JOSEPH, A FRUITFUL BOUGH

Not all boughs are fruitful. Foxes can impair fruitfulness, S. of S. 2. 15. The east wind plays havoc, Hos. 13. 15. An infestation of locusts can wither, Joel 1. 12. Wicked men can reflect these facts of nature, ‘trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots’, Jude 12. By contrast, despite a range of afflictions, Joseph was a fruitful bough. Neither the chill atmo­sphere of hatred nor the fierce tempest of persecution could damage his God given ability to be fragrant and fruitful in his life. Restricted by irksome servitude, ‘he was a prosperous man’, Gen. 39. 2. Confined by unjust incarceration, ‘that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper’, v. 23.

There is no doubt that involved in Jacob’s statement is the fact that Joseph’s descendants would be numerous. The word ‘bough’ is normally translated ‘son’, and indeed, Joseph gave his second son the name Ephraim, meaning fruitful, saying, ‘God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction’, Gen. 41. 52. In due course, Ephraim became a major tribe numerically and so was influential among the others.

However, Joseph’s fruitfulness was also moral and spiritual. ‘Fruit unto holiness’, Rom. 6. 22, was in evidence when he spurned the seductions of Potiphar’s wife, Gen. 39. 7-12. The ‘fruit of righteousness’, Jas. 3. 18, was seen in his meticulous administration of Potiphar’s affairs, Gen. 39. 4-6, and his careful management of Pharaoh’s interests, 47. 13-26. He was scrupu­lously honest. The ‘fruit of the Spirit’, Gal. 5. 22, a blend of delightful moral qualities, was seen in his consistent kindness and in his patience towards the brothers who had treated him so cruelly. Joseph was a fruitful bough.

As with the blessed man, Ps. 1. 3, available irrigation main­tained his fruitfulness. He was ‘a man in whom the Spirit of God is’, Gen. 41. 38. Fruitfulness is not self-induced; today, ‘the fruits of righteousness … are by Jesus Christ’, Phil. 1. 11. Joseph’s branches ran ‘over the wall’. He became known as Zaphnath- paaneah, the Saviour of the world, and in the context where the Lord was thus described, He was by a well, and His branches ran over the wall to bring blessing to the Samaritans.