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Todays Parsha #9: Vayeshev (And he dwelled)

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hanukkah Special will be up next week before the weekly parsha (Mikkets)
Please see the bonus PowerPoint video teaching on the new archaeological find in
Israel this week! Very exciting!
STUDY QUESTIONS FROM LAST WEEKS PORTION (Vayishlach)
1) Is it possible that Esau himself was scared of how strong Jacob would be after 20
years and his marching with 400 men was a defensive posture and not one meant to
intimidate a terrified Jacob? Why or why not?
While the Torah doesnt get us into Esaus mind, I think it is possible Esau was just
as scared of Jacobs return as Jacob was of Esau. The reason is Esau had been
outmaneuvered by Jacob at least once and yet he knows that Jacob, not himself, has
the birthright and blessing. During Jacobs absence, it was Esau who was for all
practical purposes in charge of the family.
Jacobs return could just as easily have been a THREAT to Esaus de facto power.
And his gifts to Esau could have been viewed as either a third deception to distract
him or a way to say to him, Look, I am rich and powerful Esauthis is spare change
to me!
2) Did Esau make up with Jacob solely out of being moved to mercy by the gifts or
could there have been another reason? Hint: Your answer for question #1 MAY guide
you as to how to answer this, assuming you agree with how I will answer #1!
Following up with what we just saw for answer #1, when Jacob bows low to Esau in
front of his family, that it is the first sign that Jacob means well. Up until this point,
everything else Jacob has done could be given a dark interpretation by Esau.
Then, seeing his brother Jacob is both rich and powerful, and relieved that he has not
returned to supplant Esau or go to war, Esau sees a good opportunity to find an
alliance and he very wisely takes it.
3) How does the way the Torah tells the story of these two brothers (not the details about
who did what to whom) perhaps color our perceptions about Jacob and Esau?
To my mind, there are two considerations here. First, there is the VOLUME of text
which is disproportionately given to Jacob while Esau gets little attention. Esau is the
dirty secret left behind for two decades while Jacob goes on a great adventure.

As a result, we feel we know Jacob better than Esau and we may be more forgiving
of his obvious thoughts in part because of the sympathy we may feel either for his
love and denial of Rachel as first wife or for the way Laban treated him generally.
Also the second consideration is that the Torah really helps us go into Jacobs mind
more than Esau. With Esau, everything he feels he speaks, and the last feeling he
speaks before Jacob left was that he will kill him once Isaac dies.
By contrast, Torah really does get us deeply into Jacobs mind, both the good and the
bad. In this case, we see his REAL fear, his begging of YHWH for deliverance from
his brother. But when Esau responds with 400 men coming up with him, its hard to
wonder if his feelings have been hurt or if he still had mommy issues from his
childhood because Rebecca never loved him best.
4) IF (and I am not saying it is the case) Esau did feel defensive and threatened by
Jacobs return, or if he didnt trust Jacobs motives for coming back, is there any
evidence that could be argued in the Torah for supporting this idea?
For Esau himself, no. However, the fact that his descendants seem to always create
trouble for Jacobs may point in the other direction. Of course it is possible that their
animosity formed for other reasons having nothing to do with Esauas Jethros
descendants will go to war with Israel in the time of the Judges later onbut it
remains possible that some residual resentment was passed down from Esau to the
next generations of his clan.
5) Earlier Esau got a prophecy that his descendants would eventually rule over Jacob
"By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; but it shall come
about when you become restless, that you will break his yoke from your neck.
(Genesis 27:40 NAU)
My question is this: Is there anyone from Esaus lineage that can lay claim to having
done this, and if so, who?
There is someone from Esaus line who ruled over Jacobs sons. Josephus tells us
more about him
403

but Antigonus, by way of reply to what Herod had caused to be proclaimed,

and this before the Romans, and before Silo also, said that they would not do
justly if they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man,
and an Idumean (Edomite, descendant of Esau--AGR), i.e. a half Jew, whereas
they ought to bestow it on one of the royal family, as their custom was.
(Antiquities, 14:403)
So Herod the Great was at least partially Edomite who had married into Jewish
royalty himself and who had nominal Jewish relations in his family. Privately

becoming the king of Jews under ROMAN protection must have really felt like quite
a triumph to him and his family! But it was also why Herod was never fully accepted
as a king from the Davidic line. Then again, David wasnt exactly accepted by all the
tribes either for a while either.
By the way, Haman from the book of Esther was also a descendant of Esau!
1) Meaning of this weeks Torah portion and summary of contents:
Vayeshev means and he dwelled. This portion opens with the amazing story of
Joseph, starting with his being sold into slavery to Midianite traders who in turn sell
him in Egypt. The parsha then interrupts the Joseph story with the account of Judah
and Tamar, but then resumes talking about Joseph first being tempted by his masters
wife only to have his abstinence backfire and land him in prison. Once there,
Josephs intellect gets him noticed and he makes prophecies that come true for two
prisoners, the baker and the wine taster. The baker is killed but the wine taster was
prophesied to go free but reneged on his promise to put in a good word for Joseph
immediately upon his release.
2) Parsha (English-Genesis 37:1-40:23). This week we will read the entire portion.
3) Play by Play commentary where appropriate.

Vayeshev Ya'akov be'erets megurey aviv be'erets Kna'an.

Eleh toldot Ya'akov Yosef ben-shva-esreh shanah hayah ro'eh etechav batson vehu na'ar et-beney Vilhah ve'et-beney Zilpah neshey
aviv vayave Yosef et-dibatam ra'ah el-avihem.

4) Point out key Hebrew words/terms. Color Commentary:

ELEH TOLDOT YAAKOV (37:2) = These are the generations of Yaakov. The
word TOLDOT literally means generations although some authorities allow for the
idea of chronicles here since this is a story of what Yaakovs children are doing for
the rest of Genesis. However, even chroniclesas evident in the books called
thisare filled with generations. I think the Hebrew here is simply pointing to the
very end of Genesis, by which time Joseph is dead and the rest of the family is settled
in Egypt for generations before the Exodus.
DIBATAM RAAH = (37:2) = Literally, bad words and a synonym of LASHON
HARA (bad tongue). Both mean bad report, or false accusations. LASHON HARA
can also apply to FACTUAL accounts that are nevertheless spun or edited into a
deceptive product or to inflict harm. Josephs brothers do this later, by showing the
bloody coat of Joseph and allowing Jacob to draw the wrong conclusions from it.
KETONETH PASSIM (37:3) = Some say, coat of many colors; others think it
refers to the length of the coat or the layering of the coat. Still others think it might
be all of these things. I therefore like long colorful coat because that covers (pun
intended) everything. Here is how Bible.ort.org puts it:
Kethoneth passim in Hebrew. It was a royal garment; 2 Samuel 13:18 (cf. Ralbag ad
loc.). The word passim can be translated as 'colorful' (Radak; Septuagint),
embroidered (Ibn Ezra; Bachya; Ramban on Exodus 28:2), striped (Ibn Janach;
Radak, Sherashim), or with pictures (Targum Yonathan). It can also denote a long
garment, coming down to the palms of the hands (Rashbam; Ibn Ezra; Baaley
Tosafoth; Bereshith Rabbah 84), and the feet (Lekach Tov). Alternatively, the word
denotes the material out of which the coat was made, which was fine wool (Rashi) or
silk (Ibn Janach). Hence, kethoneth passim, may be translated as 'a full-sleeved robe,'
'a coat of many colors,' 'a coat reaching to his feet,' 'an ornamented tunic,' 'a silk robe,'
or 'a fine woolen cloak.'
VAYOSIFU OD SNO OTO (37:5) = and they hated him all the more. The word for
hate is SANAY and it is the same word Yshua uses in his Aramaic dialect for
hate your parents. However, in that case Yshua does not mean hatred in the
traditional sense because he is making a comparison point. No good Jew like Yshua
would encourage breaking one of the Ten Commandments about honoring your father
and your mother. Instead, he is saying that when we line up our proper love for
family and that of the Kingdom of Abba YHWH, the love for the Kingdom should so
exceed that our earthly family (of course we love and take care of them per Torah as
well) so that it LOOKS like hatred by comparison.
VAYACHALOM OD CHALOM ACHER VAYESAPER OTO LEECHAV
VAYOMER HINEH CHALAMTI CHALOM OD VEHINEH HA-SHEMESH
VEHAYAREACH VEECHAD ASAR KOCHAVIM MISHTACHAVIM LI (37:9) =
And he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers: I just had another dream,

he said. The sun, the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me. This is an
incredibly important reference to the original star-based (mazzaroth) calendar. This is
not to say the cycles of the sun and moon also were not important, but at this time in
history the months were solar, and at all points in Biblical history the stars called out
the time of spring, and the start of the calendar (Genesis 1:14-19; 8:22, Job 38:31-33).
Here we see what I sometimes call the Kosher Zodiac. This is not a pagan construct
where the stars and planets are gods to be worshipped.
Nevertheless, the Hebrews, like every other civilized group in the Middle East, knew
how to use the stars to tell them when to seed and harvestto say otherwise makes
them the stupidest people in the Middle East. And so it is that the Kosher Zodiac,
much like the wheels in Ezekiel, is revealed here by Joseph, one of only 5 seers in the
Tanakh (Moshe, Samuel, Ezekiel and Daniel are the other 4; Yochanan the Apostle is
the only seer in the NT).
The vision of the sun, moon and 11 stars relates Joseph and his family to the main
constellations. The sun is Jacob, the moon is Rachel, the 11 brothers are 11 of the 12
Zodiac signs (matching the number of tribes), and Joseph is the 12th and last sign.
Even his father Jacob has a star belonging to him (Numbers 24:17).
And finally, this is also confirmed by both Josephus and Philo...
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Now Jacob was pleased with the dream; for, considering the prediction in his
mind, and shrewdly and wisely guessing at its meaning, he rejoiced at the great things
thereby signified, because it declared the future happiness of his son; and that, by the
blessing of Elohim, the time would come when he should be honored, and thought
worthy of worship by his parents and brethren, 16 as guessing that the moon and
sun were like his mother and father; the former, as she that gave increase and
nourishment to all things, and the latter, he that gave form and other powers to
them; and that the stars were like his brethren, since they were eleven in
number, as were the stars that receive their power from the sun and moon.
(Antiquities, 2:15-16)
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Whose dreams then am I here alluding to? Surely everyone must see to those of
Joseph, and of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to those which the chief baker and the
chief butler saw themselves; 6 and it may be well at all times to begin our instruction
with the first instances. Now the first dreams are those which Joseph beheld,
receiving two visions from the two parts of the world, heaven and earth. From the
earth the dream about the harvest; and that is as follows, "I thought that we were all
binding sheaves in the middle of the field; and my sheaf stood up." [Genesis xxxvii.
7.] 7 And the other relates to the circle of the zodiac, and is, "They worshipped me as
the sun and the moon and the eleven stars." And the interpretation of the former one,
which was delivered with great violence of reproof, is as follows, "Shall you be a
king and reign over us? or shall you be a lord and lord it over us?" The interpretation
of the second is again full of just indignation, "Shall I, and thy mother, and thy
brethren come and fall down upon the ground and worship thee?" (On Dreams, 2:5-7)

SHAMAR ET-HA DAVAR (37:11) = suspended judgment but literally guarded

his words towards himself/kept words within himself. By not pronouncing anything
hastily, Jacob shows superior character. He is not rash nor does he criticize lightly.
But he will rebuke Joseph later.
HALO ACHECYCHA (37:13) = Literally Are not your brothersliterally a
question but meant as a rhetorical one. Since Jacob knows the answer to his own
question, this is really better understood in English as a STATEMENT though
technically it is a question in Hebrew. The real reading would be close to I am pretty
sure your brothers are.
ISH (37:15) = man but as we have seen before, sometimes these men are angels.
Rabbinic opinion seems to agree this is Gabriel.
DOTHAN (37:17) = Tell Dothna. The place where Joseph is ironically sold into
slavery will ironically come under the supervising territory of his son Manasseh,
whose name means forgetful. So perhaps the designation of this place as one of
filial betrayal is FORGOTTEN when it comes under Josephs son to rule! See 2
Kings 6:13.
BOR (37:22) = Usually translated as well however that well had no water in it
(37:24), so pit or cistern is probably more accurate. If the well had water it
might have been called MAQOR (fountain/spring) or about 3-4 other Hebrew terms.
VAYIKACHUHU VAYASHLICHU OTO HA-BORAH (37:24) = and he took him
and threw him into the well. Most translations say they took him but the Hebrew
actually reads HE took him, meaning that only one brother threw Joseph into the
well. Sources are divided on which brother is meant. Some say it was Shimeon, thus
explaining why Joseph singled him out for being taken away from the others in
Genesis 42:24. Josephus however puts the blame on Reuben, but tries to partially
exonerate him by saying Reuben gently lowered Joseph into the pit in essence to
protect him from the others. However, the Hebrew does not say gently lowered but
CAST, TOSSED, meaning a more violent action was done. Personally I lean
towards the Shimeon explanation but there is no way to be absolutely sure.
MIDIANITES (37:28) = It is not a contradiction that the traders are called
Ishmaelites a few lines earlier. It was easy to make this identification with the style
of the caravan from a distance. Once Josephs brothers draw close however, these
traders clothes and other markers reveal which son of Ishmael they are descended
from.
HAKETONET BINCHA HI IM LO (37:32) = is it your sons coat or not? Again this
is LASHON HARA. The brothers KNOW its Josephs coat so they can anticipate
Jacobs assumptions that Joseph was devoured by a wild beast. By presenting the coat
with blood to create a deceptive image, it is just as badif not worsethan if they

had verbally lied to Jacob. It is also especially cruel to Jacob to make him grieve for
his son literally to the brink of dying with a broken heart.
VAYITABEL AL-BENO YAMIM RABO (37:34) = and he kept himself in
mourning for many days. This confirms the depth of the depravity of Jacobs sons.
VE-KOL BENOTAV (37:35) = and all his daughters. This is the first time we are
told that Jacob also had daughters other than just Dinah but we dont know anything
else about them! It is possible they are either his granddaughters or perhaps
daughters-in-law, but there is no way to know. A similar situation happened before,
with respect to Jacob and Esau. When Jacob gets Isaacs blessing, that blessing puts
Jacob over all his BROTHERS and this Isaac says in front of Esau, indicating there
had to be at least one other son of Isaac other than Jacob and Esau.
POTIPHAR (37:36) = Ancient Egyptian name, possibly PA-DIU-PAR or giver of
the house, with PAR meaning house from where we get PAR-OH (Great
House/Pharaoh). Another possibility is a name also found in Egyptian texts: PA-DIUPA-RA (Potphera) or one whom Ra (the sun god) has given. The latter seems more
likely, especially for Asenaths father if not Potiphar himself, as both men could be
sharing the same name.
BAT ISH KANANI (38:2) = daughter of a merchant/Canaanite. The root for the
word Canaan is KANA and means to drive down, implying someone who
haggles prices. What will become Israel later is therefore known as the land of
bargaining perhaps, because Canaan was a trader land situated between
Mesopotamia and Egypt. The word is used in this context as merchant as opposed
to Canaanite in several places, such as Hosea 12:8, Zechariah 14:21, Proverbs
26:24 and Job 40:50.
Special Note: Quite a few times in the parsha the phrase and his/her name was
appears. The Rabbis have a strong belief that this phraseology always indicates a
righteous man or woman.
VAYAR SHAM YEHUDAH BAT-ISH KNANI USHMO SHUA (38:2) = There
Yehudah met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. It is possible to translate the
term Canaanite also as merchant (e.g. Isaiah 23:8, Hosea 12:8, Zechariah 14:21).
Most likely this is the lady referred to as Bath Shua in 1 Chronicles 2:3.
TAMAR (38:6) = palm tree, and image of shelter and comfort. This is the female
equivalent of ITHAMAR, one of Aarons sons. The Hebrew language of her name
was indicates she was a righteous lady. The other Tamar, in 2 Samuel 13:1, is also
given this honor, whose name was Tamar. So both women are righteous.
VAYOMER YEHUDAH LE ONAN: BO EL ESHET ACHICHA VEYABEM
OTAH VEHAKEM ZERA LE-ACHICA (38:8) = Yehuda said to Onan: Go into (or
MARRY) the wife of your brother and thus fulfill the duty of a brother in law to her.

You will then raise children to keep your brothers name alive. This translation is not
super literal. It is meant to harmonize with the Deuteronomy 25s similar command
that his NAME not be blotted out of Israel. However ZERA means SEED and this
amounts to the same idea, as a seed is always traced back to its origin point. It may be
that Deuteronomy 25 is a re-statement of a practice instituted in Abrahams day or
earlier. Another more likely possibility I think is that Yehuda himself by his
commanding tone is instituting this rule at that moment for the first time, and it will
get confirmed at Sinai later.
VAYEDA ONAN KI LO LO YIHYEH HA ZARA VEHAYA IM BA- EL ESHET
ACHIV VESHECHET ARTSAH LEVITI NETARI ZERA LE ACHIV (38:9) = and
Onan knew the seed would not carry his name. Therefore, whenever he came into his
brothers wife, he would spill his seed on the ground, so as to not have children in his
brothers name. Confirming the linkage to the language in 38:8. It is so the dead
brothers name is preserved in Israel.
EYNAIM (38:14) = twin fountains but also twin eyes as the words for eyes and
fountains sound and look the same.
VAYIREYHA YEHUDAH VAYACHSHEVEHA LE-ZONAH KI-CHISTAH
PANEYHA (38:15) = Judah saw her, and because she covered her face, he thought
she was a prostitute. It was customary for such women in the Middle East to veil
their faces in a particular way, in part to shield them from the shame of their
profession.
CHOTAMCHA (38:18) = your seal. Seals were cylindrical, either signet rings or
other form of impression, that would set a pattern in clay that would dry. The image
of a seal is a raised circle or watermark and this becomes very important in Job 9:9
that YHWH has placed a SEAL on the stars, which also suggests a crown/wheel
(Revelation 12:1-2).
KADESHA (38:21) = sacred/temple prostitute. This is someone who is dedicated to
pagan rites that involve sex. Certain pagan cultures had women as temple prostitutes
for a week prior to marriage, so as to give them sexual experience. However Judah is
not participating in the pagan sex cult because when he picks her up the text in
38:15 at that moment calls here a ZONAH, a regular prostitute. It is only after the sex
act that he thinks she might have been the other variety.
VAYOMER YEHUDAH HOTSIUHA VETISARECH (38:24) = And said Yehudah:
Let her be burned. Torah did not directly allow this form of punishment for the
offense, suggesting Yehudah had significant discretionary powers over and above
what was written, and he may be using them to send a strong warning for the rest of
Israel. Other motives discussed by the Rabbis might be that of revengeat least until
he understands his faultor others think it wasnt being burned to death but just
branded on the skin, a kind of ancient Hebrew scarlet letter. I incline to the first

explanation because if burning were the official penalty Yehudah probably would
not have been legally able to set it aside.
PERETZ (38:29) = Perez (divided), is the ancestor of King David, see Ruth 4:18-22
and therefore also Yshua as well, (Matthew 1:3, 6; Luke 3:31, 33).
ZERACH (38:30) = literally to shine forth.
VELO YADA ITO MEUMAH KI IM HALECHA (39:6) = and he did not concern
himself with anything except for the food (bread) that he (Joseph) ate. Possibly
because the Egyptians considered foreign food unclean, so Potiphar wanted to make
sure he doesnt mistakenly eat the Jewish food. Or, possibly, Joseph was observant
to an early kosher practice which meant he needed separate areas and/or utensils to
keep eating clean. Some others have suggested the food or bread Potiphar was
concerned with was his tasty wife, but I dont lean to this interpretation.
ESHET-ADONAV (39:7) = his masters wife. According to some traditions,
Potiphars wife was named Zelikhah. The meaning of this name is obscure, but it may
be related to the word ZELILAH which means insatiable.
LETZACHEKH (39:14) = make sport/play with us, or make us the object of laughter.
Ironically, this is the same root/word used to name Josephs grandfather YITZKHAK
(Isaac-he laughs). Ishmael was also driven out because Sarah said he was also
mocking or teasing them, same word (Genesis 20:9).
VAYEHI ACHAR HA-DEVARIM HA-ELEH CHATEU MASHKEH MELECHMITSRAYIM VEHAOFEH LAADONEYHEM LEMELECH MITSRAYIM (40:1)
= Soon after this the Egyptian kings wine steward and baker offended their master,
who was the king of Egypt. The Torah doesnt tell us what the offense was, but the
Midrashic traditions gives plenty of suggestions, such as there was a fly in the wine
and a pebble in the bread, or that they tried to poison Pharaoh or that they tried to
seduce his daughter. Of these, I think we can safely eliminate the assassination
attempt idea as that would surely have resulted in instant death and the wine steward
would not have been pardoned so quickly from such an offense
YISA FAROH ET-ROSHECHA (40:13) = Pharaoh will lift up your head (literal); meaning,
Pharaoh will single you out.
CHORI (40:16) = fine white, same word uses describing linen. Interestingly though this is
also an ancient Egyptian word that means woven, perhaps describing the bread in woven
baskets. This is one of about 50 ancient Egyptian words that are in Genesis, and this is
exactly what we should expect from an author like Moshe, who obviously was fluent in
ancient Egyptian as well as Hebrew.
Special Archaeological Update (as of December 2nd, 2015)
Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Seal Impression of Biblical King in Jerusalem: The

Closest as Ever That We Can Get to Ancient Ruler

Dec. 2, 2015 11:28am Sharona Schwartz from
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/12/02/archaeologists-discover-2700-year-old-sealimpression-of-biblical-king-in-jerusalem-the-closest-as-ever-that-we-can-get-to-ancient-ruler/
Israeli archaeologists announced Wednesday that they found a seal impression bearing the name of
King Hezekiah, whose reign was described in the book of 2 Kings as well as elsewhere in the Bible.
After deciphering the royal seal impression found during excavations near the southern wall of the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the researchers concluded it is the closest as ever that we can get to
something that was most likely held by King Hezekiah himself, said Dr. Eilat Mazar of the
Hebrew Universitys Institute of Archaeology who directed the excavation.
The impression bears the ancient Hebrew inscription: Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king
of Judah as well as a two-winged sun with downturned wings and two ankh, the looped cross
symbol of life.

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A seal impression dating to the reign of King Hezekiah was unearthed at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem. (Ouria Tadmor via Dr. Eilat Mazar/Hebrew University)

The Times of Israel reported that the royal seal impression was found five years ago but that
archaeologists then didnt realize its significance.
That changed when Hebrew University archaeologist Reut Ben Arieh began deciphering the
inscription and noticed tiny punctuation marks separating the words king and Judah.
Immediately we understood, Ben Arieh told the Times of Israel.
The centimeter-wide impression was imprinted on a bulla, or inscribed clay, around which the
depression of the edge of the ring that the seal was on could be seen, researchers said.
Archaeologists said the bulla sealed a papyrus document that had been rolled and tied with thin
cords. Those cords left their mark on the reverse side of the bulla, suggesting the document may
have been signed by the king himself, the Times of Israel noted.
Although seal impressions bearing King Hezekiahs name have already been known from the
antiquities market since the middle of the 1990s, some with a winged scarab (dung beetle) symbol
and others with a winged sun, this is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite or Judean
king has ever come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation, Mazar said in a statement
announcing the discovery.
According to the biblical narrative in 2 Kings 18, Hezakiah son of Ahaz and Abijah began his reign
at the age of 25 and ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. Historians place his rule over Judah from
about 715 to 686 B.C., though there are debates over the precise years.
The Bible describes Hezekiah as pious and driven by his faith in God, destroying the idols which
had flourished during his fathers reign.
As is written in 2 Kings 18:5, Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one
like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

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The site of the Ophel excavations at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is marked in red by the Hebrew
University of Jerusalems Institute of Archaeology. (Photo courtesy: Andrew Shiva via Hebrew University)

The seal impression was among dozens found during archaeological excavations south of the
Temple Mount in an area called Ophel where Mazar said artifacts previously found provide
concrete evidence of the reigns of King David and King Solomon.
Researchers last year announced that they had decoded the oldest inscription ever found in
Jerusalem at the same site as the Hezekiah seal.
That inscription composed of eight letters depicting the Hebrew word for wine was carved
into a clay jar and is believed to have been written during King Solomons reign.
Despite the discovery announced Wednesday, along with countless other historical artifacts, the
Palestinian Authority regularly accuses Israel of trying to Judaize Jerusalem and dismisses any
Jewish historical connection to the city.
Most of the discoveries have been made in and around the Temple Mount, the holiest site in
Judaism and third-holiest to Muslims after Mecca and Medina. Palestinians demand that east
Jerusalem, which includes all of the major holy site, be the capital of a future independent
Palestinian state.
The excavation that unearthed the seal was a joint project by the Israel Antiquities Authority and

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the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The earth sifting facility where archaeologists found the seal
impression is run jointly by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the City of David
Foundation.
My personal comment: This artifact was found EXACTLY where I believe the Temple actually
stood, southwest of the mosque, above the Gihon spring, and over the ridge where Josephus says
the rocks looked like a crescent moon. My thanks to my friend Marty Herz and his site
www.realtemplemount.com which has the actual pictures to prove it, like this one:

Torah Question of the Week:

Which Apostle is Joseph most like in this portion?
END PART 1

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PART 2: THE HAFTORAH

Torah Question of the Week:
Which Apostle is Joseph most like in this portion?
I tried to phrase this in a way that wouldnt be an immediate give away, but the
answer is Yochanan, because of Revelation 12:1-2 involves 12 celestial bodies in a
dream/vision! Both references are very important details in the Wheel of Stars.
Bonus Teaching!
From Tamar to Tamar: Why Multi-colored is the New Black
This week we begin the story about Joseph, the 4th and last generation from Abraham in
the book of Genesis. Truly there is a lot going on in this parsha, from Joseph being a bit
of a teenage pest (Dad! Josephs dreaming hes superior to us again!), to being sold into
slavery and eventually, after misadventures with Potiphars wife, being left to rot in jail
because some wine taster had a memory problem.
But in between this immense epic, seems a tale that just kind of got shoehorned into place
there: The story of Judah and Tamar. Its a very curious side story to have, especially
where Judah is concerned. After all, one moment hes betraying his brother and
abandoning him in Egypt and then next thing we know he is sleeping with a woman he
thinks is Temple prostitute! Maybe the Psalm should read for Judah: My staff and my
cord, they DONT comfort me. Talk about 50 Shades of Grey, but in the Scripture?
Well, yes apparently, except what I see is less gray and more black. Why did Abba
YHWH want this story here? Part of the answer may be chronological. Joseph is 17 when
he is sold into slavery, but 30 years old after he is released from only two years of prison
to help Pharaoh Sakir-Har or the 15th Dynasty. It seems we have about 10 years in
between, so whats going on there?
I would venture to guess that, excluding an extensive prologue that must belong many
years before Joseph turned 17, Judah and Tamars drama takes place sometime during
that decade where Joseph seems to be missing and just reading that account and adding
up time it seems to happen over several years, but that also begs another question: Was
Joseph in Egypt all that time or did he stay with the Midianites as their servant?
I believe the latter is probably true, simply because in the year Joseph was sold, Egypt
was in the throes of bloody civil war. The native Theban rulers were under attack from
the Hyksos chariots of the north. Eventually, the Hyksos prevailedthey had better
weapons and chariotsand after a few years, maybe 6 or 7things settled down and it
was safe to sell Joseph to the winners and to Potiphar. I just dont see Bedouin merchants
trading in a war zone where the infrastructure itself is being destroyed.
But heres where I think there is also a prophetic and thematic reasoning behind putting
the Judah-Tamar story in chapter 38. I think it also has to do with Abba YHWH looking

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into the future and seeing a common link that He wanted to point to. The pattern for this
prophetic and thematic aspect begins here
(Gen 37:3) And Yisral loved Yosph more than all his children, because he was the
son of his old age. And he made him a long robe [ketoneth passim ] .
(TS 1998)
As we saw in the linguistics section, this phrase can be rendered colorful or multilayered and it is possible both meanings are intended simultaneously. In any case, what
we see is this garish garment, whatever it actually looked like, only led to despair and
heartache for Joseph. He is promptly stripped of his garment, thrown naked down a well
and is sold into slavery. It will take 13 years before Joseph undoes some of the damage
done to him by being elevated by Pharaoh, and another 9 years before he gets final
victory over his brothers. In the meantime, Josephs father, Jacob, is hanging by a thread
and nearly dies from grief while he is believing beloved Joseph has been torn to pieces by
wild animals, and this because his loyal sons tore that garment and dipped it in animal
blood themselves.
And at this point I would like to let all of you in on a little secret. Some of you have heard
me talk about the historical novel I have been working on for many years about Moshe.
Well there is also a lot of backstory in the novel too, and a good chunk of it is about
Joseph. Keep in mind that for the little bit that follows it is purely out of my
imagination
In the story, a Theban prince named Re-ankh is sent on a desperate mission to buy grain
for his people. The problem is, their victorious rivals, again known as the Hyksos, wont
sell it to their bitter enemies and Hyksos guards make sure no Theban ever gets to see
Joseph for help. That means Joseph has no clue starvation, in spite of his best efforts, is
being used as a weapon of war by the Pharaoh Sakir-Har.
And so Re-ankh shaves his princes lock, sets aside all his visible signs of wealth and
power, and disguises himself as a Midianite trader to get to buy grain. Re-ankh does this
because, apparently, he has the gifts of vision and prophecy, and he believes one of his
gods told him how to get past the Hyksos guards and buy grain from Joseph. He also
claims, to the one servant he truly trusts, that if he gets caught he has a little special
magic to deal with the problem, a spell for the Vizier himself.
Of course, what Re-ankh does not know is that the Hebrew Vizier Joseph, also known as
Zaphenath-Panea, also has the gift of prophetic dreams, but lately those dreams for
Joseph have turned into nightmares. For weeks on end he would see a wooden chest and
hear a voice say Your past will unfold before you. He opens the chest but never sees
what is inside, waking up with his heart pounding in his chest and drenched in sweat.
And this time, neither Joseph nor his priestess wife Asenath is able to decode what it
means.

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And what neither man knows is that it is actually Abba YHWH pulling the strings to
bring the two men together. Just before Re-ankh arrives in Goshen, Joseph has another
dream that alerts him to the plot. Re-ankh is quickly discovered and arrested, but Joseph
was also told to not bring the Theban to the Hyksos Pharaoh, but rather deal with it
personally and out of sight.
Finally after some time, the two men meet and per Josephs orders all of the Theban
princes possessions are confiscated and brought to himone item being the wooden
chest from his dreams. Joseph opens the chest and sees the Thebans gift to himhe has
re-stitched, cleaned up and re-mounted the jewels from Josephs original coat of many
colors that his brothers and Jacob left behind! His past literally did unfold before him.
Joseph then views Re-ankh as having made a fair trade and secretly sends him away with
all the grain he needs, and so the Thebans are preserved from dying in the famine (thus
explaining Genesis 41:54 though the Hyksos only rule half the country), but these same
Thebans will still have their revenge and enslave Josephs own people later.
Okay, story time over, and now back to the Scripture. The point of that little exploration
was this: Joseph never really forgets where he came from. Even as he gets all a man in
his position could ever want: a beautiful and loving wife, wealth, power, respect and so
on, still he feels the need to remind himself what happened before by the way he names
his sons:
(Gen 41:51) And Yosph called the name of the first-born Menashsheh, For
Elohim has made me forget all my toil and all my fathers house.(Gen 41:52)
And the name of the second he called Ephrayim, For Elohim has caused me to
bear fruit in the land of my affliction. (TS 1998)
So whether he got his coat of many colors back or not, Joseph is still very much tied to
his past, even when his present could not be more prosperous. Though he is second only
to Pharaoh in power, he still calls Egypt the land of my afflictionwhen actually a
pretty good case can be made that description more accurately fits Canaan than it does
Egypt!
In any case, the patternthe real one and not what comes out of my imaginationis that
first we see a coat of many colors, a ketoneth passim, then we see heartbreak and betrayal
and then we see a woman named Tamar. Guess what? This pattern repeats itself again
exactlyand in an extra Scripture study we got into just last week!
After this, the following events took place. Absalom son of David had a beautiful
sister whose name was Tamar; Amnon son of David fell in love with her. ( 2
Amnon was so obsessed with his sister Tamar that it made him ill, since she was a
virgin and Amnon thought it impossible to do anything to her.
3

But Amnon had a friend called Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, and
Jonadab was a very shrewd man. 4 'Son of the king,' he said, 'tell me why,

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morning after morning, you look so worn? Won't you tell me?' Amnon replied, 'I
am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.'
5

Then Jonadab said, 'Take to your bed, pretend to be ill and, when your father
comes to visit you, say, "Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something
to eat; let her prepare the food where I can see. What she gives me I shall eat." '
6
So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. The king then came to visit him
and Amnon said to the king, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and make a cake or
two where I can watch. What she gives me, I shall eat.'
7

David then sent word to Tamar at the palace, 'Go to your brother Amnon's
house and prepare some food for him.' 8 Tamar went to the house of her brother
Amnon who was lying there in bed. She took dough and kneaded it, and she made
some cakes while he watched, and baked the cakes. 9 She then took the pan and
dished them up in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, 'Let everyone
leave me!' So everyone withdrew.
10

Amnon then said to Tamar, 'Bring the food to the inner room, so that I can eat
what you give me.' So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought
them to her brother Amnon in the inner room. 11 And as she was offering the food
to him, he caught hold of her and said, 'Come to bed with me, sister!' 12 She
replied, 'No, brother! Do not force me! This is no way to behave in Israel. Do not
do anything so disgraceful! 13 Wherever should I go? I should be marked with
this shame, while you would become disgraced in Israel. Why not go and speak to
the king? He will not refuse to give me to you.' 14 But he would not listen to her;
he overpowered her and raped her.
15

Amnon was then seized with extreme hatred for her; the hatred he now felt for
her was greater than his earlier love. 'Get up and go!' he said. 16 She said, 'No,
brother! To send me away would be worse than the other wrong you have done
me!' But he would not listen to her. 17 He called his personal servant. 'Rid me of
this woman!' he said. 'Throw her out and bolt the door behind her!' 18 (She was
wearing a magnificent dress, for this was what the king's unmarried daughters
wore in days gone by.) So the servant put her out and bolted the door behind her.
19

Tamar put dust on her head, tore the magnificent dress which she was
wearing, laid her hand on her head, and went away, crying aloud as she
went. 20 (2 Samuel 13:1-20 NJB)
Now look at that last line with a little more special information
19

Tamar put dust on her head, tore the magnificent dress (ketoneth ha

passim ) which she was wearing.

Thats right, the terms are almost identical and have the same meaning: coat of many
colors and/or textures! So here we see another coat of many colors in another potential

17

sex scandal associated with another woman named Tamar! I hope therefore all of you
will agree with me then when I say, this is no coincidence.
What is also interesting to note is the fact that both Joseph and Tamar (the second one)
are referenced as being of lovely form, yet in neither case did they produce or buy their
coat of many colors. Rather it seems to be the case that Jacob gave the coat to Joseph and
Tamar had her version also given to her because of her royal rank. And though each may
have loved the way they felt in that garment, both ended up with the coat in fragments
resembling their own broken hearts.
Maybe thats why Yshua said
(Mat 6:25) Because of this I say to you, you should not be anxious about your
life, what you will eat and what you will drink and not about your body, what you
should wear. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing? (Mat 6:26)
Behold the birds in the sky that they do not sow and they do not reap and they do
not gather into storehouses. And your Father who is in heaven nourishes them.
Are you not more than they?
(Mat 6:27) And who among you while anxious is able to add to his stature one
cubit?
(Mat 6:28) And about clothing, why are you anxious? Consider the lilies of the
wilderness, how they grow without toil and without spinning. (Mat 6:29) But I
say to you, not even Shleemon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. (Mat
6:30) And if to the grass of the field, that today is and tomorrow is thrown into
the furnace, Elohim like this clothes, will he not much more clothe oh you of little
faith?
(Mat 6:31) "Therefore, do not be anxious or say, What will we eat? Or what will
we drink? Or what will we wear? (Mat 6:32) For all these things, the peoples of
the world require, and your Father who is in heaven also knows that you require
all these things.
(Mat 6:33) But first seek the Kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness and all
these things will be added to you. (Mat 6:34) Therefore, be not anxious about
tomorrow for tomorrow is anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its evil."
Now please do not mistake my intention here. I am surely not saying that Joseph and
Tamar II got what they deserved because they happened to have some nice clothing.
But on the other hand, I cant also help but wonder if their path might have been easier
with something more plain in their wardrobe, but of course, we can never know for sure.

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1) Haftorah portion: (English- Amos 2:6-3:8) and discuss common themes with the
Torah portion. Read entire portion first.

Koh amar Yahweh al-shloshah pish'ey Yisra'el ve'al-arba'ah lo

ashivenu al-michram bakesef tsadik ve'evyon ba'avur na'alayim.
2) Our linguistic commentary
SHAAPH (2:7) = pant after, but also trample over or crush underfoot.
CHABAL (2:8) = pledges, but literally bindings. An oath covenant binds two
parties together. The oppositedestroying a covenant is to LOOSEN or
UNRAVEL it. Yshua uses this metaphor in Matthew 5, he did not come to
LOOSEN the Torah or the prophets. Similarly, these BINDINGS can apply to
metaphors like the CORDS OF DEATH/SHEOL. The word can also mean
pains and this meaning is often misapplied when it really means
ropes/cords/bindings.
AMORITE (2:9) = mountain dwellers.
QESHETH (2:15) = bow (the weapon) or an archer who wields it. This is the
same word used by Abba YHWH in Genesis 9:13 about Him putting His bow in
the clouds to remind Himself not to again destroy the world by water. So Abba
YHWH as Bowman contrasts here in Amos with the frail kind of archers we call
men.
KI LO YAASEH ADONAY ELOHIM DAVAR KI IM-GALAH SODO ELAVADAV HA NEVIIM (3:7) = Surely Master Elohim does nothing without
revealing His secrets to His servants the prophets. This in part tells us that
prophets (along with priests and sometimes also kings) are charged with keeping
YHWHs secret knowledge. Some of this includes the original calendar secrets to
be sure, but other parts of the secret may be very sophisticated understandings of
the Universe as well. The other key word is GALAH (reveal) from which we get
Yshuas home region of Galileenot surprising since Yshua said he would
open is mouth in parables and reveal things unknown since the foundation of the
Universe!
3) Renewed Covenant portion: (English). Acts 7:9-16 (all the way through with
applicable footnotes.)
4) Highlight common themes in Aramaic (terms in footnotes which I will read):
5) Apply these themes/issues to modern issues in the Netzari faith. (YHWH has
always been very selective about who really gets to understand a few of His
secrets. The one common thread that seems to run through all these privileged
folks from Moshe on down is HUMILITY. It is not for any persons own sake

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that YHWH reveals; instead He does so to test a person so see if they will give
Him glory rather than take it for themselves. But to whom much is given, much is
also expected.)
6) Relate to all or part of an Appendix portion of AENT or footnotes from a portion
(Christmas, p. 750-752).
STUDY QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED NEXT WEEK
1) In this Torah portion, there is one brother of Joseph who bears a striking
similarity with which disciple of Yshua?
2) At least according to some rabbinic authorities, the way they describe this
other brother of Joseph is the opposite of this disciple of Yshua, or perhaps
they are more alike that we would want to think about comfortably. Who is
the brother and who is the disciple?
3) There is another very important instruction that most people think was not in
force before Sinai but clearly was in force in this Torah portion. What is that
instruction?
4) After Joseph prophesies to the cup bearer that he will be freed, he tells him to
say to Pharaoh that I was kidnapped out of the Land of the Hebrews, rather
than the land of Canaan, but this is centuries before the tribal allotments are
given out. What I want to focus on is this: Was there a political advantage to
Joseph describing his land in this way for the cup bearer to tell it to Pharaoh?
If so, why would that be the case?
5) What does Stephens mode of address in this short portion reveal about
himself in relation to the people he is speaking to?
Torah Thought for the Week:
Behold the Dreamer Comes
The Joseph story has always had a very special place in my heart for a variety of reasons.
It is by far the most richly textured of all the patriarch stories in the Torah and a very
fitting climax to the book of Genesis itself.
When I think of the patriarchal narratives, I think about how each generation builds on
what was given before and yet also exceeds what their fathers did. Abraham passed on to
Isaac his faith in the one Elohim and the need to be obedient to His
Torah/commandments (Genesis 26:5) and that was of course all well and good for Isaac.
However, Isaac also learned the NEGATIVE lesson from his father about the dangers of
taking multiple wives, and so Isaac was completely dedicated to his ONE WIFE

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Rebekah, and benefitted greatly from that decision. Esau apparently did NOT learn this
lesson and paid the price for that decision as well.
Next comes Jacob, who WANTS to follow his father Isaacs decision to have just one
wife but is forced by circumstance to have two instead, and this is not counting the two
handmaids Jacob also was intimate with. But because of all the pain that debacle
caused him, Jacob did manage to pass down his ideal scenario to his son Joseph, who as
we see here learned that adultery was a clear sin. Or perhaps Joseph learned more clearly
from his grandfather Isaac before he turned 17?
Like Isaac and Jacob, Joseph then also built on the wisdom of his father and learned to
exceed what they did as well. Joseph never had any wife other than Asenath and he
didnt even take a concubine on the side as his father Jacob did.
Furthermore, as a high ranking official in Egypt, Joseph could have easily multiplied
lovers to himself without shock or complaint from Asenath, and yet he remains faithful to
her. Not even the allure of raising up more sons to add to the ranks of the Hebrew people
is sufficient to get Joseph to cheat. Now THAT is a loyal man who has learned his
lessons very well and to a level that his fathers never did before. Isaac may have had a
similar result, but he never had the temptations to stray that Joseph had to deal with.
But beyond these considerations, Joseph is also the first in the family to fully manifest the
prophetic gifts and dream interpretations, although there are clearly hints that Jacob also
had this ability to some degree as well. Josephs gifts in this area furthermore are only
surpassed by the prophet Daniel, who had to recover both a lost dream and then give its
meaning.
The question is, why do Joseph and Daniel share these gifts in a way Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob did not? I think in part it has to do with Joseph and Daniels ability not just to do
the right thing but to actively resist against situations where doing the WRONG thing
could be said to come with other earthly though sinful rewards.
In other words, its the difference between one man saying, I have been married 20
years and never cheated on my wife because no other woman ever expressed a desire for
me to have an affair with her and another man who says, I could have had this really
cute girl who wanted me and it would have opened all sorts of doors socially/financially
if I did cheat, and decided to turn her down anyway. One kind of righteousness has been
tested under fire in other words, and the other is a default position which might or might
not hold up under the same temptation and that lacking such temptation, there is no way
to know the resolve that the first man has.
And so it is at this point that I turn to an interesting observation given by the historian
Josephus
These are the divine doctrines of the Essenes about the soul, which lay an
unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste of their philosophy. There are

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also those among them who undertake to foretell things to come, by reading the
holy books, and using various sorts of purifications, and being perpetually
conversant in the discourses of the prophets that it is but seldom that they miss
in their predictions. (The Jewish War 2:158-159)
So at least as far as Josephus is concerned, power over and against carnal temptation
yields to some folks the ability to do prophecy. Its not a skill in that sense of the word
then, but a REWARD for righteous behavior. There are quite a number of Jewish
mystics, both then and now, who are said to have gained their prophetic powers the same
way, through mastery over the flesh. And since Joseph is again the first person to
manifest this level of kosher behavior, is it any wonder that the same gifts would appear
in him at that time?
The other piece of evidence about this connection is in the fact that while Joseph did have
prophetic dreams before, he didnt INTERPRET them directly and correctly until AFTER
he resisted this temptation. It was Jacob who interpreted the dreams about the sheaves
and the stars, not Joseph who had the dream. But resist Potiphars wife and get thrown
into jail and guess who all of a sudden CAN INTERPRET properly?
And this is why, as one magician in the NT learned reluctantly, the gifts of the Ruach ha
Kodesh cant be boughtthey can only be bestowed as rewards or fruits for good
behavior by Abba YHWH Himself. You go, Joseph, and never stop as long as you have
a job to do and lives to save in the process.
Im Andrew Gabriel Roth and thats your Torah Thought for the Week!
Next week we will be exploring Mikkets or Genesis 41:1-44:17. Our Haftorah portion
will be 1 Kings 3:15-4:1 and our Renewed Covenant reading will be once again from
Acts 7:9-16 because we are still on Joseph, but with a twist. Stay tuned!

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