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Parallel passages: Ezekiel 37:15–28; Luke 24:13–48; John 20:19–31; John 21:1–23; Romans 11
The account in Torah reading ויגש Vayigash (“he approached,” Gen. 44:18–47:27) picks up in the middle of Yosef’s springing a trap on his older brothers (see the reading Miketz). In calling for his younger brother — to the family, the remaining son of Ya’akov’s (Jacob’s) by-then deceased true love — to be held in Mitzraim (Egypt), Yosef would reveal whether his brothers had the same heart as when they threw him in a pit, lied to their father about his death and sold him into slavery.
There are three main stories in this Torah portion:
- Genesis 44:18–45:28: Yehudah repents of his family’s sin against Yosef. Yosef reveals himself as their brother.
- Genesis 46: Ya’akov goes down to Mitzraim and reunites with Yosef.
- Genesis 47:1–27: Yosef presents his family to the pharaoh, vanquishes the famine and in the process essentially enslaves all Mitzraim (Egypt) under a one-fifth (20%) tax. It was in this time period that the separate nations of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were consolidated.
Yehudah repented; Yosef revealed
Yosef is challenging his brothers, we see this at the end of the last Torah portion when he framed his younger brother as a thief. We see this several times in scripture when someone makes a bold declaration and it takes a turn for the worse.
We see this later with Yiftakh (Jephthah) when he promises to dedicate to the LORD whatever comes out of his house to greet him — revealed as his daughter. Another example is when Jacob dedicates to death whoever stole Laban’s false gods — revealed as his beloved, Rakhel (Rachel).
This is why Yeshua tells us to “let our yes be yes and let our no be no” (Matt. 5:37), so we don’t overpromise and underdeliver.
Yosef is playing the character of a foreigner who seems to express a disproportionate curiosity about this family and entangles them into intrigue and traps them. Yosef wants to know if they will dump Benjamin the way they had dumped him but in this case, two of the brothers — Reuben and Yehudah (Judah) — stepped up to make pledges to their father for Benjamin’s safety. It’s interesting that it was Reuben and Yehudah, who were primarily responsible for Yosef’s absence.
Now, you can understand why Yosef had such an emotional breakdown when he first heard Reuben chastise them for what they did to Yosef and then Yehudah’s vigorous defense of Benjamin and how they didn’t want to break their father’s heart. Yet years before they had crushed Jacob’s heart when they made him believe Yosef was violently killed.
People without honor will not show honor to those who deserve honor. We see in today’s world that for most people, character and reputation are not based on what is deep in one’s heart but only on an edifice. When Yosef was young, his brothers did not have honor, but over the years that Yosef was in Egypt, they had repented of their sins against Yosef and became honorable men.
In Ezekiel 37, the parallel passage to Vayigash, the prophet was speaking of a very deep rift between the Northern Kingdom (Israel, led by Ephraim) and the Southern Kingdom (led by Yehudah) and how they had separated from each other. He is speaking before the exile of the southern kingdom, but prophesying about what would happen after the exile. He tells them “this is what is coming and why it’s coming” and asks them “do you know why you are sitting in Babylon?” and “do you know the road back to Jerusalem and are you willing to repent and do what it must be done to be worthy to return home?”
The temple described in Ezekiel 40–48 is far larger, grander and more spectacular than the temple that was erected after the exile and what was in place when Yeshua was on earth.
There is a long-standing tension between Yosef and his brothers that comes to a head in this story. Were they doing to do the right thing because it’s the right thing? Are they going to exercise real leadership or are they just going to depend on their birth order to force others to look at them as leaders regardless of their character.
Yosef is going to reveal himself to his brothers but the brothers are also revealing themselves to Yosef and to one another. When we face trials, they are placed upon us to reveal our character not only to God, but to others and to ourselves. This is what James 1 tells us.
Like Yosef, like Yeshua: Messiah concealed and revealed to His brothers
Yosef’s revealing himself to his brothers parallels Yeshua’s revealing Himself to His “brothers” after His resurrection. Yeshua came to his brothers but they did not recognize him. This was Yosef’s experience, too. Imagine their shock when nearly 20 years after they had sold him into slavery, they meet him again as the Prime Minister of Egypt. They had cast him off as a nuisance and is now in a position of profound authority.
As the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they meet a “stranger” and are taking about the recent events of Yeshua’s trial and execution but the “stranger” instructs them and then “revealed Himself in the breaking of the bread” and the scars on His body. Yeshua has a different body from what He had before but the scars were left as a sign of His identity, of His sacrifice and His commitment to others. Their profound grief had blinded them.
Yosef’s story actually has significant parallels with that of his father, Jacob. When Yosef was interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, and hearing the description of the 7 weak cows and the 7 beautiful cows, Yosef realized that Pharoah’s dream was very similar to Jacob’s story of how he worked 7 years for the “beautiful” wife and 7 years for the “weak” wife. Jacob fled his brothers in exile and prospered while in exile and Yosef, who was also exiled from his family, prospered becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt.
It was because God allowed Yosef to go to Egypt, that not only Egypt was saved, the family of Israel were also saved. Yosef was also the one who brought Jacob back to the land after he died, but Yehudah was the one who inherited the scepter or kingship over the family if Israel. Although Yosef was a deliver, it was the tribe of Yehudah which stepped up into leadership of the people of Israel in future generations.
Yosef’s revealing himself to his brothers parallels Yeshua’s revealing Himself to His “brothers” after His resurrection.
In John 20:19–31, Thomas wanted tangible proof of Yeshua’s resurrection, and he was privileged enough to see Yeshua’s nail and spear scarred hands and torso, and trusted. But Yeshua said that those who didn’t see the wounds on His body are even more blessed and happy because we don’t see yet trust in Him, because we trust in the writings of those who passed the story down to us.
The Son was not sent to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. It’s the same with Yosef, he was not sent to Egypt to condemn his family but to save them.
In John 21:1–23, Peter sees the same haul of fish after Yeshua’s resurrection was a reminder of when Yeshua first revealed Himself to Peter and Yeshua calls Peter yet again to be a “fisher of men.” Yeshua had not changed His mind about His calling on Peter. Peter learns how deep Yeshua’s love was for Him, that even when Peter didn’t show Him brotherly love, Yeshua had a complete selfless love for Peter.
In Romans 9–11, we see the image of the olive tree and how Israel, who were given the oracles of God, yet they are so blind to their Messiah. God planted that olive tree, but Paul is asking Israel if they want to continue to perform God’s mission in the world or do they want to be cut off because there are gentiles who want to join in that mission and God is willing to graft them in.
Like Yosef in Mitzraim, Yehudah’s lack of recognition of Yeshua was necessary to preserve the life of the nations. Yosef’s job in Egypt was a form of disaster relief and his work consolidated power into the office of Pharaoh, and when one lives under a benevolent dictator, one can have a good life, but when that kind of power is exercised by an evil tyrant, the people suffer. Human rulers can easily flip from righteous to evil if they don’t have a character formed by Heaven.
We can’t trust humans with this kind of power, history is replete with what happens when people trust in a dictator. We see this when we look at the Pharaoh who knew Yosef, who was a benevolent dictator, and then later when the Pharaoh who did not know Yosef came into authority, who was an evil tyrant.
The government of the Messianic age and the age to come will not be a democracy but a benevolent dictatorship under the rulership of King Messiah.
Hebrews tells us about Heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 11:8–10), which right now only exists in Heaven. But there will be a day when the Heavenly Jerusalem will come down from heaven and occupy the earth (Rev. 21:2).
Although the LORD establishes the authorities on earth (Dan. 2:37; Romans 13; Titus 3:1; 1Pet. 2:13f), when those authorities ask us to disobey God, we can’t use the excuse, “I was just following orders” to disobey God and obey the tyrants of our age (Acts 5:29). We need to fear the one who can destroy the body and soul more than those who can only destroy the body (Matt. 10:28). We don’t want to lose ourselves in disobedience. We want to be obedient to God and become a dependable version of ourselves that is the same on the inside and the outside.
Yehudah was able to stand up and become a leader of his brothers and because of his leadership, many kings came through him, including our Messiah Yeshua.
Summary: Tammy