Genesis 36 - 39

Joseph, the Dreamer
This portion starts of with an extensive genealogy of Esau/Edom detailing many of his descendants.  At this point, I am not certain exactly what this means.  There is much in the Holy Bible that is like that.  I will ponder and research this more fully as time permits.

In chapter 37 the Bible more fully introduces Joseph, the favored son of Jacob.  The first series of 3 dream cycles are presented.  The symbolism is metaphorical but easily understood. One has to do with sheaves of grain, symbolic of the twelve sons of Israel and Joseph's prophetic prominence over them.  The other has to do with the Sun, moon, and stars symbolic of Jacob, Rachel, and the eleven sons, once again, subservient to Joseph.  The grain sheaves are prophetic of the drastic drought conditions that compel Joseph's brothers to come to Egypt and implore Joseph, unknown to them, to provide relief.  The other dream is prophetic of the entire clan coming to Egypt.

These two dreams are congruent with dreams the prisoners have that Joseph interprets and dreams that Pharoah has that Joseph interprets.  I will comment on those in a future post.

Joseph is a near perfect type of Christ. Consider the following:

• Joseph was rejected by his brothers, Jesus was rejected by His Jewish brothers
• Joseph wore a coat of many colors, the rainbow is a type of the covenant of Christ
• Joseph was a dreamer and a spiritual man, Christ saw visions and was spiritual
• Joseph was symbolically killed by his brother, and the was resurrected. Christ was killed on the cross and resurrected.
• There were two prisoners with Joseph in prison, one saved, the other lost. There were two men crucified with Christ, one saved, the other lost.
• Joseph ascended to the right hand of Pharoah. Christ ascended to the right hand of God.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.