Genesis 37 begins speaking about Joseph, which is Jacob’s son by Rachel. Joseph was Rachel’s firstborn son, but Jacob’s eleventh son. Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife. As you recall, he was deceived into marriage with Leah, Rachel’s older sister. At this point, we are told that Joseph is seventeen years old and that he had come to Jacob and told him of some evil that his brothers were doing. Scripture does not describe the behavior they were engaging in.
It is recorded that Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children because Joseph was the son of his old age; and made Joseph a coat of many colors (v. 3). Favoritism is a trait that was lived out in Jacob’s life; where his father Isaac favored Esau more because he was a hunter and would catch and prepare venison stew for him. Rebekah favored Jacob more, we are not told why. We do know that Rebekah was given a prophecy found in Genesis 25:22-23, where God foretells her that two nations, two manner of people would come from her womb; and one would be stronger than the other and the elder would serve the younger. We also know that she took matters in her own hands and deceived Jacob in order to secure the birthright blessing for Jacob. Maybe she misused this foreknowledge and favored Jacob. With all this said, Jacob grew up in an environment where favoritism existed, and it played itself out in his adult life. Jacob’s favoritism caused Joseph’s brothers to hate him and because of their hate they could not speak in a kind manner to him (v. 4).
Joseph had two dreams.
The first dream, Joseph and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field; and Joseph’s sheaf grew and the other sheaf’s (his brothers) bowed to his sheaf. Joseph told his brothers about the dream, and his brothers responded “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?” Joseph’s brother understood the dream to mean that they would submit to Joseph, and they hated him even more (vs. 5-8).
Joseph’s second dream was regarding the sun, moon, and the eleven stars which bowed to him. This dream was so impressive, like the first, he told his father and brothers about the dream. His father, Jacob, rebuked him for suggesting that he, his mother, and his eleven brothers would bow down to him. However, Joseph’s brothers envied him over the dream (vs. 9-11). At this point, Rachel (his mother) was deceased. So, when Jacob said ‘thy mother’ it reveals that all four women (Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah) were mothers to all twelve sons born between them.
Joseph’s brother went to feed their flock in Shechem. Jacob (Israel) told Joseph to go check on his brothers to see if all is well and to report back to him. Joseph came to Shechem and was wandering in the field looking for his brothers. A certain man found him and asked “What seekest thou?” Joseph told him that he was looking for his brothers and asked the man if he knew where they were feeding their flocks. The man told him that they left and went to Dothan. Joseph went to Dothan and found his brothers (vs. 12-17).
Joseph’s brothers saw him coming; and they conspired to kill him. They planned to murder him and throw him in a pit. They concocted a story that some evil beast devoured him. They said among themselves ‘we shall see what will become of his dreams’. Reuben heard it, and told his brothers ‘let us not kill him’. Reuben suggested to not shed his blood, but to cast him into a pit that was in the wilderness. Reuben’s plan was not only to spare Joseph’s life, but to come back and get him and take him home to their father (vs. 18-22).
Upon Joseph’s arrival, his brothers stripped him of his coat of many colors and threw him in a pit. The pit was empty and had no water. This begs the question ‘why would he wear his best coat on a wilderness journey? They already hated Joseph, maybe seeing him wearing the coat infuriated them. They sat down to eat bread and they saw a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead carrying their merchandise and they were going to Egypt to sell their goods. At this point, Reuben is not with his brothers…maybe he was tending the flock. Judah came up with the idea to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. They would profit from selling Joseph as a slave, and his blood would not be on their hands; after all he was their brother. They agreed and were content with this plan (vs. 23-27). It is important to note that Benjamin was not part of this. Benjamin was the youngest of all the boys and was at home with Jacob.
Then, some Midianite merchantmen were passing by, and they lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt. (v. 28). Arriving in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, captain of the guard, and officer of Pharaoh’s (v. 36).
Now, Reuben returned to the pit to recover him and take him home. To his surprise, Joseph was not there. Reuben tore his clothes and went to his brothers and told them Joseph was not in the pit. Reuben recognized as the oldest, it was his responsibility to take care of his younger brothers. They took Joseph’s coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid goat that they had killed. They took the coat to their father and told him they found this coat and did not know if it was Joseph’s or not. Jacob knew it was Joseph’s and believe an evil beast tore him to pieces and devoured him. Jacob mourned for many days and refused to be comforted, saying he would go to his grave mourning Joseph (vs. 29-35).
Joseph Illustrates Christ
There are numerous narrative details about Joseph’s life that correspond with the New Testament narratives of Jesus. Listed below are just a few:
| Joseph | Jesus |
| Favored by his Jacob, his father. | Favored by his Father, only begotten Son. |
| Brothers conspire to kill him as he comes to serve them. | Brethren despise him and conspire to kill him, as he came to serve and save them. |
| Unsuccessfully defended by Reuben. | Unsuccessfully defended by Pilate. |
| Sold for silver through the mediation of Judah (name, in Greek form would be “Judas”. | Betrayed for silver by Judas. |
| Coast dipped in blood of a goat (animal link with atonement in Lev.), and is presented to Jacob, his father. | Yearly ‘Day of Atonement” service, when the high priest took a goat for sacrifice, and the goat on which the lot fell was banished into the wilderness. |
| Goes to a ‘far country’ and determines to be faithful to God. | Came to a ‘far country’ and was faithful to His Father. |
| Finds safety in Egypt. | Found safety in Egypt as a baby. |
| Fights against temptation with Pharoah’s wife and wins. | Fought against the temptation of Satan in the wilderness and won. |
| Falsely accused of wrongdoing and unjustly punished, remined faithful despite suffering. | Falsely accused of wrongdoing and unjustly punished, remain faithful despite terrible suffering. |
| In jail, he is positioned between two criminals (Gen. 40), one a baker the other a cupbearer. He prophesies the salvation of one and death of the other. | Hung between two thieves, promising salvation to one of the criminals. |
| He is finally vindicated and released from jail. | His character is vindicated. |
| He is exalted to the right hand of the highest authority, with emissaries before him crying out to all who hear, “bow the knee” in respect (vs. 43). | After His resurrection, he sits at the right hand of the Father. Every knee will bow at His second coming. |
| Provided food to the hungry. | Jesus, the Bread of Life, in a far greater and more lasting way fills the hunger for a starving world. All are welcome to partake. |
| Reconciles his brothers. | Made provision for reconciliation for all who will come unto him. |
| Joseph was a blessing to his father, brothers who hated him, his entire people, also those of Egypt/surrounding countries. ‘Nazir’ is used to describe Joseph. | The root of the word ‘blessing’ occurs six times, underscoring that ‘the God-given blessing of the future will far outshine those already experience. |
More about Joseph
The Pulpit Commentary also refers to several ways that Joseph was separate from his brothers. The Messiah, the eschatological Joseph, will be similarly separate, but in a far greater sense:
- In his father’s love: Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. Jesus was the only begotten and well-beloved Son of the Father (Gen. 37:2; John 3:16).
- In his personal character: Joseph did not take part in his brothers’ evil. So was Jesus found without sin (Gen. 37:2; Heb. 4:15).
- In his communication with Heaven: Joseph was the receiver of dreams and keeper of divine secrets. So was Jesus filled with God’s Spirit and knew His Father’s will (Gen. 37:5–11; 40:12–22; John 1:14).
- In his suffering: Joseph was hated, sold, and practically given over to death by his brothers. Similarly, Jesus was misjudged by his brothers, and suffered death (Isaiah 53).
5. Joseph became a savior of starving people. So was Jesus the Savior for humankind (Gen. 41:41–44; Rev 11:15).
In a deeper, spiritual sense, Joseph, by the strength of his faith under severe testing and suffering, by his morally pure character, and by the saving of his people, typifies the One who perfectly demonstrated the same to obtain for humanity an eternal redemption.
Joseph was a prophetic type in the truest sense of the word, with dozens of resemblances between his life and that of Christ. Even more, many of Israel’s leaders were from the tribes of Joseph’s two sons:
• Joshua, a descendant of Joseph, became leader of Israel after Moses’ death, and led God’s people into the promised land; more than half of the land of Canaan was possessed by the two tribes descended from Joseph;
• In the Book of Judges, three of the 12 named judges were from the tribe of Joseph (Deborah, Gideon, and Abdon);
• Samuel, last judge before the kingdom period, was also from Joseph’s descendants;
• Later, when the Davidic kingdom split into two parts, Judah with Ephraim represented God’s people.
Yet all these were far from being rulers over the whole world. The messianic undertones in Joseph’s blessing will ultimately be fulfilled by the eschatological Joseph, the promised Seed, the coming Messiah who will truly rule all nations.
The covenant name of God, Yahweh, occurs in the Joseph narratives in Genesis 39:5 and 21 and 49:18. Moreover, Joseph’s successes in Potiphar’s household made plain that the Lord God of Israel was with him, for “The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph” (39:5, NIV). This was a partial fulfillment of Abraham’s divine promise that: “‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’” (12:3, NIV). Joseph became one of the channels of divine blessing. He himself came to recognize that his suffering brought about salvific blessings, which he described to his brothers (45:5–7): “‘But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’”
Despite the severe suffering Joseph endured, he realized that God had sent him on a divine mission: “‘to preserve. . . a remnant’” and “‘to save your lives by a great deliverance’” (Gen 45:7; NIV). He nobly disrupted the sinful cycle of hatred, revenge, and retaliation that erupted after the Fall in Eden, instead graciously perceiving a wider meaning in what had happened: “‘God sent me ahead of you’” (45:5). Though wrongly treated, he realized that his life had the purpose of saving others. He had been a divine gift to a leading foreign power, revealing God’s benevolent purposes toward those outside Abraham’s seed. Joseph’s role as a savior from starvation is a type of the salvation of nations that the Abrahamic promises spoke of, along with the salvific “bread of life” promised by Jesus—for many peoples benefitted from Abraham’s divine promise of blessing.
Joseph also lived the ideal life span of 110 years. This also adds to the high esteem the Genesis narratives give him. He lived to see his offspring down to the “third generation,” his great-grandchildren. Such long life was considered a precious gift from God (Ps. 128:6; Job 42:16).
He obviously was aware of the covenant promises, for drawing near to the end of his life, he predicted the Israelites’ return to the promised land. He thereby made request for his final internment. His identity and that of his two sons was linked to the divine covenant—not merely to their high Egyptian position. Although Joseph would not live to participate in the return, he confidently declared that the Lord will “‘bring you up’” (Gen. 50:24) This phrase became the customary phrase to describe the redemption of God’s people out of Egypt (1 Samuel 12:6; 2 Kings 17:36; Jer. 16:14, 15).
Joseph’s last words also anticipate the Book of Exodus, the final word of Genesis being Egypt. Slavery will happen under Egyptian rule (Ex. 1:8). However, the narrator included Joseph’s positive belief in the future: The covenant family will survive the tragic ordeal and return to the land that God promised Abraham (Gen. 15:16).
Another oft-repeated Old Testament phrase, “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (and its variations) occurs here for the first time. This naming of the three patriarchs also connects Genesis with Yahweh’s later dialogue with Moses, commissioning him to fulfill what Joseph predicted (Ex. 3:6, 15, 16; 33:1). The Joseph narratives inevitably point toward the future.