a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God" (Jno. 8:40).

9. Joseph was to enjoy a remarkable future. These dreams of Joseph intimated that this favored son of Jacob was the subject of high destinies: they were Divine announcements of his future exaltation. There can be little doubt that Jacob and his sons perceived that these dreams were prophetic, otherwise the brethren would have regarded them as "idle tales," instead of being angered by them. Note, too, that "his father observed the saying" (verse 11).

So, too, of the Antitype. A remarkable future was promised to the One who first appeared in lowliness and shame. Concerning the Child that was to be born unto Israel, the Son given, it was pre-announced: "The government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end" (Isa. 9:6, 7). To his mother the angel declared, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever: and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Lu. 1:31-33). That Joseph's Antitype was to enjoy a remarkable future was thus intimated beforehand.

10. Joseph foretold his future Sovereignty. It is worthy of notice that the two recorded dreams of Joseph contemplated a double sovereignty: the first dream concerned "the field," which pointed to the earthly dominion of our Lord; but the second dream was occupied with the sun, the moon and the stars, and tells, in type, of the Heavenly dominion of Christ, for all power (or authority) has been given to Him in heaven and on earth.

Joseph's announcement of his future exaltation only served to fan the fires of enmity, and gave intensity to his brethren's hatred. And so it was with the Saviour. The more our Lord unfolded the glory of His person, the more He spoke of His future exaltation, the more did the JewsHis brethren according to the flesh-hate Him. The climax of this is to be seen in Matthew 26: 64: "Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of

heaven." Here was the announcement of His future soyereignty, and mark the immediate effects of His words on those that heard Him: "Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy.”

11. Joseph was envied by his brethren. "When his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him" (verse 4). In these words are found the key to what followed. That which was the prime cause of the brethren's hatred was envy: as verse 11 tells us, "And his brethren envied him." They were jealous of the partiality shown by Jacob to their half-brother. This is a sin which has characterized human nature all down the ages: the difference between envy and covetousness is this -we envy persons, we covet things.

Here, too the type holds good. Christ was "envied" by those who were His brethren, according to the flesh. This comes out in His parable of the Wicked Husbandman, "Having yet therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours" (Mk. 12: 6, 7). Again, “For this cause the people also met Him, for that they heard that He had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after Him" (Jno. 12: 18, 19). How that utterance manifested the jealousy of their hearts! But even plainer is the testimony of Matthew 27:17, 18, for there the very word "envy" is found, "Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him." In our next we shall consider, Joseph betrayed by his brethren.

BRETHREN

GENESIS 37

"And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I" (37: 12, 13).

12. Joseph sent forth by his father. The verses just quoted above introduce to us the second of these marvelous typical scenes in which Joseph shadows forth the Lord Jesus. Here the brethren of Joseph are seen away from their father. Jacob says to his beloved son, "Come, and I will send thee unto them." How this reveals the heart of Jacob to us. He was not indifferent to their welfare. Absent from the father's house as they were, Jacob is concerned for the welfare of these brethren of Joseph. He, therefore, proposes to send his well beloved son on an errand of mercy, seeking their good. And is it not beautiful to mark the promptness of Joseph's response! There was no hesitancy, no unwillingness, no proffering of excuses, but a blessed readiness to do his father's will, “Here am I.”

One cannot read of what passed here between Jacob and Joseph without seeing that behind the historical narrative we are carried back to a point before time began, into the eternal counsels of the Godhead, and that we are permitted to learn something of what passed between the Father and the Son in the remote past. As the Lord God with Divine omniscience foresaw the fall of man, and the alienation of the race from Himself, out of the marvelous grace of His heart, He proposed that His beloved Son should go forth on a mission of mercy, seeking those who were away from the Father's House. Hence we read so often of the Son being sent by the Father, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 Jno. 4: 10). And blessed it is to know that the Beloved of the Father came forth on His errand of love, freely, willingly, gladly. Like Joseph, He, too, promptly responded, "Here am I." As it is written of Him in Hebrew 10: 7, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God."

13. Joseph seeks the welfare of his brethren. "And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again" (37:14). Joseph could not have been ignorant of his brethren's "envy"; he must have known how they "hated" him; and in view of this, one had not been surprised to find him unwilling to depart on such a thankless errand. But with gracious magnanimity and filial fear he stood ready to depart on the proposed mission.

Two things are to be particularly observed here as bringing out the striking accuracy of this type: First, Joseph is sent forth with a definite object before him-to seek his brethren. When we turn to the Gospels we find the correspondence is perfect. When the Beloved of the Father visited this world, His earthly mission was restricted to His brethren according to the flesh. As we read in John 1: 11, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not": His "own" here refers to His own people, the Jews. Again, in Matt. 15: 24, it is recorded that the Lord Jesus Himself expressly declared, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel." And again, in Rom. 15: 8, we are told, "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers."

In the second place, observe the character of Joseph's mission: said Jacob, "Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren." He was sent not to censure them, but to inquire after their welfare. So, again, it was with the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in John 3:17, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved."

14. Joseph was sent forth from the vale of Hebron: "So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem" (37:14). There is no line in this lovely picture, drawn by the Spirit of God, which is without its own distinctive significance. We quote here from the well chosen words of Mr. C. Knapp: "Hebron means fellowship or communion. The vale suggests quiet peacefulness and rest. It was intended, I believe, to point them forward (and point us back) to the fellowship of the Son with the Father in heaven's eternal calm and peace previous to His entrance, at His incarnation, into this scene of sin and toil and sorrow" (A Fruitful Bough).

The peaceful vale of Hebron, then, was the place where Joseph dwelt in happy fellowship with his father; there he was at home, known, loved, understood. But from this he was sent to a place characterized by strife and blood-shedding, unto those who appreciated him not, yea, to those who envied and hated him. Faintly but accurately this tells of the love-passing-knowledge which caused the Lord of Glory to leave His Home above and descend to a hostile realm where they hated Him without a cause.

15. Joseph came to Shechem (37:14). The word "Shechem" means "Shoulder," being taken from "the position of the place on the 'saddle' or 'shoulder' of the heights which divide the waters there that flow to the Mediterranean on the west and to the Jordan on the east" (Smith's Bible Dictionary). The meaning of this name conforms strictly to the Antitype. The "shoulder" speaks of burdenbearing and suggests the thought of service and subjection. The moral meaning of the term is Divinely defined for us in this very book of Genesis-"and bowed his shoulder to bear and become a servant unto tribute" (49:15). How striking it is to read, then, that on leaving his father in the vale of Hebron, Joseph came to Shechem. How marvelously this foreshadowed the place which the Lord of Glory took! Leaving His peaceful place on high, and coming down to this scene of sin and suffering. He took the Servant's place, the place of submission and subjection. As we read in Phil. 2:6, 7, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant." And again in Gal. 4:4, "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." Verily, "Shechem" was the place that the Beloved of the Father came to.

Moreover, is it not significant that Shechem has been mentioned before in the Genesis narrative-see 34: 25-30especially when we note what occurred there. Shechem was the place of sin and sorrow, of evil passions and bloodshedding. Little wonder that Jacob was anxious about his sons in such a place, and that he sent Joseph to them there to inquire after their welfare. And how what we read of in Gen. 34 well depicts in terse but solemn summary the history of this earth. How aptly and how accurately the scene there portrayed exhibited the character of the place