Joy in the Messiah

מִקֵּץ
Miketz/ At the End Of
Genesis 41:1-44:17
1 Kings 3:15-4:1                 
1 Corinthians 1:1-5
It is Established…
    A lot is going on in this parsha.   But Genesis 41:32 has something to note.  Joseph tells Pharaoh “And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” - that is what truly reveals the wisdom that God gave to Joseph. It is established and revealed. 
    The word ‘twice’ is key; פַּעֲמַיִם  pa'amayeem in Hebrew.  The two separate dreams, the two different circumstances, yet the same meaning and ending. This information, repeated twice like the two witnesses that God has established, gave Joseph the wisdom that the dreams were established by God. Words are repeated twice and sometimes three times in Scripture.
    If you notice, repetition is so uncommon in the English language that when you are typing a document, Microsoft Word underlines the repeated word in red.  This is not the case in Biblical Hebrew. 
   The key thought is that it was established, it is so, it is done, and God will bring it to pass.
   We might assume that something repeated twice or three times has the same meaning. However, this is not necessarily so in the Hebrew context. 
  An example is found in Isaiah 6:3, ‘The seraphim call one to another, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’
   This represents things tripled, rather than in the case of Joseph, where things are doubled.  However, it still holds the Hebrew context:  it is established.  Holy, Holy, Holy; kadosh, kadosh, kadosh is more than merely holy, holy, holy.  The crux would be, ‘It is established, it is undeniable, it is Divine, it is not human, or of this realm.’  The ‘holy’ is of the spiritual realm, a place that man in his flesh cannot comprehend.  That is why it is often easier to ‘establish’ a code of ethics written by man rather than The Code of Morality written by HaShem. 
    Revelation 4:8 repeats this. ‘And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.’ 
    The Hebrew language has a tendency to do things in threes. This represents something done/said/ruled that is considered permanent. This is called an installation and a strengthening. 
   Miketz continues with the brothers traveling to Egypt where they come face to face with Joseph. There is a second journey to Egypt and then Joseph conceals a silver cup in the sack of Benjamin. 
    The next Torah portion, Vayigash, Joseph makes himself known to his brothers. But it is in this next parsha we see the strength of Judah as it is established. 
 

מִקֵּץ
Miketz/ At the End Of
Genesis 41:1-44:17
1 Kings 3:15-4:1                 
1 Corinthians 1:1-5

     When Joseph is young, he has the two dreams involving his brothers.  In VaYeshev, Genesis chapter 40, Joseph is given the ability to interpret the dreams of others. It is in this week’s parsha that there is an important piece of information that we don't see until now. Joseph says to Pharaoh, who has also had two dreams: “The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.” Genesis 41:32. Only in retrospect do we realize that Joseph’s double dream was a sign that this too was no mere imagining. Joseph really was destined to be a leader to whom his family would bow to.
      Joseph also shows another gift from Adonai, which is the ability to not only interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, but to suggest a solution. ‘Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. 35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36 Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.’ Genesis 41:33-36.
     But it is Genesis 41:32 when Joseph tells Pharaoh - “And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” - that is what truly reveals the wisdom that God gave to Joseph.
     Twice is the key word;  פַּעֲמַיִם  pa'amayeem in Hebrew.  The two separate dreams, the two different circumstances, yet the same meaning and ending. This is the information, ‘repeated twice’ as in the two witnesses, that gave Joseph the wisdom that the dreams were established by God. We see two witnesses throughout the Scriptures, established by God.
     We see the importance of two witnesses throughout Scripture.
      Isaiah 37:16 ‘O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth You have made heaven and earth.’
     Psalm 124:8 ‘Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.’
     Matthew 11:25 ‘At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.’
     Deuteronomy 17:6 ‘Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.’
     Deuteronomy 30:19 ‘I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live…’
    Luke 10:1 ‘After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.’
     2 Corinthians 13:1 ‘This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.”
    Ezekiel 37:18-19 is the key of the two witnesses completing the Kingdom of God. ‘“And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.’ These are the two witnesses that prove the Torah is true by them coming together.
       There is another verse in Revelation 11 that speaks of two witnesses. These two witnesses rule and represent the two olive trees and two menorahs. They represent the Kingdom of God.  Like Yeshua, they are eventually killed, and after three and a half days, they rise again by the breath of God.
     Revelation 11:1-6 - ‘I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.’
     Notice where and what the Gentiles do. They are outside the court, the camp, the wedding, they trample on Jerusalem and they trample the Word of God -the Torah. They ignore and have ignored the two witnesses throughout Scripture, and the importance of their teachings.
     Do we know who these two witnesses are?  The wording in Revelation 11 is very similar to that of Zechariah 4. By calling the two witnesses “the two olive trees,” God is establishing a link between the two books. The two olive trees of Revelation 11:4 is a reference to the prophetic vision of Zechariah 4, which features two olive trees standing on either side of a golden candlestick with a golden bowl on top of it. In this vision, the two olive trees are emptying their oil into the golden bowl atop the candlestick via two branches, and the seven lamps of the golden candlestick are receiving the olive oil from seven golden pipes which are connected to the bowl.  The two olive trees are described as the “two anointed ones” (which in Hebrew are the “sons of oil”) that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” Zechariah 4:14.
     By describing the two witnesses as having the power to shut heaven, to withhold rain for three and a half years like Elijah did, and to turn waters to blood like Moses did; the prophecy of Revelation 11 is very clearly inferring that the two witnesses are none other than Moses and Elijah. It is also Moshe and Elijah who appear standing by Yeshua when He was transfigured on the Mount in Matthew 17:3.       
      Revelation 19:11-13 ‘I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God.’
     Do we listen to the witnesses of God, His Torah and His Son?
     John 8:16-18 ‘And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.’