Viygash - And Judah Drew Near
December 22-23. 2023 - Asarah B'Tevet This Shabbat is the sixth Shabbat of the year on the Hebrew calendar, the Torah readings so far have brought us through the adventures of the life of Yosef- Joseph of the coat of many colours. Last week we ended on a cliffhanger - where Benyamin (Benjamin) had been set up with Pharoah's cup and was about to become a slave in Yosef's household. Thus we come to the first phrase in this Shabbat reading "And he (Yehudah/Judah) drew near".
The readings for this week were posted by Rav David on Facebook who is a Messianic Rabbi in Beaumont, Texas. His congregation meets on Shabbat starting at 10:30 a.m. for fellowship and set up before taking a deep dive into the scriptures starting at 10:55 a.m. If you are in Beaumont Texas, you can join them in person at the Christian Fellowship Church 3950 Pointe Parkway. Parking is near the main office entrance at the front of the building. They meet in Classroom 2 - just past the restrooms.
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| Messianic Studies with Rav David Jr. Are Here on Shabbat |
Or if you are in a land far, far away like me - you can join in online on Facebook Live for a deep dive into the scriptures and pray for Israel together.
Shabbat Scriptures:
- Torah - Bereshit (Genesis) 44:17 - 47:27
- Haftarah - Yechezkel(Ezekiel) 37:15-28
- New Covenant - Luke 6:12-16
- Romans 8
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Shabbat Reading Thoughts
Bereshit (Genesis) 44:17- 47:27 Thoughts
In preparation for this Shabbat study on the life of Yusef the dreamer, it was put in my heart to start by listening to some of the Viygash studies on Chabad.org - this has been my go-to website for diving into the Hebrew scriptures for a long time. When I first discovered Chabad.org it made sense to me that if I wanted to understand something written originally in Hebrew- who better to go to than scholars who grew up speaking Hebrew and steeped in thousands of years of Hebrew culture and tradition? As I listened to a couple of studies of Viygash in a nutshell on my laptop some phrases jumped out at me.
Since "Faith comes by hearing" you might enjoy listening to the scripture readings available through the Blue Letter Bible.org audio collection. The dramatized versions bring the scriptures to life.
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| Blue Letter Bible.org Offers Many Scripture Audio Recordings Here |
Here is a synopsis of what happens in this part of the adventures of Yosef and his brothers. Along with some of my thoughts in italics in each section.
Genesis 44:18- 34 - Yehudah (Judah) tries bargaining with Yosef and asks that he be taken as a slave instead of his younger brother Benyamin - as it would kill his father if he were to lose this youngest son. It is interesting how this section shows the change that has happened in Yehudah over the years. It also brings to mind how Our Saviour was willing to go into Sheol and die for our sins so we might have life everlasting through his self-sacrifice.
Genesis 45:1-15 - Yosef bursts into tears and reveals who he is to his brothers, explaining how he understands that Our Father caused them to sell him into slavery so their family would eventually be saved from the famine that was to come. Genesis 45:5 reminds me of Our Saviour "Do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here for Elohim sent me before you to preserve life." Yosef saved not only the lives of his family but also the lives of the Egyptians! Interestingly, the word Elohim is used here instead of the tetragrammaton. This also brings to mind the scripture in Romans 8:28 "All things work together for the good of those who love Elohim." Have you been through something horrible that ended up turning out to be a blessing in disguise? This also makes me think of the ministry of Joni Earecksen-Tada who was hit with quadriplegia overnight. Read a bit about her incredible journey here in this blog post. Yosef also makes this curious statement in Genesis 45:8 that makes me wonder if the Pharaoh was quite young "It was not you who sent me here but Elohim. He has made me a father to Pharaoh..."
Genesis 45:16-24 The Pharoah makes an edict telling Yosef to give his family gifts and bring them all to Egypt. Yosef does as the Pharoah commands sending his brothers back to his father with many gifts to persuade Yaakov (Jacob) aka Yisrael (Israel) to come to Egypt. Yosef favours his younger brother Benyamin, in giving these gifts. This makes me think of how when we pass from this life into the next, we might be saved from death equally, but there will be different amounts of heavenly rewards given according to our actions in this life.
Genesis 45:25-28 The brothers persuade their father to bring their family to Egypt. One surprising thing I discovered on the Chabad website was mention of Serach the daughter of Asher. Apparently in the Midrash, Yosef's brothers decided the gentlest way to break the news to Yisrael that Yosef was still alive was to have this granddaughter play on a stringed instrument and sing the news to him.
Genesis 46:1-7 On the journey to Egypt, Yisrael stops to make a sacrifice to Our Creator and he has a dream in which the Creator reassures him that he is doing the right thing by going to Egypt. I have read this passage in the Bible many times, but this dream of Yisrael has missed my attention before. Listening to scriptures being read is much better than reading them silently!
Genesis 46:8-27 The names of Yisreal's family that went into Egypt are explained - a total of 66 descendants are given with the total being 70 when Yisrael, Yusef, and Yusef's two sons are included. This numbering of people going into Egypt with the emphasis on the total number being 70 caught my attention. It makes me wonder- what is the significance of this being emphasized?
Genesis 46:28-34 Yisrael and his family arrive in Egypt and are met by Yosef who directs them to Goshen where they are to live. Yosef gives them specific instructions to present themselves as shepherds- as a strategy to make them and their belongings unappealing to the Egyptians.
Genesis 47:1- 12 Yosef presents 5 of his brothers and father to Pharaoh. Pharaoh questions the brothers as to their occupation then Yosef presents his father who blesses Pharaoh. Pharaoh questions him about his age. Yisrael blesses Pharaoh again and they are sent off to live in Goshen with provisions in the best part of the land.
Genesis 47:13 - 27 We return to the story of how Yosef manages the food stored for the Pharoah - first selling food to the people of Egypt, then accepting livestock in exchange for the food, and finally accepting people and their land as indentured servants and sharecroppers for Pharaoh. He makes a law that 1/5 of all produce in Egypt belongs to Pharaoh. The only Epytians exempt from having to pay for food were the Egyptian priests as they were provided for by Pharaoh.
Ideas and Resources for Children's Ministry
- Mathematics - exploring fifths and talking about how Our Heavenly Father only asks that we tithe a tenth.
- Geography - Map showing Egypt, Goshen, Beersheba
- Literature - Something that seemed bad turned out to be very good. The physical death of Christ. Other stories related to this theme.
- Mental Health The importance of tears and crying. Yosef wept so loudly that the servants told the Pharaoh about it. Could this be why Pharaoh was so gracious to Yosef's family? Shortest scripture in the Bible - Jesus wept.
- Drawing the family tree of Yaakov's family that went into Egypt.
- Archaeology - Findings that substantiate the story of Yosef in Egypt.
Helpful Resources:
- Information about Serach the daughter of Asher on Chabad.org
- What is the Midrash ?
- Chabad.org has this cheerful song to the tune of Oh Susannah and a children's cartoon among its Viygash resources.
- Headmaster Christian Resources - Map showing trips of Joseph's brothers from Canaan to Egypt
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 37:15-28 Thoughts and Discoveries
This scripture section is right after the very well know prophecy of the dry bones.
I listened to a few teachings on this scripture selection on YouTube. This is a very interesting prophetic action showing the reunification of the nation of Yisrael that is to come. To me, it fits well with the reunification story of Yosef and his brothers, On one stick Yechezkel was to write,
" For Yehudah and for the children of Yisrael and his companions" Ez 37:16
On the other stick he was to write: " For Yosef, the stick of Ephraim, and the all the house of Yisrael his companions" Ez 37:17
Then he was to hold the two stick together in front of everyone so the two sticks would become one.
This passage made me wonder what caused this rift between the houses of Yehudah and Yosef to occur a second time and has me hungering for more information about this split that tore apart the nation of Yisrael.
Now, how exactly were 2 sticks to become one? This was a puzzle to me.
Some have proposed that, in Ezekiel's time, people would coat wooden boards with wax and write on those!
This discovery reminds me of those black cardboard wax-covered "slates" with a film on top we played with as children.
Ideas for Children's Ministry
Science - This could be a cool lesson for students to do - using a couple of these wax coated "slates". I did see this being taught to children on the internet with a song, and tongue depressers. Unfortunately, it was also being taught with the scripture twisted.
Note: There arevsome very mislead people twisting this scripture out there. I was very surprised to discover that some people have taken this scripture and twisted to support their doctrine. For example, I saw the Church of Latter Day Saints is teaching young children that the two sticks represent the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon. However, Our Creator tells explicitly what this prophetic action means- it is the reunification of the house of Yisrael. For more info about this argument and why this LDS teaching is a fallacy, see this website.
Luke 6:12-16 Discoveries and Thoughts
This selection from the scriptures is about Our Saviour choosing his 12 apostles.
The most important thing I believe we can learn from this passage is to follow the example of our Saviour and pray for guidance before making decisions. Iesous chose to go alone, high up above the crowds to pray all night long. We find this scripture at the very beginning of the passage.
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| Luke 6:12 in Greek from Blue Letter Bible Website Tools |
Ideas for Children's Ministry
Mathematics
- Addition and subtraction with numbers to 12 using clay figures of the apostles
Health
- Importance of spending time alone talking with Our Heavenly Father
- Making wise choices
Language
- Word study : difference between disciple and apostle.
- Meanings of Apostles' Names.
- 12 Apostles Names in Greek Word Search
Music
- Hymnary.org suggests the traditional rousing hymn Alone with God for Luke 6:12. You can find the words to Alone with God and listen to an organ playing it here on the hymnary.og website.
- I have been putting together a little piggy back song that really suits this season. It is to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and starts like this:
You know Dasher and Dancer and Donder and Blitzen, Comet and Cupid and --- and Vixen,BUT can you recall...The names of the 12 apostles?
Here are the names of the 12 apostles :
- Simon whom He also called Petros (Rock)
- Andreas (Andrew) the brother of Petros
- Iakobos (James)
- Ioannes (John)Note: Iakobos and Ioannes were the sons of Zebedee and were also nicknamed Boanerges the sons of thunder Mark 3:17
- Philippos (Philip)
- Bartholomaios (Bartholomew)
- Maththaios (Matthew)
- Thomas (Thomas)
- Iakobos (James) son of Alphaios (Alphaeus)
- Simon (Simon) nicknamed Zelotes ("The Zealot")
- Ioudas (Judas) son of Iakobos (James) In Mark 3:18 this second Ioudas is replaced by Thaddaios (Thaddeus)
- Ioudas (Judas) Iskarioth (Iscariot) - who became the traitor
- There is this VBS song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me, but they are calling the apostles disciples.
Romans 8 Thoughts and Resources - Coming soon!
Working on updating this post bit by bit. Come back later for more resources on this week's Shabbat readings
Shabbat Shalom!
Sources:
- Bereshit - Genesis - Chapter 47 (Parshah Vayigash and Vayechi) - Tanakh Online - Torah - Bible (chabad.org)
- MTOI Friday night Shabbat Study on YouTube
- Parashat Vayigash - Quick Summary (hebrew4christians.com)
- https://carm.org/mormonism/could-ezekiel-3715-20-have-a-dual-fulfillment-in-the-book-of-mormon/
About This Author
Sister Su is grateful to God for keeping her alive. She is a Trent/Queen's Concurrent Education graduate with over 20 years of teaching experience. She writes on several blogs, has a YouTube channel and is most easily reached through Twitter @Sister_Su See her link tree for more details:@Sister_Su | Linktree
This post was proofread with the free version of Grammarly
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