The phrase “The deeds of the forefathers are a sign for the children” encapsulates a foundational principle in Jewish thought: that the lives and actions of the patriarchs serve as spiritual and historical templates for their descendants. This concept, though not stated verbatim in the Talmud, is deeply rooted in rabbinic literature and is famously articulated by Ramban (Nachmanides) in his commentary on Genesis 12:6. Drawing from Genesis Rabbah 40:6, where Rabbi Pinchas teaches that “whatever is written about Abraham is written about his children,” Ramban explains that the events in the lives of the patriarchs foreshadow the future experiences of the Jewish people. Their journeys, trials, and triumphs are not merely personal stories but prophetic signposts, guiding and shaping the destiny of generations to come.

Open a Tanakh (Old Testament) and you soon notice the music of memory. One story calls to another; phrases repeat; scenes rhyme. This is not accident — it’s pedagogy. Israel learned to read with associations, recognizing how earlier lives become patterns for later ones. That’s why, when the Bible revisits themes from Joseph in David’s story, it isn’t trivia; it’s a spotlight. The lives of Joseph and David form a double-exposure of the Messiah: suffering that saves (Joseph), and kingship that heals (David). The question underneath becomes: is the Messiah two persons — or one story in two movements?

Joseph mirrors David (and where one fails, the other completes)

Below are some of the strongest intertextual chords — linguistic and narrative — between Joseph and David. Note the English transliterations of key Hebrew words.

Sent to the brothers:

• Joseph: “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers…” (Genesis 37:12–14).

• David: “See how your brothers fare…” (1 Samuel 17:17–22; cf. 16:19).

The young, unexpected choice:

• Joseph: “Joseph, being seventeen… He was a boy… ‘Are you indeed to reign over us?’” (Genesis 37:2, 8).

• David: “There remains yet the youngest… and [Samuel] anointed him in the midst of his brothers.” (1 Samuel 16:11–13).

Shepherds before they rule:

• Joseph: “Joseph… was pasturing the flock with his brothers” (Genesis 37:2).

• David: “David [went] to feed (to shepherd) his father’s sheep” (1 Samuel 17:15).

Brothers’ contempt:

• Joseph: “They hated him even more… ‘Here comes this dreamer’” (Genesis 37:5, 19).

• David: “Eliab’s anger was kindled… ‘I know your presumption and the evil of your heart’” (1 Samuel 17:28).

The robe and the sorrow (ketonet ha-pasim, “robe of many colors”):

• Joseph: stripped; robe dipped in blood (Genesis 37:23, 31).

• David’s house: Tamar “tore her long robe (ketonet pasim)” and wept; David hears and burns with anger (2 Samuel 13:19, 21). The same rare term, pasim, signals a thread of grief in both households.

Given in marriage by a king:

• Joseph: Pharaoh gives Asenath (Genesis 41:45).

• David: Saul gives Michal (1 Samuel 18:27).

Thirty years old at elevation; beloved; “goes out” (yatsa) over the people:

• Joseph: “Joseph was thirty years old… and went out over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:46).

• David: “He went out and came in before the people… all Israel and Judah loved David… David was thirty years old when he began to reign” (1 Samuel 18:13–16; 2 Samuel 5:4).

“The LORD is with him”; admired as navon (wise) and yafeh mareh (handsome):

• Joseph: “His master saw that the LORD was with him” (Genesis 39:3); Pharaoh honors his wisdom (Genesis 41:39). “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance” (yafeh mareh) (Genesis 39:6).

• David: “A man prudent (navon) in speech… and the LORD is with him” (1 Samuel 16:18); “he was… ruddy and handsome in appearance (yafeh mareh)” (1 Samuel 17:42).

The test with a married woman — one resists, one falls (implying David cannot be “Messiah Son of Joseph”):

• Joseph: refuses Potiphar’s wife — “How then could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:6–9).

• David: takes Bathsheba; “the thing… displeased the LORD” (2 Samuel 11:2–27; 12:1–14).

Taken together, the parallels are not literary games. They train us to look for a figure who carries Joseph’s integrity through suffering and David’s anointing into rightful rule — suffering first, then glory.

The rabbinic memory: Messiah ben Yosef and Messiah ben David

Classic Jewish sources preserve a two-stage messianic expectation. Tractate Sukkah foresees national mourning “for the Messiah son of Joseph who was killed,” echoing Zechariah’s “they shall look on the one whom they have pierced” (Sukkah 52a; Zechariah 12:10). Later traditions (e.g., Kol HaTor) develop the idea that a Joseph-like, often unrecognized forerunner accomplishes hard preparatory work that makes way for the Davidic king. However one weighs each text, the pattern is clear: first a suffering, hidden deliverer; then the triumphant son of David. First death, then resurrection. First atonement, then triumph.

Joseph as the prototype of the suffering deliverer

When you read Joseph’s story with this lens, the foreshadowings of Messiah leap out — and Yeshua steps into them with uncanny resonance!

• Despised and rejected by “brothers”:

— Joseph: Genesis 37:4–5, 8.

— Yeshua: “He came to his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11).

• Conspiracy to kill:

— Joseph: “Come now, let us kill him…” (Genesis 37:20).

— Yeshua: “They conspired to kill him” (Mark 3:6; John 11:53).

• Sold to Gentiles for silver:

— Joseph: sold for twenty shekels to Ishmaelites/Midianites; into Egypt (Genesis 37:28).

— Yeshua: betrayed for thirty silver pieces (Matthew 26:15); handed to Gentiles (John 18:30–31).

• Stripped of his garment:

— Joseph: robe seized (Genesis 37:23).

— Yeshua: “They stripped him… and divided his clothes” (Matthew 27:28, 35).

• Falsely accused:

— Joseph: Genesis 39:14–20.

— Yeshua: false witnesses at his trial (Mark 14:56–59).

• Counted among criminals; gives hope to one:

— Joseph: imprisoned with two offenders; one lifted up, one condemned (Genesis 40).

— Yeshua: crucified between two criminals (Luke 23:32–33, 43).

• Down into the pit/prison; then raised to rule:

— Joseph: the pit, then exalted to Pharaoh’s right hand (Genesis 37:24; 41:40–43).

— Yeshua: the tomb; then resurrection and exaltation (Philippians 2:8–11; Acts 2:32–36).

• Appears foreign among the nations; brothers do not recognize him:

— Joseph: Egyptian name, dress, speech; “Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him” (Genesis 42:8).

— Yeshua: embraced by the Gentiles across the nations; largely unrecognized by many of his own kinsfolk—until a promised future recognition (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25–27).

• Bread for the world:

— Joseph: opens Egypt’s granaries, “to preserve life” (Genesis 45:5; 50:20).

— Yeshua: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); feeds multitudes; gives the bread and the cup of the new covenant (Luke 22:19–20).

• Age thirty as a marker of public elevation:

— Joseph: “thirty years old” at appointment (Genesis 41:46).

— Yeshua: “about thirty years old” when he began his ministry (Luke 3:23).

• Shepherd identity

— Joseph: a shepherd (Genesis 37:2).

— Yeshua: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

• Knows the future and speaks it

— Joseph: dreams and their interpretations (Genesis 37; 40–41).

— Yeshua: predicts his death and resurrection; foretells Jerusalem’s fall (Mark 8:31; Luke 19:41–44; 21:5–24).

At the end, Joseph reveals himself, forgives his brothers, and becomes their savior of the sons of Israel. The prophets envision a similar national turning when Israel will mourn and recognize the pierced one—and find cleansing (Zechariah 12:10–13:1).

Why David remains essential (but not sufficient)

David embodies the kingly promise — torah-loving, psalm-singing, giant-slaying — and yet his sin with Bathsheba shatters any hope that he himself is the final Messiah. David points beyond himself to a son who will be righteous without remainder. Thus the two portraits — Joseph’s suffering integrity and David’s anointed kingship — converge as a single messianic pattern: humiliation first, then exaltation; rejection that becomes reconciliation; a hidden deliverer who becomes visible Lord.

One Messiah, two movements — not two messiahs

Some Jewish traditions speak of two messiahs (ben Yosef and ben David). The earliest Jewish followers of Yeshua confessed one Messiah in two advents: first in Joseph-mode (suffering, hiddenness, worldwide blessing), then in David-mode (appearing in glory to reign). Either way, the pattern carved into Scripture remains the same: “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26).

Pastoral word — for Israel and the nations

If Joseph’s pain became his brothers’ provision, and if Yeshua’s cross becomes the world’s bread, then arrogance has no place. Those who meet the Joseph-like Messiah must expect a David-like responsibility: to bless those who wronged us, to use power for service, to seek reconciliation. The point of the pattern is not winning an argument; it is learning a way — the way of a king who saves by suffering and then heals by reigning.

Conclusion

“Messiah son of Joseph” names the biblical pattern in which a despised brother suffers to save and later rules to reconcile. In Yeshua, the Joseph-story reaches its fulfillment and opens into the David-story: first the hidden deliverer, then the visible king.

If you found this article thought-provoking, you’ll find much more in my best-selling book, Refuting Rabbinic Objections to Christianity & Messianic Prophecies: