What's In a Name? Joseph

Try as we might, it is nearly impossible to find the Old Testament Joseph mentioned in the New Testament as a type of Christ. However, if a person takes the time to truly study the life of Joseph carefully in the Old Testament, you can’t help but realize that he is actually a very thorough type of Christ. Again, I want to remind you what a type is. It is basically a representation or a foreshadowing of the reality. In essence, Joseph, as well as many others, were merely a shadow of the reality which was to come. And of course the completeness of the shadow was the reality of Jesus Christ. You might even consider them to be a part of the Advent time or the looking forward with expectation of when the Messiah would actually come on the scene.

The Birth

The Hebrew meaning behind Joseph’s name is that of addition. That doesn’t mean a lot until you consider a bit of the background to Joseph coming into existence. When one looks at the first aspect of the entrance into this world of Joseph and Jesus, they were both done by God’s special intervention. Now all births are miraculous. However, none are more miraculous than the conception of Jesus. So how did God intervene in getting Joseph to come onto the scene?

Genesis 30:22–24 NASB95

Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb. So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”

Genesis 30:22-

Interestingly, Rachel had not been able to conceive and bear any children. Yet, her sister, Leah, had all kinds of sons. In essence, Rachel was barren until God intervened, making it possible for Joseph to enter the scene.

In a similar, yet quite different way, Christ’s entrance into this world as a child came about as a direct result of God’s intervention. Rachel’s ability to have Joseph was considered a miracle. Yet, Mary’s ability to conceive Jesus was such a miracle that medical science will never have an answer that has a physical solution. Listen to what Dr. Luke writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

Luke 1:35 NASB95

The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

The amazing factor is that there was no earthly father involved in the conception of Jesus. God Himself caused the conception of Jesus to take place. This was beyond anything man could even imagine.

Objects of Love

It should be obvious that there was a special love bestowed on Joseph, as well as Jesus, by their fathers. Joseph’s father may have been a little bit misplaced, but it is obvious that he had a special love for Joseph.

Genesis 37:3 NASB95

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.

Obviously, any family counselor or any parenting class would quickly instruct you that this is not the way to treat children; putting one above all the others. But remember, even in the frailty of Joseph’s father’s parenting skills, we can look at this as a unique example of Joseph being a bit of a type of Jesus.

So, how is it seen in Jesus’ life? Remember we are not talking about Jesus’ Daddy, but we are referring to Jesus’ Father, His heavenly Father.

Matthew 3:17 NASB95

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

We also see John writing Jesus’ own words referring to a similar focus of love.

John 3:35 NASB95

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

Even here, we can readily see a similarity in both of the fathers showing special love for the sons.

Intense Dislike

Sadly, the negative things in their lives also carry a lot of parallels. Obviously, there was a great dislike from their own people for Joseph and for Jesus.

John 15:24–25 NASB95

“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

That is pretty intense—hatred with no reason. Yet, how is this seen in Joseph’s life so that he is seen as a type?

Genesis 37:4 NASB95

His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

Obviously, Joseph’s experience was not as intense. In fact, he probably provoked this by mouthing off or flaunting some comments to them. Plus, he probably wore that special coat, strutting about reminding his siblings of the fact that his dad loved him more.

Even with the coat or robe, there are some similarities. The Bible tells us that the brothers stripped Joseph’s coat off of him and threw Joseph into a hole in the ground; a cistern, a hole used to hold water.

In Jesus’ situation, the enemies of Jesus took his garments and divided them up by casting lots. Instead of letting the family have them, they became a bunch of scavengers using profits for themselves even thought He wasn’t even dead yet.

Common Commodity

I wonder how many of us realize the fact that Joseph and Jesus were both sold for silver. Joseph’s brothers sold him for 20 shekels of silver, or a 1/2 pound of silver. Currently, that’s about $18.

Christ was sold not by His brothers, but instead by someone whom He’d invested 3 plus years of His life, training and nurturing and being a friend along the way. It was even worse when we think that this friend sold Jesus to religious leaders who certainly knew better. The amount was about one day’s wages.

Matthew 26:14–15 NASB95

Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him.

-15

Though Christ’s situation is more easily understood than Joseph’s because we hear about it much more frequently, there are still many similarities. Because certain individuals were selfishly wanting their own ways and refusing to listen to what God had to say, they chose to stoop as low as necessary to silence the voice of the one following God. Lying and deception were modes of operation for both situations. Collecting a little profit was supposed to make everything they were doing wrong seem somewhat acceptable. The bottom line is that if you get rid of the person who speaks for God, then you don’t have to deal with the problems in your own life.

Depths to Heights

Even though, Joseph and Jesus were innocent as to the accusations, they were both condemned. Obviously, Joseph had sin in his life; whereas, Jesus was sinless. But looking at the one situation with Potiphar’s life, we are not given any information that would make Joseph seem guilty. Potiphar’s wife lied and created a horrible situation for Joseph. Interestingly, Joseph had attempted to avoid a problem scenario. Potiphar’s wife wanted to create a problem because she couldn’t get her own way and would stoop to blatant lies to accomplish her purpose. Joseph seemed to have attempted throughout his journey to live an upright life, maintaining a standard as a man of integrity for all who really knew him. Yet, he was condemned to prison; the depth of life.

Remember that Joseph is merely a type; for he still had sin in his life, as does all of humanity. Jesus Christ had no sin in His life, whatsoever. He came to heal and help and save. Jesus came to give the greatest gift of all to the people of this world. He came to show humanity the way to heaven, so they would not have to suffer torment in hell forever. Interestingly, the very people who were supposed to know this and recognize all the signs of this, were the very ones who condemned Jesus. In order to get what they wanted, power and prestige and who knows what else, they were willing to break law after law. They would lie, attempting to prove that Jesus was a blasphemer and worthy of death. Sadly, even a pagan government official and his wife knew that Jesus was an innocent man. Talk about the depths.

So what about the heights? In God’s sovereignty, He chose to lift them both up from the depths to the heights. He took them both out of humiliation to exaltation. With Joseph, God caused Pharaoh to notice in him the Spirit of God. Even to the point of elevating Joseph to a position of extreme power. Joseph became in charge of everything in Pharaoh’s kingdom. Pharaoh trusted Joseph completely.

Jesus was raised from the dead by that great resurrection power. God the Father had accepted and affirmed that what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary was sufficient to purchase those who were among the elect and chosen to receive eternal life. This also validated the fact that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. Jesus will sit on a throne and rule as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Bible reminds us that Jesus is the only One Who is worthy of glory, honor and praise.

Gentile Connections

Interestingly, Joseph also became a blessing to the Gentiles, just as we know from the earliest part of our Bible that Jesus would be a blessing to the Gentiles. Both Joseph and Jesus were rejected by the Jewish people and kinsmen. You may recall that Joseph actually took a Gentile bride by the name of Asenath. In addition, Joseph played a major role in keeping the Gentiles from starving to death by means of his God-given abilities of leadership and administration.

Jesus also took a Gentile bride of sorts. The church is not a Jewish organization, but one which consists of all people who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Unfortunately, there are still many of His own who continue to reject Jesus. However, just as in Joseph’s situation, there will come a day when His own will receive Him and recognize Him as Savior and Deliverer.

Choose Your Side

Now is when I’m going to ask you some very personal questions. If you would have been among the crowds during Joseph’s or Jesus’ time, where do you think you would have sided? Would you be with those who would do whatever they could to silence the individual so you could get what you wanted, or find yourself accepted by others, or just gone with the flow? Or would you have separated yourself from the majority and chosen to be on the side of righteousness, coming to the aid of those who were falsely accused?

Or do you find yourself saying that you don’t like to take sides because you’re convinced there’s got to be another way? Or will you be one who finally gets it, understanding that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ?

Even during this advent season in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, it is easy to just be comfortable with all the tradition. It’s comfortable to simply accept that comfortable feeling that all is well spiritually, without being radical about the whole following Jesus thing. I’d really like to challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and be willing to present the love of Christ to any and all you encounter.

You know that Joseph’s brothers didn’t even recognize him because he had become so different, not at all like their Jewish background would find normal. In fact, for Joseph to be used, I’m convinced that he had to adjust on those things which were not contradictory to God’s way, but needed to be changed in order for him to make a connection with the people he was trying to influence and lead. If Joseph would have held tightly to his past, I’m not sure God would have chosen to use him the way He did.

This too, is a type of the Christ. Jesus was actually not recognized as the Christ because He didn’t fit into their preconceived ideas and expectations and demands of whom the Messiah would be. In fact, He was called a drunkard, a wine-bibber, a glutton, and probably some other not so complimentary names. Jesus chose to hang around some real low-life people. In that way, He was able to show them the way to heaven. He didn’t participate in the sin, but He rubbed shoulders with those who needed saved, and didn’t think they already were. Jesus obviously did not fit into the neat, tidy, theological or social boxes that were put out for Him.

This is one more encouragement to be willing to become whatever God wants you to be, all for His glory. Step out of your comfort zone and be ready to help others to understand the true reason we celebrate Christmas.