Read Genesis 41-42 at Bible Gateway.
A new strong paragraph begins with Gen 41:1 in today’s reading, but it continues past today’s reading. So chapter 41, Pharaoh’s dreams, and chapter 42, Joseph’s brothers coming to him in Egypt, are both part of a larger paragraph.
The prevalence of three’s in Joseph’s life is the Scripture’s way of telling us, as three is a sign of the Messiah in Torah, that Joseph is a type of Messiah. The threes prophesy of the number of days Messiah was buried.
Joseph was cast down three times, and raised up to the position of overseer three times: he was cast into a pit, into slavery, and into prison; and he was made overseer for Potiphar, for the keeper of the prison, and for Pharaoh. That he was cast down was as a death sentence each time, for each time his life that he had led, was over; but out of that “death” God brought him up to a new life and made him overseer. Joseph’s life prophesies that the Messiah will be cast down in death, and also raised up to new life and made ruler of all.
Also, Joseph was overseer under his father Israel before he was cast down and brought up three times, just as Messiah existed before He was born, or cast down, in His life on this earth. Notice that each time Joseph was made overseer, he was never the supreme authority, but the second in command. This is also a prophecy of Messiah, who reigns under the authority of the Father.
Joseph also prophesies of the two comings of the Messiah. His first sojourn in Egypt is as a slave, or servant of all. Then he is hidden away for a time, while he is in the prison house. Then, his second sojourn in Egypt is as the ruler of all. Messiah Yeshua’s first coming was to die on the cross, to be the servant of all, and His second coming is to reign in glory, to be the ruler of all.
God is amazing, because the history recorded in Genesis is real history; things happened to real people just as it is recorded, and real people used free will to make decisions for good and evil. And yet as it all unfolds, it proclaims the Gospel of grace in every detail!
For further study: We saw previously that Isaac’s life repeated elements of Abraham’s life, and Jacob’s life repeated elements of Isaac’s life. Does Joseph’s life repeat elements of Jac0b’s life? Repetition is a teaching tool of Scripture! What is Scripture teaching by this repetition?
For further reading:
Joseph in Egypt, part four, part five (Assoc. for Biblical Research)
<– 39-40 genesis 43-44 –>
genesis index ::: ::: ::: one year reading schedule
Concerning Joseph in Egypt:
Here are some points from ezinearticles.com
Joseph, Vizier/Savior of Egypt. Archaeological digs along the Nile, provide an obvious and remarkable corroboration of the biblical story of Joseph. An unusual life-sized statue was found at Avaris, honoring the famed Vizier who – by Egyptian records – saved the Egyptian people from a terrible famine. The statue is of a white-faced, clean-shaven Asiatic man with unusually-shaped and red hair, (and since legend is frequently based on fact) adjacent Egyptian wall murals depict Asian caravans of the time with similarly-featured non-Egyptian men wearing “coats of many colors”!
Described in Papyrus #1116A in the Leningrad Museum is a mural of starving desert tribesmen seeking food from Egypt during a period of drought, “Pharaoh giving wheat to a tribe from Ashkelon, Hazor and Megiddo” (undoubtedly Hebrews from well-known cities in Israel);
Roman historian, Josephus, in his book, “Josephus Against Apion”, quotes two Egyptian priest-scholars, Manetho and Cheremon, who, in their own histories of Egypt, specifically name Joseph and Moses as leaders of the Hebrews, that they “rejected Egypt’s customs and gods .. practiced animal sacrifices (witnessed on the first Passover)” .. These historians confirm that the Jews migrated to “southern Syria” (the Egyptian name for Palestine) and that the exodus occurred during the reign of Amenophis .. during the close of the 18th dynasty, 1500 to 1400 BC.