Sermon: Shabbat Vayigash (Rabbi Maurice Michaels)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 21 March 2015

I’m sure you must also have picked it up, but I was surprised by what I considered to be a somewhat personal question put by Pharaoh to Jacob when they met for the first – and perhaps the only – time.  Maybe kings have to have allowances made for them, but I think that asking how old someone is when you’ve just met is a bit rude.  Indeed, when you come to think about it, it’s a very strange conversation.  Apart from Jacob blessing Pharaoh at the beginning and end, that was it – nothing else is mentioned.  So this question must be very important.  The sages of old presumably also thought so, because we find a midrash explaining it.

 

In Egypt there was very little rain and they relied heavily on the Nile river which would overflow and irrigate the fields. During the years of famine, the Nile river did not overflow and, thus, the fields did not produce. When Jacob arrived, the Nile began to overflow and the famine ended.  Pharaoh was, therefore, thrilled with Jacob’s arrival. At the same time he was also was concerned, because Jacob looked very old and he feared that the blessing would not last long.  Thus, out of anxiety, he asked Jacob his age.  Jacob understood Pharaoh’s thoughts and therefore told him, “Do not worry: though I look very old, in reality I am quite young and have many more years ahead of me before reaching the life span of my forebears.”

 

Of course, other explanations have been given.  Ovadiah Sforno, the sixteenth century Italian biblical commentator suggests that this was asked

wonderingly, such old age as Jacob reached being rare in Egypt. And since

Jacob looked older than his years, the wonder was even greater.  However, it may be that Pharaoh realised that in this meeting he was encountering someone special, a man whose natural authority and influence shone through.  In which case, Pharaoh’s question could be regarded as either an

insulting attempt to control an old man, or was he looking to Jacob for

spiritual advice and wisdom?  In that context we must look at Jacob’s answer.  “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained the life spans of my fathers.”  Was this a calculated political move to assuage Pharaoh’s fears or the confessional banter of a man expressing his own fears?  Or are they intended to indicate that despite his problems, he still expects to be around for a while yet?

 

The exact wording of Pharaoh’s question is also worth looking at.  He doesn’t say, “How old are you?” or even, “How many years have you lived?”  His words are “How many are the days of the years of your life?”  And Jacob responds in similar vein.  “The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years.”  Samson Raphael Hirsch comments that it is only with a few select people that each day is full of importance and is considered by them as having a special meaning. A really true human being does not live years, but days…. Thus Pharaoh, putting the question “How old are you?” in these words, reveals the deep impression the

dignified behavior of Jacob has made on him.

 

So what was this dignified behaviour to which Hirsch refers?  The text only tells us that Jacob was brought into Pharaoh’s presence and that he blessed Pharaoh.  Similarly, he blesses him again when he leaves.  Were the blessings that Jacob offered Pharaoh upon his arrival and departure his own

one-upmanship of a man who was considered a half-god, or were they a genuine spiritual offering?  No mention is made of the content of the blessings, so we can only guess what he might have said.  Rashi asks, “And with what blessing did he bless him?” and answers, “That the Nile should rise to his feet.”  The  Talmud tells us that on seeing kings of Israel, one says: “Blessed be the One who has imparted glory to those that fear God.” On seeing non-Jewish kings, one says: “Blessed be the One who has imparted glory to God’s creatures.”  The Bible itself, in the Book of Samuel, has Absalom being greeted, “Long live the king, long live the king!” a form of words that is still used in this country.

 

But let’s return to the strange answer that Jacob gives to the question.  First, consider Jacob’s description of his years as “few.”  True, Genesis tells us that Abraham and Isaac reached 175 and 180 years, respectively, while Jacob is merely 130 years old when he meets Pharaoh. But Jacob speaks so disconsolately, as if he were lying already on his deathbed without another

day of life before him. In fact, Jacob will live nearly two more decades in

peace and security, dwelling among the children he will bless and watching

his grandchildren grow to adulthood.

 

In addition to negating his future, Jacob’s response devalues the quantity

of his past 130 years and, moreover, demeans the quality of his entire life

by summarizing his years as evil.  Certainly, Jacob’s life has been

marked by strife and pain – from struggling in his mother’s womb to wrestling with the stranger near the Jabbok; from the deception of Laban to the loss of Rachel and Joseph. But his days have also been glorified by two sets of paternal blessings and extraordinary love for Rachel.  In addition, Jacob has been distinguished by three visions of angels and five direct encounters with God, beginning with the Holy One’s personal assurance that “I am with you: I will protect you….I will not leave you” and ending with Jacob becoming Israel, the namesake of all his descendants to this day. How ironic that the youthful Jacob risked so much to gain blessings while the aged Jacob discounted so many blessings to bitterly describe his years as evil.

 

All of us, like Jacob, occasionally reflect on our lives.  Although none of

us can match Jacob’s extended years or spiritual heights, each one of us

measures the fullness of our years and weighs our own blessings and burdens.  Do we, like Jacob in Pharaoh’s presence, focus on the past and ignore the promises of the future? Do we emphasize our hardships, minimizing the gifts we receive and their Source?

 

In his last decades, Jacob must have reconsidered the abundance of blessings

in his own life, enabling him to bless his children before his death.  May

God help each of us to overcome those experiences that have been “few and evil” and enable all of us to genuinely describe our own years as “full and blessed.”