The Vine of Joseph

Genesis 49:22-24 American Standard Version (ASV)

Joseph is a fruitful bough [vine],
A fruitful bough [vine] by a fountain;
His branches run over the wall.
The archers have sorely grieved him,
And shot at him, and persecuted him:
But his bow abode in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong,
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)

I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. (Words of Yeshua) Jn 15:1

Two Messiah are spoken of in the rabbinic tradition: Messiah  ben Joseph, who would be a descendant of Joseph; and Messiah ben David, who would be a descendant of David. Unfortunately, throughout the New Testament these two figures are conflated in the person of Yeshua.

Semitic allusions to Yeshua’s identity speak far more persuasively of a connection to Joshua, Ephraim and Joseph ~ the priestly Firstborn of Jacob and Rachel ~ than to Judea’s King David. Yeshua did not incarnate in the first century as the royal Messiah, Mashiach ben David (who is still to come), but as the priestly suffering servant of Isaiah 53, Messiah ben Joseph. 

1. It is necessary to grasp that it was the dreamer, Joseph, who was chosen as the Bechor (Firstborn) of Jacob; and he was chosen because he was a natural priest... The Bechor led the family, as led by God, performing all priestly duties; and inherited a double portion of property. In his time, it was Joseph who was chosen as the leader of the family of Jacob.

2. Like Joseph, Yeshua was a priestly firstborn.

3. Like Joseph, Yeshua suffered on behalf of his people Israel, but also on behalf of the nations.

4. Like Joseph, Yeshua was not recognised at first by his brothers.

5. Like Joseph, multitudes would eventually bow down to Yeshua.

6. Like Joseph, Yeshua is associated with a fruitful vine. (I am the true vine…)

7. Like Joseph, Yeshua is regarded as a salvific figure with regard to both Israel and the nations.

8. The only banner emblem of the tribes in the wilderness to feature an animal of sacrifice (calf/ox) was the emblem of Ephraim (the son of Joseph) and Yeshua was the Messiah of sacrifice.

9. Yeshua’s name is an abbreviation of Yehoshua, translated into English as Joshua.

10. And Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph.

11. Yeshua spent two whole days in Joshua’s original capital in Canaan: in Shechem.

12. This was/is the city of Joseph’s bones, Jacob’s well and the nation of Israel’s first ‘Holy Mountain’; Mt Gerizim.

13. Yeshua spoke to, ate with and slept in-amongst, the people of Shechem, who were ‘Samaritans’. Judeans were forbidden to do any of the above; they were forbidden to associate with Samaritans.

14. Yeshua spoke favourably about Samaritans: ‘the good Samaritan’ and the thankful Samaritan leper being two examples.

15. When accused of being a Samaritan with a demon, Yeshua denied having a demon; he did not deny being a Samaritan… Yeshua, The True Vine, after his visit to Shechem, testified that a prophet has no honour in his ‘native land’…

16. Before his trial and crucifixion, Yeshua took refuge in a small town in Judea by the name of Ephraim. Was it a Samaritan town, a Benjamite town? Evidently it was a town in which he was protected from the Judeans who were seeking to capture him.

17. And then there is the matter of Jonah, Hosea and the exile of the Northern tribes that would spread across the Assyrian Empire and beyond, like a fruitful ever-creeping vine…

18. Jonah was sent specifically to the city of Nineveh to prepare that decadent, city to receive the exiles of Israel (722 BC).

19. Jonah, a great prophet of the North, fled from HaShem’s command, because he wanted no part in the exile of his own people, the Northern Tribes.

20. The Jonah account ends with him sitting miserably under a shrivelled vine. What an incongruous ending to this powerful story, unless one sees the vine as representative of the exile of the northern Kingdom of Israel/Ephraim… of the ‘vine’ of Joseph that would soon appear to shrivel and die…

21. Note, however, the fruit of that vine, the gourds, must have been full of seeds… seeds that would be scattered/sown/planted far and wide among the nations…

22. HaShem’s covenant people were about to be ‘sown’ and HaShem would, in time, create abundant fruit on that ever-spreading vine.

23. This image of 'sowing' should be associated with the name 'Jezreel'; Hosea’s first son by Gomer, the prostitute. The Hebrew root of 'Jezreel' embodies the concept of scattering, sowing and planting… Hosea's prophetic warnings concerning the impending exile of the Northern Tribes was conveyed to him by God by means of the names of his three children.

24. Approximately 750 years had passed between the Assyrian exile of the Northern Tribes and Yeshua's commencing the in-gathering of the remnant of ‘Joseph’ in Joshua’s ancient capital city of Shechem. It was there that he spoke powerfully of the fields that had turned white and were ready for the harvest…

25. Next Erev Shabbat, when you recite the blessing “Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine” think of Joseph, of Jonah and of Yeshua ~ the ‘True Vine’ ~ and think of the bountiful ‘fruit of that vine’ that HaShem has 'created' throughout the nations down the centuries...