 |
The Fourth Creature Within the Wheel
The Second Chariot
Vayechi "and lived"
GENESIS 47:28-50:26
1 KINGS 2:1-12
PSALM 41
JOHN 10:30; 17:11-21
This is the problem...and the solution:
"
I and the Father are
one." (
Jn
10:30)
It is important to understand the role of the
bekhor
, or firstborn. The sages say that Isaac looked just like Avraham. Yosef resembled Jacob. This physical comparison serves a role. The
bekhor
was the one who would
most closely resemble his father's will in spiritual obligations
. He would lead
and intercede, and for this he needed an extra portion to carry out those obligations.
Think of
Yeshua
as being the
firstfruit
from the dead
. This means that in all of human history, he was the one who would most closely resemble his Father, who is incorruptible life itself. They would be identical even though two "generations."
The Torah portion offers at least two important aberrations from the expected:
1.
Yaakov ignores the custom of conferring the extra portion upon the firstborn. He gives it to Yosef instead of Reuven.
2.
Joseph dies twice.
The extra portion is given to Yosef two ways:
A. "I give you
one
portion (
shechem
)
more
than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow
." (Ge 48:22)
B.
"Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are
." (Ge 48:5)
Yosef receives an extra portion of property, and by adoption, his two sons both inherit a tribal holding, not just one. This gives the House of Yosef an extra portion. At the end of Bereishit, Yosef dies.
But then Yosef's death is recorded again in the next book Shemot, a fact not recorded of the other brothers by name:
"
Joseph
died, and all his brothers and all that generation
." (Ex 1:6)
Yosef is singled out. Only he dies "twice."
There was something about Yosef that most people (except his brothers) noticed. He was wise beyond his age, as if he were connected to the "fathers," or Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The text hints at what sets Yosef apart from his brothers:
"These
are the records of
the generations of Jacob. Joseph
, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of
Zilpah
, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father
." (
G
e 37:2)
*
It is uniquely Yosef who is identified with Yaakov's "generations." [plural instead of singular]
*
The text avoids naming other brothers, instead calling them sons of their mothers
*
Yosef was "still a youth," but precocious...noticing things an older person would...shepherding his brothers. He acts as an extension of his father.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a
varicolored
tunic
. (Ge 37:3)
There is a problem with the translation "son of his old age." There were other brothers close in age, and Ben-yamin was the son of Jacob's old age. Targum Onkelos translates
zekunim as "wise." Yosef is a "ben-zekunim," a wise son.
So
Pharaoh said to Joseph,
"...
there
is no one so discerning and wise as you are
.
You shall be over my house, and according to your
command
all my people shall
do
homage;
only in the throne I will be greater than you..." (Ge 41:33)
Jacob, Potiphar, the prison warden, and Pharaoh noticed Yosef's surpassing wisdom. It was a wisdom like the previous generations of "fathers": Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Now
, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and
He has made me a father to Pharaoh
and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Hurry and
go up to my father
, and say to him, '
Thus says your son Joseph
,'
(Ge 45:8-9)
The father-son repetition begins to stand out. It is embedded into Yosef's blessing in
Vayechi
, "and lived." The story is full of the Hebrew word chai, or life, the root of the Torah portion's title, Vayechi:
*
"I AM JOSEPH! IS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE?"
*
THEY TOLD HIM, SAYING, "JOSEPH IS STILL
ALIVE"
*
THE SPIRIT OF THEIR FATHER JACOB REVIVED
.
*"
MY SON JOSEPH IS STILL ALIVE. I WILL GO AND SEE HIM BEFORE I DIE."
Another clue is in Yosef's blessing from his father: "From
there is the Shepherd, the
Stone (
even
)
of
Israel."
אֶבֶן יִשְׂרָאֵֽל
אֶבֶ Av = father בֶן ben = son
Is Yosef a father or son? The Hebrew word for stone is formed of av (father) and ben (son), joined in the beit, which means House, the Temple, and has a value of 2.
Yosef is the first mention of someone going into a
merkavah
, a chariot, even though it's the second chariot to the king.
Oddly, the four species of Sukkot are said to correspond to the four patriarchs. The problem is that there are only three. The Midrash says that Yosef is the fourth, the willow branch. He belongs to the generation of the patriarchs and matriarchs as much as that of his brothers.
Furthermore, in another 3, no 4, example, the
tefillin
symbolize the 3, no 4, patriarchs: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Yosef. The
tefillin
worn on the head has three
vavs
, but the other side has four:
There were three, no four men walking in the fiery furnace.
There are three things which are too wonderful for
me, four
which I do not understand
: (
Pr
30:18)
Under three things the earth
quakes, and
under four, it cannot bear up
: (
Pr
30:21)
There are three things which are stately in their
march, even
four which are stately when they walk
: (
Pr
30:29)
Although Pharaoh's chariots are infamous, the chariots of fire known as the "horsemen of Israel" are the mystical transporters of the righteous to heavenly places:
Elisha saw it and cried out, "
My father, my father, the
chariots
רֶכֶב
of
Israel and its horsemen
!" And he saw
Elijah
no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
(2 Ki 2:12)
When
Elisha
became
sick with the illness of which he was to die,
Joash
the king of Israel
came down to him and wept over
him
and said, "
My father, my father, the chariots
רֶכֶב
of
Israel and its horsemen."(2 Ki 13:14)
Twice the chariots of Israel are acknowledged by a doubled "father." Tradition says that Elijah will come to herald the great and terrible Day of the LORD, the coming of Mashiach.
There is a difference between an Egyptian two-wheeled chariot, however, and the heavenly
merkavah
. The
merkavah
of the four living creatures
הַֽחַיֹּות
in Ezekiel had four wheels, one for each living creature. There is a small difference in Ezekiel's two descriptions of the
merkavah
:
Ezekiel 1:1-21 (man, lion, ox [
shor
]
, & eagle)
Ezekiel 10:14-15..."
And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of
the cherub (
הַכְּרוּב
),
the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an
eagle.
Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river
Chebar
."
The
cheruv
in Chapter 10 takes the place of the ox in Chapter One. The
cheruv
is in the second chariot.
Yosef is compared to an ox (
shor
) in the first chariot:
Of Joseph he said
, "
Blessed of the LORD be his
land, with
the choice things of heaven,
with the dew
, and
from the deep lying
beneath, and
with the choice yield of the
sun, and
with the choice produce of the
months. And
with the
best
things of the ancient
mountains, and
with the choice things of the everlasting
hills, and
with the choice things of the earth and its
fullness, and
the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush
. Let
it come to the head of
Joseph, and
to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his
brothers.
As
the firstborn of his ox, majesty is
his, and
his horns are the horns of the wild
ox
; with
them he will push the
peoples, all at
once,
to the ends of the
earth
.
A
nd
those are the ten thousands of
Ephraim, and
those are the thousands of Manasseh
." (Dt 33:13-17)
The cheruv of the second chariot and the firstborn ox of the first are mystically connected, the second an extension of the first.
Yosef's blessing contains distinct prophecies of a
mashiach
:
*
Dew, or resurrection
*
An enlargement of the Avraham, Yitzchak's and Yaakov's "territory," to the ends of the earth.
*
He would be separate from his brothers, a crown of the
nazir
.
*
A firstborn
bekhor
of the
shor
, or ox.
In Ezekiel's vision, both the
cheruv
and the
shor
occupy
the same position
in the
merkavah
of the
chayot
, living creatures. Ezekiel has this vision at the River
Chebar
:
כְּבָֽר
Now compare all the different combinations of the Hebrew letters beit, cahf, and reish in the narrative of Yosef and the
merkavah
:
River
Chebar
(in exile):
כְּבָֽר
Father of the King or Father of Tender Years:
א
ַבְרֵך
the chariots
רֶכֶב
cheruv
ַ כְּרוּב
t
he
second
chariot
בְּמִרְכֶּבֶת
הַמִּשְׁנֶה
knee, as in
bow before the chariot,
or
bend
בְרֵך
b
less
בֵּרַך
f
irstborn
בְּכֹרִ
Even Yosef's father Yaakov's life hinged upon the blessing and
bekhor
.
Yosef's life of exile was because of
bekhor
, and his brakha
(blessing)
was an extension of his father's.
These words are formed from re-positioned root letters, which will yield an identical
gematria
of 222:
2 is the
second
of the single digits.
20 is the
second
of the double digits.
200 is the
second
of the triple digits.
The firstborn is not a 'first.' He is an extension of the previous generation, hence the numerical value of
bekhor
is 222. The firstborn should see himself as an extension of his parents; indeed, the double portion assured the firstborn is a sort of compensation for the tremendous responsibility placed on the shoulders of the eldest son to care for the younger siblings as a quasi-parent. - R' Ari Kahn
Yosef, not Reuven was the true firstborn, an extension of both his first-loved, beautiful mother, and his responsible father. His death is included, along with the other patriarchs, in the book of
Bereishit
, for he was always an extension of Yaakov, both a father and son, the ox of the first chariot, and the
cheruv
of the second chariot of living beings. The twelve oxen of the Bronze Sea in the Temple had support stands with four chariot wheels. (1 Ki 7)
The son is the extension of the father. The Son is the extension of the Father. From there is the Stone of Israel and the chariot of life.
I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are
. (
Jn
17:11)
T
hat
they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may
believe
that You sent Me
.(
Jn
17:21)
Yosef died twice. Yosef and Mashiach ben Yosef. Both were sent of the Father. to rescue Israel. Because of the dew of Heaven...because Yeshua was of the generation of his Father...brothers and sisters who are the assembly of the firstborn will live again. When we are one, when we "gather" and "assemble" to hear the things that will befall in the end of days, the world will believe it.
Spotlight on Israel
Interested in celebrating Passover 2020 in Israel?
It's time to plan Passover. Join us in Israel for a Passover seder. To read about the adventure, click
Passover in Israel.
You can't beat the price for room and board!
Relax, hike, volunteer, explore the archaeological ruins, study, count the stars, or day tour, and choose the number of days you spend at Tamar. The sooner you register, the easier it is to book flights that fit your budget and schedule. The feasts are busy flight times in Israel.
If you're interested in a FULL-SERVICE tour, then please consider going at Sukkot 2020. We hope to have registration and information available soon.
Does Something About the "Rapture" Doctrine Bother You?
The deep Torah study in Section One restores the
original foundation of the resurrection. The resurrection is put in the context of the numerous prophecies of in the Torah portions. The Exodus and wilderness journey have illustrations of the event that were too numerous to fit into one book. Section One uncovers the Torah foundation to which the writers of the New Testament refer.
Section Two answers the question, "What happens when we die?" Matching Scriptural information with traditional Jewish sources on the topic, the reader finds more insight into the post-mortem experience of the dead and expressions such as "the souls under the altar." It's a great source of comfort to those who grieve and an encouragement that the Kingdom is very near, just as Yeshua said. The book is worth the price just for the footnotes! Click
50,000 Degrees to view on Amazon.
LaMalah Children's Centre
We appreciate your donations at any time, but especially in the "slow" months of winter. Three of the children will be starting high school, which requires some extra funds.
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot.
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre through The Creation Gospel, click on the Donate link below. It will say The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation on your receipt. Our local congregation is the non-profit covering for our ministry. Checks or money orders may be sent to:
The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
|
|
|
|
|
|
