Parashat VaYeshev

(Genesis 37:1 - 40:23)

Settled: or remained, in contrast with Esau, who left the Land. (36:6-8) Though Yitzhaq had never left, he was still considered a sojourner--almost a visitor, though he lived there his entire life! It was promised to him, but he lived there as a stranger, because it was still Kanaan's. How much more will we who are outside the Land be considered strangers, because most people find the ways of YHWH strange, sometimes more because of our priorities than our beliefs. Putting the Kingdom first is not even the way of those who are religious. Not until the inhabitants (the real strangers to the ways of YHWH) were dispossessed could it be Israel's Land. Many lived there; few have ever truly possessed it. Our forefathers began to see the Land as trivial, and did not guard it from idolatry. They gave its increase to YHWH's rivals. (Hoshea 7) The price is higher now, but it must no longer be the land of merchants (another meaning of Kanaanites), but the Holy Land again. Then those who now see themselves as citizens of the world order will be the foreigners, and those who are outcasts now will be the hosts. But, like Yaaqov, before we can establish the Kingdom, it must be established in us. Our own children can settle where we have only been able to wander, if we train them properly. They have not had the wrong influences we had, and have been raised in the ways of YHWH. Yaaqov had been through much, and he had no intention of leaving again. Yaaqov could settle in because now all 12 of his sons had been born; the way Yehudah's government treats "settlers", it is clear that only when all twelve tribes together surrender to the Kingdom can there be a permanent dwelling in the Land.

When Yoseyf was 17 years old, he began tending the flock with his brothers. He had spent his youth with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, but Yoseyf brought their father a bad report about them.

Chronicles: This may be the point where Yaaqov's account was appended to those who had passed the stories down before him. The term can also mean genealogy, yet only one son is listed here--the 11th, not the first, and he is already 17 years old. This is a strange way to begin a genealogy, so it makes us pay attention, because to YHWH this is pivotal to Torah understanding. Yaaqov's history begins with Yoseyf, because this is the story that will make the sons of Yaaqov into the true men of Israel. Indeed, despite all that went before, our history began when we found out that we were the sons of Yoseyf, for this changed everything about how we saw ourselves. In Rakhel's absence, he was raised by Yaaqov's other wives. But even Leah is no longer in the picture; did she refuse to raise Rakhel's sons, after all the rivalry between the two sisters? Zilpah, Rakhel's handmaid, would naturally be expected to raise Rakhel's sons. In any case, Yoseyf is dwelling among those who, though also wives, were still servants--not despised like Hagar and Yishma'el, but still of lower rank. This is a concept foreign to modern minds, and though YHWH defines rank differently than the world has, we still cannot understand much of Scripture without this perspective. Indeed, it is only the sons of Leah and Rakhel who end up having a major impact in Israel's history, and Yoseyf himself seems to already be holding them in lower esteem. A bad report about them: His first recorded act is that he brings a negative report--we could possibly translate it "slander"--and since Moshe does not tell what he told Yaaqov about, apparently it is irrelevant or secondary to the fact that he was being a tattle-tale (not seeking justice or someone's safety, but just wanting to paint his brothers in a bad light so could look better). He ratted out the sons of the slave-girls. Rakhel was no longer there to teach him not to drag up negativity and cause problems. Such an attitude makes enemies quickly, and it was no different for him. The beginning of Yaaqov's genealogy is that his son was a "snitch", yet he was his favorite:

Son of his old age: the one chosen by an aged father to look after him constantly. We would expect it to say Yaaqov (his worse side) that shows favoritism, since it usually leads to bad results, at least in the near term. But he only speaks to Yoseyf as Israel (his giving side). He has no selfishness toward him, but he also has no expectations toward him. In response to his telling on his brothers just to get them in trouble, he makes him a special new garment! It has been translated variously as "coat of many colors", "fine woolen tunic", "striped robe", or even "amazing Technicolor dreamcoat"! But it comes from a root word meaning the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet; i.e., it extended as far as both of them. Such a garment would be difficult to work in, especially as a shepherd who did not sit idyllically on a rock and play his harp while the sheep remained peaceful, but who had to run to chase down wandering sheep or fight off with his sling the predators that had a taste for mutton; it would get all tangled up in his sleeves! This indicates that the labor required of his brothers was not expected of him; in 2 Shmu'el 13:18ff, the same term is used of garments worn by the king's daughters, indicating a life of leisure--those who are served, not those who serve. Whether intentionally or not, he is sending an unfavorable message to his other children.

The coat made it very clear that Rakhel's firstborn was Yaaqov's choice as the next leader of the family. This was later forbidden (Deut. 21:17), probably because of all the trouble it caused here. It foreshadows Yahshua's "seamless garment, woven in one piece" (Yoch./John 19:23; Ps. 22:18), which represents the fact that He had no flaws in His righteousness. He also gave a bad report about his brothers (provoking his fellow Jews to jealousy). At his immersion, Yahshua was given a "garment" that his brothers did not have (compare Psalm 45:7)--the Holy Spirit (see Yochanan/John 7:39), and after this, his elders began trying to discredit him. So YHWH clearly has His favorites too, and the Hebrew what Yoseyf brought to his father was more literally "their evil whispering or defamation". It could be that his brothers themselves were saying evil things about their father himself or about Leah's sons, and he only repeated what he had heard. It may be that by his report his father knew his other sons were unworthy of leadership. How could we expect Yaaqov to overlook the flaws of his older sons just to be "fair"? That would not be fair to those who did work harder and deserved to reap what they sowed.

One treated as a favorite is often unconsciously presumptuous. Yet in a pastoral society, dreams were something out of the ordinary, and were often shared as a means of entertainment. The more detail one could give about them, the more the recounting was enjoyed. But their meanings were taken seriously, and Yoseyf's seemed more significant than usual. The native American cultures, for which more and more evidence is turning up that they are descended from Yoseyf, have preserved the emphasis on the importance of dreams.

7. "Here we were out in the middle of the field binding up sheaves, when, lo and behold! My sheaf began to rise, and stood all the way up! And then, behold! Your sheaves came around and bowed down to my sheaf!"

Josephus says this dream itself took place at harvest-time, when the crops are mature, and indeed Yoseyf's time of testing had come. Although the use of the word "youth" in verse 2 suggests immaturity, it also revealed their immature behavior. (Prov. 26:5) The parable of the wheat and the tares also speaks of a separation between different kinds of people taking place at the Shavuoth harvest. Note that it was not him, but his sheaf--those he gathered--to which the others' sheaves bowed. Sheaves actually means "bound together". Psalm 126, which says that those captives returning from exile, rejoicing with their sheaves, were like dreamers, is thus identified as referring to the return of Yoseyf's bound-together descendants. Others who bind people together into their own groupings are very likely to express the same kind of jealousy.

Resented him more: compare the question whether Yahshua would reign as a king in Yoch. 19:15.

One might think he would have been wiser to keep quiet about such dreams, but a prophet must reveal what he receives, whatever the outcome. Now it is not something he owns that they are bowing to (like the sheaf in the earlier dream), but himself. He was not one of the stars here, but in Revelation chapter 12, he apparently is, for there there are twelve.

Yoseyf never even suggested an interpretation; Yaaqov, having the prophetic gift himself, knew immediately what it meant, even though it displeased him. He may have been warning Yoseyf not to tell his brother all he knew, since he knew how they would treat him. This also is a warning not to bow to a star. (One of the false claimants to messiahship, heralded as such by the one responsible for making Rabbinic Judaism what it is today, was nicknamed Bar Kochba, "son of the star".) Bowing all the way to the ground is a picture of the day when "every knee in heaven and earth shall bow" to Yahshua. (Philipp. 2:10) The first dream was fulfilled during Yoseyf's lifetime, but this included his mother, who was already dead by this time, and the time they did bow to him was not in the Land of Israel, so clearly part of the prophecy must have a later fulfillment, relating to Yoseyf's descendants. Hereafter, when we see the sun and moon mentioned, they may relate to Yaaqov and Rakhel.

Kept in mind: observed, paid attention to, and safeguarded the matter. Yoseyf never even suggested an interpretation; Yaaqov, having the prophetic gift himself, knew immediately it was to be taken seriously. Being a prophet himself, Yaaqov may have recognized by this that Yoseyf was the one among all his sons who had the prophetic gifts. But he should have warned Yoseyf not to tell his brothers all he knew, since he knew how this would hurt them. This would have been a season to remain silent. Yoseyf should have asked his father in private what this meant, so he could have warned him not to say this to anyone else. He was not living the life of a shepherd, so he was not ready to exercise his gift. While Yoseyf was bearing some fruit, a tree's fruit is not to be eaten of for the first few years (Lev. 19:23ff), and it was not until Yoseyf was the same age at which Yahshua (like the priests) began his public role that he would be given actual authority.

Sh'khem: in a mountainous area about 50 miles north of Hevron; modern-day Nablus; Josephus says it was particularly rich pasture-land. This is the land Yaaqov had purchased. (33:19) The flocks they had plundered from those in this town whom they had killed may have simply been left there, alternately under the family's care and under the care of the city's children who survived. Shim'on and Levi had returned to where they had done this, and Yaaqov may have thought they needed someone to watch them, or he may have expected them to be back by now.

The name Sh'khem relates to shouldering a burden. This fits well with caring for our Father's flocks. Yaaqov may have feared for their safety because of the events in chapter 34. Here I am: ready to do your bidding. Yahshua also went willingly to do His unpleasant task (Psalm 40:7-8), since it pleased His Father. (Yeshayahu 53:10)

Look into: evaluate and care for. Most people do not like their work checked on, audited, or judged, especially when they need it most. "Depth"? Hevron is the city with the highest elevation in Israel! The "depth" may refer to "Avraham's bosom"--the tombs of the patriarchs (Makhpelah). If so, Yoseyf was sent on a mission from the grave of the very one who prophesied the enslavement that would result (ch. 15). Yahshua also had these two missions: check on your brothers and check on the flocks. Sh'khem was also the first town among the non-Jews where he began to look for his Father's lost sheep. (Yochanan 4)

Wandering around in the field: like Esau. Could this be the same "man" who wrestled his father and met his great-grandfather at the entrance to his tent? Interestingly, the first thing Yahshua did after being given his special "garment" was to wrestle with the adversary--possibly an actual spiritual being outside of himself, and possibly also the evil inclination to which the first Adam had given in. But Yahshua came out of it still valuing the recovering of his lost brothers more highly than his own safety and welfare.

This is another prophetic moment: Yoseyf is seeking his brothers. He identifies them as the people who are feeding the sheep--not the "pastors" as such, because in trhe right kind of flock, we will all feed and care for one another. This is the litmus test of how we can find Yoseyf's descendants today as they come alive today.

17. So the man said, "I'm sure they have left here, because I heard them say, ‘Let's go to Dothayin.'" So Yoseyf went after his brothers, and he did find them at Dothan.

Dothayin/Dothan: alternate spellings (the first Aramaic) for a town 12 miles north of Sh'khem. Later the home of the prophet Elisha, its name means "a pair of wells" or cisterns. They were supposed to be at the place of shouldering the burden (the meaning of Sh'khem), but they moved on to what they thought were greener pastures, probably thinking no one knew about it. Yet YHWH made their secret known to Yoseyf. Because Dothan is like the Hebrew word dat, meaning "religious law", to us the two wells represent Rabbinic Judaism and the Church, the two great religions that draw from the same source of living water, Torah, but which no longer allow it to flow. This is where we will find our brothers today, but neither has the water the flocks need, and they keep them split into two flocks when they are meant to be one. We need to leave them and draw from the original source, the underlying river, rather than the carefully-controlled buckets that may also include the trash that fell into the wells.

The guilty always conspire against the one who carries authority, since they do not want their guilt brought to light. People from both "wells" (Jewish leaders as well as Romans) plotted together against Yahshua as well.

20. "So, come on, let's kill him now and throw him into one of these pits, and say a wild beast has devoured him! Then we'll see what will become of his dreams!"

Though they were tired of Yoseyf, they must have had at least a little respect for these dreams, because they want to make sure they do not come true. Christianity looks at our return to Torah as being in the pit; they do not want to drink from the same bucket again. These pits: probably the two cisterns there (v. 17).

Their hands: i.e., their plot. Re'uven, the eldest, had a certain respect from his brothers.

In the wilderness: where they assumed no one would hear his cries. Knowing he had displeased his father already by what he had done with his concubine, Re'uven may have been eager to get back into his father's graces, or at least avoid getting in even deeper disfavor. In any case, he decided to still act according to his role as the eldest brother, the protector of his siblings, and save the life of his favorite son.

They feared his dreams and visions, so the first thing they wanted to do was take away his authority to prophesy.

Yoseyf probably assumed his brothers would eventually calm down, come back, and pull him out, because if they did not, "Daddy would kill them!" But they ignored him because he talked too much, tattled on them, and tried to convince them of what he had seen. He had sold them out before, so they were not so sure they could trust him not to tell his father about this as well. He thought he was royalty and had no need to work; they could finance their whole family enterprise if they sold him! But they will need his insights and abilities sooner than they think. This cistern (one of the twin wells) had dried up. The Aramaic targum adds that there were snakes and scorpions in it--thus also a picture of Yahshua's descent into the lower parts of the earth and being harassed by demons (Psalm 22). Yahshua also had to judge the shepherds. He was heartbroken over the condition of Yehudah in his day. In Yochanan 10 he declares that all who came before him were merely in it for the money or recognition. He suffered the same type of response from them. Later he was "hidden" in the well without water, a Torahless environment, the Church. It is one of the "broken cisterns" of Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 2:13. It held water at one time, but now, like Yoseyf, we find ourselves naked and without water if we stay in it. We cannot get anyone else out of the pit if we stay in it ourselves. Your presence is interpreted as your approval. The other cistern must have still held some water, or the brothers would not have stayed there (and indeed, in contrast with Christianity, Judaism did at least retain the importance of the Torah, though it does not always follow it precisely).

This was cold; they had to truly hate him to do so. But they did not know what to do to him, because to them he is a spoiled brat who would take over the meal. Yehudah rarely offers the bread of fellowship to us, but can you blame them? Those who made the decision to execute Yahshua also immediately ate the Passover meal in peace, oblivious to His suffering. They probably felt like they had just been freed from another oppressor, and incidentally, Yoseyf would later essentially "become" Pharaoh to his brothers. Yishmaelites: Today they are called Arabs. Gil'ad: across the Yarden River east of Dothan, on the same trade route. Balsam resin: the famed "balm of Gil'ad".

Yehudah's mind was on profit. He was already showing himself to be the leader who would father the tribe from which the kings would come. Yet it was one of his descendants, Yahshua, who saw value in rescuing the lost sheep of Yoseyf's apostate descendants from destruction, finding in them a potential usefulness to the rest of Israel--like the parable he told in which a tree was spared from destruction and given a second try because someone saw that giving it better nourishment might restore it to fruitfulness. (Luke 13)

Let our hand be upon him: as responsible for his murder.

Men: it is noteworthy that this word is added, rather than just saying "Midyanites". "Men" in the text prior to this has often signified messengers of YHWH. Though these men here seemed to be evil, this was YHWH's plan, for benefit would come from it in a roundabout way. This had to take place, because the sign that would make Avram certain that YHWH had given him the Land was that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land. Yahshua was also sold for silver (which represents blood) by one of his brothers--a man named Yehudah--then turned over to the Gentiles. Midyanite: sometimes an idiom for caravan traders, as "Kanaanite" is also used as "merchant". It appears that the brothers never did get to profit from Yoseyf's sale after all. Midyanites were descendants of Avraham's later wife Keturah, and Moshe would marry one of them. But Yishmaelites were also absorbed by the tribes into which they married, becoming hard to distinguish from them. (Note the converse identification of the two in Judges 7:1ff and 8:22-24.) They may have come along while the brothers were still debating what to do. If so, they could represent people from other nations who found Yahshua profitable while His brothers were still uncertain about what to do with Him. Twenty pieces of silver: later the price of a male temple slave between the ages of five and twenty years (Lev. 27). He was paid a common price for, though as a prophet he was worth much more; his true value would come out through his suffering and his faithfulness to YHWH in the midst of both trouble and success. Though they were sons of Avraham--connected to him--they were not sons of the covenant, so they did not respect Yoseyf because he was circumcised, but mistreated him, seeing him only as a son of Yaaqov, not a fellow son of Avraham.

Tore his garment: an expression of extreme emotion and despair.

He may have thought Yoseyf was dead. As the eldest, the responsibility for Yoseyf, when with his brothers, fell on him. He would not be able to answer for this, so they had to devise a plan to conceal their irresponsibility:

This was an alibi that would not implicate any of them; they chose a goat because its blood resembles human blood. This suggests both the casting of lots for the dying Yahshua's garment, as well as the two goats at Yom Kippur. Yoseyf's "covering" was connected with the blood of the goat earmarked "for YHWH", the one that atoned. The "other goat" shows up in 38:17.

This is an eerie payback: just as Yaaqov had fooled his father by a garment made from a goat, (chapter 27), his sons are fooling him with a garment dipped in a goat's blood.

This is his assumption. The deeper root word for the term used to describe his coat here means to vanish or disperse like a dream, and indeed he (and later his descendants after him) did disappear. They were "torn to pieces" in that they were scattered all over the world. (Notice Yahshua's prophecy about this in Matithyahu 7:6.) But this scattering was also a "sowing" (see Hoshea 1). A wild beast: literally, an evil living thing, for they were lost to the Babylonian system, in which "making a living" is paramount.

Sackcloth: an uncomfortable material like burlap. Around his loins: as a reminder of his lost offspring. He put off his other garments as a symbol of his glory departing. The curtain leading into the Holy Place of the Temple was nicknamed "YHWH's garment", and when Yahshua, His firstborn, died, the veil was torn as an expression of His mourning.

Daughters: if not some heretofore unmentioned, they would refer to either daughters-in-law or possibly some adopted from Sh'khem. Rose up: did their best. She'ol: the underworld; here an idiom for the grave or the inability to ever return to normalcy. He must have questioned his own prophethood in recognizing Yoseyf as the next prophet of the family, wondering if his eyes were grown dim like his father's had become. Now his focus is on death, and this did dim his vision, and meanwhile Yoseyf was taken to a place with a fixation on death:

Medanites: Apparently he was passed off in several trade deals along the way, for these were the descendants of Midyan's brother Medan. (25:2) The Aramaic targum adds, "on that day the exile in Egypt began." Chief of the executioners: or, head of the butchers. Either way, he was someone who killed on Pharaoh's behalf, and now Yoseyf is in his hands. What might he do to him?

CHAPTER 38

Turned aside to: pitched [his tent] as far as. It is bad enough that he wanted to stay with this Kanaanite instead of the people of Israel, but the term can also mean "perverted justice" (as in Ex. 23:2, 6). He went to the right place for that. Adullam (10 miles northwest of Hevron and mentioned again in 1 Chron. 11:15) means "justice of the people" (a system of judgment other than YHWH's), reminding us of the time of the judges when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Yehudah attached himself to this, and today he still has the reputation for having the best lawyers to find loopholes in the law. This was part of his descent, and the laws in the land of Yehudah today again favor the secular or the foreigners over the righteous. The powerful there use the law to condemn their brothers who are trying to hold onto the Land YHWH gave Israel as an inheritance. Khirah means "beginning to turn pale or glow". At that time: after the many days of Yaaqov's mourning for Yoseyf. Something about this story of Yehudah is meant to shed light on the story of Yoseyf's captivity, in which it is a parenthesis. It is a picture of our own day, when Yoseyf is still in captivity, Yehudah's heart is attached to foreigners, and the Father's heart is broken. Yehudah may not have wanted to be around these brothers who wanted to kill Yoseyf--or can he not look them or his father in the eye because he is the one whose idea it was to sell Yoseyf. and now he is going into his own type of exile. A few decades after the Messiah was given over to the nations, the tribe of Yehudah again "descended"--an idiom for leaving the Land of Israel. After A.D. 135, when the Jewish believers were rejected by their brothers for not joining a false messiah in battle, the rest of Yehudah was expelled from the Land and any Jew seen in Yerushalayim except in mourning only one day a year, was put to death immediately. But Yehudah has seldom in history been united with his brothers. Even while all Israel was still in the Land, Yehudah is described separately from the rest of Israel, except during the reign of the first three kings, and even before their reign as well. Yehudah was the last tribe to have scribes, and they could have changed this record had they wanted to put themselves in a different light, but they did not.

Kanaanite man: or, idiomatically, a prominent merchant. Shua means wealth and opulence, reminding us of the majority of Yehudah now living in a land of wealth and democracy, where the people rule. Yehudah's tribe has often had an obsession for profit (as seen in 37:26). They have indeed married themselves to wealth through merchandising survived for many centuries by being moneylenders in the nations of their dispersion. But later their great holdings were what kept them in Europe before World War II when the doors were still open for them to escape the Nazis.

Er means "One who calls to arouse and awaken or to expose". Was he fooling himself? Or was he awake to the life of a merchant? One result of Yehudah's connection with wealth has been that he was awakened, but also exposed. There is no indication that his wife ever became an Israelite, and his son proved to be pagan.

5. And still she continued to conceive and bore another son, and him she named Shelah, and he was at Kh'ziv when she gave birth to him.

Shelah means prosperous or at ease--another result of wealth. But Kh'ziv means "false", so this was a false prosperity.

Thamar means "a date-palm tree"--one of the most beautiful sights in a parched land. According to Psalm 92:12, it is symbolic of righteousness.

Evil in the eyes of YHWH: We can only guess at what he did wrong by comparing how this term is used elsewhere. Gen. 6:5ff says that in Noakh's day, YHWH saw that every thought and imagination of the human heart was only evil continually. We can surmise, then, that Er, like a used-car salesman, never intended to do the right thing, even when he did obey his father. A heart full of evil intent leaves no room for righteousness, and he would not be of benefit to YHWH or Israel, so the one whose name means "awake' was put to sleep! But anything that gets in one's eye, no matter how small, consumes all our attention. YHWH had His eye on the firstborn of the son of the ancestor of the Messiah in a special way. He was held to a higher standard. Let him die: refused to continue sustaining him with breath any longer, and if YHWH withdraws that from a person, nothing he does can keep him alive.

Marry: here, a special term denoting marriage by a brother-in-law to raise up an heir for his deceased brother. This later became mandatory (Deut. 25:5) so that each man would have the dignity of an heir even if he died before he could have children. But the patriarchs were already practicing much of YHWH's instruction before it was formalized at Mt. Sinai.

The descendants would not be his: They would be called his brother's, and would take away some of his own children's inheritance. (Ruth 4:6). He had an open door to do what was right, but he thought only of self. The sons of Yehudah who came through the daughter of wealth had the hallmark of great selfishness. But what could Yehudah say? He had let his brother go into captivity, too.

The vigorous one now lay completely still. But note that although YHWH did not like whatever Er had been doing, He did want his brother to raise up a descendant for him to perpetuate his name (as the text itself also does, unlike their mother, whose name is not written anywhere in the Book of Life, probably because Yehudah's being joined to her resulted in nothing but evil).

Grown up: When he could exercise his own right to not marry her, leaving her free to marry outside the family (Deut. 25:9). He had no intention of giving her to him, but it was not for a righteous reason, but only for the sake of his son's life. This is how the Torah is seen by many Jews today--as something they have to do to remain Jewish, rather than as a means to know YHWH. And they end up having to "fake it". Dies like his brothers: he probably thought she carried a curse, and was herself the cause of his sons' deaths.

Afraid to marry his youngest son off for fear of losing him too, Yehudah became without a lineage and fruitless. Likewise, having been punished over and over for straying into pagan religions, they have forsaken idolatry, but are also hesitant to embrace Yahshua as Messiah, perceiving him as foreign paganism also due to the admixture that has come about in the church largely since Constantine, and thus has lacked a king as well. (The same is said of Israel in Hoshea 3:4.)

Timnah, which means "portion", is a further 10 miles northwest of Adullam. It was later assigned as part of Yehudah's territory, but ended up being in the tribal land of Dan, whose name means "judgment". Maybe that fact in itself was YHWH's judgment on Yehudah's motives at this place.

Shelah was given a different wife, for we see his descendants listed in Numbers 26:20. Widow's garb: There was a particulart mode of dress that identified her clearly as a widow, possibly so others would be careful to treat her well, since YHWH expresses special concern that widows and orphans not be further oppressed. At the entrance to Eynayim: at the crossroads of the two springs, or "at the opening of the eyes". In order to open his eyes, she covered hers:

This must have been a common Kanaanite way of identifying prostitutes. Why would a prostitute veil her face? Possibly out of a stronger sense of shame than those of today who look at it only as a job, but possibly also so that the man would not have to look her in the eye and be too ashamed to do what he had already paid her for!

Prostitution is foolish in most cases, though not directly counter to the Torah at least on the literal level for an unmarried person, but in her case it was the wisest thing she could find to do to obtain justice.

We saw on of the two goats from Yom Kippur in 37:31. Here is the other goat--the "scapegoat"--which, by law, it was only necessary to "send" into the wilderness, but in actual practice was thrown off a cliff to ensure its death, a symbol of the eradication of sin. It is amazing that today Yehudah, for the most part, in order to justify his rejection of Yahshua, denies the need for a blood sacrifice for atonement to be made, yet in ancient times Yehudah, whose words were the rule, went beyond what was written to ensure that blood was shed. But his Gentile relative knew the goat's value; everything she did was for the purpose of getting that goat. She may not have wanted it for herself, but as the ascending offering required for her cleansing after the birth of her child. (Lev. 12:6)

The pledge tokens were all marks of identity and station in life. His ring was used to press into a wax seal to stamp his ownership on his possessions or the merchandise he was selling. Cord: the same word for the thread of blue later required in the fringe on Israelite garments as a reminder to keep YHWH's commandments (Num. 15:38), and it would probably have required leaving his entire garment with her, and the Torah later specifies what can and cannot be done with a garment given in pledge. He was probably the only one in town with such a fringe on his garment. If this is what is referred to, we again see Israelites already practicing what was not actually commanded by YHWH until Moshe's time. And a rod was a symbol of authority, especially Yehudah's, as the kingly son, but a shepherd's staff also had the events of his life recorded on it. He was willing to pledge all he was, is, or would be just to sleep with this "prostitute". He figured there would be no problem in giving her these, because, after all, he would get them back. But she outsmarted him; what she was asking for was his ownership, his authority, and his life--i.e., she wanted him to be her husband.

20. When Yehudah sent the young goat by the hand of his Adullamite friend, in order to receive back the pledge from the woman's hand, he could not find her!

21. So he asked the men of her place, "Where is the prostitute who was by the roadside at Eynayim?" But they said, "There was no prostitute here!"

Prostitute: the term here is not the one used in verse 15, but is actually the term for "holy one", because a cult prostitute was set apart unto a particular deity's temple (a practice originally tied to Saturnalia, a pagan festival which is now called Christmas). Again, Khirah the lawyer puts his spin on the terminology to enhance his client's reputation, because no one in that town would have thought badly of Yehudah for going to a temple prostitute, for they all would be use dto doing that.

23. So Yehudah said, "Let her keep them for herself, so that we don't become a laughingstock. I really did send this kid, but you couldn't find her."

I.e., "I've done my part. To try any further will only be an embarrassment." This shows just how deeply he was descending. He inherited one of his father's weaknesses. In order to not be a stench to those around him, he gave up his tokens as lost, turning them over to this woman to pass on to her sons. Yehudah today has given up its name, authority, and even the commandments for the sake of its reputation among foreigners. And for the sake of "peace", it gives over to foreign control the place YHWH said to brig offerings to Him.

This would give him an easy way out of giving her to his youngestr son. For her pregnancy to be known after only three months, she had to have made it known, probably to force Yehudah's hand. Men were regarded as less guilty than women for engaging in such an act of incontinence. (Compare Yochanan/ John 8:1ff.) Though a widow and no longer even living in Yehudah's household, she is still expected to be faithful to her dead husbands, and must answer to Yehudah. But normally, Israelite women would only be stoned to death for adultery. Only priests' daughters were required to be burned for harlotry (Lev. 21:9), for they were held to a higher standard of exemplary living. So by tradition, Thamar's father was a priest. Her actual pedigree is never stated, but this only makes her more like Melchitzedeq, the priest with no recorded ancestry. It would only stand to reason that this ancestress of Yahshua, who was not a Levite, might have a literal connection with that same priest after whose order the non-Levitical Messiah bases His priesthood. (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 5:6) The Hebrew word for harlotry just as often refers to idolatry, which is spiritual adultery (having intimacy with anything other than YHWH). But it also means "highly fed and therefore wanton." (Strong's Concordance) The better fed we are, the less we tend to appreciate what we have, and the more likely to grow morally slack. A study showed that the better the economy is, the higher the hemlines go. We tend to look to YHWH only when we are not well fed. But He expects just the opposite. If He feeds us well, He holds us accountable to work harder. This is why Israel, when it profaned itself, was treated all the more harshly. (Hoshea 8)

All for the promise of having a goat sent, the apparent "harlot" who is actually Yehudah's kinswoman, keeps possession of what Yehudah despised, and it is her salvation. Like Yitzhaq and Yaaqov, Yehudah now has to recognize a garment when deceived in order to identyify hius son. Throughout the Scriptures, a "harlot" represents one who has committed spiritual adultery, and that is the accusation Yehudah levels against anyone who follows Yahshua today. But there has always been a faithful remnant in the church who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Though sometimes indistinguishablefrom the rest on the surface, those whom Yehudah would not allow to be connected to his son are now making him jealous by practicing the Shabbath, by celebrating "his" festivals and seeing in them the meaning really intended, by "keeping" them in a way Yehudah no longer does, and by wearing Tzitziyoth that are more kosher than those Yehudah wears. They say, "To whom do these things belong? Look, I'm not part of the prostitute! These are the things you should have given to me. Why did I have to get them in a roundabout way?

Reminded of his own question to Yaaqov about whom Yoseyf's coat belonged to, Yehudah hears his own words and his hard-heartedness is gone, and he treats her with the respect she is due. He, too, knows he is the one who prostituted himself out to foreign wealth. But according to Lev. 18:8, 15, since she has actually become his own wife, he can no longer give her to his son.

28. And while she was giving birth, what took place was that one baby thrust a hand out, and the midwife took hold of it and tied a piece of crimson thread on his hand, signifying "this one came forth first".

29. But when he pulled his hand back, his brother unexpectedly came forth! So she said, "How you have broken forth! This breach be upon you!" So he was named Paretz.

This breach be upon you! Or, "With what strength you have asserted yourself!" Paretz means "breach-maker", often related to overstepping boundaries as in the "first" man Adam's transgression, and foiling Satan's seeming ascendancy. Yet see Matthew 11:12 for another way it was used.

Zarakh means "to rise, dawn, or shine forth." (e.g., Yeshayahu/Isa. 60:1) Yehudah's "house" had been destroyed twice, just like the two Temples. Only the third time, through this roundabout means, did Yehudah's firstborn receive an heir. Yehudah's descendant Boaz, in another levirate marriage, was told (Ruth 4:12), "May your house[hold] be like the house of Paretz, whom Thamar bore to Yehudah, of the seed which YHWH shall give to you from this young woman"--a seemingly unflattering blessing, considering the circumstances of his conception. But, as in the case of Boaz, it was a roundabout means by which YHWH established the continuation of the Messianic line, which had been threatened here with being lost as well. The "seed" refers not only to the immediate redemption, but also to the descendant of hers who would fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. In Ruth 4:18 lies the key to the strange blessing: "These are the generations of Paretz". This discourse pattern signals the continuity of the Messianic genealogy, which is reiterated several times throughout Genesis. After Adam's fall, this word "generations" is spelled "defectively", with one letter missing (though pronounced the same way) in every case until this one, where the full spelling is restored. Oved's birth, like that of Paretz, sealed the guarantee that the throne of his grandson David, and thus Messiah's throne, would be established. The missing letter has the numeric value of 6, the number of man. Also, through this combining of Jew and repentant Gentile, one new man was formed--cf. Ephesians 2:15, and the daughter of the "priests' church" is brought back into her proper place. In a traditional song to welcome the Sabbath, the Messiah is referred to as "the man who is the descendant of Paretz". In Hebrew, fingertip to shoulder counts as a "hand", so this could be a symbol of "the Arm of YHWH": Messiah, the true Firstborn who existed before yet came after Adam--or after Lucifer (the "son of the dawn" who "asserted himself") tried to "rise" to heaven as his counterfeit. The crimson or scarlet cord imagery appears again in Rahav (another Gentile saved from destruction, who became an ancestress of kings), the Tent of Meeting, and the cleansing of lepers (Lev. 14:4) through to Yahshua, who was made to wear scarlet just before He accomplished our redemption. Alternately, however, the red cord was tied to the horn of the "scapegoat", who represents haSatan, the "nearer kinsman" who withdrew his offer when he realize all the privileged position entailed, and so Yahshua, who actually became the firstborn could then "break through" on our behalf. In chapter 46, only Paretz's line is listed. But Yehudah had other descendants who were not from Paretz, and some (through Shelah) came from the line of this nameless Kanaanite woman, the daughter of "wealth" (even another named Er). This may be a clue to the end-time system described in the book of Revelation. There are other hints there that a contingency comes from Yehudah. It probably comes from this line, for we see some in Yehudah who are very faithful to the Torah, while others show that they are more loyal to wealth. Yet redemptin is still possible. One of Shelah's sons became a ruler in Moav (1 Chron. 4:21-22), and by tradition, Ruth was from the royal family in Moav. We are told that she returned to Yehudah's land along with Naomi--as if she had come from there as well. She may have been one of these descendants of Shelah!

CHAPTER 39

[c. Year 2218 from creation; 1782 B.C.E.]

1. Now when Yoseyf had been taken down to Egypt, Potifar, a court official of the Pharaoh (chief of the executioners)--an Egyptian man--had bought him from the Yishma'elites who had made him go down there.

Egypt was the world's only superpower at this time, so Pharaoh's name would strike terror into the other nations of the time. Yoseyf was brought directly into the heart of this context. This was probably the time that Egypt was ruled by a line of Semite kings called the Hyksos, and being outsiders like Yoseyf, would be better disposed toward him than the Pharaohs that followed when Egypt was retaken by the native dynasties (Ex.1:8). Thus it would not be redundant to mention that this official was a native Egyptian. Potiphar means "belonging to the sun". After Yehudah was no longer in the majority in the Called-out Congregation, Constantine "cut a deal" with the Gentile element that sold Yoseyf's descendants into Roman sun-worship. So our ancestor's experience is instructional for us today as we face the same kinds of temptation he did.

He was owned as a slave, yet in that context he still made progress. Yahshua said that the only way to become great (in his Kingdom, but even now as well) is to be a servant. (Mat. 20:26ff) He is our witness to what our approach to our exile must be. He was very young and had been somewhat spoiled, so one would think he would not know very well how to serve, especially after his dreams about being the one who was served. But he decided to be all that he could be, even here. He decided not to be discouraged or depressed or pine for the coat he had lost, and he actually turned out to be more successful here than he had been among his brothers, who did not listen to him. He had been trained in Shem's tents, and this taught him to apply courage to the situation at hand rather than becoming angry. We are told that he was "in the house"--possibly as opposed to being in the field, since he was seen to be more trustworthy than his fellows, who just wanted to escape. But it could also mean he was mind and heart were not somewhere, though he was not accustomed to living in houses at all, but tents. He was committed to the lot YHWH had chosen for him, because that is the only place he could serve Him at this time. We, too, must make progress in learning to be servants, for that is one of the most important elements of the Kingdom. As Bob Dylan sang, "You've got to serve somebody"--even if it is one's own wealth. Will it be the house of the profane, or the holy one that we invest our service in? Yoseyf was not able to choose, so he "bloomed where he was planted". The key to not being discouraged is trusting YHWH to care for us as we do our part as well as we can. (Psalm 34:22)

He probably did not know that it was YHWH in particular, but recognized that he was clearly favored and that something was different about him. He was not whining or bitter about his lot or even concentrating on trying to move up higher, but focused on doing his job. In his hand: We can only prosper in that which we take hold of and set our hands to. We cannot succeed while we are still thinking or even praying about it. Determination may be accomplished in our minds, but commitment is only shown when we are doing something about it.

Assistant: or administrator; custody: literally "hand". Those who are called back out to be Israel usually turn out to be the people who did most of the work while still in the church (which Egypt pictures). The righteous things they did while still chained in that context are probably the main reason they have been given a higher calling. (Luqa/ Luke 16:10-12) Yoseyf focused on serving rather than the fact that he was a slave, and because whatever his hand found to do he did with all his might (Qoheleth/Eccles. 9:10), his master soon put everything in his hands. We cannot gloss over the details and be promoted to bigger things; we must get the little things right, or we can forget the big ones. Merely being within the gate does not mean we can rule the city. People who own companies want the best workers, and they promote those who merit it, not those who complain that they are not being fairly treated.

When there is a committed righteous servant, the whole household is blessed. The only this Egyptian's house was blessed was Yoseyf's presence. What would happen if he was taken back out of that house? Likewise, the only reason YHWH has protected the half-pagan Church is that His people were slaves there. Its welfare was only for their sake. How much more w*ould it be blessed if everyone in the house was serving as he did? When we get to that point, we will have the Kingdom. As far as Yoseyf's father, Israel, knew, Yosyef was dead, but he was very much alive, bringing blessing to Egypt. Those who today are best known by the name Israel (Yehudah) generally does not know the House of Yoseyf is still alive and well is because all of its blessing has been going to a different household. But that is about to change.

Concern himself with: keep track of. It is a shame he did not give him authority over his bread as well, for that is a picture of a righteous community. Potifar could have learned from him to be an Israelite too, and had all the additional blessings that come with that! Egypt is often a symbol of the antithesis of Israel, but when Yahshua was given liberty to demonstrate what he can be among them, Gentiles also came to be blessed in both religious and secular realms. However, there are both positive and negative results when a servant makes progress. The "harlot" the Gentiles were married to often tries to co-opt Yahshua for her own purposes...

He must have inherited his looks from his mother and grandmother, but one becomes attractive when he "wears" YHWH as well, even to the undeserving:

Who does the Egyptian's wife represent? Security, the bedfellow the church uses to promote itself to the masses (eternal security) and to generate revenue (pay your tithe and you will have financial security). Now she is after Yoseyf as well. What should our response be?

9. "No one in this house is higher than I, and he has not withheld from me anything except you, since, after all, you are his wife! So how could I do this horrible wickedness, and sin against Elohim as well?"

Things had been going so well for Yoseyf, but every time there is progress made due to faithfulness, there is a test. Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, Yoseyf could have anything he wanted except one thing. Security is also what Chavvah was looking for: if I am like Elohim, He will not be more powerful than I, and He cannot harm me. HaSatan also offered Yahshua all the kingdoms of the world. But if He was to succeed as the second Adam, there was something he is not to touch: the god of security (since this is contrary to faith in YHWH; he recognized that we cannot serve both YHWH and Mammon, or wealth). Yoseyf had seen the results of illicit sexual encounters both in his brother Re'uven and his sister Dinah. But the sin would not only be against his master, but against YHWH.

He not only refused to be intimate with her; he would not even be seen with her (abstaining from all appearance of evil). It is not enough to simply not make security our highest priority; we must not even do anything to make people think that is where our heart is. Had he given in, at best he would have put down his roots permanently in Egypt, but more likely she would have killed him when she grew tired of him, because security is always a liar that will ultimately leave you stranded.

That working in the house was not a pretext for being around her is supported by a detailed house plan found in the tomb of an Egyptian high priest, showing that all the storerooms (which Yoseyf had charge of) were all the way in the back of the house. (i.e., It was normal for him to be alone within the house.)

Yoseyf took literally the command to "flee fornication", going out of his way to choose the right way, even when it was inconvenient, in contrast to Yehudah, who had to be seduced into doing what was right. (But finally he did, and he maintained his authority over his brothers.) The only thing she could catch was his garment; he left his security with her. The word for cloak in Hebrew means "treachery" as well, for Adam and Chavvah did not need clothing until after they had rebelled. When the whisperer tries to make him share in what she tells him, he leaves it on her instead. She can keep it; it is not worth his holding onto. To the mother of harlots, Yahshua's "Body" is just something to use for herself. But she does not own Yahshua, though she claims to because she has garbed her paganism in his terminology (in the Hellenized form of "Jesus Christ"). She claims to have something to do with him, when in fact he refuses to. So his followers will ultimately have to leave that deceitful cloak of security behind (whatever keeps us tied to Egypt and prevents us from obeying him). It actually belongs to Egypt anyway. ("Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.")

In Scripture, one's garment is symbolic of his works. Even while we are doing the work YHWH has assigned us, security will come looking for us and make us an offer. In order to stay on the path of no compromise, Yahshua left His visible "works" behind, giving up (for a time) the power and position that was His as the rightful King of Yehudah, so He could be King of all Israel. (Filippians 2:5-9)

He chose a Semite, another like those who had the upper hand, occupying Egypt, to rule this Egyptian house, and it would seem like a betrayal to bring another Semite into the house, as if he were somehow in league with the foreign governors, though he was sold to Egypt as a slave. Or it may be that the reputation of the Hebrews as a tiny but powerful people had already spread from Kanaan, or the incident of Avraham's wife with a former Pharaoh might still have been remembered.

16. She kept his garment close by her until his master came back home.

It may have not only been as "evidence", but to feed her own fantasies that she kept someonthing of Yoseyf's with her. One's garment is also often a mark of our authority, as it had been in his father's household. Thamar (ch. 38) had used the symbols of Yehudah's rank to prove his guilt in regard to a sexual matter, and Potifar's wife was trying to do the same again here, though not for a righteous reason as Thamar had.

18. "But what happened was that when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe beside me and fled outside!"

19. And it worked: when his master heard the argument which his wife put to him, saying, "Your slave did to me everything I said"--his anger glowed.

We need to expect betrayal when we refuse to lie down with security. When Yahshua refuses to link his teaching with the harlot's religion, he is back to being mocked again as a Hebrew and a slave--neither of which the proud harlot would associate with. Jews were held in high esteem by the Romans, so they were given a special dispensation of not being required to worship idols. But after the Bar Kokhba rebellion, the believers in Yahshua were a frustration to the Romans, because they not only refused to worship idols but kept the Sabbath and Hebrew festivals, yet were disclaimed by other Jews as traitors; they were considered useless and slaughtered--or forced to live underground in the catacombs. But this anger appears to be more against his wife than against Yoseyf, for being the chief executioner, Potifar would have been likely to have simply killed Yoseyf otherwise. He knew of his wife's tendencies. But because of his honor and his wife's influence, he had to do something publicly:

Like Yahshua, he suffered for something he did not do, and for positively doing the right thing. This was not a common prison, but a royal one, so the conditions would not have been as bad. It may have even been to protect Yoseyf from the wrath of a woman scorned that he put him there. But the reward for doing right must have seemed like a punishment to Yoseyf. The prison-house ust have reminded him of the pit his brothers had put him in, and he could have thought, "I already passed this test!" But not at this level. As we ascend, we may face the same enemies to overcome at higher levels, because what was once a minor matter has escalated to a major problem, but YHWH has also been increasing our skills in the meantime. He had only passed the first part of the test, in order to build him up for further tests in preparation for his intended purpose, just as a high school test is more difficult than one in third grade, but bring us closer to our goal. He was in an exile within an exile. Still, he was not inclined to be bitter or discouraged. He knew a test when he saw one, so he knew he had to be fully engaged where YHWH had him. YHWH is trying to tell us something by where He has us. We must pay attention, for He is trying to strengthen us in areas we will one day need. We are strangers outside His land, though we seem to be in anything but a prison, but though we thank YHWH for the care the land of our exile gives, we must wean ourselves from this "mother", for every gift she gives us comes with a price. We must not pretend we are not in exile, because its purpose is to teach us to do better so we can get back to where we are meant to be. Yet, though that motivates us, we must keep our mind on each step of the way, for we must take each carefully to ensure that we will get all the way back, just as Yoseyf was fully "there" even in the prison and did not waste even this time. Literally, this prison is a "round house". Jewish mystics speak of round things as symbolic of what is real and permanent, but square things as the temporary physical things through which they are perceived. They are not meant to be separate; we have to live in the "square" realm and find the "circle" there, rather than seeking to be one or the other. Even the physical things YHWH uses to teach us deeper truths about Himself are square--the four-cornered garment on which our fringes are to hang, the phylactery (tefillin), the tabernacle, altar, and ark. This is because no matter how we feel, Israel is always a spiritual people. It is the glory of kings to search out what YHWH has hidden. (Prov. 25:2) We are called kings and priests. So every physical act we commit has an effect in the spiritual realm, either feeding the Kingdom or energizing its enemies. Even eating, as mundane as it seems, is the transfer of energy from one being to another, and to fail to recognize this as a gift from YHWH makes it actually a profane act rather than a merely neutral one.

Extended kindness to him: or "endowed him with grace/charisma".

By his order: literally, "as his doing". Instead of being in the deep trouble "Jezebel" hoped he would be in, he was already in authority again, for even the Egyptians trusted the one who was faithful to YHWH in any circumstance and did everything he was given to do well. He did not do it "as if" it was unto YHWH, but he did it knowing it was ultimately for YHWH that he continued to walk uprightly, even outside the context in which his fathers had taught him. In these teaching he had an advantage the Egyptians did not--and we, too, have those teachings. We don't know which test will finally take us home, so let us do to our utmost every task that we are given and find Him in it.

Both among his fellow Jews and Gentiles, it has usually been the "prisoners"--the outcasts and the despised--who have recognized Yahshua'is rulership. He spent his time with prostitutes, gluttons, winebibbers, and tax collectors. He now lives among captives, blind, and humbled ones (Yesh./Isa. 61; Luke 4:16ff), for these all describe the Northern Kingdom, whose return home was Yahshua's top priority. Even sects despised because they take one part of Scripture too far are at least taking truth very seriously, recognizing that the mainstream misses the target. He came to bring release and proclaim the time of YHWH's acceptance. In descending (into the earth, for Yoseyf's dungeon was much like a grave) he took captivity captive (Eph. 4:8), meaning that those in exile were now under His control. He thus ascended to the throne over the lost tribes in his own exile.

CHAPTER 40

Cupbearer: the one responsible for making sure the king's food had not been poisoned. Sinned: Litrerally, missed the target, which has led many throughout the centuries to conclude that they were aiming to kill Pharaoh, but failed and were caught because someone else died, so Pharaoh knew someone was trying to poison him. But we need not assume that it was something so grave. There are many actions which, though not intrinsically an offense against YHWH or His Torah, can still be sin if they fall short of the standards or expectations established by one in authority over us. Pharaoh expected exceptional quality from these men, or they would not have been in his court. To simply not perform up to that standard would constitute sin. This has to do with the king's table--the place he entertained dignitaries from around the world. What is on his table defines him to his guests. Someone could misrepresent him simply by preparing a mediocre meal. If one man's work suffered, the whole meal would be imperfect. For this someone had to pay, and thus both of these men were counted jointly responsible until an inquiry could be carried out. They were responsible for bread and wine--symbols of a meal of fellowship, by which, for example, we set the Sabbath apart. Thus these were very important jobs, but neither could be successful if the other was slack. If the wine was bitter, the bread would bring no comfort. Apparently the cupbearer did nothing about the baker's error. We are charged with remembering Yahshua whenever we partake of these two foods, and this does not mean to merely think about his selflessness, his priorities, and his sacrifices that the kingdom might come. It means we are to emulate them. His table is about walking like he walked. So even to literally fail to show hospitality like Avraham did is to fail in community, and thus to misrepresent our king.

Officials/chief: This suggests that it might have been someone under their authority who wronged Pharaoh, but their supervisors were held accountable. They were responsible to to make sure his commands were carried out, whether they did so themselves or delegated others. If they could not do so, they should not be in charge. (This tells us that if we were unable to do what YHWH wants, He would not have placed us within the ranks of Israel.) Those who do wrong should experience rebuke. While on one level Pharaoh represents YHWH, here he is the leader of Egypt, which is also a picture of the church since it was paganized and co-opted by the Babylonian system. Whether its head is Constantine or the pope, here we see it temporarily casting aside the one who tends the bread and the one who tends the wine. Bread represents Yahshua's Body in its unity and community (Luqa 22:19ff; 1 Cor. 10:17), and wine sometimes represents joy and sometimes blood. Joy is not only a weapon of our warfare (Nehemyah 8:10) and how we overcome; it is a command. (Psalm 33:1; 97:12)

These men's actions would bring about a change in Yoseyf's life as well.

The chief of the executioners: apparently Potifar himself. This might be why Yoseyf was given authority, though imprisoned; Potifar knew he was innocent, but had to keep him out of his wife's sight. But he had seen the prosperity that had come with having Yoseyf in his house. As a type of Yahshua, we see him held captive by the Gentiles, yet still having authority, yet understanding the need to uphold both the keeper of the bread and the keeper of the wine. He is put over them, yet he serves them. Yahshua Himself said the leaders among His people must be servants. (Mat. 20:25ff) Because he chose to serve the community and the joy of YHWH, he set the stage for how he would be treated later. (cf. Phil. 2:5-11)

Each according to the symbolism of his dream: i.e., each dream held its own interpretation. We will return to this point when the dreams have been related.

Haggard: troubled, vexed, fretting. They were worried because they knew their dreams meant something.

Literally, why do you look so bad?

No one to interpret: They had no access to professional interpreters, which were plentiful in Egypt. Manuals have been found in Egypt delineating over 200 types of symbolism found in dreams. For example, if someone saw a cat in his dream, he would have a full harvest. But Yoseyf was saying that such formulas were not necessary. Interpretations belong to Elohim: i.e., "and He is with me, so tell me..." This parallels Yahshua's statement that "he who has seen me has seen the Father". He is not saying he is Elohim, and he certainly does not take credit for interpreting the dreams, but he was confident that YHWH could give the interpretation through him, because he knew YHWH's standards and could weigh them out according to these. When Yoseyf's brothers called him "the master of dreams", they were prophesying even though they were mocking him. His father had known how to interpret his dreams when he still did not known how, but now this calling is beginning to come to fruition in him.

10. "And the vine was made up of three branches. As soon as it budded, out came its blossoms, and its clusters ripened into grapes.

As soon as it budded...blossoms: this is more quickly than usual. This was one vigorous vine.

12. Then Yoseyf told him, "This is the interpretation: the three branches--these represent three days.

13. "Within another three days, the Pharaoh will lift up your head and return you to your position, and you will place Pharaoh's cup into his hand as was your custom earlier when you were his cupbearer.

Lift up your head: see note on verse 19.

15. "because I was in fact brought by stealth from the land of the Hebrews, and I have not done anything here either that justified their putting me in the dungeon."

Brought by stealth: or kidnapped. Yahshua did not willingly leave his brothers, nor did he intend to go into "Egypt"; he did nothing wrong. But he bloomed where he was planted and made the best of the Gentile world, improving it in many ways, just as Yoseyf did, and preserving it from judgment for a time.

White bread: or possibly, white baskets of bread; some ancient texts say "fine coal-baked bread".

Birds: often a picture of unclean spirits (e.g., Mat. 13:32), symbolizing the selfishness that devours the life of the called-out community, and often seen in the Bible eating the flesh of evil people. There is a play on words here in Hebrew, for the word for "baker" is ofeh, which sounds similar to the word for birds-- ‘of..

19. "Within another three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from off of you."

Note the play on words "lift up your head" again. This time it might even literally mean "lift off", but this was also an idiom for "pay attention to". (Compare Psalm 3:3-4.) Tree: or any wooden pole. Verse 5 said that the interpretations would be found right within the dreams, and so it is, when we compare the elements in each with one another. Each of them focused on something to do with the man's position, yet one predicted life and the other predicted death. What was different about them? Their attitudes and actions, as revealed by their own descriptions of their dreams. The cupbearer saw blessing in what was in front of him, while the baker saw his task as a burden. The vine was full of life and was making progress, and the cupbearer took hold of the open door with his whole self, and focused on acting to turn this fruitfulness into something that would please his master. He speaks of Pharaoh three times in his recounting of the dream. The baker, on the other hand, mentions Pharaoh only once in passing, and has none of the enthusiasm we can hear in the cupbearer's voice. He focuses on what is coming down to him. He does not even seem to have baked the bread he is carrying, yet he presents it as his own. He seems very careless about it, not even trying to defend it from the birds that are attacking it, as Avraham did. (15:11) This symbolizes his doing nothing about what defiles the community. Even in his dream he does not accomplish his task for the sake of his master as the cupbearer does in his. There are no resources for him to make more bread--no field ripe for harvest as there was for the cupbearer. Pharaoh essentially said, "Enough excuses; enough laziness!" Are you dreaming about serving and pleasing your Master, or only about receiving things for yourself? It will make the difference in whether you ascend or descend.

Birthday: every time birthdays appear in Scripture, they are related to pagan rulers or bad things happen. This does not mean they are innately evil, but it shows that YHWH does not necessarily place a high priority on celebrating them, nor does He ask that His Son's birthday be celebrated as such. On the third day, Yahshua was raised from the dead, and that third day was the first day of the week, which, following the Sabbath, is symbolically the first day again--the beginning of a new cycle, the anniversary of the first day. Again, note the idiom, "lifted up the heads": out of all those invited to his feast, he paid particular attention to these two.

22. but he hanged the chief of the bakers.

Likewise, the leaders of the Church chose to uphold the joy and the blood of Yahshua, but not the united community of Israel. On another level, the highest ruler destroyed the one who did not take care of his bread--which is the same as the parable of the vineyard-keepers (Mat. 21:33-41) and the prophecy about the self-seeking shepherds who let the flock ail. (Yehezqel 34) But with the counterfeit out of the way, a true "preserver of the bread" was waiting in the wings.

Forgot: or neglected to do him a favor; abandoned him. How sad! He got what he needed; Yoseyf brought him relief from worry, and this implied that he had made a promise (vv. 14-15), but once he was a free man again, it meant nothing to him. Likewise, the focus in the church on joy and the blood marginalized the man Yahshua himself, since they were considered unconditional gifts without obligation to the Giver, and Yahshua had to wait much longer to be restored to his position of authority, and the still higher place that he will be given. (Yeshayahu 49:6) By committing ourselves to live as part of the Israelite community, we too are implicitly saying that we will do all we can to bring one another's exile to an end and make ready the Kingdom of YHWH.