Zion's Voice

Torah Portion for 20th December - 26th December

Torah portion                     Genesis 47: 28 to 50:26

Haftarah portion              1Kings 2:1-12

“He lived”

The Spoken Blessings

We often refer to the God we worship as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The reason for this is that God confirmed (and reconfirmed) the Land Covenant He initially made with Abraham, to both Isaac and Jacob too. Also for that reason they are referred to as the “Patriarchs”.

Our parashah today starts with the news that, having lived in Egypt for 17 years, Jacob, now 147 years old, is sick. But he has some very important things to attend to before he dies.

Firstly, he wanted to extract a solemn oath from Joseph that after his death, his body would be taken back to the Land of God’s Promise, and be buried in the Cave of Machpelah, near Hebron. (today called ‘the Tomb of Patriarchs’) That’s the same place where his grandparents Abraham and Sarah, his parents Isaac and Rebekah, and his first wife Leah were buried.

Secondly he wanted to bless his children. That is, he wanted to speak blessing over them.

(In our society today, we seem to have little understanding of the importance of the spoken blessing. Neither do we appreciate the damage caused by a spoken curse!!)

In observant Jewish homes it has been part of the celebration of Shabbat every Friday evening, not only to share a family meal, but to speak blessing. A husband honours his wife, and his children, by speaking blessing to them. A wife speaks blessing to her husband. It is an important and precious ritual. (It is a personal regret of mine that I was ignorant of both significance of Sabbath observance and the richness of the Friday evening family meal in celebration of the Sabbath until well after my children had married and left home).

Now here is an exercise for Bible Students. You will be blessed if you decide to participate. Read carefully the blessings spoken by Jacob to each of his sons. Those blessings are all contained in Genesis Chapter 49.

Then go to a map of Israel (which most Bibles have at the end of the text) which shows the land division amongst these sons of Jacob. Keep this information in mind as you continue to read the travelogue and incidents which the Bible records as you proceed through the historical account of God’s dealings with these folk and their descendants. You will be amazed at the way in which the words spoken over these boys, by Jacob, work out in their lives and circumstances. The whole travelogue is contained in just 11 Books of the Hebrew Scriptures. (Look at “reflections” of May 23 “Bamidbar” for the historical reference).

The remainder of our parashah (chapter 50) tells us that Joseph kept his promise to his Dad, by personally attending to the burial of Jacob’s remains in the Cave of Machpelah near Hebron. After which he returned to Egypt to continue his service there as Chief of State. Much later, he too extracted promise from his brothers to ensure that his remains would be carried back to his homeland for burial. Today there are remains of the “Tomb of Joseph” just outside the modern Palestinian City of Nablus (Biblical Shechem) which was vandalised and largely destroyed a few years ago by the Palestinians during Yasar Arafat’s reign of terror there.

Joseph died at 110 years old, having been taken there As slave boy at 17 years of age. It has been calculated that he lived about 69 years after Jacob’s death.

Perhaps the main lesson to come from our “reflections” so far, is that God has been working out His purposes in the lives of those who put their trust in Him. Since we are assured that we worship a Mighty God, Who does not change, He continues to work out His purposes in our lives when WE trust Him. Psalm 91 has an amazing promise for those who are committed to serve the Lord and “dwell” with Him.

“Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:9-12 (emphasis mine)

Just ANOTHER occasion where we can recognise Almighty God “speaking blessing” to us, through the words of the Psalmist, just as He caused Jacob to “speak blessing” to his sons.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 12th December - 19th December

Torah portion                    Genesis 44: 18 to 47:27

Haftarah portion              Ezekiel 37: 15 – 28

"He approached"

Hallelujah, what a Saviour !

Joseph’s plan to keep Benjamin in Egypt and leave his brothers go back without him was a bit too clever. On the face of it, there was no harm in it for Benjamin or his brothers. But a revelation quite unexpected was to unfold before Joseph’s eyes.

Judah stepped forward and spoke privately to Joseph. It was Judah who had persuaded his brothers to spare Joseph’s life. It was Judah who offered himself as surety for the young Benjamin to his father. And it was Judah who spoke so lovingly of his father that tore into the very fabric of Joseph’s heart.

We move on to Genesis 45 in the moment that he revealed himself to all his brothers. He cleared the room of his courtiers, advisers, servants. Everyone who was not ‘family’, and when he was alone with them, he showed himself for who he was. And he wept aloud. Nothing held back. An outpouring of love, and sincerity and joy, at this moment of real re-union with his brothers.

Dear friends, this is the future Zechariah 12:10 moment.  This foretells the time when Yeshua Ha’Mashiach will open the eyes of His brothers, the Jews. There will not be a Torah denying Gentile in sight. They will all be invited to ‘leave the room’. Can you imagine the feelings these brothers of Joseph had on being re-united with him? The brother they had mocked, reviled, taunted, plotted to kill, sold to an enemy. And now they see him as their saviour. Try to imagine it if you can.  And then see Joseph...weeping with joy and compassion and love.

The day Yeshua reveals himself to His brothers ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. That is why they will mourn, Not for Him, but for their centuries of blindness and unbelief. Hallelujah, what a Saviour! He will welcome them with open arms, NEVER will they be sent away again. They will be given a New Covenant, just as Jeremiah prophesied.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall by My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD, ‘for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

We have seen how Joseph is a “type” of Messiah. But as we continue in the story of God’s amazing provision for these people, we can see even more of God’s plan for those who are “His special treasure”.

Read Genesis chapter 47, and marvel.

Just as God made such bountiful provision for the family of Jacob in the land of Goshen, He has promised to make the Israelites prosper in the Land of Promise. The sceptics will look at the situation today and see a people who have little or no respect for their God. But what did God say to Ezekiel in chapter 36? PLEASE read it for yourself. God’s amazing plan for Israel is unfolding before our eyes today. But there is more! Again in Ezekiel chapter 34 He speaks of the time when He will establish “One Shepherd” over them. That speaks of the time when Messiah has been revealed to them.

Just as Joseph was able to lead his family into a land of plenty in the midst of drought, so Yeshua Ha’Mashiach will reign as King over a people who will live as sons of the King in the Land of Israel when He reveals Himself to them.

This passage of Scripture is full of meaning to those willing to learn.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour !

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 6th December - 12th December

Torah portion              Genesis 41 : 1  to  44 : 17

Haftarah portion        Isaiah  66 : 1 - 24

“At the end”

A day of great re-union

No-one knows exactly how long Joseph spent in the Pharoah’s prison in Egypt. We know it was long enough to be put in charge of all the other prisoners, and it was a full two years after the Pharoah’s butler was released. He was about 17 when he was sold into slavery, and he was 30 when he was released.  It has been calculated by some that he might have spent as much as eleven of those years in prison. However, what we do know for certain is “the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper”  Genesis 39 : 23.

We also know that whilst in prison, God extended his gift in the interpretation of dreams. It was this God given gift that gained his release.

We should be cognisant of the fact that with this amazing gift, at no time did Joseph seek gain or glory for himself. He was VERY quick to give Almighty God the glory and the praise for his gifting. So much so, that the Pharoah immediately recognised ‘the Spirit of God’ in Joseph. Pharoah counted it as wisdom and discernment in Joseph  .. and so it was.

Read Proverbs 26 : 12.  The lesson we can learn from Joseph is to give God the glory for any gifting we might possess  and utilize. Much too often glory is given to the person exercising the gift, rather than to the Giver.

God blessed Joseph with more power and authority than he could ever have dreamed about!  … but wait a minute .. he DID dream about it didn’t he?  And he was just a lad when he had that dream. I wonder if Joseph, busy as he became with the affairs of State and managing the economy, ever pondered the detail of the dream he had more than 13 years earlier. Did he ever imagine a future meeting with his family. What would he say? How would he react? How would they react? At that stage many more questions than answers I suspect.

Well, the text of the story is so well known to anyone who had a modicum of Christian up-bringing that we need not go through it here. But there are elements within the story that we should ‘reflect’ upon.

Judah, the fourth son of Leah, who had taken such a decisive role in preserving Joseph’s life, now puts his own life on the line as he volunteers to be surety for the life of Benjamin, Joseph’s full brother. Simeon had remained behind in Egypt and Jacob (with Joseph’s disappearance still in his mind) was reluctant to risk the life of yet another son, Benjamin. But with starvation a realistic option, Jacob consented to Benjamin going to satisfy the demands of the “saviour’ in Egypt.

We now look at Joseph as the “type” of messiah. We note that he was not recognized by his brothers. His dress, his language, his situation, his authority, all conspired to hide him from their eyes. For the remainder of this reflection we discover the things about Joseph which are prophetic of the coming of Messiah Yeshua to His own brothers in Israel. Today, we have similarly camouflaged the Jesus we worship as Christians in a way that makes Him unrecognizable to His own Jewish brothers. (please read Deuteronomy 13 to understand why).  How can they worship a Messiah who, we tell them, abandoned the Torah of Moses?

When Joseph met his own full brother Benjamin, Genesis 43:30 tells us that he “yearned for his brother”. His heart was  full … and he wept. But he was not yet ready for a full disclosure of himself. He ordered his servants to serve a meal. The brothers were astonished. He’s not with us, he’s not with them, what is happening here?  Perhaps it was then that Joseph worked out the plan to keep his brother Benjamin with him. He was not going to risk losing him again. But there was still some drama ahead of those brothers before they came to know the truth.

Almighty God has already declared His plan for His people. He is already taking them back to their own land. In the fullness of His perfect timing, Yeshua will be revealed. But it seems that there are still some more events to take place in this world before that “great and terrible day of the Lord”. But it will also be a day of great enlightenment for Israel. A day of great re-union .. but not yet.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 29th Novermber - 5th December

Torah portion             Genesis 37 : 1  to  40 : 23

Haftarah portion      Amos 2 : 6 to 3 : 8

“He continued living”

Almighty God has a perfect plan

Jacob and his extensive family had returned to live in the land of Canaan.

Young Joseph, now 17 years old, was out in the fields with four of his older step-brothers, who obviously did something amiss, because Joseph “dobbed” them in!!  Joseph had become a favoured son, he was evidently very close to his Dad, and for that reason Jacob made him an especially attractive coat, which became the envy of the other brothers. The result was that Joseph did not enjoy a good relationship with his brothers.

Because we have the advantage of knowing the rest of the story of Joseph’s life, it has been universally accepted that Joseph is a “type” of the Messiah (Yeshua). I see this brotherly relationship as an early indication of that typology. The envy, the jealousy, the malice, and eventually the intended demise of Joseph, are all characteristics of the way in which Joseph became, in “type”, a forerunner of Messiah Yeshua. Even the coat, the mantle, which he wore was typical of the reason for the division that separated him from his brothers. It spoke of his special relationship with his father.

But it was not only the coat was it? Joseph had a dream, two dreams in fact, which he shared with his family. These dreams were prophetic of both the real life future events in Joseph’s life, but also were prophetic of Yeshua Ha’Maschiach. They were prophetic too of an event still in the future, when “every knee shall bow” in the presence of Messiah. And then, as indeed now, his family had great difficulty in accepting the idea that their future “Messiah” was there living amongst them.

(We know from the Scriptures, that the present day “blindness” to Yeshua, which is characteristic of Jews in general, is a “blindness” which has been put there by God Himself. That “blindness” being for the eternal benefit of Gentiles who have come to faith. (Read Isaiah 29 and Romans 11). I strongly recommend the CD’s of the combined Derek Prince / Operation Exodus conference in Sydney August 15 2015  for an excellent exposition on this topic).

Our ‘reflection’ continues as we see the young Joseph, sent by his father to his brothers, who were tending the family flocks in a distant part of the land. Genesis 37 : 13,14, (my paraphrase), records the conversation between father and son. “I want you to go and see how your brothers are getting along looking after the herds” says Jacob. “OK Dad, glad to go” replies Joseph. “Bring back word to me soon, I want to know how they are coping and where they’ve got to” Jacob concludes.

Can you sense, as I can, how this conversation typifies a father’s concern for his family? His children have been given a task, he senses they could be in danger and now he has temporarily lost touch with them. Can you imagine how this conversation is so typical of how Almighty God might have agonised over sending His beloved Son to go and seek out His brothers, whom He could see were getting lost?

In NO way do I intend levity, or irreverence here. I just sense the Father’s heart as He knows what is in store for the Son, whom He is sending on a dangerous, necessary mission.

As the story unfolds, it gets worse. The brothers decide to get rid of Joseph once and for all time. They plot to kill him. Then Judah comes to his rescue and persuades the others that there is some profit to be made by selling him (30 pieces of silver!!) into slavery. They are well aware of the enmity between their grandfather Isaac and his older brother Ishmael. So they determine to sell him to Ishmaelites. (“We’ll never hear of him again!” they thought). In the event, he was sold to a band of Midianite traders. These are descendants of another group of people with a dislike for the Israelites. Midian was the fourth son of Abraham’s wife Keturah. Midian was one of those who the scriptures tell us was given a “gift” by Abraham, whereas the substance of Abraham’s inheritance went to Isaac. Hence the enmity there. Then begins Josephs sojourn in Egypt.

As is the case every week, there is so much more to be learned by study of the weekly Torah portion. The Lord will show you things I haven’t even mentioned. But for me, the outstanding message is the way we see Joseph’s life increasingly typify the role God gave him, as a lesson and example, in type, of the coming Messiah.  Revelations that will surely strike a chord in minds of Jewish friends we may seek to introduce to their Messiah.  Almighty God has a perfect plan.

Shabbat Shalom

RS