Chapter 1
“I Am Your Brother Joseph”
“I am Joseph!” (Genesis 45:3).
Few statements could have made a more startling
impact. The eleven middle-aged men already stood uncomfortably as mere
merchant-traders — tenders of flocks and herds — before the most powerful prime
minister in that ancient world. Now they were astonished and speechless. Could
it be? What must have passed through the minds of these shocked and frightened
listeners who were the very ones responsible for selling Joseph into captivity
in the first place?
The last time they knowingly had seen their brother, Joseph, was an
impetuous and outspoken 17-year-old. They had watched as he disappeared into
the distance, no doubt vigorously protesting his sale into the hands of
Midianite slave-traders (Genesis 37:12-28). How could those brothers have known
the incredible adventures — the remarkable ups and downs through which their
younger sibling had passed during the intervening two decades?
Certainly, Joseph’s experiences had been incredible: transported
against his will to Egypt, the dominant power of that region of the world
(Genesis 37:36); sold as a slave to a high-ranking Egyptian official and officer
in the very court of Pharaoh (Genesis 39:1-6); gaining respectability and
position in his newfound place in life, only to find himself falsely accused
and whisked away to become an inmate in an Egyptian prison (Genesis 39:7-20).
Experiencing yet another unlikely rise in station in the midst of his
incarceration to become the chief assistant of the prison warden (Genesis
39:21-23); moving literally from the prison to the palace, assuming the office
of prime minister under the Pharaoh (Genesis 40-41); and now finally,
dramatically revealing his true identity before the very brothers who had sold
him into captivity more than 20 years before.
Joseph in prophecy
Joseph’s remarkable story became a forerunner of the precise
experiences that his many descendants would undergo on a national scale over
the millennia that were to follow. It is a saga that remains in progress. One
purpose of this paper is to make that story plain.
Meanwhile back in the 18th century B.C.E. court of Pharaoh, until
Joseph identified himself before his brothers, they knew nothing of the reality
of his life after his enforced departure from home as the slave of a foreign
people. For all they knew, he had long since died (see Genesis 44:28).
Even if he was still alive, what chance would there have been of
escaping the dehumanizing experience of his enslavement — of removal from the
comfort of his homeland, and being denied the role of his father’s favorite
son. Instead he was treated as property to be bought and sold at the whim of
his owner. Certainly, few things so remarkable have ever happened as Joseph’s
ascent from slavery to becoming a leader of the most powerful kingdom of that
region, if not the entire world.
But why does the Bible record the story of Joseph’s trials and
tribulations followed by his ultimate rise to unbelievable heights?
The astonishing answer is multifaceted. In ancient Israel’s traditions
and history, the story of Joseph provides a captivating account of an ancient
people’s pedigree and lineage. At a different level — far more important to us
today — the life of Joseph was an acting-out, thousands of years in advance, of
one of the most distinctive and prominent threads of Western history.
Joseph’s intriguing story holds a vital key to locating the so-called
“Lost 10 Tribes” of Israel — the descendants of his and nine of his 11
brothers. These Israelites disappeared from the record of popular history
around the close of the 8th century B.C.E. when the Assyrian armies invaded and
largely swept them from their homeland in Palestine. More importantly, knowing
the identity of the descendants of ancient Israel today equips us not only with
crucial understanding of end-time biblical prophecies, but also knowledge about
the moral and spiritual changes which God requires of the peoples of the United
States, the United Kingdom, the key Commonwealth nations of Australia, Canada,
New Zealand and South Africa as well as other nations in northwestern Europe.
The historic importance of Abraham
This remarkable story begins even before the time of Joseph in ancient
Mesopotamia with a covenant (agreement) made between the biblical patriarch
Abraham and the Almighty God, probably some time in the mid-19th century
B.C.E. It hinges on the most important and far-reaching promises and prophecies
ever delivered by God to man.
Even people only casually acquainted with the Bible are somewhat
familiar with the monumental spiritual dimensions of God’s promise to Abraham.
God told this patriarch: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless
you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).
This blessing to come on all nations, we later learn from the New
Testament apostles, was the blessing of eternal life through the Messiah, the
one Seed (Galatians 3:8, 16, 29). Thus from the virtual onset of the biblical
record we can understand God’s intention to offer spiritual salvation to the
whole of humanity. The fulfillment of this great promise was reached at one
level on the first New Testament Passover (31 C.E.) with the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ and the consequent breaking down of the wall of partition
separating humankind from God (Matthew 27:51; Ephesians 2:14).
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ made it possible for people of all the
nations of the earth to enjoy a relationship with the God of Israel who until
that time had dealt almost exclusively with the descendants of the patriarch
Jacob, also called Israel. But is the spiritual dimension of the promise to
Abraham the entire story? What exactly did God mean by his promise in Genesis
12:2 to make of Abraham a “great nation”? A closer examination of God’s
relationship and dealings with Abraham reveals one of the most important and
least understood aspects of the biblical record.
From Genesis chapters 12 through 22, seven different passages describe
God’s promises to Abraham. In the initial account (Genesis 12:1-3), God tells
Abraham to leave his homeland and family — a condition preceding the promise.
For God promised to bless him and make his name great. His progeny would become
great. A few verses later, God miraculously appeared to Abraham, promising his
descendants the land of Canaan (verse 7).
Massive material blessings through Abraham
In chapter 13, the Bible provides us even more details — knowledge
implying a physical dimension tied directly to the promise to Abraham.
Following the dramatic account of his willingness to give the fertile Jordan
River plain to his nephew Lot (verses 5-13), we see that God in turn promised
all of Canaan to Abraham forever (verses 14-17). Moreover, He promised to make
the still childless Abraham a father with descendants “as the dust of the
earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your
descendants also could be numbered” (verse 16).
About a decade later God again appeared to Abraham in a vision.
Notwithstanding the fact that Abraham and Sarah remained childless, God
reiterated His promise that an heir would “come from your own body,” that his
descendants would be as large in number as the stars of the heavens (Genesis
15:4-5).
A few verses later, we see that God promised Abraham not only
numberless descendants but specific territory stretching “from the river of
Egypt [the Nile] to the great river, the River Euphrates” (verses 18-21) — a
swath of territory including considerably more than the original commitment to turn
the land of Canaan into the hands of Abraham’s progeny (Genesis 12:6-7, 17:8,
24:7).
The longest and most elaborate articulation of the Promise to Abraham
appears in Genesis 17:1-22. As is the case from the earliest record of the
promise itself, realization of God’s blessings remains conditional on Abraham’s
obedience and living of a spiritually mature life. God admonished him, “I am
Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1; compare Matthew
5:48).
Abraham — a progenitor of many nations
Remember God promised to multiply Abraham’s descendants. This was a
yet-to-be reality God emphasized by renaming this patriarch heretofore known as
Abram — a name denoting “father of Aram,” the location of Abraham’s original
Mesopotamian homeland. God told him, “No longer shall your name be called
Abram, but your name shall be Abraham ...” His new name meant “father of a
multitude” or “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5).
The earliest record of the promise (Genesis 12:1) shows that the
narrator of Genesis introduces the theme of nationhood — a matter of physical,
material, and national concern. Indeed, verse 6 elaborates on this dimension of
the promise, indicating what God intended to make Abraham: “exceedingly
fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you”
(Genesis 17:6, see also verses 15-16).
The material nature of this aspect of the promise is further
demonstrated in verses 8-9 which makes use of the plural pronoun “their.” God
said, “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you
are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I
will be their God ... You shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants
after you throughout their generations.”
The Genesis 17 account establishes God’s agreement with Abraham as an
“everlasting covenant” (verses 7, 13, 19), binding obligation, requiring God to
give the patriarch’s descendants the Land of Canaan in perpetuity (verse 8). It
reinforces the notion that God’s commitment to Abraham included not only the
Messianic promise of grace — unmerited pardon for sins committed — and
spiritual salvation ... but a national inheritance complete with material
possessions, power, and position.
The sixth account of the Promise to Abraham appears in Genesis 18 in a
setting immediately prior to the story of the destruction of the sin filled
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s guests (two angels and the “LORD,”
YHWH, the Word, who became flesh, John 1:1) — messengers with news about the
divine retribution to come on the cities of the plain — confirmed the
soon-coming birth of a son to the 99 year old Abraham and Sarah, 10 years
younger than her husband (verses 10-14).
With God promising that He would not “hide from Abraham” what He would
do (Genesis 18:17; see also Amos 3:7), the angels visiting the aged patriarch
reconfirmed that Abraham would “surely become a great and mighty nation” — a
physical, material, national promise in scope and dimension. They also affirmed
the spiritual promise that “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him” (Genesis 18:18). True to the promises of God, about a year after this
encounter, Sarah gave birth to Isaac (Genesis 21:1-3). But there remained one
great test awaiting Abraham.
The supreme test
The grand climax of these benchmark accounts comes in Genesis 22, one
of the most interesting and significant events in all of the Bible. In this
account we find the seventh and final elaboration of the promise to Abraham. As
the story of Joseph is an acting-out in advance of the human history of the
Israelite people, so the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac forecasts the
opening phase of salvation history: the 1st century C.E.2 sacrifice of God the Father’s only begotten Son
Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Previous descriptions of the promises show that the
blessings of the covenant (Abraham’s agreement with God) were dependent on
Abraham’s actions and behavior (e.g., Genesis 12:1, 17:9). The events described
in Genesis 22 transformed the Covenant, elevating it to an entirely new and
different level.
This was with very good cause. Much to Abraham’s discomfort, God
commanded him to take the son of promise and sacrifice him as a burnt offering
atop of Mount Moriah (verse 2). Trusting in God’s wisdom, truth, and
faithfulness, Abraham did as he was told, only to be miraculously stopped at
the very moment he was about to slay his son (verses 9-11).
Abraham did not know that in advance. God’s words spoken shortly
thereafter are powerful and revealing: “... now I know that you fear God, since
you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12). In
obedience to his God, the patriarch was willing to relinquish that which was
most precious to him (verse 16; compare John 3:16).
His behavior demonstrated to the Creator that Abraham was truly a man
fit for the role of “father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11-22;
Galatians 3:9; Hebrews 11:17-19) — that he was suitable as the progenitor of
numberless descendants who would become the people of God (Genesis 18:19).
It is only at this point in the story of Abraham that the promises
become unconditional. God’s assertion, “By Myself have I sworn” (Genesis 22:16)
implies that Abraham is no longer obligated to act in order to receive the
benefits of the promise. The language used in Genesis 22 implies that there are
now no other parties to the contract other than God Himself.
The narrative concludes with a rehearsal of the central elements of
those things promised: “blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will
multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is
on the seashore [compare Deuteronomy 29:13; Joshua 24:3-4; Acts 7:17]; and your
descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies [all promises of a
physical, material, national nature — see Genesis 24:60]. In your seed all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed [the spiritual blessing of Christ and
making salvation available to the whole of humanity rather than any single
people or nation], because you have obeyed My voice” (verses 17-18).
Promises renewed from one generation to another
God repeatedly renewed the promises to Abraham by passing the covenant
(agreement) in succession from the patriarch’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:1-5) to
his grandson Jacob (27:26-29; 28:1-4, 10-14; 35:9-12 — in this last-named
account, God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” meaning “one who prevails with
God”) ... and ultimately to the great-great-grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh
(48:1-22), the sons of Joseph through his wife from the ranks of Egyptian nobility
(41:45).
As is the case with those promises described prior to Genesis 23,
accounts of the passing of the blessing provides additional evidence that the
Abrahamic Covenant included physical-material-national aspects as well as the
more important spiritual ones. The Genesis 26 account of Abraham’s passing of
the promise to Isaac includes reference to the title and deed for large amounts
of land. The double reference to “all these lands” (verses 3-4) implies an
inheritance involving colossal material benefits.
As in previous repetitions of the promise from God to Abraham, we see
his son Isaac guaranteed a progeny of almost limitless proportions, likened
again to “the stars of heaven” (verse 4), reiterating this magnificent promise
is repeated to Isaac.
By right of birth (the ancient law of primogeniture), the physical
blessings passed down to Isaac should have gone to Esau, the firstborn son
(Genesis 25:21-26). However, Jacob, the younger sibling induced his older
brother to sell his Birthright for a meager bowl of lentil soup (verse 29-34).
To insure the acquisition of the blessings that the Birthright
entailed, later Jacob even tricked his blind and aged father into passing the
preponderance of the family inheritance to him in place of his elder brother Esau
(verse 18-27).
Isaac blessed Jacob saying: “Therefore may God give you of the dew of
heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples
serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let
your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and
blessed be those who bless you!” (verses 28- 29).
But in spite of Jacob’s trick to secure the birthright blessing for himself,
God eventually confirmed the passing of the promises to him in a dream at
Padanaram (Genesis 28). In the account describing this event, we learn that
Jacob’s descendants would spread throughout the entire earth, “spread[ing]
abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south” (verse 14). No
wonder the apostle Paul later identifies Jacob’s grandfather Abraham as the
“heir of the world” (Romans 4:13).
Two national identities
In Genesis 35 we first find an interesting and critically important
new dimension to the physical-material-national aspect of the promise. This
passage adds the novel element of “a nation and a company of nations” (verse
11), a concept essential to the understanding of where Israel’s descendants are
found in modern times. From the Genesis 35 account we learn that Jacob’s
descendants will one day comprise two separate and distinct national entities.
Finally, we see the promise passed by Jacob to Ephraim and Manasseh
(Genesis 48). The aged patriarch used this occasion to place his very name on
his two grandsons (verse 16), implying that many references to “Jacob” or
“Israel” in the prophetic writings of the Bible point primarily to the
offspring of the Patriarch Joseph. Once again, the language of the biblical
narrator reveals a clearly physical-material-national dimension to the promises
transmitted to the fifth generation.
Jacob’s blessing on the two boys involved the giving of land “for an
everlasting possession” and the expansion of their own descendants into “a
multitude of people” (verse 4). Then for a second time, we see articulated the
idea of a great nation and “a multitude of nations” (verse 19).
1 Chronicles 5 also contributes to our understanding of the promise to
Abraham, particularly concerning the difference between its spiritual and
physical dimensions. This chapter reminds us that the “chief ruler” would arise
out of the house or tribe of Judah (verse 2, King James Version).
It confirms Jacob’s prediction that “the scepter shall not depart from
Judah” (Genesis 49:10), a prophecy which points to both the House of David
ruling over the Kingdom of Judah and Israel, and the role of Jesus Christ as
Messiah and the One who would make salvation available to all of humankind
(Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5). In contrast, the promise of physical, material,
and national greatness went not to Judah but rather to Joseph, Jacob’s
firstborn son by his wife Rachel. In an apt description of how this promise
fell into Joseph’s hands, the chronicler writes: “Now the sons of Reuben the
firstborn of Israel — he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his
father’s bed [Genesis 35:22; 49:4], his birthright was given to the sons of
Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the
birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler,
although the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:1-2).
Israel’s future destiny
Perhaps the most revealing of all biblical passages is found, however,
in Genesis 49 which describes Jacob’s blessings on and prophecies about all of
his sons’ descendants “in the last days” (verse 1). The description of those
things to befall the people of Joseph is monumental (verse 22-26).
Similar to the blessing pronounced by Isaac on Jacob (Genesis
27:28-29), they included favorable climate and weather conditions (the
“blessings of heaven above,” Genesis 49:25); fertile tracts of land and
agricultural abundance; abundant natural resources essential to insure national
economic strength and world dominance (those “blessings of the deep that lies
beneath,” Genesis 49:25); generally peaceful conditions in which they were to
live and grow; and power and influence over the peoples of the world. Jacob
predicted that Joseph would become “a fruitful bough” (Genesis 49:22) — a
people greatly benefited by the “blessings of the breasts and of the womb”
(verse 25), indicating the sizeable population of Joseph’s seed at the end of
the age.
The patriarch also forecast a time when Joseph’s “branches [would] run
over the wall” (Genesis 49:22), implying a people broadcast by colonization and
imperial expansion literally to all four corners of the earth (compare Genesis
28:14). Jacob represents Joseph’s descendants as a people imbued with military
might, their “bow” abiding in “strength, and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob” (Genesis 49:24).
Only a very few modern nations can lay claim to the prophetic promises
relating to economic greatness and superpower status.
Sidebar: “Blessings of the Deep That Lies Beneath”
That the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic peoples have inherited the richness of
the earth is plain for all to see. Jacob prophesied of such nearly four
millennia before these material blessings literally overtook the British and
American people. A part of that prediction foretold that the children of Joseph
would fall heir to the “blessings of the deep that lies beneath” (Genesis
49:25).
Many examples could be cited to illustrate how time and again during
the modern period, Jacob’s words have been fulfilled. One of the most dramatic
testimonies to the faithfulness of God’s word comes out of the British imperial
sphere in South Africa. Not only did the southern region of the African
continent provide the British with a treasure trove of diamond mines; it
yielded the largest diamond ever found. In 1905, the superintendent of the
Premier Diamond Mine made an unbelievable find.
This 2,601 carat diamond, named after Sir Thomas Cullinan who opened
the Premier Mine, is the largest diamond ever found. The Transvaal government
gave the “Cullinan Diamond” as a gift to King Edward VII who had it cut into
several pieces. The largest, 530 carats, is found in the scepter of the British
monarch. “Cullinan Two,” a 317 carat diamond, is a part of the Imperial State
Crown. If the Cullinan Diamond is one of the most dramatic illustrations of
Joseph’s inheritance of the natural resources of the earth, it is no less
remarkable than the gold mines, oil fields, coal and iron deposits all found in
great abundance from the British Isles to North America or from Australia to
South Africa. These treasures lying deep beneath the earth bear witness to
Joseph’s modern-day identity.
Bringing his prophecies to a rousing crescendo, Jacob concludes, “The
blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the
utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And
on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers” (verse 26).
In this final and emphatic pronouncement, we find yet another clue to locate
the people of Israel in the latter days. While this final phrase is clearly an
allusion to the story of young Joseph’s separation from his human family at age
17, like so many other aspects of the Joseph stories, it is also highly
prophetic.
We should look for the modern-day descendants of Joseph in a setting
where they are a separated people... insulated from the progeny of the other
Israelite tribes by some kind of physical or geographic barrier. And indeed,
this has been the case with the descendants of Joseph during modern history.