യൊസെഫ് ഫലപ്രമായ ഒരു വ്രുക്ഷം

൨൨.യൊസെഫ് ഫലപ്രമായ ഒരു വ്രുക്ഷം തന്നെ; അതിന്റെ കൊമ്പുകള്‍ മതിലിന്മേല്‍ പടരുന്നു. ൨൩.വില്ലാളികള്‍ അവനെ വിഷമിപ്പിച്ചു; അവര്‍ എയ്തു അവനോടു പൊരുതി. ൨൪. അവന്റെ വില്ല് ഉറപ്പോടെ നിന്നു, അവന്റെ ഭുജം യാക്കോബിന്റെ കയ്യാല്‍ ബലപ്പെട്ടു. യിസ്രായേലിന്റെ പാറയായ ഇടയന്റെ നാമത്തില്‍ തന്നെ. These verses tell us about this man Joseph the elder son of Jacob and Rachel. He was the most favored of all his father’s children, and he was a man of great character. He was hated of his brethren for his dreams from God concerning his future advancements in this world, so they sold him into slavery in Egypt. While in slavery he was imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. After many years in prison, he was remembered of the butler for whom he had interpreted a dream while in prison. The butler brought him before Pharaoh where he interpreted two dreams for Pharaoh, which predicted a seven-year bumper crop followed by a seven-year famine. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of preserving corn and food for Egypt during the good years and rationing it during the famine. At the time of famine Jacob’s sons came to Egypt twice looking for corn. Joseph revealed himself to them and sent for his father to come to Egypt. There both Jacob and Joseph died, but Joseph gave the people of God hope when he promised their Exodus from Egypt. They suffered for 400 years as slaves in Egypt, but when God sent Moses to lead them out, they took the bones of Joseph and buried them with Abraham and Sarah in Canaan. This life of Joseph is a type and shadow of the life of Jesus again and again. Joseph is called a fruitful bough in Genesis 49:22, and Jesus is called a tender plant, a root out of dry ground in Isaiah 53:2. The fruitful bough shows us the tender plant. We want to emulate our Lord, and if we emulate the life of Joseph, it will emulate the Lord. He was in a God-less society, but he bountifully brought forth fruit in a desert land. Notice: 1. Joseph’s Birth: Genesis 30:22, God opened the barren womb of Rachel and she bore Joseph unto Jacob. God worked a miracle in a barren womb. Take notice of this: 1. In A Practical Way: God can still work a miracle! 2. In A Spiritual Way: Joseph came from a dead womb, and God can give life to a dead sinner. 3. In A Prayerful Way: Joseph was an answer to Rachel’s prayer. God still answers prayer. 4. In A Typical Way: Joseph is a type of Christ. Jesus was born miraculously from a virgin just as Joseph was born miraculously from a barren womb. 2. Joseph’s Trying Blows: He had a hard time. God gave him a vision, and God made the vision come true. However, he had to go through many trials and tribulations first. Yet he was a fruitful bough in the midst of a drought. 1. Experience of Growth: In a desert land like Egypt Joseph grew in knowledge and wisdom. You too can in a desert world grow in wisdom. Be a fruitful bough. 2. Experience of God: Gen. 49:24, His bow was made strong of the Lord to relieve his tension. Genesis 32 Jacob wrestled with God and was beaten but blessed. No doubt Jacob had told Joseph of that experience on many occasions. Joseph faced adversity with arrows shot at him, but through every trying blow God strengthened his bow. Joseph used this bow not to shoot at his enemies but at the will of God, the shepherd. 3. Joseph’s Triumphant Blessings: It had been years since Joseph had been home, but God saw to it that He was blessed with his family. 1. Family was reunited 2. Fruitfulness was realized: He finally saw the fruits of his labor as he saw his family’s needs met through his provision. 3. Faithfulness was rewarded: God does not look at the results, but faithfulness. God promoted him and fulfilled all his dreams as his brothers bowed their heads. If we too will be found faithful, God will use and promote us according to his will. Joseph is a fruitful bough, Gen 49.22. When Jacob spoke these words of blessing, he spoke into the future. Jacob was aware of the failings of all his sons; some did not receive blessings, others got mixed blessings, and only two [Judah and Joseph] receive full blessing. While Judah received the sceptre, Joseph received something special – fruitfulness. The difference between Judah and Joseph was that the latter paid the ‘price’ for his blessing. Are we prepared to pay a price? The price is nothing but absolute surrender to the will of God, and that price only a few would dare to pay. Joseph was a fruitful bough whose branches ran over a wall. Though he had but two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, their descendants grew into a numerous and powerful people. We remember that Joshua was an Ephraimite, while Gideon was from Manasseh. Manasseh received two portions of territory, on either side of the river Jordan. However, the historical explanation does not suffice. There is a spiritual explanation for fruitfulness. God is looking for fruit in us, but it is not in mere numbers. While ‘in the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout and will fill the whole world with fruit’ [Isa 27.6], it is the remnant of the house of Judah which shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.’ [Isa 37.31] What is this fruit? How do we become a ‘fruitful bough’? Careful study of the Scriptures would show that there are seven ways to arrive at fruitfulness, and while this is explained to some extent in the Parable of the Sower and his Seed, I believe that the Bible explains this fruit to us in clear spiritual terms. We need the fruit of repentance [Matt 3.8], followed by the fruit that comes from the implanted word [Matt 13.23]. Then comes the fruit that we receive while walking in the light as children of light [Eph 5.9], and the more abundant fruit that comes from having the ‘fear of the Lord’. Perusal of Psalm 128.1-4 would show that by fearing the Lord and walking in His ways, the blessings flow into the family; the wife becomes a fruitful vine, the children olive plants around the table. And then there are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which we read in Galatians 5.22,23, when we learn to walk by the Spirit or under the lordship of the Spirit. And then follow the fruit of righteousness [Heb 12.11], which comes from the discipline of the Lord and results in ‘good works’ [Col 1.10, Tit 3.14], whereby men may glorify the Lord. But deeper still is the fruit of travail. We read in Isaiah 53 of the ‘offspring’ of the travail of the Cross, and how the Lord is satisfied with such fruit. Only a remnant will come to this level. Zion travailed and gave birth to her ’sons’, Isa 66.8. We remember the barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel. They could produce no fruit of the womb until God visited them, and this He did in His own time, after much waiting. That waiting is a tremendous exercise, which brings with it a deep burden in the heart and a longing for the divine answer. The fruit produced by the travail of the soul is enduring fruit which will not perish, which will bring glory to the Lord and blessing to the world. Joseph was a blessing not only to his brothers, but to all Egypt, and in fact to the whole famine-stricked world as they came to him to receive bread from his hands.