Bible Study Now

Starting again. This week’s Bible portion is Vayechi, meaning “and he lived.”

The primary reading is Genesis 47:28–50:26.

chabad.org/parshah/articl…

The supplemental reading is I Kings 2:1 – 2:12. 

This Bible portion tells us that:
* Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt before he passed.
* He desired to tell his children the End of Days but was prevented.
* He gave final blessings before his passing that reflected the mission & character of the children. 

* Not only did Jacob’s family go with his body to bury it in Hebron, in the Cave of Machpelah, but Pharoah’s top ministers did also. This was a tremendous gesture of respect. 

* Joseph passes away, but is not buried in Israel yet. When the Jewish people are liberated from Egypt by God, after the period of slavery, then his bones will be re-buried. 

* Joseph gives the Jewish people a message of reassurance to hold them over during the difficult years to come – God will not forget them, God will take them out of that hell. 

Regarding the supplemental reading (I Kings 2:1-12): King David is on his deathbed. He transmits the kingship to Solomon with instructions.

chabad.org/library/bible_…

So that’s the overview. From a big-picture perspective, it’s a week where we remember great leaders who were at the end of their time, but who lived on through the instructions they gave to their descendants/successors. 

Of course we know there’s much more to it. Let’s talk about a highlight or two for inspiration, information, insight. 

Here is one. “He lived” — Jacob lived on, even after his passing, because he was good. His children incorporated his values.

Wicked people are dead when they die. They are gone forever. Nobody holds them dear.

How then do you explain the transmission of evil to evil over generations? It’s only the ethic of selfishness, “every man for himself.” But on death, the individual evil person is gone, because his children can no longer get anything from him, or her. They don’t care to remember. 

Here is another one, very deep. (This commentary as well is from Chabad; I don’t know who said it.)

Jacob and Joseph were two different kinds of spiritual leaders.

Jacob led through separation.

Joseph led through being in the trenches.

chabad.org/media/pdf/245/…

In other words, Jacob went into Egypt for the purpose of sustenance, but he remained separate from the culture and consciousness of Egypt so as to avoid any sort of spiritual taint from their occult ways. 

Joseph, rather, was a man of the people, the Israelites who had become accustomed to Egyptian culture, who may even have seen themselves as part Egyptian and part Jewish. Joseph could not separate his bones from theirs. He would remain with them, bonded, until they left together. 

Is one way inherently better than the other way? No. 

Within this Torah portion we have an allusion to the Messiah. Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum explains.

azamra.org/Parshah/VAYECH…

Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.”

chabad.org/library/bible_…

“Onkelos…the essential meaning of the text…contains allusions to all historical periods and especially the time of Mashiach.”

azamra.org/Parshah/VAYECH…

“Onkelos himself was a GER TZEDEK (‘righteous convert’). He was the son of the sister of the Roman Emperor Titus.” 

“It is said that before Onkelos converted, he raised the spirits of Titus, Balaam, and Yeshu from hell in order to find out the truth.”(Gittin 56b, 57a).

Important note: Yeshu is not Jesus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshu

Without belaboring it, Onkelos is considered authoritative when he says something. 

“Shiloh” here, per Onkelos, means the Messiah.

“Onkelos boldly paraphrases, ‘Until Messiah come, whose is the kingdom’”

biblehub.com/genesis/49-10.…

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.” – this means Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah, and ALL THE PEOPLES will gather for this.

NOT JUST ONE RELIGION! 

“According to the Midrash Aggadah, [“Shiloh” is a combination of] שַׁי לוֹ, a gift to him, as it is said:“they will bring a gift to him who is to be feared” (Ps. 76:12). – [From Gen. Rabbah ed. Theodore-Albeck p. 1210 ]”
(Rashi, trans.)
chabad.org/library/bible_…

If you read this Torah portion carefully, what it is telling you is that there is a Messiah, and Jacob could see this with absolute clarity.

The Messiah will draw ALL PEOPLE, as in “where we go one, we go all.”

That is why Q is a MESSIANIC movement. 

If you truly read Q, and if you understand the Christian messaging in Q, the language supports this universalist passage in the Bible. (Q post 4429, quoting Ephesians 6:10-17)

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” — we are not here to fight each other, but rather to fight the Devil. 

Q post 4637, for example: “WWG1WGA” – “where we go one, we go all” – this is a direct reference to Messianic times, when we will all be gathered in as one.

Finally – Q post 3662 – what is “THE GREAT AWAKENING” if not a universal realization that we aren’t here to fight each other, but rather to help each other under God’s dominion, and that bad people have tried to get in our way since…well, forever?

I hope that you enjoyed this Bible study. I know it gave me a lot of peace and hope. 

@mentionsunroll