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<2018.08> Shall You Indeed to Reign over Us?

2006 Latin American Bible Study Meeting
April 20, 2006, Evening
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.  Genesis 49:10
Joseph: Sold into Slavery by His Brothers and Taken to Egypt
Earlier we took a look at how Jacob received his father’s blessing in the place of Esau. Now we are going to be discussing how the Jacob and all his descendants went down to Egypt and what happened to them after they arrived there. 
Jacob had twelve sons born to him through four different women. The two of these sons who were born to Rachel—the wife whom Jacob loved the most—were Joseph and Benjamin. 
This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 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. Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”  Genesis 37:2-9
Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, yet the person who takes the leading role in events in the second half of the book of Genesis was not Judah, but Joseph. At the very end of Genesis we find a prophecy regarding Judah. Then we have to turn to First Samuel in order to see how the kings of the tribe of Judah arose, while First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles we have a detailed account of these kings. 
An image of Jesus Christ is conveyed to us through Joseph within the incident recorded in Genesis chapter 37. In verse 5 it says that Joseph had a dream and told his elder brothers about it. Here Joseph provides us with an image of the prophets who would arise later. They prophesied about what would happen later as it says in First Peter, “Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow (1:11). Also, just as Joseph was hated by his elder brothers, the prophets were also subjected to much hatred from the Israelites. Joseph’s brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed to reign over us?” They hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. The Jews who persecuted the prophets hated Jesus Christ who came to this world in accordance with the foretelling of the prophets. The recipient of such hatred from His brethren, Jesus Christ gave His life as He was crucified. 
Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”  Genesis 37:18-20
Joseph’s brothers saw him from afar and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They acted in the same way as did the Israelites when they persecuted the prophets who foretold of the coming of Jesus hundreds of years before He actually appeared. 
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.  Acts 7:51-53
This passage contains the last words of the apostle by the name of Stephen who referred to the Old Testament as he testified that Jesus was the One who was to come, and was then stoned to death by his fellow countrymen. He was saying that just as the Israelites had persecuted the prophets, these people—their descendants—had now had Jesus put to death on the cross. 
Even though the Jews had been given so many words in the law that bore witness to the coming of Jesus Christ and the fact that He was God Himself, they had merely observed the law outwardly and had not had the eyes to examine these words with sincerity. An image of them is to be seen in Joseph’s brothers who saw him coming from a long way off and devised a plan to kill him. 
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. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.  Genesis 37:23-28
Judas Iscariot sold his Teacher, Jesus Christ, to the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver, and Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph to some merchants, for twenty shekels, the price of a slave. They soaked Joseph’s coat in the blood of a goat and took it to Jacob, their father. Jacob in his sorrow having lost his son. (See Genesis 37:34-35) 
Afterward, Joseph, having been taken down to Egypt, lived as a servant in the house of Potiphar, a captain of the guard. God was with Joseph at this time, and Joseph prospered in all that he did. In the end Potiphar made Joseph overseer of his house and entrusted to him everything he owned. (See Genesis chapter 39) 
But then, a problem arose. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, but he always refused her advances. Jesus, who was God Himself, existed in the world as a human being. As Jesus began His ministry, Satan came along and tempted Him. Satan said, “Authority over all the kingdoms of this world have been given to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. If You will bow down to me, I will give it all to you.” Jesus used words from the Old Testament to ward off the temptations. (See Luke 4:1-12) Even when, at a certain wedding, Jesus’ mother told Him they had no wine, He replied, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?” (John 2:4). The words which had nothing to do with God’s plan were all warded off before Jesus Christ. 
Since He was a human being, as He faced His death on the cross He had the desire in His heart to flee. So, as He prayed to God the Father, He said, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me,” but he also said, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus Christ accomplished every single thing, one by one, as recorded in the Old Testament and in accordance with the will of His Father. This image of Jesus Christ who won the victory for all our sakes in this way can be glimpsed within the life of Joseph. 
Potiphar’s wife caught Joseph and saying, “Lie with me.” Joseph shook her off and ran outside, but his garment was left behind in her hand. So the woman cried out and told the servants the Joseph had tried to rape her, failed and fled. When Potiphar found out about this, he locked Joseph up in prison without looking into the matter any further. 
A Time of Being Hidden Away and Suffering
Joseph was locked up in prison, but God was with him wherever he went. Even in prison, Joseph found favour with the keeper of the prison and put him in charge of all the other prisoners. 
One day, the pharaoh’s butler and baker were both arrested and put in the prison where Joseph was. Joseph served them well. Then one night each of these two men had a dream. 
Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and p
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