(Continued from p. 271 of Vol.49)

IX.-IN JOSEPH’S HISTORY

Probably no type so distinctly sets forth Christ as that of Joseph. His history, as it is given to us, appears co have in its every incident some meaning relative to the Lord 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 can only find their antitype in Christ. The sheaf to which all the other sheaves bow, with which Joseph's brethren associate the thought of kingship, suggests the Lord's place as King of kings when He comes to set up the kingdom in glory on the earth. With the binding of the sheaves we think of the harvest, used repeatedly as a figure of the end-time, when the sharp sickle of judgment will sweep over the earth and the Son of Man shall come on the clouds of heaven (Rev. 14:14-16; Matt. 13:30, 39-43; 24:29-31; Joel 3:13-17). As among all the rods Aaron's alone budded and bore fruit, so Joseph's sheaf arose and stood firm-significant sign of how the rejected and humbled One shall be exalted, for the throne is reached by way of the cross, the glory by way of suffering, whether for Joseph or for Joseph's Lord. "The sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these" (1 Pet. 1:11, New Trans.); "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" He laid down in death, arose in glory-"Now is Christ risen"-exalted by the right hand of God who has made Him, "this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Thus He stands upright, or firm. The rejected Stone has become the Corner Stone. This Headstone shall be brought forth in due season "with shoutings:Grace, grace unto it" (Zech. 4:7). This shall be seen in Zion when God manifests His King. "Blessed are all who have their trust in Him" (Ps. 2:12).

Joseph saw in his dream that all the sheaves of his brethren "came round about and bowed down to" his sheaf. All Israel, as saved out of the great tribulation that is to come upon the world, shall gladly acknowledge the true Joseph when He comes as the Deliverer out of Zion (Rom. 12:25, 26). The Lamb with His sealed and saved company out of every tribe of Israel shall be seen on Mt. Zion. But to still farther bounds shall His drawing power be known. "To Him will be the obedience for, gathering] of peoples" (Gen. 49:10, New Trans.); "Yea, all kings shall bow down before Him, all nations shall serve Him" (Ps. 72 :11) ; "It is a small thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given Thee for a light of the nations, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to the servant of rulers:Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall worship, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen Thee" (Isa. 49:6, 7).

Now Joseph has a second dream. In it he saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bow down to him. To Jacob this could only mean Joseph's preeminence, his supremacy, over the whole family ; and he rebuked Joseph. Applicable as this is to Joseph's after-history in Egypt, and surely as to its fuller significance to Christ in His relation to Israel, yet may it not suggest what is of heavenly order more than earthly? As we think of these celestial bodies which under God exercise a universal rule and influence as of the heavens over the earth, and also find them used as symbols of various ranks of authority, may we not see in this dream the picture of the universal Lordship of Christ as Man, to whom angels and authorities and powers have been made subject, who indeed has been set above every principality, authority, power, dominion, and every name named? He has all power in heaven and on earth. In its exercise He will accomplish the subjugation to Himself of all authority under God of whatever order, for to this end He must reign. Thus we are given a glimpse of His glorious preeminence, and a foregleam of eternity.

From the anticipation of the end we turn to consider the path that leads to it. This finds illustration in Joseph's journey, and the experiences growing out of it.

As the most loved of Israel's children, Joseph reminds us of the Father's well-beloved Son-owned as such at His baptism, which brings in the anticipation of the cross, and again on the holy mount, the anticipation of the kingdom come in power. In the parable of the vineyard (Mark and Luke) the sent son is so spoken of, and the vineyard we know is a figure of Israel (Isa. 5). Certainly the attitude and purpose of Joseph's brethren quite agree with those of the wicked husbandmen in the parable. Again, He is so spoken of in Matt. 12:18, quoting from Isaiah:"Behold My Servant… My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased." Of Him it is written:"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand," and again, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father." It is this One, God's "own Son," who was delivered up for us all that with Him He might grant us all things.

Joseph, the son of his father's love, dwells with him at Hebron, which means "participation," or "communion." How beautifully this suggests what John affirms of the true Joseph, that He is "in the bosom of the Father." It speaks of the place of fullest communion in which He shares in all the Father's counsels of infinite love and grace. He, as come from the Father, His sent One, declares Him, so that He can assure Philip:"He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." He declared His name, made known His Word, and accomplished His works. Of that coming and service as the Father's sent One, Joseph's journey from Hebron is the type. When called he yields himself without reserve to his father's will:"Here am I." This reminds us of that other word, "Lo, I come .. .to do Thy will, O God," and so of Him who came from the throne of heaven, from the place of participation and communion with God His Father, to display Him in the fulness of love and grace. He came from that "Hebron" and its blessed surroundings into which He will soon introduce us, where the fulness of our fellowship with the Father and the Son will be realized in the unspeakable joy of being forever with the Lord.

The journey is to Shechem. The meaning of Shechem is given as "shoulder (literally, early rising):diligence." The thought of service naturally connects with this. For Christ, Shechem meant to be here as the Son of Man to minister, not to be ministered unto. He stooped to the place of service. He made Himself of no reputation, and took the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. In this place He was the faithful and true Witness. None ever served as He did, who showed such "diligence" in being about His Father's business! Shechem means to be in the place of burden-bearing, of obedience, of learning, of submission (Matt. 8:17; John 6:30; 8:29; Heb. 5:8; Luke 22:42). The Lord Himself says by the prophet:"The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave My back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair:I hid not My face from shame and spitting" (Isa. 50:4-6). And when in that place He said:"I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." "I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge:and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me."

At Shechem Joseph found no welcome. His brethren were not there. He appears as a wanderer befriended by a stranger. And what more than this did He experience who came from the Father to the loneliness of this world and the sorrow of seeking those who should have been in the place of service to God according to their privileges and responsibilities, but instead had chosen their own place! Thus had Israel turned to her own way, and in that place He who was her true and only Friend, the Messenger of the Father's love, found rejection and hatred. So there is a second part to Joseph's journey; he must go from Shechem to Dothan-"two wells," or "cisterns." There he finds his brethren, and in just such a place the Lord found "His own" who, nevertheless, would not receive Him. Instead, that place was the one in which He, like Joseph, would be the object of conspiracy against His life-"This is the heir; come, let us kill him;" the place where ultimately they would find the way to rid themselves of Him, and withal shift the blame, as they think, through the lie of the blood-dipped vest. Dothan was the place of the pit for Joseph. But another day is coming when these brethren will say in the time of their own distress:"We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear:therefore is this distress come upon us" (Gen. 42:21).

This tells us more about that scene at Dothan. There was not only the violence and wicked sale of their brother, but the anguish of his soul-his sorrowful cries, his earnest pleas, his broken heart as he is ruthlessly given into strangers' hands to be separated from every tie of nature dear to his soul. What a scene! But considering it we instinctively turn to think of Him who is called "the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." We hear Him saying:"Reproach hath broken My heart, and I am overwhelmed:and I looked for sympathy, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Ps. 69:20).

Do we think enough of the path that led to the Cross? It is thus we come to know Him, not only know what He has done to save us, marvelously blessed as that is and ever shall be, but know Him in the sense of more fully apprehending the spirit and character of His life- "the life of Jesus" – as He moved through such experiences as Dothan suggests. In this way His mind will be formed in us, and we shall know a little more of what it means to suffer with Him. Beholding Him thus we shall become more like Him in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and love. In all of this we may think too of the lessons taught by the Meal offering (Lev. 2).

But from Dothan, as meaning "two cisterns," we may draw perhaps another lesson. Two suggests contrast in various ways, and may signify what is evil. That is certainly associated with Dothan here. Now if Shechem is the place, typically, of true service, Dothan in some sense must present a contrast to it. Those there have left the former with the result that envy, strife, and evil break out. It is thus the flesh manifests itself against what is of the Spirit, and we may be reminded of the apostle's words:"But as then he that was born according to flesh persecuted him that was born according to Spirit, so also 'it is now."

"Two" may suggest divided interests, the lack of that singleness of object and purpose which is so essential in spiritual things. Paul could speak of the one thing which he did, of the one Object for whom he lived, and the one Source of strength for the path he walked. He, servant above all others save his Master, did not dwell at Dothan, the place of "two cisterns," but drank of the Fountain of living waters. Not to abide beside that Fountain is to hew out cisterns for ourselves, and then find that we have fallen out with what is really of God, so that the works of the flesh and not the fruit of the Spirit become manifest. In the end we reap as we have sown.

It is just such a contrast as this that we see existing between Jesus our Lord and those called "His own" who would not receive Him. They were at Dothan, so to speak, with its divided interests, its self-seeking, their own cisterns; and Jehovah who speaks of Himself as the Fountain of living waters they did not really know. Jesus came to them in that absolute singleness of object and purpose which the more it became evident, drew from ' them opposition, persecution, and finally death. "For consider well Him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against Himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds."

"Let us.. .run.. .looking steadfastly* on Jesus, the leader and completer of faith." *The word here "has the force of looking away from other things and fixing the eye exclusively on one" (New Trans.).*