The Life and Faith of Joseph

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob (Gen 30:23–24), the patriarch, whose name was changed to “Israel” (Gen 32:27–28). Jacob loved Rachel (Gen 29:30), who was barren until God opened her womb (Gen 29:31). The Lord gave Jacob two sons from Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. These two boys were Jacob’s favorite sons because of his love for her.

When Joseph was a teenager, Jacob gave Joseph a magnificent coat of many colors (Gen 37:3). In addition, Joseph reported dreams that suggested his brothers would one day bow down to him (Gen 37:5, 9), helping to spur the sin of envy and hate among the brothers (Gen 37:4, 8, 11). Given the opportunity to rid themselves of their arrogant little brother, Joseph, the sons of Israel sold him into slavery to passing Ishmaelites, sons of Midian, who were en route to Egypt to trade their goods (Gen 37:25–36).

Joseph was purchased by Potiphar, an official in Pharaoh’s court, and head of the secret service of bodyguards for Pharaoh. When Potiphar’s wife lusted after Joseph, who denied her advance, he was falsely accused by her and thrown into prison (Gen 39:7–20). God was with him. For 13 years, Joseph waited for freedom which came at age 30, when his prowess at dream interpretation proved useful to Pharaoh, King of Egypt (Gen 40–41).

From prison to palace is not the usual course, but divine grace often displays the mysterious ways of God’s providence in one of His vessels of mercy. It was Yahweh’s mercy during famine that brought the sons of Israel down into Egypt in the quest for food (Gen 42). They did not recognize Joseph, now 39 years of age, but he recognized them (42:8). Through the divine revelation and divine providence process, Joseph became the provider of his father’s entire family.

Moving to Egypt to be under the care of his son, Israel lived his final 17 years in Goshen (Gen 46), the land granted to his family by Pharaoh, the king whom Jacob blessed (Gen 47:10). Jacob also blessed his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons, adopting them as his own sons (Gen 48). Through this example and the example of Jacob blessing his other sons, the legacy continued through Joseph, who when he was ready to die, prophesied and gave instructions concerning his bones (Gen 50; Heb 11:22).

One might consider the position, the power, and the wealth of Joseph to be the legacy he would leave to his family, but Joseph showed his trust in Yahweh and the word of God’s promise granted to his great-grandfather, Abraham, some 200 years before. The faith of his fathers clearly mattered to Joseph. His provisional care for his entire family, from his position of power, makes Joseph typical of Messiah to come. This is true of his spiritual legacy bequeathed in the form of his bones in a coffin (Gen 50:26).

At Jacob’s death, his brothers were not trusting Joseph’s good intention toward them (Gen 50:15–21). How many families suffer the conflict that follows the death of a patriarch or matriarch? To his credit, and by God’s grace, Joseph refused to sit in the place of God. He did not seek vengeance nor reparations from his brothers for the evil they meant toward him. Rather, Joseph recognized God meant to bring good out of the suffering he endured. He was made to be their benevolent brother/king.

The approach to death is a special time for people of faith. Just this week, I prayed in the presence of 102-year-old Hunter Keen just hours before he died and was “gathered to his people.” Hunter was a Princeton Seminary graduate, a church planter (Warminster Presbyterian Church — Warminster, Pennsylvania), missionary to the Dakota Sioux and later to the Nez Pearce tribes.

Hunter and his 101-year-old wife Barbara were/are beloved retirees at our retirement community in Spokane, Washington. Their lives were/are ones of faith and service. Hunter’s death was strong in faith. He breathed his last with his family present. I was a witness to his final three years. I was blessed to know this man of God at the end of his life well-lived. He was an active participant in our multiple Gospel ministries right up to the end.

My dear reader, let us remember that our whole lives are the building of a legacy of faith that will be the blessing poured into those who receive that blessing by God’s design. What you and I leave for an inheritance has the promise of generations of believers to come. If we bestow and bequeath eternal assets, these will live on. If we bestow mere material possessions and money, they will only have temporal and carnal value.

A spiritual legacy can never be lost or stolen because it is protected by God’s grace. It will be conferred upon whomever He chooses to confer it. That may be someone different than we think it will be passed to, as we see the blessing of the younger above the elder in Genesis. God’s chosen remnant, heirs of salvation, are rarely the rich, rarely the noble, and rarely the ambitious Ishmael, Esau, and Judas-types.

Joseph’s bones do not represent much hope to the unbeliever, but to God’s people in Egypt, the Exodus, the Wilderness, and the Conquest, they were a symbol of hope seeing them through 470 years of exile, slavery, and wandering until they entered the Promised Land. The reminder to the living, the dry, dead bones of those who lived and died in faith speak of the resurrection to come (Ezek 37). The patriarchs believed the promises of God and set themselves as those who are dead yet who speak.

Joseph was yet another imperfect man of faith whose life preached the faithfulness of God. Our God is faithful (Hos 11:12). We wait upon Him who promises to come back for us (Jn 14:2–3), to deliver us from this world system, this world of sin and sinners, and from the ruler of this world — the antitype of Pharaoh who does not know our Joseph, Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

May we remember our beloved Brother whom our Father loved from eternity, and whom He exalted to the highest place, and with whom He was well-pleased. Let us trust our Brother, who sits enthroned in heaven, with all authority there and upon the earth — the Lord, our provider, our blessing, our King!

Let us not forget His condescension into this world. Let us consider His chaste holiness. Let us remember His being forsaken by His brothers. Let us remember His ascension to the throne of God.

Maybe the greatest legacy of Joseph is the vivid picture he gives us of Christ, our King and Lord of all. We must trust that King Jesus holds no grudge against us, whose evil required the cross. Look to His brotherly love on display, in His suffering substitute sacrifice to bring us good from God.

If Joseph’s bones served as hope for those generations of Israel in Egypt, then what of Jesus Christ and the hope He gives us, being alive, forevermore. Oh, the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God, who has done great things and to whom belongs all the glory.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

February 9, 2026

Hebrews 11:22