Parashat Vayeshev 5765/2004
EJD
The weekly reading for the week of 21 Kislev, 5765 - December 4, 2004 Parashah: Vayeshev Genesis 37:1 to 40:23; Haftarah: Amos 2:6 to 3:8; Mei Kituvim: Job 23:1-17; Brit Chadashah: Acts 22:1-29
The Bagel: Imprisonment of the righteous. Becoming a prisoner because of some connection with G-d runs through the readings for this week.
Torah:
Genesis 37:1 to 40:23. In Parashat Vayeshev, Joseph received the vision of prophecy from Adonay and told his family of the future. It seemed like hubris, pride on Joseph's part for the parents and brothers to bow down to him in the dream. Added to that was the favoritism shown by the coat of many colors. This coat was a signification of distinction and honor. It was natural for the brothers to become jealous.
Murder was turned into imprisonment. Joseph was sold to the Midianites. This was a way to obtain slaves. Joseph was then sold into slavery at the house of the Potipher in Egypt. Yet through it all Joseph remained righteous. He was a victim in the truest sense. Adonay ordained that Joseph go through this experience to better prepare him for the future.
He was falsely accused and went from slavery to the depths of an Egyptian jail. But G-d prospered him there. Soon he was running things. G-d's extraordinary gifts and talents were shown in the life of Joseph, even the in the dungeons of the criminal mind. His wisdom was the product of his righteous life and a close relationship with G-d.
The reading ends with Joseph languishing in prison, even after the revelation of the dreams. The cupbearer didn't live up to his obligation to speak for Joseph. Perhaps it wouldn't have done much good anyway and it certainly was not G-d's timing to gain the release of Joseph then. It was right for G-d to leave Joseph there in prison until the conditions were right:
Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them-- Joseph, who was sold as a slave. There in prison, they bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. Until the time came to fulfill his word, the LORD tested Joseph's character (Psalm 105:17-19 NLT). Joseph endured the rigors of imprisonment because of his righteous stance. Adonay turned his miseries into the school of wisdom. Joseph could understand the complexities of the human heart by contact with the criminals and by the study of his own heart, while in jail.
Haftarah:
Amos 2:6 to 3:8. In the Haftarah reading, there is a different aspect of the imprisonment of the righteous. The reading exposed the national sins of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Part of those sins was the "selling of the righteous for silver" (Amos 2:6). This was a form of imprisonment by slavery. Because of these sins Israel wound up taken into slavery as exiles by the Assyrian power. Their national "imprisonment of the righteous" scheme brought them into their own imprisonment.
Mei Kituvim:
Job 23:1-17. In the reading of the Kituvim, Job is feeling the pressure of his trial. He was an upright man. Satan was granted by Elohim an opportunity to imprison Job. Job suffered great loses. He lost his family, his possessions and his health, and even his reputation suffered. Perhaps, the greatest of these loses was in the perception that he was imprisoned by the presence of darkness. Where was the Presence of G-d? He felt that G-d had abandoned him. He had to face this darkness alone.
He expressed his feelings by the complaints issued in this text: "I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me" (Job 23:4-5 ESV). That imprisoning presence of darkness oppressed him. It was the words of accusation by his "counselor" friends that hurt the most. Their thesis was "G-d is punishing you because you have sinned!" But Job knew otherwise. The conditions of the prison made it hard for Job to sort it all out. Now Job wanted to press a lawsuit against G-d for the injustice of the accusations. He was innocent of the charges.
The reading leaves Job in the imprisonment of his trial, but not without a conclusion that affirmed the greater Presence over the lesser, dark one. Verse seventeen demands an exegetical call. It could be expressing a wish that he was never born so as not to experience the dark presence. The alternative is that Job expressed at the end of his complaint that G-d was present even in the "thick darkness." It depends on how the verse is translated, which choice is made. If the positive-affirmation call is correct then the translation should go something like this: "Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face" (Job 23:17 HCSB). Indeed, G-d told Satan at the beginning of the book not to touch his life. The darkness could only go so far. It could imprison, but only for a time.
This ought to make a contribution to the debate on Theodicy. Theodicy is the "justification of G-d" in theology. It attempts to explain why a good G-d would allow evil in the world. The contribution that this discussion makes is simply that evil is limited. It can only imprison the righteous and that for a time. Even in the thick darkness the Presence is still there.
None of this discussion is complete without a proper understanding of what constitutes a righteous person. It is not self-righteousness generated by the doing of the Torah. Rather, it is the imputed righteousness from G-d. This is evident in one of the titles for Elohim "Adonay Tzidekeinu" or the "L-rd our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
Brit Chadashah:
Acts 22:1-29. When we get to the Brit Chadashah, we have an unusual situation. A man who was a prisoner is defending himself so he won't be a prisoner. This man was Saul. He was in a prison of his own making. This was a spiritual prison house. In his zeal to protect, what he thought was a threat to the righteousness of the Torah, he imprisoned many righteous people. His self-righteousness provided justification to act unjustly toward those who upheld the righteousness of Adonay. Of course in his self-made prison and blindness he didn't see it that way. He saw them as wicked and should be brought to justice. Their wickedness was apostasy from the true religion. Yeshua (Jesus) was not the Messiah and those who followed Him were deceived.
His defence to keep him out of prison was to prove that Yeshua is the Messiah and those who follow Him are not deceived nor are they apostates. To the contrary, theirs is the true religion was evidenced by his own conversion experience on the Damascus Road. Yeshua had unlocked his own heart to free him from the bondage and prison of his deluded, self-righteous character.
But like so many before him Saul, who became Paul, was physically imprisoned after his defense before the people. They imprisoned the righteous by creating a riot. This made the Roman authorities imprison him. The charges? Righteousness of course, the imputed righteousness that alone comes from G-d to the sinner through the finished work of atonement by Yeshua on the cross.
Cream Cheese: Unjustly imprisoned? Remember the Key of Promise found in His Presence.
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