Parasha: Va Yigash – And he drew near
Torah: B’reishit 44:18-47:27
From a Family to a Nation
It took a world wide famine of grain to force Ya’akov and his family to leave Ka’anaan and join Yosef in Egypt. Israel, a small family of seventy persons was about to be forged into a multi million person nation.
Here is how it started: The story picks up as Ya’akov’s family arrives in Egypt and is taken directly to a very fertile plain known as Goshen. Here is how Yosef manages to encourage Paro into allowing Ya’akov and his family to settle in the best land that Egypt had to offer.
47:1 Then Yosef came and told Paro, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Ka’anaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 2 And he took some of his brothers, even five men, and presented them to Paro. 3 And Paro said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Paro, Your servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. 4 They said morever to Paro, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for your servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Ka’anaan: now therefore, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 5 And Paro spoke to Yosef, saying, Your father and your brothers are come to you: 6 The land of Mitzryim is before you; in the best of the land make your father and brothers to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if you know any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
** Remember that Yosef had taken all the farm animals from the Egyptians for payment to Paro for their grain sustinence during the famine. Now, strangers in their land were about to get control over one of the forms of their wealth.
23 Then Yosef said to the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Paro: see, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that you shall give the fifth part to Paro, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 25 And they said, You have saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Paro’s servants. 26 And Yosef made it a law over the land of Mitzryim to this day, that Paro should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Paro’s. 27 And Israel dwelled in the land of Mitzryim, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.”
Approximately eighty years after Israel settled in Goshen, Yosef died.
“6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and became exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8 ¶ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it shall come to pass, that, when war happeneth, they will join with our enemies, and fight against us, and depart from the land. 11 Therefore they set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigour.” (Ex 1:6-14 )
The exact length of time that Israel was subject to bondage has been debated by many scholars. Some of whom know the Torah much better than myself. However, here is a pretty good speculation based on the Torah verses that are available to us.
“So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed from Haran.” (Ge 12:4 )
“And he said to Abram, Know certainly that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;” (Ge 15:13 )
** Most scholars agree that it’s a “stretch” to get to four hundred years based on the Torah narrative. This particular accounting is based on beginning the counting when Abram leaves Ur and begins walking to Kana’an.
Abram was seventy five years old when he began his journey.
“And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him.” (Ge 21:5 )
“And after that his brother was born, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.” (Ge 25:26 )
“And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred and forty and seven years.” (Ge 47:28 )
“And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Ge 41:46 )
“For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in which there shall neither be tillage nor harvest.” (Ge 45:6 )
“And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, nor have they attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Ge 47:9 )
“So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” (Ge 50:26 )
25 – Avraham received the Promise until Yitz’kak was born
60 – Ya’akov was born to Yitzak
91 – Yosef was born
110 – Yosef lived
286 total years
144 years in hard slavery
Levi – Kohath – Amram – Moshe
Moshe was eighty years old when he brought Israel out of bondage.
Levi was part of the “seventy” – Moshe was part of the several million!
“But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Ge 15:16 )
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