Wednesday Bible Study- a man in a field

On my way to deciding what comes next for the WBS, I decided to ask a question.  But first, a musical interlude of sorts:

I met a Frenchman in a field last night

He was out there with an easel, painting carnival light

He said, I used to paint the princess; I used to paint the frogs

Now I paint moustaches on dangerous dogs

He said, Sometimes it's a country; sometimes it's a girl

You know, everybody got to have a purpose in this world

You Yankees are so silly about matters of the heart

Don't you know that women are the only works of art

You're drivin' with your eyes closed

You're drivin' with your eyes closed

You're drivin' with your eyes closed

You're gonna hit somethin'

But that's the way it goes

-Don Henley

This comes to mind for several reasons, but firstly because my question is about a man in a field:

Gen 37:13  And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Behold me. 
Gen 37:14  And he said to him, Now go, see the welfare of your brothers, and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me. And he sent him out of the valley of Hebron. And he came to Shechem. 
Gen 37:15  And a man found him. And, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What do you seek? 
Gen 37:16  And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding the flock. 
Gen 37:17  And the man said, They have left here, for I heard them say, Let us go towards Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. 


Now this is the second time we have encountered a seemingly anonymous "man" in just five chapters.  The first was the "man" that Jacob wrestled with- a man everyone on the Christian side recognizes as the pre-incarnate Christ.  More on this as we go on.  This man, however, the experts have an apparently different take.  Nearly unanimously, the Christian commentators ignore him (Lesson #1- if it's in God's Word, it's there for a REASON), but I found several Jewish references that point out that the man HAD to be an angel- because if Joseph had NOT found his brothers, all of the Bible, and history, would have unraveled differently.   You might say, "Well, he would have found them eventually, but consider two things:  The word "wandering" above translates thus:

A primitive root; to vacillate, that is, reel or stray (literally or figuratively); also causatively of both: - (cause to) go astray, deceive, dissemble, (cause to, make to) err, pant, seduce, (make to) stagger, (cause to) wander, be out of the way.

Joseph was helplessly, hopelessly lost, without idea one what to do next.  Also consider the timing.  It "just so happened" that the passing Ishmaelites the boys sold Joseph to passed by when they did.  Could he have ended up in Egypt if he had taken, say, an extra two or three days to get to Dothan?  Hmmm.

So why do the experts take a pass on this guy?  I don't know.  But what I did look at tied to a bunch of stories beyond this, and they all combine to tell me, in so many words, that the man of Genesis 32 and the man of Genesis 37 are both Jesus.  Having said that, let me fill in some connective tissue.

One of my things that connect here connects the wrestler with Jacob to the birth of Samson.  Huh?  Follow.  From the Jacob story, after the match, and the blessing that changes Jacob's name to Israel:

Gen 32:29  And Jacob asked and said, Please reveal Your name. And He said, Why this that you ask about My name? And He blessed him there. 

And in the Samson story, his mom was yet another of those Hebrew ladies having fertility problems.  So she and her husband Manoah prayed about it, and along comes the Angel of the LORD, which we all agree is the pre-incarnate Christ:

Jdg 13:17  And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?" 

Jdg 13:18  And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" 

So this seems to be a standard pre-incarnate Christ answer when asked about His Name.  (You could further link this to Isaiah's listing of the names of the messiah, including "Wonderful", but this story is getting hairy as it is!)  The next chunk I saw a link in- and the Jewish sources developed it- was this part:

Gen 37:15  And a man found him. And, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What do you seek? 

It was actually one of the Jewish blogs that pointed out that he asked WHAT, not who- thus indicating he was actually asking a deeper question about the direction of his FUTURE.  Now let me link this to another time we see this question:

Joh 1:35  Again on the morrow, John and two from his disciples stood. 

Joh 1:36  And looking at Jesus walking, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God! 

Joh 1:37  And the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus. 

Joh 1:38  But having seen them following, Jesus said to them, What do you seek? And they said to Him, Rabbi (which being translated is called Teacher), where do You stay? 

Joh 1:39  He said to them, Come and see...

The standard question from Jesus, part two- what do you seek?  Now, let me put a little more sinew into the connective tissue.

Let us consider the commonalities of our contestants:  Jacob the first, Joseph the second, and John and Andrew in the third.

BEFORE the event.   Jacob had just made his stand to leave Laban and follow God's leading back into Canaan.

Joseph had just earned the enmity of his brothers for sharing his dreams with them and their father.  (Another connective:  v 11 says, "but his father observed the word", much like after Jesus gets 'rescued' from the Temple as a child, Mary "pondered these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19)- neither knew exactly what it meant, but knew it meant SOMETHING they would have to learn.)

John and Andrew had just heard John the Baptist declare Jesus- fresh from the desert and temptation, ready to start His ministry- the Lamb of God, and decided on following up on this.

DURING the event:  Jacob was directed by his blessing to a new destiny.

Joseph and the proto-Apostles had just been asked "What do you seek?"  Neither had any idea how the answer would change THEIR destinies.

AFTER the event:  Jacob would within hours have his long-dreaded reunion with brother Esau- a meeting he had God's assurance but not heart-certainty he would survive.

Joseph would fall into a chain of events that would see him next to the throne of Egypt, and all those dreams fulfilled.

John and Andrew, their question "where do You stay?" showing how little they realized where their next three years following Jesus- and all the years thereafter- would lead.

How like being saved.  You come to that point of choosing Christ.  You ask the question- "will you be my savior?"  You proceed into an unknown and unguessed destiny.

If you haven't gotten there yet, God is still asking HIS two questions- What do you seek?  Why do you want to know My Name?  If you have the right answers to the second question- "I'm lost in a field, and need a guide", "I want to know who it is that blesses me", then the answers to the second will work out in the walk.  And, you won't be "driving with your eyes closed."