Torah Study – Instructor, Ron Parashas Vayechi Genesis 47:28 – 50:26 Haftaras Vayechi – 1 Kings 2:1–12
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Torah Study – Instructor, Ron Parashas Vayechi Genesis 47:28 – 50:26 Haftaras Vayechi – 1 Kings 2:1–12 Review: Jacob and his household have arrived in Egypt. Joseph has provided for them and they have prospered. They have lands and the family is growing. The famine has passed. Chapter 47 28 – 31 After Israel has been in Egypt for about 17 years and at the age of 147, Jacob senses that his time is about to come to leave this world. Jacob is aware of the promises that were made to his fathers. He knows that his family will eventually go back to the land of Canaan. He asked Joseph to make sure he was taken back to Canaan and buried. Joseph agreed and swore to him that he would personally get it done. With Joseph’s pledge to bury his father in the land of Canaan, Jacob bow’s to Joseph from his bed, thus fulfilling the dream that Joseph had as a young man. Now even the sun and moon did bow to him, not just the eleven stars. Just as this prophetic dream came to pass about Joseph, there is another prophetic word about Yeshua that will come to pass. Lets look at it. Romans 14 6 He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; 8 for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord - 9 indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God's judgment seat; 11 since it is written in the Tanakh, "As I live, says ADONAI, every knee will bend before me, and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God." 12 So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore, let's stop passing judgment on each other! Instead, make this one judgment - not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother's way. 14 I know - that is, I have been persuaded by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah - that nothing is unclean in itself. But if a person considers something unclean, then for him it is unclean; 15 and if your brother is being upset by the food you eat, your life is no longer one of love. Do not, by your eating habits, destroy someone for whom the Messiah died! 16 Do not let what you know to be good, be spoken of as bad; And again Philippians 2 5 Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua: 6 Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. 7 On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being, 8 he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death - death on a stake as a criminal! 9 Therefore God raised him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name; 10 that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow - in heaven, on earth and under the earth 11 and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is ADONAI - to the glory of God the Father. 12 So, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey now when I am away from you: keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling, 13 for God is the one working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases him. 14 Do everything without kvetching or arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure children of God, without defect in the midst of a twisted and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the sky, Israel himself, in obedience to God, bowed to his son because it fulfilled God’s word. We, in obedience to God, bow down to His son in fulfillment of His word. When we do this, it says we shine like the stars in the sky. What stars? The same stars that bowed to Joseph also bow to the Messiah. We shine like those stars. What a powerful connection between the Torah and the New Covenant. Chapter 48 1 - Someone told Joseph that his father was ill. Joseph brought his two sons to Jacob so that he could bless them. Joseph understood the power of those blessings. 2 – 7 Jacob reviews with Joseph the account of God appearing to him and blessing him, “El Shaddai had appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and He blessed me. He said to me, “Behold – I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make you a congregation of nations, and I will give this land to your offspring after you as an eternal possession.” Jacob declares that both Ephraim and Manasseh will be counted alongside the other 11 patriarchs. Thus Joseph would receive a double portion through his two sons. 21 – 22 After the blessing of Josephs two sons, Jacob plainly told Joseph that he was about to die and that God would surely bring all of them back to the land of Canaan. He also gave him the city of Shechem which allowed for one portion more than his brothers. We have to pause here and go forward to the New Testament again. Just as Jacob was telling Joseph that he was about to die and be joined with his fathers, during the last night of Yeshua’s life and during what we call the last supper, he was telling that Apostles that he was about to die and that he was going back to the Father from which he had come. Just as Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons with the Abrahamic blessing, Yeshua blessed the Apostles and even us who have come to believe after them. In John chapter 16 read how Yeshua was explaining how he was leaving/dying and in chapter 17 read the blessing and or prayer that Yeshua prayed over the Apostles and us. It is better than the Abrahamic blessing because He asked His Father for us to be with Him where He is. John 16 1 "I have told you these things so that you won't be caught by surprise. 2 They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God! 3 They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor me. 4 But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you will remember that I told you. I didn't tell you this at first, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to the One who sent me. "Not one of you is asking me, `Where are you going?' 6 Instead, because I have said these things to you, you are overcome with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don't go away, the comforting Counselor will not come to you. However, if I do go, I will send him to you. 8 "When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment -- 9 about sin, in that people don't put their trust in me; 10 about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you. 16 "In a little while, you will see me no more; then, a little while later, you will see me." 17 At this, some of the talmidim said to one another, "What is this that he's telling us, `In a little while, you won't see me; then, a little while later, you will see me'? and, `I am going to the Father'?" 18 They went on saying, "What is this `little while'? We don't understand what he's talking about." 19 Yeshua knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you asking each other what I meant by saying, `In a little while, you won't see me; and then, a little while later, you will see me'? 20 Yes, it's true.