Portion 11 Va-Yiggash Genesis 44:18-47:27
44:33 To save his father from grief from loss of his favorite son, Judah offers himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place. Judah is fulfilling the covenant obligation to be a suffering servant. It causes Joseph to end his deception and reveal himself to his brothers.
45:1 However Joseph is still unwilling to reveal his humanity to those outside his family. Joseph is still enslaved by the domination system to keep up appearances.
45:7 Joseph attributes his holding of a powerful position to divine right.
45:11 He justifies his exploitation of others on the grounds that he will save his family from famine and poverty.
45:18 Pharaoh likewise justifies the unjust social relations from which he benefits by the charity that he bestows on those he favors.
46:3 God will make Israel into a great nation, not by being coddled at the expense of others, but by undergoing the experience of national slavery that Joseph sets into motion, and overcoming it through faithfulness instead of vengeance.
46:34 Joseph prepares his family for its meeting with Pharaoh. Is Joseph, aware of his plan for national enslavement, scheming to keep his family outside the area where the expropriation will occur? Or, as Etz Hyim suggests, is the point of this preparation Joseph’s coaching his brothers to refer to a shepherd as a breeder of livestock (like referring to a garbage man as a sanitation engineer)? The latter is consistent with Joseph’s recurrent concern about keeping up appearances.
47:6b Pharaoh gives patronage positions to some of Joseph’s sons to further ensure their loyalty and dependence on him for their livelihood.
47:14 As the famine worsens, Joseph makes the Egyptians buy back the food that they were forced to give to Joseph during the years of prosperity. Joseph, who is chief tax collector, state grain salesman, and overseer of Pharaoh’s personal estate, deposits the proceeds in Pharaoh’s palace.
47:16 The next year Joseph expropriates the peoples’ livestock in return for the food he taxed from them .
47:20 The year after that, he expropriates all of their land in exchange for the food he had stolen from then years before. It is pointless at this point to continue the fallacy that Joseph had collected the food as a tax to distribute back to the people later. He stole it to sell it back to them at the highest of all prices to strengthen Pharaoh’s hold over the people. Rashbam considers Joseph’s actions ruthless.
47:21 Joseph embarks on a forced mass migration program, to distance people from their ancestral land and strengthen Pharaoh’s hold on it.
47:22 Joseph preserves the lands of the priests (his wife’s family!) for them just as he does for his brothers. In this way Joseph secures religious support for the national enslavement project.
47:25: There is a political cartoon showing a couple people discussing two campaign posters. One poster reads “Vote for Smith. “I’ll chop off your leg!”” The other poster reads “Vote for Jones. “I’ll only chop off your foot!”” The caption reads “I’m leaning towards Jones.” When people are forced to choose between death by starvation and slavery, they might be grateful for the option of slavery given the alternative.
47:27 Israel prospers under Joseph’s "discernment and wisdom."
44:33 To save his father from grief from loss of his favorite son, Judah offers himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place. Judah is fulfilling the covenant obligation to be a suffering servant. It causes Joseph to end his deception and reveal himself to his brothers.
45:1 However Joseph is still unwilling to reveal his humanity to those outside his family. Joseph is still enslaved by the domination system to keep up appearances.
45:7 Joseph attributes his holding of a powerful position to divine right.
45:11 He justifies his exploitation of others on the grounds that he will save his family from famine and poverty.
45:18 Pharaoh likewise justifies the unjust social relations from which he benefits by the charity that he bestows on those he favors.
46:3 God will make Israel into a great nation, not by being coddled at the expense of others, but by undergoing the experience of national slavery that Joseph sets into motion, and overcoming it through faithfulness instead of vengeance.
46:34 Joseph prepares his family for its meeting with Pharaoh. Is Joseph, aware of his plan for national enslavement, scheming to keep his family outside the area where the expropriation will occur? Or, as Etz Hyim suggests, is the point of this preparation Joseph’s coaching his brothers to refer to a shepherd as a breeder of livestock (like referring to a garbage man as a sanitation engineer)? The latter is consistent with Joseph’s recurrent concern about keeping up appearances.
47:6b Pharaoh gives patronage positions to some of Joseph’s sons to further ensure their loyalty and dependence on him for their livelihood.
47:14 As the famine worsens, Joseph makes the Egyptians buy back the food that they were forced to give to Joseph during the years of prosperity. Joseph, who is chief tax collector, state grain salesman, and overseer of Pharaoh’s personal estate, deposits the proceeds in Pharaoh’s palace.
47:16 The next year Joseph expropriates the peoples’ livestock in return for the food he taxed from them .
47:20 The year after that, he expropriates all of their land in exchange for the food he had stolen from then years before. It is pointless at this point to continue the fallacy that Joseph had collected the food as a tax to distribute back to the people later. He stole it to sell it back to them at the highest of all prices to strengthen Pharaoh’s hold over the people. Rashbam considers Joseph’s actions ruthless.
47:21 Joseph embarks on a forced mass migration program, to distance people from their ancestral land and strengthen Pharaoh’s hold on it.
47:22 Joseph preserves the lands of the priests (his wife’s family!) for them just as he does for his brothers. In this way Joseph secures religious support for the national enslavement project.
47:25: There is a political cartoon showing a couple people discussing two campaign posters. One poster reads “Vote for Smith. “I’ll chop off your leg!”” The other poster reads “Vote for Jones. “I’ll only chop off your foot!”” The caption reads “I’m leaning towards Jones.” When people are forced to choose between death by starvation and slavery, they might be grateful for the option of slavery given the alternative.
47:27 Israel prospers under Joseph’s "discernment and wisdom."
posted by ross at 6:25 PM
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