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Prophesies Fulfilled Joseph's
Dreams Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him.—Genesis 37:19,20 David Christiansen Jacob made no secret that he loved Joseph more than his other children. The firstborn son of his beloved Rachel was the apple of his eye. Because his feelings for Joseph were so obvious, it is no surprise the other sons were jealous. Incidents like Joseph bringing an “evil report” about Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher while they were “feeding the flock” made things even worse (Genesis 37:2). This jealousy grew into a hatred the brothers could not conceal: “They could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:4). John Gill wrote: “They not only inwardly hated him, they could not conceal their hatred, but betrayed it by their speech unto him; they could not speak to him on any occasion, but in a cross, surly, ill-natured manner.”{FOOTNOTE: John Gill. Expositor, On Line Bible Millennial Edition 1.31} According to Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Joseph’s brethren “did not say ‘peace be to thee’ the usual expression of good wishes among friends and acquaintances. It is deemed a sacred duty to give all this form of salutation, and the withholding of it is an unmistakable sign of dislike or secret hostility.”{FOOTNOTE: Jamieson, Fausset, Brown. Commentary, On Line Bible Millennial Edition 1.31} The word “peaceably” in the text is from the Hebrew word shalom which to this day is used as salutation of friendship. Joseph’s Two Dreams When he was seventeen years old, Joseph had two dreams that would alter history and were the catalyst in the formation of a new nation. The first dream is described in a single verse: “For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf” (Genesis 37:7). After Joseph shared this dream with his brethren, “they hated him yet the more” (Genesis 37:8). Joseph’s second dream is also described in a single verse: “Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me” (Genesis 37:9). Joseph shared this dream not only with his brothers but with his father as well. Even though there is no evidence in the account that Joseph shared the dreams with his brethren because of pride or spite, the second dream became the “last straw”; not long after that the brothers “conspired against him to slay him” (Genesis 37:18). Sometimes when one child is favored over others in a family, the others become quite resentful. However, the favored one may not necessarily be aware that he or she is receiving special favor from a parent. This seems true of Joseph. He told his family about his dreams without saying anything that would suggest he was feeling pride or arrogance about how to interpret the dreams. He seemed to be a naïve teenager who was simply sharing information with his family. It’s not even apparent that Joseph understood the meaning of those dreams. The brothers, however, understood them perfectly. Regarding the timing of the brothers’ conspiracy to kill Joseph, one commentary says this: “Thus Achmet, the Persian, in his Oneirocriticon, or work on the interpretation of dreams, explained according to the sense of the ancient Persian and Grecian magi, says, ‘If anyone dream that he commands all the stars, [it signifies] that he will rule over all people.’ ”{FOOTNOTE: Notes, Critical and Practical on the Book Of Genesis, George Bush, professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature, New York City University, 14th ed., 1857, published by J. D. Bedford & Co.} John Gill agrees with this thought in his Bible expository. Of course at this time in history the nation of Israel did not exist. Although God’s law had not been given, there were a few God-fearing men like Jacob. The surrounding heathen people had some influence on Jacob’s family so perhaps Joseph’s brothers knew about this particular Persian belief and that influenced the timing of their decision to kill him. Professor Nahum Sarna (Rabbi, Ph.D.) views the situation from the opposite perspective: “Israel shared with its pagan neighbors a belief in the reality of dreams as a medium of divine communication, yet never developed (as in Egypt and Mesopotamia) a class of professional interpreters or a dream literature.”{FOOTNOTE: Dreams, Interpreting Joseph’s Dream, Professor Nahum Sarna, Jewish Heritage Online magazine: www.jhom.com/topics/dreams/joseph.html} The earliest vision recorded in the Old Testament is in Genesis 15:1 where God and Abram had a conversation. The earliest recorded dream, found in Genesis 20:3, finds Abimelech conversing with God. In Jacob’s dream about the earth-to-heaven ladder (Genesis 28:12,13), God spoke to Jacob, something he did again in Genesis 31:11. The history of God speaking to humans, especially his servants, might help us understand Professor Sarna’s position on the subject. We can readily see that if the pagan neighbors of the Hebrews learned about the importance of dreams and how they were at times considered divine communications, they might take that information and act upon it. Joseph’s dreams occurred about 1715 B.C. Lydia and Phrygia in Asia Minor, the roots of the Persian Empire, are shown on some time-lines as starting as early as 1750 B.C. The roots of the Grecian Empire were planted even earlier. Therefore, either of the scenarios suggested by Professor Bush and Professor Sarna are at least chronologically correct. Whether one prefers the Bush or the Sarna perspective, it seems likely there were communications about such things as dreams among the neighboring cultures, so the anger in Joseph’s brethren might have been kindled by the Persian belief in dreams about one commanding the stars and ruling over all people. Certainly the brothers did not like the thought that Joseph would rule over them some day. Two Messiahs and Two Dreams “When one studies rabbinic views of the Messiah one finds something very interesting. Many ancient rabbis spoke of two Messiahs, one who was the ‘Son of David’ and another who was the ‘Son of Joseph.’ Though one can find the sufferings of Messiah attributed to the sufferings of the Davidic Messiah in many rabbinic writings, often a second Messiah is posited, the ‘Son of Joseph’ or ‘Son of Ephraim,’ who is the one who suffers while the Davidic Messiah conquers. The rabbis struggled with Biblical portraits of a suffering Messiah.”{FOOTNOTE: The Two-Messiah Theory, Reverend Fred Klett, © 1997, CHAIM—A Reformed Ministry to Jewish People, http://www.chaim.org/2messiah.htm} A footnote associated with the phrase “Son of Ephraim” says: “The majority opinion amongst the Classical Commentators appears to be that the Messiah son of Joseph will come from the Tribe of Ephraim. Other opinions however exist or, at the least, appear to qualify the preference in this regard of Ephraim over Manasseh.”{FOOTNOTE: Manasseh in Rabbinical Sources, Yair Davidiy, no copyright date given.} “In Rabbinical tradition we have the concept of the ‘Mashiach ben Yoseph’ [Messiah, son of Joseph], who will be a DESCENDANT OF JOSEPH. ‘Mashiach ben Yoseph’ also represents the actions of the descendants of Joseph in the Last Days and the times leading up to these last days. In Jewish tradition there will be two Messiahs: ‘Mashiach ben Yoseph’ and ‘Mashiach ben David’ [Messiah, son of David].”{FOOTNOTE: Moshiach Ben Yoseph, Yair Davidiy, no copyright date given.} These statements are interesting because many Christians view Joseph as a type of Christ. Since the Jews did not accept Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, they had to do something with the Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah as a conquering king (see Isaiah 11:1-5), as well as a suffering, sacrificing Savior (see Isaiah 53). According to Rabbi Ari Kahn: “There will be two messiahs one day—Messiah Son of Joseph, who prepares the way for the Messiah Son of David, himself a descendent of Judah. According to tradition, the Messiah Son of Joseph will unite all Israel in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah Son of David, but will die in the process [Sukka 52a] in an act of self-sacrifice for his people.”{FOOTNOTE: The Beauty of Joseph, Rabbi Ari Kahn, © 1995-2007 Aish Ha Torah, pages 7 and 1.} It is not hard to see how the ancient rabbis could come up with such a notion considering the varying Scriptures regarding their Messiah. Joseph’s two dreams, while similar on the surface, are actually quite different. In the first dream we see sheaves bowing down to one sheaf. This would indicate humility, sheaves of grain bowing to another sheaf. But in the second dream the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow to a human being—Joseph. This indicates that the human being is the leader of all he surveys. This is the key sentence in the quotation from Rabbi Kahn: “Messiah Son of Joseph, who prepares the way for the Messiah Son of David, himself a descendent of Judah.” This is actually convincing in the type. Joseph suffered much before he ruled and although he was one man, he could easily have represented two men in the two different dreams. The leaders in Jesus’ day did not recognize John the Baptist as the one who prepared the way for their Messiah even though that is exactly what he did. He also died in the process. Why wasn’t it obvious that John prepared the way for Jesus? Could it have been that the traditional rabbinic theory of two Messiahs prevented them from recognizing John as the preparer for the true Messiah? If the leaders in Israel subscribed to the two-Messiah theory, they would have been looking for someone either from the tribe of Ephraim or Manasseh. John the Baptist was a Levite. Logically therefore, if John was not the Messiah (son of Joseph), then Jesus could not have been Messiah (son of David) even though he was from the tribe of Judah. Although these are hypothetical questions and answers, they can perhaps help us understand why, with all the prophecies that pointed to Jesus being the Messiah, the Jews rejected him. Christians are convinced there was only one Messiah, the son of David, who came first to Israel to suffer and die. His role at the second advent is as conquering king. What he conquered at his first advent was death, not the Romans, and that will be made manifest to the world at the appropriate time. We also know that Joseph’s dreams proved to be accurate prophesies concerning his brothers and his father. They did indeed bow down to Joseph in Egypt. The progeny of Jacob’s sons eventually grew into the nation of Israel. At the time of Jesus, Israel’s leaders would not “bow down” or acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah, but they will eventually recognize their Messiah and fully submit to him. Joseph’s two dreams may represent the two parts of Jesus’ life after his baptism. The first dream shows Jesus as the head of the church. The brothers’ sheaves made obeisance, or bowed down to, Joseph’s sheaf. These sheaves were most likely wheat since wheat was plentiful in Canaan (Genesis 30:14). Jesus’ followers are referred to as wheat in Matthew 13:24-30. But can Jesus himself be pictured by a sheaf of wheat? Jesus is our head, our Lord and Master; we render obeisance to him. He was once a spirit begotten son of God just as the consecrated are today sons of God. In that sense we are all wheat and he is our elder brother. Although not the eldest of the brothers, Joseph was highly esteemed by his father, just as Jesus was highly esteemed by his father. Thus the first dream involved just the brothers. It is a prophecy that is fulfilled during the Gospel age when the brotherhood renders obeisance to their risen Lord and elder brother. When Jesus fully establishes his kingdom in conjunction with his bride, the completed church, he will use the power and authority, given him by God after his resurrection (Matthew 28:18), to resurrect and take full control of the whole world of mankind. How aptly this is shown in Joseph’s second dream: “As the moon symbolized ‘THE LAW,’ so the sun symbolizes the GOSPEL LIGHT” (Reprints, p. 499). Everyone who has ever lived will learn the true gospel (light, sun) during the Mediatorial reign. Israel, to whom the law (moon) was given, will be under the rule of their long-awaited Messiah. The eleven stars may well represent the light that comes from Jacob’s sons. That light the church sees now through types and shadows; later the world will see clearly in the kingdom. There were only eleven stars in the dream because they were bowing down to the twelfth son, Joseph. By the end of the Mediatorial reign, all the tribes of Israel together with the whole world of mankind will make obeisance to the Messiah. How wonderful that God has spoken to his church, and eventually to the whole world, through the dreams of a teenager who lived almost four thousand years ago. Praise the LORD! |