Bible Studies
Parshat Vayyeshev
“And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 37:1 (JPS)
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours.” Genesis 37:3 (JPS)
The word “many” is added, and the word translated “colours” is the word Pasim, or Pas, which means “flat” “palm” or “sole.” This is actually a cloak that reached Joseph’s feet. In II Samuel the same wording appears. II Samuel 13:18, “Now she had a garment of many colours upon her; for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled.” (JPS)
This is princely clothing. Some say that this is the same garment that Father made for Adam. But Genesis 37:3 clearly says that Israel made the coat for Joseph.
In Joseph’s dreams, it makes sense that he told his brothers the first time, but why would he tell them about the second dream? Didn’t he know what their reaction would be by then? Perhaps Father told Joseph to tell His dreams to his brothers?
“For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves came round about, and bowed down to my sheaf.” Genesis 37:7 (JPS)
Is it significant that Joseph’s first dream is about the harvest? Is it any coincidence that the harvests of Joseph’s brothers failed, but Joseph had stored up ahead, and his harvest stood tall?
Numbers 13:8 “Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.” (JPS)
Hoshea later became Joshua, who was the first judge of Israel. Again, all of Israel was ruled by a descendant of Joseph.
“Yaqub fathered Yosip, the kinsman of Maryam, from whom was born Yeshua, who is called the Messiah.” Matt. 1:16 (Younan) “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were voices and thunders, which said: The kingdom of the world hath become [the kingdom] of our Lord and of his Messiah; and he will reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 11:15 (Murdock)
In the end, again, a descendant of Joseph will rule all of Israel.
“And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said: 'Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream: and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.' And he told it to his father, and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him: 'What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down to thee to the earth?'” Genesis 37:9-10 (JPS)
How could Joseph’s mother bow down to him? Wasn’t Rachel already dead? Or did this zoom back in time? What did Israel mean? What did the dream mean? Israel never bowed down to Joseph, even when Joseph’s brothers did. Throughout this story, Joseph is seen as a figure of Messiah. In the end, “Wherefore also Aloha greatly exalted him, and gave him a name that is more excellent than all names, that at the name of Jeshu every knee should kneel, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jeshu the Meshiha is the Lord, to the glory of Aloha his Father.” Philippians 2:9-11 (Etheridge) Is this what this dream refers to?
This does explain Joseph’s dream on one level, but Messianic prophecies always have an immediate meaning, as well. The immediate meaning of this dream is unclear, because Joseph’s mother was dead. While some say that this referred to Rachel’s maid, or to Leah, this explanation isn’t satisfying.
“And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying: 'What seekest thou?'” Genesis 37:15 (JPS)
Who is this man? Some say he was an angel. Some say he was merely a man. But whichever, his question is very important, and even more important is Joseph’s answer. “And he said: 'I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock.'” Genesis 37:16 (JPS)
Joseph, a picture of Messiah, is seeking his brothers who are feeding the flock. What more needs to be said? Yeshua came seeking his brothers who were with the flock, but, “And the man said: 'They are departed hence; for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothan.' And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.” Genesis 37:17 (JPS) They had wandered from where they were supposed to be, and gone to Dothan. Just so, when Yeshua came for his brothers, they had gone. “But he answered and said to them, ‘Have I not been sent except to the sheep which went astray from the house of Israel?’” Matt. 15:24 (Younan)
“And they saw him afar off, and before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.” Genesis 37:18 (JPS) They decided to kill Joseph before he ever arrived. Does this speak about the hearts of those who killed the Messiah? Those individuals who had Yeshua killed were not true Jews, but pretenders of the faith, who had rejected Him before He came. This does not reflect on the whole Jewish nation, but only on the individuals who were involved.
“And they took him, and cast him into the pit--and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.” Genesis 37:24 (JPS)
They threw him into “the pit.” Not “a pit.” This was not any pit, but a specific pit, a picture of She’ol. It is also important that there was no water in the pit. There was no life in the pit.
“And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and ladanum, going to carry it down to Egypt.” Genesis 37:25 (JPS)
Do these spices represent burial spices?
“And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said: 'Nay, but I will go down to the grave to my son mourning.' And his father wept for him.” Genesis 37:35 (JPS)
Apparently Jacob had more than one daughter, but only Dinah is mentioned. What happened to these daughters? What happened to Dinah? It is never told. They seem to fade from memory. Were they married to Canaanites? Were they married to Egyptians, or Ishmaelites, or Edomites? It is never revealed.
“And Judah said unto Onan: 'Go in unto thy brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother.'” Genesis 38:8 (JPS)
This is following the kinsman redeemer laws. Deuteronomy 25:5 “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be married abroad unto one not of his kin; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.” (JPS)
Clearly, then, the Torah existed before Mount Sinai. Judah already knew the kinsman redeemer laws, even though Moses wouldn’t be born for about 300 years. It is clear that this is not simply a custom at this time, because when Onan refuses to do his duty, in verse ten, Father kills him.
“And he said: 'What pledge shall I give thee?' And she said: 'Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand.' And he gave them to her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.” Genesis 38:18 (JPS)
The word for “your cord” is Patilach. Patil is also found in Numbers 15:38, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue.” Verse 39 says, “And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray.” (JPS)
The fringe is the Tzit-tzit. The chord that Judah gave to Tamar is the blue thread in the tzit-tzit, which represents the Torah. Judah gave his reminder of the commandment to a woman that he thought was a harlot, and was actually his daughter-in-law. It is important to be very careful with the Torah. His tzit-tzit should have reminded Judah not to go into the harlot, but instead, he gave them away.
It is interesting that Tamar ended up going in to Judah. It seems, by the way the story ends, that that was her original idea, but how could she be sure that Judah would approach her? How could she be sure no one else would? What was Tamar’s plan?
“And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold his brother came out; and she said: 'Wherefore hast thou made a breach for thyself?' Therefore his name was called Perez.” Genesis 38:29 (JPS)
This is physically impossible. It is not possible for two babies to fit into the birth canal at the same time, or for them to switch places like this. That would mean that this is a miracle. If that is the case, then Father must have had a specific reason, a specific lesson to teach by this, true?
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations, spare not; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isaiah 54:1-3 (JPS)
The word “spread abroad” is the word Paratz, which is the word used in Genesis 38:29 for “made a breach.”
“All the sons of Perez that dwelt at Jerusalem [were] four hundred threescore and eight valiant men.” Nehemiah 11:2 (KJV)
The Jews that rebuilt Jerusalem with Nehemiah were descendants of Perez, who made the gap, and now they were repairing the gap, as it says in Nehemiah 4:7. This is exactly like the story told in Isaiah 54, that first He broke her down, and then He rebuilt her.
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30 (JPS)
The word for “gap” is, Peretz, which is transliterated Pharez. The word does not actually say “in the gap” but “in Peretz.” There is no one to stand in the place of Peretz, who broke through. No one to stand in the lineage of Peretz.
In the geniology of Messiah in Luke 3:33, “The son of Aminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Khisron, the son of Pares, the son of Yehuda,” (Younan)
Perez, or Pares as this version calls him, is in the lineage of Yeshua. He is the One Who broke through, and the One Who rebuilt. As it says in the calling of Jeremiah, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:10 (JPS)
This is a picture of Messiah. Often people talk about Yeshua coming to build up, and to stand in the gap. But in order to build up truth, the lies must be torn down. As it says in Matt. 10:34, “Do not think that I have come to bring calm on earth. I have not come to bring calm, rather a sword.” (Younan)
In the blessing of Boaz it says, “and let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.'” Ruth 4:12 (JPS)
The house of Boaz is blessed to be as the house of Peretz. Boaz was an ancestor of David and Yeshua, just as Peretz. It is important to point out something here. Just as Paul points out in Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham was the promise made, and to his seed. And it said to him, not, to thy seeds, as being many; but to thy seed, as being one, which is the Messiah.” (Murdock) The same is true in this case. It is “seed” not “seeds,” referring to Messiah. The blessing is for their house to be as the house of Peretz through Messiah, their descendant.
“And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.” Genesis 39:3 (JPS)
“Rather in the Torah of HASHEM is his desire, and in His Torah he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree deeply rooted alongside brooks of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf never withers; and everything that he does will succeed.” Psalm 1:2-4 (Schottenstein)
The wording in Hebrew in these two passages is very similar, when Genesis says that Father made everything Joseph did prosper, and Psalms says that everything the man does will succeed. The KJV renders it “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Perhaps this is a stretch, but does this indicate that David is referring to Joseph when he wrote Psalm 1? Was Joseph his model? On the other hand, does this mean that Joseph meditated on Torah day and night?
“And it came to pass from the time that he appointed him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field.” Genesis 39:5 (JPS)
This is the reverse of what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. The house of the ungodly was blessed for the sake of the righteous, while at Sodom the ungodly were destroyed in spite of the righteous living there.
“And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke unto him, saying: 'After this manner did thy servant to me'; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound; and he was there in the prison.” Genesis 39:19-20 (JPS)
Had Potiphar wanted to, no doubt he could have had Joseph executed. But he did not. Many have suggested that Potiphar didn’t believe his wife, but he had to throw Joseph in prison because it was, after all, his wife who had brought an accusation against Joseph. Then why was Potiphar angry? Because he lost his household manager who had made him prosperous.
There were two dreams in Genesis 40. The first dream was about wine, the second was about bread. Here is the bread and the wine, as at the sacrifice of Yeshua. After three days the wine, the blood of Messiah, brings life. But after three days the bread, the flesh, brings death. Flesh brings death, but the blood of Messiah brings life.
The Readings: Parshat Vayyeshev, Genesis 37:1-40:23. Haftarat Vayyeshev, Amos 2:6-3:8. Tehillim Vayyeshev, Psalm 112. B’rit Chadesha Vayyeshev, Matt. 1, Philippians 2:5-16.
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