We come to the end of this book, the first book of the Torah. Here we read of Jacob blessing his children, adopting Joseph’s two sons as his own, and making Joseph swear to have him buried with his fathers, in Canaan.

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When Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons, he gave the better blessing to the second-born, Ephraim, thereby putting Ephraim over Manasseh. Joseph tried to correct his father, assuming that due to his poor eyesight Jacob did that accidentally, but Jacob knew what he was doing.

The blessing over his 12 sons was, if you ask me, somewhat cruel in that he was not at all nice to Reuben, reminding him of the sin of sleeping with his father’s concubine, thereby losing the rights of the firstborn. Levi and Simeon were treated to a scathing blessing, as well, due to the violent and underhanded way they killed the men of Shechem (Genesis 34).

Judah is made ruler of the clan, replacing “unstable as water” Reuben, and Joseph was given the double-portion that would have been given to the firstborn.

After Jacob dies, he is embalmed and there is a large caravan that carries him back to Canaan to be buried after a week of mourning.

The brothers fear that Joseph will now, with his father dead, take vengeance on them and so they lie to him, saying that Jacob told the brothers to ask Joseph to forgive them, but Joseph states that even though they meant him harm, God was really behind the entire episode in order to send Joseph to Egypt so that he could save many lives. Joseph, instead of taking vengeance, promises to care for his brothers and their children as long as they live.

Joseph dies and is embalmed, but not until after he charges his people to remember that God will one day bring them back to the land he promised them, and when that day comes they must take his body with them, and bury him in Canaan.

Every time we come to the end of one of the books of the Torah, we say this:

חזק, חזק, וניט חזק!!

(Chazak, chazak, v’nit chazek!!)

Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!!

I want to talk about how the term “Until Shiloh come” (from Jacob’s blessing of Judah) has been treated to teach Jews to reject this as a messianic prophecy. I have often, and mostly, talked about the traditional ways that Christianity has caused Jews to reject Jesus, but now I want to point out how within Judaism, we have also done this to ourselves.

There are many reasons why Jews have rejected Jesus as their Messiah, but I don’t want to go into that now. What I want to do is show how Jewish scholars, such as the commentator of this Chumash, Rabbi J. H. Hertz, C.H., who was the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire (this Chumash is the second edition from 1965) treated certain messianic passages that occur in the Book of Genesis.

At the end of each Torah book, the Chumash has a section that is titled “Additional Notes”, which is a detailed explanation of many of the aspects and events in the book that aren’t covered in the footnotes. The end of the additional notes for Genesis has a paragraph entitled, “Alleged Christological References in Scripture.”

Already you can get a “feel” for what he is going to say.

He deals with the term “Until Shiloh come” (Gen. 49:10), saying that the ancient translations ignore or reject the letter Yod in the word Shiloh (שילא) and instead interpret it as (שלא), which means “his” or could be a poetic form of the word “peace”, rendering the meaning to be “until he comes to whom the kingdom belongs”, or simply “until peace comes.” But he concludes that most believe it to mean the actual place, Shiloh, where the sanctuary was located during the times of the Judges.

This is an obvious means to an end, which is to refute the Christian understanding of this as meaning a name for the Messiah. By interpreting this passage as meaning “until the people come to Shiloh” and explaining that the tribe of Judah’s superiority (in accordance with Jacob’s blessing) didn’t occur until after the temple was built in Jerusalem, it is easy to conclude that the messianic interpretation cannot be justified.

I don’t agree with that for one obvious reason: the temple was built during Solomon’s time, but Judah’s ruling status began when David became king. If we accept the messianic interpretation, which is that Judah will rule until the Messiah comes, then things make sense since Messiah didn’t come until after the ruling tribe, Judah, lost its rulership when Rome appointed Herod as king and took away the authority of the Jewish courts to make life and death decisions.

One last thing to note, which is so biased it may upset some, but in this discussion about Shiloh, this pious and scholarly Rabbi says:

“Despite the fact that nowhere in Scripture is that term applied to the Messiah, Christian theologians assume that Shiloh is a name of the Founder of Christianity. In this sense, ‘Till Shiloh come’ is a favorite text of Christian missionaries in attempting to convert illiterate Jews or those ignorant of Scripture.”

Well, that certainly doesn’t sound very bigoted, does it?

And as scholarly as R. Hertz was, he apparently didn’t know that the Christian faith that existed then, as it does now, was mainly created by Constantine and has very little, if anything, to do with what Yeshua taught.

He then gives an example of how even some Christian theologians reject the messianic meaning and adds to his diatribe the argument over the word “virgin” in Isaiah 14 as meaning nothing more than a young woman of marriageable age, and not necessarily “virgin.”

The final attack to a messianic passage is his reference to Isaiah 53 (which, by the way, since the early 1900s is never read in a synagogue), saying this about it:

“For eighteen hundred years Christian theologians have passionately maintained that it is a Prophetic anticipation of the life of the Founder of their Faith.”

He goes on to state that an “impartial examination” of the chapter reveals that it is talking about a past historical event. However, there is no reference to what that event was. His concluding thought is that modern scholarship has shattered these arguments which Christian missionaries use against ignorant Jews.

This is the sort of treatment of Christianity that I was taught while I was growing up and attending Hebrew and religious classes at my Reform temple on Long Island. So, for those who are Gentile and raised in any of the Christian religions, maybe now you can imagine how difficult it is for a Jewish person to even think about accepting Jesus as their true Messiah. Besides the hatred of Jesus in our upbringing, rejecting him is compounded exponentially by the knowledge of the historic persecution of Jews, all in the name of Jesus!

This hatred is so great, that this Rabbi, a godly man, can’t even bring himself to write the name “Jesus”, but instead refers to him as the “Founder of their Faith”.

I am talking about this because it is so important to understand the innate hatred Jews have been taught for anything Christian, and that when trying to talk to a Jewish person about Jesus, you will never get anywhere using the name “Jesus” or quoting from the New Covenant. If you can’t relate to a Jewish person using the Old Covenant and the true and proper name for our Messiah, which is Yeshua, then you are not only wasting your time and theirs but even worse- you are adding to the existing desire to reject anything Christian, especially Jesus!

It took me some 40+ years before I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah, and that was only because I was led to a Messianic synagogue with a Jewish Rabbi who I could relate to as a Jew.

The animosity between Judaism and Christianity is real- many of you may argue against this, but if you haven’t been exposed to it from either side, you should count yourself as blessed, but naive. Without accepting that Jews are taught to reject anything Christian because Jesus was a traitor to Judaism and his followers want nothing more than to either convert Jews or kill them, then you will never be successful in helping Jewish people accept their Messiah, Yeshua.

On the Christian side of this, they have traditionally been taught to reject the Torah, and the worst thing I can think of in Christianity is the ideology called Replacement Theology. This states that because the Jewish people have rejected Jesus, they are now rejected by God as his chosen people and are doomed to damnation, claiming that the only “real” chosen people now are Born Again Christians.

Hatred and bigoted attitudes have grown over the millennia from the misinterpretations from man-made religions which have turned Jews and Christians against each other, even though both worship the same God who created them.

It’s crazy!

What people need to do, first and foremost, is read the Bible themselves. They need to study the passages, study the history, learn the cultural meaning of words and phrases used at that time and verify what they are told hermeneutically. That means when they see something in the New Covenant that has been interpreted as rejecting the Torah, if they can’t find it anywhere in the Old Covenant they will know that something isn’t right.

Rabbi Hertz said that biblical passages were being used by missionaries against ignorant people, and he was right. This happens in both Judaism and Christianity, so it is up to us, those who know the truth about the Jewish Messiah, what he taught, how he lived, and who is the real founder of this modern Christian faith, to disseminate the truth through a patient and compassionate understanding of what people have had shoved down their throats their entire lifetime.

The only way to overcome bigotry, which is founded in ignorance, is to remove the ignorance.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. I welcome your comments and please make sure to subscribe to my website, to my youtube channel, buy my books and share them with others, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word.”

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

We last left Benjamin framed by Joseph as being a thief, and Joseph told the other brothers to return to Canaan, but Benjamin will be Joseph’s slave, forever.

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Now Joseph receives the answer to the question of whether or not his brothers had changed, for which he has been testing them from their first visit.

Judah, who you recall had guaranteed the safety of Benjamin, approaches Joseph and begs him to allow Judah to remain as his slave, in lieu of Benjamin, because if Benjamin doesn’t return to Jacob, Jacob will be so saddened, having already lost Joseph, the only other son of his beloved Rachel, that he will die.

Joseph is so moved by this act of self-sacrifice, realizing that his brothers have changed, that he dismisses all his house servants so he can finally reveal his true identity to his brothers.

Of course, they are shocked and can’t believe it at first, but upon closer examination, they realize this ruler over all of Egypt is, indeed, their brother, Joseph.

Joseph is quick to tell them they are not to be afraid of retribution because it was God who was behind sending Joseph to Egypt, in order to save many lives. He tells them to return to Cannan and bring his father, and their entire household, down to Egypt and he will attend to their every need from now on.

Pharaoh hears that Joseph’s brothers are there and orders Joseph to have the entire household move to Egypt, and they shall live in the best part of the land, Goshen. When the brothers return to Jacob they relate the story of how Joseph is not just still alive, but ruler over Egypt. After the initial shock of hearing this wonderful news, Jacob is quick to say “Let’s go!” The entire family, as well as their servants, move to Goshen, a total of about 70 people.

Before leaving, God speaks to Jacob in a dream and tells him that he should go down to Egypt because that is where God will make him into a mighty nation. I believe that God gave approval to Jacob because if you recall, God told Isaac, during a previous famine, not to go to Egypt (Genesis 26) and so maybe Jacob was a little leery about going. But, when God said to go and that he would be with Jacob while in Egypt, that sealed the deal.

After the family had made the trip, Joseph presented 5 of his brothers to Pharaoh, instructing them what to say so that Pharaoh would place them in Goshen. He also presented Jacob, who apparently impressed Pharaoh.

The rest of the parashah tells how after a few years, the people of Egypt had no money left to buy food, so Joseph had them trade their cattle for food, retaining the cattle in their possession to tend it for Pharaoh. Later, when the cattle all belonged to Pharaoh and the people had no more cattle to trade, Joseph had them trade their land, which they still worked, and eventually themselves as indentured servants. They would keep 4/5 of their harvest and give the other 5th to Pharaoh in return for his allowing them to farm the land. In this way, Joseph made Pharaoh not just ruler over all of Egypt, but the owner of the land and the cattle and the people, as well.

This is where the parashah ends.

Have you ever asked yourself, if God promised Abraham that his descendants would live in Canaan, why did God now send the descendants into Egypt? Why couldn’t God have grown them into a mighty nation while they were still in Canaan?

Well, first off, God could have grown them into a mighty nation any old place he wanted to; I mean, after all…he IS God, right?

I believe that God wanted them in the land of Egypt, specifically in Goshen because this would isolate them from the many bad influences that would have surrounded them on all sides if they remained in Canaan.

Even though God can protect us, he also lets us live as we choose. At that time there was no Torah for Jacob and his sons to follow, so by bringing them into a land that was (somewhat) isolated from the rest of the pagan world, God made it easier for the Israelites to multiply and remain true to God.

God knew that staying in Canaan had the potential of causing the worship and relationship with God that Jacob and his sons had to be polluted by outside influences. As the Israelites grew in numbers and power, the cultural standard of forming political alliances through intermarriage would probably have happened at some point, and that could have severely interfered with God’s plan for his chosen people.

We can see this happening later, with Solomon. Even though Solomon was the wisest of all the kings of Israel, a God-fearing man who had the example of his father David’s relationship with God to guide him, it wasn’t until after he formed political alliances through intermarriage that his worship became polluted and he committed terrible sins against Adonai.

This most likely would have happened to the Israelites as they grew in numbers, had they remained in Canaan. Relocating the entire clan to Goshen was a way to stop the problem before it started.

Unfortunately, there was still some level of pollution, which we can see when, after 400 years of being exposed to the Egyptian religious practices while slaves, the Israelites adopted some of them, which was evident at the sin of the Golden Calf.

This is one of the greatest challenges we, as God-fearing Believers who accept Yeshua as our Messiah, have to deal with during our lifetime: being surrounded by the world but not influenced by it.

It is as difficult as walking blindfolded through a field full of sheep and getting to the other side with clean shoes.

But do it, we must! We must obey the laws and we must not return hatred for hatred to those who disagree, argue, and even berate and persecute us for our beliefs.

To avoid the traps of other religions and practices, we must know what God wants from us, which is in the Torah. We must also know the entire Bible because when we read the other books of the Tanakh, we learn how God has both punished and saved his people throughout the past 6,000 or so years, which serves as a constant reminder of what happens when we reject God. It also serves as a comfort to know that over the millennia, despite how sinful we had been, when we repented and asked forgiveness, God was not just willing to forgive us, but he desired to do so.

We will all backslide occasionally, some more than others (that’s the group I am in), and much of it is because of the influences of the flesh-loving world that we cannot avoid. If we go into hermit mode, we can avoid the worldly influences but then we would not be doing what we are supposed to do, which is to be a light in the darkness (Ephesians 5:8). After all, how can we be a light in the darkness if we never enter the darkness, right?

It’s a tough battle, which is why I constantly try to remind everyone that although salvation is a free gift that can never be earned, it is also a very hard gift to keep because although no one can take it away, we can throw it away.

So hold tight to your salvation by faithfully obeying God’s commandments and celebrating his Holy Days, because the world wants you to throw it all away and join their party.

But one day, and it looks to be very soon, their party will be raided and if you are there with them, you end up in spiritual jail, forever.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, and join my Facebook discussion group called Just God’s Word (if you want to join our group, please make sure you read and agree to the rules.)

And check out my books, as well. Especially my latest book, “The Good News of the Messiah for Jews, Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah.”

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!