The Spirit of Prophecy – Vayeshev

When someone mentions the word prophet we generally imagine a man with a long white beard who pontificates about mysterious words that predict the end of the world as we know it. Prophecy is often understood as something far removed from everyday life and especially from our own personal life, however, the Bible paints a more natural picture regarding this subject of prophecy. 

The Generations of Jacob

This week’s Torah Portion begins with a familiar word which is frequently found in the book of Genesis: תודות – Toldot – “the history or generations.” After reading how Jacob dwelt in the land of Canaan, we are introduced to the generations of Jacob:

These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. – Gen. 37:2a

As the Bible records the “generations of Jacob” one descendent becomes the prime focus, Joseph.

Joseph was the first born of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel and Jacob did not hide his favoritism toward his honored son. Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph and set him above his brothers (Gen. 37:3-4). The love and favoritism of Jacob toward Joseph was a source of family contention and jealousy. Beyond being exalted by his father, Joseph was also set apart from his brothers by God Himself:

Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. – Gen. 37:9-11 

We know that the dreams that Joseph received were from God as they were manifested some years later, however, Joseph’s family rejected Joseph’s dreams as being nonsensical and difficult to comprehend.

The Ordinary Nature of a Prophet

Joseph is not a typical prophet with whom God spoke and communicated to His people like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, however, the fact that Joseph was used by God to receive and interpret dreams is evidence that God used Joseph to communicate prophetic words in his generation. We read further evidence of Joseph’s prophetic calling in this week’s reading.

After Joseph was taken down to Egypt and sold to Potiphar to work in his home, Joseph was falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison for some years. While he was in prison, Joseph had further opportunity to be a conduit of God’s revelation:  

Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected. He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?” Then they said to him, “We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.” – Gen. 40:5-8

Joseph was in prison and had to be wondering about the fulfillment of his own dreams that he had received from God. Despite his dismal situation, Jospeh had full faith in God to provide revelation and interpretation to the dreams that these men had received. Jospeh’s faith in the God of his fathers was a testimony to his fellow inmates to the God of heaven and earth.

Joseph listened to each man’s dream and gave them the interpretation as he received revelation from God. Each man’s dream came true; the cupbearer was restored to his position before the king and the chief baker was executed. Joseph was just an ordinary man but through his faith in God he was used to bring prophetic revelation through the interpretation of dreams.

Prophecy – The Revelation of God’s Plans

Joseph is a great example of an ordinary person who was used by God to communicate God’s message in his generation. Joseph was used to communicate the interpretation of the dreams of both the cupbearer and the chief baker which foretold the fate of each man’s life. Joseph was later used to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams to foretell world events. Joseph acted as a prophet in his day.

God is a relational being and He desires to communicate with His creation. One of the principal ways in which God communicates to His people is through those who are called prophets:

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7

God is not obligated to communicate to us but He chooses to communicate with us through those who speak on His behalf, the prophets. The Bible is a record of how God has communicated through various prophets of old, however, how does God communicate to us today?

Modern-Day Prophecy

Obviously, the Bible is still God’s Word which is just as alive today as it was 2000 years ago. It is amazing to be able to read God’s Word today and to hear His voice afresh in the various languages and dialects that we speak and understand. We have also received of His Spirit who abides in us (John 14:16-18) and communicates with our spirits (Romans 8:26). The Bible also teaches us that the gift of prophecy is still working through believers today for the purpose of building up and edifying the body of believers in the Messiah (1 Corinthians 14). All of this being true, there is still another way in which God communicates to the world today in a prophetic manner. 

The Spirit of Prophecy

Towards the end of the book of Revelation, the Apostle John was in a conversation with an angel of God. In this account we read the following dialogue: 

Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Yeshua; worship God. For the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy.” – Revelation 19:10

John fell at the feet of the angel to worship him but the angel was quick to rebuke John pointing him to God alone with a focus on Yeshua.

The angel told John that he was a fellow servant of all of those who hold to the testimony of Yeshua. The angel then declared, “For the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy.” This statement is one of those New Testament phrases that is so simple yet speaks volumes to me personally. 

By holding to the testimony of Yeshua and being a continual witness to who Yeshua is as the Messiah and Son of God who takes away the sin of the world, God’s prophetic Word is declared. Every time that we speak the truth of who Yeshua is we are proclaiming God’s prophetic Word: past, present and future. Yeshua is the salvation of God who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, revealed for our redemption, and will come again to restore justice to this world (1 Peter 1:20-21. Zechariah 14:9-11). Yeshua is the only source of eternal salvation: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The Testimony of Yeshua is The Spirit of Prophecy

Joseph was an ordinary person just like you and I but he believed in God and was a living testimony to his family, to his fellow prisoners, and to the king of Egypt that God still speaks to His creation. Through the life and testimony of Joseph God sent forth His prophetic word. We are privileged today to see God’s prophetic word continue to be declared in our generation through the testimony of Yeshua. May God use each one of us to unashamedly declare the testimony of Yeshua so that the spirit of prophecy may continue to penetrate the world and society in which we live.
 

Shabbat Shalom!

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Torah Portion: Gen. 37:1 – Gen. 40:23

Haftara: Amos 2:6 – Amos 3:8

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