End From the Beginning (pdf)
Dreams in the Bible (pdf)
Miketz Slides (pdf)
Miketz Notes (pdf)
Overview of Miketz (“From the End” – Genesis 41:1 – 44:17)
Last week’s Portion introduced us to Joseph; we saw his immaturity (and perhaps his arrogance also) as he boldly told his brothers (and later his father) his two dreams of his superiority over them. We saw that Jacob elevated him over all of his brothers and he even brought a bad report of them back to his father. As a result of all of this, his brothers decided to get him out of their lives by selling him into slavery. He ended up as the head servant in the house of Potiphar; but Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him and he ended up in prison. The Portion ended on such a high note for Joseph. After successfully interpreting the butler’s dream, Joseph said farewell to him as he returned to Pharaoh’s palace; Joseph asked the butler to remind Pharaoh that he is still in prison. We don’t know how long he had been in prison; but we know he was 17 years old when he went into Egypt and now he is 30 years old as he is about to be released from prison. We are not told how long it took to travel to Egypt (probably 3 to 4 weeks) or how long Joseph was in Potiphar’s house before he was sent to prison. This is my opinion: Potiphar did not immediately put Joseph in charge of his entire household; he probably started as a common house servant and, as Potiphar recognized Joseph’s abilities, he elevated him to higher positions with greater authority. This process would have taken months or, more likely, years. Regardless, one day in prison was more than Joseph deserved as punishment for this crime he didn’t commit.
Ten weeks ago we started this study with Portion Berosheet, meaning “In the Beginning”; and this week’s Portion, Miketz, literally means “from the end.” It reminds me of what Yehovah said to the Prophet Isaiah: “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other, I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’” (Isaiah 46:9-10) Because He dwells outside of our constraints of time and space, Yehovah reveals certain future events to us in the pages of this ancient Book. Check out the End From the Beginning handout to see that the themes of the first 12 chapters of Genesis are a shadow of End Times events. Yehovah is showing us the end from the beginning!
Chapter 41 From the Pit to the Prison to the Palace
The Portion starts off with great disappointment on Joseph’s part. Even though he had asked the cup bearer to remember him to Pharaoh, it had been “two full years” since he had departed; either he was very wicked or he had a very poor memory. The term “two full years” suggests that these events happened in the fall of the year, at Rosh HaShannah – at the end of the civil year.
Pharaoh had two dreams that started the wheels turning for Joseph’s release from prison. Pharaoh’s first dream:
Out of the (Nile) river came 7 fat cattle & 7 lean cattle
The 7 lean consumed the 7 fat but were still lean
Pharaoh’s second dream:
7 fat ears of corn & 7 lean ears of corn
The 7 thin ears consumed the 7 fat ears
It was the same God-given wisdom and discernment that Potiphar saw in Joseph that allowed him to immediately understand that Pharaoh’s two dreams were actually one dream repeated to emphasize how soon this would happen. Both dreams predicted 7 years of bountiful harvest followed by 7 years of famine. Pharaoh was to appoint a wise and discerning man to oversee the crop production in the bountiful years and then distribute the excess in the famine years. Because of Joseph’s wisdom and discernment that he demonstrated with his dream interpretation, Pharaoh appointed him to this position of great power and authority. So, in literally one day, he went from prison to the palace as Pharaoh’s #2 man. Pharaoh put fine clothes on him; he put his signet ring on his hand and his gold chain around his neck – the same items of authority that Tamar had required of Judah back in chapter 38. Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife, the daughter of a priest of On, one of the many Egyptian gods; and she bore him two sons: Manasseh (meaning “to forget”) and Ephraim (meaning “doubly fruitful”). Then the seven bountiful years ended and the seven years of famine began.
Chapter 42 Joseph Meets His Brothers
The famine was not confined to Egypt, but affected the surrounding countries, perhaps the entire known world; Jacob’s family also was subjected to it. So Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain for his family, but he held back Benjamin, the remaining son of beloved Rachel, lest any calamity might befall him like had apparently happened to his brother Joseph.
All grain transactions were handled personally by Joseph, so the brothers ended up in front of him to negotiate the deal to purchase food. Joseph immediately recognized his brothers but they didn’t recognize him; he looked like an Egyptian, he spoke like an Egyptian, he acted like an Egyptian – Egypt had changed that Hebrew boy Joseph into an Egyptian. And that is exactly what the Church has done with Jesus: He is often pictured in movies as a blue-eyed blonde speaking with a British accent and Who we are told did away with Torah. No wonder our Jewish brothers won’t accept Him as the Messiah…we have completely changed Him into something He is not! Back to the text…
To start the negotiations the brother bowed before Joseph, almost fulfilling his dream years earlier about the 11 sheaves bowing to him – however one son, Benjamin, was not there.
Joseph’s First Test of His Brothers: He accused them of spying on Egypt to see what they could take for themselves, and had them thrown into prison. We aren’t told what was going through Joseph’s mind when he did that; was it vengeance for what they had done to him 22 years earlier (13 years from the pit in Canaan until he was released from prison + 7 years of plenty + 2 years of famine),or was it part of an elaborate plan to reunite all of them. Regardless, after three days he offered them a plan to earn their release: One of them would remain in prison while the other nine returned to their home, with grain for their families but they all must return with their youngest brother Benjamin.
At that point they realized their guilt concerning what they had done to Joseph years earlier. What they didn’t realize was that Joseph could understand everything they were saying to each other in Hebrew; he turned away from them and wept. So, regardless of Joseph’s initial intentions, he was now determined to reunite his family. Now…who to choose to remain behind while the others travel back to Canaan. Reuben, the firstborn, would have the logical choice; but Joseph knew that he had intended to save him from the pit, so Joseph chose Simeon, the second born, to remain behind in prison. The Rabbis suggest that he chose Simeon to separate him from Levi, preventing the two of them from repeating their murderous actions that we saw in the Dina incident in chapter 34!
The Second Test: He sent his nine brothers off, with their sacks full of grain (and also returned their money) to bring Benjamin back to him. Reuben told the entire story to Jacob and pleaded with him to allow Benjamin to return with them, but Jacob refused. Apparently he would rather sacrifice his second born son (of Leah) than risk losing his remaining beloved son (of the beloved Rachel)!
Chapter 43 The Third Test
Jacob held fast to his refusal to allow Benjamin to return with them…until the all the grain was gone and they were forced to go back to Egypt to buy more. This time Judah negotiated with Jacob and he relented. Notice that first Reuben tried to negotiate with Jacob and was unsuccessful. Now Judah negotiated with Israel and succeeded. Throughout Torah he is sometimes called Jacob (a sign that we are dealing with the natural man) and sometimes Israel (a sign that we are dealing with the spiritual man).
So all ten sons headed back to Egypt with gifts of fruit, nuts and spices (it’s uncertain if these were also affected by the famine, but they certainly could not take the place of grain for nutrition in a famine); with their sacks full of twice as much money…and also with brother Benjamin. When Joseph saw them coming from afar, he arranged lunch for them at his house. In verse 19, they paused at the door of Joseph’s house to tell his steward that all of their money had been returned to them last time, and that they had not stolen the money. Why is this seemingly insignificant thing included in this story? In Middle Eastern culture then (and now) the Threshold Covenant is very important. When a person is invited to another’s home – and crosses the threshold to enter – he enters into covenant with the host; even sworn enemies will treat each other with honor and respect after crossing the threshold of his enemy. When Lot, in Chapter 19, offered his daughters to the mob outside his door in exchange for the two angelic “strangers” whom he had invited to “cross his threshold”, our 21st Century Western minds cannot comprehend any father doing that. That is the Threshold Covenant. So here, the brothers had to “come clean” about the returned money before they could cross over Joseph’s threshold and enter into covenant with him. The steward brought Simeon out of prison to join them.
When Joseph arrived, all eleven brothers bowed before Joseph – completely fulfilling his first dream. (His second dream – of his brothers AND father and mother bowing before him – has not yet been fulfilled…perhaps in the Kingdom!)
When he saw his brother Benjamin, he excused himself to another room and wept for joy. When he returned, he seated all eleven of them at the table in birth order, causing astonishment among the brothers. He gave them food to eat, with Benjamin getting five times as much as the others. This was a test to see if they would become jealous of Benjamin, but they passed this test also.
Chapter 44 The Final Test
Joseph had each man’s sack filled with as much grain as it would hold and again placed their money in each sack. But his steward also placed in Benjamin’s sack Joseph’s special silver cup. As soon as they left, Joseph sent his steward after them to search them for the missing silver cup. Not knowing that Benjamin had the cup, the brothers said, “with whomever of your servants (the cup) is found, let him die.” This is exactly what Jacob told Laban years earlier when Rachel had stolen her father’s idols…and Rachel died soon afterwards giving birth to Benjamin.
So the Portion ends with the cup being found in Benjamin’s pack, and the brothers returning to Joseph, where he announced, “The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.” This is exactly what Jacob had feared would happen. When we, as Jacob (the Natural Man) have fears, how often do they come to pass? But living our lives as Israel (the Spirit Man) delivers us from the fears of the world. Yeshua said,
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Did Joseph concoct this elaborate plan to “detain” Benjamin as a thief just to separate him from his brothers? Did Joseph think that the brothers, out of jealousy, would kill Benjamin just as they tried to kill Joseph? We will have to wait for next week’s Portion to learn of Benjamin’s fate: will he remain as Joseph’s slave or be returned to his father??
The Haftarah reading is the story of King Solomon’s wisdom. We see parallels here between Solomon and Joseph: their stories both start with a dream and conclude with their rise to power and authority. We read first from I Kings 3:15-17:
“Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house…….”
We are all familiar with this story: both women claimed to be the child’s mother; Solomon proposed that the baby be cut into two pieces with each half given to each woman who claim to be his mother. One woman agreed to this decision but the other gave up her claim to the child in order to save his life. Let’s conclude this Haftarah reading starting with verse 24:
“So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice. So King Solomon was king over all Israel.”
In the Brit Chadashah we read Yeshua’s conversation with His Disciples on the Mount of Olives. They had asked Him about His Return to Earth, and He concluded that discussion with a parable. And this “parable” is the very same story as Joseph’s actions as he led Egypt through the 7 years of plenty & the 7 years of famine. As we read, look for Joseph’s story and also look for the hint at Solomon’s baby-cutting story. We read from Matthew 24:45-51
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Yeshua may have been speaking of Spiritual food but……we are told in Revelation chapter 6 that there will be famine in the Last Days. So this “parable” may also be Yeshua’s instructions to this last generation about literally “feeding His sheep.” Just as Joseph saved his brothers (and the entire world at that time), are we also called to literally feed our brothers during the famine that will come upon this world?