Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 87:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: Joseph As Prototype And Contrast For Israel’s Migration To Exile In The Book Of Kings
Author: Jacob D. Gerber

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Joseph As Prototype And Contrast For Israel’s Migration To Exile In The Book Of Kings

Jacob D. Gerber

Jacob D. Gerber is senior pastor of First Church PCA in Lansing, IL, and is currently a PhD student in Biblical Studies at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI.

A recent trend in biblical scholarship has taken a new interest in inner-biblical use of the Joseph story in other biblical accounts. Regarding the book of Kings, scholars have identified two parallels: (1) a comparison of Solomon’s wisdom in 1 Kgs 3–4 with Joseph’s wisdom during his Egyptian exile (where Solomon styles his own wisdom after Joseph’s exiled wisdom), and (2) a comparison of Jehoiachin’s elevation out of Babylonian prison in 2 Kgs 25:27–30 and Joseph’s elevation out of Egyptian prison (where exiled Israel in Babylon drew comfort from the prophecies of exodus from Joseph to his exiled brothers). This scholarship is promising, but major gaps remain since only two possible connections between Kings and Joseph have been explored, and since there is a significant gap between what scholars suggest as the purposes for alluding to Joseph in these two parallels at the beginning and end of Kings. The present study works toward filling these gaps by identifying and considering the overall effect of a series of inner-biblical allusions to the Joseph narratives in 1 Kgs 11–14, involving more than twenty-five verbal connections. To the exiles in Babylon and Medo-Persia, these allusions portray Joseph both as a prototype of Israel’s migration into exile, as well as a contrast to discourage dependence on human wisdom while awaiting their exodus.

A recent trend in biblical scholarship has taken a new interest in inner-biblical use of the Joseph story in other biblical accounts.1 Observing this trend, Samuel Emadi has recently argued that “Joseph is a

WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025) p. 162

prototype of God’s work with his people in exile,” influencing both Israel’s early exilic experience in Egypt and their later exile in Babylon and Medo-Persia.2 Within scholarship on the book of Kings specifically, scholarly attention has largely focused on two major passages that allude to the exilic experience of the Joseph narratives.3 First, Ami Hordes has observed allusions that compare the wisdom of Solomon in 1 Kgs 3–4 with the wisdom of Joseph during his Egypti...