Have you ever been a bridge for someone? Or did someone ever bridge a gap for you? We see some beautiful examples of bridges in this portion as we look at a root word peppered through this portion. Judah, Joseph, and ultimately, the greatest bridge, Yeshua/Jesus. We consider all this, and more in this episode.
The Torah portion of וַיִּגַּשׁ/Vayigash, “and he approached,” opens with the repentance of Judah. Faced with the thought of losing Benjamin, Judah offers himself in order to avoid causing further pain to his father Jacob. The portion opens:
וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה, וַיֹּאמֶר בִּי אֲדֹנִי יְדַבֶּר-נָא עַבְדְּךָ דָבָר בְּאָזְנֵי אֲדֹנִי, וְאַל-יִחַר אַפְּךָ בְּעַבְדֶּךָ
כִּי כָמוֹךָ, כְּפַרְעֹה
“Then Judah came near to him (Joseph) and said: ‘O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh’” (Gen. 44:18).
From previous chapters, we quickly note that this is not the same Judah who was willing to sell Joseph into slavery, thereby causing Jacob deep and enduring pain, or the one would called for Tamar’s burning for adultery. No, this Judah has suffered terrible loss in both his family and to his reputation. Judah unknowingly approaches the brother he had sold some twenty-two years prior, in an attempt to save his father from further pain.
When Joseph could no longer hold back the emotion, he dismisses his Egyptian attendants and guards (Gen. 45:1); and in doing so, he risks his own life. Then two words, spoken in Hebrew, bring the past, the present, and the future into focus: אֲנִי יוֹסֵף, “I am Joseph.” Joseph the Egyptian was no more, Joseph the Hebrew was restored.
“I am Joseph” reveals the sin of the brothers, while also revealing the plan of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 50:20). With the past revealed, and the future laid out, in the present there was forgiveness. Yet, Joseph first rebukes his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” (Gen. 34:3). According to rabbinic teaching rebuke precedes judgment. In this case, Joseph’s judgment is forgiveness. Why mention Jacob when he reveals himself? The rebuke, and a very real human moment when Joseph basically says to Judah, “You are so concerned with protecting the heart of our father now, but what about when you sold me?”
Even in his pain, Joseph has witnessed the change in his brothers, especially in Judah, the one bearing the rebuke. They have all been changed by the events of years as well. Once they have reconciled, Joseph imparts gifts to his brothers, “He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments” (Gen. 45:22). He changed their garments, adorning them in garments of forgiveness.
When Messiah Yeshua/Jesus ministered on the earth, the apostle John tells us, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:10-11). To use the types above, Egypt did not know Him, and His own brethren did not recognize Him. Two words recorded many times in John’s Gospel changed this: “I Am.”
Of the seven “I Am” statements of Messiah that we usually consider, there is one that is not ordinarily accounted for that speaks powerfully to Yeshua’s person: “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58). John presents the Messiah Who was before Abraham, before Joseph, even before time and creation. Yet, Egypt did not know Him, and His brethren did not recognize Him. With our own sin laid bare before Him, knowing our past, present and future action, what does Messiah do? As the rabbis teach, rebuke precedes judgment, that is correction precedes judgment. The rebuke, the correction, the “chastisement for our peace” laid upon Him (Isa. 53:5), as Paul wrote, “But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro. 5:8).
Joseph bore the weight of the twenty-two year journey that would save his family and the wider world; yet, the greater Joseph, Yeshua, “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).
In Messiah, we, in trusting faith, have also received a new garment: Christ Himself, as His robe of righteousness. Paul writes, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). Furthermore, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isa. 61:10). In Yeshua, we are endowed with gifts; specifically the gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:1) to walk the faith out fruitfully (Gal. 5:22-23). All of this resulting from our approach to Him in repentance, and the resulting forgiveness He alone provides.
As we approach Jesus, we know, as do those who truly know us, that we are not the same as we once were. We recognize the pain we have caused, and often desire to make it right by some form of self-sacrifice. Yet, it is not we who are sacrificed, but Messiah. And in Him we live our lives as a living sacrifice (Ro. 12:2) in the grace, mercy, love and forgiveness in which we have been clothed.
His “I Am” will change your everything.
Be well. Shalom.
This evening we will kindle all the lights of the Hanukkiah as we begin the eighth and final day of Hanukkah. As we look at the eight candles, all the lights shining, we say: זֹאת חֲנֻכָּה, “This is Hanukkah.” Hanukkah started with the first candle, but when all eight lights are shining, זֹאת חֲנֻכָּה, this is Hanukkah. This is the miracle. This is the fullness. This is the triumph.
This name of the eighth day of Hanukkah comes from the reading for the day. As the accounting of the princely gifts is completed in Numbers 7, the Torah says: זֹאת חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אַחֲרֵי הִמָּשַׁח אֹתֽוֹ, “This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.” When all the princes of the tribes offered their identical offering, in the fullness of the days, זֹאת חֲנֻכַּת, “this was the dedication.” Each day and each gift led to the dedication specified with זֹאת, “this.”
Hanukkah is about the eighth day, and the reality that there is an eighth day. The fresh oil was not yet ready, almost but not quite. There were obstacles along the way to the eighth and final day. Like: Would the supply last? Would the oil used from the start last until the end? The answer is yes. The dedication of the altar, with the twelve days of gifts, happened אַחֲרֵי הִמָּשַׁח אֹתֽוֹ, “after it was anointed.” Anointed? Smeared with holy oil, incidentally the same root word of Moshiach/Messiah.
The Temple Menorah, having been smeared (anointed) with oil, would see the supply last because of the action in faith undertaken by the priests who searched the wreckage for the hope of oil. This hope was for the rededication of the Temple, and the Jewish way of life. See, the Greeks halted every aspect of Jewish life, including the eighth day circumcision, the covenant marker in the flesh. The Torah could not be read or studied, and when we do so now, and for generations since, as the Torah is publicly lifted up – not hidden – we point to the Torah and then sing, הַתּוֹרָה וְזֹאת, “this is the Torah,” again “this,” as we testify that God gave it to Moses.
The miracle of Hanukkah, זֹאת חֲנֻכָּה, “this is Hanukkah,” is in the final candle, when all the candles become the eighth light: the light of renewal. We then walk out this renewed dedication. The Tabernacle and Temple were dedicated on the eighth day, the day of the spiritual time in renewal. The darkness tried to take away what God had ordained, but His light overcame the darkness. This is Hanukkah.
Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Ro. 1:16). The power of this statement is often lost to readers. What is Paul saying? And why did he say it that way? The Greeks had become the archetypal enemy of the Jewish people. Why? The events that led to Hanukkah, and the barbarism of the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes. Paul did not need to add that final clause concerning the Gospel, especially after writing “to everyone who believes.” Yet, Paul is expressing, that if the Messiah (the Anointed One) could save and change a Greek, then the Gospel can save and change anyone. The Gospel was the healing balm applied to the wound between Jew and Greek. How could a Jewish disciples sit and eat with a Greek disciple? The Gospel.
As we see in Revelation 1:12, Messiah is standing in the midst of the Menorah congregations. Why? All of the lights are kindled, shining. His congregation of Jews and Gentiles, even Jews and Greeks, shining together, with Yeshua/Jesus as the fiftieth (50th) Jubilee light. All one, shining. In Him, Jews, Gentiles, even Greeks, are renewed and dedicated to shine because the provision of oil, by the Holy Spirit, has come. But it is when we are together that we can say: this is His people. How do we get there?
In the wreckage of our lives, when the hope of glory entered in, Yeshua, the supply was provided (Phil. 4:19). Yeshua/Jesus prayed to the Father for us, in this way, “Sanctify (dedicate) them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate (dedicate) myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated) in truth” (Jn. 17:17-19).
זֹאת חֲנֻכָּה, “this is Hanukkah.” The eight lights shining out over the blanket of darkness covering human life. The light of God’s way, וְתוֹרָה אוֹר/the Torah is light (Prov. 6:23) shining out from the Light, Yeshua, Who said, אֲנִי אוֹר הָעוֹלָם, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12), and then said of His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14), light that is not hidden, and not overcome. This is the heart of the message. Each day we face trial, but yet we are kindled. With each passing day it seems that we are burned up, but we get brighter. Then, in the fullness of time, the renewal arrives, the full measure of the light shines most bright, and we say: this is the dedication.
From the ashes of destruction and despair, He will smear you with oil by the Holy Spirit, illuminate you by holy fire from heaven (Acts 2:3), and cause you to shine even in the midst of the darkness. Yes, there is pain, but God, but Yeshua, but the Holy Spirit have called us, saved us, and filled us, for such a time as this.
Be well. Shalom.
the mountain mensch 