I’m at an in between point in my reading currently. I am reading The Marvelous Land of the Snergs, by E.A. Wyke-Smith with my daughter and Phantastes by George McDonald in my own leisure. I’ve also been revisiting the Works of Jonathan Edwards as I try to read and re-read some of his sermons. Edwards’ sermons are remarkably good. I just don’t know that I’ve ever encountered anyone who preaches with such force. Even when you read him (and even though his works are centuries old) you still feel as though he is preaching to you.
Other than that, I am bringing my series on the book of Genesis to a close in April. I preached on Genesis 32 yesterday. One observation that I need to record is my own personal feelings toward Jacob and his son Joseph. This won’t make it into a sermon, so I need to write it down.
I’m struck by how these two men, Jacob and Joseph, evoke my emotions and sympathies. It would seem that Genesis, as a narrative, has virtually nothing good to say about Jacob. He is pictured as fully representing his name – he is crooked, a deceiver, a supplanter, etc. There is nothing in the story that should make a person sympathize with Jacob. And yet I do.
On the other hand, Joseph is pictured as the supreme example of virtue. He is steadfast in his faith and perseveres through the most extreme trials. And in the end he pardons his brothers who committed such evil against him. What’s not to love about Joseph, right? And yet I find that I do not sympathize with him at all.
The thing that bothers me about Joseph is that it is quite obvious that he was pampered and came across as gloating over his brothers. Yet, if the truth be told, it is Jacob who caused this. It is he who pampered Joseph. It is he who favored him because he loved his mother more than the mothers of his other children.
Jacob was a polygamist, a liar, a deceiver, he showed favoritism among his children, refused to love his first wife, etc. Joseph, in the narrative, is faithful, monogamous, brilliant, righteous, etc. So why do I sympathize with Jacob? Perhaps because I see more of myself in him than in Joseph. Perhaps I sympathize because it took God literally wrestling with Jacob and nearly tearing his leg off from the socket to get him to open his eyes. That just seems more like the typical human, at least more like me.
Joseph is like a certain prominent football player – handsome, well-adjusted, upright, no apparent blemishes. Jacob is more like the standard person, warts and all.
But Joseph needed the same Savior as Jacob. And interestingly, it would not be from the line of Joseph that he would come, but from the line of Judah. Leah’s son, not Rachel’s, was the offspring of the line of the Messiah. Joseph’s brothers, including Judah, would bow down to him in Egypt. But all nations would bow to Judah’s greater Son in the end.
It would be easy to idealize, and even idolize, Joseph as a great hero of the faith. Doubtless he is that. But he was not truly a righteous sufferer. He certainly didn’t deserve the cruelty that he received, to the extent that he received it, but he wasn’t without sin. Jesus, on the other hand, was sinless. Like Joseph, he was handed over to Gentiles, like Joseph, he would suffer. Joseph’s sufferings would bring about the salvation of a family, and through them the nation of Israel. But Jesus Christ’s sufferings bring about the salvation of the world.
So, in conclusion, on a personal level, my sympathies lie with Jacob not Joseph. But on a deeper level they both point me to the glory of my Savior. That puts the narrative in perspective.
