Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” – John 1:45 ESV
What does it mean to look upstream in history? Those seeking eternal truth look back through the eyes of scripture.
A Basis of Law and Justice
Looking back on the source of law somewhat resembles our search for Eden and the basis of life. We move from the still waters of a river with visible bottom to swim upstream against torrents of the unseen. How can we see justice and redemption, so distant to our own existence?
The answers of justice rest not in the law, but in the Lawgiver and relationship of the redeemed.
Before the incarnation of the Messiah, yet long after the fall of Jerusalem the Prophet Isaiah [יְשַׁעְיָה] had proclaimed: 1:27 צִיֹּון בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָֽה׃
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. – Isaiah 1:27-28
Even Isaiah had looked back upstream through the torrent of sin, just as Moses had warned in Genesis.
9 If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
These warnings to obedience refer not to the law, but a broken relationship with the Lord and sinful relationships with other men. Law has basis in the relationships of men and women to each other; but above all, law requires a relationship to the commands of the Living God.
Do godless men and evil women desire judgment?
Their contempt for authority reflects the darkness of a mortal life lacking fear of The Almighty God. They neglect, trespass and try to circumvent the law.
Evil men and godless women rebel against righteousness, without regard of consequence for others or their own inevitable punishment when convicted. Do you rebel against righteousness?
Justice fails when licentiousness claims all sin as freedom.
Though we tend towards lawlessness, we are free to choose obedience to the Lord. A humble sinner desires mercy and the repentant law-breaker wants restoration of relationship with the Lord. And this in addition to redemption with a community of loved-ones.
Returning to Joseph, further upstream
Moses, giver of the Law, was educated in Egypt and instructed by the Lord. In our previous look at these two men we learned that Joseph was educated by Israel in Canaan, but also apprenticed under Potiphar and Pharaoh in Egypt.
GENESIS 41:
28 “It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do…
… all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land… the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.
34 Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
Does anyone note the 20% tax here? It allows the administration of government to help its citizens in the seven years of struggle ahead. Of course, the tithe (tenth) to the Lord was long established.
Even in Egypt the King may have just required a double-portion to balance the years ahead when major markets would fail. No crops, therefore no income for the country. In addition, the people would need help or they would perish.
We cannot think of law separate of its authority, intent and righteousness.
Joseph, with God’s help, redeems not only Egypt, but also its struggling neighbors (for a small price). These would include his own brothers and father.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. – Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Prince Zaphenath-paneah
41 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.”
… 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. [Heliopolis] And Joseph went throughout [Joseph gained authority over] the land of Egypt…
50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him.
53 Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.
55 When the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”
Moses and Pharaoh would have both spoken Egyptian (the language that became Coptic, not modern Egyptian Arabic). Moses would have almost certainly spoken Hebrew too. – source
As Moses looks upstream toward this time he reminds the Hebrew people, who have not yet entered the promised land of Joseph. It would be accurate in Hebrew to say this.
41:55 וַתִּרְעַב כָּל־אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַיִּצְעַק הָעָם אֶל־פַּרְעֹה לַלָּחֶם וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה לְכָל־מִצְרַיִם לְכוּ אֶל־יֹוסֵף אֲשֶׁר־יֹאמַר לָכֶם תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃
Yet in their native Egyptian language, now the fluent first language of Joseph, these God-spoken words through Pharaoh would have been heard and later told in all the land:
Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Zaphenath-paneah and do whatever he tells you.”
A familiar Redeemer we do not understand
Later, Israel will send his other sons to Pharaoh to buy the grain they must have for survival of their animals and for food.
The ruler of Egypt they hear (actually, Joseph) speaks a different language. He looks different than these poor men who humbly raise sheep and trade for those things they require. This redeemer they hear speaks through others in a foreign language.
Genesis 42:
“Where do you come from?” he asked.
“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.
“You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”
“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said.
17 So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.
18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live.
Moses’ hearers knew the outcome of redemption as we do; but Israel’s other sons did not.
Read this reunion story again, as experienced from the fear of these men now humbled, hungry and imprisoned by a rich foreign ruler.
Their Redeemer Revealed
Time passes as Israel’s sons return to him in Canaan, but the famine continues and they again run out of food. No alternative but to return to Egypt, ruled by Zaphenath-paneah, whose word is law of the land.
Genesis 43:
But the men were afraid because they were taken to the house of Zaphenath-paneah. (Of course, Moses tells us his true identity even before this redeemer of Israel reveals the Lord’s purpose.)
… they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.
27 He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”
28 They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they knelt low and paid homage to him.
32 They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is detestable to them.
Are you, poor sinner, detestable to the rich? Would they choose to disavow you because they do not know the God we serve?
Everyone leaves and they depart the next morning. Then yet another deceptive plot to bring them back once more.
Judah pleads: “My lord, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh. [44:18]
Genesis 45:
Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!”
No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh’s household heard it.
You know the rest, but have you weighed justice by the measure of the Lord’s purposes?
Do you truly believe that God provides a redeemer not only through your own sufferings, but through suffering and injustice to another?
‘Why does God allow evil?’ we ask.
The Redeemer of Israel gives us the Lord’s answer.
Moses tells a people who have endured forty years in the wilderness after the passing of a generation who turned against the Law, which they both heard from the Lord and read on tablets of stone from the finger of God:
Listen to Joseph’s words to his brothers of why this evil has happened.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.
7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God.
And consider the weight and Authority in Joseph’s next words about Providence:
He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
A ‘father‘ to Pharaoh; not only as Jacob is their father but also in authority, even loving authority, as God IS our Father.
Later Joseph will give the reason for their redemption:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[fn] should be kept alive, as they are today. – Genesis 50:20 ESV
22 Joseph and his father’s family remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years.
To be continued…