𝗩𝗮𝘆𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘃/ "𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘵"

𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝟯𝟳:𝟭–𝟰𝟬:𝟮𝟯

𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴?

In last week's Torah portion we begin to see the lives of the Tribes (sons) of Israel play out. Joseph, begins to take center stage as the 'favored' son of his father, Jacob/Israel, even acquiring a 'coat of many colors' which he proudly wears in front of his brothers. Of course, jealousy takes root as not only does he have the favor of the father, but he begins to share dreams in which his brothers are 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 before him. No doubt there was some pride in Joseph as even the anger he received after sharing the first dream didn't stop him from sharing the second.

Recently I saw a post that highlighted something pretty significant in the second dream Joseph shared. Gen 37:9-11 says, "𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘓𝘰, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.” 𝘏𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘶𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥? 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥?” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥." The post pointed out that the brothers didn't grasp the fact that they were 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 in the dream, only that they were bowing before their brother. I had to ask myself, "are there times when I have missed the very thing God was revealing to me about myself only because I saw the thing He was saying about someone else"? Probably so. It is part of our sin nature to want the 'top' position - yet, we must remember the LORD's Kingdom is an upside down Kingdom. The last shall be first! 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.

As the story of Joseph and his brothers unfolds we begin to see so many 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙨 of Messiah Yeshua (Christ). I just want to summarize 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 of those here, but encourage you to go read these Chapters in their full context. This story is so rich with meaning!!

Joseph's brothers are jealous of him and decide to kill him, yet Reuben (the oldest) convinces them to just toss him into a dry well (empty tomb) thinking he will save him later. A bit later we see Judah actually convince them to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelites as a slave, for 𝟮𝟬 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 (𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘀), thereby saving his 'life' where later Joseph rises to 2nd in command under Pharaoh and is able to save the nations/world from famine.

Yeshua's brothers are also jealous of Him. Not only His natural brothers, but many of His Judean brothers. So much so that they decide to kill Him. He is sold by Judas (which is the greek translation of Judah) for 𝟯𝟬 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘀 (𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿) to those who turn Him over to be crucified. He is placed into an empty tomb where 3 days later He is brought to life again, thereby becoming the propitiation for the world (those who would call on Him in repentance).

It's interesting to note that the number 20 can mean: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. Where the number 30 can mean: 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 (3 𝘹10), 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. And don't we see that play out in Joseph's life? He is 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 for a specific purpose, which takes him through many trials of character prior to standing before Pharaoh at 30 years old where he is then elevated to the role in which he was enlisted. We see Joseph in a later Portion (Gen 45:5) say to his brothers, once he is revealing himself, "Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." And so it was with Messiah as well. Wow.

But in the midst of our story of the sons of Israel and Joseph's rise to prominence in Egypt, we find a story of Judah and Tamar (Gen 38). One of the sons of Judah marries Tamar - and dies before having a son - so Judah's second son marries Tamar to produce an heir for his brother - but he dies before doing so. Judah, has one son left but tells Tamar to wait until he is older and sends her to live in her father's house. Tamar realizes some time later that Judah doesn't intend to give her an heir and decides to take matters into her own hands. Dressed as a prostitute, Judah approaches her and ends up leaving his staff, seal and cord with her to hold as payment until he returns. She becomes pregnant and once Judah hears this unmarried daughter-in-law is with child says she is to be put to death. She instead says the father of the child is the man to whom 'these' items belong. Judah, in vs 26, then declares that Tamar is 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙢 because he withheld his youngest son from her to provide an heir.

This story seems so out of place until you begin to see in the coming chapters for this weeks portion show Judah is also maturing. He is the one who will become the Leader (receiving the blessing of the first born) amongst the tribes (sons of Israel), and his child with Tamar will be where the line of David and Messiah come. Talk about beauty from ashes!

So I end where I began. 𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴? I believe the LORD knows the sin nature of His creation, since the beginning. Yet He chooses to partner with us and even with our shortcomings to bring about His purposes, for the greater good, for the saving of many. And along the way, there seems to be moments where we must wrestle with how it all fits together. For now, as Paul said, we only see in part but one day we will see fully. The beauty of it all has to be that the LORD already knows fully, and still He pursues us with His love, mercy, grace and truth. Knowing not all will receive Him. That my friends, is the greatest gift of all. In this beautiful story, His story, that is unfolding before our very eyes, we all play a part. And often times it appears it is done without our even knowing it! Being set-apart does not mean being set aside. May it be for His glory!