Pilgrimage: Addition by Subtraction!

Joseph's name truly represents the Christian pilgrimage in microcosm. How often have we read the story of Joseph without really plumbing the redemptive beauty of his name? Rachel's recovered broken heart paves the way for the identity of her first biological son. Distraught over God's apparent favoritism toward her older sister and wifely competitor, Leah, Rachel cries out to God for a son of her own. And only after Leah and her handmaid had been graced by God with eight sons, we read that God remembered Rachel, listened to her pleas and opened her womb (Gen. 30:22). Exhilarated, Rachel names the boy, Joseph, which has a double meaning: "may he add," and, it sounds like the Hebrew for "taken away." At first, one might wonder that such opposite meanings could describe one name. It's kind of like saying, "addition" means "subtraction!" What? A paradox at best. And therein lies it's beauty. Indeed, God did take away Rachel's reproach since she herself now had a son. But further, she prophetically pronounces that by this God will add to her another son. This God did in blessing Rachel with Jacob's twelfth son, Benjamin (Gen. 35). 

A. W. Pink draws a prophetic parallel between the meanings of all 12 sons and the history of Israel. From their "affliction" in Egypt (Reuben) down to Rachel's last son, Benjamin who's double name found fulfillment in Solomon, who was both "so bright, and so dark," each name carried a further meaning. (Gleanings in Genesis, pp. 262ff)

But it is Joseph's name that intrigues me. 

First, his birth represented the removal of past shame, a sort of separation or forgetting by God. Everyone else was having sons, but not Rachel! Is this not the lot of every true believer? For we all come to the cross of Christ shameful, separated from God, yes, even enemies. The new birth exudes exaggerated exultation in stark contrast to the bloody wrestling against sin that precedes it. A-h-h, . . . finally!  Release from sin's grip and burden and control! God removes it.

Second, Joseph's birth name actually entails a future aspect, meaning "may he add," which in Rachel's view meant God would give her yet another son. But for the believer, the removal of past shame and sin's horror prepares the way for the adding of unending grace borne out in his new life and continued growth under the watchful and loving eye of God. It's not just that the removal leads to the addition, but it colors it, painting it brightly so that all might exult in such grace as well. There's great celebration over one lost sheep, one lost coin, or one lost son. God gets glory in the subtraction, yes, but multiple glory in his endless addition! Salvation is not just about God's wondrously conquering sin, but further it is in the eternally bright future we enjoy in the walk of faith. 

A third consideration involves the relative importance of these two meanings. Joseph means, "may he add," with the secondary application of "taken away." This seems to  infer that what God is currently doing (and will do) takes precedence over what he has done. It is not that what God has saved us from is trivial, rather through his "taking away" our Lord has "set the table" for us to relish present salvation as well as the future feast of his glory! This makes me just a little bit leery of those testimonies that place more emphasis on what God saved them from than what he saved them to!

Joseph. That's quite a name, quite a legacy, and for us, quite the inheritance!