Genesis 37:1–40:23: How the first became lost and the lost became first

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The accounts in Torah reading וישב Vayeshev (“he settled,” Gen. 37:1–40:23) of Judah’s hooking up with his daughter-in-law and Joseph foretelling the rise and deeper fall of his jailmates seem as unrelated as they are dismaying. But the two actually contain prophecies that reveal the transforming work of the Messiah.

The first person we will discuss is Joseph. There are four “first born” sons in Jacob’s family: Reuben, Joseph, Dan and Gad.

When Reuben lost his right of the firstborn by his sexual relationship with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah, Joseph as the first born of the second wife inherited the right of the first born. Joseph’s dreams about being the first born was correct.

Later Joseph’s descendants obtain the double portion when both Manasseh and Ephraim are both elevated as equal tribes in the nation of Israel.

Amos 3:1-8 tells us that God reveals His will to His prophets first. Ezekiel 33 also tells us that if a prophet remains silent when God warns him of a calamity, the blood of those who died are on the prophet’s head. The prophet must share God’s message, whether it was in the best interest of the prophet or not.

Reuben had no hand in the conspiracy to dispose of Joseph. He desired to protect Joseph. He treated Joseph the way he wanted to be treated. I don’t think that Reuben was ever told in full about what the other brothers had done to Joseph. The brother’s respected Reuben enough not to kill Joseph, but they also went along with Judah’s decision to sell Joseph off.

For all the years that Joseph was in Egypt, one wonders why Joseph didn’t send word back to Canaan that he was still alive. There seems to be something in Joseph’s nature to not contact Jacob while he was the head of Potiphar’s household. I suspect that Joseph already understood that he was in Egypt because of God’s will, not because of his brothers.

Judah had three sons with a Canaanite wife and we are told that Judah “separated himself from his siblings.” We don’t know if that was before or after they had sent Joseph away because the bible is not written in a strictly chronological order.

I want to compare Judah and Joseph and show you how similar their stories are, as recorded in this parashat.

Both Tamar and Judah rightfully deserved death because Tamar was promised to Shelah, Judah’s youngest sons. They committed adultery against Shelah but they were not executed.

Both women, Tamar and Potiphar’s wife conducted themselves in such a way that we would never encourage our daughters to act. Sleeping with one’s father in law or trying to seduce your husband’s young employee are equally gross. Later when Moses reveals the Torah, these types of relationships are bluntly forbidden.

When we look at Zerah and Perez, we see that Zerah, who was the literal first born, was downgraded while Perez, who broke through and took the first born status was elevated to become the ancestor of King David and the Messiah himself. Perez received the greater blessing.

We see this with the baker and the chamberlain when they appear to Joseph to find out the meaning of their dreams. Both the baker and the chamberlain were lifted up and both brought low in prison. The chamberlain was elected back to his high status, while the baker was executed.

Judah redeemed himself by refraining from consorting with Tamar ever again and he later was redeemed by becoming the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty and the Messiah Yeshua.

Summary: Tammy