Vayechi 2023: The Coming Restoration Of Joseph

DOWNLOAD LINK

NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT DOES NOT READ EXACTLY LIKE THE RECORDING.


THE DEATH OF ISRAEL

Some of you may have heard me say, from time to time, that when Yeshua died, Israel died with Him. The premise for this comes from this Torah Portion and it is further taught throughout the scriptures but few see it.

Did you know that Joseph has never been restored to his family? There was a reunion but no restoration. This is important for what I’m going to teach.

Did you know that two obscure verses in Genesis 47 and 48 prophesy the death and resurrection of Israel? Jacob is about to die in this Torah Portion. Not only Jacob, but Israel will die, as well. And do you know why Israel had to die and be resurrected? It has to do with the brokenness of Jacob’s family, the account of which began in Genesis 37, the Vayeshev Torah Portion.

The family of Jacob remains broken in this Torah Portion which in the account is 17 years after Joseph was betrayed. He has not been restored back to his rightful place in the family even though there has been a reunion. In fact, Jacob admits as much in his prophecy and blessing of Joseph in Genesis 49.

Gen 49:26  The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers

I frequently teach about the split in Israel’s family, the 12 tribes, the one that resulted in two Houses, the House of Judah and House of Israel, in the time of King Solomon’s son, Rehoboam and his nemesis, Jeroboam. That rift did not start with Rehoboam and Jeroboam. It began in the family of Jacob around 800 years earlier with 10 brothers against one (Benjamin was not part of the violence against Joseph at the pit). Even though there was a later reunion between Joseph and his 11 brothers in Egypt (including Benjamin), the family has remained split from then to now. That split has taken various forms over the ages, but the original rift between Joseph and his brothers became the basis of the later, greater, final and permanent split in the Kingdom that created the two Houses, the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

Joseph’s story, then, is one of an almost permanent exile. It is the story of a family wanting to reunify, to heal the breach completely, but not being able to. No one but Yeshua could heal it. Only His intervention brought about the reunification, but that intervention also required the deaths of both Him and His nation, Israel.

So, as we leave the Book of Genesis, we find that Joseph was part of Jacob’s family, but not really. He remained a brother but an outsider at the same time. This is a situation that continues to this day. He had become Pharoah’s second in command and was “as Pharaoh”, according to the words of his brothers in Genesis 44:18 and 47:11. As commander of all Egypt, he cannot simply return to his former designated place as the Melchizedek. That would have meant abandoning the role which YHVH Himself had put Joseph into so that the family of Jacob could be saved. So, Joseph had a world to run and his family’s salvation, continued provision and protection depended on him running that world!

Yeshua found Himself in much the same situation. He does run the world and, when He came to the earth, He found that most of Israel’s tribes were not part of Israel any longer. There had been a huge breach! Bigger than the one in Joseph’s time but which widened along the same rift between Joseph and Judah. Yeshua could not simply become King of the 4 remaining tribes and give up ruling the whole world any more than Joseph could take on being the Melchizedek to run his family and give up ruling the whole world. Circumstances required Joseph to continue being “as Pharaoh” and as a foreigner within his own family. That also has been Yeshua’s plight.

This situation caused Jacob a problem. The scripture does not explicitly state that Jacob understood that his 12 sons would be the formal founders of YHVH’s Kingdom called Israel, yet somehow Jacob did understand. We know this because in this Torah Portion he insisted there be 12 sons to inherit the promise of becoming a nation, a company of nations and for kings to descend from him.

Gen 35:11  God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 

Jacob knew he needed every son that came from his body to complete the work of YHVH on earth. It would have been a great injustice for one son to not inherit YHVH’s promise. There must be a way to restore Joseph as head of the family without asking Joseph to step down as leader of the world. This is where the substitute comes in. Jacob will take Joseph’s son as his own. Ephraim will now replace Joseph in the family temporarily until the end of the age. It will only be when the world heads into the 7th Millennium, another 3800 years in the future, that Joseph will once again be totally restored.

We know that Joseph will be restored because 1) Jacob’s prophecies over his sons in Genesis 49 do not include a blessing for the substitute, Ephraim, and 2) Joseph will have his name on one of the 12 gates entering into the Temple beginning in the 7th Millennium.

Have you ever thought of how important all 12 sons are to the formation of Israel? These sons are so important that they each have a gate named for them. Abraham does not have a gate, neither do Isaac or Jacob. The Kingdom is founded by these forefathers but it will be their sons whose names decorate YHVH’s Temple.

Jacob’s selection of Ephraim mirrored that of his own birth, him as second-born and Esau as firstborn. Ephraim was the second born son and Manasseh the firstborn of Joseph. But in keeping with the YHVH’s pattern of turning on its head the cultural idea that only a natural firstborn can become the head of the family, Jacob selected Ephraim, the second born, to substitute for Joseph and complete the original 12.

Starting right here, we should get the idea that these 12 are crucial to the identity and character of Israel, and if that was the case in the beginning, it will be so in the end. YHVH’s original plan was for Israel to have 12 distinct but united tribes even if there must be a temporary substitute.

YHVH is no stranger to substitutes. Coming soon, we will study another example of a substitution, the one that happened at Mount Sinai when the intended priesthood – the Melchizedek priesthood – was temporarily replaced with a substitute Levitical one. Another very important example of YHVH using a substitute is when Yeshua took Israel’s and our place on the cross. Both Yeshua’s sacrifice and Israel’s death were prophesied in Genesis. Ephraim and the Levitical Priesthood were temporary replacements but there is no one else but Yeshua for our salvation. His substitution is eternal. And because of that, we become eternal, as well.

Genesis 47:29 prophesies about the death of Israel. Most people do not understand that there would come a time when the nation of Israel would die. In fact, the words in Genesis 47:29 say that “the time came near that Israel must die”.

Israel must die. Not Jacob. Israel. What in the world does that mean?

The Hebrew word there is ‘mooth’, Strong’s H4191. It means “die”. It also means to be killed. Israel must be killed!

The scriptures in this Torah Portion go back and forth between Jacob and Israel. Jacob, the man, acted and Israel acted. The places where Israel acted are prophecies. Let’s look into this.

Let me ask you this question. When did Israel die? Before I answer that question, let me tell you that Israel was already dying a slow and painful death from the time the brothers hated Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Israel has been paying the price for that betrayal ever since. Betrayal of YHVH or any of our brethren is the most devastating sin a person can commit. Betrayal is behind all the other sins we commit against others. Adultery? It starts with betrayal. Murder? It starts with betrayal. Theft? Betrayal. Coveting is betrayal in the planning stage! And all those sins that we commit against YHVH – idolatry, rejecting the Law He gave us, rebellion – are all from the root of betrayal, faithlessness, not being faithful to one another or Him. Betrayal started killing Israel before Israel was even born as a nation at Mount Sinai! Once a rift begins, it needs supernatural intervention to be healed.

Now I will answer the question of when Israel died. It happened about 2,000 years ago when the leaders of the 4 tribes of the House of Judah rejected and killed their own King. The brothers had plotted to kill Joseph, remember? Judah wanted the money for him, instead. This time, however, Judah would PAY money to find Yeshua and just go ahead and kill Him!

But before I tell you what happened, let’s go to Matthew 9 where Yeshua gave an answer about why His Disciples were not fasting as John’s were.

Mat 9:14  Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” 
Mat 9:15  Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 
Mat 9:16  No one puts a piece of new cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. 
Mat 9:17  Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.” 

What in the world do old garments and old wine have to do with fasting? We can maybe see a connection between fasting and wine but clearly Yeshua was sending a mysterious message to John through his disciples. The parables of the old and new garments and the old and new wineskins was Yeshua’s explanation about what He would do with Israel. He was going to kill off the old Israel from Isaiah 1, set aside the old garment – Israel, and the old wine in the old wineskins – Israel. It is probably only in hindsight that the Disciples and we understand that there would be a new man – Israel, with a totally new garment – Israel, who drinks now from new wine in new wineskins – again, Israel.

Wait! What!? Let me tell you that again.

Yeshua was explaining that the old, wounded and dying Israel from Isaiah 1 must, as in the wording in Genesis 47:29, just go ahead and die. The renewed Israel could not remain an old, wounded and dying nation wearing a dirty, tattered garment and giving oblations at the Temple or drinking old stale wine from weakened wineskins that were about to burst! What was needed was a new Israel wearing a new garment giving oblations and drinking fresh new wine from new wineskins. That is what Judaism looked like to YHVH: An old, wounded and dying Israel wearing dirty tattered clothing and drinking old stale wine with the dregs from weakened wineskins and being drunk on it.

Dregs, the sediments of wine, are from old wine, not new wine! That is what is at the bottom of the cup YHVH will make Jerusalem, and the nations, drink down to the dregs.

Isaiah 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk from the hand of YHVH the cup of His fury. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.

Psalms 75:8  For in the hand of YHVH there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of spices; and He pours out of the same. All the wicked of the earth shall drink and drink it to its very dregs. 

So Yeshua took Israel to the grave to ‘mooth’, to kill this very situation. The Jewish leadership not only killed their King, but they also killed Israel, their own nation, just as Genesis prophesied in chapter 47 verse 29! Please don’t claim that the Romans or Gentiles did it. This was murder from within the family of Israel!

But you see, what was intended for evil, YHVH used for good because, hallelujah!, when Yeshua arose, Israel was with Him! Paul calls this resurrected Israel the “ one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). The old man had died but was resurrected with Yeshua! Israel was restored with her original beautiful garments and her new wine was from the best year ever!

Yeshua took everything having to do with Israel, all that Israel offers to Israelites as inheritance, to the grave. The list of our inheritance is found in Romans 9.

Rom 9:3  For I [Paul says] could wish that I [Paul] myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, 
Rom 9:4  who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; 
Rom 9:5  of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. 

Whose is the adoption? Ours! Where did that come from? This Torah Portion! Israel adopting Ephraim! Yep. That went into the grave. Had Israel stayed dead when Yeshua arose, there would be no adoption.

What else went to the grave with Yeshua? The glory. What glory? The glory of Israel chosen by God to be set above all the nations! Had Israel stayed dead when Yeshua arose, there would be no glory.

Ok. What else? The covenants and promises! WOW! The covenants and promises went into the grave. Had Israel stayed dead when Yeshua arose, there would be no covenants and promises any more.

Now, come on, Kimberly! Surely the covenants and promises that YHVH made to the forefathers didn’t go away, didn’t go into the grave! Yes, they did! This is why there had to be a resurrection! YHVH was on the hook to make good on His promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and to all Israel. How could He make Israel out of 4 tribes when it started with 12? That would fall short of HIS glory, His reputation, His Word in which we trust, would it not?

What else went into the grave with Yeshua? What else does Israel inherit that could not be inherited in the condition it was in at the time of Yeshua’s death? The Law of YHVH AKA the Law of Moses! Those that say the Law was nailed to the cross are correct. The mistake they make is in not understanding what happened to the Law at the resurrection. The Law was resurrected with the Law Giver, Yeshua, when He came out of the grave. So, no, the Law of Moses did not stay dead. It was resurrected back to its pristine state by the Law Giver when the Law Giver arose. Had Israel stayed dead when Yeshua arose, there would be no Law to govern the coming Kingdom. In fact, there would be no Kingdom on earth.

What else went into the grave? The services. What are the services? The Temple services performed by the substitute Levitical Priesthood. The resurrection also brought back the Order of Melchizedek Priesthood. However, just like Joseph must wait to be fully restored so must the Melchizedek Priesthood. Our King and High Priest is now the Order’s Heavenly and earthly High Priest but He is still awaiting the time when He can implement the Order of Melchizedek on earth. The services are still awaiting the re-implementation, as well, since 70AD.

Part of Jacob’s prophecy of the death of Israel was that YHVH would not abandon Israel after her death.

Gen 48:21  Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 

See? ISRAEL prophetically told Joseph that even though Israel was going to die that the God of Israel would still be with Israel and would bring Israel back into the land of the fathers. Ahhhh! The resurrection! Israel would be resurrected!

To Joseph, this meant his bones would be brought to the land of his fathers. He would not be left in Egypt. Jacob had made Joseph swear to bury him in the cave in Mamre with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca. Jacob’s promise to Joseph was the same. His body, his bones would be returned to the land, too. But Israel’s prophetic promise to Joseph was also a prophecy that Israel would be resurrected with Yeshua!

Old Israel, the sick and wounded man from Isaiah 1, did die on the day that Yeshua died. The old garment was destroyed. The old wine, the old system of Judaism, was also destroyed. The resurrection was the ultimate restoration. From the resurrection, we get the “one new man” (Ephesians 2:13-16), the new garment and new wine in new wineskins. But the process is not yet finished. There’s more to come. YHVH works in processes, not events. There are still elements of Israel that need to be restore. The Temple is not yet restored, the Order of Melchizedek is not yet reigning on the earth and Joseph is not yet in his rightful place.


THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Those things that were restored brought a dichotomy that looks like YHVH lied to the world. The Jews think Yeshua was a liar because He did not meet their expectations. This is because the appearance of what happened on earth does not match the reality in Heaven. There is more to this restoration process than meets the eye. YHVH told us not to go by what we see, didn’t He?

Our Haftarah last week, Ezekiel 37:15-28, explains what YHVH’s intention is toward Israel. It is to reunite the two Houses and to make them one in His hand. And that is what He already accomplished. This accomplishment is a fact in Heaven, in His hand, but is not yet fully evident on the earth where man can see it. Yes, YHVH will one day show man’s eyes what his heart cannot see.

Verses 1-14 explain that the giving of the Holy Spirit that will revive the dead dry bones of Israel, of Israel’s old man. For this old man to be revived, he had to die. See? The bones signify the literal death of Israel. After almost 500 years from the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy, the Holy Spirit was given to back to Israel. She breathed again. She had come out of her grave! Israel was back but not everyone knows it.

YHVH told Ezekiel to get 2 sticks and write on one, “For Judah and his companions”, and the other, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions”.

Eze 37:18  “When the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ 
Eze 37:19  tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand

The two sticks are between Judah and Ephraim. This means will happen before Joseph is restored to his rightful place.

Eze 37:20  The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.”’ 

There will be a time when the restoration will be between Judah and Joseph’s substitute, Ephraim. The time when this takes place will be very brief, 3.5 years. Judah and Ephraim will be reunited. Joseph will have to wait until his own resurrection.

The next step will be the ingathering when the two sticks, now restored, will come together in the wilderness of the people after a terrible war.

Eze 37:21  Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. 
Eze 37:22  I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 

There will have been about 2500 years from the prophecy to its complete fulfillment and 2,000 years from its partial fulfillment when Israel became one in Yeshua’s hand. The complete restoration is what Paul was trying to get believers to implement but which, until now, has gone unimplemented because the entire process is not yet fulfilled.

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. 
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, 
Eph 2:15  having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace; 
Eph 2:16  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby. 

The one new man is a reality but only partially. It is a complete spiritual reality in Heaven, in YHVH’s hand, but on earth the two Houses remain evident. It will take a war to put a stop to it.

Paul tells us that we are to “put on” this new man in Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10. Why do we have to “put on” the new man? Because on earth, the reunification is not yet a total reality. Judah and Joseph have continued fighting for the last 2,000 years! Ezekiel’s prophecy will only be complete after the final battle in the 2900 year long civil war has been fought. This battle is called the Gog-Magog war. Its result will be the outpouring of YHVH’s Spirit on the WHOLE House of Israel, the restored 12 tribes of Israel, after which will come the ingathering to the wilderness of the people.

Eze 39:25  “Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the WHOLE house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name. 
Eze 39:26  They will bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land, and no one will make them afraid, 
Eze 39:27  when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. 
Eze 39:28  They will know that I am Yahweh their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land. Then I will leave none of them captive anymore. 
Eze 39:29  I won’t hide my face from them anymore; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord Yahweh.” 

The Gog-Magog war will be the final punishment of the 12 tribes for hanging onto their hatred of each other for the last 2,000 years! It is for this reason that the King of the North will be sent by YHVH into the fray of the Gog-Magog war already in progress in the mountains of Israel. YHVH will make His people destroy each other. “Here! You want to kill each other? You want to steal from each other? Here you go!” And while they are fighting each other, YHVH will send in ancient Persia, modern Iran, to destroy all of them.

It is not possible to talk about the Gog-Magog war without also speaking about the King of the North. Let me make a side comment about that. I said earlier, and have said for years, that the King of the North war will happen simultaneously with the Gog-Magog war. One evidence of this is that Ezekiel 39:11 and 15 says this war will become known as the “Hamon Gog” war and that a valley will be named the Valley of Hamon Gog.

The name Hamon Gog has the ring of “Haman” to it, doesn’t it? Strong’s numbers in no way relate the Hey Mem and Nun, the spelling for “Hamon” in Ezekiel 39, to the Haman in the Book of Esther, yet there it is. The same spelling.

Haman was the Edomite Persian who wanted to kill all the Jews. Here is his spirit at the end of days involved in the Gog-Magog war.

Who is Haman today? What nation is Haman from today? Iran! Ancient Persia. What could be better to a nation of Iranian Edomites than to have people from all 12 tribes back on Israel’s soil where Haman can come get ‘em!?

Ezekiel 38:5 says Persia, Cush and Put will come into the mountains of Israel with Gog. That word “with” is a mistranslation in verse 5. My word study shows that when Israel is attacked by an external army, the word “with” (which is alef tav) becomes translated as “against”. Iran will come into Israel with Gog, not as an ally, but against Gog and Israel as an enemy.

After YHVH has made Israel suffer the consequences of almost 4200 years of brother betraying brother starting with Joseph and his brothers, and 3500 years of betrayal and rebellion against YHVH starting with the golden calf, He will reunite and restore the brethren to each other and complete the restoration and reunification of all Israel.

Twelve-tribed Israel will then be ingathered and prepared for the final reunification and restoration in the wilderness of the people starting at the halfway point of the Tribulation. The people will come from all over the world to be taught how to be Kingdom citizens, how to apply the Law of YHVH in their lives. Those who are willing to accept Yeshua’s Kingdom authority over themselves will remain. The rebels will be purged. The Bride that comes forth to the wedding will then be capable of ruling this earth with her Husband. She will enter the Kingdom at the end of the Tribulation for the first time since the Israelites crossed the Jordan river with Joshua.

Jacob died. Joseph died. The rebellious, violent and destructive descendants came and went. The legacy left to the descendants by the forefathers led to Israel’s own death. But unlike any other fallen nation on earth, Israel has a unique and awesome King whose Father resurrected Him and the nation He so loves. No other nation will ever have this awesome testimony! THIS, my friends, is the testimony of Yeshua. It is HIS testimony of what HE has done for His people and, in the process, He made it possible for any “whosoever” to join in and become an Israelite through adoption! So Yeshua not only saved Israel, He saved the whole world, just like Joseph!

I hope this Torah Portion and the other valuable prophetic insights you have been taught from the Book of Genesis this year have been a blessing to you! And there is more to come! Amen!

Be Blessed!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown
admin@beastwatchnews.com
+962-77-935-3002Find me on social
media:

Telegram (KimberlyRogersBrown), Signal: Add my phone # to your contacts: 962 77 935 3002

BE SURE TO JOIN US EVERY SHABBAT for our online study. We start at 5pm Amman time. That is 9am eastern time; 8am central time; 7am mountain time; 6am pacific time.Join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://www.gotomeet.me/admin1601
You can also dial in using your phone.United States:+1 (872) 240-3311Phone Access Code: 670-498-677
Kimberly Rogers-Brown has been teaching Torah and special Bible topics since 2008. She is also the author and publisher of Beast Watch News dot com and is heard internationally via two radio programs on Hebrew Nation Radio. Kimberly now lives in Aqaba, Jordan close to the Exodus wilderness area where the Bride (i.e. "the woman" of Revelation 12:6) will flee for 1260 days of the Great Tribulation.