NOTES
The Messiah
This week’s portion brings us to a remarkable parallel of Joseph and Yeshua. In Judaism, the Messiah is understood by two people: Messiah, Son of Joseph, and Messiah, Son of David. As believers in Yeshua, we know this not as two separate Messiahs but two different comings of one Messiah.
Joseph’s Story Recap
Joseph dreamed of his brothers bowing down to him, which caused their anger to turn to the action of selling him, leading to servanthood, imprisonment, and the gift of dream interpretation.
Pharoh’s Dream and Joseph’s Role
Pharaoh has a detailed dream that only Joseph can interpret. Joseph makes it clear that interpretations belong to God and that God has settled the matter.
The dream: Seven fat cows are consumed by seven skinny cows who remain slim, and seven full ears of corn become thin ears blasted by the east wind.
Gen. 41:28-45 CJB
- Joseph’s wisdom amazed Pharoh, and Yesuah’s teaching astonished His hearers.
- Pharoh changed Joseph’s look and his name.
- Jewish teaching is that the suffering Messiah will be held at the gates of Rhome. We can understand this in a spiritual sense of the Jewish roots being stripped from the Church. Yeshua’s name was changed, and if you ever look at a picture of what people think He may have looked like, you typically see a Greek or European man and not a Jewish rabbi.
- The seven years of famine can equate to the loss of the Jewish roots in the Church.
- Joseph delivered the world from a physical famine, and Yeshua delivered from spiritual darkness.
Matthew 4:13-17 CJB” but he left Natzeret and came to live in K’far-Nachum, a lake shore town near the boundary between Z’vulun and Naftali. 14 This happened in order to fulfill what Yesha’yahu the prophet had said, 15 “Land of Z’vulun and land of Naftali, toward the lake, beyond the Yarden, Galil-of-the-Goyim — 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; upon those living in the region, in the shadow of death, light has dawned.” [Isa. 8:23-9:1(9:1-2)] 17 From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, “Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!”
Joseph and his Brothers
Gen. 42:1-7 CJB
- Joseph’s dream is fulfilled.
- His brothers don’t recognize him, much like how Jews today see Jesus as the founder of a new religion instead of the Jewish rabbi and Messiah that He is.
This Week’s Take Away
Joseph, a Jew, saved the world. The Jewish people have a special mission from God, and we, as Christians, are called to follow the ways of God and help the Jewish people.
“[A] fundamental lesson about our service to G-d – When a Jew encounters severe challenges from harmful attitudes and desires, he must realize that their ultimate source lies not in the world but in himself. It is not true that he must follow the world; neither is it true that in order to live a faithful Jewish existence one must make concessions to the world. The reverse is the case. The Jew himself creates the state of the world he inhabits. If his Judaism is tempered by an inner reluctance, this is mirrored in the world. But it is the nature of the world to conceal its spiritual source. So this fact, too, is concealed, and attitudes hostile to Judaism are sensed as coming from the outside, from the world at large, pulling the jew away from his faith. But the truth is: The jew himself is the author of these attitudes. Were he to change his own desires, from reluctance to affirmation, he would change the attitude of the world as well… [T]he state of the world is dependent on the state of the Jew in his Judaism.”
Torah Studies, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, pgs. 64-5, Kehot Publications Society
- Gen. 41:50-52 (Kehot Chumash)
- “But these are the pangs of Messiah: A Time will come when grace is deceit and beauty is vanity – that is, deceit will be considered a grace, and vanity will be considered beauty.” – Kleinman, Sefer Or Y’sharim, p. 19
- Lk. 24:13-29 CJB
Resources:
Kehot Chumash (The Torah with Rashi, Targum Onkelos, Haftorot, and an interpolated translation and commentary based on the Works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
The Messiah Texts (Compiled by Raphael Patai, this book has all relevant Jewish material relating to the Messiah compiled by subject)
Casey D. Bell 
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