Finding the "Why" Part

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Finding the "Why" Part

There are a few points in this weeks Torah reading of Mikketz (Gen. 41:1-44:17) to touch on. Sometimes when you read a verse with a number in it, you have to back up a few verses to get the meaning, such as in Gen: 41:1: And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed……. When I looked at this verse the first thing that caught my eye was “two years from what.” So I backed up a few verses to find it was two years from the time the chief butler who was in prison with Joseph, was restored to his position at the Pharaoh’s birthday bash. It was also the time Joseph was called to come before Pharaoh. Since Joseph was a picture of Yeshua we see two things here. One is Joseph was thirty years old when he was elevated before the people, as was Yeshua. The second thing is, Joseph was called on to rule after ‘two years’ from the time he gave the dream interpretations in prison. How many days after Yeshua died will he return to reign, “two” days or two thousand years. So you see both situations involved the number two in a time of ruling and reigning.

You will also see Pharaoh dreamed “twice”, not once. The cows were in one dream and the stalks in the second dream. If you look in chapter 41:21, the verse ends in saying, I awoke. Then it begins Pharaoh’s second dream. However, most people just take it for granted he dreamed the entire dream at one time. Then further on in the chapter in verse 32, you see Joseph saying the dream was doubled to Pharaoh twice, because it was established by Elohim. We know the scriptures say let a thing be established by “two” witnesses, and so it was. You see in chapter 42:17 that Joseph put his brothers in prison for “three days”. 42:17. And he put them all into the prison for three days. 18. And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear Elohim. Hummm, where do we see in scripture about doing something for three days and on the third day something happening? Could it be in Ex. 19:10-11 where YHVH told Moshe to have the people sanctify themselves, wash their clothing, and he would appear to them on the “third day” back at Mt. Sinai? Both incidents involved 3 days and having to meet certain conditions to live. You see in so many verses this week the word “corn” used, such as in 42:19 where Joseph tells them to go carry corn for the famine back to their house.

Corn is used a lot in our English translations when it really should be “grain/wheat.” If you filled your saddle bags with kernels of corn you wouldn’t have food for very long at all. You can only do so much with corn kernels. Whereas wheat you can bake breads and do a variety of things with it to stretch it out in use. Also, corn was not really a Mideastern crop, it’s big here in the West, but wheat was the main crop back then. Yet the brothers returned home with enough food to last their “entire families” for some time before they ran out, then Jacob told them to go back for more. It wouldn’t have lasted any time if it had been corn. They let Shimeon sit in prison back in Egypt until they ran out of food. If you read the chapter you’ll see they never raced back to Egypt with Benyamin in tow. They were “forced to go back” from lack of food. In chapter 43, there are a couple of interesting points. Here you see the brothers have returned to Egypt and Joseph has invited them to lunch at the palaceJ. You see the scriptures telling you the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews.

That’s a switch! In the New Testament we see just the opposite; the Hebrews would not eat with the pagans. The other interesting thing to note is how Joseph had his brothers seated, from the oldest to the youngest. Rashi comments that not only did Joseph seat them by age alone, but also by age group from their individual mothers (sons of Leah, Zilphah, Bilhah & then Rachael’s youngest last). How did this “supposedly” pagan Pharaoh know which of the brothers was of what age to seat them according to their birth order? The brothers even wondered about this. In 43:33 it says the brothers marveled at one another. This was what they were marveling at. The last verse of chapter 43 ends with Benyamin getting five times the portion of food his brothers got. Why? It could be that it’s another picture of Yeshua and Torah. After all, Benyamin’s name means “son of my right hand.” Yeshua was the right hand of YHVH and He was the walking Torah, which would be pictured by the number five here, five books of Torah and Torah=Yeshua. There are many pictures in this week’s study both in numbers and in people. Be sure to stop and think when you read a passage with a number in it, there is always a reason why YHVH put it there. It’s up to us to find out the ‘why part’. Shalom