Gen 37 through 50 is going to be an eschatological picture of the Messiah being played out in the story of Joseph. Messiah as the suffering servant and his rejection by his brothers, his exaltation to power and his coming again to his brothers in the redemption will be played out in the life of Joseph.
Gen 37.1-36 will tell us that Jacob favors Joseph; Joseph has several dreams; Jacob sends Joseph to find his brothers who are pasturing the sheep; the brothers conspire to kill Joseph, but Reuben has a plan to save him; Joseph is cast into a pit; then his jealous brothers plan to sell Joseph into slavery with Ishmaelite traders; but Midianite traders find Joseph in the pit and take him to Egypt; the brothers find he is gone and devise a lie to tell their father about what happened to Joseph; Jacob’s grief; Joseph ends up in the court of an Egyptian official.
v1…Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned in the land of Canaan (Hebron area-v 14; Hebron is an idiom for “heaven”).
v 2…These are the generations (the leading events in his life; “toldot” is missing a vav and diminished, defective) of Jacob. Joseph when seventeen years of age was pasturing the flocks with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives (Joseph was in charge of only the ons of the maids, not the sons of Leah). And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father (the evil conduct of Yeshua’s “brothers” furnished material for a similar testimony to the Father).
v 3…Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age (a wise son before his years to him), and he made him a coat of many colors (an long-sleeved embroidered robe; because of what Reuben did, this was a symbol of nobility showing Jacob’s plan for him after his death to be in first-born status; Yeshua is considered the “first-born” in the household of his Father also; this coat alludes to the rainbow and the idea of a covenant).
v 4…And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms (Hebrew “shalom” or a normal greeting; they couldn’t conceal their hate, and this is one of the traits Jacob noticed in them).
v 5…Then Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more (because they understood what it meant).
v 6,,,And he said to them, “Please listen to the dream which I have had;
v 7…for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheave rose up and stood erect (alluding to the resurrection of Yeshua), and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
v 8…Then the brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us (like Yeshua)?” So they hated him even more for his dreams (he had other dreams or he was always dreaming that this would really happen) and for his words (the evil report; they knew that these dreams had a real potential for fulfillment).
v 9…Now he had still another dream and related it to his brothers and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun (Jacob) and the moon (Rachel-Rev 12.1) and eleven stars (the brothers) were bowing down to me (in Egypt; but Israel will acknowledge him in the kingdom).”
v 10…And he related it to his father and to his brothers (he repeated it ot his father in their presence); and his father rebuked him (for arousing their hatred; trying to appease them; but Jacob understood the meaning and that it was not at all impossible).
v 11…And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying (waited for its fulfillment).
v 12…Then his brothers went to pasture the flock in Shechem (the word “et” in Hebrew right before a noun means that the noun was the subject of the preceding verb; however, in this verse the “et” has dots over the two letters, meaning that the word is not to be understood in its normal meaning; the sheep were not the subject of the pasturing, but they went to pasture themselves, preserving their freedom threatened by Joseph’s dreams-see “Bereshit” by Mesorah Publications, p.1628).
v 13…And Israel said to Joseph (when Jacob is referred to as Israel it is referring to some spiritual aspect), “Are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem (a fertile area)? Come, and I will send you to them (alluding to Yeshua leaving heaven and being sent to Israel).” And he said, “I will go” (Yeshua obeyed his father and went-Matt 21.33-40).
v 14…Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron (an idiom for heaven) and he came to Shechem (shoulder, strength, security).
v 15…And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
v 16…And he said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell where they are pasturing (alluding to the fact that Israel has moved from feeding the flock in strength and security).”
v 17…Then the man said, “They have moved from here (they had moved from where the father had sent them; same thing spiritually since the first century, from the Torah to the oral law of rabbinical Judaism), for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan (“Dothan” is a Persian loan word and means “laws or customs” as in Dan 7.25, and here it alludes to the oral laws that Israel had “moved to” instead of the Torah when Yeshua came, like the 18 Edicts of Beit Shammai).
v 18…When they saw him from a distance , and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death (like the chief priests in Matt 12.14, etc).
v 19…And they said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer (mocking him)!
v 20…Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams (the Jewish leaders would make Rome responsible for Yeshua’s death).
v 21…But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life (LIke JOseph before the Sanhedrin-Luke 23.50-51).”
v 22…Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him (Psa 88.1-18; 1 Pet 3.18-20)”-that he might rescue out of their hands, to restore him to his father.
v 23…So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped him of his tunic, the coat of many colors that was on him (like they did with Yeshua);
v 24…and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
v 25…Then they sat down to eat a meal (the Jewish leaders sat down to eat a Passover meal after Yeshua’s death). And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt (they were like cross country truckers).
v 26…And Judah said to his brother, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood.
v 27…Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him (like another Judah in Matt 26.15); for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
v 28…Then (on the other hand) some Midianite traders (like local truckers) passed by (the pit Joseph was in), so they pulled him from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites (the ones in v 25) for twenty (pieces) of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt (this is a picture of Yeshua being sold into the hands of Rome by mediators).
v 29…Now Reuben returned to the pit (to rescue him no doubt, unaware that Joseph had been taken by MIdianites and sold to the Ishmaelites going to Egypt), and behold, Joseph was not in the pit (a type of the resurrection), so he tore his garments (chief priests were just as dismayed when they heard that Yeshua was gone).
v 30…And he returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there (the pit is empty), as for me, where am I to go (they don’t know what happened, and as the eldest he will bear the greatest responsibility for this).”
v 31…So they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood,
v 32…and they sent the coat of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “We found this: please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
v 33…Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
v 34…So jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
v 35…Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol (Abraham’s Bosom) in mourning to my son.” So his father wept for him.
v 36…Meanwhile, the Medanites (Hebrew “Medanim”; Midian and Medan were sons of Abraham through Keturah in Gen 25.2; there may have been another unrecorded transaction; but the KJV and the NASB have “Midianites” and that is because they were the ones that started the whole scenario) sold him in Egypt to Potiphar (belonging to the sun), Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard (literally the chief executioner or watch; the end of this chapter emphasizes that Joseph was sold several times to different people; this alludes to the fact that Yeshua’s arrest and death had many other people involved, not just the Jewish leaders; and asa far as the brothers, they have no earthly idea what happened to him at this point).
Gen 38.1-30 will give us an eschatological picture of Yochanon ha Matvil (John the Immerser) and of the Messiah; Judah’s son Er dies and leaves Tamar a widow; Onan’s refuses to raise up offspring for Tamar; Judah deals with Tamar unjustly; Tamar disguises herself like a prostitute and Judah has relations with her; Tamar bears a child by Judah; Tamar is vindicated and Judah is rebuked; Tamar give birth to twins named Perez and Zerah; Perez is an ancestor of the Messiah
v 1…And it came about at that time that Judah departed (“went down” from Dothan after the affair with Joseph) from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
v 2…And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua (Bathshua in 1 Chr 2.3), and he took her (selected her as a bride) and went into her.
v 3…So she conceived and bore a son and named him Er (awaking, watchman).
v 4…Then she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan (strong).
v 5…And she bore still another son and named him Shelah (quiet, tranquil), and it was at Chezib (false) that she bore him.
v 6…Now Judah took a wife (selected one) for Er, his first-born (heir), and her name was Tamar (palm tree).
v 7…But Er, Judah’s first-born (and heir) was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life (see Gen 5.24 notes; Heb 11.5).
v 8…Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother (Deut 25.5-“Yevum” or levirate marriage).”
v 9…And Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so it came about that when he went into his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground, in order not to give offspring to his brother (he wanted the double portion as the heir, with his older brother dead, so he ties to “cut off” the heir).
v 10…But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, so he took his life also (died-Gen 5.24; Heb 11.5).
v 11…Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up (he never intended for her to marry his son),” for he thought, “I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house (in a display of loyalty to remain in Judah’s house).
v 12…Now after a considerable time (probably over a year) Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers in Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
v 13…And it was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah (near Hebron) to shear his sheep.”
v 14…So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway (crossroad) of Enaim (fountain) which is on the road to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife (Judah doesn’t know it, but he is going to perform the levirate, or yevom, marriage because his two sons died and she knew he was not going to give Shelah to her).
v 15…When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face (he did not recognize her).
v 16…So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “Here now, let me come into you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come into me?”
v 17…He said, therefore, “:I will send you a kid from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give me a pledge until you sent it?”
v 18…And he said, “What pledge shall I give you? And she said, “Your seal and your cord (a piece of his clothing like his turban, or small cloth) and your staff that is in your hand (all three could identify him).” So he gave them to her, and went into her and she conceived by him.
v 19…Then she arose and departed and removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments.
v 20…When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her.
v 21…And he asked the men of the place, saying, “Where is the prostitute (kedeshah) who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no prostitute (kedeshah) here.”
v 22…So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, “There has been no prostitute here.”
v 23…Then Judah said, “Let her keep them, lest we become a laughingstock (for pledging such valuable things; for being taken). After all, I sent this kid (a kid was used to deceive his father in Gen 37.31, now he is deceived through one), but you did not find her (I fulfilled my end of the bargain).
v 24…Now it came about three months later (she was showing) that Judah was informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot (instead of waiting for Shelah), and behold, she is also with child by harlotry.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out (to the civil magistrates) and let her be burned!”
v 25…It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these things belong.” And she said, “Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?”
v 26…And Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.
v 27…And it came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb (In Gen 25.24 with Jacob and Esau, “twins” is spelled defectively in Hebrew, but here it is written with full letters because both will prove righteous, and one will be the ancestor of the Messiah).
v 28…Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, one put out a hand and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread (a type of blood) on his hand, saying, “this one came out first.”
v 29…But it came about as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Peretz (related to the word “poretz” meaning breachmaker; Adam’s sin caused a breach; he is also a picture of Elijah/John the Immerser who will come and open up a breach before the Messiah comes, removing the stones that hinder repentance-Isa 40.3, 62.10; Mic 2.12-13).
v 30…And afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand, and he was named Zerach (meaning “dawning or rising-Mal 4.2; Luke 1.78, 2.34; related to “Zeroach” meaning “arm” and these are terms for the Messiah; so what we have eschatologically is this: Adam’s sin caused a breach, and this alludes to the “voice” of Isa 40.3; Elijah/John were the ones who removed the stones and made a breach; the first Adam caused a breach of sin, but the second Adam came and brought salvation; the name Zerah is related to Zeroah meaning “arm in Isa 53.1 where it says, “Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord (zeroah) been revealed.” So Zeroah is a term for the Messiah. Adam’s sin caused a breach (the birth of Pertz), so Messiah came with his own blood (scarlet thread on Zerach and brought the redemption); so, this tells us the breachmaker comes first and makes a path for the coming of the Zeroah (Messiah).
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