וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ שְנָתַיִם יָמִים וּפַרְעֹה חֹלֵם וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד עַל-הַיְאֹר׃
In this week’s Parasha, Pharaoh has two related prophetic dreams that cause him intense anxiety. When his magicians and wise men cannot interpret the dreams, Pharaoh’s butler suddenly remembers the uncanny abilities of the Hebrew slave Joseph (Yosef). Pharaoh’s dreams are so disturbing that he wastes no time in calling Joseph out of prison. After Joseph is cleaned up and made presentable, Pharaoh tells him, “I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” (Genesis 41:15) Joseph, in a perfect balance of humility and boldness, tells Pharaoh that he is unable to interpret the dream, but God can and will do it. Despite years of hardship and adversity, Joseph has lost none of his confidence in God. One of the most powerful themes I have observed in scripture is “changing garments.” This principle is spiritual but manifests itself clearly in the natural. As you move from glory to glory and exchange the “old” for the “new,” there is a period of testing and vulnerability once the old is cast off, and then finally the new is brought forth in due time both sparkling and radiant—a testimony to transformation. Clothing is a key part of Joseph’s story, but many times we miss the real point behind this clothing situation. Let’s observe this principle at work in this week’s Parasha.
How many people here will ever admit to having a fashion disaster? I admit I have very little concern or even time to care what the latest fashion is, and I know everyone here is saying we know. This didn't just start in my adult life. I'm going to take you back to one of the greatest decades that humanity has ever gone through, the 1980’s. If you were a teenager or young adult in the 80’s - everything was awesome. Cable, huge projection TV, VCR's or if you were a nerd Betamax video machines, Atari and Commodore 64, remote controls - remember when one of your jobs as a child was to be the remote control for your dad because he was too cheap to go buy one from the store? Or if you're early 80’s or maybe this is late 70’s, your job was to go and turn the dial on the antenna and outside your antenna would go around in a circle. Anyone have one of those? Fashion was a big thing in the 1980’s. I'm not sure how much it hit in small town USA but in the cities any male over the age of 12 had to have a white blazer so he could look like Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice. Here is another fad that hit for a little while - parachute pants. Does anyone remember those? Michael Jackson made them famous and a lot of his videos. If you don't remember they were a kind of plastic material that had all kinds of zippers on them. I think about 1983 when Lois and I were dating. We went to the mall and bought trendy “new wave” clothing. No matter how much we spend, no matter whose name is on the label, or how good it looks today, any piece of clothing that we can buy here on this earth or eventually fade, fail, or deteriorate. This world can be pretty fickle about fashion, can't it?
All that to lead up to my teaching today…
So, this week's Parasha begins with a report of Pharaoh's unsettling dreams. Just last week, we began the account of Yosef, the saga of the arrogant, immature but unusually gifted youth who was favored by his father and correspondingly despised by his brothers. Down to Egypt they had sold him, concealing the evidence of their crime by wreaking their vengeance upon Yosef's despised mantle of many colors. To their aged father they had presented its bloodstained tatters, steeling their hate-filled hearts to his anguished sobs even as Ya’Akov (Jacob) had collapsed in grief and refused to be comforted. The guilt for their crime, however, could not be so effortlessly expunged without a trace, and many years later would return to accuse them. While Jacob mourned and the brothers returned to their pastoral routines, Yosef began his meteoric rise. Purchased by a certain Potiphar, the Chief of Pharaoh's Guard, the ambitious and talented Hebrew lad quickly rose through the ranks, and soon became overseer of the household. His master left everything to able Yosef's care, and Yosef never disappointed, for "God was with him" (39:2). It seemed as if nothing could possibly derail Yosef's drive towards success, to the achievement of the dreams of glory whose glowing embers he had lovingly guarded in his mind since the day that he had been traumatically wrenched from his aged father's embrace. Suddenly, however, in a proverbial instant, all of Yosef's efforts and aspirations were dashed to pieces. With the false accusation of Potiphar's wife unexpectedly leveled against him, Yosef's loyalty and fidelity to Potiphar were now reinterpreted by the palace wags as nothing more than self-serving opportunism and conceit. Like a shooting star tracing its bright but downward arc across the heavens, only to inevitably fade into the black vault and disappear, Yosef and his dreams were abruptly overturned. Without warning, his fine linen mantle of overseer, torn from him by the wife of Potiphar's covetous hands, was exchanged for the dismal garb of the prisoner.
In prison, however, Yosef again began to rise. Showered with the same Divine blessing that invariably impressed even his most vociferous of detractors, Yosef soon became overseer again, this time of the lowly denizens of Pharaoh's dungeon! But even in its dank confines, possibilities for advancement lurked, for occasionally even formerly mighty ministers might make their rounds to serve their sentences and then return to Pharaoh's service in accordance with the monarch's mercurial whims. Appointed to serve its latest arrivals, the baker and the butler who had offended the royal sensibilities, Yosef quickly won their favor. Eventually, the inevitable morning dawned, as the two ministers rose from a fitful sleep that had been filled with inexplicable phantoms of the night. Calming their feverish minds, slowing their racing hearts, Yosef spelled out the import of their dreams: life for the butler, painful and ignominious death for the baker. "Remember me with you!" pleaded Yosef, "act with compassion upon your release and mention me to Pharaoh, so that he might release me from this pit!" (40:14). But the butler forgot. Two years elapsed, until Pharaoh himself dreamed. Seeing first cows and then sheaves, first fat and then lean, the god-king's peaceful slumber was disturbed.
Arising in the morning, he excitedly sought the advice of his advisors and wise men, his magicians and ministers, but none could seize hold of the fleeting nighttime specters and interpret them to his satisfaction. Suddenly, the butler recalled his pledge: "My sin I declare this day!" he blurted, as the memories of Yosef, inexplicably banished from his consciousness since the day of his predicted release, suddenly flooded back. "…With us in prison was a Hebrew lad, a servant of the Chief of the Guard, and when we told him our dreams he interpreted them, each one in accordance with what befell him…" (41:12). Unexpectedly, with all of the drama associated with only the most astonishing and unanticipated of moments, Yosef was released: "Pharaoh sent and fetched Yosef, who was quickly released from the dungeon. He shaved and changed his garments and stood in Pharaoh's presence" (41:14). Miraculously able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, Yosef, now thirty years old, was again catapulted forwards, this time (unbelievably) to the position of Viceroy. Amazed by Yosef's intuition, no doubt impressed with the now effortlessly recalled gushing reports of his earlier administrative accomplishments, Pharaoh wisely decided that the interpreter of the dreams was also the best candidate for their able implementation: “After Adonai has informed you of all this, there is none more wise or capable than you. You shall oversee my house, and in accordance with your orders all of my people shall be sustained, for only the throne shall outrank you… Pharaoh removed his ring from his hand and placed it upon the hand of Yosef. He clothed him with garments of fine linen and placed a golden necklace upon his neck…(41:39-42). These are the main events in the riveting story of Yosef's rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall, and final triumphant rise once again. In his father's house he had been chosen but by his brothers' animosity he had been deposed, in Potiphar's employ he had achieved success but by his master's wife's revenge he had been unjustly unseated from his perch, even in the prison he had won admirers but by the butler's inexplicably deficient memory he had been condemned to an inexplicably prolonged incarceration. Ultimately, in a climactic conclusion, Pharaoh himself had released him and elevated him to preeminence, his star now shining with a brilliant luster that would wane no more. From this point onwards, in fact, the focus of the narratives subtly shifts to the story of Yosef's brothers, forced by famine to descend to Egypt, there to face the phantoms of their past that had no doubt haunted their nights as well.
If we were to search for a literary motif that informs the entire story of Yosef up until this point, it is no doubt the theme of haste. How quickly do this man's fortunes seem to be transformed! Not only does he experience an unusual amount of turbulence during the course of his short thirty years, but also every pivotal moment in his life, whether good or bad, unfolds with astonishing speed as success inexplicably turns to failure and then back to success once again. Now the intervening intervals may of course be lengthy, but there are no gradual transformations in Yosef's life.
In what seems like a only a moment he achieves greatness and power to take the place of poverty and utter vulnerability; another fleeting moment passes and he is cast down low and undone. Significantly, every one of these turning points is literarily linked with the donning or removal of a mantle, and in particular with the mantle of an overseer of one sort or another. Thus, to be specific, when Yosef is chosen by his father to govern the brothers, he is invested in that august office (for which he is scarcely mature) with the donning of the coat of many colors. This beautiful cloak, of good quality but provincial weave, is immediately stripped off of him when he is unexpectedly attacked by his brothers, thus signifying his first and most painful fall. In Potiphar's employ, he is again clothed with the insignia of overseer as he rises to power, but the master's wife seizes the garment when her attempts at seduction fail, thus unleashing the inevitable process of Yosef's speedy decline. How tellingly does the Torah indicate that "she kept the garment next to her until (Yosef's) master returned" (39:16), thus recalling the initial presentation – also as evidence of downfall – of the coat of many colors to Jacob so many years earlier. In prison, Yosef is again clothed, but this time in the rags of an inmate. There, rather than having dreams, he interprets them for others. His ability having been established and known to the Chief Cupbearer, with his memory unexpectedly jogged, Yosef is summarily stripped of these tatters, to be first clothed in fresh garments when he initially appears in Pharaoh's presence (41:14), and later to be immediately covered with "garments of the finest linen and a necklace of gold" (41:42) when he assumes the position of viceroy.
The question is therefore twofold: what is the significance of the recurring theme of urgency and speed in the story of Yosef, and why is that transformative haste invariably linked with the donning or removal of external garb? Let us begin with the second query first. In the Torah, as it is to this today, the clothing of an individual describes his or her station. A person's wealth, their occupation or role is symbolized or suggested by the clothing that they wear. It is not that one's clothing indicates anything at all about a person's character or innate qualities. As we all know, this is most certainly not the case any more than a precious veneer can tell us anything about the base material concealed below its thin surface. Rather, the importance of clothing is that it serves as the most obvious representation of either our aspirations or else our achievements. Thus, to take a glaring example, the Kohen Gadol or High Priest is dressed in precious garments of scarlet, crimson, purple and fine linen. Threads of gold are skillfully woven into the fabric and precious stones and metals adorn it. The High Priest is like a monarch, a king of the spirit who dedicates his life to the people of Israel and to the God that they serve. Thus, it is that his royal clothing is everywhere marked with the names of the tribes as well as of God. This is not to say that the Kohen Gadol truly embodies those exalted principles – only God can peer into the deepest recesses of the heart – but only that such should be his aspirations. Perhaps the first expression of this idea is also the earliest mention of clothing in the Torah. After Adam and Chavah ate from the Tree of Knowledge and were banished from the Garden, the Torah tells us that "Adonai Elohim made garments of skin for Adam and for his wife, and He clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). Not only were these garments powerful expressions of Divine concern even in the aftermath of their abrogation of His command, but also pronouncements of their change in status. Now they were truly human, no longer naked like the beasts of the field, for by the exercise of their moral will they had not only brought disaster upon themselves but, more importantly, had also introduced to the world the awesome consequences of human choice. Could it not also be the case that when young Jacob dons the cloak of his brother Esav at his mother Rivkah's behest in Genesis 27:15, he not only attempts to hoodwink his blind father by disguising himself as his momentarily older twin, but also to anticipate the patriarchal blessing by ceremoniously taking upon himself the mantle and the mission of the firstborn? As Israel stands at Sinai and prepares to receive the Torah, to consequently don the mantle of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:1-5), is it not appropriate that they are also enjoined to mark the transition by "washing their clothes" (Exodus 19:10)? Is it not more than ceremonial purification that lies at the core of Sefer VaYikra's (Leviticus’) repeated refrain that one who was ritually unfit due to any number of possible "tumah" (impure) circumstances must wear "laundered clothes" when they return to a state of purity? Certainly, with respect to Yosef, the expression of altered status is undeniable. When Yosef rises, he is invariably enwrapped; when he falls, he is without fail divested. And the Torah reinforces this linkage from the very first mention of the coat of many colors until the final donning of the robes of viceroy some thirteen years later.
But what about the theme of haste, the literary corollary to Yosef's wild swings of fortune and changes of garb? Here, the Sforno (15th century, Italy) provides a most plausible interpretation: The text says that Yosef was "hastily summoned from the pit" to appear before Pharaoh, after the manner of all expressions of God's salvation which occur suddenly…Was this not the way of the Exodus when our ancestors were thrust out of bondage before their dough had time to rise? Indeed, this shall be the model for the future redemption as well, as the verse states 'for suddenly the Master whom you are seeking shall return to His sanctuary' (Malachi 3:1). In other words, Sforno understands that an abrupt change of fortune is the hallmark of Divine involvement in our lives. Of course it is the case that God is constantly involved, but how easily we tend to overlook that fact until a situation is suddenly and unexpectedly altered or reversed. The story of Yosef more than any other account in the book of Genesis is thus a study in Divine involvement, of the painful but at the same time invigorating spiritual process by which human beings come to first recognize, then to accept, and finally, after many false starts and setbacks, to embrace God's destiny. Yosef's immature dreams of grandeur are dashed by the brothers, his stellar rise in Potiphar's house is suddenly arrested. Even his torturous attempts to climb out of the dungeon into which he had been unceremoniously cast are abruptly terminated by the butler's forgetfulness. But as the recognition slowly and inexorably dawns upon him that God has chosen him for a task, that his innate talents and abilities are not simply tickets to personal attainment but rather instruments for the salvation of others and of his own spiritual self, it is at those moments of self-revelation that his misfortunes are suddenly transformed into successes, and it is precisely then that he is clothed in the garments of his mission. The cycle repeats itself a number of times as Yosef gropes for this higher truth, but each repetition represents an incremental advance along the path of his enlightenment. Finally standing before Pharaoh, all of his pretensions now stripped away by successive trials, Yosef is at that moment utterly aware, for perhaps the first time in his life, that "it is not through my powers, for only the Lord shall answer for Pharaoh's peace" (41:16). It is precisely then that Yosef is prepared to assume the role of Viceroy, to save his family from the scourge of famine by securing for them grain, while simultaneously preserving their progeny from spiritual demise through the lofty example of his life's choices. It is at that moment that "Pharaoh removed his ring from his hand and placed it upon the hand of Yosef. He clothed him with garments of fine linen and placed a golden necklace upon his neck…"(41:42).
As silly as it sounds I watched a TV show in the mid 80’s called The Greatest American Hero. The show revolved around a schoolteacher who was given a superhero suit to wear that gave him incredible Superman like powers. Unfortunately, he lost the instruction manual for how the suit works so much of the show is watching him fumble through trying to use the suit to help others. Why do I bring this up? You and I have been given a incredible superhero suit. It is not just something that gives us power when we put it on to do good in the world. We get to not only develop supernatural strength, but wisdom knowledge and power, because the designer of all those things comes with it and his name is Yeshua. Verse 14 of Romans 13 tells us to clothe ourselves with Yeshua. The preceding verses explain the power and the character That will become ours when we choose to do that. Let's look at our superpower… we have the manual, the Torah and should use it. The first is “Love” – The two greatest commandments are to Love God and your neighbor. The word for love there is the Greek word agape. Out of the four or five Greek words that are translated into the English word love, agape is the word to express the unselfish and overwhelming love that God showed us through His manifestation in Yeshua. Yeshua put aside His rights as God and taking upon Himself humanity and then dying a horrible death on a Roman cross to pay for our sins. Agape love is the choice to serve other people’s needs over your own. The next is supernatural understanding. One of the cool things about Superman is that evil doers really couldn't hide from him because he had the ability to see through walls and super hearing to hear what they were talking about. When we have the Ruach haKodesh within us and we put on Yeshua’s character we have that within us, but even better…
Yeshua knows every action, every thought, every evil plan, and exactly what the future holds for every one of us. Rav Sha’ul (Paul) said this in Romans 13:11-12, “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. We are to be the light to the world. “ That’s exactly how the world - both physical and spiritual, should see us. You know one of the complaints that I hear from Believers is how they must go to work in a situation that is very worldly, profane, and dishonoring to God. Might I suggest that instead of complaining about the atmosphere at work or school is that you put on Yeshua and let His light change that atmosphere.
Clothing is a big deal in the ancient world because it’s a marker of identity. So, when his brothers come before Joseph in Genesis 42, they come before an Egyptian priest. His name had been changed to Zaphenath-paneah, “God Speaks, and he Lives”, he is married to a priestess, the daughter of a priest, and is implied to be a priest himself. He names his children the equivalents of “forget home” and “I like it here better”. Joseph has left behind his Canaanite heritage and God’s promises, he seems to have left behind his God and his family; he is an Egyptian now. The question of Joseph’s clothes is not just one of how fancy he is, or even of his status, but whether he will be—at the end of the story—an Israelite serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or an Egyptian serving Re, On, or Neith. We know that Adonai used Joseph in a powerful way because he always looked to God, no matter the circumstances. Something must change when God wants to do a new thing. When God fills you with His Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh), you will change… if you don’t… you missed the glory train. Everyone in scripture who experienced a major new thing had to change something. Joseph started with dreams of stars and greatness, but he was in a prison garment which represented restricted movement. Many others were wearing it in prison. Joseph was surrounded by prisoners, advised by prisoners, talked to by prisoners, so no new thing only a cycle of restriction. You started with a garment of hope, but you are now wearing garments with others thinking like you and you think you are ok. But if you don’t have the Ruach shut up in you like fire… you don't see you are in spiritual prison. You need to leave it behind. God is calling you out, but you cannot go in prison garment. Joseph shaved his beard and then put on new clothes. When he went to Pharoah, he was putting on garment of a leader and finally that of a child of the King, the God of Israel. How about Ruth, she wore a widow’s garment. Her husband died, her father-in-law died, and sister-in-law’s husband died too. So, all the ladies were widows. In that time, being a widow was a life of hopelessness. Naomi was angry but Ruth decided to follow her anyway, tying her destiny to a bitter person. With all she had Ruth followed her to Bethlehem. When she went to look for food was advised to wash herself as she had to smell like a desirable woman not a hopeless widow. She had good clothes but was not wearing them. Had good perfume but not using it. Naomi said change your clothes. She already had it. Put away cloth of hopelessness. When she saw Boaz, she had removed the old garment of tears, sorrow, desolateness, loneliness and put on a different one; these new clothes were what Boaz saw, not that of hopelessness. If she had not changed her clothes, she would have died hopeless. Many people enjoy getting a little pity. They love it and what they have on are grave clothes. Remove them and prepare your wedding garments for the King of kings. Lastly, Bartimaeus was also putting on clothes… he wasn't naked, but they were beggars’ clothes. His clothes identified him as such, and people treated him as one. He dwelt in self-pity and had no choice in his circumstance. People, your days of begging are over, Yeshua is calling you... When called you will not beg again. Maybe you are wearing his garment. You enter an office they say the beggar has come. They ask what do you want and not how you are doing.
People, your clothes tell story of your life… change your spiritual garments so they say, I am not down, not weak, not lonely, not poor, but I am redeemed, I am no longer a slave to sin… I am a child of the King… they put on the fruit of the Spirit and live a repentant Torah observant life unto Him. I say that today, you must stand in faith to change your story. Faith without action is dead… get out of the pit… change your clothes.
b’Shem Yeshua, haMelech v’haMashiach Shelanu! Amein.
(“in the name of Yeshua, our King and the Messiah! Amein.”)
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