Genesis
49:22 ¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even
a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot
at him, and hated him: 24 But his bow
abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of
the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who
shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of
heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts,
and of the womb: 26 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. 27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the
morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
Joseph’s
has two sons, one Ephraim and the other Manasseh.
41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim:
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Joseph
was a fruitful bough, not only in his
progeny but in his career in Egypt and in delivering his family from the
famine. A bough is a branch.
Judges
9:48 And Abimelech gat him up to mount
Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in
his hand, and cut down a bough from the
trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people
that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.
Isaiah
17:9 In that day shall his strong cities
be as a forsaken bough, and an
uppermost branch, which they left
because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
Christ
is referred to as the Branch in prophecy regarding His first appearance and His
millennial reign.
Jeremiah
33:14 Behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house
of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land. 16
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely:
and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Zechariah
3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,
thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for,
behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Zechariah
6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH;
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the
LORD:
Regarding
the branch, the bough, and a well, notice this statement by Jesus and, in fact,
read the context of His encounter with the woman by the well.
John
4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Notice
the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile that Christ overcame.
Ephesians
2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made
both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Joseph’s
brothers, likened to archers, tried to kill him but God made him strong and he
overcame. Joseph has truly been blessed and used by God.
An
interesting thing to note is that Ishmael, considered by Muslims to be a
prophet and an ancestor of Mohammed as well as the father of the Arab people
having links to Mecca and the construction of the Kaaba, was an archer.
Genesis
21:20 And God was with the lad; and he
grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Note
the symbolism with the great conqueror at the end of human history, enemy of
Christ and Christians…
Revelation
6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:
and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went
forth conquering, and to conquer.
Verse
24 gives us a prophecy of Christ. Christ is ultimately the shepherd, the stone of Israel and cornerstone of the church.
John
10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…14
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
Ephesians
2:20 And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner
stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit.
He
is the spiritual Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness. Notice as you
read Exodus and Psalms the importance of the rock.
One
example in the wilderness journeys of the Hebrews would be;
Exodus
17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall
come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel.
Isaiah
8:14 And he shall be for a sanctuary;
but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of
Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
1Corinthians
10:4 And did all drink the same
spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ.
The everlasting hills presents
us with an interesting point. Ezekiel will use Joseph and Ephraim as an example
of all Israel in a prophecy that can only come true during the millennial reign
of Christ with Christ as a type of David, who represents God’s king (2Samuel
23:3 for the quality of a king.)
Ezekiel
37:15 ¶ The word of the LORD came again
unto me, saying, 16 Moreover, thou son
of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children
of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For
Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one
stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18 And when the children of thy people shall
speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim,
and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the
stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest
shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they
be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own
land: 22 And I will make them one
nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to
them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided
into two kingdoms any more at all: 23
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with
their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save
them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will
cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and
observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And
they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein
your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their
children, and their children’s children for
ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will
make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and
multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do
sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
Benjamin
had Ehud the judge and Saul the king from his tribe. Also, from Benjamin came
Mordecai and Esther. Paul, the great minister to the Gentiles in the New
Testament, was also a Benjamite. Truly, this tribe will play a great part in
God’s ministry of reconciliation toward mankind. In Judges we see that Benjamin
comes near to being wiped out and are a very warlike tribe. Jacob’s prophecy of
his beloved youngest son’s progeny shows that this goes beyond just speaking of
the future of his child.
Regarding
Paul, Matthew Henry makes the point that he devoured the prey or prosecuted
Christians in the beginning and divided the spoil, gathering Christians for
Christ, as a preacher, later. This brings to mind a parable Christ told about
how He spoiled, took, Satan’s goods, people, by those He drew to Himself.
Matthew
12:28 But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s
house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he
will spoil his house. 30 He that is not
with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
This
is not to say I have written the definitive word on these prophecies but that
these are things to consider. There are many more connections to be made and
literally hundreds of sermons to be gleaned from these Biblical
cross-references. There is more to preach on than attendance, giving, and
soul-winning most certainly.
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