Joseph, Dreams, and Egypt

The first book of both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible include accounts of a man named Joseph who had dreams related to Egypt.

In Genesis, Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, occupies almost the last third of the book (37-50). After dreams of greatness, he goes from being the most favored, and thus most despised, to being ruler of all the land of Egypt, a fulfillment of those dreams. Neither the dreams nor his greatness were of his own making. His life was a type of Him who was to come.

In Matthew, Joseph, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David, was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Accounts of him are much shorter (1:16-2:23), but Matthew tells us of no less than four dreams he had, one of which involved fleeing to Egypt until a threat on Jesus life had passed.

This is not related to Egypt, but there is another Joseph in Jesus' life, too. For the brief three days in between his death for our sins and his resurrection, Joseph of Arimathea provided for Jesus' burial (Matthew 27:57-60).

When people make their name into something good, a character trait encouraged in the Scriptures, others want to name their children with those names, too.

What kind of name do you want yours to be?

After whom do you want to name your children?