Parashah 11 VaYigash

Genesis 44:18 – 47:27

By Dr. K. Blad  ©

Second edition 2013-14

Lucrative copying not permitted. 

Torah Readings:

1. 44:18-30
2. 44:31 – 45:7
3. 45:8-18
4. 45:19-27
5. 45:28 – 46:27
6. 46:28 – 47:10
7. 47:11-27
8. Maftir: 47:25-27

Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:15-28

VaYigash

Means “and he approached”

Comments

The First Aliyah, 44:18-30

44:18 “Then Yehudah came near to him, and said, ‘Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Par`oh.’”(HNV) – Yehudah came close to Yosef just before he revealed himself. The same thing will happen in the last days, just before Yosef’s Son will reveal himself to the Jewish people. We are living in the time right now when the Jews are coming closer and closer to Yeshua in order to learn more about him as a historic figure; not as the Christian world has presented him, but as a Torah practicing Jew. Yehudah is approaching Yosef’s Son, without having acknowledged him as the Messiah.

“you are even as Paroh” – The messenger is as the one who sent him. Whoever has seen the messenger has seen the one who sent him, as it is written in John 14:9,

“Yeshua said to him, ‘Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Pilipos? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”(HNV)

44:21 “You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’”(HNV) – The Hebrew word for “bring him down” comes from the word yarad[1], which means “go down”. When the Hebrew people speak of leaving the land of Israel, they use the word “go down”. And when they speak of coming into the land, they use the expression “go up”. We can see the same thing in verses 23, “comes down with you”, and 26, “we will go down”.

This teaches us that when we leave the land of Israel, we experience a spiritual decline and when we come into the land of Israel we come up to a higher spiritual level. HaShem calls the land of Israel “my land”, see Isaiah 14:25; Jeremiah 2:7; 16:18; Ezekiel 36:5; 38:16; Joel 1:6; 3:2. One is closer to the Eternal while in His land.

In Deuteronomy 11:12, it is written,

“a land which HaShem your God cares for: the eyes of HaShem your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.”(HNV)

Paroh, however, did not understand the spiritual meaning of the land of Israel. Therefore he only used the word “travel” or “go” when he spoke of going to the land of Kana’an, see 45:17.

The Second Aliyah, 44:31 – 45:7

44:32 “For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’”(HNV) – Yehudah made himself a guarantor. In Hebrew this is called arav [2]. It means that he was willing to suffer instead of his brother. Here we see once again how Yehudah, the forefather of the Messiah, was expressing prophetically with his attitude what the Messiah would do at his first coming. He was willing to take the blame forever, in order to save his brother. When Yochanan saw the Lamb in heaven, he saw it “as though it had been slain” (see Revelation 5:6). The Messiah’s bride however, will be without “spot or wrinkle or any such thing”, (see Ephesians 5:27). The Messiah has stepped in and taken the responsibility for all men. He still bears the marks on his body of the consequences of the sins of mankind, as it is written in John 20:25-28,

“The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Tomas was with them. Yeshua came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Shalom be to you.’ Then he said to Tomas, ‘Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.’ Tomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”(HNV)

44:33 “Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.”(HNV) – To be a guarantor means being willing to bear all the consequences of one’s responsibility. Yehudah was faithful to the promise that he had given to his father. At this time he was not only showing that he had repented of his sin, but he was also willing to make tikun, correction, for what he had done to his brother Yosef. Instead of abandoning Rachel’s second son, whom his father loved, he took his place. This is how Yosef knew that he had really repented.

When there is no willingness to make right the wrongs that have been committed and to repair the damage in any way possible, then there is no repentance. Where there is true repentance, there will also be a desire to make things right, as it is written in Luke 19:8-9,

“Zakkai stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.’ Yeshua said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Avraham.’”(HNV)

Salvation had come to Zakkai’s home. There was clear evidence that he had repented from his sins. We see the same thing in Yehudah. This time he was not going to let his father down. This time he was not going to let his brother become a slave in Egypt. He had done this once, but because his heart was repentant he was not going to do it again.

When Yehudah showed that he had repented of having sold his brother, then the brother revealed himself.

45:1 “Then Yosef couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, ‘Cause every man to go out from me!’ There stood no man with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brothers.”(HNV) – Here Yehudah’s repentance was evident. Now the harsh treatment was yielding results. Now Yosef no longer needed to be severe with them. Now he could reveal himself, but not to the Egyptians – to his brothers. The same thing happened when the Messiah was resurrected. Only those who had walked with him before could see him risen, not the world, as it is written is Acts 10:40-41,

“God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”(HNV)

“made himself known” – The Hebrew word that is translated as “made himself known” is hitvadah, which comes from the root yadah[3]. This word is also used in the Scriptures to describe intimate relations, see Genesis 4:1, 17; 1 Kings 1:4.

In Genesis 45:4, Yosef asks them to come close to him. He could have asked them to only draw near, but the word elai, “all the way to me”, which is added, implies it was a matter of nearness unto physical contact. The conclusion that Rashi draws from this is that he showed them that he was circumcised.

 Yosef did not make himself known until all twelve brothers were gathered. This is referring to, as we said earlier, the fact that the Messiah will not make himself known in the last days until all twelve tribes are gathered.

This also teaches us that there must be a unity between brothers and sisters in the faith in order for Yosef’s Son to be fully revealed, as it is written in Ephesians 3:17-19,

“that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the consecrated ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Messiah’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”(HNV)

In the same way that Yosef’s brothers did not recognize him at their first meeting but at the second, the Messiah was not acknowledged by the majority of the Jews at his first coming. But in connection with his second coming they will acknowledge him. In other words, this is the time when the majority of the Jews will accept Yeshua. At this time he is revealing who he truly is, the Messiah whom all the Scriptures speak of.

“There stood no man with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brothers” – This was an intimate meeting between brothers. In the same way the Messiah is revealing himself in a very intimate way at this time to the descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel. He is being revealed to them in a Hebraic way and is calling them home to their Hebraic roots. He is also causing them to be conscious of their relationship with him, not only spiritually, but physically as well. They belong to the same people, and now is the time to be restored as Israelites or Jews. Those who have this kind of revelation will never be the same again. The way they see themselves is radically changed and their understanding of who Yeshua is, is radically changed. They no longer see him as a gentile, but they see him in a Hebraic context. They no longer see him just as the savior of the gentiles, but first and foremost as the savior of Israel.

It was Yehudah who caused Yosef to reveal himself. In the same way, it will be the Jews who in the end cause Yeshua to reveal himself in his glory (see Matthew 23:39; Acts 3:19-21).

45:2 “He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Par`oh heard.”(HNV revised) – When Yosef was revealed, there was weeping (see verses 14-15). In the same way, very strong emotions and tears will be released in those who now receive the revelation of who Yeshua really is and who they really are in relation to him.

Yeshua wept over the city of Yerushalayim (see Luke 19:41-44). The inhabitants of Yerushalayim will weep when he reveals himself and shows them his wounds, the signs of the renewed covenant, as it is written in Zechariah 12:10-14,

“I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. In that day there will be a great mourning in Yerushalayim, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Natan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shim`i apart, and their wives apart; all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”(HNV)

 In the first verses of the twelfth chapter in the prophet Zechariah’s book, it speaks of a war that will be instigated by the Arab nations. That war will also be backed by an international coalition. We are living in the days right now when HaShem is making his city into “a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples”. Soon there will be war. The Jewish people will win this war and the city will be inhabited again in its current location. After this war, there will be an outpouring of the spirit of grace and supplication over the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. There will be a revelation of that which they did not see earlier, that the Yeshua, who was nailed to a tree almost two thousand years ago, is the promised Messiah ben Yosef. Then there will be great weeping, especially among the Orthodox, since they are the ones who separate their men and women when they pray, as it is described in this text.

In chapter thirteen, in the same prophetic book, we can see how this Messianic revival among the Orthodox in Yerushalayim will be the cause of a cleansing from sin and uncleanness. All false religion will be cleansed from the land. The Bahai temple in Haifa will be destroyed. All mosques will be torn down. All Catholic churches will be deserted. The discotheques will be closed. The places for occultism will be gone and that unclean spirit will vanish from the land. Then the sacrifices will be restored on the temple mount. When this happens, all the nations of the world will become so enraged that they will unite again in war against Yerushalayim, as it is written in Zechariah 14:1-5,

“Behold, a day of HaShem comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations against Yerushalayim to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then HaShem will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Yerushalayim on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Atzel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of `Uzziyah king of Yehudah. HaShem my God will come, and all the consecrated ones with you.”(HNV revised)

This is going to be the last great war before the Messiah ben David comes. In this war the army of the state of Israel will be crushed and the consecrated city will be taken, as it is written in Daniel 9:26b-27,

“and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined. He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.”(HNV)

In Daniel 12:6-7, it is written,

“One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the consecrated people, all these things shall be finished.”(HNV revised)

This war will, therefore, crush the army of the Jewish people. This will cause a great cry to rise up among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will cry out to the Eternal and ask him to send the Messiah. Then they will say with all their hearts and with all their strength, “BARUCH HABA BESHEM YHWH”. The Messiah will come back and place his feet on the Mount of Olives. By the sword that comes from his mouth he will kill all the armies of the world, which are led by the anti-messiah, as it is written in Isaiah 11:4,

“but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he kill the wicked one.”(HNV revised)

In Revelation 19:15, it is written,

“Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of El Shaddai.”(HNV revised)

In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, it is written,

“Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the brightness of his coming.”(HNV)

“The Egyptians heard, and the house of Par`oh heard” – The Egyptians, who represent all gentiles, will hear of the revelation that the Jews have had of Israel’s Messiah and his great weeping for his Jewish siblings. Paroh’s house symbolizes the kings of the earth in the last days. They will also be informed that Yosef’s Son has revealed himself to his Israelite brothers.

45:3 “Yosef said to his brothers, ‘I am Yosef! Does my father still live?’ His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.”(HNV) – Here Yosef is speaking Hebrew and identifying himself by his Hebrew name. He did not say, “I am Tzaphnat-Paneach”. It was the same when Yosef’s Son revealed himself to Rabbi Shaul ben Gamliel in Acts 9:5. He did not say, “I am Jesus Christ”, but, “I am Yeshua”. His name is not Jesus, it is Yeshua. When he speaks with his Jewish brothers, he speaks in Hebrew, as it is written in Acts 26:14,

“When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’”(HNV)

45:4 “Yosef said to his brothers, ‘Come near to me, please.’ They came near. He said, ‘I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.’”(HNV) – This shows us that the people of Israel will come closer and closer to Yeshua in the last days.

45:5 “Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”(HNV) – The Messiah was sent to the gentiles to save lives, as it is written in Acts 28:28,

“Let it be known to you, therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the nations: these also will hear.”(MRC)

In Romans 11:11, it is written,

“I ask then, did they (part of Israel) stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.”(HNV revised)

This was the Eternal’s plan, that the gentiles would receive salvation through Yosef’s Son because the Jews had rejected Yeshua, as the brothers had done with Yosef.

45:6 “For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.”(HNV) – In the same way that Yosef’s brothers got to know him during the second year of the famine, it is probable that the spirit of grace and supplication will fall on the Jews during the second of the seven last years before the Messiah comes back.

“and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest” – Yosef knew through Paroh’s dreams and through the spirit of prophecy that there were five years of famine left. Rashi says that when Ya’akov came to Egypt, the drought ended. But if that was the case, wouldn’t Yosef be a false prophet? In verse 11 the message of the remaining five years of famine is repeated.

For the people of Israel, however, there were only two years of serious famine, since Yosef provided for them after that. This teaches us that those who are faithful, and who are not able to buy or sell during the Great Tribulation, will have the possibility to have their needs met supernaturally, in the same way that Eliyahu had his needs met during the years of drought (see Revelation 13:17; 1 Kings 17:4, 14).

45:7 “God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.”(HNV) – Yosef’s Son was sent to the gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy, that they in turn would be saved through this provocation, as it is written in Romans 11:14,

“if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.”(HNV)

In Romans 11:24-27, it is written,

“For if you (gentile) were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree (the gentile nations), and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree (Israel), how much more will these, which are the natural branches (a part of Israel), be grafted into their own olive tree? For I don’t desire, brothers, to have you ignorant of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Yisra'el, until the fullness of the gentiles has come in, and so all Yisra'el will be saved. Even as it is written, ‘There will come out of Tziyon the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Ya`akov. This is my covenant to them, when I will take away their sins.”(HNV)

The Third Aliyah, 45:8-18

45:8 “So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Par`oh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”(HNV) – Yosef does not place the blame on his brothers. These words come from a spiritually mature person. The immature cannot see past the nose on their face and they blame everything bad that happens to them on their surroundings. They do not understand that there are spiritual laws and heavenly plans behind what is happening. Whoever cooperates with these plans will be successful, as Yosef was. Yosef released his brothers from guilt. In the same way, Yosef’s Son removes the guilt from those Jews who repent of the sin of having given him over to the gentiles. HaShem had a plan with Yeshua being sold, a plan which included the salvation of the whole world, and especially the salvation of Israel.

“he has made me a father to Par`oh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt” – According to Rashi, the Hebrew word for “father”, av, does not only mean father, but also “counselor”, “friend”, and “manager”. In the same way that Yosef was placed as father to Paroh, without having a higher or equal position as Paroh, so HaShem has given Yeshua the title av without having a higher or equal position with Him, as it is written in Isaiah 9:6:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty, God, Everlasting, Father (av), Prince, Peace.”(HNV revised)

Yosef was given three assignments by Paroh, which correspond with those that the Messiah received:

o       He was placed as av, friend and manager, Isaiah 9:6.

o       He was placed as lord over the whole house, Hebrews 3:6.

o       He was placed as ruler over the whole world, Matthew 28:18.

45:9 “Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Yosef says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait.”’”(HNV) – Things will happen very quickly in the end times.

“Hurry, and go up to my father” – This is a reference to the rapture. Then all of those who belong to the Messiah will come from the four corners of the earth up to the land of Israel, as it is written in Isaiah 11:12,

“He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Yisra'el, and gather together the dispersed of Yehudah from the four corners of the earth.”(HNV revised)

In Matthew 24:29-31, it is written,

“But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a great sound of a shofar, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”(HNV)

This text shows us that the rapture will happen after the Great Tribulation. Just as there was a drought during Eliyahu’s days for 3 ½ years, it seems as though the Great Tribulation will last for 3 ½ years, which would then correspond with the latter part of Daniel’s seventieth week of years. During this time, the persecution of the faithful will be worse than before (see Daniel 9:27).

In Matthew 24, there are several different time periods in the end times described, which should be included in our calculations:

1.      The beginning of the birth pains, Matthew 24:5-8.

2.      The birth pains, Matthew 24:9-14.

3.      The Great Tribulation, Matthew 24:15-28.

4.      The coming of the Son of Man and God’s wrath, Matthew 24:29-31.

The Great Tribulation is not the same thing as God’s wrath. The Great Tribulation will be for Ya’akov, according to Jeremiah 30:7, where it is written,

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Ya`akov’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”(HNV)

The Great Tribulation will be for those who keep God’s commands and have the testimony of Yeshua, according to Revelation 12:17, where it is written,

“The dragon grew angry with the woman (Israel=Ya’akov), and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep God’s commands and hold Yeshua’s testimony.”(HNV revised)

The Great Tribulation is brought about by an evil world system, which is led by the man of sin, the anti-messiah, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, where it is written,

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”(HNV)

The Great Tribulation begins when the abomination of desolation is placed in the temple in Jerusalem, as it is written in Daniel 9:27; 11:31, and 12:11,

“He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolator… Forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate… From the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred ninety days.”(HNV)

In Matthew 24:15, it is written,

“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniyel the prophet, standing in the consecrated place (let the reader understand).”(HNV revised)

Here we see that the Messiah is teaching those who believe in him, his disciples. They are the ones who will see the abomination of desolation being set up in a consecrated place. There is no difference in the Scriptures between “the assembly”, mostly translated as “the church”, and the Jews who believe in Yeshua. The assembly consists, primarily of Jews, but also of gentiles who have experienced the spiritual new birth through being united with the death and resurrection of the Messiah. There is only one assembly, which it is the most high and spiritual part of Israel, not a separate people. In other words, there is no separation between Israel and the assembly. The Jews who believe are a part of the assembly and a part of Israel. Both the Jews and the gentiles, who are in the assembly, are going to go through the Great Tribulation. The idea that the gentiles who believe in the Messiah will be raptured into heaven in order to be spared the Great Tribulation and that the Jews will remain to go through the Great Tribulation, is founded on replacement theology and anti-Judaism.

According to Matthew 24:21-22, the Great Tribulation, the time of great trouble, begins when the abomination of desolation is set up, as it is written,

“for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.”(HNV)

According to our Master’s teaching, the chosen ones will go through this Great Tribulation. The Messiah is not coming back secretly or invisibly, but as it is written in Matthew 24:27,

“For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”(HNV)

The time of wrath is caused by the Eternal. It is the time of God’s wrath. The wrath is the punishment which will come on those who do not believe in the message of salvation, and on those who rebel against the Eternal’s Torah and his Messiah, as it is written in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-13,

“Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth”(HNV revised)

And in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, it is written,

“Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you that are afflicted with us, when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Yeshua, who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes to be glorified in his consecrated ones, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.”(HNV revised)

The righteous will go through the Great Tribulation but they will not suffer the wrath of God, according to 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where it is written,

“and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Yeshua, who delivers us from the wrath to come.”(HNV)

In Romans 5:9, it is written,

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.”(HNV)

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, it is written,

“For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the chief angel, and with God’s shofar. The dead in Messiah will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.”(HNV)

When the Messiah comes to the earth to carry out the wrath of the Eternal, the consecrated ones will be with him, as it is written in Revelation 19:11-15,

"I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called ‘The Word of God.’ The heavenly armies followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of El Shaddai.”(HNV revised)

This text speaks of the armies in plural. It consists of angels and, according to what I can understand, people who have become immortal through resurrection power (see Zechariah 14:5; Jude verses 14-15; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:7).

Some verses prior to the text we just quoted, in Revelation 19:8, it is written,

“It was given to her (the bride) that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the consecrated ones.”(HNV revised)

In Revelation 2:26-27, it is written,

“He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father”(HNV)

Therefore, it seems as though there will also be people riding with the Messiah and the angels, to destroy the armies of the multi-national coalition that is coming against Jerusalem in the last war before the Messiah returns.

45:14 “He fell on his brother Binyamin’s neck, and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck.”(HNV) – The Hebrew word that has been translated “neck” is plural in relation to Binyamin, “necks”. From this the rabbis speak of both temples, which were in Binyamin’s territory. Yosef’s weeping therefore, was prophetic since he saw how both temples would be destroyed on his brother’s territory. Binyamin’s weeping would also be prophetic, in relation to the last place that the Tabernacle stood, in Shiloh, which belongs to Yosef’s tribal territory, on Ephraim’s land.

Binyamin’s weeping also represents the point in time when the Jewish people will acknowledge Yeshua, according to the prophecy in Zechariah 12.

The Fourth Aliyah, 45:19-27

45:26 “They told him, saying, ‘Yosef is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.’ His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.”(HNV) – Yeshua is still alive and he is the ruler of many gentiles who have accepted him as their Savior and Lord.

45:27 “They told him all the words of Yosef, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent to carry him, the spirit of Ya`akov, their father, revived.”(HNV) – At first Israel could not believe the message that Yosef was alive. But later, he did. The same thing is happening with the Jewish people today. At first they cannot believe that the one who is called Jesus Christ is Israel’s Messiah. But later they will, and then Israel’s spirit will have life again.

Mashiach ben Yosef is the only one who can revive Israel’s spirit. He will do this through his messengers who come with gifts and clear evidence. He is going to make himself known to Israel through the Israelites.

According to Rashi, the Shechinah, God’s presence, the consecrated Spirit, had left when Ya’akov grieved over Yosef’s disappearance. But here it returned to the patriarch.

The Fifth Aliyah, 45:28 – 46:27

45:28 “Yisra'el said, ‘It is enough. Yosef my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.’”(HNV) – The Torah exchanges Ya’akov’s name from one verse to the next. When Ya’akov’s spirit receives new life, he is suddenly called Israel. Soon the historic moment will come, when Israel as a nation confesses that Yeshua still lives.

46:1 “Yisra'el traveled with all that he had, and came to Be'er-Sheva, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Yitzchak.”(HNV) – The Torah says that Ya’akov offered sacrifices to his father Yitzchak’s God, but it does not mention his father Avraham. According to Rashi, this means that one ought to give more respect to one’s father than to one’s grandfather.

Here Ya’akov connects with Be’er-Sheva, where his father Yitzchak was born. Here the Eternal reveals Himself to him again.

Ya’akov doubts whether or not he should go down to Egypt. He knows well the prophecy that was given to his father Avraham in 15:13-16, which says that his descendants would be oppressed for 400 years in a strange land. The reason for his doubt could also be because his father Yitzchak received the message about not going to Egypt during the famine (see Genesis 26:2).

46:2  “God spoke to Yisra'el in the visions of the night, and said, ‘Ya`akov, Ya`akov!’ He said, ‘Here I am.’”(HNV) – There are seven occurrences in the Scriptures and The Messianic Writings where the Eternal calls a person’s name twice, Genesis 22:11; 46:2; Exodus 3:4; 1 Samuel 3:10; Luke 10:41; 22:31, and Acts 9:4. This address is used at very important moments in these people’s lives. According to Rashi it implies friendship. The Midrash says that it also implies haste.

46:3  “He said, ‘I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt; for there I will make of you a great nation.’”(HNV) – Israel became a great nation in the gentile land. This is what will happen in the last days. The converted gentiles will come into Israel so that Israel will become a great nation, a thousand times greater in number than when Israel left Egypt the first time, according to Deuteronomy 1:10-11, where it is written,

“HaShem your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude. HaShem, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!”(HNV revised)

More than two million Israelites marched out of Egypt the first time. At the final redemption, there will be a thousand times more!

46:4 “I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Yosef will close your eyes.”(HNV) – The presence of the Eternal went with Ya’akov to Egypt. He was also given a promise about coming back up again. That promise means three things:

1. Ya’akov was not to be buried in Egypt, but in the land of Israel. This teaches us that a dead body continues to be a person. It says that Ya’akov would come up out of Egypt, not his “dead remains”.

2. Ya’akov’s descendants would come up out of Egypt to the land of Israel.

3. Ya’akov’s and his descendant’s bodies would be raised up again. The word that has been translated “bring you up/back” is alah, which means “go up”, as we mentioned earlier.

46:7  “his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.”(HNV) – Here it mentions Ya’akov’s granddaughters. But if you go through the names, you will find only one granddaughter, Serach, in verse 17. And if we count the names written in this chapter, we will find only 69 souls.

46:15 “These are the sons of Le'ah, whom she bore to Ya`akov in Paddan-Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.”(HNV) – But there are only 32 names. This teaches us that one granddaughter was born on the way. Only 69 left the land of Kana’an, but 70 came to Egypt, according to verse 27. According to Rashi it was Yocheved, Moshe’s mother, who was born “between the walls”. But this theory is highly unlikely on account of the great age that she then must have been when Moshe was born.

46:27 “The sons of Yosef, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Ya`akov, who came into Egypt, were seventy.”(HNV) – In Acts 7:14, it is written,

“Yosef sent, and summoned Ya`akov, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.”

The Septuagint names 75 people, but the Masoretic text says that it was 70, see Exodus 1:5. The difference is found in Genesis 46:20, where the Septuagint also names another four grandchildren and one great-grandchild of Yosef’s.[4] According to Genesis 10, there were 70 gentile nations to begin with. This lines up with the number of Israel’s children who traveled down to Egypt, as it is written in Deuteronomy 32:8,

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Yisra'el.”(HNV revised)

It is probable that the seventy nations will be restored during the Messianic reign, as it is written in Psalm 87:4-6,

"I will record Rachav and Bavel among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Peleshet, Tzor, and also Kush: ‘This one was born there.’ Yes, of Tziyon it will be said, ‘This one and that one was born in her’ The Most High himself will establish her. HaShem will count, when he writes up the peoples, ‘This one was born there.’ Selah.”(HNV revised)

In Matthew 25:31-32, it is written,

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the consecrated angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”(HNV revised)

In Revelation 22:2, it is written,

“in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”(HNV)

The Sixth Aliyah, 46:28 – 47:10

46:28 “He sent Yehudah before him to Yosef, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.”(HNV) – The Hebrew word that is translated as “the way to Goshen” is goshnah. It is found in the next verse as well. It is put together by four Hebrew letters, Gimmel (G), Shin (Sh), Nun (N), and He (H). It is the only word in the entire Scriptures which is put together by these four letters. These are the same letters, which are written on the dreidels (tops), which are used in the diaspora for games during Chanukah. The four letters used during Chanukah speak of the great miracle that happened there. In Hebrew it goes like this, Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, “A Great Miracle Happened There!”. The sum of the numbers of these letters is 358. Nun = 50, Gimmel = 3, He = 5, Shin = 300. 50 + 3 + 5 + 300 = 358.

This is the same as the sum of the four Hebrew letters used in the word Mashiach, Mem (40) + Shin (300) + Yud (10) + Chet (8) = 358.

This teaches us that the great miracle, which happened during Chanukah, was not only the victory of Judaism over paganism, or the miracle of the oil for the menorah, which could have happened, but when Yeshua’s mother Miriam supernaturally conceived. It happened during the Chanukah celebration. According to my calculations, it was at the day of the new moon of the tenth month Tevet, the 19^th or the 20^th of December year 4 BCE. He was born 38 weeks later, on Yom Teruah, the first day of the seventh month of Tishri, the 12^th of September year 3 BCE.

47:6a “The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen.”(HNV) – Yosef wanted the children of Israel to live in a separated community in Goshen for several reasons:

• To avoid assimilation.

• To avoid the children of Israel being appointed positions in the royal house or being recruited as soldiers.

• To be able to raise small cattle without disturbing the Egyptians who despised shepherds since sheep was one of their false gods.

• In order to have good grazing for the flocks.

The agronomist Rodolfo Olivares from El Salvador gave me several facts about the land in Goshen. It is one of the best in the world agriculturally, maybe even the best land. There is never a lack of water there. There are no vermin. It is never cold. There are no strong winds. The land there is in a plain and has moist soil. The ground has been enriched by floods from the river, which have brought organic material and minerals. The ground has plenty of selenium, copper, and iron, and this causes the placenta of animals and humans to be fruitful.

In Exodus 1:19, it is written,

“The midwives said to Par`oh, ‘Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’”(HNV revised)

47:7  “Yosef brought in Ya`akov, his father, and set him before Par`oh, and Ya`akov blessed Par`oh.”(HNV) – The one who is on a higher spiritual level blesses the one who is on a lower spiritual level, as it is written in Hebrews 7:7,

“But without any dispute the less is blessed by the better.”(HNV)

47:8-9 “Par`oh said to Ya`akov, ‘How many are the days of the years of your life?’ Ya`akov said to Par`oh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.’”(HNV) – Instead of blessing the Eternal before this king, because He brought him out of all his troubles, Ya’akov uses his tongue to speak negatively. In the Hebrew text there are 33 words used in this conversation between Paroh and Ya’akov. A Midrash[5] says that these 33 words of complaining caused Ya’akov’s life to be shortened by 33 years, 180 – 33 = 147. Further on we see, however, that Ya’akov made teshuvah and tikun (repentance and correction) when he speaks the blessing over Yosef, as it is written in Genesis 49:26a,

“The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of the ancient mountains, above the bounty of the age-old hills.”(HNV)

The Seventh Aliyah, 47:11-27

47:14 “Yosef gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Kana`an, for the grain which they bought: and Yosef brought the money into Par`oh’s house.”(HNV) – The purpose for gathering all this money was so that in the future it could be given to the children of Israel.[6] They would need much gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones in order to build the mishkan, the Tabernacle, in the desert, as it is written in Exodus 12:36,

“HaShem gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They despoiled the Egyptians.”(HNV revised)

47:25 “They said, ‘You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Par`oh’s servants.’”(HNV) – Yosef saved the lives of the Egyptians. In the same way, Yeshua has made a way of salvation for all men on earth throughout history, as it is written in 1 John 2:2,

“And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.”(HNV)

In 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, it is written,

 “namely, that God was in Messiah reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Messiah, as though God were entreating by us. We beg you on behalf of Messiah, be reconciled to God. For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(HNV)

The Egyptians were thankful for having been saved. This caused them to give themselves willingly as servants of the king. In the same way, the Eternal expects us to give our whole lives to him out of gratefulness for what the Messiah did for us when he gave our souls knowledge of salvation from eternal death.

In John 17:9-10, it is written,

“I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”(HNV)

Dear Reader, have you given your life to the Eternal? If you have not, or if you have not done it fully, I invite you to pray this prayer:

Heavenly Father. I confess that I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments and therefore I deserve an eternal death far away from you. But you have sent your son Yeshua in my place. Through his death you have removed my sins. And by raising him from the dead, I have been redeemed. I thank you for doing this for me. I make Messiah Yeshua’s sacrifice a part of myself, and confess him as my Lord. From now on I will no longer live for myself. I now give you the right to rule my life through your Son Yeshua. From this moment and through all eternity, Yeshua is my Lord. Thank you, again and again! Amen and amen.