Bread

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Va-yiggash, which means, "and he drew near." The title comes from the moment when Joseph, a governor or ruler in Egypt, revealed himself to his brothers who had come from Canaan to Egypt again for bread grain during a famine: "Then Joseph (yosep/yasap - "Jehovah has added"/more, exceed, add to, increase) said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph; does my father (Jacob/Israel) still live?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed (bahal - afraid, dismayed, rash, thrust him out, disturb, alarm, terrify, anxious, tremble inside) in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come/draw near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." (Gen. 45:3-4).

     This Sabbath reading this year also occurs during the same week as the observance of Christ's birth, Christmas. There are similarities between the story of Joseph and Jesus that helps us to understand the depths and the heights from which our salvation comes.

     Joseph had been rejected in the most extreme manner by his brethren when he was a young lad, as they even considered killing him. Now, however, his greatest wish was to be reconciled with them, and with his father, Jacob, whom Joseph dearly loved and who had remained behind in Canaan. Jesus also experienced this kind of rejection: "He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." (Jn. 1:10-11). From the moment that Christ came into the world, the spirit of this world tried to thrust Him out (see bahal above).

     Joseph then said to his brothers: "Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph: 'God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen (gosen - "drawing near"), and you shall be near to me...There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine." (Gen. 45:9-11).

     Joseph told his brothers to get their father and to "draw near" to him in Egypt. Even the place in which they would settle in Egypt, the best of the land as even Pharaoh had agreed to give to them, was called by a name that means "drawing near." (v. 17-18).

     Joseph recognized that the LORD's purpose in his life was as a saver of life - to preserve life, especially the lives of Israel (Jacob), through an extreme and long-lasting famine. He had told his brothers earlier: "But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life...And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." (v. 5-8).

     Joseph recognized that the betrayal of his brothers resulted in the elevated position of authority that he now held in Egypt. Joseph had the power to send his brothers away without the bread that they sought. He had the power and the reason to condemn his brothers and imprison them, as he himself had been imprisoned, but he did not do this because he understood the importance of the purpose of God in his life. Joseph had been sent to save life, especially the lives and household of Israel/Jacob. Jesus came with the same purpose. Jesus told Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn (krino - to separate, put asunder, to judge, to pronounce judgment, to subject, to censure, to punish, damn, decree) the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (sozo - save, keep safe and sound, rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one from perishing, to heal, make well, restore to health, be whole, to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic/Christ's judgment, to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic/Christ's deliverance). He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he also who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (Jn. 3:17-18). The Greek language used above indicates, the meaning of sozo, or salvation, is even deeper than we might have thought. It also includes healing, and to deliver us from those evil things that would hinder receiving the Messiah/Christ as Savior. The world is already condemned for its unbelief, so it is a waste of time and purpose for us to condemn the world. The idea is, to move those who will receive it from unbelief into belief in the Son of God. 

     Personal betrayal also played a role in the fulfilment of Jesus' purpose, as it did in Joseph's life. The infamous betrayal of Jesus by Judas was one factor necessary and prophesied that led to the cross and Christ's crucifixion. Knowing this ahead of time, Jesus even said to Judas at the Passover supper, or Last Supper: "What you do, do quickly." And Judas, being filled by Satan, left to betray Him. (see Jn. 13:21-27). Satan had filled Judas after he took the piece of bread that Jesus had handed him. The Bread that saves is also the same Bread that condemns when rejected.

     This same betrayal also played a part in Jesus' deliverance of the New Covenant to His disciples and to us. The apostle Paul received this connection through a revelation from the Lord: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." Paul then wrote: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes."  (1Cor. 11:23-26). I have often wondered why the Lord specifically connected His betrayal by Judas to what we now refer to as "Communion" as He revealed it to Paul. The wisdom of God used the greatest betrayal ever recorded to create one of the great spiritual weapons of victory that has been delivered to the church of believers - the Eucharist (meaning "to give thanks") or Communion, the Table of the Lord. We will see another reference to artillery and weapons, as well as armor later. Do we think of Communion as also being an essential weapon that has been provided to us in our spiritual warfare?

     The first time that Jacob sent his sons to Egypt from Cannan, they took money with them to buy the grain: "When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, 'Why do you look at one another?' And he said, 'Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.' So Joseph's ten brothers (the eleventh and youngest, Benjamin, was kept in Canaan by Jacob) went down to buy grain in Egypt." (Gen. 42:1-3).

     It is important to look at the Hebrew meaning of the word translated as "grain" or "corn": it is the Hebrew word and roots seber/sebar/sabar, and means "all kinds of grain, corn, broken in a mill, a breaking, a breach, a fracture, wounds, destruction/hurt, breaking, bruise, affliction, crushing/break in pieces, rend violently, bring to the birth." Jesus identified the broken bread of the Last Supper with His body having been broken for us. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was placed in a manger, a vessel that holds the grain (see above) that feeds the animals. The specific circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus were not accidents, but full of meaning.

     On the first trip to Egypt, the brothers were recognized by Joseph as they approached him to buy grain, but they did not recognize him. They paid money to purchase the grain, but when they returned home to Jacob, they found not only the grain in their (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) sacks (keli/kala - vessel, bag, artillery, weapon, armorbearer, jewel, tool, yoke/end, finish, accomplish, done, fulfil, to be finished or complete) that they had purchased but also all of the money that they had given in payment for the grain, plus more provisions for their return journey, and they were afraid. (Gen. 42:25-28). They're money had not been accepted but returned to them.

     When the destruction of His body had been completed (see keli/kala above) on the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished." (see Jn. 19:28-30).

     The prophet Isaiah brought the Word of the LORD calling people to come, buy and eat, without money and without price: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy...come to Me. Hear and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - the sure mercies of David...Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." (Isa. 55:1-6, excerpt).

     Joseph's brothers received bread grain which cost them nothing, as Isaiah also wrote above.

     Jesus spoke about being the bread of life: "And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst....Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life...This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." (Jn. 6:35, 47-51). 

     Jesus could not have been clearer in identifying Himself as the spiritual bread of eternal life for anyone who will receive and eat of it. We cannot buy this kind of bread, as Isaiah wrote. It is a gift of Himself from Jesus to the world to bring life to the world from death. 

     In another portion from this week's Sabbath reading, the prophet Amos warned of another famine that is coming upon God's people because of their sins and their rejection of His Word: "Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD God, 'That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the word of the LORD, but shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12).

     This is a time when we are to draw near to our Savior, Jesus. He is our living Bread, the Word (see Jn. 1:1-3, 14) who became flesh, born as a babe in Bethlehem (meaning "the house of bread"), and grew into a man, and dwelt with us. He gave His flesh for us to eat of the bread of eternal life.  Draw near to Him.

     If you would like to partake of the Bread of life, you can pray this prayer with me: "Lord Jesus, You came to earth so that I could hold the Bread of life without price in my hand, which is Your body broken, crushed and wounded, so that I could eat it and live. You have saved me from destruction, and You have brought healing to me. Because of the Bread that You have given to me, I will never be hungry again. I draw near to You, Lord, and trust in You for all things concerning my life and salvation, and that of my whole household. I believe on Your name, Jesus, and pray in Your name. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.