Genesis 44:18-47:27
Ezekiel 37:15-28
Introduction
One of the most poignant portrayals in literature follows. The viceroy, unknown to them as their brother, stands before the accused brothers, and one of them, Judah by name, steps forward to plead eloquently on behalf of Benjamin. In moving language and with deep feeling, Judah outlines the events up to the present moment.
Genesis 44:18-34 18 Then Judah went up to him and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?' 20 And we said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.' 21 Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.' 22 We said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' 23 Then you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.' 24 "When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food,' 26 we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' 27 Then your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, "Surely he has been torn to pieces," and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.' 30 "Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.' 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father." (ESV)
This is one of the most heartfelt encounters in Scripture. Judah intercedes on behalf of his brother Benjamin, something Joseph needed to see from one of his brothers, to prove they had changed after what they had done to him all those years ago. When Joseph finally reveals his true identity, his brothers are shocked. Joseph’s reply to them shows he knows everything that had happened to him was according to the Almighty’s will. He learned to accept his situation, and the end result was the Holy One elevated Joseph to a place of power where he could serve his family, helping to provide for them during the remaining years of famine. As important as the story of Joseph is, we must not lose sight of the story within the story of Judah and Joseph. Judah is providing us with glimpses into the man he is destined to become, as we will see when Jacob blesses him prior to his death. Even though Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son, Judah will hold a place of prominence, not just in the family, but in the emerging nation of Israel, bringing to all mankind the Messiah Yeshua. Despite the things Judah does, he holds a special place in the Almighty’s plan. He is blessed by having the Messiah come through the tribe of Judah as King of all of Israel through the line of David. So while we see the Messianic picture through Joseph, we also can see it through Judah, Judah who will become the identifiable remnant after the split in the United Monarchy, following Solomon's death.
While the Holy One gives us glimpses into His plan, we must keep in mind the important role Judah plays. He has not removed Judah from His plan only to replace them with another people. If this were true then we could not trust God’s word, and anything He says could not be taken at face value. To try to rationalize the Jewish people out of the picture is to say the Lord made a mistake and is now trying to correct that mistake. If there were any truth to this, one would have to ask if the Almighty has made other mistakes and can change His mind so He can fix those mistakes as well. This line of reasoning does not work for me and does not line up with Scripture. It is true the Lord has chastened Judah as well as all of Israel, but He has not thrown Judah “under the bus”. As with any figure we find in the Bible, there is good and bad in all of them. This is true about us as well. The purpose of Messiah Yeshua is to reconcile us to our heavenly Father in a way we never could do on our own, no matter what we may think. Within Judaism, the operating model depicts no need for a personal Messiah, but a need for a corporate Messiah. What I mean is the Messiah’s purpose in Judaism is to save the nation of Israel, not the people on an individual basis. This is not to say everyone in Judaism believes this, because among the Reform Jews they do not believe in a Messiah at all, but only in the Olam Haba or the World to Come. I have watched friends, congregants, and brethren leave the Church behind because of the desire to seek out a deeper walk with Yeshua, only to abandon Him to follow the lead of the Jewish people. I have been told this is finding a deeper understanding, but how can this be? How can a deeper understanding result from deciding to turn from your faith in Messiah Yeshua?
2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (ESV)
It is not easy to be a follower of Yeshua, but it would be worse for us if we turn from the knowledge of the truth found in Him. Why, for the life of me, would anyone want to follow the lead of the Jewish people regarding the Messiah, when we are told the Jewish people, for the most part, have been blinded to the truth of who Yeshua is?
John 12:40 "HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM." [Isaiah 6:10] (NAU)
Strongs G4792: strepho
Meaning: to turn, i.e. to change
Origin: a prim. vb.
Usage: converted(2), returned(1), turn(3), turned(8), turned away(1), turned back(1), turning(5)
He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts to the truth until such time as they turn back to the Holy One of Israel – Yeshua! The word translated as converted means to turn, to change, and this is more in line with the Jewish understanding of the issue of one's relationship with his Lord. Not everything Jewish is bad, but there are problem areas in some Jewish teachings, the same as there are in Christian teachings. Teshuvah is the Hebrew word for one’s relationship with his Creator. You either turn to God or you turn away from God, and this is how it relates to our understanding of our relationship with Yeshua. It is not about converting to another religion, but either following Yeshua or not following Him. Conversion is a Church teaching, not a Jewish one, even though Judaism does allow for conversion of non-Jews to Judaism today. I prefer a Messianic Jewish walk where I can still follow those things important to me as a Jew by following in the footsteps of my Jewish Messiah. Nothing is more important to me, and in doing this I can be an example to others, whether Jewish or not. The teachings, customs, and traditions of the Jewish people have deep meaning, and the insights they provide for us are invaluable in our walk as we seek to draw closer to Him. But to turn away from Yeshua because you believe you will find a deeper walk by immersing yourself in Judaism without the Messiah, is to delude yourself and to find yourself losing the joy you once had, when you were committed to Him with all of your heart, mind, and soul.
Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 "houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn- out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant-- when you have eaten and are full-- 12 "then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (NKJ)
It is from this passage of Scripture the Jewish people draw one of their greatest prayers, the Shema. It is called the Watchword of Judaism. It is the prayer a Jew recites when they rise in the morning and when they go to sleep at night and when they are on their deathbed. Yet in doing this, many have forgotten what it means, and they have lost sight of the Holy One of Israel. Judah stood up for his brother Benjamin, willing to take Benjamin’s place as a slave in the house of Joseph. Judah became the man of God he was destined to be, and today stands under the banner of Israel as its key component, but not the only one. Look to Judah for guidance, but remember to sift the teachings, lest you decide to allow yourself to be persuaded to turn from your Master Yeshua.
Ezekiel 37:18-23 18 And when your people say to you, 'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?' 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (ESV)
In Ezekiel 37:15-28 we find the heart of the belief of what is being called the "two house teaching". I believe in the truth of this message, but not in the way it has been presented. I prefer to see the teaching as a one house message of a people, a nation divided as a punishment for Solomon’s sins. Yet while this may be the reality, it goes much deeper than just Solomon and cuts to the heart of all of us. It was part of God’s plan to seed the tribes of Israel among the nations, so they could be punished for their sins as well as become a light in the darkness that was the nations. We must never believe we are better than our Jewish brothers and sisters simply because we know Yeshua and they don’t.
Romans 11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (ESV)
We must be careful of our attitude toward our Jewish brethren, or for that matter, any of our brethren who may not believe exactly the way we do. Who says we have all of the truth? We have a piece of the truth, as do others, but the bottom line is to pray for both those who need to find the way to Yeshua, and for those who need to learn how to fit Torah into their walk with Yeshua. The Church sees Yeshua, but not Torah. They need to be careful of their walk and their attitude. They possess a measure of the truth, but not all of it. Our Messianic brethren see more of the truth, but not all of it as well. We have all been grafted into the tree of Israel, rooted into the soil of Messiah who nourishes all of us. None of us are guaranteed a place in Messianic Israel. Once we are grafted into the tree of Israel, we must hold onto that place through our faith In Yeshua and walking the way of Torah. We must never look down on our brothers and sisters because they do not see Yeshua – yet! The day is coming when the Holy One of Israel will reunite His people into not two, but one nation, made whole in His hands, not ours. Blessings,
Mordecai Silver
Torah Man says: “Oops, my brain just hit a bad sector.”
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