Torah: Genesis 37:1-40:23
Haftarah: Amos 2:6-3:8

Long ago, the Jewish sages created reading calendars to be read annually throughout all the synagogues every sabbath. They are the Parsha (from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible), and the Haftarah (selected readings from the prophetic books of the Old Testament). Today, I continue my series exploring the Messiah in each of these portioned readings that was planned and scheduled in ancient days and appointed for our present days. For December 13 this year, the readings are cited above. I would encourage you to read those passages first before you read my post, or at least read them in tandem. Again, thank you for your patience, as I know I am behind the reading schedule, but I promise that I am catching up. I am not a paid writer, so I write as I have time.

Joseph’s “here I am” follows a line of momentous events in his family line. In Genesis chapter 22, God called Abraham and Abraham answered, “Here I am” before God then told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In Genesis chapter 31, God called Jacob and Jacob answers, “Here I am,” before God told him to make the difficult journey back to Canaan. It would be difficult to leave Laban and difficult to meet Esau again. Now Joseph answered his father with “Here I am,” knowing that what his father just commanded him was going to be difficult. The last thing he probably wanted to do was be around them, since the Scripture tells us they hated him so much they couldn’t even speak a kind word to him (Gen. 37:4). Verse one of the chapter tells us Joseph pastured the flocks with his brothers, but verse 12 tells us he didn’t go with his brothers this time. This is after we receive the context that his brothers hated him for his father’s favoritism and his dreams. Now he was going to be sent to them alone. He knew it, and he said, “Here I am.”

John chapter 1 tells us that Jesus, “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (vs. 11). His own crucified Him on a cross, but He submitted Himself to the will of the Father (Lk. 22:42). Since Jesus is God incarnate, and God knows everything, it’s hard to imagine a conversation between the Father and the Son, but if I dumb it down, maybe it went something like this.

“Son.”

“Yes, Father.”

“My people are perishing. They are like sheep without a shepherd, and they have no way to return to me even if they wanted to. They need someone to show them the way. They have wracked up a debt of sin so great, they can never pay it off with their lives. They need someone to pay their debt. They are so guilty of sin that they all deserve death. They need a substitute for their capital punishment if they are going to be rescued. But most of them won’t even take the offer if they receive it.”

“Here I am.”

Later in Scripture, Moses answered God with, “Here I am,” at the burning bush, another moment when God told someone to do something he very clearly did not want to do, so much so that he made any excuse he could (Ex. 4:1-13).

Isaiah is another great example of the difficult, “Here I am.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”  And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste,
and the Lord removes people far away,
    and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump remains
    when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump. (Is. 6:8-13).

Yay! That’s a motivational speech for the job Isaiah just signed up for. And the Talmud records that King Manasseh had him sawn in two inside a cedar tree where he hid. Yikes! The author of Hebrews makes reference to Isaiah’s death (Heb. 11:37).

So back to Joseph. It’s amazing that Joseph, knowing what his father wanted him to do, submitted himself to His father’s will and said, “Here I am.” It’s a perfect foreshadowing of Jesus. Messianic believers understand Joseph as a messianic figure. He is understood to be messianic so much that in Jewish teaching, there is a Messiah ben Joseph, the suffering servant. But I will save more on this for a later portion.

Joseph’s brothers conspired against him to put him to death (Gen. 37:20). The Pharisees and Sadducees conspired against Jesus to put Him to death too. The sons of Israel took Joseph and threw him into an empty cistern in the wilderness. Ironic, seeing that later they would come bowing before him in the midst of a drought. They stripped him of his robe (Gen. 37:23). So too, was Jesus’ robe stripped from Him at his crucifixion (Jn. 19:23-24). They sold Joseph for pieces of silver (Gen. 37:28). Jesus was sold out by Judas for pieces of silver (Mt. 26:15). God’s favor was on Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in prison. In Potiphar’s house, it says,

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. (Gen. 39:2-3).

In prison, it says,

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed (Gen. 39:21-23).

Part of this portion’s Haftarah reads,

Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Israel,
 and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they sell the righteous for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals—
 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
    and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
a man and his father go in to the same girl,
    so that my holy name is profaned (Amos 2:6-7).

Joseph had done no wrong, but he was sold for silver. When he pleaded with his brothers in his need, they did not heed his cries (Gen. 42:21). Judah slept with his daughter-in-law, though unwittingly. I suppose the sages (or perhaps Ezra himself) saw the commonalities between the sins of the sons of Israel and the Israel Amos preached to, and that’s why they paired these together. Jesus was the ultimate Righteous One, having never sinned, and He was born poor. During His presentation in the temple, His parents had to offer doves instead of the normal lamb (Lev. 12:8; Lk. 2:24).

As a brother, Joseph did no wrong, but he was sold as a slave. As a slave, he did no wrong, but he was thrown in prison for actually remaining righteous by refusing to commit adultery under great temptation (Gen. 40:15). Why did all this come upon him? The stories of his brothers make them out to be pretty lousy. Reuben slept with his father’s concubine (Gen. 35:22). Simeon and Levi tricked the city of Shechem using the sacred sign of the covenant, circumcision, and then massacred them in their weakness (Gen. 34:13-29). At least Judah recognized that a Canaanite girl was more righteous than he was, though he is a son of the promise (Gen. 38:26). We don’t know what specific flaws Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher had, but the Bible tells us they were bad enough for Joseph to bring a bad report concerning them to their father (Gen 37:2). Joseph’s brothers aren’t sounding too great so far, yet it’s Joseph who was sold out. Why? There is a midrash that states it was God’s plan to put Joseph in Egypt so he could save his family and consequently all Jews thereafter (see Complete Jewish Study Bible, footnote for Gen. 39:1).

It’s stuff like this that makes Joseph as a messianic figure so appropriate. Joseph was righteous. Jesus was righteous. Joseph was sold into slavery and Jesus was betrayed. Joseph was thrown in prison and Jesus was crucified and buried. Joseph suffered according to God’s will for the sake of his family and the future Israel. Jesus suffered according to God’s will for the sake of His people Israel and the world. Isiah 53:10 says,

“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

I know this following part of the story isn’t covered until the next two portions but the connections are too contiguous to chop up. Joseph’s brothers did not deserve his kindness or forgiveness, and the world did not deserve God’s kindness and forgiveness through Christ Jesus. But God purposed Jesus should go through what He did for our sakes like the midrash teaches Joseph went through what he did for Israel’s sake.

Joseph provided sustenance to Egypt and the known world during a time of drought. David speaks of a spiritual drought to which God is the answer: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps. 63:1). On the last day of Tabernacles, Jesus cried out in the temple,

 “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (Jn. 7:37b-39).

Joseph provided grain to the known world during the famine. Jesus says in John 6:51,

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The whole world is in a spiritual famine, but Jesus is the Living Water and the Bread of Life. Maybe you feel like David, whose soul thirsted for God in a dry and weary land. The world is dry and weary. It promises fulfillment but leaves you wanting. We are like Joseph’s brothers. We all have a back story. Some of us are willing to admit it like Judah, others, not so much, but we’re still messed up and I think deep down inside we know that. God became like a brother to us, like a Joseph, and He suffered to save us, willingly. He loves you that much. At His expense we can eat and drink and live, we can find fulfillment. All we have to do is come to Him. He has already stored up measureless forgiveness and favor ahead of time in His heavenly granary like Joseph stored up grain for Egypt beyond measure (Gen. 41:49). His Living Water is eternal life, and His Bread of Life makes one live forever. All we have to do is come and receive. But to do that, first, you have to believe.

What is your “Here I am” moment? It won’t be easy, but it’s better than scrounging for sustenance in a dry and weary land. Maybe you need to say, “Here I am,” to salvation for the first time. Maybe you need to say, “Here I am,” to a high calling God has for your life at such a time as this. Whatever it is, now is the time to answer the voice of the Father and say, “Here I am.” Yes, Father, here I am.

The Joseph Paradigm

You knew before what Your Father would ask,
“See they are like sheep without a shepherd.”1
You knew it wouldn’t be an easy task.
Your teachings they would laugh at as absurd,2
But You did not stop bringing us the Word.
Yes, they hated You and plotted Your death,
Innocent as a lamb, a dove, a bird,3
And You forgave them with your final breath.4
What you taught, said, was more than shibboleth,
More seamless than your seamless stripped-off robe,5
Miracles stopping the hand on the sneath,
Measureless granaries of grace to the globe.
For petty pieces of silver was sold6
The King Who gives the city made of gold.7

1. Ez. 43:1-10; Zech. 10:2; Mt. 9:36; Mk. 6:34
2. Jn. 6:60; Jn. 7:20, 8:48, 8:52
3. Gen. 40:15; Heb. 4:15
4. Lk. 23:34
5. Gen. 37:23; Jn. 19:23-24
6. Gen. 37:28; Zech. 11:15; Mt. 26:15
7. Rev. 21:18

If you like this poem, I have a book available for sale on Amazon, Learning to Love: A collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions. You can buy it as an eBook or paperback. It would make a great Christmas gift, and it may not be too late to order it in time. All proceeds go to charity, so you will be giving a double gift, and the charity goes to some of the most needy, the orphans and the widows of the world. I do generate AI images for my blog posts, but I promise none of my text nor poetry is AI generated. Until next time, God, bless.