JOSEPH'S SILVER CUP
JOSEPH’S SILVER CUP
“Did ye not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?” Yes, Joseph could indeed divine — little as his brethren apprehended his meaning.
His method of divining was far removed from that of the Egyptian magicians and soothsayers, with their enchantments to deceive by cunning, and often satanic, devices and magic arts.
In Daniel 2, we have a remarkable and instructive account of the exposure and conviction of this class of men, with their pretence to occult powers; and the consequent bringing in of Daniel, who, like Joseph, was the true ‘revealer of secrets’, as having been enlightened and instructed in divine wisdom; so that God was acknowledged and glorified in the result.
Joseph was indeed truly divining, searching out and bringing to light what was the present mind of his brethren, and as to how far their consciences had been awakened as to their former conduct.
To this end he uses his cup, his silver cup, with admirable skill and design. That his cup was “my ... silver cup” (verse 2) seems to be not without significance. Silver surely may be taken as typical of grace, a symbol of it, for us the redemptive saving grace of God, revealed in and by our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Joseph was such a striking type; for Jesus was pre-eminently ‘the Revealer of secrets’ (see John 1: 48; John 4: 29 as examples), “The Saviour of the world” (John 4: 42), so that the new name given to Joseph — Zaphnath-paaneah (Genesis 41: 45) with its double meaning ‘Revealer of secrets’ and ‘Saviour of the world’- was fully and absolutely descriptive of Him, and of Him alone. Again we may surely take Joseph’s actions and words, by which he searched out and brought into evidence, and in great measure produced, the exercises of his brethren’s consciences and hearts, as portraying what the Lord (as Son of Man) declares as to Himself in Revelation 2: 23, “And all the assemblies shall know that I am he that searches the reins and the hearts”, a deeply important truth for our souls.
Let us also bear in mind for our comfort and profit that in these actions of Joseph which we are considering he is not only a type or figure of Christ, but we see in him the spirit and mind of Christ, shining out in a beautiful and precious way, both in his words and in his actions.
Joseph’s words, indeed, at times seemed harsh, “He spoke roughly unto them”, and some of his dealings appeared severe; but he had one definite object and end before him in it all, which was, as we know, that when they were humbled and subdued, he might lavish his love upon them and have them in enjoyed nearness to himself — fear and distance removed, so far as he could effect it. But the probing and testing must come first, to lead them to repentance and confession as regarding the past. When this is effected, the pent-up feelings of Joseph in yearning love can be expressed; and his delight was to say, “Come near to me, I pray you”, speaking to their hearts and giving them the kiss of reconciliation and love, and finding his joy in so doing.
In all this, was it not indeed the spirit and mind of Christ in Joseph, enabling him to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12: 21)? We know from the prophetic word how, in a future day, the blessed Lord Himself — the true Joseph, as we speak — will with His earthly people Israel repeat and accomplish in the fullest and most blessed way all that which is typified and [p. 61] shadowed forth so admirably in Joseph. His (the Lord’s) brethren, as He will call them in marvellous and infinite grace, He will deal with in perfect wisdom and love, first to bring them to repentance and mourning and confession; as so graphically described in Zechariah 12:10: “And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look on me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn”. “And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thy hands? And he will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (chapter 13: 6); and in verse 9: “And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will answer them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God”, and thus leading on to, and making possible, the fulfilment of these prophetic words of exquisite beauty and preciousness in Zephaniah 3: 17 addressed by the prophet to Israel. “Jehovah ... will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will exult over thee with singing”.
Yes, Joseph’s way with his brethren is indeed typical and illustrative of the manner in which that chosen and elect nation will be brought to full confession of all their guilt, and to true repentance under the hand and dealings of the Lord; who “shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (Malachi 3: 3), for His dealings will be on the line of, and characterised by, redemptive grace; as we read elsewhere: “The ransomed of Jehovah shall return” (Isaiah 35: 10). “And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130: 8).
There are also, however, important differences (never to be lost sight of) between what we have dwelt upon in the case of Joseph, and the Lord’s dealings in a future day to bring Israel back to Himself; gathering them as “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13: 20) — in their case, “the lost sheep of Israel’s house” (Matthew 15: 24); and we may happily add, as gathering now, and during these last nineteen hundred years, the “other sheep” (John 10: 16) — the elect of God out of that nation, and from among the Gentiles, for a heavenly portion and heavenly joys. Joseph, like Moses, may be a servant in God’s house, and as such found faithful, “but Christ, as Son over his (God’s) house” (Hebrews 3: 6), and thus surpassingly more glorious than Joseph or Moses. Joseph needed to use “the silver cup” (chapter 44: 2), and various other means to divine the true state of his brethren’s hearts, and he acted with admirable skill and wisdom, as taught of God. We have also seen that while in love he yearns over them, and specially over Benjamin, yet he will not disclose himself nor gratify his love until he has ‘divined’ and searched out their inward feelings and exercises of heart; and who can read the touching confession, the eloquent appeal of Judah on behalf of Benjamin, without being deeply moved, and responsively appreciate Joseph’s feelings and attitude, when all was found out? He can now commit himself to them, and declare himself as “Joseph your brother” (chapter 45: 4). Beautiful indeed! even as inspired history, is all this; and precious to see in Joseph the spirit of Christ displaying itself so touchingly in tender forgiving love, in a man “of like passions” (Acts 14: 15). Would that we were possessed and controlled more by a similar unselfish mind and spirit, for the outshining of the mind “which was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2: 5). But it is in Jesus only, as in Philippians 2, that we have fully displayed what we see in part in Joseph and others, and, as regards them, entirely the fruit of the work of God in them, wrought by the Holy Spirit, and not any grace or virtue in them nor in any other naturally. Such fruit never grew in nature’s garden. “I am the vine” (”the true vine”) (John 15: 1, 5) said the Lord to His disciples, and again, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, thus neither can ye unless ye abide in me” (verse 4). ‘Dead works’ there may be, which are but an attempt at imitation by fleshly piety: “Let no one fraudulently deprive you of [p. 63] your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh”. “Which have indeed an appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship, and humility, and harsh treatment of the body, not in a certain honour, to the satisfaction of the flesh” (Colossians 2: 18, 23). These are like artificial flowers and fruit; but no fruit for God can there ever be apart from being born again, born of God; and so, as being the subjects of the work in us of the Holy Spirit, it is a great point reached in our history when we say from our hearts,
‘Nothing that’s good have we,
Nothing apart from Thee,
Jesus, our Lord’.
This may appear a digression from the subject we are considering, but it is really intimately connected with it. God was from the very first finding pleasure in any and every expression of the spirit of Christ in His people; but, in every case, it was the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit (in sovereign grace) in order that some of the beautiful moral features of Christ should be displayed, well pleasing in His (God’s) sight: “The God of peace ... perfect you in every good work to the doing of his will, doing in you what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13: 20, 21).
Yet, in some ways, as we have already intimated, how instructive and important are the points of contrast between Joseph’s way of reaching right conclusions as to his brethren, and the perfect knowledge of all things and persons which we see in the Lord Jesus.
The Spirit by the evangelist bears testimony to Him, that “he knew all men, and that he had not need that any should testify of man, for himself knew what was in man” (John 2: 24, 25). We have also the precious testimony of the woman of Samaria (already alluded to), “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?” (John 4: 29). And though He would not, as being unsuited to the [p. 64] dignity of His glorious Person, and the marvellous lowliness to which He condescended, use words such as Joseph used: “Did ye not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?”, He could, and did, in matchless tenderness and love, say to that poor woman, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4: 10). Here, indeed, is the ‘glory that excelleth’, for it is the glory of perfect divine grace and love. He knew perfectly all the history of that unhappy woman; and He dealt with her conscience and heart in a manner as gracious and tender as it was searching and convicting, preparing her for that wonderful revelation of Himself to her: “I who speak to thee am he” (verse 26). And has He not searched and tried us, letting the light shine in that showed us what we were that He might reveal to us what He is, so as to attach us to Himself? Yes! blessed Lord, we joy to look up to Thee now in that place of supreme exaltation and honour where Thou art now, and say to Thee with adoring hearts,
‘In Thy blest face all glories shine,
And there we gaze on love divine’. (68:2)
As Man here on earth, He was the Vessel of all the fulness of God’s grace, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14). We who have believed on Him have received “of his fulness ..., and grace upon grace” (John 1: 16). We ought surely, therefore, not come behind those Old Testament saints in showing forth now the grace and compassion of Jesus and His spirit and moral features, and so be found walking more “as he walked” (John 1: 36).
He, not Joseph, is our divine and perfect pattern. In full and perfect love He “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people (that is, a company peculiarly ‘His own’), zealous for good works” (Titus 2: 14).
[p. 65] He can be, to each one of us, what Joseph could never be to his brethren, for with him were many limitations, but none with Jesus! who is able “to subdue all things to himself” (Philippians 3: 21). We have ever His priestly service, His sympathy in every sorrow, and even if we sin, “We have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2: 1). If we are tired and cast down, He can encourage our hearts with the assurance, “My grace suffices thee; for my power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12: 9). Our sense of conscious weakness casts us on His strength, so that ‘His strength shall be ours on the road’.
In the closing verses of Isaiah 40, we find how all this can be made available, as also in Philippians 4. What blessed secrets these two scriptures contain for us, and what rich instruction there is in all the Old Testament Scriptures, all “written for our instruction, that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15: 4). May we know how to interpret and apply them rightly and value them more.
But this is not all that which the Spirit would teach us in this interesting history of Joseph and his dealings with his brethren, for, while we rightly admire the spirit in which he acted towards them, and may well desire to move on the same lines “through ... the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1: 19), yet we must also remember, and take account of the fact, that we were once in the spiritual state indicated by Joseph’s brethren. We “once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works” (Colossians 1: 21). See also Titus 3: 3. “We were once ourselves also without intelligence, disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another”. As with these men, and like the younger son in Luke 15, it needed a famine (with us, a soul famine) to arouse us, and then other dealings of God — often mysterious and perhaps painful — to produce the right exercises of conscience and soul, so as to compel us to turn to God. Thus it [p. 66] was His goodness led us to repentance and confession. How beautifully and perfectly we have all this — both our guilty perishing condition, and the compassion and love of God — portrayed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 15 already referred to, where the activities in love of the whole Godhead are pictured — the seeking — the finding, the repentance — the rejoicing over the repentant sinner and the never-ending joy in the father’s house. Yes! marvellous indeed and most blessed for us to know that “there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner” (verse 10); and that ‘It is the Father’s joy to bless’.
All these ways of divine love towards us have then, for their object, to bring us into, and make us participators of, all the wealth of blessing, all the joy and glory and honour which that love had long before provided and treasured up for us.
‘Trembling, we had hoped for mercy Some lone place within the door, But the crown, the throne, the mansion, All were purposed long before’.
As we apprehend this and ponder over it, and look back to see all the way by which our gracious God has led us (which, at the time, we knew not) to bring us to the knowledge of Christ, and of His fulness to meet all our need and misery (for “of his fulness we all have received”, John 1: 16), we can then use, as expressive of our own personal experience, the words of the apostle in Romans 5: 11, “And not only that, but we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ”. The time is fast approaching too, when, for those of His earthly people Israel, who will then, through His sovereign mercy, His governmental dealings with them, and His work in them by His Spirit, have been brought to repentance, and to fear the Lord and think upon His Name (Malachi 3: 16), “The Sun of righteousness (will) arise with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4: 2); when, for them, will be fulfilled the ancient and glorious prophecy in Deuteronomy 33: 28, 29, “Israel shall dwell in safety alone, The fountain of Jacob, in a [p. 67] land of corn and new wine; Also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah?” Theirs will clearly be blessing on the earth, and earthly in character, under the blessings of the new covenant, foretold long before in the prophets, secured by the precious blood of Jesus, even as He said: “This is my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many for remission of sins” (Matthew 26: 28). Hence the promise of the covenant was, “Their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more” (Hebrews 8: 12). For us, too, that precious blood was shed, and we are now justified by the efficacy (the power) of that blood, and “reconciled to God through the death of his Son”, with the blessed assurance that having been thus reconciled, when enemies, “we shall be saved in the power of his life” (Romans 5: 10). Have we not an illustration, and so far an explanation of this latter truth, in the story of Joseph and his brethren? His brethren and his father’s house were assuredly saved by his life — his life, too, after he had been down in the depths of sorrow and bitterness, when the iron entered into his soul; and they the cause and instruments of it. Now raised up and exalted, having the power and glory of Egypt given to him, he can and will, as his chief service and joy, save his brethren and all his father’s house through the famine time, and preserve and deliver them from every hostile element. But more, he will have them near himself, for the satisfaction of his love, and for his ministry to them, for, said he, “There will I maintain thee” (Genesis 45: 11).
Thus, I think, we have a picture or type of what is meant by “we shall be saved in the power of his life” (Romans 5: 10), for have we not the present ceaseless activities of the life of Christ and His shepherd care, previously described in such detail in Psalm 23? The believer, whose conscience and heart are in the light and confidence of all this, can take up and appropriate the triumphant challenge of the apostle in Romans 8: 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” and declare, like him, his persuasion that “neither [p. 68] death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (verses 38, 39).
May all this precious confidence in the perfect unchanging love of divine Persons (of the Father and the Son, for so John presents it) be the enjoyed portion and repose of our hearts.
In this respect we would be found unlike Joseph’s brethren, who, after years of the experience of Joseph’s tender love and care, still cherished fear and suspicion in their hearts and minds — very grieving to the heart of Joseph (see Genesis 50: 15 - 17). They were not “perfect as to conscience” (Hebrews 9: 9).