Joy in the Messiah

וַיִּגַּשׁ
Vayigash / And He Drew Near
Genesis 44:18-47:27
HafTorah Portion Ezekiel 37:15-28
Brit Chadasha Luke 6:9-16

       Strength and Humility

The last Torah portion, Miketz, closed with the silver cup: ‘But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.’ Genesis 44:17.
     Vayigash opens in Genesis 44:18 with: ‘Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
     Judah is standing before the Egyptian ruler, who unbeknownst to him is his brother Joseph. This ruler is powerful, manipulative, seems to be intent on trapping him and all the brothers in a complex lie.  
     Judah realizing that the whole thing is a trap, refuses to go along with it. He speaks directly to Joseph, telling the truth, knowing it may cost him and his brothers their lives. He speaks truth – that’s strength with humility.
     Joseph, in Genesis 45 can no longer contain himself, and reveals himself to his brothers, Genesis 45:4-14.  Joseph reveals who he really is, comforting the brothers, weeping and embracing them. No revenge, no paybacks. That is strength with humility. 
     This can seem like an oxyoron; that humility is strength. Humility used to be viewed as weakness and was assumed that those who are humble have low self-esteem or a low opinion of themselves. However, when it comes to character traits, humility doesn’t attribute a deficit. In fact, those who are humble are typically very strong of who they are. 
    A lack of humility results in pride: James 4:6 ‘But He gives more grace. Therefore. He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
    Pride is an easy character trait to have. Anyone can be better, smarter, sadder, more capable, more knowledgeable. And it is easy to use humility as a guise for pride.  “I’m so humble.” 
     True humility is not quitting, it’s not self-debasement, ‘I’m not worthy’. True humility in strength is knowing who we are in God, as Joseph did, as Judah did. 
     

‎וַיִּגַּשׁ
Vayigash / And He Drew Near
Genesis 44:18-47:27
HafTorah Portion Ezekiel 37:15-28
Brit Chadasha Luke 6:9-16

     Throughout this Torah portion, Joseph is the main character. The story begins and ends with him. He is the favorite child, spoiled, and arrogant towards his brothers. He is a slave and prisoner in Egypt and then evolves into the second most powerful man in the greatest empire of the ancient world. At every stage, the story revolves around him and his impact on others. He is in control not only of food and human lives but also of his brothers. 
     There is another brother who dominates these Torah portions. It is Judah, and he leaves his mark and namesake on the Jewish people.  Judah who became the ancestor of Israel’s greatest king, David, Judah from whom the Messiah would be born.
      In Genesis 37:26-27 it is Judah who proposed selling Joseph into slavery: Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover his blood? Let’s sell him to the Arabs and not harm him with our own hands. After all – he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.”  What callousness. There is no thought about the evil of murder, only a thought about what would happen to them: (“What will we gain” he begins the sentence with).  To sell “our own flesh and blood” as a slave rather than murder – for our own benefit.
     However, Judah like Joseph evolves.  Callousness has been replaced with concern and compassion. Indifference to his brother’s fate has been transformed into courage on his behalf. He is willing to suffer what he once inflicted on Joseph so that the same fate should not come upon Benjamin. 
    Two brothers, two destinies, two nations, two parts to play in the Kingdom of God, are to become one. It is at the point when the two brothers confront each other as Judah pleads for Benjamin’s release that we realize the change that took place in Judah’s character, as did the change that took place in Joseph.
     Like Joseph, the change in Judah, the teshuva, began years before with Tamar back in Genesis 38:26. It is after this encounter with Tamar that he admits he was wrong. ‘So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.' He recognizes his guilt, beginning the process of change as he returns to The Father. 
     Genesis 44:18 is the beginning of Judah's pleading for Benjamin.  However, the scene is different than what we read in the Torah. In The Scroll Of Yashur, the meeting between Joseph and Judah was confrontational, as the two brothers spar and threaten each other with blood and life. Judah threatens the death of all of Egypt, Joseph, and Pharaoh.  At the end of this confrontation, Joseph requests that Judah bring him the ‘lost’ brother in exchange for Benjamin.  Judah's anger is kindled again, and it is at this point that Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.  
    Joseph and Judah. Yoseph and Yehuda. Two tribes, two Hebrew tribes, two totally different tribes under the Torah of Elohim, from one Abba, Jacob.   God divided Israel into two houses, Israel (Ephraim/Joseph) and Judah. As His two witnesses, He sent them in two opposite directions to serve a principal purpose: to establish the Kingdom of God. 
     Joseph; cunning, methodical, and apt to be concerned with himself. He was sold to Potiphar and assimilated into the Egyptian lifestyle. However, he never completely became an Egyptian. Rather, he used their system. God was always with him, yet he was unrecognizable to his brothers because he was hidden behind Egyptian garments and the language.  
     Judah; powerful, and willing to battle for Elohim at any cost.  Judah was the southern kingdom of the two kingdoms of ancient Israel. After the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, the kingdom of Judah became the sole remaining Israelite kingdom, which continued to exist as an independent kingdom until it was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.  Judah, who is strength, is a lion, keeper of the Torah, defender of Israel, and lineage of the Messiah.   Psalm 78:67-68 ‘He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves.’  
    We see those character traits today in the descendants of Joseph and Judah. The House of Israel and the House of Judah.  
      Joseph, hidden in costume, pagan attire, hiding under grace, ignoring the call of the Father, concerned with himself. Unwilling to remove the costly garments of Egypt, preferring to dally in man-made religions, yet in willful ignorance, believes he is doing the right thing, loving God with all his heart, and praising the Father through song and kindness. 
    Isaiah 43:19 mentions a renewal, ‘Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.’
     Romans 12:1-2 ‘I beseechyou therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’
     2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’
     Titus 3:5 ‘He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…’
      Acts 3:19-26 ‘Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send Yeshua Messiah, who was preached to you before, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. ²² For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. ²⁵ You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Yeshua, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
     Isaiah 43:1-6 ‘But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
⁴ Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, And I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life. ⁵ Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; ⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’   And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth—'

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Vayigash / And He Drew Near
Genesis 44:18-47:27
HafTorah Portion Ezekiel 37:15-28
Brit Chadasha Luke 6:9-16

  Joseph and Judah…

     "Does my father still live?"' That was the question that Joseph asked his brothers after he revealed who he was in Genesis 45:3. "I am Joseph, does my father live?"
     Here they were, face to face (paneh paneh פנים אל פנים) the brothers and Joseph. There was no hiding the facts, no turning back, everyone knew the story now. After Joseph announced who he was, the Scriptures state that the brothers could not answer since they were dismayed. 
    However, before Joseph revealed who he was, he was hidden, concealed in Egyptian garments, speech, and mannerism. He was disguised so well that he had to find a place to weep, a place to be Joseph, the Hebrew, the brother.
        But what of these two brothers, the two key players in Vayigash? What is their story in history, in our lives today and in the future.  Joseph, likened to an ox in Genesis 49, and Judah to a lion. Joseph, cunning and hidden in Egyptian garments is approached by his brother, the lion. The sages teach that the word ‘approach’ in Genesis 44:18 can have three different meanings: approach for battle like 2 Samuel 10:13, or approach for reconciliation like Joshua 14:6 describes, or coming near for prayer like 1 Kings 18:36. They conclude that Judah exhibited all three: Judah approached Joseph saying, “If it be war, I approach for war. If it be conciliation, I approach for conciliation. If it be for entreaty, I approach to entreat.”
     Joseph and Judah. Two brothers, two destinies, two nations to become one and two separate parts to play in the Kingdom of Elohim. We see the beginning of this prophecy in Vayigash when the two brothers confront one another and Judah pleads for Benjamin’s release. It is at this point that we realize the change that took place in Judah’s character, as well as the change that took place in Joseph.
      Joseph, the favorite child, spoiled, arrogant towards his brothers, and boastful about his special coat. We then see him as a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, then as the second most powerful man in the greatest empire of the ancient world. At every stage, the story revolves around him and his impact on others. He is the main character in the last Torah portions of Beresheet/Genesis, becoming the one man in control of not only food, human lives, but his brothers as well. We witness Joseph rising from a spoiled, favorite, tattle-telling child to the second under Pharaoh, alluding he is destined for greatness.
     Judah is the namesake of the Jewish people, the ancestor of Israel’s greatest king – David, from whom the Messiah would be born, the brother who proposed to sell Joseph, and the one who fought for Benjamin. His proposals were not, however, for the well-being of Joseph but rather for the benefit of himself and his other brothers. In the case of Joseph, he asked, “What will we gain…?” It was a self-serving suggestion, one that the other brothers agreed to. 
     However, Judah like Joseph evolves.  Like Joseph, whose change in character had begun years before, Judah’s had too. It began when he had the encounter with Tamar and admitted his guilt, stating, ‘She has been more righteous than I…’ Callousness was replaced with concern and compassion. Indifference to his brother’s fate had been transformed into courage on his brother’s behalf. He is willing to suffer what he once inflicted on Joseph so that the same fate should not come upon Benjamin.   It was at that moment ‘…take me, release our brother Benjamin…’ that Joseph revealed his identity to the brothers.  It was a time of change.
     Joseph and Judah. We are Joseph, and we are Judah. We will not abandon each other. However, we must see the truth within each other, peeling away the glitzy coverings of both Joseph and Judah. 
   The relationship between Joseph and Judah continues in the HafTorah portion, Ezekiel 37:15-28, which talks about the uniting of Joseph and Judah prophetically. It states: "And My servant David will reign over them. . . And David My servant will be nassi over them forever." David, the king from the tribe of Judah and the ancestor of Messiah Yeshua, is symbolic of both.
    Many teach that Ezekiel 37 has been fulfilled. However in Acts 1:6 Rabbi Sha’ul reiterates Messiah’s answer when asked by His Talmudim, ‘Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”