OUT OF EGYPT: A TALE OF TWO JOSEPHS

OUT OF EGYPT: A TALE OF TWO JOSEPHS

Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, “When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up from this place.” - Genesis 50:25

 
Moses also took Joseph’s bones with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites take a solemn oath, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you must bring my bones up with you from here.” - Exodus 13:19

Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.  He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” - Matthew 2:14-15

 
Introduction

The name Joseph is of Hebrew origin, from the verb yasaf, meaning to increase.  As a name Yosef means, He will add.  The English rendering of Yosef as Joseph is from the Latin form of the Greek Ioseph (?ωσ?φ).  

Both the Joseph the Patriarch, the Fair, the son of Jacob, and Saint Joseph the husband of Mary, the protector of the Holy Family, the Worker; were righteous men who found themselves unexpectedly in the land of Egypt.  A land known as the Gift of the Nile, a proud land, a powerful kingdom in the ancient world, and a land known for not always welcoming outsiders or other cultures in biblical times.  Yet, Joseph son of Jacob and Joseph son of Heli, both found Egypt a place of acceptance and safety from the turmoil they were facing in their homeland.  Joseph the Patriarch and Joseph the husband of Mary; both men of dreams in which God revealed his will to them. 

Righteous Joseph the Patriarch

The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem in the plot of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of money. This was a heritage of the descendants of Joseph. - Joshua 24:32

 
Joseph was the son of the Jacob and Rachel, and being the son of Jacob’s elder years, his favorite son.  Eventually, his remains taken out of Egypt by Moses, were enshrined in Shechem, and he became known as the father of the northern tribes of Israel (as contrasted to the southern tribes of Judah).  

The brothers of Joseph were very jealous of him, for he had many dreams that showed his favor.  For he had dreamt, where the bundles of wheat that belonged to his brothers, bowed to his sheaf of wheat (cf. Genesis 37:6), and that the sun, the moon, and the stars had bowed to him (cf. Genesis 37:9).  When his father had earlier given him a special coat to wear, it had already become for them the last straw:

Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long ornamented tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his brothers, they hated him so much that they could not say a kind word to him. - Genesis 37:3-4 

So his brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites (Arabs) who took him to Egypt.  Eventually, Joseph is sold by the Midianites to Potiphar an official of the Pharaoh of Egypt.  After years of ups and downs, once again it was dreams that brought Joseph to  become favored by the Pharaoh.  While all his religious leaders could not interpret his dreams, Joseph was able to inform the Pharaoh that his dreams mean’t seven years of abundance and seven years of famine.  This allowed the Egyptians to store enough grain to see them through the famine, in return for his wisdom…

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Look, I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.  He then had him ride in his second chariot, and they shouted “Abrek!” before him. - Genesis 41:41-43

 
During this same famine his brothers arrived in Egypt in search of grain, there they are reconciled and their families are saved from starvation.  Their offspring will too will go out of Egypt, as the Hebrew people; the tribes of Judah and the tribes of Joseph, known as Israel, from of his father Jacob who was also called Israel.

Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church

Matthew and Luke provide us with the most Scriptural information about Joseph, the husband of Mary.  His life too was informed by dreams that allowed him to protect Mary and Jesus.  When he discovered his betrothed was with child, he did not want to expose her to the harsh penalties of the Mosaic Law, when…

behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:20-21

When learning of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, again he was visited by an angel in a dream:

…the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”  Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. - Matthew 2:13-14

 
After Herod had died the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and said:

“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. - Matthew 2:20-22

 
Now the words of the prophets were fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son”(Hosea 11:1), and Isaiah 11:1 where the future Messianic David King will be a (neser) bud, a play on the word Nazareth in Matthew’s Gospel.   

Conclusion

Jesus opened the minds and hearts of his disciples on the road to Emmaus that the Scriptures were about him, that Moses had spoken about him.  So often our modern mind wants to read the Bible as if it were a history book, filled with biographies of all the famous biblical figures we are accustomed to, and many that we are not.  

We must not forget that; “according to the Scriptures” Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of the Father, made flesh, who has redeemed and glorified his Father’s created images.  That being said, we see the context of how Joseph the Patriarch and Joseph the Husband of Mary are part of, to use the thought of the Church Father Origen, this double narrative of revelation.  As Joseph the Patriarch is part of the genealogy of descent, from Adam to Joseph the husband of Mary; Joseph in turn becomes part of the genealogy of ascent from Jesus Son of God and Son of Mary, culminating with Jesus Christ the image of the invisible God and the image of the new Adam.  As Scripture says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory”(Colossians 3:3-4).   

- Rev. David A. Fisher