Land, Seed & Covenant - a study of the Life of Joseph (Part 2)

God creates seed bearing plants to reproduce and sustain life before He promises the Seed who will be the source of abundant life. But in the Joseph story, the land has stopped producing seed, and the land of promise is not exempt. As a result there is famine, which will bring starvation on death. This threatens the promise of the Seed.

But in Egypt, because of Joseph, there is seed – not just for the salvation of Egypt, but of all the earth. Isn’t Moses telling us this: that God sent Joseph to Egypt not to become rich, powerful and exalted, but to preserve the promised seed and to ensure the salvation of God’s people, both Jews (in the short term) and gentiles (in the long)!

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: (Gen. 15:18)

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (Gen. 15:5)

Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen. 22:15-18)

Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure…. He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” (Gen. 41:49 & 52)

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous. (Gen. 47:27)

“Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all. “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. “From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. “But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. (Acts 7:14-18)

Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. (Heb. 11:12)

Ch 46 = genealogies and a final census. The genealogies are important because of the theme of the promised Seed. They serve as an important reminder that God is at work fulfilling His promise. The final tally is important because of the Covenant. See Gen 15:5 – promise to number them as the stars. In just two generations, Abraham and Sarah (a couple beyond hope of having a single heir) have 70 descendants. Progress! But really just the beginning.

ALLOWING JOSEPH TO INTERPRET JOSEPH

4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5“Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6“For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8“Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:4-8)

Joseph has a very clear grasp of his place in God’s redemptive purposes. He was sent to preserve life, to preserve a remnant. Although, the life-saving effect of Joseph’s intervention would be of much wider benefit (indeed, it was for the salvation of many lives – Gen. 50:20) the specific use of the word “remnant” here relates to Israel’s sons. Joseph understood that his mission was to preserve their seed. He was being used by God to fulfil the covenant to Abraham by ensuring that there remained children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob out of which God could form a nation.

We can’t leave this passage without saying something about Joseph’s theology. In these simple words, he deals very efficiently with the profound relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom. Both are presented as fact with no attempt to alleviate the tension.

Three times, Joseph refers to God sending him to Egypt. Yet he also attributes the brothers’ action to their own wills – “whom you sold into Egypt”. They weren’t forced to take the actions they did and are held accountable for them.

Providence is sovereignty in action. Whereas sovereignty addresses God’s authority to rule and govern his creation. Providence addresses the manner in which He does so. God causes His creatures to fulfil his purposes. Not only in the things which we find pleasurable, profitable or preferable to us – He orchestrates all things in a manner befitting His redemptive purposes. In this story we see providence opening doors at every level: moving the heart of a national leader; controlling natural catastrophes; giving personal dreams to key individuals. And all to preserve Judah’s line, so that Jesus could come to earth to die for our sins! God is working all things together for His good purposes.

But why does God use sinful men for his purposes? Well, since there are no sinless men, everything God does in accomplishing his decrees involves sinful men and their actions! Does that absolve sinful men of their actions? Absolutely not. God holds each of us accountable for the wrong choices we make.

Joseph had:

Proper theology – a right view of God avoids accusing Him of evil as He works out His plan of redemption providentially, in and through our lives.

Proper anthropology – a right view of man avoids us thinking more of men than we ought. A proper view of man doesn’t attribute power or authority to him, which actually belongs to God. It views him as sinful, frail and fallen.

Nothing happens outside of God’s providential plan; nor will the wicked go unpunished. Both statements are equally true. That is why Josephs leaves room for God’s wrath and avoid taking His chair. More on that later.

God’s providence is unpredictable! Jacob is living in the Land of Promise with his surviving children. He has dozens of descendants and the constant reminder of God’s covenantal promise in the form of a limp! He had met God and has no reason to doubt that God’s promises were coming to pass. He never thought that the promise would include taking the promised seed away from the promised land for several centuries in order to bring back a fully formed nation. But who can comprehend the mind of the Lord (Isa 55:8-9)?

ALLOWING NT TO INTERPRET OT

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ... And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. (Gal. 3:16, 29)

We’ve thought about the partial fulfilment of God’s promise to make of Abraham a great nation in the birth of the nation of Israel in Egypt. And we’ve observed the sacrificial role that Joseph had in bringing to fruition God’s purposes for that nation.

But as the apostle Paul unpacks the promise to Abraham in his letter to the Galatian churches, he observes a narrower interpretation of the word “seed”, which leads him ultimately to Christ. We know that God’s promise to Abraham’s seed was not to all of his descendants. God made it clear that it would be through Isaac and not Ishmael, that Abraham’s seed would be called.

It is later made clear that the promise does not extend to every branch of Isaac’s family, but only to Jacob. Judah (not Joseph) is next in the line of promise, which God will later narrow to the house of David and then to his son, Solomon. And finally, we get to the Lord Jesus Christ – “your seed”, that is Christ! He is the One of whom God will make a great nation and in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed!

And how? Because He is the One who will crush the serpent’s head. This takes us all the way back to the promise of Genesis 3:15. And we see that from Adam, God is tracing a line of promise that will extend all the way to the last Adam!

And the relevance to Joseph: he has been sent by God to preserve the Seed. Not just the sons of Israel collectively, nor even the nation that they would become. He has been sent to preserve the Messianic line which culminates in the sending of a fruitful redeemer, whose offspring by faith will be counted as the children of Abraham and through whom the whole earth will be blessed! Joseph was sent to secure Judah’s posterity. And in case, you think that’s a little far-fetched, notice that this theme book ends the Scriptures – from Gen 3 through to Rev 12:

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. (Rev. 12:4)

Satan has looked for every opportunity to disrupt God’s plan. That’s why the importance of this story is really in the deliverance of Judah. And it him – the promised seed – to whom we turn now.

CHAPTER 38 – THE SORRY DEMISE OF THE SEED OF THE SON OF PROMISE

Chapter 37 ends with yet more contrast – the introduction of the Ishmaelites brings the theme of seed into central focus. Ishmael’s seed is contrasted with Isaac’s seed.

We have Jacob, the son of promise, in the land of promise in answer to the covenant made with Abraham. But before his promised seed/heir is revealed, Jacob’s favourite son leaves the promised land and is sold not just into slavery but into the hands of the descendants of Abraham’s rejected heir!

And then comes chapter 38. It marks an abrupt departure from the fast-paced narrative of Joseph’s life. Indeed, so out of place does it seem, that some textual critics see this chapter as a reason to doubt the inerrancy of scripture. Joseph is left in Egypt with no resolution to his problems, while the story jumps to Judah marrying and having children with a Canaanite woman before sleeping with his daughter-in-law.

But the theme of seed introduced at the end of 37, prepares the way for 38. Chapter 38 is not out of place at all. Moses is revealing the promised seed – and not in the light we might expect. In fact, Moses juxtaposes Joseph’s obedience in chapter 37 with Judah’s disobedience in chapter 38 to highlight the contrast. The chapter opens with the words “Judah departed from his brothers”.

This chapter raises a number of issues:

· First up is Judah’s marriage to a Canaanite. Abraham made his servant swear not to take a wife for his son from the Canaanites (Gen 24:3). And now Judah does precisely that. Remember that Judah is next in the line of the Promised Seed. This raises questions about the seed.

· Those questions are only exacerbated by God taking the life of Judah’s first two sons, Er and Onan, on account of their evil! Again, Moses puts the focus firmly on seed. How will the Lord deliver the line of promise?

· The fact that Judah “departed” or “went down from his brothers and turned aside” raises questions about the land. He wasn’t sold into slavery nor was he advancing the family’s territory. Nobody forced him to go. He just left.

· And he wasn’t gone for just a short time. He’s gone long enough for his new wife to conceive three times. How could Judah have tasted God’s promises to his father decided to turn his back on them. This raises questions about the covenant.

Moses shows how far Judah has fallen. Judah is an unrighteous man with wicked sons. He has married outside the godly line and is quickly losing heirs at the hand of God due to their wickedness.

Then his own wife dies and he’s deceived into fathering children by his own daughter-in-law. Hardly a picture of earthly success! Yet by God’s grace, it’s Tamar – the daughter-in-law – who bears an heir of promise, Perez! She, a gentile, is forever written into the royal line of Christ.

All of this underlines that there can be no Promised Seed apart from God’s providential intervention. Judah is the absolute epitome of election by grace, not by works! Joseph is the star of the show; he’s Jacob’s righteous son. But he’s not the promised seed. As Paul explains in Romans 9:11 "so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls".

The insertion of this chapter tells us that God is doing much more than just dealing with Joseph, the patriarch’s favourite son. God’s plans are multi-faceted. And here we seem Him at work bringing about our salvation by developing a family line that would eventuate in the Promised Seed, Jesus Christ. So, chapter 38 stands as an essential element in the genealogy of the Messiah! That’s why we have it.

He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. (Gen. 38:18)

Judah’s offer of a pledge against payment for his night with Tamar again points us forward. Next time we see him, he’ll be offering a pledge in very different circumstances.

CHAPTERS 43 & 44 – THE EMERGENCE OF A LEADER

The use of Jacob’s covenantal name, Israel, throughout chapters 43 and 44 is probably significant. God is indeed going to make of a great nation of Jacob’s sons and Judah is going to emerge as the son of promise. Importantly, he also emerges as a leader, under whom the family can become a nation.

As a leader of his brothers, Judah first leads them in passing the tests set by Joseph (which we’ve considered in our groups):

· On account of Judah’s intervention with his father, the brothers actually show up in Egypt with Benjamin. This ticks several boxes: it proves Benjamin is alive; they are without Jacob, which shows that he has finally come to trust them; and Benjamin too (who must have had his suspicions about his brothers) has trusted them enough to make the journey with them.

· They have come back for Simeon and they have brought back the money, passing the moral test (if a little belatedly)!

· But what about the tests designed to draw out the leader of the brothers and to evidence his brothers’ trust in him? In chapter 44, we have one final examination which will allow for these tests to be passed – the test of the cup in the sack!

It is worth noting that these are not boys, but middle-aged men with families - flocks, wives and children depending on them and awaiting their return. When the cup was pulled out of Benjamin’s sack, they tore their clothes. Why? Because, in their minds, this was the end of their lives and of their clan – in effect, the end of their seed and of God’s covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now Judah steps forward to be recognised as a leader – first by Jacob and by his brothers, then by Joseph.

"Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.' Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me-for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?" (Gen. 44:30-34)

This is a defining moment in the narrative. Judah’s leadership is now clear as he demonstrates himself to be a forerunner of Christ in his:

1. Pledge to his father

Whereas previously Judah has shown no respect for his father, he now mentions him repeatedly. Previously we saw Judah giving a pledge to Tamar which worked out for Tamar’s salvation. Now we find him making a pledge to his father, which will result in the salvation of all his brothers. There’s a lovely picture of God and His Son in this.

First is the father’s love. Judah speaks of his father’s life being "bound up" in Benjamin’s life. His soul was bound up with the boy’s soul. This is a wonderfully intimate expression. A similar expression is used of Jonathan’s love for David - Jonathan loved him as his own soul. It’s an expression which, when we connect it to God’s love for us, reveals the tremendous depth and costliness of that love. So deep was Jacob’s affection for Benjamin that his own soul/life was bound up with Benjamin’s – the implication is that should Benjamin die, Jacob would die. God had no need of us; we could add nothing to the perfect enjoyment He has had eternally in His Son. Yet, when in His eternal wisdom He set His love upon us, He bound His life to ours such that He could stop at nothing to ensure our salvation.

Then we have the son’s love, demonstrated in Judah’s pledge to his father.

For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’

Judah is prepared to lose everything – home, family, freedom in order to keep his pledge. He is surely motivated by love for his aging father. What a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus.

I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father (John 14:31)

Interestingly, Reuben had earlier tried to offer his sons to Jacob as a pledge for Benjamin’s life and his offer was rejected. But Judah offers himself as a pledge and his offer pledge is acceptable to Jacob.

Job identified the problem of finding suitable security when he beseeched God to become a pledge for him – Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?

Hezekiah made a similar request – O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!

Hebrews 7:22 tells us that Jesus has become the pledge of a better covenant, i.e. Jesus is the One who secures, guarantees all of the benefits of the new and better covenant

2. Plea to Joseph

Remember, Judah is not the eldest, but he takes the weight of the entire situation on his own shoulders when he steps forward to plead with Joseph. An expression of genuine leadership, whilst his brothers remain silent.

3. Pardon for Benjamin

Lastly, Judah offers himself as a ransom, a substitute for his brother Benjamin – the first of his tribe to offer himself in exchange for his brother. What a transformation! He was a leading voice in the chorus that led to Joseph’s exile. Now he’s the lone voice offering to sacrifice his own freedom in order to rescue Benjamin from similar fate.

Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.

Once again, we see a picture of the Promised Seed who will come from Judah’s line.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Judah has changed. The Lord has done a might work in this son of promise.

Joseph doesn’t go to Egypt to be set apart as the head of the family, nor is he the promised seed. As Judah emerges as the leader of a family which has been preserved by God’s providential grace, the point of the Joseph narrative becomes clearer. Joseph was sent by God to preserve, not just grain, but seed! Moses is showing us how God, in His redemptive purposes, will fulfil His promise to bring forth a Seed who will crush the head of the serpent.

CHAPTER 49 – CONFIRMATION OF THE SON OF PROMISE

“Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk."

We can’t finish without considering the blessing Judah received from his father, Jacob. Judah is the first son to receive an unmixed blessing – the blessing of inalienable supremacy and power. There are four major themes in his blessing, which confirm to us that Judah is the heir of promise:

· Pre-eminence. Joseph’s dreams never indicated a perpetual leadership. The blessing of Judah is different. His brothers will bow down to him and the sceptre will not depart from him – the permanent pre-eminence of kingly leadership! Perhaps surprising given his history – this is clearly not a result of his own work, but of God’s grace in his life. This blessing is also noteworthy as it’s evidence of God’s work in Jacob’s life. Previously, he’d picked his own favourites based on his favourite wife; now at the end of his life, he acknowledges God’s choice.

· Praise. “Your brothers shall praise you”. There’s a play on words here, as Judah means “to praise”. And he is clearly seen now as the son of promise – a praiseworthy position. Judah is taking his father’s place. He’s first among his brothers. The future of his line will be praiseworthy. From him will come king David who will rule the nation of Israel and receive praise from all the tribes. From him will come an even greater Son, who will be King of Kings and alone worthy of the praise of all men.

· Power. We have the picture of lion having killed and eaten, then resting but only temporarily. And it’s coupled with the picture of intimidating, awesome beauty. All serve to give an image of immense power. The image of the lion runs through scripture (Judges, then king David) and is ultimately fulfilled in the victorious reign of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as the Lord is described in Revelation 5. The sceptre also carries the idea of power – powerful office. Again, Judah’s kingly descendants are in view.

· Prosperity. Wine and vineyards so plentiful you hitch your donkey to them. It an image of wealth and prosperity. And once again we see the see the posterity and prosperity, seed and land brought together. Judah’s greatest Son is the One whose reign in the land will bring prosperity to it, the like of which this world has not seen.

IN CONCLUSION

We’ve started to see something of the redemptive-historical significance of the Joseph narrative – it’s place in the wider setting of God’s plan of redemption.

The story of Joseph only serves the larger story of Judah, and that merely serves the larger story of the predicted Messiah who would come to crush the serpent’s head.

In particular, we’ve tried to interpret the narrative by focussing on the prevalent themes of land, seed and covenant. As for the central character, Joseph, we’ve seen how:

He held onto the covenant (evidenced by the naming of his sons)

He identified with the land (evidenced by his view of Egypt and his request in regard to his bones)

He rescued the seed (not just grain, but the seed of promise – the ultimate purpose for which he was sent to Egypt)

At every step, we’ve observed that we’re being pointed forward: to the exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the kings and beyond.

Ultimately, in our consideration of the seed we’ve encountered some delightful pictures of the One to whom the line of promise is traced and in whom all three themes – land, seed and covenant – are finally consummated.

He said – I am the Way and the Truth and the Life

In Him we have:

Prosperity – He’s the Way to the LAND, i.e. the place which He Himself is preparing for us

Promise – He’s the Truth, confirming the eternal covenants made with Abraham and, indeed, securing for us the better promises of a new COVENANT by the pledge of His own life

Posterity – He’s the Life, and we’re the children who’ve been named in Him – the Promised Seed

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