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Discussions Torah

Genesis 37:1–40:23: All Yosef’s life’s indeed a stage for Mashiakh

The account of Yosef seems larger than life as it is: His coat of many colors. His dreams of greatness over his older brothers and even his parents. His being sold by those brothers into slavery in Mitsraim, then rising from prison to vice president of the mighty ancient empire that built the pyramids. But that’s for a later discussion. This time, Hallel Fellowship teacher Daniel explores a messianic play in the Torah reading Vayeshev, which means “he settled” and covers Genesis 37-40. Yosef was playing the role of Mashiakh consistently through his life. His father, Ya’akov, played God the Father. Older brother Yehudah played the leadership of the people of Yisrael, and brother Ruben also has a prophetic role. There are also two different “harlots” in this story. One is righteous — Tamar — and one is evil — Potiphar’s wife. Through it all, we see that God is the one in control of all things, not Yehudah. Mashiakh hadn’t yet become flesh, yet we read all about Him in Yosef’s life.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 38: Salacious story of Yehudah and Tamar points to coming glory of the Messiah

This isn’t a Bible passage one might want to read to young children, but it is recorded for a profound reason. It gives us another insight into the character of Yehudah (Judah), and the symbols point to King David and the Messiah.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 38 — Yehudah, Tamar and the prophetic twins Perets and Zerah

This chapter about a scandalous encounter between Yehudah (Judah) and his daughter-in-law Tamar seems out of place in the account of Yosef’s slavery in Mitsraim (Egypt). Yet the twins in this chapter — Perets (Perez) and Zerah — share a link to Messiah with Yosef (Joseph).