Check out the Torah Portion reading for this week!
In #genesis 48:1, an unnamed servant calls Joseph back to Israel. Could this be a prophecy of the Spirit calling Ephraim, the apostate northern Kingdom of Israel, back to the fold millennia later?
In v2, another unnamed servant tells Jacob of Joseph's coming. Could this be a prophecy to the rest of Jacob (aka Judah): "Prepare yourself. Ephraim is coming."?
I don't agree with some of the more fanciful "two-house theology" interpretations of prophecy and history, but there is an undeniable "two house" thread running throughout the Biblical prophecies and histories of Israel.
...Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
Genesis 47:31c
...And the king [David] bowed himself on the bed.
1 Kings 1:47d
This bowing on the bed is more than just sinking back down in exhaustion. I believe it is also symbolically recognizing the passing of authority and responsibility to the next generation.
Interestingly, without vowel points that were added to the text thousands of years later, the Hebrew word for "bed" (mitah) is spelled exactly like the word for "tribe" (matah). If read as tribe instead of bed, the statement at the end of Genesis 47:31 would say "Israel bowed himself before the head of the tribe."
I will be on the road till late Friday and then briefly look at comments on Shabbat. If you have anything urgent then please send me a chat message.
Blessings
A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.
#proverbs 14:17
If you can't control your temper, it will control you.
The Hebrew word for evil devices literally means schemes and is even sometimes translated as "discretion". Schemers collect enemies because people learn not to trust them. See the simple and prudent in v15-16. Fools hate schemers because they have been fooled. The wise distrust schemers because of their schemes.
In #genesis 47:29-30, Jacob asked Joseph to promise that he would not bury him in Egypt, but carry his remains back to Canaan and bury him with Abraham. While he meant this literally, he also did not want his descendants to stay in Egypt forever either. He prayed to Joseph to carry his bones back to his fathers and simultaneously prayed to Messiah, represented in the person of Joseph, to carry his children back to the Promised Land also.
On another level of midrash, there is a lesson here for us too. When you have died to your old, sinful self, you shouldn't remain in spiritual Egypt. Your environment needs to change: friends, hobbies, job, church, city, etc... One or more will probably have to go.
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