Rabbi Lapin talks about Jacob in Egypt

chapter 47 of Genesis a strange story strange story you will remember that Joseph is the second-in-command of all of Egypt he is the most second most powerful man in the world because Egypt is the dominant economy of the world Joseph is in command and his family comes to live in Egypt you might remember Pharaoh says I know your family is arriving I'm going to give you a place in Egypt for them to live Joseph says how about the land of Goshen do the folks in the cheaper seats know what I'm talking about I'd hate to have to keep you here this afternoon for a remedial Bible lesson so let's try this again we're talking about Joseph in Egypt is that okay thank you okay everything's okay pastor don't worry and the Joseph arranges for his family to come down finally the family arrives and his father old father Jacob arrives what is Joseph do the obvious thing he makes a meeting to introduce his boss King Pharaoh to his father that's what anybody would do Jacob old father Jacob walks into the room and in chapter 47 of Genesis King Pharaoh greets him in an astonishing way I must tell you it's a way I have never been greeted I still remember the first time I ever met pastor Larry he did not greet me like this do you know what Pharaoh says to Jacob whoa how old are you right then that's what the verse says Jacob's answer is Oh funny you should ask the years of my life have been painful and tormented I have suffered from the beginning all the way up to the present day it's pretty bad Pharaoh's pretty disgusted with all and that's the end of the conversation fara has nothing more to say because how unpleasant is it to be around whiners and grumblers and complainers now remember there's no word for coincidence in in Hebrew there's no word for retirement there is also no word for hero get it because nowhere are we told hey you know what Moses is our hero you got to live like Moses no there would not be correct Moses was our great teacher he gave us the Torah God would spoke to him face to face he was a man of great humility and he neglected his children how many of you even know the name of Moses has two sons Dereham and Eliezer you know why you don't know their names cuz you never hear from them again they went off the track because their father didn't give them attention so everybody has false nobody's perfect only one but the rest of us have faults right and so clearly we don't have any particular hero that word is not a good word it means that I'm gonna model my entire life from that person nobody does that that's not a smart thing you learn something from this person doesn't mean that person is perfect means he's really good at that thing learn it from him that person she's fantastic in this area she's not great in other areas but don't learn about those areas learn from her in this area that's what we do but that's why there's no word in Lashon Hakodesh in the Holy tongue in the Lord's language no word for hero it doesn't exist well what we have to try and get to the root of is understanding that we are trying to answer to get to the heart of the instruction manual that comes with life and so Jacob gives an answer and it's an answer of whining and complaining that doesn't mean that he's not still Israel he's still not the third of the fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob it doesn't mean that he's not great in so many important ways it just means that his weakness was that he was a whiner and a complainer well here's what ancient Jewish wisdom tells it says you know what ancient Jewish wisdom teaches that God took a year of Jacob's life for every word in his answer to Pharaoh when Pharaoh said how old are you what he should have said I'm a hundred and thirty years old I am blessed I am honored to be standing before King Pharaoh my son brings me pride and pleasure I couldn't be happier and better off god is good there would have been the opportunity to glorify God in the eyes of Pharaoh instead what a Jacob do wine grumble grumble grumble grumble God takes a year of his life for every word of complaint now we're about to do some Genesis arithmetic so work with me here each of the fathers Abram Isaac and Jacob were destined to live for a 180 years each we know that God in His goodness took five years of Abraham's life so he should not have to witness grandson Esau becoming a scoundrel and a rogue it's painful to see God knew that Abraham would not want to witness his grandson becoming a criminal and so it exactly the calculation of where a Esau went bad Abram was 175 and he passes away he's gathered back to God so he doesn't have to live on the same world as an evil grandson Isaac no drama with Isaac Isaac loves the 480 years Jacob is now supposed to live 180 years but we can see to another chapter he dies at the age of one hundred and forty seven so that's thirty three years short of his destiny that means that God removed 33 years which means there must have been 33 words in his complaint right but here's the problem if we count the complaint it's actually 29 words and we're missing four words ancient Jewish wisdom says no problem you're not missing four words the four words are Pharaoh saying how old are you wait a second I understand that that now gives me 33 but it's not fair to take years of Jacob's life because Pharaoh said how old are you I think it's fair to penalize Jacob for all the words for 29 words of grumble and whining and complaining that's fair enough but why penalize him because Pharaoh said how old are you and ladies and gentlemen the torah's response is scary and brilliant all at once it is Jacob's fault that Pharoah said how old are you you know why because he looked unbelievably old Pharaoh Pharaoh in his head had a mental idea of how old Jacob should look he probably thought yeah I know how old Joseph is is the younger son I guess you know Jacob is probably a good healthy middle-aged hundred and thirty Jacob walks in and he looks like the nine hundred year old man he's so old looking and Ferris is my god how old are you and Jacob gives his long winding grumbly answer and God punishes Jacob not only for the complaint but for having a face that made Pharaoh say my god all to you and because ladies and gentlemen complaining makes us look old all you have to do is look around and think of people you know who look young-looking think of grandparents people you know sometimes we just look young and correspond that with the fact that you never hear them grumbling and complaining and folks that you know of as grumblers and complainers take a look at their face next time and you'll see they look older than they really are not being a grumbler or a complainer is wonderful but if we know that grumbling and complaining makes you look old and that makes you a less attractive person physically and spiritually in every possible way and that's bad for marriage it's bad for romance is bad for business it's bad in every possible way what do you do about well obviously the best thing is not to be a complainer but here's the problem with that that isn't the opposite that's just zero in other words if being a complainer is really bad and it's over at this end of the scale and now we're saying okay nobody here is ever gonna do any more grumbling and complaining okay great that brings you to here but what do you do to get all the way to this side where you you're doing the opposite complaining the answer is by expressing gratitude by saying thank you at every opportunity you have an important client coming in to buy a car from you you've got an important job interview you've got an important negotiation coming up at work you got something where you have to come across as totally confident optimistic buoyant and uplifted before you go in pull out an index card pull out one of these little cards like this three by five card I keep them for that purpose you pull out one and you write down five things you're grateful for now some of them will be things you want to thank God for that the sunrise you saw last week the taste of that Apple you just bit into it the smile on the face of a grandchild for those things you have to thank God it never surprises me when I see how many atheists have bitter faces because not being able to say thank you corrodes your soul and if there's no God in your life who do you say thank you to for a child a smile a sunrise there's nobody and on your list put down things you're grateful to four people and pick up the phone and say hi you're not gonna believe this I'm just calling you because I want to say thank you I appreciate your friendship thank you blow them away but that's not the point the point is it makes you feel entirely different you are now a different person because thanking is the opposite of complaining if complaining makes you look old and negative and desperate then thanking makes you look young positive optimistic and buoyant

Channel: Larry & Tiz Huch

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Keywords: rabbi, daniel lapin, jacob, egypt, larry and tiz huch, Rabbi Lapin talks about Jacob in Egypt, jewish roots, jewish roots of christianity, support israel

Id: LOqizpxFCM8

Length: 12min 8sec (728 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 21 2012