Genesis 40 Series, Part 38, Verses 18-19

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #38 in Genesis 40, and I will 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 have been looking at some passages in the Bible wherein men were hanged. We saw that Ahithophel hanged himself, and he was a counselor to Absalom during his rebellion. And Absalom hanged in a tree, and he was eventually killed by Joab and his men. Joab took three darts and struck Absalom with them. We understand Joab to be a type and figure of Satan. And Absalom, a son of King David who came against his father, is a type and figure of the churches as they rebelled against Christ. They had their end when God loosed Satan to come against them, and Satan entered into the congregations and destroyed them, just like Joab and his men destroyed Absalom.

We also went to the book of Esther where we saw two unfaithful chamberlains, or doorkeepers, of King Ahasuerus, and they plotted against him. It was found out, and Mordecai heard of the plot and revealed it to Esther, and Esther certified it to the king in his name. As a result, the two men, Bigthana and Teresh, were hanged. It is not as clear a picture as when Joab struck Absalom with darts because we read in Ephesians of the fiery darts of Satan. And Absalom, a representative of the corporate church and those who are not saved, lacked the protection of the armour of God to defend against the fiery darts of Satan. In the case of the two doorkeepers in the book of Esther, we do not see Satan involved in their death or hanging, but in the very next chapter in the first verse of Esther 3 Haman was promoted and began his rise in the kingdom. Haman was the adversary of the Jews, and he was a great type of Satan. So we do see that at the point of the death of the two doorkeepers, there was the ascent of Haman, portraying the devil. 

And this fits in with the language of the Bible concerning the beast (the devil) who was bound a thousand years, and then he was loosed out of his prison, in Revelation 20. He and his forces immediately came against the camp of the saints, and God calls him Gog and his forces Magog. Also, in Revelation 13 the beast rose up out of the sea, and he overcame the camp of the saints, and in Revelation 11:7 the beast rises up out of the sea, which is a figure of rising up out of the bottomless pit where he had been found, and then the two witnesses are killed. So we can definitely see the spiritual emphasis on the loosing of Satan after the figurative “thousand years” of his binding, and that was the entire church age of 1,955 years. At the end of the church age, the churches (the camp of the saints) was overcome and “killed.” The “two witnesses” were lying dead in the streets. And the hanging of the two doorkeepers was almost simultaneous with Haman’s rise to prominence.

Now we want to look at one more passage that has to do with a man being hanged, and that man is Judas in the New Testament in Matthew 27. We know the sad story. He was one of the twelve (disciples), and yet he betrayed the Lord. He was a lover of money, and He sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver. I will read Matthew 27:3-5:

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

He was definitely grieved and sorrowful when he came to the realization that Christ was condemned, and that his actions had led to the condemnation of the Lord to be crucified. He was sorry, but this really illustrates the difference between the sorrow of the world for their sins and godly sorrow, which is the sorrow that God causes in the lives of his people when they sin. Judas did wrong, and when any of us sin we have done wrong. We read in 2Corinthians 7:8:

For though I made you sorry with a letter…

What was the letter? It was his epistle to the Corinthians, and that is an important statement because it is really saying, “For though I made you sorry with the Word of God…” The Word of God makes us sorry because when we read the Word of God, we learn truth. We learn the commandments of God, and we learn of the holiness and purity of God, and so forth. And when we break His commandments and transgress His law, if we are a true child of God it develops “sorrow” within us, and we are grieved for our sin. That is the point Paul is making as it says in 2Corinthians 7:8-10:

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

This is clearly what we see with Judas. Some might think when they read that he repented himself that he became saved. But the action of hanging himself indicates that it was not godly sorrow that leads to repentance, but it was worldly sorrow that leads to death.

So we understand the history of Judas and how he hung himself. In Acts 1 we see something that is very typical in the Bible as it presents what some might call a contradiction. However, it is not an actual contradiction but an apparent contradiction, and God does this often to test the readers. The readers often fail the test by thinking, “The Bible says one thing in one place, and the opposite thing in the other place, so we cannot trust it.” They go away from the Word of God and think that the Bible has errors, and they fail the test to their own destruction. We read in Acts 1:16-18:

Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

Here, it appears to say that Judas died as a result of all fall that caused his bowels to gush out, but in Matthew 27 it says that he hanged himself. Again, when we read different accounts like this, it is giving us more information. So let us say that he hanged himself in a tree, and after he died the rope broke and his body fell to the ground, and there was a rock beneath that split his body open and his bowels gushed out. So both accounts are correct. It goes on to say in Acts 1:19-20:

And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

The word translated as “bishoprick” is the same word translated as “bishop” that we find elsewhere in the New Testament. So it is referring to the office of a bishop, and as one of the twelve he had that office. There are no apostles today because there had been an office of an apostle. Originally there were twelve, and Judas died, so they are selecting another man here, and it would be Matthias that was chosen by lot to replace Judas. That restored them to twelve, and the number “12” is the number of fulness, and yet Paul insists that he too was an apostle, qualified by the fact that He had seen the Lord. On the road to Damascus the Lord had appeared unto him, and that is one of the chief qualifications for an apostle.

So we are trying to figure out who Judas represents spiritually. What is the spiritual meaning of his betrayal of the Lord? At the time he betrayed him, they had all been around the table, and the Lord said that he whom He gave the sop would betray Him. Then we read that the devil entered into Judas, and while he was indwelt by Satan he betrayed the Lord. The devil was instrumental. 

Every human being always has full responsibility for the things they do, say, and think. We can never blame the devil: “The devil made me do it.” The person of Judas was there. It is mysterious to us, but the devil as a spirit being had the ability to enter into a man, just like we read of the man called “Legion” because he had a legion of demons, or fallen spirit beings. Satan was personally involved with Judas’ actions, but Judas had the responsibility for his life and all that he did, like every human being.

So with Satan indwelling Judas, he betrayed the Lord. Then Satan came out of him at some point afterwards, and then we read that Judas repented himself for betraying the Lord. He had grief and sorrow. You know, people of the world that are unsaved do often realize when they have done something very wrong, like killing or harming someone. Afterwards they regret it. Sometimes they do things under the influence of alcohol and drugs but the law holds them responsible. Someone might say, “I did it because of the alcohol.” But each one of us is responsible for our action. It is our way of life that led us to using alcohol or drugs, and which then led us to injure or kill another person. Remember that it was Judas’ way of life to be a thief. He kept the bag, and it was his sinful past that led him to being an unregenerate sinner. He had been with the Lord Jesus, but he had never repented of the sin of his heart.

Again, only God can save, and if God does not do so, one cannot have true repentance, but that does not excuse us of the obligation to obey God, keep His commandments, and to serve Him perfectly. Judas failed. 

The hanging of Judas makes us curious because the baker was hanged, Absalom was hanged, and the two doorkeepers were hanged. And here we have an Apostle, a servant of Christ, and we can definitely see the churches in view, as we saw with the baker’s relationship with the bread, and with Absalom being a son of David, a type of Christ. And this man Judas was an outward servant of the Lord Jesus, just as the professing Christians in the churches. They profess to be sent of the Lord and to be God’s people, just as Judas had full identification with the Lord Jesus. And yet in the heart it was a different matter, as God tells us in Matthew 15:8: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” And that is the actual condition of every unsaved person who entered into the churches and congregations, numbering hundreds and hundreds of millions. So the end of Judas was his death by hanging, and everyone that hangs on a tree is accursed. We can pity him and all people like him.

It is interesting that it directs us to the Psalms when it says, “For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.” We do not find that in just one place, but we find a couple of Psalms that when put together seem to be the basis for this quote. It says in Psalm 109:5-8:

And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; andlet another take his office.

That does seem to be the “bishoprick,” the office of the bishop, and the role of the Apostle. 

The other Psalm is Psalm 69:22-25:

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

It is plural here: “Let their habitation be desolate.”

Again, let us compare that to Acts 1:20:

… Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

The last part identifies with Psalm 109:8 and the first part identifies with Psalm 69:22. And Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm, and it says in Psalm 69:21:

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

That is what happened to the Lord on the cross. So Psalm 69 says, “Let their habitation be desolate,” and not, “Let his habitation be desolate.” That is a clue that Judas is representing more than just himself. Another clue is in John 17:12:

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Where have we heard that before? It is in 2Thessalonians 2 where it refers to the man of sin, the “son of perdition.” 

We will discuss this further in our next Bible study.