VaYigash Slides (pdf)
VaYigash Notes (pdf)
Overview of VaYigash (“And He Drew Near”) (Genesis 44:18 – 47:27)
Last week’s Portion ended the same way it began – with impending disaster. The brothers’ food had run out again in Canaan and they had returned to Joseph to buy more food and had brought Benjamin with them. It took much convincing for Jacob to release Benjamin to return with them: first Reuben tried unsuccessfully to convince Jacob to allow Benjamin to return with them, but Judah pledged himself to Jacob – he assumed responsibility for Benjamin – so they could make the trip to Egypt to buy life-saving food for their families. And now Pharaoh’s men had “discovered” Joseph’s silver cup in Benjamin’s pack. All the brothers returned to face Joseph where he required Benjamin to remain in Egypt as his slave, but the rest of the brothers were free to return home — exactly what Jacob had feared would happen! So we start this week’s Portion under this cloud of suspense.
Chapter 44 Judah Pleads with Joseph
Judah approached Joseph and recounted the entire story to him; and ended by pledging himself as a slave to Joseph in order to secure Benjamin’s freedom. He said that the loss of Benjamin would kill Jacob and he would give his life in place of Benjamin’s. This is a far different Judah than the one we saw 22 years earlier …when the brothers were arguing what to do with Joseph in the pit. What happened over these years to change Judah? Well…he had already lost two sons (Chapter 38) so he could empathize with Jacob over his fears of first losing Joseph and now the possibility of losing Benjamin also:
“You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
Even though Jacob had twelve sons from four wives, he considered only the sons of his beloved Rachel as “his sons.” Judah felt Jacob’s pain at the thought of losing his second son Benjamin and he offered himself to Joseph; Judah accepted the fact that Jacob loved Benjamin more than he loved Judah, so he willingly offered himself so that his father could be reunited with Benjamin. Joseph recognized this change in Judah (perhaps in the others, too); they have passed Joseph’s final test.
Chapter 45 Joseph Reveals Himself
Upon hearing Judah’s impassioned appeal for Benjamin’s life, Joseph excused all of his servants from the room and said, “Ani Yosef” (“I am Joseph”). The brothers were stunned – probably in fear for their lives because of the events that occurred 22 years earlier. Joseph told them that there were still 5 years of famine left and that God had sent him to Egypt to prepare the way to preserve his family during the famine. And he kissed his brothers and wept over them.
The news of Joseph’s reunion with his brothers spread even to Pharaoh and he allowed Joseph to move his family from Canaan to Egypt; he promised them the best land – the fertile region at the mouth of the Nile – so they “would eat the fat of the land.” So they departed with carts full of grain which they would then use to carry their families and possessions back to Egypt.
When Jacob heard the news that Joseph was alive, “his heart stood still, because he did not believe them.” But when Israel heard the entire story and saw the carts prepared to take then down to Egypt he said, “Joseph my son is alive.” Once again we see Jacob the Natural and Israel the Spiritual.
Chapter 46 The Move to Egypt
The families started their journey and stopped at Beersheba. This is the place where God had appeared to Abraham; where Isaac built an altar and lived there. Isaac had intended then to go down to Egypt but God told him not to go. Remember…Isaac was the sacrifice (Gen 22) and the sacrifice was not to leave the Holy Place (Lev 7:6). Jacob was concerned that he was doing the right thing by going to Egypt, so God spoke to him and said, “Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” So they continued their journey to Egypt.
The list of those who went with Jacob down to Egypt numbered 66 people (see the notes for a detailed listing); adding Jacob, Joseph and his two sons (who were already in Egypt) brings the total to 70 family members. It is interesting to note that Stephen, when he was addressing the Sanhedrin before he was martyred, counted the family at 75 persons (Acts 7:14). Is this an error in Scripture??? The Bibles that we all read from today were translated from the Masoretic Text dating to around 800 AD. Obviously Stephen didn’t have that version when he was speaking in Acts 7; he was quoting from the Septuagint, dating back to around 200 BC. The Septuagint (or LXX) additionally lists the sons and grandsons of Manasseh and Ephraim (who would have been born after Jacob and family travelled from Canaan to Egypt), thus accounting for the additional five persons, and bringing the total to 75. This was certainly not an error… just adding these five sons and grandsons to a list where they really didn’t belong.
They arrived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen where Joseph met his father Israel (not Jacob!).
Chapter 47 Pharaoh Honors Jacob
Joseph presented his father Jacob to Pharaoh, when Jacob was 130 years old. Knowing Jacob’s age at this point allows us to calculate his age when his sons were born. We know that Joseph is now 39 years old (age 30 when released from prison [Gen 41:46] + 7 years of plenty [Gen 41:53] + 2 years into the famine [Gen 45:6] = 39). That means that Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born…and Joseph was born at least 7 years (but probably not more than 10 years) after Jacob left his father Isaac and his angry brother Esau. And with four “wives” bearing his children, they were probably (but not known for sure) all born within just a few years of each other. Interesting stuff (at least to me!), but back to the Portion.
Jacob described his life as a “pilgrimage.” Can you describe your life as a pilgrimage, or are you firmly established as a citizen of this worldly life? God’s charge to Adam was to be fruitful and multiply, and have dominion over the Earth…and these instructions still apply to us today. Our ultimate destination is right here as ambassadors on Planet Earth; we are citizens of the Kingdom of God!
Jacob and family settle into their new homes in the land of Goshen, ready to survive the remaining five years of the famine.
As the famine progressed, Joseph executed his plan to save Egypt (and the world). He sold the Egyptians the excess grain from the seven bountiful years; first taking all their money; then all their livestock; then all their possessions; and, finally, taking themselves as slaves. At the end of the seven-year famine, Pharaoh owned everything…including the people! But Joseph’s family found favor in Pharaoh’s sight; and the Portion ends:
”So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.”
Remember this verse when we start the Book of Exodus; it lays the foundation for Egypt’s envy and disdain for Israel.
The Haftarah (Ezekiel 37:15-28)
This reading from the Prophet Ezekiel is his vision of the two sticks. Here Yehovah shows Ezekiel that these sticks are symbolic of the House of Israel which was divided into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom that was established by Jeroboam, a member of the Tribe of Ephraim; and the Southern Kingdom, that remained under the reign of the Davidic Kingship. The joining of the two sticks represents the merging of the kingdoms that will happen before Yeshua ascends His throne as King! We read from Ezekiel 37:16-22:
“As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.”
The Brit Chadashah (Revelation 13:11-18)
The Torah Portion ended with Pharaoh controlling all of Egypt (their money, their livestock, their land and their very souls). The Brit Chadashah reading shows the same situation occurring in the End Times, when the Beast will have the same control. We read from Revelation 13:11-18:
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”