Joseph, Son of Jacob

It has probably become obvious to most of you that I read a lot. I really enjoy reading. I wake up around 5am every morning and try to read for an hour and a half before going on my morning run or swim. On great days like today I wake up at 4:30… well rested and can get two hours of reading in! I always give top priority to scripture study. I feel like I read intently and that I think about and ponder the things I am reading. I really try to understand what I am reading. Then something happens like happened this past weekend. I read someone else’s commentary on a particular topic or scripture, and it is something that I never would have thought of on my own. I can see someone else’s inspiration…. and wonder about my own.

For Christmas I received James L. Ferrell’s new book “The Hidden Christ; Beneath the Surface of the Old Testament”. It is a great book by a man who has had a big influence in my life with another of his books “The Peacegiver.”

Chapter 7 in “The Hidden Christ” is on the topic of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. Coincidentally this is exactly where I am reading in “The Book of Jasher.” In Jasher the story goes into much more detail than the Old Testament. I have been really enthralled by the story and have had a hard time putting it down. However, after reading Brother Ferrell’s comments on this story… I see that I have missed the point entirely!

Ferrell write’s “The story of Joseph in Egypt is one of the most stunning in all of scripture. There is far more to Joseph and his story than meets the eye, however. For example, do you know that the story of his saving Israel from the drought is exactly parallel to the story of how Israel is being saved through the Book of Mormon in the latter days? And do you know the extent and depth to which Joseph’s story is parallel to the Savior’s? And how his brothers’ stories are parallel to ours? And how the story of the reunion of Joseph with his brothers is also a story of our reunion with the Lord? And how that story will stir your soul when you see it? Joseph is as relevant today as ever. After all, he dreamed about us.”

Farrell goes on to explain how Joseph saved Israel in two ways: he saved them temporally by providing them food, and he saved them spiritually by providing them deliverance. These two types of “saving” came to Joseph by the means of two dreams. They are a s follows: “And he said unto his brothers, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 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.” (Gen. 37: 6,7). In the next verse Joseph related his second dream. “And Joseph dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me”. Jacob rebuked his son: “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow ourselves to thee to the earth?”

Ferrell writes “What are we to make of these two dreams? On one level, the interpretations seem obvious: Both imply that the family would bow before Joseph. But why two dreams? And if two dreams, why two different dreams? What meaning might there be in their similarities and differences?”

While both dreams imply that Joseph’s family would bow to him but only the second one includes his mother and father, and the sun, moon, and stars. Ferrell goes on to explain why the first dream implies that his family would bow to him temporally and the second dream implies they would bow spiritually.

Everyone knows the story of how Joseph saved his family temporally so I will not go into detail on this one. We know that when his family came to Egypt looking for food, they bowed before him. This was a fulfillment of this prophecy.

Farrell continues “Jacob recognized that Joseph’s role in providing food to the house of Israel and saving them from death was a direct fulfillment of the prophecy communicated in Joseph’s dreams. But Jacob also recognized, as Joseph’s dual dreams suggested, that there would yet be a future deliverance at Joseph’s hand—this one a spiritual deliverance: ‘Thy brethren shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation,’ he declared, ‘unto the fruit of thy loins forever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin.

The parallel nature of Joseph’s dreams suggest that this future spiritual deliverance would parallel the pattern of deliverance established in Egypt. This pattern was as follows:

1. Joseph was broken off to a place apart from the rest of the House of Israel.
2. Joseph resided in a distant land, unknown to his family.
3. The experiences of Joseph in the distant land prepared for the salvation of Israel.
4. Israel began to be saved when they learned of Joseph who was separated.
5. The house of Israel bowed before Joseph.”

Israel’s spiritual deliverance unfolds in precisely the same way.

Just before his death, Joseph prophesied “And it shall come to pass that Israel shall be scattered again; and a branch of the fruit of the loins of Joseph shall be broken off, and shall be carried away into a far country.” (JST Gen. 50)

Ferrell continues “This prophecy is fulfilled in the story of Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, who was led away from the land of Israel to a land apart”.

In order to keep this post as short as possible, I will not go on to explain how this prophecy is fulfilled by Lehi’s move to the promised land. It seems quite obvious to those familiar with the Book of Mormon. I recommend Ferrell’s book to those want more. I would however like to outline another point of Farrell’s and that is how Joseph as a temporal and spiritual deliverer, was a type and shadow of the Saviors temporal and spiritual deliverance.

Ferrell write “Consider the majesty of Joseph’s deliverance: He saved Israel from physical death, and will save Israel from spiritual death. In overcoming the two deaths, the beloved son of Israel is in the similitude of the Beloved Son of the Father.

The following are true both of Joseph and the Lord:

• He is the beloved son.
• He reveals that he will rule over Israel.
• The children of Israel reject him out of jealousy and hate. Notwithstanding their mistreatment of him, he seeks out his brethren on behalf of his father
• But the children of Israel conspire to kill him.
• He is betrayed by the hand of Judah—or in Greek, Judas.
• He is sold for the price of a slave of his age.
• This very attempt to destroy him sets in motion events that will eventually save the house of Israel from death.
• He resists temptation perfectly.
• He begins his public mission of preparing salvation for Israel at the age of thirty.
• He provides bread for Israel, saving them from death.
• He offers that bread without a price.
• In the offering of that bread, he offers the opportunity to repent.

The extent of the parallelism is remarkable. When we understand that Joseph is a similitude of the Savior, the relationship with his brothers suddenly takes on a very personal significance. For, in an important way, Joseph’s brothers are in similitude of us. Through our sins, we, in effect, have thrown the Savior into the pit. We are the cause of his suffering—suffering that has a type in Joseph. “

As I read this chapter this morning, I couldn’t help but weep. I wept for the suffering that the Savior bore for me. I wept that I hadn’t seen this parallel by reading the story on my own. I also wept as I thought of the prophet Joseph Smith. As a young man, and as unlearned as he was, Joseph Smith nor any other man, could ever have fabricated a story that is so intertwined with the Old and New Testaments. Prophecy was fulfilled by Lehi bringing his small family out of Jerusalem into the promised land. My personal witness was strengthened today.