Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
atah YHVHEloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah.)
Vayigash - ויגש : "And he came
near" Root in Hebrew is “nagash” and speaks of intimacy. Gematria 319. Also
found in the Hebrew word – ‘’midrecheihem’’ found
in 2 Chron 7:14 – If my people who are called ….
There is a prophetic context
for this week’s Torah portion. Last week the title of the portion was “Miketz”
which means “at the end” this weeks portion is titled “ Vayigash” which means
“and he drew dear”; the following Torah
portion (12) is titled “va yechi” which is the last portion of Beresheet means “
and he lived”. So, we can say “at the end Yahudah will draw near and he (we)
will live”
Isa 46:9
“Remember the former events of old, for I am Ěl, and there is no
one else – Elohim, and there is no one like Me,
Isa 46:10 declaring the end from the beginning,
and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My counsel
does stand, and all My delight I do,’
Yasher chp 54 – gives some interesting background
information concerning an intense showdown between Yosef and Yahudah not found
in the Torah.
Note how many times the word “father” is repeated in the
following verses.
Gen 44:18 And Yehuḏah came near to him and said,
“O my master, please let your servant speak a word in my master’s hearing, and
do not let your displeasure burn against your servant, for you are like
Pharaoh.
Gen 44:19
“My master asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’
Gen 44:20
“And we said to my master, ‘We have a
father, an old man, and a young child of his old age, and his
brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’
Gen 44:21
“And you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, and let me set my
eyes on him.’
Gen 44:22
“And we said to my master, ‘The boy is not able to leave his father, for if he leaves his father, his father shall die.’
Gen 44:23
“But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down
with you, you do not see my face again.’
Gen 44:24
“And it came to be, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of
my master.
Gen 44:25
“And our father said, ‘Go
back and buy us a little food.’
Gen 44:26 “But
we said, ‘We are not able to go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then
we shall go down, for we are not able to see the man’s face unless our youngest
brother is with us.’
Gen 44:27
“Then your servant my father
said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons,
Gen 44:28
and the one went out from me, and I said, “Truly, he is torn, torn to
pieces!” And I have not seen him since.
Gen 44:29
‘And if you take this one from me too, and harm comes to him, you shall
bring down my grey hair with evil to the grave.’
Gen 44:30
“And now, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us – since his own life is bound up
in his life –
Gen 44:31 then it shall be, when he sees that the boy
is not with us, that he shall die. So your servants shall bring down the grey
hair of your servant our father with
evil to the grave.
Gen 44:32 “For your servant went guaranty for the boy
to my father, saying, ‘If I do not
bring him back to you, then I shall be a sinner before my father forever.’
Gen 44:33 “And now, please let your servant remain
instead of the boy as a slave to my master, and let the boy go up with his
brothers.
Gen 44:34 “For how do I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest
I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
This was the last
straw that broke the camels back. (approx.. 22 references to “father” in chp 44,45)
Now Yosef knows that Yahudah has experienced a full
repentance, BECAUSE OF HOW THE FATHER WAS GRIEVED IN ALL THESE MATTERS.
Gen 45:1 And
Yosĕph was unable to restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he
called out, “Have everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while
Yosĕph made himself known to his brothers.
Gen 45:2 And he wept aloud, and the Mitsrites and the
house of Pharaoh heard it.
Gen 45:3 And Yosĕph said to his brothers, “I am Yosĕph, is my father still alive?”
But his brothers were unable to answer him, for they trembled before him.
Commentary by
Chaftez Chaim on vs 3 - Art Scroll
Chumash.
When Yosef said : “I am Yosef” Elohims’s master plan became clear to the
brothers. They had no more questions. Everything that had happened in the past
22 years fell into perspective. So too, will it be in the time to come when
Elohim will reveal himself and announce, “ I am Ha Shem” (Ha Shem means: Name
(YHVH)). The veil will be lifted from our eyes and we will comprehend
everything that transpired through history.
Gen 45:4 Then Yosĕph said to his
brothers, “Please come near to me.” And when they came near, he said, “I am
Yosĕph your brother, whom you sold into Mitsrayim.
Gen 45:5 “And now, do not be
grieved nor displeased with yourselves because you sold me here, for Elohim
sent me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6 “For two years now the
scarcity of food has been in the land, and there are still five years in which
there is neither ploughing nor harvesting.
Gen 45:7 “And Elohim sent me
before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to give life to you
by a great escape.
Gen 45:8 “So then, you did not send me here, but
Elohim. And He has set me for a father to Pharaoh, and master of all his house,
and a ruler throughout all the land of Mitsrayim.
Gen 45:9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to
him, ‘Thus says your son Yosĕph, “Elohim has made me master of all Mitsrayim.
Come down to me, do not delay.
Gen 45:10 “And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen,(same
root as vayigash) and be near to me, you and your children, your children’s
children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.
Gen 45:11 “And I shall provide for you there, lest you
and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty, because five years
of scarcity of food are still to come.” ’
Gen 45:12 “And look, your eyes and the eyes of my
brother Binyamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
Gen 45:13 “And you shall inform my father of all my
esteem in Mitsrayim, and of all that you have seen. And you shall hurry and
bring my father down here.”
Gen 45:14 And he fell on his
brother Binyamin’s neck and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck.
Gen 45:15 And he kissed all his
brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers spoke with him.
Gen 45:16 And the report of it
was heard by the house of Pharaoh, saying, “The brothers of Yosĕph have come.”
And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants.
Gen 45:17 And Pharaoh said to Yosĕph, “Say to your
brothers, ‘Do this: Load your beasts and go, enter the land of Kenaʽan,
Gen 45:18
and take your father and your households and come to me, and I give you
the best of the land of Mitsrayim, and you eat the fat of the land.
Gen 45:19 ‘And you, you have been commanded, do this:
Take wagons out of the land of Mitsrayim for your little ones and your wives.
And you shall bring your father, and come.
Gen 45:20 ‘And do not be concerned about your goods,
for the best of all the land of Mitsrayim is yours.’ ”
Gen 45:21 And the sons of Yisra’ĕl did so. And Yosĕph
gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them food
for the journey.
Gen 45:22 He gave to all of them, to each man, changes
of garments, but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes
of garments.
Gen 45:23 And he sent to his father this: ten donkeys
loaded with the best of Mitsrayim, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain,
and bread, and food for his father for the journey.
Gen 45:24 So he sent his brothers
away, and they left. And he said to them, “Do not quarrel along the way.”
Gen 45:25 And they went up out of Mitsrayim, and came
to the land of Kenaʽan
to Yaʽaqoḇ their father.
Gen 45:26
And they told him, saying, “Yosĕph is still alive, and he is governor
over all the land of Mitsrayim.” And Yaʽaqoḇ’s heart ceased, for he did not
believe them.
Gen 45:27
But when they spoke to him all the words which Yosĕph had spoken to
them, and when he saw the wagons which Yosĕph had sent to transport him, the
spirit of Yaʽaqoḇ their father revived.
See Yasher 54 how the
daughter of Asher ministered to Yakov in prophetic song preparing him for the
return of his son.
Gen 45:28 And Yisra’ĕl said, “Enough! My son Yosĕph is
still alive. Let me go and see him before I die.”
Gen 46:1 And Yisra’ĕl set out with all that he had,
and came to Be’ĕrsheḇa,
and brought offerings to the Elohim of his father Yitsḥaq.
Gen 46:2 And
Elohim spoke to Yisra’ĕl in the visions of the night, and said, “Yaʽaqoḇ,
Yaʽaqoḇ!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Gen 46:3 And
He said, “I am the Ěl, Elohim of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to
Mitsrayim, for I shall make you there into a great nation.
Gen 46:4 “I
Myself am going down with you to Mitsrayim and I Myself shall certainly bring
you up again. And let Yosĕph put his hand on your eyes.”
Gen 46:5 And
Yaʽaqoḇ rose up from Be’ĕrsheḇa. And the sons of Yisra’ĕl brought their
father Yaʽaqoḇ, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which
Pharaoh had sent to transport him.
Gen 46:6 And
they took their livestock and their property which they had acquired in the
land of Kenaʽan, and came into Mitsrayim, Yaʽaqoḇ and all his seed with him.
Gen 46:7 His
sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his
seed he brought with him to Mitsrayim.
Gen 46:8 And
these were the names of the children of Yisra’ĕl, Yaʽaqoḇ and his sons, who
came into Mitsrayim: Re’uḇĕn was Yaʽaqoḇ’s first-born.
Gen 46:9 And
the sons of Re’uḇĕn: Ḥanoḵ, and Pallu, and Ḥetsron, and Karmi.
Gen 46:10
And the sons of Shimʽon: Yemu’ĕl, and Yamin, and Ohaḏ, and Yaḵin, and
Tsoḥar, and Sha’ul, son of a Kenaʽanite woman.
Gen 46:11
And the sons of Lĕwi: Gĕreshon, Qehath, and Merari.
Gen 46:12
And the sons of Yehuḏah: Ěr, and Onan, and Shĕlah, and Perets, and
Zeraḥ – but Ěr and Onan died in the land of Kenaʽan. And the sons of Perets
were Ḥetsron and Ḥamul.
Gen 46:13
And the sons of Yissasḵar: Tola, and Puwʽah, and Yoḇ, and Shimron.
Gen 46:14
And the sons of Zeḇulun: Sereḏ, and Ělon, and Yaḥle’ĕl.
Gen 46:15
These were the sons of Lĕ’ah, whom she bore to Yaʽaqoḇ in Paddan Aram,
with his daughter Dinah. All the beings, his sons and his daughters, were
thirty-three.
Gen 46:16
And the sons of Gaḏ: Tsiphyon and Ḥaggi, Shuni and Etsbon, Ěri and
Aroḏi, and Arĕli.
Gen 46:17
And the sons of Ashĕr: Yimnah, and Yishwah, and Yishwi, and Beriʽah, and
Seraḥ, their sister. And the sons of Beriʽah: Ḥeḇer and Malki’ĕl.
Gen 46:18
These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laḇan gave to Lĕ’ah his daughter.
And these she bore to Yaʽaqoḇ: sixteen beings.
Gen 46:19
The sons of Raḥĕl, Yaʽaqoḇ’s wife: Yosĕph and Binyamin.
Gen 46:20
And to Yosĕph in the land of Mitsrayim were born Menashsheh and
Ephrayim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him.
Gen 46:21
And the sons of Binyamin: Belah, and Beḵer, and Ashbĕl, Gĕra and
Naʽaman, Ěḥi and Rosh, Muppim and Ḥuppim, and Ard.
‘’When Benyamin was
brought before Yoseph, Yoseph questioned him: "Have you a brother?"
"I had a brother,
but I do not know where he has gone."
"Have you a
wife?"
"I have a wife
and ten sons."
"What are their
names?"
"I named them all
after my brother," said Benyamin. "Bela -- he was swallowed up
from me; Becher -- he was his mother's firstborn; Ashbel -- he
was taken away captive; Gera -- he became a stranger in a strange
country; Naaman -- his deeds were seemly and pleasant; Achi -- he
was my brother; Rosh -- he was my superior; Muppim -- he was
exceedingly beautiful; Chuppim -- I did not see his chupah
(marriage canopy) and he did not see mine; Ard -- he was like a
rose-bloom."
(Midrash Rabbah)
Gen 46:22
These were the sons of Raḥĕl who were born to Yaʽaqoḇ: fourteen beings
in all.
Gen 46:23
And the son of Dan: Ḥushim.
Gen 46:24
And the sons of Naphtali: Yaḥtse’ĕl, and Guni, and Yĕtser, and Shillĕm.
Gen 46:25
These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laḇan gave to Raḥĕl his daughter,
and she bore these to Yaʽaqoḇ: seven beings in all.
Gen 46:26
All the beings who went with Yaʽaqoḇ to Mitsrayim, who came from his
body, besides Yaʽaqoḇ’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six beings in all.
Gen 46:27
And the sons of Yosĕph who were born to him in Mitsrayim were two
beings. All the beings of the house of Yaʽaqoḇ who went to Mitsrayim were seventy.
But if you count them,
you find only sixty-nine; the seventieth is Yocheved the daughter of Levi, who
was born between the boundary walls as they entered Egypt.(Talmud, Bava Batra 123a)
There is no avoiding these tests. They are inevitable, continual,
necessary, productive, and influential and designed by YHVH Himself.
These tests are expounded in a book by Michael Wiltcher – Nine tests every true believer
must face.
Baruch atah
YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are
you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you,
YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn