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IN RECENT YEARS streams in the body of Christ have made much over “The Joseph Anointing” or “A Joseph Mantle.”
Most of you know the story of Joseph. He was handsome, smart, and his father’s favorite son. His father made him a coat of many colors. After Joseph told his brothers he’d dreamt they bowed down to him, they jealously sold him into slavery. As a slave in Egypt, God prospered him; all he touched became successful. His owner, his jail keeper, and finally Pharaoh entrusted all their most important work to him. (Check out Genesis 38; it’s a great story. You can read the details on-line at www.biblestudytools.com/genesis).
Anyway, this “Joseph Mantle” is used to describe men and women sent by God into the world (Egypt) on His business. He watches over them so that all they touch does well. Perhaps Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN, wore Joseph’s mantle of favor at times. I’ve personally known a couple of fellows and one gal like that. Like Joseph, they wore a coat of many colors; they succeeded in several widely different businesses over the course of their careers. Their employers loved them, relied on them, saw they were trustworthy, and promoted them because business prospered under their touch.
This picture captures the dichotomy of wearing a cloak of many colors while functioning, hooded as it were, within a foreign system. It’s hard to tell which direction the wearer is facing. It’s difficult to decide whether those are human eyes looking forward, the back of a mask, or perhaps a design element. Joseph’s true identity as a prototype of Jesus and a servant of God is disguised. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, they didn’t recognize him. They thought he was fully Egyptian. And what is that faint light behind him? Or is it before him?
