In this article, we won’t be discussing the usual replacement theology. I believe the time for trying to persuade others is past; many have put in significant effort to rid Christianity of the troubling issue of anti-Semitism. I’ve addressed this topic in previous articles on multiple occasions. Every subject has its time and a point when it should come to a conclusion in order for the matter to be put to rest. Those who haven’t been convinced by now probably won’t be swayed anymore. And if, against all odds, some individuals still have a change of heart, there’s an abundance of material available online or in libraries for them to ponder.
No, here we will delve into an entirely different kind of replacement “theology.” We will discuss a substitution that has always been within the intention of Yahuwah. We are going to explore the concept of a grand replacement that isn’t a result of humanity’s corrupted intentions to seize what doesn’t rightfully belong to them. While a significant portion of Christendom is still grappling with the idea of taking the place of Jews by considering themselves “Jews in spirit” in a misguided and improper manner by misinterpreting the words of Paul, it fails to comprehend the fundamental purpose of human creation and who is truly meant to be replaced. Because, during the time of their salvation, when the Bridegroom, the Messiah, comes to take his Bride, the Church,
the born again individuals will take the place of entities that initially held a far greater spiritual significance than Jews.
So, the efforts of religious individuals trying to take the place of the chosen people will ultimately remain in vain. In the meanwhile, those who have received Salvation will be judging the fallen angels, of whom they are destined to occupy the positions and the places these angels left vacant.
One of the primary purposes of Christianity should have been to spark jealousy among the Jews by sharing the testimony of Yahushua. Ironically, it’s still a significant portion of Christendom that feels envious of a people who persistently reject the Messiah.
Can the son of a king truly feel envious of a wanderer, even if that wanderer happens to be his temporarily exiled brother? Or does such misplaced jealousy indicate that the one who believes himself to be a prince isn’t truly the King’s son? Envy seems inconceivable when one possesses everything we can imagine.
When Helel, one of the archangels, better known today as Satan, along with his followers, rebelled against Elohim, they were banished from the Kingdom of Heaven. This pertains to the Eternal Kingdom that was meticulously crafted, where every element, even the angels that later fell, had specific roles and functions. With their expulsion, a void emerged—a gap that needed to be filled in order to restore the original state of perfection.
Man was created by YaHuWaH to take the place of the fallen angels.
However, Elohim didn’t immediately position Man in their final place. Man had to undergo a test of free will before attaining the state of ultimate Eternal Life. Additionally, Elohim had an adversary to overcome, someone who aspired to his position and sought to replace him. Rather than immediately obliterating him, Yahuwah granted him an opportunity to prove himself. Concurrently, Elohim allowed time to showcase his unimaginable power before the created world, including angels and humanity.
Satan had the authority to tempt Man due to the latter’s possession of free will. And so it happened. Following Adam’s temptation, humanity received the death sentence, as promised. However, Adam and Eve weren’t immediately subjected to execution. Instead, Elohim condemned them to a gradual process of death. This process can be referred to as World History, but more simply,
this process is none other than TIME itself.
This countdown represents the very embodiment of Elohim’s mercy—a span wherein every individual has the opportunity to receive Grace by acknowledging the Savior Yahushua, thereby reconciling their relationship with the Father.
The immense grace and love of Elohim are first revealed here. Despite the fact that most people interpret Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden as a sign of Elohim’s anger, judgment, retribution, and even cruelty, we should understand that it was, in fact, the ultimate display of mercy. This banishment essentially stands as the initial application of the city of refuge law. In the end, humanity’s rebellion against Elohim wasn’t deliberate. They didn’t seek to harm or disgrace their Creator. Their aspiration was to be like Him. Their struggle against their own weaknesses and desires which overpowered them. They desired to mirror Him but not replace Him. Their feelings toward Elohim weren’t tainted by hatred, in contrast to Helel and his cohorts, who succumbed to the unforgivable sin.
This countdown serves as the pivotal path towards Man’s Salvation. We were granted time—a route of escape, similar to the case of the unintentional murderer who was provided a refuge, a place to shield themselves from the wrath of the victim’s kin, as outlined in Deuteronomy 19:4-6. In this manner, we were given time to mend our relationship with Elohim. We do so by cleansing ourselves with the Lamb’s blood, shed in exchange for our sins, in order to appease Elohim’s anger.
The conflict between Satan and Elohim is no less than a duel. And, much like any honorable duel, and since the rules were established by Elohim himself, it can only proceed fairly. The adversary, no matter how cunning or vile, still merits fundamental respect and does have rights according to the laws of warfare. Both sides must show respect towards each other. Even if the opponent disregards the rules, Elohim adheres to them and compels the opposing side to not transgress certain boundaries.
It would have been overly simplistic to discard all that is corrupted, then cleanse and immediately repopulate the space by forming new angels. Yahuwah desires to fill these gaps with individuals who have been tried like precious metals. He aims to surround himself with souls who have willingly chosen conversion through their personal decision and have thus been cleansed by his Blood. He longs for authentic individuals around him, individuals who serve Him out of their own will—not mere automatons or slaves condemned to forced labor.
The angels were also granted a “time” to decide after their creation. Some among them made a different choice. And this is where Man’s role enters the picture. Mankind has the opportunity to take the place of these rebels and eventually pass judgment on them for the harm they’ve inflicted upon humanity throughout its 6000-year history.
Man is the bet. The choice is clear: either salvation through the Messiah’s blood or alignment with the tempter, leading to eternal damnation.
Satan and his demons are consumed by fury. On one hand, they acknowledge their inability to overpower Yahuwah, and on the other, they suffer profound humiliation. Once believing themselves superior even to Elohim, they now face being supplanted by beings as seemingly insignificant as humans.
Regrettably, their solace lies in their capacity to ensnare many in their perdition.
For us, solace is found in Yahushua HaMashiach. Through his Blood, he redeems all who embrace his Sacrifice and submit to His Authority.
In the eyes of the Jews, the reason why the Holy Scriptures, the Word of Elohim begins with the second letter of the alphabet ב (bet) and not with the first, that is to say א, remains a mystery till this day. For them, it is indeed completely illogical that the first word beginning the story on the origin of origins does not begin with the first letter א (alef). The question is really disturbing and one can indeed wonder if this is due to chance or if Elohim really wanted to point out something unsuspected at first sight.
While it is true that the letter can be dangerous in itself, it is still good to know that each Hebrew letter carries a meaning and a numerical value which alone contains deep additional meaning. So to what extent, by whom and when these things are worth unpacking will not be the subject of our analysis here, but it remains a fact to be taken into account.
The question is all the more relevant since the word Elohim begins precisely with aleph. Why does He not begin the story with his own name in this case with something like: Elohim created in the beginning, or Elohim, in the beginning, created, etc. It may seem strange to some, but this question has really been on the minds of Jews since ancient times and I personally think it is indeed very interesting for us also in the Messiah today.
In what follows we are going to skip over the answers given by Judaism to this question and instead deal with the significance that such a seemingly small “error” can have in terms of the History of Salvation and Redemption.
In what the Earth and Man werecreated?
We get the answer to that question in the very the first lines of Genesis: Tohu VáBohu (emptiness, darkness and abyss in a word, in chaos).
How is it possible that the place where originally only Elohim exists, there can be darkness and abyss. How can chaos in any form whatsoever rub shoulders with the Eternal Yahuwah and His perfection?
At the time when, there was only Him and no one and nothing else, – if it is possible to use words describing time here – how can one conceive that any kind of tohu and bohu could have existed independently of- and apart from Him?
the word B-réshit is nothing more than an indication that we are witnessing and participating in the creation of a plan B
Just as the Redemption of man was also not planed originally, but man had been created in perfection having an eternal and incorruptible flesh. This state which would have frozen forever as soon as man resisted the temptation to consume the fruit of the forbidden tree until the end of the probationary period, thus gaining definitive Eternal Life.
Despite everything, it did not happen as expected. Man having sinned from the first generation, Yahuwah was forced to modify his plans and prepare the expiatory sacrifice of the Lamb in order to restore his creature. So was he later compelled to appear personally in the form of the Son, emptying himself, coming out of the womb of a woman and take on a human body so that he could shed his blood and suffer judgment instead of us so that those who believe in Him may have Eternal Life. So we can see that the Work of Redemption had to come into place because of man’s fall into sin.
If we look closer, the Bible is filled with similar modified plans. Following the murder of Abel by Cain, Seth had to be sent as a substitute in order to revive the pure bloodline. The new start following the flood was also a plan B. The exiles imposed on the people following the breaking of the law were all plan Bs. Jacob’s life itself is littered with plan Bs and so on through the Scriptures.
The never ending rebellion of the people and humanity is always pushing Yahuwah, in his huge merciness, to always adjust/repair things, to give more time, to be more patient and to intervene in events in such a way that they ultimately benefit those who yet have sinned, but who finally had returned to Him.
The original created world could only be perfect
When Elohim made the creatures surrounding Him in His Kingdom, all those authorities, principalities and other spiritual beings that we commonly call angels, everything was then perfect, eternal and filled with light. There was no darkness, no abyss where He would have been forced afterward to bring the Light, which is the Messiah. The Father-Son-Holy Spirit, as one Elohim, delighted himself in his own creatures, among which was also one of His most beautiful and one of the key elements of His creation and who finally turned against Him.
The story of the creation of our world was preceded by another creation, which is not related in the Bible, but which we can perceive, since several prophecies refer to those ancient times in a world that was then exclusively spiritual Moreover, we can know this because what we read in the opening lines of Genesis does not describe the perfect conditions that arise from the unique presence of a perfect character like our Creator. When the Bible begins, we already see a backdrop of darkness and confusion in which the Creator is forced to intervene in order to restore something original that was perfect and that we do not yet perceive at this stage. It is in these chaotic circumstances that by His Grace, He intervenes in order to create our earth and its sky by also bringing to it the ultimate solution, the Light which is none other than the Messiah in whom and by whom all creation was made.
What our Creator originally created was Perfection itself, there is no doubt about it.
There was to be a perfect World, a Kingdom, where the Creator King – being Himself perfect – could only create perfect things.
The fall that created the Tohu VaBohu
The Kingdom of Elohim could therefore only be perfect. One such perfect creature was Helel himself – of his latin name Lucifer – not the light-bringer but the luminous, the one who reflects Light at most. He was one of the three archangels, who eventually, of his own free will and self-worship, rebelled and decided to attempt to seize Yahuwah’s throne to rule in his place. A third of the angelic armies followed him in his fall. They too were originally perfect and eternal angelic creatures and eventually fell to become Satan (the accuser) and the demons, Shedim in Hebrew (the conceited ones). Isaiah 14:12-14
At that time, an extremely tragic rupture occurred in this perfect world, where these rebels could no longer remain. These fallen angels no longer had a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. So they had to be hunted somewhere, but that somewhere did not yet exist, because this situation had not really been foreseen.
A parallel dimension had to be created in which Yahuwah was not present. It was then that the Tohu VaBohu “space” was set apart – for a while.
Yahuwah could have immediately destroyed the rebels, but it did not happen that way. Why ? We can only guess. But overall, it’s no surprise that in the face of such a destructive rebellion, Elohim still shows patience. Here too, our Father behaves like a kind of perfect “gentleman”, who in such a situation does not act out of anger and strike on the spot, but rather gives time to his opponent so that he can prove himself and fight on equal terms.
The role of the earth
For this duel to occur, a place had to be designated. This place was none other than the very kingdom of Satan. This kingdom of darkness and chaos within which the Earth was created to serve as a battlefield and within which man was also created to serve as spoil for the future winner.
The fall of 1/3 of the angels left a void in the original perfect kingdom of Yahuwah.
In human history such an attempted putsch would have had completely different consequences, as we have seen many times throughout the centuries. The failed putschists are caught and executed on the spot and new people are immediately named to replace their former comrades who rebelled. The putschists are generally soldiers, who have the necessary weapons and who are the closest to the power against which they are revolting.
Elohim however is not human and does not think as such. He does not wish to defeat the rebels with strength and power, but rather by his weakness. He wants to show that even in his weakest state, he is able to overcome an enemy in full possession of his strength and power.
Yahuwah agrees to go into Satan’s kingdom and intends to defeat him on his own ground. It is by having created man, through him and, at the level of his free will that the fight is ongoing. In the end, he does not even fight on equal terms, but offers the enemy to fight him with better means.
Elohim thus creates man in order to defeat Satan at the level of his free will.
The earth was therefore created in the midst of this chaotic world to serve as a chessboard, a theater for the great struggle. And the main purpose is mankind itself. If Satan manages to tempt people and keep them in sin until the end, Satan will take them with him into eternal damnation. However, if man manages to remain (or rather return) to his original state when sin had not yet taken hold of him, he will obtain Eternal Life.
The Sin and its Solution
Going back to the history of creation, we well know the sad aftermath of the story. Man finally fell from the first steps. For Satan was given power on Earth and had free access to that little part of the Kingdom of Heaven which was separated and placed within it: the Garden of Eden. This is how he appeared to Eve in the form of the serpent to tempt her.
By this act, man not only cut himself off from direct contact with the Creator and sentenced himself to death, but also empowered Satan to drag him into the physical world. Here the process of death and time leads man to the first and physical death then to the spiritual and second death in case Satan is able to keep him under the domination of sin untill the end, remote from the person of the Saviour.
This Savior who is Yahushua HaMashiah of Nazareth, the only way back to the Father.
He who freed man from sin by His blood and by His Sacrifice on the Cross and who thereby slew the ancient serpent
The purpose of humanity
Beyond what we have learned so far, that man is the ultimate stake in the struggle between the two powers, the creation of man has a much deeper meaning and purpose that no one knows and really speaks about. Once we understand this, we will have answered the oldest and most visceral question mankind has ever asked:
“Why and who are we and where are we going?”
As previously described:
The fall of 1/3 of the angels left a void in Yahuwah’s originally perfect kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven cannot remain in this temporarily imperfect state at 2/3 of its splendor.
Yahuwah did not immediately destroy the rebels and create new spiritual principalities and other angels in their place with the snap of a finger. At least not until the fight is over.
But he won’t even do that at the end of the war. Because the substitutes have already been created for long. These replacements are none other than the redeemed part of Humanity.
Once the Redemption of the Messiah has been obtained, man on entering Eternal Life takes the place of the fallen angels
This is how Yahuwah finally fills the void left in order to restore His Kingdom.
In place of Satan as the archangel and his demonic army, we have the Messiah as King taking the place of Helel and the armies of saved humans taking the place of the demons.
This is the true purpose of our world and the creation of man. Now we are able to understand the contradiction that what Elohim creates cannot be originally imperfect. He does not create darkness, emptiness and death. But some creations that were originally perfect became imperfect and became darkness, chaos and death. Helel by his rebellion lost the status of Angel of Light thus generating darkness, a concept that did not exist until then.
So we see that even in Paradise there was a “time” when the perfect creatures of the timeless Kingdom also had their free will and the right to decide whether to remain obedient to the Creator forever or choose another path. As some of them chose this last option, a plan B was had to be implemented: This is where we enter the game!
Yahuwah created no one to replace Helel/Satan. He offered Himself as the Son, Yahushua HaMashiah, to take the vacated place of Helel. This is exactly what the disciples could see with their own eyes during the transfiguration of Yahushua, when He appeared with Elijah and Moses, thus taking the place of the missing third archangel. Moses and Elijah being themselves the Archangels Michael and Gabriel respectively. A later article will cover this topic in more depth. TERUMAH
The Church – the Body of the Messiah – was built on the foundations of the apostles (Moses – law) and the prophets (Elijah) and its head is Yahushua HaMashiach
which is the Light compensating for the disappearance of the luminous one. And those who are born again in Him, His Body, WE take the place of the 1/3 of the angelic host that followed Satan into perdition.
This is how we understand how we humans will judge angels according to 1Cor 3:6. Judgment will be for them, among other things, to see one of the weakest, smallest and most insignificant creatures in the world – Man – occupying their own place from which they fell. There is no more humiliating judgment for them and that is why they hate us so much.
It is important to recognize these truths so that we can strengthen our faith and run with ever greater confidence and conviction towards the goal which is the Messiah. We also understand much better the essence of the person of the Messiah and why it was important for Yahuwah to appear among us in human form, emptying himself and as a Son to give His Life so that we could find ours. This is how we must run, not by force nor by power, but filled with the Holy Spirit of Yahuwah.
Concerning the parashat of the week, we will not be strictly talking about the story of the unveiling of Joseph in the eyes of his 11 brothers as we read in the story, but of the unveiling of the concept of Joseph in our own eyes. For indeed, When the noose tightens around us, when the world rejects us, when problems surface even within our community (where conflicts and injustices are not uncommon),
we often tend to identify ourselves with Joseph.
It is good to read that there was someone who had suffered similar harms, someone who was pushed into the pit by his own brothers as we are sometimes ourselves. Our identification with Joseph is, however, often illegitimate and dangerous.
In last week’s parasha teaching, we were talking about Joseph as the prefiguration of the Messiah. In addition, among the prefigurations of the Messiah, Joseph was the purest and closest to the holiness of the Messiah. Joseph was one of the most devoid of human instincts. It is better to be very vigilant when we compare ourselves to such a character, because we can easily mislead ourselves. Joseph has no sin to his credit, at least according to the biblical account. From our side, we can rarely say so.
The bad news brought to his father were also wanted by the Almighty and there is no question of fault or any abuse of power in his case. Only human “goodness” and humanism in itself are at the origin of the doubts and accusations against Joseph just as in many other cases of other characters in the Bible or the Jewish people itself throughout history. In a world so human and egocentric that the one we are living in now, it is the spirit that is ceaselessly seeking mitigating circumstances in order to legalize sin and trample on the Commandments of Yahuwah who is trying to make Joseph appear as a vulgar snitch perpetually committing the sin of the “evil tongue” (Lashon HaRa).
When we get into trouble, we usually identify ourselves with Joseph instantaneously as if to strengthen our supposed innocence. However most often it is to Jonah that we should compare ourselves.
Because indeed, if we are in danger or insulted it is most often because of our insubordination to Yahuwah. When darkness surrounds us, always think whether it is really Joseph’s pit or rather simply the belly of the fish where Jonah found himself when fleeing his destiny.
For in Jonah’s case, it was because of his disobedience that the sailors threw him overboard. It is good to clarify the situation otherwise we risk to be blocked in spirit without being able to go further, because we do not have the humility to see our faults in order to free ourselves by imploring the Grace of Yahuwah.
We always would like to be compared to Joseph, because we feel his purity and aspire to it ourselves. We especially have trouble confessing our mistakes and it is easier to identify with the winners. But in most cases, we should be content with Jonah’s more modest title in order to move forward and look a little more like the coveted Joseph. Jonah had to suffer the consequences of his fault. He was truly a man of Yahuwah, a great prophet, one of the leading characters in the Bible, yet he also had some things to put in order in his relationship with Yahuwah.
All this naturally does not exclude us from being subjected to cowardly and unjust persecutions from time to time. Problems do not rise only when we are rebellious. We’ve been given the heavy promise of having to suffer persecution because of our faith in Yeshua HaMashiah. We are often falsely accused by our neighbor and we must suffer this in silence. We must also avoid falling into the other extreme and constantly judge ourselves, always trying to find something wrong with us, even what is not true, just to please Yahuwah and our own spirit of religiosity. It is wise to first prostrate before the Almighty thinking that we are like Jonah so that He occasionally reassures us that it is because of our purity and in His name that we are rejected by others. May He always be the only one to have the right to name the nature of the evil that reaches us.
Humility does not stop here by the way. Because we so also have our own Josephs. We can never know who they are, when and how we push them to the bottom of the pit. We often think to be Josephs while many times being simply one of the brothers of the one we believe to be.
From the beginning of his story, we learn that Joseph was reporting bad news to his father about his brothers born to the maids of Leah and Rachel. This may not seem very positive at first sight and we might think that Joseph was a spoiled child who deliberately denounced his brothers in order to discredit them and to strengthen his own image in the eyes of his father. However, it was Jacob himself who sent his son to fulfill this mission and it was not a question of making false accusations, but of keeping a benevolent eye upon the sons who, without any doubt, really needed it.
Jacob has made a lot of mistakes in the past, because he was a man, a young man full of vitality and hormones who often rejected the fulfillment of the divine will in his life. Nevertheless, we have come here to a period in Jacob’s life, where his own person begins to step backwards giving more and more the way to this Israel that Yahuwah has always wanted him to become. Now, we read about an older, a more experienced and a much wiser Jacob than he was before. We see a man who is getting aware of the nature of his calling and those of his sons, especially in the case of Joseph. In my opinion,
Jacob did not make any mistake by preferring Joseph to his other children.
He did not only like him more because he was born from that particular wife whom Jacob truly loved, but because Joseph’s election was not based on a human decision. He made no mistake by making him a beautiful robe and by sending him “spying” on his brothers. This preferential treatment was indeed in the will of Yahuwah. The election of Joseph among his brethren, like Jacob’s compared to Esau, was the Almighty’s will and absolutely not the result of human feeling. It was not Isaac and Rebecca who decided that Jacob would be Yahuwah’s favorite. In the case of Joseph, it is the same. Joseph is a separate figure among the 12 sons of Jacob, an envoy among the messengers having a pastoral call to fill among his brothers.
Shepherds do also form a flock, Yahuwah’s Flock, where the members are often scattering leaving the flocks assigned to them without supervision or protection.
This is how the Father sent his only Son to watch over his people, to bring him news of their behavior and ultimately to gather the spiritually bewildered flock. Yahushua HaMashiah was also hated by most of his brothers for the same reasons as Joseph, because He had a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Father, He wore a more beautiful garment, He had a more valuable calling.
Jacob did indeed act according to the will of Yahuwah by favoring his son Joseph and sending him to his brothers in a particular garment. This was done precisely in the interest of the ungrateful brothers, so that they do not disperse and they do not ruin the family’s heritage. This was the providence they refused by rejecting Joseph.
Joseph’s dreams
Joseph has two dreams, one of which goes so far as to anger his father. One shows sheaves and the other stars. The sheaves of his brothers bowed down before his, and the sun, the moon, and eleven stars did also bow down directly before Joseph.
The fulfillment of these prophecies will occur very soon. In fact, the famine broke out fairly quickly and
the eleven brothers were crawling at the feet of Joseph dressed as a prince of Egypt.
The sheaves of the brothers did bow to Joseph’s.
However, only the first dream is realized here.
Jacob, is still not bowing down to his son and his mother Rachel even less since she died long before he dreamed anything.
How is this second dream realized, when the sun and the moon, that is to say, his father and mother glorify their son? The fulfillment of this prophecy does not occur in the visible world. It is an event that takes place in spirit
when the souls of Jacob, Rachel and the eleven brothers meet Yahushua and recognize him as the Messiah and Redeemer.
Meanwhile, the eleven stars are not limited to Joseph’s eleven brothers, but they stand for the entire descendants, the famous 144,000 saved souls of Israel who has the promise to recognize the true identity of their Messiah and who will bow down at the feet of Yahushua HaMashiach that is going to occur within a few years on the day of the Ultimate Yom Kippur.
From the human point of view, it is indeed scandalous to hear a child say such things about his parents, especially in the historical and moral context of the Middle East at the time. Jacob is offended, but he keeps this story in his memory, as we read it, which means that deep inside he feels that what his prodigal son said should become true some day. It is at this stage of the story that
we can understand the contradiction of Yahushua’s words to the Pharisees when He claimed to be the son of David and his Lord at the same time.
Mark 12: 35-36
The parallel is identical. Just as Joseph was the prefiguration of the Messiah, so his calling is so elevated that even his parents must bow before such a power. Although being physically the descendant of King David according to his family tree, the Messiah is similarly reigning over everyone and everything in spirit even over David himself.
Numbers of biblical characters are the prefigurers of Yahushua HaMashiach, like Moses. However, few show as much purity and innocence as Joseph. He was the one who best embodied the holiness of the most Holy One. Joseph was one of the biblical characters in whom the human side was the most absent. No trace of insubordination or human error in his case.
He prefigured that Yahushua HaMashiah of Nazareth who, like him, was rejected by his own brothers and sold not for 20, but for 30 pieces of silver by one of them. He is the Mashiah at the feet of which Jacob and Rachel are permanently prostrating in the spiritual world, in the Kingdom of Heavens.
From Jewish to Egyptian, from Egyptian to Jewish
Joseph was born, as we would say today, as a “Jew”, but more precisely, he was born as an Israelite. (The term Jew coming from the descendants of Judah and other remnants who were expelled from Israel during the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE).
Because of the sin of his brothers, however, he was forced to endorse a different identity for a while.
Joseph was a gift of Yahuwah to his family and brothers in particular so that through his visions, faithfulness and virtue he could watch over and serve them.
On the other hand, they rejected this providence. For this reason, the Almighty has entrusted his servant to a foreign power for a certain time. The Egyptians saw and accepted the supremacy of Joseph to such an extent that they practically raised him to the rank of pharaoh. Egypt wanted him and bought him for 20 shekels to use and exploit him for their own purposes. Although it was out of personal and community interest, the Egyptians loved and respected him. He was so much praised that the supreme pagan sovereign designated him as his right hand.
Following Yahushua HaMashiah’s rejection, the same process began. Yahushua has been adopted by a spiritual empire where He received a privileged place alongside or rather a notch below the pharaoh. In this empire which is now more powerful than ever, his name is invoked with love and respect among many other alien deities. We know who these pharaohs are and what this empire is about. From the demon of the false virgin Mary through the horde of “saints” and other human institutions named churches, we finally lead up to the person of the pope and other “pastoral” authorities and churches who, invoking the name of the Messiah, arrogates the right to govern on billions of human beings.
Like Joseph, another outfit, another face and even another identity was granted to him. (For ex. by simply changing his name from Yeushua to iesus!). Let us not be fooled, because this is not simply about the Catholic Church, although the latter is the conductor of this evil symphony. We are talking here about a larger movement which goes beyond the borders of Rome and which embraces all spiritual currents, even many “ultra-reformed” Christians. Icons, statues and other often charismatic manifestations of the bearded, pale-faced god are all falsifications of the true person of the Messiah.(such as the various actors embodying our Savior, particularly films going beyond the Gospel into a sort of Christian Midrash such as the Chosen series for example). Ecumenism is undoubtedly today the greatest obstacle to the recognition of the essence of the person of the Messiah especially from the Jewish point of view.
In short, we see in Joseph a Jew who became the supreme authority of Egypt.
It was through Joseph that the people entered Egypt.
Later Moses will be the one who will bring them out of it.
Joseph was born Israelite and became practically a pharaoh, Moses will begin his life as almost being a pharaoh himself to finally become an Israelite again. A similar story took place about 2000 years ago. When Yahushua was sold to the Egypt of the time, to Rome who used it largely for purposes that were alien to the will of Yahuwah who He incarnated. But the Almighty intervenes in everyone’s life and sends his Holy Spirit to open peoples eyes in order to distinguish the original from the fraud. It is in the will of Yahuwah that the worship of idols is transformed into true redemption and deliverance. That when those who unconsciously turn to the falsifications of our Savior, recognize who He really is.
Yahuwah wants everyone to move from the worship of the crucifix and other bearded idols to the rule of the Real Messiah.
On the other hand, the purple robe that he wore before his death was given to him by the Roman soldiers. His colorful garment is white as snow according to the prophecies.
Today’s Jews see Yahushua dressed in a Roman robe and consider Him as the sovereign of a pagan empire.
For them, He remains a stranger inspiring fear since it was mainly in His falsified name that they have been persecuted for many centuries. However, the famine is more and more turning their eyes into His direction. The voice of Jacob, in other terms, the voice of our Father is already telling Jews that they must go to meet him if they don’t want to die of hunger. Thus let them go and see this Jewish brother who became an “Egyptian” ruler, because He is indeed the only one who is in possession of the grain of life. This Food is now consumed only by the Egyptian subjects, mixed with blood, pork and other unclean substances, but if you finally make it yours also, you will be able to make kosher food from it again, so that the Egyptians can also cleanse themselves of their mixed spirits.
The word of Yeshua recorded in the New Testament foretells the fulfillment of all the prophecies and promises made in the Tanakh (Old Testament) that are awaited by the Chosen People for thousands of years.
Jacob did not send his sons to Egypt to become Egyptians, but to keep them alive and to be able to come back and recover their place among their people in their identity. When they finally bowed down before Joseph in humility, he revealed his identity before his brothers. At that moment Joseph became an Israelite again, the Joseph he has always been. He has fulfilled his call and has regained his identity. This is what Yeshua is waiting for. So Jews hurry to meet him because the time of hunger is very near!
Jacob departs from Laban’s land with his family and cattle. He sends messengers to his brother Esau, informing him of his substantial wealth. The messengers return with news that Esau is approaching with 400 heavily armed soldiers. Having been separated for 20 years, the passage of time has not assuaged Esau’s anger. Fearing the encounter, Jacob divides his people into two groups, intending to preserve one if the other is besieged by Esau’s troops. In this moment of anxiety, Jacob turns to Yahuwah of Hosts in prayer.
So we see a man in danger to whom comes a “good idea” in order to solve his problem, then goes before Yahuwah begging for his help.
Many of the challenges I’ve faced in my life, excluding those ordained by Yahuwah as trials, stemmed from a similar inverted process. Most of my troubles were consequences of initially having what seemed like a very good idea, implementing it immediately, and only turning to seek help from Yahuwah afterwards. It’s common for us to envision ourselves as devout believers, sufficiently pure and faithful to make immediate judgments and decisions based on our perceived wisdom. However, this often leads to problems. Fortunately, these problems serve as a loud wake-up call, helping us recognize our mistake and understand that Elohim is the only solution to all our troubles.
After awakening the beast, Jacob elaborates another strategy. He wants to redeem himself literally with his brother. He tries to establish a long lasting peace by mutual agreement and win his sympathy if not his love. As a gesture of submission to his brother’s authority, Jacob offers Esau a portion of the wealth he has received from Yahuwah.
As we can read, for some unknown reason, Esau burst into tears at the sight of his brother and his family. It would seem that Yahuwah had accomplished in him what he had done in Laban in last week’s parashat when he ordered him not to harm Jacob, his servant.
The adversary, however, doesn’t give up easily. Initially, he suggests to Jacob an alliance with all his possessions, which Jacob refuses. Esau then attempts to persuade Jacob to accept an escort of some of his men for the journey, but Jacob subtly declines that too. This illustrates how the enemy is unwilling to release his grip and strives to maintain some control or influence over the life of those who are walking on the path of Elohim.
In the end, Esau acknowledges that he has received only the secondary blessing from his father.
Observing Jacob’s situation, the years of servitude with his father-in-law, Esau comes to a realization. He understands that he has no desire for a blessing that leads to such a difficult journey like his brother’s. Esau likely did not exert the same effort as Jacob in order to amass his wealth. One can imagine how a skilled hunter like Esau could have accumulated riches. Esau is a man of the world, finding true comfort and contentment only in this world—where hunting, plundering, and immediate enjoyment of possessions are permitted.
Esau fails to comprehend and is incapable of understanding the essence of Jacob’s blessing. This blessing is not rooted in earthly pleasures and rapid success. There is no assurance that the fulfillment of the blessing will occur within the lifetime of the recipient.
The true blessings of Yahuwah are long term and concern many people and generations. Jacob’s blessing is for the whole people and stands forever. The greatest blessing for a believer is to know that it is his children, his offspring that is going to enjoy the fruits of his devotion. By transmitting the spiritual heritage from generation to generation, the blessing continues to grow.
For a man of the world like Esau, a favorable blessing is one that yields immediate fruits, catering to the individual’s well-being without significant concern for the future of his children and even sometimes for his own. For many, the importance of children lies only in their ability to enhance the parents’ image in the eyes of the world. Typically, a child is valued only as long as the parents can take pride in their beauty, stature, strength, intelligence, or any other qualities relevant to current life.
However, for us, the true blessing is when we see the fruits of our labor in our descendants. When, through our ministry and our example, our own children, once adults, remain under the domination of Yahuwah and the Messiah. Thus perpetuating the spiritual heritage inherited from us and which they will then pass on in turn to their own children so that the fruits nourish our descendants for up to a thousand generations.
Fleeing his brother’s anger, Jacob finds himself in the middle of the wilderness and falls asleep. He takes a stone that he puts under his head and sleeps. He makes a dream. He sees a ladder whose top reaches the sky and angels are moving up and down on it. Jacob was in trouble hiding and was undoubtedly afraid. His only comfort in this arid and cold desert was a stone that he used as a cushion, a symbol of the hardness of his trial. No tent, no warm duvet, no soft pillow, just a stone under the neck. In the original Hebrew text it is highlighted that the stone was one among the stones of the place. As we move on our path of discipleship, the problems and questions of our past and future should not matter. What is left behind and what will happen in the future are issues that are blocking out our present duty. During our ministries, the only question that matters is what are the current sins of the place we are and how to solve them. Our prayers going up to Yahuwah as messengers on a heavenly scale are the solution-holder at the same time since the angels move up, but also come down the same way. The quintessence of prayer is described here. The origin of the evening prayer is precisely this communication between Jacob and Yahuwah. Jacob spoke to Elohim and Elohim answered him by sending back the messengers. So Jacob received answers to his questions,
solutions to his problems, comfort in his sadness and healing to his pain.
The Almighty makes the promise of granting him assistance and protection. Jacob builds an altar where he pours oil to seal his covenant with Yahuwah.
Jacob: his trial
Following his encounter with Elohim, Jacob still finds himself in slavery, under the yoke of a foreign authority. There, alien commandments are of force. In the world, there are two different types of laws. First, the ones that does not necessarily contradict Yahuwah’s Commandments and that are based on logic and rationalism being quite legitimate even from the divine point of view. Laban declares, that it is not customary to marry the youngest before the eldest. Such tradition is indeed an assurance to protect young women from being neglected and remaining lonely. We could say that this is a wise behaviour in order to protect the children. The other type of law, on the other hand, is based on selfishness and contempt for one’s neighbor. When Laban is consciously hiding this little detail, knowing that Jacob will be motivated to work hard for him to get the woman of his dreams, he does nothing but deceive his nephew in order to get the most out of him like a vulgar crook. Jacob served for two times seven years a man who was a relative, the brother of his mother Rebecca. Laban is a character just as exceptional as Rebecca’s. Except that unlike his sister, Laban is distinguished by his mediocrity and hypocrisy.
The opposite poles are meeting as well as in many other stories in the Bible.
(Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Saul and Jonathan, …)
We can not know the reason why Elohim lets Jacob live such a trial. Why does he have to work so hard for 14 years then for 6 more years to get his flocks? Why does he also have to “deceive” Laban in order to obtain what was due to him when he was handling the birth of the speckled and spotted goats and lambs of his uncle? I don’t want to guess, yet Jacob’s stay in that place was obviously a trial, a preparation, and a stove that helped cleanse the soul of Jacob who, like most of us, had a strength of character that does not harmonize well with the Supreme Will.
I often find myself in difficult situations by the will of Elohim.There, I have to work hard while constantly undergoing blatant injustices. Laban is always there, present all around us and just waiting to put the leash around your neck. Many commit great injustices and / or leave the way open to such sins. I often asked the question to Yahuwah: “Is it not by your will that I am where I am? Did not you want me to work here? Why do I still have to go through such situations? It is in these moments that the answer arrives. Many times, it is better to stay in silence and not struggle in vain. By wishing to defend ourselves, we run up against the powers that are ruling this world and they are much more powerful than us.
We must not only suffer the humiliation caused by the evil surrounding us, but all the curses coming from it also reaches us. We go out of the divine protection and we venture on the alien battlefield where the enemy has the rights and the weapons to defend itself. Indeed, the sinful man does not tolerate that the newcomer lectures him and tells him how things should work in his little world. It is better to suffer in silence for a while and turn directly to the Almighty in prayer. It is better to send our messengers to Yahuwah so that the answers come. Only the Lord of Hosts is empowered to put order in our lives and around us. He will send his army when He sees the moment had arrived, just as Jacob did when he left Laban’s house. Yahuwah alone has the right to settle our accounts and restore the things and situations that surround us according to His will and not to ours. It is then that we can often realize that if we have to suffer troubles, that comes from the fact that certain things have to be cleaned away from us. Our christian pride often thinks to know everything better than those poor unbelievers. That is very often not really the case. Our own sins are often leading us to be purged from time to time and this sometimes implies to have pain also.
Jacob: his fortune
It is once again in dream that the Almighty counsel Jacob to obtain his cattle by cleverly managing births within Laban’s herds. This is the history of speckled and striped goats.
Here again it is not a question of imposture, because it is the Almighty Himself who intervenes
in the injustice undergone by Jacob for all these years.
Laban explodes with anger at the sight of Jacob’s success with his cattle. Yahuwah intervenes again and orders Laban to do no good or bad to Jacob. Yahuwah is speaking to a man who does not belong to him, who is under the yoke of a foreign spiritual power and with whom he has hardly any covenant.
It is surprising to read that Laban can not only do no harm to Jacob, but that no good deed is allowed to him either. What would be wrong with doing good?
Indeed, the “good” of the world is sometimes much worse than the evil itself. The biggest thorn in Jacob’s foot would have been to be indebted to Laban, to have to be grateful to a scoundrel like his father-in-law. One of the greatest clemency of Yahuwah is precisely to free us from all debt to the enemy and to man in general. It was similarly that his grandfather Abraham separated from the king of Sodom after helping him in his fight against enemy kings. This king os Sodom wanted to honor Abraham’s support, but Araham categorically refused that any human could say that Abraham owed his fortune to a man and not Yahuwah. (here Abraham was not told to do so, it came from his inner wisdom).
It is also sometimes very tempting to accept damages after a long period of servitude. We often feel that we deserve it because we have suffered unfairly for years. It is good to know in these cases that true restitution can only come from Yahuwah. It may be that this compensation comes from men to a certain extent as in the case of Jacob’s cattle, but the Almighty makes sure that this good does not come directly from the concrete fortune of man. The good is always purified of all expectation and influence of man. The sheep and the goats obtained by Jacob did not affect Laban’s capital at all, since anyways, he would not have invested his property as Jacob did. Jacob simply raised a capital for his sake that was not damaged the original capital of Laban which was returned in full to his owner as they had agreed at the beginning. Laban was thus not harmed by Jacob and the animals were kept as they agreed.
I find it amazing that Jacob’s memory needs to be rehabilitated in the eyes of practically everyone.
The story is so clear that I find it difficult to believe that millions of Christians and even Jews blindly adopted the thought and rhetoric of Esau saying that all the miseries of Jacob are only the consequence of his sins. As we read the story, we can witness how gossip is born and spread in order to soil the image of an innocent person.
Jacob has always been a person of honesty and good will.
However, he had a very serious fault, and more than anyone else in the Bible he was in a hurry to solve his problems autonomously, according to his own thoughts. It was this stubbornness that led him into many troubles.
Jacob, his false covenant
Jacob makes the same mistake as his father and grandfather. When everything is finished, when they are on the verge of deliverance, the enemy attempts a final assault. Knowing that he can not hold us back under his power, the enemy is always launching a last offensive in order to cause the maximum harm before resigning. It attacks the human side of the person and it is acting on the people’s fears. He proposes to sign a treaty of non-aggression of the territory where he is, assuring that Jacob will not attempt any offensive against him. He lets you go, but he makes you accept him as being your ally. This is what happened between Abraham and Abimelech, between Isaac and Abimelech, and this time between Jacob and Laban.
But if we consider the enemy as our ally, do we not make ourselves our own enemy?
Do I tolerate and legitimize the sin that I may have to fight one day by the will of Yahuwah, because it is my calling? If I promise him not to take his territory, what will happen if he takes possession in the meantime of the territory that the Almighty would have given to me?
Once again a false alliance obstructing the real Covenant was passed between a patriarch and the enemy. After twenty years of hard work spent in the service of his uncle and father-in-law, who did not simply exploit his nephew, but also thinks that everything that belongs to Jacob, his wives and children and his cattle, is belonging to him, we can understand Jacob’s tiredness in front of such an arrogance. In addition, the memory of his brother Esau, tracking him down for revenge should have also haunted Jacob’s thoughts especially since he knew that the meeting was near. He was tired of fighting and resigned himself to signing a pact that he should not have signed. He did not have the strength to say no, as we frequently do neither.
We are often ashamed to assert our rights and we have compassion for our opponents. This time too, Elohim is indulgent and sends his soldiers behind Jacob to cancel this unlawful contract and leave the way free in Spirit to Jacob so that he can fulfill his call without having his hands tied to anyone from his past.
During the period between our conversion and our rebirth in spirit, we also frequently make this type of mistake. False covenants would prevent us from pursuing our journey if Yahuwah did not give us the grace to break these ties that are binding us to our past. However, Yahuwah does not take into account the time of ignorance and we have the opportunity to implore his clemency for our missteps and our bad decisions so that everything is canceled, annihilated, and no longer effective. Thus we can move towards our destiny in complete freedom. Do not forget that here Jacob had not yet become Israel. He was thus still in a kind of spiritual childhood.
Rachel’s two faces
Rachel was beautiful in size and figure. At the first appearance of Rebecca, the notion of beauty seems to me completely different than in the case of Rachel. Rebecca was discovered by an old servant of Abraham. A wise man of an advanced age who indeed no longer really had any interest in women’s beauty. He did not look at the opposite sex like most men usually do, but with much more sober and wise eyes. Jacob from his part, was a young man on the top of his virility at the time he met Rachel and so had other priorities.
The servant of Abraham still spoke about beauty in the case of Rebecca. Of course, disinterest and old age do not exclude the sense of beauty and refinement on the contrary. However, the beauty described by Eliezer was of a different kind. As I grow older myself, I realize how much my tastes are changing and becoming more refined over the years as I get sanctified even more. Beauty is moving from the surface to deeper layers of the human being.
Rebecca was undoubtedly a very pretty girl in the physical sense as well, but her real beauty came especially from beyond her body.
With Rachel, we find no trace of such type of beauty.
We read that she had a beautiful face and a beautiful body. In the original Hebrew text, the word beautiful used for both women are different.
Rebecca is defined by the term טובה – tova (good, kind) and Rachel is described as being יפה – yafa (beautiful in the physical sense).
Rebecca took care of watering not only the men but also their animals, while Rachel was hiding her father’s idols under her dress even after she married Jacob. For this reason Jacob curses the person who committed such a crime without knowing that it was his beloved one. The curse will soon reach Rachel when Benjamin is born. She will die on their way and be buried alone on the road although being just a few hours away from the cave of Makpelah, where all the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried except her. Even Leah will be buried there later. Although she was his favorite wife, Jacob decided not to bury Rachel in the family vault.
Rachel made a mistake. She did not look forward, but backward in the manner of Lot’s wife. Rachel did not cleanse herself of her pagan past and it cost her the physical life. She should have been exclusively faithful to the Elohim of her husband, but that was not the case. Still, she has fulfilled her calling, since she gave birth to Benjamin and Joseph, but she had not been allowed to see her sons fill their owns.
We also know from Joseph’s later dream that Rachel, symbolically appearing in the image of the moon, prostrated before Joseph, more precisely before the one whom Joseph was the foreshadow, that is, Yahushua HaMashiah. Joseph revealed to us that in the spiritual world, Rachel finally abandoned her idols and prostrated before the one and only King Messiah, thus reaching the goal. Still, it is dangerous to overestimate a person who during her earthly life was not really an example to follow.
Another false image of someone who should be put in their rightful place. Unlike Jacob, who was defiled and degraded, the image we have of Rachel is far too overrated. Why? Because it is men who write history and they lose their means at the sight of feminine beauty. What to expect anyway from contemporary Jewish men since they are the direct descendants of our ancestor Jacob who was the first to lose his mind as soon as Rachel appeared.
A huge number of Jews are visiting Rachel’s tomb every day. Ten thousands of their daughters bear her name, while most of them have nothing to do with her, unless someone is descending from Benjamin or Ephraim/Manasse. Yet there are hardly any Jews who can say this with complete certainty at the moment.
Thus, somehow, we should deal a little more with our real ancestor, Lea for exemple.
This name, on the other hand, is much less given to their daughters these days…
As in the case of Mary (Mirjam) in some Christian churches, it would be worth removing all overrated people from their pedestals and putting them in their right place with due respect, in order to destroy all false human cults built over the centuries around their person.
