Joseph: The Sheaf That Stood Above the Rest

By Dr. Richard Rosalia

The life of Joseph, is one of the most compelling stories in the pages of the best selling Book of all time, The Bible. This writing delves deep into the account of Joseph, breaks it down verse by verse and ties this exciting account directly to other passages throughout the Scriptures. The account of Joseph is connected to passages in both the

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Jun 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958030462

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JOSEPH: THE SHEAF THAT STOOD ABOVE THE REST

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. RICHARD ROSALIA

Published in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

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Dedicated To:

My Loving wife Denise who is always there to encourage me, and to my sons Richard and Matthew and to my beautiful daughter Julie who all enrich and brighten my life.

And to my friend Dennis, who was there with me from the very first lesson about Joseph, and is still there for me to this day.

Thanks.

Contents

PREFACE

Chapter 1        INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2        THE FOUNDATION

Chapter 3        HERE COMES TROUBLE

Chapter 4        THE PLAN WORKED

Chapter 5        A DIFFERENT LIFE

Chapter 6        CAN IT GET WORSE?

Chapter 7        MORE DREAMS

Chapter 8        JOSEPH’S PROMOTION

Chapter 9        THE PLAN BEGINS

Chapter 10      THE CONFRONTATION

Chapter 11      PREPARE TO RETURN TO EGYPT

Chapter 12      THE BROTHERS RETURN TO EGYPT

Chapter 13      THE SET-UP

Chapter 14      JOSEPH REVEALS HIS TRUE IDENTITY

Chapter 15      THE FAMILY REUNION

Chapter 16      THE FAMILY SETTLES IN

Chapter 17      BLESSINGS FOR JOSEPH’S SONS

Chapter 18      PROPHECIES FOR JACOB’S SONS I

Chapter 19      PROPHECIES FOR JACOB’S SONS II

Chapter 20      FAREWELL TO JACOB

Chapter 21      THE FOURTEEN CONNECTION

Chapter 22      EPILOGUE

Bibliography

PREFACE

There is purpose to every word contained within the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle John quotes the Lord Jesus, in John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. In this writing we will see the foreshadowing or testifying of Jesus’ life through the account of Joseph. Moses, the author of the first five Books of the Bible, is talked about by Jesus in the Gospel of John. John records in his Gospel these words of Jesus; John 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. This means that Jesus was written about throughout Moses’ writings, The Pentateuch (or the first five Books of the Bible). And we will find that Joseph’s life, in many ways, would parallel the life that Jesus would live some 1500 years later.

Through the entire Bible we can find Jesus in every Book. These foreshadowing s or Christophonies (Christ being revealed) are the times where we encounter Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures. As we read earlier, Jesus told us that the Scriptures were about Him, so we will encounter Jesus in the Old Testament writings of all of the prophets. This does not mean however that the Old Testament Law has rule over Christians today. Jesus Himself, through His sacrifice on the cross, fulfilled the requirements of the Old Testament Law. We are now free from the restraints of the law, and now we live by faith in Jesus Christ through God’s grace.

This book was written from the perspective that God’s Word; The Holy Bible is perfect, without error or flaw, it is inerrant. The accounts within the Scriptures are believed to be true accounts that really happened. And the people within the Scriptures were real people. The commands in the Bible are to be obeyed, and the future of humanity has already been written by God. God is Omnipotent, God is Omnipresent, and God is Omniscient. Psalm145:3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.

With my old tattered Bible in hand, my first Bible, the Bible that I used to lead my first Bible study about Joseph. That Bible is well worn and now falling apart from age and use. But I still feel comfort and connection when I refer to this particular Bible whenever I study or write about Joseph and his account.

Although I now own other Bibles, I still like to open this worn out old hardcover Bible that was once a pew Bible at the Church where I first accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my life. This is the Bible that my Pastor reached over the pew and grabbed. This was the first Bible that my Pastor could get his hand on. He grabbed it and handed me; my first Bible. This was right after he had led me in the prayer of Salvation in which I had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. With its pages now falling out, and the binding ripped, it was from within the pages of this Bible that I found my inspiration to study and to give a study from the account of Joseph.

My deep fascination and study of Joseph began when I had been asked by some Christian friends to attend a small Bible study that was given at my place of employ. I said that I would attend but something usually held me back from going. The people in the Bible study kept asking me to attend. I was hesitant so I asked my friend Dennis to attend this study with me and he said he would and we finally showed up. This was a lunch-time Bible study, so everyone showed up with their lunch and began to eat. I had eaten my lunch earlier at my desk so I was the only one with nothing to do, and I was ready to study. As the group ate their lunch I asked what they were studying? The answer surprised me as they said that they were just reading through the Bible. I thought that studying and reading God’s Word were two different things. I was a bit puzzled but I asked them if they would like me to begin reading since I had already eaten my lunch. The answer was a resounding yes, so I asked where I should pick up, and the answer came, Start at the beginning of Genesis 37. That is where Joseph becomes a central character in the Scriptures. After reading for a while, I paused and stated that we were skimming over some very important Scriptural material. They asked, Like what? I explained a little and I said that there were deeper truths hidden within this section of Scripture. They then asked me to lead their group, but I had never lead a Bible study before. So immediately I said, No. But the entire group persisted until I said that I would give it a try.

And so began my in depth study on the life of Joseph. Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Joseph was a foreshadow of our Lord Jesus Christ and this verse declares that all things are cyclical, and I have found this to be true in this account. One last point I would like to make before we begin is that during the account of Joseph the Scriptures had not yet been written, Moses would write the first five Books of the Bible some four hundred years after the account of Joseph had taken place. Joseph did not have a Bible available to him like we have today, but he only had his father’s oral teachings to live by. I hope you glean as much from this study as I have. Enjoy and may God bless you as read the exciting account of Joseph!

Chapter 1

Introduction

In the Book of Genesis When we begin to read chapter 37, we find a young man named Joseph. And almost immediately Joseph takes center stage. The spotlight is set upon him and his life’s story begins. Joseph stands out like a shining star among his brothers. Joseph’s story does not begin there, and so our journey begins, searching the Scriptures for the facts and clues about the life and times of this most interesting young man, Joseph. We find that Joseph’s birth was a special birth, this birth was a long awaited event. Jacob, Joseph’s father was in love with Rachel, Joseph’s mother but she had been unable to become pregnant for many years. To get a more detailed understanding of what had taken place, we must begin much earlier in the Book of Genesis, where we find the father of God’s chosen people, Abraham. The patriarch Abraham was Joseph’s great grandfather.

Abraham, was called by God, and God had told Abraham to go away from his country to a foreign land. Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram, (Abraham): Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (1). God did not tell Abraham where He was sending him. God did not give Abraham any details about his journey, but God did promise to bless Abraham, and Abraham believed God and went with God’s leading. Psalm 44:1-3 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, the deeds You did in their days, in days of old. You drove out the nations with Your hand, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them." (1). Future generations had witnessed the fulfillment of the promises God had made to Abraham, and these future generations, in turn passed down these miracles and promises that were fulfilled by God to the generations that would come after them orally and in what we now refer to as the Holy Scriptures or the Bible.

Abram (which would later be changed by God to Abraham) was chosen by God to be the father of, not only the nation of Israel, but to all who would believe, this includes all future believers as well. Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel through his son Isaac, then through his grandson Jacob (God would changed Jacob’s name to Israel) whose twelve sons, and their descendants made up the twelve tribes of Israel. Abraham’s first son Ishmael, was not the son of the promise since he was not born of Abraham’s wife Sari. But Ishmael, Abraham’s first son became the father of the Arab nations. The Christians call Abraham their father because of Abraham’s faith in believing and obeying God, Romans 4:9-11 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was sill uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. (2).

Christians are Spiritually connected to Abraham because Abraham was considered to be righteous by God, and that was because of his faith in God not by works. Christians today are saved by faith through God’s never ending grace (see Ephesians 2:8-9). This is similar to how Abraham was considered to be righteous by God. It was because Abraham believed. Abraham believed God and believed in God, and that belief was credited to Abraham as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (1). Today Christians are still saved by believing God, and believing in God. Jesus Christ is God the Son, in whom we must believe for salvation. John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (2).

Abraham is the first of the Jews, and the father of all modern day Jews; they are all considered Abraham’s descendants. Moses, the man of God, to whom God had given the law, lived about four hundred and thirty years after his ancestor Abraham. This means that at the time of Abraham the law was not yet given; that is the reason why Abraham had to be justified by faith because there was no law. "In Jewish tradition, Abraham is called Avraham Avinu, ‘Our Father Abraham,’ signifying that he is both the biological and progenitor of the Jews (including converts, according to Jewish tradition), and the father of Judaism, the first Jew.¹" (2). Faith is still the basic requirement to become a Christian today, just as it was in Abraham’s day. One must believe in God and believe in God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ to be saved.

Isaac was the son God had promised to Abraham many years earlier. Isaac was born to Abraham and Sari when Abraham was about one hundred years old. Later, Isaac would also live in the land of Canaan, which would later become Israel. Isaac married Rebekah, and they had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob would later become the father of twelve sons who would eventually become the twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob the younger of the twins had deceived his own father Isaac, in order to steal his older brother’s (Esau’s) blessing and birth-rite. For that reason Esau, Jacob’s older twin brother held a grudge and planned to kill him (Genesis 27:41). Later Jacob was told by his mother Rebecca, not to marry a Hittite or Canaanite woman. Jacob was told to look for a wife among his relatives, Genesis 27:42–45 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day? (1). Jacob, who would later become the father of the subject of this writing, Joseph, left his home to find a wife among his mothers family in an area known as Haran, which is believed to be in modern day Iran.

Jacob ran for his life to Haran because of his brother Esau’s plan to kill him, and there he met the most beautiful girl, and Jacob fell in love with her. This girl turned out to be the daughter of Jacob’s uncle Laban, his mother’s brother. After Jacob spent a month in Laban’s house, Laban told Jacob that he should not work for free and asked what wages Jacob wanted. Genesis 29:18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel. (2).

Laban agreed to the wage and term, but later Laban would deceive Jacob by giving his older daughter Leah in Rachel’s place (see Genesis 29:21-23). Jacob then had to work another seven years for his uncle Laban, in order for Rachel to become his wife. In all Jacob worked fourteen years for Joseph’s mother Rachel to be his wife. But it was a labor of love, which according to Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. (1).

Later, Jacob’s first wife Leah began bearing sons for Jacob (see Genesis 29:30–31), but Joseph’s mother Rachel remained barren. Both of these women were given maidservants to attend to them. These maidservants were a wedding gift to the women from their father Laban. The maidservants later became involved in the bearing of Jacob’s sons because Jacob’s wives (Leah and Rachel) were not producing offspring. So Jacob’s wives enlisted the help of their maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah to help them bear sons for Jacob. The sons that these four women bore would become the future twelve tribes of Israel. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel was named after one of Jacob’s sons.

Genesis 30:22-24 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach. So she called his name Joseph, and said, The Lord shall add to me another son. (1). Rachel, the wife whom Jacob first loved, the woman that Jacob had worked fourteen years for, finally bore him a son. That special son from Jacob’s true love Rachel, was named Joseph. The name Joseph, when literally translated from the Hebrew means May God add. And so Joseph was born the eleventh son of Jacob. Joseph was the twelfth child born to Jacob, because Joseph also had a sister named Dinah, Genesis 30:21 Afterward she (Leah) bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. (2). (Dinah’s birth took place before Joseph was born). Twelve is a significant number being that there would be twelve tribes of Israel and twelve Apostles of Jesus the One True Messiah, there are also twelve inches in a foot, twelve months in a year, and so on. Joseph was born the twelfth child of Israel and will become a significant figure in Israel’s history.

Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, mainly because Joseph was the son of his true love, Rachel. We can see that Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children well before Jacob made the coat of many colors for Joseph. That special coat is mentioned in Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.

Earlier in the account of Jacob, Jacob went to reconcile his differences with his brother Esau, and here we see Jacob’s love for Joseph and his favoritism for Joseph and Rachel begin to take form. Genesis 33:1-2 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. (1).

Here I must point out that, by the way Jacob divided his family it showed how Jacob viewed his family. In the above verses, the maidservants were not even named, nor were their children; that was the first line or the less important to Jacob. Then Leah was next. She was named, but her children were not named. Last, Rachel and Joseph were in the back. They were both called by name and placed in the rear of this company for protection. If anything were to go wrong, the ones at the rear, Rachel and Joseph, would have the best chance of survival, and Joseph, being called by name in this passage shows his importance. This earlier passage shows that Jacob had loved and valued Rachel and Joseph more than any of his other wives or children.

From the Scriptures we find that Jacob was about ninety years old when Joseph was born. We arrive at the number ninety by taking Jacob’s age in Genesis 47:9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years. (1). We know that Joseph was seventeen at the time of his abduction at the hands of his brothers. Genesis 37:2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. (1). We also know that Joseph began his service to Pharaoh at the age of thirty, Genesis 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. (1). Then adding the seven years of plenty from Genesis 41:29 Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout the land of Egypt. (1). And about three years of famine Genesis 41:30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. (1). And Genesis 45:6 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. (1). From this time-line we can estimate Joseph’s age to be about forty when Jacob arrived in Egypt. We then subtract forty from Jacob’s one hundred and thirty years, and we arrive at Jacob’s age; ninety years of age, at Joseph’s birth. This is what was meant in Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. (1). Jacob was about ninety years old, and the fact that Jacob’s first true love was Rachel, Joseph’s mother, also helped Joseph become his father’s favorite son. Now that the foundation has been set in place, it is time to begin the account of Joseph in Genesis chapter 37.

The Biblical account of Joseph’s life takes over thirteen chapters, and is full of action, deception, hatred, forgiveness, and intrigue. Joseph has been, and still is considered the Old Testament foreshadow of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Because of the many similarities in their struggles and lives that both had to endure. Joseph is believed to be the Old Testament foretelling of the life and times of the long awaited Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. Here in this writing I will attempt to expound on some of those similarities.

The land of Israel is the center and setting for most of the Biblical accounts. Israel is the land where the prophets came from, and where most of the prophecies have taken place, and will take place, according to the Scriptures. Joseph is a part of the rich history of Israel and also a part of the prophecy for the Jewish people, and the people of the entire world. In this writing I have presented Joseph’s lineage, showing Joseph to be a direct descendant of the first Jew, Abraham. We find that our Lord Jesus shares the same lineage up to Jacob, Joseph’s father then Jesus’ lineage continues through Joseph’s brother Judah and so on.

It is necessary to have an understanding of the Old Testament, in order to fully understand the New Testament. The Old Testament is Jesus concealed, while the New testament is Jesus revealed. We know that to truly reveal Jesus, it would take more than one book. The apostle Paul puts this in perspective in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. (1). God’s Word is sometimes revealed to us a little at a time and we can’t fully understand what is to happen until it has happened. With this understanding or this foundation now set in it’s proper place, we can now move on, to study the life and times of the subject of this writing, Joseph. In the next chapter we will be more intimately introduced to Joseph and his family.

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1 Source: Wikipedia.

Chapter 2

Genesis 37:1-11

The Foundation

The account of Joseph, and for that matter, the book of Genesis as a whole, are not just interesting stories, but Genesis is a book of beginnings, and a Book of prophecy. This is not just prophecy about Israel’s future but about the future of the entire human race. This is not just about the first coming of Jesus Christ and His life, but this account also includes hints about Jesus’ second coming, and about end times prophecy. Prophecies are hidden within the pages of Genesis, "If we search long enough we shall find upon every page of Scripture, standing somewhere in the shadow, the outline of the central Person of the Book – the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the object and end of all Scripture.²" (22).

As we begin in Genesis 37:1, We read: Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. (2). Canaan is modern day Israel, it is the promised land. The land promised to Abraham by God Himself, where a great number of Abraham’s descendants still live today, and these descendants of Abraham still possess this land as their own country. In Genesis 12, God told Abraham to leave the land of Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land of Canaan. Abraham was sent by God to Canaan. Isaac, Abraham’s son stayed in Canaan his entire life, and Abraham’s grandson Jacob also lived in Canaan but had to move out of Canaan because of a severe famine that came upon the land. This famine forced Jacob and his family to move out of Canaan and Jacob would spend the last seventeen years of his life living in Egypt.

At the time of this account in Genesis 37, the Jews did not rule in the land, and they did not own or possess the land of Canaan. Similarly in Jesus’ time on earth the Jews did not rule or possess their land, they only lived there. In Jesus’ day, Israel had previously been conquered by the Romans in B.C. 63, and therefore Israel was possessed and controlled by the Roman Empire. Today, the Jews again possess the promised land. The Jews had to move back to Israel and become an independent country again, in order to set up end time prophecies written about in the Scriptures. If we study