Genesis 49:22 says, "A son of a fruitful tree is Joseph, a son of a fruitful tree by a fountain; whose branches run over the wall" (Heb.). Firstly, Joseph is a son of a fruitful tree. This son is, of course, the bough of a tree. If Joseph is the bough, the son, then the fruitful tree must be Jacob. According to the record of the Bible, no one prior to Jacob had twelve sons. (Twelve is the number of eternal completion.) The fact that Jacob had twelve sons means that he was very fruitful. Jacob was the son of Isaac, and Isaac was the son of Abraham, the father of the called race. In the Bible God is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exo. 3:6; Matt. 22:32). This title is also the title of the Triune God. The God of Abraham refers to God the Father, the God of Isaac refers to God the Son, and the God of Jacob refers to God the Spirit. As we have pointed out, we should not consider Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as three persons, but as three aspects of one person. In like manner, the three of the Triune God are three in one. Jacob signifies the coming of the Spirit, the third of the Triune God. The Father was in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit is the issue of our God.
If we touch the spirit of the Bible, we shall see that, as a fruitful person, Jacob signifies the producing God. God is the fruitful tree. This is proved by the fifteenth chapter of John, where Christ says that He is the vine tree. Christ as the embodiment of God is the producing tree. Christ truly is fruitful. Here in Genesis 49 we see a son of this tree. The Son of God is the branching out of God. For this reason, in the Old Testament Christ is called the Branch (Jer. 23:5; Zech. 6:12). The Bible is deep, profound, and far beyond our understanding. On the one hand, the Bible says that Christ is a tree and, on the other hand, it says that He is the branch. Is He then the tree or the branch? He is both. As the embodiment of God, He is the tree, but as the branching out of God, He is the branch. Joseph, a type of Christ, was also the son of a fruitful tree, the branching out of God. Joseph was God's branching out. As we all know, the branch of a tree is part of the tree. Thus, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was part of Jacob, the fruitful father. Speaking typically, Joseph was Christ as the Son of God who was the branching out of the fruitful God.
Verse 22 says that Joseph is a son of a fruitful tree by a fountain. The fountain is God. The tree is God; the fountain is also God; everything is God. Jacob, a type of the fruitful tree, lived by God as the fountain. A tree requires water. If it has water, it will grow fruitfully. Jacob realized that all his fruitfulness came from God as the fountain. Here we are told that Joseph, as the son of Jacob, branches out all the riches of this tree that come from the fountain.
The son, the bough, of this fruitful tree has branches that run over the wall. Chapter forty-nine is filled with figurative speech. In verse 22 we have a garden, a wall, and a tree inside the wall. The bough of this tree has many branches, and these branches run over the wall. According to the figure, this means that Jacob was moving out beyond the wall. He was not limited to the good land, but he ran out over the wall to Egypt, spreading beyond the limits of the good land into another region. Today, Christ as the very Joseph within us is spreading over the restricting wall. The wall cannot restrict Joseph's spreading; it cannot limit the branching out of this bough. We have this Joseph within us. This means that we have Christ within us as today's Joseph. Our Joseph has many branches which are running over the wall. These branches run over all limitations, for example, the limitations of family, school, or the restrictions of the opposition. No matter how high the wall may be, Joseph's branches will run over it. No matter how high the opposing wall may be, the very Christ within us will run over the wall by means of the many branches.