PARASHA: “VaYeshev” (and he settled) GENESIS 37:1-40:23
In this study, the focus is on Yosef, who is going to 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 up on a pedestal, “Papa's favorite”. Whenever 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 "long-sleeved robe." This coat was a symbol of leadership; The Torah doesn’t specify that it was of “many colors,” only that this type of garment was one that had sleeves down to the wrists and that reached the ankles. 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 "coat" would be considered a "Royal Tunic" and must have had the colors of royalty, like blue, scarlet, red, etc... We could also say that this coat symbolized "Messiah the King" and Yosef, a "type of Messiah" who would, in God's perfect timing, save the local world of physical starvation. Now, the brothers are affected by this coat.
It will arouse jealousy. ( I mean, why doesn't Dad make coats for all of us?) 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. These dreams reflect Isaac's blessing on Joseph.
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 saves 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, plan to kill him, Judah talks them out of it, and instead, throw 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. Genesis 7:15 reads the following:
“A certain man found him wandering in the field, and the man asked him, saying 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 have gone 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.
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 in time for them to "sell 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 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, 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). Yeshua was given up to the Roman governor by a group of religious leaders.
Joseph was Israel's "beloved son." Yeshua is "The Father's beloved Son"; Joseph was a shepherd with his brothers; Yeshua is the "Good Shepherd." Joseph was hated by his brothers; Yeshua is still "hated" by much of the world. Joseph was sent by his father to see the flocks in the field; Yeshua was sent by the Father to care for his sheep and guide the "lost sheep" back to the fold. Joseph was in prison with two criminals, one was sentenced to death, the other was pardoned. Yeshua was crucified between two criminals, one was unrepentant, and the other was forgiven. Joseph was faced with temptation (Potiphar's wife) and resisted. Yeshua was tempted in the wilderness by HaSatan, and he resisted. Yosef went "down to Egypt" as a slave, saved from being killed. Yeshua went "down to Egypt" and was saved from being killed by Herod. We could probably think of more comparisons and contrasts in the lives of Messiah Yeshua and Yosef Ben Israel.
The brothers stripped Yosef of his coat (The King's tunic), the coat was dipped in goat's blood. Yeshua was stripped of his clothing and was beaten, his flesh “ripped” by a Roman whip, until the blood poured out. (torn and bloodied tunic of the King) The “goat's blood” reminds us of “Yom Kippur” where goats were sacrificed and one was “set free” the blood of the goat reminds us of our sins “covered by the blood” (back then) but now, our sins are “erased” by the blood of “God's chosen LAMB” the “Lamb of God” which taketh away the sins of the world.
Yosef was thrown into a pit, an empty cistern, void of water. Scripture doesn't say, but I imagine that his brothers tied him up with a rope and lowered him into the pit by the rope. A “water well” symbolizes “Life,” but when it is empty, it can symbolize “death”. Just try to climb out of a deep pit with dirt sides without anything, you can't, might as well be dead. Yosef being lowered into the pit can symbolize Yeshua's death, and his descent into “Sheol”; yet when the Midianites came by, the brothers pulled him “out” of the pit, which could symbolize Yeshua's “resurrection unto life”. Before the pit, Yosef was part of his immediate family. After the incident of the pit, he is on his way to a “new life”, with trials, tests, troubles, suffering, and finally, rewards! Doesn't that sound like our life today? .
In Chapter 38, the scene switches to “Judah”. We see that Judah is not doing a very wise thing as he goes into a Canaanite woman. He leaves his brethren and has kids with a Canaanite! The first two are evil, and Adonai kills them, Shelah is his third son, and he hesitates to marry him to “Tamar,” yet she poses as a prostitute and deceives Judah into sleeping with her and getting her pregnant. But the question is, why was he looking for a prostitute?
Believers can wander away from God’s will for their lives in such ways, marrying unbelievers, committing adultery or fornication, the list can go on. Adonai still loves us and will continue to reach down to us and redirect us, even though it hurts at times, at times, the chastisements can come in the form of sadness and depression, a loss of love and excitement for the things of the LORD, because we know we are “doing wrong”.
The result of Tamar’s pregnancy was that twins were born, the first one pushed his hand through the womb and the midwife tied a “scarlet thread” on it to say, “this is the first-born” yet the baby pulled back inside and his brother came out, then HE came out in second place…yet…he was in “first place” (if you get my drift).
There is symbolism in these births. A way we can look at this is that the scarlet thread can symbolize Yeshua the Messiah, and his “first coming”, then his “second coming”. The twins were "Peretz" and "Zerach." Peretz means "breaker." Yeshua broke through the barrier of separation between God and man.. He "tore the curtain of the Temple down the middle, which was in the Temple.
"Zerach" can mean "dawning," and the second coming of Messiah Yeshua is the "dawning" of the new Millennial age. Also, perhaps a bit before the "dawning" of the First day of the week, Messiah Yeshua burst forth from the grave, conquering sin and death. From Tamar came Peretz, and from Peretz comes the line of King David, and from David, Mary and Joseph, and "Messiah Yeshua Ben Yosef."
In this study, the focus is on Yosef, who is going to 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 up on a pedestal, “Papa's favorite”. Whenever 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 "long-sleeved robe." This coat was a symbol of leadership; The Torah doesn’t specify that it was of “many colors,” only that this type of garment was one that had sleeves down to the wrists and that reached the ankles. 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 "coat" would be considered a "Royal Tunic" and must have had the colors of royalty, like blue, scarlet, red, etc... We could also say that this coat symbolized "Messiah the King" and Yosef, a "type of Messiah" who would, in God's perfect timing, save the local world of physical starvation. Now, the brothers are affected by this coat.
It will arouse jealousy. ( I mean, why doesn't Dad make coats for all of us?) 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. These dreams reflect Isaac's blessing on Joseph.
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 saves 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, plan to kill him, Judah talks them out of it, and instead, throw 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. Genesis 7:15 reads the following:
“A certain man found him wandering in the field, and the man asked him, saying 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 have gone 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.
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 in time for them to "sell 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 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, 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). Yeshua was given up to the Roman governor by a group of religious leaders.
Joseph was Israel's "beloved son." Yeshua is "The Father's beloved Son"; Joseph was a shepherd with his brothers; Yeshua is the "Good Shepherd." Joseph was hated by his brothers; Yeshua is still "hated" by much of the world. Joseph was sent by his father to see the flocks in the field; Yeshua was sent by the Father to care for his sheep and guide the "lost sheep" back to the fold. Joseph was in prison with two criminals, one was sentenced to death, the other was pardoned. Yeshua was crucified between two criminals, one was unrepentant, and the other was forgiven. Joseph was faced with temptation (Potiphar's wife) and resisted. Yeshua was tempted in the wilderness by HaSatan, and he resisted. Yosef went "down to Egypt" as a slave, saved from being killed. Yeshua went "down to Egypt" and was saved from being killed by Herod. We could probably think of more comparisons and contrasts in the lives of Messiah Yeshua and Yosef Ben Israel.
The brothers stripped Yosef of his coat (The King's tunic), the coat was dipped in goat's blood. Yeshua was stripped of his clothing and was beaten, his flesh “ripped” by a Roman whip, until the blood poured out. (torn and bloodied tunic of the King) The “goat's blood” reminds us of “Yom Kippur” where goats were sacrificed and one was “set free” the blood of the goat reminds us of our sins “covered by the blood” (back then) but now, our sins are “erased” by the blood of “God's chosen LAMB” the “Lamb of God” which taketh away the sins of the world.
Yosef was thrown into a pit, an empty cistern, void of water. Scripture doesn't say, but I imagine that his brothers tied him up with a rope and lowered him into the pit by the rope. A “water well” symbolizes “Life,” but when it is empty, it can symbolize “death”. Just try to climb out of a deep pit with dirt sides without anything, you can't, might as well be dead. Yosef being lowered into the pit can symbolize Yeshua's death, and his descent into “Sheol”; yet when the Midianites came by, the brothers pulled him “out” of the pit, which could symbolize Yeshua's “resurrection unto life”. Before the pit, Yosef was part of his immediate family. After the incident of the pit, he is on his way to a “new life”, with trials, tests, troubles, suffering, and finally, rewards! Doesn't that sound like our life today? .
In Chapter 38, the scene switches to “Judah”. We see that Judah is not doing a very wise thing as he goes into a Canaanite woman. He leaves his brethren and has kids with a Canaanite! The first two are evil, and Adonai kills them, Shelah is his third son, and he hesitates to marry him to “Tamar,” yet she poses as a prostitute and deceives Judah into sleeping with her and getting her pregnant. But the question is, why was he looking for a prostitute?
Believers can wander away from God’s will for their lives in such ways, marrying unbelievers, committing adultery or fornication, the list can go on. Adonai still loves us and will continue to reach down to us and redirect us, even though it hurts at times, at times, the chastisements can come in the form of sadness and depression, a loss of love and excitement for the things of the LORD, because we know we are “doing wrong”.
The result of Tamar’s pregnancy was that twins were born, the first one pushed his hand through the womb and the midwife tied a “scarlet thread” on it to say, “this is the first-born” yet the baby pulled back inside and his brother came out, then HE came out in second place…yet…he was in “first place” (if you get my drift).
There is symbolism in these births. A way we can look at this is that the scarlet thread can symbolize Yeshua the Messiah, and his “first coming”, then his “second coming”. The twins were "Peretz" and "Zerach." Peretz means "breaker." Yeshua broke through the barrier of separation between God and man.. He "tore the curtain of the Temple down the middle, which was in the Temple.
"Zerach" can mean "dawning," and the second coming of Messiah Yeshua is the "dawning" of the new Millennial age. Also, perhaps a bit before the "dawning" of the First day of the week, Messiah Yeshua burst forth from the grave, conquering sin and death. From Tamar came Peretz, and from Peretz comes the line of King David, and from David, Mary and Joseph, and "Messiah Yeshua Ben Yosef."
