Genesis 41:37-52
A great page in Joseph’s story is now turned. After suffering comes glory (compare Luke 24:26). The afflicted one who had been thrown into the pit, the slave in a foreign country, the prisoner in the gaol, becomes the lord of the land (42:30), the saviour of the world, the one before whom every knee bows (v. 43). Each one of these titles speaks to us of Him who, at one time humiliated and despised, will soon be honoured for ever by all men. Jesus, the Nazarene, has been highly exalted by God and crowned with glory and honour (Hebrews 2:7). And as a supreme complement to all these glories, a wife is given to Joseph, a picture of the Church taken from among the nations (Ephesians 1:20-23). The names of his sons call to mind the sore travail of the Saviour’s soul: forgotten henceforth (Manasseh, v. 51), to taste an abundance of fruit (Ephraim, v. 52; compare Isaiah 53:11).
Psalms 105:16-21, already quoted, summarizes this magnificent story. Before sending the famine, which he had already decreed, onto the earth, God had prepared Joseph by his afflictions. He is a type of Christ in His role of Saviour and life-support for the world and for Israel’s family. (Ephraim means double fruitfulness). So we may well cry with wonder, "Can we find such a one as this is?" (v. 38).