Questions - Parsha Vayigash Adot Adonai 1

Torah Study Questions

Vayigash - And came near

B’reshit (Gen) 44:18 - 47:27

Mark R. Ensign, Adot Adonai, Amarillo, Texas

Introductory questions -- Brief answers, not for extended discussion:

1. At what point in history does this parsha unfold?

2. Where does this parsha take place geographically? What are the setting and environment?

3. Who are the primary actors in the parsha and what role or roles does each play? What is the significance of each role? Who are the secondary actors and what roles do they play? What is thesignificance of their roles?

4. What is the overall theme of this parsha? What are the subdivisions, if any?

Parsha Specific Questions -- for extended discussion:

This week we continue with our interview of Yosef to understand the Torah from his perspective. Please answer all questions as though you were Yosef responding to the interviewer.

Chapter 44

In what manner did Y’hudah approach you and what did he say to you about your emotional state?

Briefly summarize his statement to you regarding the events since they first met you in your palace.

Did you perceive that he was speaking to you in a begging tone or was his statement harsh and lecturing or was he passionately interceding for his brother?

Why did you perceive that? What request did he make a view as he closed his statement?

Chapter 45

How did your brother’s statement make you feel and what was your immediate reaction? Did you say anything to your brothers? If so, what was their reaction? What do you think was going through their minds immediately after you told them you were Yosef?

What did you say to assure them of your identity and your forgiveness? What did you tell them was the reason for your being there? Why did you wait so long to reveal your identity to your brothers? What were you waiting to see demonstrated in their lives?

Questions - Parsha Vayigash Adot Adonai 2

What instructions did you give to your brothers regarding your father, Ya’akov? Who did you first

embrace and why? How was the news that your brothers had come received in the palace of Pharaoh?

What did he do to facilitate the return of your father and family? How did your father react to the news

that you were alive and ruler of Egypt? What was his final statement to the family before they left?

Chapter 46

After starting on the journey, what was the first thing that he did?

Who appeared to him and what was the message?

What events in the life of his father did this remind Yisrael of? What was its significance toYisrael? To his sons as a whole? Why was YHVH moving the family to Egypt and what was the promise he made to Yisrael?

How many of your father’s family came to Egypt?

In the Brit Chadashah, written approximately 1500 years after you lived, it is reported that a follower of Y’shua HaMashiach, Stephen, stated that 75 of your family came to Egypt. How are these numbers reconciled? This statement by Stephen was offered in his defense when he was charged with blasphemy. What did a special descendant

of your father and brother, Y’hudah, say to his followers 15 centuries after you lived about such trials?

How did Stephen die and what about the manner of his death is important to the Torah observant 3500 years after you lived?

Who did your father send to announce their arrival? What was significant about your brother’s name and his journey?

What did his name portend for his descendants? What particular descendant of your brother would have a significant impact upon all of the descendants of your father, Yisrael?

How did this particular descendant identify himself with the name of his ancestor, your brother, Y’hudah?

What was your response to your brother’s announcement that your father had arrived in Egypt? Briefly describe your reunion with your father and family. How long had you been separated? Where did you want them to

settle? Why?

Chapter 47

From your family, who did you present to Pharaoh? What was their request of Pharaoh? What was hisresponse? Who did you next present to Pharaoh? What did Pharaoh ask him and what was his response?

What did he do before leaving the meeting? What did you do to aid your family during the famine? What did you do to benefit Pharaoh during the famine? How did this ultimately benefit your Master?

How didhe respond to care for his people? When the famine ended and the crops grew again, what did you require of the people and why?

What property was exempt from acquisition and from the payment to Pharaoh and

why?

How would this be important in the economy of your family’s descendants hundreds of years later?

Questions - Parsha Vayigash Adot Adonai 3

Closing Questions: For Personal Introspection

Why do you believe our loving Father provided us with this particular portion of his words? What was hispurpose and objective in preserving this portion of the Scriptures to this day?

What benefit do they havefor Torah observant believers today?

What other insights has the Ruach HaKodesh given you in your study of this portion that you would like to share with the group?

What questions from this portion have you had that have not been answered by the study?

What impact do you think the study of the words from your Father in this portion will have on your life?

How do you plan to implement his instructions in this parsha in your life?

Silently pray for the Ruach HaKodesh to implant his words like seeds, to nurture their growth in your heart, and to enable you to respond fully as they do.