Genesis 37:2-11: Joseph’s Dreams

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus is “the Word.”  He is the Word of God; the entire Bible points us to Jesus, even the Old Testament.  Jesus challenged the religious leaders of his day for their mistaken emphasis on the letter of the Scripture, from which they would try to extract principles and precepts for life.  Jesus told them, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39)  The Old Testament is really about Jesus.  Its writing occurred long before Jesus came to this world as a man, but every story points forward to Christ.  In this sense, all of the Word is prophetic, not just the “prophetic books” like Isaiah or Joel.  We see Jesus in the story where Abraham nearly sacrifices his only son Isaac – pointing forward to the way our Heavenly Father would offer His Only Son.  We see Jesus in the Passover Lamb, in the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish, and in the Bronze Serpent that Moses lifted up for the healing of the people.  Jesus is everywhere in the Old Testament – each of the godly characters illustrates an aspect of him (excluding, of course, the incidences where these men failed or sinned).

The Book of Genesis spends many chapters recounting the story of Joseph (the son of Jacob, who is also called Israel).  These details of Joseph’s life are prophetic, foreshadowing the coming of the Lord Jesus. Joseph was conceived miraculously, was the beloved of his father, faced rejection by his brethren, and was treated as a slave and then a criminal.  He was also the one who went ahead to prepare a place for his brethren, who stored up everything that they needed to live, and who granted forgiveness to the very ones who harmed him.  In all these things we see reflections of the Lord Jesus and his work of salvation. This short study is the first in a series that explores the life of Joseph and its relation to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Joseph was the favorite son of his father; Jesus received repeated affirmations from His Heavenly Father, in a voice from above saying, “This is my Son whom I love; listen to him.”  In the stories about Joseph, we see three reasons that Jacob, his father, loved him more than his brothers.  The first was that Joseph was “Born to him in his old age.”  Applied to Jesus, the term “old age” or “many years” speaks of Eternity.  The Father is older than time – He is eternal, and Jesus is also eternal.  The Father’s love for Jesus starts with the fact that Jesus and the Father are one from Eternity past.

The second reason for Jacob’s special fondness for Joseph requires that we look back at Genesis 30:22-24.  Joseph was from a different mother than the rest – he was Rachel’s child, and Rachel was the one Jacob had truly loved from the start (Rachel’s other child, Benjamin, was born later). All of Jacob’s other children were born either from Rachel’s sister Leah, whom he was forced to marry, or from the two concubines. Joseph had a special place in Jacob’s heart because Joseph was from the special one, the one that symbolized his love.  More importantly, Rachel had been barren for many years, so Joseph was born by a miracle.  Jesus was also born by a miracle, generated by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin (Mary), and came into this world only because of the Father’s love for mankind.  Joseph’s miraculous birth and special status foreshadowed the Lord Jesus coming to earth as a babe.  Perhaps Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph in this respect seems unfair to some people today, but we must understand that something prophetic was happening here.  For the next forty generations, Joseph’s life would foreshadow the coming of the Son of God, Beloved of the Father, who would come to earth by a miracle, be rejected by his own brethren, and yet be the Chosen One who saves us.

The third reason for Jacob’s favoritism is simply a matter of righteousness or merit.  Joseph’s brothers were not righteous men, and by comparison Joseph made them look bad. (See Gen. 37:1-4) This is the same reason many people reject Jesus today: he convicts them of their sin.  Jesus is perfect.  He was tempted in every way we are, but he never sinned once. In contrast, we “all like sheep have gone astray, each has turned to our own path.”  (Isa. 53:6)  We all have sinned all fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).  And our sins separate us from the Father.  We need salvation; Jesus can give us salvation, because he always obeyed the Father.  So we have a choice.  We can humble ourselves, admit our sin, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Or, we can harden our hearts against, him, like Joseph’s brothers did.  Joseph had done nothing wrong.  Similarly, Jesus said, “they hated me without cause.”  

Continuing with the prophetic line, the text says that Jacob gave Joseph a special garment.  Some versions of the Bible call it a “tunic of many colors,” and others a “long and sleeved tunic.”  Nobody knows exactly what the Hebrew word means, but we know it was some kind of distinction, something beautiful and glorious. Unlike us, Jesus shared in his Father’s glory in Eternity, and the Father clothed him with glory again in his resurrection.  Joseph’s fancy garment was an illustration - a prophetic picture – of the Son who comes from Glory (see John 17:5, 12:41), suffers for us, and returns again to Glory. (See Lk 9:6, 24:26; Romans 6:4, 8:17) The Father has given him the first place (Col. 1:18), and He inherited a name that is above all names (Heb. 1:4, Heb 2:7). Jesus is the King of Kings, forever clothed with majesty and power.  (See 2 Cor 4:6)

Joseph had some dreams about his brothers bowing before him (Gen 37:7-9).  Like many of the prophetic dreams in the Old Testament (and indeed, many prophecies in general), there was a double meaning involved.  The dreams had an immediate meaning for Joseph’s life, showing that he would eventually have a place of political power and influence, and his brothers would come and bow before him begging for food during the famine.  But the Lord was also prophesying about the coming of Christ.  Jesus came to the world as the humble son of a poor carpenter, but the Father has put everything under submission to him (Hebrews 1:4-2:7).  “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Phil. 2:10-11) 

When we come to Jesus, the first thing we need to understand about Jesus is that the Father has given him the highest place, and we will all bow before him one day – just like in Joseph’s dreams.  Even the people who refuse to bow before him now will bow before him on the Day of Judgment. Those who choose to bow before Jesus now will receive a blessing from the Lord.  But most resist and do not submit.  They treat Jesus like Joseph’s brothers treated him, when they rejected the dreams and became even more spiteful toward him.  These dreams foretold what happened in the gospels – how angry the religious people in Jesus’ day would become when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the one from eternity.  They hated Jesus for his claims to be divine, for the fact that he calls people to himself to obey and follow him.  “This is the will of God that you believe in the One whom God sent.”  “I am the resurrection and the life.”  “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have life within you.” Most of the people who heard Jesus say these things rejected them, even though he was speaking in the Spirit, speaking words from the Father.  And to this day, many still reject Jesus and ignore the prophecies about his return.

Jesus is the Word of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, before whom every knee shall bow.  He is the One whom the Father has chosen and clothed with glory.  Joseph’s dreams give us a picture of this. He is also the one who was sent ahead of us to prepare a place for us in eternity.  The Lord will take his faithful church to eternity before the Great Tribulation, which the famines in Egypt foreshadowed – the judgment that comes on all the world.  Even though Jesus was rejected by this world, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  Now he has prepared a place for us where we will have everything we need to live eternally.  We need to come to him now, submit to him, and stay in his presence, so that our souls can receive the spiritual nourishment we need and the deliverance and protection he gives us.