Yosef’s Travails- Comprehension
Note: the names and towns in bracket are the English names used in the interpretation of the authentic /original biblical names/ towns. Please observe them
Ya‘akov – Jacob continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an (Canaan).
Here is the history of Ya‘akov (Jacob). When Yosef (Joseph) was seventeen years old, he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Yisra’el (Israel) loved Yosef more than his other children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him up to the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.
Yosef had a dream which he narrated to his brothers. The dream made their hatred towards him to increase. Here is the dream Yosef narrated to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine: We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field, when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.”
His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of governing over us.” And they hated him still more for his dreams.
He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Listen, said Yosef excitedly to his dad, brothers and step mom “I had another dream; where I saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” His brothers were jealous of him and got quite provoked, his father rebuked him thus; “What is this dream you keep having? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves on the ground before you?” Ya’akov left very angry but kept the matter in mind.
After this, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s sheep in a neighbouring town called Sh’khem, Yisra’el (Ya’akov- Jacob’s other name) asked Yosef , “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the sheep in Sh’khem (Shechem)? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am. dad. Ya’akov said to him, “Go now, see whether things are going well with your brothers and with the sheep, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him away from the Hevron (Hebron) Valley, and Yosef went to Sh’khem , where a man found him wandering around in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” “I’m looking for my brothers,” he answered. “Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the sheep?” The man said, “They’ve left here; because I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dotan (Dothan).’” Yosef went after his brothers and found them in Dotan.
Yosef’s brothers spotted him from a distance, shortly before his arrival. Earlier in the day while pasturing the flock in She’kem, they had already plotted to kill him. They said to one another, “Look there! This dreamer is coming towards us! So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the water cisterns here, then we will say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” But when Re’uven (Reuben)heard this, he tried to save him from being destroyed by them. He said to his brothers; “We shouldn’t take his life… No, let no one shed his blood.” “ instead throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” His intention was to rescue Yosef from them later and restore him to his father.
And so it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they overpowered him, stripped off the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, and and threw him into an empty cistern water. Thereafter, they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim (Ishmaelites) coming from Gil‘ad (Gilead), their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. Y’hudah (Judah) said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim , instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” The other brothers paid attention to him and obliged immediately. So when the Midyanim (Midianites) merchants, passed by, Yosef’s brothers drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef as a slave to Egypt.
Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef was not in it, tore his clothes in mourning. He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”
They eleven brothers took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. Then they sent the long-sleeved robe to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” Yisra’el recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!”
Ya‘akov tore his clothes into shred, he put a sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all manner of consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And Yosef’s father wept for him.
While in Egypt the Midyanim (Midianites) sold Yosef to Potifar (Potiphar), one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard. Who took him in. He handed over his entire household staff to him and set him above them all, Yosef’s dream later came to pass in Egypt, when he became the first prime minister of Egypt. there the sun, the moon and the stars bowed before him, While Yosef worshipped YHWH, The Most HIGH GOD of Yisra’el , standing with his head bowed to him.
Culled from Jewish Messianic Forum. (The Holy Scripture).
Questions
1. From the above story, Who was Yisra’el?
2. Why did Yosef’s brothers envy him to the point of desiring his demise?
3. What is the meaning of Yosef’s dream? ” Where i saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.”
4.Who is YHWH in the above story?
5. Was Yosef’s dream divinely inspired by The GREAT RUACH HAKODESH ( SPIRIT Of GOD).
6. Whose blood was on the long sleeve robe that was presented to Ya’akov
7. Write down names of two Yisra’el towns in the passage above.
8. What is the literal meaning of :
-YHWH
– RUACH HOKODESH
9. Why must the above names of GOD be written in capital letters
10. Identify 4 nouns in the above passage
11. write down two verbs in the above passage
12. Why did Yosef Worshipped YHWH after the fulfilment of his dream.
