The central thrust of this paper is that the biographies of the patriarchs in Genesis 12-50 establish a typological template for Israel’s national history from the exodus to the eschaton.
Already in Talmudic times, rabbinical commentators coined the phrase, “Whatever happened to the ancestors is a sign to the descendants.” Several modern scholars have also discovered an analogical connection between Israel and her ancestors. Devora Steinmetz, for example, claims that “Each element of the national covenant is lived out in the lives of the patriarchs before it is fulfilled in the history of the nation.” To date, however, no scholar has attempted to compile a comprehensive list of linguistic parallels between Genesis 12-50 and later events in Israel’s metanarrative. This is precisely the goal of the present paper.
The Pentateuchal author made a systematic effort to forecast Israel’s future not just on the microscopic level of individual pericopae but on the macroscopic level of narrative cycles. Right from the word “Go” in Genesis 12:1, Abraham’s adventures to Canaan, Egypt, and back again are a blueprint for Israel’s future. Isaac’s career, though abridged, recapitulates his father’s, underscoring Abraham’s paradigmatic role. Jacob sojourning outside Canaan, enduring a protracted period of servitude to a harsh master who refuses to let him go, his acquisition of wealth, hasty flight from Laban’s house, deliverance from Laban’s pursuit, dwelling in booths, and conquest of Shechem provide another “reader’s digest version” of Israel’s national epic in Exodus and beyond. In Genesis 37-50, the character arcs of Joseph and Judah symbolize northern Israel’s blessedness and the ascendancy of the Judean monarchy, respectively. Finally, in Jacob’s deathbed blessing (Gen 49), the twelve patriarchs metonymically represent the tribes that bear their names.
The implications of the foregoing argument are far-reaching. First, the concept of “fatherly foreshadowing” could be gainfully employed in Jewish evangelism and apologetics. To the religious Jew, it is axiomatic to say that the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are a microcosm of national Israel. But what of Joseph, the beloved son, being betrayed by fellow Israelites, stripped of his royal robe, sold for so many pieces of silver by Judah (LXX “Judas”), yet eventually enthroned as grand vizier, and forgiving his brothers? Suddenly the Pentateuchal parallels vanish almost entirely, and the reader is forced to look beyond the pages of the Torah for the antitype of Joseph. Ultimately, Joseph’s life establishes a typological pattern for other rejected prophets in the OT that culminates in Jesus Christ with haunting specificity. Second, the existence of such a sprawling typological tapestry that weaves together various strands from across the Torah constitutes formidable evidence for the literary cohesiveness of the Pentateuch. Finally, it is striking that even the sins of the patriarchs play a role in broadcasting Israel’s future. Judah’s foray into Canaanite country (Gen 38), for instance, eerily foreshadows the “fall” of his descendant, David (2 Sam 11). This suggests that sin arises not only from the will of a solitary individual but also from within an intergenerational matrix.