Miketz – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

This week Joseph will rise to power in Egypt. It all began with Pharaoh having a bad dream, he saw a nightmare, in which seven skinny cows ate seven fat cows. And the skinny cows are not getting filled, but remain as ugly, thin, and skinny as before.

Pharaoh understood that this is not just a weird dream. He realized that this dream is different, it is a vision from God.

And if the first dream was about cows — meat, the second one is about bread. In the second dream, Pharaoh saw seven full heads of grain, the best kind the Nile can offer, and after them, seven scorched heads came up, and they devour the good ones.

The Bible tells us that Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled by this dream, he was touched by them. He understood that they hold an important message.

Egypt’s sorcerers and wizards tried to interpret these dreams, but they could not. Pharaoh was left in the dark, not knowing the meaning of his dreams.

And I am sure that he could feel that all the explanations were wrong, as I am sure that every wizard and every sorcerer tried to give him a wise and convincing explanation. But deep in his heart, Pharaoh knew that he is not getting the right answer and the explanations are all wrong.

And then, suddenly, his chief cupbearer remembered Joseph, who until this moment was rotting in jail. The chief cupbearer told Pharaoh about his experience with Joseph in jail, about this young Hebrew kid who had amazing abilities to interpret dreams.

The Egyptians got Joseph out. They cleaned him up and brought him before the mighty Pharaoh of Egypt.

Joseph’s life-story is filled with dramatic upheavals. He started as a beloved son of his father, with the highest position in his family.

Then he fell down to the lowest possible place, to the dry desert pit, thrown there by his own brothers, whose hatred for Joseph matches only to his father’s love. Finally, they sold him to slavery.

In Egypt Joseph found favor in the eyes of his master Potiphar, and his status changed again, from a slave into a household master. Then he is falsely accused and thrown into jail, and in our Torah portion, once again he is rising to power.

Joseph said to Pharaoh:

And suddenly we remember that when Joseph was young, he also had two dreams. Meaning that Joseph was designed for greatness.

Let’s return to the beginning of this portion, and look at the very first word — “miketz”, meaning “after, at the end of…” After what?

After two full years. Joseph spent these years as a foreigner and a rapist, incarcerated in jail.

And I am quite sure, that in those days, in jail, they didn’t care much about human rights. And there were no lawyers there to help and care for Joseph’s needs.

He was a stranger with no family, accused of rape, he was at the bottom of the social pyramid. And from a human perspective, he did not have a chance. No hope.

As Bible students we understand that God rules over His creation, we know that there is a heavenly calendar, and that historical processes have to brew, and they take time. I am talking as a Messianic believer, as a Jew who believes in the New Testament and Yeshua the Messiah.

The purpose of these lessons is to open a window, so you could see into our messianic mindset, into our way of thinking. We believe that the day will come and the nation of Israel, all Israel, and actually the whole world, will bow down and confess that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Our faith is not about making Jews into Christians, not at all, we believe that as Jews and Israelis we need to bring Yeshua back home, where He belongs. He is one of us, he is not European or American, he is a Jew from the land of Israel.

This can take time, and it is OK. Because we believe that God is in control of history, and everything happens according to His timing.

We believe in prophesies, also, not only, but also, because we are standing now in the restored and reunited Jerusalem — a fulfillment of God’s promises! We know that prophesies are fulfilled, even if it takes 70 or 2000 years, as we sing it in “Hatikvah” (our national anthem):

As a nation, we were similar to Joseph, we were strangers, we were alone, we were accused falsely of so many things, we were at the bottom of the human pyramid and many tried to destroy us. But our hope didn’t vanish.

God has redeemed our nation, brought us back after 2000 years of exile, back to the promised Land. Who would believe this is possible? Maybe only Herzl.

That is why, as Bible students we learn to trust God, because we can only see the tip of the iceberg, we do not see the whole picture. This understanding should encourage us in our personal lives.

We have to do the best we can, but at the same time, we need to take a breath and be patient, and trust God. That He will complete the picture in His own time.

Two years had passed for Joseph. They were not easy. Maybe these were the hardest two years of Joseph’s life, two years of terrible suffering. Maybe he wished to be dead.

But at the end of these two years, we read that Joseph’s social status is changing for the third time. He started at the top, as a favorite son, then fell down to slavery. He became a head of Potiphar’s household, was thrown into jail, and now he is ascending to greatness, ruling over one of the greatest empires of his time, second only to Pharaoh.

What was so special about Joseph, that drew everyone to him, that caused him to stand out and to succeed? What can we learn from Joseph?

His faith in God shined like a light around him. It is clear that, for Joseph, God was always present, and his faith guided him through life, helped him to keep his moral principles even in the hardest circumstances.

What did Joseph tell Potiphar’s wife in last week’s portion?

She was trying to seduce Joseph, but he refused. He was able to control himself because he feared to sin before God.

And even before that, Potiphar witnessed that Joseph’s faith is what makes him so successful:

From these verses we learn that Potiphar saw Joseph’s faith, and understood that his success is a result of his faith in God.

And in our portion? Joseph is getting out of prison, and appears before the king. It is clear to him and to all others that Pharaoh has heard about his wisdom, his gifts and talents.

He could’ve easily taken credit for his gift and wisdom. But no, even in that moment, when he, a lowly foreign slave, convicted of misconduct, is facing the all-powerful King of Egypt, Joseph is not confused, he did not abandon his faith. He proclaimed in the ears of Pharaoh:

And later again, Joseph gave all credit to God:

Joseph proclaimed before all that he believes in God, and that everything he has, his wisdom and actions, are all results of God’s work through him. Joseph repeated it over and over, so that at the end, Pharaoh himself asked a rhetorical question:

And then, Pharaoh himself proclaimed:

And as I said before, many Egyptian wizards tried to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and although he himself didn’t know the meaning of the dreams, he felt that what they are saying is not true, in his heart it didn’t feel right. But when Joseph spoke, Pharaoh knew right away that this is the right answer, this is the truth.

When we look at Joseph’s life, we understand that, as believers, our task is similar. Yeshua commands us to spread the light around us. And when it happens, when our light is visible to those around, our answer should be similar to Joseph’s: “It is not me, it is God that works through me.”

Life has its ups and downs, like the time that Joseph spent in jail. Someone could’ve asked him: “Where is your God now?” But even there, in prison, he was always true to his faith, and that is why people, even important people like the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, are asking for his advice.

Another thing we can learn from Joseph is that, when our faith is public, it means that we are representing something. In Joseph’s case, it is God. He represents the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob before the Egyptians. We have to work on our own improvement, because we represent faith in Yeshua.

Joseph has an outstanding skill of listening. He listened to Potiphar’s desires and executed his orders, and in time Potiphar started to trust him even more. He listened to Pharaoh’s ministers in jail, he was able to understand and to analyze their problems. Not his problems, but theirs.

Joseph also had an outstanding ability of planning and implementation of ideas. It all begins with listening, with understanding of what’s going on with the person. What does he need? And from there he continues to finding a solution.

Joseph is not looking for the negative, for what’s wrong, for what’s not working, because we all know what’s wrong. True wisdom is to find a practical solution — “this is what you have to do.” And Joseph told Pharaoh precisely that — “this is what you have to do.”

Pharaoh saw that Joseph already has an idea in his head, and instead of trying to get this idea out of him and pass to another person, and then to another, like a broken phone, Pharaoh decided, that Joseph is the right person for the job. That he is the best to implement his own idea.

Our Torah portion tells us how Joseph prepared a detailed plan for food collection. I am sure that he worked diligently on this plan, and put many hours into its development.

The plan got underway and Egypt accumulated tremendous amounts of food. Then came the great hunger, which Pharaoh foresaw and Joseph predicted, and the sons of Jacob are coming down to Egypt in search for food.

For us, as Messianic believers, the comparison between bread and the Word of God is natural, because Yeshua spoke of himself, saying “I am the bread of Life”, and he who believes in Yeshua will never be hungry again.

These words mean that if you accept Yeshua’s words, if you ask Him for nourishment, you will receive the bread of life, and peace that comes along with satisfaction. But more importantly, he who comes to Yeshua will receive eternal life.

Back to Joseph. After the great operation to accumulate food came the time of hunger, and our story returns to the small family problems. From the regional issue of hunger, or national effort of food collection, the story focus drifts again to an individual family. Everything begins and ends with the family.

Now, the brothers, who came down to Egypt, searching for food, did not recognize Joseph, but he did. Joseph takes advantage of the new situation, he accuses his brothers of being spies, and arrests Simeon.

This detail is a hint, that maybe it was Simeon who incited others against Joseph, back there in the fields of Dothan, so many years ago. We know that Simeon had always being a hothead. Jacob, and also Moses, in their last blessings, are taking from Simeon both the blessing and the inheritance.

Joseph is holding Simeon as a guarantee, to force his brothers into bringing Benjamin to him in Egypt. Our Torah portion concludes with a dramatic cliffhanger. Joseph wants to arrest Benjamin and to hold him in Egypt.

The brothers are swaying between despair, panic, and a heart attack, and there we end. We will see each other next week.

Shabbat Shalom.