by Dr. Jeffrey Feinberg

Can Jacob and Sons Live Happily Ever After?  Almost universally referred to as the Joseph story, the concluding four portions of Sefer B'reisheet (Gen. 37-50) are devoted almost exclusively to the story of the uniting of Jacob's family. What is so critical about the story of bringing unity to a single family?

The story is subdivided into four parashiot. Notice particularly the change of subject in the opening line of each of the four portions:

1. vaYeshev Ya'akov (and settled Jacob) while his family unsettles—Judah going down to Canaan to assimilate and start a business, and Joseph, nearly killed, being sold by his brothers for silver and exiled to become a slave in Egypt
2. miKetz (at the end of) two more years of Joseph's imprisonment, Pharaoh dreams, and suddenly Joseph is sprung from jail and elevated to the number two position in Egypt
3. vaYigash Y'hudah (and Judah drew near) to Joseph in complete repentance—this is the high point which resolves the major tension of the entire story
4. vaY'chi Ya'akov (and lived Jacob) happily ever after in the house of his son in the land of Egypt, until his sons return him for proper burial in the land God swore to give to him and to his Fathers, Avraham and Yitzchak.

How will the Sons Live Out the Story of the Fathers?

We must remember that the story Judah lives is the unsolved story of mankind. For Israel to be a nation to reach the nations of the world, Israel must face the story that has hung up all mankind from the beginning of time. Adam's disobedience in one generation hardens into sibling rivalry and fratricide in the next generation. Israel must inherit and then repent the sins of the fathers in this story, in order for mankind to move forward in its walk with God.

Recall that Abel never gets a chance to live out his life as a patriarch, because his life was cut short. Abel's sacrifice—wholly acceptable to God—could be viewed as the act that led to his death. To view the story from Cain's perspective, Cain's jealously was kindled by God's favoritism, with fratricide as the outcome. An implicit question is raised by Abel's story—how can God show chesed (loving kindness) to Abel for his loving sacrifice? We shall see that this is the story of mankind that sets the narrative for the life of Yeshua.

That Yeshua cares about this story is evident from his quote of the Hebrew Canon:

"And so, on you [the Temple gatekeepers of the Covenant] will fall the guilt for all the innocent blood that has ever been shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Hevel/Abel to the blood of Z'khariyah Ben-Berekhyah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. Yes! I tell you that all this will fall on this generation!"
(CJB, Mt. 23:35-36)

To come up with this understanding of the story of mankind, Yeshua quotes from the Hebrew Canon, which runs from Genesis to Second Chronicles. It is near the end of Second Chronicles that Zechariah is stoned as a prophet for calling Israel back to covenant with God (2 Chr. 24:20-22).  The story of murder from beginning to end cannot be as easily seen when reading from the English Bible, which starts in Genesis but ends in Malachi.

In responding to Yeshua, the Pharisees and Torah teachers could have said that our father Abraham had not even been born in the days of Abel—but they understand that their story is the story of mankind, too. There is no dispute that God's dialogue is with corporate mankind through the generations.

Indeed, the story of the last third of the book of Genesis is dedicated to solving this problem of jealousy kindled by fatherly favoritism and its relationship to sibling rivalry. What happens when successive generations must face the unsolved story of the fathers and then respond by committing fratricide or selling a brother for silver into slavery, or worse?


Judah's Repentance Changes the Story of Mankind

From Judah's perspective, it is not fair or right that his father Jacob favors Rachel over his own mother. Nor is it fair that Jacob favors Joseph, and later Benjamin, over the rest of the brothers.  Judah must squarely face the fact that his father never wanted to marry his mother. The real question is what does one do about this most unfair of stories? Is it right to sell a brother for silver into slavery—in order to save his life from others that would rather go the route of Cain and be party to fratricide?

In today's portion, Judah must answer this question. If, instead, he maintains silence, then Joseph (I mean, the Viceroy of Egypt) will sock Benjamin in jail and keep him in Egypt for a lifetime of slavery, while Judah and the brothers will return home to face their father's last words to Reuben,

Let's tune into the last half of Judah's passionate plea to keep the Viceroy from putting Benjamin in jail or from making him a slave for life:

"Now your servant, my father, said to us: You yourselves know that my wife bore two to me. One went away from me, I said: For sure he is torn, torn-to-pieces! I have not seen him again thus far. Now should you take away this one as well from before my face, should harm befall him, you will bring down my gray hair in ill-fortune to Sheol! So now, when I come back to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us,--with whose life his own life is bound up!--it will be, that when he sees that the lad is no more, he will die, and your servant will have brought down the gray hair of your servant, our father, in grief to Sheol! For your servant pledged himself for the lad to my father, saying,: If I do not bring him back to you, I will be culpable-for-sin against my father all the days (to come). So now, pray let your servant stay instead of the lad, as servant to my lord, but let the lad go up with his brothers! FOR HOW CAN I GO UP TO MY FATHER, WHEN THE LAD IS NOT WITH ME? THEN WOULD I SEE THE ILL-FORTUNE THAT WOULD COME UPON MY FATHER!"  [GEN. 44:27-34, Fox translation].

Conclusion: Show Kindness and Trust God for Justice

Judah freely accepted his unfair circumstances. He did not blame his father for showing favoritism to his second wife or to their two sons, his half-brothers. In fact, Judah called upon the Viceroy to "let the lad go up with his brothers!" To bring happiness to the father and to keep his word, Judah bore the full responsibility for his lot in life—even if it meant accepting less love and second-class citizenship in his own household.

Are you willing to find contentment as a second-class citizen in God's household? Are you willing to let God play God and trust Him in the midst of the unfair things that happen in life? Will you stand on your dignity when He calls you to a life of covenant kindness and sacrificial love?

The Scriptures remind us, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua, and if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:28-29).