Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #5 in Genesis 37, and we will read Genesis 37:3-4:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

I will stop reading there.  We see in verse 3 that Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children.  And keep in mind that “Israel” means “prince of God,” so the prince of God loved Joseph more than all his children.  Of course the name or title of “prince” is a name and title that identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ.  We know that from Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Without any doubt, this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christ is “The Prince of Peace.”  The Bible says that He “is our peace.” 

In the book of Daniel, we read of Michael in Daniel 10:21:

But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

And the name “Michael” means “who assuredly is God,” so Michael is another name for Christ. 

Also, it says in Daniel 12:1:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people…

The Lord Jesus is the great prince of God.  And, again, it said in our verse in Genesis 37:3:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

Historically, we know there was this man named Joseph, and he was the son of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel, and he was a true child of God.  He was one of God’s elect people, and often typifies the Lord Jesus Christ, but he can also typify the elect children of God.  Then the spiritual meaning would be clear.  The Prince of God (Christ) loved Joseph (the elect).  And it is true that the Lord Jesus Christ does loves His people more than all His children, as all mankind are the children of God in the sense that Adam was said to be the son of God, and all human beings descended from Adam.  So out of all the people of the world, God loves the elect: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  God does not love everyone in a saving way.  He shows kindness and goodness toward all people, the saved and unsaved.  He sends the rain upon both.  But for a specific few people, He had a special blessing of salvation that others do not receive, and he has loved His elect with an everlasting love that dates back to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ performed for them at the foundation of the earth when He bore the sins for His people, and He died for them.

Also, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, the children of Israel, the  Israel of the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament churches and congregations that Israel of old typified.  In the congregations during the church age, there were two types of people, the wheat and the tares.  There were elect in Israel of old, and the rest of the children of Israel were not loved in that way.  Likewise, God loved the elect people that were in the churches and congregations during the church age, but He did not love the others that were merely professed Christians that also populated the churches.  So we can understand our verse in that way. 

Again, it says in Genesis 37:3:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age…

This word translated as “old age” is found four times in the Old Testament.  This is one place, and it is also found twice in Genesis 21 concerning Abraham and Isaac.  It says in Genesis 21:2:

For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Then it says in Genesis 21:7:

And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

Those two references are referring to the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah when they were both elderly.  We know that Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born, so the “old age” of Abraham was 100, and that number that identifies with “completeness,” spiritually.  The numbers “10,” or “100,” or “1,000,” all carry the meaning of “completeness.”  In this case, it was the completeness of time, the time when Abraham had a son through Sarah.

We know that Isaac is a figure of Christ.  We are told that he was the “only begotten son” of Abraham and Sarah, and it would be just a few years from his birth that God would tell Abraham to take Isaac to mount Moriah and offer him up for a sacrifice.  So we see that clear spiritual picture.  Also, Isaac was the “promised seed,” and the Bible points out that the “seed” is singular, and it refers to the Lord Jesus, 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.

Isaac was the promised seed because he typifies the Lord Jesus.  We are also told in Genesis 3:29:

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

All the elect are in Christ, and the seed is Christ.  So as the promised son born in Abraham’s old age (the completeness of time) points to all the elect in Christ being born again and entering into the kingdom of God.  And it was after the 13,000^th year mark of earth’s history (1988) that the fulness, or completeness, of time came. Yes, it is the number “13,” but keep in mind that the language of the Bible points to 12,000 years of history, and the number “12” represents “fulness,” and the number “13” can point to “super fulness.” 

So going back to the word translated as “old age,” we see it once in our verse in Genesis 37, and twice in Genesis 21, and it is used a fourth time in Genesis 44 when the sons of Jacob, the children of Israel, had gone into Egypt.  And Joseph, who had risen to prime minister in Egypt, was “hiding” himself from them, and he arranged circumstances so that his brother Benjamin would be brought to him.  It says in Genesis 44:19-20:

My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.

Here, this is referring to Jacob, or Israel, and the child of his old age is referring to Benjamin: “We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.”  So this is telling us that Joseph is a child of Israel’s old age, but so too was Benjamin.  How old was Jacob when Benjamin was born?  We went through this when we went through Genesis 25, verse by verse, and we saw that it was in the same year they came out of Haran, which was the year 1907 B. C., and Jacob was then 100 years old, the same age as Abraham when Isaac was born, and Isaac was said to be the son of his ”old age.” 

So this means that this Hebrew word translated as “old age” is used three times of the patriarchs – twice in regard to Abraham; and once in regard to Jacob.  And they were both 100 years old when they had their sons.  The fourth instance is in our verse in Genesis 37:3:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age…

We know that Joseph was born to Jacob when Jacob was 91.  And the number “91” breaks down to “7 x 13,” with the number of seven pointing to “perfection,” and the number “13” pointing to the end of the world, or to “super fulness.”  We have already discussed how “13” relates to 13,000 years of earth’s history, which is in our time period.  It is the time when the Great Tribulation began with the judgment upon the churches, and the end stage of earth’s history started back in 1988, and it is continuing, in all likelihood, to the year 2033, a year in which there is much biblical evidence pointing to the year of the end of the world.

Again, Joseph was said to be the son of Jacob’s “old age,” even though at the time of Genesis 37 Joseph was 17, and Jacob was 108.  The way it would fit in with the other references to age “100” is that the birth of Joseph points to the time of the end, which is referred to in the number “91,” which is “7 x 13.”

Then it goes on to say in Genesis 37:3:

… and he made him a coat of many colours.

The Hebrew word translated as “coat” is #3801 in Strong’s Hebrew Concordance, and it is used 29 times in the Old Testament, and 14 times out of 29 times it has to do with the priesthood.  We will look at a few of those instances.  By the way, this word “coat” is found eight times in Genesis 37 concerning this coat of many colors.  So of the 29 times, 14 times it is used in regard to the priesthood, and eight times in this chapter concerning Joseph.  So that would make a total of 22 times, leaving only a few times in which this word is used in other ways.

So let us turn to Exodus 28:39-40:

And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.

Aaron and his sons were to wear coats.  The coat was a part of their priestly attire, and they were to be clothed in a coat when they went about performing their priestly duty.  We will look a little further at this when we get together in our next study.  We will look at a couple more places where the word “coat” identifies with the priesthood 14 times, and we will also look at the spiritual meaning of the priests and the priesthood, and how that can relate to Joseph, who had been given a coat by his father Israel, “prince of God.”  When his brothers sold him into slavery, they did damage to his coat, and will look at that when we get together in our next Bible study, Lord willing.