JOSEPH IS A TYPE OF JESUS CHRIST; BOTH WORE THE COAT OF MANY COLOURS

01-24-10

(Gen 37:1,2) And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan[Heb: humiliated; Kenaan, a son of Ham]. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph[Heb: let him add, adding], being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives [Leah is omitted, and Rachael is barren]: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

  1. Commentary: Jacob (Heb: heel-catcher, i.e. supplanter) was this patriarch’s natural man name and best description of the essence of his deceitful character before he wrestled with the angel all night, that is, before he prayed to God mightily in tears and great supplication through God’s messenger all night, and prevailed in prayer over (figuratively) the angel, i.e., he was heard by God, and deemed by God to have “power with God and with men” (Gen 32:28 & Hos 12:2-4). Jacob then received a name change to Israel (Heb: he will rule as God, prince with God) indicating compositely his immediate positional reality (as yet unattained, but certainly assured), and his experiential reality (his every day experiences) expressed through the transformation process (Rom 12:2) as a gradual change in character attaining toward his destined positional reality. This name change from Jacob into Israel altogether represents a wonderful type and shadow of the conversion of a natural man into a spiritual man, experientially exemplified by a maturing born-again child of God named Israel.
  2. (Gen 32:27,28) And he [the angel in form of a man] said unto him [Jacob], What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, butIsrael: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men,and hast prevailed.
  3. (Hosea 12:2-4) The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength [of his prayers] he had power with God: Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication[Heb: prayer] unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
  4. (Rev 2:17) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh[Gk: prevails] will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
  5. Commentary: Preceding his son Joseph, Jacob had ten sons who became ten of the tribes, and a daughter named Dinah (Heb: justice). Thereafter, Jacob had an eleventh son by his previously barren wife Rachael (Heb: an ewe: sheep) whom he loved. Rachael had two sons. Rachel’s first son was named Joseph who seems the only perfect type of Jesus Christ in the Bible, or at least the most perfect type. And then, after his conversion from Jacob into Israel, Israel had his only son, the twelfth son (tribe) by Rachael. Israel named this son Benjamin (Heb: son of the right hand) (Gen 35:18). This last son Benjamin was uniquely the only son fathered by converted Israel. Benjamin is the younger brother to Joseph (Jesus Christ), and Benjamin is the only full-blooded brother to Joseph (Jesus Christ); as such, Benjamin in Scripture represents us, born-again Christians. We are the Benjamin company, who later aligned with the tribe of Judah against the ten northern tribes who fell into apostasy. Benjamin followed Joseph in birth. You and I are the antitype (fulfillment) of the Benjamin company following Jesus.

AN EXPLANATION OF “THEIR EVIL REPORT” (previous occurrences) VISUALLY SIGNIFIED BY

THE COAT OF MANY COLOURS

(Gen 37:3,4) Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw[and were therefore reminded every day] that their fatherloved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

  1. Commentary: Joseph (Heb: let him add, adding) received a “coat of many colours” from his father, which points to the four colors of the robes that Jesus wore in the New Testament (blue: Exo 28:31,32 & John 19:23; purple: John 19:2; scarlet: Mat 27:28; white “fine twined linen” Mark 9:3), and also points to the four same colors appearing in five stripes or bands on the fabric gate, door, veil, and ceiling (biblically referred to as “curtains”) of the Tabernacle of Moses. Joseph is perhaps the only perfect type of Jesus Christ in the Bible.
  2. PURPLE = (John 19:1-3) Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe [symbolizing royalty and kingship], And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
  3. SCARLET = (Mat 27:27,28) Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe [symbolizing the sacrificial blood of life].
  4. WHITE = (Mark 9:2-4) And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment [robe] became shining, exceeding white as snow [symbolizing purity and righteousness]; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
  5. BLUE = (Exo 28:31,32) And [for the High Priest] thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue [symbolizing the eternal High Priest of all the Heavens, i.e., all the universe]. And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon [“like the opening in a coat of mail” NKJV], that it be not rent.
  6. (John 19:23,24) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat [Gk: robe]: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment [robe] among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
  7. (Heb 5:5,6) So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. [Psa 110:4].
  8. (Exo 26:1) Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen[Heb: white],and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.
  9. tabernacle = Heb: mishkan; a residence (includ. a shepherd's hut, //// the lair of animals, fig. the grave; also the Temple):--dwelleth, dwelling (place), habitation, tent.
  10. Commentary: Please note that the artifact known as the “coat of many colours” is manifested in the Old Testament (sight) but hidden in the New Testament (faith). It is the wearer that is the essence of the “coat of many colours;” the coat itself is a literal sign covering, describing, and pointing to its wearer who is covered (hidden) by it in the Old Testament and manifested in the New Testament. He is our High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Amen