Genesis 37:

We probably have no type which so distinctly sets forth Christ as that of Joseph in the Old Testament. Every incident of his history is vocal with some meaning relative to Him and His pathway, whether it be in humiliation or glory. We see him first of all as the well-beloved of his father:"Israel loved Joseph more than all his children" (Gen. 37:3). And following this we have those visions of supremacy, which so clearly show us Christ; first, in that position of King of kings,-the sheaf to which all the other sheaves bow,-which shall be fulfilled when He comes to set up His kingdom ; and, second, as the object of the adoration and worship for a heavenly people,-the moon and stars making obeisance to Him. We are carried thus from eternity to eternity:from Christ in the bosom of the Father, to the fulness of glory which shall be His with the Church, while a glimpse is given us of Him reigning in power, which is really only the introduction to the eternal ages.

It is what comes in between this we would look at here-the journey Joseph takes at his father's bidding. It is a message of fatherly love and care that he is to take from the vale of Hebron to his brethren in Shechem.

We have said that Joseph is a type of Christ; so we find him dwelling at Hebron with his father. Hebron means "participation" or "communion"; and here we find Joseph, the son of his father's love, with him. How beautifully this speaks to us of what John affirms of the true Joseph, that He is the
only-begotten Son, who -is "in the bosom of the Father." The Son abiding in the place of the fullest communion with the Father, entering into all His counsels of infinite love and grace. Before all the works of creation, He was "as one brought up with Him:and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him " (Prov. 8:30).

But Israel had purposed to send his son Joseph with a message of love to his brethren. When called he yields himself perfectly to his father's will:"here am I." We cannot fail to see how closely this corresponds to the blessed Anti-type. We see the Father yearning in His love over the creature, desiring that man may know the infinite grace and blessing which is in His hand to give. He cannot think, blessed be His name, of any proof too strong by which to manifest the depth of His love; so Christ, the Son of the Father's bosom, is the Messenger who has come to declare Him (John 1:18). He has come from the throne of heaven, from the place of participation and communion with God His Father, to display Him in all the fulness of His love and grace. He has come from that " Hebron " and its blessed surroundings into which He will soon introduce us, where the fulness of what our fellowship with the Father and the Son is will be realized by us in the unspeakable joy of being forever with the Lord.

The journey is to Shechem. It means "shoulder" and the thought of service naturally connects itself with this. From Hebron Christ indeed came to Shechem, as the Son of Man who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister as the Servant of His Father. "Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will, O God," speaks not only of the fact that He has stooped to the place of service, but also of that perfect willingness expressed in Joseph's "here am I." He has thus made Himself of no reputation, and taken the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Who can measure the love of God and of Christ which finds expression in this journey, and the obedience to the death of the cross which it entailed upon Him who made it ? It speaks the infinite blessedness of that sweet name, Emmanuel; of the fact that God has dwelt among men that He might be able to exhibit the wondrous depths of His heart.

To Shechem, then, Joseph came only to find no welcome. Christ, too, came only to have Herod's sword thrust out after Him, and Egypt to be made His exile-home:prophecy, as it were, of the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction that a people who walked in darkness should see a great light; and further, that the Gentiles should be partakers of the promise by the gospel through Israel's rejection. Christ, like Joseph, came to the place where His own should have been, but His own were not there to receive Him; we shall soon see how, coming to His own, they would not receive Him.

We have now the second part of the journey. Joseph goes from Shechem to Dothan to meet his brethren. We shall find it speaks of that downward path, from the taking of the form of a servant to the death of the cross. His brethren are not found in the place of service as they should have been; and as Israel had left the true station of obedience, and therefore of service to God, so Joseph's brethren were to be found at Dothan, not at Shechem. It pictures exactly the place Israel occupied when Christ came. Dothan means '' two wells or cisterns." Two is the number that signifies evil, or contrast, in various ways. Jehovah speaks of Himself always as the fountain of living waters, there being no other. The application of the singular implies how all-sufficient this one fountain is. Surely it is at Shechem, the place of true service, that the fulness of this is found. But if that place is left, Dothan is the natural end of such a course, where they have hewn out cisterns for themselves, which are broken cisterns. This Israel had done, and this was the place they occupied when sought by the Messenger of God's love. And, notice, "when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired to slay him." How soon it was indeed that the life of Christ was sought by the blood-thirsty hearts of men. God had drawn too near to them; His light manifested what and where they were in relation to Him. And the truth that the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God was fully shown. The words which Christ puts into the mouth of rejected Israel, when He gives forth the parable of the wicked husbandmen, are but the echo of what Joseph's brethren say, "Come now therefore and let us slay him " (ver. 20). Reuben stands up on his behalf, and his action here reminds one of the attitude of a certain class in the Jewish nation of which, I believe, Nicodemus is representative. He takes a parallel position to that of Reuben when be-fore the assembled chief priests and Pharisees he says, " Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth ?" Their wicked purposes are restrained for the time being:"every man went unto his own house." So with Joseph's brethren, the counsel of Reuben for the moment prevails.

Finally, we find Joseph is sold to the Ishmaelites, speaking – how plainly, who can doubt? – of the delivering up of Christ into Gentile hands. When this is done, Reuben is away; he is not present in the crucial moment to raise his voice in his brother's behalf. So, too, with the class we have been speaking of among the Jews, we do not hear of them being present, or of one voice being raised when Christ is brought before the court of the high priest. Judah's advice then carries the day, and the deed of violence is committed. We know well what all this leads up to. The Cross is the end of our Joseph's journey from Hebron to Dothan; it is the fruit of what Dothan means.

Beloved, what journey is like this, in which we can find continual food for meditation ? Our hearts should be wrapped up in it surely, knowing as we do in some measure how much in our behalf it was undertaken by Him whose delights of old "were with the sons of men." The apostle collates in one blessed, comprehensive statement the whole course we have been looking at when speaking of Christ he says, '' Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God:but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The culmination of Joseph's course is that of Christ's also, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Beloved, it will be our joy to be co-sharers with our beloved Lord in this glory. What joy like that of seeing His face, once so deeply graven with the lines of sorrow and pain, all radiant with the effulgence of God's glory ? It will awaken in our hearts the glorious strains of that eternal song with which our hearts will greet Him. Since this is so, meet then it is that His path of rejection, should be ours also. Is it so ? and if not, wherein lies the trouble.? The promise is, "if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him." J. B. Jr.