The Gospel in Genesis (Part 3)
Should We See Jesus in Joseph?
If Jesus is the main theme of the Old Testament, and if (as we have seen thus far) even Genesis is saturated with promises and pictures of the coming of Christ, then an obvious question arises as we move through the final 14 chapters (which are almost entirely about Joseph): What does Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob, have to do with Jesus?
Genesis devotes nearly one-fourth of its chapters to this one man. But why? Joseph is not the son through whom the Seed promise continues (that line runs through his brother Judah), and yet the inspired writer lingers over Joseph’s story. Could the lesson be more than an important one on God’s providential workings in this world? Does the story of Joseph go even deeper than seeing how God used him to “preserve a posterity” (Genesis 45:7) for his family, thus preserving the Messianic seed through his brother Judah?
The Bible never explicitly states that Joseph was a type of Christ, but there are too many glaring parallels between the two to arbitrarily dismiss the thought without serious consideration. If the New Testament testifies that the Old Testament is about Jesus (Luke 24:27,44-45; John 5:39,46; Acts 26:22-23); and if Genesis is rich with promises and pictures of the coming Messiah; and if the story of Joseph parallels the life of Christ in many ways (perhaps second only to similarities to Moses—Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-23), should we not stand in awe of the God Who gave us these striking parallels to ponder?
The Beloved, But Rejected Son
- Joseph and Jesus were both beloved sons of their fathers (Genesis 37:3; Matthew 3:17).
- Joseph was sent by his father to his brothers; Jesus was sent by the Father to His own (Genesis 37:13-14; Matthew 15:24; John 20:21).
- Joseph was rejected and plotted against by his brothers; Jesus was rejected and plotted against by His own people (Genesis 37:18; John 1:11; Matthew 12:14; 26:3-4; Acts 4:11).
- Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver; Jesus was betrayed for 30 (Genesis 37:28; Matthew 26:15).
The Innocent Sufferer
- Joseph and Jesus were both falsely accused (Genesis 39:7-18; Matthew 26:59-60).
- Joseph suffered unjustly; Jesus “committed no sin” (Genesis 39; 1 Peter 2:22).
- Joseph was confined among transgressors in prison; Jesus was crucified between criminals (Genesis 40; Luke 23:33).
- Joseph was humbled before being exalted; Jesus humbled Himself unto death and then was highly exalted (Genesis 39-41; Philippians 2:8-9).
The Exalted Savior of the World
- Joseph was exalted to Pharaoh’s right hand; Jesus was exalted to God’s right hand (Genesis 41:40-43; Acts 2:33).
- The nations came to Joseph for bread; Jesus is the Bread of Life for the world (Genesis 41:55-57; 47:13; John 6:35).
- Joseph became the means of physical salvation for at least hundreds of thousands, and likely millions, of people; Jesus is the Savior of the world (Genesis 41:57; 45:5-6; 47:13,25; 50:20; John 4:42).
- Joseph was not recognized by his brothers in Egypt; many did not recognize Jesus (Genesis 42:8; Acts 7:13; John 1:10).
- Joseph forgave his brothers who betrayed him; Jesus prayed for those who crucified Him, saying, “Father, forgive them” (Genesis 50:15-21; Luke 23:34).
- Jacob mourned Joseph as dead before discovering he was alive; the disciples mourned Jesus before seeing Him risen (Genesis 37:35; 45:26-28; Mark 16:11-14).
Perhaps Genesis 37-50 is about more than God’s remarkable providence in preserving Abraham’s family (as wonderful as that is to consider). Perhaps these chapters are preparing the reader for an even deeper theological truth. In Joseph, we see a beloved son who is rejected, suffers unjustly, and is then exalted to save the very ones who wronged him—a pattern too familiar to ignore.
When Joseph told his brothers, “[Y]ou meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20), he articulated a principle that would one day reach its fullest expression at Calvary. Sinners meant evil against Christ and put Him to death. The chief priests mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save” (Matthew 27:42). “[L]et him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42, ESV). Yet in that very evil act, “God meant it for good.” According to “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), Jesus voluntarily remained on the cross to die, so that sinners might be saved…by His suffering and death. This is not forced typology; it is the redemptive pattern of Scripture. Surely this is Jesus in Genesis.
The Ultimate King of Judah
Approximately 1,000 years before King Saul was anointed the first King of Israel, God had told Abraham, “[K]ings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6). Regarding Abraham’s wife Sarah, who was still childless at 89 years old, God said: “[K]ings of peoples shall be from her” (17:16). Then, about 150 years after that promise, God repeated this royal prophecy to Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, saying, “[K]ings shall come from your body” (35:11).
Kings did indeed arise from the descendants of Abraham and Jacob, including such faithful (however imperfect) rulers as David, Hezekiah, and Josiah centuries later. But in Genesis 49, at the end of his life, Jacob speaks of one particular Ruler who would surpass them all.
Genesis 49
Jacob said to his 12 sons, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days” (Genesis 49:1). What may have begun as a somber, peaceful family gathering quickly became a tense, suspenseful, and awkward bedside farewell. Jacob begins by confronting Reuben, his firstborn, for his moral failure, declaring that he would not excel because he “went up to [his] father’s bed” (49:3-4; cf. 35:22). He then rebuked Simeon and Levi for their violence, calling their weapons “instruments of cruelty” and declaring that they would be scattered in Israel (49:5-7; cf. 34:25-26,30). Even Dan is described with ominous imagery as “a serpent by the way” (49:17).
But Jacob did not only speak words of warning; he also pronounced blessing and hope over several sons, especially Joseph, who received an extensive and beautiful blessing (49:22-26). However, though Joseph is the central Messiah-like figure in the closing chapters of Genesis, it is Judah—Jacob’s far-from-perfect fourth son—who surprisingly receives the most far-reaching promise of enduring royal authority.
To Judah, Jacob speaks of praise, power, and enduring rule. As with certain other sons, Jacob used an animal analogy, comparing Judah to a mighty lion, asking the rhetorical question, “[W]ho dares rouse him?” (49:9, ESV). Jacob says that Judah’s brothers would praise him—even “bow down before” him (49:8) and that his descendants would be richly blessed (49:11-12), especially spiritually blessed because of what we learn in verse 10.
Genesis 49:10
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (NKJV).
Genesis 49:10 is one of the most discussed and debated Old Testament verses, with scholars wrestling with its compact, poetic expressions, and especially the meaning of the term “Shiloh.” Still, there are certain basic truths we can and should search out and identify. In fact, Jews and Christians have long recognized—rationally so—that this verse is speaking of royal authority, centered in Judah, and ultimately pointing forward to a coming Ruler—the Messiah.1
The promise that kings would come from Abraham and Jacob for the first time in Genesis narrows to the tribe of Judah. A scepter is a symbol of kingly rule (cf. Esther 4:11). From Genesis 49:10 forward, kingship is tied specifically to Judah, who will wield lion-like royal authority. Centuries later, Balaam prophesied, linking royal authority to Jacob’s line, saying, “A Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Micah 5:2 foretells of an eternal Ruler Who would come out of Bethlehem Ephrathah, i.e., Bethlehem of Judah (cf. 1 Samuel 17:12). And in Revelation 5:5, Jesus is explicitly called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” directly echoing Genesis 49:9.
The promise of Genesis 49:10 reaches beyond Judah and tribal leadership. Notice the shift to the singular: “to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” This is not merely about a succession of ordinary kings. Jacob is prophesying about one specific Ruler Who will come “in the last days” (49:1) and “the obedience of the nations shall be his” (49:10, NIV). No earthly king of Judah—not even King David—ever received allegiance from people of all the nations. Only the anointed Son of God was given “the nations for [His] inheritance” (Psalm 2:8; cf. Matthew 28:18-20).
The most difficult word to understand in Genesis 49:10 is “Shiloh,” which is simply a transliteration of the Hebrew. Though the city of Shiloh (in Ephraim) is mentioned over 30 times in the Old Testament, Genesis 49:10 is the only place in Scripture where Shiloh does not refer to a place. Many view this term as a proper name or title for the ultimate Ruler from Judah (the Messiah). Others conclude this Hebrew word should not merely be transliterated but translated “until he comes to whom it belongs” (WEB) or “until he whose right it is comes” (CSB). This One is the final and rightful king. Interestingly, when Ezekiel predicted the fall of Judah’s last Davidic king (Zedekiah), the prophet declared: “[T]ake off the crown…. I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him” (Ezekiel 21:26-27; cf. Jeremiah 22:30). Surely Ezekiel was referring to the same future universal Ruler that Jacob foretold more than a millennium earlier: a lion-like, powerful Ruler from the tribe of Judah would receive allegiance from nations around the globe.
A Picture of a Priest
A King…and a Priest?
One of many mindboggling aspects of the Messiah is how he could be a king of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; 2 Samuel 7:12-16) and a priest. Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah “shall be a priest on His throne” (6:13), and Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would do the work of an ultimate priest by making “His soul an offering for sin” (53:10) and “intercession for the transgressors” (53:12).
Jewish priests served as mediators between Israel and God, making “atonement for the whole congregation” (Numbers 15:25). What’s more, once a year, the Jewish high priest (and only the high priest) went into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle/Temple to make atonement “for all the assembly of Israel” (Leviticus 16:17).
When the Messiah came, He would be both King (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:15) and Priest. According to the New Testament, Jesus is our “one Mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5), Who is “at the right hand of God” making “intercession for us” (Romans 8:34), serving as the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14).
The Law was clear, however: priesthood belonged to the tribe of Levi (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:1-2).2 No man from another tribe could assume that office (Hebrews 7:13-14). Yet the coming Messiah would arise from Judah (Genesis 49:10). The tension is real, but this is no flaw in Scripture or God’s scheme of redemption—it is a deliberate feature of God’s unfolding plan of salvation through the perfect Messiah.
The Mysterious Priest-King
Jesus is actually everything the Bible says He is, including the Great High Priest, but He’s not a priest from the tribe of Levi (and definitely not from any unauthorized tribe of Israel). Jesus is from a totally separate priesthood—from a priest that appears to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 14:18-20.
In a book of more than 1,500 verses carefully structured around Abraham and the promised Seed, why does the Holy Spirit pause the Genesis narrative for three brief verses about a mysterious king-priest from Salem? Melchizedek appears suddenly, blesses Abraham, receives a tithe—and then disappears. No genealogy. No explanation. No continuation of his story. For centuries, these three verses must have seemed like a passing detail. Yet Scripture does not waste words and interrupt its own storyline without purpose. Those three verses were not a detour—they were a deliberate preparation for something far greater.
The Greater Priest of a Better Order
“Melchizedek king of Salem” and “the priest of God Most High” was a type of Christ (Hebrews 7:1). Hebrews explains that his very name means “king of righteousness,” and that as king of Salem (which means “peace”), He was also “king of peace” (7:2). Even in his name and title, he foreshadowed the character of the coming Messiah. Melchizedek was both king and priest.3 Jesus would be the true King of righteousness and the Prince of peace (Jeremiah 23:5-6; Isaiah 9:6-7).
Yet Genesis does not explain why this royal priest appears in chapter 14. That brief explanation came 1,000 years later. In an announcement about the future Messiah’s reign at the right hand of Yahweh (Psalm 110:1), David explained that this King would also be “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (110:4). Interestingly, Psalm 110 is the most frequently cited messianic passage in the New Testament!
Jesus is not a priest like Aaron. He has no genealogy that stretches back to Levi. Jesus was of a greater priesthood, one that blessed Abraham before receiving a tithe from him (Genesis 14:19-20). Abraham was the patriarch of promise. He was the great-grandfather of Levi, from whom the priesthood came. The greater priest—Melchizedek—received tithes from the lesser. For “Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him” (Hebrews 7:9-10).
The Levitical priesthood could never finish the work of atonement. Its sacrifices were repeated. Its priests died. Its ministry was temporary. Jesus, however, lives forever, intercedes continually, and saves completely (Hebrews 7; 10:1-14). He is the greater Priest to Whom Genesis 14 quietly pointed from the very beginning.
Conclusion: Genesis Points to Jesus
From the opening promise of the woman’s Seed in Genesis 3, to the covenant assurances given to Abraham, to the substitutionary ram on Mount Moriah, Genesis quietly and consistently prepares the reader for Someone greater. In Joseph, we see the beloved son who suffers and is exalted to save. In Judah, we learn of a lion-like Ruler whose scepter will not depart and to whom the nations will one day bow. And in Melchizedek, we get a glimpse of a royal priest whose mysterious appearance anticipates a greater Priest-King yet to come. These are not scattered religious sentiments; they form a coherent, harmonious, unfolding portrait.
Genesis does not merely introduce Israel’s story—it lays the deep, theological foundation for the Messiah. Long before Bethlehem, Calvary, or the empty tomb, the Spirit of God was weaving patterns of suffering and exaltation, kingship and priesthood, promise and fulfillment. The first book of the Bible points forward, again and again, to Jesus Christ. And the story is only beginning!
Endnotes
1 “[A]ll antiquity agrees in interpreting it [Genesis 49:10—EL] of a personal Messiah. This is the view of the LXX Version; the Targumim of Onkelos, Yonathan, and Jerusalem; the Talmud; the Sohar; the ancient book of ‘Bereshith Rabba’; among modern Jewish commentators even Rashi, who says, ‘Until Shiloh come, that is King Messiah, Whose is the Kingdom’” [David Baron (2000 reprint), Rays of Messiah’s Glory (Jerusalem: Kern Ahvah Meshihit), p. 258]. See also Eugene H. Merrill (2019), “Genesis 49:8-12,” The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, eds. Michael Rydelnik and Edwin Blum (Chicago, IL: Moody), pp. 273-279.
2 And, specifically, to Levi’s great-grandson, Aaron’s lineage.
3 One might also make the case, as does Glenn Kreider, that Melchizedek was also a prophet since he “spoke to Abraham and blessed him in the name of ‘God Most High.’” He “spoke to Abram on behalf of Abram’s God; this is the function of a prophet” [Glenn R. Kreider (2019), “Messiah: Prophet, Priest, and King,” The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, ed. Michael Rydelnik and Edwin Blum (Chicago, IL: Moody), p. 139].
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