Genesis: 1a 1b 1c 1d 2a 2b 2c 2d 3 4a 4b 4c/5 6a 6b 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25a 25b 26a 26b 27 28a 28b 29 30a 30b 31a 31b/32a 32b 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44a 44b 45 46 47a 47b 48 49 50
The Christian chaptering system, as we have seen repeatedly, does not coincide with the divisions in the Jewish versions. So sedra Va Yigash ended at a natural break in the narrative, at what is Genesis 47:27 in the Christian, and the following sedra, Va Yechi, then tells the last days of Ya'akov's life, first the blessing of Yoseph's sons, then the blessing of his own. There is, I regret to say, no logic whatsoever to the Christian version starting that part of the story where it does, and continuing for just four verses, before resuming in chapter 48. Aware that I may have both Jewish and Christian readers, I have therefore kept both, by making these four verses a stand-alone page.
47:28 VA YECHI YA'AKOV BE ERETS MITSRAYIM SHEVA ESRAY SHANAH VA YEHI YEMEY YA'AKOV SHNEY CHAYAV SHEVA SHANIM VE ARBA'IM U ME'AT SHANAH
וַיְחִי יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם שְׁבַע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה וַיְהִי יְמֵי יַעֲקֹב שְׁנֵי חַיָּיו שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וְאַרְבָּעִים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה
KJ (King James translation): And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
BN: And Ya'akov lived in the land of Mitsrayim for seventeen years; so the days of Ya'akov, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven.
Why this concern for precise numbers throughout the Book? And how did they know - we are in an epoch long before birth registration, let alone birth certificates, let alone an alphabet in which such things even could be written down. So there has to be either a total randomness to the number - in which case it is pure story-telling, but bad story-telling, or it has to have symbolic value. 147 in Yehudit-Ivrit (use this cheat-sheet in your classroom!) is קמז, but - sorry to disappoint the Gematriasts and the Bible-Coders, there is no root in Yehudit that sprouts anything meaningful from KAMAZ. Not that this has ever stopped a person of faith from expostulating anyway - click here.
Seventeen years, and he arrived in the second year of the famine, so we are presumably now twelve years since the famine ended, and Yoseph still Prime Minister.
47:29 VA YIKREVU YEMEY YISRA-EL LAMUT VA YIKRA LIVNO LE YOSEPH VA YOMER LO IM NA MATSA'TI CHEN BE EYNEYCHA SIM NA YADCHA TACHAT YERECHI VE ASIYTA IMADI CHESED VE EMET AL NA TIKBERENI BE MITSRAYIM
וַיִּקְרְבוּ יְמֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לָמוּת וַיִּקְרָא לִבְנוֹ לְיוֹסֵף וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אִם נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ שִׂים נָא יָדְךָ תַּחַת יְרֵכִי וְעָשִׂיתָ עִמָּדִי חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת אַל נָא תִקְבְּרֵנִי בְּמִצְרָיִם
KJ: And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
BN: And the time drew close that Yisra-El must die; and he called his son Yoseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favour in your sight, put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; do not bury me, I beg you, in Mitsrayim...
YISRA-EL: Once again he is named this, rather than Ya'akov.
SIM...YERECHI (ירכי...שים): the traditional method of swearing (see next paragraph of these notes); no need to ask which god the swearing is by. But don't ignore the YERECH here – it was the hollow of Ya'akov's thigh that was put out of joint at Penu-El and led to a very specific commandment (Genesis 32:32): the thigh is always sacred, but Ya'akov's especially so.
We also noted its use with a slightly different meaning, in Genesis 46:26, referring to those who "came out of his loins". So we can also confirm that "placing the hand under the thigh" is not the fatty part at the top of the leg; this is a fertility cult; you can complete the rest of this paragraph for yourself.
But isn't it odd that he should call Yoseph, admittedly Rachel's first-born, and yes the Vizier of Egypt; but surely Re'u-Ven should be the representative of the brothers by right of primogeniture, or Bin-Yamin by ultimogeniture. Why does Rachel have this special status? And primo with her. Is it just because she was his favourite, the one he really wanted?
CHESED VE-EMET rings a Yom Kippur bell. In full "Adonay adonay el rachum ve chanun, erech apayim ve rav chesed ve emet." The "official source" of the Yom Kippur prayer is Exodus 34:6-7; yet this would indicate that the liturgical phrase was already in use.
Why is it so important to Ya'akov/Yisra-El not to be buried in Egypt? Or is it, as the next verse indicates, a wish to be buried with his fathers? The latter, if it means in Kena'an, can only be a late addition by the Redactor, because the land of Ya'akov's forefathers was Padan Aram (or possibly Ur Kasdim).
47:30 VE SHACHAVTI IM AVOTAI U NESA'TANI MI MITSRAYIM U KEVARTANI BI KEVURATAM VA YOMER ANOCHI E'ESEH CHIDVARECHA
וְשָׁכַבְתִּי עִם אֲבֹתַי וּנְשָׂאתַנִי מִמִּצְרַיִם וּקְבַרְתַּנִי בִּקְבֻרָתָם וַיֹּאמַר אָנֹכִי אֶעֱשֶׂה כִדְבָרֶךָ
KJ: But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
BN: "But when I sleep with my fathers, carry me out of Mitsrayim, and bury me in their burying-place." And he said, "I will do as you have said."
BI KEVURATAM: i.e. in the cave of Machpelah at Chevron; his burial in Yisra-El and not Mitsrayim, as with that of Yoseph later, will gain significance in the time of Yehoshu'a, but strangely, unlike Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of Machpelah, for such an ancestor-worshipping religion, Jews have never made anything of the other burial sites such as Yoseph's until very recently, and few could tell you where they are today? Of those who think they can, the supposed Tomb of Yoseph, close to Shechem (today's Nablus) is actually the tomb of a 19th century Rabbi Joseph, and not Biblical Yoseph at all.
CHIDVARECHA: odd coincidence, given the note to CHESED VE-EMET in verse 29, that this is one of the standard response lines throughout the Yom Kippur liturgy - click here.
47:31 VA YOMER HISHAV'AH LI VA YISHAV'A LO VA YISHTACHU YISRA-EL AL ROSH HA MITA
וַיֹּאמֶר הִשָּׁבְעָה לִי וַיִּשָּׁבַע לוֹ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל רֹאשׁ הַמִּטָּה
KJ: And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
BN: And he said, "Swear it to me." And he swore it to him. And Yisra-El prostrated himself upon the bed-head.
ROSH HA MITA (על-ראש המטה): What is this strange ritual? Is he praying? Or is it simply that he is too old and frail to bow on the floor? And who is he bowing to - his god or Yoseph?
Pey break; end of chapter 47.
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