Parasha V’yechi

Bereshit (Genesis) 47:28 –50:26
Haftarah: M’lakhim Alef (1 Ki.) 2:1-12
Brit Chadasha: Acts 7:9 –16; Heb. 11:21 –22; 1 Pt. 1:3 –9 and 2:11 -17

The Aleph Tav

In the Revelation of Yeshua Ha Mashiach to John we find 4 references to the Aleph Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew Aleph Bet; Rev. 1:8, 1:11, 21:6 and 22:13. The translation reads “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. Messiah Yeshua is a Hebrew man and not a Greek man therefore He would have said “I am the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the ending. He is the entire Hebrew Aleph Bet from A to Z so to speak therefore He is ALL the Hebrew letters, ALL the Hebrew words. Jn. 1:1 confirms this understanding. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim.” In its ancient form the Aleph Tav would read “strength of the covenant.”
Is. 56:3 –6: “Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to Yehovah speak, saying, ‘Yehovah has utterly separated me from His people;’ nor let the eunuch say, ‘here I am, a dry tree.’ For thus says Yehovah: ‘To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths ( אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹותַי ), and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to Yehovah, to serve Him, and to love the name ( אֶת־שֵׁם ) of Yehovah, to be His servants—Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant.

ויַחְִי meaning “lived”

Parasha Highlights:

The death of Jacob and Joseph
The blessing is given to Manasseh and Ephraim
Jacob blesses his sons
Prophecy regarding the 1st redemption
47:28: “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and they were the days of Jacob, the years of his life, seven years and forty and one hundred years (147).”
Recall Jacob was the second born twin to Rebekkah. He received the “birth-right” blessing from his father Isaac. He was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. His eleventh son was Joseph; however, Joseph is the first-born son of Rachel, the bride of promise. He lived in Egypt seventeen years. Jacob, the father, lost his son, Joseph at age seventeen. The number seventeen gives us an immediate connection to both Joseph and the resurrection day of Messiah Yeshua.
Ge. 37:2: “This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.” **Joseph wound be placed into a pit and lifted up out of that same pit at age seventeen.

How do we know that resurrection day was the 17th day of the first month? What we do know is what Yeshua said in: Mt. 12:39 –41: “Yeshua replied, ‘a wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Yonah. For just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Yonah, and now One greater than Yonah is here….'” **From Friday to Sunday is not three days so we must look for another answer.
The year of Yeshua’s death Pesach would have fallen on Wednesday, the 4th day of the week, corresponding to the first Aleph Tav of Scripture which is found as the fourth word of the Hebrew Scriptures. After having been placed in the tomb “between the evenings” on the 14th day of the first month. This places Him in the tomb the entirety of 15th, 16th, resurrecting “between the evenings” on the 17th day of the first month, resurrection day. Thus, three full days and three full nights in the tomb just as He said. The seventeenth day was a Shabbat that year which makes perfect sense since Yeshua is “Lord of the Sabbath.”
Ge. 48:1 –2: “Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, ‘indeed your father is sick;’ and he took with him his two ( אֶת־שְׁנֵי ) sons, Manasseh ( אתֶ־מְנשַּׁהֶ ) and Ephraim ( אֶת־אֶפְרָֽיםִ ). And Jacob was told, ‘look, your son Joseph is coming to you”’; and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. ” **At this point in Scripture the names of Josephs Aleph Tav two sons are in their correct birth order. Manasseh is Josephs first-born and Ephraim is the second son.
Ge. 48:3: “Then Jacob said to Joseph: ‘El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,’ and said to me, ‘behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people and give this land (אֶת־הָאָרֶץ) to your descendants (seed) after you as an everlasting possession.’” **The promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob refers to their “seed” of which Messiah Yeshua is the “pure seed.” ** And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).'”
Even before the blessing was given, Ephraim precedes his older brother Manasseh. Ephraim will replace Reuben as the firstborn of Jacob. Essentially, Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh; they are now as if he had sired them himself. They became legitimate physical heirs and would share in the family inheritance.
Rom 8:15 speaks about adoption: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Rom. 8:23: “Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
Eph. 1:4 –6: “Accordingly He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Yeshua Ha Mashiach to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
Is the adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh a foreshadow, then, of believers being born outside the land, being brought into Covenant Israel by adoption? If we are a native-born Israelite does that mean, we are automatically part of Covenant Israel?
How do we define Covenant Israel? Covenant Israel consists of those from all peoples who choose to follow the “rules of the kingdom.” Those in covenant are often described as wheat, sheep and/or fish.
Ephraim and Manasseh are now adopted into the household of Jacob. Weren’t they present when Jacob adopted them?
V 8: “Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons ( אתֶ־בְּניֵ ), and said, “Who are these?” who is Jacob really seeing? The Hebrew word for saw is ויַּ רְַא . This word is used in the imperfect tense which simply means it is in the future. Jacob is really seeing the future seed of Joseph. Recall that Joseph is a type and shadow of Yeshua so what he is seeing is the adopted brethren of our Mashiach.
V 9 –14: “And Joseph said to his father, ‘they are my sons, whom Elohim has given me in this place.’ And he said, ‘please bring them to me, and I will bless them.’ Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, ‘I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, Elohim has also shown me your offspring ( אתֶ־ז רְַעךֶָֽ – the Aleph Tav seed)!’ So, Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand ( אתֶ־ימְִינ ו ) and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand ( 􀋄 אֶת־שְׂמאֹ ) on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands ( אֶת־יָדָיו ) knowingly (Piel) to lay crosswise, cross (hands), for Manasseh was the firstborn.” **When Jacob crossed his hands, what sign did, he make? In its paleo form the letter Tav looks like crossed sticks and means sign, seal or covenant had has a numerical value of 400.

V 15 – 16: ” And he blessed Joseph ( אֶת־יֹוסֵף ), and said: “Elohim, before whom my father’s Abraham and Isaac walked, Elohim who has fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my father’s Abraham and Isaac; and let them proliferate like fish into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
The Hebrew word דָּגָה is used only once in the Tanakh. Its paleo meaning would read “the door who will be lifted up will be revealed.” The numerical value is 12; 1 + 2 = 3, resurrection!

Fish connect us to the triangle of 17. A triangle has 3sides with resurrection day being the 17th day of the first month.

17 + 16 + 15 + 14 + 13 + 12 + 11 + 10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 153

After His resurrection Yeshua appeared to His disciples: Jn. 21:1 –11: “Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘we are going with you also.’ They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Yeshua stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Yeshua. Then Yeshua said to them, ‘children, have you any food?’ They answered Him, ‘no.’ And He said to them, ‘cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So, they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore, that disciple whom Yeshua loved said to Peter, ‘it is the Lord!’ Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Yeshua said to them, ‘bring some of the fish which you have just caught.’ Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three (153); and although there were so many, the net was not broken.
Why 153 fish? We have already established that this number connects us to resurrection day. Water metaphors largely represent the nations. Consider the 153 fish represent the “remnant” of Covenant Israel. Those in covenant will recognize Yeshua as the resurrected Mashiach. The disciples of Messiah Yeshua are called to be “fishers” of men. The prophet Ezekiel prophesies: Ez. 47:10″ “Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.”
Mt. 4: 18 –20: “As Yeshua was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow Me,’ Yeshua said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed Him.…”
V 17 – 19: “Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so, he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, ‘not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.'” **The birthright blessing was given to Ephraim, the second son. The pattern of the 2nd son remains intact.
Ephraim is set before his brother Manasseh. The name Ephraim means “double ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful. “The numerical value of Ephraim, אפֶרְַיםִ , is 331; 3 + 3 + 1 = 7. The descendants of Ephraim will be “gathered” from the nations at the onset of the 7th millennia. In the final millennia the wheat, sheep and fish will be gathered into the land never to be removed again.
In previous years we spent a lot of time on Jacob’s blessing to Judah which is totally messianic. This year I would like to draw your attention to 49:5 which relates the blessing (or not) of Simeon and Levi: “Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty (stolen craft) are in their dwelling place Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. **What are the instruments of cruelty or stolen craft? The origin of the stolen craft came from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Gan Eden. Adam and Chava ate of this fruit so their seed was corrupted. Cain was born and chose to use this stolen craft.
The Book of Enoch sheds some light on this subject: “Azazel (a fallen angel) taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.” (Chapter 8:1 –3) This knowledge was forbidden and in this case Simeon and Levi used it to destroy the entire male population of Shechem.
In conclusion, it doesn’t take long for us to see Yeshua concealed in this sidra as soon as we begin to peel back a layer or two.
After all the story belongs to The Father and Son. The blessing to Judah clearly gives us the promise of the coming of Shiloah, Messiah, the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Haftarah

1 Ki. 2:1 –12
Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged ( אתֶ־מִשְׁמרֶֶת ) Solomon his son, saying: I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of Yehovah Elohay: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moshe, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that Yehovah may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

Brit Chadasha

Acts 7:9-16 recounts the prophecy given to Abraham regarding the 400 year slavery of his descendants.
Heb. 11:21-22 connects with Josephs’ instructions to his brethren regarding his bones; taking them back to the land when they leave.
1st Kefa (1st Pt.) 1:3-9 v5 Meanwhile, through trusting, you are being protected by Yehovahs’ power for a deliverance ready to be revealed in the last time.
Rejoice in this, even though for a little while you may have to experience grief in various trials.
2:11-17 I urge you as aliens and temporary residents (of the world). We are to look up! We are in this world but not of this world.