Amos 6:1–6 begins by saying, “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion and trust in Mount Samaria, notable persons in the chief nation, to whom the house of Israel comes! 

Who is this addressing?  It is addressing the chief leaders among God’s professed people.  The problem is, they are at ease.  As you continue the chapter it says; “A dreadful disaster is coming and you are not ready for it.  In fact, not only are you not ready for it, for although you think that it is going to be a long time in the future before it happens, “woe to you who put far off the day of doom. Who cause the seat of violence to come near; who lie on beds of ivory [they are wealthy] stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; who chant to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David.”  They are having a lot of entertainment, they have a lot of money, they have good food, and they say the day of doom is still a long way in the future, and for some of the people the day of doom is right then. 

Many times I have thought about the thousands of people who went to bed September 10, 2001 for the last time in this world.  The next day they were going to die, but they did not know that.  People say, “Oh, we want to be ready for the great tribulation”, but they are looking off somewhere in the future.  Verse 6 says, “Who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”  You see, some of the people are already in the tribulation, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.  You see, Joseph came to his time of tribulation when everyone else n the church thought things were going pretty good. 

So today, I want to study something very interesting from the life of Joseph.  In the Bible, where Joseph specifically begins to be mentioned, is found in Genesis 37.  By the time you get to Genesis 37, Joseph had been orphaned from his mother.  Rachel’s death is recorded in Genesis 35:16–22.  As I reviewed this passage I noticed something that I had never noticed before. Two different times, Jacob refers to Rachel as his wife, singular.  He had other women, with whom he lived, according to the custom of those days, but Rachel was his only true wife, and she is the only one that he actually refers to as his wife.  She is the one whom he loved, and when she died it was a terrible, terrible affliction to Jacob.  In fact, if you look at the end of Jacob’s life, where Jacob is talking to Joseph just a short time before he died, and remember, Jacob lived a very troublesome life; he said, few and evil have been the days of my life.  He told a lie to his father and he paid for that lie for sixty years.  He had to flee from his brother, was cheated by Laban, his father-in-law, he went through the time of Jacob’s trouble, when he had to meet Esau again and God worked a miracle so he and his family were not killed, and then he had a daughter by the name of Dinah, who was very indiscreet, got in trouble and then her brothers got so angry because of the trouble that she got into, two of her brothers, Simeon and Levi went and killed a whole village, every man.  So Jacob was terribly distressed at that.  At the end of his life, as he looked over all of the troubles of his life—including his son Joseph being sold as a slave, where he was deceived just like he deceived his father.  For 22 years he thought that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild beast.  But as he looked back over his whole life as he talked with Joseph, he only remembered one thing.  He remembered the death of Rachel.  So Jacob lived a very, very sad life.  Full of trials as a result of the lie that he told to his father, and he reaped the consequences of that lie many, many times.  He was not the only one who reaped the consequences, his children also reaped the consequences of that lie, and the child that reaped the consequences the most of any of them, was Joseph.

As I have searched inspired writings, I found out that there is recorded seven times that Joseph wept.  Each one was for a different reason.  I do not doubt but what Joseph and many others are going to weep after Jesus comes for some of the same reasons.   We want to study the tears of Joseph to see what happened that caused him to weep.  Ellen White tells us that Joseph was a type of Christ, and the major events that happened in his life was a type of what Jesus went through for us.  Remember, Joseph was sold by his brothers because of envy.  They decided to get rid of him, they wanted to kill him and the priests and rulers wanted to kill Jesus because of envy.  The Bible tells us that Pilate knew for envy they delivered Him.  Yet, the very one whom they wanted to kill, was the one who saved their life.  The very One that we kill is the One who saves our life and can give to us eternal life if we will accept Him.

The Jews said, “This man is not going to be a king over us.”  Remember, Joseph had some dreams, and he dreamed in symbolic form, but his brothers and father knew exactly what the symbols meant, and they said, “Do you think we are going to come and kneel down before you?”  That is why they wanted to kill him—they said, “We are going to keep these dreams from coming true.  We will kill him and then we will see what happens to his dreams.”    Then they decided not to kill him themselves.  They put him in a pit to let him starve to death, thinking that they would not then have killed him.  They stripped him of his coat of many colors.  This was a terrible surprise.  Jacob had no idea that they could do such a thing, and neither did Joseph.   He was shocked at his brothers’ madness and at their insulting words.  They shoved him into this pit and left him there to die.  Then they began to eat the food that he had brought them.  While they were eating, somehow the revenge did not feel as good as they thought it would.

Friend, that is the way it is with sin.  That is always the way it is with sin—people sin because they want to.  People steal because they want something that somebody else has; they commit adultery because they want somebody who belongs to someone else.  But afterward, they discover that the pleasure was not what they thought it was going to be.   That is always the way of sin. 

They thought if they got Joseph out of the way that they would be happy, but they were not happy.  Now they were in a quandary.  They had treated him roughly, they had abused him, insulted him, they had thrown him in this pit, and in their mind they said, “If he gets back to our father and tells him what we have done, we will be in worse trouble.”   They wanted him out of the way; they did not want to kill him themselves, but they knew they did not dare not let him go back to their father and tell him what they had done.  While they were pondering this, a caravan of Ishmaelite (slave traders) came by, and Judah had a bright idea.  He said, “Let us sell him to the traders, they will take him to Egypt and he will be out of the way.  He will be gone and we will not have to worry about his dreams, and we will not be guilty of killing him.” 

When they pulled Joseph out of the pit, he saw what was happening and he was terrified.  He pled with his brothers, one after another, he would rather die than have them sell him as a slave.  A slave had no rights; a slave could be beaten or killed by his master, it was worse than death to be a slave.  So he begged them to have compassion upon him.  But his brothers were afraid of what he would say when he got back to his father, so they sold him for 20 pieces of silver.  So Joseph was chained by the ankles and wrists so that he could not escape, and placed on a camel and they headed from Palestine to Egypt.  If you remember your geography, from Palestine you go south and west to get to Egypt.  As they headed south there came a time when Joseph could look off in the distance and he could see the mountains.  And he knew that nestled in those hills was his father’s tents.   He was not close enough to see the people, but he knew that was where his father lived.  As he looked at it, he knew that he was looking at it for the last time.  He would never see home again.  “He wept bitterly.”  Patriarchs and Prophets, 213.

It would be natural for a 17 year-old boy to weep bitterly in this kind of situation, but what I had not noticed before was why he wept.  Joseph is one of the most noble people ever written about in Scripture.  His life takes up several chapters because it is the life of a person whom we need to imitate.  He was a type of Christ.  I was shocked when I realized why Joseph was weeping.  “Bitterly he wept at thought of that loving father in his loneliness and affliction.”   Joseph was a person, who, even at 17 years of age, was thinking of others.  He knew that his father was going to find out somehow that he was not coming back.  He did not know what would happen, but he knew that he was going to be lonely.  Now, not only was he lonely because he had lost Rachel, but he was losing his favorite son, the first-born of Rachel.  Joseph realized the affliction and loneliness that his father would endure, and he wept in sympathy for his father.

What would we have done?  We would probably have wept for ourselves.  That would be the natural thing to do.  Weep for yourself.  You used to be a favored son, a protected son of a very wealthy man, now in one day you are a despised and unloved slave.  Most of us in a situation with a change of fortune that quick would weep for ourselves.  Even as a young man, Joseph manifested traits of character that we need to emulate.  Are we concerned just for ourselves, because of our trouble, or are we concerned for other people and their trouble?  When you get a whole family where everyone is concerned about somebody else, instead of themselves, you will discover that they are a happy family—even if they have trouble. 

When you get a whole church full of families where each person is watching out for the welfare of somebody else, they are concerned more for the welfare of someone else, there are going to be people all over who want to join that church.  That is what the world is looking for, and it is about the rarest thing in the world, and Joseph had it.

“Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel, think of it in relation to themselves and to the world.  [Is that not the way that we think?  When we think about the Second Coming of Christ, when we think about the gospel and getting the gospel to all the world, what do we think about?  We think about it in reference to ourselves first, and then in reference to the world.  But there are a few people, like Joseph, who have a higher vision.]  Few think of its relation to God.  Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator.  All heaven suffered in Christ’s agony, but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity.  The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that from its very inception, sin brought to the heart of God.”  Education, 263, 264.

When I go to visit the hospital, I sometimes think too much of myself, and I say, “Lord, I want Jesus to come, I want to go to heaven because I do not want to have to make anymore of these hospital visits.  I do not want to go to the hospital and see people dying!”  We think of the future in relation to ourselves, in relation to the world.  Few think of it in relation to God.

“Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal, brings grief to Him.”  Ibid.

Do you want to have the experience of Joseph?  Joseph wept all right, but he was not weeping for himself, he was weeping for his father.  Can we rise above the common, human element and get to the place where we weep not for ourselves but for our Father?  Every deed of cruelty brings grief to Him.

“When there came upon Israel the calamities that were the sure result of separation from God, subjugation by their enemies, cruelty and death it is said that His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.  In all their affliction, He was afflicted.”  Judges 10:16; Isaiah 63:9.  His spirit maketh intercessions for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.  Romans 8:26.  The heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy.  Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon.  Did we realize it as it is, the burden would be too terrible.  Yet God feels it all.  In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best beloved and He has put it in our power, through cooperation with Him, to bring this scene of misery to an end.”  Ibid.

How is this scene of misery going to be brought to an end?  It will not be brought to an end until the gospel is preached as a witness to all nations.  Matthew 24:14.  Then the end will come.  It is in your power, it is in my power to cooperate with God so that the scene of misery in this world can be brought to an end.  And the misery is not getting less, it is getting worse.

That is the first time that Joseph wept.  The second time that Joseph wept is recorded in Genesis 42:24.  This was 20-25 years later.  As you read Joseph’s life you will find that Joseph was not a sorrowful, morose person.  He was actually a very happy and cheerful person.  You can see that by his activities while he was imprisoned.  In Genesis 42:21 Joseph’s brothers are speaking, and they are speaking in their native tongue, the language of Canaan, and of course, Joseph could understand them, but they did not know that he could understand because he was speaking Egyptian, through an interpreter.  Because they did not know that he could understand them, they spoke very freely among themselves.   I have been in this situation over and over again as I travel to foreign countries. 

This is an experience that Rizel had.  Rizel was a great Philippino hero who, in 1896, was shot at the age of 35.  He was one of the most brilliant men of our time.  He knew 22 languages.  He was sitting in the dining area of a boat one time and two German ladies, sitting near him, who thought he did not know German because he was Philippino.  They were speaking very freely about him, and he, of course, could understand every word.  One lady said to the other, “If that Philippino fellow over there was a gentleman, he would get up and go close the door.”    As soon as she said that, he got up and went over and closed the door.  He returned to their table and addressed them in German.  They were very embarrassed.

“Then they said to one another, ‘We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.  And Reuben answered them, saying, ‘Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen?  Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.’  But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.  And he turned himself away from them and wept.”  Genesis 42:21–24. 

Why did he weep?  He was sympathizing with them over their sorrow over what they had done.  He could not keep them from reaping the consequences—by the way, they had been reaping consequences for over 20 years.  When they would go to bed at night they would wonder, where is Joseph tonight?  I wonder if he is dead or alive?  Did he get bought by a slave owner who beat him to death, or is he living in Egypt somewhere?  They did not know, and they lived with it for over 20 years.   Joseph was a person who had great sympathy even though he was the one against whom they had sinned, he was sorry for the trouble in which they found themselves.  He was so sorry for their trouble, that he went away and wept.  He was weeping for his enemies, he had sympathy.  He was not weeping for himself, he was weeping for his brothers.  He understood the agony of mind that they had been going through for over 20 years because of what they had done.  He could not stop their agony of mind, in fact, he felt he had to test them some more to make sure that their repentance was sincere.  He knew how deceptive their statements could be, so he decided he had to know the truth, and to know the truth he had to keep his identity concealed.

Joseph was sympathetic for other people’s pain.  As we study the life of Jesus we find that Jesus was sympathetic for other people’s pain.  Are you sympathetic for other’s pain?  Joseph was.

The third time that Joseph wept was the second time that his brothers had come to Egypt, and while they were at Joseph’s house to show him Benjamin.  Joseph had told them they could not see him again unless they brought their younger brother, because he wanted to know that Benjamin was alive and well.  He wanted to make sure they had not done something horrible to him, too.   The Bible says, “Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, ‘Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke?  Is he still alive?  And they answered, ‘Your servant, our father, is in good health; he is still alive.’  And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.  Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, ‘Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?’  And he said, ‘God be gracious to you, my son.  Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep.  And he went into his chamber and wept there.”  Genesis 43:27–30.  Joseph could not say anymore—he began to choke up, and he had to turn and walk away.

This is a different kind of weeping, different than the first two.  The first, was weeping in sympathy for his father.  The second was weeping in sympathy for the trouble his brothers had brought upon themselves.  But the third time, his weeping was because of the fullness of his feelings of tenderness toward his brother, Benjamin.   He was overpowered by feelings of tenderness.  (See Patriarchs and Prophets, 228.)  Do you have feelings of tenderness?  Do you know one of our great needs today in the world and in the church is for a little more tenderness?  One of the fruits of the Spirit, recorded in Galatians 5:22, 23 is kindness, and one is gentleness.  Joseph had both kindness and gentleness and he was overwhelmed with these feelings of tenderness as he gazed upon his brother whom he had not seen for over 20 years. 

He invited them to eat, and his brothers were astonished because he had them seated at the table according to their ages.  They could not understand how he could know this.  But he felt that he still had to test his brothers, so when the grain was loaded into the sacks, Joseph had his servant place his silver cup in the sack of the youngest.  The sacks were filled and the brothers were sent off.  On their way home they were rejoicing.   Just outside the city, Joseph’s steward rode up in a chariot.   “Why have you rewarded evil for good?  My master’s silver cup, by which he divines, [They used those cups in those days in an attempt to prevent important men from being poisoned, because silver has a reaction to many types of poison.]  is missing.”   The brothers said, “Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks.  How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?  With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”  Genesis 44:1–9. 

They brought down their sacks, and he started with Reuben, the oldest.  Nothing!  Then he went to Simeon.  Nothing.  Then he went to Levi.  Nothing.  Then he went to Judah.  Nothing.  On down the line, to Benjamin.  They were feeling good, they were showing him that they were honest men, until they got to Benjamin’s sack, and when they opened it, there it was.  Now they were in the biggest trouble that they had ever been in.  Judah said, “If I don’t bring Benjamin back with me, I will bear the blame.”  This is one of the most eloquent speeches in the Bible.  The speech that showed that Judah had had a change of heart.  (See Genesis 44:18–34.)   Before he wanted to sell his brother, now he was willing to be a slave in order to save Benjamin.    This is the fourth time that Joseph wept.  Three times the Bible talks about his weeping this time.  (See Genesis 45:2, 14, 15.)  This was the occasion when Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and there is something we need to learn from this one.  It is so significant that Scripture mentions it three times.

You see, his brothers were in front of him, and he made himself known, and they were in a state of shock.  First of all, as soon as he told them he was Joseph, they realized that Joseph’s dreams had come to pass.  The very dreams that they had tried to keep from coming to pass, had happened again and again.  Every time they came into his presence they had been bowing down to the ground.  The very thing that they said they would never do.  However, that was the least of their worries.  He was the Prime Minister of Egypt, he had authority himself.  He could have had anyone or all of them put to death at any time.  He had that authority.  They were scared to death because they remembered what they had done to him when they had power over them.  Now he had the power, and they were scared.  Joseph asked them to come close to him.  “I want to talk to you.”  When they came close he told them he was their brother Joseph, whom they had sold into the land of Egypt.  Then, wonder of wonders, instead of dealing harshly with them, he comforted them.

This story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers will be played out again on a world-wide scale.  Everything that the wicked people of this world have done to the righteous is going to come to light.  That is what happened here.  All of a sudden, everything had to come to light.  These brothers still had to do something that they had never done for 23 years.  They had to go back home and confess to their father.  Did you know, that every sin that you have committed, you are going to confess?  The Bible says that some men’s sins are going beforehand to judgment, and other men’s sins follow after.  But all sins go to judgment.  The righteous before—they confess them and make them right.  They confess them, too, at the end.

Some years ago, in Australia, I was preaching about confession, making things right!  We need to make things right.  Everything that God brings to our memory—what we have said wrong, done wrong, thought wrong, we need to make it right.  If is just thought, we need to make it right with the Lord, because it is still an offense to the Lord.   After I had preached this sermon, a lady came up to me and asked to talk to me privately.  We went out to the porch and she said, “I have a problem.  You have made it clear from the Scriptures that I need to confess.  But, if I confess what I have done wrong, I am afraid my husband will leave me and it will break up my home.” 

That puts the pastor in a terrible position.  In this circumstance they are wanting you to tell them that they do not have to confess.  The trouble is, I have to go to the Day of Judgment, too.  I have to answer before the Judge about what I have preached and taught, and if I have taught wrong, I have to answer to the Lord for that.  So I said to her, “First of all, I did not make the rules on confession.  God made them.  But there is something else you need to consider.  Your husband is going to find out what you have done!”  Some people think that no one is ever going to find out, but they are.  “The only difference is, if you choose to confess it now, your husband will find out now, but if you choose not to confess it now, he will find out at the end of the millennium anyway.  You will confess it then.  You can choose which time you are going to confess.  That is your choice.   Let me share with you what Inspiration says about this:

“The last great day is right upon us.  Oh, what revealings.  The husband will know for the first time the deception and falsehood that have been practiced by the wife whom he thought innocent and pure.  The wife, for the first time, will know the case of her husband, and the relatives and friends will see how error, and falsehood and corruption have been clustering about them, for the secrets of all hearts will stand revealed.”

You see, Jacob’s sons had kept this thing secret for over 20 years—their father still thought when they were before Joseph, and Joseph was making himself known to them, and weeping over what had happened, that he was dead, that he had been torn to pieces by wild beasts.  But that which really happened was going to be revealed.  The secrets of all hearts are going to be revealed in the Judgment.  This was a type of the Judgment.

“The hour of judgment is almost here, long delayed by the goodness and mercy of God, but the trump of God will sound to the consternation of the unprepared, who are living, and awaken the pale nations of the dead.  The great white throne will appear, and all the righteous dead will come forth to immortality.”

Are you ready for the Day of Judgment?  Are your sins all confessed?  “If those who contemplate the committal of crime were positive that they would be speedily detected and punished, fear of exposure, disgrace and suffering would restrain them from out break and revolting deeds.  But the tempter, [that is the devil] has led men to believe that they may cover the knowledge of their guilt from the eyes of God and man.  How diligently the guilty one seeks to disguise his real character.  He assumes the appearance of innocence and guilelessness.  Every avenue that might lead to the discovery of his sin is carefully guarded.  Transgressors make their paths in secrecy and darkness.  They hate the light and will not come to the light because their deeds are evil.  They are under the constant necessity of devising means to hide the defilement of their souls that they made succeed in escaping detection among men, but they have no device that will shield them from the gaze of the all-seeking eye of the Eternal One.  The Word of truth declares, ‘There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.’  Matthew 10:26.”

Everything that we do; everything that we say, every thought that we think, our feelings, are all recorded in God’s book, and in the Day of Judgment, Jesus says, there is nothing covered, there is nothing hid that will not be known.

Joseph’s brothers had been careful for over 20 years.  All ten of them knew it, and not one of them had breathed a word to their father about it, so a day of judgment was coming, and they had to confess.  The Day of Judgment is coming for you and me, and when the final judgment comes, it will be too late to confess.  You will have either already confessed, or it will be too late to make it right.  (See Revelation 22:11, 12. )

“God sees the sinner.  One may conceal his sin from father, mother, wife and friends, yet all lies open before God.  God is everywhere.  He sees, He knows all things and understands the intents and purposes of the heart.  It is in vain that an attempt should be made to conceal sin from His notice.  As surely does He mark every transgression and every secret thing will be brought into judgment.  They may be hid from mortal man.  They may be hid from the good, the pure, the holy, from friends and from foes, yet God sees them.  All sins will be revealed in the Day of Judgment and unless they have been repented of beforehand they will receive punishment according to their magnitude.” 

Oh friend, make haste.  Do not delay.  Make haste to go to the Lord and confess your sins and to ask Him to deliver you from the condemnation of your sins.  He will give you power to quit sinning, because we are going to Judgment.  Even the tears of Joseph could not save his brothers from the judgment.  Oh, he was sorry for the trouble they were in and he tried to comfort them, but they still had to make it right. 

The fifth time that Joseph wept.  Of the seven times that are recorded when Joseph wept, this is the one time that we find him weeping tears of joy, when he is reunited with his father.   “So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.”   Genesis 46:29.   Many of us will be weeping tears of joy one of these days if we are faithful, because we are going to be reunited with those who have died, and we are going to be reunited with the heavenly family.  There are going to be a lot of tears at that time that will be tears of joy.   Joseph wept a lot of tears of agony, but this is the one time when he got to weep tears of joy. 

The sixth time that Joseph wept is when his father died.  (See Genesis 50:1.)  Joseph was a human being like you and me.  Jesus took our humanity upon Himself, and when Lazarus died, it says, in John 11:35, that Jesus wept.   Jesus wept and was in grief, not because of the scene before Him, because He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus wept because the weight of the grief of ages was upon His soul, and looking down the years that were to come He saw the suffering and sorrow, tears and death that were to be the lot of man, and His heart was pierced with the pain of the human family of all ages and in all lands. 

Joseph wept when his father died.  Ellen White has this to say about grief and weeping: “How much sorrow there is in our world.  It is not right to say to the bereaved ones, ‘Do not weep.’  Such words have little consolation in them.  There is no sin in weeping.  Although the one who passes away has been for years a sufferer, because of weakness and pain, yet that does not wipe away the tears from our eyes.”

Joseph wept tears of bereavement.  Those are the tears that are spoken of in Revelation 21:4.  There is coming a time when it says, and this is after hell-fire, God will wipe away those tears of bereavement.  We will not only not have to make hospital visits, but we will never have to visit an undertaker, mortuary, or cemetery.  One of these days, very soon when Jesus comes, those kinds of tears will be wiped away.  If you belong to the Lord, those tears are coming to an end.

The seventh time that Joseph wept is when he wept in sympathy at his brother’s fears that he would execute vengeance upon them after their father died.  “And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”  Genesis 50:17.  His brothers thought that he would take vengeance upon them, and Joseph felt so bad at the very thought that they would think that he would take vengeance on them, he wept.  He said, “I am not God.”  (Verse 19.) 

Friends, if we want to be among the saved, we must develop this characteristic of Joseph.  We cannot save people by retaliating.  Someone does something wrong to us, we will never save them in the kingdom of heaven by knocking them back.  You cannot save someone that way.  Joseph could have retaliated.  He had the authority to put them in prison, or kill them, if he chose.  But he said, “No.”  He even wept that they thought he would.

The times that Joseph wept are a revelation of the nobility of his character.  Joseph was a type of Christ.  Do want to have a noble character such as this man had?  One of the greatest men written about in the Old Testament, and every time he wept reveals something about the nobility of his character.  You can have a character like that if you surrender yourself to Him, because Joseph was a type of Christ.