Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Genesis Chapter 45
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 45:1-28
45:1Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood before him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. 45:2And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 45:3And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
45:4And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 45:5And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 45:6For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest. 45:7And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. 45:8So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 45:9Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not; 45:10and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 45:11and there will I nourish thee; for there are yet five years of famine; lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast. 45:12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 45:13And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen: and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 45:14And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 45:15And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
45:16And the report thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 45:17And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 45:18and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 45:19Now thou art commanded, this do ye: take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 45:20Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
45:21And the sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 45:22To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 45:23And to his father he sent after this manner: ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. 45:24So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
45:25And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father. 45:26And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he believed them not. 45:27And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 45:28and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
April 15, 1923: Genesis 45:3-15
What does the name “Joseph” mean, and which one of the faculties of mind does Joseph represent? The Hebrew meaning of the word “Joseph” is “one who increases.” Metaphysically, Joseph is that function of the mind that changes ideas into forms. The matrix in which this function works is the idea of substance, out of which all forms in the phenomenal universe are made. Joseph represents the faculty of imagination.
What does the “land of Egypt” represent? Metaphysically, the “land of Egypt” represents the subconscious mind. It is the realm of substance and life in body consciousness. To the unregenerate soul, it is the land of darkness and mystery, yet essential to the perpetuation of the body.
What is the meaning of the name “Pharaoh?” The Hebrew meaning of the name “Pharaoh” is “whole house,” representing the whole body consciousness. Pharaoh is the conservator of the substance and the life in the organism, but his consciousness covers the activities of the natural man only.
Why was Joseph sent down into Egypt? Man has separated the higher faculties and the lower faculties into two realms, called mind and body. The divine law requires that these be one in consciousness. The sending of Joseph down into Egypt is the first step in this more adequate union of mind and body.
How does the Lord, spiritual wisdom, educate Joseph, the imagination? Joseph, as a youth, was educated in his dreams. When Joseph “went down to Egypt,” Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had dreams which neither he nor the wise men of his kingdom could interpret. Joseph readily discerned the meaning of the symbols, and his explanation of the dreams was satisfactory to the king. He saved the people of Egypt and of Canaan by storing up grain which lasted during the seven years’ famine, which came as he predicted.
What movement in consciousness is represented in today’s lesson? This lesson represents the opening of the understanding to the truth that God is the primal cause of all action; in both mind and body. “And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”
What is symbolized in the bringing of Jacob and all the brothers of Joseph with their families and their flocks down into the land of Egypt? This symbolizes the unification of the I AM (Jacob) with all the faculties of the mind, the life energies, and, the substance of the whole man. They dwelt “in the land of Goshen” (unity).
September 27, 1942: Genesis 45:1-15
What power is symbolically portrayed in this lesson? The power of divine love as expressed by one who had remained faithful to God through many years testing.
What other power is latent but very real in this connection? The power of the imagination over man's faculties. Its influence on the love faculty is more potent.
How was imagination able to quicken and develop love in Joseph’s case? Although Joseph's brothers had shown hatred and envy in their behavior toward him, he had persisted in seeing them and his father as his family. The family tie was strong, and the slave lad felt love for them and cultivated it instead of hate.
What revealed the depth of Joseph's feeling for his brothers? The fact that he wept when he made himself known to them. He might easily have reminded them of the fulfillment of his dreams and lorded it over them without mercy. Instead, he found no words at first to express adequately the love he had cherished for his family through the years of his long exile.
How does divine love express forgiveness? By seeing God in every circumstance, thus leaving no room for condemnation. “God did send me before you to preserve life. ... God did send me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” The assurance, three times repeated, that God alone was responsible for his presence in Egypt, proved that Joseph was conscious of God and not of anger or resentment.
How did Joseph’s consciousness of God affect him? It made him Godlike in every faculty. His love, wisdom, judgment, understanding and power to do good were equally outstanding with his vision, as shown by his interpretation of dreams.
How are the other faculties affected by the knowledge that the imagination is all-powerful? At first they are stunned by it and made powerless to express anything. “His brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.”
What frees the faculties from the inhibition of fear? Love casts out fear. Joseph “kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.”
September 23, 1945: Genesis 45:1-5
Does longing or yearning bring its own fulfillment? It does when the conditions of fulfillment are met. If faith, will, understanding, and zeal are strong enough, they set in motion forces that work out these conditions.
Is it possible for us to pray for a blessing and yet be unable to utilize it when it comes? Yes, when our preparation to receive the blessing has not been properly made.
Joseph’s boyhood dream that his brothers would bow down to him was fulfilled. What is the metaphysical significance of this fact? The imagination (Joseph) realizes the fulfillment of its dreams when it has experienced the requisite spiritual growth. Joseph had to undergo long years of toil, slavery, and longing for family associations, and build up a resolute faith in God and live in that consciousness before his dream was fulfilled.
What shows us that Joseph yearned for his father and his family? The strength of his pent-up emotion when it burst forth after hearing Judah's plea to allow Benjamin to return to his father, and the absence of all resentment in his attitude toward his brothers for the wrong they had done him.
How did he transmute yearning into creative power? By centering his thought in God and becoming conscious constantly of the divine presence. We are told repeatedly that Jehovah was with Joseph in Egypt before his elevation by Pharaoh.
Is human love a foretaste of divine love? It is. Joseph's love of his brothers was human love or the love created by family ties, but in its purity and fullness it foreshadowed the divine.
September 23, 1945: Genesis 45:9-15
How can we wrest a blessing from injustice and suffering? By steadfastly holding to the truth that the divine purpose for us is good, and that in every experience that comes to us there is a grain of spiritual gold that enriches us. The imagination helps us to take the constructive attitude toward injustice and suffering.
What is symbolized by the story of Joseph in Egypt? Joseph symbolizes the sublime idea of Truth's going down into the darkened sense consciousness (Egypt) and under the law raising it up and out of sense into Spirit. When taken down into the sense consciousness, the Truth idea represented by Joseph, establishes there a new realization of life that results in the regeneration of the entire man.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-07-2014
