[00:00:00] If you've ever seen Lord of the Rings, then you'll immediately recognize this character. The name you probably know him by is Aragorn. But only Die Hard Lord of the Rings fans know that after his father's death while he was still a young child, he was given another name to hide his identity from. Sauron, the great evil of Middle Earth. He was called Estel. In Elvish, estil means hope. He was given this name to both hide his identity as the heir of the throne of Gondor and to signify that as long as he still lived, the the sons of men still had hope. What does this have to do with the Torah? Stick around and find out in this week's five Minute Torah Shalom and Blessings from Shalom Macon, the place where disciples of Yeshua learn, connect and grow. I'm Darren and before I get into my Torah commentary, let's cover a few quick facts about this week's Torah portion. This week we're studying the portion of Vayigash Genesis 44:18 47:27 and here are the three things that you need to know about it. Number one Joseph unmasked revealing the Lost Brother Last week's Torah portion ended with Benjamin being taken into custody by Joseph's men because of the trick Joseph had pulled on his brothers. This week's Torah portion begins with Judah pleading for Benjamin's release, even offering to be taken in his place. When Joseph heard that Judah was actually trying to protect his brother Benjamin, his heart broke. He now knew that his brothers had truly repented of their actions against him and were doing everything they could to keep a second son from being taken from his father. Joseph sent his attendants away and then broke down weeping in front of his brothers. Rather than accusing them of their crime against him, he simply said, ani Yosef, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? An emotional reunion between him and his brothers ensued. Number two Jacob's Immigration Descending into Egypt soon after their reunion, Joseph sent his brothers back to Canaan to bring their father and the rest of the family back to Egypt in order to take care of their needs for the remainder of the famine, he sent them back with several animals packed with lavish gifts for his family. When Jacob's children made it back to their father and told him of the events that had transpired, he couldn't believe it. But when he saw the caravan of wealth, he couldn't deny their story. He hesitantly agreed to go with his sons back to Egypt to see Jose. God knew, however, that Jacob was struggling and sent an angel to him in a dream to assure him that he had made a good choice. So he packed up, moved all that he had to Egypt so that he could be with his long lost son and Number three Prosperity in Goshen the Precursor to Slavery Jacob and the rest of the family finally made it to Egypt and Joseph introduces his father to Pharaoh. Pharaoh allowed Joseph's family to settle in the land of Goshen where they lived in prosperity as Pharaoh exchanged food for land, claiming all of the land of Egypt for his own. The Torah portion ends on what seems like a positive note. Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. This is Genesis 47:27 but as we know, this only sets the stage for Israel's descent into slavery that we will soon read about. If you're looking for a place to learn, connect and grow, then Shalom Macon is the place. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, you can find a connection with Shalom Makin through our live services every Saturday and through through our private social network we call Shalom at Home. Check us out on YouTube and on our
[email protected] for more information. We look forward to connecting with you and seeing you this Shabbat this week's Torah commentary is called the Power of Hope and comes from my book 5 Minute Torah Volume 3. In this week's Torah portion, we learn about the reunion of Joseph and his family. How appropriate for the name of this portion to be called VAY Gash, which means and he came near. After a long period of being away from his family, Joseph was able to come near to his family. Not only did Joseph reveal himself to his brothers after the long wait for his plan to succeed, but he was also reunited with his father who had given up hope of Joseph's survival years beforehand. After revealing himself to his brothers, he instructed them to go back and get their father and all of their possessions and move down to Egypt where he could provide for them once they got back home to their father. However, Jacob did not initially believe the about Joseph. They told him, Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt, and his heart became numb for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. This is Genesis 45 verses 26 and 27. In this translation we read that Jacob's heart became numb. However, the Hebrew is more evocative. It says that his heart fainted. He simply could not believe that Joseph could be alive after all these years. His pessimism was based on his challenging Life. Jacob was 130 years old and had lived through many difficult circumstances. When he moved down to Egypt and met Pharaoh, he explained, the days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my father in the days of their sojourning. This is Genesis 47:9. The outlook he expressed to Pharaoh was that his life had simply been rough. From Jacob's perspective, he had reason to interpret his life in this manner. He had fled from his brother who wanted to kill him. He had been forced to marry a woman he did not want to and had worked far too long for a less than honest man to marry the woman he loved. The wife he loved was barren for many years and eventually died giving birth to her second son. And then her first son was taken from him for over two decades without any hope that he may have still been alive. Proverbs tells us, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. This is Proverbs 13:12. Jacob had lost hope, and he wasn't afraid to let it be known. It seemed everything he desired in life was stripped from him. Although Joseph didn't understand why bad things happened to him any more than Jacob did, he realized that ultimately they served a purpose. If there was truly a God who ruled the universe, he had something Jacob didn't have. He had hope. Rock climbers are insane, but they do things that no one else will do. And everyone takes notice because of that. They aren't necessarily fearless, but they are optimistic. They have hope. Hope drives the rock climber to scale the face of an imposing mountainside. Whereas others would throw their hands up without a second thought. They train for it. They live for the challenge. Rather than cringe with fear, they run to the opportunity. When Jacob first heard the news that Joseph was alive, it didn't seem possible. The mountain was too imposing, too impossible. But then, when he saw the evidence and realized it was true, the Torah tells us that the spirit of their father Jacob revived. In my introduction, I mentioned that Aragorn from Lord of the Rings was given the name Estel, which means hope. When Elrond, master of Rivendell, commissions Aragorn, he tells him, I give hope to men. Aragorn then responds, I keep none for myself. Hope is powerful. Unfortunately, many people today have lost that hope. The world is so full of so much death, cruelty and sadness that it's easy to lose hope. As followers of Yeshua, however, we have a hope that is greater than what this world provides. But it's easy to lose sight of it. We have to find a way to recover it and share it with others. That single ounce of hope empowered Jacob enough to uproot his entire family and move to Egypt so that he could be reunited with his long lost son. Have you lost hope? Have those around you lost hope? We have to remember that the true king still lives and will one day return to claim his throne. And this one fact is a truth that should inspire us to hope once more. And if that isn't enough, you can check out my message. Does God care? Right here.
