Outline Notes for Parashat Vayechi

Bereshit 47:28-50:26 – Yeshua Messiah ben Yosef, Part III

No Audio Message Available for this Parashat.

I. Introduction
A. Review

1. Messiah ben Yosef - the Hidden Messiah
   
   a. "Yosef recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him." (BEREISHIT 42:8)
   On this verse, the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna teaches:
   "This is one of Yosef's attributes. Not just in his generation, but also in every generation, Mashiach ben Yosef recognizes his brothers and they do not recognize him. It is an act of Satan, which conceals Mashiach ben Yosef's attributes, such that the Jews unfortunately do not recognize his footsteps, and in fact scoff at them… If not for this, our troubles would already be over. If Israel "recognized Yosef", Mashiach ben Yosef's footsteps comprising the ingathering of the exiles, etc., we would already be completely redeemed." (Kol HaTor 2:39)
   b. The Hidden Messiah in Zechariah and in the Brit Chadashah - Zechariah 9:9 (Matt 21:5); 12; 13 (Matt 24:30; Rev 1:7)
    
2. Rabbinic interpretations
   
   a. The Messiah:
   
   i. It was given by God as a description of the Messiah, whereby, when any should claim to be the Messiah, to judge by the resemblance or non resemblance to it, whether he were the Messiah or not. - Ibn Crispin
   ii. The meaning of the words " bruised for our iniquities" is since the Messiah bears our iniquities, which produce the effect of his being bruised, it follows that whoso will not admit that the Messiah bears our iniquities, must endure and suffer for them himself. R. Shimon bar Yochai
   iii. Our rabbis with one voice accept and affirm that the prophet is speaking of the King Messiah, and we shall ourselves also adhere to the same view. R. Moshe Al Schech=ch 16th century
   iv. The Messiah but it isn't Yeshua
    
3. Idealized Israel - Rashi 1050 C.E.- (Next week)
4. Looking back is legitimate - Hilchot Melachim U'Milchamoteiham The laws of Kings and Their Wars- Rambam

B. Parashah Outline

1. Jacob lives the final 17 years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Joseph to take an oath that he will bury him in the Holy Land. He blesses Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes within the nation of Israel. - Bereshit 47:28-31
2. The patriarch desires to reveal the end of days to his children, but is prevented from doing so. Jacob blesses his sons, assigning to each his role as a tribe: Judah will produce leaders, legislators and kings; priests will come from Levi, scholars from Issachar, seafarers from Zebulun, schoolteachers from Shimon, soldiers from Gad, judges from Dan, olive growers from Asher, and so on. Reuben is rebuked for "confusing his father's marriage"; Shimon and Levi for the massacre of Shechem and the plot against Joseph. Naphtali is granted the swiftness of a deer, Benjamin the ferociousness of a wolf, and Joseph is blessed with beauty and fertility. Bereshit 48:1- 49:33
3. A large funeral procession consisting of Jacob's descendants, Pharaoh's ministers, the leading citizens of Egypt and the Egyptian cavalry accompanies Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in Hebron. Bereshit 50:1- 13
4. Joseph, too, dies in Egypt, at the age of 110. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and buried in the Holy Land, but this would come to pass only with the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt many years later. Before his passing, Joseph conveys to the Children of Israel the testament from which they will draw their hope and faith in the difficult years to come: "G-d will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Bereshit 50: 14- 28

C. Preview - Why Yeshayahu 52:13- 53:1ff does not refer to "Idealized Israel" ( All Scripture references are for Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 53 )

1. This was the view of all the ancient rabbis (see Appendix 2).
2. The distinctive pronouns we, us, our, must refer to Isaiah and his Jewish audience while the he, him, his, refer to the Messiah.
3. Throughout the passage, the Servant is portrayed as a singular personality and not a nation; there is no allegory or personification of the Servant as Israel.
4. In verse 9, the Servant's suffering is voluntary, willing and silent, which has never been true of Israel.
5. In verse 8, the Servant dies for "my people"; Isaiah's people were the Jews; the Servant and Israel are therefore clearly distinguished.
6. The Servant is an innocent sufferer (verses 4-6, 8-9), but Israel always suffers for its own sins as Isaiah himself stated in 1:4-8.
7. The Servant suffers a vicarious and substitutionary death (verses 4-6, 8, 10, 12) while Israel does not suffer on behalf of the Gentiles, but because of the Gentiles.
8. The sufferings of the Servant bring justification and spiritual healing to those who accept it (verses 5b, 11b), but Israel has not done this for the Gentiles.
9. The Servant dies (verses 8, 12), but the people of Israel always survive.
10. The Servant is resurrected (verses 10-11), but since the people of Israel have never passed away, they have no need for a resurrection.