12 17 25 – My Imagination

A family without a father is an accident waiting to happen. A family with a father who shows favoritism is just as bad. This parsha, Miketz, gives rise to one of the greatest questions people ask about the book of Genesis—Bereshit: Why didn't Joseph write home? I mean, here he is, the grand vizier, in charge of all the wheat of Egypt; his fortunes have turned fantastically. If he really loves his father, why doesn't he write him a postcard? "Dad, everything is fine. I am here in Egypt. Wishing you were here. Love, Joseph." Some contact. What is going on here?

To answer this question, you have to take a careful look at the Joseph story from the perspective of Joseph himself. One of the great challenges that face us whenever we read any story in the Bible is to understand that you, the reader, may know more than any individual person actually involved in the story. When you look at the Joseph story, the question you have to ask yourself is, "What do you know that Joseph doesn't know?" And how does that change the story once you realize Joseph doesn't know it?

If you have read the story of the sale of Joseph (Gen. 37), you become aware that there is a crucial fact hidden from Joseph. It is impossible for him to know it because it takes place after he has been loaded onto the Ishmaelite caravan and is starting his journey to Egypt. That fact is what the brothers did after Joseph was pulled out of the pit and loaded onto the caravan. What they did was take a goat, slaughter it, put the blood on Joseph's coat, and send it to their father, saying, "This we have found. Recognize (hakerna), please, is it your son's coat or not?"

Joseph does not know that happened. He could not have known it happened. He was not around for that. The question you have to ask yourself is, not knowing that happened—not knowing about the bloody coat—how might that change Joseph's view of the story?

All Joseph knows of the story is that he was seventeen years old and he had two dreams—dreams that seemed to portend that he would rise to a position of power. He told these dreams to his brothers, and they became jealous. Then he told the second dream not only to his brothers but to his father as well.

Now his father had loved him, but for the very first time, Jacob castigated Joseph because his dreams testified that they were all going to come bowing to Joseph? And his father scolded him; he was angry at him. Then Jacob sent him to Shechem to go check on his brothers. Shechem, of all places. What had been happening in Shechem lately (Gen. 34)? Simeon and Levi and the rest of the brothers undertook a commando raid to rescue Dinah that resulted in the wholesale death of an entire town. Shechem is a place soaked in blood—blood spilled by the brothers of Joseph. Now the brothers are angry, jealous of Joseph. They see him as a threat.

"Why don't you go check on your brothers in Shechem?" Jacob tells Joseph. Joseph sees it is dangerous. His answer: "Hineini"—"Here I am." What does hineini remind you of? Who else said the famous hineini in the book of Genesis? The hineini of Abraham to God in the story of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22). With that hineini, doom was right around the corner for Isaac. With Joseph's hineini, does he realize doom is right around the corner?

Can you imagine what is going on in Joseph's mind? "I agreed. I went to Shechem. I said hineini to you. I trusted that everything would be fine. But everything wasn't fine. My brothers jumped me, stripped me of both my coats—family identity and firstborn status—threw me into a pit, and sold me off to Egypt." That is what Joseph knows. And now, what doesn't he know?

Tragically, he does not know that the brothers brought the bloody coat to father, tricking father into thinking Joseph was dead. So from Joseph's perspective, what does he think happened next? For all he knows, maybe they came back to father and said, "Father, it was him or us!" Maybe father himself saw Joseph as a threat. It is not like nobody has ever been kicked out of the family before.

Abraham wanted to keep Ishmael around. Sarah did not think it was a good idea. God sided with Sarah. Bye-bye Ishmael.

Esau got expelled from the family. Bye-bye Esau.

I am down, languishing in Egypt, year after year, and there is never any search party. Maybe I was kicked out of the family. Bye-bye Joseph?

A clue as to what Joseph thought is found in what he named his two children: Manasseh—"God has allowed me to forget all of my toil, all of my pain at my father's house"—and Ephraim—"God has allowed me to become fruitful, to have all these children in the land of my oppression" (Gen. 41:51–52). Joseph builds a new life, leaving his old life behind. He will still be a God-fearing Israelite, but what of the ties with his family? Does Joseph think he has been thrown out? That it is all over?

Think about Joseph's perspective. Pharaoh brings him out of the pit—this dungeon he was in—and says, "I hear you know how to interpret dreams. Could you interpret my dream?" Pharaoh gives him new clothes—beautiful new clothes. Sets him up again as second in charge. Everything that Joseph would have wanted perhaps from his own father. "Where were you when I was in the pit? Here is the man who takes me out of the pit. Where were you when I was stripped of my clothes? Here is the man who gives me new clothes." "I didn't like your dream"—here is a man who wants to tell Joseph dreams and hear his interpretation. Pharaoh gives Joseph a wife, gives him a new name. What kind of man gives you a new name and gives you a wife? A father kind of man.

The life lessons are too many to count. But first, do not let your imagination run wild on you with what you do not know. Second, hineini—be available and ready to go where God has orchestrated your life. Third, He will be with you! Fourth, the questions will have answers in time. Fifth, focus on what God is doing in your life, not on the imagination of what He is doing or not doing in others.

Many of us do not have to imagine this scenario because we have all experienced it to some degree or another. What we need is a constant reminder of His presence and leading through the forty-two stops of this life's journey (Num. 33).

Have an amazing middle of the week! Today is the fourth day of the week, the middle of the menorah—the shamash, the servant lamp.

Hineini!

Shalom,
Alan

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