Genesis 37:1-40:23 | Amos 2:6-3:8 | Colossians 1:15-20

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Vayyeshev
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Vayyeshev

1. Why does our parasha begin with the word vayyeshev? 

Isaac Oliver

Our portion begins with the words "and Jacob settled in the land" (vayyeshev Ya‘aqov ba'aretz). Why does this parasha begin with the verb yashav (settle or dwell)? As with many passages from the Torah, the rabbis could interpret the same verse in several different ways: "70 faces to the Torah," to borrow a familiar idiom. One traditional way of explaining a text was simply to look back at the preceding section in Scripture. There, one finds a brief description of Esau and his descendants settling in the land of Edom. On the other hand, Jacob and his offspring were to receive a far more elaborate description of their settling in the land. In fact, the rest of the Torah will engage with the history of Israel and their eventual settling in the land of Canaan.   

But another Midrash informs us that Jacob wished finally to settle and live his last days in peace. After having gone into exile, survived his confrontation with Esau, and the distressful experience with the Shechemites, Jacob felt he could finally dwell in the land in peace. But the journey was far from over. The destiny of all patriarchs was to live the nomadic reality of sojourning rather than sedentary dwelling. The first words pronounced to Abraham were lekh lekha ("go!" Genesis 12:1). After sojourning for several years, Abraham thought he could also rest in his late age. But even after finally receiving the promised son Isaac, God again repeated those dreadful words to Abraham lekh lekha (Genesis 22:2). It is worthwhile noting that the expression lekh lekha appears only twice in the Torah. They are pronounced both at the beginning of Abraham's journey and toward the end of his life. Abraham was always on the go.

Like Abraham, the life of Jacob mirrors his grandfather's experience. Well advanced in years and having begotten many children, Jacob thought he could finally rest in the future promise land and enjoy the fruit of his labor. Similarly to Abraham, Jacob would also temporarily have to lose his beloved son (Joseph). Jacob would then also have to relive the paradox expressed by Abraham in Genesis 23:4: "I am an alien and a resident" (ger vetoshav). Later on, the author of the letter to the Hebrews would express this idea in another way:  

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:8-10

At an individual level, Parashat Vayyeshev reminds us as spiritual beings that our quest for the divine is never over. We should not become satisfied with our answers even at an older age. There should always be another question, a new song that can generate novel discoveries and force us to seek higher.

2. What connects our Torah and Haftara readings? What can we learn from this connection? 

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

With this week's Torah reading, we turn to the story of Joseph, the acrimony of his brothers, and their selling of him to Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. Our Haftara reading focuses on the national sins of the northern kingdom, Israel, during the time of Amos in the mid-eight century B.C.E. (Amos 2:6-3:8). Why is this national story read alongside the story of family jealousy? 

Michael Fishbane (Haftarot, p. 66) points out a close verbal parrallel that links this national story with the story of the family of Jacob from whom would come the nation of Israel. 

They sold (vayyimkeru) Jospeh to the Ishmaelites for (be-) twenty pieces of silver (kesef).

Genesis 37:28

 

They [the unjust] have sold (mikhram) for silver (bekesef) those whose cause was just (tzaddiq), and the needy for a pair of sandals.

Amos 2:6

In the last centuries before Yeshua, in Hellenistic times, there is some evidence that the story of Joseph and his family was read through the lens of Amos' condemnation of Israel's national sins. In the Hellenistic era work, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, in the Testament of Zebulon 3:1-2, we read the following description of the sale of Joseph: 

I [Zebulon] had no share in the price received for Joseph, my children. But Simeon, Gad, and our other brothers accepted the money, bought shoes for themselves, their wives, and their children. 

Not only does Amos' condemnation come to enrich the story of the sale of Joseph by his brothers, but it also works in the opposite direction. In this interpretive tradition, the sin of Joseph's brothers becomes the first instance of such national sin. The Torah understands kidnapping as a capital crime (Exodus 21:16) because it threatens the very fabric of society and family life. By Amos' time, such corruption and exploitation of the poor and those who have just claims was ripping at the very fabric of Israelite society. It ultimately led to the instability of the Kingdom of Israel, its annexation by the Assyrian Empire, and the deportation of its inhabitants at the end of the eighth century B.C.E. 

Collosians 1:15-20 - Who is Yeshua?

Who is Yeshua? In our Besorah this week, Sha'ul gives some good answers to this question. 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 

At the beginning of this passage, Sha'ul lays out the core of Messiah's identity: Yeshua is the visible incarnation of the invisible God. Some have tried to argue that the second part of this verse shows that Yeshua was created, and is therefore not the incarnate God. I think if you look at the next verse Sha'ul's intention becomes very clear. He is not making a theological statement about the creation of Yeshua, but he is showing what he considers to be the default authority structure within God.  

For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

Messiah has authority over every other authority and power, regardless of where they come from. More than that, even, he is the reason they exist and have the power they have. Through him they were created, and he holds them and everything else together.  

He is also head of the body, the congregation; and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. 

Sha'ul expresses the authority Yeshua has over the community at large, the "body" he has created, then he takes the argument to the ultimate end of mankind, death. Yeshua is even the first in death and the first in the resurrection-and all so that he can be proven to be the true authority, second to none in everything. 

For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.  

This Yeshua, the one with all that authority and power, is the dwelling of the fullness of God and is the means of redemption and reconciliation for the world. Through his sacrifice, Yeshua proves his authority and power, exemplified by the peace he brings.

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT MIQQETZ

Genesis 41:1-44:17
Numbers 28:1-15
Zechariah 2:14-4:7
John 10:22-42