Genesis 44:18-46:27

[alon]

Note: I am putting this up a few days early as I will be gone. Family matters; I don't plan on spending much time on a computer (especially as my travel comp is a Windows platform on a cheap laptop. Love my Mac, loath Windows ... see y'all in a few, but for now (and for once) enjoy an early posting!


This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 44:18-46:27
Haftara- Joshua 14:6-15

Darash: Judah, who weakly had sought to save Yoseph by selling him into slavery in Mitzrayim now speaks on behalf of the brothers, addressing the grand vizier as would be his duty as eldest:
Genesis 44:18-34 (redacted)  Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, … My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ And we said … ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. 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, … We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’ … And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. … my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’ “Now therefore, … as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.

Unbeknownst to Yehuda as he retells this account, he stands before his brother. Most slaves in Mitzrayim would have perished after 20 years brutal labor, so it is safe to say he now did think Yoseph dead. He tells Joseph that the father of Benyamin does not see a meaning in life without his youngest son. The favoritism which caused the anger that was directed at Yoseph in the past are is just accepted toward Benyamin by the brothers. Unable to bear the thought his father would suffer as he had when told Yoseph was dead, he now asks to take the place of Benyamin as a slave.

Genesis 45:1-3 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

This was the moment of reconcilement Yoseph was been waiting for; he saw the change of heart. Yehudah’s appeal pierced Yoseph’s own heart, releasing a flood of emotions. His longing to show his love to Benyamin and his brothers could finally be released as he now probably addresses this brothers in Hebrew. Imagine the shock as he says “אֲנִ֣י יוֹסֵ֔ף ani Yoseph- I am Yoseph!” In Hebrew ‘Yoseph’ means “he who gathers,” So he would be saying “I am he who is gathering.”

Genesis 45:4-5 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

This statement is powerfully nuanced. וְ’עַתָּ֣ה v’atah “and you,” with עַ ayin instead of אֲ aleph- “at this time, now, straightway, this time, whereas, don’t be saddened. While an אֲ aleph would have denoted strength (of character) and leadership, qualities sorely lacking in Yehudah, an עַ ayin represents the eye; to look, or see. Yoseph is telling his brothers, through his address to Yehudah to look deeper and really see who he is.

Genesis 45:5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

His brothers had done him great harm, but his generous nature appreciates it was not them but El-Roiy, The God of Sight/God Who Sees Me (Gen16:13) who sent him before to prepare for their survival as a family and later nation..
- Genesis 45:7-8 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.  So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
- “What a beautiful interpretation Joseph put on their treachery- “God did send me before you.” Let us always trace Gods plan in the malevolence and opposition of men. They could have no power at all unless it were given from above.” FB Meyer.

Yoseph quickly sends his brothers back to Ya’aqov to tell him that Adonai has spared him, even to making him second lord of Mitzrayim! He invites the entire family, their flocks and herds to come and thrive. Imagine Ya’aqov’s joy and amazement as now the prophecy once given Yoseph in a dream will miraculously be fulfilled. We were told after all he ket the matter in mind:
- Genesis 37:9-11 (redacted)  Then he dreamed another dream and told it …, his father rebuked him and said … Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” …, but his father kept the saying in mind.
- ‘kept the saying in mind’ is translated from H8104 שָׁמַר shâmar-to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.: - beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).
Like many others, Ya’aqov guarded that prophecy in his heart. But how could it be true if his son was dead? Now I can almost hear the praises to his Elohim flow like rivers.

Joseph will sustain his family during the famine, five years of which were still ahead. This mirrors the gospel; also called “The Good News.” The Hebraic notion of the “good news” was more a military context. The initial conquest of ha’eretz Yisroel was made amost entirely in the mountainous regions. When fighting enemies, messengers stood ready to run and tell the people in the camps and settlements either run and hide (if the enemy were winning), or they would bring good news:

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains
    

are the feet of him who brings good news,


who publishes peace, 

who brings good news of happiness,
    

who publishes salvation,
    

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

We tend to spiritualize this, thinking it is Yeshua walking on the mountains; “He’s alive, and Jesus saves!” True, but to people who lived with constant warfare and/or enslavement salvation was thought more from physical harm. The good news is “Your God reigns.” He is in control, even when the times seem evil: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Yoseph is undoubtedly the best type of the Abrahamic line who brings the promised blessing to the world. Centuries later when Yeshua speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well it is near the site of Yoseph’s tomb: "And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water." John 4:4-7a This is not Jew and Gentile grafted together as many were taught in church. It's the northern and southern tribes reunited under Yeshua HaMoshiach: "He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”" Matthew 15:24. So in effect, Yoseph is silent witness to a part of the promise being fulfilled.

Of course Gentiles always had the option to join with Yisroel thus becoming heirs to the promise. And later they would come to the faith wholesale: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:29. This is the good news, the reconciliation brought about by compassion and El Rachun, the God of Compassion (Deu 4:31) who brings us back to Himself just as did Yoseph for his family.

Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; JPS Study TNK; Drs. Parker, Eli, and Schaser of the IBC: Dr. F Seekins; FB Meyer; my father and others

Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 46:28-47:27
Haftara- Is 19:18-25

Apostolic references will be given in the darashot