PARASHA: “VaYeshev” (and he settled) GENESIS 37:1-1-40:23.... JOHN 10:22-23
In this study, the focus is on Yosef, who will be in the limelight of God. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for this young teenager. it wasn't all his fault we could say. His father Jacob held him high on a pedestal, “Papa's favorite”. Always when there is family favoritism among sons and daughters, there is bound to be trouble, especially from the other siblings who are the “less preferred”
Papa Jacob makes him a “coat of many colors” This coat was a symbol of leadership; The Torah doesn’t specify that it was of “many colors” only that this type of garment had sleeves down to the wrists and that reached the ankles. This was like a "Royal Tunic" a king would wear. We might imagine that the tunic was of royal colors; blue, purple, crimson, gold, silver, etc.
This is like getting a kid a three-piece suit made of fine silk and then sending him out to the fields where his brothers are wearing overalls and straw hats. This is going to arouse the brothers' jealousy. These brothers are boiling mad, and to make matters worse, Yosef is given dreams by YHVH and he doesn't keep them to himself, he shares them. He shares them not to be haughty, but just to let his family know what is happening, or rather, what is “going to happen” in the future. But I don't think that at that time, Yosef understood the meaning of the dreams.
We understand that the dreams include sheaves of wheat that bow down before Yosef’s sheaves of wheat. How might one see this? Here’s an idea. Wheat is made into bread, and Yeshua is the “Bread of Life”. Yosef is a “type or symbol of Messiah” He saved the known world from physical starvation, and Yeshua saved the whole world from spiritual starvation. Just like Yosef’s brothers bowed down to him in honor, the whole world will “bow down” to Yeshua, who is the “Bread of Life”.
To make a long story short, he gets out to the fields, the brothers strip him of his coat, rip it, dip it in goat's blood, and plan to kill him, Judah talks them out of it, and instead, throws him in an empty well, wait until a group of Ishmaelite traders comes by, they sell him to the buyers for 20 pieces of silver, and that is how they are rid of brother Yosef, “daddy's boy” the dreamer, yet unknowingly, they are playing right into the perfect plan of YHVH, they are “investing” in their own future welfare.
One interesting fact about these events is what happened before Yosef found his brothers in Dothan.
37:15 says that a “certain man found him wandering in the field, and the man says to Yosef "what are you looking for?” Israel sends Yosef to look for his brothers in Shechem, but when he gets there, he doesn’t find them because they go on to Dothan. Josef is now lost, just “wandering” so the man says that they said “Let’s go to Dothan” So the man redirects Yosef to find his brothers and continue in Adonai’s perfect plan for his life.
Who is this man? No one knows, perhaps he was just a man who happened to be there near Yosef’s brethren and overheard them talking. Could the "man" (Ish) have been an angel? giving the “message” to Yosef that his brothers were in Dothan? Angels (Malachim) are “messengers” to help us in times of need, and Yosef was in need at that time.
God, who looks down from beyond the heavens, from a multi-dimensional universe, sees the end before it happens, and this man was essential to fulfill the words of the Torah and the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without this man, Yosef would not have found his brothers, and they wouldn’t have sold him into slavery. He never would have made it to Egypt to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and save the world from starvation. The sons of Israel would not have moved to Egypt, and the prophecy of “Israel being in Egypt” might not have come true. Yet it all DID because God had that certain “Man” (or an angel) in place at the right time.
Little may we know it but we probably have been in the “right places” at the “right times” to help people achieve their goals because we have a God in the universe that oversees all things and places people in those places to fulfill his will in them and in others.
But let's go back to the events. How do these events symbolize, and compare with Messiah Yeshua? We do not see any blemish on Yosef, as if he is “perfect and righteous” as Yeshua was/is “Tzadik kadosh” (Righteous and Holy” Yosef is the “victim” of his own people (his brothers). As Yeshua was given up to the Roman governor, by a group of religious leaders. We can also look at Psalm 81:5;
“This he ordained in Yosef for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt..”
We should also be "living testimonies" as we go about in our daily activities, wherever we might be living.
What did He ordain? He ordained his “Torah” So Yosef was a testimony for Adonai before Pharaoh and before the Egyptians. The spelling in verse 5 for the name “Yosef” is “Yod, Hey, Vav, Samech, Pey sofit”. ( Y + H +V + S + F) “YHosef” This is the only place in the Torah where Yosef’s name is spelled like this. We see that Adonai has placed one of his names (YaH) in Yosef’s name. Those two letters are the first two letters in Adonai’s most holy name YHVH.
In this study, the focus is on Yosef, who will be in the limelight of God. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for this young teenager. it wasn't all his fault we could say. His father Jacob held him high on a pedestal, “Papa's favorite”. Always when there is family favoritism among sons and daughters, there is bound to be trouble, especially from the other siblings who are the “less preferred”
Papa Jacob makes him a “coat of many colors” This coat was a symbol of leadership; The Torah doesn’t specify that it was of “many colors” only that this type of garment had sleeves down to the wrists and that reached the ankles. This was like a "Royal Tunic" a king would wear. We might imagine that the tunic was of royal colors; blue, purple, crimson, gold, silver, etc.
This is like getting a kid a three-piece suit made of fine silk and then sending him out to the fields where his brothers are wearing overalls and straw hats. This is going to arouse the brothers' jealousy. These brothers are boiling mad, and to make matters worse, Yosef is given dreams by YHVH and he doesn't keep them to himself, he shares them. He shares them not to be haughty, but just to let his family know what is happening, or rather, what is “going to happen” in the future. But I don't think that at that time, Yosef understood the meaning of the dreams.
We understand that the dreams include sheaves of wheat that bow down before Yosef’s sheaves of wheat. How might one see this? Here’s an idea. Wheat is made into bread, and Yeshua is the “Bread of Life”. Yosef is a “type or symbol of Messiah” He saved the known world from physical starvation, and Yeshua saved the whole world from spiritual starvation. Just like Yosef’s brothers bowed down to him in honor, the whole world will “bow down” to Yeshua, who is the “Bread of Life”.
To make a long story short, he gets out to the fields, the brothers strip him of his coat, rip it, dip it in goat's blood, and plan to kill him, Judah talks them out of it, and instead, throws him in an empty well, wait until a group of Ishmaelite traders comes by, they sell him to the buyers for 20 pieces of silver, and that is how they are rid of brother Yosef, “daddy's boy” the dreamer, yet unknowingly, they are playing right into the perfect plan of YHVH, they are “investing” in their own future welfare.
One interesting fact about these events is what happened before Yosef found his brothers in Dothan.
37:15 says that a “certain man found him wandering in the field, and the man says to Yosef "what are you looking for?” Israel sends Yosef to look for his brothers in Shechem, but when he gets there, he doesn’t find them because they go on to Dothan. Josef is now lost, just “wandering” so the man says that they said “Let’s go to Dothan” So the man redirects Yosef to find his brothers and continue in Adonai’s perfect plan for his life.
Who is this man? No one knows, perhaps he was just a man who happened to be there near Yosef’s brethren and overheard them talking. Could the "man" (Ish) have been an angel? giving the “message” to Yosef that his brothers were in Dothan? Angels (Malachim) are “messengers” to help us in times of need, and Yosef was in need at that time.
God, who looks down from beyond the heavens, from a multi-dimensional universe, sees the end before it happens, and this man was essential to fulfill the words of the Torah and the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without this man, Yosef would not have found his brothers, and they wouldn’t have sold him into slavery. He never would have made it to Egypt to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and save the world from starvation. The sons of Israel would not have moved to Egypt, and the prophecy of “Israel being in Egypt” might not have come true. Yet it all DID because God had that certain “Man” (or an angel) in place at the right time.
Little may we know it but we probably have been in the “right places” at the “right times” to help people achieve their goals because we have a God in the universe that oversees all things and places people in those places to fulfill his will in them and in others.
But let's go back to the events. How do these events symbolize, and compare with Messiah Yeshua? We do not see any blemish on Yosef, as if he is “perfect and righteous” as Yeshua was/is “Tzadik kadosh” (Righteous and Holy” Yosef is the “victim” of his own people (his brothers). As Yeshua was given up to the Roman governor, by a group of religious leaders. We can also look at Psalm 81:5;
“This he ordained in Yosef for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt..”
We should also be "living testimonies" as we go about in our daily activities, wherever we might be living.
What did He ordain? He ordained his “Torah” So Yosef was a testimony for Adonai before Pharaoh and before the Egyptians. The spelling in verse 5 for the name “Yosef” is “Yod, Hey, Vav, Samech, Pey sofit”. ( Y + H +V + S + F) “YHosef” This is the only place in the Torah where Yosef’s name is spelled like this. We see that Adonai has placed one of his names (YaH) in Yosef’s name. Those two letters are the first two letters in Adonai’s most holy name YHVH.
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