Joseph — Antihero, Dreamer, and Mirror of Israel

A New Chapter Begins

The Torah portion of Vayeshev brings us to a change of the central characters of the Torah. Up to now the patriarchs were the main characters: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their whole family. In this Torah portion we are introduced to a new central character — yes, from Jacob's family, but one that takes the central stage from now to the end of the book of Genesis. This character is Joseph, the son of Rachel, the son of Jacob.

In the Torah portion Vayeshev, the projector light is moved off of Jacob, and is focused on Joseph. Here starts a whole new character — one of Jacob's family, who is a clear antihero. I find it strange that suddenly Jacob is no longer the central character of the story. We skip over all the events of Jacob's life, directly to Joseph, a 17-year-old spoiled boy, the second-to-youngest son. It is a jump over 11 of Jacob's older sons, and over Jacob himself. And now this 11th son of Jacob, almost the youngest, takes center stage up until the end of the book of Genesis.

The unmoved mover of all things is seemingly the Almighty God Himself. Joseph is the first son of Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife. She, like all the mothers of the nation of Israel, was barren and could not have children, until the birth of Joseph her first son. In fact, Rachel died in the birth of her second son, Benjamin.

The Drama in the Family — and What Caused It

The story of Joseph is one of the most fully developed and complete novelettes in the Bible. It is almost a complete script for making a Hollywood movie. The major elements of the story of Joseph and his brothers are three classical building stones of successful novels: being at the top and dropping to the bottom (from riches to poverty), rising from the bottom to the top, and a 180-degree restoration of a broken relationship (from hate to compassion). In the Joseph story, all these elements are played to the maximum. The drama in the story of Joseph and his brothers goes forth like a classical drama, easily competing with Victor Hugo's "Les Miserablés."

The Torah is not vegetarian or puritan. The Torah is a picture of real life. Each one of us can find himself in the story of Joseph. Some will find themselves as people who have received revelation and are now ridiculed by their closest friends and relatives. Others will find themselves on the side of those who are very religious and can't believe that God reveals Himself to individuals today. Still others will find themselves praising the main characters, and others will criticize the main characters.

As fathers we ought to learn that preferring one child over our other children is never wise or beneficial. It creates a rift between our children, and between us parents and our children. The second element that caused the problem is that Jacob loved Joseph more than the other brothers, and treated Joseph with extra attention. He gave him a special coat of many colors.

It is interesting to see an Egyptian painting that describes a group of Habiru (Hebrews) from Canaan going down to Egypt. This wall painting is named Beni-Hasan, and in it there is a caravan of people with donkeys and equipment, wearing clothing striped with many colors. The painting is from the walls of the Tell-el Amarna in Egypt, from the palace of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. These could be contemporaries of our forefathers, who in the book of Genesis went to Egypt for commerce and food. It could describe the unique clothing that these travelers from Canaan to Egypt wore during the period of the monotheistic Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Particularly Jacob should have immediately accepted and identified with Joseph's dreams. But Jacob comes to Joseph with this admonition:

Yes, the unmoved mover, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is behind the hate and alienation of Joseph from his brothers, and partially also from his father.

Joseph, Israel, and Yeshua — The Same Story

The questions that come to my mind for the hate and disdain of Joseph's brothers against him are a kind of prophetic circus-mirror of the attitude and hate of specifically the Christian nations and churches against their brother, the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation. The same paradigm of the story of Joseph is also the story of Yeshua, that is still playing, and the end is still not so clear and visible to the uninitiated.

There is a Jewish concept (mantra) that says,

The way our first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, interpreted our history is that "the Light from the past is our path for the future!" Our history as a nation, as a people, is so much like that of Joseph! Israel, the Jewish nation, is chosen to be a holy priesthood to serve the world, all the nations, and provide the rules and regulations of what is right and what is wrong, what is just and what is not just, what is a blessing to humanity and what is the opposite of a blessing for humanity.

The biggest blessing of humanity is a Jew born in Bethlehem, accused of being illegitimate. He was rejected by the Jewish people, by the Jews with whom He was raised, and by those from His village. Later, this Jew was rejected by the spiritual authorities and political authorities of His own nation. Like Joseph, son of Jacob, was rejected by his brothers. The enemies of Israel accepted this Jew, and made Him their God. The hate of His brothers backfired. However, the future is secure and powerful — the one that was rejected will be the king, the last shall be the first, the tail shall be the head!

This is the essential central truth of the story of Joseph, and the story of Yeshua. The crown of thorns that was on Yeshua's head will become the crown of King David — King of Kings and Lord of Lords! All flesh will worship Him and prostrate themselves before Him, and sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

There is much similarity between the story of Joseph and the story of Yeshua. Everything in his life is one tragedy after another. Yeshua is neglected and rejected by His own brothers, and rejected by the people of Nazareth, where He was raised. He is a person that one might identify today as being "homeless." Like Superman, He came from another world, and has to live as a stranger in His own land. Joseph, the son of Jacob, is very much the same.

The same is true with Yeshua, our Lord and Messiah: Where we stand today is not the end of the story, the cross is not the end of the story, the resurrection of Yeshua from the grave is not the end of the story. The end of the story has not yet happened. Yeshua is now in Heaven, like Joseph was in Egypt, serving as the prime minister. Joseph was second only to Pharaoh himself, leading the world's most powerful empire, the foremost civilization of the world of his day.

The Final Scene — Then and Now

This scene from Genesis 45 will repeat itself in the end of history:

When Yeshua will land on Mount Zion and say to Israel, to the world, and to all His disciples, "I am Yeshua your brother!" — both the Jewish people and the Christians in the world will cry and embrace and kiss each other, and recognize each other's sins and mistakes and rejection of each other. And now that deep valley of rejection will be filled with the tears of repentance by every one on both sides of the chasm.

Every Jew in the world, and every disciple of Yeshua in the world, needs to read the book of Genesis, from chapter 37 to the end, at least one time per year, and put himself in the place of Joseph. First, experience the love of God and put on the mantle of salvation, like Joseph's coat of many colors. Second, every Jew and every disciple of Yeshua needs to accept the rejection of men, and even hate and persecution, standing on the promises of God in every word that the prophets of Israel have spoken and written in the Bible.