Make up assignment Vayishlach/Vayeshev
This Torah portion starts with the recount
of Joseph telling his brothers of his dreams, and their reaction towards him,
sometimes it seems unwise to speak freely but that was Joseph’s character. From the beginning of these two parasha we
see that Joseph was a young man of integrity and that his upbringing was filled
with sound guiding, from his mother, father and most likely his grand father. This
makes me wonder what are dreams, but opportunities to either fulfill them or
avoid them. If we recount the number of times
that dreams is mentioned in the scriptures, we get approximately over 50
mentions of the word dream. Although
this is quite a large number not all of these turn to be prophetic messages in
the Torah, but those that are have either been fulfilled are about to be
fulfilled, or both. As in the case of Joseph it can be counted as a prophetic message
that was in a way fulfilled twice and is yet to come to pass and is currently
being fulfilled. I am referring to
Joseph being a type of Messiah, that he was the source of salvation from the famine
and at the same time his brothers did not recognize him when they came to Egypt
as he was too Egyptian for them to recognize him. I this present day we can say the same about
the pagan Jesus presented to the Jewish brothers a non Torah observant westernized
Jew that cannot possibly be their Messiah, and if they follow this Jesus it
would go against what they have been taught in Torah Deu 13, this is still in
play today as we are yet to see messiah revealed to his brothers and the
reconciliation yet to come. The most
amazing thing is that this prophecy came to pass, and not only that but the
whole incident is a type of the Messiah, which was yet to come at that time and
at the same time is yet to be fulfilled. These parallels are significant in
that it shows us that nothing that is to happen in the future should take us by
surprise, that there are always a pre-cursor that will enlighten us enough so
as to be prepared and ready at the right time.
Joseph came to his brothers and they
rejected him they hated him as he was the beloved of his father. Beyond that he also was blessed with HaShem’s
attention that he spoke to him through dreams and as a result he was resented
for it. If any takes the challenge of
living a righteous life before HaShem and before his peers, those around him
that are not in a personal relationship with God will feel intimidated and
react to the point of rejecting God by attacking and persecuting HaShem’s
servant. We see that through out the
generations since the destruction of the second temple, which those that clang
to God’s commandments’ and observed His statutes inevitably came under the
cross hairs of those that rejected God. In the case of young Joseph he ended in a pit
and sold into slavery even after pleading with his brothers.
Despite all this events the rejection by his
own flesh and blood, he remained faithful to his God his upbringing and his
connection with HaShem was unshakable to the point that when he was falsely
accused and ended up in a jail his faith remained steadfast in his salvation
the creator of the world, the one that made covenant with his fore fathers
Abraham Isaac and his father Jacob. He
no doubt heard the stories from his own grand father, Isaac about the great God
that had separated his family to be destined to be set aside for salvation of
the mankind. So long as he depended in
HaShem as his salvation he was prospering even in jail. The upside is that no mater how bad the
situation we can still prosper as joseph did in jail, and from the pit and the
dungeon we may find ourselves elevated to a place of honor. The Sages in the
Talmud teach us “He that follows after righteousness and mercy, finds life,
prosperity and honor” Brachos 5b. Truth
and righteousness is Torah and Mercy is acts of charity. This were the
character of Joseph through out his life, yet he was the fulfillment of a
prophesy to Abraham, the promise of his steadfastness was that he was to
prosper no mater where and what circumstances surrounded him.
As Talmidin of
the most High God and our Master Yeshua we ought to live our lives as Joseph did. No mater our circumstances and our
surroundings we should live as per our redeemed character that was in-stowed in
us by our Rebbe’s ultimate sacrifice so that we may gave free access to the
Father through Him and by Him Rebbe Melech HaMeshiach. He that follows after righteousness and mercy
finds life, prosperity and honor. Not
because of the recompense but because we want to honor our Father in heaven,
for as children is our imperative to imitate our Heavenly Father as we imitate
our own earthly father. May he give us
the opportunities to be faithful in the little so that we may be faithful in larger and
weightier maters of this world. Matthew
25:21: `And his lord said to him, Well done, servant, good and faithful, over a few things thou was faithful, over many things I will set
thee; enter into the joy of thy lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment