Christ in the Old Testament

Genesis 37:4

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Genesis 37:1-11, Matthew 5:43-48 and John 15:9-21

At this point in Genesis, Jacob has returned home to the land of Canaan. He has twelve sons from four different women – two wives and two servants. His favorite wife was Rachel who died recently giving birth to her second son Benjamin. Jacob’s favorite son was Rachel’s firstborn son Joseph.

We are going to spend a few days looking at Joseph. Joseph is a very important person in the history of the Jewish nation. But there are also a plethora of symbology in the story of Joseph pointing to Jesus. In fact, I’ve found at least 60 parallels between the stories of Joseph and Jesus.

I also think it’s interesting that Joseph is not in the direct family line of Jesus. Joseph’s brother Judah’s family line leads to Jesus. Yet we will spend the rest of Genesis looking at the history of Israel through the lens of Joseph. So let’s take a look at Joseph.

In this first section of chapter 37, here are some of the parallels we see to Jesus:

• Joseph was a shepherd whereas Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
• Joseph was his Father’s beloved son (Matt 3:17)
• Joseph was rejected by his own people and explicitly by his brothers (John 1:11, 7:5)
• Joseph was rejected because of his Father’s special love for him (John 5:18)
• Joseph foretold of his reign over his brothers and people (Matt 26:64)

Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph because of Jacob’s love for him. They hated Joseph so much that they “could not speak a kind word to him.” They couldn’t even fake their kindness their hatred was so strong. Similarly, Jesus tells us in John 15:9 that the world hates anyone that belongs to him. Not for anything that we have done. But because of his name.

I personally find this very freeing. If you know someone doesn’t like you then that can really eat away at you. What did I do? What can I do to fix it? You start to question yourself. If it’s someone you care about and want to like you, it can lead to frustration, bad moods, anxiety or even depression. But if they don’t like you for something that you can’t control, well then what can you do? For sure you can’t take it personally because it’s not because of anything you did. It’s simply because of who you belong to. So I find that releases me of any guilt or worry because there’s nothing I can do about it.

But what should our response be? Two things Jesus told us to do:

1. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt 5:44)
2. Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

Yeah not surprising right? Love. It’s always love with Jesus. Love your enemies and love your brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s not a suggestion. Jesus commanded it. It’s why the world didn’t recognize him (John 1:10). The world doesn’t love when it’s hated. But Jesus did. And so did Joseph as we will see.

It’s the hardest thing in the world to do – to love someone that doesn’t like you or even hates you. But I think it makes it easier knowing that it’s not personal. They don’t know what they’re doing. That can free you up to love them in return.

Today’s Prayer: Lord help me to love those that are hard to love. Show me your love for them so that I can love like you.