The providence of God for Joseph! Godly father, grandfather, but violent, wicked, dishonest, malicious brothers – what a mixed situation! He has dreams, oracles, from God. He is despised for them; he is beaten by his brothers and sold into slavery. But what a training, when you think of it! He drew his knowledge from Israel, from Jacob, and from Isaac. When he was abandoned, God so overruled that he was sold into slavery on a major trade route right into Egypt. The believer is always in God's sight. It’s not just Joseph; it’s all of us. We are always in God's sight; always in his hands. The great thing about Joseph is his humility and his faith, his trust in the Lord, and so the providence of God had mapped out for him a great future. He maintained his principles. In Egypt his brothers had abandoned theirs, even while still in the house of God, but he maintained his, and the hidden life.
In future chapters we will see other highly significant senses in which Joseph is a type of Christ. Joseph was an interpreter of dreams. He accurately interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker and so their future history unfolded. Joseph received from Pharaoh, a new name, Zaphnathpaaneah, which indicates ‘Revealer of secrets’. Christ is a revealer of secrets: ‘All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world’ (Matthew 13:34-35).
He is taken out of prison and exalted by Pharoah who says, ‘Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou’ (Genesis 41:40). Pharoah sets him over the entire land of Egypt, and takes steps to have him honoured and recognized by all in the land. Christ says of himself, ‘For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him’ (John 5:22-23).
During the time of famine Joseph was distributing to all who came throughout the earth at the time? Christ says, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger.’ There have been counted many parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ; there are most certainly more than twenty invincible parallels. This sticks in the gullet of theological liberals who doubt everything in the Bible. They can't bear the fact that there would be so many detailed parallels between figures of old time and Christ.
There is a wonderful moment in Genesis 45:26. Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers, and they return to Jacob and say, ‘Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.’ When Christ was risen, the disciples believed it not for joy. They could scarcely take it in. ‘And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die’ (Genesis 45:27-28). That is how it is with us when we are saved. Do you remember the day when you were first enabled to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is no historical figure, but he is alive, and he is the one who one day will be give judgment. It is a very rewarding thing in your Bible study to see these things and to marvel at the plan and the system of the Bible, and to love it and its Author.