Genesis 44:18-23: “Then Judah drew 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. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ ””
Parsha Vayigash (“and he drew near” or “then he drew near”) which are the first words of the ‘parsha’, is found in Genesis 44:18–47:27 and it is the eleventh weekly ‘Torah’ portion in the annual Jewish cycle of ‘Torah’ reading. The corresponding ‘haftorah’ (reading of the prophets) is found in Ezekiel 37:15-28.
In last week’s ‘Parsha’, ‘Mikeitz’, Joseph’s goblet was found in Benjamin’s sack as it was put in his sack by Joseph’s servant at Joseph’s instruction. Joseph said that Benjamin would become his slave and the other brothers could return to their father. ‘Parsha Mekeitz’ concludes with this test of the brothers’ loyalty.
‘Parsha Vayigash’ begins with Judah approaching Joseph to plead for the release of Benjamin, offering himself as a slave to the Egyptian ruler in Benjamin’s stead. Upon witnessing his brothers’ loyalty to one another, Joseph revealed his identity to them. “I am Joseph,” he declared. “Is my father still alive?”
The brothers were overcome by shame and remorse, but Joseph comforted them. “It was not you who sent me here,” he says to them, “but G d. It has all been ordained from above to save us, and the entire region, from famine.”
The brothers rushed back to Canaan with the news. Jacob came to Egypt with his sons and their families – seventy souls in all – and was reunited with his beloved son after twenty two years. On his way to Egypt he received the divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.”
Joseph gathered the wealth of Egypt by selling food and seed during the famine. Pharaoh gave Jacob’s family the fertile county of Goshen to settle in, and the children of Israel prospered in their Egyptian exile.
‘Haftorah Vayigash’, found in Ezekiel 37:15-28 mentions the fusion of the kingdoms of Judah and Joseph during the Messianic Era, echoing the beginning of this week's Torah reading: “And Judah approached him (Joseph).”
The prophet Ezekiel shares a prophecy he received, in which G d instructs him to take two sticks and to write on one, “For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions” and on the other, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.” After doing so he was told to put the two near each other, and G d fused them into one stick.
G d explains to Ezekiel that these sticks are symbolic of the House of Israel that was divided into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom that was established by Jeroboam, a member of the Tribe of Ephraim, and the Southern Kingdom, that remained under the reign of the Davidic Dynasty.
In Judaism, the fusing of the two sticks represents the merging of the kingdoms that will transpire during the Messianic Era with the Messiah, a descendant of David, at the helm of this unified empire: “So says the L-rd G d: ‘Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land. And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be to them all as a king; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.’” (Ezekiel 37:21-22)
The ‘haftorah’ ends with G d’s assurance that “they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.”
Joseph had a G-d given destiny that had to be fulfilled, and G-d faithfully bestowed His divine blessing on Joseph in order for him to fulfill his destiny – to save two nations – Israel and Egypt - from famine: Genesis 50:19-20: “Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.””
Joseph went from being a ‘favourite son’ to being a prisoner unjustly thrown in jail because he would not give in to temptation and sin against G-d, and Joseph faced almost overwhelming odds:
As a teenager, he was sold into slavery, taken away from his parents, his family and his way of life. Just as things started to improve, he was unjustly thrown into prison for something he didn’t do, and, when he thought he had a way out of prison through the butler, the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Yet through all of this, G-d’s unmerited divine blessing abounded to him, and whatever he did, the L-rd made it prosper. And despite the efforts of his brothers, G-d ensured that His prophetic word and His destiny for Joseph would come about.
And in Genesis 42:6, Genesis 43:26, and in Genesis 50:18, we read how Joseph’s brothers bowed before him and became his servants.
G-d’s unmerited divine blessing abounded to Joseph because Joseph’s destiny was more than just saving Israel and Egypt from famine. G-d’s destiny plan for Joseph was for him be an instrument in G-d’s Redemptive Plan for mankind.
Almighty G-d was being faithful to His own redemptive plan for the Jewish people and humanity; a plan thought out before the foundation of the world, and Almighty G-d was being faithful to the Covenant He made with Abraham that through Abraham’s descendants, humanity would be blessed.
But what was G-d’s overriding reason for ensuring that His prophetic word and His destiny for Joseph would come about? To ensure that His Chosen People and the Messianic line would come about and to ensure that His redemptive plan for mankind would come about. And for this to happen, Joseph had to be sold into slavery and taken to Egypt.
Joseph’s brothers had to hate him and sell him to the Ishmaelites so that he could become a slave to Potiphar. Joseph had to be unjustly accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife and be thrown into prison. Joseph had to interpret the chief butler’s dream, interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and be made Viceroy of Egypt. There had to be a severe seven year famine in the region so that Joseph’s brothers would go down to Egypt to be re-united with Joseph and be invited to settle with all their families and Jacob in Egypt so that G-d would prosper them in Egypt and they would increase and multiply which would cause a new Pharaoh to fear them and enslave them.
The ‘Torah’ tells us in Genesis 37:22 that Reuben’s intention was to save Joseph from the pit: “And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”--that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.” However, destiny had another plan.
This brings me to some questions:
Whose idea was it to kill Joseph, and whose idea was it to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites? One of the brothers? Some of the brothers? All of the brothers?
Whose idea was it to throw Joseph into prison? Mrs Potiphar or perhaps Potiphar himself?
No, they were just pawns in a much bigger game, as were the butler, the baker and Pharaoh himself. Everything was Almighty G-d’s idea
WHY?
So that G-d could birth the nation of Israel and bring about the Messianic line in order to bring about the church that will ultimately, together with the Jewish people and Israel, usher in the return of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua to bring about the culmination of G-d’s perfect Redemptive plan, One New Man, Jews and Gentiles redeemed and totally reconciled to G-d worshipping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords together – Ephesians 2:14-16: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
In Genesis 46:2-3 we read: “Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.””
All that happened to Joseph was part of G-d’s Redemptive Plan for mankind. Joseph had to be taken to Egypt in order for Jacob to go down to Egypt so that G-d could birth the nation called ‘Israel’ and show Himself as ‘Adonai Tzevaot’, the Ruler of all men, all nations, and all the forces in existence.
It was in Egypt that the Israelites multiplied despite all the Egyptians did to stop their multiplication. Not only did they multiply, but they became mighty – Exodus 1:8-9: “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we”” thus fulfilling Genesis 46:2-3.
The Hebrews had to multiply in order to become a threat to Pharaoh so that he would enslave them for 400 years in order for G-d to free them from slavery so that Moses could lead them out of Egypt as the Children of Israel to Mount Sinai. For it was at Mount Sinai that G-d sealed the people called Israel through the Mosaic Covenant, the Covenant which was added to the Abrahamic covenant that would lead to the New Covenant and, ultimately, the Davidic Covenant that will usher in the return of Yeshua and bring to completion the promise made to Abram and his descendants, the Jewish people, in the Abrahamic Covenant in which He said: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
And it all began with a pair of dreams and a favourite, spoilt son who had a huge destiny ahead of him.
Every one of you has a G-d-given destiny, and every one of you is on a journey with Almighty G-d in order to fulfil your destiny. So, what is your destiny?
Building the Kingdom by taking the gospel to all people, beginning with the Jewish people; Taking the truth of G-d’s heart for the Jewish people and Israel to the church; Showing Yeshua to those around us by showing love, compassion and caring to a world in darkness; Shining for Yeshua – not for people to see you, but for people to see Yeshua through you.
Go out and fulfill your G-d given destiny for the glory of the L-rd. Go and take the gospel to all people, beginning with the Jewish people. Go and take the truth of G-d’s heart for the Jewish people and Israel to the church. Boldly and publicly stand with the Jewish people and Israel. Go and show Yeshua to those around you. Go and shine for Yeshua not for people to see you, but for people to see Yeshua through you.
Go and fulfill your G-d given redemptive destiny assignment, and enjoy the journey.
However, to be part of your Redemptive destiny, you need to be a born-again follower of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
Scripture records that Yeshua became the perfect sacrifice when He died on the cross, shedding every last drop of His blood, thus taking our sins upon Himself, guaranteeing all who believe in His death and resurrection, and who invite Him to become Lord of their lives, eternal life in heaven.
To become a follower of Yeshua, you need to confess your sins, repent of them, receive the forgiveness of G-d, invite Yeshua to become L-rd of your life as your Messiah. It’s as simple as that and it begins with the short, simple prayer found at the end of this article.
To my Jewish brothers and sisters of the flesh this applies to you as well.
Most Jews are eagerly waiting for the return of ‘Moshiach’; and whether you want to believe it or not, His name is Yeshua. How do we know this? Yeshua fulfilled ALL that was prophesied about Him in the ‘Torah’ and in the ‘Tenach’.
I encourage you; read and study the following scriptures which all speak of Yeshua: Deuteronomy 18:18, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 50:6, Isaiah 52-53, Psalm 22:11-18, Daniel 9:25-26 and Zechariah 12:10-11. These scriptures are all found in the ‘Tenach’; please read them yourselves.
Receiving Yeshua as your Messiah and L-rd does not mean that you must stop being Jewish and follow another religion. It does mean that you choose to have a personal, intimate relationship with the ‘Moshiach’ - Yeshua.
Accepting Yeshua as ‘Moshiach’ does not stop you from being Jewish. You were born Jewish, you have a Jewish soul, and you will die Jewish; and if you accept Yeshua as your Saviour, you will live a life of victory, Jewish.
We love you.
Shalom.
Scripture of the week: Genesis 50:19-20: “Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.””
SALVATION PRAYER
Thank you Yeshua for Your love for me.
Thank you for giving up Your life on the cross for me and for taking my sins upon Yourself.
I confess that I have sinned.
I repent of my sins and I turn from everything I know to be wrong.
I invite You to come into my life as my Messiah, my Saviour.
By Your grace I will serve You all the remaining years of my life.