The Betrayal of Joseph

 As we’ve noted before, God’s Word contains an incredible depth of meaning. Layer upon layer. Every time we pick up the Bible and study it, we’re likely to learn something new, to notice some new detail we never noticed before.

Concealed within the pages of the Old Testament are many types and foreshadows of Jesus Christ. The story of Joseph found in Genesis 37 is one such example.

This, of course, is the story of how Joseph’s brothers grew jealous of him, hated him, and sold him into slavery. Throughout this story, we can see Joseph as a type, parallel, and foreshadow of Jesus Christ.

Joseph was a shepherd, watching over and feeding his father’s flock: “Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers” (Gen. 37:2). Likewise, Jesus Christ said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). And of Him, Mic. 5:4 prophesied, “He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD.”

Joseph’s brothers evidently were less than faithful in their duties, though, for “Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father” (Gen. 37:2). The Bible tells us that Yeshua/Jesus will deliver His flock from the shepherds who misled them: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them’” (Ezek. 34:10).

Joseph was his father’s favorite son: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children” (Gen. 37:3). And what did God the Father say about Jesus Christ? “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat. 3:17; 17:5).

But Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and hated him: “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him” (Gen. 37:4). Jesus Christ, when He came to this earth, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). Like Joseph, He was hated!

Joseph brought his brothers a message from God that he would rule over them, and that they would bow down before him. These two prophetic dreams that Joseph had are recorded in Gen. 37:5-11. Jesus Christ came to earth “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14), a kingdom which He Himself will rule over. He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16), and every knee shall bow before Him (Isa. 45:23).

But Joseph’s brothers hated him even more for this message: “And his brothers said to him, ‘Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words” (Gen. 37:8). Likewise, the Jewish rulers hated Jesus Christ above all else for declaring Himself to be the Son of God (John 5:18; John 10:31-33), and when they delivered Him up to be crucified, they grew enraged at the thought that He would rule over them: “And he [Pilate] said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:14-15).

Even though Joseph’s brothers hated him, his father still sent him to them: “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ So he said to him, ‘Here I am’” (Gen. 37:13). God the Father sent His Son to this earth, knowing that He would die: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Just as Joseph did not resist or protest his father’s mission, but simply said, “Here I am,” so Jesus Christ also willingly submitted Himself to His Father’s will. In the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before His arrest, torture, and death, He prayed to His Father: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

As Joseph went on his mission, he initially could not find his brothers, so he had to seek them out: “Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’ So he said, ‘I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks’” (Gen. 37:15-16). When Jesus Christ came to earth, He came to seek out sinners, saying, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

But when Joseph found his brothers, they plotted to kill him: “So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him” (Gen. 37:17-18). This parallels Jesus’ parable of the vinedressers, in which He prophesied of His own death: “But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance’” (Mat. 21:38).

As we all know, God foiled the brothers’ plot and didn’t allow them to kill Joseph. He used one of Joseph’s brothers, Reuben, to talk the other brothers out of it (Gen. 37:21-22). But spiritually speaking, they had already murdered him: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). Thus Joseph’s brothers, in God’s eyes, murdered him. The Jews, of course, not only plotted to kill Jesus, but also carried out their plot and became His “betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:52).

Next, the brothers seized Joseph and stripped him of his clothing: “So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him” (Gen. 37:23). Now, this tunic, which Joseph’s father had given him at the beginning of this story (v. 3), wasn’t necessarily a coat of many colors, as most English versions render it, but rather a “long and sleeved tunic” (Strong’s #6446), or, according to Gesenius, “a tunic extending to the wrists and ankles, a long tunic with sleeves, worn by boys and girls of nobler rank.” So Joseph’s father had given him a robe of nobility.

When Jesus Christ was about to be crucified, the Roman soldiers put a costly purple or scarlet robe on Him and hailed Him King of the Jews (Mat. 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20). But when they crucified Him, they stripped off His clothes and cast lots for His tunic (Mat. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24).

After stripping Joseph of his tunic, his brothers cast him into a pit (Gen. 37:24), then sold him and delivered him into the hands of foreign merchants in exchange for pieces of silver (Gen. 37:26-28). This was at the suggestion of his brother Judah. Likewise, Jesus Christ was sold and betrayed by a man named Judah (or Judas) Iscariot, in exchange for pieces of silver. Then His countrymen and brethren, the Jews, delivered Him into the hands of foreigners to be crucified. After His death, His body was placed into a pit or tomb.

Now while Joseph’s brother sold him to the merchants, his oldest brother Reuben, who had saved his life, was apparently elsewhere. So when Reuben returned to the pit, he discovered that Joseph was no longer there — the pit was empty (Gen. 37:29). When Jesus’ disciples returned to His tomb early on the first day of the week, they discovered that He was no longer there because He had been resurrected — the tomb was empty.

After all this, the brothers decided to cover their tracks — to cover their sins — by killing “a kid of the goats,” dipping Joseph’s tunic in the blood, and convincing their father that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild beast (Gen. 37:31-35). Now, under the Old Covenant, “a kid of the goats” was typically killed as a sin offering (Num. 28-29). All these sacrifices, of course, foreshadowed Jesus’ own sacrifice, and our sins are covered and washed away by His blood (Rev. 1:5; 7:14). Furthermore, when He returns to this earth in glory, we’re told that He will be “clothed with a robe dipped in blood” (Rev. 19:13).

Genesis 37 ends with Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt. As I’m sure you all remember, he would rise from slavery to rule the whole land of Egypt, and he would ultimately save a great many people, including his father’s entire household from death. But that’s a story for another day.

Thus the story of Joseph’s betrayal in Gen. 37 foreshadowed the earthly ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ thousands of years before it happened! It’s truly amazing how our God steers human events for His purpose — oftentimes for multiple purposes. He directed the life of Joseph, not only for Joseph’s ultimate good, but also for the ultimate good of his brothers. And not only for the good of his brothers, but for countless thousands or millions of others! And at the same time, He laid out His plan of salvation in it! Truly incredible.

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