Parsha Page

  Shalom
  to you,

Wellsprings of Torah,  www.TorahWellsprings.org
Rick Wills - Messianic Elder,  Mishareth@TorahWellsprings.org

Parsha 12:  Waychi - And He Lived


Torah:  Genesis 47:28-50:26

    47 “Ya’akov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; thus Ya’akov lived to be 147 years old.”

    At the beginning of our parsha we hear the voice of Ya’akov (Jacob) begging to not be buried in Egypt (Mitzraim), and the voice of Yosef swearing he will do as Ya’akov has asked.
This is the conclusion of Genesis. Ya’akov has lived in Egypt with Yosef and his other sons for 17 years. He has seen their prosperity, and realizes how easy it would be for them to dwell there longer than his God has planned for them.

    He knows he has been transient in his life, and in the land, and his offspring should be as well. So he extracts a promise not to bury him in Egypt, but to bury him with his ancestors.

    Just prior to his death, Ya’akov blesses each of his twelve sons. Y’hudah is promised that Shiloh, would come from his seed. And Yosef obtained great blessings through Efrayim and M’nasheh. Some of the other blessings are more like rebukes, or instructions on character.

    With Ya’akov’s death, the promise of Adonoi to make a great people no longer rests with an individual, but rather with the 12 sons that will make up the peoples of Israel.

    When the brothers return from burying Ya’akov in Kena’an, we see the lingering effects of sin, as the brothers go to Yosef and beg for forgiveness.

    Later, knowing they are only in Egypt temporarily, Yosef reminds his brothers of the promise of God to take them to His promised land, and in a foreshadowing of the Exodus, asks to have his bones carried out of Egypt to Kena’an. He dies at the age of 110, leaving behind a great legacy of descendants.


Haftara:  1 Kings 2:1-12

    In this week's Torah portion, Ya’akov has always known that his life here is temporary, and as he is dying gives his last words of advice and blessing to his sons. In a parallel scene, King David, on his deathbed, also knows he is transient, and shares his last thoughts and instructions with his son Solomon. He tells Solomon to follow Torah, deal faithfully with Adonoi and he will be successful, and charges Solomon to pass that onto his children as well.

    There is also political advice. David knows exactly whom Solomon will have to deal with once he dies, and strongly advises his son to deal with some harshly and others with mercy.

    Both David and Ya’akov passed on a promise they received from Adonoi to their children, just as the promise to Avraham was passed to Isaac and then to Ya’akov. They knew that even though their lives here would pass away, the words of God would never change, never fail.

    And now Solomon has to face a world without David, just as Yoseph had to face a world without Ya’akov.


Chadasha:  1 Peter 2:11-17

    Here Peter admonishes us to live as “aliens and temporary residents”, and in v 12 “live such good lives among the pagans that even though they now speak against you as evildoers, they will, as a result of seeing your good actions, give glory to God on the Day of his coming.”

    Just as we have seen through Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya’akov and Yoseph, later King David. They all knew they were in a temporary place, here to do Adonai’s will, then pass on.

    And in each case, the kings and rulers around them became aware of the blessings that God bestowed upon these men for their faithfulness and obedience.

    Indeed, Adonoi is worthy of all honor and glory and power.


    And at the end of each Book of Torah we say,
    Chazak, chazak, w’nith’chazek! Be strong,
    be strong and let us be strengthened!


Baruch Hashem,
George Robinson