Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVH Eloheinu 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.)
This is the final parashah of Beresheet – Va yechi –
“and he lived” the sages taught that this final parashah of Beresheet served as
a transition for the next book of the Torah – Shemot – “names”. Yakov and his
sons died in Mitzraim, yet we know that their future generations would live to
re-enter the land of Yisrael. This is the ‘’Kibbutz Galuyot’’ of the ‘’Amidah’’
– the prayers for the ingathering of the exiles. See Zech 14
It would be a few centuries before Yisrael returned
once again to the Promised Land. Many would have died while waiting to return.
This final portion, although it gives the details of the deaths of Yakov and
Yosef, reminds us of the many descendants who would come from them. It reminds
us that there will be a resurrection after death.
Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Yisra’ĕl,
and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them, he blessed
each one according to his own blessing.
When we read what
Yakov had to say to some of his sons, it doesn’t sound like he was blessing them.
Yakov understood the redemptive value even of their failures and short comings
– note also the address of Yakov the brother of Yahshua to the 12 tribes.
Jas 1:1 Yaʽaqoḇ, a servant of Elohim
and of the Master יהושע Messiah, to
the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion: Greetings.
The individual and
collective failure of the sons of Yakov and their descendants will have great
redemptive value in the last days.
Rom 11:15 For if their casting away is the restoration
to favour of the world, what is their acceptance but life from the dead?
Gen 49:29 And he commanded them, and said to them, “I
am to be gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in
the field of Ephron the Ḥittite,
Gen 49:30 in
the cave that is in the field of Maḵpĕlah,
which is before Mamrĕ in the land of Kenaʽan,
which Aḇraham bought with the
field of Ephron the Ḥittite as a possession
for a burial site.
Gen 49:31
There they buried Aḇraham and Sarah his
wife, there they buried Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah his wife, and
there I buried Lĕ’ah –
Gen 49:32
the field purchased, and the cave which is in it, from the sons of Ḥĕth.”
Gen 49:33
And when Yaʽaqoḇ ended commanding his
sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered
to his people.
Gen 50:1 And Yosĕph fell on his father’s face, and
wept over him, and kissed him.
Gen 50:2 And Yosĕph commanded his servants the physicians
to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Yisra’ĕl.
Gen 50:3 And forty days were completed for him, for so
are completed the days of embalming. And the Mitsrites wept for him seventy
days.
Gen 50:4 And when the days of weeping for him were past,
Yosĕph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If, now, I have found favour
in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying,
Gen 50:5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “See, I am
dying, bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Kenaʽan.” And now, please
let me go up and bury my father, and return.’ ”
Gen 50:6 And
Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
Gen 50:7 And
Yosĕph went up to bury his father. And with him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Mitsrayim,
Gen 50:8 and
all the house of Yosĕph, and his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their
little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.
Gen 50:9 And
there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great
company.
Gen 50:10
And they came to the threshing-floor of Ataḏ, which is beyond the
Yardĕn, and they lamented there with a great and very heavy lamentation. And he
observed seven days of mourning for his father.
Gen 50:11
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Kenaʽanites, saw the
mourning at the threshing-floor of Ataḏ,
they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Mitsrites.” That is why its
name was called Aḇĕl Mitsrayim, which is
beyond the Yardĕn.
Gen 50:12
And his sons did to him as he had commanded them,
Gen 50:13
for his sons brought him to the land of Kenaʽan, and buried him in
the cave of the field of Maḵpĕlah, before Mamrĕ,
which Aḇraham bought with the
field from Ephron the Ḥittite as property for
a burial site.
Gen 50:14
And after he had buried his father, Yosĕph returned to Mitsrayim, he and
his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.
Gen 50:15
And when Yosĕph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
“What if Yosĕph hates us, and pays us back all the evil which we did to him?” (While
the father lived they felt safe)
Gen 50:16
And they sent word to Yosĕph, saying, “Before your father died he
commanded, saying,
Gen 50:17
‘This is what you are to say to Yosĕph, “I beg you, please forgive the
transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” ’ And now,
please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your father.”
And Yosĕph wept when they spoke to him.
Gen 50:18
And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said,
“See, we are your servants.”
Gen 50:19
And Yosĕph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place (‘’tachat’’
or under) of Elohim?
Gen 50:20
“And you, you intended evil against me, but Elohim intended it for good,
in order to do it as it is this day, to keep a great many people alive. (same
as Messiah)
Gen 50:21
“And now, do not fear, I provide for you and your little ones.” So he
comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Gen 50:22
And Yosĕph dwelt in Mitsrayim, he and his father’s household. And Yosĕph
lived one hundred and ten years.
Gen 50:23
And Yosĕph saw Ephrayim’s children to the third generation. The children
of Maḵir, son of Menashsheh,
were also brought up on Yosĕph’s knees.
Gen 50:24
And Yosĕph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but Elohim shall certainly
visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ.”
Gen 50:25
And Yosĕph made the children of Yisra’ĕl swear, saying, “Elohim shall
certainly visit you, and you shall bring up my bones from here.”
Gen 50:26 And Yosĕph died, being one hundred and ten
years old. And they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Mitsrayim.
Yasher 56:33 And Pharaoh commanded that it should
be proclaimed throughout Egypt, saying, Whoever goes not up with Joseph and his
brethren to the land of Canaan to bury Jacob, shall die.
34 And all Egypt heard of Pharaoh’s proclamation,
and they all rose up together, and all the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders
of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went up with Joseph, and
all the officers and nobles of Pharaoh went up as the servants of Joseph, and
they went to bury Jacob in the land of Canaan.
35 And Jacob’s sons carried the bier upon
which he lay; according to all that their father commanded them, so did his
sons unto him.
36 And the bier was of pure gold, and it was inlaid
round about with onyx stones and bdellium; and the covering of the bier was
gold woven work, joined with threads, and over them were hooks of onyx stones
and bdellium.
37 And Joseph placed upon the head of his father
Jacob a large golden crown, and he put a golden scepter in his hand, and they
surrounded the bier as was the custom of kings during their lives.
38 And all the troops of Egypt went before him in
this array, at first, all the mighty men of Pharaoh and the mighty men of
Joseph, and after them the rest of the inhabitants of Egypt, and they were all
girded with swords and equipped with coats of mail, and the trappings of war
were upon them.
39 And all the weepers and mourners went at a
distance opposite to the bier, going and weeping and lamenting, and the rest of
the people went after the bier.
40 And Joseph and his household went together near
the bier barefooted and weeping, and the rest of Joseph’s servants went around
him; each man had his ornaments upon him, and they were all armed with their
weapons of war.
But when Esau heard that Jacob’s sons were coming
to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, which their Fathers were buried in, Esau
and his sons stood against them. The battle that follows helps us understand
great enmity between Jacob’s sons (the men of the spirit) and Esau’s sons (the
men of the flesh). Here is how the battle begins.
Yasher 56:49 And Joseph and his brethren brought
their father Jacob from that place, and they went to Hebron to bury Jacob in
the cave by his fathers.
50 And they came unto Kireath-arba, to the cave,
and as they came Esau stood with his sons against Joseph and his brethren
as a hindrance in the cave, saying, “Jacob shall not be buried therein, for it
belongs to us and to our father.”
Yasher 56:60 And when Esau saw that Naphtali had
gone to fetch the records, he and his sons increased their resistance against
the cave, and Esau and all his people rose up against Joseph and his brethren
to battle.
61 And all Jacob’s sons and the people of
Egypt fought with Esau and his men, and Esau’s sons and his people were smitten
before Jacob’s sons, and Jacob’s sons slew of Esau’s people forty men.
64 And he asked, saying, Why do you not bury the
dead, and what is this great consternation? And they answered him the words of
Esau and his sons; and he ran to Esau in the midst of the battle, and he
slew Esau with a sword, and he cut off his head, and it sprang to a distance,
and Esau fell amongst the people of the battle.
65 And when Chushim did this thing Jacob’s
sons prevailed over Esau’s sons, and Jacob’s sons buried their father
Jacob by force in the cave, and Esau’s sons beheld it.
Possibly the largest recorded burial in history –
why would this be so significant?
Would Yakov’s death mean the death of the
‘’patriachy’’? Would we have to wait until the last days before the
‘’patriachy’’ would be restored?
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the YHVH:
Mal 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.
Before the Messiah returns, who would bring about
the restoration of the patriarchy?
For I shall be a Father to Yisra’ěl, and Ephrayim – he is My first-born.
This is profound, the patriarchal blessing was
handed down to a young African boy called ‘’Éphraim’’ whose descendants and
companions would restore the blessing of Abraham in the last days.
Jer 31:8 “See, I am bringing them from the land of the north, and
shall gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the
lame, those with child and those in labour, together – a great assembly
returning here.
Jer 31:9 “With weeping they shall come, and with their
prayers I bring them. I shall make them walk by rivers of waters, in a straight
way in which they do not stumble. For I shall be a Father to Yisra’ěl, and
Ephrayim – he is My first-born.
Jer 31:10 “Hear the word of יהוה, O nations, and declare it in
the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Yisra’ěl gathers him, and shall
guard him as a shepherd his flock.’
Jer 31:17 “And there is expectancy for your latter end,” declares יהוה, “and
your children shall return to their own country.
Jer 31:18 “I have clearly heard Ephrayim lamenting, ‘You have
chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained calf. Turn me back, and I
shall turn back, for You are יהוה my Elohim.
Jer 31:19 For after my turning back, I repented. And after I was
instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, even humiliated, for I
bore the reproach of my youth.’
Jer 31:20 “Is Ephrayim a precious son to Me, a child of delights?
For though I spoke against him, I still remembered him. That is why My
affections were deeply moved for him. I have great compassion for him,”
declares יהוה.
Jer 31:31 “See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I
shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Yisra’ěl and with the house of
Yehuḏah,a Footnote: a Heb_8:8-12, Heb_10:16-17.
Jer 31:32 not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the
day when I strengthenedb their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim,
My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares יהוה. Footnote:
bCommonly understood as “take hold of.”
Jer 31:33 “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of
Yisra’ěl after those days, declares יהוה: I shall put My Torah in
their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim,
and they shall be My people.
It is only when the Torah is restored that All of
scripture will be understood. Its all about a loving Father wanting to be
honoured and restored to His Family – In the last days we will understand the
love of this Father more than any other time in history. This is the ‘’Good
news’’ - Gal 3:8 And the Scripture, having foreseen
that Elohim would declare right the nations by belief, announced the Good News
to Aḇraham beforehand, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you,”[a] Gen_12:3. Footnote: aGen_18:18.
Gal 3:9 so that those who are of belief are blessed with Aḇraham,
the believer.
Joh 14:23 יהושע answered
him, “If anyone loves Me, he shall guard My Word. And My Father shall love him,
and We shall come to him and make Our stay with him.
Joh 14:24 “He who does not love Me does not guard My Words. And
the Word which you hear is not Mine but of the Father Who sent Me.
Joh 17:20 “And I do not pray for these alone, but also for those
believing in Me through their word,
Joh 17:21 so that they all might be one, as You, Father, are in
Me, and I in You, so that they too might be one in Us, so that the world might
believe that You have sent Me.
Joh 17:22 “And the esteem which You gave Me I have given them, so
that they might be one as We are one,
Joh 17:23 “I in them, and You in Me, so that they might be
perfected into one, so that the world knows that You have sent Me, and have
loved them as You have loved Me.
Joh 17:24 “Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me,
might be with Me where I am, so that they see My esteem which You have given
Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 “O righteous Father, indeed the world did not know You,
but I knew You, and these knew that You sent Me.
Joh 17:26 “And I have made Your Name known to them,[d] and shall make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me might
be in them, and I in them.” Footnote: dSee also Joh_17:6, as well as Psa_22:22,
Heb_2:12.
Paul addressed the issue of the restoration of the
patriarchy -
1Ti 2:11 Let a woman learn in silence, in all subjection.
1Ti 2:12 But I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority
over a man, rather, to be in silence.
1Ti 2:13 Because Aḏam was formed first, then Ḥawwah.
1Ti 2:14 And Aḏam was not deceived, but the woman, having been
deceived, fell into transgression.
1Ti 2:15 But she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue
in belief, and love, and set-apartness, with sensibleness.
1Co 11:3 And I wish you to know that the head of every man is the
Messiah,[a] and the head of woman is the man,[b] and the head of Messiah is Elohim.[c] Footnotes: a Eph_1:22, Eph_4:15, Eph_5:23. b Gen_3:16.
c 1Co_3:23, Joh_14:28.
The story of Yosef is the story of the perfect
restoration of the Father.
Chazak chazak venietchezek – be strong, be strong
and be strengthened.
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)