(Gen. 37:12-3612And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 16And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. 17And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. 23And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him; 24And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 25And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? 31And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. 33And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:12‑36))
Jacob may have special affection for his son Joseph, nevertheless his other sons have a real place in his affections, and Joseph is to become the witness of the father's love to the brethren. Accordingly Jacob desires that Joseph shall leave the home in the vale of Hebron and journey to distant Shechem, there, as the sent one of the father, to inquire of his brethren's welfare and bring Jacob word again. Joseph on his part is ready to obey, though he has experienced the hatred of his brethren. Jacob's request meets with Joseph's immediate response, "Here am I." So we read Israel "sent him out of the vale of Hebron" and Joseph "came to Shechem."
The Son Responding
In this journey there is a foreshadowing of that far greater journey undertaken by the Son of God when, leaving the Father's home of light and love, He came into this world of death and darkness, well knowing the evil into which He came. And yet He turned not back. Even as at the cross we read, "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him went forth" (John 18:44Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? (John 18:4)). If the love of the Father would send Him, then the love of the Son is ready to do the Father's bidding. "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He comes as the sent One of the Father to declare the Father's love.
The Son Rejected
Joseph's touching story foreshadows too what manner of reception the world has given to the sent One of the Father. Having no heart for their father, these men of evil ways have no eyes to discern the sent one of his love. For them Joseph is only a dreamer whose dreams they would fain frustrate by conspiring to slay him Even so of Christ, His people said, "This is the Heir, come let us kill Him." And how eager man is to express his hatred. "When they saw him afar off... they conspired against him to slay him." But God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. If it is a question of the Son of the Father's love drawing near to men, then indeed He will be rejected while yet afar off. But if it is a question of a sinner being drawn to the Father, then we read while "yet a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him."
The Son Reproached
The evil heart of man is marked by corruption and violence. Not only are the brethren ready to rid themselves of Joseph by violent acts, but they were prepared to cover their violence by corrupt and lying words. "Let us slay him," they say, "and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him." Violence and corruption are the outstanding marks of fallen man who is shameless in his violence and corruption. He is not simply overcome by some sudden temptation; but, as with Joseph's brethren, they can deliberately plan their violent act and corrupt lies. Man had not progressed far on his downward course before "the earth was filled with violence" and "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." In spite of laws and treaties, moral training and codes of honor, and notwithstanding prisons and reformatories, violence and corruption are rampant in every part of the earth.
The Son Rebuffed
Nothing brings man's evil into evidence like the presence of goodness. It was the presence of Joseph that called forth the violence and corruption of his brethren; even as the presence of perfect goodness in the Person of the Son of God became the occasion at the most furious outburst of man's evil. At His birth the enmity of man is ready to kill the child Jesus, and to cover its murderous intent with lying words (Matt. 2:8,168And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. (Matthew 2:8)
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)). But at the cross goodness is displayed as nowhere else only to call forth the greatest expression of man's evil that the world has ever seen. There goodness rises to its supreme height, and evil sinks to unutterable depths. The cross is the display of "hatred against God and good... the truest friend denies, the nearest betrays, the weaker ones who are honest flee; the priests, set to have compassion on ignorant failure, plead furiously against innocence; the judge, washing his hands of condemned innocence; goodness alone, and the world—all men—enmity, universal enmity against it. Perfect light has brought out the darkness; perfect love, jealous hatred."
The Son Revealed
Man vainly imagines that corruption and violence will prosper, even as the brethren of Joseph, having counseled to slay their brother, and designed to cover their act with lying, can with the utmost confidence say, "We shall see what will become of his dreams." They will indeed see. And alas for the rejecters of Christ, they too will see, for is it not written, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him"?
The Son Reviled
Perfect goodness brings out the universal guilt of men, but though all are guilty, there are different measures of guilt, and of this the Judge of all the earth will take account in due time, rendering to one few stripes, and to another many stripes. Of these different degrees of guilt we have intimations in the story of Joseph. All the brethren were guilty, but not in the same degree. Reuben, though unstable, and morally corrupt as we know from his history (Gen. 35:22;49:3,422And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: (Genesis 35:22)
3Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 4Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. (Genesis 49:3‑4)), was not necessarily cruel. In common with his brethren he has wronged his father, but all human affection is not extinguished in his heart. He would have spared Joseph's life, and his father's feelings. Judah, too, may be covetous, but he also has some compunction as to laying hands upon his brother. And these differences we see in the way men treat the Christ of God. All verily are guilty, but there are degrees of guilt. Herod, vile and pleasure-loving man that he was, would mock the Lord and set Him at naught, but he finds nothing worthy of death in Him. Pilate will go further than Herod, and yield up Christ to the murderous hatred of the Jews; but he has no personal enmity, and will at least make some feeble effort to preserve from death One that he knows to be innocent. But of the Jews Peter has to say, "Ye delivered (Him) up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go... and killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3:13-1513The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. 14But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. (Acts 3:13‑15)).
The Son Refused
And still there are the pleasure-lovers, strangers to all religious convictions, who have no good word for Christ and yet will not oppose. But there are others yet more guilty concerning Christ. They profess to admire His moral excellencies. Pilate-like they find no fault in Him; yet to retain their popularity with the world, they stifle their convictions, decide against Christ, and range themselves with that thrice-guilty class whose active enmity never ceases to attack His glorious Person and trample under foot His precious blood. There are the careless and indifferent, there are the fearful and fainthearted, and there are the furious haters-open and avowed enemies of Christ. But all unite in the rejection of Christ.
The Son Repudiated
Thus it was in Joseph's history. His brethren stripped him of his coat of many colors and cast him into the pit. The father had distinguished him by a coat of many colors, the brethren degrade him by stripping him. So on many illustrious occasions when Christ is distinguished above all others by some special display of divine power, wisdom and grace, man will at once strip Him of His coat of many colors and seek to degrade Him to the level of a mere man by asking, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" or "Is not this the carpenter?" As in the case of Joseph, the stripping was only the prelude to the pit, so with Christ, the rejection of every witness to His glory, led man at last with wicked hands to deliver Him to death.
The Son Rescued
There is however a significant difference between the type and the antitype. Isaac in his day very blessedly brings the death of Christ before us. He may be bound upon the altar, Abraham may stretch forth his hand and take the knife to slay his son, but at once the angel is present to stay his hand. Joseph may again take up the story of the cross, as his brethren cast him into the pit, but for him "the pit was empty, there was no water in it." How different the cross of Christ. The same God at whose bidding "Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son," can now say, "Awake, O sword, against the Man that is My fellow," and though twelve legions of angels await His commands, yet not one is bidden to hold back the sword of judgment. It is no empty pit into which He must go. He can say, "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves" (Psa. 88:6,76Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. 7Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. (Psalm 88:6‑7)).
The Son Rewarded
While the sufferings of Isaac and Joseph both point to the cross, yet each portrays a different aspect of that great mystery. Isaac goes up to the mount to be offered up. Joseph goes down to the pit. And the mount speaks of the glory of the Person offered up. The pit tells of the misery and degradation of those for whom He is offered up. He is the son, and more, the only son, and yet more he is the promised heir, Isaac, and the beloved of his father. But when Joseph goes down to the pit, while it is true his moral excellence cannot be hid, yet it is not his personal glory that is prominent but rather the evil and corruption of those who surround Joseph. If at last his brethren are to be brought into blessing and share in the glory of Joseph, then Joseph must take their place of distance and degradation as set forth in the pit. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission," and "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone."
The Son Revealing
Having cast Joseph into the pit, his brethren "sat down to eat bread." Nor was it otherwise at the cross. The presence of Joseph only serves to reveal the evil of his brethren, just as the cross becomes the occasion to expose the depth of corruption in the heart of man. The leaders of Israel yield up the true Passover Lamb to death, and calmly sit down to eat the passover feast-an evil and adulterous generation, like the adulterous woman of Proverbs, of whom it is written "She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith I have done no wickedness."
The company of merchant men on their way to Egypt at once suggest to Judah the opportunity of making profit out of their brother. Why not sell Joseph and make a little money? If they are not going to gratify their hatred by killing Joseph, why not gratify their covetousness by selling Joseph? Hence they gave their brother up to the Gentiles, and gave themselves up to money making. And what Judah did a thousand years before Christ came, His descendants have done for nearly two thousand years since His rejection. At the cross the Jews abandoned their Messiah to the Gentiles and ever since they have abandoned themselves to the worship of mammon. "Profit" is the word that governed the actions of Joseph's brethren. Judah asks the question for the covetous heart—not "Is it right?" or "Is it wrong?" but "What profit is it?" And "profit" has governed the policy of the Jew throughout the long centuries since that sad day when their Messiah was sold for thirty pieces of silver.
The Son Removed
Thus Joseph passes into the land of the Gentiles and is "brought" into Egypt. Egypt was a snare to Abraham, and his sojourn in Egypt brought him only sorrow and shame. With Joseph, however, it brought blessing and glory. Why this difference? Is it not that in Abraham's case he "went down into Egypt to sojourn there" (12:10); but Joseph was "brought" into Egypt. One went there in unbelief and self-will. The other was brought there according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
Having practiced a heartless piece of deceit upon their father, which plunges the old man into the deepest sorrow, these hypocrites gather round to comfort him. While none can excuse the wickedness of his sons, yet we cannot but see in this scene that Jacob is only reaping what he had already sown. Thirty years before Jacob had deceived his father with "the skins of the kids of the goats," and now after long years, he himself is deceived by his sons with "a kid of the goats." There may be long years between the sowing and the reaping, but at last the reaping time comes. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.
The Son Resurrected
We need hardly wonder that Jacob "refused to be comforted" by such comforters, but in the presence of, what to him was the actual death of his son, his faith seems to have grown exceeding dim. How different the behavior of David in the presence of the death of his son. Jacob says, "I will go down into the grave unto my son in mourning"; but of David we read he "arose... and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped." Both men are in the presence of the death of a child, but one says, "I will go down into the grave mourning," the other, "I will go up to the house of the Lord and worship." Yet both were true saints, but one looked no further than death and the grave, the other looked beyond death to resurrection, into a scene where there is "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying nor pain."
O bright and blessed scenes, where sin can never come,
Whose sight our longing spirit weans, from earth where yet we roam!
And can we call our home our Father's house on high,
The rest of God our rest to come, our place of liberty?
Yes! in that light unstained, our stainless souls shall live,
Our heart's deep longings more than gained, where God His rest shall give.
His presence there, my soul, its rest, its joy untold,
Shall find when endless ages roll, and time shall ne'er grow old.
- J. N. D.