If you are just joining me, welcome! You can find an explanation of this series here: Day 1 – Introduction.
As [Joseph’s brothers] sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Genesis 37:25
Story: Genesis 37, 39 – 50
There is so much to Joseph’s story it’s been hard to pick out which thoughts to share. This is the last post about Joseph, but wow is Joseph’s story rich! I encourage you to take the time to read through these chapters if you get the chance. I’d love to hear what you learn in the comments!
A beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus is woven into Joseph’s story.
It starts with Joseph’s ornate, rich robe of many colors from his father, Jacob. The gift expresses the son’s favored standing with the father, in addition to the father’s great love. Joseph was stripped of his robe when he was sold into slavery. Jesus was God’s beloved son and he chose to set aside his glory, leave paradise, and come to earth clothed in human skin.
Joseph’s robe was dipped into goat’s blood and presented to his father to “prove” his death. Jesus’ favored standing with God is what qualified him to, in a sense, dip his royal robe in his own blood and present it to the Heavenly Father as proof of his own death – for us.
Interestingly, this robe issue comes up again when the wife of Joseph’s master in Egypt decides she wants to eat some eye candy. Joseph refuses this woman’s repeated advances, staying pure before God. But this woman isn’t taking no for an answer. She grabs Joseph’s cloak and refuses to let him go. Joseph sheds the cloak and flees the house. The famous line about a woman scorned? Insert here. She frames him for rape with the cloak she stole. Joseph is thrown into a dungeon and forgotten.
Jesus was perfectly pure and yet he was, in a sense, framed for our sins (though he took them voluntarily) and thrown into hell to battle and overcome Satan for us. Like Joseph rose out of the dungeon to stunning power as second in command over the entire country of Egypt, Jesus rose out of the grave to reclaim his former glory and authority over the entire universe, second only to God the Father with respect to the throne.
Pharaoh dressed Joseph in fine robes of linen when he was promoted. After Jesus returned to heaven, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. In the first chapter of Revelation it describes Jesus wearing a robe down to his feet with a golden sash.
And this is great and all, but the greatest part is that all this means WE have been given a robe to wear! As a woman, I kind of like the fact that outfits matter. Jesus Christ IS our outfit that gives us a favored and beloved position before God. Have you clothed yourself with Christ?
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27
