20200111 Parashiyot: Vayechi = Genesis 47:27 thru 50:26; Haftarot: 1 Kings 2:1..12.
Note: I should point out, {if you have not read my writings before}, that I take not only the written words and {even there when in doubt got to the Written Torah} the outcomes or results which establish the truth of what is being written. So I give the evidence found with the text locate and hype-links to access the text yourself. It is extremely rare that a single verse can stand by itself.
Connections between the Torah portion and the Haftarot.
First in connect is the death bed transfer of power.? The question mark is not misplaced. In the Haftarot is King David explaining to his son, how to be successful as king. Then people the new King will need to be aware of and deal with.
The next transfer of the sceptre, so beginning the fulfilling of what Jacob said to Judah.
“In the time when Jacob was: “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.’ https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0148.htm
What was said that links the two text is:
Genesis 49: 8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee.
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, as long as men come to Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
1 Kings 2:4 that the LORD may establish His word which He spoke concerning me, saying: If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee, said He, a man on the throne of Israel.
What was the conversation about. One of the first items that was called out concerned the “Genesis 48:5 And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.”.
First some translations make “even as” to be “like”. This drew a dislike, because Reuben and Simeon were bad men. Why take the two sons to be like these men?
I brought up that these two men are the First born and the Second born sons of Jacob. Like or even as would place the two sons of Joseph in the fist and second place.
Next, that it was Rachel for which Jacob served Seven years, then cheated by his uncle and made to serve another seven years for Rachel. The point is that all of this was for is Love of Rachel that we have the 12 tribes of Jacob. She was his only bargain, his actual love. The first two sons are truly rotten and Jacob is replacing them in position with the two grandchildren of Rachel, to be in the first and second positions.
Next, the blessing of the Manasseh and Ephraim. The meaning of the name Manasseh is “Genesis 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh: ‘for God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.’” And Ephraim is: “Genesis 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: ‘for God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’”
This information of the names turns out to be of great importance. When Jacob goes to bless them, he reversed the order of blessing. Making Ephraim first and Manasseh second, the opposite of their births. The Blessing: “Genesis 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: ‘The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath been my shepherd all my life long unto this day, 16 the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.’”
This is not the same blessing with which the LORD blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but there are similar outcomes here. Only time will tell, see the rest of the Tanakh and history.
Why the reversal of Blessings? Ephraim is better for first because: “God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction”. We, the children of Jacob will be scattered among the nations of the earth, and we will need to be fruitful to survive. On the other hand, if we forget out history, all of our toils even our father’s house(forget all my toil, and all my father’s house), we are doomed to repeat the outcomes. This also comes down to being grateful for our blessings versus forgetting what we have been though and then ungrateful for we live in the here and now alone.
Then in the following statements by Jacob:
“Genesis 49:3 Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the first-fruits of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it–he went up to my couch.”
From that I would say that Jacob is enraged by His First Son. Can not even speak good toward him or say what will come to him. Next.
“Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence their kinship. 6 Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
“
We know that Levi has no land in the Promised Land, and that they are scattered amongst the Tribes of Israel.
What does Moses’s blessing say?
Reuben; the smallest of a blessing. “Deuteronomy 33:6 Let Reuben live, and not die in that his men become few.”
Cannot utterly reject the First Born, even from a hated mother. Reason: “Deuteronomy 21:15 If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated;”
For Simeon there is no blessing by Moses. In the Promised Land as designated by Joshua, “Joshua 19:9 Out of the allotment of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon, for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them; therefore the children of Simeon had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.” So inside the Land of Judah, hence Jacob said it well. “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel–from above”
Is this enough? Or do you want more about these statements of Jacob?
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I can not save you, no one can, You must Return and do that which is Right.
I can show you the way, if you want to know.
IT is to our benefit to HEARKEN until the LIVING GOD OF ISHRAEL/ISRAEL/JACOB, and to our pain and shame to do otherwise.
My prayer is that The LORD grant you eyes that see, ears that hear and an understanding heart, then you return unto HIM soon!(Isaiah 6: 9 And He said: ‘Go, and tell this people: hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart, return, and be healed.’)
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Shalom,
Yaakov