 12-02-2007, 7:44 PM
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LovingNeighbor
 
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Position - The fight for what was not given to you
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Position
For Parasha Vayeshev
By Lovingneighvbor 12-1-2007
This weeks Parasha is in the book of Genesis also called B'reisheet, and is called Vayeshev which means 'And he dwelt'. In this weeks parasha:
- Yosef was feeding the flock with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah and told his father their evil report
- Yisra'el loved Yosef more than any of his children and made him a special coat so his brother's hated him
- Yosef had a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more
- Yosef had another dream and when his father heard it he rebuked him
- Yisra'el sent Yosef to see how his brothers and the flocks were doing
- When they saw Yosef coming they made plans to kill him but Re'uven said lets not kill him but cast him into the dry well
- His brothers took his special coat and threw him in the dry well
- When they sat down to eat some merchants going to Egypt drew near and they sold him to them as a slave
- They dipped his coat in the blood of a goat and showed their father who said an evil beast must have killed him
- The merchants sold Yosef to Potifar an officer in Pharaoh's army
- Yahudah took Shuah to wife and had Er, Onan, and Shelach
- Yahudah found Er a wife named Tamar but Er was wicked in the eyes of YHWH and YHWH slew him
- Yahudah told Onan to take Tamar as wife and have children for his brother but he wouldn't and YHWH slew him
- Yahudah told Tamar to stay a widow until Shelach was old enough but he didn't keep his word
- Tamar covered her face and sat out where Yahudah was and he lay with her thinking she was a harlot
- Yahudah promised to pay her with a goat and left his signet, bracelets, and staff with her until he brings the goat
- When Yahudah sent the goat with his friend to pay her she was gone
- It was told to Yahudah Tamar was pregnant out of marriage and he was going to punish her but she showed the signet, bracelets, and staff
- Tamar had twins one called Peretz and the other called Zerach
- Yosef found favor in the eyes of Potifar because YHWH blessed Yosef
- Potifar's wife wanted Yosef to lay with her but he wouldn't
- Potifar's wife asked again on day and grabbed Yosef but he fled and left his coat behind
- She told her husband Yosef tried to lay with her against her will and showed him his coat
- Potifar threw Yosef in prison and the prison guard put him in charge of all the prisoners
- Pharaoh was angry with his chief cupbearer and his chief baker and cast them into prison
- Yosef asked why they were sad one day and they told him they both had a dream but didn't know the meaning
- Yosef told the chief cupbearer his dream meant in 3 days Pharaoh would restore him to his position
- Yosef told the chief butler his dream meant in 3 days Pharaoh was going to hang him
- On the 3rd day it was Pharaoh's birthday and he restored the cupbearer and hanged the baker just like Yosef said
- Haftarah Yisra'el has sinned and YHWH will punish them
In this weeks parasha we see a common theme going on here and that is the concept of position. From th beginning we see that there are a group of people and in avery household there is a variety of positions and authorities. It's even like that in our own government. There are lower courts, higher courts, judges, rulers, and people who have varying authorities and jurisdictions. In this weeks parasha we start off by finding out that Yosef tells someone in a higher authority that his peers are not doing right. We see this happen all the time in our lives. Sometimes it may be an internal audit, it may be a brown noser, or someone trying to cut others down so they can be lifted up. That is not the case with Yosef. It makes no indication of his report being slanted or untrue. Most likely he told his father something they have hidden from him that he would not approve of. I think we will see this pattern of lying to their father for their wicked deeds later also. Then it says that Yosef is the favorite son. This is a dynamic we see all the time in society, at every school and every workplace. There is usually a favorite and there is a pattern you will see and it is centered around the ruler. The favorites are either just and produce the best results if the ruler is just or there may be favorites based on other factors. We see this in politics. Maybe some of the favorite causes are ones where the politician receives the biggest contribution. Here we see envy from the brothers who hate him because he is loved most by their father, yet he is probably most like his father and they are not. It is hard to get love from a father when you are not like him. Just as it would be hard to get as much love from a stranger as from your own family.
Let's see how the events unfold and how people are jockeying for position. Re'uven the actual firstborn is the spokesman to the others saying don't kill him. We don't know if this is to cover himself, or to protect Yosef. He tells them throw him in the dry well. This is where it gets pretty messianic in the shadow. The dry well could be likened to the flesh or earth that Mashiach was put into. Then taken to Egypt which is a model of the world. The result is he will save all his family who would have been responsible for his death. They also sold him off to the Yishmae'lim this is lie them turning him over to the romans so they could somehow avoid being responsible. But they ended up having to have his blood on them and their children. Here they put the blood of the goat on his garment. This makes me think of the blood guilt of the Yahudah for what they did to Mashiach. Their father said an evil beast must have done this. This can be likened to a system which is a beast and the collective was evil, again pointing back to the brothers who worked together to do evil. Then we get a break in he story. Another interesting thing to point out was that Ya'akov rebuked him when he said that eve his mother and father bowed to him. I find this to be a common theme in this parasha that people in power like Ya'akov loved Yosef even if the others were then affected by his judgment in the way he positioned Yosef as his favorite, but when Yosef was above his brethren not a big problem, but when he was above his father then it was not ok. We see this trait many times. We may promote someone but we don't want them to be promoted above us. This is like office politics. A manager brags about a great assistant who later gets their own store but then when they may get promoted above them it's a different story. The point is that your judgment should be just all the time and that is exactly what Yosef does. Whether he is in a high position doing right then others below him or peers will hate him, and if he is brought low he still has just judgment and this will upset the unjust who rule over him because he has better judgment then them. It's like your in trouble if you do and your in trouble if you don't. One thing is for certain though that the only right answer then is to always have just judgment even if it causes you loss. Ya'akov should have agreed with Yosef if he knew the dream was from Elohim. But we don't know if he knew or not. But even then it says in the last days your enemies will be that of your own household. Many of us may have experienced this to a degree already. See Yosef saw things that his father and brothers didn't and since he stuck to his judgment he was not accepted. The pattern is through the scripture again and again, Noach was mostly alone in obeying Elohim, Lot's son in laws didn't believe him even to the last moment, Iyov was criticized by his friends who wer acting holier than thou to him, Moshe was rejected by the people even though Elohim was talking to him and showing him things nobody else saw, Yahushua and Kalev went against the crowd, The apostles left the accepted understandings and followed a man who was rejected because he didn't teach the common teachings, All through the scripture the righteous like Yermeyahu and most prophets were considered dreamers and they went contrary to the establishment. Where was Yosef, rejected by his own and stranger to the world. Yet he was chosen by Elohim to do his will. The fact that everyone else was worried about position but him, he was worried about doing what is right not acceptance. So he was lonely and even like Moshe when he was ruler I suspect a very lonely man.
So we get the the interlude story of Yahudah where the woman who was lowest of the characters had her husband who was her ruler die for wickedness, then you have the second and third in position being wicked also and being slain and then the father who didn't keep his word and in the end was humbled and witnessed against by the one who was least. It reminds me of the message of Mashiach when he says he was thirsty and you gave him not drink, and naked an you clothed him not. You had a position of power over someone even if it is as little as having 2 coats when another has none, and you did nothing. It really hit home with me this year how little we do for others because we blame them. We dodn't know, they didn't tell us. But we did nothing to find them. Shall the sick chase down the doctor. Shall the blind look for help. What responsibility do we have who have power to those without. Our responsibility is great. If no one hears the cry of the widow and fatherless when they cry out will Elohim not hear and look upon his people and ask why they shut their ears. And when they cry will it not be returned to them.
We get back to Yosef and he is in a low position and yet he is still blessed because he is pleasing to Elohim. He is literally visiting them in prison. He will feed the hungry, and he will clothe the naked by teaching his brethren of their unrighteousness. This is wrapped up when we see that two people were bought low and only one will be raised up. Like the stoy of Iyov(Job) his friends thought if he was righteous he would get nothing but blessings, but this was their error. Where was the blessing in circumcision, and having to offer up your son, and starving in the wilderness, and thirsting in the desert, and having to fight giants, and being put into slavery for Egypt, and being captured by Bavel(Babylon). Yet all these were tests and mercy from judgment. How only blessed were the apostles who were murdered with the prophets and Mashiach who himself said blessed are your when men revile you and persecute you for so did they to the prophets before you. Great is your reward. Just like the rich man who was first tested with the keeping of the law and from it was blessed with great wealth then the second test was to give it away to the poor and come follow him. Can we follow in richness and poor, sickness and health? The rich man was grieved. Will you be. Will your position be your blessing. Because two will lose their position and one will be raised again and one won't. Have compassion on the poor and lowly when you are high and when you are brought low like them. As the scripture says high will be brought low and the low will be exalted. Don't base your judgment on your position and when Elohim moves your position don't envy those who have never been moved because their fall may be great. Shalom!
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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