Torah Portion: Exodus 1:1-6:1

Sh'mot (‘Names’)

God made a covenant with Abraham that was stated in exact terms. Among its promises was that Abraham's descendants would inherit the Land of Canaan. Canaan was Noah's grandson whom Noah had cursed for the sin of his son, Ham (Gen 9:22-25). Living under this curse, the Canaanites and other tribes who descended from Canaan fell into all manner of sin and idolatry, but in Abraham's day their decline was not sufficient for them to be displaced from their land.

Abraham was to live in faith for the future of his descendants but die before he saw the fulfilment of God's promise. 400 years of affliction would pass during which the descendants of his grandson Jacob would be enslaved in a foreign land before being released to occupy the Promised Land (Gen 15:13). The nation who afflicted them would then be judged (Gen 15:14).

Promises Fulfilled

True to His Word, both in the detail and the timing, we begin this week to consider how God fulfilled His promise of deliverance. Moses, a prophet, arose to be the agent of this fulfilment.

As we follow the Torah portions schedule and read the Book of Exodus, we will be able to consider the detail and also see how new aspects of God's covenant plan emerge. We will see that the story is not complete, but points forward to further stages of covenant history. Later in Scripture come new prophecies, also with exact timing for their fulfilments, such as when Judah went into Babylonian captivity for exactly 70 years.

As further stages of covenant history proceed, we see that everything points to the sacrifice of Yeshua, to His return and to times of judgment on the entire earth prior to a release from a different captivity (sin and a sinful world) for all those who are saved, through the same faith as Abraham's, for all eternity.

Preparing for the Future

What does this mean? Throughout the Bible there are prophecies that point to our own day and the days preceding the Lord's return. They can be hard to understand, especially since the detail of their fulfilment is yet to be seen (just as the detail of the prophecy given to Abraham was not fully understood until it was seen in the context of Moses' day).

Nevertheless, we have sufficient information to know broadly what to expect, to recognise the signs and, at some time to come, to expect exact timing on the very last things.

An Antichrist will arise, just as a Pharaoh did. There will be difficult times for God's people (both believers in Yeshua the Messiah and unbelieving Israel), just as there were for ancient Israel. But God's promises are sure and will be fulfilled exactly as prophesied. Should we not be preparing for these days - which may be sooner than many Christians want to think? God will keep His Word, just as He did at the time of Moses.

Author: Clifford Denton

Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28-50:26

Vayechi ('And he lived')

We live by the blessing of God. It is in the hand of God alone to bless and, when He does, nothing can reverse it.

Joseph held steady to the Lord during all the years of hardship under Potiphar and then in prison. Eventually the Lord raised him back up and, when his father Jacob was dying, Joseph received a special blessing. It is worth quoting here the entire passage from Genesis 49:22-26:

Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.

With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.

Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Safe in the Hand of God

The hand of God upon His people keeps them in His way, close to Him. Through the hostility, the deprivation and the darkness of prison, Joseph was able to remain true to the Lord. When his time came, he was ready to obey God's prompting through his dreams and to seek God for the wisdom he needed in responding to Pharaoh's charge to feed the nation through the coming famine.

The place of security under the hand of God comes to us now through the forgiveness of our sin by faith in the shed blood of Christ on the Cross. Hosea says in 14:2, “Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously that we may offer the fruit of our lips'”. We are not asked to bring animals to sacrifice before Him. Our need is to come to Him with a whole heart for His forgiveness and cleansing and then to walk closely with Him, under His hand of blessing.

The blessings of the Almighty transcend circumstances. Even though Joseph was despised by his brothers and left for dead, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and wrongly imprisoned, treated as a criminal and forgotten by the one man who could speak to Pharaoh on his behalf, the blessing of God continued with him and brought him to the position which God had prepared: that of Prime Minister of Egypt.

Blessings and Fruitfulness

Blessing and fruitfulness go hand in hand. Once in that place of abiding in the secret place of the Most High, Joseph showed us that God truly intends all that He permits to take place (or not) in our lives for good, even though the intentions of others may be different.

God had said to Jacob, Joseph's father, “I am going to make you fruitful”; He surely did. Our fruitfulness also comes from Him (Hos 14:8). However, we can no more produce fruit than a plum tree in winter, apart from the Spirit of the Lord living in us. Yeshua said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Joseph is described as “A fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall” (Gen 49:22) but it did not fall to him to decide what sort of fruit he would bear. It was entirely in the Lord's hand to bring about His own purposes and, for Joseph, the fruit of his life led to the saving of the whole nation of Egypt (and many others) from famine and death. As we too truly abide in our risen Saviour Yeshua, will not His Spirit produce fruit of His choosing, to His glory?

Author: Sally Denton