December 16, 2023: Parashah Torah Portion Miketz
This week’s Parashah Torah Portion Miketz is taken from Genesis 41:1-44:17. Join Dr. Jeffery Myers, as he continues going deeper into the life story of Yoseph, and the 3 main gifts that marked him as a great leader. ELOHIM causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose!
Follow along in the AUDIO PODCAST, by clicking on the play button below, and reading along with the notes, as you listen to today's Parashah Torah Portion:
Lion of Judah Speaks: Parashah Torah Portion Miketz - Genesis 41:1-44:17
There are many things we learn in this Torah portion. One is to accept things that happen to you as good, knowing that apart from Elohim nothing comes to pass. In Romans 8:28 it tells us that Elohim causes all things to work together for good to those who love Elohim, to those who are called according to His purpose. Joseph’s life demonstrates Elohim’s sovereign hand in our lives. Though the world seems to follow a completely random course around us, Elohim is actually working out His purposes in the midst of it.
From Joseph’s point of view there is no reason to suspect that Elohim had his best interest in mind. He was kidnaped, betrayed, sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned in a dungeon. His life’s motto should have been: “If anything could go wrong it will!” However, Joseph stubbornly clung to an unshakable confidence in the Elohim of his fathers! Even when everything around him tumbled down, He kept looking to Elohim and believing that Yah was working through the chaos. He never fell into depression or despondency. He believed that he was right where Elohim had placed him!
Joseph had 3 gifts that marked him as a great leader…many have them in isolation but few in combination. First, He dreamed dreams! Gen. 37:5,9 says, “Joseph had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream…”. The second gift was his ability to interpret dreams of others like the butler and baker in prison and for Pharoah (Gen. 40:20 -). The third gift of Joseph was his ability to implement dreams. He was able to solve the problem of which they were an early warning (Gen. 41:32-38). It was a gift demonstrated at precisely the right time!
We learn from Joseph 3 powerful principles: First, dream dreams! We must never be afraid to let our imagination soar. We should give ourselves time, space, and imagination to dream! In dreams we discover our passion and following our passion is the best way to live a rewarding life! People spend months preparing and planning for a holiday but not even a day planning a life. We let ourselves be carried away by the winds of chance and circumstance. What a mistake!
The sages say: “Wherever (in the Torah) we find the word “Vayehi”, “And it came to pass”; it is always the prelude to tragedy. A “vayyehi” life is one in which we passively let things happen! But a “yehi”, “Let there be” life is one in which we make things happen, and it is our dreams that give us direction!
The second principle is that leaders interpret other people’s dreams. They find a way of expressing the hopes and fears of a generation. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech was about taking the hopes of African Americans and giving them wings. It was not Joseph’s dreams that made him a leader…it was Pharoah’s! Our own dreams give us direction; it is other people’s dreams that give us opportunity!
The third principle is finding a way to implement dreams. We first see the problem, then we find a way of solving it! Rashi says (Ex. 18:1) that Jethro was given the name “Jether” (he added) because “he added a passage to the Torah beginning with the words, “Choose from among the people…”. This was when Jethro saw Moses leading alone and told him that what he was doing was not good; he would wear himself and the people to exhaustion. He should choose good people and delegate much of the burden of leadership to them. However, the rabbis point out that the passage that Jethro added did not begin with “Choose among the people”. It began several verses earlier when he said, “What you are doing is not good.” This is simply saying, “What you are doing is not good” is not an addition to Torah; it is merely stating a problem! The addition consisted in the solution…DELEGATE!
It is easy to see what is going wrong and a leader finds a way of putting it right. Joseph’s genius is not in predicting 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, but in devising a system of storage that would ensure food supplies in the lean and hungry years. Dreaming dreams, articulating dreams of others, and finding ways of turning a dream into a reality …this is the leadership of Joseph!
Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.” Now is our time to lay up treasure in heaven. After we die the opportunity is gone! We know that the word “mitzvah” or the plural “mitzvot” literally means “commandments” Our opportunities to do mitzvot are limited to our lifetime here on earth. Yeshua teaches us that our mitzvot are like money placed into storage (savings account) in heaven. It really is about the KINGDOM of Heaven as opposed to this Kingdom of the world.
Store up treasures in heaven and your reward will be given in the next life…rewarded for your acts of kindness and piety. It is not only a wise investment to store lasting treasure through obedience to Elohim and seeking to please Him, it also properly orients your heart. Yeshua reveals that a core reason His disciples should store up treasures in heaven is because of this truth: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Yeshua is pointing out that all things on this earth that we treasure are temporary. They are fragile. They don’t last. He first shows us this picture of the frailty of possessions on earth which we are prone to treasure. Then He gives us a picture of something better. He says to treasure the things that are in heaven. The treasures in heaven are so much better than the things on the earth.
The treasures in heaven do not rust. The treasures in heaven do not spoil. The treasures in heaven cannot be stolen. The treasures in heaven cannot be replicated, cannot be faked, cannot be affected by the market trends. The treasures in heaven are not affected by the price of a gallon of milk, a gallon of gasoline, or the current minimum wage.
The treasures in heaven are kept safer than all the gold in Ft. Knox. They are more faithful, more valuable, more abundant, and more satisfying than anything on this earth. The treasures in heaven are imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and they are kept in heaven for you!
Yet, we don’t always see them as treasures. We are satisfied with the treasure of the earth instead. Yeshua warns us explicitly against this. Don’t make earthly possessions your treasure. Don’t store up treasures on earth. Instead, store up treasure in heaven. Our heart should be devoted to heavenly things. The heart is the center of our being. The hub of all that we are should be devoted to Elohim and His ways.
Focus your heart on heavenly riches by taking these steps: PRAY that Elohim would help you desire His riches. SEARCH for Elohim’s riches in His Word. PRIORITIZE Elohim’s riches above the riches of the world. Where is the focus of your heart?
Shabbat Shalom Mishpocha,
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Let us gather together to worship our King! Let us prioritize our lives for His Kingdom and not our own. Let everything we do…be done for the Kingdom of Elohim. Arise watchmen and let your voice be heard. Let us turn our hearts to His Kingdom and not the kingdom of this world. See you at the altar!
Shalom Aleichem