God’s sovereign deliverance of His covenant people

Gen 39:1-23 Joseph in Egypt (sold as a slave, falsely accused, imprisoned)

My Notes

• Genesis 02 language:
  • "Joseph's master //Potiphar// took him, and put him into the prison,"
    • "Elohim took the Adam and put him in the Gan Eden"
  • "The LORD was with Joseph"
    • the LORD God walking in the garden with man
  • “none is greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me except you"
    • Adam had access to every tree except one
• Yahweh was with him ... made all that he did prosper
  • Adam blessed and had dominion/authority in the Garden
  • Potiphar
    • saw that Yahweh was with him,
    • all that he had he put into his hand
    • He didn't concern himself with anything
  • The keeper of the prison
    • in the sight of the keeper of the prison
    • committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners
    • The keeper of the prison didn't look after anything
• Genesis 03 language:
  • “handsome in form and appearance”- "set her eyes on Joseph"
    • "Now the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a thing of lust for the eyes, and that the tree was desirable" Gen-03:6
  • "Lie with me”
    • “she took of its fruit and ate” linked to "illicit" desire
  • "Behold, he has brought a Hebrew in to us to mock us.
    • She said Potiphar brought the Hebrew in to mock her and her house men.
    • She shifted blame and inflame ethnic resentment against Joseph.
    • The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me
      • The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it. Gen-03:12
  • Fleeing and leaving his garment
    • Adam and Eve were naked
    • Realized they were naked, had shame and attempt to cover themselves with fig leaves
• "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God."
  - Joseph was concerned with what YHWH thought, not with what Potiphar thought.
  - Joseph didn't take what the woman offered he stayed Righteous in the eyes of YHWH, unlike Adam
• People who did not follow YHWH were blessed for Joseph's sake.
• Idioms
  • leaving garment in hand” is a recurring biblical idiom for escaping temptation or danger at personal cost (also used in Gen 38 with Tamar).
  • The Hebrew servant…came in to me to mock me” Meaning: “Mock” here is used as a euphemism for sexual assault or humiliation

Isaiah 37:31-37 (with parallel 2 Kings 19:31–37) -Hezekiah and Jerusalem delivered from Assyria

My Notes

• The jealousy/zeal of YHWH of Armies
  • Zeal qānā (קָנָא) Jealousy (in the sense of exclusive claim or protective passion): Ex 20:5; 34:14; Deut 4:24; Josh 24:19; Nah 1:2.
  • Literally "hosts" or "armies" In the Hebrew Bible this is the most common divine title after YHWH itself (appears ~285 times)
    • Isaiah 9:7 (Heb 9:6) — the zeal of YHWH of Hosts will establish David’s throne forever (speaking of Messiah)
  • It is not human effort, not Hezekiah’s army, not even angelic armies acting independently, but the personal, fiery zeal of the sovereign Commander of all heavenly and earthly forces
• 'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"
  • For YHWH's sake
  • and for David's sake
• Yahweh’s Angel = Messenger “messenger” More specifically here: Angel of Yahweh, Angel of the Lord
  • Hebrew text has the definite article: הַמַּלְאָךְ יְהוָה (“the angel of YHWH”)
  • executes divine judgment (185,000 dead in one night).

Acts 7:9-37 Stephen recounts Joseph to Moses; Stephen falsely accused, stoned, sees YHWH and Yeshua

My Notes

• Stephen, in his speech before the Sanhedrin, explicitly ties Joseph and the exodus deliverance together and uses the exact same wording and pattern that Isaiah 37 uses.
• Stephen is preaching the same God who was with Joseph in Egypt, who by His zeal destroyed the Assyrian army in one night, is now with Jesus and His people.
• The Sanhedrin, by rejecting Jesus and His messengers, are playing the role of Joseph’s brothers, Pharaoh, and Sennacherib.
• Acts 7:42-43 is Steven quoting Amos 5:25–27 , the underlying Hebrew of Amos 5:27 also has יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת. YHWH of Armies
  • Amos 5: "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
  • Acts 7: ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
    • Moloch” and “Rephan” appear in the New Testament even though they are not in the standard Hebrew text of Amos—they come from the Greek translation that Stephen (and most Greek-speaking Jews of his day) used.
• Angel = Messenger “messenger” More specifically here: (Angel of Yahweh, Angel of the Lord
  • Greek text has ἄγγελος κυρίου (“angel of the Lord”) – exactly the same phrase used throughout for the Angel of YHWH (e.g., Gen 16:7; Exod 3:2; Judg 6:11, etc.)
  • Stephen associates the “angel” at the burning bush and on Sinai with the same figure who accompanied Israel in the wilderness.
  • Second-Temple and early Christian readers almost universally understood this “Angel of the LORD” to be a manifestation of YHWH Himself
    • Later Christians readers see a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son

Psalm 32