Vayeishev

Parsha Vayeishev

Genesis 37:1 – 40:23 NKJV

Please pray this

Prayer before reading

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah, (Jesus Christ)

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

 The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parasha

After devoting a mere chapter to the genealogy of Esau and his progeny, the Torah now turn to the narrative of Jacob and his family. As has been its practice, the Torah gives short shrift to people who have fallen short of the goal, but speaks volumes of those who have managed to overcome and secure their piece of the Land.

So it was that great men like Noah, Abraham, and Isaac were discussed in great details, while millions of others men and women since creation, were mention briefly, and some not at all. It is not what is written on my tomb stone that is of concern to me. It is what is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. The Torah says that Jacob loved Joseph, the second youngest son more than the other, so much so that Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat of many colors.

Gen 37:¹ Now Jacob settled in the land where his father was a sojourning, in the land of Canaan. - The contract between Jacob settled and Isaac sojourning is very interesting. This analogy seems to imply that Jacob saw Canaan as his final destination, while Isaac was looking for the world to come.

Could it also means that because of the different in the age, contribute in shaping the difference world view of these two righteous men? Isaac who had lives a full life, one who had reach maturity and walk in that spiritual state of perfection, was now looking to the world to came. While the relative younger Jacob with a young family, wanted a secure peaceful environment, one which EL YAHVEH had furnished as the place to reside.

Our world view even from a spiritual mature position, shape the way we view life. This verse gave us an insight into the mind set of two great men at different time in their life. Isaac’s view elucidate that there are too much to accomplish and too few, capable of doing it. Knowing that, the righteous are more than willing to sacrifice a bit of the temporary peace, for the sake of eternal elevation; even for their offspring.

 Gen 37:² This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. - This verse start with the phrase these are the Toldot, referring to the offspring, this phrase cannot be rendered, these are the offer spring of Jacob, because Joseph is the only name mention.

Joseph at the age of seventeen, Jacob was 108, Isaac was 168, and would lived another twenty years. This incident occurred nine years after Jacob returned home. The Torah labeled Joseph a youth implies that he was acting immaturely as a believer.

Torah also implied that they were with the sons of Bilhah, implying that they were the ring leaders, the dominant personality among the brothers.

This verse also implies that both Bilhah and Zilpah were wives of Jacob. Even though the bride price was not paid by Jacob, they were view by Torah as equal to Leah and Rachel. Therefore, Leah and Rachel were within their right to give both Bilhah and Zilpah to Jacob and Jacob was not required to pay the bride price.

We need to understand how Torah views the family structure; it is not the individual right that Torah focus on, it is our Torah obedient that is off the most important. The situation we are born in is the vehicle to help bring us to maturity. I Corinthians 17:²⁰ Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. ²¹Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. Whatever misbehavior Joseph noted in his brothers, he reported them to Jacob. That was one reason why they hated him. The other reasons are in the following verses. Joseph misinterpreted their actions, although Joseph was sincere in his faulty evaluation, he was at fault because he should have given his brothers the benefit of the doubt and reported all the facts to Jacob, without forming his own conclusion.

This would certainly explain why the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah did not defend Joseph against Leah’s sons conspired to sell him as slave. Immaturity in a believer will always reveals itself in gossip. It is a way to build oneself up at the expense of another. If I tell dad on him, I will not look so bad after all. Immature believers will always create strife among each other; this was where Joseph was at age seventeen. The trials that Joseph would experience in the years to come, were to correct these obvious character flaws and to perfect his obvious strength. The rest of his life story will be, how he got to that illustrious place call spiritual maturity.

Gen 37:³ Now Yisrael loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. - We know from Torah that EL YAHVEH love Jacob more than Esau. We also know that, that love was based on the character of Esau. Our Heavenly Father loves all His children, but not our sins. Jacob loved Joseph with that same devotion as EL YAHVEH.

Jacob’s favoritism was based on Joseph’s spiritual and intellectual desire over his brother. For the same reason EL YAHVEH proclaimed His love for Yisrael over Esau. Torah used the name Yisrael to elucidate the spiritual maturity of Jacob, the name that expresses his highest spiritual nature, therefore implying that his choice of Joseph was a function of his greatness, not his frailty.

The mere fact, that Torah mention that Joseph was a child of Yisrael old age, is significant. Old here depict wisdom or maturity; at that age Yisrael must have perfected the art of developing sons, this one might have been the very best so far. The one who had the potential to be the priest of the family. Notice that Yahushua is the first to graduate from planet earth with absolute perfection. Joseph is a type and shadow of El Yahushua. The tunic given to Joseph symbolizes a sign of leadership, for after Reuben discredited himself by tampering with his father bed, Joseph was elevated to the status of firstborn.

 Gen 37:⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. - So great was the brothers’ antipathy toward Joseph that they could not carry on a friendly conversation with him even about peaceful matters. What ever he said they interpreted in a negative, contentious way, even when he tried to be friendly. Spiritually immature believers will always see circumstances from the ego perspective.

Verse 5 – 11 Dreams mentioned in Scripture are generally understood to be vehicles of prophecy. Whether dreams have validity, it is clear from Scripture that Joseph’s dream and those of Pharaoh and his officials, that YAHVEH used them to convey revelation of future events. All these dreams came true according to Joseph interpretations.

Joseph’s dream, which indicated clearly, that the one who is spiritually mature would become the leader of the group in the next generation. He would also become a spiritual bridge between the Mighty Ones and the ones on their way to maturity. Joseph’s brothers took the prophecy to mean that he would rule over them.

Gen 37:⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more - Joseph been an immature person spiritual, he was egger to share his dream with others. Like most immature believer will quite regularly talk about themselves in a way that over emphasize their spiritual importance.

Even though Joseph was immature, he had enough spiritually savvy to know what was important. Not because we are a believer does not mean that the Spirit of Wisdom is flourishing in our lives, it takes time to cultivate wisdom.

                                                                                 

 Gen 37:⁶ So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: - It is never a good idea to share our dreams with everyone, even those who are close to us. There are always those who are willing to settle for the status quote, and there are some who have lofty dreams life Joseph. Our dreams are a manifestation of an establish mindset. Who we are in our mind is like a radio, it will play what ever station it is in tune with. When our dream becomes EL YAHVEH dream, our mind begins to reverberate the Mind of EL YAHVEH.

 Gen 37:⁷ “There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” - The symbolism of the sheaves implied to Joseph that his brothers would bow to him because their need for grain. That they gathered around indicated that they would surround him like subjects congregating around a king.

Joseph’s sheaf stood up on its own accord, implying that his rise to power would not be credited to anyone else, but his spiritual development. Joseph was viceroy of Egypt for eighty years, the longest reign recorded in Scripture.

 Gen 37:⁸  And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?”So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. - We as believer, when we communicate with immature believer, we will be amused by the manner in which people interpret what you say. Again the example of the radio, it broadcast whatever station it is tune to. Even Yahushua the perfect person, when he gave the example of His resurrection, some interpret it as saying He was going to destroy the temple.

Gen 37:⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” - The message of this dream although it employs a different metaphor, it is essentially the same as that of the first, with one major new factor. This dream included the suggestion that even his father and mother would bow to him.

The repetition of the dream indicates the certainty of its fulfillment. Although this dream did not come to completion some twenty two years later, the process that culminated in Joseph’s elevation to the role of rulership of Egypt was about to begin. What would it take to be a ruler? What lesson did Joseph had to learn? These were the reason he had to experience all that he had to endure. Leadership is not given to those who just desire it; it is for those to who prepared themselves for it, full maturity.

Gen 37:¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” - After scolding Joseph and deriding his dream, Jacob showed that the dream was foolish because it was impossible to fulfill since the moon in the dream that exemplified Rachel, she had already died.

It is amazing that Jacob did not take the dream seriously, or maybe EL YAHVEH did not revealed the purpose of the dream to Jacob. If EL YAHVEH did revealed it to Jacob the outcome of the dream might have been different. When there are several members of a family, where deep emotions are at work, someone would have tried to help EL YAHVEH. If Jacob knew that Joseph would not die, his behavior would be different. EL YAHVEH had to keep Jacob out of the loop so to speak, in order to fulfill his purpose for Joseph.

 Gen 37:¹¹ And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.- This is exactly what EL YAHVEH wanted to happen. The revelation of our heart, it always takes an unusual situation to reveal the content of one heart. - When any believer produces envy, it symbolize that we are led by the flesh. Galiathins 5:¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; Notice what Jacob did he kept the matter in mind. Meaning he was not troubled by it. If is quiet possible that Jacob brought it up in prayer to EL YAHVEH. Since it was apart of EL YAHVEH plan Jacob was encourage to send Joseph to see his brother as the next verse imply. Did Jacob forget that the brothers envied Joseph? So why would he sent the boy into harms way, if he was not encourage by EL YAHVEH.

Gen 37:¹² Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. -  There is a spirit over Shechem that incur violence. It is not strange that the brothers when to Shechem. As Lot was blinded by the spirit of Sodom, so that he could not see Sadom for Sodom sake, these brother were in the same spiritual plight cause by there spiritual blindness.

Gen 37:¹³ And Yisrael said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” - We read in verse 11 that Jacob knew that the brothers envied Joseph, we see here that Yisrael, this principle of Spiritual maturity; is sending his favorite son into harms way. If it was not for the Sovereign Will of EL YAHVEH this could or would never have happen. In dispatching Joseph on this faithful mission which start the process for his spiritual training for rulership, Jacob was now been called Yisrael, a reflection of high spiritual nature.

      

Gen 37:¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. - Yisrael now sends Joseph on a journey he knew that Joseph would fulfilled. Looking after his fathers business is the goal of all faithful sons, even if he is not mature. Jacob knew that Joseph would bring back a report and more. Jacob sends Joseph with the intention of him returning. The mention of Hebron is of importance to this analogy, in the sense that Abraham was burred in Hebron; it would make perfect sense for Joseph trip would began the fulfillment of EL YAHVEH’s  prophecy to Abraham “your offspring would be aliens in a land not their own.”

It is obvious that Yisrael should not have send Joseph to a people who disliked him intensely: if Yisrael wanted to inquire after the well-being of his flock, he had more than enough servants capable of carrying out the task. This is further proof that EL YAHVEH hand was part of Yisrael decision process.

      

Gen 37:¹⁵ Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”  - This certain person was most definitely an angel appearing in the form of a man, whom EL YAHVEH had sent to direct Joseph to his brother. It is logical that when a person cannot find the way, the logical thing to do is to return home.  Instead, Joseph displayed great loyalty to his father wishes by searching for them persistently.

Our attitude in carrying out our duties assigns to us, carries with it the ability to receive further revelation. If Joseph had wile-Nelly, as if he did not care, that unknown man would never have asked him; what are you seeking? This was another mundane task Yisrael had assigned to Joseph, yet Joseph carried it out with great diligence.

 Gen 37:¹⁶ So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” - Yisrael might have been sent Joseph to bring back info on the flock, but Joseph was seeking his brother. Is this not why Yahushua came to earth, but to seek His brothers?

Gen 37:¹⁷ And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. - We know that Shechem means to incur hate, now they had gone beyond hate, to Dothan which means “they have gone away from any feelings of brotherhood.” They have gone away from the Word of the Law. When any person goes away from the letter of the law, they begin to create their own. First, what is conceived in the spirit is then manifest in the natural.

Gen 37:¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. - Galatians 5:²¹ list envy and murder side by side. First the brothers envy him, now they were contemplating murder in the open. When we as believer hear about another person who envies someone else, we can rest a sure that murder is not far behind.

Gen 37:¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, the dreamer is coming! - According to Deut 3:⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. a dreamer of dreams is a Prophet. Let hear what Yahushua says in John 4:⁴⁴ For Yahushua  Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. At a very young age the prophetic ability was with Joseph, this ability should always be used to lead people in time of trouble or back to Torah.

Gen 37:²⁰ “Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” - The brother concluded long before, that they had a right and even an obligation, to kill Joseph. This was not just some spore of the moment, isolated action. Over the months of even day before the topic might have even come up in a joke or even idle chatter. Now it is being acted upon. It is essential as believer to keep careful attention to those things that we hear or see, for they have the power to bend our mind towards good or bad.

Gen 37:²¹ But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” - The salvation of Joseph came from a very unlikely source Rueben. He had the most to lose by keeping Joseph alive and the most to gain by his death. Rueben was the most injured by Joseph as he assumes some of the role of the firstborn; nevertheless he opposed his brother’s wishes to harm Joseph.

Gen 37:²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. - The Torah itself testifies that Reuben’s desire was to return and rescue Joseph. As the oldest son, he knew Jacob would hold him responsible if anything happened to Joseph.

Gen 37:²³ So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. - As the giving of the Tunic was a sign of leadership, the brothers taught that by stripping Joseph was a sign of removing the anointing; but they were wrong. Who EL YAHVEH blesses is bless indeed.

 Gen 37:²⁴ Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. - It is always the will of the immature to place restriction on those who have a dream of progressing in the spiritual realm. They will use criticism or if you are in a church, they would place you into a position where you cannot be heard. A pit is a restricted area, if someone does not help you out the chance of getting out is very slim. The fact that this verse mentioned that it was empty with no water; symbolizes, total isolation with no chance of the substances of life  be found close by.

              

 Gen 37:²⁵ And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. - They sat down to eat prove that they had a clear conscience; otherwise they could not have seated themselves comfortable to eat with the entreaties of their brother crying in the background. They sold their brother, then they sat down to eat; so it was many century’s later in Shushan when the king and Haman sat down to drink(Esther 3:15) after plotting the extermination of the Hebrew people.

Gen 37:²⁶  So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? - At this point Judah took up the responsibility to defend Joseph, he appealed to their desire to make a profit. The desire of the immature is controlled by their desire for physical gain. We also learn from Genesis 4:¹⁰And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.  ¹¹And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; Was Judah truly looking out for Joseph welfare or did he wanted to distance himself from his brother, knowing fully well that those who shed blood will be cursed.

 Gen 37:²⁷ “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. - As long as a person is alive there is still a chance for them to progress spiritually. Judah was the voice of reason along with Rueben. The Character of the brother was being brought to light by this situation. The Ishmaelite was traveling to a distant country, so our deed will never be discovered. By selling Joseph, they would in essence punish him. Joseph wanted to be there master now he would be someone else servant.  Spiritually immature people will always think that they can outsmart EL YAHVEH. What they do not understand that He can place idea in the mind of anyone. Even though sinners are acting against Torah they too are under the control of EL YAHVEH, even when we act against His Will.

 Gen 37:²⁸ Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. - Verse 25 speaks of Ishmaelite caravan while this verse describes them as Midianite men. Is it possible that he was given to the Ishmaelites who then sold him to the Midianite? Who took him to Egypt? The brother sold Rachel’s firstborn for twenty silver dinarim, which equal to five shekalim; we redeem our firstborn sons for that amount, as atonement for the misdeed of our ancestors.

Since each brother receive two dinarim which equal half-shekel, Hebrew give a half-shekel annually for the temple’s upkeep. Hebrew people for all time are commanded to redeem their firstborn in atonement for an ancient sin is an indication of how the Torah views human nature. From the shortcomings of people as great as the tribal ancestors, we draw the lesson that anyone is susceptible to be cruel and base in defense of what he perceives to be an important personal interest, just as the brother acted against Joseph in all sincerity and with the absolute conviction that they were acting justly.

If Joseph brother could err so grievously is proof that human character needs constant attention and care. EL YAHVEH gave the commandments in order to refine human beings. Our challenge is to perform them and let their lessons seep into our consciousness and refine us in thought and deed.

Gen 37:²⁹  Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. - After convincing his brothers to place Joseph in the pit, Reuben left and was not present at Joseph’s sale. When he came back to the pit and saw that Joseph had disappeared, he was distraught. Rueben more than anyone else, should have felt guilty, since he had tried to save Joseph, he blamed himself for not having pursued his plan aggressively enough.

 Gen 37:³⁰ And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?” - Joseph is missing and he as the first born will be held responsible for his safety; he must flee because of the grief this will cause his father. But where will I go! Crime of passion not only destroys the intended victim, it also destroys other lives also. The brothers certainly did not thought of this.

Gen 37:³¹  So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. - Was this the actions of all the ten brothers or was Reuben and Judah excluded? In response to Reuben’s outburst, the brothers hastily killed a scapegoat and dipped Joseph’s coat in its blood to provide evidence to Jacob that Joseph was dead. It always takes multiple deceptions to cover the first deception. Therefore do not be a person who takes pleasure in deception.

 Gen 37:³²  Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” - When the verse says that they send, it mean that it was a combine effort of all the brothers included Rueben and Judah. For they brought it together to their father, and said we have found this. We are not sure if it is Your son or not. They did not say we are not sure if it was our brother or not.

                                                                                             

Gen 37:³³ And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” - Deceptive people will always want you to make a decision after they have push you into a corner. Jacob was manipulated into saying that it was a wild beast had torn Jacob to pieces. This is the principle that those of us who practice manipulation, often practice. Weather it is physical, emotional or even physiological manipulation all operate under the same principle.

 Gen 37:³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. - Jacob rent his garment and place sack on his loin, in an act of mourning. No child had ever died in the house of the Patriarchal; the offspring of the righteous is blessed. If Joseph was indeed dead, then the fulfillment of the promise was not kept. Jacob was promise twelve sons; one was now dead, what was the reason of this? Was Jacob still operating in EL YAHVEH Sovereign Will or were his sons lying to him? If it was the latter then this was indeed a very serious situation, for the brothers had something to do with Joseph demise.

 Gen 37:³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. - Can you ever imagine watching one’s father lamenting over and over for a son when they knew where it was. This is the power of guilt.

Gen 37:³⁶ Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. - The end of this chapter emphasizes that Joseph was sold several times.

                                          Chapter 38

In the spiritual scope of things, there is never a wasted moment. Weather we see it or not the hand of EL YAHVEH is working in our lives for build or to destroyed. Every moment is the best of times and the worst of times. It is good if we obey, it is not so good if we do not.

For the brothers the only story of any relevance was now Judah. The circumstance being played out in his life, is for us to see how the Mighty Hand of EL YAHVEH works. Torah has no idle Words, only object lesson for each and every one to learn, that we may become more like our Creator.

Gen 38:¹ It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. - This verse seems to be saying that Judah chooses to separate himself from the rest of his brothers. Could the incident with Joseph have any impact of his decision? Could he be trying to run away from his conscience? He might try and run, but we cannot hide.

 Gen 38:² And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he took her as a wife and went in to her. - All of Abraham sons were admonishes to take wife among their own people. Why did Judah decided not to take a wife from among the local girls? Was his displease with what transpired between his brothers push him to seek a wife else where. Did Jacob object to this union? All these and many more questions were possible. However if we look a Torah principle, these are all valid question?

 Gen 38:³ So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. ⁴She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. ⁵And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. - Judah and the daughter of Shua had three sons in quick succession. Judah named the first Er, which means awaken! The second son was named by Shua, she called him Onan means complaining and sorrow, again she conceived and called him Shelah means failure. What was Judah awakening to? Was it the action of deception perpetrated by he and his brothers that force him to flee their presence? His wife sense that Judah was obviously in sorrow over something. Could it be that dark secret he had been carrying around so long? The third son prophetically, was the son of disappointment.

Gen 38:⁶ Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. - Abraham found Isaac a wife, Isaac sends Jacob to find a wife. Then we see Judah doing his own thing. Then we see Judah finding a wife for his son Er. What up with these guys? Did Jacob do a good job bringing up his sons? I have to question this! Scripture says bring up a child in the way he should and he will not depart from it.

 Gen 38:⁷  But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of YAHVEH, and YAHVEH killed him. - The Torah states that Er was wicked in the sight of YAHVEH and he was killed. This wicked must have been a permanent character flaw, one he was not prepared to separate himself from, so he had to die. This is another scriptural principle, when we refused to give up our sins, it will become the instrument of our death.

Gen 38:⁸ And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” - Here is another Torah principle that has not been practice today. If a brother has a wife and he died, she may become the wife of another brother to continue his brother name. Refusal to do this is considered wickedness.

 Gen 38:⁹  But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. - Onan the complainer were willing to enjoy his dead  brother wife, but he would not lift a finger to build up his brother house. The root of this sin can be found in selfishness.

Gen 38:¹⁰  And the thing which he did displeased YAHVEH; therefore He killed him also. - Remember the fruit of the flesh Galatians 5:¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of YAHVEH. - All believer need to memorize this list and remember if we continue to practice any of them, spiritual death as well as physical death awaits us.

                                                                                                  

 Gen 38:¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. - After both of his sons death, Judah told Tamar to return home to her fathers home, which was an appropriate thing to do until his third son Shelah grew up. Or may be Judah was secretly blaming Tamar for his son’s death?

Gen 38:¹² Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. - The sheep shearing time of a prominent man was a festive occasion that was accompanied by a public feast for the poor.

 Gen 38:¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”- Who told Tamar?

 Gen 38:¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. - This verse seems to imply that there was a particular item of clothing worn by a widow, also one for a harlot. The godly person whom Tamar was she recognizes that Judah was not forthright with her. He had promise to give her to his next son Shelah. It is also quite obvious that she was older than Shelah, therefore it is not unheard of for a woman to be the wife of a younger man.

                                            

 Gen 38:¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. - Who cause Judah to see her when there were obviously other men around? This was supposed to be part of EL YAHVEH Sovereign Will, or else it would not be recorded in Torah. Does this means that when we are drawn to, or observed a particular quality, or even any attraction to another person, it is for a purpose? My suggestion is, if you ever feel the desire to look at someone, ask for the Spirit of Understanding or the Spirit of Wisdom to determine what is the reason.

Gen 38:¹⁶ Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” - Tamar did not want money and would have refused it if had been offered, She wanted something that she could use later to prove that her consort was Judah, so that her pregnancy would be acknowledge as the result of a levirate union.

 Gen 38:¹⁷ And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.” So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?” –

Gen 38:¹⁸ Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. - This request was certainly an unusual request from a Harlot. It also seems to imply that it was during the fertile part of her cycle that was why she got pregnant. Did Judah not even talk to her? Would he not have recognized her voice, if it was not for a Divine providence? This also illustrate that men do not always have sex because they love the person, it is because of an attraction to the opposite sex. Did Judah not knew it if he deposit seman in her sha might get preganant.

Gen 38:¹⁹ So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. - We see here a deceit, similar to Jacob and Esau. Does this imply that we can use deceit to gain what one want, even if it is for a noble cause?

 Gen 38:²⁰ And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. - True to his form Judah fulfill his side of the bargain. This says a lot for his character. That why I say that the reason why he did not give Shelah to Tamar, was that He taught that his only son would die also.

                                                                        

Gen 38:²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?” And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.” - Where is the Harlot? This indeed a Divine providence at work, no other person beside Judah saw Tamar. There is a Divine principle to be learned here. When we see anything that only you alone can see, it means that it is for you alone. The world will always try and get the believer to view things the way they sees it. Physical perception is not always the best way to judge a person.

 Gen 38:²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.” - Without the seven Eyes of the Holy Spirit the men of the world will never be able to see the Mighty Hand of EL YAHVEH at work, even if is or was right in front of there eyes.

 Gen 38:²³ Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.” - It is not the fact that he did not find her, that would make him a shamed. It was the fact that he was taken by a Harlot. Judah had not done anything illegal and the items in Tamar’s possession were far more valuable than the kid he had promised her. It would also be embarrassing for an important man such as Judah to have his identification in the hand of a Harlot.

Gen 38:²⁴ And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” - If a woman was not under the authority of a man, and she was found to be pregnant with child, the only other recourse was harlotry. There were no out of wedlock as we are told today. Plutonic sexual relationship was not tolerated. Even a harlot was very careful never to get pregnancy. There was a certain time of the month were harlot would practice their trade. It was consider a severe sin to be in child from Harlotry, one that warrant burning.

 Gen 38:²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.” - Tamar did not publicly embarrass Judah or defame his name. If he admits it openly well and good; if not she would be burnt to death.

 Gen 38:²⁶ So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again. - Judah response testifies to his moral integrity. Though his public admission surely subjected him, he did not hesitate to admit that it was his signet ring and staff. He had to admit that she was more righteous than he was, even if she deceive him in the process, her action was more admirable that him withholding his son Shelah as he had promise.

                                                                     

Gen 38:²⁷ Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb.

Gen 38:²⁸ And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

Gen 38:²⁹ Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called Perez. - As part of Divine plan Zerah push his hand out first and the midwife tied a scarlet thread of redemption on his hand. Then Perez was born first. The name Perez and Zerah have great mystical significance. Zerah, literally means brightness or shining, which alludes to the sun, which is a source of constant light. Perez on the other hand, means breach, alluding to the moon, whose light s sometime whole and sometime breached, as its light wanes and waxes. It would have been logical for the brilliant, constant Zerah to be born first, but EL YAHVEH wanted Perez to be firstborn, to symbolize the Davidic dynasty, which is likened to the moon, because it became diminished and finally disappeared but, like the moon, it will re-emerge and glow to fullness again.

Gen 38:³⁰ Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah. - One thing we all need to remember, no matter where we live, we are all part of EL YAHVEH Sovereign Will. Our obedience to His principle each and every day will determine our purpose in life.

Chapter 39

In this chapter Torah return to the narrative that had been interrupted by the Judah-Tamar Saga. Joseph’s descent into Egypt was the prelude to the exile foretold to Abraham at the Covenant between the parts.

The phrase Joseph was brought down to Egypt has the deeper implication that Joseph will bring down his father and the tribal ancestors to Egypt. This is EL YAHVEH engineered Joseph’s descent to Egypt and his elevation to the position of Viceroy in order to prepare a honorable way to implement His decree that Jacob and his family be exiled.

His brothers had done their work, convinced that Joseph’s dreams of Kingship could never be fulfilled. But wherever he went, he ruled. As a slave of Potiphar, he was put in charge of the household; as a disgrace prisoner, he was placed in charge of the prison; as despised Hebrew, he was rushed to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams which made him viceroy of all Egypt, provider to the surrounding countries.

You will notice that there will be a constant flow of people that will play a prominent role in the shaping of a leader. Each person will have a specific role to play, and when that role is complete they depart the scene for the next. In life, people are like sandpaper they come into our lives for a moment, however, too often we allow them to stay too long. They come to prepare us for a specific role and when that agenda is accomplishing a new set of people arrive. When we see new people in our lives we must ask for the spirit of Wisdom and Understanding what need to be accomplished.

Gen 39:¹ Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there - The more I read Torah, the more I am convince, that no small detail escape the Will of EL YAHVEH, where the spiritual growth of His children are concern. Now we will see the next stage of Joseph spiritual development. Notice I did not called them trials, but development. Who was going to be the next tool, the next sandpaper that was to be used in the fine tuning of Joseph life

 Gen 39:² YAHVEH was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. - When we accept Yahushua we have the dubious distinction of having the presence of the Holy Spirit with us at all time. No matter where we go He is with us always. This same presence was with the star in this narrative, and he was successful. Success is not always in personal wealth, it is a spiritual thing. Whatever a person who is led by the Holy Spirit does, he or she does it with a certain attitude, which was evidence in Joseph.

 Gen 39:³ And his master saw that YAHVEH was with him and that YAHVEH made all he did to prosper in his hand. - Here is proof of what I am saying. His master Potiphar saw the quality of character and made Joseph lord of His housed. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good work and promote you.

 Gen 39:⁴ So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. - Finding favor with the world should be a norm for all believers. Why then in the churches we have people praying for job? Why not let our character finds us suitable employment? Many time we have not spend enough time building our Menorah, therefore we have nothing to shine before men.

Gen 39:⁵ So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that YAHVEH blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of YAHVEH was on all that he had in the house and in the field. - If we as believers would truly build our Menorah the world would be bless by us been in it. We would be the best farmers, the best salesperson, the best doctors, the best teachers.

 Gen 39:⁶ Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. - Except for the bread, this is a delicate expression; the bread here refers to his wife. The sense is that Potiphar unquestioningly entrusted to Joseph everything except for his own wife.

                                                                                                         

Gen 39:⁷ And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” - Joseph was exceedingly handsome, which, in the plain sense, set the stage for the lust of Potiphar’s wife.

                                    

 Gen 39:⁸ But he adamantly refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.  

Gen 39:⁹“ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against EL YAHVEH?” - The verb adamantly is suggested by the staccato and emphatic Masoretic cantillation of this word: the shalsheles, followed by a psik (disjunction), both of which set off the word and enhance the absoluteness of its implication. It indicates that Joseph’s refusal was constant, categorical, and definitive. He repulses her with absolute firmness. Even as a boy his sense of right and wrong sets him above his brothers. This was one of Joseph strength, is been brought to perfection.

To her, however he gave an explanation, trying to convince her to stop pestering him. It was important to him that she not is angry, because he knew full well that she could cause him great harm, so he try to make her understand in terms that she could comprehend why he could not please her.

 Gen 39:¹⁰ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. - She tried to entice him in every way possible: with words; by threats of imprisonment, humiliation and physical harm. Yet, Joseph stood to his determination.

Gen 39:¹¹ But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside. - In every form of temptation, the evil one will always increase the temperament of the temptation. This particular day, Joseph was to face his most formidable test. In order for us to rule and reign in the Kingdom of Heaven, we must prove ourselves to be faithfull to the Commandment of the Kingdom. In order forgold to be used in the Palace it must be purified, and purification is done by going through the fire. This was Joseph fire!

Gen 39:¹² that she caught him by his garment, saying, and “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. - Temptations are like trials, they are geared to wear us down spiritually. As long as we are in the flesh we will be tested. This day when everyone else was away, she took the opportunity to request Joseph service and if he did not comply I would accuses him. Joseph was a wise young man; however the situation was not in his favor this day. He was damd if he did and damd if he did not. This was another of EL YAHVEH Sovereign Will, it had to happen. Just as Yahushua (Jesus) had to accomplish certain things in His life, Joseph had to also.

 Gen 39:¹³ And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside. - There is no greater hate than a woman hate. The person, who just a moment ago was willing to get personal, was now plotting his downfall. This is the nature of women.

Gen 39:¹⁴ that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. - Who did she blame, but her husband. She played the race card to those who abhorred the Hebrew and would not even eat with them 43:32.  Ordinarily, therefore, the Hebrew would never be brought into the house, she charge that for her husband to have made an exception of this Hebrew slave took advantage of it and tried to exploit his position and trifle with our sensibilities.

 Gen 39:¹⁵ “And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.” - Joseph’s mistress, having tried in vain to make him a criminal, now endeavours to represent him as one; so to be revenged on him for his virtue. Now was her love turned into the utmost rage and malice, and she pretends she cannot endure the sight of him whom awhile ago she could not endure out of her sight. Chaste and holy love will continue, though slighted; but sinful love, like Amnon’s to Tamar, is easily changed into sinful hatred. She accused him to his fellow servants and gave him a bad name among them. Probably they envied him his interest in their master’s favour, and his authority in the house; and perhaps found themselves aggrieved sometimes by his fidelity, which prevented their purloining; and therefore they were glad to hear any thing that might tend to his disgrace, and, if there was room for it, incensed their mistress yet more against him.

Gen 39:¹⁶ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. – When she speaks of her husband, she does not call him her husband, or her lord, but only he; for she had forgotten the covenant of her God, that was between them. Therefore the adulteress (Prov. 7:19) calls her husband the good man.

Gen 39:¹⁷ Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; - Innocence itself cannot secure a man’s reputation. Not every one that keeps a good conscience can keep a good name. She accused him to his master, who had power in his hand to punish him, which his fellow servants had not. What an improbable story she tells, producing his garment as an evidence that he had offered violence to her, which was a plain indication that she had offered violence to him.

Gen 39:¹⁸“so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.” – Those that have broken the bonds of modesty will never be held by the bonds of truth. No marvel that she who had impudence enough to say, Lie with me, had front enough to say, "He would have lien with me.’’ Had the lie been told to conceal her own crime it would have been bad enough, yet, in some degree, excusable; but it was told to be revenged upon his virtue, a most malicious lie. And yet She manages it so as to incense her husband against him, reflecting upon him for bringing this Hebrew servant among them, perhaps at first against her mind, because he was a Hebrew.

It is no new thing for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst of women by those who themselves are the worst of criminals. As this matter was represented, one would have thought chaste Joseph a very bad man and his wanton mistress a virtuous woman; it is well that there is a day of discovery coming, in which all shall appear in their true characters. This was not the first time that Joseph’s coat was made use of as a false witness concerning him; his father had been deceived by it before, now his master.

    

Gen 39:¹⁹ So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. - To infuriate Potiphar emotion she describes the sort of intimate conduct of which she accused Joseph. By the standard of Egypt  culture, Potiphar should have killed Joseph. He did not for several reasons: One because EL YAHVEH had protection on Joseph. Two, Knowing Joseph character it was not like him to do such things. Three, the type of woman his wife was. However, Potiphar could not let such an action go unpunished.

 Gen 39:²⁰ Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. - Joseph master took him personally to the King’s prison, this was not some ordinary place, yet it was a maximum security place. EL YAHVEH decreed that Joseph to be imprisoned for ten years. Joseph accepted this new challenge with the same calm and unwavering faith in EL YAHVEH, as he did at the hand of his brothers.

Gen 39:²¹ But YAHVEH was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. - Joseph wronged by his master. He believed the accusation, and either Joseph durst not make his defence by telling the truth, as it would reflect too much upon his mistress, or his master would not hear it, or would not believe it, and there is no remedy, he is condemned to perpetual imprisonment. God restrained his wrath, else he had put him to death; and that wrath which imprisoned him YAHVEH made to turn to his praise, in order to which Providence so disposed that he should be shut up among the king’s prisoners, the state-prisoners. Potiphar, it is likely, chose that prison because it was the worst; for there the iron entered into the soul (Ps. 105:18), but YAHVEH designed to pave the way to his enlargement. He was committed to the king’s prison, that he might thence be preferred to the king’s person. Many an action of false imprisonment will, in the great day, be found to lie against the enemies and persecutors of YAH’s people. Our Messiyah Yahushua, like Joseph here, was bound, and numbered with the transgressors.

                           

Gen 39:²² And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. –  Joseph owned and corrected by his EL, who is, and will be, the just and powerful patron of oppressed innocence. Joseph was at a distance from all his friends and relations, had not them with him to comfort him, or to minister to him, or to mediate for him; but YAHVEH was with Joseph, and showed him mercy.

YAHVEH CHESED despises not this prisoner, Ps. 69:33. No gates nor bars can shut out HIS gracious presence from HIS people; for HE has promised that HE will never leave them. Those that have a good conscience in a prison have a good EL there. Integrity and uprightness qualify us for the divine favour, wherever we are. Joseph is not long a prisoner before he becomes a little ruler even in the prison, which is to be attributed, under YAHVEH.

To the keeper’s favour. YAHVEH gave Yoseph favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. YAHVEH CHESEDcan raise up friends for HIS people even where they little expect to find them, and can make them to be pitied even of those that carry them captive, Ps. 106:46. To Joseph’s fitness for business.

The keeper saw that YAHVEH CHESED was with him, and that every thing prospered under his hand; and therefore entrusted him with the management of the affairs of the prison. Wisdom and virtue will shine in the narrowest spheres. A good man will do good wherever he is, and will be a blessing even in bonds and banishment; for the Spirit of the Lord is not bound nor banished, witness St. Paul, Phil. 1:12, 13.

Gen 39:²³ The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because YAHVEH was with him; and whatever he did, YAHVEH made it prosper. - Normally, prisoners are the dregs of socially, and those accused of a crime like that attributed to Joseph are among the most degraded. But Joseph was so admired by everyone, his prison warden and his fellow prisoners alike. Realizing that Joseph was innocent, the warden put Joseph in charge of the prison and never demanded an accounting of him, nor did he guard him.

As believers today does the world see us in the same fashion, or is our actions the same as the world.

Chapter 40

Gen 40:¹ It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. - It came to pass that after Joseph had overcome in the last role he was given, a new set of experience was place upon him in the form of the king’s butler and baker. These two sandpapers were to help Joseph over the last part of his spiritual development. The vehicle that got both men in prison, was their alleged unfaithfulness to the king.

As believer we must understand that the Word of EL YAHVEH is like a two edged sword, it heals and it destroy. The experience that was about to be place on Joseph was not for Joseph alone it would also be for the Butler and the baker as well.

When we meet anyone as believer, the opportunity for us to influence their live is open to us, it is also incumbent on them to open their minds to the Word being spoken. The out come of every experience no matter how trivial depends on our ability to learn from it.

Gen 40:²  And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker - And Pharaoh grew angry is also an indicator that he too need the Holy Spirit to help control his temper, or may be it was EL YAHVEH way of getting these two men to cross Joseph path. I chose both questions. All of our experience with one another is to reveal our attitude, our fruit of our spirit.

Gen 40:³ So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. - Pharaoh places both servants in prison, within the authority of EL YAHVEH servant Joseph. Too often we pay too much attention to the circumstances instead of looking at the reason, therefore me miss the blessing associated with the circumstances.

Gen 40:⁴ And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while. - It was not a coincident that the captain of the guard places both men under Joseph influence. Joseph was their salvation as well as they were Joseph salvation.

Gen 40:⁵ Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. - The dream that both men experience was the catalyst, the common denominator between both parties. Our Heavenly Father will always create a medium a source to His Glory, it will not always be obvious to us. The Holy Spirit is the still small voice speaking to us in every situation. It requires a mature believer like Joseph to reveal the dream to us.

 Gen 40:⁶ And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. - This was indeed a new day for both men, a new day to follow the Word of EL YAHVEH or to continue down the same road that led to death. These men both got a Divine revelation, like a lot of us, there were no suitable Prophet available to reveal the spiritual meaning of the dream to us.

Gen 40:⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?” – This is how our Heavenly Father works, He brings us into a confine place, and where the only voice you will hear is His Voice. Return to Me you who are sinner and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Too often we view prison as a place for bad men, this may be true, but our Father is calling even bad men to salvation. Prison is a place where one should look at themselves and say what am I doing here? In my Father house are many mansion what am I doing in Jail.

 Gen 40:⁸ And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to YAHVEH? - Tell them to me, please.” No one can explain the prophetic portents of the dream. The mature believer that Joseph had become behind bars, he accurately reply, do not all interpretations belong to EL YAHVEH. Tell them to Him. What a wonderful evangelical tool. Our Heavenly Father will always create an avenue for all ministry of the Word to revile that He is Elohim.

Joseph did not say I can do it, He said take it to EL YAHVEH. Our first goal with the unsaved is always to enter duce other to Him. Joseph knew that just as EL YAHVEH sends the dream, so He will grant man the Wisdom to interpret it; otherwise, the dream would have been in vain. Therefore, relate it to me, perhaps EL YAHVEH will give me the Wisdom to interpret. Man can interpret a dream only because he is formed in Elohim’s image.

 Consequently, even a despised slave in prison may be Elohim’s agent to interpret dreams.

Gen 40:⁹ Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, -

Gen 40:¹⁰ “and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. -  The chief butler’s dream was a happy presage of his enlargement, and re-advancement, within three days; and so Joseph explained it to him.

                                   

Gen 40:¹¹ “Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” - Probably it had been usual with him to press the full-ripe grapes immediately into Pharaoh’s cup, the simplicity of that age not being acquainted with the modern arts of making the wine fine.

Gen 40:¹² And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days.

                 

Gen 40:¹³ “Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. - The idiom, “lift your head” means to count, to include. In the spiritual sense, it is trying to display is that he will return to serve Pharaoh with the other servants. Pharaoh trust in you will be fully restored. He will take the cup directly from your hand, without demanding that you taste it first.

Gen 40:¹⁴  “But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. - Your words will carry weight with the king, since you will be an important official. You return to prominence n accordance with my interpretation will be so astounding that you will nee merely to mention me to Pharaoh to have me freed from prison. This was Joseph adding his words, trying to have himself freed. After ten years plus, I too would be looking for any way out.

 Gen 40:¹⁵  “For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.” - When anyone has to complain about how long they had to carry their burden, is a clear indicator that they have a bit more maturing to do. Life is never about us or our trouble. It is about us becoming overcommer. Out Father alone knows our character and what is require for us to come to maturity. Every trial, ever situation is geared to bring us to maturity.

Gen 40:¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head.  - The implication here was that the baker was not planning and telling his dream to Joseph, but once he saw the favorable interpretation of his colleague’s dream he too was hoping for a similar out come.

Out resolution dictates our action, the attitude of the Baker showed his inner man. What he was focus on was his position and not service to the king. Like many today want to be called Pastor, yet they have not relationship with EL YAHVEH.

 Gen 40:¹⁷  “In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.” - The service of the king was only for others to see that he was the Kings baker. The produce of his labor did not benefit the king.

Gen 40:¹⁸ So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. - This Baker was given three day by Joseph to clean up his life. There is always a period of grace given to us. If that Baker had taken Joseph recordation and seek repentance, I believer he would not have been slaying.

 Gen 40:¹⁹ “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.” - The term lift up the head is used here in the literal sense meaning, he will be beheaded.

                                                     

Gen 40:²⁰ Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. - There will be a time when every servant of the Most High King will reward His servant with the appropriate reward, given accordingly to our dedication to His service.

 Gen 40:²¹ Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. - Every servant, included myself have at some point in our lives failed, we require the service of the prophet to help restore us to our former service. The object lesson here is not if we sin, it is when we sin, and what do we do next?

 Gen 40:²² But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. - This verse implies that the fate of the chamberlains was dictated by Joseph’s interpretation, in order to prove his veracity and pave the way for his future elevation.

 Gen 40:²³ Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. - The Cupbearers did not remember Joseph on the day he was free; and he forgot him subsequently; I believer that the Holy Spirit assisted the butler in forgetting all about Joseph. Joseph had to learn the bitter lesson over the next two years that EL YAHVEH ways are always the best. He should never rely on the cupbearer to speak to the king on his behalf, when he too has the King of Kings to make his request to.

                                            Haftarah

Amos 2:6 –3:8

Amos 2:⁶ Thus says YAHVEH: “For three transgressions of Yisrael, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals.-  In this verse we see at length the words which Amos saw concerning Yisrael. The reproofs and threatenings having walked the round, here they centre, here they settle. He begins with them as with the rest: For three transgressions of Yisrael, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; it all these nations must be punished for their iniquities, shall Yisrael go unpunished? Observe here what their sins were, for which YAHVEH would reckon with them.

Perverting justice. This was the sin of those who were entrusted with the administration of justice, the judges and magistrates, and all parties concerned. They made nothing of selling a righteous man, and his righteous cause when it came to be tried before them, for a piece of silver; sentence was passed, not according to the merits of the cause, but the bribe always turned the scale, and judgment was set to sale by auction to the highest bidder.

They would sell the life and livelihood of a poor man for a pair of shoes, for the least advantage to themselves that could be proposed to them; give them but a pair of shoes, and the cause of a poor man, who could not give them as much as that, should be betrayed, and left at the mercy of those that will have no mercy.

They will rather play at small game that sit out. For a piece of bread such a man will transgress. Those who will wrong their consciences for any thing will come at length to do it for next to nothing; those who begin to sell justice for silver will in time be so sordid as to see it for a pair of shoes, for a pair of old shoes.

Oppressing the poor, and seeking to benefit themselves by oppressing them: They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor; they swallow up the poor with the utmost greediness, and make a prey of those that are in sorrow with dust on their heads, poor orphans that are in mourning for their parents; they catch at them to get their estates into their hands; they never rest till they have got the heads of the poor in the dust, to be trodden on.

They pant after the dust of the earth, that is, silver and gold, white and yellow dust; they covet it earnestly, and levy it upon the head of the poor by their unjust exactions. Men’s seeking to enrich themselves by the impoverishing of others is a transgression which YAHVEH will not long turn away the punishment of. This is turning aside the way of the meek, contriving to do injury to those who, they know, are mild and patient and will bear injury.

They invade their rights, break their measures, and obstruct the course of justice in favour of them, not suffering them to go on with their righteous cause; this is turning aside their way. The more patiently men bear injuries that are done them the greater is the sin of those that injure them, and the more occasion they have to expect that YAHVEH will give them redress, and take vengeance for them. I, as a deaf man, heard not, and then thou wilt hear.

Amos 2:⁷ They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name. - Abominable uncleanness, even incest itself, such as it not named among the Gentiles, that a man should have his father’s wife (1 Co. 5:1), his father’s concubine: A man and his father will go in unto the same young woman, for laws of modesty seldom hold those that have broken the bands of justice and cast away its cords from them. This wickedness is such a scandal to religion, and the profession of it, that those who are guilty of it are looked upon as designing thereby to profane YAH’s holy name, and to render it odious among the heathen, as if he countenanced the villainies which those who pretend relation to him allow themselves in, and were altogether such a one as they.

Amos 2:⁸ They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their Elohim. – Regaling themselves and yet pretending to honor their Elohim with that which they had got by oppression and extortion. They add idolatry to their injustice, and then think to atone for their injustice with their idolatry.

(1.) They make merry with that which they have unjustly squeezed from the poor. They lay themselves down at ease, and in state, and stretch themselves upon clothes laid to pledge, which they ought to have restored the same night, according to the law, Deu. 24:12, 13. And they drink the wine of the condemned, of such as they have fined and laid heavy mulcts upon, spending that in sensuality which they have got by injustice.

(2.) They think to make atonement for this by feasting on the gains of oppression before their altars, and drinking this wine in the house of their Elohim, in the temples where they worshipped their calves, as if they would make YAHVEH a partner in their crimes by making HIM a partner of the profits of them, service good enough for false gods; but the true EL will not thus be mocked; HE has declared that HE hates robbery for burnt-offerings, and cannot be served acceptably but with that which is got honestly.

                   

Amos 2:⁹ “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was as strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit above And his roots beneath. – Here, YAHVEH puts HIS people Yisrael in mind of the great things he has done for them, in putting them into possession of the land of Canaan, the greatest part of which these ten tribes now enjoyed. We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received, which are the heaviest aggravations of the sins we have committed.

YAHVEH gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our meanness and unworthiness, and the disproportion between his gifts and our merits; but he justly upbraids us with our ingratitude, and ill requital of his favours, and tells us what he has done for us, to shame us for not rendering again according to the benefit done to us. "Son, remember; Yisrael, remember,

1. That YAHVEH brought thee out of a house of bondage, rescued thee out of the land of Egypt, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished in slavery.’’

2. That he led thee forty years through a desert land, and fed thee in a wilderness, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished with hunger. Mercies to our ancestors were mercies to us, for, if they had been cut off, we should not have been.

Amos 2:¹⁰ Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite. – That he made room for them in Canaan, by extirpating the natives by a series of wonders little inferior to those by which they were redeemed out of Egypt: I destroyed the Amorite before them, here put for all the devoted nations. Observe the magnificence of the enemies that stood in their way, which is taken notice of, that YAHVEH may be the more magnified in the subduing of them.

They were of great stature (whose height was like the height of the cedars) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set: He was strong as the oaks. Their kingdom was eminent among the nations, and over-topped all its neighbours. The supports and defences of it seemed impregnable; it was as fine as the stately cedar; it was as firm as the sturdy oak; yet, when YAHVEH had a vine to plant there (Ps. 80:8, 9), this Amorite was not only cut down, but plucked up: I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, so that the Amorites were no more a nation, nor ever read of any more.

Terefore highly did YAHVEH value Yisrael. He gave men for them and people for their life, Is. 43:4. How ungrateful then were those who put such contempt upon him!

That he made them possess the land of the Amorite, not only put it into their hands, so that they became masters of it by right of conquest, but gave them a better title to it, so that it became theirs by promise.

Amos 2:¹¹ I raised up some of your sons as prophets, And some of your young men as Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of Israel?” Says YAHVEH. - The Prophet Amos likewise upbraids them with the spiritual privileges and advantages they enjoyed as a holy nation. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their temporal enjoyments and were therefore more valuable. It is true the ten tribes had not YAH’s temple, altar, and priesthood, and it was their own fault that they deserted them, and for that they might justly have been left in utter darkness; but YAHVEH left not himself without witness, nor them without guides to show them the way.

1. They had prophets that were powerful instructors in piety, divinely inspired, and commissioned to make known the mind of YAHVEH to them, to show them what is pleasing to YAHVEH and what displeasing, to reprove them for their faults and warn them of their dangers, to direct them in their difficulties and comfort them in their troubles.

YAHVEH raised them up prophets, animated them for that work and employed them in it. He raised them up of their sons, from among themselves, as Moses and Messiyah were raised up from among their brethren, Deu. 18:15. It was an honor put upon their nation, and upon their families, that they had children of their own to be YAH’s messengers to them, of their own language, not strangers sent from another country, whom they might suspect to be prejudiced against them and their land, but those who, they knew, wished well to them.

Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people, and it is God that raises them up to be so, that they may justly be reckoned an honor to the families they are of.

 2. They had Nazarites that were bright examples of piety: I raised up of your young men for Nazarites, men that bound themselves by a vow to YAHVEH and HIS service, and, in pursuance of that, denied themselves many of the lawful delights of sense, as drinking wine and eating grapes.

There were some of their young men that were in their prime for the enjoyment of the pleasures of this life and yet voluntarily abridged themselves of them; these YAHVEH raised up by the power of HIS grace, to be monuments of HIS grace, to HIS glory, and to be HIS witnesses against the impieties of that degenerate age.

It is as great a blessing to any place to have eminent good Believers in it as to have eminent good ministers in it; for so they have examples to their rules. We must acknowledge that it bodes well to any people when YAHVEH raises up numbers of hopeful young people among them, when he makes their young men Nazarites, devout, and conscientious, and mortified to the pleasures of sense; and those that are such Nazarites are purer than snow, whiter than milk; they are indeed the polite young men, for their polishing is of sapphires, Lam. 4:7.

Those that have such men, such young men, among them, have such an advantage, both for direction and encouragement, to be mature, as they will be called to an account for another day if they do not improve. Yisrael is here reckoned with, not only for the prophets, but for the Nazarites, raised up among them. Concerning the truth of this, he appeals to themselves: "Is it not even thus, O you children of Yisrael? Can you deny it? Have not you yourselves been sensible of the advantage you had by the prophets and Nazarites raised up among you?’’

Sinners’ own consciences will be witnesses for YAHVEH that HE has not been wanting to them in the means of grace, so that, if they perish, it is because they have been wanting to themselves in not improving those means. The men of Judah shall themselves judge between YAHVEH and HIS vineyard, whether HE could have done more for it, Isa. 5:3, 4.

Amos 2:¹² “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets saying, ‘Do not prophesy!’  - He charges them with the abuse of the means of grace they enjoyed, and the opposition they gave to YAH’s designs in affording them those means. They were so far from walking in the light that they rebelled against it, and did what wasn right in their own eyes, they could to extinguish it, that it might not shine in their faces, to their conviction.

1. They did what they could to debauch good people, to draw them off from their seriousness in devotion and their strictness in conversation: You gave the Nazarites wine of deception to drink, contrary to their vow, that, having broken it in that instance, they might not pretend to keep it in any other. Some they surprised, or allured into it, and with their much fair speech caused them to yield; others they forced and frightened into it, reproached and threatened them if they were more precise than their  neighbours; and, by drawing them in to drink wine, they spoiled them for Nazarites.               Satan and his agents are very busy to corrupt the minds of young people that look heavenward; and many that we thought would have been Nazarites they have overcome by giving them wine of deception to drink, by drawing them in to the love of mirth and pleasure, and drinking company. Multitudes of young men that bade fair for eminent professors of religion have erred through wine, and been undone for ever. And how do the factors for hell triumph in the debauching of a Nazarite!

2. They did what they could to silence good ministers, and to stop their mouths: "You commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not, and threatened them if they did prophesy (ch. 7:12), as if YAH’s messengers were bound to observe your orders, and might not deliver their errand unless you gave them leave, and so you not only received the grace of YAHVEH, in raising up those prophets, in vain, but put the highest affront imaginable upon that YAHVEH in whose name the prophets spoke.’’

Those have a great deal to answer for that cannot bear faithful preaching, and those much more that suppress it.

Amos 2:¹³ “Behold, I am weighed down by you, As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. – He complains of the wrong they did him by their sins: "I am pressed under you, I am straitened by you, and can no longer bear it, and therefore I will ease myself of my adversaries, Isa. 1:24. I am pressed under you and the load of your sins as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, is loaded with corn, in the midst of the joy of harvest, as long as any will lie on.’’

The great YAHVEH complains of sin, especially the sins of HIS professing people, as a burden to HIM. HE is grieved with this generation (Ps. 95:10), is broken with their whorish heart (Eze. 6:9), a consideration which, if it make not the sinner’s repentance very deep, will make his ruin very great.

The great Elohim that upholds the world, and never complains that HIS is pressed under the weight of it (HE fainteth not, neither is weary), yet complains of the sins of Yisrael, yea, and of their hypocritical services too, that he is weary of bearing them, Isa. 1:14. No wonder the creature groans being burdened (Rom. 8:22), when the Creator says, I am pressed under them.

HE threatens them with unavoidable ruin. And so some read, "Behold I will press, or straiten, your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses; they shall be loaded with judgments till they shall sink under them, and shall make a noise, as a cart overloaded does.’’

Those that will not submit to the convictions of the word, that will neither be won by that nor by the conversation of those about them, shall be made to sink under the weight of YAH’s judgments. If YAHVEH load us daily with HIS benefits, and we, notwithstanding that, load him with our sins, how can we expect any other than that he should load us with his judgments? And it is here threatened in the last three verses that, when YAHVEH comes forth to contend with this provoking people, they shall not be able to stand before him, to flee from him, nor to make their part good with him; for when YAHVEH judges he will overcome.

Though HIS patience be tired out, HIS power is not, and so the sinner shall find, to his cost. When the Assyrian army comes to lay the country waste by sword and captivity none shall escape, but every one shall have his share in the common desolation.

Amos 2:¹⁴ Therefore flight shall perish from the swift, The strong shall not strengthen his power, Nor shall the mighty deliver himself; - It will be in vain to think of fleeing from the enemy that comes armed with a commission to make all desolate: The flight shall perish from the swift; those that have been famed for happy escapes and happy retreats shall now find their arts fail them; they shall have no time to flee, or shall find no way to take, or they shall have no strength or spirit to attempt it; they shall be at their wits’ end, and then they are soon at their flight’s end.

                                    

Amos 2:¹⁵ He shall not stand who handles the bow, The swift of foot shall not escape, Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself. - Are they, as Asahel, as swift of foot as a wild roe? (2 Sa. 2:18), yet, like him, they shall run the faster upon their own destruction: He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself. Or do they say (as those, Isa. 30:16), We will flee upon horses, and we will ride upon the swift? Yet they shall be overtaken: Neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself from his pursuers. A horse is a vain thing for safety.

It will be in vain to think of fighting it out. YAHVEH TSEBAOTH is at war with them; and are they stronger than he? Is there any military force that can pretend to be a match for Omnipotence? No: The strong shall not strengthen his force. He that has a habit of strength shall not be able to exert it when he has occasion for it. And the mighty, whose should protect and deliver others, shall not be able to deliver himself, to deliver his soul (so the word is), shall not save his life. Let not the strong man then glory in his strength, nor trust in it, but strengthen himself in YAHVEH his EL, for in HIM is everlasting strength. And, as the bodily strength shall fail, so shall the weapons of war. The armour as well as the arm shall become insufficient: Neither shall he stand that handles the bow, though he stand at a distance, but shall betake himself to flight, and not trust to his own bow to save him.

Amos 2:¹⁶ The most courageous men of might Shall flee naked in that day,” Says YAHVEH. - Though the arm be ever so strong, and the armour ever so well fixed, neither will avail when the spirit fails: He that is courageous among the mighty, that used to look danger in the face, and not be dismayed at it, shall flee away naked in that day, not only disarmed, having thrown away his weapons both offensive and defensive, but plundered of his treasure, which he thought to carry away with him, and he shall think it as much as he could expect that he has his life for a prey. Therefore when YAHVEH pleases HE takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes those who used to boast of their courage, and their daring enterprises in the field, to wander and sneak in a wilderness where there is no way, Job 12:24.

               

Chapter 3

A stupid, senseless, heedless believers, are, in this chapter, called upon to take notice, 

I. Of the judgments of YAHVEH denounced against them and the warnings he gave them of those judgments, and to be hereby awakened out of their security verse 1-8. 

II. Of the sins that were found among them, by which YAHVEH was provoked to threaten, to punish, that they might justify YAHVEH in HIS controversy with them, and, unless they repented and reformed, might expect no other than that YAHVEH should proceed in his controversy verse 9–15.

Amos 3:¹ Hear this word that YAHVEH has spoken against you, O children of Yisrael, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: - The scope of these verses is to convince the people of Yisrael that YAHVEH had a controversy with them. That which the prophet has to say to them is to let them know that YAHVEH has something to say against them in this verse.

They were HIS peculiar people above others, they knew HIS name, and were called by it; nevertheless HE had something against them, and they were called to hear what it was, that they might consider what answer they should make, as the prisoner at the bar is told to hearken to his indictment. The children of Yisrael would not regard the words of counsel and comfort that YAHVEH had many a time spoken to them, and now they shall be made to hear the word of reproof and threatening that YAHVEH has spoken against them; for he will act as he has spoken.

Let them know that the gracious cognizance YAHVEH has taken of them, and the favours he has bestowed upon them, should not exempt them from the punishment due to them for their sins. Yisrael is a family that YAHVEH brought up out of the land of Egypt, and it was no more than a family when it went down to captivity; When YAHVEH delivered it; when HE fetched it to be a family to himself. It is not only the ten tribes, the kingdom of Yisrael, that must take notice of this, but that of Judah also, for it is spoken against the whole family that YAHVEH brought up out of Egypt.

It is a family that God has bestowed distinguishing favours upon, has owned in a peculiar manner. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. YAH’s Assembly in the world is a family dignified above all the families of the earth. Those that know Messiyah Yahushua  are known of YAHVEH. In Judah is YAHVEH known, and therefore Judah is more than any people known of YAHVEH. YAHVEH known them, that is, HE has chosen them, covenanted with them, and conversed with them as HIS acquaintance. Now, one would think, that HE would spare them who follow HIM and excuse them.’’ No: Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Amos 3:² “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” - The distinguishing favours of YAHVEH shown to us in this verse, is that if they do not serve HIM, or let HIS Word restrain us from sin, and we shall not serve Him, which would exempt us from punishment.

The closer anyone is to YAHVEH in profession, and the kinder YAHVEH will be to them, the more surely, the more quickly, and the more severely will he reckon with them, if they by a course of wilful sin profane their character, disgrace their relation to him, violate their engagements, and put a slight upon the favours and honors with which they have been distinguished.

Therefore they shall be punished, because their sins dishonor HIM, it is an affront to HIM, and grieve EL YAHVEH, more than the sins of others, and because it is necessary that YAHVEH should vindicate HIS own honor by making it appear that HE hates sin and hates it most in those that are nearest to HIM. If they be but as bad as others, they shall be punished worse than others, because it is justly expected that they should be so much better than others.

Judgment begins at the house of YAHVEH, begins at the sanctuary; for YAHVEH will be sanctified either by or upon those that come nigh unto HIM, Lev. 10:3.

Amos 3:³ Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? - Let them know that they could not expect any comfortable communion with YAHVEH unless they first made their peace with HIM. Can two walk together except they be agreed? No; how should they?

Where there is not friendship there can be no fellowship; if two persons be at variance, they must first accommodate the matters in difference between them before there can be any interchanging of good offices. Yisrael has affronted YAHVEH, had broken their covenant with him, and ill-requited his favours to them; and yet they expected that he should continue to walk with them, should take their part, act for them, and give them assurances of his presence with them, though they took no care by repentance and reformation to agree with their adversary and to turn away his wrath.

"But how can that be?’’ says YAHVEH. "While you continue to walk contrary to HIM you can look for no other than that he should walk contrary to you,’’ Lev. 26:23, 24. We cannot expect that YAHVEH should be present with us, or act for us, unless we be reconciled to him. YAHVEH and man cannot walk together except they be agreed. Unless we agree with YAHVEH in our end, which is his glory, we cannot walk with him by the way.

Amos 3:⁴ Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? – Let them know that the warnings YAHVEH gave them of judgments approaching were not causeless and groundless, merely to amuse them, but certain declarations of the wrath of YAHVEH against them, which (if they did not speedily repent) they would infallibly feel the effects of: "Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey in view?

No: he roars upon his prey. Nor will a young lion cry out of his den if the old lion have taken nothing to bring home to him; nor would YAHVEH thus give you warning both by the threatenings of his word, and by less judgments, if you had not by your sins made yourselves a prey to his wrath, nor if he were not really about to fall upon you with desolating destroying judgments.’’

The threatenings of the word and providence of YAHVEH are not bugbears, to frighten children and fools, but are certain inferences from the sin of man and certain presages of the judgments of YAHVEH.

Amos 3:⁵ Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all? - Let them know that, as their own wickedness is a snare the procuring cause of these judgments, so they shall not be removed till they have done their work. When YAHVEH has come forth to contend with a sinful people it is necessary that they should understand,

1. That it is their own sin that has entangled them; for can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him? No, nature does not lay snares for the creatures, but the art of men; a bird is not taken in a snare by chance, but with the fowler’s design; so the providence of YAHHWEH prepares trouble for sinners, and it is in the work of their own hands that they are snared. Affliction does not spring out of the dust, but it is YAH’s justice, and our own wickedness, that correct us.

2. It is nothing but their own repentance that can disentangle them; for shall one take up a snare from the earth, which he laid with design, except he have taken something as he designed? So neither will YAHVEH remove the affliction HE has sent till it have done its work and accomplished that for which he sent it.

If our hearts be duly humbled, and we are brought by our afflictions to confess and forsake our sins, then the snare has taken something, then the point is gained, the end is answered, and then, and not till then, the snare is broken, is taken up from the earth, and we are delivered in love and mercy.

Amos 3:⁶  If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not YAHVEH have done it? - Let them know that all their troubles came from the hand of YAHVEH’s providence and from the counsel of his will: Shall there be evil in a city, in a family, in a nation, and YAHVEH has not done it, appointed it, and performed what he appointed? The evil of sin is from ourselves; it is our own Ego. But the evil of trouble, personal or public, is from YAHVEH, and is HIS doing; whoever are the instruments, YAHVEH is the principal agent. Out of HS Mmouth both evil and good proceed. This consideration, that, whatever evil is in the city, YAHVEH has done it, should engage us patiently to bear our share in public calamities and to study to answer YAH’s intention in them.

Let them know that they ought to tremble before YAHVEH EL-Elyon upon the fair warning HE had given them, as they would, upon the sounding of a trumpet, to give notice of the approach of the enemy, that all may stand upon their guard and stand to their arms: Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people be not afraid, or run together?

So some read it, will they not immediately come together in a fright, to consider what is best to be done for the common safety? Yet when YAHVEH by HIS prophets gives them notice of their danger, and summons them to come and enlist themselves under his banner, it makes no impression; they will sooner give credit to a watchman on their walls than to a prophet sent of YAHVEH, will sooner obey the summons of the governor of their city than the orders given them by the Governor of the world. YAHVEH says, Hearken to the voice of the trumpet; but they will not hearken, nay, and they tell him plainly that they will not, Jer. 6:17.

Amos 3:⁷  Surely YAHVEH does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. - Let them know that their prophets, who give them warning of the approaching Judgement, deliver nothing to them but what they have received from YAHVEH to be delivered to HIS people.

YAHVEH makes it known beforehand to the prophets: Surely YAHVEH ROEH will do nothing, none of that evil in the city spoken of, but HE reveals it to HIS servants the prophets, though to others it is a secret. Therefore those know not what they do who make light of the warnings which the prophets give them, in YAH’s name. YAH’s prophets are HIS servants, whom HE employs to go on HIS errands to the children of men.

The secret of YAHVEH is with them; it is in some sense with all the righteous (Prov. 3:32), with all that fear YAHVEH (Ps. 25:14), but in a peculiar manner with the prophets, the mature believer, to whom the Spirit of prophecy is a Spirit of Revelation.

 It would have put honor enough upon prophets if it had been only said that sometimes YAHVEH is pleased to reveal to his prophets what he designs to do, but it speaks something very great to say that he does nothing but what he reveals to them, as if they were the men of HIS counsel. Shall I hide from Abraham, who is a prophet, the thing which I do? Gen. 18:17.

YAHVEH will therefore be sure to reckon with those that put contempt on the prophets, whom he puts this honor upon.

Amos 3:⁸ A lion has roared! Who will not fear? YAHVEH has spoken! Who can but prophesy? - The prophets cannot but make known to the people which YAHVEH has made known to them: YAHVEH EL-YON has spoken; who can but prophesy? HIS prophets, to whom he has spoken in secret by dreams and visions, cannot but speak in public to the people what they have heard from YAHVEH.

They are so full of those things themselves, so well assured concerning them, and so much affected with them, that they cannot but speak of them; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. I believed; therefore have I spoken, Acts 4:20. Nay, and besides the prophetic impulse which went along with the inspiration, and made the word like a fire in their bones (Jer. 20:9), they received a command from YAHVEH to deliver what they had been charged with; and they would have been false to their trust if they had not done it. Necessity was laid upon them, as upon the preachers of the gospel, 1 Co. 9:16.

                                                Brit Chadasha

Acts 7:9-16.

Acts 7:⁹ “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But YAHVEH was with him. -  Joseph, the darling and blessing of his father’s house, was abused by his brethren; they envied him because of his dreams, and sold him into Egypt. Therefore early did the children of Yisrael begin to grudge those among them that were eminent and outshone others, of which their enmity to Messiyah, who, like Joseph, was a Nazarite among his brethren, was a great instance.

Acts 7:¹⁰ “and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. – YAHVEH owned Joseph in his troubles, and was with him (Gen. 39:2, 21), by the influence of his Spirit, both on his mind, giving him comfort, and on the minds of those he was concerned with, giving him favour in their eyes. And thus at length YAHVEH delivered him out of his afflictions, and Pharaoh made him the second man in the kingdom, Ps. 105:20–22. And therefore, he not only arrived at great preferment among the Egyptians, but became the shepherd and stone of Yirael, Gen. 49:24.

Acts 7:¹¹ “Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. - Jacob was compelled to go down into Egypt, by a famine which forced him out of Canaan, a dearth (which was a great affliction), to that degree that our fathers found no sustenance in Canaan.

Acts 7:¹² “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. – That fruitful land was turned into barrenness. But, hearing that there was corn in Egypt (treasured up by the wisdom of his own son), he sent out our fathers first to fetch corn.

Acts 7:¹³ “And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. - And the second time that they went, Joseph, who at first made himself strange to them, made himself known to them, and it was notified to Pharaoh that they were Joseph’s kindred and had a dependence upon him, whereupon, with Pharaoh’s leave, Joseph sent for his father Jacob to him into Egypt, with all his kindred and family, to the number of seventy-five souls, to be subsisted there.

Acts 7:¹⁴ “Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. – In Genesis they are said to be seventy souls, Gen. 46:27. But the Septuagint there makes them seventy-five, and Stephen or Luke follows that version, as Lu. 3:36, where Cainan is inserted, which is not in the Hebrew text, but in the Septuagint. Some, by excluding Joseph and his sons, who were in Egypt before (which reduces the number to sixty-four), and adding the sons of the eleven patriarch, make the number seventy-five.

Acts 7:¹⁵ “So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. – Jacob and his sons died in Egypt.

Acts 7:¹⁶ “And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. - but were carried over to be buried in Canaan. A very considerable difficulty occurs here: it is said, They were carried over into Sychem, whereas Jacob was buried not in Sychem, but near Hebron, in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Isaac were buried, Gen. 50:13. Joseph’s bones indeed were buried in Sychem (Jos. 24:32), and it seems by this (though it is not mentioned in the story) that the bones of all the other patriarchs were carried with his, each of them giving the same commandment concerning them that he had done; and of them this must be understood, not of Jacob himself. But then the sepulchre in Sychem was bought by Jacob (Gen. 33:19), and by this it is described, Jos. 24:32. How then is it here said to be bought by Abraham?

He supplies it thus: Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers; and (our fathers) were carried over into Sychem; and he, that is, Jacob, was laid in the sepulchre that Abraham brought for a sum of money, Gen. 23:16. (Or, they were laid there, that is, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) And they, namely, the other patriarchs, were buried in the sepulchre bought of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.