20211218 Parsha Vayechi – Forgive and Heal Notes
Torah Portion Gen 50:15-21
Haftarah 1 Kings 2:1-7
Brit Chadashah Ephesians 4:26-32
The last reading from the book of Genesis is named Vayechi, which means "and he lived." The title comes from the first verse of the reading, which says, "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years" (Genesis 47:28). In this Torah portion, Jacob prepares for his death by securing a double portion of inheritance for Joseph and then blessing each of his sons with prophetic blessings. The book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob, followed shortly by the death of Joseph and a promise of redemption from Egypt.
The blessings of Jacob’s sons are interesting because they don’t all look like blessings. Reuben loses his place as first-born because of sexual indiscretions. Levi and Simeon are to be scattered throughout all of Israel with no home of their own because of the murder and meanness they committed at Shechem. The other sons received blessings outright, some were given a somewhat obscure blessing. They all proved to be prophetic as the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan some 400 years later to take the land God had promised to their fathers.
After he blessed his sons, Jacob died and was embalmed by Joseph’s servants and physicians. It didn’t take long for the eleven brothers to fall back into some of their previous ways. They may have been somewhat repentant of their treatment of Joseph, but they retained enough of their old nature that they suspected Joseph to retaliate against them now that Jacob was gone. It is what they would have done if the circumstances were reversed so they concocted a story to tell Joseph. They said that before he died, Jacob had told them to relay a message to Joseph.
Genesis 50:17-18 “Thus you must say to Joseph: ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they treated you wrongly.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Then Joseph wept when they spoke to him, (18) and his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your slaves!”
In this passage we see a word that we translate forgive. It is the Hebrew word ?????? nasah. Up to this time in the book of Genesis it had been used to mean bear. As when Cain told God that his punishment was more than he could bear. It also meant to lift or support as when the flood waters lifted up or bear the ark. But this was the first time it was used to mean forgive. I believe that in this context Joseph’s brothers are saying “Please lift up the heavy burden of the sin and guilt we bear”. That is an appropriate word to use here as that is exactly what sin does to a person. It weighs them down.
Joseph has been looked at almost universally as a type of Messiah. He had a life of hardship but stayed true to Hashem. Through his near-death experiences Joseph was put into a position whereby he was able to save his family from starvation. Joseph was cut from different cloth. His brothers expected retribution because that was their nature. But Joseph showed kindness, mercy and forgiveness because that was his nature.
We could do worse than to follow the example of Joseph in showing kindness and forgiveness. Yeshua had a great deal to say regarding forgiveness.
Possibly the most famous being what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 6:9-13 “Therefore, pray in this way: ‘Our Father in heaven, sanctified be Your name. (10) Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (11) Give us this day our daily bread. (12) And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. (13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Luke says it this way.
Luke 11:2-4 “When you pray, say, ‘Father, sanctified be Your Name, Your kingdom come. (3) Give us each day our daily bread. (4) And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
You see that Luke gave us the Cliff Notes version, but they are essentially the same. Matthew went on to add something very important that is always left out of the Lord’s Prayer. You could call it the fine print of the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
The ability to forgive…maybe I should say the absolute necessity or commandment to forgive is paramount when following the precepts of Yeshua. His whole life’s work was centered around forgiveness. How often in the course of healing someone did he say your sins are forgiven? We as his followers, his disciples must practice forgiveness every day of our lives.
It is very sobering to know that when I harbor an unforgiving spirit in my life and cannot or will not forgive an offense that someone committed, then Hashem will not forgive me. It is if the sin or offense that the other person committed against me will be counted as a sin I have committed. Did I get that right? Read it again.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
I don’t know about you, but that certainly lights a fire under me to forgive that person who offended me so many years ago, or maybe just yesterday. It doesn’t matter when the offense occurred. The point is that we must forgive to get forgiveness.
Evidently the issue of forgiveness was playing on Peter’s mind also when he posed a question to the Master.
Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Master, how often shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” (22) Yeshua said to him, “No, not up to seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven!
The standard teaching of the day was that it was not expected for anyone to forgive someone any more than three times, total. Peter thought he was being more than charitable if he expanded forgiveness to seven times. But Yeshua said 70 time 7. The implication was 490 times daily! That equates to about once every three minutes. That’s a lot of forgiveness.
If you haven’t noticed, we live in a sick world. Even before the Covid virus was unleashed on the world, it was still a sick world. People died of cancer, Alzheimer’s, common influenza, and any number of other ailments. Not only is there physical illness, but there is also emotional illness. There is PTSD, dementia, depression and so many other maladies that weigh heavily on people. On top of all that, and perhaps the underlying cause of many physical and emotional illnesses would be spiritual illness. You don’t have to look far to see the depth and expanse of the cultural cesspool that surrounds us each day. If you go swimming in Satan’s pool, you are going to get sick.
There are many things we can do to push back against the onslaught of illness. Some are simple, non-spiritual things such as eating healthy foods in the proper amounts and getting sufficient sleep. You would be surprised at how a healthy diet improves your immune system.
Restricting what you watch on TV and your computer can improve your mental health immensely. Instead of Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat, pick up a real book, starting with the Bible. It would simply amaze you what you can discover between Genesis and Revelation. There are miracles, drama, mysteries, adventures, war stories, romance, health advice and the real stories that we are just finding out about today. Hint; today we call it archaeology. Back then it was called current events. Reading the Bible is good for the bones.
And just for a moment or two I would like to talk about forgiveness and healing. Sometimes, not always, illness is a direct result of sin. I know, that’s a hard saying. But certain lifestyles lead to illness. Let’s look at the paralyzed man in the book of Luke.
Luke 5:17-20 Now on one of those days, Yeshua was teaching. Pharisees and Torah scholars were sitting there, who had come from every village of the Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem. And Adonai’s power to heal was in Him. (18) And behold, men were carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher, trying to bring him in and place him before Yeshua.
(19) But when they found no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his stretcher through the tiles, right in the middle before Yeshua. (20) When He saw their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.”
We do not know what sins this man committed, but Yeshua knew. He knew that before he could be healed, his sins needed to be forgiven. Sin had taken its toll on the man. It appeared that his affliction was a result of his sins. But Yeshua forgave his sins and the man was healed.
Just look at the addict and see how that can ravage their lives and health. All of life’s choices have consequences. Choose well and reap the benefits. Choose poorly and suffer the penalties. That is why forgiveness is so important. It is imperative to our wellbeing to seek God’s forgiveness for our sins. Only then can that weight or Nasah, be lifted from our shoulders.
There is another aspect of sin and forgiveness that can cause problems in our lives. That is what Joseph faced. What to do when someone who is supposed to be your protector becomes your predator? I would not be surprised to learn that there were women in this congregation who have or have had abusive and/or unfaithful husbands. Some have had abusive parents, siblings, or other relatives. The scars of physical, verbal and emotional abuse are devastating. Such abusive behavior leads to physical and emotional sickness.
It is not easy, but Yeshua tells us we need to forgive. Only when we learn to forgive can we ever have hope of a healed relationship. Forgiveness leads to healing in our bodies, minds and spirits. Forgiveness lifts that smothering weight of guilt and sin from ourselves as well as those who have offended us. Forgiveness allows those bitter and harsh words spoken in hurt and anger to dissolve.
The 1970 movie called Love Story that had a catch phrase. How many of you remember the phrase? “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”. Well I’m here to tell you that is one of the most stupid, erroneous and harmful phrases that a married couple can ever latch on to. Maybe a better phrase would be “Love means never being so proud, angry, hurt, embarrassed or any other emotion, that you can’t say sincerely, “I am sorry”.” Only when we are willing to say I’m sorry, and mean it, can the relationship have a chance of healing. A marriage cannot long survive when both parties harbor grudges, resentment, and revenge. You need to say I’m sorry. Conversely, we also need to be able to accept an apology and forgive. It goes both ways.
Look back at Joseph. His brothers were scoundrels, but he forgave them. Look back at Yeshua. His people rejected him, tortured him and condemned him to death. What did he say? “Father, forgive them, they don’t realize what they are doing.”
Let’s follow the example of Joseph and Yeshua.
We have now finished the book of Genesis so let us say Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek; Be Strong, Be Strong, Let us be strengthened.
