- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Dec 5, 2018 7:45:46 GMT -8
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- 8 Nov 2018/30 Kislev 5779
Name of Par’shah- Mikketz
Par’shah- Gen 41:1 – 44:17
Haftara- 1 Kings 3:15-4:1
Brit Chadashah- Acts 7:9-16, esp vss. 11 & 12
D’rash: Our par’shah starts with Yoseph being called before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams:
Genesis 41:25, 29-31 (ESV) Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. … There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
It is the way of most men to forget the good done for us when we are in the midst of adversity. However not Yoseph. Going back a few verses:
Genesis 41:15b-16 (ESV) I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
After being sold into slavery and rising in stature, only to be unjustly thrown into prison and there apparently forgotten, Yoseph still trusts his Elohim. And most of us were taught that because of his steadfast trust in and loyalty to El-Roiy, God Who Sees Me (Genesis 16:13) he was rewarded by being made a ruler in Mitzrayim, second only to Pharaoh! This is partially true, but it is also a dangerous theology. A better way to look at this is that because he was faithful, Ro’eh Yisroel, the Shepherd Of Israel (Psalm 80:1) was able to place him in that position and use him to accomplish part of His eternal plan. We will not always be rewarded with great wealth and power in this life just for trusting God, as we should do anyhow. But He will be able to use us.
Genesis 41:50a (ESV) Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. … Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.”[Manasseh sounds like the Hebrew for making to forget] The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”[Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful]
נא. וַיִּקְרָא יוֹסֵף אֶת-שֵׁם הַבְּכוֹר מְנַשֶּׁה כִּי-נַשַּׁנִי אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-עֲמָלִי וְאֵת כָּל-בֵּית אָבִי
Yikra yuseph et shem hebchur menashe ki nashni elohim et chol’omli uath chol bith avi
God has made me forget completely my hardship and my parental home
Menasheh מְנַשֶּׁה is contains the root to nashach, forgetting and letting go. The hardest thing we often must do in order to be in a place to be used by God is to swallow our pride and let go all the hurts and injustices done to us by others.
נב. וְאֵת שֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִי קָרָא אֶפְרָיִם כִּי-הִפְרַנִי אֱלֹהִים בְּאֶרֶץ עָנְיִי
uath shem heshni qra ephraim qi hephrani elohim b’aretz oni’i
Ephraim אֶפְרָיִם, made me fruitful, recognizes it was El Channun, the Gracious God (Jonah 4:2) who had brought him not only to his exalted position, but who had shaped his character so that he would be in a state to be used by God in the first place. And he was used to save the lives of the family of the promise:
Genesis 42:1-2 (ESV) When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”
But more than this, Yoseph would be an example of hope to generations during their enslavement, and finally to the generation of the exodus. These people knew Mitzrayim מִצְרַיִם only as a place of slavery and limitations; of injustice and the lash. They could look back on Yoseph, himself sold into slavery in Mitzrayim, imprisoned and mistreated. Yet Zero’a Hashem, The Arm Of The Lord (Isaiah 53:1) which had delivered Yoseph would be able to deliver them.
This attitude of trusting God is passed down. A people with no home trusted Adon Kol HaAretz, the Lord Of All The Earth (Micah 4:13) to deliver them and give them a home. Why? Because they were taught to trust their Elohim by their forefathers- not just what they said, but the example they left.
Mekorot: 3 interlinears and a Hebrew dictionary, Rav S, my father and others
Date of reading- 8 Nov 2018/30 Kislev 5779
Name of Par’shah- Mikketz
Par’shah- Gen 41:1 – 44:17
Haftara- 1 Kings 3:15-4:1
Brit Chadashah- Acts 7:9-16, esp vss. 11 & 12
D’rash: Our par’shah starts with Yoseph being called before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams:
Genesis 41:25, 29-31 (ESV) Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. … There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
It is the way of most men to forget the good done for us when we are in the midst of adversity. However not Yoseph. Going back a few verses:
Genesis 41:15b-16 (ESV) I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
After being sold into slavery and rising in stature, only to be unjustly thrown into prison and there apparently forgotten, Yoseph still trusts his Elohim. And most of us were taught that because of his steadfast trust in and loyalty to El-Roiy, God Who Sees Me (Genesis 16:13) he was rewarded by being made a ruler in Mitzrayim, second only to Pharaoh! This is partially true, but it is also a dangerous theology. A better way to look at this is that because he was faithful, Ro’eh Yisroel, the Shepherd Of Israel (Psalm 80:1) was able to place him in that position and use him to accomplish part of His eternal plan. We will not always be rewarded with great wealth and power in this life just for trusting God, as we should do anyhow. But He will be able to use us.
Genesis 41:50a (ESV) Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. … Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.”[Manasseh sounds like the Hebrew for making to forget] The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”[Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful]
נא. וַיִּקְרָא יוֹסֵף אֶת-שֵׁם הַבְּכוֹר מְנַשֶּׁה כִּי-נַשַּׁנִי אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-עֲמָלִי וְאֵת כָּל-בֵּית אָבִי
Yikra yuseph et shem hebchur menashe ki nashni elohim et chol’omli uath chol bith avi
God has made me forget completely my hardship and my parental home
Menasheh מְנַשֶּׁה is contains the root to nashach, forgetting and letting go. The hardest thing we often must do in order to be in a place to be used by God is to swallow our pride and let go all the hurts and injustices done to us by others.
נב. וְאֵת שֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִי קָרָא אֶפְרָיִם כִּי-הִפְרַנִי אֱלֹהִים בְּאֶרֶץ עָנְיִי
uath shem heshni qra ephraim qi hephrani elohim b’aretz oni’i
Ephraim אֶפְרָיִם, made me fruitful, recognizes it was El Channun, the Gracious God (Jonah 4:2) who had brought him not only to his exalted position, but who had shaped his character so that he would be in a state to be used by God in the first place. And he was used to save the lives of the family of the promise:
Genesis 42:1-2 (ESV) When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”
But more than this, Yoseph would be an example of hope to generations during their enslavement, and finally to the generation of the exodus. These people knew Mitzrayim מִצְרַיִם only as a place of slavery and limitations; of injustice and the lash. They could look back on Yoseph, himself sold into slavery in Mitzrayim, imprisoned and mistreated. Yet Zero’a Hashem, The Arm Of The Lord (Isaiah 53:1) which had delivered Yoseph would be able to deliver them.
This attitude of trusting God is passed down. A people with no home trusted Adon Kol HaAretz, the Lord Of All The Earth (Micah 4:13) to deliver them and give them a home. Why? Because they were taught to trust their Elohim by their forefathers- not just what they said, but the example they left.
Mekorot: 3 interlinears and a Hebrew dictionary, Rav S, my father and others
