Genesis 40 Series, Part 34, Verses 18-19

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Today is study #34 in Genesis 40. And I will again read Genesis 40:18-19:

And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

We were discussing the baker and his role of baking bread, and how that ties into the churches and congregations. The baker is a historical figure who actually lived in the time of Joseph, and he was in prison with Joseph. He was the chief of the bakers for Pharaoh. Yes, he was a real man but God is using him in a historical parable. The dream is a parable, and the explanation of the dream is the Gospel, the deeper spiritual meaning.

We are going a step beyond that as we look at the baker as a figure of the corporate church, and the reason for doing so is that his body was eaten by the birds just as was the carcase in Matthew 24. We can see the relationship to the death of the church, and of the “two witnesses” that were dead in the streets for three and a half days, and no on buried them. The body of the baker was eaten by the birds, and his head was “removed,” as it were, and he was hung on a tree. All these things point to the end time apostate churches.

For instance, when we look at being “hanged,” we should start with Galatians 3:13:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. You know, every sinner is cursed. Sometimes when people have a bad day they will say, “I feel like I am cursed.” Well, they are cursed. People are under the curse of God because of our sins. But for certain ones that the Bible calls the chosen of God, the elect, our sin that brings the curse of God upon us was transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ, as Galatians 3:13 tells us, and that is a quote from Deuteronomy 21:22-23:

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which JEHOVAH thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Just think of Christ who was hanged on a tree, the cross. The cross was made from a tree. Being hanged, Jesus was accursed. The word “land” in Deuteronomy 21:23 can also be translated as “earth,” but it is not referring to this present earth, but to the new earth. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the world to come of God’s elect. In Isaiah it tells us that JEHOVAH God is married to the “land,” and it is the same Hebrew word for “earth.” We understand that God typifies the elect as a city, Jerusalem. Are we a literal city? No. Are we a literal earth? No. But that is a figure the Lord uses.

Again, it says, “that thy land be not defiled, which JEHOVAH thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” The inheritance was the promise of the land to Abraham through the promised seed. It also tells us in the same chapter of Galatians in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

So the promise of the seed to Abraham was looking to Christ. It all ties together, as Christ was accursed that the earth not be defiled for those that are saved, and that we might receive our inheritance.

We also read in Acts 5:30-31:

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

The word “forgiveness” is the same Greek word translated as “remission,” where it says, “…and without shedding of blood is no remission.” There is no forgiveness, and of course that is the tremendous problem when someone says, “Christ died on the cross in 33 A. D., and that is when He shed his blood for sin.” What about the Old Testament saints like Abel, Noah, Abraham, David, Daniel, Joseph, and all them, if there had been no shedding of blood prior to 33 A. D.? There is no forgiveness or remission of sins without the shedding of blood. You cannot shed blood “in principle.” It is a work, and according to Hebrews 4:3 it is the work finished from the foundation of the world. How can there be a work done “in principle?” How is that possible? Explain that.

The definition of work in the Bible is obedient action in response to the command of God. It was the Father’s will that Christ bear the sins of His people and die for them by going to the cross. How could those works be finished? To be finished means to be fully completed. His work was completed and accepted of God. God was satisfied because He had received the works of Christ at the foundation of the world. 

You know, some people are so careless with the Bible and it is usually in areas they do not want to “touch” because they have doctrines they are comfortable with and do not want changed. “I know Christ died for sins on the cross in 33 A. D. Everyone knows that. Do not tell me otherwise.” But how do they explain what it says in Hebrews 9:22? It says there that without the shedding of blood is no remission, and remission is forgiveness. Then go to Hebrews 4:3, where it says the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Then think about it! Explain how you can have a finished work “in principle?” The word “finished” means that something is actually done, or performed. What are the works that were finished at the foundation of the world? John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” And according to Revelation 13:8, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Once you understand that, I hope you see how God worked out His salvation program. Christ bore the sins of His people; He died for those sins; He rose again, declared to be the Son of God. That is how Jesus became the Son, according to Romans 1:4. And it was the Son who created the world, according to Hebrews 1, and He could not have been the Son until He had resurrected from the dead. If He first rose from the dead in 33 A. D. to be called the Son, then why was He called the Son throughout the Gospels? We are given the explanation how He became the Son. It was because He was the “firstborn from the dead.” 

So that work that was finished was that Christ died for sin before the world was created, and as time unfolded His blood was therefore available for Abel; and His blood was available for Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and so forth.

Getting back to the “curse,” it was the love and mercy of God for His people that He would be made a curse for us. This is the idea of being “hanged.” We are going to look at some biblical references for men that were hanged, and we are going to see that the spiritual picture is of God’s judgment on the corporate church. Let us start with 2Samuel 17 where we will read of Ahithophel, whose name means “brother of folly,” or “brother of foolishness.” Ultimately, he was a “fool,” being an unsaved person. When God speaks of fools in the Bible, it means that they lack wisdom, and Christ is the essence of wisdom. So anyone who lacks Christ is a fool, no matter how smart they may be intellectually. You may have a doctorate and be very clever in secular affairs, but when you lack Christ you are classified by God as a fool. Ahithophel was an unsaved man, and he rebelled against David by joining forces with David’s son Absolom as Absolom sought to kill his own father and take the kingdom. Ahithophel was Absolom’s counselor, and he was an excellent counselor of wickedness. He was giving instruction to Absolom. God came against that by raising up another counselor who was a friend to David to dissuade Absolom from following the counsel of Ahithophel. Ahithophel was very offended by this, and he probably realized that the rebellion would fail if his counsel was not followed. I do not know all the reasons, but we read that he hanged himself in 2Samuel 17:23:

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

He hanged himself. This word translated as “hanged” is a little different than other words we will follow, like what we will see Deuteronomy 21. We will go to a few other verses that use the same word as Deuteronomy 21. But this word in 2Samuel 17:23 can also be translated as “strangled.” But when someone hangs himself, he is basically strangled, and he did this to himself. It reminds us of Judas after he betrayed the Lord. Keep in mind that he was infilled by Satan at the time that he did this, and more than likely Satan then came out of him, and Judas seemed to realize the awful thing he had done. He was used by the devil to betray the Lord, and in sorrow he went and hanged himself. That was worldly sorrow, and God makes a distinction between godly sorrow that leads to repentance and worldly sorrow that leads to death. No doubt Judas was not saved. 

In 2Samuel, Ahithophel betrayed David, a type of Christ. So we can see the relationship here. Judas, one of the disciples of Christ, betrayed Him. Judas is a figure of the corporate church, as well as Ahithophel. We will look at Judas last because there is some very important language applied to Judas that we can tie to the end time church.

But here we see Ahithophel in rebellion against David, a type of Christ. He hung himself, and was accursed. Also, in 2Samuel 18 Absolom (whom Ahithophel had followed), was “hanged in an oak, as we read in 2Samuel 18:9-10:

And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

This is our word “hanged” that is used in Deuteronomy 21. Again, it is different from the word used in regard to Ahithophel. It goes on to say in 2Samuel 18:11-15:

And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle. And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom. Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mines own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me. Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men that bare Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

Absolom was caught in the tree by his hair, part of his head, and he was hanging there but still alive. Joab heard about it, and Joab is a type and figure of Satan. He was always causing David trouble. What do I mean? After all, Joab was a general and servant to David. Yes, but remember that at the time of the end God loosed Satan and used him as a weapon. This was prefigured with the historical parable about the king of Babylon that the Lord used to come against Judah and Jerusalem to destroy them, and God called Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant,” even though he was a type and figure of Satan.

So Joab went after Absolom. Yes, David sent Joab and the army to fight against Absolom but they were told not to put forth their hand against the king’s son. It is the same idea when God loosed Satan, and he came against the churches and congregations, and yet Satan is responsible for that sin. God would not have any to “touch his anointed,” as David said of Saul. David would not smite Saul. The people of God have respect for those that are being used of God, like a king, or a king’s son, or the institution of the church. 

And yet Joab, a figure of the wicked one, came with his darts to kill the king’s son. Remember it says in Ephesians 6:16: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Here, Joab put three darts in the heart of Absolom. Remember we are told that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and he kills with lies. That is how he killed Adam and Eve, and he tries to kill all men through his lies and deceit. 

Absolom was hanging in a tree. He was accursed of God. He was rebellious against David his father, and against Christ, just as the end time churches and congregations became rebellious against the God of the Bible, and they failed to obey Him and keep His law. They set themselves up as kings and the arbiters of the Bible. Remember what we read earlier in Isaiah 4:1:

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

The churches wanted their own gospel. Finally God judged the churches using Satan, knowing that Satan would come to destroy.

So Ahithophel was hanged, and Absolom was hanged. Ahithophel reminds us of Juda who was infilled with Satan, and Joab was instrumental in the killing of Absolom, like Satan was instrumental in the death of the church. For instance in Revelation 7, Satan was the beast that rose up and smote the “two witnesses,” and of course that ties in with the death of the New Testament churches and congregations.

We are going to stop here. We have come to the end of our time for this study, and I hope you can join us, Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study.