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This parashah
lays the foundation for the two types of Messiah- ben Yosef, the
suffering servant and ben David, the conquering King.
Stop for
a moment and think about what Messiah means for you personally.
Christianity
has created an idea of Messiah which has idealized the new life which
he provides for those who have followed a formula and prayed to receive
him into their hearts. He makes provision for the here and now which
can almost look humanistic bringing the idea that we can change the
world through our love and peace. This is especially true at Christmas
here in the Western world.
Modern
Judaism has a similar idea of "tikkun olam"- the reparation
of the world however it will come through our own works. The Chassidim
believe that if every Jew would simply observe one Shabbat, Messiah
would come and the Messianic era would begin. There is not a singular
understanding of Mashiach in Judaism. Some believe he is a hero who
will save Jews from oppression, others that it is more a Messianic
age than a person but few believe that Messiah is divine.
For
us as Messianic Jews, we see Yeshua as King Mashiach who is the visible
manifestation of G-d. G-d, from the beginning had a plan of redemption
for the world and He alone can do it.
Through
the Rabbis writings much is revealed at the level of the "sod"
- the mystical about the two types of Mashiach yet they go to great
lengths to juggle the facts in trying to prove who he was not.
Rambam
tells us, in speaking about Yechezk'el 38, the war of God and Magog,
that it is better not to try to look for dates for when Messiah will
come. The terrible times of Gog and Magog speak of Mashiach ben Yosef,
a day in which judgment of the world is coming. Ben Yosef will fight
for what is true; he will be killed and then Mashiach ben David will
come to bring in his kingdom. Ben Yosef Messiah brings the idea of
suffering for his people, being the intermediary so that the people
of Israel will receive redemption.
This
is a dilemma for our sages since they have not been able to put the
two together and thus arrive at the wrong conclusion. In doing so,
they have become too proud to admit that perhaps they have been wrong
in that they missed Yeshua ben Yosef, the suffering Messiah. In sticking
to this wrong direction, they have developed a religion which leads
the people away from the truth. Any religion does this. Religion
works in such a way as to try to cover up our own sins. Yeshua spoke
of this to the Pharisees who were dressed in all white. He told them
they were like white-washed tombs…putting on the air of purity
outside while their insides were black with sin. The modern day Pharisee
is dressed in black as a sign of mourning for the destruction of
the Temple. To the rest of the world, they look pious but if you
look deeply into many of their lives, you will find that their sin
is also covered with the aura of religion. Many of us do exactly
the same thing; we cover our sin by acting holier than thou, thinking
that we are better the others. Religion today has made hypocrisy
a virtue and honesty a sin.
Ibn
Ezra, Abarbanel, Ramban speak of Bereshit 38, the story of Yehudah
(Judah) and Tamar, as anachronistic or outside chronology.
They
say that all the fathers had one thing in common-they each had two
sons, one chosen and one not. Abraham had Ishmael and Yitzchak; Yitzchak
had Yaakov and Esav; Yaakov's two special sons were Yehudah and Yosef;
Yehudah had Peretz and Zerach and Yosef had Menasheh and Efraim.
They all had something in common. One of the sons played an important
role and the principle we see here in every case, according to the
rabbis is that G-d corrects the mistakes of his people.
When
Rivkah delivered twins through the prayerful intervention of her
husband, the word used in Gen 25:24 for twins is tomim (omvt),
which is a defective way of writing it. Yet in Genesis 38:27 when
Tamar gave birth to Peretz and Zerach, the word tomim- twins is spelled
(oymvat),
which is the correct way. In this way G-d is telling us that of the
first set of twins only one, Yaakov would be the son of the promise
who would carry G-d's calling upon his life; meanwhile Esav would
not be counted as a Jew. In the second case, Peretz would not only
be part of the line of King David and the Mashiach but his brother
Zerach also, would be counted as a Jew.
The
largest problem that the rabbis face with Tamar is their refusal
to admit that Yehudah would have anything to do with a Canaanite
woman, even though he married Shua, a Canaanite. This would mean
that Mashiach ben David had to come from this line bringing redemption
to the world. How can it be possible for him to descend from a Gentile?
Instead they made up the story that Tamar is the daughter of Dinah,
Yaakov's daughter. Remember, Abraham did not want his son Yitzchak
to marry a Canaanite and sent his servant to get her a wife from
his brother's family in Ur.
According
to the rabbis, Yehudah was a saint because he saved Yosef's life
when he sold him as a slave to the Midianites while Tamar was labeled
as a prostitute. Yet by Yehudah's own words she was more righteous
than he. She, a Gentile had more drive to continue his line than
he did. He was too afraid that his last son, Shelah would be killed
like his other two sons out of disobedience to G-d. G-d however will
always have His way and in this case, it is through a Gentile that
Messiah would come. Our rabbis by trying to defend G-d and twisting
his Word, have destitute the true line of the Jewish people. When
they changed the line coming from the mother instead of the father,
they have eliminated a large percentage of our people from being
Jews. The same thing happened at the time of Yeshua when the line
of the Priesthood was purchased instead of inherited. Herod himself
was an Edomite.
This
parashah is pregnant with mystical ideas. One sod of the story of
Tamar is that when this Gentile representing all Gerim who come to
the community of Israel, she was more faithful to the G-d of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob than the naturally born Israelite. She had a blind
devotion to the G-d of Israel, wanting to preserve Yehudah's line.
This type of devotion makes us jealous. Another sod is revealed as
we consider the things which Tamar asked Yehudah to keep until he
could provide payment for her services: his seal, his cord and staff.
The seal represents royalty, (Kings will come from her); the cord
represents judgment or justice (as Judges, Prophets) and the staff
represents the Messiah (as the scepter will not depart from Judah).
Another
sod is revealed in this story. Compare Yosef with Yehudah …What
animal did Yehudah try to give to Tamar? … a goat. What animal
did Yehudah kill to stain Yosef's coat to show his father that he
was dead? …a goat. We can also compare Abraham with Yaakov;
for Yaakov, Yosef was his favorite son. In his mind, his only son
had died when his brothers showed him the coat stained in blood.
In the same way, Abraham in the story of the Akeda, the binding of
Yitzchak, who was called his only begotten son, Yitzchak too was
thought to come back from death to life. These are pictures of the
suffering Messiah. The death of the righteous would make atonement
for the sins of others. G-d Himself provides the only means for the
perfect redemption through Mashiach.
Ramban
says that these passages speak of salvation through Yehudah and not
through Yosef. If man had to decide through whom salvation would
come, what would be our choice….Yehudah who had an affair with
the Canaanite "prostitute' Tamar or Yosef who married into pure
blood of the highest royal line in the land of Egypt, Potifera, the
daughter of the high priest. Over and over, we as man want to do
things our own way wanting to remain in control. Whenever we try
to do this we destroy the Word of G-d.
Yosef
tried to get Yaakov to bless his older son, Menasheh but Yaakov blessed
Ephraim, the youngest; again the youngest would be greater than the
oldest. In Yechezk'el 37 we see the coming together of the two sticks
(tribes), Joseph through Ephraim and Judah, and in this way fulfilling
the restoration of Israel. We are in the process where all the tribes
of Israel will be rejoined without the help of men.
An
important element to note in all this is that if we follow the teachings
of the rabbis as I mentioned before, we are eliminating a great percentage
of the Jews, for according to scriptures being Jewish come through
the line of the father. In the end it is G-d who will do it.
The
reality we see from this portion is that from the beginning G-d intended
to make one people not two from Israel, the line of Yehudah. There
is one true remnant consisting of Israel and the nations. One tree-
the olive tree- Israel and one root, the root of Abraham Isaac and
Jacob with the sap being the blood of our Mashiach, King, Redeemer
Yeshua.
May
G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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©
2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
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