Parasha V’yigash

by

Bereshit (Genesis) 44:18 –47:27
Haftarah: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 37:15 –28
Brit Chadasha: Acts 7:9 -16

Parasha Highlights:

  • Judah steps forward
  • Joseph reveals himself to his brethren
  • Jacob and his family travel to Egypt
  • Jacob is introduced to Pharaoh
  • In Parasha Mikeitz the silver goblet of Joseph was hidden in the sack of his brother Benjamin. Ge. 44:2: “And put my cup (אתֶ־גּבְִיעיִ ), the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his own money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. **The אתֶ־גּבְִיעיִ is speaking of the cup of Yashua.
  • What cup of Yashua should we be looking for? Is it the “cup” that He used at the last supper? We can be certain that this “cup” would be a very plain ordinary container. Or is it the “cup” of suffering death on the stake that He would be required to drink from? Perhaps the answer will be found in this week’s Sidra.
  • V 12: “And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the “cup” was found in Benjamin’s sack.”
  • V 16: “And Judah said, what shall we say to my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? Elohim has found out the iniquity of your servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.” **Their iniquity was having sold Joseph, their own brother, to the Ishmaelite’s (Ge. 37:28).
  • As you know, there were only “two” sons born to Rachel, the bride of promise, Joseph and Benjamin. As we discussed both sons have Messianic implications. The narrative tells us that Joseph had his servants place his own silver goblet inside the sack of Benjamin. When this is discovered, his brethren are unwilling to surrender him. In Ge. 43:8 Judah said to his father, ‘send the lad (Benjamin) with me, and let us arise and go, so we will live and not die, we as well as you as well as our children, I will personally guarantee him of my own hand you can demand him…'”
  • We can proceed with our Parasha now that the foundation has been laid. Ge.44:18: “Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh.”
  • V 32: “For your servant became surety for the lad ( אתֶ־הַנּעַרַ ) to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.” **The Hebrew word for surety is עָרַב . This word is used in our Parasha in the masculine singular form. What that means to us is the “pledge” itself is masculine singular. The numerical value for ערַָב is 272; 2 + 7 + 2 = 11. Eleven is a number associated with Yeshua. The masculine singular pledge is Yeshua. If we rearrange the letters, we have the word רעב which means famine. Famine is the reason the sons were in Egypt in the first place.
  • Jacob had twelve sons. At this point in the narrative, it is Judah that stands out. Judah is the 4th son of Jacob. His birth order alone connects us to Messiah. The number four aligns us to the first Aleph Tav ( את). Judah is spelled יְהוּדָ ה . We discussed this spelling a few weeks ago. This name contains the tetragrammaton, the י ה ו ה , the place holder for the name of Yehovah. The name Judah also contains the Dalet, ד. The Dalet is the 4th letter in the name of Judah. The Dalet is the 4th letter of the Hebrew Alef Bet. What is interesting about this letter is its meaning. In paleo Hebrew it is a door meaning to enter or pathway. Yeshua is the “door.” John 10:7: “So Yeshua said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
  • Lk. 13:25: “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where are you from?”
  • Rev. 3:8: “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”
  • Judah was the guarantor of Benjamin’s salvation from physical slavery for his father Jacob. Another messianic connection is found in the numerical value of the name Judah which is 30. Yeshua was the guarantor for mankind’s salvation from spiritual slavery for his father Yehovah. The ancestor of Yeshua is Judah. Rev. 5:5: “But one of the elders said to me, ‘do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to lose its seven seals.'”

Joseph Reveals Himself

  • 45:1-2: “Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘make everyone go out from me!’ So, no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he ( ו􀋄 אֶת־קֹ ) “wept” aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.” **This is the first mention of the word “wept.” This calls to mind the shortest scripture which is found in Jn. 11:35: “Yeshua wept.”
  • How did Joseph “reveal” himself to his brethren? Is it possible that he revealed the “sign” of the covenant? Circumcision? Yeshua didn’t reveal himself to his brethren. Rather he asked Peter in Mt. 16:15 -18: “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Yeshua answered and said to him, ‘blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (the revelation that Yeshua is the Messiah) I will build My congregation ( את-קהלתי ), and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.'”
  • The “congregation” belongs to the Aleph Tav, Yeshua. It was during Yeshua’s’ exchange with the Samaritan woman in Jn. 4:4 -26 where He actually revealed Himself: In Jn. 4:25: “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Yeshua said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’”
  • The question is why He revealed Himself to this particular woman? Yeshua said in Mt. 15:24: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” **The “lost sheep” of the house of Israel are found in the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom is referred to in scripture as Israel or Ephraim. It is Samaria. Yeshua was ministering in the Northern Kingdom to the Samaritan woman at the well.
  • The main ministry of Yeshua was to woo the “lost sheep” back into the fold. If they repent and come back to Torah, they become the “bride” and there is restoration and reconciliation. Restoration and reconciliation are exactly what is happening between Joseph and his brethren.
  • 45:3 –6: “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph; does my father still live?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘please come near to me.’ So, they came near. Then he said: ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for Elohim sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine ( רָעָב ) has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.'” **Notice the reconciliation between Joseph and his brethren occurred after “two” years. The “two years” also equates to the 2000 years between the 1st and 2nd Advents. It’s at the end of these 2000 years that Yeshua will be restored and reconciled with his brethren.
  • 4:7: “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘thus says your son Joseph: Elohim has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.'”
delta-of-the-nile
  • Jacob and his family now travel from the land of promise to the “nations,” Egypt. They will thrive in Goshen, which means drawing near, until the designated time period has expired. Yeshua, a descendant of Judah, would also descend down into Egypt. The flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:13-23), in which Joseph fled to Egypt with Mary and infant son Yeshua after a visit by the Magi, because they learned that King Herod intended to kill the infants of that area. This was to fulfill the prophecy in Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” The parallel is this: Joseph, ends up in Egypt after being sold into slavery by his brothers. Keep in mind he is “hidden” away for 13 years until it is time to “save” his brethren. Yeshua, as an infant, is taken by another Joseph and Mary to Egypt to flee the order to kill the male infants; “hidden” until it is time to “save” his brethren.
  • Yehovah comforts Jacob in 46:3 -4: “And he said, I am your father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will make of you a great nation: I will go down with you into Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes.”
  • Joseph’s time in Egypt started out OK but ended badly. There is much debate regarding the years of slavery. I think it’s safe to say everything was fine for Israel until a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph came on the scene. The point of their enslavement was physical growth. They were prophesied by The Father to be in a land not their own for 400 years thus allowing them to grow into a great multitude. Would they suffer tribulation while being enslaved? Will we suffer tribulation while being enslaved?
  • The Hebrew word often translated as tribulation is tzar, meaning to squeeze in a narrow place. The Hebrew root of Egypt is the same, tzar; Mitzraim which can literally translate,” the means by which tribulations are accomplished” or “from tribulations.” (Esther’s Mystery Behind the Mask, Dr. Hollisa Alewine, pg. 11)
  • The root word for Joseph is יסַָף which means to gather together, Sukkot. In Ge. 47:24: “Joseph says ‘at the ingathering of the harvest…. .תְּבוּאהָ. Joseph would have “gathered” in the harvest at the end of every season; seven years in all. Yeshua like Joseph will “gather” in His harvest at the end of our season; six thousand years in all. Celebrating the 7th Festival, Sukkot, for 1000 years.
  • In conclusion:
  • In the name of Judah ( י ה ו ד ה ) we see “the door.” The “door” is the Messiah who is the only way to The Father. Judah represents the Southern Kingdom.
  • In the life of Joseph we see a foreshadow of the life and ministry of Messiah. Joseph represents the Northern Kingdom.
  • The Joseph story displays a gambit of human emotions; love, hate, jealousy, forgiveness, restoration and finally reconciliation.

Haftarah

  • Ezekiel 37:15 –28″ “Again the word of Yehovah came to me, saying, ‘as for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ “Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘will you not show us what you mean by these?’—say to them, thus says the Adonai Yehovah: surely I will take the stick (אֶת־עֵץ) ) of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick ( אֶת־עץֵ ) of Judah , and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand. And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.’ Then say to them, ‘thus says the Adonai Yehovah: ‘surely I will take the children (אתֶ־בְּניֵ) of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim. David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statute and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. ‘Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, Yehovah, sanctify Israel (אֶת־ישְִׂרָאֵל), when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.'”
  • Can the two sticks that merge into one stick be a picture of the stake Yeshua surrendered His life on?

Brit Chadasha

  • Acts 7:9-16
  • Joseph reveals himself to is brothers.