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Jesus and Joseph were
both born through miracles. Jesus through the virgin
birth (Matthew
1:18-23) and
Joseph through Rachel's barren womb which was opened
by God (Genesis
30:22-24).
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Joseph's father
loved him more than his brothers.
Jesus is the beloved
son and preferred one of the Father.
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Both are
described in the Bible to be very pious men who
received revelations from God. The Bible records
no sin in the life of either Joseph or Jesus.
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Jesus and
Joseph both went to Egypt in their youth. Both began
their life's work at the age of thirty (Genesis
41:46,
Luke 3:23).
This parallel was noted by Origen in his
Homilies on Genesis
(II,5).
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The course of the lives
of Joseph and Jesus were dramatically changed by
the power of dreams.
Joseph became an interpreter of his own dreams
and the dreams of others which he used
to save everyone's life
including his own. It was also
a dream which led Jesus'
earthly father, Joseph, to flee Israel for
their lives to Egypt. In the same way, it was a
dream of Joseph while acting as prince of Egypt
which led his family out of Israel and into Egypt.
After the danger was over, God called both Joseph's
family and Jesus' family out of Egypt and back to
Israel as an act of salvation. (Hosea
11:1 and
Matthew 2:15).
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Joseph and
Jesus were hated because of their greatness. Joseph
had a dream which made it clear that
he would rule over his
brothers some day and for this they hated
him:
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"Joseph
had a dream, and when he told
it to his brothers, they hated him all
the more. He said to them, Listen to
this dream I had: We were binding sheaves
of grain out in the field when suddenly
my sheaf rose and stood upright, while
your sheaves gathered around mine and
bowed down to it. His brothers said
to him, Do you intend to reign over
us? Will you actually rule us? And
they hated
him all the more because of his
dream and what he had said.'" (Genesis
37:5-8)
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Jesus encountered
the same reaction from his brothers and everyone
in town. After preaching in his own hometown, Jesus
received the following response:
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"Isn't this
the carpenter's son? Isn't his
mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers
James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't
all his sisters with us? Where then
did this man get all these things? And
they took
offense at him. But Jesus said
to them, Only in his hometown and in
his own house is a prophet without honor."
(Matthew
13:55-57)
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While the
religious leaders were rejecting Jesus, even some
of Jesus' own family rejected him. In
John 7:5, his
own brothers asked Jesus for more signs because:
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his own brothers did not believe in
him." (John
7:5) |
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But ultimately,
Joseph and Jesus attained great authority and inspired
confidence in those around them. When the famine
arrived and the grain ran out in Egypt, the Pharaoh
told the Egyptians:
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Likewise,
Jesus' mother told the servants at the marriage
feast in Cana to do what Jesus tells them to do
when the wine runs out:
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Joseph miraculously gave
bread to the people around him because he
received God's revelation which saved the people
from dying during the famine.
Jesus miraculously gave
bread to the people around him because he
received God's revelation which saved the people
from the spiritual famine.
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Joseph and
Jesus were both sent by their fathers to their brothers
who hated them and rejected their claim to preeminence.
In the seventh chapter of Acts in the New Testament,
the martyr Stephen gives a speech before he is stoned
to death. In it, Stephen draws a parallel between
Joseph and Jesus:
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"The
patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold
him into Egypt; but God was with
him, and rescued him out of all his
afflictions, and gave him favor and
wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
who made him governor over Egypt and
over all his household. Now there came
a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan
and great affliction and our fathers
could find no food. But when Jacob heard
that there was grain in Egypt, he sent
forth our fathers the first time. And
at the second visit Joseph made himself
known to his brothers, and Joseph's
family became known to Pharaoh. And
Joseph sent and called to him Jacob
his father and all his kindred, seventy-five
souls." (Acts
7:9-14)
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The purpose
of Stephen's speech was to show how the enemies
of Jesus were jealous of him in the same way that
Joseph's brothers were jealous of him. This theme
of jealousy is also used in three other places in
Acts and they always describe the jealousy of the
apostle's opponents due to the success of the apostle's
gathering around them more people who become believers.
(see
Acts 5:17,
Acts 13:45,
Acts 17:5).
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Because of envy, Joseph's
brothers conspired to kill Joseph:
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"So
Joseph went after his brothers and found
them near Dothan. But they saw him in
the distance, and before he reached
them, they
plotted to kill him. 'Here comes
that dreamer!' they said to each other.
'Come now, let's kill him and throw
him into one of these cisterns and say
that a ferocious animal devoured him.
Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.'
(Genesis
37:18-19)
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In the same
way, the religious leaders hated Jesus because through
his actions and words demonstrated that he was greater
than them. Jesus' claims to come from heaven, be
greater than Abraham, have God as his own Father,
and be the one of whom Moses wrote about, caused
hatred and envy which caused them to conspire to
kill him:
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"Then
the chief priests and the elders of
the people assembled in the palace of
the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
and they
plotted to arrest Jesus in some
sly way and
kill him." (Matthew
26:3-4)
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Joseph was sold
into Egypt on the advice of his brother
Judah.
Jesus was handed
over to the Romans by the hand of his disciple
Judas.
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Joseph did not utter
a word to his brothers when they sold him.
Jesus did not utter a
word to the judges when they judged him.
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Joseph asked
the imprisoned chief cup bearer
not to forget him
when he is released and reinstated at court. He
said:
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"Be sure to
remember me when things go well for
you." (Genesis
40:14)
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In the same words, the thief
on the cross said in karmic fashion to Jesus:
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"Remember me
when you come into your kingdom." (Luke
23:42)
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One could
even extend this parallel to include the fact that
Jesus was bearing the "cup"
which his Father gave him to drink in the same way
the cup bearer did for
the Pharaoh.
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Two other prisoners were
with Joseph suffering the same punishment.
Two other prisoners were
with Jesus suffering the same punishment.
In Joseph's case, it is written: "Two other prisoners
were with Joseph suffering the same punishment."
Two other prisoners were with Jesus suffering the
same punishment. In Joseph's case, it is written:
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"After
they had been in custody for some time,
each of the two men - the cupbearer
and the baker of the king of Egypt,
who were being held in prison - had
a dream the same night, and each dream
had a meaning of its own." (Genesis
40:4-5)
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The two prisoners told
Joseph their dreams for which Joseph interpreted.
As a result of these two dreams,
death would come
to one of the prisoners
but release and exaltation
for the other.
In Jesus' case, it is written that:
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"Two
robbers were crucified with him, one
on his right and one on his left."
(Matthew
27:38)
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As it was
in Joseph's case, one prisoner would be condemned
while the other prisoner would be released and find
salvation:
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"One
of the criminals who hung there hurled
insults at him, 'Aren't you the Christ?
Save yourself and us!' But the other
criminal rebuked him, 'Don't you fear
God,' he said, 'since you are under
the same sentence? We are punished justly,
for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
But this man has done nothing wrong.'
Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered
him, 'I tell you the truth, today you
will be with me in paradise.'" (Luke
23:39-43)
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In persecution,
Jesus and Joseph were
stripped of their robes and
placed in a pit for three
days where they ultimately
arose victorious
to be great princes and
became exalted
by God for their great
suffering. In the pre-Christian apocryphal
Jewish text called "Testament
of Joseph,"
Joseph's suffering is described in a way that could
easily apply to Jesus as well:
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"My
brothers hated me but the Lord loved
me. They wanted to kill me but the God
of my fathers preserved me. Into a cistern
they lowered me, the most High raised
me up. They sold me into slavery, the
Lord of all set me free. I was taken
into captivity, the strength of His
hand set me free. I was overtaken by
hunger, the Lord Himself fed me generously.
I was alone and God came to help me.
I was in weakness and the Lord showed
His concern for me. I was in prison
and the Savior acted graciously on my
behalf. I was in bonds and He loosed
me. Falsely accused, and He testified
on my behalf. Assaulted by bitter words
of the Egyptians, and He rescued me.
A slave, and He exalted me." (Testament
of Joseph 1:4-7)
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Both Joseph
and Jesus were persecuted
because of false witnesses.
The wife of Potiphar
bears false witness against Joseph before
the members of her household and before her husband
(Genesis
39:14-19).
Witnesses falsely accused
Jesus before the Sanhedrin (Matthew
26:60-62,
Mark 14:55-59)
and before Pilate (Matthew
27:12-14,
Mark 15:3-5).
Joseph went to prison
because of the false witnesses.
Jesus went to hell
after being crucified because of false witnesses.
The words "prison" and "hell"
are often used interchangeably in the Bible.
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Joseph becomes
a model of sexual purity
in the early Church as found in the early Christian
apocryphal texts of the
Protevangelium of James
and the
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.
They record how Jesus'
earthly father, Joseph, was falsely accused
of having had sexual
relations with the virgin Mary before their
marriage and how he was arrested by the religious
authorities and forced to submit himself to a test
to prove his purity. In the same way,
Joseph refused the sexual
advances of Potiphar's wife and this made
him a model of the sexual purity praised by many
Church Fathers such as Origen who wrote:
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"Joseph,
refused to give in to passion, despite
the entreaties and threats of the one
who was legally his mistress Joseph
preferred prison to the loss of his
chastity." (Against
Celsus IV,46
).
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In this
sense, Joseph
is shown as a man who
resisted the seduction of a woman and reversing
the karmic debt for the sin of
Adam who was
tempted by Eve.
Origen credited Joseph's ultimate rule over Egypt
to Joseph's mastery over his own body:
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Joseph, the earthly father
of Jesus, was also seen as a model of this
same purity as was the
virgin Mary whose purity reversed the karmic
transgression of Eve
thereby attaining perfection as a mother.
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Joseph's brothers smeared
his robe with goat's
blood in order to blame Joseph's demise on
wild animals. On the day of
Jesus' death,
it was Passover and a
goat is sacrificed for the atonement of sins.
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Both Joseph
and Jesus were men among
many brothers who rejected
them but was saved by God and
raised to be the judge
of their brothers. This same theme can be
found in Jesus' parable
of the murderous tenants in the vineyard.
It is a parable which can be found in all three
synoptic gospels. The parable is an important key
to understanding how Jesus' rejection and death
is to be understood (see
Matthew 21:33-46,
Mark 12:1-11,
Luke 20:9-19).
In the parable, evil men plot to kill the son of
the vineyard owner, saying:
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These words are even similar
to the words of Joseph's brothers when they plotted
to kill Joseph:
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"Come now,
let's kill him and throw him into one
of these cisterns" (Genesis
37:20)
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Both were
sold for the price of a slave. Joseph was sold for
20 shekels of silver and Jesus was sold for 30 pieces.
Both were assigned with two other prisoners. Church
Father
Tertullian
(145-220 AD) wrote explicitly about the parallels
between Joseph and Jesus and their suffering:
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"Joseph
himself was made a figure of Christ
in this point alone, that he suffered
persecution at the hands of his brethren,
and was sold into Egypt on account of
the favor of God. Likewise, Christ was
sold by Israel according to the flesh,
by his brethren, when he is betrayed
by Judas." (Tertullian
7,10
)
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In the
Treatises of Aphrahat
the Persian, a Father of the Syriac tradition,
stated: Joseph persecuted is the image of Jesus
persecuted (Treatises
of Aphrahat the Persian 21,9).
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The stories
of Joseph and Jesus are both a kind of "rags
to riches" story. Joseph was brought out of
the pit and prison to be exalted to the Pharaoh's
right hand:
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"Then
Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has
made all this known to you, there is
no one so discerning and wise as you.
You shall be in charge of my palace,
and all my people are to submit to your
orders. Only with respect to the throne
will I be greater than you. So Pharaoh
said to Joseph, I hereby put you in
charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then
Pharaoh took his signet ring from his
finger and put it on Joseph's finger.
He dressed him in robes of fine linen
and put a gold chain around his neck.
He had him ride in a chariot as His
second in command." (Genesis
41:39-41)
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Jesus was brought out from
the pit after death and exalted to the Father's
right hand:
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"And
being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient
to death - even death on a cross! Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and
on Earth and under the Earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians
2:8-11)
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Forgiveness and reconciliation
are the major aspects concerning the lives of both
Joseph and Jesus.
Caesar of Arles,
in his Sermon XC, drew this parallel between Joseph
and Jesus:
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"He
[Joseph] embraced them one by one and
shed tears over each one of them. Watering
the neck of each one of them, who feared
him, he washed away the hate of his
brothers by the tears of his love."
(Caesar
of Arles XL,4).
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The actual
Bible verse referred to here is
Genesis 45:14
when Joseph's dramatic revealing of his true identity
to his brothers and their reconciliation and his
forgiveness is the dramatic climax of the story
of Joseph:
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"Do
not be distressed and do not be angry
with yourselves for selling me here,
because it was to save lives that God
sent me ahead of you ... So then, it
was not you who sent me here, but God
... Then
he threw his arms around his brother
Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin
embraced him, weeping. And
he kissed
all his brothers and wept over
them. Afterward his brothers talked
with him." (Genesis
45:5-14)
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In a similar
vein, Jesus was revealed as the Son of God while
on the cross when he forgives his brothers:
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"Father,
forgive them for they know not
what they do." (Luke
23:34)
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When Mary announced Jesus'
resurrection to the disciples,
they didn't believe it:
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"But these words seemed to them an idle
tale and they did not believe them."
(Luke
24:11)
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Likewise,
Joseph's father is unbelieving
when his sons announce to him that Joseph is alive:
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"But he was
as one stunned for he did not believe
them." (Genesis
45:26)
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When Joseph's father finally
did see Joseph, he stated
he is now ready to die:
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"Now I can die,
now that I have seen you again, and
seen you still alive." (Genesis
46:30)
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The same
thing was said by Simeon the Elder, awaiting the
Messiah in the Temple when he meets Jesus and recognized
him as the long awaited Messiah. He exclaimed:
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"Lord, let
your servant now depart in peace
according to your word. My eyes have
seen your salvation." (Luke
2:29-30)
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The brothers
of Joseph recovered his
bones from Egypt and brought them to the
Promised Land. God the Father of Jesus
resurrected his body
from Hades and brought him to heaven.
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Even more interesting
parallels between Joseph and Jesus can be found
at this website.
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