These notes have been adapted from a Young People’s Zoom online Bible Study in 2021. Joseph is one of the most loved characters in the Old Testament, and with good reason too. The reader, and any who study his life and character will appreciate many similarities to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some thoughts from the Young People’s Bible Study will be brought out here so that you can study more diligently.
Joseph has been associated with four houses and he also had four clothes.
- His father’s house – the cloak of many colours; father loved him, hated, and rejected by his brothers.
- Potiphar’s house – the clothes of a servant
- Prison house – the clothes of a prisoner
- In the palace (Pharaoh’s presence) – royal robe and ring (Gen 41:42)
From the pit to the prison, to the palace.
In the above three houses, he was rejected and suffered. In his father’s house, his own brothers rejected him. Type of the Lord Jesus Christ, rejected in His own land by His own people, the Jews.
Joseph suffered much, but then received glory. Peter writes about the sufferings and glory that follow. 1 Pet 1:11.
Joseph’s new name (Gen 41:45): in Egyptian means the saviour of the world, or sustainer of life. In Hebrew it means revealer of secrets (John 4:19, 29, 42). John 4:5 is where is mentioned the well that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus went and told the people of Samaria that someone has told her all things she ever did – revealer of secrets. Then the Samaritan people came to Him and told Him that they know He is the Saviour of the world, so the Lord Jesus is the true Zaphnathpaaneah.
Acts 7:9-13 Stephen speaks about Joseph sold into Egypt but God delivering him and Pharaoh making him governor over Egypt. We see here again Joseph’s suffering and exaltation, or glory after that.
Hebrews 11:22 Joseph marked as a man of faith in that he knew they were going to depart out of Egypt.
Revelation 7:8 the 144,000 sealed, the tribe of Joseph mentioned.
In a place of exaltation after suffering greatly for things he did not do. In fact, he was righteous and did not sin against God when given the opportunity with Potiphar’s wife and was put in prison for that. However, the Lord Jesus died for His righteousness, all part of God’s plan to bring a redeemed people to Himself.
Joseph exalted – his brothers still did not recognise him the times they went to Egypt. They even called him an angry person (Gen 44:18).
Before his brothers came to Egypt, he married a gentile woman – type of the Church, or assembly. He went into death, so to speak (in prison), came out and was exalted and given a wife. She bore him Manasseh and Ephraim during the times of plenty. Manasseh means that Joseph has forgotten his toil and his father’s house – the past. Ephraim means that he is fruitful in the land of his affliction – Egypt is where he was afflicted the most. See Isa 53:11; John 12:24. The Lord Jesus was that grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died. He also saw of the fruit of the travail of his soul and was satisfied.
The times of plenty speaks to us about the time of grace where many sons are brought to God after accepting the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
The time of famine, ironically 7 years, is a type of the time of the tribulation, which will also be 7 years. No sons were borne to Joseph in the time of famine. Also, in the time of famine Asenath, his wife, is not mentioned as being with him or helping him to provide for the nations that went to Egypt. This may be a type of the rapture. Therefore, in the tribulation, true believers in Christ will not be present on earth but will be with the Lord in the air.
Asenath – Old Testament type of the Church and the rapture. She was given to Joseph as a wife after he was exalted by Pharaoh while at the same time he was still rejected by his brethren when Asenath was given to him.
She bears him sons during the time of plenty before the famine commenced. The famine can be seen as a type of the great tribulation as people were struggling for food and for survival, but Joseph saved the lives of his family, the Egyptians, and the nations.
They came to him as the one who was exalted. His sons Manasseh and Ephraim are seen in the famine, a type of Israel who will go through the great tribulation and a remnant will be saved.
Where is Asenath in the time of the famine? There is no mention of her as helping Joseph. There is a faint glimpse of her being ‘raptured’ as she is not mentioned at all as being involved in the scene in the time of the famine. It is interesting that the famine Joseph told Pharaoh lasted for seven years, another strong type of the great tribulation, which will last for seven years after the rapture of the Church. Therefore, as Asenath was not present on the scene in the years of the famine, so the Church will not go through the great tribulation. Why would the bride of Christ enter this scene that is reserved for Israel as God’s earthly people? It is true that the name of Asenath is mentioned during the time when the famine commenced, but we do not read of her being by Joseph’s side helping him.
Phil Tadros Bible articles 