Joseph and Judah

Genesis 27:29: “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” (Isaac’s blessing to Jacob)

Genesis 37:6, 7: He (Joseph) said to them (his brothers), “Hear this dream I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” (Joseph’s dream)

Genesis 49:8: “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.” (Jacob’s blessing to Judah)

As we have been reading through Genesis, we have seen fathers blessing their sons. Interestingly in the Joseph narrative, Judah seems to get the blessing that Joseph should have got. In the verses above we see that Isaac blessed Jacob by putting his brothers under him and Jacob blesses Judah in the same way. However, it seems like Joseph should have gotten this blessing. I mean he did have a dream that all his brothers would bow down to him (and they do). He seems to me to be the obvious choice for this blessing. He is the one good guy in the book of Genesis. Why not send this blessing through him?

Moses is doing something very big at this point in Genesis. First, the blessing of Jacob to Judah is going to come to surface again in the book of Numbers. Secondly, I believe that Moses connects Joseph and Judah to show us what the son of Judah is going to look like. Judah is the son through whom the king will come (Gen. 49:10) and Joseph is who he is going to look like. (Disclaimer: I do not believe this is the only purpose of this narrative. This narrative does connect the story of the offspring of Abraham and at the same time fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that the Hebrews will suffer in Egypt for 400 years.)

Think about it. Joseph stands out in the book of Genesis because he suffers because of righteousness. His whole story is about him responding to unrighteousness and suffering in righteousness. Joseph’s own family sells him into slavery. Then in Egypt he serves faithfully and then is wrongly accused and thrown into prison. He knows that the evil brought upon him by men is actually meant for good by God. And this happens through his acceptance by the Egyptians when he is put as their ruler. He saves the whole world, all nations, through his wisdom and rule. After the nations have accepted him as their ruler, then his family (the Hebrews) comes to him to serve him.

This seems to be exactly Paul’s theology in Romans 9 – 11. Paul says that the Jews have not responded to Jesus in faith, but the Gentiles have. This response of the Gentiles is to make the Jews jealous so that in the coming future the Jews will come to faith in Jesus as the lion of the tribe of Judah. Where does his theology come from? I think it is from this very section of Genesis.

I believe that the Joseph narrative is so striking to us because of whom Joseph’s story reminds us. I need it.

Thanks Moses.