Kingdom Come

“Now Israel loved [in the sense of marriage, joined identies with] Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his [maturity, wisdom] old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.”

Undoubtedly the sign of his choice of Joseph being his Melchizedekian heir, confirmed by the dreams God had given Joseph. 

And when his brethren saw that their father loved / felt one with him more than all his brethren [i.e. as the LORD God had when he made Jacob his heir over Esau] they hated / repudiated identity with him.” (Genesis 37)

And it was into this exact dangerous and lawless condition that Jacob sent Joseph to check on his erratic older brothers.

“And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them.”

Jacob was acting on his appointment, providing leadership training, especially trust in Almighty God. Jacob had no idea just how much leadership training Joseph would be getting when his brothers human trafficked him into Egypt.

If you’ve ever been assigned leadership responsibility you understand that it’s lonely at the top.

And when they saw him afar off…they conspired against him…Come, and let us sell him…Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.” (Genesis 37:13-28)

The 13th Egyptian dynasty, beginning around 1786 BC, marked the beginning of a chaotic period in Egyptian history. This is consistent with population growth, the expansion of warring nations and even the hybrid giant nations contributing to famine. Just a dry spell would completely wreck the ecology.

As it turned out, Joseph was literally a God-send when he became Prime Minister around 1750 BC., “to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20).

“And Joseph was thirty years old when he…went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt…in the seven plenteous years…and laid up the food in the cities…..And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.” (Genesis 41:46-57)

In Manetho’s account the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3150 – c. 2900 BCE), i.e. pre-flood, was founded by Menes/Narmer. A recognizable Egyptian culture, including the development of writing, arts, and sciences developed. A sizeable set of stone art objects contain scenes of war and fighting

These images include depictions of gods, giants and what appear to be dinosaurs, consistent with the written documentation in Genesis 6 and Job 40 of the circumstances that brought about destruction by flood.

Early Egyptian records report that the sun god, Ra, recoiled from humanity’s wickedness and killed almost everyone. This is evidence of the cross-cultural knowledge of YHVH, available through written records, revealed in the Torah’s account of Joseph son of Jacob’s involvement with the Egyptian religion.

Notice that the long-lasting dire circumstances of this disaster brought many nations under Egypt’s protection. These people willingly submitted themselves to Pharaoh – wait, no, that’s Joseph’s – rule.

“And the seven years of dearth began to come…in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread…the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do…And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.” (Genesis 41:55-57)

“God…hath made me a father / spiritual authority to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house [including his priests], and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 45:8)

Joseph is unquestionably the next in the series of Melchizedeks. 

“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar…an Egyptian, bought him…And the LORD / YHVH was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man…And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And…he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.…his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me…how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against [note the singular] God?…And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife…spake unto them, saying, See, he [master of the house] hath brought in an Hebrew to mock us. ” (Genesis 39:1-14)

This concept of a Hebrew mocking the Egyptians becomes significant when we apply the fact that all nationalities were identified by their religion. To some extent this is still true today – Italians are for the most part Catholic, Arabs are Muslim, etc. The Hebrews were identified by their priest / father Abraham who taught them to worship only “the most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.” The other nations’ experience with their lesser gods led them to understand, correctly, that each of their gods had only finite power, so they needed many gods to cover all their bases for food, fertility, and fighting. Joseph’s master acknowledged that Joseph was empowered by his God, and his wife was blame-shifting her disrespect for her husband onto him as disrespecting their gods for doing so.

Joseph was 57 years old at this time and had trained for 27 years as Prime Minister of the world-wide empire. Some time later, at Jacob’s death:

Joseph is publicly confirmed.

“And Jacob called unto his sons…

1. 1. Joseph is fruitful...and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob… 
   2. the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee…The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Genesis 49)

^“And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty…blessed me, And said unto me,

1. I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
2. And now thy two sons, Ephraim / אֶפְרַיִם and Manasseh…are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

Do you recognize that this was a means of Jacob giving a double portion of his Melechizedekian blessing of fruition to Joseph over his brothers?

1. My children are my greatest blessing in life. I have two children of my own but four grandchildren through them. My fruitful blessing of children was doubled.
2. Generation A grandparent dies. His estate worth 36 million shekels leaves equal portions to each of his Generation B children.
   1. Option 1: Generation B inherits 3 million shekels each including Joseph, each of 12 sons distributes equally to  their 3 Generation C sons.
      • Each Generation C son inherits 1 million shekels each, including Ephraim and Manasseh.
   2. Option 2: Jacob replaces Joseph with Ephraim and Manasseh, now 13 Generation B sons each inherit 2.8 million shekels, including Ephraim and Manasseh, i.e. the equivalent of Joseph having received twice as much as his brothers.

It seems that, in compensation for Jacob taking half the blessing from Joseph to give to Judah, he doubled up Joseph’s share of his wealth. As if Joseph needed it! The Prime Minister of Egypt!

Wait, Joseph didn’t use his wealth and power to indulge himself. He used his resources to take care of others.

“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:” (Luke 12:48)

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (Matthew 13:12)

Ephraim’s descendants fail at their Melchizedekian responsibilities, details in a later post.

“Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people…

But true to his word, God’s covenant never fails.

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?…I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee…

They shall walk after the LORD…

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” (Hosea 7:8, 11:8-10, Romans 9:25-26)