- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Jul 1, 2022 22:06:07 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 41:39-42:17
Haftara- Isaiah 11:2-9
D’rash: God always elevates the humble in His own time: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (1 Peter 5:6). And so it is now with Yoseph:
Genesis 41:39-40 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command [Hebrew and according to your command all my people shall kiss the ground]. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”
Yoseph now rules as a type of ha’moshiach. His ascendancy will help those who might otherwise perish- a model of kingship which was prevalent in the ancient Near East. He is a servant of the people who delivers them from destruction.
Genesis 41:41-42 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.
This will be Yoseph’s final recorded wardrobe transformation. Whether denoting one presumed dead, a slave, a prisoner, or a special child and later an overseer; each marked a time in his life when El-Roiy, The God Who Sees Me (Gen16:13) was preparing him to be a ruler in Mitzrayim and a type of Moshiach Yeshua Himself.
Genesis 41:43,45 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. … And Pharaoh called Joseph's name [צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ Tsâphnath Pa‛nêach, code or secret breaker]. And he gave him in marriage Asenath [Egyptian- belongs to the goddess Neith], the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Marriage between a Jew and a Gentile is not recognized under later Jewish law, so it is traditionally believed she is prototypical convert ( ref. Hellenistic novella “Joseph and Asenath”). Tradition also holds she’s the daughter of the Potipher of ch. 39 (b. Sot 13b). It’s more likely this is just another of those couplets throughout the Yoseph story. The similar names point out the role reversal where now Yoseph holds the power over his former master and his wife. And soon the roles will be reversed with his brothers as well.
Genesis 41:47-52 (redacted) During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, … And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until … it could not be measured. 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 [completely] all my hardship and all my father's house.” [מְנַשֶּׁה menasheh 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.” [אֶפְרָיִם ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful]
To forget here doesn’t mean to not remember. Much like God does for one who repents, it simply means he doesn’t hold it against them: For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12).
-מְנַשֶּׁה menasheh is connected to the verbal stem נשך nashach, refering to forgetting, letting go. אֶפְרָיִם Ephraim, made me fruitful; God is able to give us joy in our affliction, but first we must let go and give it all to Him. But also God again has not forgotten Yoseph in Egypt. Yoseph is very aware that it was El Ha’Ne’eman, The Faithful God (Deu 7:9) who freed and prospered him. In Hebrew, Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם) is a place of limitation where one cannot flourish, yet Ya’aqov against all odds rose to the second highest position in the land! Over 400 years later, the Hebrews leaving Egypt would hear his story and their confidence be raised, knowing that El-Shaddai, Almighty God/Might of the Powerful Ones (Gen 17:1) would care for them as He did for Yoseph.
Genesis 41:53-55 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
The bountiful harvests now ended, it becomes evident Pharaoh had acted wisely when he appointed Yoseph to his exalted position. The Egyptians had plenty while other lands lacked, and they knew Yoseph was responsible. They also saw their dream interpreters, wise men, magicians and their gods looked foolish next to Yoseph’s God!
Genesis 41:57-42:5 (redated) … all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe … And he (Jacob) 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.” So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, …, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Again Ya’aqov gives Benyamin, son of Rachel preferential treatment in keeping him back. Ya’aqov is afraid something may happen to him. We are not told, but perhaps the disappearance of Yoseph years earlier never sat well with him.
Genesis 42:6 Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. This is only a partial fulfillment of the prophetic dreams Yoseph had in Gen 37:5-11.
Genesis 42:7,9 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” … And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
“See the nakedness of the land” harkens back to ch. 39 when Yoseph was wrongfully accused of trying to uncover the nakedness of Potipher’s wife. Throughout this story Yoseph will treat his brothers “roughly,” and some say he was vindictive, angry. But I don’t really see that. Certainly he had every reason to to be, but through all his other trials he hasn’t shown this tendency. However as a type of Yeshua, I think he deals patiently with the brothers, pricking their conscience to lead them to repentance and reconciliation. He had to know he could trust them now, and we need to develop trust in God as well. This is hard to bear, but is so often necessary to get our hearts right and reconcile us to God. I think Yoseph may be trying to get them to a point of reconciliation with both himself and God.
Genesis 42:10-14 (redacted) They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. … We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies.
Yoseph wants to get the family before him. This would be fulfillment of the prophecy of over 20 years previous. Eventually he wants to bring the entire household to Mitzrayim, however first priority is reconciliation with his brothers.
From the brothers perspective, this must seem a bitter irony. They’d lied to their father all these many years in withholding the truth of their brothers having been sold into slavery in Egypt. Now they stand before Pharaoh’s vizier and cannot convince him of the actual truth!
Genesis 42:15-17 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” And he put them all together in custody for three days.
To further the irony, it is they who are now prisoners in Mitzrayim! There is the chance of their being released, but it now rests with their father allowing his last son, the one now favored to come before this powerful man whose motives they nor their father knows. However it is a human tendency to project our own motivations onto others, and their motives had been less than stellar. They had conspired first to kill Yoseph, then to sell him into cruel slavery. They may have wanted to repent after seeing their fathers bottomless grief, but had further conspired to keep the truth from him. Now, after years of suppressing these things they must deal with them as though newly done. They had to fear the intent of this ruler was to wipe out their entire family! Would their father come to the same conclusion to justify keeping Benyamin from coming?
Their only hope lay in the fact that the Egyptian grain meant life itself to the family. Yoseph’s only hope of making this work lay in his God. And that, I think is the difference in Yoseph’s motivation and theirs. It’s kind of a circular argument, but this illustrates why I do not think Yoseph acted out of spite. The real evidence is however in the readings yet to come.
Mekorot: all scripture from the ESV unless otherwise noted; JPS Study TNK; Dr. D Stern; Dr. Eli of the IBC: W Wiersbe; FB Meyer; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 42:18-43:23
Haftara- Is 50:10-52:11
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Genesis 41:39-42:17
Haftara- Isaiah 11:2-9
D’rash: God always elevates the humble in His own time: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (1 Peter 5:6). And so it is now with Yoseph:
Genesis 41:39-40 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command [Hebrew and according to your command all my people shall kiss the ground]. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”
Yoseph now rules as a type of ha’moshiach. His ascendancy will help those who might otherwise perish- a model of kingship which was prevalent in the ancient Near East. He is a servant of the people who delivers them from destruction.
Genesis 41:41-42 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.
This will be Yoseph’s final recorded wardrobe transformation. Whether denoting one presumed dead, a slave, a prisoner, or a special child and later an overseer; each marked a time in his life when El-Roiy, The God Who Sees Me (Gen16:13) was preparing him to be a ruler in Mitzrayim and a type of Moshiach Yeshua Himself.
Genesis 41:43,45 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. … And Pharaoh called Joseph's name [צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ Tsâphnath Pa‛nêach, code or secret breaker]. And he gave him in marriage Asenath [Egyptian- belongs to the goddess Neith], the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Marriage between a Jew and a Gentile is not recognized under later Jewish law, so it is traditionally believed she is prototypical convert ( ref. Hellenistic novella “Joseph and Asenath”). Tradition also holds she’s the daughter of the Potipher of ch. 39 (b. Sot 13b). It’s more likely this is just another of those couplets throughout the Yoseph story. The similar names point out the role reversal where now Yoseph holds the power over his former master and his wife. And soon the roles will be reversed with his brothers as well.
Genesis 41:47-52 (redacted) During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, … And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until … it could not be measured. 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 [completely] all my hardship and all my father's house.” [מְנַשֶּׁה menasheh 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.” [אֶפְרָיִם ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful]
To forget here doesn’t mean to not remember. Much like God does for one who repents, it simply means he doesn’t hold it against them: For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12).
-מְנַשֶּׁה menasheh is connected to the verbal stem נשך nashach, refering to forgetting, letting go. אֶפְרָיִם Ephraim, made me fruitful; God is able to give us joy in our affliction, but first we must let go and give it all to Him. But also God again has not forgotten Yoseph in Egypt. Yoseph is very aware that it was El Ha’Ne’eman, The Faithful God (Deu 7:9) who freed and prospered him. In Hebrew, Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם) is a place of limitation where one cannot flourish, yet Ya’aqov against all odds rose to the second highest position in the land! Over 400 years later, the Hebrews leaving Egypt would hear his story and their confidence be raised, knowing that El-Shaddai, Almighty God/Might of the Powerful Ones (Gen 17:1) would care for them as He did for Yoseph.
Genesis 41:53-55 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
The bountiful harvests now ended, it becomes evident Pharaoh had acted wisely when he appointed Yoseph to his exalted position. The Egyptians had plenty while other lands lacked, and they knew Yoseph was responsible. They also saw their dream interpreters, wise men, magicians and their gods looked foolish next to Yoseph’s God!
Genesis 41:57-42:5 (redated) … all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe … And he (Jacob) 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.” So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, …, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Again Ya’aqov gives Benyamin, son of Rachel preferential treatment in keeping him back. Ya’aqov is afraid something may happen to him. We are not told, but perhaps the disappearance of Yoseph years earlier never sat well with him.
Genesis 42:6 Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. This is only a partial fulfillment of the prophetic dreams Yoseph had in Gen 37:5-11.
Genesis 42:7,9 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” … And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
“See the nakedness of the land” harkens back to ch. 39 when Yoseph was wrongfully accused of trying to uncover the nakedness of Potipher’s wife. Throughout this story Yoseph will treat his brothers “roughly,” and some say he was vindictive, angry. But I don’t really see that. Certainly he had every reason to to be, but through all his other trials he hasn’t shown this tendency. However as a type of Yeshua, I think he deals patiently with the brothers, pricking their conscience to lead them to repentance and reconciliation. He had to know he could trust them now, and we need to develop trust in God as well. This is hard to bear, but is so often necessary to get our hearts right and reconcile us to God. I think Yoseph may be trying to get them to a point of reconciliation with both himself and God.
Genesis 42:10-14 (redacted) They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. … We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies.
Yoseph wants to get the family before him. This would be fulfillment of the prophecy of over 20 years previous. Eventually he wants to bring the entire household to Mitzrayim, however first priority is reconciliation with his brothers.
From the brothers perspective, this must seem a bitter irony. They’d lied to their father all these many years in withholding the truth of their brothers having been sold into slavery in Egypt. Now they stand before Pharaoh’s vizier and cannot convince him of the actual truth!
Genesis 42:15-17 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” And he put them all together in custody for three days.
To further the irony, it is they who are now prisoners in Mitzrayim! There is the chance of their being released, but it now rests with their father allowing his last son, the one now favored to come before this powerful man whose motives they nor their father knows. However it is a human tendency to project our own motivations onto others, and their motives had been less than stellar. They had conspired first to kill Yoseph, then to sell him into cruel slavery. They may have wanted to repent after seeing their fathers bottomless grief, but had further conspired to keep the truth from him. Now, after years of suppressing these things they must deal with them as though newly done. They had to fear the intent of this ruler was to wipe out their entire family! Would their father come to the same conclusion to justify keeping Benyamin from coming?
Their only hope lay in the fact that the Egyptian grain meant life itself to the family. Yoseph’s only hope of making this work lay in his God. And that, I think is the difference in Yoseph’s motivation and theirs. It’s kind of a circular argument, but this illustrates why I do not think Yoseph acted out of spite. The real evidence is however in the readings yet to come.
Mekorot: all scripture from the ESV unless otherwise noted; JPS Study TNK; Dr. D Stern; Dr. Eli of the IBC: W Wiersbe; FB Meyer; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 42:18-43:23
Haftara- Is 50:10-52:11
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
