History of Christianity. Part 2

What does the Bible tell us about the life of Joseph, son of Jacob?

=So, here's my short text about Joseph: The Bible tells us, "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39). These words of our Lord Jesus Christ were addressed to the Jews of Israel nearly two millennia ago, but they have not lost their significance for them today, and they are also relevant for Christians and for all other people on earth. These words testify to the Christian life of the Jews of that time. The Holy Scriptures foretold the coming of the Son of God to earth in human form to serve them and offer Himself as a sacrifice to atone for their sins. And Jesus Christ spoke of this to his disciples: "All things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms about Me must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44).

The life story of Joseph, one of Jacob's 12 sons, named "Israel" by God, is instructive and interesting not only for the events of his time but also for his sincere devotion to God throughout his life. The Bible reveals characteristic similarities between Jesus Christ and Joseph:

1) Both were the object of their father's special love. "And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons" (Gen. 37:3). The words of God the Heavenly Father at the baptism of Jesus Christ were: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (http://proza.ru/2025/10/03/1748 Matt. 3:17)

2) In both Bible accounts, we read of brothers' hatred based on envy: "And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him" (Gen. 37:4). Pilate, having decided to execute Jesus Christ, knew "that the chief priests had delivered Him up out of envy" (Mark 15:10). "But that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law: 'They hated Me without a cause.'" (John 15:25).

3) The lofty claims of Joseph and Jesus Christ were rejected by their loved ones. Joseph's brothers spoke to him thus: "Then his brothers said to him, 'Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed rule over us?' And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words" (Genesis 37:8). And here is what is written in the Bible about Jesus Christ. In the book of Matthew (chapter 16:16, 17). Jesus asks his disciples: "But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Then Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'" The attitude of the Jews toward Jesus Christ was more insidious and cruel than the attitude of the brothers toward Joseph. "And Pilate said to the Jews, 'Behold, your King!' But they cried out, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar.' (John 19:14, 15).

4) Blood relatives plotted against both of them. "And they (Joseph's brothers) saw him afar off, and before he came near them, they plotted against him to kill him" (Genesis 37:18). "Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and took counsel to arrest Jesus by subterfuge and kill him" (Matt. 26:3, 4).

5) Joseph married a pagan, but Christ found a bride in the Church, which accepted not only Jews but also pagans. Pharaoh "gave him (Joseph) Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to wife" (Genesis 41:45). Asenath, a pagan bride, symbolizes the Church of the future, which will absorb pagan peoples and become the bride of Christ. Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans (chapter 11:25), speaks of the future Church of the Lord: "Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in."

6) Joseph was second in command after Pharaoh in Egypt. "And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Behold, I will set you over all the land of Egypt...only in the throne will I be greater than you.'" (Genesis 41:41, 40). The Lord Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Trinity after the Heavenly Father.

7) Joseph and Jesus Christ began their ministry when they were 30 years old. http://proza.ru/2025/10/03/1748т. "Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Genesis 41:46). "And Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry" (Luke 3:23).

8) God used Joseph to save his brothers. "God sent me before you to save your lives" (Genesis 45:5). God sent His Son to save all who believe in Him (His brothers and sisters). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

9) Joseph fed his household, as well as the people in Egypt, with bread during the famine, and the bread saved them in their time of need. "And Joseph supplied his father and his brothers and all his father's household with bread..." (Genesis 47:12). Joseph stored up large stores of bread and was able to feed others through sale or barter. The Egyptians said to Joseph, "You have saved our lives" (Genesis 47:25). Jesus Christ repeatedly fed thousands of people with bread during His ministry. Bread takes precedence over all other foodstuffs. A peasant farm, the primary food supplier, uses bread to feed its animals. Various baked goods are made from bread. Human life depends on an abundance of bread and food. Bread is also a symbol of God, without whom human life is impossible. And the Lord speaks of this to people: "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35).

10) Joseph was obedient to God and, enduring all the undeserved punishments from his brothers and Pharaoh's courtier, strove to live in a way that would please God. Jesus Christ was obedient to the Heavenly Father in everything, and He speaks of this in His prayer before His execution. "Father, if You will, remove this cup from Me! Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).

11) Joseph gained glory in Egypt for all his righteous deeds, including his saving of the people from famine, "for the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord made everything he did prosper" (Genesis 39:23). Jesus Christ performed many miracles on earth. The greatest event on earth is Golgotha, where God's desire to save people and His love for them were fulfilled by Jesus Christ on the cross of Golgotha. Human history on earth is divided into two periods: before Golgotha ;;and after Golgotha. The greatness and glory that God bestowed upon Jesus Christ are immeasurably great. But the Lord shares His glory with His Apostles, as well as with all His disciples and followers. Of this, the Lord says: "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them: that they may be one, even as We are one" (John 17:22).

12) Joseph was sold by his brothers into Egypt. "And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they carried Joseph down to Egypt" (Genesis 37:28). The high priests and the Jews conspired to assassinate Jesus Christ and, in order to capture Him, paid thirty pieces of silver to Judas for his betrayal. “Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, when he saw that He had been condemned, repented himself and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders” (Matthew 27:3).

13) Joseph experienced a diabolical temptation through his flesh when his master's wife said, "Lie with me." For Joseph, God was the most important thing in his life. Everything else was secondary. Joseph loved and obeyed God, and this became such a necessity for his entire existence that he could never allow himself to grieve God in any of his actions or desires. And Joseph said to his master's wife, "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:7, 9).

Jesus Christ endured and withstood all temptations, including the greatest of the flesh—hunger, when He fasted forty days and forty nights. Such a period of fasting is critical for the body, when irreversible processes can begin and death can occur. Medicine knows all this from human experience. The Bible tells us about this temptation of Jesus Christ: "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was an hungred." Then the tempter came to Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread." He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:3-4). Jesus responded to the devil's temptations by saying, "Get behind Me, Satan." Joseph did the same.

14) Joseph, despite the fact that his brothers mocked him, loved them and cared for them. He who loves always forgives. If a person fears God, this means nothing other than that he fears to harm Him, because he loves Him and fears to grieve Him. In a human family, children who love their father do the same. Joseph's words to his brothers, so that they would not worry about his unforgiveness, are astonishing and beautiful: "Do not be afraid; “For I fear God” (Genesis 50:19). How we would love to always have a friend like Joseph by our side in our lives! Whoever it may be: husband or wife, brother or sister, workmate; anyone with whom we live side by side in our lives.

15) There are many similarities and similarities between Jesus Christ and Joseph, who lived far back in human history. Here's another example of obedience. Thus, Pharaoh spoke to the Egyptians: "Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you" (Genesis 41:55). Long before the Lord came to earth, Moses uttered a prophecy calling for obedience. "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren; him you shall listen to" (Deuteronomy 18:15). When Joseph rode in his chariot, Pharaoh commanded the Egyptians to proclaim before him: "Bow down" (Genesis 41:43). Christians love Jesus Christ and bow down before Him in all prayers of gratitude to Him daily and repeatedly. * * *
A remarkable connection exists between the New Testament and the Holy Scriptures, which, millennia ago, informed people of the coming Golgotha. The Bible tells us of this at the very beginning of the Old Testament. This is the story of the sacrifice of Abraham's son, which never took place. What God prevented for Abraham, He did Himself. God sacrificed Himself for the salvation of mankind; God sacrificed His Son. The love of God, the love of His Son Jesus Christ, conquered death, which threatened mankind with the loss of eternity. This connection between the Old Testament (the Holy Scriptures) and the New Testament is inseparable, just as it is impossible to separate the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, the story of Joseph, and other events. This inseparable connection demonstrates that, even under Joseph, the Jews had a Christian life, one founded on Christian relationships between people. 


Moses and His Prophecy of the Messiah

The Lord's words to Moses, spoken to Israel, were: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him" (Deut. 18:18). The Lord told the Jews through Moses that He would give them a prophet like Moses. Why specifically like Moses? After all, after Moses, until the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Jews had many prophets, and the last prophet before Jesus Christ was John the Baptist, of whom the Lord said (John 7:28): "For I say to you, among those born of women there is no greater prophet than John the Baptist." There is a very important, very fundamental characteristic that is unique to Moses and Jesus Christ: they are the deliverers of people from slavery, but a slavery of a different nature. And if Moses, under God's guidance, delivered the Jews from physical slavery, then Jesus Christ came to deliver not only the Jews, but all people from spiritual slavery.

Being physically free—that is, not being under someone else's authority, much less a slave—enables a person to live on earth as they wish. This is a great blessing for people, and many achieve this by shedding blood on the battlefield. But with the sinful human spirit inherited from Adam and Eve, and by continuing to commit other sins in life, a person becomes dependent on them. And any dependence limits freedom or makes it impossible. Having committed some kind of offense, having broken some law, having offended someone, having harmed another, having committed theft or something else, a person begins to fear being punished; many try to hide from justice or begin to fear that they might be avenged, and sometimes the person who has offended or harmed another avoids meeting with him or her and changes their travel routes.
 
The sinful spirit we inherited from Adam and Eve constantly accompanies our bodies, urging us to commit unlawful, morally unclean acts, but only so that they may be pleasing to our bodies and beneficial to a prosperous life, earning worship, glory, and material security from others. But all of this is connected to the resulting dependence on the consequences of a sinful life. Sin leads to the loss of human freedom, the loss of humanity, and the loss of the divine essence that connects us to God. Therefore, answering the Jews, the Lord says: "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34).

A believer's sins are not imputed to him; he becomes a free man, that is, independent of his sins, because Jesus Christ took his sins upon Himself and paid for them with His Blood. The Lord cleansed believers from their sins with His Blood, and therefore freed them from their sins, freeing believers from spiritual slavery. Spiritual slavery is more dangerous for people than physical slavery.
Anyone can avoid sinning in their lives if they are guided by the Word of God—His Truth. Jesus Christ became Truth for people, as did everything written in the Bible, the words of God collected in one single book on earth. The Lord speaks of this in the Gospel of John, chapter 8:31-32, to become free from the slavery of sin: "If you abide in My word, then are you My disciples indeed; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." To be with God, it is not enough to be freed from physical slavery; the most important thing is to be freed from spiritual slavery. The Lord shows the way: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

So, having outlined the main points, the most significant ones, in Moses as a prototype of Jesus Christ, we can also highlight other characteristics of Moses that bring him closer to the Lord.

1. Both Moses and the Lord were mediators between God and people. The Book of Exodus relates that Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, said to Moses: "Be a mediator to God for the people and present their affairs to God" (19:19). "And Moses listened to the words of his father-in-law and did all that he said" (19:24). The Apostle Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy, says: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (2:5).

2) Humility is characteristic of Moses and the Lord: "Now Moses was a meek man, more than any man upon the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). The Lord told people about Himself (Matthew 11:29): "For I am meek and lowly in heart..."

3) Moses was the first king of Israel, but the ultimate King of Israel is Jesus Christ. "Moses gave us the Law...And he was king of Israel" (Deut. 33:4-5). The angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, the Mother of the Lord, about the birth of Jesus Christ: "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).

4) Moses took Zipporah as his wife, who was not of the descendants of the sons of Israel (Jacob). She was the daughter of the Midianite priest Reuel, who was not a Jew. The Lord came to save not only Jews, but all people, including Gentiles, who have found faith in Him, and who constitute His true Church. Therefore, Moses' wife is a prototype of the Bride of the Lord, who is His true Church, which is composed primarily of not Jews, but former Gentiles, and collectively, all of these are "those whom He called, not from among the Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles" (Romans 9:24).

5) Moses, at birth, was to be killed, according to Pharaoh's decree. But God was pleased to save him in fulfillment of His will to save the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Jesus Christ, at birth, could also have been killed by the envoys of Herod, the procurator of Judea. But an angel of the Lord warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt with the Child and His mother. Having done so, they were saved in Egypt.

6) When Moses wanted to know God's name, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'" (Exodus 3:14).
The word "I AM" or Lord (translated from the Hebrew word Jehovah) is a concept of the eternally present God, revealing God's multifaceted relationship with people since their creation. With these words of God, "I AM WHO I AM," and with signs from God, Moses came to the Jews to save his people. And the people believed Moses and followed him. The people of Israel acted completely differently during the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. When the Jews asked Jesus Christ who He was, "Jesus said to them, 'I AM who I AM from the beginning'" (John 8:25).

7) The names of Jesus Christ and Moses are also closely linked by a remarkable event in the life of the people of Israel—Passover. When the Lord wanted to carry out the final punishment on the Egyptians, in order to save the Jews, the Lord told Moses to sacrifice a lamb (Exodus 12:7, 12, 13). "And they shall take of its blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel of the doors of the houses where they shall eat it. But I will pass through the land of Egypt this very night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast... And the blood shall be for a token to you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and there shall not be among you the plague to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."

This is a reminder and a prediction of the future judgment for all people who are not marked by the Blood of the Lamb. This means that those who do not accept the Blood of Jesus Christ for their salvation will be condemned to the "deadly plague"—to hell after their earthly life. And if the blood of an animal signified salvation from physical slavery for the Jews, then the blood of the Son of God signifies salvation from spiritual slavery and the attainment of eternal life with God.

John the Baptist speaks of Jesus Christ: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God" (John 29:34). And the Bible, throughout its entirety, reminds people that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). What can we say about all this? The first Passover was celebrated by the Lord through Moses, and the final, last Passover was the Lord's for us. This is what the Apostle Paul says: "For Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7).

8) Moses is a prototype of Jesus in that he wanted to shield Israel from the Lord’s intention to destroy Israel because Israel had committed an abomination to God. This occurred when Moses was on Mount Sinai and had fellowship with God. At that time, the Jews made a golden calf and began to worship it, saying, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:8-10). Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Let my anger be kindled against them, and I will destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation.” But Moses begged the Lord and said to Him, “Forgive their sin. Or else, blot me also out of Your book which You have written” (Exodus 32:32). “So the Lord repented of the evil which He had said He would do to His people” (Exodus 32:14). The Savior of all people on earth is Jesus Christ, "in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:14). Unlike Moses, the Lord protected the people of the whole earth who believed in Him from eternal destruction.

9) Moses and Jesus Christ were previously in Egypt and only by God's will did they leave Egypt. The Gospel of Matthew describes this as follows: "Out of Egypt I called My Son" (chapters 2-15), as well as Hosea, chapter 11:1.

10) A remarkable connection exists between Jesus Christ and His prototype, Moses, in that they share in the law that God gave to the Jews through Moses. The law begins with Moses; it ends with Jesus Christ. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4). The Lord, having atoned for all the sins of believers with His Blood on Calvary, tells them (Romans 6:14): "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

The Bible tells us many wondrous things, and to everyone who reads it with love for Jesus Christ, the Truth is revealed line by line: the Lord and His words about love for people and about eternal life for those who believe in Him. Jesus Christ was rejected by His people not because He was inaccessible or incomprehensible to some, but because the Jews, in their formal piety, no longer believed Moses. "If you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me," Christ rebuked them (John 5:46). Moses lived by faith in Jesus Christ and warned His people that Christ would come and severely punish those who did not listen to His words (Deut. 18:18-19).