Torah 101-Vayeshev

I.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEKS STUDY QUESTIONS (from Vayishlach)

1) Question for Genesis 32:3-33:20:

How does one detail in this section also help us date the book of Jobs creation, at least in a
general sense?
BEMEAH KSITA (33:19) = 100 kesitahs. Various sources in the Talmud put this currency
at either 1/24th or 1/20th of the value of a shekel. KSITA is also understood by another term,
MAAH, which was said to be of the same value so 100 kesitahs is about 4.17 shekels.
However the real value of this passage is that it sheds light on the general timing of the Book
of Job, one of only two other Tanakh books (Joshua 24:32 is the other) to mention this very
old money measurement, which is one of the best proofs that generally puts the book of Job
in the Patriarchal Age; others will see Job as coming a little later, a generation or so after
Exodus, but this is a minority viewpoint.
2) Question for Genesis 34:1-35:29:
The Torah here says, No longer will you be called Jacob but Israel. So, did Jacob actually
lose his current name or did he simply get Israel as an additional name?
LO YIKARE SHIMCHA OD YAAKOV (35:10) = You will no longer be called Jacob. It is
important to note that, in spite of what this reading appears to say, Jacob in fact did not
lose his previous name but simply had a second name (Israel) added to his existing one.
This is a different process than what Abraham went throughbecause he lost Abram
(exalted father) in favor of a greater title Abraham (father of many nations). Jacob however
gains Israel, and when his people do well he is called Israel and when they fail he is
reminded of Yaakov. This is because his first name heel has deceptive overtones to its
meaning, so when the nation is deceiving YHWH, He reminds them of Jacob the
supplanter. The proof is in Genesis 46:2, taking place many years later, Abba YHWH still
speaks to Israel by calling him Jacob.
3) Question for Genesis 36:
According to Jewish tradition, the ancestor of the Romans is listed here. Who is this
ancestor?
ALUF MAGDIEL, ALUF IRAM (36:43) = Clan of Magdiel, tribe of Iram. Some traditions
state that this family group eventually founded the Roman Empire. Therefore Rome is a
descendant of Esau. Others say that this group came from Korach. The Rabbinic chronology
here though is both too late and very widely off from the Biblical data, so these dates dont
work. For example, even by Romes legendary accounts, they are not founded until five
centuries after Moshe, in 748 BCE. My personal opinion is that Esau was not the ancestor of

Romethat honor falls to the Kittim, a descendant of Javan at the other end of the
Mediterranean Sea and they are prophesied to destroy the Hebrew people:
But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict
Eber; so they also will come to destruction." (Numbers 24:24 NAU)
4) Haftorah Question of the Week: Hosea 11:7-12:12; Obadiah 1:1-21
How is a line from one of these double portions linked to a current sect of Judaism and an
assembly mentioned in the book of Revelation?
SEPHARDIC HAFTORAH IS OBADIAH 1:1-21. One thing to say at the outset, Obadiah is
the ONLY place in Scripture where the SEPHARAD are mentioned as a place of exiles. It is
from SEPHARAD that we get SEPHARDIM, which may explain why Obadiah is picked in
this tradition from the modern Sephardic Jews, whose dialect is now the official choice of the
modern State of Israel. Some scholars think this is Hebrew for SARDIS in Asia Minor and
this is of course one the assemblies referred to in Revelation.

I.

QUESTIONS FOR THIS TORAH PORTION (Vayeshev)

Please NOTE:

For clarity and time constraints, if I elect to not read the whole parsha (which is the
case this week) I may still ask questions relating to the portions I did not read!

5) Question for Genesis 37 and 38:

Did all, some or just one brother throw Joseph into the well and how can we know one way
or the other?
6) Question for Genesis 39:
What is the meaning/application behind the phrase, and he didnt concern himself with
anything except for food?
7) Question for Genesis 40:
What can we know about the offense that got the wine steward in trouble with Pharaoh
originally?
8) Haftorah Question of the Week: Amos 2:6-3:8
Where is there a hidden reference to Noah in this Haftorah portion?
9) Renewed Covenant Commentary: Acts 7:9-16 (extemporaneous this week; next week we
will be doing a deeper study of this same section.)