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The haftarah begins with recalling the descent of Jacob to Egypt (the subject with which Parshat Shemot begins). The Jews struck root and blossomed in a foreign land. When they were treated badly by their host country, the Egyptians eventually suffered the very same suffering they inflicted on the Jews. An example for this was when the Egyptians drowned in the sea, this coming as a punishment for drowning Jewish babies in the Nile. By the same token, if Jews would destroy their idols and leave their sinful ways, G‑d would repel their enemies and would render them weak and feeble, thus allowing the Jews to take their territory.

The prophet then turns to the state of the ten northern tribes (the kingdom of Israel, also known as Ephraim after its leading tribe), whose people, particularly the elite, were sunk in the pursuit of material pleasures. Life would not continue for them in this way much longer, for in the end they would suffer the fate of exile and belittlement. The state of Judah, at least at this time, had not gone as far as their brethren in Israel, and so G‑d would be with them, granting their leaders wisdom and strength.

But Isaiah sees the people of Judah too slipping down the slope of temptation. As in Israel, they too would fall to drinking and merrymaking, lowering themselves to a most disgraceful and unholy plateau. “Who will the teachers teach?” the prophet decried, “the suckling babies?!”

The prevailing attitude seemed to be that for every commandment they would hear from the sage, they had some kind of other “commandment” to adhere to. For any defining line of moral standard, they seemed to have some kind of different standard to judge by. If the prophet told them that time was running out and that soon they would experience a downturn, they would delay any movement just to enjoy a few last days of a frivolous life. In the end, though, the day of reckoning would come. For every commandment abandoned, there would be an enemy who would inflict another harsh decree. For that little time of superficial gratification, there would be a downfall that would also not take very long.

Once again, however, in the end it will be good. After their endurance in exile, there will come a time when the Jews will return home from all the places to which they have been dispersed. our holy forefathers will no longer be ashamed of their grandchildren; to the contrary, at that time they will praise G‑d, for the children He gave them will go in their ways.

Overview

Our Parshah tells the story of Jacob’s final moments in this world. He speaks to Joseph, blesses Joseph’s children, and then gathers his sons for them to hear his last words to them. In a similar vein, the haftarah describes the final words of another one of our greatest heroes: King David.

In this last command to his young son Solomon, the king begins with telling him to be strong and fear G‑d. Following the Torah and its mitzvot would bring him wisdom and success, and guarantee that G‑d would keep His promise to David that his descendants would forever be the kings among Israel.

After these general instructions, David leaves his son with some work to do. There were a number of things that David wanted to see happen, but which could be carried out only after his death. In the following paragraphs we will explain some of the background behind these various commands.

Overview

Perhaps the most tragic of all Jewish divides was that of the ten tribes versus the two (Israel and Judah). This split, which was divinely ordained, began with a political motive. The overwhelming majority of the people were disenchanted with Rechavam (Rehoboam), the heir to King Solomon, and ended up forming their own state.

The real trouble began, however, when Yeravam (Jeroboam) ben Nevat, the leader of the revolt and its appointed king, did not think it was a good idea for his people to visit the Temple in Jerusalem. The ruling monarchs there were Rehoboam and later his successors from the Davidic dynasty, and for his subjects to maintain a strong connection to the opposing state was not politically wise. Jeroboam therefore banned all pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and instead erected two large golden calves at the two ends of his kingdom for pilgrims to visit in worship. The spiritual elite, as well as many kohanim and Levites, were obviously appalled by this act. Slowly but surely, many of them made their way out of Israel and settled in Judah.

The net effect of all this in subsequent generations was the spiritual devastation of the entire state. Over the next two centuries, most of the rulers were quite wicked, and the people went in similar ways. Many of the prophets warned time and again that their actions would bring on catastrophe, but their warnings were hardly heeded. In the end the state fell to the Assyrians, and its inhabitants were scattered across the globe. Most of the exiled Jews assimilated in the local population and were lost to their people.

Lost, but not totally. In this prophecy of Ezekiel, he speaks in clear and certain terms of the eventual ingathering and return of all Jews from wherever they may have been exiled. They will return to their homeland and reside under a united kingdom—no longer split in two. It will be Moshiach who will reign over all Israel: Moshiach, who is the ultimate heir to King David.

The spiritual ills of the past will be entirely cured, and the Jews will once again attain the holy state in which they were destined to be. No longer will they need to fear exile, for the redemption, the Temple in Jerusalem and Davidic rule will now all be final and eternal.

To demonstrate this, Ezekiel is instructed to take two sticks of wood; on one he was to write “For Judah” and on the other, “For Joseph and for Ephraim.” He was to bring these pieces together, thus demonstrating that the two kingdoms, that of David (from the tribe of Judah) and that of Jeroboam (from the tribe of Ephraim, son of Joseph) would in time to come be united.

The connection to the Parshah is quite fascinating. The portion of Vayigash begins with the confrontation between Judah and Joseph about the fate of Benjamin. The difficult exchange between them served as a precedent for the future rivalry between the descendants of these two leaders.