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The parasha
for this week is entitled Vayeshev, meaning,
“…and he dwelt”. Jacob is once again dwelling
in the land of Canaan. The Scriptures turn our
focus to Joseph, Rachel’s first-born son, who
is now 17 years-old. Rachel, you may recall, had
been Jacob’s favored wife. Now that Rachel had
died (while giving birth to Benjamin), it is not
surprising that Jacob lavishes his affections
and attention on Joseph, his favored son. This
doesn’t sit well with Joseph’s brothers. We’re
told they hated him and couldn’t speak with him
on peaceful terms. The situation is compounded
by a bad report which Joseph brings to his father
about the apparently substandard work of his siblings.
And it
gets worse. Jacob gives Joseph an extravagant
robe. Some Bible versions translate it “a full-length
robe” and others “a multi-colored robe”. You may
be interested to know that both manuscript and
archaeological evidence dating to the Patriarchal
Period reveals that tribal chiefs in the Ancient
Near East wore multi-colored robes as a sign of
their rulership. We should probably understand
Jacob giving this extraordinary robe to Joseph
to mean that Joseph was his choice to be the next
leader of the family. This helps explain the resentment
of Joseph’s brothers.
But it
gets worse yet. Joseph has two amazing dreams,
in which by symbols of sheaves of wheat and the
sun, moon and eleven stars bowing to him, it appears
he is to be exalted above his brothers and even
his father. He tells them about it. They were
not happy. Jacob rebuked Joseph, but privately
kept the matter in mind, but his brothers were
livid. With reference to this passage, Rabbi J.
H. Hertz comments, “one of the hardest things
to learn is to recognize without envy the superiority
of a younger brother.”
When Joseph
is sent once again to check on his brothers, they
see him from afar and plot together to kill him.
Reuben, wanting to save Joseph’s life, suggests
they throw him in a pit instead (figuring on rescuing
him later) and the others go along. While eating
(probably at some distance, since it’s not very
pleasant to eat while someone nearby is screaming
for help), the brothers see an Ishmaelite caravan
and come up with another idea. Why not sell him
as a slave instead? It’s better than murder, and
they’ll have a few shekels to show for it. But
before they had a chance, some Midianite traders
had already found Joseph and they took him and
sold him to the Ishmaelite caravan. Reuben returns
to the pit and Joseph is gone. The brothers concoct
a lie to tell their father: they tear Joseph’s
robe (which they had taken from him) and dip it
in the blood of an animal they slaughtered for
the purpose, and bring it to their father. When
Jacob sees the torn and bloodied robe, he is convinced
that Joseph is dead. He is devastated! From that
day forward, Jacob appears in Scripture to be
a broken man. Meanwhile, Joseph has been taken
to Egypt and sold as a slave to Potiphar, the
captain of Pharaoh’s personal guard.
At this
point the biblical narrative returns our attention
to Canaan. Judah has taken a Canaanite wife, who
bears him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah’s
wife dies, leaving him a widower. Some years later,
Judah arranges a marriage between Er and a young
woman named Tamar. We’re told that Adonai regarded
Er as evil and took his life. Judah directs Onan
to fulfill the duty of Levirate marriage and take
Tamar as a wife. This is interesting, because
the events in this narrative predate the giving
of the Torah at Sinai by 400 years, so we know
that some of these practices were already in place.
Onan, however, refuses to allow Tamar to bear
children by him, since they would not be his own
but his deceased brother’s and on account of this
callous disregard, God takes his life, too. Judah
is now faced with the prospect of giving his last
son, Shelah, to Tamar, and wonders if Shelah will
die, too, so he delays for years. Tamar figures
out that this marriage is not going to happen,
so she takes matters into her own hands. Disguising
herself as a prostitute, she lures Judah into
having relations with her. When three months pass,
and Tamar is discovered to be pregnant, Judah
presumes she has committed adultery and is about
to have her put to death, when she reveals that
he himself is the father. He admits his own guilt
in not having fulfilled his promise to give Tamar
to Shelah. He never has relations with her again.
She gives birth to twins, Perez and Zerah.
Why does
the Scripture highlight this otherwise distasteful
course of events? Because as we will find out
in chapter 49 it is Judah who is given preeminence
among Jacob’s sons, and through him will trace
the lineage of Messiah. And it was not to be through
Er, Onan or Shelah that the line continues, but
through Perez – Judah’s son by Tamar. It may be
scandalous, but God chooses people and circumstances
for His own reasons, and to accomplish His own
purposes. This also demonstrates God's mercy and
grace, in choosing imperfect, even improbable
people to accomplish His will. He forgives sin,
and that is good news for every one of us!
The narrative
cuts back to Joseph, now a slave in Egypt. His
work for Potiphar is exemplary. We are told that
God was with Joseph, and prospered everything
he did. Potiphar recognized something extraordinary
in Joseph, and put him in charge of his entire
household. At one point, Potiphar’s wife
attempts to seduce Joseph and he refuses. He is
a godly young man – he is not going to offend
the living God. Day after day she persists, to
no avail, and finally turns on Joseph, telling
Potiphar that Joseph tried to rape her. Potiphar
is furious, but rather than putting Joseph to
death, instead consigns him to prison. Poor Joseph!
Innocent of any wrongdoing, yet betrayed by his
brothers, sold into slavery and now falsely accused
and imprisoned!
But God
was with him even in his imprisonment, and gave
him favor with the chief jailer. Some time later
Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker
are put in prison, and Joseph is given charge
over them. One day they look particularly dejected,
and Joseph inquires. They relate to him strange
dreams they each had the night before. Joseph
interprets their dreams: the cupbearer will be
restored to office in 3 days, but the baker will
be hanged that same day. He beseeched the cupbearer
to remember him when it came to pass, and petition
Pharaoh for Joseph’s release. Three days
later the events come to pass just as Joseph interpreted,
the baker hanged and the cupbearer restored to
his office. But the chief cupbearer completely
forgot about Joseph, and thus he was to languish
in prison for another two years!
How would
you feel in such circumstances? Abandoned by God?
But you would be wrong. God was with Joseph. Those
years shaped Joseph’s character for the
better. It taught him humility. Hardship can work
patience in us and teach us to rely on God in
every situation. We should learn from these chapters
and from the adversity Joseph suffered not to
hastily interpret our immediate circumstances
as either proving God’s favor or disfavor.
We do not know the end of a matter from the beginning.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rabbi Paul had
Joseph in mind when he affirmed that “God
causes all things to work together for those who
love God” – and Joseph most certainly
did. You don’t have to like hardship, but
you can still cling to God in the midst of it
and be the better for it. If you love God, then
know that He is at work in you, desiring to mold
your character in preparation for an eternity
spent in His glorious presence.
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn |
