| Introduction
Holy Land Photo Album
Maps of Israel
Genesis
Genesis Part 2
Exodus
Exodus Part 2
Leviticus
Appointments with YAHWEH
A Place for YAHWEH's Name
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Yaaqov's Only Daughter
CHAPTER 34
1. Now Dinah (the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Yaaqov) went out to learn about the daughters of the Land.
Instead of staying and caring for her own people, her curiosity about "the ways of the Gentiles" became her downfall.
2. And Sh'khem, the son of Chamor the Chivvite, the prince of the region, saw her, took her by force, and raped her, bringing her [great] shame.
3. But his soul became attached to Dinah, the daughter of Yaaqov, and he loved the young woman and spoke to her heart.
Spoke to her heart: spoke soothing words, appealed to her emotions, and comforted her with words of peace.
4. And Sh'khem said this to Chamor, his father: "Get me this girl to be my wife!"
5. Then Yaaqov heard that he had dishonored his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the field with the livestock, so Yaaqov kept quiet until they had come in.
6. When Chamor (Sh'khem's father) had gone out of the city to Yaaqov to discuss the matter with him,
7. Yaaqov's sons came back from the field. When they heard what had happened, they were very upset and extremely angry, because by raping Yaaqov's daughter, he had done something that cannot be tolerated in Israel. Such a thing should not be done!
8. But Chamor told them, "My son Sh'khem's soul is bound [attached] to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9. Then you all can form an alliance with us through intermarrying with us: give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10. "Settle with us, too, and the whole land will be open to you; live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it!"
11. Sh'khem also said to her father and her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you tell me, I will give.
12. "Pile on me ever so high a bride price or a present, and I will give you whatever you say; just give me the girl as a wife!"
Bride price: It was not as though they were paying for her like a slave. The family was compensated for raising her to be a productive wife, and since they would have one less pair of hands to help in their own household. She was given a dowry by which to survive in case she should be divorced or widowed.
13. But the sons of Yaaqov replied to Sh'khem and his father Chamor in a misleading way since he had defiled their sister Dinah:
14. They told them, " We couldn't do such a thing--give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for this would be a disgrace to us.
15. "Only on this condition would we consent to you: if you will become like us, having every male among you circumcised,
16. "Then we would give you our daughters, or take your daughters unto ourselves, and would live with you and become like one nation."
17. "If you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and leave."
They thought this would be too high a price and discourage Sh'khem.
18. But their proposal seemed reasonable to Chamor and his son Sh'khem,
19. and the young man did not wait to do it, because he enjoyed Yaaqov's daughter so much; he was, in fact, more honorable than all the rest of his father's household.
20. So Chamor and his son Sh'khem came to the gate of their city, and they spoke with the men of their city, saying,
The gate: This is where the city's elders made legal decisions.
21. "These men are peaceable toward us, so let them live in the land and trade in it, because, look! There is plenty of room on both sides for them. Let's take their daughters for ourselves as wives, and let's give them our
daughters as wives--
22. "except that only on these terms will the men consent to become one with us: every male among us must be circumcised as they are.
23. "Won't their livestock and their property and their work animals become ours then? Let us just give in to their [request], and they will settle among us."
They really wanted the wealth that belonged to Yaaqov’s family.
24. So everyone who went through of the gate of the city listened to Chamor and his son Sh'khem, and every man (everyone who went out through the city's gate) was circumcised.
25. But what happened then was that on the third day (when they were in their greatest pain) two of Yaaqov's sons, Shim'on and Levi (Dinah's [full] brothers), each got out his sword, and came upon the city bravely, and killed every man.
26. They even killed Chamor and Sh'khem at swordpoint. Then they took Dinah from Sh'khem's house and left.
It seems that Dinah had never come home, but because she had been disgraced, she remained in Sh'khem's household.
27. Yaaqov's sons came to strip the slain, and they plundered the city because they had violated their sister.
They: only one had, but as their prince he represented the whole community.
28. They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, anything that was in the city, and whatever was in the field,
29. and they seized all their wealth, took all their little ones and their wives captive, and looted all that was in the house.
30. But Yaaqov told Shim'on and Levi, "You have gotten me in trouble by making me stink among the inhabitants of the land--the Kanaanites and the Perizzites. I am so few in number; if they unite against me, I and my household will be annihilated!"
Making me stink: giving me a bad name. His old name Yaaqov is used again, showing that he has gone back into into thinking of things in the worldly way rather than a spiritual one (which is meant when his name "Israel" is used).
31. But they replied, "Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?"
Yaaqov was still thinking about what would happen to him; his sons were thinking of themselves as a group. They were acting for each other. This was not a crime only against Dinah, but against all Israel--a people among whom such a thing should not be done (v. 7), whether or not it was common anywhere else. They saw this before he did. They thought more highly of her honor than to let such a wrong go unpunished, and didn't seem to care what the consequences might be. This question ended the discussion. YHWH agreed that they were right (35:5).
CHAPTER 35
1. Then Elohim said to Yaaqov, "Arise and go up to Beyth-El, and settle there, and make an altar there to the Elohim who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau".
When running from Esau, Yaaqov had set up a single "cornerstone" at Beyth-El for the future Temple that would be on this site, representing his own commitment to YHWH. But now he had brought back a nation. He himself had been spared, but there remained a community to be built for the glory of the Name of YHWH.
2. So Yaaqov told his household and all those who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that are in your midst, and purify yourselves, and change your clothing,
Foreign gods: those Rachel stole from her father. YHWH's altar is to be shared by no other.
3. "and let us arise and go up to Beyth-El, and I will make an altar there to El--the One who answered me in the day of my distress. He was also with me on the journey on which I went."
The "day of my distress" is also a prophecy of "the time of Yaaqov's trouble" (Yirmeyahu 30:1-7), when all of his righteous descendants come back into the Land and are in danger of being destroyed, yet are rescued from them.
4. So they gave all the foreign gods that were in their possession to Yaaqov; they also gave him the earrings that were in their ears, and Yaaqov buried them under the oak tree that was at Sh'khem.
Earrings: used as amulets for idol-worship. Oak: held sacred by Kanaanite tree worshippers .
5. Then they pulled up their stakes and set off. And the terror of Elohim came upon the cities that were all around them; they did not pursue the sons of Yaaqov.
None of the boys could have been much more than twelve years old, considering that Yaaqov had been gone twenty years and the first seven he worked for Lavan before being given a wife. Maybe that these boys were so strong is another reason his people were so feared.
6. So Yaaqov arrived at Luz (which is in the land of Kanaan)--that is, Beyth-El--he and all the people with him as well.
7. And he built an altar there, and called the place El Beyth-El, because it was there that Elohim had revealed Himself to him when he had fled from his brother.
El Beyth-El: "The El of the House of Elohim". Before, when he was alone, he had set up a single stone there (28:18). Now that he is a clan and on the way to becoming a nation, he now has enough "building materials" (which is what the word "stone" means in Hebrew) to make a whole altar.
8. Rivqah's nurse Devorah also died there, and was buried below Beyth-El, beneath the oak, so he named it "the Oak of Weeping".
9. Now Elohim had appeared to Yaaqov again when he had come out of Paddan-Aram, and blessed him.
Again: for the second time in this same place.
10. And Elohim had said to him, "Your name is Yaaqov, but you shall no longer [always] be called Yaaqov; rather, Israel shall be your name." Thus He named him Israel.
Wasn't he already named Israel? (32:28) Spiritually, he already was Israel, just like those who place their confidence in Messiah: "by one offering he has[already] forever perfected those who are [still] being made holy" (Heb. 10:14) But, as another Yaaqov ("James") says, it is because of our visible deeds that we are declared to be righteous; YHWH Himself did not call Yaaqov "Israel" until he had changed his walk and gotten rid of his family's idols. It was a process to grow into the person represented by this name.
11. And Elohim said to him, "I am El Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply. A nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall issue from your loins,
Now that he is addressed as Israel, the first command given to him is the same as the first given to Adam and Chavvah. This is the beginning of a new creation, because through this nation, mankind would be restored and the world "repaired". The name "Shaddai" may mean "devastation" and "ruin". Yaaqov is warned that now that much has been given to him, much is required of him, and he must take his new role seriously or a worse judgment may await him. (Hebrews 6:4-8) But it may also be from the word for "breasts", and sure enough, it is linked here to nurturing children. This nation would then be divided into two, and because one kingdom would go astray from the covenant and be scattered among and mixed with the other nations, an assembly (or congregation) from many nations could also be attached to Yaaqov and be drawn in to share in his inheritance.
12. "and the Land which I gave to Avraham and Yitzhaq, I will give to you, and I will give the Land to your seed after you."
The promise narrows further from the descendants of Avraham and Yitzhaq to Yaaqov. Now not even Esau (ancestor of many of today's Arabs, through intermarriage with Yishmael's seed) has any claim to this inheritance. To acknowledge this is the only solution for the Middle East peace crisis.
13. Then Elohim ascended from him at the place where He had spoken with him,
14. and Yaaqov set up a memorial pillar --one made of stone--in the place where He had spoken with him, and he poured a drink offering on top of it, and anointed it with oil.
Messiah is called an anointed stone, and Yaaqov's obedience made it possible for him to be born many years later.
15. And Yaaqov called the place where Elohim had spoken with him "Beyth-El".
16. Now they pulled up from Beyth-El, and while there was still a considerable stretch of land to go before they came to Efrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had great difficulty in the delivery of her baby.
It was still the peak of the land's harvest season when this baby came. This foreshadows the Messiah's birth in Beyth-Lechem, Efrath (Micha 5:2). It is only a few miles from Jerusalem. Efrath means "fruitfulness". The time for her fruitfulness was near, but her descendants would not become "doubly fruitful" until the son who "adds" (Yoseyf) had a son named "doubly fruitful" (Efrayim). Great difficulty: probably because they had to leave Sh'chem so quickly. He may have blamed Shim'on and Levi for her death, as he apparently never forgave their behavior there.
17. And it came to pass that, when her labor became most difficult, the midwife told her, "Don't be afraid, because this child is also a son for you!"
Don't be afraid: Your desire that Elohim "add another" is being fulfilled." He was born feet first, and she died in the process--a symbol of what is happening to the church as her children come out of her to walk in the biblical festivals, which is what the "feet" symbolize (as in the three "pilgrim festivals", called "feet" in Exodus 23:14). She also died because Yaaqov prophesied it since she took her father's idols; the same must happen to the parts of the church that remain in idolatry. Y'shua also prophesied (Rev. 2-3) that those who did not come out from under her influence or kept tolerating compromise would have their lamp removed from its place.
18. But what happened was that as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she named him Ben-Oni, but his father called him Binyamin instead.
Ben-Oni: "Son of my agony/misfortune/trouble/sorrow". Binyamin: "Son of the right hand", i.e., his favorite wife Rachel, or, "Son of days" (i.e., my old age). Part of the tribe of Binyamin stayed with Yehudah, and part did
not. The Temple Mount and some other parts of Jerusalem actually belong to his tribal land.
19. And Rachel died and was buried on the way to Efrath, that is, Beyth-Lechem.
Israel's first truly-rightful king (David, from the tribe of Yehudah, who was promised the throne) as well as her Messiah were both born in Beyth-Lechem, which means "house of bread". In fact, the Messiah called himself the "bread of life".
20. And Yaaqov set up a monument over her grave; that is the marker of Rachel's grave to this day.
21. Then Israel pulled up stakes and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of the Flocks.
The Mishnah (a Jewish explanation of the Bible) says this tower was the boundary of a circle around Jerusalem within which all lambs to be slain for Temple sacrifice (by the priests) had to be born--a major reason Micha 4:8 tells us it is the precise location of "the first rule". This could refer to the birth of David, the first king in the line promised to Yehudah (and the first king at all came from Binyamin, who was born here, and who was Rachel's descendant). The Aramaic targum identifies it as the place where Messiah would reveal Himself at the end of days. (Micha 5:2)
22. But this is what happened while Israel was living in that region: Reuven went and had relations with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard [about] it.
As he "heard" about Dinah's rape before any of his sons came home, it seems he "heard" because he was a prophet. This cost Reuven his birthright. (49:3,4)
23. Now the sons of Yaaqov were twelve; the sons of Leah were:
Reuven, Yaaqov's firstborn;
then Shim'on and Levi,
Yehudah, Issachar, and Zevulun;
24. The sons of Rachel: Yoseyf and Binyamin;
25. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant: Dan and Nafthali;
26. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant: Gad and Asher.
These were the sons of Yaaqov, who were born to him in Paddan-Aram.
27. Then Yaaqov came to Yitzhaq his father at Mamre (Kiryath-Arba, which is Hevron), where Avraham and Yitzhaq had lived.
28. And the days of Yitzhaq were 180 years,
29. then Yitzhaq expired and died, and was gathered to his people, old and having fulfilled his days. And his sons Esau and Yaaqov buried him.
CHAPTER 36
1. Now these are the genealogies of Esau (who is also called Edom).
2. Esau took his wives from the daughters of Kanaan: Adah, the daughter of Eylon the Chittite; Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Tziv'on the Chivvite;
Adah means "ornament". Eylon means "mighty oak". Anah means "answer". Tziv'on: "colored" or "dyed".
3. he also married Bas'math the daughter of Ishmael (the sister of Nevayoth).
Bas'math: "Spicy fragrance". See 26:34; 28:8.
4. And Adah bore Elifaz to Esau, and Bas'math gave birth to Re'u-El [Raguel].
Elifaz: "My Elohim is refined gold"; Re'u-El: "friend of Elohim".
5. And Oholibamah bore Ye'ush, Ya'alam, and Qorach: these were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Kanaan.
Ye'ush: or Ye'ish, "assembler"; Ya'alam: "concealed"; Qorach: "bald".
6. Then Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and beasts of burden, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Kanaan, and moved from his brother Yaaqov's presence into another land,
7. for their possessions had become too abundant for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings could not support them because of all the livestock they had.
This is the same thing that happened with Avraham and Lot.
8. Then Esau settled in the mountain range of Seir (Esau who is Edom, that is).
9. So these are the genealogies of Esau, the father of the people of Edom on Mount Seir:
10. The names of Esau's sons were:
Elifaz the son of Adah, one wife of Esau,
[and] Re'u-El the son of Bas'math, another wife of Esau;
11. And the sons of Elifaz [Iyov/Job 2:11] were:
Theyman [southward, on the right side, the Hebrew name for Yemen],
Omar [eloquent speaker],
Tzefo [spy or watchtower],
Ga'tham [a burnt valley], and
Qenaz [hunter].
12. and Thimna was a second wife to Elifaz, son of Esau, and she bore Amaleq to him; these were the descendants of Esau's wife Adah.
Descendants: grandsons. Though Thimna ["restrained"] was from a royal family (v. 22), she preferred to become even a second wife to a descendant of Avraham. Yet her mother was a Chorite, whose land Edom had seized. Amaleq ["valley-dweller"] was to become Israel's--and Elohim's--arch-enemy; Ex. 17:16.
13. And the sons of Re'u-El were:
Nahath [quiet rest],
Zerach [rising],
Shammah [astonishment, horror], and
Mizzah [fainting from fear].
These were the descendants of Esau's wife Bas'math.
14. And these were the descendants of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Tziv'on (Esau's wife): she bore
Ye'ush [assembler],
Ya'lam [concealed], and
Qorach [bald].
15. These were the chiefs of the descendants of Esau:
Chiefs: chieftains, patriarchs, uncrowned heads among them.
Of the sons of Elifaz, Esau's firstborn:
Chief Theyman,
Chief Omar,
Chief Kenaz,
16. Chief Qorach,
Chief Ga'tam, and
Chief Amaleq.
These were the chiefs of Elifaz in the land of Edom; these were the descendants of Esau's wife Adah.
17. And these were the sons of Re'u-El, Esau's son:
Chief Nahath,
Chief Zerah,
Chief Shammah, and
Chief Mizzah.
These were the chiefs of Re'u-El in the land of Edom; these were the descendants of Bas'math, Esau's wife.
18. And the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah:
Chief Ye'ush,
Chief Yalam, and
Chief Qorach.
These were the chiefs of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah (Esau's wife).
19. These were the descendants of Esau (who is Edom), and these were their
chiefs.
"Who is Edom" is repeated three times. It is important to know one's enemy. To the Rabbis, Edom is both the literal and symbolic father of Rome and, thereby, the pagan expression of the church.
20. These [next] were the sons of Seir the Chorite, who lived in the same land:
Lotan [covering],
Shoval [flowing (skirt)],
Tziv'on [dyed with color],
Anah [response],
21. Dishon [thresher],
Etzer [stored-up treasure], and
Diyshan [antelope or mountain goat];
these were the chiefs of the Choritesâ€â€ÂÂthe sons of Seirâ€â€ÂÂin the land of Edom.
Chorite: from Mt. Chor, near Petra. Literally a "cave dweller". Same
land: Edom, where Esau also settled.
22. And the sons of Lotan were:
Chori [my cave] and
Heymam [exterminating, confusion],
and Lotan's sister was Thimna.
23. And these were Shoval's sons:
Alwan [tall],
Manachath [rest],
Eyval [bare stone mountain],
Sh'fo [bold or wind-swept], and
Ownam [strong, vigorous].
24. And these were the sons of Tziv'on: Ayah and Anah. (He is the Anah who found the hot springs in the desert while he was feeding the donkeys for his father Tziv'on.)
Found the hot springs...donkeys: or, who discovered how to breed mules.
25. And these were the sons of Anah:
Dishon,
and Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah. [Be'eri, 26:34]
26. And these were the sons of Dishon:
Chemdan [desire, delight],
Eshban [fire of discernment],
Yithran [having an advantage] and
Kh'ran [lyre].
27. These were the sons of Etzer:
Bilhan [their troubling],
Zaavan [quaking from terror], and
Aqan [sharp-sighted].
28. These were the sons of Diyshan:
Uwtz [wooded or counselor] and
Aran [overcome with joy].
29. These were the chiefs of the Chorites:
Chief Lotan,
Chief Shoval,
Chief Tziv'on,
Chief Anah,
30. Chief Dishon,
Chief Etzer, and
Chief Diyshan.
These were the chieftains of the Chorites, chief by chief, in the land of Seir.
31. And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before there was any king reigning over the children of Israel:
32. Bela the son of Be'or became king in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhavah.
Bela means "devouring". The prophet Bilaam, who knew for whom he worked, but used his influence against Israel, was also a son of Be'or. Dinhavah means "Give judgment!"
33. When Bela died, Yovav the son of Zerah from Botzrah became king in his place.
Botzrah, an Edomite city southeast of the Dead Sea, will figure prominently in the Messiah's return with power and glory: Yeshayahu/Isaiah 34:6; 63:1; Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah 48:24; 49:13; Amos 1:12.
34. When Yovav died, Chusham from the land of the Theymanites became king in his place.
Yovav: could possibly be translated "Father Iyov (Job)". Chusham means "haste".
35. When Chusham died, Hadad the son of B'dad, who struck down Midyan in the fields of Moav, reigned in his place, and the name of his city was Aviyth.
Hadad means "mighty"; B'dad, "solitary" or "isolated". Aviyth means "distorted ruins".
36. When Hadad died, Samlah from Masreqah became king in his place.
Samlah means "outer garment"; Masreqah, "vineyard of noble vines".
37. When Samlah died, Sha'ul from Rechovoth on the [Euphrates] River became king in his place.
So there was a King Sha'ul before Israel's. His name means "asked for". Rechovoth means "wide open spaces".
38. When Sha'ul died, Ba'al-Chanan the son of Akhbor became king in his place.
Ba'al-Chanan: "Ba'al (the lord) showed pity"; this is the first mention of the Ba’als in Scripture. Akhbor: "mouse".
39. When Ba'al-Chanan the son of Akhbor died, Hadar became king in his place, and the name of his city was Pa'u; his wife's name was Mehetavel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mey-Zahav
Pa'u means "crying out"; Mehetavel: "pleasing to El"; Matred: "pushing forward" or "chasing"; Mey-Zahav: waters of gold, or "the goldsmith".
40. So these are the names of the chiefs of those who came from Esau, according to their families and regions, by name:
Chief Thimna [restrained],
Chief Alvah [injustice],
Chief Yetheth [nail],
41. Chief Oholibamah [my tent is a cultic platform],
Chief Elah [an oak],
Chief Piynon [darkness],
42. Chief Q'naz [hunter],
Chief Teyman [south],
Chief Mivtzar [fortified],
43. Chief Magdi-El [El is my excellence], and
Chief Iyram [urbane].
Magdi-El is the traditional ancestor of the Romans
These were the chiefs of Edom (that is Esau, the father of the Edomites), according to their settlements, in the land of their possession.
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Yoseyf and His Brothers
CHAPTER 37
1. And Yaaqov settled down in the land of his father's wanderings--the land of Kanaan.
2. These are the chronicles of Yaaqov:
When Yoseyf was 17 years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers. He grew up with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, but Yoseyf brought their father an evil report about them.
Since his mother Rachel had died, he was raised by Yaaqov's other wives. See how similarities you can find between the life of Yoseyf and that of Y'shua.
3. Now Israel loved Yoseyf more than all [the rest of] his sons, because he was a son of his old age, and he made him a robe reaching to his feet.
The rest of his sons: compare Psalm 45:7; Zech. 12:10. "Son of his old age": the one chosen by an aged father to look after him constantly. Robe reaching to his feet: This showed that he was a leader. At his immersion, Y'shua was given a "garment" that his brothers did not have (compare Psalm 45:7)--the Holy Spirit (see Yochanan 7:39). There is a similar word still used in present-day Arabic that literally means "dream-coat". Maybe Yaaqov gave it to Yoseyf in recognition that he was the one among all his sons who had the gifts of a prophet.
4. And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, so they hated him, and were not able to speak peaceably to him.
5. One night Yoseyf had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, but it only made them hate him even more:
Someone who is treated as a favorite is often proud without realizing it. In a society of shepherds, dreams are something out of the ordinary, and are often shared as a means of entertainment. But their meanings were taken seriously, and Yoseyf's seemed more important than usual. Native American cultures, for which more and more evidence is turning up that they are descended from Yoseyf, have preserved the emphasis on the importance of dreams. Y'shua also gave a bad report about his brothers (provoking his fellow Jews to jealousy).
6. He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have dreamed!
7. "Here we were out in the middle of the field binding up sheaves, when, lo and behold! My sheaf began to rise, and stood all the way up! And then, lo and behold! Your sheaves came around and bowed down to my sheaf!"
Josephus says this actually took place at harvest-time, when the crops are mature, and indeed Yoseyf's time of testing had come. His "tattling" on his brothers was probably the best thing he could do because of their immature behavior. Y'shua's parable of the wheat and the tares also speaks of a separation between different kinds of people at the Shavuoth harvest. Note that it was not him, but his sheaf--what he gathered--to which the others' sheaves bowed down.
8. But his brothers said to him, "Will you really reign over us? Will you rule over us in real life?" And they resented him still more for his dreams and for his words.
Y'shua was also asked if He would really reign as a king. (Yochanan 19:15).
9. Still, he had yet another dream, and he related it to his brothers. He said, "I have dreamed another dream, and behold! The sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing themselves to me."
10. He also related it to his father, but his father rebuked him, saying to him, "What kind of dream is this one that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come and bow ourselves to the ground before you--I, your mother, and your brothers?"
Yaaqov, being a prophet himself, knew immediately what it meant, even though he did not like it. This is a picture of the day when "every knee in heaven and earth shall bow" to Y'shua. (Philipp. 2:10)
11. His brothers also were jealous of him, but his father kept what he said in mind.
12. Now his brothers went out to pasture their father's flock in Sh'khem.
Sh'khem: in a mountainous area about 50 miles north of Hevron; modern-day Nablus; Josephus says it was particularly rich pasture-land.
13. Then Israel said to Yoseyf, "Aren't your brothers pasturing the flock in Sh'khem? Come, then, I will send you to them." So he said, "Here I am."
Yaaqov may have feared for them because of the events in chapter 34. Notice how ready Yoseyf was to obey his father. Y'shua also went willingly to do his unpleasant task (Psalm 40:7-8), because it pleased His Father. (Yeshayahu 53:10)
14. So he told him, "Please go and look into your brothers' welfare, and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me." Now he sent him forth from the depth of Hevron, and he arrived at Sh'khem.
Y'shua also had these same two missions: check on your brothers, and check on the flocks. He was heartbroken over the condition of Y'hudah and had to report back to His Father, but His main mission was to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
15. But a man discovered him, because here he was wandering around the field! So the man asked him, "What are you looking for?"
Could this be the same "man" who wrestled his father?
16. He replied, "I am looking for my brothers! Can you tell me where they are pasturing the sheep?"
17. So the man said, "I'm sure they have left here, because I heard them say, "Let's go to Dothan." So Yoseyf went after his brothers, and he found them at Dothan.
Dothan: 12 miles north of Sh'khem. Later the home of the prophet Elisha, its name means "two wells".
18. But they saw him coming from a distance, and before he approached them, they conspired against him, to kill him.
19. Each of them said to his brother, "Here comes this 'master' of those dreams!
20. "So, come on, let's kill him now and throw him into one of these pits, and say a wild beast has devoured him! Then we'll see what will become of his dreams!"
21. But Reuven heard them, and rescued him from their hands, saying, "Let's not strike him with a mortal blow."
Reuven, as the oldest, had his brothers’ respect.
22. Reuven told them further, "Do not shed blood. Throw him into this pit here in the wild country, but do not lay a hand on him." (He said this because he planned to later rescue him from their hands and send him back him to his father.)
In the wild country: where no one would hear his cries. Perhaps, knowing he had displeased his father already by what he did with his concubine, he wished to get back into his good graces, or at least avoid getting in even
deeper disfavor.
23. So when Yoseyf reached his brothers, they stripped him of his long coat (the embroidered one that reached to his feet)
24. and they picked him up and threw him into the pit (since it was an empty one, having no water in it).
This brings to mind the "broken cisterns" of Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 2:13. The Aramaic targum says there were snakes and scorpions in it--a picture of Y'shua's descent into the lower parts of the earth and being harassed by
demons (Psalm 22). Before leaving the Land, Efrayim also descended into "doctrines of demons".
25. Then they sat down to eat bread. Then they looked up and noticed a caravan of Yishmaelites coming from Gil'ad. Their camels were carrying spices, balsam resin , and myrrh, on the way to take them to Egypt.
Those who made the decision to execute Y'shua also immediately ate the Passover meal in peace, oblivious to His suffering. Gil'ad is across the Yarden River east of Dothan, on the same trade route.
26. So Yehudah said to his brothers, "What will we gain from killing our brother and hiding his blood?
It was one of Yehudah's descendants, Y'shua, who saw value in rescuing the lost sheep of Yoseyf's rebellious descendants, finding a way they could be useful to the rest of Israel--like Y'shua's parable in which a tree was given a second try because someone saw that giving it better nourishment might make it fruitful again. (Luke 13)
27. "Come on, let's sell him to the Yishmaelites, but don't let our own hand be [responsible for] his [murder]--because he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh [and blood]!" And his brothers accepted [this plan].
28. Just then [some] men--Midyanite traders--came by. They pulled Yoseyf up, and got him out of the pit, and they sold Yoseyf to the Yishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they took Yoseyf to Egypt.
Though these men seemed to be evil, this was YHWH's plan, for benefit would come from it in a roundabout way. This had to happen, because the sign that would make Avram certain that YHWH had given him the Land was that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land. It was Yehudah's idea, as he was already showing himself to be the leader who would father the tribe from which the kings would come. Y'shua was also sold by one of his brothers--also a man named Yehudah--then turned over to the Gentiles.
29. When Reuven came back to the pit, behold, Yoseyf wasn't there! So he tore his garment.
Tore his garment: an expression of extreme emotion and despair.
30. Then he returned to his brothers and said, "The young lad is not [here]! So as for me, where will I go?"
Is not: could also mean "is dead". As the eldest, the responsibility for Yoseyf, when with his brothers, fell on him. He would not be able to answer for this, so they had to devise a plan to conceal their irresponsibility.
31. So they took Yoseyf's long cloak, killed a male goat, and dipped the cloak in the blood.
They chose a goat because its blood looks just like human blood. They would not be held responsible if an animal killed him while he was traveling. Y'shua's garment was also taken while He fulfilled the picture of the goat killed at Yom Kippur.
32. Then they sent some messengers with the long coat reaching to the feet, and they brought it to their father, saying, "We found this. Please examine it carefully: is it your son's long coat?"
33. He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's long coat! A wild beast has eaten him! Yoseyf has been torn to pieces for sure!"
Yoseyf's descendants were "torn to pieces" by being scattered all over the world. But this scattering was also a sowing of seeds that would later grow up to bear fruit. (See Hoshea 1)
34. And Yaaqov tore his clothing and tied sackcloth around his waist, and mourned many days for his son.
Sackcloth: an uncomfortable material like burlap. The curtain leading into the Holy Place of the Temple was nicknamed "YHWH's garment", and when Y'shua, His firstborn, died, the veil was torn as an expression of His deep mourning.
35. And all his sons and daughters did their best to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted, saying, "I will go down into She'ol still mourning for my son." And his father bewailed him.
She'ol is the underworld or the grave. He meant he would never be able to return to normal.
36. Meanwhile the Medanites sold him into slavery in Egypt--to one Potifar, an official in the Pharaoh's court, [specifically] the chief of the executioners.
Medanites: Apparently he was passed off in several trade deals along the way. The Aramaic targum adds, "on that day the exile in Egypt began." (Compare 15:13).
CHAPTER 38
1. Now at just that time, Yehudah went down, away from his brothers, and went to stay with a man from Adullam named Chirah.
2. There Yehudah also saw a daughter of a Kanaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife, and went into her.
"Shua" means "riches".
3. And she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, and named him Er.
Er means "One who call or awakens".
4. Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and named him Onan.
Onan means "vigorous".
5. And yet again she became pregnant and gave birth to another son, and him she named Shelah, and he was at Kh'ziv when she gave birth to him.
Shelah means "prosperous or at ease".
6. Then Yehudah took a wife for his firstborn, Er; her name was Thamar.
Thamar means "a date-palm tree"--one of the most beautiful sights in a dry desert.
7. But Er, Yehudah's firstborn, was evil in the eyes of YHWH, so YHWH killed him.
8. Then Yehudah told Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and marry her, and raise up descendants for your brother."
Such marriage by a brother-in-law later became a requirement (Deut. 25:5) so that each man would have the dignity of an heir even if he died before he died before he could have children. But the patriarchs were already practicing YHWH's instruction before it was required.
9. But Onan knew that the descendants would not be his, so what happened was that whenever he was having relations with his brother's wife, he let his seed go to waste on the ground.
The descendants would not be his: They would be called his brother's, and would take away some of his own children's inheritance. This idea is also mentioned in Ruth 4:6.
10. And what he did was evil in the sight of YHWH, so He made him die also.
11. And Yehudah told Thamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah has grown up"--because he said to himself, "What if he also dies like his brothers?" So Thamar went back and lived in her father's household.
Dies like his brothers: he probably thought she carried a curse.
12. After many years had passed, Yehudah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Yehudah was consoled, he went up with his friend Chirah of Adullam to supervise the sheepshearers.
Afraid to marry his youngest son off for fear of losing him too, Yehudah had no grandchildren.
13. And Thamar was told, "Look! Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his flocks."
14. So she took off her widow's garments, and covered herself with a veil, disguising her identity, and sat down at the entrance to Eynayim, which is on the road to Timnah, since she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
15. When Yehudah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, since she had veiled her face.
16. And he turned aside to her on the roadway, and said, "Come, please, let me go out with you"--because he did not realize that she was his daughter-in-law. But she said, "What will you give me, since you want to go to bed with me?"
17. So he said, "I will send a kid from among the goats in my flock." But she said, "What will you give me as a pledge until you actually send it?"
18. So he said, "What kind of pledge would you like me to give you?" So she said, "Your signet ring, your bracelet, and the staff you have in your hand!" So he gave them to her, and had relations with her, and she became pregnant by him.
The signet, bracelet [or cords or necklace], and staff were marks of identity and station in life. His ring signified what he was connected to; a rod was a symbol of authority, especially Yehudah's, as the kingly son, but a shepherd's staff also had the events of his life recorded on it.
19. Then she got up and left, and took the veil off her face, and put her widow's garb back on.
20. When Yehudah sent the young goat by the hand of his Adullamite friend, in order to receive the pledge [items] back from the woman's hand, he could not find her!
21. So he asked the men of her place, "Where is the prostitute who was by the roadside at Eynayim?" But they said, "There was no prostitute here!"
22. So he returned to Yehudah and said, "I didn't find her! And the men of the place said, 'There's never been a prostitute here'!"
23. So Yehudah said, "Let her keep them for herself, so that we don't become a laughingstock. I really did send this kid, but you couldn't find her."
He gave up his tokens as lost, thinking, "I've done my part. To try any more will only be an embarrassment."
24. But after about three months passed, Yehudah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Thamar has committed adultery, and not only that, she is even pregnant by her whoredom!" So Yehudah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"
25. But as she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, "I am pregnant by a man to whom these things belong." And she said, "Identify, please, whose this signet ring, bracelet, and staff are."
26. When Yehudah looked at them closely, he had to say, "What she did was more right than what I did, because I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he never had relations with her again.
Reminded of his own question to his father about whom Yoseyf's coat belonged to, Yehudah hears his own words in a different way. Now his hard-heartedness is gone, and he treats her with the respect she deserves.
27. When it was time for her delivery, it turned out that there were twins in her womb!
28. And while she was giving birth, what happened was that one baby stuck a hand out, and the midwife grabbed it and tied a piece of crimson thread on his hand, meaning "This one came out first".
29. But he pulled his hand back, and lo and behold, his brother came out! So she said, "With such strength you have asserted yourself! You are responsible for this breaking out!" So he was named Paretz.
Paretz means "one who makes an opening".
30. Then his brother (on whose hand the crimson was tied) came out, and he was named Zarach.
Zarach means "to rise, dawn, or shine out." In this roundabout way, Yehudah's firstborn son did receive an heir. Yehudah's descendant Boaz, in another marriage of this kind, was told (Ruth 4:12), "May your house[hold] be like the house of Paretz, whom Thamar bore to Yehudah, of the seed which YHWH shall give to you from this young woman"--seemingly a strange blessing, considering all that happened here. But, as in the case of Boaz, it was a way by which YHWH made sure the Messianic line could continue after it had been threatened when Yehudah did not let his son's widow have children. The "seed" refers not only to the immediate redemption, but also to the descendant of hers who would fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.
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What YAHWEH Did With a Bad Situation
CHAPTER 39
1. Now after Yoseyf was taken down to Egypt, Potifar, a court official of the Pharaoh (chief of the executioners)--an Egyptian man--had bought him from the Yishma'elites who had made him to go there.
Egypt was then ruled by a line of Semite kings called the Hyksos, and being outsiders like Yoseyf, would be better disposed toward him than the Pharaohs that followed when Egypt was retaken by the original Egyptians (Exodus 1:8). This is why the presence of a court official who was a native Egyptian would need special mention.
2. And YAHWEH was with Yoseyf, and became was a prosperous man, and he was assigned to the house of his master, the Egyptian.
3. And his master noticed that YAHWEH was with him, and that everything which Yoseyf did was prospering in his hand.
4. So Yoseyf found favor in his sight, and he became his assistant, and he appointed him as head over his house, and he put Yoseyf in charge of everything that he owned.
5. And it came about that starting from the time he appointed him over his house and over all that he owned, YAHWEH blessed the Egyptian's household for Yoseyf's sake. So the blessing of YAHWEH was on all that he had, both in the house and in the field.
6. And he left Yoseyf in charge of all that he had; he did not both [to keep track of] anything he had except the bread he was eating.
Egypt is often a symbol of the opposite of Israel, but when Y'shua is given liberty to demonstrate what he can be among them, Gentiles also could come to be blessed in both religious and secular realms. However, the "prostitute" that the Gentiles were married to often tries to use Y'shua for her own purposes:
Now Yoseyf was also both handsome and attractive.
7. And eventually his master’s wife happened to cast her eyes upon Yoseyf and said, "Come to bed with me!"
8. But he refused, telling his master's wife, "Look, my master doesn't worry about anything that is in the house with me, and he has put me in charge of everything that he owns.
9. "No one in this house is higher than I am, and he has not held anything back from me except you, since, after all, you are his wife! So how could I do this horrible evil, and sin against Elohim as well?"
Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if Y'shua is to succeed as the second Adam, there is something he is not to touch--the world of paganism (unfaithfulness to YHWH).
10. But it kept happening. Yet though she spoke the same way to Yoseyf day after day, he did not listen to her and lie beside her, or be with her.
11. So one day she took advantage of the time when he went into the house to do his work, and not a man of the household staff was there in the house:
A detailed house plan found in the tomb of an Egyptian high priest showed that all the storerooms (which Yoseyf had charge of) were all the way in the back of the house, so if he was in the house, he was just doing his job.
12. She caught him by his robe, and said, "Come to bed with me!" But instead he left his robe in her hand, and ran away, going outside.
Yoseyf took literally the command to "run away from sexual sin"! Yoseyf went out of his way to choose the right way, even when it was inconvenient.
13. Then it happened: when she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and fled out into the street,
14. she called for the men of her household and complained to them, "Look! [My husband] has brought us a Hebrew man to make fun of us! He came on to me with such nerve, thinking he could take me to bed, but I screamed.
15. "And when he heard me scream, he ran away and went outside, forgetting that he'd left his robe with me."
16. She kept his robe close by her until his master came back home.
17. Then she told him the same thing: "The Hebrew slave whom you brought in to us came inside where I was, to make fun of me!
18. "But what happened was that when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe beside me and fled outside!"
19. And it worked: when his master heard the argument which his wife put to him, saying, "Your slave did to me everything I said", he became very angry.
Once he did not satisfy the woman, she thought of him as only a slave again.
20. Then Yoseyf's master took him and put him into the prison where the king's own prisoners were held, and he remained there in the prison for a long time.
21. But YAHWEH was with Yoseyf, and extended kindness to him, giving him favor in the eyes of the prison's warden,
22. and the prison warden put Yoseyf in charge of all the prisoners there, and they only did what he ordered them.
23. The warden never investigated anything that was under Yoseyf's authority, seeing that YAHWEH was with him, and that YAHWEH was making everything he did succeed.
CHAPTER 40
1. And after these things it happened that the king of Egypt's cupbearer and baker transgressed against their masterâ€â€against the very king of Egypt himself.
A cupbearer is the one responsible for making sure the king's food had not been poisoned.
2. And the Pharaoh was angry with both of his officersâ€â€for they were the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers.
Bread represents Y’shua’s Body when it is united (1 Cor. 10:17), and wine sometimes represents joy and sometimes blood.
3. And he put them in custody in the prison-house of the chief executioner's householdâ€â€the place where Yoseyf was in jail.
The chief executioner: possibly Potifar himself. This might be why Yoseyf was given authority, though imprisoned; Potifar knew he was innocent.
4. And the chief of the executioners assigned Yoseyf to them, and he waited on them, and they stayed in his ward for a certain number of days.
Like Y’shua, we see him held captive by the Gentiles, yet still having authority, yet understanding the need to serve both the keeper of the bread and the keeper of the wine. Y’shua Himself said the leaders among His people must be servants. (Mat. 20:25ff) Because he chose to serve the community and the joy of YHWH, he deserved the way he would be treated later. (cf. Phil. 2:5-11)
5. And they each had a dream, both on the same night, each with the same symbolism as the other's dreamâ€â€the cupbearer and the baker who worked for the king of Egypt, and who were incarcerated in the prison.
6. When Yoseyf came to them in the morning, he looked at them, and, behold, they looked very worried!
7. So he asked the officers of Pharaoh who were with him in custody in the house of his master, "Why are your faces so unhappy today?"
8. And they told him, "We have each had a dream, and there is no one to interpret them." But Yoseyf asked, "Don't interpretations belong to Elohim? Please tell me the dreams!"
Elohim interprets dreams, and he knew Elohim was with him.
9. So the chief of the cupbearers recounted his dream for Yoseyf. He told him, "In my dream, here before me was a vine.
10. "And the vine was made up of three branches. As soon as it budded, out came its blossoms, and its clusters ripened into grapes.
As soon as it budded, out came its blossoms: this is more quickly than usual.
11. "And the Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I put the cup in the palm of Pharaoh's hand."
12. Then Yoseyf told him, "This is the interpretation: the three branchesâ€â€these represent three days.
13. "Within another three days, the Pharaoh will lift up your head and give you back your job, and you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
Lift up your head: release or forgive you.
14. "But remember me along with yourself, when it is again going well for you, and please do me this kindness: mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house--
15. "because I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I have not done anything here either that justified their putting me in the dungeon."
Y'shua did not willingly leave his brothers, nor did he intend to go into "Egypt"; he did nothing wrong. But he bloomed where he was planted and made the best of the Gentile world, improving it in many ways, just like Yoseyf.
16. Now when the chief of bakers saw that the interpretation was agreeable, he told Yoseyf, "In my dream I also saw three baskets of white bread on top of my head,
17. "and in the top basket, samples of all kinds of foods to be served to Pharaoh--all the work of a baker. But the birds were eating them from the basket on top of my head."
Birds: often a picture of unclean spirits (Mat. 13:32), and often seen in the Bible eating the flesh of evil people.
18. So Yoseyf answered and said, "This is its interpretation: the three baskets represent three days.
19. "Within another three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from off of you."
His head would be lifted up in a different way.
20. And so it happened: on the third day (which was Pharaoh's birthday) he prepared a feast for all his courtiers, and he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and chief baker along with his servants,
Birthday: every time birthdays appear in Scripture, they are related to pagan rulers or bad things happen. This does not mean they are always bad, but it shows that it is not a high priority to YHWH that His Son's birthday be celebrated. On the third day, Y'shua was raised from the dead, just as this man was taken from the underground prison.
21. and he gave the chief cupbearer back his job, and he once again put the cup in Pharaoh's hand;
22. but he hanged the chief of the bakers.
The highest ruler destroyed the one who did not take care of his bread. But with the counterfeit out of the way, a true "preserver of the bread" was waiting in the prison to take his place. Some people will be raised from the dead only to be judged and punished.
23. But the chief of cupbearers did not remember Yoseyf, but forgot about him.
CHAPTER 41
1. But what did happen was that at the end of two years to the day, the Pharaoh had a dream, and there he was standing by the [Nile] River.
2. And, lo and behold! Up came seven cows out of the River--all beautiful and healthy in appearance, and they were eating among the reeds.
3. But then, up came seven other cows out of the River, ugly and thin, and they stood beside the cows that were already on the bank of the River.
4. Then the ugly, thin cows started eating the beautiful, healthy cows! And then Pharaoh woke up.
5. But he fell asleep [again] and dreamt for a second time: and lo and behold, seven ears of grain were sprouting on a single stalk--plentiful and healthy.
6. But suddenly seven ears of grain, wispy and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up behind them,
7. and the seven lean ears swallowed up the seven healthy, full ears. Then Pharaoh woke up, and, lo and behold, it had been a dream.
8. Yet in the morning he still felt upset [about it], so he sent someone to call all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh related to them his dream, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
Scribes: engravers of hieroglyphics, so they were expected to understand the symbolism of dreams.
9. Then the chief of the cupbearers spoke up in Pharaoh's presence, saying, "Today I must confess my shortcoming.
10. "Once Pharaoh was angry with his courtiers, and put me in the custody of the house of the chief executioner--both me and the chief of the bakers.
11. "And he and I both had a dream on the same night, and we each dreamed with the same symbols that appeared in each other's dream.
12. "And there was a young Hebrew there with us, a slave of the chief executioner. And we related our dreams to him, and he interpreted them for us--just what each of us dreamed.
13. "And it turned out that just as he had interpreted to us, so it came aboutâ€â€he put me back in my position, but hanged him."
14. So Pharaoh sent and had Yoseyf called for, and they hurried to bring him out of the dungeon. And he shaved and changed his clothing, and came to appear before Pharaoh.
Shaved: a disgrace to a Hebrew unless he had been a leper or was ending the period of a Nazir's vow--which also involved the changing of clothes. It was not his normal custom. But shaving one's head was the custom among Egyptians because there were so many lice in Egypt.
15. Then Pharaoh told Yoseyf, "I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that if you hear a dream you can interpret it."
16. But Yoseyf answered Pharaoh by saying, "[It is] not something that remains in me! But Elohim will grant Pharaoh a complete answer."
17. So Pharaoh told Yoseyf, "In my dream, there I was, standing on the River's edge,
18. "and lo and behold, seven cows were coming up from the River, healthy and beautiful, and were eating among the reeds,
The Egyptians worshiped cows, just like many people in India today, so they would let them go wherever they wanted, even in the river they drank from.
19. "when, suddenly, seven other cows came up after them, weak and very ugly and thin; I have never seen any in Egypt that were as ugly as they were!
20. "And these cows (the skinny and ugly ones) ate the first seven cows (the fat ones)!
21. "And though they went into their stomachs, there was no sign that they had entered their stomachs; they looked as bad as before. Then I woke up.
22. "Then again I saw in my dreaming that seven ears of grain were growing up on a single stalk, full and healthy.
23. "But, lo and behold, seven ears that were withered and burned by the east wind sprouted up after them,
24. "and the lean ears were swallowing up the seven good ears! Then I told it to my scribes, but no one is telling me what it means!"
Seven ears on a single stalk looks like a menorah with its seven branches.
25. Then Yoseyf answered Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one and the same: The Elohim has granted to Pharaoh disclosure of what He is about to do!
26. "The seven good cows represent seven years; the seven plentiful ears also announce seven years. It is really [just] one dream.
27. "And as for the seven scrawny cows that came up after them--they represent seven years; the seven empty stalks burned by the east wind, too, are seven years of famine.
28. "This is the message I have been given to relay to Pharaoh; I repeat, Elohim has warned Pharaoh about what He is going to do:
29. "Note it well! Seven years of great plenty are coming for the whole land of Egypt,
30. "then after them will come seven years of famine, so terrible even that all the plenty of the land will be forgotten, and the famine will consume the land.
31. "The years of plenty will not even be remembered, in the face of what followsâ€â€it will be that bad.
32. "In addition, the fact that the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice means that the matter has been finally decided on by Elohim, and Elohim is hurrying to bring it about.
It takes two witnesses who agree before something can be considered true. Unlike Yonah's prophecy to Nin'veh, once Yahweh had made this decision, it could not be changed.
33. "So now, let Pharaoh look for a man who is intelligent and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34. "Let Pharaoh take action, and let him appoint over the land men who can be trusted, and take one fifth of the [produce of the] land as tax during the seven years of plenty,
35. "and let them gather all the food from these good years that are coming, and let them stockpile grain and store food in the cities under the Pharaoh's oversight.
In the cities: so it would require less energy to distribute it when the people were weakened by the coming famine.
36. "And let the food be an appointed reserve for the land toward the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt; thus you will prevent the land from being cut off by the famine."
37. And the message was acceptable in the opinion of Pharaoh and everyone in his court.
38. So Pharaoh said to the people in his court, "Could we find any other man like this one, in whom there is the spirit of Elohim?"
39. Then Pharaoh addressed Yoseyf: "Since Elohim has taught you all this, there is no one as wise and intelligent as you.
He was saying, "Since you yourself have come up with the plan, you should be the one to lead."
40. "You shall be over my own household, and whenever you say so, all my people will kiss your hand. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.
This foreshadows the ceremony of the crowning of the king in Psalm 2, where the Father establishes the Son's throne. Like Yoseyf, Y'shua is second in authority only to the Father; otherwise, "all authority in heaven and earth are given" to Him by Another (Matt. 28:18). He sits at the Father's right hand and even on His throne, because he overcame (Rev. 3:21).
41. Furthermore, Pharaoh told Yoseyf, "Behold, I have set you over the entire land of Egypt."
As with Yoseyf, even the Gentiles (or more properly, the Northern Kingdom, which left the Covenant and made themselves Gentiles) have also set Y'shua over themselves as well, though often without understanding all that this means.
42. And Pharaoh took his ring off his finger and put it on Yoseyf's, and he clothed him with fine white garments [Luk. 9:29], and put a golden necklace around his neck,
Signet ring: the symbol of absolute authority to seal decrees in the king's name. He was dressed exactly as Pharaoh would be dressed--a prototype of Y'shua, who said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father". For all practical purposes, Yoseyf "was" Pharaoh, yet he was not, even as to us Y'shua "is YHWH", yet he is distinct from and submits to the Father. (1 Cor. 15:24ff) YHWH says that it is to Him that every knee shall bow (Yeshayahu/Isa. 45:23), yet he has been pleased to allow every knee to bow to the Son as well (Phil. 2:5-11), and it does not take away from His glory.
43. and he paraded him in a chariot that was second to his own, and they went before him, crying, "Bow the knee!" Thus he set him over the whole land of Egypt.
Bow the knee: The word is "abrekh!", possibly related to the Hebrew word for "kneel" and "bless". But the word has persisted in Egypt until today. When British Lord Kitchener visited there, Arab runners went before him with swords in their hands shouting "Abrekh!"--"Look out!"
44. And Pharaoh said to Yoseyf, "I am Pharaoh, but without a 'go-ahead' from you, not a man shall lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt!"
Lift his hand: to mount on weapons; his foot: to get on a horse. Like Y'shua, he only exercised this power for the purpose of salvation and preparation for the future, not personal luxury.
45. And Pharaoh called Yoseyf by the name Tzaf'nath-Paaneach, and he gave him As'nath the daughter of Potifera, priest of On, as a wife. Thus Yoseyf came out in charge over the land of Egypt.
Tzaf'nath-Paaneach: "The god speaks and He lives" or (according to one Egyptologist) "food man of life" in Egyptian; to the Gentiles this is indeed the emphasis that was placed on Y'shua. He is to see to it that they do not
starve. The same name means "he who explains what is hidden" in Hebrew. And indeed, the mysterious/"deeper meaning" sense of everything in the Torah speaks of him. People appointed to a high position were often give a new name (Num. 13:16; Dan. 1:6; Phil. 2:9. It also helped hide his Hebrew identity--the same thing that would happen to Y'shua. "On" is from the word for sun--probably Heliopolis, "City of the Sun" near Cairo; or Tanis.
46. Now Yoseyf was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Yoseyf left Pharaoh's presence and moved freely about the whole land of Egypt.
47. And the land produced by handfuls in the seven years of plenty.
48. And he gathered a supply of every kind of food produced by the seven years which came upon the land of Egypt, and he stationed food in the cities. The produce of the fields that surrounded each city he placed in the middle of the city.
49. And Yoseyf heaped up grain like the sand of the seashore--extremely much--until he stopped counting it, because there is no number that high.
Like the sand of the seashore: This is like the promise to Avraham, where the sand refers to his descendants. And now Yoseyf (whose name means to add or to gather) was going to help that promise come true through his children, who would have millions of descendants:
50. And two sons were born to Yoseyf prior to the year of the famine's onset, whom As'nath the daughter of Potifera, priest of On, bore to him.
51. And Yoseyf named the firstborn Menashe ["He who causes to forget"]--because", he said, "Elohim has made me forget all my hardship, and my father's household."
There was no longer any sadness connected with the memories of his old home. He still remembered his home, or he would not have talked about it like this. But the Body of Y'shua, however, all but forgot its roots.
52. And the second son he named Efrayim ["doubly fruitful"]--"because Elohim has made me fruitful in the land where I was [once] miserable!"
53. When the seven years of plenty which were upon the land had come to an end,
54. it became noticeable that the seven years of famine had begun, just as Yoseyf had said they would. And the famine extended to all countries, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.
Famine was very uncommon in Egypt (v. 19), especially in that time when even much of the Sahara was fruitful land.
55. But when all the people of the land of Egypt became hungry, they cried out to Pharaoh for food. So Pharaoh told all of Egypt, "Go to Yoseyf, and do whatever he tells you."
Yoseyf was more familiar with suffering, since he had been a slave and a prisoner. It is the same with Y'shua:, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, because he is a son of man" (Yochanan 5:22ff). He is
more experienced in what it is like to wrestle with human temptations. (Hebrews 5:1-9)
56. And the famine had its effect on the face of the whole earth, so Yoseyf opened all the granaries, and he sold [grain] to the Egyptians. Then the famine grew very bad in the land of Egypt.
Grain or bread is a picture of Y'shua. (Yochanan 6:51). He tells us to "buy from him" the proper garments that can really last through the hardest times. (Revelation 3:18) CLothing is a picture of our actions, whether we do what is right or what is wrong.
57. The whole world also came to Egypt--to Yoseyf himself--to buy food, because the famine was so bad all over the earth.
Again Yoseyf is a picture of Y'shua, whose salvation is available not only to His countrymen, but the world--but everyone must come through Him to receive the supplies. Yoseyf's descendants have also received provision for the rest of Israel. Y'shua uses a harvest of grain to describe the people He wants to gather out of "Egypt", which is a picture of the world and also the church once it became corrupted by the ways of the world.
57. The whole world also came to Egypt--to Yoseyf himself--to buy food, because the famine was severe all over the earth.
Again Yoseyf is a picture of Y'shua, whose salvation is available not only to His countrymen, but the world--but everyone must come through Him to receive the supplies. Yoseyf's descendants have also received provision for the rest of Israel. Y'shua uses a harvest of grain to describe the people He wants to gather out of "Egypt", which is a picture of the world and also the church once it became corrupted by the ways of the world.
CHAPTER 42
1. Then Yaaqov found out that there was grain available in Egypt. So Yaaqov said to his sons, "Why are you just sitting here looking at one another?"
2. Then he explained, "Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt! Go down there and buy something for us from there, so we can survive instead of dying!"
3. So Yoseyf's brothers (ten of them) went down to buy grain from Egypt,
4. but Yaaqov did not send Binyamin, Yoseyf's brother, with his half-brothers, because he said, "What if he gets hurt?"
5. So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy [from Yoseyf], because the famine had reached the land of Kanaan as well.
6. Now Yoseyf was the one with power over the land; he was the one selling to all the people of the earth, and Yoseyf's brothers came and bowed down to him, their faces to the earth.
They bowed down to him just as he had dreamed, but not all of them were here yet.
7. And Yoseyf saw his brothers, and recognized them, but acted as if he were a stranger to them: he spoke harsh words to them, demanding from them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Kanaan--to buy food!"
Perhaps he acted meanly to test them and see whether they had changed. He could have chosen to take revenge for their harsh words.
8. And while Yoseyf recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
He was dressed like an Egyptian. He did not look like a Hebrew. Today the tribes of Yehudah, Levi, and Binyamin (those living in the Land of Israel now) do not usually recognize their brothers who have been among the Gentiles, but there is a reason for this delay, just as there was for Yoseyf.
9. Then Yoseyf remembered the dreams that he had dreamed concerning them. Then he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable the land is!"
In his strong desire to reunite with them, Yoseyf still did not treat his brothers too kindly, though they had remained with their father, because he had something they badly needed. His descendants today have the key to Yehudah's rescue. Here Yoseyf tests them and pushes them to become more of who they really were meant to be, just as our observance of Torah is designed to do for the Jews and others who are Israelite but do not know it.
10. But they told him, "No, my master! Your servants have only come to buy food!
11. "We are all the sons of one man; we are honest! Your servants are not spies!"
12. But he said to them, "No, you have come rather to spy out the vulnerability of the land."
13. But they replied, "Your servants were twelve; we are brothers, sons of but one man in the land of Kanaan; the youngest is back there with our father right now, and the other one is no more."
14. Then Yoseyf said to them, "That is why I told you that you were spies!
He gave them a hint that he himself was the reason he was treating them so harshly, but they did not notice.
15. "So by this you will be tested: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave here unless your younger brother comes here.
16. "Send one among yourselves and let him bring your brother, and let the rest of you be held hostage. Let your words be proven this way, to see if truth is with you. But if you won't--then as surely as Pharaoh lives, [you'll be admitting] you are spies."
17. So he kept them under supervision together for three days,
18. And on the third day, Yoseyf told them: "Do this and you will live (because I do respect Elohim):
19. "If you are honest, let one of your brothers be held in the prison-house, and you go bring rations of grain to relieve the hunger of your households.
20. "And all of you bring your youngest brother back to me, and thus let your words be proven true, and you shall not die." So that is what they did.
21. And they said to each other, "We are truly guilty on account of our brother, on whom we looked when he was in distress, when he pleaded with us, but we wouldn't listen. That's why this distress has come upon us!"
Notice the parallel with the distress of Y'shua's soul in Yeshayau/Isaiah 53:11-12.
22. And Reuven responded to them, saying, "Didn't I tell you? Didn't I say, 'Don't do wrong to the lad'? But you wouldn't listen! And now repayment for his blood is being required of us!"
Reuven was not there when Yoseyf was sold, and may have never even been told what they actually did to him, thinking they actually killed him as they had planned. But at least he is now getting the hint from verse 14. Now he sees that his brothers do remember him, at least, and count him as one of them. He does not even consider revealing who he is until he hears a confession of guilt.
23. But they did not realize that Yoseyf understood them, because they were communicating between him and themselves through an interpreter.
People often do noth think of "Jesus" as a practicing Jew. But once his words are placed back in their natural Hebraic context, their meaning becomes much easier to understand.
24. And he turned away from them and cried, then came back and spoke to them. Then he picked Shim'on and tied him up before their eyes.
25. Then, at Yoseyf's command, their containers were filled with grain, and their money returned--each in the right sack--and he gave them provisions for the journey. One of his servants did all this for them.
26. So they loaded their grain on their donkeys, and left.
27. But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at their lodging stop, he noticed his money right there in the mouth of his sack!
28. And he told his brothers, "My money has been given back! Right here in my sack! See for yourselves!" Their hearts sank, and they were terrified, each saying to his brother, "What is this that Elohim has done to us?"
29. Then they came to their father Yaaqov in the land of Kanaan and told him all that had happened to them. They said,
30. "The man who is the ruler of the land spoke harsh words to us, and thought we were there to spy out the land!
31. "But we told him, 'We are not spies! Honest!'
32. "'We are twelve brothers, all sons of one father; the one is no more, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Kanaan right now.'
33. "But the man--the ruler of the land--told us, 'I will know that you are honest by this: leave one of your brothers with me, and take your provisions for the famine for those in your households, and go,
34. "'but bring your youngest brother back to me, so that I can be sure that you are not spies, but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you will be free to move around and trade in the land.'"
35. But then it happened: as they were unloading their sacks, lo and behold, each one's money was in his sack, and they--along with their father--saw their bundles of money, and they were terrified.
36. And their father Yaaqov said to them, "You have taken away [my children]! Yoseyf is no more, and Shim'on is not here anymore, and now you want to take Binyamin! All of these things are happening against me!"
Yaaqov shows that he knows his sons had something to do with Yoseyf no longer being with him.
37. So Reuven told his father, "You may personally kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put me in charge of him, and I will bring him back to you."
38. But Yaaqov said, "No! My son must not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he is all I have left! If any harm should come to him on the road you take, you would bring my gray hair down to the grave in sadness."
He considered Rachel to be his only true wife. He had already lost her elder son, Yoseyf. Yet to them it must sound as if none of the rest of them count to him.
CHAPTER 43
1. But the famine grew much worse in the Land,
2. so, when they had used up all the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father told them, "Go back and buy a little food for us."
3. But Yehudah spoke to him, saying, "The man sternly warned us [repeatedly], saying, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'
4. "If you have it within you to send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5. "But if you are not sending him, we will not go down, because the man told us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you'!"
6. Then Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly by even telling the man you had another brother?"
We do not have to tell everything we know, especially to strangers or when it puts someone else in danger.
7. But they said, "The man kept asking us detailed questions about ourselves and our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?' All we did was answer such direct questions as these! How could we have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?"
8. And Yehudah told his father Israel, "Send the young man with me, and let us set out and be going, so that we may survive and not die--both we and you and our little ones!
Israel: Now the man of the spirit, not the natural man (Yaaqov), is listening.
9. "I myself will be the guarantee for him; you may require him from my own hand. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will be responsible to you all the days of my life--
10. "because if we had not waited so long because of this, we could easily have been there and back twice already!"
Yaaqov finally realizes that there is no way around sending Binyamin, as a test of faith of the same type his grandfather Avraham experienced when he was called to sacrifice Yitzhaq. Yehudah, who knows what it is like to lose two sons, finally persuades him to entrust Binyamin to him, promising to repay him if anything went wrong. In the same way, for 2,000 years, the tribe of Binyamin has been under the protectorate of the Jews (Yehudah) in a way none of the other tribes except Levi have been.
11. So their father Israel said to them, "If that is how it must be, then do this: take some of the [best] produce of the land in your containers, and bring a present down to the manâ€â€a little ointment, a little honey, some spices,
myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds,
So they did have food after all--and rather luxurious types, too. This shows how important grain was to them. Each grain represents one of the individual people who make up the "one bread", so if one is missing, the community is not complete, as Yaaqov knew. He is now thinking about the fact that not only himself but the whole community must be preserved.
12. "and take double the money in your hand, and also take back the money they returned in the mouths of your sacks, in case it was just a mistake!
Double the money: he is paying back extra since it would seem like they had stolen the money, although they really had not.
13. "Take your brother, too, and get up; go back to the man,
14. "and may El Shaddai grant you mercy in the man's eyes, and may He send you back along with your other brother and Binyamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved!"
In other words, "If we starve here, I'll lose him anyway." He'll die one way or the other. Yet only if Binyamin left could the whole house of Israel be saved.
15. So the men took this present, and a double amount of silver in their hands, and Binyamin as well, and they rose up and went to Egypt and stood before Yoseyf.
16. When Yoseyf saw Binyamin with them, he told the one in charge of his house, "Bring these men into the house, slaughter lots [of animals], and prepare a feast, because the men are to eat with me at noon."
17. So the man did as Yoseyf said, and brought the men into Yoseyf's house.
18. And the men were afraid when they were taken right to Yoseyf's house. They guessed, "It must be because of the silver that was returned to our sacks last time that we are being brought in, so he can seek a reason to blame us, then overpower us and take us as slaves--and our donkeys too!"
Overpower us: because he would have more guards in his own house to arrest them all.
19. So they approached the man who was in charge of Yoseyf's house and spoke to him at the door to the house,
20. saying, "Please, my master, we really had come down the first time to buy food,
21. "but it happened, when we got to the place where we were spending the night and opened our sacks, there was each one's money in the mouth of his sack--our silver in the exact amount [we had paid]!
22. So we have brought more silver in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our bags!"
23. But he said, "Calm down. Don't be afraid; your Elohim and the Elohim of your father must have hidden a treasure in your sacks Himself, [because] I received your payment." Then he brought Shim'on out to them.
24. Then the man brought the men into Yoseyf's house, and he furnished water, and they washed their feet. And he gave their donkeys something to eat.
Washed their feet: a customary form of hospitality in a dusty land. Like Rivqah, he cares for their animals also.
25. So they got their present ready for Yoseyf's arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat a meal there.
26. When Yoseyf came into the house, they brought him the gift they had carried with them into the house, and they bowed themselves to the ground in front of him.
Now all of his brothers had fulfilled his dream--but not his father or mother; that is still to come.
27. Then he asked them about their welfare, and said, "Is your father well--the old man you told [me] about? Is he still alive?"
28. And they said, "Yes, your servant, our father, is well; he is still alive." And they fell down and bowed themselves [in respect] in front of him again.
29. Then he looked up and recognized Binyamin, the son of his own mother. So he said, "Is this your 'little' brother, about whom you told me?" And he said, "May Elohim be gracious to you, my son."
Binyamin is called a "little" brother--though he already had ten children himself! (46:2)
30. But Yoseyf hurried out, because his feelings were deeply stirred toward his brother, and he was looking for a place where he could [go and] shed tears. So he went into the inner room and cried there.
31. Then he washed the tears off his face and went back out, having regained his composure, and said, "Set out the bread!"
Bread is a picture of everyone being united, so even though there was a big feast, the most important thing to them all was bread.
32. Now they served him by himself, and served the Egyptians who were eating with them separately as well, because the Egyptians could not bear to eat with the Hebrews, since it was considered a horrible thing in Egypt.
A horrible thing: The Hebrews ate cattle and sheep, which the Egyptians worshiped. (Exodus 8:25)
33. But they were seated in front of him, from the firstborn (according to his rank) to the youngest, each in order by his age. And the men looked at each other with astonishment.
34. Then he had someone give them servings from his own table, and Binyamin's portion was five times bigger than the portions served to all the rest of them! And they drank as much as they wanted with him.
Portions from his own table: This was a customary way of honoring special guests. Fifteen portions were served in all, in addition to Yoseyf's.
CHAPTER 44
1. Then he gave orders to the man who had been appointed manager of his palace. He said, "Fill these men's bags with food, as much as they are able to carry, and put each man's money inside his bag.
As much as they are able: another example of Yoseyf's generosity in spite of the way they treated him.
2. "And also put my drinking cup--the silver one--inside the youngest one's bag, along with the money for his grain." So he did exactly what Yoseyf had told him to do.
3. At the first light of morning, the men were sent off, along with their donkeys.
4. After they left the city, they had not gotten very far, when Yoseyf said to the man in charge over his palace, "Rise up and chase after the men. Catch up with them, and ask them, 'Why have you repaid [us with] evil when [we treated you] rightly?
After they left the city: i.e., just when they thought their troubles were finally over.
5. "'Isn't this the cup that my master is used to drinking from? He also regularly uses it to help him make decisions! You have done evil by doing this!'"
Tradition says Yoseyf had made it look like this cup had shown him the ages of his brothers when he decided where they would sit at the feast.
6. So he caught up with them, and said these words to them.
7. But they said to him, "Why should our master say such things? It would be a terrible thing for your servants to do what you have said!
8. "We even brought the money that we found in our bags back to you--all the way from the land of Kanaan! So why would we steal either silver or gold from your master's palace?
9. "Anyone among your servants with whom you find it with will have to die for it! And the rest of us will also become slaves to my master."
10. So he said, "Let it be as you have said, [except that only] the one it is found with will become my slave, and the rest of you will be considered innocent."
11. So each of them quickly lowered his bag to the ground and opened it.
12. And he looked in the oldest one's bag first, and the youngest one's last--and the cup was found in Binyamin's bag!
13. Then they tore their clothes, and each of them reloaded his donkey and they all returned to the city.
Tore their clothes: a common Hebrew way to show that something as terrible as death has happened, and that they are very upset.
14. When Yehudah and his brothers came into Yoseyf's palace, he was still there, and they fell to the ground in front of him.
Interestingly, Yehudah is again seen as the leader, though Reuven was the eldest.
15. Then Yoseyf said to them, "What have you done? Didn't you know a man like me would be able to tell what happened through magic?"
16. Then Yehudah said, "What can we say, my master? How can we even speak, and how could we ever pretend we were really innocent? The Elohim has caught your servants for what they did wrong. Look, we are slaves to my master--both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found."
He was actually referring to their earlier guilt for having sold Yoseyf, but did not think he would know about that.
17. But he said, "I hope I would never do anything like that! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave; the rest of you go back up to your father in peace!"
Go back up: even this "Egyptian" calls returning to Israel "going up". But they did not catch the hint. He also said that innocent men should not have to pay for others' guilt to remind them of what they had done to him. He makes it so hard for them to try to push them to really act like brothers who are loyal to each other.
18. But Yehudah came forward and said to him, "O my master, please let your servant speak a word in the hearing of my master, and do not become angry with your servant, because you are just like Pharaoh himself.
Yoseyf is LIKE Pharaoh. Yochanan/John 14:9 tells us that Y’shua, the Son, is not YHWH the Father, but everything that can be humanly known about the Father is visible in Y'shua. Anything that could be seen of Him was revealed by Him who was His "image". (Col. 1:15)
19. "My master asked his servants, 'Do you have a brother or father?'
20. "And we told my master, 'We have a very old father, and a young boy born to him in his old age; his brother is dead, and only he is left from his mother, and his father loves him [best].'
21. "Then you told your servants, 'Bring him down to me, and let me lay eyes on him.'
22. "But we said to my master, 'The young man cannot leave his father; for if he did leave, his father would die.'
23. "Yet you said to your servants, 'If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24. "So when we had gone back up to your servant, our father, we really did tell him what my master said.
25. "When our father said, 'Go back and buy us a little food',
26. "we told him, 'We can't go down there, because we can't show up in front of the man if our youngest brother is not with us!'
27. "So your servant, our father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two children,
28. "'and the one is gone from me, and I said, "He must have been torn to pieces for sure!" And I still have not seen him since.'
29. "And if you take this one from before my face too, you will bring my gray hair down to the grave in sadness!'
30. "So now, if I come back to your servant, my father, and the young man is not with us, since his life is tied to the young man's,
31. "when he sees that the boy is missing, he will die, and your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to the grave with sadness--
Yehudah himself had lost two sons, and could truly know how his father would feel.
32. "for your servant was also the one who guaranteed to our father [that he would return safely]; I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will carry the guilt before my father forever!'
Bear the guilt: literally, "sin" or "miss the mark"; i.e., his father would never consider him an "on-track" man.
33. "So please let your servant stay as a slave in place of the young man, and let the young man go back up with his brothers!
Yehudah lays down his life for his brother--just as his descendant Y'shua did. This earned him the right for his descendants to be the kings of Israel.
34. "Because how could I ever go back to my father without the young man? I can't bear to see how bad it would be for my father!"
Now Yoseyf sees that Yehudah has changed from being willing to make money from his brother's injury to being willing to give up his own freedom to spare his brother and father their own pain. This selflessness makes Yoseyf realize that they are now ready to know who he is.
CHAPTER 45
1. Then Yoseyf could no longer control himself in front of those who stood near him, so he called out, "Let every man go away from before me!" (That is why no man stood with him when Yoseyf made himself known to his brothers.)
No attendants remained in his presence.
2. Then he began to cry so loudly that the Egyptians heard, and even Pharaoh's household heard it.
3. And Yoseyf said to his brothers, "I am Yoseyf! Is my father still healthy?" And his brothers were so shaken up at his being there that they could not [even] answer him.
Healthy: literally, "alive", but they had already told him he was. Or we could read it, "Is he really still alive (after all these years)?" They were also shaken up because he had so much power, and if he wanted to get even with them for what they had done, what could they do?
4. So Yoseyf said, "Won't you please come close to me?" So they came near. Then he said [it] again, "I am your brother Yoseyf--the one whom you sold into Egypt!
5. "But now, don't be distressed, nor reproach yourselves for having sold me here, because it was Elohim who sent me here--to preserve life,
6. " because the famine has been in the midst of the land for two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
Thus this is 22 years after they sold him.
7. "So Elohim sent me on ahead of you to insure a means for your survival in the Land, and to keep alive for you [the possibility of] a great deliverance.
8. "So, you see, you are not the ones who sent me here; Elohim is. And He has stationed me as a 'father' to Pharaoh, a master in all of his household, and a governor in the entire land of Egypt.
Here the word "father" means "one who takes care of him". This is why one of the titles for Y'shua (Imanu-El) is "the eternal father". (Yeshayahu 7:14; 9:6)
9. "Hurry and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Yoseyf says: "Elohim has positioned me as master over all of Egypt. Come down to me right away!
10. "'"And you can live in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me--you and your sons, the sons of your sons, and your flocks and herds, and everything you have!
Goshen: Egypt's best pastureland, east of the Nile River delta.
11. "'"And I will feed you there (because there are still five years of famine left), or else you will lose everything--you and your whole household, and everything that belongs to you."'
12. "Now let your eyes look, along with the eyes of my brother Binyamin! See that it is my mouth speaking to you.
13. "Then tell my father about all the honor given to me in Egypt, and all that you've seen--but hurry and bring my father down here!"
14. Then he hugged his brother Binyamin and cried, and Binyamin cried on his neck.
15. And he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them—and afterwards his brothers talked with him.
They were not afraid of him anymore.
16. Then the report came to Pharaoh's palace: "Yoseyf's brothers have come!" And [this news] pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
YHWH will also be pleased when all of Y'shua's brothers arrive in His house together. (Romans 11:15)
17. Then Pharaoh said to Yoseyf, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this: load your animals and leave for the land of Kanaan without waiting,
18. "'and bring your father and your households, and come back, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the best [produce] of the land.
19. "'And you are ordered to do this! Take for yourselves wagons from the land of Egypt, to carry your little ones and your wives, then get your father and come!
20. "'And don't worry about [leaving behind] your equipment, for all the best of the land of Egypt is yours!'"
All the best of Egypt was finally brought along when the Israelites left Egypt many years later, even though they were enslaved in the meantime.
21. So the sons of Israel did so. So, with Pharaoh's "go-ahead", Yoseyf gave them wagons, as well as food for the journey.
22. He gave each of them suits of clothing fit for dignified men, but to Binyamin he gave 300 pieces of silver, and five changes of clothing!
Changes of clothing: something more suitable to wear before the king (Zech. 3:4; Rev. 3:5; 6:11). This is like the Hebrew tradition where the host of a wedding feast provided garments in advance to those who were invited, and expecting that they would be worn (Matt. 22).
23. And to his father he sent the same and more: ten donkeys bearing the delicacies of Egypt, ten female donkeys carrying grain and bread, and food for his father while on the journey.
24. And he sent his brothers off. When they left, he told them, "Don't quarrel on the way!"
He uses a bit of humor to show that he still remembered their tendencies.
25. So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Yaaqov in the land of Kanaan.
26. And they reported to him, "Yoseyf is still alive! And not only that, he's the ruler in all the land of Egypt!" But his heart froze up, because he did not believe them.
They had lied to him before, so he thought they were either joking or had gone crazy.
27. So they told him all that Yoseyf had told them to say, and when he saw the wagons that Yoseyf had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Yaaqov revived,
28. And Israel said, "This is too much! [But if] my son Yoseyf is still alive, I must go and see him before I die!"
Israel: he is now speaking from his "new self".
CHAPTER 46
1. So Israel and everyone who belonged to him left. And when he came to Be'er-Sheva, he offered up sacrifices to the Elohim of his father Yitzhaq.
To Be'er-Sheva: to renew the covenant of his fathers and their connection with the land to show that they were not leaving forever. Israel will again be taken out of the Land during the time of "Yaaqov's trouble", but only for a short time. (Yirmeyahu 30:7)
2. Then Elohim spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and He said, "Yaaqov! Yaaqov!" So he answered, "Here I am!"
3. And He said, " I am El, the Elohim of your fathers. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt, because that is where I will make a great nation of you.
Go down: any place other than Israel is a "lower" place spiritually.
4. "I Myself will go down with you into Egypt, but I will also certainly bring you back, and Yoseyf will put his hand on your eyes.
In other words, the one you thought was dead will live longer than you and be the one to close your eyes when you die.
5. So Yaaqov set out from Be'er-Sheva, and the sons of Israel transported their father Yaaqov, and their little ones and wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6. And they took their livestock and their property, which they had acquired in the land of Kanaan, and they came to Egypt—Yaaqov and all his descendants with him:
Although Yoseyf had said they would have better things in Egypt, the wealth of "Egypt", no matter how beautiful, can never make up for what Yahweh has given Yaaqov from His Land.
7. His sons and the sons of his sons were with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters (and all his descendants) he brought with him into the land of Egypt.
8. Now these are the names of the children of Israel—those who came into Egypt—Yaaqov and his sons:
Yaaqov's firstborn was Re'uven,
9. And Re'uven's sons were:
Chanokh [dedicated],
Pallu [distinguished],
Hetzron [surrounded by a wall], and
Karmi [my vineyard].
10. The sons of Shim'on:
Yemu'el [Elohim's day],
Yamin [right hand],
Ohad [united],
Yachin [he will establish],
Tzochar [tawny, reddish], and
Sha'ul [desired] (the son of a Kanaanite concubine).
11. The sons of Levi:
Gershon [exile or stranger],
Q'hath [assembly], and
Merari [my bitterness].
12. The sons of Yehudah:
Er [awake],
Onan [strong],
Shelah [a petition],
Paretz [breach], and
Zarach [rising].
(But Er, Onan, and Shelah had died in the land of Kanaan.)
The sons of Paretz:
Hetzron [surrounded by a wall] and
Chamul [spared].
13. The sons of Yissachar:
Tola [scarlet],
Puwah [splendid],
Yov [persecuted], and
Shimron [watchman].
14. The sons of Z'vulun:
Sered [fear],
Elon [mighty oak], and
Yachle'el [Elohim waits].
15. These were all the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Yaaqov in Paddan-Aram, along with his daughter Dinah [judgment]. All the persons comprising his sons and daughters through Leah numbered 33.
16. And the sons of Gad:
Tzifyon [lookout],
Chaggi [festive],
Shuni [still, at rest],
Etzbon [very willing],
Eri [alert, watchful],
Arodi [my refuge or my breaking loose], and
Ar'eli [my valiant one].
17. And the sons of Asher:
Yimnah [choosing the right side],
Yishwah [he will resemble],
Yishwi [he resembles me], and
Beri'ah [a new creation], and
their sister Serach [abundance].
And the sons of Beri'ah:
Chever [comrade] and
Malchiel [Elohim is my king].
18. These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Lavan gave to Leah his daughter, and she bore these 16 souls to Yaaqov.
19. The sons of Rachel the wife of Yaaqov were Yoseyf and Binyamin.
20. And Menashe and Efrayim were born to Yoseyf in the land of Egypt, whom As'nath the daughter of Potifera priest of On, bore to him.
21. And the sons of Binyamin:
Bela [destruction],
Bekher [young camel],
Ashbel [I will flow or thinking],
Gera [a grain],
Naaman [pleasantness],
Echi [my brother],
Rosh [head],
Muppim [flights or serpents],
Chuppim [protected], and
Ard [I will subdue].
22. These were all the descendants of Rachel which were born to Yaaqov: all the souls totalled 14.
23. And the son of Dan was Chushim [hastenings].
24. And the sons of Nafthali:
Yachtze'el [Elohim divides],
Guni [my defense],
Yitzer [one who forms], and
Shillem [recompensed].
25. These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Lavan gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Yaaqov; all the souls numbered 7.
26. So the souls belonging to Yaaqov who came into Egypt—those who sprang from his loins, besides the wives of the sons of Yaaqov—all the souls totaled 66.
27. And the sons of Yoseyf who were born to him in Egypt were two; so all the souls belonging to the house of Yaaqov, who came into Egypt, were 70.
70: counting Yaaqov. Only the men are counted. This is the number of the nations listed in chapter 10. Deut. 32:8 says the number of the nations is the same as the number of the sons of Israel, and this would determine where their borders would be, since Yoseyf's sons would one day mix with them all (Gen. 28:14; 48:19) and this would let them all participate in the redemption provided by the Messiah, the kinsman-redeemer from the tribe of Yehudah (Romans 11).
28. And he sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yoseyf, to prepare the way to Goshen in advance; then they arrived in the region of Goshen.
In modern times also, Yehudah was the first tribe to return to the Promised Land and prepare it for the return of the other tribes as well.
29. And Yoseyf prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. And he presented himself before him, and he embraced him and wept on his neck for a long time.
30. Then Israel said to Yoseyf, "Now I can die in peace, after having seen your face, because you are still alive!"
Still alive: or "alive again"! After 22 years in a pagan setting, he still retained a strong faith in YHWH. Compare Luke 2:25-33, in which the elderly Shim'on feels ready to die once he sees the first evidence of YHWH's keeping His promise to provide consolation to the lost tribes (Yoseyf's own descendants). When he saw the mature face of his finest son, he saw what Israel was really meant to be all along.
31. And Yoseyf said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Kanaan, have come to me!
32. "'But the men are shepherds of flocks, for they have been men of livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds, and all that belongs to them.'"
33. "So it shall be that, when Pharaoh calls for you and says, 'What is your occupation?',
34. "You shall say, 'Your servants have been men of livestock ever since our youth, both we and our fathers.' This way you may dwell in the land of Goshen, because every shepherd of flocks is an abomination to the Egyptians."
They despised people who kept for food the animals that they worshipped, and Kanaanite sheep-herders had once enslaved them. Up front, the Israelites identify who they are, so the Egyptians will keep them separate and they will not be in the middle of pagan influence. Yet being flockherders also qualifies them for the best land.
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Blessings for the Tribes
CHAPTER 48
1. Now after these things it came about that Yoseyf was told, "Look, your father is sick!" So he took his two sons (Menashe and Efrayim) with him.
2. And someone told Yaaqov, "Look, your son Yoseyf has come to visit you." So Israel got up all his strength and sat up on the bed.
He sat up in honor of his son, the ruler, but also in honor of what he was to become as the firstborn of Israel.
3. Then Yaaqov said to Yoseyf, "El Shaddai appeared to me in Luz, in the land of Kanaan, and blessed me,
In the Torah, the name "El Shaddai" is only used by the patriarchs, and only when it has something to do with the continuation of the family line. Luz is the place later known as Beyth-El (the Temple Mount).
4. "and told me, ', I will make you fruitful and will multiply you, and will make you a congregation of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as something to inherit forever.'
He gave Yaaqov the same promise He had given his ancestors. The word "fruitful" is related to Efrayim's name. Multiply you: increase or make great. He would multiply the house of Israel just as He had multipied grain in Egypt.
5. "And now, your two sons--the ones born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you here--I claim as my own: Efrayim and Menashe: they shall be considered mine just like Re'uven and Shim'on.
This double portion identified the birthright as Yoseyf's rather than Re'uven's (49:4, 26) as the firstborn of Rachel, the wife of promise (46:19). Yoseyf holds the right of spiritual priesthood, and Yehudah receives the throne (1 Chron. 5:1-2). Shim'on was Yaaqov's second son, but one that had made him ashamed. (49:5) Y'shua also told a parable (Matt. 21:33-43) in which the kingdom is taken from unwise stewards and given to another nation that would bear fruit. (Efrayim's name means doubly fruitful.)
6. "Any more offspring which you father after them shall be counted as your own. They shall be included under the name of their brothers as far as their inheritance.
The whole northern kingdom of Israel came to be known as Efrayim because the man to whom YHWH gave ten tribes came from this tribe.
7. "But as for me, when I was coming from Paddan, on the way Rachel died on me in the land of Kanaan, with only a little way to go to Efrath ["Fruitfulness"]. So I buried her there on the road to Efrath (that is, Beyth-Lechem)."
When he heard that Yoseyf's son was named Efrayim, he remembered that Rachel's fruitfulness (efrath) had never been completed--there was still a "ways to go". But now his spirit revived (he is again acting as Israel, v. 8), because it was as if she were alive again. By adopting Yoseyf's sons as his own (v. 5, 12), he made Rachel "more fruitful", fulfilling her request that YHWH might add to her. He could also raise them as Hebrews, teaching them the heritage Yoseyf had "forgotten" (as Menashe’s name tells us, 41:51). This way he could bypass the problem of Yoseyf's having married a pagan woman. In a way, Yoseyf is no longer their father, but Yaaqov is. Beyth-Lechem ("House of Bread") was where the Messiah, the Seed of the woman and the "Bread of Life", would later be born (Micha 5:2)--the ultimate fruitfulness of Yaaqov. The process of going on to fruitfulness would be resumed by his descendants, who, though scattered among the nations, would become a congregation that Paul would call "one bread" (1 Cor. 10:17)
8. Then Israel noticed the sons of Yoseyf, and said, "Who are these?"
Someone his age can forget what happened a minute ago, but easily remember events from many years back (v. 7). He had already been prophesying about Yoseyf's sons, but now he dimly sees them across the room, but does not recognize them, as they must have looked like Egyptians.
9. And Yoseyf told his father, "They are my sons, whom Elohim has given me here." So he said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."
What Yoseyf told his father is exactly what Yaaqov had told Esau (33:5), and he identified them as his children both there and here. The question "Who are these?" Thus becomes a special title for the descendants of Yaaqov. The returning sons of his bereavement (Rachel and Yoseyf's sons) will surprise him again, since though they appeared lost, they will hurry back from all directions to rescue Yerushalayim from oppressors who seem to be decimating it, and there will not be enough room for them! (Yeshayahu 49:17-26; 60:8 and following)
10. Now Israel's eyes were heavy from age, and he could not see. So he brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
His embrace is very important. He was embraced by Lavan and Esau, but did not embrace them back; these are the only people ever recorded as being embraced by Israel.
11. Then Israel said to Yoseyf, "I never even expect to see your face, but here YHWH has allowed me to see your progeny too!"
12. So Yoseyf brought them out from near his knees, and he bowed his face to the earth.
Knees: symbol of adoption and blessing (the word for blessing is related to "knees"). It is as if he was "giving birth to them" and then presenting them to his father as his own.
13. And Yoseyf took hold of both of them, Efrayim in his right hand (thus on Yaaqov's left) and Menashe in his left hand (on Israel's right), and he brought them to him.
The firstborn must be on the right to receive the blessing.
14. But Israel put out his right hand and put it on Efrayim's head, even though he was younger; and he put his left hand on Menashe's head, crossing his arms since Menashe was the firstborn.
He "sent forth his right hand". This is a picture of the redeemer, Y'shua, who is called YHWH's "right hand", being sent out to Efrayim's descendants to bring them back to the covenant.
15. Then he blessed Yoseyf, saying, "O Elohim, before whom my ancestors Avraham and Yitzhaq walked, the Elohim who has continued His shepherding for me until today;
He blessed Yoseyf by blessing his sons.
16. "May the messenger who redeemed me from every trouble bless the young men, and may they be called by my name and the name of my ancestors, Avraham and Yitzhaq; and may they multiply like fish into a multitude in the middle of the land."
Fish multiplying on land? Eretz Israel, located where three continents come together (the middle of the world) is where two fish were later multiplied on land (Yochanan/John 6:26ff), and there was enough left over to feed all twelve tribes. A messenger who also redeems can be none other than Y'shua, the "Messiah ben Yoseyf", so here Yaaqov is asking YHWH to let Y'shua be the one who directly cares for Efrayim and Menashe, and he has done just that. The rabbis also say fish are a picture of righteous men,since they go about in "schools", and they have no eyelids, so they represent people who never need to close their eyes because they don’t go anywhere that there is anything they should not look at. May they be called by my name: after Shlomo's kingdom split, only the northern kingdom was called "Israel". Efrayim and Menashe thus carry the name of Israel, since the actual kingdom was given to Yaravam, while the throne was left with Yehudah. (1 Chron. 5:1-2) Until all the tribes are back together, the king and the kingdom are separated, but Efrayim has recognized Y'shua as their king.
17. But Yoseyf noticed his father placing his right hand on Efrayim's head and it did not seem right to him, so he took hold of his father's hand, to move it from Efrayim's head to Menashe's head;
18. And Yoseyf said to his father, "Not like that, my father, because this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head!"
19. But his father refused, saying, "I know, my son, I know! He will also become a nation, and he will become prominent. But his younger brother will become greater than he, and his descendants will become the fullness of the nations."
The younger becomes greater, just as it had happened for Yaaqov and Esau. Nations: or Gentiles. Though Efrayim mixed with the nations in direct disobedience to Deut. 7:3, and thus in essence becoming Gentiles, YHWH turned even this around for the salvation of the world (Romans 11:25ff)--much like Yoseyf's imprisonment. And in even a greater way than when Yoseyf was reunited with his father and brothers, when the "sons of Elohim" (sometimes alternated with the "sons of Israel" in Deut. 32:8) are revealed for who they really are, they will turn out, for the most part, to be descendants in part of this most numerous tribe, and the result will be like "life from the dead"!
20. And he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will bless [their children], by saying, 'May YHWH make you like Efrayim and Menashe!'" This way he made Efrayim be greater than Menashe.
By you shall Israel invoke blessing: And so they do each Sabbath, and whoever does so is proving to be Israel.
21. Then Israel told Yoseyf, "See, I am dying. But YHWH will be with you, and will bring you back to the Land of your ancestors.
This promise was just given to Israel by YHWH, and he passes it on to Yoseyf, and apparently to Yoseyf's descendants as well as a standing promise to our day. Yehudah has returned, but Yoseyf has not yet.
22. "And I will assign you one portion of land more than your brothers, [the part] which I took from the hand of the Emorites with my sword and with my bow."
He himself did not take it, but his two sons Shim'on and Levi did. (Chapter 34) They were his "sword and bow".
CHAPTER 49
1. Then Yaaqov called all his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come;
2. "Assemble yourselves and hear, O sons of Yaaqov! Yes, listen to your father Israel:
3. "Reuven ["Look! A son!"], you are my firstborn, my power, the beginning of my strength, the highest in dignity and the highest in might,
4. "yet like boiling water, you will not excel, because you went up to your father's bed, then you made it unclean (because he climbed up on my couch!).
He had to forfeit the birthright, because he slept with his fathers wife (not his mother).
5. "Shim'on ["hearing"] and Levi ["my joining"]brothers: their weapons are tools of cruelty;
6. "do not let my soul come into their circle; do not let my spirit be joined to their company, because in their anger they killed a man, and in self-will they cut a bulls hamstring [muscle].
Shimon and Levi were the ones who killed all the men in Shkhem after their sister Dinah was raped.
7. "Cursed be their anger, because it was fierce, and their outburst that overflowed, because it was cruel! I will split them up within the land of Yaaqov; I will scatter them among the tribes of Israel.
The inheritance of Shim'on was shared with Yehudah, and the Levites were scattered to all the tribal lands, but it turned out for the best, as they provided priests for each city until the Temple was designated as the only place for sacrifice. Levi's task continued to be shedding blood--but for the sake of atonement, not revenge.
8. "Yehudah ["praise"], may your brothers praise you, and may your hand be on the neck of your enemies! May your father's sons bow themselves to you.
Praise you: an allusion to his name, which actually comes from the root word "to throw" (yadah); while the word for sin actually means "missing the mark", Yehudah has helped move us toward the target, especially through Y'shua. King David and the ultimate conqueror, the Messiah, who delivered us all from our real enemies, descended from Yehudah. The deeper root word for "yadah" is "yad", or "hand". We praise YHWH both by raising our hands in worship, lifting holy hands to show that we are coming with pure intentions, and by what we set our hands to accomplish.
9. "Yehudah is a lion's whelp. My son, you have risen from the torn-prey. He stoops, he crouches like a lion; and like a lioness, who can rouse him?
Yshua is called the Lion of the Tribe of Yehudah. (Rev. 5:5)
10. "The scepter shall not depart from Yehudah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until He comes to Whom it belongs, and the obedience of the peoples to Him.
Him to whom it belongs: Heb., Shiloh. This is a name for the Messiah. Although there was no king in Israel during the Babylonian exile, they were still allowed to enforce their own laws, but when the Romans took away the Sanhedrin's legal right to execute criminals around A.D. 7, a many people wept in Jerusalem since the scepter HAD departed, and Messiah had not come. But, unknown to them, there was a boy growing up in Galilee who was qualified to fill the role. He had come in time! Between his feet refers to a sign in the sky. Stars were created partly to serve as signs. (1:14) The planets Jupiter (associated with the birth of kings, but representing righteousness to Israel) and Venus (the mother) came to conjunction in 3 B.C. would have been seen as a "star rising from Yaaqov, a scepter out of Israel" (Num. 24:17). Jupiter travels more slowly than the earth, so it appeared to go backwards, stop in the constellation of the virgin, then come back to a second conjunction 10 months later, when the magi saw His star again. (Mat. 2:10) This time it was in the constellation Leo (the Lion), and right beside the star Regulus (the ruler, or lawgiver)which represents the lion's front feet! (John Mosely, Griffith Observatory)
11. "Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes.
The Messiah makes His appearance riding a donkey's colt (Zech. 9:9). Vines are associated with the righteous (Micha 7:1-2; Judg. 9:12f). Yshua identified Himself as the "true vine". (Yoch. 15:1) Washes his clothing in wine: that is, the grapes of wrath (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 63:2; Rev. 14:20).
12. "His eyes will be darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
13. "Z'vulun ["exalted"] shall live at the seashore, and he shall be a haven for ships, and his border [shall reach to] beside Tziydon.
Some connect the seafaring nations such as the Netherlands with Zevuluns descendants.
14. "Yissachar ["there is repayment"] is a strong-boned donkey, crouching between the saddlebags;
15. "when he saw that his resting place was pleasant, and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, and became a servant.
16 "Dan ["Judgment"] shall indeed judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Yet his tribe is the only one not named in the listing in the book of Revelation. Shimshon (Samson), who was from the tribe of Dan.
17. "Let Dan be a serpent on the way, a horned snake on the path, that bites the horse's heels, and its rider falls backward.
Dan...a serpent: tradition says he is the progenitor of the Counterfeit Messiah, Armilus.
18. "I have waited in hope for Your salvation, O YHWH.
In contrast to those who worship the False Messiah, those who faithfully wait a little longer will enjoy the blessings of true peace when the real Solution to the world's ills, the true Messiah, arrives.
19. "As for Gad ["a troop"], a marauding band shall press upon him, but he shall press on their heel.
20. "Out of Asher ["happy"], his bread shall be rich, and he shall produce a king's delicacies.
His territory is fertile, but it will also produce petroleum in the last days (Deut. 33:24), contributing greatly to Israel's wealth.
21. "Nafthali ["my wrestling"] is a doe set free, giving one beautiful sayings.
Beautiful sayings: of glad news (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 52:7); the valley of Gennesaret, in his tribal land, is where the glad news of the Kingdom was first announced.
22. Yoseyf ["he is adding"] is a fruitful sona fruitful son by a spring; his branches run over a wall.
Half of his son Menashe's land spilled across the Yarden River. Yshua, the suffering servant Messiah who is often called the "son of Yoseyf", "broke down the wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14) because Yoseyf's towns had spread beyond Israel's borders and were sprinkled throughout the Gentile lands.
23. "And the masters of arrows harrass him, shooting and lying in ambush for him,
24, "yet his bow retains its strength, and the hands of his arms are made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Yaaqov, from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
The Messiah is called "the Arm of YHWH", who was indeed torn apart by the One who was pleased to bruise him (Yeshayahu 53). "Messiah son of Yoseyf " is a common title for this "suffering Servant".
25. "from the Elohim of your father; may He help you, and may the Almighty bless you with blessings from Heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, and blessings of the breasts and womb.
26. "The blessings of your father are above the blessings of my other offspring, to the limit of everlasting hills; may they be for the head of Yoseyf, and for the crown of the leader of his brothers.
27. "Binyamin ["son of my right hand"] is a wolf that tears. In the morning he devours the prey, and at evening he divides the spoil."
In his territory the sanctuary for YHWH's dwelling would be built, with its morning and evening sacrifices, and on his land the Messiah would conquer the evil one.
28. These are all the tribes of Israel, two and ten, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; each with what was commensurate with his blessing did he bless them.
Two and ten: like the number of tribes in the southern and northern kingdoms.
29. Then he gave them orders, saying to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me beside my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Efron the Chittite,
30. "in the cave that is in the field of Makhpelah, which is opposite Mamre, in the land of Kanaanthe field which Avraham bought from Efron the Chittite to be a burial place.
31. "There they buried Avraham and his wife Sarah, and there they buried Yitzhaq and his wife Rivqah, and I buried Leah there.
32. "The purchase of the field and the cave in it were from the sons of Cheth."
33. Then Yaaqov finished giving his sons orders, and he gathered his feet up into the bed; then he died, and was gathered to his people.
CHAPTER 50
1. Then Yoseyf fell on the face of his father and wept on him, and kissed him.
2. And Yoseyf commanded his servants, the doctors, to embalm his father. So the doctors embalmed Israel.
Embalming was Egypt's specialty, but was later discontinued in Israel so the bodies could decompose more quickly and be put in smaller tombs along with their ancestors' bones ("gathered to their people" as in 49:33), making it less likely for someone to be ritually defiled by walking over a grave.
3. And 40 days passed (since that is how long it takes for someone to be embalmed). But Egypt mourned for Yaaqov for 70 days.
4. And after the days of his mourning were over, Yoseyf spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "Now if I have found favor in your eyes, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,
5. "'My father made me promise, saying, "See, I am dying; you must bury me there in the grave that I have dug for myself in the land of Kanaan"; so please allow me to go up and bury my father, then I will come back.'"
6. So Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you promise."
7. So Yoseyf went up to bury his father, and all of Pharaoh's servants went up with himthe elders of his house as well as all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8. and all the household of Yoseyf and his brothers, along with his father's household, except that they left their little ones and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.
9. And both horsemen and chariots went with them, and the gathering was very big.
10. And they came as far as the Threshing Floor of the Bramble, across the Yarden, and there they bewailed [him] with a great and heavy wailing. And he mourned for his father for seven days.
Across the Yarden: when coming from the east on a route that went around the Dead Sea. The Threshing Floor of the Bramble may have been where the ram was caught by its horns when Avraham was about to sacrifice Yitzhaq. (22:13)
11. And the people who lived in the Land (the Kanaanites) noticed the wailing on the Threshing Floor of the Bramble, and they said, "This is a very important mourning for Egypt". For this reason it was given the name, "The Meadow of Egypt" (which is across the Yarden).
Meadow is spelled the same as the word for "mourning" here.
12. Then his sons indeed did for him as he had ordered them
13. that is, they carried his body to the land of Kanaan and buried him in the Cave of Makhpelah, which Avraham had bought from Efron the Chittite (the field used for a burial ground, facing Mamre).
Cave of Makhpelah: at Hevron, 20 miles west of the Dead Sea.
14. And after he had buried his father, Yoseyf returned to Egypthe and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15. But when Yoseyf's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Yoseyf holds a grudge against us, and decides to pay us back after all for the bad things we did to him?"
16. So they sent a message to Yoseyf, saying,
17. "Before his death, your father gave us orders, saying, "This is what you shall say to Yoseyf: 'We beg you, please forgive your brothers' guilt, and their sin, because they truly did evil to you. So now please forgive the guilt of the servants of the Elohim of your father." And Yoseyf wept when they spoke it to them.
He cried because he realized they still did not believe he had really forgiven them.
18. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and said, "Here, we are your servants."
Again they made his dream come true.
19. But Yoseyf said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of Elohim?
Vengeance is YHWHs alone. (Deut. 32:35)
20. "On your part, you intended evil against me, but Elohim planned it for [our] benefit, in order to arrange things as they are todayto keep a huge number of people alive.
Compare Romans 8:28.
21. "So now, dont be afraid; I will take care of you and your little ones." And he comforted them, and spoke to their hearts.
22. And Yoseyf remained in Egyptboth he and his father's household. And Yoseyf lived 110 years.
23. And Yoseyf saw the descendants of Efrayim down to the third generation, and the children of Makhir, Manashe's son, sat on his knees.
He lived long enough to see this many descendants.
24. Then Yoseyf told his brothers, "I am dying, but Elohim will surely attend to you and bring you up from this land to the land which He swore to Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov."
And their descendants as well.
25. Then Yoseyf made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "YHWH will surely visit you, and you must bring my bones up from here."
Moshe brought his bones out from Egypt, and Yehoshua finally honored Yoseyf's request, burying him in Sh'khem (Yehoshua 24:32; cf. Gen. 48:22) But YHWH is also bringing his descendants back to the Land.
26. Then Yoseyf died, at the age of 110, and they embalmed him, and put him in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph Good reports that in the area of Egypt thought to be the Sukkoth of Exodus, a mausoleum with twelve niches in it was found, and one whole stone coffin is missing. This may the tomb of the twelve brothers, with Yoseyfs now missing, since it is not recorded that any of the others asked to be buried in Kanaan as Yoseyf had.
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