Summary:
Our portion this week begins as Jacob blesses his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob's twelve sons then gather around his deathbed, and each receives an evaluation and a prediction of his future. Joseph mourns his father's death and has Jacob embalmed. Jacob is buried in Hebron in the cave of the Machpelah. Joseph assures his concerned brothers that he has forgiven them and promises to care for them and their families. Just before he dies, Joseph tells his brothers that God will return them to the Land that God promised to the patriarchs. The Children of Israel promise Joseph that they will take his bones with them when they leave Egypt.
Lesson from our Haftarah Portion – First Kings 2:1-13
An ethical will is a statement we make about what we hope to leave behind. Not in terms of possessions but instead, in terms of values. In our Torah portion Jacob delivers a final charge to his children. In our haftarah this week, David instructs his son Solomon, who will succeed him on the throne.
David, known as a God-fearing man and a composer of Psalms leaves departs from our world after delivering a bitter and mean-spirited message to his son which focuses on both religious and spiritual pursuits. David final speech portrays him as a pious believer in the law and as a shrewd politician who knows that Solomon must act ruthlessly to secure the throne. David speaks of the need to take revenge and orders Solomon to do away with two rivals.
Jacob’s final request to his sons in the Torah portion is a personal account requesting a final kindness on his behalf, that he be buried in his homeland, in Canaan, David, on the other hand, makes a more complicated request, passing his own personal grievances on to his son.
Our tradition attempts to recast David’s final words, understanding them in a more generous way. Commentators over the generations attempt to recast David’s words not as a command but rather as a warning. Its not that Solomon must kill his rivals, but rather that he should be wary of them and deal with them as needed. Its interesting to note that when the story of David’s death is retold later in the Bible, in the book of Chronicles, David’s deathbed wish is completely omitted.
Josephus, the Roman historian retells the story of our Haftarah. He writes that David said, “My son, I am about to depart from this world and join my ancestors. I am on the way that all humans have to travel, those who are now living or those yet to come. No one returns from there to find out how things are going here. But seeing I am still alive, yet with death near at hand, do remember what I have told you earlier: be just to your subjects and loyal to God…”
Josephus, like our commentators and like the book of Chronicles, attempts to create an ethical will by portraying David’s final words as uplifting and inspirational.
What ethical values will we leave behind for our loved ones. Will our final words be ones of spite and anger, or rather will they be personal, uplifting and inspirational? Both Jacob and David serve as models for us. May we learn from their examples, both good and bad, and act so that we craft an ethical will that, like our lives, inspires others to make our world a better place.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Don Goor