UMJC - Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations

Parasha

Rabbi Russ' Blog

Judgment and Exile
Judgment and Jerusalem
TISHA B`AV 5768
My Journey

Email Lists

The Set Table

Home

Torah Resources

Parasha Archive

Vayechi

VaY'chi: And He Lived

by Susan Feldman
Adat Yeshua Messianic Congregation, Kansas City

This week we conclude the book of B'Reisheet but, as we know from Scripture, when dealing with God there is never an ending that isn't followed by a new beginning. All of creation follows this pattern and it will continue until the final new beginning is established; the new heavens and new earth.

This week's parashah captures the essence of this concept on several levels. It begins with the very title, "VaY'chi"-and he lived. This might seem like a paradox since it's primarily an account of Jacob's death, but let's look at it in light of what Yeshua taught about life and death. In the opening verse we read: "Jacob lived 17 years in the land of Egypt." In the very next verse we read: "And when the time approached for Israel to die." When speaking of his life the Torah uses the name of Jacob but in his death he is called Israel. In life he is just a man, but in death he becomes a nation. Yeshua says, "Truly, Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears rich fruit" (John 12:24).

Last week's parasha was filled with a wide range of emotion-shock, joy, sorrow, reflection, anticipation, and more joy. When Joseph went to meet his father in Goshen, he fell on his neck and wept for a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive." Yet this week's portion begins: "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob's life was one hundred forty-seven years" (Gen. 47:28 NASB).

Earlier, Jacob had told Pharaoh, "the years of my sojourning are on hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have the years of my life been" (47:9). Let's review the hardships of Jacob:

he wrestled with his brother in the womb (Gen. 25:22)
he had a breach birth, with his hand on his brother's heel (Gen. 25:26)
his father loved his brother more than him (Gen. 25:28)
he lied to his father to get a blessing (Gen. 27:18-29)
his brother threatened to kill him (Gen. 27:41)
he left for Paddan-aram with nothing
he had a rock for a pillow (Gen. 28:11)-not a Hyatt or a Hilton!
he had to work 7 years to get his wife
he got tricked on his wedding night and got the wrong girl for a wife (Gen. 29:25)
he had to work another 7 years for the right girl (Gen. 29:27)
his father-in-law wouldn't let him leave to go home (Gen. 30:27)
his brothers-in-law lied about him (Gen. 31:21)
he had to flee Lavan in secret (Gen. 31:21)
he had a huge fight with his father-in-law (Gen. 31:36-55)
after that fight he had to face Esau (who had threatened to kill him) on his way home (Gen. 32:3-33:17)
his only daughter was raped by Shechem
his sons brought trouble on him, making him odious among the inhabitants of the land (Gen. 34:25-30)
his most beloved wife Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin
his firstborn son, Reuben, defiled him by sleeping with Rachel's maid Bilhah (Gen. 35:22)
his beloved son Joseph, first born of Rachel, was taken from him and hethought he was dead. (Gen. 37:33-35)

Wow, I don't know about you, but that is a lot of tsuris! What would ever make us think that following in the faith of our fathers would be an easy task-let alone following in the footsteps of Yeshua?

And yet Jacob lived 17 more years. We must ask ourselves why. Wasn't he old enough already? Wasn't the fact that he made the trip to Egypt alive enough? Wasn't seeing Joseph alive enough?

Joseph was 17 at the time his brothers got rid of him. Joseph was 30 when Pharaoh set him in charge of all Egypt. Nine years later, his brothers came for food during the famine in the earth. They had been separated well over 17 years.

And so it was, God saw fit to let Jacob live those l7 more years to replenish that which had been taken away. The children had all grown, life was very different now. Leah was the only wife left. And Jacob saw his family reunited, whole once more. Not only did he get to see it, he got to live it -- live in it and with it, but not at home.

As Jacob is ready to die, he calls his son Joseph to himself and asks to bless Joseph's sons, who were born to him by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. The first born, Manasseh, is named so because Joseph said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." The second son Ephraim's name means "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Jacob tells Joseph, "Now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Rueben and Simeon are." As Jacob blessed them, he acted in the same way as his father before him, blessing the younger one first, with his right hand, and the older with his left hand. As Joseph tried to correct him, Jacob refused to be corrected and said, "I know my son, I know: he will also become a people and he will also become great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."

The significance of this action is as profound now as it was then. By blessing them in this fashion, he was renaming them, and bringing them into his household. Manasseh's name meant - forget my father's household - and here he is being blessed by the father who is no longer forgotten! And the prophetic pronouncement of Ephraim becoming a multitude of nations-here, the household has been restored.

Jacob/Israel was able to live 33+ years with Joseph. Israel, the nation, lived with Yeshua for 33+ years. We have this amazing image before us. Joseph as redeemer for his Father's sake; Yeshua, our redeemer, for His Father's sake.

A thread that I see winding its way through all of our readings today is the interplay between past, present, and future. Even though we exist in time, our reality is still eternity. There is no way to separate or disassociate each from the rest. This is the basis for understanding not only Jacob's blessings but the entirety of Scripture. It is how we define our faith. And like the Children of Israel going into exile in the land of Egypt, or any of the characters listed in Hebrews 11, who all experienced God's redemption regardless of their place in time, it is also what gives us our hope for the future.

Who we are, what we were named at birth, what order we were born in, how we were raised, are is nothing compared with who we are to be, what name will be given to us by Him, and what we are to become in Him as HE, the Lord of creation touches us and blesses us.

May you receive His touch this Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom!

No one has commented on this article.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]