St. Mary (Pokrova) Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Allentown PA (11/30/2016)
Old Testament Bible Study #8: The Patriarch Joseph, the Comely
Prayer: Make the pure light of Your divine knowledge shine in our hearts, Loving Master, and open the eyes of our minds that we may understand the message of Your Gospel. Instill also in us reverence for Your blessed commandments, so that overcoming all worldly desires, we may pursue a spiritual life, both thinking and doing all things pleasing to You. For You, Christ our God, are the Light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give the glory, together with Your Father, without beginning, and Your All Holy, Good, and Life- Creating Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen. (2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 1:18; 2 Peter 2:11)
Reminder: Jacob is not just a farmer with a large family, he is a warlord who has been chosen by God to lead (and sire!) His chosen people. He is Israel; “one who wrestles with God”. God is a regular presence in his life. Jacob’s sons are cut from this same cloth; perhaps even a bit rougher (e.g. their protection of Dinah’s virtue).
Basic outline of Joseph’s life
- Early Life, Dreams, & Rejection (born Genesis 30:35; but really begins with chapter 37)
- Work and Trouble in Egypt (Genesis 39)
- Joseph Interprets Dreams in Prison (Genesis 40)
- Joseph Interprets the Pharoah’s Dreams and is made Vizar (Genesis 41)
- Joseph Tests, Reconciles with, and Saves His Family (Genesis 42-47)
- Joseph’s Sons Restored to Israel (Genesis 48)
- Joseph Receives a Blessing (Genesis 49:22-26)
- Joseph Buries His Father, Reassures His Brothers, and Dies (Genesis 50)
Points:
- It is a beautiful story, well written
- Became a typology of how God works on behalf of His people… and of Christ
From Bridegroom Matins, Holy Monday
(Kondak; Tone 8) Jacob lamented the loss of Joseph / but his noble son was seated on a chariot and honored as a king! / For when he refused to be enslaved by the pleasures of the Egyptian woman, / he was glorified by the Lord Who beholds the hearts of men, // and bestows upon them an incorruptible crown!
From Bridegroom Matins and Vespers/PSL, Holy Monday
(Tone 8) The serpent found a second Eve in the Egyptian woman / and plotted the fall of Joseph through words of flattery. / But, leaving behind his garment, Joseph fled from sin. / He was naked but unashamed, like Adam before the fall. // Through his prayers, O Christ, have mercy on us!
From the Great Canon of St. Andrew
(From Ode 2) Joseph’s was a splendid coat of many colours, but mine is one of shameful thoughts, which condemns me even as it covers my flesh.
(From Ode 5) I confess my sins to You, O Christ my King, like Joseph’s brothers have I sold into slavery him who was chaste and pure. / As an image of our Lord was that righteous soul cast out by his brothers and sold into slavery, while you, my soul, have sold yourself into your own evil hands. / O suffering and hopeless soul, imitate the purity of mind in righteous Joseph, and do not sin by being led astray by irrational desires. / Joseph’s being placed in a pit formed an image of Your burial and resurrection, O Lord and Master. Will I ever be able to endure such things for Your sake?
A Moral Meaning: St. John the Dwarf: Who sold Joseph?
“Abba John said, ‘Who sold Joseph?’ A brother replied saying, ‘It was his brethren.’ The old man said to him, ‘No, it was his humility which sold him, because he could have said, “I am their brother” and have objected, but, because he kept silence, he sold himself by his humility. It is also his humility which set him up as chief in Egypt.’”
A Typological/Allegorical Meaning: St. Ephraim the Syrian: Joseph as a Type of Christ (homily; Tr. Fr. Ephraim Lash)
For just as the Lord was sent to us from the Father’s bosom [John 1:18] to save us all, / So the youth Joseph from Jacob’s bosom [Gen 37:13-14] was sent to enquire about his own brothers.
And just as Joseph’s harsh brothers, as soon as they saw him approaching, began to devise evil against him, though he was bringing them peace from their father, / so the Jews also, ever hard of heart, as soon as they saw the Saviour, said, ‘This is the heir [Matt 21:38], let us kill him, and all will be ours’.
And just as Joseph’s brothers said, ‘Let us do away with him, and let us be set free of his dreams’, [Gen 37:20] / in the same way too the Jews said, ‘Come, let us kill him and lay hold on his inheritance’.[Mat 21:18]
Joseph’s brothers, while eating, sold him, slaying him in intent. / In the same way too the abominable Jews, while eating the Passover, slew the Saviour.
The descent of Joseph into Egypt signifies the descent to earth of our Saviour. And as Joseph within the marriage chamber trampled down all the strength of sin, putting on the bright prizes of victory, against the Egyptian woman, his mistress, / so too the Lord, the Saviour of our souls,
by his own right hand, descending into Hell, destroyed there all the power of the dread and near invincible tyrant.
When Joseph had conquered sin he was put in prison until the hour of his crowning; / so too the Lord, that he might take away every sin of the world, was placed in a grave.
Joseph in prison spent two whole years, passing his time in great freedom [cf Gen 39:21-23] / while the Lord, as powerful, remained in the tomb for three days, not undergoing corruption.
Joseph, on Pharaoh’s order, was brought out graciously from prison, as a true type, when he easily interpreted the meaning of the dreams, indicating the abundance of grain that was going to be; / while our Lord [Jesus Christ] was raised from the dead by his own power, despoiling Hell, offering to the Father our liberation, proclaiming resurrection and everlasting life.
Joseph took his seat in Pharaoh’s chariot, having received authority over the whole of Egypt; / while our Saviour, king before the ages, ascending into heaven on a cloud of light, took his seat with glory at the Father’s right hand, above the Cherubim, as Only-begotten Son.
When ruling over Egypt, Joseph having received authority against his enemies; his brothers were brought willingly before the tribunal of the one who had died through them; they were brought to prostrate with fear and trembling before the one who had been sold by them to death; and with fear they prostrated before Joseph, whom they had not wanted to be king over them. But Joseph, recognising his brothers, revealed them as murderers by a single word; but they, when they realised, stood dumbfounded in great shame, not daring to utter, not having anything at all to say in their defence, knowing exactly their own sin at the moment when they sold him; while he, who seemed to have been destroyed by them in Hades, was suddenly found to be ruling over them. //
So too on that fearful day, when the Lord comes on the clouds of the air, he takes his seat on the throne of his kingdom, and all his enemies are brought bound by fearsome Angels before the judgement seat, all those who did not want him to rule over them. For the lawless Jews thought then, that if he were crucified, he would die as a human; the wretches not being persuaded that God had come, for salvation, to save our souls.
Just as Joseph said quite openly to his brothers, making them fear and tremble, ‘I am Joseph, whom you sold [into slavery], but now I rule over you, though you did not want it’. [Cf. Gen 45:4] / So too the Lord shows the Cross in an image formed of light to those who crucified him, and they recognize the Cross itself and the Son of God who was crucified by them.
Know how accurately Joseph became a true type of his own Master.
Next Week: Something different – a presentation of “Orthopraxis and Theosis: The role of ritual in the taming, training, and quieting of the mind”
Note: During December, our Sunday “Spiritually Speaking” series will focus on the geography, prophecies, and poetry (hymns) of the Nativity.
