Joseph is antitypical of Christ and we can see many parallels as we explore his life.
The Lord chose Joseph and revealed His plan and purpose to him in visions (Amos 3:7).  There would be a lot of time before the Lord's revelations would come to pass.  This demanded much faith on the part of Joseph.
Like Joseph, we have a vision of the Kingdom.  We must keep that vision firmly in our mind so that the passage of time does not diminish our faith (Prov 29:18).
 
The traders who took Joseph to Egypt are alternatively called Ishmaelites and Midianites (v.28).  Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar and Midian was the son of Abraham by Keturah.  It was not unusual that different groups would travel together for protection against robbers.  And so, the Ishmaelites and Midianites were seen together, probably with other smaller groups of Arab traders.  The term Arab, by the way, means mingle, which is descriptive of the intermingling of the people of the Near East.

Potiphar means dedicated to Ra (the sun god).  He was a native Egyptian in the employ of the Hyksos kings who now ruled Egypt.  He was Pharaoh's chief guard.  While being part of the army, Potiphar took care of civil duties as chief of police, head executioner etc.

37:18 In conspiring to kill Joseph we have a pattern set for the way that Israel would treat Jesus - Matt 21:38 Luke 20:14- Jesus and Joseph were faithful to their respective fathers hence the hatred of the other sons

37:15We might think it strange that the man said ‘what’ rather than ‘who’ when asking Joseph about the reason he was in the field. However Jacob had - - buried riches in that field – Gen 35:4

37:5,9  Joseph’s two dream marked the certainty that the things he dreamed of would actually happen. Whilst that point is not made her Joseph was doubtless aware of it because he makes just this point to pharaoh. Gen 41:32

37:1 That Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger contrasts with Esau – Gen 36:8 – who left the land to go to Seir. So the son whose right was the birthright chose to leave his ‘inheritance’ and go outside the and. This we see a practical outworking of the fact that Esau ‘despised his birthright’ – Gen 25:34

37:4 In which the way that Joseph’s brothers ‘hated’ him we see a pattern of the hate that the Jewish leaders had for Jesus – John 15:25

39:10 The ‘stroke’ of God was God’s chastening and is seen repeatedly in Scriptures which speak of Jesus sacrifice.

40:2 The ‘horrible pit’ and the ‘miry clay’ represent the depths David was in when he realised his sin. Is his how we view our unforgiven sins?

When David had decided not to speak, the fire burned in his heart (Psa 39:1-3). But he felt a compulsion to pray to God, and to beg for forgiveness. He couldn't keep silence for long, and this Psa 39 seems to be the process of thought he went through.

39:9     The silence of the one who was rebuked because the rebuke was of God was, ultimately, Jesus – Isa 53:7. However he is the example we should follow – 1Pet 2:21-24 – when we are rebuked or suffer wrongfully

40:5      The wonderful works which cannot be reckoned up were all designed to show that God has a plan. That plan is centred in His son Jesus. John 21:25 shows that when Jesus did those works they were to show that Jesus was Messiah – the pivot in God’s plans.

39:11That the beauty was consumed is echoed in Isa 53:2 where Jesus ‘hath no form nor comliness'

40:6 That David’s ear was opened to what was written about him in ‘the volume of the book’ Psalm 40:7 draws on David’s comments - 2Sam 7:27 where God had ‘revealed’ Hebrew ‘opened the ear’ of David to His plans about the temple. Psalm 40 was written as a consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba. He is now back on track with his God and His purpose.

Many of the Lord's parables are derived from these Psalms. For example, the parable of the talents, in part, is seen in 40v10

"I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly."

We can see here the opposite of the man who witheld the gift of God (Matt 25:24-28). So in this context we can see that the Lord probably meant the talents to refer to the forgiveness of God, in receipt of which we ought to gratefully proclaim his mercy to others (40v3,5,16). Here we also see that the greater conscience of our sins we have, the greater our gratefulness can be (corresponding to the number of talents in the parable; Matt 25:14-15).

Another example is  in v12

"My iniquities have overtaken me... they are more than the hairs of my head"

and in v17 we read:

"yet the LORD thinks upon me"

so here we can see the teaching of Jesus "every hair of your head is numbered" in a new light. Firstly Jesus was saying God sees and knows all your sins. And secondly yet He is willing to forgive each and every one. Examples of how we can use the rest of scripture, particularly the old testament, to interpret Jesus' teachings.

39:1 The way the Psalmist kept silence before his enemies is similar to Psa 38:14. He is saying that he did not respond to the accusations and criticisms of his adversaries. If only we could respond in the same way rather than feeing the need to defend ourselves against the jibes of others.

Vs.6,7 These verses are quoted by the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 10:5-7).  Psalm 40, first expresses the sufferings and the feelings of David.  They also reflect the sufferings and feelings of Jesus.  They show the susceptibility of the Lord's human nature to emotional distress.   

But the Lord's heart was not in the present. His mind, as always, was far away in the future. Having come to His own, and about to be rejected by them in a few days, He was in great heaviness of spirit. His rebuke, ever gentle, searches out the heart of His followers, even now.... nearly 2,000 years later. "Why do you look at the Temple that way? Don't look at all this and wonder. Look at all this and lament. Do you appreciate that this present scene is all futility and vanity? Why focus on the here and now? It is all going! And sooner than you think!" "Truly, I'm telling you, there shall not be left here one stone on another, that shall not be thrown down." Half a century of steady construction, yet in less than 40 years the Roman armies would be doing God's work and would be bringing all these major monuments of men's pride crashing to the ground. How wicked was this generation? In Abraham's day it took over 400 years for the "iniquity of the Amorites to fill up" … and they were people who knew not the God of Heaven. But this generation of Jews would overflow the wickedness of their fathers in a tenth that time! And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John and Andrew (the original four), with wonder in their hearts, came to Him quietly with three solemn questions. If we had been there, perhaps we would have asked the same questions. They are the questions that in one form or another have burned in the hearts of most disciples for 6,000 years.  Lord, how long? When will all this that you have spoken happen? How will we know the end of the Age is here?

Bro. Cliff's comment for Matthew 24 was so long I have placed the rest on a separate page.
Click here to read it.

Matt 24:29  It is a very interesting comparison when we look at the warning spoken by Ezekiel. (Eze 33)

Matt 24:36  An excellent verse to destroy the theory of a triune God-head.

The so-called Olivet Prophecy contained in this chapter is essentially a warning of the coming disaster of 70 AD.  A 143-day siege led by Titus killed approximately 1,000,000 Jews while thousands of others were taken captive. 

After a rebellion in 135 AD led by a false messiah Bar Kochba (see Matt 24:24) was crushed, Jerusalem was levelled.  However, the faithful who heeded the words of Jesus as he referred to the prophet Daniel, would escape the atrocities of the Roman onslaught.

Members of the ecclesia at Jerusalem moved to Pella, east of the River Jordan before the destruction began.  Although Matt. 24 deals mainly with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, it does give glimpses of the Lord's second coming.  One must be careful, though, to understand which details fit which event.

24:2    In saying that there would not be one stone that would not be 'thrown down' Jesus is describing the destruction of Jerusalem in the same way that the leprous house was to be destroyed Lev 14:45

24:2 The throwing down of the stones also echoes the language of Zech 5:4

 24:11   The warning about ‘false prophets’ was made right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Sermon on the Mount – Matt 7:15

24:17-18 There doubtless was enough time to do both of the things mentioned in these verses before fleeing Jerusalem when the Romans retreated for a while so the warning is based upon the need for speed. Rather it is a warning about laying any confidence in the things in the city – rather like Lot’s wife. Remember the warning to ‘flee to the mountains’ is what Lot was told – Gen 19:17

AS LOVE GROWS COLD

Some people leave the church because they feel it is not loving enough. With their leaving, often faith also dwindles away over time converting yet another Christian to a godless existence.

It is a lack of love that Jesus cites as one of the characteristics of the church in the last days. We may be seeing only the beginning of it now. He says, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands form to the end will be saved." (Matt 24:12-13)

It is not the love of some or even many that will grow cold, but the love of most. As the days go on, our churches are going to lose the love they once had - love for one another and love for God. If it is all caused by an increase of wickedness, perhaps part of the reason is that people are not so loveable any more.

How will that affect us? Are we going to be one of the ones that throw our toys out of the cot and give up on religion because of the way people are acting? We need to be bigger people than that. We need to be those who set the example and lead others to the love of God. We need to be those who stand firm to the end. By doing so we will be saved, and who knows whether we will also have saved others in the process?

As love dies, let's not give up but stand firm to the end.

24:40  This verse is one of a number of times in the Olivet Prophecy that Jesus repeats what he has already said in Luke 17:36. Maybe this is what Jesus is referring to when he says ‘I have told you before’ – Matt 24:25