The story of Joseph being sold into slavery has multiple levels of meaning. At the most basic level, it is the story of a very dysfunctional blended family.

If we “zoom out,” on another level it is a picture of the future family Israel. They are chosen and favored by God above all the other nations. They are despised by those nations even though Israel will be the instrument of salvation for his brother nations. Israel will be made slaves in Egypt but will only become stronger and come out victorious.

But there is also a Messianic foreshadowing here. Many of us are familiar with Messiah as “the son of David,” but not many are familiar with Messiah, “the son of Joseph.”

David was the giant-slayer, the warrior-king. Joseph was the suffering servant.

Remember in the story of Rachel and Leah how I said that it wouldn’t be the only time in the OT when two separate things are used to communicate two aspects of one reality? Well, Joseph and David are another example. How do you reconcile prophecies like this:

“All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahweh let fall on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. He was taken by restraint of justice, and who concerned himself with his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he received a blow because of the transgression of my people. He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭LEB‬‬

“Then he speaks to them in his wrath, and in his fury he terrifies them: “But as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will tell the decree; Yahweh said to me: “You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask from me and I will make the nations your heritage, and your possession the ends of the earth. You will break them with an iron rod. Like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭9‬ ‭LEB‬‬

“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, With thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously Because of truth and meekness and righteousness; And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; Whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭45‬:‭3‬-‭7‬ ‭KJV‬‬

So is the Divine Son going to be afflicted and killed and buried? Or enthroned on Zion to reign over all the nations?

The answer is: yes.

The son of David title refers to Messiah as warrior-king; the One Who defeats the wicked and rules forever in righteousness.

The son of Joseph title refers to Messiah as the One Who is despised and betrayed but brings about salvation through His suffering.

Which one did the crowds clamor for at the triumphal entry? Which one did they get?

Which one is the world looking for now? The Lion or the Lamb? Which one is coming?

In case this is unfamiliar for you, I put the answers at the bottom.

Joseph dreams that sheaves of harvested grain bow down to him. Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares and Revelation 14:14-16 both use grain harvest language to speak of the final gathering of the righteous from all nations. These redeemed ones do indeed bow before the favored Son, Jesus Christ.

Joseph also dreams that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow down to him. Jacob interprets it at the family level to mean himself (the sun), Joseph’s mother (the moon) – either referring to the deceased Rachel or more likely to Leah who had raised Joseph- and the eleven brothers (stars) bowing before Joseph. But at a more metacosm level, the sun, moon, and stars are a way of speaking of “the host of heaven.”

“And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the heavenly lights, and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people of His own possession, as today.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭4‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

The “host of heaven” or “the heavenly host” (as it reads in Luke 2 at the birth of Jesus)- particularly the fallen ones- were often the objects of worship among the other nations. The Deuteronomy passage above is saying that God Himself set this up. If that sounds bizarre and foreign I refer you to the extensive work of the late Dr. Michael Heiser on “the Deuteronomy 32 worldview.” You can find many lectures of his on YouTube.

Basically, the stars, moons, and planets were not viewed solely as giant balls of super-heated plasma or cold cratered rocks as we now understand them. The ancients understood them to be connected to spiritual entities. I don’t know that they were entirely wrong.

Consider this:

“Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, the One who is and who was, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭16‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Wait— There’s an Angel of Water? 🌊

How about this one:

“Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭18‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

A Fire Angel? 🔥

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.” Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

So let me get this straight… we have angels that can control water, fire, and wind?

Is there an Earth Angel? Yes! The Penguins sang that in 1954. 😉

Jokes aside, I don’t see why meteorology and the supernatural explanations have to be mutually exclusive.

If there are angels assigned to terrestrial forces, why is it a stretch to think there are angels assigned to non-terrestrial objects like the sun, moon, and stars? The ancients totally believed that. Of course they also believed a lot of very weird things but my point is (whew! We finally made it to an actual point!) – the sun, moon, and stars in Joseph’s dream point to the angelic heavenly host (both loyal and rebellious) bowing down to the exalted Son of God.

“For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

I suspect that the reason the serpent in Eden and the other fallen angelic host targeted the humans and ultimately Christ Himself was the same reason that Joseph’s brothers targeted him: envy.

Look- it’s Father’s favorite. Let’s kill Him.

Like Joseph, Jesus was thrown into a pit.

I stood in it.

The church is called St. Peter In Gallicantu. Church tradition holds it to be the location of the home of Ciaphas the high priest. It is believed that Jesus was held in this dungeon after the nighttime trial of the Sanhedrin and before being taken to the Roman Procurator Pilot the next morning. We got to walk down steps but there is a circular opening in the roof where Jesus would’ve been lowered down into it just like Joseph. It was one of the most world-wrecking places I’ve ever been.

And though the number of coins was not the same, both Jesus and Joseph were betrayed and sold for a handful of silver.

Both Jesus and Joseph were stripped of their robes. Joseph’s special coat was dipped in the blood of a male goat (the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement), and presented to Jacob. Jesus is described similarly:

“He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭13‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Y’all. This isn’t coincidence. How God does this I have no idea. But He does. He writes history thousands of years in advance in picture form.

Oh- and we’re not done yet. Joseph’s story is going to dominate the remainder of Genesis. The parallels with Christ are just getting started.

————————————————————

Answers:

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now call “Palm Sunday” the crowds were chanting “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The oppressed Jews of the first century were looking for a Son of David Messiah (Lion) to forcibly overthrow Rome. What they got was a suffering servant (Lamb) who was nailed to a Roman cross, fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah 53.

Today, most of the world (and “the church”) desire a Son of Joseph Messiah (Lamb) who will empathize with their weakness and usher in global peace and prosperity. But when Jesus returns He will come as the conquering king (Lion) with fire in His eyes and a sword to destroy the wicked.

Let’s be sure we’re looking for the right One.