According to Pattern: Joseph

Have you ever noticed just how much the story of Jacob’s son, Joseph, is a type (i.e. a historical prefiguring and pattern) of Jesus? Actually, it’s pretty amazing. Let’s take a quick run through to see the ways in which the life and story of Joseph sets a pattern for a servant of God that Jesus fulfills.

First, let’s refamiliarize ourselves with the story of Joseph.

Joseph is the son of Jacob (Israel), and the ’seed’ of Abraham (Gen. 37:2).

Joseph is given preeminence above his brothers by his father, and treated as his firstborn (Gen. 37:3).

Joseph is persecuted by his brethren and is taken into “exile” (Gen. 37:18-36).

Joseph is falsely accused and is silent when reviled (Gen. 39:6-20).

Joseph is a servant and later is exalted (Gen. 39:1-6, 41:37-45).

Joseph becomes a source of life, not only for the people of Israel, but also for the surrounding pagan nations (Gen. 41:56-57, 42:1-3, 50:15-21).

Next we’ll look at how in Jesus the full theological freight of Joseph’s story is unfolded in Israel’s Messiah…