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Parasha VaYechi - 2025 - Rabbi Lehtimaki

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וַיְחִי יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם שְבַע עֶשְׂרֵה שָנָה וַיְהִי יְמֵי-יַעֲקֹב שְנֵי חַיָּיו שֶבַע שָנִים וְאַרְבָּעִים וּמְאַת שָנָה



 

This week’s Torah portion, Parasha VaYechi (and he lived), is the final Shabbat reading from the book of Genesis (B’Reisheit).  In last week’s study, Yosef (Yosef) revealed his identity to his brothers and invited them, as well as his father, to live in Egypt in order to provide for them during the famine.  Yosef, his brothers, and his father were joyfully reunited and reconciled.  Parasha VaYechi ends the first book of the Bible with the death of Ya’Akov (Jacob) as well as that of Yosef.  In this Parasha, Ya’Akov compelled Yosef to vow to carry his body back to the Land of his Fathers and bury him there. Yosef agreed to his dying father’s request not to leave his body in Egypt.  (Genesis 47:29–30)  Although Ya’Akov had lived the last 17 years of his life in Egypt, he never forgot the Land God had promised him by divine Covenant.  Ever since God called Avraham out of Ur, the Jewish People have not lost sight of the Promised Land given to them through Yitzchak (Isaac) and Ya’Akov.  Even when the people of Israel were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, they sat by the rivers of Babylon weeping and remembering Zion, vowing to never forget her.  Psalm 137:5–6 says, If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!  If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”  With the reading of Parashat VaYechi, the Book of B’Reisheit draws to a close.  Finally reunited with his beloved and sorely missed son, Ya’Akov lives out the final seventeen years of his life in the land of Egypt.  Yosef's immediate and extended families, the proverbial 'seventy souls,' are settled in the region of Goshen, and thus begins to unfold the story of our ancestors' sojourn in the land of Egypt.  Yosef himself, respected in Pharaoh's court, beloved in the countryside, is reconciled with his brothers, as the suspenseful and tense circle of their tempestuous relationship is finally closed.  As Ya’Akov nears death, he summons his son Yosef and recounts  the promise that God had extended to him regarding the two cardinal elements of progeny and land.  These cornerstones of nationhood that had been granted to Avraham and Yitzchak in turn, are now transmitted to Yosef and to his two sons, Menashe and Ephraim.  In a confirmation of Yosef's special status and an acknowledgement of his assuming the authoritative leadership of the clan, the two sons are formally inducted into the ranks of the sons of Ya’Akov.  Hence forward, the tribes of Israel will include Menashe and Ephraim among their number. 

 

I joined the Navy right out of High School. It was not a planned-out choice, for I really did not plan on joining the Navy, much less serving in the through retirement.  Yet by the very blessed will of God it is a path that God opened for me, when I was still ignorant of Him and struggling very hard against His will.  I will be totally honest I was drunk and had been smoking marijuana the day before I was going to go and see the recruiter.  After all I thought that since I had a criminal record I couldn’t get in —right?  I remember going into the recruiting office and the Navy recruiter greeted me and told me the Army recruiter was out, Navy it is...  The recruiter started showing me videos of training and overseas port of calls and I found that interesting and enjoyed that.  The recruiter asked me my name and I gave it. He consulted his book—which I later learned was our high schools Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and stated that I had a decent score in my school.  To make a long story short, I left the office signed up to depart for Basic training less than 3 weeks on an Open career path.  I could be what I wanted once I got to the fleet.  Little did I know that God had plans for me… and I ended up serving in Israel.  This was totally the opposite of the army life I had been raised with.  You see, although I did not know what God intended to do in my life many years down the road, God did know and He absolutely knew what would be best for me when I accepted him at the age of 46 in a Messianic congregation in Columbus, Georgia.  At that time, I was now a Messianic Jew back into the ever-loving family of God.  This young man who had come from a life of sin in small town USA could and would become something of Kingdom value under the molding of God’s skilled hands. Praise God for the honor of being in HIS service here in Phenix City, Alabama or anywhere else He might lead.  Similarly, we will walk today as Ya’Akov-Israel adopts Yosef’s son into the nation of Israel and again we will see that as Ya’Akov blesses them, God’s blessings do not flow after the thoughts of man. Ya’Akov blesses the younger, in the same manner that he had been blessed and that Yitzchak his father had been blessed as the younger.  Let us walk with Israel through chapter 48 of Genesis today.

 

Genesis 48:2b-6, “…Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.  3 Ya’Akov said to Yosef, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.”  After the arrangements concerning the funeral that was recorded in the last chapter, Yosef is summoned to Ya’Akov on his deathbed.  “Manasseh and Ephraim” accompany Yosef on this last visit to their aged Patriarch.  They seem to have accompanied their father with respectful affection to their aged relative.  Today this is something that is sadly lacking in our culture.  Do you show respect to your aged relatives? It is a sign of respect to do so, so should we do, Amen. “Israel rallied his strength”; he summoned his remaining powers for the interview, which was an effort to him.  “God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz.”  From the terms of the blessing received it is evident that Ya’Akov here refers to the last appearance of God to him at Bethel.  Ya’Akov states that God Almighty—El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, appeared to him at Luz, afterwards called Beth-El.  In the previous parasha, we read in Genesis 35:11, “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.  “And now your two sons.” After referring to the promise of a numerous offspring, and of a territory that they are to inherit, he assigns to each of the two sons of Yosef, who were born in Egypt, a place among his own sons, and a separate share in the “promised land”.  In this way two shares fall to Yosef.  Some might say “But they are not the same as a brother—after all none of the other grandsons are given such honor.  It could as easily be said of us “Why am I, a wretched sinner that I was, a son of the King?”  Former gentiles (Messianics) are the grafted vine, into the true vine which rightly flows from God.  Any other children are to partake in the provision provided.  All such are to be reckoned in the two tribes of which Ephraim and Manasseh are the heads.  With his thoughts on Yosef his beloved son, Ya’Akov’s thoughts turn now to his beloved wife, his true and only wife in the eyes of God.  Ya’Akov laments, “Rachel died upon me”—showing the heavy affliction which fell upon him.  Do you praise God for the blessings He brings into your life daily?  We should, because as Ya’Akov, we often do not realize the great things God places around us until they are gone.  Let’s now look at something that still confuses people to this day—God’s selection process.

 

Genesis 48:8-9, 13-14 & 17-19, “When Israel saw the sons of Yosef, he asked, “Who are these?” “They are the sons God has given me here,” Yosef said to his father.  Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”  …And Yosef took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand and brought them close to him.  But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.  …When Yosef saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so, he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.  Yosef said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”  But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know.  He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”   Who are these?  It could be said that God looks at us in much the same manner.  God does not view us from our external features.  It was not because of his physical abilities that God chose David, but because of his inward abilities.  God knows our hearts and what they are towards Him.  Likewise, Ya’Akov’s eyes may have been dim for age, but he asked that they be brought near to him.  Unlike God he and we cannot discern objects but by their outward appearances.  What outward appearances do you display to show that you are a child of God?   These are really the best I can do because we cannot discern the truth of the heart that God is able to discern.  We seek to see the love of our Messiah in someone’s life.  Meekness, patience, kindness, and all such Godly character is the only suggestion that someone may have the inner change of accepting and giving themselves completely to Yeshua.  Ya’Akov confesses to Yosef; I had not thought to see your face—expressing the very tender nature of his love. This is an expression that any born again believer should come to easily.  For without Yeshua, we could not have thought to see His face.  Ya’Akov no doubt feels himself now amply recompensed for his long grief and trouble on account of the supposed death of Yosef, in seeing not only himself but his two sons, whom God, by a special act of favor, is about to add to the number of his own.  Yosef—bowed himself with his face to the earth—This act of Yosef has been extravagantly extolled.  When I consider him on his knees to God, I regard him as a poor mortal in the discharge of his duty to his Creator.  When I behold him bowing before Pharaoh, I consider him in the dutiful posture of a subject to his prince.  But when I see him bending to the earth before a poor, old, blind, decrepit father, I behold him with admiration and delight. How does that humiliation exalt him! This is insufferable!  For it in effect says that it is a wondrous condescension in a young man, who, in the course of God’s providence, with scarcely any efforts of his own, was raised to affluence and worldly grandeur, to show respect to his father!  And that respect was the more gratuitous and condescending, because that father was poor, old, blind, and decrepit! The maxim of this most exceptionable flight of admiration is, that “children who have risen to affluence are not obliged to reverence their parents when reduced in their circumstances and brought down by the weight of years and infirmities to the sides of the grave; and should they acknowledge and reverence them, it would be a mark of singular goodness and be highly meritorious.”  Should positions of this kind pass without reprehension?  I pray not.  By the law of God and nature Yosef was as much bound to pay his dying father this devoted respect, as he was to reverence his king, or to worship his God.  I feel that this was not particularly in the eyes of God, but something that people in the world could easily see and relate too.  This is something you and I can learn from and teach to our children.  Give respect to those who have paved the way before us.  Honor your father and mother in this your years will be many.  In the ancient Near East, the custom that we see mainly in the American Indian communities presently is that of a child sitting quietly and respectfully in the presence of elders around them.  Oh, what a glorious thing, one wishes that this would again become predominant in our cultures. 

 

Ya’Akov, his sight failing, instructs his son to bring Menashe and Ephraim close to him so that he can bless them.  Yosef draws near and places Menashe the firstborn on his left and Ephraim the younger on his right. Since Yosef stands facing his father Ya’Akov, this arrangement will ensure that Menashe will be within reach of Ya’Akov's right hand and Ephraim his left, so that the firstborn will be the recipient of a blessing bestowed by Ya’Akov's hand of strength.  Ya’Akov, however, much to Yosef's consternation, reverses his hands so that his right-hand rests upon the head of Ephraim the younger son.  "Yosef saw that his father was going to place his right hand on Ephraim, and it was improper in his eyes.  He grasped Ya’Akov's hand and attempted to remove it from the head of Ephraim, to place it instead upon the head of Menashe.  Yosef said: 'not like this, my father, for Menashe is the firstborn.  Place your right hand upon his head.'  Ya’Akov refused and said: 'I know my son, I know.  He too will become a great multitude and will increase.  But his younger brother will be greater still, and his descendants more numerous.'  Ya’Akov blessed them on that day saying: 'by your name, Israel will bless its children saying: 'may Hashem make you as Ephraim and as Menashe' and Ya’Akov mentioned Ephraim before Menashe." Anyone familiar with Jewish tradition immediately understands that Ya’Akov was giving the first-born blessing to the younger son.  You see, in their culture, they use the right hand to bestow the first-born blessing, indicating power, position and prosperity.  Yosef was not happy with his father and tried to redirect his hands.  But Ya’Akov refused.  The Bible says that he had crossed his hands “Knowingly.”  He understood very well that he was giving the first-born blessing to the younger boy.  What is the significance of this incident, and why is it that Ya’Akov insists on breaking with accepted and widespread convention by placing his right hand on the head of the younger son?  Even more disconcerting, why does his formula become the paradigm in Jewish tradition for blessing one's children,  until this very day?  Has Ya’Akov of all people failed to internalize the lesson of diffusing sibling rivalry by avoiding overt acts or expressions of favoritism? And why, we might ask, does this exchange constitute one of the closing events of the Book of B’Reisheit?   Essentially and in outline, Ya’Akov's act is a confirmation of the fact that Menashe the firstborn will be eclipsed by his younger brother Ephraim.  Ya’Akov's blessing should not be misconstrued as the cause of that reality, but rather as an admission of its inevitability.  Ephraim will be greater, and Ya’Akov feels obliged to reflect that truth by his deed.  Once we are cognizant of the event's basic thrust, however, it becomes clear that in fact its theme is one that  permeates every chapter of this Book.  In our case, the motif involves the younger sibling surpassing the older one in achievement, and consequently usurping his role.  In the more extreme expressions of this same motif, the firstborn is knowingly rejected from assuming the mantle of leadership and a younger sibling is chosen in his place.  So, we see Israel stretched out his right hand, etc., laying hands on the head was always used among the Jews in giving blessings, designating men to any office, and in the consecration of solemn sacrifices.   This is the first time we find it mentioned; but we often read of it afterwards.  Ya’Akov laid his right hand on the head of the younger, which we are told he did wittingly—well knowing what he was about, for (or although) Manasseh was the first-born, knowing by the Spirit of prophecy that Ephraim’s posterity would be more powerful than that of Manasseh.  Bear in mind, now, that these two boys are half-breed kids because their mother wasn’t Jewish. I find it noteworthy that from the beginning of His nation God seems to have preferred the younger to the elder, we may begin our survey by considering the very first 'siblings' in the world, Kayin and Hevel.  It will be recalled that Kayin was the first born of Adam and Chava, and Hevel was his younger brother.  "After a period of time, Kayin brought an offering to God from his crops.  Hevel also brought an offering consisting of the firstlings of his sheep and their fat, and God favored Hevel and his offering.  God did not favor Kayin or his offering...".  Similarly, although Yefet is in all probability the first born of Noach, it is Shem his younger sibling who is chosen to be the servant of God:  "Noach said: 'Blessed be Hashem the God of Shem.  Canaan shall be his slave.  May God extend the borders of Yefet and dwell in the tents of Shem.  Canaan shall be their slave.'" (Genesis  9:25-26).  Returning to more familiar territory, we find that Avraham's firstborn Yishmael is not designated as the progenitor of the future nation (much to Avraham's initial misgivings, but rather Yitzchak his younger half-brother is selected.  Of Yitzchak's two sons, it is Ya’Akov the younger to whom God extends the blessings and responsibilities of the covenant, and not to Esav his older brother.  Among Ya’Akov's own children, Reuven the firstborn is rejected by his father from functioning as the leader of the family, and this responsibility is instead transferred to Yehudah and Yosef.  Yehudah's own firstborn Er is deemed 'wicked in the eyes of God' and perishes prematurely, as does Onan his younger brother, leaving only Shela the youngest sibling to remain.   Of Yehudah's children by Tamar, it is Peretz, the technical second of the twins, whose descendants achieve prominence. 

 

Finally, in our Parasha, Yosef's firstborn Menashe is cast aside in favor of Ephraim.   This can only be resolved entirely into the wise and secret counsel of God, so far as it regards temporal blessings and national privileges, as Rav Sha’ul tells us, Romans 9:11, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls…”  Next, we read where Ya’Akov says something very strange: “And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; AS REUBEN AND SIMEON, they shall be mine.”  What Ya’Akov is doing is replacing Reuben, his own first-born, with Ephraim and replacing his second born, Simeon, with Yosef’s oldest son, Manasseh, treating his grandsons as sons!  Why?  Because Reuben and Simeon had both disgraced themselves and lost their positions as first and second born.  It’s kind of a long story.  As a result of what Ya’Akov did, Yosef became two tribes.  He blessed these two boys and adopted them as his own sons.   In the process, Yosef was elevated to patriarch status.  That’s why you don’t hear the tribe of Yosef talked about very much but, instead, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.  He was given a double portion of his father’s blessing above his brothers!

 

Ya’Akov was ill when Yosef brought his two sons before his father for a blessing.  Ya’Akov asked who the two boys were, and Yosef answered, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”   When he saw Yosef’s sons, he thought only of the goodness of God.  Israel said to Yosef, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!”  At the end of his life, Ya’Akov praised the Lord for His exceedingly abundant goodness, despite having experienced many difficulties and trials. God’s goodness not only met but exceeded his expectations.  Ephesians 3:20 tells us, “Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us.  By this power He can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”   Ya’Akov told Yosef that Manasseh would become “A people,” but Ephraim would become “A multitude of nations.”  The word in Hebrew he used for “A people” was” le’Am.”  The word he used for multitude of nations was “haGoyim.”  Goyim is Hebrew for “Gentiles.”  Ephraim’s descendants would become much larger than Israel.  This preference was God’s conferring a His love before Yeshua to the gentile.  As we read in Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.”   He blessed Yosef; the father first, and then the sons afterwards. And this is an additional proof to what has been adduced under Genesis 48:12, of Ya’Akov’s superiority; for the less is always blessed of the greater. Ya’Akov was a prince of God, there is no one greater than God.  The God which fed me all my life long—Ya’Akov is now standing on the verge of eternity, with his faith strong in God. He sees his life to be a series of mercies; and as he had been affectionately attentive, provident, and kind to his most helpless child, so has God been to him; he has fed him all his life long; he plainly perceives that he owes every morsel of food which he has received to the mere mercy and kindness of God.  The Angel which redeemed me from all evil—Ya’Akov speaks of none other than the Messenger of the Divine Council, Yeshua haMashiach.  Who then was the angel that redeemed Ya’Akov, and whom he invoked to bless Ephraim and Manasseh?  Is it not Yeshua?  He alone can be called Goel, the redeeming Kinsman; for He alone took part of our flesh and blood that the right of redemption might be His; and that the forfeited possession of the favor and image of God might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to all those who believe in His name.  Remember, angels do not bless; to God alone this prerogative belongs.  Let my name be named on them— “Let them be ever accounted as a part of my own family;” He was saying, let them be true Israelites, people who shall prevail with God as I have done; and the name of Avraham—being partakers of his faith; and the name of Yitzchak—let them be as remarkable for submissive obedience as he was.   What a blessing to become partakers of the promise.   Are you this day reveling in your blessing of being one called to partake in the promises of God?  Yosef said—Not so, my father—Yosef supposed that his father had made a mistake in laying his right hand on the head of the youngest.  Have you ever tried to fix something instead of bringing it to God?  Doesn’t this mean that you think that you are superior to God.  I pray that you put these thoughts far from you.  We are all as filthy rags before God… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Of course, when we come to a realization of this, we can ask Yeshua into our hearts and lives and Jews will find their Messiah and together with Gentiles will become grafted into the body of Messiah.  His body, His people, His mission, His purpose as commanded in Matthew 28:18-20:  Then Yeshua came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  People, I don’t know if you caught that… Yeshua was saying gentiles can come into covenant with the God of Israel and are to be taught the commandments!  This is when Yeshua opened salvation to the gentiles!

 

Ya’Akov showed us that although we may begin with problems in our walk, as long as we strive to be in the center of God’s will, God will provide for our every need in accomplishing His good and perfect will and will call us out of bondage. Where are God’s chosen people today?  All over the world; people from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue on earth!  Ephraim really has become a multitude of nations!   You are part of Israel… in Galatians 6:15-16 we also read, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.”  You and I walk according to this rule because we are a “New Creation in Yeshua!  Who or what is the Israel of God?  “It is you and I; people made up of redeemed Jews and former Gentiles.  We are one in Messiah.  Thanks to the blood of Yeshua, you and I are born into the family of God and enjoy the blessing of the first born.  You can see it so clearly in the story of the blessings over these two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh.  Embrace your inheritance!

 

b’Shem Yeshua, haMelech v’haMashiach Shelanu!  Amein.

(“in the name of Yeshua, our King and the Messiah! Amein.”)

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