

That eventful life, one of the most eventful and colourful in the whole range of sacred history-save, of course, that of the Lord Jesus

-abounds with incidents, any one of which might have been cited in proof of Joseph's faith. Yet all are passed over, and our attention is focussed on Joseph's dying bed. It may be when we read our own life's story in the light of eternity, that God will commend what we have forgotten; while matters in our lives that are considered great, and it may be in which we gloried, He will cast aside as worthless dross. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart, and His glance can justly appraise the true value of our deeds and words. He weighs the spirits of men: He estimates not by outward form and display, hence, when He weighed the character of Joseph, He gave the preponderance to that time in Joseph's life when his faith was outstanding.

It has been said that some men are born great; some achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them. Most will agree that Joseph was born to greatness, and that the coat of many colours, the mark of his father's affection and esteem, was no empty honour; but was bestowed in recognition of qualities of mind and character which were lacking in his brethren. The secret of Joseph's greatness and of the place of eminence to which in God's purpose his moral excellences and virtues ultimately brought him is to be found in Jacob's last words to his sons: "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a fountain; his branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49.22). As he dwelt by faith in the secret place of the Most High, and abode under the shadow of the Almighty, he doubtless knew something of the sweetness and preciousness of that Fountain concerning which another of later day has sung, "0 Christ, He is the Fountain, the deep sweet well of love." Nourished and sustained in his inward life by those living waters, his fruitfulness increased, so that his branches ran over the wall. We cannot doubt that in the hey-day of his power and glory in the land of Egypt Joseph was faithful to God and walked with Him in separation from evil as a true Hebrew; and yet no narrow limits of race and outlook, which the thought of "a wall" may suggest, could confine or circumscribe

the. blessing of God that through him reached out in an ever-widening circle to others. So should it be with us today. While recognizing the bounds and limitations which obedience to God's word enjoins upon us in many respects, this should not detract from our Christian liberty to abound in good work, even to the extent of doing "good toward all men, specially toward them that are of the household of the faith" (Galatians 6. 10).

Further confirmation of Joseph's greatness as a man is given us by the divine historian in Psalm 105.17: "He sent a man before them: Joseph was sold for a servant." The word for "man" here in Hebrew is ISH, which signifies "a man of high degree." It is only used in the Old Testament in connexion with individual men and men of outstanding character and ability, as in the expression "The Man of God," applied to many of the prophets. So that the man who was sold for a servant or slave was in reality a man of outstanding character and ability.

It is said that "the boy is the father of the man," and at an early age we discern in Joseph those traits which shine so brightly in his after life. It was in no censorious, self-righteous spirit that he brought to his father the evil report of his brethren. He would not by his silence connive at evil. Though he must have been aware that his action would embitter his life among his brethren and bring upon himself much suffering and reproach, he nevertheless made known to his father their evil deeds. We can discern in this desire on Joseph's part to eschew evil and to be on the side of truth and righteousness, an evidence of God's work in him. This is not the normal way with boys of tender years among older and more experienced companions, wherein the voice of expediency may be heard to say, "Choose the lesser of two evils." This was contrary to nature, and was an evidence of Divine grace, and of the chosen path in which God was leading him. He who refused complicity with the sins of others, subsequently stood firm when he himself was solicited to sin by Potiphar's wife. "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." He who feared God rather than his brethren said, years later, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" The presence of God, the God of his fathers, was so intensely real to him that the fear of his brethren was powerless to bring him into evil; so in the other case the fear of God prevailed over the temptations of Potiphar's wife to the pleasures of sin. And thus he was preserved from evil. "The word of the LORD tried him" (Psalm 105.19). Thus early in life Joseph was tried and tested in preparation for those glories which lay before him. Thus there were crises in his life, as there will be in ours also, who in our day seek to stand for God and bear witness to the truth. By these we are being moulded to the pattern of truth and righteousness; and not fashioned like the ungodly around us; For actions repeated lead to practice; and practice becomes habitual, and what is habitual shapes the character. So that in our daily lives we are becoming either more Christ-like or we are being more conformed to this world. What a tremendous reality, in view of this alternative process, is our daily life!

As the one upon whom his father had bestowed signal favours, for Jacob loved Joseph more than all his brethren, and also because of his dreams, in which God had vouchsafed to him visions of coming glories, both earthly and heavenly, in which he would have the place of authority and honour, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. They said, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him" (Genesis 37.19, 20). Many a cruel jibe, many a studied insult he bore! Yet he went after them to seek their welfare, only to be "wounded in the house of his friends."

"The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and persecuted him. But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob" (Genesis 49.23, 24).

How precious and full of instruction it is to the spiritual mind to trace the analogies between the life of Joseph and that of the Lord Jesus Christ! Into the very texture of Joseph's experience there is interwoven the outline of a perfect man, even the Man Christ Jesus. As with the Lord Jesus, so Joseph was the beloved of his father, sent by him to visit his brethren and see after their welfare. Both were sold by their brethren and shamefully treated at the hands of their brethren and also by the world, for Egypt in Joseph's case typifies the world. Both were arrested under false charges, and of the Lord it was written, "By oppression and judgement He was taken away" (Isaiah 53.8). The report of Joseph's death was a cruel deception on the part of his brethren, for his life had been spared through Judah's intervention, and when Jacob was shown the coat of many colours stained with the blood of a goat he assumed that Joseph was dead. With the Lord Jesus it was otherwise, for He passed through the dread reality of death.

"No friend was found to plead His cause,

For all preferred the world's applause."

Joseph in prison pronouncing the doom of one of his fellow-prisoners and the restoration of the other to his office suggests the scene at Calvary, where one of the Lord's fellow-sufferers was forgiven while the other went, we judge, to eternal judgement.

Joseph had not the Scriptures to guide him, as we have. His knowledge of God was that which was handed on, and what emerged from God's dealings with him personally, and in this school Joseph was a diligent scholar. God thus early in life had opened his understanding and given to him visions of future greatness. Joseph may not have known that the pathway to glory lay through suffering and sorrow. It was in the past, and it is still so today.

"Let us rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice in our tribulations" (Romans 5.2, 3).

It was his dreams and the inward conviction and assurance that they were divinely given, and that God in His own way and time would bring them to pass, that sustained Joseph in his darkest hour. This can be verified by his experience in the dungeon. Had his faith in his own dreams wavered he might have shown a pardonable diffidence in hearing and interpreting the dreams of others. But his confidence in interpreting the dreams of other men strongly suggests that he still cherished his own with unflagging faith. It is interesting to notice that the butler in speaking to Pharaoh afterwards of these matters said, "Me he restored to mine office, and him he hanged"; as though Joseph had been the executor of judgement in restoring one man to his office and sending another to his doom. How it reminds us of Him unto whom all judgement has been committed, for God has made Him the Executor of divine judgement, and men will stand or fall by the word that goes forth from His mouth!

"The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance : to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom" (Psalm 105.20, 21, 22). The book of Genesis begins by showing how rule was lost by one man through his disobedience: it closes with rule restored and established in the hands of one who was found worthy of the highest honour. What a reversal of Potiphar's unrighteous judgement when Pharaoh lifted Joseph out of the dungeon and arrayed him in royal vestures and made him lord over all the land, and all this at a time when Egypt was the granary and metropolis of the world!

Why was Judah passed over in these important matters, for "the sceptre " and "the ruler's staff" were his (Genesis 49. 10)? Was it not because of his sin in connexion with Tamar? for early in the history of Joseph the Holy Spirit makes a digression in Genesis 38. to speak of matters that are a dark stain on Judah's character, and how he so lightly esteemed the insignia of his royalty, the signet, the cord and the staff that he gave in pledge to a supposed harlot.

At length, then, Joseph sees the fulfilment of his dreams within his reach. Instead of the coat of many colours-his father's tribute to the princely person and ways of his son-he wears the robe of state and the chain of gold which mark him out as second only to Pharaoh. God had given to Pharaoh an answer of peace, through Joseph; it was no guess-work with him, and Pharaoh perceived it. The same distinction is always apparent; to a believer it is revelation and not speculation. Revelation speaks with authority: speculation gropes in the dark, and when wisest is most diffident. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?"

Joseph's administration has been the subject of much adverse criticism by many who favour democratic and socialistic principles of government. They affirm that Joseph's rule was that of a despot, and that he was guilty of despoiling the people, under duress, of their wealth, their lands and their liberties. It must, however, be acknowledged that Joseph' was compelled to take stern measures to cope with a crisis that except for his divinely-given wisdom and foresight, would have been calamitous for Egypt and for the world. When the time of famine came Pharaoh's word to the people was, "Go unto Joseph what he saith unto you, do." As we read the story of these events the impression is left upon the mind that Joseph by his wise administration became a benefactor as well as a saviour to men, by becoming their lord and master, and they on their part yielded willing obedience.

Not without cause did Pharaoh call him Zaphenath-paneah, which signifies "Saviour of the world." We believe that Joseph's rule was divine in its pattern and was characterized by simplicity in its administration and also by righteousness. He who himself had groaned under oppression and had been the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice would lend a sympathetic ear to the cry of the suffering and oppressed.

There is another verdict which God is waiting to revise, of which Joseph's experience is but a type and shadow, even the unjust verdict which the world and its rulers passed on His Beloved Son, and the shameful treatment it accorded Him. For God will bring Him back to the scene of His rejection that signal honours may be given unto Him, for He is worthy. When the Lord Jesus reigns as King in Zion He will astonish the rulers of the earth by the efficiency and righteousness of His rule. It is written concerning Him, " So shall He sprinkle (or startle) many nations: kings shall shut their mouths at Him" (Isaiah 52.15). Some of the delightful features of His administration are also described in Psalm 72, "He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor" (verse 4). "For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth: and the poor that hath no helper" (verse 12). "He shall redeem their soul from oppression and violence: and precious shall their blood be in His sight" (verse 14).

And Joseph said unto his brethren: "I die: but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob" (Genesis 50. 24). Joseph was great and illustrious in his life, so also in his dying hour. The approach of death did not dim, but rather brightened the gold in his character. His heart and flesh failed him, but God was the strength of his life and his portion for ever.

Joseph's dreams are not yet wholly fulfilled, for he no doubt will have a place of honour in the coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the blessings of his father that prevailed above his progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Dyer, H. | Nov 1955
Types And Shadows In Genesis