Post by Mark on Dec 11, 2006 5:14:19 GMT -8
Genesis 37:1-40:23
There are a lot of folks living out their faith feeling handicapped by what they call a disfunctional family. I have to sit back and snicker just a little. I think Adonai takes pleasure in what we consider to be impossible circumstances.
What is terribly important for me to express is that this is not simply a legendary tale. This is an account of a real family enduring real internal pangs of family life. If you've ministered much to families of this world, you might easily see that the emotional (leading to physical) wranglings between brothers, the playing favorites by an aging father, and the sexual misconduct of a rebellious son all fits within the range of what we very often see in families today. We easily condemn Jacob and his sons for the blindness of their behavior; but look around. It could be that their situation is not altogether different from your own or from someone who is very close to you.
To the Jew, this scenario is more than just revealing the earthiness of human nature, though. This episode foreshadows the coming of Messiah (or at least, one of them). Messiah ben Yoseph is the suffering Messiah: the One who would come as a sacrifice for His people. Truly, the episode we see in Genesis reflect what would happen to Yeshua. His message was received with scorn by his elders. He came to His own and His own received Him not (John 1:11).
I have to wonder what was going through Joseph's mind as he was sent out by Jacob to find his brothers in the field. He didn't even have a real message to send: Dad just wanted to know how things were going. If there was any trouble, wouldn't they have gotten word? Joseph, without question, felt the hostility his brothers had for him. I think of him of the little school boy who just knows when he gets to the bus stop he'll be beaten up and have his lunch money taken away. Why does he go? His Dad told him to go and there is a greater goal in going to school than a black eye and missing lunch. That works for Yeshua; but for Joseph, I have trouble understanding the point. Maybe it's just because he submits to his father, regardless of his own understanding or valuation of the mission. There is certainly truth here for us. Why do we obey? Is it because we recognize the greater value in our obedience, even though we understand that our obedience often results in conflict with friends and loved ones? For some of us, we obey because we like the idea of rubbing our brothers' faces in their misunderstanding: God loves me better than you. We could condemn Joseph for teaching his dreams to his brethren: Paul certainly might have (Colossians 4:6). It could be that Joseph was just naive enough to believe that his brothers would do him no harm: that he revelled in the idea of another opportunity to gloat over them (or to catch them in another act that he could report to his father as the smug little tattle-tale). The Sages don't paint this picture, rather of a humble young man who feared his brothers but had honor for his father that pressed him to conquer that fear. "And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Matthew 10:28).
This perspective lends significance to Joseph meeting a man on the way who directed him to where he could find his brothers. gee... thanks. Had the man not been there, Joseph could have returned to his father and reported he was unable to find them. The path of Messiah ben Yoseph is in the hand of God, directed by the Spirit of God. Sages believe that this man may have been Gabriel, the arch-angel.
Since Rashi, Messiah ben Yoseph is understood to not necessarily represnt an individual whom they expect to see; but rather the nation of Israel itself in all the afflictions she has endured. This interpretation came in around the 12th Century, we believe an obvious side-stepping of the evidences which prove Yeshua as Messiah ben Yoseph in His first advent.
There are a lot of folks living out their faith feeling handicapped by what they call a disfunctional family. I have to sit back and snicker just a little. I think Adonai takes pleasure in what we consider to be impossible circumstances.
What is terribly important for me to express is that this is not simply a legendary tale. This is an account of a real family enduring real internal pangs of family life. If you've ministered much to families of this world, you might easily see that the emotional (leading to physical) wranglings between brothers, the playing favorites by an aging father, and the sexual misconduct of a rebellious son all fits within the range of what we very often see in families today. We easily condemn Jacob and his sons for the blindness of their behavior; but look around. It could be that their situation is not altogether different from your own or from someone who is very close to you.
To the Jew, this scenario is more than just revealing the earthiness of human nature, though. This episode foreshadows the coming of Messiah (or at least, one of them). Messiah ben Yoseph is the suffering Messiah: the One who would come as a sacrifice for His people. Truly, the episode we see in Genesis reflect what would happen to Yeshua. His message was received with scorn by his elders. He came to His own and His own received Him not (John 1:11).
I have to wonder what was going through Joseph's mind as he was sent out by Jacob to find his brothers in the field. He didn't even have a real message to send: Dad just wanted to know how things were going. If there was any trouble, wouldn't they have gotten word? Joseph, without question, felt the hostility his brothers had for him. I think of him of the little school boy who just knows when he gets to the bus stop he'll be beaten up and have his lunch money taken away. Why does he go? His Dad told him to go and there is a greater goal in going to school than a black eye and missing lunch. That works for Yeshua; but for Joseph, I have trouble understanding the point. Maybe it's just because he submits to his father, regardless of his own understanding or valuation of the mission. There is certainly truth here for us. Why do we obey? Is it because we recognize the greater value in our obedience, even though we understand that our obedience often results in conflict with friends and loved ones? For some of us, we obey because we like the idea of rubbing our brothers' faces in their misunderstanding: God loves me better than you. We could condemn Joseph for teaching his dreams to his brethren: Paul certainly might have (Colossians 4:6). It could be that Joseph was just naive enough to believe that his brothers would do him no harm: that he revelled in the idea of another opportunity to gloat over them (or to catch them in another act that he could report to his father as the smug little tattle-tale). The Sages don't paint this picture, rather of a humble young man who feared his brothers but had honor for his father that pressed him to conquer that fear. "And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Matthew 10:28).
This perspective lends significance to Joseph meeting a man on the way who directed him to where he could find his brothers. gee... thanks. Had the man not been there, Joseph could have returned to his father and reported he was unable to find them. The path of Messiah ben Yoseph is in the hand of God, directed by the Spirit of God. Sages believe that this man may have been Gabriel, the arch-angel.
Since Rashi, Messiah ben Yoseph is understood to not necessarily represnt an individual whom they expect to see; but rather the nation of Israel itself in all the afflictions she has endured. This interpretation came in around the 12th Century, we believe an obvious side-stepping of the evidences which prove Yeshua as Messiah ben Yoseph in His first advent.
- there are 70 faces to 
