Vayechi (And lived): Genesis 47:28-50:26
Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).
On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.
3rd January 2026 (14 Tevet)
Vayechi (And lived): Genesis 47:28-50:26
Our portion this week is filled with prophetic meaning. The ways of God are made known through the lives of men and women. There has been much focus on Joseph who became a means of salvation for his family. Likewise, on other occasions in the future, whether it be in times of famine or any other difficulty, there is continued expectation that God will raise up a saviour for His people. In this study we will consider how the prophecies were to be fulfilled in Messiah.
Joseph was not an expected saviour. He was not Jacob’s firstborn son. His dreams had been rejected by Joseph’s brothers as the boasting of a favoured son. Yet Joseph was God’s choice. When all was fulfilled, the famine now over and with the family living in Egypt, Jacob died and his body was taken back to Canaan. Joseph could now declare to his brothers concerning their mistreatment of him:
… you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20)
This must always be borne in mind when we consider how God will bring about His purposes. We may trust Him for the outworking of our future, including deliverance from the most difficult times, but He may surprise us as to His choice of through whom and how we will be helped. As God said through the Prophet Isaiah:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Within the expectation of what God will do for us there must always be an element of “wait and see”.
Expectation for an anointed one to be the saviour of God’s people was typified by Joseph. It also focussed on Judah. Judah was to be the tribe from which a future Messianic ruler would come. This was prophesied in Jacob’s final blessings of his sons (Genesis 49).
We see here the prophetic power of blessing. Jacob had already distinguished between Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, foretelling that the younger brother would be greater than the older (Genesis 48:19). God had given Jacob prophetic insight so that, just as Joseph’s dreams had been fulfilled in a way determined by God, so would the prophetic blessing be fulfilled for Ephraim and Manasseh.
Likewise, each of his twelve sons was told how their descendants would fulfil the prophecy that was spoken over them. The coming history of each of their tribes began at this time and was influenced by the character of their forefather.
For our purposes in this year’s Torah studies, Judah is of special interest. The prophecy over him in full was:
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Genesis 49:10-12)
This prophecy is full of meaning concerning Israel’s promised Messiah. Every word is relevant to what God purposed in the future for His people. As with much prophecy, there is some clarity and also some mystery. We have an expectation that will be clarified at the right time. Judah was chosen by God to bring forth a ruler of his people of great significance, called Shiloh. A word study of what shiloh means is that it is a person with specially appointed status, who would rule and bring prosperity and rest. There was sufficient mystery in the word shiloh as to give scope to understand what this meant through continued prayerful study over the centuries. The reference to the donkey tethered to a choice vine can build the expectation of prosperity in a land full of ripe and good fruit.
Thus began the expectation of a kingly line from Judah and, at a time appointed by God, a ruler would emerge with special anointing. King David was appointed by God despite, as we shall see in later studies, the warning through Moses (Deuteronomy 17) and the sorrow of Samuel (1 Samuel 8) that Israel should not ask for a king to be like other nations. David’s appointment as king, nevertheless, was in line with Jacob’s prophecy over Judah, but the expectancy of an even greater king was cultivated through God’s covenant promise to David (2 Samuel 7).
So it was that all Israel waited for the coming Messiah, fulfilling prophecy enshrouded with mystery. This Messiah would come from the line of Judah and of David, and would be appointed by God as King of the Jews.
Not only does all Torah speak of this Messiah, but so does the rest of Scripture. There is a word that occurs regularly which carries a hint of the nature of the coming Messiah. It often appears when there is a cry of hope. The word is yeshua, which means salvation. It appears for the first time when Jacob had prophesied over Dan (Genesis 49:18):
I have waited for your salvation (yeshua), O Lord!
We can link this to the last part of Jacob’s prophecy over Judah, by considering another element of the mystery. Interestingly, there is not much reference to be found to this part of the prophecy in biblical commentary. Yet it must be as important as the rest, and worthy of careful study as to what might be implied. What was meant by His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk? It could, of course, be that this refers to the physical beauty of the coming Messiah.
The reference to eyes and teeth becomes more relevant when we consider the justice of the laws of Moses, eye for eye and tooth for tooth (Exodus 21:24). Is there a hint to the perfect justice in the character of the coming Messiah, who is prophesied as having perfect eyes and teeth?
To take this further, we see that there are two letters of the Hebrew language, ayin and shin, that symboliseeyes and teeth. These two Hebrew letters, ע and ש appear in the spelling of the word yeshua (ישוע); a word which therefore contains the two letters relating to God’s balance of justice, hinted at in the prophecy given to Judah for the coming Messiah. If this Messiah is in some way a saviour (yeshua) of Israel, the symbols of eyes and teeth are in the letters of his ministry as saviour. Could this be the reason for eyes and teeth being part of Jacob’s prophecy? His ministry of salvation embodies a perfect representation of the law. Perfect justice is foreseen.
There is more! The word yeshua, meaning salvation, is also a name. It is the root of the name of Joshua who brought Israel into the promised land. Joshua is a type of Messiah for this reason. His name embodies his ministry.
The name Yeshua was also given to Mary for her son, who was to be born by miraculous birth. This name has been modified by Christians to Jesus, but it was originally Yeshua. The angel spoke thus to Joseph concerning Mary to whom he was betrothed (Matthew 1:21):
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.
This prophecy contains a play on words, which we can see in an English translation of the words:
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Salvation, for He will save His people from their sins.
In Hebrew:
והיא ילדת בן וקראת את שמו ישוע כי הוא יושיע את עמו מעונותיהם
v’hi yoledet ben v’qara’at et shmo Yeshua ki hu yoshia et amo mechatoteyhem
Matthew began his Gospel account with the genealogy of Yeshua (Jesus) to verify that He was of the line of David and therefore eligible to fulfil prophecy as the expected Messiah King. Out of the many who might have been named Yeshua in the land of Israel, this Yeshua was the one chosen by God, whose birth Matthew went on to describe.
God’s ways are not our ways. Yeshua grew and then, as the Son of Man, fulfilled His earthly ministry. Just as it was for Jacob’s son Joseph, it was not easy for His brothers to recognise who He was. Indeed, He suffered like Joseph because of this - to the extent of crucifixion.
There are two other letters that, with ע and ש, make up the name ישוע (Yeshua). They are the small letter yud( י ) and vav ( ו ). Like ayin and shin, these two letters also have symbolic meanings. The letter yud is a symbol of a hand and the letter vav is a symbol of a nail. Together they can point to the nail-pierced hands of Yeshua on the cross when, through His sacrifice, He embodied eternal salvation for all who will believe, first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles.
There is, therefore, even more to see! The name Yeshua, meaning salvation, is a balance of two letters symbolising the justice of the law and two letters symbolising the mercy of God through the sacrifice of His Son. This wonderful balance of justice with mercy was the result of Yeshua’s sacrifice for us, when He took our sins upon Himself.
The mystery of Jacob’s prophecy over Judah speaks for all time of the one who would be our anointed Saviour, whom Isaiah prophesied:
….was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)
What a Saviour!
When any one of Jacob’s sons (and all others who are called to faith in Yeshua) bows before Him, they may well remember the words of Joseph spoken afresh to them through Yeshua:
… you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20)
In summary, all of Scripture points to Yeshua. The prophecy of Jacob over Judah is a profound statement of expectation of the coming Messiah, in which every word – indeed every letter – has meaning.
Dr Clifford Denton
Founder and Director
Tishrei Bible School
www.tishrei.org
