Joseph grew up knowing he was loved. It was made obvious to him by Jacob, his Dad, in Genesis 37:3, and also by God who gave the teenage Joseph some amazing dreams that predicted great things for him (5-9).
This love, and great future too, were then reinforced by Jacob’s blessing on Joseph in Genesis 49:22-26. “May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors” (26) – blessings upon blessings “by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd and Rock of Israel” (24), that would enable Joseph to hold steady under fire from those who savagely attacked him (23-24).
But why all this love and showering of blessings on Joseph? There’s a hint in verse 26: “May all these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers.”
Joseph was a “prince.” The Hebrew word is nazir, meaning separated or set apart, the root of the word Nazirite. which gives us a clue as to what Jacob was getting at, because Samson was a nazir, or Nazirite, too – which in his case meant being “set apart to God from birth to begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines,” Judges 13:5. And because God had this in mind for Samson, he “blessed him as he grew and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him” (25).
God’s love and blessings on Samson were connected, therefore, to his very special purpose for him. And the same for Joseph, because he was set apart by God for Israel’s sake too. This is why God in his love for Joseph (Genesis 39:21) lifted him out of prison to become the viceroy of Egypt so he could save the lives of his family from famine as the crucial means of setting up the future nation of Israel.
Which perfectly fits the description of Jesus too, because God sent him for the sake of Israel as well (Matthew 1:21). And that’s why, in Jesus’ own words, “the Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands” (John 3:35). So Jesus knew he was loved and why: God had a hugely special purpose for him that would lift him from death into having everything placed in his hands (just like Joseph), as the crucial means of saving the world from its demise and setting up the future new creation.
So does God deeply love us for the same reason? Is it because he’s set us apart for a special purpose that he’s blessing us for too? Are we in God’s mind too, therefore, nazirs like Joseph and “Princes in God’s plan”?….(next blog)
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