CHAPTER 41
[c. Year 2231 from creation; 1769 B.C.E.]
1. But what did take place was that at the end [mi-qetz] of two years to the day, the Pharaoh had a dream, and, there he was, standing by the [Nile] River,
Yosef must have been excited the day after the cupbearer was released, but then the days dragged on with no change. In retrospect we can see why it was so important that he be in a place where he could be found when needed, but he had to keep his spirits up despite someone else’s critical error. He had to believe there was more to it than this, but still he had to wait. We cannot learn everything at once; we have to learn in season. Yosef may have thought he was ready for a life of freedom two years before, but if he had been granted that, and he had gone home to his family, what provision would there have been for the problem that was about to come to light? He might have been able to answer the new dilemma on one level, but without going these two spirals higher, he might have had only part of the picture or lacked some piece of knowledge that he somehow gained during this time. So it was as if he was in protective custody, though it would have been hard for him to think of it as such while he was experiencing the imprisonment. But now the time has come, and the two years are now only a mention. To the day: This would mean it was Pharaoh’s birthday again (40:20)—the perfect time to start counting the years so he would not lose track.
Pharaoh was probably standing by the Nile to worship it. It was considered one of the deities of Egypt, for it was seen as what gave life to the land. In any case, the presence of the river in the dream alerted him to the fact that this was not mere entertainment.
2. when, lo and behold! Up came seven cows out of the River—all beautiful in appearance and robust of flesh, and they were grazing among the marsh-grass.
Marsh-grass is a sign of plenty of water.
3. But, suddenly, up came seven other cows out of the River, ugly and gaunt, and they stood beside the cows that were already on the bank of the River.
4. Then the ugly, gaunt cows started eating the beautiful, robust cows! And then Pharaoh awoke.
When cows are grazing, they are more vulnerable to predators, because they have their heads down. These other cows would not have seemed a threat, but some things that appear so unthreatening can devour us.
5. But he fell asleep [again] and dreamt a second time, and, look! Seven ears of grain were sprouting on a single stalk—robust and healthy.
6. But suddenly seven ears of grain, wispy and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up behind them,
East wind: in Egypt, it would be blowing in from the desert.
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 his spirit was still troubled, so he sent someone to summon 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.
This was not one of those dreams that could be dismissed as a result of something eaten the night before. Scribes: engravers of hieroglyphics, hence well-versed in symbolism or, by extension, occult knowledge. But they had no formula that fit this dream. Or maybe no one wanted to break the bad news to Pharaoh lest the bearer of bad news end up getting killed.
9. Then the chief of the cupbearers spoke up before Pharaoh, saying, "Today I must confess my errors:
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.
The chief executioner was Potifar, so Yosef was still under his authority, and probably his protection, since he probably recognized by Yosef’s character that he was innocent.
11. "And he and I both dreamed a dream on the same night, and we each dreamed in the same symbolism as 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—to each of us according to his dream.
So Yosef was still serving Potifar, just in a different role—a guise to satisfy Potifar’s wife but still bringing order to the realm where he was assigned and making life less difficult for Potifar because he knew he could trust Yosef.
13. "And it turned out that just as he had interpreted to us, so it came about—he restored me to my position, but hanged him."
14. So Pharaoh sent and summoned Yosef, and they hurried to bring him out of the dungeon. And he shaved and changed his clothing, and came to appear before Pharaoh.
Just because YHWH worked this out for the best does not mean his slackness was acceptable! He still did the wrong thing; one wonders whether the silver cup that shows up later in the story might not have been a compensation given to Yosef by this cup-bearer when he recognized his guilt. Shaved: that it is mentioned at all shows that this was not his normal custom, as a Hebrew. But shaving one's head was the custom among Egyptians because of the prevalence of lice in Egypt. Only people with a certain rank could have facial hair in certain set patterns, and the style of the hair they had left, like their clothing, identified their rank. Changed: Yosef could not look like a slave if he was to enter Pharaoh’s presence in the role of dream interpreter.
15. Then Pharaoh told Yosef, "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."
He is challenging him to live up to this reputation; otherwise he may end up back in prison—or worse.
16. But Yosef answered Pharaoh by saying, "[It is] not something that resides in me! But Elohim will grant an answer concerning Pharaoh's welfare."
Resides in me: i.e., it is not a permanent gift I carry with me to use whenever I choose, but, like all spiritual gifts, is available to me if I remain close to YHWH and ask Him for wisdom. Yosef does not try to take credit for what is really the power of Elohim. With his family’s history of being deceivers, especially against one another, and his own tendency to brag, he could have used this as an occasion to try to go far by making great and exclusive claims about his own skills. But his experiences since the days of his own dreams have made him painfully honest. He decided to break the pattern of deceit, and it was probably this reparation that opened the door for not only the survival of his own household but of a great many others as well.
17. So Pharaoh told Yosef, "Look: in my dream, I was standing on the River's edge,
18. "and up from the River there came seven cows, robust and beautiful, and they were feeding among the reeds,
19. "when, lo and behold, seven other cows came up after them, languishing and very ugly and gaunt; I have never seen the likes of them in Egypt for ugliness!
20. "And these cows—the gaunt and ugly ones—ate the first seven cows—the robust ones!
21. "And though they went into their innermost parts, it was not evident that they had entered their inward parts; they looked as bad as at first. Then I woke up.
The Egyptians worshipped cows. But these cows ended up bringing ruin to his kingdom. These cows ate the other ones, yet showed no sign of having eaten anything. They still remained emaciated. There are many “skinny cows” that want to eat up the fat, but there are ways in which if we deal properly with the “fat cows”, the skinny ones will be powerless to devour them. Those who do nothing themselves yet complain about those who do all the work will consume the healthy if allowed to remain among them. (R. Webster) One false doctrine or bad attitude can destroy many years of healthy growth. One little word that hurts another can undo many years of praying for him, because people tend to remember the harsh words rather than the encouraging ones. Don’t let one moment devour all the years you have both invested in the relationship. The skinny can eat up the fat also if great men of YHWH do not teach their children to love and serve Him in the same way, as was the case with David, Eli, Shmu’el, and others. Start teaching them what they should do, on the positive side, and there will be no room for the things they should not do. The Kingdom will begin to overcome the many lean years “the locust has eaten”.
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 blasted by the east wind sprouted up after them,
East wind: If it came at the wrong stage of the Nile’s flooding, it could interfere with the ideal pattern and cause a famine.
24. "and the lean ears were swallowing up the seven nice ears! Then I told it to my scribes, but no one is making the meaning known to me!"
25. Then Yosef 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 healthy cows represent seven years; the seven healthy ears also announce seven years. It is essentially one dream.
27. "And as for the seven scrawny cows that came up after them—they represent seven years; the seven empty stalks blighted by the east wind, too, are seven years--of famine.
An inscription was found in the tomb of an earlier Pharaoh bewailing the fact that there had been seven years when the Nile did not rise and the crops failed. Babies were dying, and the people were crying to the Pharaoh for bread, but he had none to give them. So this may have been a phenomenon that occurred naturally at certain intervals, like the El Niño weather patterns known today. But either this Pharaoh (possibly coming from a different dynasty) had no recollection of it, or simply did not make the connection between the dream and this symbolism. But this time the right person was there to do something about it.
28. "This is the message about which I said to Pharaoh [that] Elohim has warned Pharaoh about what He is going to do:
Yosef wisely gives Elohim the credit (in general terms, but notably uses the singular form of the verb, emphasizing that this is not a multiplicity of elohim).
29. "Note it well! Seven years of great plenty are coming for the whole land of Egypt,
30. "then after them, seven years of famine will arise—so terrible even that all the bounty 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 the scarcity that follows—it will be that severe.
32. "Moreover, the fact that the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice signifies that the matter has been established by Elohim, and Elohim is hastening to bring it about.
Unlike Yonah's prophecy to Nin'veh, it was determined, confirmed by two "witnesses" and could not be changed. The forces bringing about the physical effects must have already been set in motion, and YHWH wanted to accomplish something through this.
33. "So now, let Pharaoh seek out a man who is discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh has already told him that none of his wise men was smart enough in this crisis, and in saying this, Yosef is already demonstrating his wisdom, and the self-evident truth becomes obvious to Pharaoh. Discerning: Heb., bin—able to clearly distinguish between two things with certainty, or simply, able to see the truth clearly. Wise: Heb., hakham, which basically means “skilled”, having learned from instruction. This takes discernment a step further, because it is not only knowing something but knowing how to apply it as well. Getting caught up in knowing as much as possible before we learn to apply it can make us unbalanced and practically useless. Wisdom is knowing what to do with the truth you have found. This comes from an intimate knowledge of the Book that reveals the foundations of everything. If you do not know what to do with what you know, associate with others who also know the truth: “In a multitude of counselors, there is deliverance”. (Prov. 11:14; 24:6)
34. "Let Pharaoh take action, and let him appoint deputy administrators over the land, and take a fifth part of the [produce of the] land during the seven years of plenty,
Deputy administrators: or trustworthy men. A fifth: what would have been spent on luxury, though this also shows just how abundant the harvest was during these years, if a mere 20% could carry them through seven additional years with no harvest.
35. "and let them gather all the food from these beneficent years that are coming, and let them heap up 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 populace was weakened by the coming famine.
36. "And let the food be designated as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt; thus you will prevent the land from being decimated by the famine."
Decimated: literally, cut off; i.e., it would otherwise cease to exist as a nation, probably overcome by enemies.
37. And the message was acceptable in Pharaoh's estimation, and in the opinion of all of his courtiers.
This is still wise advice for us today. Do not become lazy because you have plenty right now; if you do, it is time to go to work! If you have extra time today, instead of wasting it on foolish pursuits, use it to store up knowledge or understanding and organize it so that you can still be ready when you have little or no time to prepare for whatever may come your way.
38. So Pharaoh said to his courtiers, "Could we find any other man like this one, in whom is the spirit of Elohim?"
39. Then Pharaoh addressed Yosef: "Since Elohim has taught you all this, there is no one as wise and intelligent as you.
I.e., since you are the one to whom He saw fit to reveal it, and you yourself have come up with the plan.
40. "You shall be over my own household, and at your word all my people shall kiss [your hand]. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”
During these two additional years in prison, Yitzhaq died, according to the ages given in Scripture. It could be that somehow he could not take his position of authority while two generations of patriarchs before him were still alive. This event foreshadows the coronation imagery of Psalm 2, in which the Father establishes the Son's throne. As Yosef's antetype, Y’shua is second in authority only to the Father, but derives his authority from the Torah, and thus does not have authority over it, just as Yosef had no authority over the one who gave him his position.
41. Furthermore, Pharaoh told Yosef, "Indeed, I have set you over the entire land of Egypt."
42. And Pharaoh took his ring off his finger and put it on Yosef's, and he clothed him with fine white garments and put a golden necklace around his neck,
Signet ring: the symbol of absolute authority to irrevocably seal decrees in the king's name. He was dressed exactly as Pharaoh would be dressed--a prototype of Y’shua (Luke 9:29), who said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father". For all practical purposes, Yosef "was" Pharaoh, yet he was not, even as YHWH says that it is to Himself that every knee shall bow (Yeshayahu/Isa. 45:23), yet he has been pleased to allow every knee to bow to the Son (Phil. 2:5-11). All authority was delegated to the Son (to speak for the Father as if he were the Father), yet he will one day hand it back over to the Father. (1 Cor. 15:24ff)
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!",
persisted in Egypt until today. When the British Lord Kitchener visited
there, seemingly
related to the Hebrew word for "kneel" and "bless". But the word hasArab runners went before him with swords in their hands shouting
"Abrekh!"—and they meant it as "Look out! Make way!" There are many
parallels between Yosf and Mordekhai, as the roles are reversed and the despised one becomes the most honored in the kingdom. (See the book of Esther.)
44. And Pharaoh said to Yosef, "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 begin a task or activity; his foot: to go where he wanted to go. Like Yeshua, he only exercised this power for the purpose of deliverance and preparation for hardship, not personal luxury.
45. And Pharaoh called Yosef by the name Tzaf'nath-Paaneakh, and he gave him As'nath the daughter of Poti-fera, priest of On, as a wife. Thus Yosef emerged [as being in charge] over the land of Egypt.
Tzaf'nath-Paaneakh: in Egyptian, it means "man with the food of life". Appointees to a high position were often given a new name commensurate with their eminence; cf. Num. 13:16; Dan. 1:6; Phil. 2:9. It also helped conceal his identity, which will play out in the next chapters. Asenath means "belonging to the goddess Neith". Poti-fera means “the one whom Ra gave”. On: a center of sun-worship, thus probably Heliopolis, "City of the Sun" near Cairo; or Tanis (per the Aramaic targums). If “priest” is taken in its more basic sense of "officiator", and we read On according to its etymology as “strength or vigor”, he is an “officiator of strength” and may be the minister of defense. It may be that Pharaoh made this man Yosef’s father-in-law because he would be needed to defend the storehouses Yosef would oversee. Or, he may have been Potifar himself. Pharaoh may have been making a political statement that he did not believe Yosef had assaulted Potifar’s wife. He knows Yosef is the best man for the job, but in order to prevent repercussions from Potifar for Pharaoh’s putting Yosef in a higher position than he, giving him Potifar’s own daughter would make Potofar less likely to be jealous of one who was his own relative.
46. Now Yosef was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Yosef left Pharaoh's presence and moved freely about the whole land of Egypt.
Moved freely about: or "passed before", i.e., being recognized by all. 30 years old: he had been a slave for 13 years. Yeshua also “went public” at age 30.
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 that 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.
Archaeologists believe they have unearthed Yosef’s storehouse cities in Goshen (45:10), since they have many classic four-room houses of the type otherwise found only in Israel—not even among other Semitic peoples.
49. And Yosef heaped up grain like the sand of the seashore— exceedingly much—until he stopped counting it, because there is no number that high.
This phrase is much like the promise to Avraham, where the sand refers to people gathered from among the nations through Yosef's own sons:
50. And two sons were born to Yosef prior to the year of the famine's onset, whom As'nath the daughter of Potifera, priest of On, bore to him.
Note the emphasis on their being born to Yosef rather than As'nath. He was adding to Israel, not Egypt, and especially not the pagan priest’s family, through these sons. They would be circumcised and taught the ways of Yaaqov that he learned from the tents of Shem. Each Sabbath when we are blessing our sons that YHWH may make them like Efrayim and Menashe, we must remember that this means they belong to Israel, and must be taught to be Hebrews. The blood of the “officiator of strength” may have needed to be injected into our gene pool because Yosef’s father Yaaqov was passive and gave up too easily when presented with situations he should have fought.
51. And Yosef named the firstborn Menashe ["He who causes to forget"] "—because", he said, "Elohim has made me forget all my hardship, and my father's whole household."
Though his very mention of his father’s household indicates that he really did still remember it, but now he was beginning his own household and there was no longer any bitterness connected with the memories of his old home.
52. And the second son he named Efrayim ["doubly fruitful"]—"because Elohim has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction!"
This is a message of hope for us who are sons of the House of Efrayim and again in exile. Every trial, every hardship, is given so that we might bear fruit. What is important to him is not all this wealth but that his afflictions have made Israel stronger.
53. When the seven years of plenty which were upon the land had come to an end,
54. the seven years of famine began to be manifest, just as Yosef had said they would. And the famine extended to all countries, but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread.
Like the U.S. in the 1800s, Egypt was the breadbasket of the world. Famine was very uncommon in Egypt (compare v. 19), especially in that time when even much of the Sahara was fruitful land. The Egyptians helped grow the grain, but this did not give them a right to eat the bread (a symbol of community, 1 Cor. 10:17). They had to buy it.
55. But all the people of the land of Egypt became hungry, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh told all of Egypt, "Go toYosef, and do whatever he tells you."
Yosef was more familiar with their plight, having been a slave and a prisoner. “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, because he is a son of man" (Yochanan 5:22ff), i.e., more experienced in what it is like to wrestle with human temptations. (cf. Hebrews 5:1-9) Yosef had all the grain; his descendants as well will prove to have received provision for the rest of Israel.
56. And the famine had its effect on the face of the whole earth, and Yosef opened all the granaries, and he sold it to the Egyptians. Then the famine became very severe in the land of Egypt.
57. The whole world also came to Egypt—to Yosef himself—to buy food, because the famine was severe all over the earth.
CHAPTER 42
1. When Yaaqov found out that there was grain [available] in Egypt, Yaaqov said to his sons, "Why are you [sitting there] looking at one another?"
Found out: literally, saw; he was a prophet, and apparently had a vision. Each was looking to the others to do something about the situation. No one was willing to take the first step, but if someone did not do something soon, they all would die. No one (except Yosef) was doing anything, so Yaaqov sent them all. But why was there no grain in Israel? The answer is in the juxtaposition of Judges 21:25 and Ruth 1:1. There was a famine in the land in the days of the judges precisely because that was the time everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Yehudah (the leader) had gone off and lived his own separate life (ch. 38). The brothers had thought the right thing to do to preserve the peace in their household was to get rid of the tattletale dreamer. The seeds they had planted twenty years earlier had now grown into a tree that had to reckoned with. This small group of people affected the whole inhabited world, because YHWH’s eye is always on Israel. What one Israelite does moves major energy in the spiritual realm.
2. Then he explained, "Look! I have heard that there is grain in Egypt! Go down there and buy some [grain] for us from there, so we may survive instead of perishing!"
Unlike the Egyptians, who sold themselves to Pharaoh for bread, we go to the foreign places only to get the raw materials, and we do not give ourselves as equity for them; we buy it and then leave. This way they would not be indebted to the Egyptians. Egypt had grain only because Yosef was there. Salvation cannot come to the rest of Israel until Yosef unites with Yehudah. (Ovadyah 18). Go down: An idiom for leaving the Land of Kanaan.
3. So Yosef's brothers (ten of them) went down to buy grain from Egypt,
4. but Yaaqov did not send Binyamin, Yosef's brother, with his brothers, because he said, "What if harm comes to him?"
Yosef’s brother: son of the same mother, and all Yaaqov has left now of his favorite wife.
5. So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy, for the famine was [had prevailed] in the land of Kanaan as well.
The problem reached our shores because the solution had already come from there and it was meant to extend to others, but would not be set in motion if the rest of Israel did not get involved. They would not have done so on their own initiative, in the condition they were in, but YHWH knows the right mix of pressures that would bring out the best in us all.
6. Now Yosef was the potentate over the land; he was the one selling to all the people of the earth, and Yosef's brothers came and bowed down to him, their faces to the earth.
Bowed down to him: as in his first dream, when only the sons who were working in the field were involved; Binyamin would not have been among them, being the youngest and protected, as we see here. Now they would see Yosef’s sheaf arise and stand upright; he was now the one who had been raised to the highest position.
7. When Yosef saw his brothers, he recognized them, but behaved as if he were a stranger to them: he spoke harsh words to them, demanding of them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Kanaan—to buy food!"
They identify their home as Kanaan, because they are still acting like Kanaanites. Their nation was still small, indeed, and the Land was not yet identified with the one to whom it was promised. But where we are from most recently does not always reflect who we really are.
8. And while Yosef recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
He had a shaved head and Egyptian clothes—and they simply did not expect to see him in such a position. He was probably speaking to them in Egyptian or a trade language.
9. Then Yosef remembered the dreams that he had dreamed concerning them, so he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable the land is!"
How vulnerable: literally, "the nakedness of the land". In his longing to reunite with them, Yosef still did not try to appease his brothers who had remained at home with their heritage, for without him there with them, it had not been enough to bring out their full potential. He tests them and pushes them to become who they really were meant to be. He had come to Sh'khem as a spy for their father, and may have used this to see if they recognized him.
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 [just] one man in the land of Kanaan; the youngest is back there with our father right now, and the other one is no longer with us."
14. Then Yosef said to them, "That is why I told you that you were spies!
That is why: He drops a hint that he himself (the missing brother) is the reason he is treating them so harshly, but they do not pick up on it.
15.
"So this is how you will be tested: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave here unless your younger brother comes here.
"So this is how 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 will be held captive. Let your words be proven this way, whether truth is with you. And if you won't—then as surely as Pharaoh lives, [you'll be admitting] you are spies."
"Send one among yourselves and let him bring your brother, and let the rest of you will be held captive. Let your words be proven this way, whether truth is with you. And if you won't—then as surely as Pharaoh lives, [you'll be admitting] you are spies." 17. So he kept them in custody together for three days,
He had to give them all a taste of what he had gone through—false accusations and prison—so they could identify with him as true brothers. He also gave them time to think and to learn to cooperate. They had been united in jealousy, but needed a better base for their unity.
18. And on the third day, Yosef told them: "Do this and you will stay alive (because I do fear Elohim):
None was brave enough to volunteer to be the one to break their father’s heart, so he came up with a different plan. The third day: when YHWH grants a reprieve to the repentant in Israel (Hoshea 6:1, 2; compare 2 Kings 20:5).
19. "If you are honest, one of your brothers can be held in the prison-house, and you can go bring rations of grain to relieve the hunger of your households.
Your households: All of them had their own children by this time.
20. "And all of you bring your youngest brother back to me, and thus let your words be proven true, and you will not die." So that is what they did.
Rabbi Arie Hahn asks why Yosef, having the power that he now did, did not simply go visit his father or send for him. It was because if his brothers had not changed, his father would have gained one son back but lost 10 (symbolic of a whole congregation). Also, Pharaoh had a job for him to do in Egypt. Yosef was known for his faithfulness: no matter what his personal circumstances were, he always did his work with his whole heart. He was probably the one really holding Egypt together, and Pharaoh really could not spare him.
21. And they said to each other, "We are truly guilty on account of our brother, on whom we looked in the distress of his soul, when he pleaded with us, but we wouldn't listen. That's why this distress has come upon us!"
Pleaded: for them to take him out of the pit they had put him in. They had to see that they should not expect to reap mercy when they have not sown it. This is heavenly accounting, for the books have to balance.
22. And Re’uven responded to them, saying, "Didn't I tell you? Didn't I say, 'Don't do wrong to the youth'? But you wouldn't listen! And now satisfaction for his blood is being required of us!"
Re’uven was not present when Yosef was sold, and he may have never been told what they actually did to him, thinking they actually killed him as they had planned. But he is getting the point that they have to pay a price for their envy. Now Yosef is in a position to exact this penalty, and he knows how. Now he sees that his brothers do remember him, at least, and count him as one of them. Yet they never even came looking for him. None had even cared enough to call him aside before this time and warn him that he was a little too ostentatious in parading the fact that he was the favorite son. He does not reveal who he is until he hears this partial confession of blood-guilt.
23. But they did not realize that Yosef understood them, because they were communicating between him and themselves through an interpreter.
An interpreter: Hebrew was much more widely spoken than just Yaaqov’s family. Yishmaelites, who traded widely, would still have spoken it, most Semites, and there is evidence that the Kananites did. The Hyksos rulers of Egypt may have even spoken it.
24. So he turned away from them and wept, then returned to their presence and spoke to them. And he selected Shim'on and tied him up before their eyes.
He did not want to do things this way, but he knew they still needed discipline so they would learn to become all that sons of Israel are meant to be. He should have been able to expect a higher performance level from them. This is true compassion. By hearing for the first time that Re’uven had indeed tried to rescue him, Yosef saw that the responsibility for his being sold into slavery now fell on Shim'on, the second oldest. He also may have wanted to keep Shim’on separate from Levi, lest they try to stage an attack again as they had done at Sh’khem—one of his last recollections of his homeland.
25. Then, at Yosef's command, their containers were filled with grain, and their money returned—each in its proper 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 departed from there.
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!
The word for money in Hebrew is the same as silver, which is often a symbol of blood. Now they have a vivid reminder that they could not escape the responsibility for their brother.
28. And he told his brothers, "My money has been restored! 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 recounted to him all that they had experienced. 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, 'This is how I will know that you are honest: 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 about and trade in the land.'"
35. But then it occurred—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 terror-stricken.
It would have appeared that they had stolen it. They probably expected an Egyptian army to come after them.
36. And their father Yaaqov said to them, "You have bereaved me! Yosef is no more, and Shim'on is not here anymore, and now you want to take Binyamin! All of these things are going against me!"
He is still called Yaaqov here, since he is living in fear and thinking in terms of "me", not "us". It was allowable to be devastated by his loss for a season, but he must again begin to participate in the life around him. He is still alive, but bitterness has taken the life out of his living. Since the seer was taken away, his spiritual vision has dimmed.
37. So Re’uven told his father, "You may personally slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my charge, and I will return him to you."
38. But Yaaqov said, "No! My son shall not go down with you, for 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 She'ol in sorrow."
Down to She’ol: i.e., it would kill me! This ridiculous reasoning that said that if he lost his sons, he could go ahead and kill his grandsons was actually rooted in the fact that Re’uven was never rebuked for taking Yaaqov’s concubine to bed. Thus Yaaqov did not allow him the occasion to repent and find a way to make some kind of restitution. It seems he did not think Re’uven was worth dealing with, so Re’uven is grasping at straws to somehow win back his father’s respect. Not being held accountable probably made Re’uven lose respect for his father as well. He must have expected to be confronted each time he saw his father, but he never was. Justice was not done. Yaaqov kept it bottled up until his deathbed, then spewed out the bitterness that had built up in his soul. Yaaqov was probably awaiting a confession from Re’uven as well, so the whole household is now in disorder. No one could live up to his full potential until Yosef stepped in and forced them all to do something about their shameful situation. All I have left: of Rakhel, whom he considered his only true wife. To them it must sound as if none of them count to him.
CHAPTER 43
1. But the famine grew severe in the Land,
YHWH does not just cause famines for no reason. Among His people, something has to open the door for it. A clue is in the numerical value of the Hebrew word for “famine” (ra’av), which is 272. In Hebrew tradition, words that have the same numerical value are related somehow. In Exodus 21:16, the phrase “and sells him” (which is written as a single word, um’kharo, in Hebrew), in the context of kidnapping, has the same value. This is what the brothers had in mind to do to Yosef. There is an equation in the balance. The word for “severe” really means “heavy” in Hebrew. But another of the words that has the value of 272 is actually the rearrangement of the word ra’av: ’avar, which means to cross over, and is the root word for “Hebrew”. As all of Israel crosses back over to its calling of being Hebrews, equal weight will be placed on the other side of the balance to repair this breach in our national unity. (Yehezq’el 36:33-35) Yaaqov did not want to send Binyamin to Egypt, but the famine carried more weight than Yaaqov’s preferences; he had to cross over into the realm where he could only trust YHWH for the outcome. Like the famine when he was a boy (chapter 26), this one had a purpose: to make us seek out grain, and as King Shlomo would say, it is to reveal the plague that is in our own hearts and drive us to prayer so that we might examine ourselves and seek healing from YHWH. (1 Chron. 8:36ff)
2. and so, when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, their father told them, "Go back and buy a little food for us."
As they had dined while Yosef was in the pit, they also let Shim'on "stew" in Egypt until they had waited as long as they could to return. Knowing he was a bloodthirsty man, and that he was provided for in the prison, they might have thought Shim'on could fend for himself. Nothing had been done to secure his freedom; this is why the famine had to be kicked up a notch. In Hebrew the only difference between famine (ra’av) and abundance (rav) is the letter ayin, which means “eye”. Depending on how we look at things, we can have abundance while hungry or a famine amidst abundance. They were busy with their bellies and had taken their eyes off their brother, and thus were acting more like Esau than Israel. And which brother they had left behind is of utmost importance because of the meaning of his name. It means “hearing very well”. When we refuse to listen, YHWH has to send us signs instead. This is why Yeshua says it is a wicked and perverse generation that seeks a sign. (Mat. 12:39) It means they have stopped listening. YHWH says He will bring a famine of hearing His word. (Amos 8:11) Famine is to make us seek His Word, because that is the only place we can truly measure where our motives stand. "A little food": not knowing how long the famine would last, he may have thought they could "ride it out".
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 cannot 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?"
Israel, the spiritual man, is speaking, not the man of the flesh (Yaaqov), so this opinion is valid, even if it was too late to be heeded. Giving too much information inevitably jeopardizes our brothers. The preservation of Israel demands that we not tell everyone all that we know. If someone asks to be fed, only give him enough to see whether he swallows it or spits it back at you before giving him more. Yeshua reminded us not to cast our pearls before swine or dogs. But Yaaqov also recognizes that the interests of the whole family are more important than his own feelings.
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 direct questions like these! How could we have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?"
Actually, all the text tells us Yosef had done was repeatedly make the statement, “You are spies!” Our memories can rewrite themselves in our favor. They thought they had to tell him more in order to overcome this charge.
8. And Yehudah told his father Israel, "Send the lad with me, and let us set out and be going, so that we may survive and not perish—both we and you and our toddlers!
Our toddlers: They reminded Yaaqov that they, too, had children who would also starve if they did nothing.
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 bear the blame before you all the days [of my life]—
Re’uven (42:37) did not know what he was saying, but Yehudah did. Yehudah, who also knew what it was like to lose two sons, finally persuaded his overprotective father to entrust Binyamin to him, promising to repay him in kind if anything went wrong. Yehudah proved he was worthy to rule over his brothers by being the servant and taking responsibility. Later his tribe and Yosef’s would be the only ones whose spies gave a favorable report about the Land—a privilege possibly allowed him because of his faithfulness at this time
10. "for if we had not hesitated so long because of this, we could easily have been there and back twice already!"
Yaaqov waited until it hurt too much to do nothing. He finally realizes that there is no way around sending Binyamin, as a test of faith of the same type his grandfather Avraham experienced when called to offer Yitzhaq.
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 man—a little balm, a little honey, some spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds,
So they did have food after all--and delicacies at that. They also still had livestock, which meant they had meat and milk. The Renewed Covenant says meat symbolizes the deeper things of YHWH, and milk, the pure, simple teaching of the Torah. But though the Land was bringing forth fruit, without the bread (a picture of unified community, per 1 Cor. 10:17), it is inadequate. No matter how tasty, healthful, or exotic, the fruit of one individual is not enough to bring before the Father; we need the fruit of the entire community.
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 an oversight!
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 presence, and may He send you back along with your other brother and Binyamin. And as for me—if I am bereaved, I am bereaved!"
I.e., "If we starve here, I'll lose him anyway." He will die one way or the other. Now he is thinking, like his grandfather Avraham, of the whole community. Esther took the same attitude, and everyone was rescued. El Shaddai: the name that emphasizes the nourishing side of YHWH’s nature. In contrast with Yaaqov’s introverted response in 42:38, he is taking YHWH into account here, so he is acting as Israel and his hope revives.
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 Yosef.
16. When Yosef saw Binyamin with them, he told the one in charge of his house, "Bring these men into the house, and make a great slaughter, and prepare [a feast], because the men are to eat with me at noon."
17. So the man did as Yosef said, and brought the men into Yosef's house.
18. And the men were frightened when they were taken directly to Yosef's house. They surmised, "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 pretext
against us, then overpower us and seize us as slaves—and our donkeys too!"
They had a special appreciation for the beasts that served them, even feeding them out of the food bought for their families. (42:27)
19. And they approached the man who had charge over Yosef's house and spoke to him at the door to the house,
20. saying, "Please, my master, we had indeed come down the first time to buy food,
21. "but it turned out that, when we arrived at the lodging place and opened our sacks, there was each one's money in the mouth of his sack—our silver in its exact weight! So now we are bringing it back in our hand,
22. “and we have brought more silver in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks!"
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; I received your payment." And he brought Shim'on out to them.
The man was not lying; he had indeed received the silver, and YHWH did prompt Yosef to give it back to them in mercy but also to test them. But someone had to deal with the situation as it existed. When the brothers took responsibility for what had taken place, even though they did not think they were guilty in the matter, their “hearing” (Shim’on) was restored.
24. Then the man brought the men into Yosef's house, and he furnished water, and they washed their feet. And he gave their donkeys provender.
Washed their feet: an important form of hospitality in a dusty land. Like Rivqah, he cares for their animals also.
25. So they prepared their present for Yosef's arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat bread there.
26. When Yosef came into the house, they brought him the tribute they had carried with them into the house, and they bowed themselves to the earth before him.
Now all of his brothers had fulfilled his dream--but not his father or mother; that is still to come. Tribute: the term was later used of a grain offering in the Tabernacle.
27. Then he asked them about their welfare, and said, "Is your father well—the old man of whom you spoke? 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 homage] before him again.
Here Yaaqov is also included in their bowing down, as in his second dream, since they include him as one of Yosef’s servants. They had heeded their father’s complaint, and learned to divulge as little as possible, though this time Yosef actually did ask the questions they had answered before he asked them.
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."
“Little” brother--though he had already fathered ten children! (46:2) He would have been about 30 to 32 years old by now.
30. But Yosef hurried out, because his emotions were deeply moved toward his brother, and he was looking for a place where he could shed tears [freely]. So he went into the inner room and wept there.
Inner room: a private, enclosed chamber, possibly his bedroom. (Compare Mat. 6:16.) The root word means "innermost part"; he wanted his physical surroundings to match the fact that his emotional response came from the innermost part of his being. "Emotions" here can literally mean "the abdomen", the most protected part; the particular emotion associated with it is usually "compassion". Yet he waited for the right time to speak. Yosef had to test his brothers to see if they were really ready to risk their own lives for their brothers. He did it the hard way so they could prove to themselves that this time they would stand up for one another.
31. Then he washed the tears off his face and went back out, having regained his composure, and said, "Set out the bread!"
Set out the bread: Though there would be a feast with many animals slaughtered (v. 16), their focus was all on the bread, for that was what they lacked and what they had come there for. Figuratively, establish the community! Now that all twelve of them were back together, this could actually begin to take place.
32. Now they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and served the Egyptians who were eating with them separately, because the Egyptians could not bear to eat with the Hebrews, since it was considered an abhorrent thing in Egypt.
An abhorrent thing: The Hebrews ate cattle and sheep, which the Egyptians worshiped. (Ex. 8:25ff) But shepherds are an important picture of what YHWH wants Israel to be.
33. But they were seated before him, from the firstborn according to his rank [birthright] to the youngest, each according to his age. And the men looked at each other in astonishment.
34. Then he had someone serve them portions 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 their fill with him.
Portions from his own table: a custom dignitaries used to honor special guests. It is as if they are eating from the king’s table, and to them it appears as if the famine is over. Though they ate lunch nonchalantly while he was crying out in the pit, he still feeds them, but the one who had no part in sending him into captivity receives much more. Five times: literally "five hands", and this may partly explain 41:47. This was to give them a clue that he was Binyamin’s brother. It may have also been a test to see if they were still jealous of special favor shown to Rakhel's children. 15 portions were served in all, in addition to Yosef's, and eleven brothers are there. The numeric value of the first two letters in YHWH’s name is 15, while the value of the last two total 11. At Sukkoth, the feast that most fully prefigures the Kingdom, we speak every day of intending to unify the “yodh-hey” with the “vav-hey”, making His name one. (Zkh. 14:9) Having all 12 sons of Israel eat from the same table is the same picture. The celebration of all the brothers is another reparation for their crime against Yosef, because the phrase “and they rejoiced with shouting” (Lev. 9:24) also has the same numerical value as “famine”--272 (see note on v. 1), thus cancelling it
CHAPTER 44
1. Then he gave orders to the [one] who was over his house, saying, "Fill these men's sacks with food, as much as they are able to carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack.
Money: literally, "silver ". Yosef may have been again reminding them that they had sold him for silver, and hinting at the fact that they could never repay him for the trouble they had put him through.
2. “And also put my goblet—the silver one—in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, along with the silver for his grain.” So he did exactly what Yosef had told him to do.
3. At the [first] light of morning, the men were sent off, along with their donkeys.
Why are their donkeys mentioned so often? There is a symbolic reason beyond the literal. Exodus 13:13 specifies that the firstborn of a donkey must be redeemed with a lamb, or have its neck broken. Thus we see that a donkey, though an unclean beast, can be redeemed. A dog cannot be redeemed (Yeshayahu 66:3ff). But Ex. 11:7 says not even a dog would move its tongue against the children of Israel, to show that YHWH was making a distinction between Egypt and Israel. Elsewhere in Scripture dogs are paralleled with the congregation of the wicked (Ps. 22:16), workers of evil (Phil. 3:2), and sorceres, immoral, idolaters, and liars (Rev. 22:15). The price of a dog is not to be brought into the House of Elohim. (Deut. 23:18) Y’shua tells us not to give what is holy to dogs. (Mat. 7:6) Dogs were worshipped by both Egyptians and Phoenicians. Thousands of mummified ones have been found. But we never see an Israelite in Scripture owning a dog. So dogs are a picture of the completely wicked (who cannot be redeemed, like Kanaan, Amaleq, and Edom), while donkeys are a picture of the third category, often simply called “sinners”--those who can still be redeemed. Not all of them will be, but many will. These donkeys were associated with the patriarchs of Israel, and likewise we see the two houses of Israel having additional companions (Yehezq'el 37:16-19) who are useful to them. The brothers represent those who are hand-picked (Mat. 22:14), but a much larger number, represented by the donkeys, are also invited and can also then become part of the Commonwealth of Israel if they wear the proper garments. The Great Sanhedrin proclaimed that the ten lost tribes were so engrained among the nations that they could be categorized simply as Gentiles. But Yeshua came to prove this assessment wrong, since in his view, though we had ceased to be men, we were not dogs; we could be redeemed by a Lamb!
4. After they left the city, they had not gotten far, when Yosef said to the man in charge over his palace, "Rise up and pursue the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you repaid [me with] evil when [I treated you] rightly?
Just when they thought their troubles were finally over, the messenger asks them the question Yosef has been wanting answered for over 20 years.
5. "'Isn't this the goblet that my master is used to drinking from? He also regularly divines from it! You have committed evil by what you have done!'"
Divines: discerns omens, foretells the days to come. The divining cup appears in many pictographs of Babylonian and near eastern deities. This practice of reading the movements of wine when swirled around in the cup is called hydromancy. It was seen as a sign from the “other side” of something that was already laid out there and heading their way. It was much like the practices still extant today of reading tea leaves or horoscopes. "Serpent" in 3:1 is the noun form of the same word. The Aramaic targum explains that Yosef had used it to appear to be divining when he seated the brothers by order of age. The Torah would later forbid such practices; looking to unauthorized sources for a message about tomorrow is even punishable by death. (Deut. 18:11) Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 8:18ff tells us we should seek our Elohim instead; the only sign to look for is a people who live by His words. Efrayim is returning and many in Yehudah are returning to their roots; these are signs pointing to the fact that the Kingdom is drawing closer. Assuming something is bound to take place at a certain time, no matter what, would bring us a false sense of security. What occurs tomorrow is dependent on how faithful we are today. Looking anywhere else for answers, even if they turn out to be true, will not bring any further light (clarity), but only confusion, and that is exactly what Yosef is doing by speaking of divination. His claimed use of the cup was a “set-up” to keep them from recognizing him as Yosef, who would never actually carry out this practice.
6. So he overtook them, and spoke these words to them.
7. But they said to him, "Why should our master say such things? It would be a sacrilege for your servants to do what you have said!
They had really stolen nothing this time. But the repayment with evil that he was really alluding to (v. 4) was what they had done to him about 22 years earlier.
8. "We even brought the silver which we found in our sacks back to you—all the way from the land of Kanaan! How then could we steal either silver or gold from your master's palace?
9. "Anyone among your servants with whom you find it with will incur the death penalty! In addition, the rest of us will become slaves to my master."
Again he was trying to jog their memory by doing exactly what Lavan had done to their father (tracked them down and accused them of stealing something), and they respond in exactly the same way their father had. Yehudah assumed none of them had taken the cup, or he would not have spoken so rashly. But Yosef may have even gotten them drunk (43:34) so they could not be sure of what they might have done the night before.
10. So he said, "Let it be as you have said, [except that] whomever it is found with will become my slave, and the rest of you will be considered innocent."
This servant was well-trained to speak for his master, but Yosef had said nothing about killing anyone, so he tones down Yehudah’s offer. This very type of offer was the reason Yosef’s and Binyamin’s mother had died so young. Yet Yehudah repeated the mistake Yaaqov had made, and thus called a curse upon both Binyamin and the whole family. This is why the servant still affirms that what Yehudah has said will come true, though not at this time. It would be delayed many years, but first all of Israel would indeed be enslaved to the one Yosef represented (Pharaoh), then centuries later still, though Binyamin had actually committed no crime, all but 600 men of his tribe would be killed by the other Israelites because of an incident in which they were unwilling to turn over the guilty to be judged—and YHWH made Yehudah’s tribe attack them first (Judges 20), seemingly because he is the one who called this curse on his brother simply because he was not careful in his words. He was from a prophetic family--the wrong family to speak haphazardly. Our words have more power than we realize. What we say today could affect even our great-grandchildren.
11. So each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
12. And he searched in the oldest one's sack first, and the youngest one's last—and the cup was found in Binyamin's sack!
13. Then they tore their clothes, and each of them reloaded his donkey and they all returned to the city.
Tore their clothes: in agony as strong as mourning. They could only imagine all the ramifications this would have.
14. When Yehudah and his brothers came into Yosef's house, he was still there, and they fell to the earth before him.
Interestingly, Yehudah is again seen as the leader, though Reuven was the eldest; apparently Yaaqov had put him in charge, as he would again later (46:28). And they again fulfill his dream.
15. Then Yosef said to them, "What is this deed that you have done? Didn't you know a man like me would practice divination?"
He feigned being unable to imagine how they thought they could get away with this if he could divine who had his goblet. It must have seemed confusing how he could find them out in this way if Binyamin had his divining cup! He is playing with their minds so they can begin to feel what it was like when they did such an injustice to him at age 17. The cumulative effects of all of these events whips them into a frenzy. They are speechless:
16. Then Yehudah said, "What can we say, my master? How can we even speak, and how could we ever justify ourselves? The Elohim has caught your servants for their crookedness. Behold, we are slaves to my master—both we and he in whose hand the cup was discovered."
Yehudah seems to be bearing witness to this “spirit diviner” that there is only one Elohim, for though “the Elohim” could have been taken as a plurality like the Egyptians thought, he uses a singular verb for His action. While the other tribes had other truths about Him to tell, Yehudah has been chosen to emphasize this aspect of YHWH’s nature throughout history. It was not this time that they were guilty. But it is obvious to them that somewhere in the past they have done wrong, and they all realize what it is. But if we respond properly to adversity even when we have been guiltless this time, YHWH can restore to us what we are lacking overall. Yehudah now takes responsibility for his brother, for he is beginning to see that if one of them is guilty, all of them are in it together. This is what Yosef was after.
17. But he said, "Far be it from me to do that! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall become my slave; the rest of you go back up to your father in peace!"
Go back up: even this "Egyptian" is admitting that returning to Israel's land is ascending. Yet they did not catch the hint. He was also saying that innocent men should not have to pay for others' guilt—again, designed to remind them of what they had done to him. He puts them through even further stress to the point of their realizing the real possibility that their father will indeed die from this heartbreak--so they might actually repent. But the Egyptian justice system would break the family’s unity.
TORAH PORTION
MiQetz
(Genesis 41:1 - 44:17)
INTRODUCTION: In this reading, we see so many examples of the workings-out of “poetic justice”. And why not? We are literally called YHWH’s “poem”—each one of us masterpieces (Ephesians 2:10), woven together through the threads that to us often seem unrelated and haphazard, but when we see the “other side of the tapestry”—how the finished product all fits together—we can only stand in awe of how He could make it into a thing of such beauty. Here, we still don’t see the final resolution to this story, for which we could hardly imagine a more fascinating and riveting plot, even ending with another “cliff-hanger”. But we do see countless examples of how YHWH evens out the scales of justice with both gravity (“heavy” circumstances which weigh down those who sought too “light” and easy a life) as well as unparalleled mercy and compassion once He sees the slightest move toward taking responsibility for one’s actions—because this is a reparation not just for one’s own shortcomings, but also for those of our most ancient parents, whose imbalance we are all still correcting for, because they both shifted the blame off themselves and onto someone else. We even see the adjusting of the scale mathematically, through the numeric value of one word bringing balance to another word of the same value in Hebrew. If the Judge of All the Earth pays such attention to detail in restoring the equilibrium to just one family (as “weighty” as they are in the scheme of things), we can only imagine His infinite wisdom in restoring the balance of the vastly-convoluted and intertangled travesties of justice that have been the story of humanity since Hevel’s blood first cried “Foul!” and YHWH set in motion the rules of “one for one”. The biggest re-balancing has already been set in motion, even if the scale has not yet stopped reeling from the working out of all its ramifications. But if we look at the world in these terms, we can view each detail of the puzzling events we encounter in this topsy-turvy world as one more microadjustment of the whole so that it can all finally settle into solid stability and the “Kingdom which cannot be shaken” be put firmly in place.
There’s No
“Under This Radar”
Over 20 years ago I was traveling out of state in a rented car, and went through a toll-booth using the “easy-pass” lane. At that time I had never heard of such a thing, and I was amazed that there was a way to bypass the tolls! But several weeks later, I received the bill in the mail. They had tracked me down, though the car was not mine and I lived all the way across the country. They were able to figure out who had rented the car on that particular day because the tollgate took a picture of its license.
If modern technology can do that for someone who broke the law without knowing it, how much more can YHWH track down those whose guilt is intentional?
This Torah portion is read during Hanukkah. One of the things that the book of Maccabees tells us, which we don’t often hear in the account of the Greeks trying to eradicate Torah culture, was that many of the Jews at that time had welcomed Greek culture and even thought it improved their lives. They bit off more than they could chew, but the truth is, they really had asked for what they got. Yosef’s brothers didn’t foresee all the trouble their actions would bring about either, but the same thing held true: all of our actions have consequences, and they got themselves into this.
They were reaping what they sowed. They couldn’t blame anyone else. This time there was no goat conveniently nearby to cover up what really occurred. This time there was no alibi and no forensic evidence that could get them out of trouble.
Torah later stipulated that even if you intended to harm someone but did not get to carry it out, the penalty was equivalent not to what was actually done, but what was planned (Deut. 19:16-21--the context for “an eye for an eye”). Yosef’s brothers might not have actually sold him, since the Midyanites apparently beat them to it, but he counted them as having been the ones who sold him, and it seems YHWH did too. They knew Elohim had caught them. (44:16) Their sin had found them out. (Num. 32:23)
Maybe this is why the Torah portion ends without resolution; we have to feel the reality of the fact that we got ourselves into this mess. While some of the accusations leveled against them were fabricated, this test would not have been necessary if they had not in fact sinned the first time. If relief comes before the deeper issues are resolved, they will only come back to bite you again. So he left them to squirm and stew for an uncomfortably-long time, not just to get a taste of what they had done to him, but so that they would honestly analyze what kind of people they had become. And as long as we can still see clearly enough to do that, there is still hope that we can change.
Prisons are often called detention centers or penitentiaries—not places of punishment, but places designed to pull someone away from the busyness he uses as an excuse to put off dealing with his core motives, and to allow him an occasion to really repent. Though Yosef certainly had been done wrong, he had already gotten over that; his sons’ names show that he felt far more than compensated for his injuries. What he really wanted from his brothers was that they would live up to their real potential rather than remaining immature, bickering siblings.
So if you feel like you are hedged in with no way out, stop trying to get out of it for a moment and listen for why YHWH has detained you. Leave the resolution of the situation for later, and deal with your heart.
Study Questions:
1. It is often said that the lives of the patriarchs foreshadow those of their descendants. Yosef is a patriarch of the northern Kingdom of Israel. How do his experiences parallel those of his descendants? How might the story play out in regard to the rapprochement with his brothers, Yaaqov’s other children?
2. How might the dreams described in chapter 40 have helped Yosef interpret those in chapter 41?
3. Why do you think all of Egypt’s best magicians could not determine the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams (41:8)?
4. What can you surmise from 41:25, 28, and 32 about how YHWH does things? (Also compare Amos 3:7.)
5. How did Yosef’s brothers’ mistake (41:9) work out for the best? What can this realization do for your attitude about things you may experience?
6. When given a glowing introduction, does Yosef exaggerate his qualifications? (41:16) Do you think Pharaoh was disappointed or impressed by his response?
7. Do you interpret 41:34-35 to be saying they would collect 1/5 of the produce of the land, or set aside 1/5 of the land and store up all the produce from that fifth? Which do you think would work better?
8. Do you think Yosef anticipated being chosen as the “wise overseer” he recommended? (41:39-44) Who else in Scripture began their public service at age 30? (41:46)
9. When YHWH gives us what others do not have, what does 41:54-57 teach us to do with it?
10. Do you think that when Yosef’s brothers bowed down (42:6, 21), it triggered a memory for them of his dream? For Yosef? (42:9)
11. Was his rough manner (42:7) due to resentment toward them, or just part of hiding his identity?
12. What hints does Yosef drop to see if they might recognize him? (e.g., 42:18, 20; 43:7)
13. Knowing that desperation leads people to do uncharacteristic things, Yosef sees a danger in the vulnerability of the land. (42:9, 12) Why does he pin this on his brothers?
14. After more than 20 years, they see retribution coming for what they did to a brother. (42:21, 28) How does this compare to their father’s experience?
15. Why would Yosef choose Shim’on as the one to incarcerate? (42:22-24)
16. What phrase in 42:30 foreshadows a role of Yeshua? What other parallels can you find between Yosef’s and Yeshua’s experiences? (e.g., 41:46)
17. Why did Yaaqov ignore Re’uevn’s suggestion (42:37)?
18. How was Yehudah later rewarded for taking responsibility for his brother’s safety (43:8)?
19. What does Yaaqov do when faced with a situation he can do nothing about and the only alternative is unacceptable? (43:11-14) How can we emulate his example?
20. Have you ever seen YHWH bring you up to the brink of potential disaster like we see in the “cliff-hanger” ending to this portion? How did you respond?
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for kids
Did you ever find yourself in a place where you could “get back” at someone who did you wrong? What did you end up doing? The first thing that came into your head, or something else, once you’d thought it over a little more?
Yosef had two occasions here to really get even, because he was in a position to do pretty much anything he wanted. If he had sent that forgetful cupbearer back to jail, which of the people who were now under his authority would dare to scold him or be able to stop him? Even Pharaoh no longer concerned himself with such day-to-day details, since he had put Yosef in charge of everything—just as Potifar had.
It’s one thing to do the right thing when you’re in a jam like he was when he was in jail. People are usually more serious about not messing up when they are in trouble. They tend to remember YHWH and pray to Him for mercy when they’re feeling the hurts of life. But when they have power, it often “goes to their head” and makes them think they can get away with doing anything they want.
But Yosef was starting to “see the big picture”. He remembered his dreams from 20 years earlier when he saw his brothers not just standing, but bowing down in front of him. And he then knew that the One who gave him those dreams remembered every detail and could bring things together across not just time but miles and even though many things had been out of Yosef’s control in the meantime. He saw now that nothing was out of YHWH’s control.
And that made him not just relieved, calm, and thankful that YHWH could untangle such a mess and make good come out of a really bad situation. It also made him realize that he would have to answer to YHWH for the decisions he made now, when he really had the choice. He could NOT, after all, get away with doing anything he wanted. He was still being watched by Someone higher, Who could reward or punish him in a big way.
Yes, the cupbearer had done him wrong by forgetting to do what Yosef asked, but he had shown that he was sorry. He even admitted to the king that he was wrong. (41:9) People don’t always mean it when they say they’re sorry; sometimes they’re just scared that what they did wrong was now going to catch up with them (as Yosef’s brothers were at first), but it takes someone really brave to admit they are not perfect and should have done better, and that should make us more patient with them. Yosef saw that he did the right things when Pharaoh’s dream jogged his memory. Who knew if it might not have been YHWH that made him forget, because how would he have found Yosef (whose name he might not have remembered either) if he had been let out of jail two years before?
So he was big enough to realize it was for the best that he had stayed where he could be found when he was needed for something really big. So it looks like he forgave the man with the bad memory.
But solving the riddle of Pharaoh’s dream wasn’t anywhere near as big as solving the problem of the coming famine, and dealing with brothers who really did mean to do him wrong was a much bigger challenge than dealing with someone who just forgot to return a favor. But Yosef saw that YHWH could not just remember the details of his dream and make it come true; it was YHWH who had actually given him that dream so many years before, and He hadn’t done it just to make Yosef feel smug about having all his bigger brothers bow down to him! He knew there must be a reason that dream had been given to him in the first place, and that the problem of the famine was brought to his attention now. It was so he could DO something, not to stop it but to help the people survive it.
And though he didn’t see evidence yet that his brothers were really sorry, just scared now that they saw that YHWH remembered what they had done, he also knew that YHWH had plans for that big family of his, and didn’t want them to die in the famine either.
Yes, he toyed with their emotions a bit; he might have wanted them to get just a taste of what he went through because of what they did to him. But it wasn’t just so he could get even. He really wanted them to have a change of heart.
So he pushed them into a corner, hoping that they would rise to the occasion and become bigger people just as he had been allowed to do when YHWH put a lot of pressure on him—because he saw that it was not really they who had sent him down to Egypt. They didn’t have any idea where those traders were going or where he would end up. But YHWH wanted somebody who was not just smart but was also compassionate to be in the most powerful kingdom on earth when the time came when such a big natural disaster came, because it would affect all of these countries, and who was in charge then really mattered.
So he could set aside his grudge which, beside such a big problem, looked really tiny, and look past it to the big picture that nothing was outside of YHWH’s control. And it mattered to YHWH what he did with what he now knew.
So if you know YHWH could have stopped the things that seemed to “happen” to you but didn’t, how will YOU treat the people who were just the ones He used to make things turn out the way they did?
Because you have to answer to YHWH too.
The Renewal of MI-QETZ
We continue with the many parallels between Yosef and Yeshua.
When Pharaoh brought him out of prison and told him the great things he had heard about him, Yosef answered , “It is not in me; Elohim will give Pharaoh a complete answer.” (Gen. 41:16)
Yeshua likewise deferred the idea that he had come up with his astounding teachings on his own:
“Truly, truly, I tell you, The Son can do nothing from himself, but [only] what he sees the Father do: for whatever he does, these things the Son also does in the same way.” (Yoch. 5:19) “I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. “ (Yoch. 5:30)
Pharaoh tells Yosef, “You shall be over my house, and according unto your word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou…I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41:40, 44)
“For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” (Yoch. 5:22) “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.” (Yoch. 3:35)
The parallels continue, even to their age of ascendancy:
“Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.--And Yosef went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt." (Gen. 41:46)
“A voice came from heaven, which said, ‘You are my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.’ And Yeshua himself was commencing [his public service] when He was about thirty years [old]…” (Luke 3:22-23)
Yosef’s storing up food needed at a later time (41:48) might be compared to Yeshua’s parable of the ten virgins (Mat. 25), where they are concerned with having enough oil to last through the night.
Okay, if that was the only claimed parallel, it would be a stretch, but there are so many others:
And Judah spoke unto him, saying: 'The man did earnestly forewarn us, saying: You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.’ (Gen. 43:3)
“For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH.” (Mt 23:39, based on Psalm 118:26) This is a dilemma for modern Yehudah, too, which finds it essentially a sin and a blasphemy to say YHWH’s name, but those who come to know Him as “Abba” may find that “perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Yochanan 4:18) But it requires a certain humility of the type their ancestor Yehudah was able to find at the end of this Torah portion.
When Binyamin is laid on the line, Yosef’s household begins to treat his brothers royally, and this is occurring again today, but, as then, it makes them very nervous: is he really out to get us? (43:16-18) Today Yeshua seems to be crying out to see his closest relatives again—those who have been closest to his Father’s heart. As his household treats them with such lavish, overwhelming love almost to the point of flattery today, still they do not recognize him and still there is something they are not willing to give up for him, and yet that may be the very thing that shows him they are worthy of the revelation that will make them weep bitterly over him as for an only son. (Zekh. 12:10)
When Trouble
Can’t Be Avoided
For some reason the seven years of famine were inevitable (Gen. 41:32); some result of the natural laws YHWH had set up could not be averted. He deliberately operates within the laws He created (though some are more rare than others), possibly to give His accusing enemy no foot to stand on when trying to paint Him as unjust, as we saw all the way back in the Garden of Eden and in the story of Iyov (Job).
And there are some laws that we could say human beings put into effect—consequences of disobeying YHWH’s commands, which set in motion those “equal and opposite reactions” Newton described. Entropy set in, which has its own set of negative laws, and it seems haSatan takes advantage of these more often than the ones YHWH intended would prevail, because they cause more chaos and disrupt the norms YHWH created. He likes anything that thwarts the order YHWH designed, even though it is shooting himself in the foot, because he also wanted to rule our world, and now his own realm is chaotic! But arrogance never was logical; it only achieves the opposite of what it aims for. (Luke 14:11)
But no matter how He let His own laws limit Him, YHWH did reserve the right to warn His people of what is coming, so we can at least minimize the ill effects. It takes hard work and sacrifice to ward off evil; just ask Yeshua. In Yosef’s day, it would have been easy to revel in all the excess food that was available and assume it was the new normal. But “a shrewd man foresees the evil [that is coming] and hides himself, while the naïve go right on through, and have to learn the hard way.” (Proverbs 22:3)
What such warnings has He given us? “The flesh sets it sights on the spirit…so you can’t just do whatever you like.” (Gal. 5:17) We might want to relax when we have more than we need, but “this is not the place to rest; it is polluted and will destroy you.” (Micah 2:10) “Make no mistake; bad associations corrupt good character.” (1 Cor. 15:33) “Don’t be deceived; YHWH won’t be circumvented, because whatever a person sows he will reap.” (Gal. 6:7) There are those laws again! “The servant is not greater than his master; if they have mistreated me, they will mistreat you.” (Yochanan/John 15:20) If we’re having too easy of a time fitting into the current way things are structured, we have to ask ourselves if we might be investing in the wrong side—the part that isn’t going to last. (Yoch. 15:19; 1 Yoch. 4:5-6)
We must forearm ourselves with the attitude that we can’t keep that “extra 25%” of the blessings YHWH has given us over and above what we really need, for our own aggrandizement, because trouble is on the horizon, and no one is unaffected, even if we have protection from YHWH. (Jer. 45:5) Our forebears spoke of “saving for a rainy day”, for they knew prosperity never lasts long in this age. It is not the place to “take our ease” (Luke 12:19) as if this were the only shot we would have at a good life. Others will soon be starving, and they cannot eat what we’ve wasted on frivolous pleasures. We cannot stubbornly pursue wealth without some kind of guilt toward those around us. (Prov. 28:20; 1 Yoch. 3:17) Yeshua said, “store up your treasure” where you cannot access it, but where it can outlast the crisis. (Mat. 6:19)
How do we bank treasure in heaven? By being “rich toward YHWH”. (Luke 12:21) What does that mean? Proverbs tells us: “He who shows consideration for the poor lends to his Maker.” (19:17) Wait; YHWH needs to borrow from us? Indeed, He structured things so that without your contribution, someone will lack, so each of us matters. Like haSatan, “seeds” we sow can lead to discord or strife (Prov. 6:19; 16:28) or we can give to those who can’t pay us back and be repaid when we need it most, directly by YHWH, who does not forget our sacrifices (Heb. 6:10; Luke 14;13-14)
When the wind scorched the luxuriant crops and they were no more, those who’d set aside that 20% for others also benefitted. Only what was saved up survived. But it kept alive what counted most. So “sow to the spirit” and reap life! (Gal. 6:8)
What If We’re Wrong? What if They’re Wrong?
What if we found out we were wrong about there being a judgment after death, though we had lived all our lives as if there was? We would still have done right to our neighbors and there would be nothing to be ashamed of. But if it is true and we had lived as if it were not? Then we would be in deep trouble.
Yosef, likewise, stuck his neck out pretty far when Pharaoh asked him to interpret his dreams. What if he had been wrong, and the seven years of famine did not follow the years of abundance? Well, the people would still have had plenty and no harm would have come from storing up for a “rainy day” anyway. But if he was right and they had not made preparation, it would have been disastrous not only for Egypt but for the whole inhabited world.
But indeed “there was famine in all lands…over all the surface of the earth.” (41:54-56) But how could there be such a widespread famine? Geological evidence for this 7-year famine may have been found. But what could cause a worldwide drought?
One author suggests that an “interloping planet passed close to the Earth, causing a disturbance in the axis of the earth, causing more extreme weather patterns for several years.” Since the famine seems to have occurred right around 1700 B.C.E., Patten’s estimate of a Mars passby (an every-54-year pattern which ended in 701 B.C.E. with Akhaz’s sundial event) around 1728 B.C.E. (The Mars-Earth Wars) that shifted earth’s axis could have affected the climate for decades, if his estimate is not off slightly. Dr. Asher Kauffman discovered the foundations of both temples in Jerusalem, which showed that between the two temples such polar shifts moved Israel 6 degrees southward, out of the zone of being a “land flowing with milk and honey” to the more arid climate it still has today. So it is not far-fetched or a stretch, if you are familiar with the right facts.
But how much are we willing to stake on Scripture’s veracity? If we can’t trust one part, we can’t be sure of any of it.
The time of year this part of the Torah is read is Hanukkah, which means “dedication”; its back story shows just how dedicated the Jews were to YHWH’s commands when they were forbidden to keep them on penalty of death. They put everything on the line to preserve the culture YHWH had designed. Had there been no Hanukkath haMizbeakh (rededication of the altar), Yeshua might not have had that culture to be born into (as others celebrate at this season) and be raised on. So be grateful for the Maccabees’ hard-line stand for truth.
Yet many say that Jewish things and Yeshua just can’t mix. Who's right? Who's wrong? He himself would have been surprised by such a statement, as he himself was a Torah-keeping Jew! We just have to see his story through the right lenses, and Torah gives us all the right tools for that.
Here, Yosef provides a precedent for understanding how Yeshua relates to YHWH: Pharaoh tells him, “You shall be over my house, and according unto your word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than you…I am Pharaoh; apart from you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41:40, 44) When he gave an order, it was as if Pharaoh himself had given it, though he was not Pharaoh. When people bowed to him as executive (41:43), Pharaoh was not jealous. And no one could bypass him and go directly to Pharaoh for food.
Similarly, when under Potifar, the latter concerned himself with nothing in the house, since he’d committed everything he had into Yosef’s keeping, withholding nothing, to the point that even the master was no higher than he in the household except in one matter. (39:8-9)
This is the perspective by which we need to read “The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.” (Yochanan 5:22-27) Or, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.” (Yoch. 3:35) “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18) “Elohim highly exalted him and gave him a name above every [other] name, so at the name of Yeshua every knee shall bow…to the glory of YHWH the Father.” (Phil. 4:9-10)
So honoring YHWH’s Anointed is no threat to YHWH; they are not at variance if we understand their relative positions rightly. He accepts it as honor of Himself when we honor His Son, though too often many people conflate the two. Like Yosef, once the crisis is over and all is under his feet, Yeshua hands it all back over to his Father. (1 Cor. 15:24-28)
Yosef’s brothers knew when to admit they were wrong. Hanukkah is about withstanding assimilation and compromise, but it’s not inconsistent with celebrating Yeshua’s real birth; it only opposes mixing it with vestiges of paganism and moving it from an appointment prescribed by YHWH (probably Sukkoth) to a date that previously marked the birth of the “invincible sun”, Mithras, and Tammuz, not to mention Saturnalia.
But there’s something to be said for those who knew too little Hebraic nuance to determine when he was born deliberately displacing these other festivities with something really true and more worthy of celebration. So don’t despise their efforts if they’re wrong about the date or take honoring him a little too far; like Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos, who had part of the truth (Acts 18:24-26), “teach [them] the way of Elohim more perfectly”. Provide the fuller context not confrontationally but as “good tidings” so “all people”, especially those whose faith is already pointing in the right general direction, can have even greater joy. (cf. Luke 2:10)
Preparing for
Tougher Times
In past years I (as many others have) emphasized the Messianic typology in the life of Joseph (see above), most poignantly described in Pharaoh’s own words: “Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.” (Gen. 41:40)
What Joseph actually did as ruler during that time of drastic change is also prophetically instructive. So what did he do? He saved some of the harvest so there would be something left at a time when there would be nothing new available to harvest. That’s why he was taken to Egypt (Gen. 50:20) and why Pharaoh put him in his position. (41:37-38) That he was successful at this is the only reason his brothers wanted to come to where he was at all.
We’ve all experienced times when a computer shut down on us and we lost important data because it had not been saved. It’s a different analogy, but the same principle: the prophet lamented, “The harvest is past; the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” (Jer. 8:20) Harvesting the grain has to do with its being saved, as in the days before the famine, but take note of the fact that in this case it is people who are not being saved.
We’re familiar with Yeshua’s statement, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Mat. 9:37) He too used the harvest as a parable of humans ready to be gathered into his Kingdom. He made it even clearer here:
“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Ben Adam, the one who is like Adam again). The field is the world and the good seed are the sons of the Kingdom.” (Mat. 13:37-38) That parable focuses on how an enemy sowed counterfeit seed among the good, but at the end they are sorted out and the good yield is salvaged—a variation on how Joseph saved the grain. At the firstfruits of the wheat harvest (Ex. 34:22) following Yeshua’s resurrection, over 3,000 souls were harvested. (Acts 2:41)
This theme runs all through Scripture in many forms.
In the prophets we read, “Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle at harvest-time: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall each return to his people, and every one of them flee to his own land.” (Jer. 50:16) Note that Babylon (per Daniel, the “head” of a series of similar worldwide empires, the last of which is emerging today) is emptied out because people cannot sow or reap. This is the first stage of what in Scripture is a good thing: the downfall of Babylon (because of its idolatry in Isa. 21:9), reiterated in Revelation 14:8 (where fornication is its chief sin). This emptying out includes those of Israel who still remain in Babylon: Yet “though Your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant will return…” (Isaiah 10:22) That system’s downfall is a harbinger of the soon-coming Kingdom, but it means times will be very dark just before the dawn. We need some way to get through a “famine, not of bread or water, but of hearing the words of YHWH” (Amos 8:11)
How do we prepare for that famine? Chiefly by “hiding His words in our hearts” (Psalm 119:11) where it can’t be taken away. Another analogy of this was how Hezekiah shifted the flow of the Gihon Spring to inside the walls of Jerusalem so that those in the city had water to ride out the siege he knew was coming. (2 Chronicles 32-33)
Without such precautions, we could end up “sow[ing] wheat, but reap[ing] thorns.” (Jer. 12:13) This is in the context of raiders despoiling YHWH’s heritage. Interestingly, King James’ rendering of who caused this is that “many pastors have…trodden my field underfoot; they have made My pleasant parcel a desolate wilderness.” (12:10) A man-made famine! In this era, when many shepherds are hirelings (who don’t watch out for raiders), that can take place. (Yochanan/John 10:12ff)
So the ultimate send-ahead is “lay up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot corrupt or thieves break in and steal.” (Mat. 6:20) That doesn’t mean the treasures stay in heaven, but are held there as if in a bank until the time we can “cash them in”. Just as all our preparation for the Sabbath must be done before “night comes when no one can work” (Yoch. 9:4), we “stock” the Kingdom Age with what we put into kingdom-oriented ventures now, and they will bear high-yield “interest” by then, being “time-limited investments”.
If He gives you bounty, don’t waste it on frivolity, but recognize He’s giving you tools to build a firm foundation for times when every resource may be hard to come by. Plant your roots in the One who is truly reliable, and you’ll be like a tree that doesn’t notice or worry when the drought comes. (Jer. 17:5-8)
What Elohim is
About to Do
When Pharaoh said he had heard that Yosef could interpret dreams, Yosef told him, “It is not in me; Elohim will answer for Pharaoh’s welfare.” (41:16) There is much to be said about Yosef’s honesty and humility, but I want to focus on the second phrase. The reason He gave Pharaoh the dream in the first place was so that he could be prepared for what was coming: “What Elohim is about to do He has shown to Pharaoh.” (41:28) He said it twice to confirm it and seal it as established. (Compare 41:32) But this was His kindness that spreads even to the unjust. (Matithyahu 5:45) He even told the later, more wicked Pharaoh what He was going to do—at least if he did not repent and humble himself. (Exodus 7:4-5, 16-18, 26-29, etc.)
But “YHWH does nothing without revealing His intimate plans to His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) If we study what His prophets said, we too are privy to what is coming upon the world. Like Pharaoh, we can then be ready and make preparations that can at least get us through the difficulty intact (41:33-36), though undoubtedly all will suffer some privations and losses of much that is nonessential. In mercy YHWH tells us what must occur before the end of the age, even if conditions would appear otherwise on the surface and such radical changes seem unlikely, especially given the wishful predictions of governments and media that would rather forget that there is “an Elohim with whom we have to do”, and that He requires something of them, as He did that second Pharaoh who was just as stubborn.
May He grant that we respond more like the first of these two Pharaohs.
