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Parashah Vayigash (Vav yod gimel shin) Bereshit (Genesis) 44:18-47:27 |
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We
begin this week by seeing Yahudah speaking to Yoseph, acknowledging that
Yoseph is second in command only to Paro (Pharoah). 18
Then Yahudah came near to him, and said: 'Oh my master, let your
servant, I beg of you, 19
My master asked his servants, saying: Do you have a father or another
brother? 20
And we said to you: We have a father, an old man and a child of his old
age, a little one; 21
And you said to your servants: Bring him down to me so that I may set my
eyes upon 22
And we said to you: The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should
leave his father, 23
And you said to your servants: Except your youngest brother come down
with you, you Yahudah
reiterates all that has
conspired between them and went
on to share with Yoseph what their father Yisrael had said to them. 24
And it came to pass when we came up to your servant, my father; we told
him your 25
And our father said: Go again, buy us a little food. Seeming
as though he did not understand what was told to him Yisrael ordered
them to return to Mitzrayim to get more food. 26
And we said: We cannot go down; if our youngest brother be with us, then
will we 27
And your servant my father said to us: You know that my wife bore me two
sons; 28
and the one went out from me and I said: Surely he is torn in pieces;
and I have not 29
and if you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will
bring down my 30
Now therefore when I come to your servant my father and the lad is not
with us seeing 31
it will happen that when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will
die and your servants Yahudah
calls on Yoseph for mercy, not for himself but for his Father and for
Benyamin. He shares with Yoseph that he has placed himself as surety
than Benyamin would be returned home. 32
For I, Yahudah became surety for the lad to my father, saying: If I do
not bring him to 33
Now therefore, let your servant, I beg you stay here as a bondman to my
master instead 34
For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me? Then I
must look upon the After Yahudah had related this to Yoseph we see the master of Mitzrayim overcome with emotion. Chapter
45
1
Then Yoseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him
and he cried: 2 And he wept aloud; and the Mitzriy (Egyptians) heard, and the house of Paro (Pharoah) heard 3
And Yoseph said to his brothers: 'I am Yoseph; does my father yet live?'
And his We
see the brothers here being perhaps more afraid at the revelation of the
identity of Yoseph than they were standing before the great chief of
Mitzrayim. They had more reason to fear, for they had not forgotten what
they had done to him. Here
we see the character of Yoseph, the very character that caused Elohiym
to use him as a deliverer for his people. Rather than being angry, he
bids his brothers to come near to him and gave them a total exoneration
for their acts. Yoseph acknowledged that YHWH is in control of all
things and accepted the fact that YHWH had sent him to Mitzrayim for a
reason. 4
And Yoseph said unto his brothers: 'Come near to me, please.' And they
came near 5
And now do not be grieved, or angry with yourselves, that you sold me
here, for Elohiym 6
For these two years has the famine been in the land and there are yet
five more years, 7
And Elohiym sent me before you to give you a remnant on the earth and to
save you alive 8
So now it was not you, but Elohiym, that sent me here and He has made me
a father to We
might ask ourselves what kind of character we have. Do we tend to blame
others for whatever comes our way? Do we continue to hold grudges
against those whom we see as wronging us? Do we look for the hand of
Elohiym in our circumstances? 9
Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him: “This is what your son
Yoseph says, “Elohiym 10
And you shall dwell in the 11
I will sustain you there; lest you come to poverty, you and your
household, and The
word 1657
1) a region in
northern Egypt, east of the Lower Nile, where the children of Israel
lived from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses 2) a district in
southern 3) a town in the
mountains of Yoseph seems to be
conveying the thought to his father that Yisrael would be ‘near to
him’ and be protected in this foreign land. 12
Look, your eyes see and the eyes of my brother Benyamin that it is I and
my mouth 13
And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Mitzrayim ( 14
And he fell upon his brother, Benyamin's neck, and wept; and Benyamin
wept upon 15
And he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them; and after that, his
brothers talked 16
And the report of this was heard in Paro’s (Pharaoh's) house, saying:
'Yoseph's brothers 17
Paro (Pharaoh) said to Yoseph: 'Say to your brothers: This is what you
must do, load your 18
and take your father and your households, and come to me and I will give
you the 19
Now you are commanded to do this: take your wagons out of the 20
Also do not be concerned about your possessions for the good things of
all the 21
And the sons of Yisrael did so and Yoseph gave them wagons, according to
the We
see in Paro’s instructions concerning Yisrael and family the great
respect and appreciation he had for Yoseph. Verse 20 says in the
vernacular, “Do not worry about bringing all you own or worry if you
have to leave possessions behind for all that Mitzrayim ( 22
To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benyamin he
gave 23
And to his father he also sent ten asses laden with the good things of
Mitzrayim (Egypt) and Although
Yoseph was generous with all his brothers, his heart was open wide to
his brother Benyamin and his father, Yisrael. Could it be that Yoseph
was not yet sure, of the ten brothers’ intentions and motives? Could
that be why he says in verse 24, ‘See that you do not fall out by the
way?’ 24
So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed; he said to them:
'See that you 7264
ragaz- to
tremble, to quake, to rage, to quiver, to be agitated, to be excited, to
be perturbed a)
(Qal) to quake, to be disquieted, to be excited, to be perturbed b)
(Hiphil) to cause to quake, to disquiet, to enrage, to disturb c)
(Hithpael) to excite oneself Is
Yoseph, telling them that they should neither be afraid nor should they
be jealous, perturbed or angry? Is he afraid they might show anger and
jealousy to Benyamin as they had with him or is he simply giving them an
opportunity to redeem themselves? 25
And they went up out of Mitzrayim ( 26
And they told him, 'Yoseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the 27
And they told him all the words of Yoseph which he had said to them and
when he 28
and he said: 'It is enough; Yoseph my son is still alive and I will go
and see him Can
we put ourselves in Yisrael’s place here? He had lost his son Yoseph
many years before and was convinced that he was dead. Now, they were
telling him that his son was alive and what’s more he was the chief of
Mitzrayim. He could not believe his ears but he finally believes them
and says he is satisfied and would go see his living son once more
before he dies. Chapter
46
1
And Yisrael took his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheva
and there 2
And Elohiym spoke to Yisrael in the visions of the night and said:
'Ya’acov, Ya’acov.' 3
And He said: 'I am Elohiym, the Elohiym of your father so do not fear to
go down 4
I will go down with you into Mitzrayim ( 5
And Ya’acov rose up from Beer-sheva; and the sons of Yisrael carried
Ya’acov, 6
And they took their cattle and their goods which they had gotten in the 7
his sons, his sons' sons with him, his daughters, his sons' daughters
and all his seed he brought with him into Mitzrayim (Egypt). On
the way to Mitzrayim, they stopped at Beer-sheva to offer a sacrifice to
the Elohiym his father, Yitzchak. While he was there YHWH assured him in
a vision that He was with him and that in Mitzrayim He would make a
great nation of Yisrael. 8
And these are the names of the children of Ya’acov/Yisrael, who came
into Mitzrayim ( 9
And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10
And the sons of Simeon: Yemuel, and Yamin, and Ohad, and Yachin, and
Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11
And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12
And the sons of Yahudah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah;
but Er and Onan died in the 13
And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puvah, and Iob and Shimron. 14
And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Yahleel. 15
These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore for Ya’acov in Paddan-aram,
with his daughter Dinah; all the souls of his sons and his daughters
were thirty and three. 16
And the sons of Gad: Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and
Arodi, and Areli. 17
And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and
Serah their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel. 18
These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter and
she bore for Ya’acov sixteen souls. 19
The sons of Rachel Ya’acov's wife: Yoseph and Benyamin. 20
And unto Yoseph in the 21
And the sons of Benyamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Ya’acov; all the souls were fourteen. 23
And the sons of Dan: Hushim. 24
And the sons of Naphtali: Yahzeel, and Guni, and Yezer, and Shillem. 25
These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter,
and these she bore for Ya’acov;
all the souls were seven. 26
All the souls belonging to Ya’acov that came into Mitzrayim ( 27
And the sons of Yoseph, who were born to him in Mitzrayim ( Are
we to see here that ‘men only’ are counted? We seem to read that
daughters were counted but were the wives and concubines counted? Can we
come to the number seventy (70) when counting the people of Yisrael that
went into Mitzrayim? Check it out to see. 28
And he sent Yahudah before him to Yoseph to show the way before him to 29 And Yoseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Ya’acov/Yisrael his father and he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30
And Yisrael said to Yoseph: 'Now let me die, since I have seen your face
and know that you are still alive.' Yisrael
loved Yoseph so much that he was ready to die in peace now that he knew
Yoseph lived. 31 And Yoseph said to his brothers and to his father's house: 'I will go up, and tell Paro (Pharaoh), and I will say to him: My brothers and my father's entire house who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; 32 and the men are shepherds for they have been keepers of cattle and they have brought their flocks, their herds and all that they have 33 And it shall happen, when Paro (Pharaoh) shall call you and shall ask: What is your occupation? 34
that you shall say: Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our
youth even until now, both we and our fathers, so that you may be
allowed to dwell in the Ram
We
see that the Mitzriy worshipped many animals as well as the sheep/ram
but this is thought to be one of the reasons a shepherd was denigrated
by them. Chapter
47
1
Then Yoseph went in and told Paro (Pharaoh), 'My father and my brothers,
their flocks, their herds, and all that they have and they have come out
of the land of Canaan and look, they are in the land of Goshen.' 2
And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Paro
(Pharaoh). 3
And Paro (Pharaoh) said unto his brothers: 'What is your occupation?'
And they said to Paro (Pharaoh): ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we
and our fathers.' 4
And they said to Paro (Pharaoh): 'We have come to dwell in the land; for
there is no pasture for your servants' flocks for the famine is severe
in the 5
And Paro (Pharaoh) spoke to Yoseph, saying: ‘Your father and your
brothers have come to you and now 6
the land of Mitzrayim ( 7
And Yoseph brought in Ya’acov his father, and set him before Paro
(Pharaoh). And Ya’acov blessed Paro (Pharaoh). 8
And Paro (Pharaoh) said to Ya’acov: 'How many are the days of the
years of your life?' 9
And Ya’acov said to Paro (Pharaoh): 'The days of the years of my
wandering are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the
days of the years of my life and they have not attained unto the days of
the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their wandering.' 10
And Ya’acov blessed Paro (Pharaoh) and went out from the presence of
Paro (Pharaoh). 11
And Yoseph placed his father and his brothers and gave them a possession
in the Rameses
means ‘child of the sun’ and 12
And Yoseph sustained his father, his brothers and his father's
household, with bread, according to the want of their little ones. Although
there was no food because of the severe famine, Yoseph cared for his
father and his family. 13
And there was no bread in all the land for the famine was very severe so
that the 14
And Yoseph gathered up all the money that was found in the 15
And when the money was all spent in the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt) and in
the land of Canaan all the Mitzriy (Egyptians) came to Yoseph, and said:
'Give us bread for why should we die, in your presence because our money
is depleted? ' 16
And Yoseph said: 'Give your cattle and I will give you [bread] for your
cattle, if your money is all spent.' Can
you see a connection here with YHWH’s care for Yisrael now and in the
future when He frees them from Mitzrayim? Through the hand of a man,
Yoseph, their lives are preserved and through the hand of another man,
Moshe, they are freed from Mitzrayim. Notice that food and possessions
are taken from the Mitzriy and when the people were to leave Mitzrayim,
they were sent out to gather ‘treasure’ from the Mitzriy. 17
And they brought their cattle to Yoseph. And Yoseph gave them bread in
exchange for the horses, for the flocks, for the herds, and for the
asses and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for
that year. 18
And when that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said
to him: 'We will not hide from our master how that our money is all
spent and the herds of cattle are now our master's; there is nothing
left in the sight of our master, except our bodies and our lands. 19
Why should we die right before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us
and our land for bread and we and our land will be bondmen to Paro
(Pharaoh), so give us seed that we may live and not die and that the
land be not desolate.' 20
So Yoseph bought all the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt) for Paro (Pharaoh)
for the Mitzriy (Egyptians), every man, sold his field, because the
famine was severe upon them and the land became Paro’s (Pharaoh’s) 21
And as for the people he removed them, city by city, from one end of the
border of Mitzrayim (Egypt) to the other end. After
two years of famine had passed, the Mitzriy owned nothing, no animals,
no money, or property and had gone into bondage to Paro.
Verse 21 says the people were removed (moved?) and they worked
and labored for another… Paro. 22
Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a
portion from Paro (Pharaoh) and they ate their portion which Paro
(Pharaoh) gave them; therefore they did not have to sell their land. 23
Then Yoseph said to the people: 'Look, I have bought you and your land
for Paro (Pharaoh) this day. Look, here is seed for you and you shall
sow the land. 24
And it shall happen at the in-gatherings, that you shall give a fifth to
Paro (Pharaoh), four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, for
your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little
ones.' 25
And they said: 'You have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight
of our master and we will be Paro’s (Pharaoh's) bondmen.' 26
And Yoseph made it a statute concerning the 27
And Yisrael dwelled in the We
can easily see why Yisrael prospered in the Next
week we will be reading the final Parashah in Bereshit which is Genesis
47:28 - 50:26 Haftarah
will be: I
Kings 2:1 - 2:12 On Yom Shabbat we will continue to read in Yechizkiel (Ezekiel)
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The twelve tribal heads, sons of Ya’acov/Yisrael
(Jacob in English)
Following
are the families with the meanings of their names: (1)
7205 Re'uwben- Reuben =
"behold a son"; 2585
Chanowk- as a proper
noun, masculine: Enoch = "dedicated"; 5) the
oldest son of Reuben 6396
Palluw'- Pallu or
Phallu = "distinguished"; the second
son of Reuben, father of Eliab, and progenitor of a family of 2696
Chetsrown- Hezron =
"surrounded by a wall"; 3756
Karmiy- Carmi =
"my vineyard"; (2)
8095 Shim` own (shim-one'); Simeon or Shimeon = "heard" Jemuel =
"day of God"; the oldest
son of Simeon 3226
Yamiyn- Jamin =
"right hand"; 161
'Ohad- Ohad =
"united"; a son of
Simeon and a grandson of Jacob 3199
Yakiyn- Jachin =
"He will establish"; 6714
Tsochar (tso'-khar); from the
same as 6713; whiteness; Tsochar KJV-- Zohar.
Compare 3328. 7586
Sha'uwl- Saul or
Shaul = "desired"; (3) 3878
Leviy- Levi = "joined to"; 1648
Gereshown or Gereshowm- Gershon or
Gershom = "exile"; the
firstborn son of Levi Kohath =
"assembly"; the second
of the third sons of Levi and the progenitor of a family in the tribe of
Levi 4847
Merariy- Merari =
"bitter"; the 3rd son
of Levi and head of a Levitical family (4) 3063
Yehuwdah- 6147
`Er- Er =
"awake"; 1) the
oldest son of 2) the son
of Shelah and grandson of 209&nbs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
