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The long account (Genesis 37–45) of Yosef’s1Hebrew for Joseph reconciliation with his brothers via “a great deliverance” is an emotional roller coaster, showing how relationships can get derailed then put back on track — if those involved actively intervene. On a bigger canvas of Yosef’s journey from scorned and favored to slave to vizier to savior, Heaven is trying to put the relationship with mankind back together, and it has called for patient and at times extreme intervention.
Key to mended relationships is:
- Truth: There is a right way and a wrong way.
- Justice: There have been wrongs in this situation.
- Repentance: Those wrongs won’t happen again.
- Forgiveness: There won’t be recalling of the wrongs.
The Torah passage Vayigash (“he approached,” Genesis 44:18–47:27) not only gives us insight into how to function in interpersonal relationships within our families but also within the nation where we live. There is a right way and a wrong way to restore relationships effected by a serious wrongdoing. You have to acknowledge a loss has occurred and what part you played in it, repent of your part of it and then let it go.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalm 139:23–24 NASB
Being impartial is an active task, not a passive trait. We have to be self-aware to recognize our biases then actively take hold of positions we favor so we can honestly hear both sides and give them a fair hearing. In so doing, we follow the example of Heaven as an unbiased judge of us, actively not holding our former way of life and past deeds against us.
Ya’akov2Hebrew for Jacob favored Yosef, the oldest son of the wife he loved, and the brothers coveted Yosef’s position. The traumas that Yosef suffered began with Ya’akov’s favoritism of him over his brothers. Yosef and Binyamin3Hebrew for Benjamin, “son of my right hand” were the sons of his favorite wife, who had died in the prime of her life, even though he had many more children with Rachel’s sister, Leah. And even more, Heaven seemed to be confirming through Yosef’s dreams that he was the favored son and leader of Israel.
“He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”
Genesis 45:15 NASB
What a change from when the brothers last knew they had seen Yosef, when they had thrown him in a pit, stolen the coat his father gave him then left him as they ate, turning a deaf ear to Yosef’s pleas (Gen. 42:21).
Now, Yosef was in the power position over his brothers, as they were over him from the top of the cistern, but Yosef refrains from revenge. Why? Among the possible reasons why he didn’t:
He selflessly served Heaven’s plan. Yosef came to understand that the LORD was with him and that what happened to him was לִפְלֵיטָה גְּדֹלָה lif’leyitah g’dolah “to a great deliverance” (Gen. 45:4–9).
Yosef was wise enough to see HaShem’s hand in all that had happened to him for the salvation of his family. Yosef was a tool in HaShem’s hand for a great deliverance.
“The LORD was with him” at Potiphar’s house. Yosef chose trustworthiness to his new master over bitterness for the raw deal his brothers gave him, and Potiphar’s house prospered as Yosef was rewarded with greater responsibility here.
Yosef had to learn that even his servitude to Potiphar as a slave was part of HaShem’s plan and he was trustworthy in that position. Even when Yosef was unjustly thrown into prison by Potiphar, Yosef continued to act in a trustworthy manner and didn’t allow the injustices committed against him to be an excuse to act in an immoral manner. Yosef had to learn how to trust the God of his grandfather Abraham.
“The LORD was with him” in prison. Yosef’s trustworthiness in prison led to ever greater responsibility there.
He grew up amid dreams and visions from Heaven. His father’s dreams led to prosperity amid oppression by Laban and to Ya’akov’s reconciliation with his brother, Eysau.
While in prison, Yosef hadn’t seen his dreams fulfilled, but he still trusted in the Source of his father’s and great-grandfather’s dreams to have insights into the dreams of Pharaoh’s jailed servants and of Pharaoh himself.
He actively forgave his brothers so he could forge a new relationship with them. Yosef had heard the brothers and Ruben anguish over the command to bring down Binyamin to Mitzraim,4Hebrew for Egypt interpreting it as judgment for what they did to Yosef (Gen. 42:18–22).
Then Yosef heard Yehudah5Hebrew for Judah say he was willing to sacrifice himself into slavery in place of Binyamin and didn’t want his father to be pained to the point of death from the loss of the son so close to his heart. Perhaps, this was because Yosef and Binyamin were direct reminders of Rakhel, the wife he wanted and loved.
Mashiakh Yeshua reunites with His ‘brothers’
We can see our own interpersonal relationships in the lives of Yosef and his brothers. Let’s look at some other great reunions in the Bible in the life of our Master Yeshua6Hebrew for Jesus and a short form of Yehoshua (Joshua) when He visited His “brothers” after His resurrection.
We notice in Luke 24:30–48 that the disciples who walked with Yeshua from Jerusalem to Emmaus recognized Him by how He blessed the bread. Yeshua’s blessing may have been unique because He would refer to HaShem as “Our Father” (Matt 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4).
Rabbis in Yeshua’s day, before the codification of prayerbooks, often taught their students distinct prayers. The blessing for bread eventually became standardized as variations of this:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ
Blessed are you YHWH our God, King of the World/Universe, the bringer of bread from the ground.
We see that the disciples had a “veil” of sorts over their eyes until it was taken away when Yeshua saw fit. Those of us who are walking according to the Way of the commonwealth of Israel are broken-hearted that our former pastors or Bible teachers don’t see what we see in the Scriptures, but HaShem has a veil over them that only He can remove at His timetable, not ours. That’s what apostle Paul fretted about in Romans 9–11, that Heaven would graft willing “natural branches” of Israel back in, so that “all Israel would be saved.”
Reuniting with Thomas and Peter
Yeshua then comes to bring back together in different ways His closest students, including Thomas in John 20:19-31 and Peter as recorded in John 21:15-23. We can see in these passages that Yeshua had a form of favoritism for both Peter and John. Just because they were given different roles, doesn’t mean Yeshua loved any of them any less. Trust is a verb and although Yeshua’s correction of Peter was hard for Peter to bear, Yeshua’s restoration of trust in Peter was 100% real.
Paul reunites with the Body of Messiah
A difficult reconciliation was with His confrontation with Shaul of Tarsus, as recorded in Acts 9. Yeshua confronted Shaul, who was on his way to Damascus to continue his murderous persecution of the followers of Yeshua.
Our prayer is that the same thing that happened with Shaul, in being given a new name and a new mission, will be granted to us, that what He has started in us will be completed in the “day of Messiah Yeshua,” i.e., the Day of the LORD. The lies will be gone, the Father of Lies will be no more, death will be gone — for all time.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH [Hab. 2:4].’”
Romans 1:16–17 NASB
Trust in Heaven that Yosef exercised comes with time, practice and maturity. Like Abraham, Yitzkhak7Hebrew for Isaac and Ya’akov before him, Yosef went from faith to faith, from trust to trust (Rom. 1:17). You can see what great works He has done before and look forward to even greater works in the future.
Summary: Tammy