Joseph had four coats and was thrown in two pits. King David’s daughter, Tamar wore a coat of many colors too.
Remember, if vicious animals strip you of your coat, they stripped Yeshua of his, too. BUT no one can take a person chosen and strip them of the anointing given to them by the Holy One. Joseph receives 4 coats. David receives 3 or 4 anointings. Each coat and smearing of oil represents a greater anointing of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and power.
The story of Joseph in Genesis 37 is full of symbols. Why does Joseph wear so many coats and get thrown into pits (plural?) Clothing is important. Our clothing says something about us. And if you have ever served in the military or on the police force, you were issued uniforms that distinguished you from others. Doctors wear coats. Adonai chose Joseph from his family, just as Jeremiah was chosen. Many are called, but few are chosen. Being “chosen” is not exactly something to get excited about. Moses tried to get out of the chosen work. He said he could not speak well. Moses said, “Who am I, that I should go?” “What if the Egyptians and Pharaoh do not believe me or listen to my voice?” Jonah fled and tried to hide in the bottom of a ship. Jeremiah insisted he was a child and not ready for the “chosen work.” Abel was murdered. Yeshua said a prophet is without honor among his family and in his hometown. Everyone in Joseph’s family realizes he is chosen, even his father, who makes him a robe- an ornamented tunic.
Someone else was given a robe like Joseph’s. She was the daughter of King David. Her name was Tamar, and her robe was described as a colorful tunic. Amnon, David’s son, acted sick and requested her to make him cakes and bring them to his bedroom. Then he grabbed her and raped her.
But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.
Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”
“No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!”
But he refused to listen to her. Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”
So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying bitterly.
II Samuel 13:14-18
Back to Joseph:
“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” (Genesis 37:4).
“Then the Pharisees having gone out, took counsel how they might trap Him (Yeshua/Jesus)in His words” (Matthew 22:15).
When reading Joseph, note that there are many similarities to Yeshua. The Messiah’s brothers did not speak very kindly to him, but Yeshua knew that His Father loved Him more because He laid down His life for the sheep.
After Joseph has another dream, it says, “they hated him even more.”
Amnon wanted to be intimate with Tamar, but afterward, his hatred was much stronger than his love for Tamar. Two years after the rape, Absalom has Amnon assassinated (13:28). Remember Dinah? After Shechem fell in love with Dinah, Leah’s daughter, he grabbed her and took her by force. Two of Jacob’s sons, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. Simeon and Levi (note the tribes) killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, then took Dinah out of Shechem’s house. Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city because their sister had been defiled. The Bible says they even took their flocks, women, and children!
After a season, Jacob asked Joseph to search for his brothers and check on them. What father wouldn’t worry about what they’ve been up to after what they did to Shechem?
But let’s get back to the coats. Joseph wears his colorful tunic when he checks on his brothers. This was a long journey. Joseph would have had to spend the night somewhere.
When Joseph arrived in Shechem, a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?” “I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks? “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
(Genesis 37:14-17, BSB).
Is this messenger an angel? Is it Yeshua? Joseph is going to be stripped of his FIRST COAT. It will be covered in blood, like Yeshua. When the mysterious man finds Joseph, he tells him that the brothers have gone to Dothan:The name Dothan: NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Wells and Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Two Cisterns.Joseph is going to be thrown into an empty pit—not just once, but twice.
“Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.” Yeshua was stripped of his robes, and his brothers plotted to kill him.” (Gen. 37:18)
Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
More garments are torn:
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, HE TORE HIS CLOTHES,
Genesis 37:29.
Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.” His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” THEN JACOB TORE HIS CLOTHES, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Genesis 37:32-34.
The vicious animals who devoured Joseph were his brothers.
Joseph loses his 2nd coat at Potiphar’s house after being wrongly accused of sexually assaulting his wife.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home.
Genesis 39:13-16, BSB
Joseph leaves his cloak behind. He no longer needs coat #1 or coat #2. He has graduated to coat #3.
It is in the second pit, that Joseph receives his 3rd coat— he refers to the prison as a dungeon and a pit.
We read of Joseph’s trials in Psalms. How he was placed in shackles and his neck in irons. The chosen are chosen for a reason and a season:
He let no man oppress them; He rebuked kings on their behalf “Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!” He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food. He sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons, until his prediction came true and the word of the LORD proved him righteous.
The king sent and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all his substance to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.
Psalm 105
At each stop on Joseph’s journey, he is given favor from above. Most would not think prison and shackles were favor, but Joseph’s time in the prison, the shackles, and iron, will give him the wisdom to instruct elders. How can we set others free if we do not know what it’s like to be bound and spiritually imprisoned?
And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Joseph now is a prisoner with a guard’s coat. He is in charge of the prison just as he was in charge of Potiphar’s house. Under Joseph’s care, no one concerns themselves because they trust him and see his righteous character. Joseph was given the title of SERVANT TO CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Oh, Watchmen, hear me! Are you walking as a servant to the One and Only Captain, Messiah, Yeshua?
In Genesis 40, after Joseph interprets the dreams of the baker and cup bearer to the king, he mentions the 2nd pit:
“For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” Genesis 40:15, BSB.
This is the 3rd coat and the 2nd pit.
After Joseph spends another 2 years in prison, Pharaoh has a dream, and the master of dreams is ushered into his presence.
The Pharaoh has two dreams that trouble him. His spirit was anxious in the morning, so he summoned magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. This is when we see the final step: after the testing, the pits, the bloody coat, the coat of deception and false accusations, the coat of the prison guard, but now he is released from the pit. He is washed and shaven and prepared to stand in the position of authority as a chosen one because his intense crushing has completed its course. If a person skips the pit, the being hated by the members of your own households, they will not be ready for the calling. . . . “And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for the sake of My name, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29).
Now, Joseph is in the position, and he is able to receive his final coat—a signet ring. Fine linen garments are priestly robes. .
Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people are to obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”
Pharaoh also told Joseph, “I hereby place you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck. He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, with men calling out before him, “Bow the knee!”c So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh declared to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission, no one in all the land of Egypt shall lift his hand or foot.”
Genesis 41:38-44, BSB
For more on the anointings of Joseph and David see my blog titled, Joseph’s 4 Coats and David’s 3 Anointing’s – Author Tekoa Manning
The Gospel Coalition has a list of comparisons between Joseph and Yeshua.
The Wonderful Similarities Between Joseph and Jesus
- He is the object of his father’s special love.
- He had promises of divine exaltation.
- He was mocked by his family.
- He was sold for pieces of silver.
- He was stripped of his robe.
- He was delivered up to the Gentiles.
- He was falsely accused.
- He was faithful amid temptation.
- He was thrown into prison.
- He stood before rulers.
- His power was acknowledged by those in authority.
- He saves his rebellious brothers from death when they realize who he is.
- He is exalted after and through humiliation.
- He embraces God’s purpose even though it brings him intense physical harm.
- He is the instrument God uses at the hands of the Gentiles to bless his people.
- He welcomes Gentiles to be part of his family.
- He gives hungry people bread.
- People must bow their knee before him.