Genesis (Messianic) - The Harvest

PDF 01ParashahBresheet *Updated:  November 4, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   Welcome to the first parashah (portion) in a study on the Parash’ot HaShavuah (weekly portions).  This study is not designed to be an extensive commentary on the weekly Sabbath readings, although, this first installment to Genesis 1:1-6:8 will be somewhat lengthy, for foundational sake.  If the reader desires a more in-depth study on this subject, I suggest they dig a little deeper for themselves, with the aid of a good rabbinical commentary or even a Christian one.  Any additional biblical source that will cause the student to further investigate the truths of God’s Word for themselves, I believe, is a good source.  Ultimately, we are all individually responsible to “Study to shew ourselves approved unto God….”  (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).  Sometimes this requires a little “net fishing.”  As a Torah Teacher, I recommend that the student do some collective research on his own, compile information from many different sources (Jewish and Christian), carefully pray about what is helpful for him to foster spiritual growth, and put the rest on the “back burner.”  What I mean by that is use what is pertinent to you, and check back on the other stuff from time to time.  You never know when HaShem may refresh your walk with “old” material.  Don’t be rigidly tied down to “dated” material.  With that in mind, it is my desire that these particular studies will serve the reader in a somewhat “balanced” manner, not too simple, not information overload.  May the Holy One be gracious unto you, as you seek a deeper, more meaningful relationship to him, through his Son, and through the pages of his Word.   The Signature of God   “In the beginning God….”  I can remember growing up, listening to rabbis’ and preachers’ sermons using the first four words of our parashah for this Shabbat, B’resheet.  There is quite a bit to contemplate within that first verse, they always told me.  In fact, some say, the opening phrase pretty much sums up the foundation and purpose for our existence.  In this first of two sections, I want to examine some of the details for the creation perspective.   “In the beginning God….”  Were it not for this foundational starting point we would be left with very little direction in our lives. Unlike that of HaShem, our existence is finite.  We have beginnings, and we need to be able to trace our simple beginnings to something substantial.  Even the non-believing scientists espouse to this fact, by the presence of various evolutionary models that all purport a beginning “Somewhere….  Out there….”  By beginning with HaShem, however, the authoritative groundwork is laid, whereby we can build a solid purpose for our existence, even as meager tenants of his creation.  To be sure, as we shall soon find out, one of the primary reasons for man’s creation was to rule over the fish, birds, animals, and over all the earth (1:26).   Modern scientists would like for us to believe that we are all some fantastic jumbled mass of preconceived amino acids that supposedly grew intelligence in the course of a few million years.   They claim that we have simply evolved and crawled from the “primordial soup,” into the awareness of being able to scientifically study, in depth, our own simple beginnings.  But the opening verses here in Genesis not only diametrically oppose that hypothesis, they don’t even afford us the luxury of scientific research.  The narrative takes for granted the fact that all things came to be by the power of God, without going into any scientific studies to prove it!  Beginning with HaShem changes our viewpoint from that of scientific observation, to one of absolute faith, grounded in the Word of God.  A scientist, who refuses to objectively deal with a supernatural creation, is a scientist who refuses to deal with a supernatural God!  By removing God from the equation, mankind effectively dulls his own conscience towards the responsibility of his own actions, good or bad—if there is “no God,” then ultimately, there is no need to answer to anyone but “myself.”  In this way, the Torah teaches that mankind ultimately destroys himself, and becomes a fool.  The mercy of the Holy One offers us an authoritative beginning, complete with purpose and structure for our lives.  When God begins something, its destined purpose is made sure.   #,r'a'h tea.w ~Iy;m'V;h tea ~yih{l/a a'r'B tyivaer.B   yen.P -l;[ .$,v{x.w .Wh{b'w .Wh{t h't.y'h #,r'a'h.w ~Iy'M;h yen.P-l;[ t,p,x;r.m ~yih{l/a ;x.Wr.w ~w{h.t   rw{a -yih.y;w rw{a yih.y ~yih{l/a r,ma{Y;w   “B’resheet barah Elohim eht hashamayim ve'eht ha'arets. Veha'arets hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al-peney tehom veruach Elohim m’rachefet al-peney hamayim. Vayomer Elohim yehi-or vayehi-or.” (In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.  Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.)   Unequivocally, we see the foundation of the universe spring forth from the creative handiwork of HaShem’s spoken word.  We also know from additional sources other than Genesis, that it was the creative power of the Word that brought the heavens and the earth into existence.  The Hebrew word “barah,” translated “created,” means “from nothing, into something,” or to use Latin, “ex nihilo.”  This meaning is reserved exclusively for the power of God.  We never find the Adversary, angels, or any other created being possessing this same type of creative ability.  We need not speculate the folly of “big bangs” or “pops” and “whistles.”  Like a master artist, his orderly creation bears his signature and his signature alone.  In fact, this signature in creation is the very reason why no man has an excuse for denying the Creator his due honor (Romans 1:18-25).   Spiritual Power   The word translated as “hovered,” in verse two of chapter one, is “m’rachefet” t,p,x;r.m.  The root word is “rachaf” @xr, and conveys the sense of “shaking,” “moving,” or “fluttering,”[1] as when a bird softly relaxes its flight to alight upon its young.  It adequately describes the actions of the Ruach (Spirit) as he lovingly and closely watches over the created substance.  How so?  Well, this verb, although found three times in Scripture, is defined as “hovering” only one other time in the entire TaNaKH:   “He found his people in desert country, in a howling, wasted wilderness.  He protected him and cared for him, guarded him like the pupil of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them and carries them as she flies.” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)   This beautiful illustration of the protective power of the Spirit, in relation to his children, Am Yisra’el (People of Isra’el), as they traveled through the wilderness reminds me of the same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation.  The word translated “hovers,” in our above verse, is the same root as the one used in Genesis 1:2, “rachaf.”  In fact, to strengthen the connection between the two applications, the Haftarah to B’resheet is Isaiah 42:5-43:10.  A “haftarah” is a prescribed reading portion from the prophets and writings, chosen to compliment the Torah portion.  In this passage, we read in the opening seventeen Hebrew words, a summary of the first chapter in Genesis:   “Thus says God, ADONAI, who created the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it….”   Omniscience at Work   Unlike the evolutionist models, we find in the Torah, a Creator that is intimately interested in his creation.  He doesn’t just whip something together, via cosmic dust and proton-charged molecules, and then abandon it to “evolve” on its own.  His beginnings, as stated above, carry with them, meaning and divine purpose.   Reading further into our parashah, HaShem goes on to create:   1.    Light and Darkness on the first day 2.    Firmament and sky on the second day 3.    Dry land and seas, grass, plants and trees on the third day 4.    Stars, planets, sun and moon on the fourth day 5.    Marine life and birds, livestock and crawling animals on the fifth day 6.    Male and female on the sixth day 7.    A time of rest and refreshing on the seventh day   The sequence of events is not randomly initiated like the evolutionary models suppose.  Everything is done with a super-intellect at the helm.  Our galaxy is not just spinning along, drifting through the universe with no one to chart its course.  Our LORD, ADONAI Tzva’ot (the LORD of Hosts) was there at its birth, and he will be there when it comes to an end, orchestrating every minute detail.  When all of his creation has run its chosen course, he will be there to facilitate another new beginning.  I have spent quite a bit of time discussing the details of creation versus evolution, and the consequences of choosing the wrong system.  However, believe it or not, that was not the primary thrust of my commentary.  I want to briefly talk about the decision to sin, from a different angle.  This brings me to the second part of my commentary: man’s choices.   The Fall   The first unfortunate sin of our first parents, Adam and Chavah, left an indelible mark on all of mankind that followed after; a mark which only HaShem himself would eventually be able to remove.  The sin of the eating of the forbidden fruit of chapter three was not just some trivial mistake made on the part of innocent children.  Sure, the Adversary launched a well thought-out assault, attacking the weaknesses of the first couple’s flesh, eyes, and pride of life (a homiletic explanation of 1 John 2:16), but there a little more to this sinful transaction than meets the eye.  In order to see it, I must conduct a sort of “sod” teaching.  The Hebrew word “sod” means “hidden,” and it is the rabbinical way of examining a text or word of Scripture using the numerical value of a word, it’s proximity to other words in the text, or simply a deeper understanding of the word itself, linguistically.  In a lighter sense, this is what etymology seeks to explain.  Etymology is the history of a linguistic form shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found.   In Genesis 3:6, the Torah says,   “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasant appearance and that the tree was desirable for making (one) wise, she took some of its fruit and ate.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate” (emphasis mine).   In the Hebrew, the phrase translated as “making (one) wise” is really just one word (literally “lyiK.f;h.l“ from the Hebrew=sakal lkX).  This verb is conjugated in what is known as the “hiph’il,”[2] and it generally causes the subject to become something that they previously were not, i.e., add to the quality of the original form.[3]  How is this significant to you the reader?  Well, up until the eating of the forbidden fruit, our first parents had been created complete, lacking no wisdom, as HaShem saw fit to endow them.  To be sure, Adam named all of the animals with the wisdom that HaShem created him with!  Even our smartest specialists today cannot do the same without the aid of material of some sort!  Adam did it, first-handedly, without any materials!  The wisdom that they possessed was exactly the amount that HaShem knew they needed.  When the Adversary suggested that Chavah’s wisdom was lacking in some manner, this was an insult to the One who endowed her with her wisdom in the first place.  In other words, how could the tree make her “wiser” than she already was to begin with?  By understanding that she was tricked into doubting the providence of her Creator, we begin to understand why HaShem was so disappointed at the “simple act of eating from a tree.”  It is true that it was also blatant disobedience, but I believe that a primary mistake of the first couple was to mistakenly believe that, in taking unto themselves, a substance reported to possess wisdom which they lacked, they could somehow “improve” on God’s design.  Quite simply, they believed, as the Adversary did unknown eons earlier, that they could “be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14b, KJV).   Conclusion   Equality with God is a serious offense!  Attributing power unto another created being, power that belongs only to the Most-High God, is blasphemy!  The lust of the flesh (good for food) and the lust of the eyes (pleasant appearance) are bad enough temptations, in and of themselves, that we should strive to avoid them.  But when we get involved in the third one, the pride of life (desirable for making one wise), we really start going downhill from there.  Borrowing again from Isaiah 14, the Torah tells us that pride was what brought the Adversary down from his prestigious position of leadership (also read Ezekiel 28:1-19)!   This is drastically different from what is recorded about the Messiah in Philippians 2:5-11!  It says,   “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force” (verse 6).   Our LORD Yeshua has no reason to be jealous of the Father, neither is there any room for pride.  Yeshua the Messiah is one in Purpose and Will with the Father!  Our first parents would have done well if they could have followed the example of our LORD, Yeshua!  I realize of course that, for them, his life example was yet future history, but HaShem’s ultimate plan was not thwarted by the likes of an ancient snake.  HaShem graciously provided a covering for their nakedness (3:21), justifiably meted out the appropriate punishment for each of them (3:14-19), and even provided the first scriptural Messianic prophecy (3:15).  The rest of the parashah is given over to the genealogies of the first family (4:1-5:32), the ongoing consequences of the introduction of sin into the world (6:1-7), the first murder (4:8), and the beginning of God’s continuing plan of “righteousness established through seed” (6:8).   Since the Messiah has provided a more permanent covering for our transgressions, we as believers today do have his example to follow.  He has made a way whereby we can resist the temptations of the Adversary—and we all know that that “Old Serpent” is still up to his old tricks.  Since, as believers, this “mind” which was in Messiah Yeshua, is in us (Philippians 2:5, KJV), we need not give into the old lie of trying to be wiser than we already are.  HaShem has mercifully endowed us with the wisdom from on high!  Let us live our lives in the richness of his Truth!   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com   [1] Brown, Driver, Briggs (BDB), @xr. [2] Hiphil (according to Blue Letter Bible tools http://www.blueletterbible.org/help/lexicalDefinitions.cfm?lang=H&num=8818)   a) Hiphil usually expresses the “causative” action of Qal.   Qal:                                         Hiphil: he ate                                     he caused to eat, he fed he came                                 he caused to come, be brought he reigned                             he made king, he crowned   b) Hiphil is often used to form verbs from nouns and adjectives.   Noun or Adjective:             Hiphil: ear                                          to listen (lend an ear) far                                           to remove oneself, put far away   c) Some “simple” verbs are found in Hiphil.   to cast, to destroy, to get up early, to explain, to tell   The form accounts for 13.3% of the verbs parsed. [3] BDB, lkX.

01 B’resheet (Part B) - In the beginning - Genesis 1:1-6:8

PDF PARASHAH: *Updated:  November 4, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   This week’s parashah (portion) is named after the main character of the piece: Noach (Noah).  It is a fitting parashah for us to look at, as, the condition that mankind found himself in during those days just prior to the world deluge, is very similar to that of mankind in our current time period.  Knowing that history can be our best teacher sometimes, do you suppose that we should have learned our lesson the first time? Yes, I do believe that we should have.  However, since we did not, the Torah has decidedly promised that in the days of the (second) coming of the Messiah (days, in which this Torah Teacher believes we are living), mankind would once again find himself in a state of such depravity that HaShem would have no choice but to render judgment again.   “For the Son of Man’s coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach.  Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up until the day that Noach entered the ark; and they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away.  It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes”  (Matthew 24:37-39).   As stated in our current parashah (8:21), and in it’s corresponding Haftarah (Isaiah 54:9), HaShem has promised never to destroy the world again by water.  Yet, because of the continued evil condition of the hearts of men, he must render judgment once again, only this time the destruction will be by fire (2 Peter Chapter 3, specifically vs. 3-7).  To be sure, the passage in 2 Peter also mentions the conditions in which we will be living which will usher in the return of Messiah, and the Judgment of HaShem.  So now that we have been sufficiently warned in advance, what shall we do to prepare ourselves?   The lessons to be learned from Parashat Noach are timeless.  Moreover, the solution to the dilemma that is facing mankind is still the same—the mercy and providence of HaShem.  In our last parashah, B’resheet, we learned how the Adversary tricked our first parents into “running to the tree” that God commanded them to stay away from.  By their disobedience, death and sin have been introduced into the world, and as a result of that disobedience, all men are slaves to sin.  But in this current portion, we find a glimmer of hope, one righteous man, of whom it is spoken,   h'y'h ~yim'T qyiD;c vyia ;x{n ;x{n t{d.lw{T h,Lea ;x{n-.$,L;h.tih ~yih{l/a'h-t,a wy't{r{d.B   “Eyleh tol’dot Noach.  Noach ish tzadik tamim hayah b’dorotayv eht-HaEhlohim heet’halekh-Noach”   (Here is the history of Noach.  In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God) (6:9)   The interesting fact about the Hebrew word translated as “walked,” is that it belongs to the causative, reflexive “hithpa’el” family of verbs.  The root word “halakh,” is the same one that we get the word “halakhah,” meaning “the way in which to walk,” from.  Essentially what the verse is saying to us is that Noach, because of his being found righteous, was found to be “walking” with God.  What did Noach do which merited him such righteousness?  Our answer is hinted at in the closing verse of last week’s portion:   h'wh.y yenye[.B !ex a'c'm ;x{n.w   “V’Noach matzah cheyn b’eyney ADONAI.”   (But Noach found grace in the sight of ADONAI) (6:8)   How did he find grace?  Well, it is has been rightly stated “grace is God’s unmerited favor, granted to us, in spite our sinful nature.”  Simply put, grace cannot be earned!  To bolster our application here, referring once again to the Haftarah, it says,   “Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness” (Isaiah 55:1-2, RSV).   These verses speak about the unmerited providence of an all-loving God, one who delights in lavishing goodness upon his children.  So HaShem chose to endow Noach with grace, but verse nine says that he was “righteous” as well.  Now the New Covenant Scriptures add the final aspects of these very important qualities of his.  In the “faith” chapter of Hebrews eleven, we read,   “By trusting, Noach, after receiving divine warning about things as yet unseen, was filled with holy fear and built an ark to save his household.  Through his trusting, he put the world under condemnation and received the righteousness that comes from trusting” (11:7).   So we see that, in spite of the unbelievably, magnificent instructions given him by the LORD, Noach walked the invisible road of faith, just like everyone else, who names the name of ADONAI, is expected to walk!  He wasn’t some super-human faith hero, endowed with abnormal amounts of trust!  He was, in fact, singled out to receive a prophetic word about the impending judgment that was to befall all of mankind.  Yet, once he received the instructions to begin building the ark, the word was out!  He obediently acted in faith, with regards to HaShem’s instruction (Genesis 7:22) and the impending calamity, which was, as of yet, unseen (Hebrews 11:1a, 7b)! The remaining mass of humanity wasn’t asked to build the ark, they were only instructed (via Noach’s preaching, 2 Peter 2:5) to get into the ark.  HaShem promised that any who would “run to the tree” of safety, that is, to the ark that Noach was building, would find life.  Moreover, the very same floodwaters that destroyed that wicked and perverse generation, were the very same waters that floated the ark to safety!  But the same Adversary, who was at work in the Garden, was the same one at work in the world of Noach’s day also.  In the Garden, he tricked mankind into “running to the tree” when God said “stay away”; in Noach’s situation, the Adversary tricked mankind into “running from the tree” that God said to “run to!”   And so it continues to our day.  The imaginations of the hearts of man are continually evil, and so, as the Torah has promised, God’s Judgment must come.  In fact, according to the Torah, when the provision of a righteous and holy God has already been manifested among mankind, then the world is, in a sense, judged already.  Why?  Because, rejection of the provision of God, in the midst our own sinful state of existence, is nothing short of rejection of God himself—and rejection of God equals judgment!  This is why the Torah says, of the generation living in Noach’s day, “he put the world under condemnation” (Hebrews 11:7b).  This is also why it is said of Yeshua’s first coming,   “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”  (John 3:17-21, KJV).   We learn from these verses that, not only are unbelieving, sinful men condemned by the provision of Yeshua’s bloody atonement, but, that HaShem’s ultimate solution to the dilemma facing mankind today, is accomplished solely by faithfully trusting and accepting his Only and Unique Son!  Therefore, what is expected of us?  The Torah is consistently clear on this point:   “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, KJV).   What must we do?  In our wicked and perverse generation, a loving God has provided, once again, an “ark of safety,” whereby we can “run into it” and find peace and safety from the impending storm.  What is that ark?  This time, the ark has not been made with human hands, instead it has been made from the tree—from the branch—of the man whose name is “Branch”!   “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11:1-4, KJV).   This righteous “branch” is non other than Yeshua ben-Yosef, ben-David, the Mashiach of Isra’el and of the entire world!  Today, the Adversary is telling men, “Run away from the tree!”  But God is bidding us, “Run to the tree!”  The remaining verses of our parashah go on to detail the history following the world deluge.  The unfortunate incident with Noach and his drunkenness is indeed a sobering story (no pun intended).  But this moment of weakness doesn’t discredit him from being counted in the pages of God’s righteous heroes of Hebrews Chapter eleven.  The Torah doesn’t expect perfection from its followers, it anticipates failure, and consequently, makes the provision for correction.  Even when mankind, once again, corporately decided to build a name for himself instead of for God (Genesis 11:1-4), our loving Father set out to repair the damage.  First, by thwarting the evil intentions of men, and then by overseeing (keeping an accurate record of) the birth of another righteous man—Avram.  To be sure, HaShem had wonderful plans in store for this simple man from Ur, but those details shall have to wait until next week’s parashah.   For now, let me reiterate the main point of my commentary this week:   If we would, but put our trusting faithfulness in HaShem, through his Son Yeshua, then his “ark of safety” will lift us, and we will ride upon the very same “waters of destruction” which are coming to destroy the wickedness of sinful humanity!   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com  

PDF Parshah template *Updated:  November 1, 2006   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)     Welcome to Parashat Lekh L’kha.  This commentary will address the following topics: 1) Anti-Judaism:  Avram and His Progeny, 2) Repairing the Breach, and 3) “Credited to Him as Righteousness.”   Before we get started, I want to say at the onset that some of the commentary that I will be providing today just may appear to be slightly reproving and correcting to some of you.  Correction at times can be unpleasant, I realize.  But that’s okay, because the Torah has been given to us for reproof and correction when we need it (read 2 Timothy 3:16-17).  It is not my intent to openly offend, or belittle anyone.  Please allow the Ruach HaKodesh to have his way in you, as you study the pages of HaShem’s wonderful Word this hour!   We have finally come to a place in the Torah where the narrative will begin to slow down a bit.  By way of retrospect, the Torah has spent the last eleven chapters covering everything from the creation account, to the fall of man, the birth of the first offspring, the first death, the first atonement, a series of lengthy genealogical lists, the world deluge, the Tower of Bavel, and the first official, biblical covenant between man and HaShem.  All of this information covers a time period of about 2000 years!  Yet in comparison, the story we are about to embark on centers around one man and his journey to become the father of HaShem’s chosen heritage of people, the Jewish Nation.  His story unfolds before us, and the Torah uses the next 13 chapters to do so, while the time period covered is approximately one twentieth of that of the previously mentioned material!   What is HaShem trying to convey to us here?  Are the details surrounding the beginnings of humanity less important to him, than one man from Ur?  Of course not.  What I believe our God is teaching us is that sometimes his Word “majors on the majors, and minors on the minors.”  In other words, while at times we would hope for more information on certain aspects of the Torah, HaShem has graciously provided us with exactly the right amount needed to live our lives according to his instructions, and remain pleasing to him.   Having said all of that, interestingly enough, by using a computer assisted word search, I have discovered that the name “Abram,” whom I’ll call “Avram” from this time forward, is found 46 times in the whole Bible!  Using the same resources, the name “Abraham,” whom I’ll call “Avraham” from this time forward, is found 216 times in the Bible!  These numbers do reflect the possibility of another man, other than the main character of our parashah, bearing the same name.  I didn’t factor that possibility out.  Yet surely, most  (if not all; someone else may do the math for me) surely refer to our very own Avraham!  So let’s read about this “Father of many nations.”  Our portion gets its name from the opening statement from HaShem.   Anti-Judaism:  Avram and His Progeny   The Torah says in chapter 12, verses 1-3,   '$.c.r;aem '$.l-.$,l ~'r.b;a-l,a h'wh.y r,ma{Y;w r,v]a #,r'a'h-l,a '$yib'a tyeBim.W '$.T.d;lw{Mim.W '$,a.r;a   '$,m.v h'l.D;g]a;w '$.k,r'b]a;w lw{d'G yw{g.l '$.f,[,a.w h'k'r.B hey.h,w   .Wk.r.bin.w r{a'a '$.l,L;q.m.W '$y,k.r'b.m h'k]r'b]a;w h'm'd]a'h t{x.P.vim l{K '$.b   “Vayomer ADONAI el-Avram “Lekh l’kha me'arts’kha u’mimo-lad’t’kha umibeyt avikha el-ha'arets asher ar'ekha.   Ve'e'eskha l’goy-gadol va'avarekh’kha va'agadelah sh’mekha v’heyeh b’rakhah.   Va'avar-akhah m’var’khekha um’kaleh-l’kha a'or v’nivr’khu v’kha kol mishp’khot ha'adamah.”   (Now ADONAI said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”)   The opening monologue from HaShem, containing both directives and promises, is packed with some very important facts that affect every man, woman, and child who will be born from here on out!  To be sure, it still affects everyone today!  How so?  Allow me to conduct a word study.   We have been taught many times over (hopefully), that verse three is referring to the ultimate blessing that Avram would be, once his ultimate righteous heir was born (…and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed).  The Torah makes it perfectly clear that this righteous heir is none other than Yeshua (ben-Yosef) ben-Dahvid, ben-Avraham (see Matthew chapter one)!  But our usual sermons focus on the latter part of that verse.  I want to call our attention to the first part of verse three.   “I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”   Here HaShem promises to “bless” those who “bless” Avram.  The Hebrew wording used both times for “bless” is “the root word “barakh,” and it literally means to bow the knee.  This promise is understood to be extending to his physical offspring as well, the Jewish People.  Moreover, we have seen that many peoples of the world, symbolically and physically, have blessed Avram.  To be sure, we don’t hear of many individuals actually “cursing” Avram or his offspring, the Jews (a few unmentioned exceptions do exist).  From HaShem’s perspective, he has set up a divine sort of “cause and effect” here: if you (a non-Jew) bless Avram, or his offspring, then in return, I will bless you.   But the really interesting fact is found in the Hebrew word translated as “curse.”  In the first instance, the word translated “curse” (in our above translation of the CJB by David H. Stern) comes from the root Hebrew word “arar.”  Here is what Strong’s Concordance and Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon (BDB) have to say about this word:   0779 ‘arar rra {aw-rar’}: a primitive root - curse 62, bitterly 1; (total usage: 63)   to curse…. cursed be he (participle used as in curses)…. to be cursed, cursed…. lay under a curse, put a curse on…. to be made a curse, be cursed (adaptation mine, but see footnote)[1]   This is some heavy language!  Especially when we realize that this is the Sovereign Creator of the Universe speaking this promise here!  But the second word translated as “curse” is surprisingly not the same as the first!  The original word this time is taken from the root word “kalal.”  In fact, in our current parashah (portion), chapter 16:4 translates this word as “contempt,” when referring to the attitude that Sarai (Avram’s wife) had towards her handmaid Hagar.  Here is what Strong’s and the BDB have to say about that word:   07043 ‘qalal llq {kaw-lal’}: a primitive root - curse 39, swifter 5, light thing 5, vile 4, lighter 4, despise 3, abated 2, ease 2, light 2, lighten 2, slightly 2, misc 12; (total usage: 82)   be slight, be swift, be trifling, be of little account, be light…. be abated (of water)…. to be trifling, to be swift, show oneself swift…. to appear trifling, be too trifling, be insignificant…. to be lightly esteemed…. to make despicable…. to curse…. to be cursed…. to make light, lighten…. to treat with contempt, bring contempt or dishonour…. to shake…. to whet…. to shake oneself, be moved to and fro”  (adaptation mine, but see footnote)[2]   I hope that this list is a shocker.  We usually find ourselves thinking, “As a believer in Messiah Yeshua, I would never meaningfully curse Avram or his offspring, the Jews!  I understand that my spiritual heritage is forever bound up in their lineage!”  I, as a Torah Teacher, hope that this is similar to what every well-meaning Christian might say.  But the shocker is that according to the word used for “curse,” many well-meaning believers are unknowingly “cursing” Avram and his offspring!  If I were to translate this verse using our newfound definitions of the word curse, it would read something like this:   “I will [bless] those who [bless] you, but I will [curse] anyone who [despises, makes of little account, lightly esteems, thinks insignificant of] you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”   Wow!  That seems to explain the verse in a whole different light!  And so it should!  For that is what I really believe the verse is alluding to.  Allow me to elaborate.   In the fourth century, when the organized Church decided to divorce herself from her spiritual mother, Judaism, she unwittingly planted the seeds of anti-Judaism.  Anti-Judaism is not to be confused with Anti-Semitism.  The former is the dislike or disinterest of Jewishness and Judaism specifically; the latter is the dislike or disinterest in the Semitic race altogether.  By the way, both fall into the category of violating the verse in examination and both are disrespectful to Father Avram and displeasing to HaShem!  Over the centuries, this seedbed has blossomed into a full-grown weed called Replacement Theology.  This heretical belief fosters the mistaken idea that “God gave up on the Jews when they corporately rejected his Son Yeshua, and instead, adopted the newborn Gentile Church as his chosen people.  The unfortunate Jews were left to face the curses of the Torah, and the Wrath of an angry Father, while the Church inherited (spiritually of course) most of the blessings and promises to the Jews, as pronounced in the Torah.”  Fortunately, this theological framework is neither blatantly taught to Christians, openly favored by the same, nor endorsed by HaShem!   But the damage has been done.  Bad habits are hard to change.  Our Christian community today is lacking of real spiritual depth, many so-called believers have a superficial relationship with Yeshua, and we owe a significant part of all of this to the teachings that have been passed down from one anti-Jewish generation to the next.  Consequently, many Christians are either, passive and ignorant, when it comes to the Jewish people and communal support, or they are outright opposed to it!  The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (TaNaKH) have been relegated to the status of “Old Testament,” while the Gospel enjoys the status of “New Testament.”  This has a way of causing the Jews to appear to be “old,” “outdated,” and “replaced,” while the Church is defined as “new,” “fresh,” and “current.”  Is this not the prevalent attitude of many non-Jews within the Body today?  “Your people prove difficult to positively influence, with regards to the Good News and Jesus,” many quip.  As a result, Jewish evangelism is weak, understaffed, or (in the few cases where churches have tried) eventually abandoned.  Even if not intentional, this type of spiritual ignorance still feeds the Replacement Theological bias, in that, no one is made aware enough to put an end to it.  In other words, this ignorance has gone on for far too long.   Repairing the Breach   What can be done to undo some of the damage, and help repair the split between Avram’s offspring and the Church?  Since most of my readership is likely composed of Christians and Messianic Jews, I will focus my energies in those camps.  More information than I can post in this limited format is available to anyone who is serious in answering this timely and important question.  I’m sure you will agree the following suggestions are a start in the right direction (from Christian to non-Messianic Jew):   Begin to pray about getting actively involved in the current move of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), to bring about a genuine, heartfelt love for Avram’s offspring, oriented from the Church and flowing outwards. Ask HaShem to reveal to you your heart, and to forgive you if you have unknowingly harbored these types of thoughts towards Avram’s offspring.  God is still in the business of forgiveness!  What my brothers according to the flesh (traditional Judaism, unsaved Jews, non-Messianic Jews, secular Jews, etc) need is to experience the mercy of HaShem, displayed through our honest concern and support! Ask HaShem to begin to reveal to you your spiritual heritage traced through faithful Avram and continuing through to his offspring, the Jewish People.  You will find that according to Romans chapter 11 (just to name a good starting point), you also have some obligations to the “root that supports you.”   Even after this genuine call for restoration, some people will yet refuse to change their conventional ways of thinking.  To be sure, I don’t expect Gentiles to begin flooding my e-mail with letters asking me to forgive them for “lightly esteeming the Jews.”  No, this type of heartfelt change is not accomplished overnight, and it can only make a difference if the Ruach HaKodesh is genuinely involved.  As a Torah Teacher, I expect that it will take some time for human nature to readjust its mindset, and line up with what HaShem wants us to be.  To be sure, the change must start with this author.  After all, which one of us is perfect?  Only the man Yeshua from Natzeret was.  Please feel free to drop me a line, in care of this web site, if you still have questions or comments in this area.  You may also e-mail me personally.  My address is provided at the end of this teaching.   I do want to say this, however: because of the example that the Torah records Avram to have been, any man willing to do so is eligible to become an heir of this great father!  Because of Avram’s trusting faithfulness to HaShem’s command, he subsequently became the father of the many righteous followers that would come after him.  And last, but certainly not least, because of Avram’s trusting faithfulness, a single righteous man was born into his lineage.  From this single righteous man, came the power to join the physical and/or spiritual family of the Creator of all men!   This man’s name is Yeshua!   God’s chosen family consists of those physically born into Avram’s lineage, who’s praise comes not from men, but from God, as well as those spiritually born into Avram’s lineage, who’s praise comes not from men, but from God (Romans 2:28, 29).   “Are you part of the family?”   “Credited to Him as Righteousness”   Note: My commentary “Exegeting Galatians” was meant to serve as a companion exposition to this particular teaching.  I highly recommend reading them together.   Throughout his letters, the Apostle Paul (Sha'ul) seems to take great interest in Avraham, referring to him no less than 29 times![3]  Ya’akov (James) also makes use of Father Avraham in chapter 2 and verses 21-23 of his letter, going so far as to bring the binding of Isaac into the equation for us.  For Ya’akov, Avraham’s faith was perfected by his corresponding actions. Germane to our study, however, is the phrase “credited to him as righteousness,” penned by Moshe in B’resheet (Genesis) 15:6 and referenced by Sha'ul in Romans 4:3   For what does the Tanakh say? “Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.   Given its location within Paul’s arguments, both from Romans and Galatians, it is clear that the phrase is referring to imputed righteousness, that is, positional (forensic) right standing with HaShem.  For Paul, it is axiomatic that Moshe describes this quality chronologically before Avraham receives the covenant of circumcision in B'resheet chapter 17.  This bespeaks of the correct order in which to appropriate the covenant responsibilities of God.  On the micro, saving faith in God, symbolized by God accrediting his account as righteous (Hebrew h'q'd.c tz’dakah), precedes the patriarch’s obedience to the sign of circumcision.  On the macro, the covenant of Avraham precedes the covenant with Moshe.   Thus, we can infer that Sha'ul brings Avraham into the argument to show that forensic righteousness is conferred to those who are not circumcised as well as to those who are—read Gentile and Jew respectively.   Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles (Romans 3:29).   And,   Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham's trust was credited to his account as righteousness; but what state was he in when it was so credited - circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision! In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him, and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b'rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised (Romans 4:9-12).   But what is it about the narrative in Genesis that leads Moshe to finally declare Avram/Avraham as righteous at this juncture?  Is there something within the story that would cause any reader to make the same assumption?  What was going on in the mind of the Holy One?  Perhaps we can draw some conclusions by looking at the passage from a telescopic overview.  Allow me elaborate.   The flow of the Genesis narrative has been an interactive look at Avraham and his contending with God ever since God called him away from his native land in chapter 12:1-3.  There, in what amounts to a unilateral agreement, we find that HaShem promises to increase his offspring beyond numbering. The corresponding covenant ceremony will later be enacted in p’sukim (verses) 7-20 of chapter 15.  But leading up to this point, and trailing afterwards, is a grammatical clue as to what—or whom—Avraham actually placed his trust in!   In B'resheet 12:1 Moshe recalls that ADONAI spoke to Avram.[4]  If we trace every occurrence where God and Avram interact we will discover something quite interesting.  Continuing with our investigation, HaShem appears to Avram in 12:7,[5] and in chapter 13 verse 14 ADONAI again speaks to Avram.[6]  But when we arrive at chapter 15 the narrative appears quite odd.  Instead of God appearing or speaking to Avram, the first clause of the first verse records:   ~'r.b;a-l,a h'wh.y -r;b.d h'y'h h,Lea'h ~yir'b.D;h r;x;a   After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram…   Likewise verse 4 confesses,   r{mael wy'lea h'wh.y -r;b.d heNih.w   And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying...   Verse 6 of chapter 15 reveals Avram’s reaction to the Word of the LORD by stating that it was at this moment that he believed the unbelievable and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Remember, up until this point, Avram had remained childless, and was beginning to suppose that maybe the heir of his household was to be the recipient of God’s promise from Genesis 12:1-3.[7]  The narrative of chapter 15 trails off with statements amounting to “ADONAI said to him, “I am ADONAI,”“ (verse 7)[8] and “That day ADONAI made a covenant with Avram.” (verse 18)[9]   Who or what was this mysterious “Word of the LORD” that suddenly[10] appeared in the parenthesis of the narrative with Avram?   I will let the Chazal (the Sages of Blessed Memory) add their input to this Hebraic feature of the story:   In Scripture “the word of the Lord” commonly denotes the speech addressed to patriarch or prophet (Gen. xv. 1; Num. xii. 6, xxiii. 5; I Sam. iii. 21; Amos v. 1-8); but frequently it denotes also the creative word: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Ps. xxxiii. 6; comp. “For He spake, and it was done”; “He sendeth his word, and melteth them [the ice]”; “Fire and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word”; Ps. xxxiii. 9, cxlvii. 18, cxlviii. 8). In this sense it is said, “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. cxix. 89). “The Word,” heard and announced by the prophet, often became, in the conception of the seer, an efficacious power apart from God, as was the angel or messenger of God: “The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Isra’el” (Isa. ix. 7 [A. V. 8], lv. 11); “He sent his word, and healed them” (Ps. cvii. 20); and comp. “his word runneth very swiftly” (Ps. cxlvii. 15).[11]   The Word of the LORD is in fact the LORD, ADONAI himself!  This much is made clear by the objective text and the subsequent notations that we observed in Hebrew via the footnotes.  But let us take it one step further to complete the mystery. In Aramaic, the sister language to Hebrew, the translation of “word” becomes rmam mah’amar, from which we get “memra.”  Since the Hebrew “Word” was already identified as possessing personality, the corresponding memra likewise took on identity!  Early Jewish theologians defined the Memra, or Word of God, with six different characteristics. In the first portion of his Gospel, Yochanan (John) associates each of these qualifications with their Messianic fulfillment in Yeshua. These six claims were:   Memra is defined as distinct, yet the same as God. This struggle as to the nature of HaShem persists to this day. Messianic Jews point to the use of the term echad as a composite unity to assist in the explanation of this issue. Yochanan in Yochanan 1:1 stated: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Complete Jewish Bible).  Yeshua Himself spoke of the fulfillment of this attribute when He stated, “I and the Father are one.” Yochanan 10:30, CJB The second attribute of the Memra, Word of God, was that it was the agent of creation. Yochanan states that Yeshua fulfills this in Yochanan 1:3: “All things came to be through Him and without Him nothing made had being.”  Sha'ul succinctly stated this in Colossians 1:15b-16, referring to Yeshua: “He is supreme over all creation, because in connection with Him were created all things — in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities — they have all been created through Him and for Him.” The third attribute stated that the Memra was the agent of salvation. This is claimed in Yochanan 1:12: “But to as many as did receive Him, to those who put their trust in His person and power, He gave the right to become children of God.” Yeshua stated His role as agent of salvation several times, most forcefully in Yochanan (John) 14:6b: “I AM the Way — and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” The fourth Jewish attribute of the Memra was that Memra was the agent of Theophany (the visible presence of God). In Yochanan 1:14 one reads: “The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw His Sh'khinah, The Sh'khinah of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.” Indeed, one might consider the incarnation reality of God in Messiah Yeshua to be a prolonged Theophany. As Sha'ul forthrightly stated in Colossians 1:15a concerning Yeshua: “He is the visible image of the invisible God.” The fifth attribute of Memra was that of being the agent of covenant signing. In Yochanan 1:17 the author writes: “For the Torah was given through Moshe, grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.” This was the fulfillment of the prophetic words of Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah), written in the thirty-first chapter of his self-titled book in verses 30 (31) and 32 (33):  “Here, the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah … For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days,” says Adonai: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their heart; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The final attribute of Memra was that of being the agent of revelation. Yochanan writes of this in verse 18 of the first chapter of his Gospel: “No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father's side — He has made Him known.” When Philip asked Yeshua to reveal the Father, Yeshua's reply was “Have I been with you so long without your knowing me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ’Show us the Father'?” Yochanan 14:9.   Indeed as scholars have summarized: “The writings of John confirm that his understanding of Memra was 100 percent Hebraic. He affirms that Yeshua fulfills all six attributes and all Jewish expectations of Memra.”   Conclusions   Avram placed his trust in ADONAI.  The raw data gathered from the narrative tells us that it was the Word of ADONAI who received the object of such faith.  To be sure, Avram’s response is unique, employing the moniker “Adonai, God,”[12] instead of merely YHVH like in 14:22.[13]  Sarna notes this shift in titles in his commentary to Genesis,   This Hebrew divine title, rarely used in the Torah, appears here for the first time.  It is used in a context of complaint, prayer, and request.  Here, the word for “Lord” is ‘adonai, “my Lord,” not the divine name of YHVH, and its use suggests a master-servant relationship.  Abram does not permit his vexation to compromise his attitude of respect and reverence before God.[14]   However, in comparison to Sarna above, we must carefully note that the Hebrew text of ADONAI (y'n{d]a) itself is a peculiar rendering.  How so?  According to ‘The Scriptures’ translation by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR) the original Hebrew name of YHVH has been emended by the Scribes in 134 passages![15]  This means that in 134 places in our existing Masoretic text, the Hebrew may read ADONAI (y'n{d]a) but the original word was in fact YHVH h'wh.y!  Richard Spurlock of Bereans Online, a well-balanced messianic web site with a nice collection of podcasts for downloading, makes a similar observation in his notes to the course ‘Messiah Unveiled’:   A most interesting feature of Genesis 15 is evident only in the Hebrew.  In the English of Genesis 15:2, the two words ‘Lord God’ are used.  The English translation is that the English translators have up until this point used the scribal tradition of kere ketiv [say/write] with regard to the Tetragrammaton [sic].  If you remember, the ancient scribes used a system of circumlocution to encourage the reader to not say the Holy Name out loud.  What was written was the four letters of a yod, a hay, a vav, and a hay.  Under those consonants, the scribes placed the permanent kere ketiv in the form of vowel points.  The vowel points were for the word ‘Adonai’ [Lord].  Thus the reader, when they came to the Holy Name, would say, ‘Adonai’.  The English translators took this tradition to another level.  Instead of writing the four letters, they substituted ‘LORD’ in all capital letters.  This informed the reader that the Hebrew behind the word was in fact the Holy Name.   When we get to Genesis 15:2, the translators have a problem—the actual word ‘Adonai’ is used next to the Holy Name.  The problem is that if they followed their translation consistently, it would say, “Lord LORD,” which is difficult rendering.  Following the scribal tradition of circumlocution (word substitution), they simply write ‘Lord GOD.’  The ‘GOD’ is in fact a substitution for the Holy Name in this case…   What is the significance of this word arrangement?  This is the first time this word combination is used in Scripture.  This word combination is used in other places in Scriptures, but not very often.  We need to investigate to see if there is some connection between these passages, and if it is a Messianic connection.[16]   What are we to make of this exchange of names and how does it relate to Yeshua and the Memra?  May I suggest (under the guidance of the Apostolic Scriptures) that the Memra of YHVH appeared to Avram in such a way as to allow Avram to address him as a servant would address his visible, flesh and blood master in face-to-face reverence and respect?  Did Avram see a man?  Did he see the invisible YHVH?  I can't be dogmatic either way since biblical theophanies are often shrouded in mystery, but my gut feeling is that Avram saw the pre-incarnate LORD Yeshua with his natural eyes and yet called him YHVH!  One thing is sure: Avram believed the unbelievable, and it was to the Word of the LORD—the Memra—that he addressed his objective faith!  Surely HaShem saw into the heart of the patriarch and recognized the appropriation of the choices that lay before him.  What is more, only the LORD himself can supernaturally open the eyes of a man to allow him to make a choice between choosing his Messiah or rejecting him.  Avraham chose to lay hold of the Promise given in Genesis 12:1-3 by seeing at the heart of such a promise a glimpse of the Messiah who would bring it to pass!  Tim Hegg provides a concluding thought to our study,               The response of God is said, once again, to come via His “word”--” the word of the LORD came to him saying....” God assures Abram that he will indeed have a son, and then He takes Abram outside to give him a sign of the promise He has just made. But the sign itself requires faith. For God shows Abram the stars and declares: “So shall your descendants (literally “seed”) be.” Not only would Abram have a son, but the descendants of Abram would endure from generation to generation, so that in the end, the offspring of Abram would be beyond counting.             But would God's word—His promise of a son—be enough for Abram? After all, it had been some time (perhaps as much as 20 years by the Sages reckoning) since the initial promise had been given, and there was still no son.  Sarai was still barren. In fact, God's word was enough for Abram, as the next verse (v. 6) indicates. “And he believed in the LORD.” Moses has reserved this clear statement of Abram's faith for the moment when the promised son is specifically the focus of attention. Surely Abram believed from the time that God first revealed Himself to him. His actions prove his faith: he left Ur, traveled to the place that God had indicated, forsook the idolatry of his fathers, and worshipped the One true God. But Moses intends us to see that Abram's faith was cast upon God in a particular fashion-in connection with the promise of a son. And thus we have the all important verse: “And he believed in the LORD, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”[17]   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Brown, Driver, Briggs (BDB), rra. [2] Ibid, llq. [3] Assuming Paul wrote Hebrews, the count is as follows: Romans 4:1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 13, 16; 9:7; 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:22; Galatians 3:6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 18, 29; 4:22; Hebrews 2:16; 6:13; 7:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9; 11:8, 17. [4] ~'r.b;a-l,a h'wh.y r,ma{Y;w [5] ~'r.b;a-l,a h'wh.y a'reY;w [6] ~'r.b;a-l,a r;m'a h'why;w [7] B'resheet 15:2, 3. [8] h'wh.y yin]a wy'lea r,ma{Y;w [9] tyir.B ~'r.b;a-t,a h'wh.y t;r'K a.Wh;h ~w{Y;B [10] The Hebrew word hnnh “hineh” is explained by Jewish authorities as “…untranslatable. It is often rendered as 'here' or 'behold,' but this is an approximation of an expression that has no equivalent in the Indo-European languages. For this reason, it is often left untranslated. In general, it serves to intensify a statement and to provide emphasis. Here, the intensity denotes that it was a sudden or intense experience.” (Navigating the Bible, online commentary to Genesis 15:4) [11] Jewish Encyclopedia, pp. 464-465. [12] hiwh/y y'n{d]a ~'r.b;a r,ma{Y;w [13] “…unto the LORD, the most High God.” !w{y.l,[ lea h'wh.y-l,a [14] Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Commentary to Genesis (The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), p. 113. [15] The Scriptures, Explanatory Notes: Emendations by the Sopherim, (Institute for Scripture Research), p. 1214. [16] Richard Spurlock, Messiah Unveiled (available at http://www.bereansonline.org/default.htm, 2005), p. 34-35. [17] Tim Hegg, Parashah Twelve (torahresource.com, 2003), p. 2.

03 Lekh L'kha (Part B) - Get yourself out - Genesis 12:1-17:27

PDF 04ParashahVayera   *Updated:  November 5, 2006   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   Last week, I dealt extensively with Christian attitudes towards the offspring of our main parashah figure, Avraham.  It is imperative that we approach Avraham and his physical offspring, the Jewish People from the right perspective.  The Torah leaves no room for pride and arrogance on the part of the “grafted-in branches.”  I want you to read Romans chapter 11 carefully, and keep that portion “at hand” as we journey through the Torah, reading about “[y]our father Avraham.”   By the way, the careful reader will notice that most of what was said concerning negative attitudes directed towards the progeny of Avraham extends equally unto the Torah-true Christian!  You see, genuine believers are also legitimate heirs to salvation, via Yeshua, and via our common father.  Anyone, Jew, Gentile, or otherwise, who carries a negative view of genuine [Christian] believers (remember the Hebrew word “kalal” from last week’s study?) might just find themselves guilty of the same kind of anti-Jewish [here read as anti-Christian] hatred discussed earlier.   Let’s face it folks…  Historically, the world has had no profound love for the Jewish people.  What is more, the world has expressed no great love for genuine Christians, all of whom are grafted into a Jewish Olive Tree.  We true believers must stand together, united under the banner of Love, the banner of our Leader Yeshua, the Messiah of faithful Jews and Christians alike!   This week’s portion, Parashat Vayera, like so many other portions, gains its name from the opening few Hebrew words.  Our portion last week left off with HaShem changing our main figure’s name from Avram (exalted father), to AvraHam (father of many nations).  By adding the covenantal letter “H,” one of God’s sacred letters, he forever fixed his destiny to become the root (Romans 11:16, 18, 24) of the righteous heirs that would faithfully follow in his footsteps; heirs that obey God, and trust in him for the promise of blessing and inheritance.  During this exchange, his wife Sarai also took on the covenantal letter “H,” changing her name to SaraH.  She is to be remembered as the mother who laughed when God promised her a child (the name Yitz’chak comes from the root word for laughter).  This laughter can be interpreted in two ways: joyous laughter at the good news, and doubtful laughter at the thought of the impossible.  The Torah records that it was likely the latter.  For more on this subject read last week’s parashah.   Sarah is like so many of us today.  When we hear of the miraculous, we react in doubt.  We want so much to experience the supernatural, that when it finally happens, we simply cannot believe it.  I’m reminded of the story in the New Covenant (Acts 12:6-17) when the talmidim (disciples) were gathered together, presumably praying for the release of Kefa (Peter) from prison.  The Angel of the LORD supernaturally did release him, and he made his way to the door of the place where they were praying.  When he knocked on the door to be let in, the maid who answered was so excited that she forgot to let him in, but instead immediately ran and told the other talmidim.  Upon hearing her report, they just couldn’t believe that it was really he!  When they finally opened the door to find Kefa standing there, they were amazed!  Why are we so amazed at the miraculous?  We serve a miraculous God don’t we?  The Torah teaches us that there is nothing too hard for ADONAI.  And so the promised son was born and the tests for Avraham and his family really had just begun.  The opening dialogue picks up presumably right after Avraham had his entire male household circumcised (chapter 17).  Over and against the supernatural signs, I would like to say something about a rather down to earth sign: circumcision.   B’rit Milah   The literal meaning of the term “b’rit milah” implies “covenant [pertaining to] circumcision.”  The Hebrew word b’rit tyrb means, “covenant, alliance, pledge,”[1] while the Hebrew word milah stems from the root word mul lwm meaning, “to circumcise, let oneself be circumcised, cut, be cut off.”[2]  Why does Judaism refer to circumcision as a covenant?  The verse clearly reads,   “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.” (Genesis 17:11, KJV, emphasis, mine)   Likewise, it adds,   “He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” (Genesis 17:13, KJV, emphasis, mine)   I believe that this act betrays the Torah’s intensions to speak to the male about his responsibilities in helping to bring about the truth that HaShem and HaShem alone can bring the previously mentioned promises of Avraham to come to pass.  Let us examine the details.   Covenants usually involved at least two parties.  Likewise, there was usually a sign of the covenant being established.  This sign, according to ancient Middle Eastern writings, was usually something that either party could carry on their person, such as a stone or other object.  This sign, when viewed by either individual, served as a reminder that the person was under obligation to fulfill his part of the covenant.  It also assured him that the other party was under the same obligations.  Removal of the foreskin of the male sex organ, was not exclusively Hebrew.  The ancient Egyptians had been doing it for some time as well.  In fact, Wikipedia claims, “The tomb of Ankn-ma-hor of the 6th Dynasty (circa 2200BC) has a detailed rendering of a ceremonial circumcision.”[3]  Their extended article on “circumcision” goes on to report:   The oldest documentary evidence for circumcision comes from Egypt. Tomb artwork from the Sixth Dynasty (2345 - 2181 BC) shows men with circumcised penises, and one relief from this period shows the rite being performed on a standing adult male. The Egyptian hieroglyph for “penis” depicts either a circumcised or an erect organ. The examination of Egyptian mummies has found both circumcised and uncircumcised men.   Circumcision was common, although not universal, among ancient Semitic peoples. The Book of Jeremiah, written in the sixth century BC, lists the Egyptians, Jews, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites as circumcising people. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, would add the Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, and Syrians to that list.   Except in the portrayal of satyrs, lechers, and barbarians, ancient Greece artwork portrayed penises covered by foreskins. In the aftermath of Alexander the Great's conquests, Greek dislike of the circumcised penis led to a decline in the incidence of circumcision among many peoples that had previously practiced it. The writer of 1 Maccabees wrote that during the Seleucid Empire, many Jewish men attempted to hide or reverse their circumcision so they could exercise in Greek gymnasia.   Cultural pressures to circumcise operated throughout the Hellenistic world: when the Judean king John Hyrcanus conquered the Idumeans, he forced them to become circumcised and convert to Judaism, but their ancestors the Edomites had practiced circumcision in pre-Hellenistic times.[4]   Moreover, the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) Torah Commentary to Genesis, in an excursus to circumcision (Excursus 12, p. 385), also corroborates the information provided by Wikipedia, citing quotations from Herodotus (Histories 2:37 and 2:104).   So, when HaShem asked Avraham to participate in this rather “lopsided” covenant (remember Avraham did not earn his position before God, it was graciously granted unto him; read Romans 11:6), our father Avraham did not hesitate to become obedient to the command.   Ouch Factor: “Why the Male Reproductive Organ?”   Why did God have Avraham circumcised (remove the foreskin) in the first place?  Have you ever stopped to ponder this enigmatic question?  After all, God is not capricious.  He could have easily had our father remove skin from his ear, or his finger, or other part of his body.  Why the male sex organ?   Tim Hegg of FFOZ notoriety has been, in my opinion, spearheading the movement to bring about a more accurate view of Paul and the Judaisms that he had to confront in the 1st century by publishing essential books and papers for Christians to carefully examine.  I wish to quote from one of his works to show the messianic implications of God asking him to circumcise himself exactly where he eventually ended up circumcising himself.   As of 11-15-05 Hegg’s entire online article was available at his web site here (http://www.torahresource.com/English%20Articles/CircumcisionETS.pdf)   Referring to our Genesis text Tim Hegg writes:   Chapter sixteen opens with an exposition and complication: Sarai, Abram's wife, is barren. If the former narrative settled the question of God's full intention to give offspring, this unit questions the method by which the promise would be fulfilled. Abram follows the advice of his wife and takes Hagar as a second wife. The reader is aware immediately, however, that rather than solving the problem, the action of Abram and Sarai has introduced complication into the story… The story continues with the appearance of YHWH to Abram (signaling resolution) reassuring him of the continuation and maintenance of the covenant.  The issue of the promised offspring, the main subject of chapters fifteen and sixteen, continues in this section. Regardless of the etymological meaning of the change from Abram to Abraham, the narrative is clear that YHWH has installed Abraham as a father of the nations. Thus, chapter seventeen gives the Divine solution to the problem addressed in chapter sixteen, namely, the realization of the promise regarding the seed. The Divine speech to Abraham in 17:1-5 is taken up exclusively with the promise of offspring. The introduction of circumcision continues this theme. The promise of offspring has been established, but the method or manner by which the offspring would be realized is now made clear.  In the same way that the complications surrounding the promise of land and blessing were resolved by direct, Divine intervention, so too the promised offspring would come by Divine fiat. Human enterprise and strength would not be the means by which God would fulfill His promise to Abraham regarding the seed. Circumcision, the cutting away of the foreskin, revealed this explicitly. Coming on the heels of God’s renewed promise to Abraham regarding his progeny and his installation as a father of a multitude of nations, the sign of circumcision upon the organ of procreation must be interpreted within the narrative flow as relating to the method by which the complication (absence of children and age of both Abraham and Sarah) would be resolved. The promise would come, not by the strength of the flesh (which the “Hagar plan” represented) but rather by above-human means. If circumcision were a sign given to Abraham which pointed specifically to the need for faith in regard to the coming Seed, it is valid to ask whether or not the other OT authors also attached this meaning to the ritual. Interestingly, the two times circumcision is used in a metaphorical sense in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6), the immediate context is that of the Abrahamic covenant. In Deuteronomy 10:12, the unit begins by an exhortation to “revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths” which is very close to Genesis 17:1, “Walk before me and be blameless.” Further, in Deuteronomy 10:15 the covenant love of YHWH for “the fathers” becomes the basis for the exhortation to “cut away the thickening about your hearts.” That is, if the promises made to the fathers should be realized, it will be so only as each Israelite relates to YHWH on the basis of faith. The heart which relies on the flesh (foreign powers, self strength, etc.) will fail. Rather, the fleshly heart must be cut away and discarded.   In reference to the circumcision in the Apostolic Scriptures, Hegg makes these pertinent remarks in the same article:   What brings Paul to use Abraham in his exposition here is the central promise of the covenant that “in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Paul's argument is that this promise was given to Abraham before circumcision and that therefore Abraham may rightly be considered the father of all who participate in the same faith, whether circumcised or not. In fact, the promise that Abraham would be “a father of nations” is applied more precisely by the Apostle in the phrase “father of all who believe.” Paul's argument, while given to prove another point, still confirms what I have previously maintained about circumcision. The ritual did not bring something new to the covenant, but rather reinforced righteousness on the basis of faith, the very hallmark of the covenant from the beginning.  Circumcision required Abraham to continue in the faith that had brought him from Ur and to direct this faith toward the God Who had promised to bring a son by Divine intervention. It is on this basis that Paul, in Galatians 4:23, refers to Ishmael as “according to flesh” […] and Isaac as “through promise” […]. Paul has shown that a primary function of the law was to point to Christ (Gal. 3:24) and it therefore stands to reason that circumcision has fulfilled its function, for Christ, the promised Seed, has come. Israel, worshiping the sign rather than the Seed to which it pointed, had attributed to circumcision what only God's Son could accomplish. This Paul plainly asserts in his statement that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”   What are Hegg’s conclusions?  His article states:   The narrative structure of Genesis 12-17 would indicate that circumcision is given as a sign of divine intervention to resolve a complication. The complication is Abraham's attempt to gain the promised offspring through fleshly means. The divine intervention is the promise of seed by Divine fiat. Circumcision pictures this by the casting away of the flesh of the organ of procreation. In this way faith in El Shaddai, the Giver of Offspring, continues to be the hallmark of the covenant. Interpreting circumcision as meaning that God and God alone could bring the promised seed, and thus requiring faith, is in harmony with the general posture of unconditional covenants in the Ancient Near East. For in such covenants the loyalty of the Vassal to the Suzerain was expected to be maintained. In circumcision God requires of Abraham the same life of faith in which he obeyed God previously, only this time specifically regarding the promised offspring.   Amazing to me is that even at such an old age, Avraham did not question God’s reasons behind this somewhat strange covenantal sign!   To neglect circumcision (b’rit milah) is to neglect the chosen sign of the covenant, and consequently, it is rejection of the covenant itself.   It was to become a unique marker, outwardly identifying those males of the offspring of Avraham, as inheritors of the magnificent promises that HaShem was making with this man.  It does not serve to secure those promises through personal effort.  What is more, the sign of circumcision was to be an indicator that the participant was adopting the same faith that Avraham possessed!  The promises were of faith (read Romans chapter 4 carefully).  To be 100% sure, the Torah says that the promises were given to him before he was circumcised (Ibid. 10, 11)!  This is why, after HaShem promised that his seed would be as numerous as the stars (15:5, 6), Avraham was credited with being righteous—because he believed the unbelievable!   Proselyte Conversion and Works of the Law   Today (as well as 2000 years ago), Christianity has developed an unnecessary amount of paranoia surrounding circumcision.  In some ways I cannot blame them for taking this stance.  Mark Nanos has demonstrated most creditably that the Judaisms of the 1st century functioned with a serious theologically flaw in regards to their view of circumcision.  Let us pick up his discussion from a paper he wrote entitled “The Local Contexts of the Galatians: Toward Resolving a Catch-22,” which, at the time I downloaded it on 5-15-05, was available for reading at his site here (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nanosmd/index.html)   Paul was an outsider to Galatia (4:12-20); in fact, he is the only one from elsewhere of whom we can be certain. And Paul’s message—to the degree that it offered inclusion of gentiles as full and equal members while opposing their participation in proselyte conversion—ran counter to prevailing Jewish communal norms for the re-identification of pagans seeking full-membership, at least according to all the evidence now available to us. Pursuit of this nonproselyte approach to the inclusion of pagans confessing belief in the message of Christ resulted in painful disciplinary measures against Paul from the hands of Jewish communal agents to whom he remained subordinate, but in ways that he considers mistaken, for he refers to this as “persecution” (5:11; cf. 2 Cor. 11:24). It is not difficult to imagine that pagans convinced by Paul’s gospel that they were entitled to understand themselves as righteous and full members of Jewish communities apart from proselyte conversion, but rather on the basis of faith in a Judean martyr of the Roman regime, would also, in due time, meet with resistance from Jewish communal social control agents. Might not the resultant identity crises of those non-proselyte associates develop along the lines of the situation implied for the addressees of Paul’s letter? I suggest that Paul’s gospel—or, more accurately in this case, the resultant expectations of the non-Jewish addressees who believed in it—provoked the initial conflict, not the good news of the influencers that Paul’s converts can eliminate their present disputable standing as merely “pagans,” however welcome as guests, by embarking on the path that will offer them inclusion as proselytes. That offer, on the part of the influencers in Galatia, rather represents the redressing of a social disruption of the traditional communal norms resulting from the claims of “pagans” who have come under Paul’s influence. Thus the ostensible singularity of the exigence arises not because of a new element introduced by the influencers, and does not suggest that they represent a single group moving among the addressees’ several congregations. Instead, the influencers may be understood to be similarly appealing to a long-standing norm, however independent of each other’s communities they may be acting, when faced with the same disruptive claim on the part of the new Christbelieving subgroups within their communities. The conflict arises because of the claim that their gentile members are to be regarded as full-members of these Jewish groups apart from proselyte conversion.   I understand that the prevailing Judaisms that existed in the first century initially upset the biblical balance by teaching that circumcision was the vehicle by which a non-Jew could and must enter the covenant made with Isra'el.  Shame on them!  To be sure, a whole theological counsel was formulated to deal with the problem in the first century.  Both in Acts 15:1-35, as well as 21:17-26, the Yerushalayim Counsel had to address the issue of “returning to the works of the law” as opposed to “living in the freedom of Messiah.”  And what is the meaning of “works of the law”?  Surely it does NOT refer “correct and true faith-driven observance of written Torah commands!”  No, what this technical phrase is referring to is a set of halakhic rules that an individual must ally himself with in order to be received into a specific and exclusive community.  Again we turn to Hegg for insights on the phrase “works of the law”:   One of the difficulties we have when encountering the word “Torah” (usually translated “Law” because of the Greek word nomos) in the Apostolic Scriptures is that we wrest its meaning away from the 1st Century context in which it was intended to be understood. It is clear that in the 1st Century the Oral Torah (the rulings of the Sages that had taken on halachic authority) had found its place along side of the Written Torah. In some cases it was viewed as secondary to the Written Torah, but in practical measures it was received as equal or even superior. The proper manner to obey the Laws of Moses was in accordance with the Oral Torah. We must remember, then, that when we encounter the word “Law” (nomos) in the Apostolic Scriptures, we cannot simply presume that the Books of Moses are its referent. Such a monolithic approach to the word ignores the historical setting. We must, in every case, at least give way to the possibility that Written and Oral Torah are summed (to one degree or another) in the use of the word “Law.” This is particularly true with the phrase “works of the Law” or “works of the Torah.” Until the discovery of 4QMMT, we had no extra biblical instances in which the phrase “works of the Law” or “works of the Torah” was used. Now that this Qumran document has been discovered, we have another source to consider, and another witness as to what Paul might have meant when he spoke of “works of the Torah.” The fact that both the phrases (“works of the Torah” and “counted as righteousness”) are found in this document is incredibly important for understanding the same phrases in Paul. What we now understand is that the phrase “works of the Law/Torah” was used in Paul's day to refer specific sets of rules or halachah which a group required for its self-definition.  Simply put, such a list of “works of the Torah” constituted the entrance requirements into the group. Since the group would no doubt consider its own interpretations of the Written Torah to be the correct interpretation, they would also have held that only those who adhere to their halachah would be actually obeying the Torah and living righteously. “Works of the Torah,” then, refers to halachah required for entrance into the covenant community (as envisioned by each sect), not personal obedience to God's word. And since covenant membership was considered one and the same with the status of “righteous,” it is not difficult to understand how adhering to a given halachah to gain membership in the community was attached to being reckoned as righteous.[5]   In essence, “works of the law” refer to those “group requirements” as outlined and delegated by each individual group functioning under the prevailing Judaisms of Paul’s day.  Sha’ul (Apostle Paul), missionary to the Gentiles, had to defend the correct Torah viewpoint in his letters addressed to the Churches at Galatia (specifically chapter 5), as well as to the one in Ephesus.  Circumcision, a shorthand way for Paul to say “conversion to Judaism/becoming a Jew,” was historically misused, but there is no reason for us to continue in such a misunderstanding.  Nor is there any reason for the emerging Torah communities to shrink back from that which God has clearly given, provided we maintain our primary identity as that of one firmly grounded in Mashiach.   A “Christian” attempt at disproving the validity of this important covenantal sign of the Jewish people has caused much strife and division among the body of believing Jews and Gentiles.  The matter is made clear when we understand that HaShem never meant for this sign to secure the promises for the believer!  This was to be the sign that he was connected via covenant to a larger family.  Is it valid for the Jews today?  Yes!  In this way, we forever identify physically and spiritually with the unending covenant made with our father Avraham.  Is it practical for non-Jewish believers?  Unfortunately at this juncture in history, it is not.  Until the Church gets right its view of the Torah and the trappings of legalism, it is somewhat discouraged by Messianic Jewish rabbis.  I am not saying that Gentiles cannot undergo this ritual.  I am delighted to encounter those few Gentiles who truly understand it’s meaning enough to “go under the knife.”  Is it necessary for the salvation of an individual?  No!  It never was!  That is all I want to say on the matter in this format.   What makes Avraham such a great role model of faith is that, not only did he trust in the Word of HaShem, but also the LORD saw into his future and predicted that his offspring would also be taught how to trust in the Almighty.  Let’s look at 18:17-19,   “ADONAI said, “Should I hide from Avraham what I am about to do, inasmuch as Avraham is sure to become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by him?  For I have made myself known to him, so that he will give orders to his children and to his household after him to keep the way of ADONAI and to do what is right and just, so that ADONAI may bring about for Avraham what he has promised him.” (Emphasis, mine)   This is a fantastic statement from the mouth of the One who sees every human possibility!  Would that we might have HaShem pronounce this blessing over our families today!  What must we do?  The divine tandem-like actions spoken of here must not be taken too lightly.  Firstly, God promises to be faithful to make himself known to us.  We like faithful Avraham are then enabled and subsequently covenant-bound to obey the Teachings of our Heavenly Father.  Finally, such Teachings are uniquely designed to bring about a righteous behavior in our lives, aligning our lives to be the object of God’s righteous promises!  To be sure, the syntax of the above p’sukim (verses) is hinting at that very reality (note the running continuity suggested by the connecting phrases “so that” in the quote above)!  Furthermore, we must, like faithful Avraham, trust in the LORD against all unbelievable odds, to perform in our lives, the promise that he has given us through Yeshua our Messiah!  What is that promise?   “Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!”  (Romans 8:28-30)   We usually stop at the first verse, but reading further informs us of our true identity in Messiah: righteous heirs according to trusting faithfulness, causing us to be called, as faithful Avraham was called, “righteous”!   Akedah   Moving past the details surrounding the fall of the wicked cities of S’dom and Amorrah (chapter 19), the incident with Avimelekh (chapter 20), and Hagar (chapter 21), I want to focus on the binding of Yitz’chak in chapter 22.  The rabbis refer to this story as “The Akedah,” meaning “The Binding.”[6]  A couple of interesting details stand out in this story.   First, when Avraham began to make his journey to Mount Moriah to offer his ONLY (Heb: yachid dyxy refers to only, solitary)[7] son for a burnt offering unto HaShem, his dialogue with his servants is very significant.  He told the young men in verse 5, to abide with the donkeys, while he and Yitz’chak went to the mount to worship.  He went on to say that both of them would return!  This was after he had clearly been commanded to offer his son as a sacrifice!  Do you see the significance of this statement?  It demonstrated the incredible faith that this man Avraham had in trusting HaShem for the promises.  Avraham had been told that his seed would number the stars of the sky, innumerable.  If he were to have to kill his son, his only son according to promise, in obedience to the Word of the LORD, then the LORD would have to somehow miraculously “resurrect” him!  This is shown in his statement “I and the boy…will return “!   Here is the pinnacle of God’s demonstrative power—resurrection from the dead!  We know from further reading that Avraham did not actually kill his son, but the Torah figuratively teaches that he did!  The book of Hebrew says,   “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”  (11:17-19, NIV)   Bringing forth life from lifelessness is a power that no other created being possesses.  This is why it is the highlight of the miracle-working power of the Almighty.  Resurrection serves as the proof of God’s choice of election.    Yeshua, therefore, demonstrated his position as HaShem’s chosen messiah, by being raised from the dead!   To be sure, I imagine this was one of the issues that got Sha’ul in so much hot water during his missionary travels, and perhaps even led to his sentencing, at least from one said passage (Acts 24:19-21).  Today, it is the single most important fact that differentiates false messiahs from the One and True Living Messiah, Yeshua.  History records that many men have received revelations from God and many of these men lay claims to messiah-ship.  But all of these men have lived and died.  Not a one has risen from the grave to testify of God’s amazing power over death!  All of their bones are rotting in graves somewhere.  But the man from Natzeret is no longer in the grave!    He has been raised from the dead, by the Power of HaShem, never to die again, and now he sits at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High!   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Brown, Driver, Briggs (BDB), tyrb. [2] Ibid, lwm. [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_medicine [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_male_circumcision [5] Tim Hegg, A Study of Galatians (www.torahresource.com) 2002, p. 98-100 [6] The Hebrew word akad dq[, found in Genesis 22:9, means, “to bind, tie.” (BDB, dq[). [7] BDB, dyxy.

04 Vayera (Part B) - He appeared - Genesis 18:1-22:24

PDF 05ParashahHayyeiSarah *Updated:  November 26, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   This week’s parashah (portion) is called Hayyei-Sarah.  Sarah is the main focus of the introduction for this week.  Last week our two main characters had received a change in names, symbolizing a change in their God-ordained callings.  Before we dive into this week’s commentary I want to feature the thoughts of Rav Kook on this special change in monikers.  His focus, like my own, will be on our matriarch.   God changed both Abraham and Sarah’s names: Abram to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah. The Talmud [Brachot 13] explains both changes in a similar vein:   ‘Abram’ means the Father of the nation of Aram. In the beginning he was a leader just of Aram, but in end he became a leader for the entire world (“Av hamon goyim,” the father of many nations).   ‘Sarai’ means ‘My Princess’. In the beginning, she was a princess of her people. In the end she became ‘Sarah’ - ‘The Princess’ - a princess for the entire world.   These name changes indicate that the message of Abraham and Sarah was no longer a national but a universal one. Yet while both of their names were changed, the Talmud tells us that there was a difference. One who calls Abraham by his old name (Abram) has transgressed a positive commandment. No such prohibition, however, exists with using Sarah’s old name. Why?   Rav Kook makes an interesting distinction between Abraham and Sarah. The teachings of Abraham, he writes, represent the philosophical heritage of Judaism. The Torah of Sarah, on the other hand, represents the practical mitzvot.   The philosophical content of Judaism is universal in nature. The ideals of monotheism and righteousness apply to all peoples. Abraham, the source for these beliefs, must be recognized as a world figure, so that the universal character of his teachings will not be lost.   The practical mitzvot, on the other hand, serve to strengthen the national character of the Jewish people. From Sarah we inherited the sanctity of deed. These actions serve to develop the unique holiness of the Jewish people, which is required for the future correction of all peoples. Sarah’s practical Torah, therefore, contains both national and universal relevance. [Adapted from Ein Aya vol. I, p. 69]   Passing the Torch   The portion contains some rather somber notes, as it records the deaths of Sarah, Avraham, and Yishma’el.  Sarah lived to be 127 years old, the Torah tells us.  In all of this time, we hear of only one semi-direct revelation to her from HaShem, and that is when she overheard the conversation between her husband and God, about Yitz’chak, and laughed.  Other than that, we don’t have any recorded Scriptures indicating her direct contact with the Almighty, in the same manner as her husband.  Why is this significant?  Because it shows that even though she did not have the exact same revelations from HaShem that Avraham did, surely she had a genuine, living relationship with her God!  This is proven by the quality of faith and support that she displayed towards her husband, amidst his unbelievable callings.  Packing up and leaving the only home she had known for 65 years (she being 10 years his junior when they left; see 12:4; 17:17b), following him to lands unknown, and allowing him to take their son of promise to a distant mountain to slay him.  All of these real-life circumstances required a considerable amount of patience and faith from someone such as Sarah.   Also it should be noted that the Torah omits the details surrounding the parting of Sarah and Yitz’chak, just prior to his journey to Mount Moriah.  It is possible that they never got to experience an intimate farewell exchange between each other.  It seems as if Avraham and Yitz’chak left for the 3-day trip, and Sarah died while they were away.  This further adds to the credibility of her faith and servitude to the calling of her husband.  Surely this was a trying moment for her.  A woman of Sarah’s caliber would not be easy to match, yet as we study further into the pages of the Torah, we will find another “Sarah” unfold before our eyes.   At this juncture in the Torah, the focus shifts from that of Avraham, to the life and calling of his son Yitz’chak.  You could say that Avraham, becoming aware of the nearing conclusion of his incredible trials from HaShem, began preparing for his own “semi-retirement.”  After the “Akedah” (binding), the spotlight’s noticeable shift begins detailing the life and times of Yitz’chak and his bride-to-be, Rivkah (Rebecca).  Yet, our father Avraham feels led to oversee just one final important task in the life of his son.   Mystery of the Gospel   Chapter 24 is the account of the finding of a wife for Yitz’chak.  Avraham calls his senior and most trusted servant to go and fetch a wife for his son from among Avraham’s ancestors rather than from the Kena’ani (Canaanite women) around them.  In the unfortunate event that the servant is unable to procure a suitable wife from family, one who will follow him to where Avraham is, then Avraham’s instructions included details explicitly forbidding his servant from ever returning Yitz’chak to the land from which HaShem had brought them.  What is the significance of this explicit order?  I believe it is this: the stock from which a wife for his son, a wife that would bear the “multitudes” promised to him by HaShem, was not to be Kena’ani stock.   Avraham understood that HaShem had removed him and his family from Ur-Kasdim and that physically or symbolically he was never to return.  Moreover, his son’s future bride would likewise “cross over” into the land of promise to join her future husband.   The Gentile peoples, at this time (the strangers dwelling in the land, those with no “covenant-of-faith” connection to Avraham or HaShem), were not to be mixed into the physical lineage of the children of the promise.  Even HaShem’s “rejection” of Yishma’el (chapters 16, 17:17-21; 21:9-20) reflect this fact.  The time was not yet, when just anyone could physically join the household of the lineage of Avraham.  Even later on, in the time period of the TaNaKH (Old Testament), when, from an Isra’elite perspective, non-Jews were required to become circumcised in order to join the commonwealth of Isra’el, the full actualization of being a child of Avraham was not yet.  There was still a hidden aspect of it all.  I’m not counting the inclusion of slaves and other males belonging to the household (17:23-27) of Avraham.  The full actualization that I’m referring to is the “bringing near” that the B’rit Chadashah (New Covenant) talks about in Ephesians 2:11-22.   Tim Hegg of TorahResouce.com has written a most valuable contribution in helping to sort out the details of Jewish and Gentile covenant relationship in his book “Fellow Heirs.”  Allow me to pull an important quote from that work:   A common expression in the Torah is “the alien (ger) who has drawn near (karav)” or who is “in your midst” (b’kerev).  The fact that the LXX regularly uses the verb prosekeimai (“to be closely attached to”) with proselutos to translate ger in the context of “in your gates” (or other locative descriptor) highlights this concept of “attachment” or “drawing near.”  This language of “drawing near” most likely underlies the words of Paul in Ephesians 2, in which the Gentile is said to have been “far off” but who has been “brought near” through faith in Yeshua (cf. Ephesians 2:11-13)   Paul makes it clear that the Gentiles do not form a separate entity, nor do they participate in a covenant different than the Jews, but “the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Messiah Yeshua through the gospel…” (Ephesians 3:6).  Moreover, this is not some ethereal, theoretical “body” which fulfills some kind of theological requirement of the Gospel.  The “body of Messiah” envisioned by Yeshua and His Apostles were actual communities that lived out the context of their faith in everyday events.  Indeed, the Gospel, as far as Paul was concerned, is grounded in the Abrahamic promise that all of the nations would be blessed through his seed (Galatians 3:8).  This blessing accords with the eschatological promise that the nations would be instructed in the Torah, not in their separate locations, but as they came up to Zion, and fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy that the Temple would be called the “house of prayer for all the nations.”[1]   With the coming of Yeshua, the ultimate “son of promise,” non-Jews could finally share completely in the spiritual as well as physical blessings promised to “our father Avraham.”  Only after this time came, could this “mystery” (Ephesians 3:4-10), allowing the uncircumcised to be called righteous (Romans 4:11-12), be revealed.  But at this current time in our parashah of historical making, according to HaShem, while Gentiles were allowed into the covenant, God saw fit not to explicitly reveal how this mystery would unfold.  As far as Isra’el knew, Gentiles were not to be chosen as suitable fellow-inheritors of the promises to become a nation of people (the Jews) without undergoing the ritual of conversion first.  This apparent blindness on the part of Isra’el even seems at times to serve HaShem’s purposes, until he chose to fully unveil his plans to a charismatic man from Tarsus.   This is the reason why I believe our study has focused primarily on the “natural offspring” of Avraham.  I am not purposely neglecting the Gentiles of today, the ones who are offspring according to faith.  The Torah does indeed have Gentiles in mind when it speaks of covenants.  To be sure, Hegg asserts that the reason that Jewish lineage is important is that God has promised to manifest His omnipotent sovereignty through the people descended from Jacob.  But in maintaining this promise to Jacob, one need not exclude the non-descendent, for God has also promised to bring the nations within the scope of that same covenant.  God has adopted them both!  It is only when the Jew and non-Jew live and worship together as equally adopted brothers in the congregation of Yeshua that God’s faithfulness and power are manifested as they should be.[2] I am, however, laying the groundwork necessary for the Gentile believers to understand the foundations of the Christian faith.  By addressing first the natural we will be better equipped to understand the spiritual.  For a thorough treatment of the practicalities and impracticalities of Gentile to Jewish conversions read my commentary on ‘Who is a Jew?’ available by request.   Yitz’chak Finds a Bride   Continuing into chapter 24, we find that Rivkah indeed turns out to be the woman that Avraham’s servant is looking for, the wife that Avraham believes by faith that his son will need—a woman of the caliber and stature of his beloved Sarah.  To be sure, Rivkah receives a prophetic blessing in verse 60, reading,   “They blessed Rivkah with these words: “Our sister, may you be the mother of millions, and may your descendants possess the cities of those who hate them.”   This is strikingly similar to the prior blessing attributed to Yitz’chak, by the mouth of HaShem himself, at his “binding” (B’resheet 22:16-18)!  I believe it is a confirmation from the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) that this was to be the woman through whom HaShem would bring about the birth of the promised nation of called-out ones!   At Avraham’s servant’s request, and at Rivkah’s approval (24:56-58), they set out to return to Yitz’chak.  Yitz’chak was in deep mourning over the loss of this visible and necessary part of his life.  I’m sure the absence of Sarah affected everyone in the camp, but no one besides Avraham felt it like Yitz’chak.  This strengthens the fact that only someone with the faith of his mother Sarah could fill the void in his life.  And if indeed he did not get to formally say goodbye before she died, we can imagine how much more he was grieving the loss.  The Torah says,   “Meanwhile, Yitz’chak, one evening after coming along the road from Be’er-Lachai-Roi—he was living in the Negev—went out walking in the field, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.” (vv. 62, 63)   The word translated “walking” stems from the Hebrew root word soo-akh xwX. It is the same root word used in Psalm 102 in the opening few words, to describe the prayer of one who pours out his “complaint” (KJV) before the LORD.  It is also found in a prior Psalm (44:24), to describe “affliction” (KJV).  One more use is found in the book named for its “distresses,” Lamentations.  Chapter 3, verse 20 reads,   “My soul hath [them] still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.”   Here it is translated “humbled.”  We understand, from other passages using this Hebrew word, that it is possible to catch a glimpse of Yitz’chak’s grief over the loss of Sarah, as he “walked” in the field.  When Rivkah notices him she inquires of the servant of Avraham as to his identity.  Upon learning that it is her future husband, she veils herself in typical Middle Eastern respect.  Notice that after the report is given to Yitz’chak, he accepts her without hesitation, and brings her into his mother’s tent to receive her as his wife.  Only after she comes into his life, does the Torah record,   “Thus was Yitz’chak comforted for the loss of his mother.” (24:67b)   What is my point in bringing out these details of the story of chapter 24?  What we have here is a beautiful “Torah picture,” one that is painted for us again in the New Covenant, when referring to the “Son of promise” and his “bride.”  The bride this time is someone who has symbolically crossed over, in faith, to join her husband where he lives.  She is forever removed from the land of her forefathers, united to dwell with her husband, in the land that has been promised to them.  The Father lovingly oversaw the choosing of the perfect mate for his Son.  The wife is to be chaste and of the utmost character, possessing beauty and faith, in order to fulfill the role chosen by the father.  Avraham made sure that someone such as Rivkah was the only one suitable for his son Yitz’chak; HaShem made sure that the Kehilah, (Greek: Ekklesia ejkklhsiva, the Church, i.e., the called-out ones) was the perfect bride for his Son.  The son of Avraham could only be satisfied with one woman—the bride chosen by his father (Genesis 24:67b).  Likewise, our “Husband,” the Messiah Yeshua, is only satisfied with one “woman,” the bride chosen by his Father (John 17:11).   Conclusions   The final chapter of our parashah gives us the account of the death of this father of ours named Avraham.  Verses 12-17 sadly record the death of Yishma’el as well.  But shortly before Yishma’el’s death, verse nine shows both of Avraham’s sons Yitz’chak, and Yishma’el working side by side to pay (final) respect to their great father.  O’ that we might see Jew and Arab working side by side today, for the same common goal! Great division and strife exists between these two peoples today.  I believe that part of the solution to this conflict is lying directly at the feet of the ones known as the “bride.”   Hegg provides a most fitting concluding remark as well:   Covenant membership was never purely a physical reality, nor even primarily related to one’s lineage.  Those who were native-born could be “cut off from their people,” and in such a case, would no longer be constituted as covenant members.  On the other hand, those of foreign extraction, if drawn by the God of Isra’el, could through their faith “draw near” to God as their Father, and become bona fide covenant members with Isra’el, and recipients of all of the privileges as well as responsibilities of that covenant.  Faith is therefore the issue, and God will show Himself both faithful and sovereign by bringing the physical seed of Jacob to faith and thus to covenant obedience before Him.[3]   If, as purported above, the bride today consists of both physical heirs and of those grafted into Isra’el, then both the Jews and the Church have a mission of love, to help in “Tikkun ha-’Olam” (repairing the world).   In this way, we will both help heal the split between Synagogue and Church, as well as between Jew and Arab.  To be sure, as we study further into the pages of the Torah, we shall learn exactly what type of healing needs to take place between these two “brothers” according to the flesh.  But for now, I want to conclude by reemphasizing the main thrust of my commentaries on Avraham, as they apply to the Church.   A most famous Talmudic rabbi by the name of Hillel (fl. 10-20 C.E.) was quoted as saying, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  But when I am for myself alone, what am I?  And if not now, when?”  Moreover, this was to be remembered as his most famous saying.  I don’t want to ponder the meaning of this entire quote; rather, I just want to comment on the final statement.  Contemporary author Marvin Wilson, in his book Our Father Abraham, has these final words to say about our father Avraham, and our relationship to him as the Church:   Every Christian should desire a greater knowledge and strengthening of the Jewish roots of his faith.  In this lifelong search and endeavor, loving concern for the Jewish people is not optional.  Indeed, Christians are commanded, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39; Gal. 5:14).  Passive love is not enough, however.  A person cannot claim to love his neighbor if he has not yet made a sincere effort to reach out to get to know and understand his neighbor.  And so, Hillel again compels us to reply by asking, “If not now…when?”[4] The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com   [1] Tim Hegg, Fellow Heirs (FFOZ 2002), 40, 41 [2] Ibid., 48 [3] Ibid., 49 [4] Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham (Eerdmans, 1989), 335

PDF 06ParashahToldot: *Updated:  November 26, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Eyleh tol’dot…. (Here is the history [generations] of….).”  These opening few words dot the beginnings of just a handful of significant chapters in the Torah.  To be sure, there are ten significant instances in the book of B’resheet alone that use the Hebrew word “tol’dot,” which stems from the root word used for birth, or offspring.  We read about the history of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 2:4; the history of Adam in 5:1; 6:9 and 10:1 talks about the history of Noach.  Up until this point, the selection might appear rather “random,” that is, without pursuing a single family lineage.  But after Noach, the Torah specifically begins narrowing down its selection of historical perspectives, singling out the significant person that is most pertinent for the reader’s study.   After Noach’s listing in B’resheet 10:1, the Torah begins the pattern of tracing the lineage of a specific family history, highlighting the offspring of a specific man in particular.  Notice the pattern: Shem’s history is the highlight of B’resheet 11:10; Terach’s history (Avram’s father) of 11:27; Yishma’el’s history (Avraham’s first son) of 25:12; and Yitz’chak’s history (Avraham’s son according to promise) of 25:19, which is of course the beginning of our current parashah entitled Tol’dot.  Later on we will pick up the familiar pattern again with ‘Esav (Yitz’chak’s first son) and his offspring in 36: 1, 9; and finally the history of Ya’akov (the inheritor of the covenantal promises) in B’resheet 37:2.  In this way, the Torah guides us into the place where we begin to have the understanding that HaShem wants us to have. This understanding is comprised of the “majors of the majors of Torah, and the minors of the minors” (see my previous commentary to Parashat Lekh L’kha, third paragraph, for reference).   Since the topic here is history, I want to take this opportunity to briefly recap the highlights of the Torah narrative up until this point.  Moreover, since the Torah is comprised of the first five books of Moshe, this is an opportune moment to refresh the readers understanding of the first five parash’ot of the book of B’resheet.  I will use small quotes from my previous commentaries as a guidance tool, bringing the readers up to the current portion of Tol’dot.   B’resheet (1:1-6:8) - Beginning with HaShem changes our viewpoint from that of scientific observation, to one of absolute faith, grounded in the Word of God.  A scientist, who refuses to objectively deal with a supernatural creation, is a scientist who refuses to deal with a supernatural God!  By removing God from the equation, mankind effectively dulls his own conscience towards the responsibility of his own actions, good or bad—if there is “no God, then ultimately, there is no need to answer to anyone but myself.”  In this way, the Torah teaches that mankind ultimately destroys himself, and becomes a fool.  The mercy of the Holy One offers us an authoritative (historical) beginning, complete with purpose and structure for our lives.  When God begins something, its’ destined purpose (its history) is made sure.   Noach (6:9-11:32) - The condition that mankind found himself in during those days just prior to the world deluge, is very similar to that of mankind in our current time period.  Knowing that history can be our best teacher sometimes, do you suppose that we should have learned our lesson the first time? Yes, I do believe that we should have.  However, since we did not, the Torah has decidedly promised that in the days of the (second) coming of the Messiah (days, in which this author believes we are living), mankind would once again find himself in a state of such depravity that HaShem would have no choice but to render judgment again.   Lekh L’kha (12:1-17:27) - Because of the example that the Torah records Avram to have been, any man willing to do so is eligible to become an heir of this great father!  Because of Avram’s trusting faithfulness to HaShem’s command, he subsequently became the father of the many righteous followers that would come after him.  And last, but certainly not least, because of Avram’s trusting faithfulness, a single righteous man was born into his lineage.  From this single righteous man, came the power to join the physical and/or spiritual family of the Creator of all men!   Vayera (18:1-22:24) - What makes Avraham such a great role model of faith, is that, not only did he trust in the Word of HaShem, but the LORD saw into his future and predicted that his offspring would also be taught how to trust in the Almighty.  We must, like faithful Avraham, trust in the LORD against all unbelievable odds, to perform in our lives, the promise that he has given us through Yeshua our Messiah!   Hayyei-Sarah (23:1-25:18) - With the coming of Yeshua, the ultimate “son of promise,” non-Jews could finally share completely in the spiritual as well as physical blessings promised to “our father Avraham.”  Only after this time came, could this “mystery” (Ephesians 3:4-10), allowing the uncircumcised to be called righteous (Romans 4:11-12), be revealed.  But at this current time in our parashah of historical making, according to HaShem, while Gentiles were allowed into the covenant, God saw fit not to explicitly reveal how this mystery would unfold…   I am not purposely neglecting the Gentiles of today, the ones who are offspring according to faith.  The Torah does indeed have Gentiles in mind when it speaks of covenants.  To be sure, Hegg asserts that the reason that Jewish lineage is important is that God has promised to manifest His omnipotent sovereignty through the people descended from Jacob.  But in maintaining this promise to Jacob, one need not exclude the non-descendent, for God has also promised to bring the nations within the scope of that same covenant.  God has adopted them both!  It is only when the Jew and non-Jew live and worship together as equally adopted brothers in the congregation of Yeshua that God’s faithfulness and power are manifested as they should be.[1] I am, however, laying the groundwork necessary for the Gentile believers to understand the foundations of the Christian faith.  By addressing first the natural we will be better equipped to understand the spiritual.   As you can see from a cursory glance of the highlighted words above, the Torah has quite a bit to teach us about history and offspring.  To be sure, it has been aptly noted that “a person that knows not from whence he came, will be ill-equipped to properly deal with where he is going to.”  Our current portion gives us the beginning of the fast-paced story of two brothers, ‘Esav (Esau, also called Edom), and Ya’akov (Jacob), and their ongoing struggle to become the men that they feel they deserve to be.  It is an interesting tale, complete with deception and disappointment.  Rivkah, Yitz’chak’s wife, gives birth to twins, who grow to become individuals with quite opposite character traits.  The elder, ‘Esav, is a skilled hunter, a rough, hairy man, with a flair for cooking tasty game.  He winds up being favored by his father.  On the other hand, the younger, Ya’akov, is a tenderhearted, dweller of tents, smooth-skinned and quiet; he becomes the favorite of his mother.   Like a good Tom Clancy novel, the Torah narrative baits the readers’ curiosity, by informing us that from these two individuals, two nations of peoples will spring forth (25:22, 23).  Moreover, the Torah also informs us that the rivalry started at birth, and continuing through the majority of their lives, will eventually culminate in one of these nation of peoples eventually serving the other; ‘Esav would serve Ya’akov.  Why does HaShem want us to know these intricate details of history?  What about the physical offspring of Avraham is so pertinent to us 21st Century believers?  Let’s look at the B’rit Chadashah (New Covenant) for our answer.   In what I call Sha'ul’s “masterpiece of Jewish-Christian, theological discussion” (and my own personal favorite book of the entire Torah), the book of Romans also talks about the birth of these two individuals, and their subsequent relevance in the history of HaShem.  David Stern, author of the Complete Jewish Bible, and the Jewish New Testament Commentary, has this to say about Romans 9:10-13,   “The case of Rivkah is even more to the point in demonstrating God’s absolute sovereignty in determining such matters independently of anything human beings do.  For both Ya’akov and ‘Esav were her children, whereas the fact that Yishma’el’s mother was Hagar and Yitz’chak’s was Sarah might lead one to conclude that Sarah’s greater worthiness had earned Yitz’chak the promises.  Nor can one look for a difference in deservedness on the father’s side, for both were conceived in a single act by Yitz’chak”[2]   What we can glean from this is that, not only is HaShem actively involved in historical development, he is ultimately orchestrating and directing it towards a divinely expected ending.  It is in this way, that a man’s destiny becomes fixed.  Notice that in our current parashah, at the request of Rivkah, that HaShem disclosed some rather important key details surrounding the destinies of her soon to be born twins (25:22-23).  This speaks to us about the sovereignty of our all-knowing God, and his desire to bless all of mankind through chosen, obedient individuals.  Unfortunately, because of our fallen condition, we usually render ourselves ineligible to receive HaShem’s blessings, due to our lack of faith.  But this lack of faith doesn’t render the plans and blessings of HaShem powerless!  Concerning the corporate unbelief of the Jewish people, what does the Torah say?   “What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?  Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge”  (Romans 3:3, 4, NIV)   It is the desire of HaShem that we should indeed inherit the blessings intended for us!  He told Avraham of the future inheritance and blessings of his offspring (Genesis 17:1-8), Yitz’chak of the future inheritance and blessings of his offspring (26:3-5), and later (in the next parashah), we will once again read about HaShem reminding the young man Ya’akov, about the future inheritance and blessings of his offspring.  Why does HaShem remind us about the inheritance and blessings that are ours?  I might imagine that it is because he doesn’t want us to forget about them.  More than that, it is a reminder to us of his limitless, unbridled love and concern for us, even though we don’t deserve such things.  But along with these promises, he wants us to also be reminded that it is his authority and grace alone that makes our glorious history a reality!  To be sure, Ya’akov and his mother Rivkah got themselves into a real mess trying to secure what they both knew belonged to them.   Reading further into our story in Tol’dot, we learn of the deception and deceit of Ya’akov and Rivkah, as they plot to take not only the birthright of ‘Esav (25:29-33), but eventually the coveted verbal blessing, from father Yitz’chak, pronounced upon the firstborn son (chapter 27).  Now you might single out the fact that Ya’akov stole (or “supplanted,” as the name “Ya’akov” suggests) the birthright blessing from his brother ‘Esav.  Yet we know that HaShem had already promised to his mother earlier that the “elder would serve the younger.”  So in a way, you could also conclude that Ya’akov was just taking what already belonged (or eventually would belong) to him in the first place.  It is true that the blessing was his, yet the lesson I believe the Torah is trying to teach us here is not to take matters into our own hands.  What Ya’akov did was still wrong.  Rivkah would pay for her foolishness by sending Ya’akov off to her brother Lavan, until the heat of ‘Esav’s anger subsided (27:43-45).  She supposed then, at a future date, Ya’akov could return.  Alas, she would never see her beloved Ya’akov face to face again.  To be sure, he would also reap the harvest of his own greed, at the hands of another man who would prove to be even greedier than he was!  The next few parash’ot will indeed prove to be intriguing!   Finally I want to mention one last important “tol’dot.”  In the first book of the Apostolic Scriptures, Mattityahu (Matthew) begins by informing the readers about a very prominent, historical genealogy, that of the Messiah Yeshua!   “This is the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, son of David, son of Avraham….” (Vs. 1)   Having established our historical heritage, traced through the loins of the family of the man from Ur-Kasdim, we must now establish and solidify our heavenly lineage, by lining our history up with the history of the man from Natzeret!   The Torah teaches us that since we have “died” to sin and have been “buried” with him (symbolized in baptism), then our hope lies in the fact that he was raised from the dead (see 1 Corinthians 15 the whole chapter, but specifically verses 20-28)!  Moreover, these verses prepare us in understanding the spiritual inheritance that we have in Messiah, as mentioned in Ephesians 1:3-14!  Let’s look at verses 11-12:   “Also in union with him we were given an inheritance, we who were picked in advance according to the purpose of the One who effects everything in keeping with the decision of his will, so that we who earlier had put our hope in the Messiah would bring him praise commensurate with his glory.”   So looking forward by faith, we find that Yeshua’s inheritance is our inheritance, he being the ‘firstfruits of those who are raised to life in righteousness.’  Because genealogy is very important to HaShem, we should seek to better understand the history we inherited by faith, from father Avraham (Romans chapter 4).  A man by the name of Abraham J. Heschel developed a theme along these lines.  In his volume on philosophy and religion, Man Is Not Alone he writes,   “When the hurricanes of life batter us so that we bend to the point of breaking, we are not rootless.  There is a firm and secure root to support us.  The “root that supports” (Rom. 11:18) and “nourishes” (11:17) is the godly, living faith of Israel.  This is our foundation: to know the God of history, Israel’s history (cf. Heb. 11).  This concept of history brings ultimate meaning and purpose to both personal and global events.  We are not alone.  The future is secure.  God is alive, at work, and in control.”[3]   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Tim Hegg, Fellow Heirs (FFOZ 2002), 40, 41 [2]   David Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1996), 390, emphasis his [3] Abraham J. Heschel, Man is Not Alone (New York: Farrar, Sraus & Giroux, 1951; repr. New York: Harper & Row, 1966)

06 Tol’dot (Part B) - History - Genesis 25:19-28:9

PDF 07ParashahVayetze *Updated:  December 1, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   Today’s portion is named Vayetze, because in the opening sequence of events, we find our main character, Ya’akov (Jacob) “going out” from Be’er-Sheva towards the land of Haran.  The next few parash’ot read like a good action novel, so I want to encourage the readers to follow along closely in the actual Torah portion of their Bibles.  Last week, I likened the action to that of the pace of a good Tom Clancy novel, complete with intrigue, suspense, and betrayal.  However, the Torah is much more superior to any novel that a man could write, for, not only is it real life (non-fictional) action, it has the capacity to speak to each and every single individual, and bring about a real life change in their circumstances as well.   Ya’akov is on a journey, much like many of us today.  From the beginning, his has been a life of struggle and competition.  The harrowing events of last week’s parashah, and the theft of the family birthright, left him running from his angry brother ‘Esav, at the instruction of his mother Rivkah.  Indeed, he would find himself running from his brother for a good part of his life, before he finally sets things straight.  In a very real way, however, he is both running from something and running to something.  He is running from the circumstances created by his selfish greed, while at the same time, he is running to the place where he believes he can be the man that he really should be.  In a play on words, his first encounter with the supernatural is in a location that the Hebrew text calls “haMakom,” meaning, “the Place” (28:11).  Traditional Judaism identifies haMakom as the very spot where Avraham offered up Yitz’chak, as well as the place where the future Temple would stand.  For now, it was to Ya’akov, a fearful place.  We’ll discuss the name later.   This week’s portion and next week’s portion are going to serve as a kind of two-part series that focus on HaShem’s masterful design to shape Ya’akov into the covenant man that he is destined to become.  To be sure, it is the tale of how a man, complete with weaknesses and inconsistencies, became a nation of peoples, chosen by HaShem to demonstrate his holiness to the rest of humanity.  Here is a brief overview of this portion’s events:   ·         Ya’akov dreams of a ladder bridging heaven and earth, complete with ascending and descending angels; HaShem, once again, restates the covenant promises that Ya’akov and his descendants will become a blessing to all the nations; Ya’akov erects a monumental stone in the place, renaming it “Beit-El” [house of God] (28:10-20) ·         Ya’akov meets Rachel, the daughter of Lavan his uncle, and quickly falls in love with her; he makes an agreement with her father, to work for him for seven years to obtain her hand in marriage; Lavan tricks him on his wedding night, substituting Rachel’s older sister Le’ah instead; despite the deception, because of his intense love for Rachel, Ya’akov agrees with Lavan to work another seven years for Rachel; each girl is accompanied by one handmaid (29:1-30) ·         Rachel remains the favored of Ya’akov’s two wives and two handmaids; in her despair, Le’ah receives favor from ADONAI and she bears him his first four sons, named Re’uven, Shim’on, Levi, and Y’hudah (29:31-35) ·         Sibling rivalry of the worst kind—between two wives of the same husband—ensues, and Rachel blames Ya’akov for her barren state; in her anger she grants him permission to conceive children with her handmaid Bilhah; two more sons are born named Dan, and Naftali (30:1-8) ·         Le’ah follows suit and gives her handmaid Zilpah to Ya’akov for more children; two more sons are born named Gad, and Asher; Le’ah makes a deal with Rachel to sleep with Ya’akov and a fifth and sixth son named Yissakhar and Z’vulun are born; this time Le’ah also bears him a daughter named Dinah (30:9-21) ·         HaShem hears the prayer of Rachel and gives her Ya’akov’s first son by her, named Yosef; the “family circus” of wives, handmaids, sons and a daughter, finally comes to and end for now; Ya’akov and Lavan make a six-year deal involving the flocks owned between them; after this, unbeknown to Lavan, Ya’akov takes off for his father’s house with all that belongs to him (30:25-31:17)   For now, I want to leave off summarizing, and briefly talk about the character of Ya’akov up until this point.  As I stated earlier, I believe Ya’akov was simultaneously running from something and running to something significant.  He had become quite a wealthy man by now, owning a large family, and several pieces of livestock.  He felt it was finally time to return to the land of his father Yitz’chak and begin to live his life as the covenant man that he was trying to become.  But HaShem was the one who was orchestrating every stage in this young patriarch’s life.  Therefore, we have an excellent opportunity to witness the sovereignty of God at work in the life of someone who is operating under his own pretenses.  Let’s take a look at the scorecard:   ·         Ya’akov ran from his angry brother. ·         Ya’akov fell in love with Rachel. ·         Ya’akov agreed to work a total of fourteen years for her hand in marriage. ·         Ya’akov played into the rivalry of his wives and handmaids and fathered eleven sons and one daughter up to this point. ·         Ya’akov decided to reimburse himself by getting his greedy father-in-law to agree to a ridiculous livestock deal. ·         Ya’akov finally being satisfied with his accomplishments decides to head back home.   As you can plainly see, all of these decisions were Ya’akov’s. Yet, like an unseen supervisor, HaShem allowed him to make them.  Even during the relatively few times when he does encounter the One true living God, HaShem is described in terms that suggest a second or third party relationship.  Why?  I believe that Ya’akov did not yet have a personal, one-on-one relationship with HaShem.  He knew him as the God of his father, and of his grandfather, but not as “his God.” His encounter with HaShem at Beit-El left him in a state of amazement, and he did vow to make HaShem “his God,” but only after he was safe at his father’s house.   I believe that HaShem was, step by step, bringing him to the place where he would have no choice but to surrender his own will into that of the Almighty.  Ya’akov was headed towards one final struggle.   In this way, the Torah demonstrates that even when we operate in our own strength, HaShem’s Will is still powerful enough to guide our circumstances into the path that his Will has determined that they should go.  It is true that it was Lavan who tricked Ya’akov in the exchange of his daughters.  As a result, Ya’akov was now able to witness, first-handed, the pain and frustration that he put his father and brother through earlier. But were it not for this deception on the part of Lavan, Ya’akov might not have ever married Le’ah, from whom came the birth of both Levi and Y’hudah, the ancestor of the priestly line and the Messiah, respectively!   So God’s sovereignty is demonstrated in our weakness.  Ya’akov would yet still have to face his angry brother, but his dealings with Lavan helped him to see just how greedy his own heart was.  To be sure, when Lavan finally catches up to Ya’akov in 31:23-35, his father-in-law is significantly less than happy about the current turn of events.  Lavan has witnessed that HaShem’s hand of blessing has been on Ya’akov.  Moreover, he is reluctant to let him go so easily, being the selfish man that Lavan was.  However, Lavan has been warned of God in a dream, not to speak to his son-in-law either positively or negatively, so instead he makes up some nonsense about not being able to say goodbye to his daughters.  Lavan does however accuse Ya’akov of stealing the household idols.  Unaware that his beloved Rachel is in possession of the articles (which, by the way, signified an ancient form of inheritance, see 31:14, 15, 19), Ya’akov becomes fearful, and foolishly condemns to death the person guilty of the crime.   This dialogue vividly demonstrates the complicated situations that can happen when greed meets its match.  Ya’akov is now at the end of his proverbial patience rope, and in a fit of anger lashes out at Lavan.  “What have I done wrong?” he demands in 31:36.  In a barrage of historical recollection, mixed with accusation and hurt, he defends himself from this man whom it seems doesn’t realize the obvious “honesty” and good fortune that Ya’akov has provided for him all these years.  To Ya’akov, it has been a long, arduous twenty years of genuine servitude.  Why can’t his father-in-law see this fact?  But Lavan sees only what he stands to gain from the relationship, and that is precisely why he is reluctant to let him go without squeezing just one more drop of prosperity out of him.   In his greed, Lavan blindly declares, “The daughters are mine, the children are mine, the flocks are mine, and everything that you see is mine!” (Vs.43)   What Ya’akov needed in his life was a mirror, someone or something to show him the greed and selfishness of his own heart.  He needed to be able to see the inner-workings of his own selfish heart, in order to move on past this time of trials in his life.  This was provided for him in the person of Lavan.  HaShem was in the process of teaching Ya’akov that, in order to walk in the shoes of a covenant man, he would have to have a transformation of the heart—a transformation that would ultimately culminate in the changing of his name as well—a change waiting for us in next week’s parashah.  For now let us continue our current analysis of Ya’akov and Lavan in Vayetze.   Lavan was smart enough to heed the word of ADONAI concerning speaking to Ya’akov good or bad, but the character of Lavan is demonstrated in his effort to protect himself from what he supposed would be the repercussions of his angry son-in-law.  Because greedy individuals think alike, in his estimation, Ya’akov should be concocting methods of revenge at this point, so Lavan strikes a mutual, non-aggression pact, ensuring the safety of his own health and possessions.  After all, his son-in-law was indeed a rich man, and riches meant power!  The covenant, like so many other ancient middle-eastern covenants, involved the selection of testimonial markers (standing stones), as a visual reminder to all involved.  A meal also accompanied this “peace treaty,” and the two families spent the night on the mountain before finally going their separate ways the next day.  As Ya’akov moves out early the next morning, he is met by two angels (messengers) of ADONAI, therefore he decides to name the place “Machanayim,” meaning, “two camps.”   How can we apply this Torah lesson to our lives today?  We already know that the Torah itself works in our lives as a mirror, highlighting the “way in which we should walk”—a way that should be pleasing to our heavenly father.  In fact the book of James (whose Hebrew title is Ya’akov), informs us that the man who “looks into the mirror of the Torah” and fails to heed its instruction (do what it says), is like a man who beholds his face in a real mirror, walks away, and immediately forgets what he just saw (James 1:21-25).  But sometimes HaShem uses everyday experiences to act as his mirror of truth, showing us exactly where we need to concentrate our energies of correction.   I’m reminded of a Messianic Jewish Rabbi friend of mine who witnessed this “mirror” in his own life.  Before his transformation, he was somewhat self-centered in his quest for spirituality, much like many in our formalized religious circles are today.  HaShem brought a dubious salesman, slick and polished in his presentation, into his home, offering him wealth, prestige and position.  When my rabbi friend questioned the salesperson about his view of God, the salesperson took out a small index card, wrote a single word on it, circled it, and handed it to my friend.  When my friend looked at the word, his world shattered.  The word was “self.”  It was then that his eyes were supernaturally opened to his own heart’s condition, and he was able to see that he was no better off than the person he was currently “looking down his nose” at.  “After all,” he thought to himself, “I’m spiritual.  I don’t need worldly riches and fame.  I have my religiosity (his Biblical upbringing) and my relationship to God to fulfill me.”  The problem with this mentality is that when we use our own “spiritual” achievements to measure our place with HaShem, we become callous to the real problem—a heart that is clouded by pride.   Thanks be unto our God, that he knows our heart better than we know it ourselves!  He knows exactly what remedy is needed to shatter our shallow, prideful image, and bring us to the place where we are ready to receive a genuine revelation from him.  He lovingly places just the right individuals and circumstances in our lives, which will cause us to surrender our will into his Perfect Will.  But like Ya’akov, we must be willing to stop running long enough to recognize them.  Next week, we will see just where HaShem has brought him to…. And why.   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com

PDF 08ParashahVayishlach *Updated: December 12, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “When we use our own “spiritual” achievements to measure our place with HaShem, we become callous to the real problem—a heart that is clouded by pride.  Thanks be unto our God, that he knows our heart better than we know it ourselves!  He knows exactly what remedy is needed to shatter our shallow, prideful image, and bring us to the place where we are ready to receive a genuine revelation from him.  He lovingly places just the right individuals and circumstances in our lives, which will cause us to surrender our will into his Perfect Will.  But like Ya’akov, we must be willing to stop running long enough to recognize them.  Next week, we will see just where HaShem has brought him to…. And why.”   These are the closing few statements of last week’s parashah called Vayetze.  This week’s parashah, called Vayishlach picks up immediately where we left off.  To strengthen the segue-way into the next section there is a play on words found only in the original Hebrew text.  Verse two of chapter thirty-two from last week’s portion reads,   “Ya’akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him.”   Verse four of chapter thirty-two, the opening verse of our current portion reads,   “Ya’akov sent messengers ahead of him to ‘Esav his brother toward the land of Se’ir, the country of Edom.”   The Hebrew words used for both “angels” and “messengers” share the exact same root: “malakh.”  Ephraim and Rimona Frank give us these Hebrew insights concerning the opening words:   Then Ya’acov sent [va’yishlach ] messengers - “mala’chim” before him to his brother Esav...” (32:3). These are the opening words of our Parasha. “Mal’achim” are angels, messengers or emissaries. Ya’acov had seen them in dreams (aside from the famous ladder scene in 28:12, an angel also addressed him in a dream in 31:11 ff.). He had also run into YHVH’s messengers when he departed from Lah’van (32:1,2), and now he sends messengers, human “mal’achim,” to his brother Esav. The root of “mal’ach” (singular form) is “la’a’ch” (lamed, alef, chaf), meaning, “to send.” It is from this verb (which is not in use) that we get the noun: “mla’cha,” occupation, work, workmanship (such as the kind that was preformed in the Mishkan/Tabernacle), possession and more. Later on, when Esav proposes that Ya’acov come along with him with his entire entourage, the latter refuses, saying that he will move “according to the pace of the cattle that are before him...” (33:14). “Cattle” here is also “m’lacha,” as the herds were going out ahead, or being sent forth in front of the retinue.[1]   I would like to make my own midrash (homiletic application) by playing with the sounds of the Hebrew word for messenger and the Hebrew word for king.  The Hebrew word for king is “melekh.”  This has a similar sound to our word for messenger “malakh.”  Suppose the “malakh” was a “messenger” of a “melekh.”  This would make the “malakh” someone “sent on behalf of royalty or leadership.”  In verse two, the angels (“mal-akhey”) are sent from HaShem (the king) to meet Ya’akov.  In verse four the messengers (“mal-akheem”) are sent from Ya’akov (the [soon to be] prince) to meet his brother ‘Esav.  My midrash of these similarities shows the contrast between the ways of HaShem and the ways of Ya’akov.  As the Great, Almighty Comforter, HaShem has twice sent supernatural messengers to Ya’akov in order to comfort and strengthen him as he journeyed on his way; Ya’akov on the other hand, out of fear, sent human messengers to obviously appease his brother ‘Esav, and to win his favor (vv.5, 6).  Nevertheless, the response from the messengers invokes neither comfort nor strength to Ya’akov, but instead more fear, as they inform him that his brother is approaching with a large company of men with (possibly) less than friendly intentions.   At any rate, as I mentioned in last week’s parashah, Ya’akov was headed towards his divinely appointed destiny, to become the covenant man that HaShem had promised he would be.  But to Ya’akov, there was an absence of real peace, of genuine “shalom” in his life up to this point.  Ya’akov had made no small accomplishment for himself, acquiring wives, sons, one daughter, and a great number of livestock.  Yet, he knew in himself, that he was not totally fulfilled.  The reason was that despite his grand self-achievements, and clever actions in the past, he still had to face his greatest challenge: that of confronting the brother he wronged twenty years prior.  I believe that Ya’akov became fearful for a number of reasons.  First, as should be expected, he had come quite a long way since that time earlier in his life, growing from just he himself, to a large family complete with wives, children, and livestock.  He was naturally concerned about the well being of his immediate home.  Secondly, we find in verses 8, 9 that he is still operating under his own devices rather than fully trusting in the providence of HaShem, as he decides to divide them into two camps.  Perhaps in this way, he thinks, at least one of them will escape the (potential) wrath of ‘Esav and his men.   At this point in his life, a rather unusual, yet wonderful thing takes place: he cries out to HaShem for mercy and protection.  Unlike his previous encounters with HaShem, this petition carries with it, the characteristics of a genuine plea to the One who can grant supernatural safety and protection from all of our enemies.   “Ya’akov said, “God of my father Avraham, and God of my father Yitzchak, the LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good.’  I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Yarden; and now I have become two companies.  Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children.  You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can’t be numbered because there are so many.’” (32:10-13, Messianic KJV)   As can be seen, Ya’akov starts his prayer off with identifying his own unworthiness of HaShem’s grace and protection thus far, yet he still pleads to HaShem to remember him and deliver him from harm.  As a kind of reminder and guarantee that HaShem is obligated to do just this, Ya’akov restates the covenantal promise given to him in B’resheet 28, at the incident with the dream of the ladder (see opening part of Parashat Vayetze).   Ya’akov has not received his answer from HaShem, so he decides to spend the night there.  The text seems to indicate that before daybreak, he orchestrates yet one last plan to protect what belongs to him.  He sends his messengers again ahead of him in an elaborate echelon of gifts, in order to thwart the (possible) heat of ‘Esav’s anger.  Remember, Ya’akov had not seen his brother since the incident involving the theft of the birthright blessing; he had every right to imagine the worst possible scenario surrounding this long anticipated reunion.  He himself decides this time to stay on one side of the stream where he was camped, while his beloved family and possessions went on to face an uncertain fate.   This was the opportunity that HaShem was waiting for—the moment of truth!  Ya’akov, operating under his own power for the majority of his life, had unknowingly brought himself (under the supernatural guiding of the Ruach HaKodesh of course) to the place where he was going to encounter the God of his grandfather Avraham, and of his father Yitz’chak—a place where he would learn to call HaShem HIS God!  To be sure, this encounter was the place that HaShem had prepared Ya’akov for all of his life—a place where Ya’akov had nowhere else to run to, run from, or hide from—a place where he was all alone (32:25)!   Suddenly—and without warning—a man leaps out of the darkness onto Ya’akov!  There was no time to think—only to react, and fight back!  As the struggle pressed on, I imagine Ya’akov eventually found time to contemplate: “Who is this?!  Why is this happening to me?!  Is this some rogue bounty hunter, sent by my brother ‘Esav, to exact a hefty sum of money for my head in return?!  Is it a local desert thug?!  Is it a demon?!  Where is HaShem now?!  Didn’t he promise to protect me?!”  Clearly this was a physical, wrestling match, yet I believe as Ya’akov continued to wrestle, the spiritual aspects of the match came to the forefront.   The Torah says that when the unknown assailant failed to defeat Ya’akov, then he struck the socket of Ya’akov’s hip, causing it to go into disjoint.   “The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak…” (vs.27a)   But by now, Ya’akov had come to the realization that this was no ordinary man.  It was not some desert robber, or bounty hunter, or even a demon—it was none other than a representative of the One who could see into his own hollow soul and cause the supernatural change that Ya’akov knew he so desperately needed!  For this very reason, rather than let go of this man, Ya’akov clung to him for dear life!  He had finally come to the place where he knew he could not—would not—run any further!  He knew now inside of himself, that this was the only One who could rescue him from his own fearful self!  So, despite the all-night struggle, he mustered up enough strength to say within himself, “I will not!  I refuse to let you go!  I have spent all of my life running in fear from the things that I could not control!  I have nowhere else to turn for help!  So I will NOT let you go!  I will not let you go UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!”   This was the breaking of the man Ya’akov.  This was the moment when HaShem recognized that he was genuinely a humbled man, in desperate need of a Savior.  The messenger responded to Ya’akov’s plea:   “What is your name?” and he answered, Ya’akov.”  Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya’akov, but Isra’el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.” (vv. 28, 29)   No more would Ya’akov have to operate under his own strength, for he had come “face to face,” as it were, with the God of Beit-El!  This personal encounter had changed him down to the core of his being, and finally supplied him with the inner “shalom” that he so desperately sought his entire life.  The name “Isra’el” carries the Hebrew root word “sar,” meaning “prince.”  Thus, his name change was a reflection of his own identity with HaShem—from “he who supplants” to that of “royalty!”  When Ya’akov inquired about the man’s name, the man simply responded that Ya’akov needn’t know such details, and simply blessed him there.  But to Ya’akov, there really was no doubt as to the identity of this messenger, despite his unwillingness to disclose his name.  For Ya’akov decided to call the place “P’ni-El [face of God], because he recognized that he had seen HaShem face to face, yet his life was spared!   Ya’akov continued on to face his brother ‘Esav, but he knew now that he was a changed man.  He could now carry himself with a renewed sense of purpose.  Moreover, he was no longer operating under his own pretenses.  This time he divides his camp again, only to launch out ahead of them, to meet his brother in meekness and humility.  As he approaches ‘Esav, he bows himself to the ground seven times, but this time, it is not a ploy.  There is no false bravado, or showmanship going on here.  This was the display of a man who had yielded himself to the mercy and grace of the Almighty God, and who was now ready to make restitution for the wrongs he had committed.   ‘Esav recognizes that this is not the same Ya’akov who stole his birthright twenty years ago.  Instead, before him, was a man tender and vulnerable, waiting to be welcomed by his twin brother, his only brother—his own flesh and blood!   “‘Esav ran to meet him, hugged him, fell on his neck and kissed him; and they wept.” (33:4)   ‘Esav’s reaction to his brother is that of one responding to an individual, whose life has been supernaturally changed from the inside, by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh.  There is no doubt that he sensed the change, and he himself was softened.  This response of ‘Esav’s was only accomplished by the power of HaShem.  To be sure, even though Ya’akov offers flocks of livestock as gifts to his brother, ‘Esav declines, explaining that he has more than enough to sustain him.  Ya’akov’s language in verses 5, 8, 10, 13, 14, and15 continues to display the servant heart that he now had, as he began the valuable process of restitution.  In the end, ‘Esav eventually accepts his gratuitous gesture.   Ya’akov’s life is such a lesson for us today, that I want to skip past most of the details with Dinah of chapter 34 and look to chapter 35 to apply some practical lessons for us.  I don’t mean to minimize the atrocious events of chapter 34, rather, I encourage you to go back and examine it for your personal study.  Even so, the change in Ya’akov’s life continued to supply him with the strength and encouragement that he, like so many of us, so desperately needed at times.  Briefly, in chapter 35, HaShem again instructs him to return to Beit-El to build another altar.  Ya’akov took the initiative and had his family put away all of the foreign gods that they possessed.  They purified themselves and even put on a fresh change of garments.  Then, as one unit, they made their way to Beit-El to worship HaShem.  This speaks volumes about the situation facing many families today.  If the leader of the house would humble himself under the power of the Almighty God, put away all of the things that separate his family from the holiness of HaShem, and seek his face and worship him, then I believe God will answer him and bring about a real change in his personal life and in the lives of his family as well.   D’vorah, Rivkah’s handmaid dies here and is buried at Beit-El.  After this, HaShem again restates the name change and the covenant promises to Ya’akov/Isra’el.  Rachel herself goes into labor for the second time and she gives birth to Isra’el’s second son by her.  Earlier on, Isra’el had foolishly pronounced a curse on the one in possession of his uncle Lavan’s family idols (31:32).  Rachel had stolen them and then lied to her father about it.  I believe at this time, Isra’el’s vow took effect and sadly she died giving birth to a baby boy, whom she named “Ben-Oni,” meaning, “son of my grief.”  But Isra’el renamed him “Binyamin,” meaning, “son of the right hand, son of the south.”  So they buried Isra’el’s beloved Rachel there on the way, which is the way to Beit-Lechem.  Sadly, we also read of the death of father Yitz’chak in 35:28, 29.  The “son of laughter” had lived to be 180 years old, and then the Torah informs us that his two sons, ‘Esav and Ya’akov buried him.  The parashah concludes in chapter 36 with a genealogical listing of the offspring of ‘Esav and (presumably) his death.   The lessons for us today are clear: Isra’el must become the “Isra’el of God,” in order to become the nation that she is, by covenant, ordained to be!  She must cease to be Ya’akov and become Isra’el!  She has, in the past, run from her oppressors, run from responsibility and under the power of her own selfish intentions.  She has been clever and in many cases, out-witted her would-be greedy “uncles.”  Having set her tents up in many a foreign country over the course of history, she was used for the obvious blessing that supernaturally and graciously rested upon her, until she outlived her usefulness.  At this time, she took to flight again—running into the arms of country after country—running from herself.  She has wrestled with the angel of the LORD and seemingly prevailed.  Yet, she still struggles with her own emptiness and lack of genuine “shalom.”   She will wrestle with the messenger of ADONAI, until HaShem decrees that she can no longer avoid him!  One day (and may it come soon) she will again face the messenger of ADONAI, and finally surrender her fight.  Just like her patriarchal counter part, she will inquire about his name.  Only this time, his response will not be,   “Why are you asking about my name?” (32:30)   But rather he will respond as he did to Sha’ul (Acts 9:5) on the road to Dammesek,   “I am Yeshua!”   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Ephraim and Rimona Frank, Hebrew Insights into Parashat Va'yishlach, First-Born.com (http://www.1st-born.com/vayishlach.php), as of December 12, 2005

PDF 09ParashahVayeshev *Updated: December 15, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   Welcome to Parashat Vayeshev.  By now it should be rather obvious to those of you who have been following this series, that the Torah is a living, “breathing” piece of literature spanning the lives and deaths of men, families, tribes, and even whole nations.  If you have just joined in, I want to bring to your attention that the Torah is a supernatural, carefully planned-out document, designed to instruct and prepare its readers in every facet of their being.  As we can observe by reading it ourselves, some of the many ways it chooses to present itself is by means of narrative, poetic, historic, prophetic, and legal structures to name a few.  I encourage and challenge you to read God’s Torah for yourself.   This week, we quickly switch our focus from that of our latest familiar character, Ya’akov, to the life and times of one of his youngest and most famous sons, Yosef (Joseph).  I hope that by this point you have begun to appreciate the fast-paced, highly adventurous story line that our Heavenly Abba has provided for us in the book of B’resheet (Genesis).  He could have just as easily skipped many of the exciting details that surround these “heroes of faith” and simply administered to us the “meat” of what is pertinent to us; the parts that help to conform us into the image of his righteousness.  Not that any part of HaShem’s Torah should be thought of as trivial, for every part of it has been designed to help us to accomplish this task.  Yet, I sincerely feel that when he had Moshe “write” the Torah, he made provision for the specific human emotions created within us that desire to “participate” in some way with the intrigue, suspense, excitement, love, and betrayal that we read about in the Torah.  After all, we are no strangers to most of these elements, as many of them mark our everyday lives here on earth.  In other words, I really believe that he wants us to intimately identify with the lives of the people we read about; he wants us to look at their lives and be able to see within them, our own lives.   Parashat Vayeshev is no exception to the above said statements.  This part of the Torah is far from slow moving!  It, like so many other chapters of the Bible, has its moments when the narrative slows down just enough so that we don’t miss the highlighted details, but it is never stagnant!  One “adventure” gives way into another, and so the plan of HaShem moves on unhindered.  The Torah demonstrates for us that there was never an instance in the history of man, that the plans of HaShem have been thwarted, for even a single moment—not by man, not by demon, not by devil—not by any other created thing!  HaShem has not abandoned his interest, nor has he ever lost control of the activities and goings on of this creation of his.  Everything is predetermined to fulfill its created function, to the Glory and Praise of our Almighty God.   It is with this introduction that I want to quickly move through the details of the story of Yosef, stopping only long enough to glean what I feel the Torah is primarily trying to get us to learn.  For, as we shall quickly find out, this particular man’s life bears a rather striking resemblance to another, more significant son of Ya’akov, in that Yosef’s is a “type” and “shadow” of the man known as Yeshua.   “Introducing Yosef (Joseph)…”   Yosef was a young man of good character.  I believe that he was a quiet, simple young man, with the kind of qualities that every parent wants their child to possess: honesty, integrity, loyalty, kind to those around him, gentle, and just the right amount of naivete and curiosity that allowed him to be teachable.  Our story line gives us the details surrounding his early adventures with his other eleven, mostly older brothers, and how his position with them quickly degenerated to a state of jealousy and resentment on their part.   We know from our Sunday-school lessons that Yosef was the recipient of a colorful, long-sleeved coat, presented to him by his aging father Ya’akov.  What we might not have known is that this type of garment most likely signified his father’s choice of tribal leader, once he himself passed away.[1]  Surely this went against the cultural norm of his day.  For usually the eldest son was guaranteed this coveted position among his family.  But in his old age, Ya’akov favored his son Yosef.  Moreover, I believe Ya’akov was able to see the anointing that rested on his son, as well as the potential for becoming a great leader some day.  This might explain why in chapter 37, when we read about Yosef’s God-given dreams of prominence among his other family members, rather than scold him severely for his boy-hood “fantasies,” his father decidedly “keeps the matters in his mind” (verse 11).  Also, Ya’akov sent his son Yosef to bring back a report of his brothers’ activities in verse 14.  This demonstrated that the father trusted his son and sensed in him, the above-mentioned potential.   Yosef and Yeshua   Yosef is a picture of the Messiah Yeshua.  Yosef was the favored son of the father, amidst all the other sons.  Spiritually speaking, our Heavenly Father has many sons, yet he has only one “beloved” Son.  It is in this beloved Son that he sees the potential to become the preeminent one among his other brethren, the chosen leader.  And so, it is in this Son that he bestowed the “long-sleeved, colored garment” of tribal leadership.   Yosef runs into trouble when he encounters the brunt of his brothers’ jealousy and resentment.  They spot him as he approaches to check up on them, and they quickly plot to do him harm.  They mocked him all the more and decided that enough was enough—It was time, they thought, to rid themselves of this “dreamer!”  Initially intending to kill him, they stripped him of his garments and instead, tossed him into an empty well, until it was decided what to do with him.  Strangely, the Torah is silent as to any type of retaliation or struggle on the part of Yosef.  Why didn’t he put up a fight?  Was he a helpless weakling?  In an act of nobility, Re’uven intercedes on Yosef’s behalf, and they decide not to kill him, but rather to render him “powerless,” so as to be unable to return with a report to his father.  Actually, the Torah states that they really wanted to kill him then and there, yet Re’uven’s sensibility enabled them to see the folly in that plan, and instead offered them a solution that might simply teach the boy a lesson, while sparing the shedding of blood also.   In the life of Yeshua, his brothers (the Judeans) also discerned that a supernatural favor rested on him from his (self-proclaimed) Father.  They quickly became jealous and began to resent him as well.  They began to tire of hearing about his “dreams” of preeminence and servitude, and they decidedly plotted to kill him, thereby silencing his ability to bring any type or report about them to this Father of his.  But Yeshua, being humble and obedient to the Father’s command, just like Yosef, became “naïve” and allowed them to strip him of his garments and hand him over to strangers.  He experienced the same sibling mockery that Yosef did—indeed much worse—yet he, like Yosef, did not retaliate.   So, this time at Y’hudah’s suggestion, Yosef’s brothers sell him to a bunch of desert merchants, who are on their way to Egypt.  In this way, they indeed do spare his life.  However, when Yeshua’s brothers handed him over to the strangers, his life was not spared, but instead, he was sentenced to die.  Yosef’s life was spared, but his brothers still wanted their father to believe that he did indeed die.  So they dipped his coat in blood and concocted a lie about a wild animal devouring him, with only his coat surviving the demise.  Because this report of theirs was the only one that Ya’akov had, the Torah teaches that Yosef “figuratively” died.  To be sure, to Ya’akov, his son was indeed dead.  Only Yosef’s garment testified on his behalf, the suffering and shame that he experienced at the hands of his tormentors.  One day, Yeshua’s bloody garment, which was stripped from him as well, will also testify of the shame and suffering that he experienced at the hands of his tormentors.  Let’s read Revelation 19:13:   “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God.”   A Father’s Grief   When the report got back to Yosef’s father that his son had “suffered harm,” Ya’akov rent his garments, that is, he ripped his clothing in two, and he went into intense mourning for his favored son.  Likewise, in the New Covenant we read of a rather odd occurrence surrounding the death of Yeshua.  Matthew records for us that the Temple curtain, separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, was ripped in two, from the top to the bottom (27:50).  You’ve heard it taught that this symbolized the access that we as believers in Yeshua now have to the “Throne of God,” which the Mercy Seat, kept in the Most Holy Place, represented.  This is true spiritually, but I want to make a “drash” (homily) and a “remez” (hint) from this occurrence as well.   In the days of the TaNaKH, whenever a father lost a beloved son, he would rip his garment to signify his intense loss.  His rending of his garment visually testified of the agony and “ripping” of his soul, as he would never experience earthly fellowship with this beloved son again (see 2 Samuel 13:30, 31 for King David’s reaction at the news of the death of his son Absalom).  Today, in modern Judaism, at the loss of a beloved family member, the immediate family (father) is known to cut a small portion of their lapel, symbolic of ripping the entire garment.  I believe that the Temple curtain represented the “garment” of HaShem.  When his beloved Son “died,” he wanted to send a clear and unmistakable signal to all that witnessed that this was indeed his beloved Son!  So, like Ya’akov of our current parashah, he “ripped” his garment to show his intense suffering at the loss of this Son of his.  I imaging when Ya’akov’s brothers witnessed the display of sorrow in their father, they must have felt some guilt and shame in their (hidden) dishonesty and lack of family justice.  Moreover, when Yeshua’s tormentors witnessed the Temple curtain rent into two pieces, they must’ve also felt shame and remorse because of their recent dishonest activities.  Someone of that first century community must’ve seen the correlation between these two familiar acts of mourning; I trust that today, you now see it as well.   Y’hudah “Teaser”   At this point, the Torah makes a seemingly odd turn, and relates to the readers some activities surrounding the life of Y’hudah and his offspring in chapter 38, before switching back to the life of Yosef in chapter 39.  It might seem odd at first, until we realize that one of the main features of the story of the life of Yosef centers on divine selection, despite human frailty and position.  Yosef was the chosen of the Holy One.  The divine anointing rested upon him, in spite of the fact that he was young, seemingly unimportant, and ill-fated more than once in his life.  Likewise, the man Y’hudah, would someday receive the preeminent blessing in B'resheet 49:8-12, as well as being the forefather of the tribe from which HaShem chose to bring his Son Yeshua into the world (Revelation 5:5).  Y’hudah made some pretty serious mistakes in chapter 38, in dealing with his family, but this doesn’t discount him from becoming the covenant player that HaShem has preordained him to become.  To be sure, as we read further into the life of Yosef, we will find Y’hudah emerges as a true leader among his brothers.   Yosef Goes to Egypt   Yosef is eventually sold to a prominent officer of the Pharaoh’s guards, to a man named Potifar.  Potifar also recognizes the anointing that rests with this man Yosef, and decides to place him in charge of his entire household, including all of his treasured possessions.  It is here in Potifar’s house that Yosef once again suffers at the fate of jealousy and deceit.  Potifar’s wife, knowing that her husband works away from the house during the day, tries lustfully to get Yosef to sleep with her.  But, being the man of integrity that Yosef is, he refuses.  She continues this proposition day after day, until she can no longer control her lustful passions.  In a fit of misguided emotion and desperation, she lunges out to him and grabs him by his robe, demanding him to sleep with her.  This time Yosef wastes no time in trying to convince her with conversation.  Instead, he immediately turns and flees from Potifar’s house, leaving his robe in the hands of his would-be adulteress.  His honesty and moral fortitude lands him in prison, as she lies about the incident to her husband when he returns home.   Here again it seems as if HaShem has either chosen the wrong man for the anointing, or he doesn’t seem to be interested in Yosef’s everyday affairs.  But nothing could be further from the truth!  Yosef’s activities in chapter 39 conclude with the comforting assurance that ADONAI was with Yosef (vs. 21), and that ADONAI was prospering him, despite the seeming contradictory circumstances (vs. 23).  The parashah concludes in chapter 40 with the familiar story of Yosef in prison, interpreting the dreams of both the chief baker and chief cupbearer of the Pharaoh.  As it was, they both also had landed in prison, and HaShem was preparing to bring Yosef into the presence of the ruler of Egypt himself.  We will later find out that HaShem used this event to prepare the Pharaoh to consider Yosef’s anointing also.   Conclusion   The lessons today should be obvious: HaShem masterfully orchestrated every single event of Yosef’s life, bringing him into a position where he would be the key player in the provision and leadership of the young tribe of Isra’el.  It was necessary to allow Yosef to experience the pain and suffering at the hands of his brothers, in order that the ultimate plan of HaShem, a plan that promised blessing and inheritance, might come to pass!  So it was this way also for our own Savior Yeshua.  He had to suffer shame and humiliation at the hands of his own flesh and blood, in order that the Will of the Almighty would be fulfilled.  The life of Yeshua was “sacrificed” so that the lives of his brothers might be saved!  We shall see also that the life of Yosef was “sacrificed” so that the lives of his brothers might be saved!   "To be sure, in the case of both Yosef and Yeshua, their immediate families weren’t the only ones who would benefit from the sacrifice.  The entire land of Egypt, and surrounding communities, were about to witness the provision of Almighty God, as he worked through the obedience of Yosef, a humble, anointed son of Isra’el….   "Likewise, the entire world this time has witnessed (and shall witness again soon) the provision of Almighty God, as he worked through the obedience of Yeshua, his humble, anointed, ONLY-BEGOTTEN Son...."   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Compare to the passage in 2 Samuel 13:18, “And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.”

PDF 10ParashahMikketz *Updated: December 15, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “At the end of two years, Pharaoh had a dream.”  This is how Parashat Mikketz begins, with the dreams of the highest ruler of Egypt.  The title mikketz means “at the end.”  Dreams play a significant part in the life of our main character Yosef (Joseph).  It was his dreams and boyhood naivete that landed him in a dried up well, at the hands of his angry brothers.  Moreover, HaShem also enabled him to interpret the dreams of both the chief baker and chief cupbearer, while imprisoned in Egypt.  Accordingly, as we begin this week’s portion, we now find another dream being examined in Scripture and our man Yosef is about to get caught up right in the middle of these circumstances as well.   This week’s haftarah has a significant tie-in to the weekly Torah portion, in that Melekh Shlomo (King Solomon) begins his rule over his father Dah-vid’s kingdom with a dream from HaShem (read 1 Kings 3:15-4:1).  In our parashah, we are beginning to understand that HaShem is masterfully guiding Yosef into just the right circumstances that will enable him to be a conduit of the wisdom and providence of God.  To be sure, everything up to this point has been precisely planned and orchestrated by HaShem.  What does that tell us as believers today?  When it seems as if nothing can go right—then nothing could be further from the truth!  Let’s look at some words of assurance in Romans 8:28-39.  Because every detail of this wonderful promise is pertinent to our study, I want to quote it at length:   “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.  And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.  What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?  Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   Based on the context of these verses, there really shouldn’t be any doubt as to the reasons why HaShem is orchestrating our circumstances.  His Son paid a heavy price for our freedom, and consequently, the Father is seeing to it that we develop properly as righteous sons and daughters, conformed into his image.  It is in this way that his love is demonstrated for us: by becoming his chosen vessels; in a similar way, since Yosef was singled out as HaShem’s chosen vessel, his circumstances were being orchestrated also.   God Works in Mysterious Ways   Practically one might ask, “Why did HaShem choose to reveal himself to an ungodly ruler such as Pharaoh?”  I can’t be dogmatic about my answer, for the Torah is silent in the immediate portion, except to say that God wanted Pharaoh to be assured that the matter was fixed (41:32).  However, I do believe that the Torah hints at additional possibilities as to why.  We know from further reading that this encounter with Yosef and his God leaves the Pharaoh absolutely convinced that HaShem has indeed anointed Yosef (41:37-41).  To be sure, the position that Yosef was placed in was no small matter!  So why give the dream to Pharaoh?  By demonstrating to him personally, the awesome power and wisdom that exclusively lies in his hands, I believe HaShem was giving the Pharaoh and all of Egypt a chance to share in the blessings and provision that belong to those who name the name of the One True God of Heaven.   To strengthen my assumption, we read in Psalms 7:8-10 that HaShem the Righteous judge dispenses his Judgment according to the individual’s righteousness.  Likewise, he not only establishes these righteous individuals, but he also brings to destruction, the wicked ones.  The passage goes on to say that HaShem tests “hearts and minds” (verse 9b).  Since we know that our own righteousness is but filth before our Holy God, we must be found righteous by his provision alone, and by his standards.  Pharaoh was an unrighteous ruler, in that, previously, he did not recognize the One True God.  History tells us that Egypt had many gods, of which the Nile River was a primary one.  His dream takes place on the banks of the Nile.   If HaShem was able to demonstrate his mercy by sending an ungodly ruler a dream that could only be interpreted by a righteous individual—a ruler whom, according to the Torah, did not seek HaShem first, but instead sought the advice of magicians and false diviners—how much more is he willing to reveal himself to those who are genuinely seeking after him?  Here's my point: HaShem was also choosing to bless the land of Egypt in correlation to the Pharaoh’s decision to recognize that it was indeed the Spirit of HaShem who endowed Yosef with the supernatural ability to interpret dreams.  Most assuredly, the land of Egypt enjoyed the blessing and provision of HaShem once Pharaoh promoted Yosef to his position of leadership.  You could say that Pharaoh believed in HaShem because of Yosef.  After all, our God is not willing that any should perish….   This application also helps to explain why HaShem used the very next Pharaoh to also demonstrate his (God’s) nature.  This time, as I’m getting ahead of myself, the Pharaoh did not choose to recognize HaShem, so our God decided to use him for a vessel to demonstrate his power in Judgment rather than blessing (read Exodus 1:8-10; 5:1, 2; Romans 9:14-24).   The Unfolding of God’s Plan   So the activities of Yosef continued to reflect the wisdom and anointing of HaShem.  His subsequent dealings with his brothers as they come to him to buy supplies during the expected famine years, demonstrates that even the lives of his brothers all revolve around a central purpose: to reveal the providence of the Almighty God, amidst apparent difficulties, and to demonstrate the heart of God as he lovingly cares for even those who seemingly don’t deserve his provision.  In the case of his brothers, HaShem was bringing them to the place where they would eventually have to come to the conclusion that Yosef was the anointed one among them.  They would also come to realize that he was actually singled out to facilitate God’s blessings and provision unto the rest of the family, despite his (seeming) position of least importance.   As the events are played out in the lives of this family from the land of Kena’an, collectively they begin to reflect upon the consequences of their less than moral actions.  One by one, we see the brothers begin to realize this truth.  We first see it in the eldest son Re’uven, as he recalls the mistake in wrongfully treating Yosef at the well (42:22).  I’m sure Shim’on also had plenty of time to contemplate their injustice also, as, Yosef decided to imprison him until they returned to Egypt with the youngest son.  Finally, once they reach home, Y’hudah steps to the forefront to assure his father Isra’el that no harm would befall the young lad Binyamin, but that he would indeed see him face to face again.   Trusting HaShem   As I mentioned in last week’s parashah, Y’hudah would later play an important role in helping to bring about the promises of HaShem, as the forefather of the tribe that would bear his name.  This same tribe would give birth to the Messiah Yeshua.  We begin to see Y’hudah take the responsibility and boldness that would earn him the preeminent blessing in B’resheet 49:8-12.  There must have been some amount of supernatural persuasion on the part of Y’hudah, for at last Isra’el agrees to go along with the plan.   When the brothers return to Yosef with Binyamin, Yosef treats them all to an afternoon meal.  It is here that he once again demonstrates his knowledge of the unknowable by seating them according to age, from firstborn to youngest.  I believe by this time Yosef was beginning to comprehend the sovereignty of HaShem for himself, as the past events and dreams of his life are beginning to make some sense.  Here were his brothers, seated before him, awaiting his command to either provide for them or destroy them.  Truly God was a God of mercy and wisdom, for only HaShem, Yosef might have contemplated, could have orchestrated the fantastic order of events thus far.   This has immediate implications for us today.  We have but to place our trust in his invisible hand and watch him bring about the events and circumstances in our lives that are designed to result in blessing and provision.  This is a call to action, as the Torah teaches,   “Trust in ADONAI with all of your heart; do not rely on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him; then he will level your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:5, 6)   Surely, once we witness with our own eyes, the sovereignty of our LORD, we will praise him all the more.  We should begin to actively pursue acknowledging him for his promises of blessing and provision.  But let us not forget that he is worthy of our praise, not merely for what he can do, but for who he is—in spite of what he has done!  To be sure, this is the attitude of the character in our haftarah also.  As he was nearing the conclusion of his long-lived and adventurous life, Melekh Shlomo advised all that would later read his wise sayings to “fear God and keep his mitzvot (commandments).”  Shlomo was a man who, shall we say, “experienced it all,” and yet his final contemplation was to fear HaShem.   Concluding Application   Today, we may not directly experience the type of betrayal and rejection that Yosef did, or we may not have the many life experiences that Shlomo did either, but we do have a Great High Priest that did suffer ultimate rejection from his brothers.  To be sure, he was also a king, yet he provided for us the ultimate example of one anointed of God.  Yeshua and Yosef are both examples of what HaShem can accomplish when a seemingly insignificant individual is singled out to be the recipient of the supernatural wisdom of the Spirit of the Holy One.  Both men were treated unfairly, and yet both men remained humble in the face of adversity.  Melekh Shlomo wasn’t necessarily mistreated, but instead acted as a repository for the wisdom of HaShem, and yet, he made more than his fair share of mistakes.  Yet HaShem did not reject him as his chosen.   Yes, the Torah is a document filled with the lives of imperfect men, trusting in the providence and grace of a perfect God.  Yosef once again allows his brothers to make for Kena’an with provisions for their family, but this time, unknown to his brothers, he manipulates a plan to further develop their character.  Acting, I believe, under the guidance of HaShem, he singles out Binyamin and places his personal goblet in his pack.  Upon learning of the turn of events, the brothers are speechless.  This was the moment that Yosef was waiting for, the moment when his brothers finally had come to the place of total desperation, a place of utter helplessness.  HaShem had cornered them, Yosef realized, and there was nowhere else to hide.   This is the place where an individual needs to find himself, in order to accept the provision and blessing that HaShem has in store for him.  By reaching the end of their rope, so to say, they are faced with the opportunity to fall on the mercy and grace of the One that they figured would be of no significant place in their lives.  Someday, according to the book of Zechariah chapter 12, this is the place that the Nation of Isra’el will ultimately have to come to as well, as they face the brother that they forsook almost 2000 years ago.   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com

PDF 11ParashahVayigash *Updated:  December 16, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   This week’s parashah contains a very significant “remez” (hint) about the current situation facing the Nation of Isra’el today, plus the haftarah portion itself conveys a very important message that is pertinent to both the Jewish People and the Church.  Accordingly, we shall examine both of the passages during this commentary.   Up to this point, Yosef (Joseph) had remained unknown to his brothers.  The Spirit of the Holy One was guiding him as he put his brothers through various tests of integrity and humility.  Although at times it seemed rather cruel to treat them with such harshness, in fact, this was the crucible that would serve to break them down. They needed to learn a very valuable lesson, one that would transform them into the God-ordained family that they needed to be.  To be sure, if Yosef’s brothers failed to learn how to put off hate, jealousy, bitter-ness, and resentment, countless more unnecessary suffering might have taken place, and their father Isra’el would have gone to his grave with a grieving soul.   Yosef has orchestrated a scenario by which the brothers have reached a position of “checkmate” so to say: if they allow the “guilty” Binyamin to remain with Yosef, their father will surely die; if they attempt to defy Yosef by taking Binyamin back to their father, they all might die.  Whether or not Yosef, the brothers or Binyamin realized it, HaShem had cornered them and now a reckoning must take place!  The guilty brothers must come to grips with the sibling they abandoned long ago.   Understanding the Dispute of the Brothers Joseph the Idealist   It is possible to approach the dispute between Joseph and his brothers from a number of different angles. It is possible to see Joseph is an idealist, dreaming dreams of redemption and salvation, as the Sages teach, “Come and see: All that befell Joseph befell Zion as well... It is written concerning Joseph, ‘And Joseph had a dream’ (Genesis 37:5), and it is written concerning Zion, ‘When God will return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers’” (Psalm 126). Joseph dreamed, for he had great ideals. True, he brings a bad report to his father concerning his brothers, but this is only because he makes such great behavioral demands of them; he feels that they are capable of more. Because of the weighty implications involved he sees no other course than informing his father, Jacob, concerning the behavior of his brothers. The brothers, on the other hand, take a different approach - they are more realistic, more pragmatic.   It is possible to view this conflict in light of our present-day situation - for, are we not, after all, the great grand children of the forefathers? And just as Joseph was despised for being a dreamer who longed for the redemption, so too today hatred is often fostered towards those who yearn for the redemption of Israel. They go misunderstood and are often accused of dragging the nation into imminent danger or self-destruction. People believe that these dreamers want the unattainable, and the hatred is at times so great that, “They could not say a peaceful word to him” (Genesis 37:4).   It is told, in the name of the Vilna Gaon, that all those who exert themselves settling the Land of Israel, reestablishing the Holy City of Jerusalem, and advancing the redemption - those who strive to secure Jewish control over the Land of Israel, possess something of “Mashiach ben Yoseph,” the Messiah from the line of Joseph. They continue in the spirit of Joseph, and they - like Joseph - go misunderstood. The true validity of their approach goes unrecognized, as it is written, “Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him” (ibid. 42:8).   Joseph possesses a great and deep vision, and others do not succeed in understanding him. If only they were willing to recognize Joseph’s leadership, says the Vilna Gaon, redemption would come immediately.   The Sages of the Talmud teach us: “Joseph, for sanctifying God’s name in a hidden, private manner, was rewarded by having a letter from God’s name (the Tetragrammaton - YHVH) added to his own.” The Hebrew Yoseph later became Y’hoseph, an additional ‘Heh,’ or ‘h’ being added - taken, as it were - from God’s own name (cf. Ps. 81:5 has Y’hoseph in the original Hebrew).  “Judah,” the Talmud continues, “for sanctifying the name of God openly, publicly, merited receiving a name that was made up entirely of the letters of God’s name.” The Hebrew Yehudah contains, albeit rearranged somewhat, all of the letters of God’s name. The above appears to be in keeping with what we have been saying up till now. Joseph is an introspective type. He possesses inner spiritual might. He is not afraid to go out and gather followers because he possesses unseen inner strengths.  Judah, on the other hand, sanctifies God’s name openly, this is the appearance of the Kingdom of Israel.   Joseph opens up channels - “gets the ball rolling,” so to speak; such is the nature of “Mashiach ben Yoseph.” “Mashiach ben David,” The Messiah of the house of David, comes along and completes the work. There are those who possess the might, the courage and the bravery to initiate; yet they don’t possess the qualities needed to finish the job - this is not their strong point. Such is the nature of Joseph. Judah, on the other hand, represents culmination, completion. These, in essence, are the roots of two distinct approaches that afterwards appear and reappear throughout Jewish history. We are called upon, each one of us, to approach the sons of Jacob, the fathers of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, with an appreciation for their true greatness, and in so doing, to learn whatever possible from the significant courses that they followed.[1]   Y’hudah’s Entreaty   As I mentioned at the onset of the story of the life of Yosef, his life was designed by HaShem to mirror that of a more famous son of Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya’akov, and Isra’el, namely, Yeshua.  Yeshua was the only, unique Son of God, in that Yeshua was not merely one of God’s sons; he IS God veiled in flesh!  Yet, we learn that when HaShem took on humanity, he became humbled and obedient to death, even death at the hands of an angry mob.  This mob consisted of his brothers according to the flesh—the Judeans—as well as Roman tormentors.   Yosef was rejected by his brothers because of the anointing that rested upon him, and because he visibly enjoyed the favor of his father.  In a midrashic (homiletic) kind of way, Yeshua was also rejected by his brethren—the corporate Jewish Nation, because of the anointing that rested upon him, and because the Father favored him.  But the same Father that masterfully planed every facet of Yosef’s life is the same Father that led Yeshua to the execution stake.  It was not an accident that Yeshua was delivered into the hands of death, and it was no accident that Yosef was either. Thus, it is now becoming apparent that, for the brothers, there is no escaping the destiny that belongs to them.  With this realization at hand, Y’hudah now steps to the forefront.   Y’hudah has emerged as the leader of the brothers, and is now prepared to disclose the heart of the matter: family unity and survival is at stake.  He explains to Yosef that the actions of his fellow brothers has caused this great calamity, and that at all costs, the life of their father must be preserved.  Speaking for the group, Y’hudah confesses their guilt, brought on by the internal knowledge that it was they who sold Yosef into slavery, causing their father’s heart and soul to weaken, but compounded by the fact that they were also guilty of getting Binyamin involved in all of this mess.  In desperation and humility, but delivered with heartfelt honesty, Y’hudah begs to Yosef for mercy, for the sake of their father.   The speech of Y’hudah in chapter 44:18-34 reflects the heart of a man who has realized that without complete and utter selflessness, love cannot accomplish its goal.  Speaking corporately, he has come to the point where he realizes that one life cannot be preserved without the sacrificing of another.  Indeed, it was Y’hudah who promised to his father that if he did not return with Binyamin, that he himself would remain eternally in debt to his father (44:32).  It was also Y’hudah who decided before Yosef to become the substitute for his younger brother (44:33).  He was willing to become guilty so that life might be preserved—his brother Binyamin, his remaining guilty brothers’ lives, and the life of his father.   Therefore, in this parashah, we have a double portrayal of the Messiah Yeshua.  Yosef has already been shown to be a shadow of the Messiah to come, in the pain and suffering of rejection that he experienced, while Y’hudah reflects the dual roles of servant and substitute that Yeshua became for his guilty brothers.  Y’hudah was willing to forsake his own life, for the lives of his family members; Yeshua our Messiah laid down his own life so that his family might have life in return!  Of course the comparison of Y’hudah to Yeshua is rather inadequate, in that, the sacrifice of Yeshua affected the whole world, rather than just one family.   “Messiah” Revealed   The opening few verses of chapter 45 are some of the most tender and significant verses in the Torah.  Having portrayed the life of an exiled and abandoned brother, this family reunion will only be excelled by the greatest family reunion in the history of mankind—the reuniting of Yeshua and his immediate family, the Jewish People.  Let’s examine the similarities below.   In our Torah portion, Yosef instructs everyone except he and his brothers to leave the room.  In this suspenseful moment between immediate family members, he discloses his true identity to them,   “I am Yosef!”   But, astounded and speechless at the impossible, his brothers could not answer him.  The moment is surely heart rendering and moving, and Yosef doesn’t want them to risk misunderstanding him anymore.  He bids them to gather closer to him, closer to his heart, as he whispers ever so gently,   “I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.”   I believe that you could have heard a pin drop in the room that day, as his brothers’ eyes were opened to the truth.  Their brother—the one whom they wronged, whom they forsook because of his silly predictions of leadership, the one considered by them as least significant, the one beloved of their father—was now standing before them alive, and proclaiming to forgive them!  It is significant for us to realize the power and magnitude of love and clarity of soul that true forgiveness and restitution carries with them.   As it was for Yosef and his brothers that moment, so it will be for Yeshua and his brothers that day as he draws them close and speaks to them tenderly,   “I am Yeshua!”   At first, it may also seem incredible to them as well, but, as his brothers learn of his true identity, that he was not merely some insignificant carpenter from Natzeret or just another good rabbi, that he was not speaking under his own influence when he told them of the power in becoming a servant, that it was the Will of the Father that allowed them to do him injustice—that he had been placed in a position of suffering and leadership to preserve their very lives—then they will also finally and corporately become reconciled to their long-lost brother!   Consider what the Torah has to say in the prophetic book of Ezekiel,   “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.  Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.” (20:35, 36, KJV)   Also note the theme of this passage from Zechariah,   “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (12:10, KJV)   In these particular passages, HaShem is speaking about a time when corporately the Nation of Isra’el must contend with the LORD in truth!  Is Yeshua the Messiah?  And if so, is HaShem the one who sent him to preserve their very lives 2000 years ago?  Is this the very same brother that we rejected, standing before us today?  The pleading that the Torah mentions is the same pleading that both the Father and the Son proclaim as an “echad,” as a unity, the very same pleading that is taking place this very day,   “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, KJV)   Personal Application   The lessons for us today are clear: carrying the burden of guilt and shame are unbearable.  Sin is a yoke that is too heavy for us to carry.  Similarly, running from the Truth of HaShem’s anointed One will consistently wear us down and eventually lead to the point of our own destruction.  We were not created to function in this manner.  HaShem has decreed that in order to preserve life, we must place our trust in his anointed One, and allow his forgiveness to transform our hollowness into the reality of his righteousness—full measure!  Yosef’s brothers needed a supernatural change in their spiritual makeup, and the internal confession of the brothers coupled with the forgiveness of Yosef was the conduit by which the Ruach HaKodesh made that possible.  Although the Torah does not explicitly state that each one confessed and asked for Yosef’s forgiveness, it is implied in the confession of Y’hudah their spokesman.  Jumping ahead a little further into the Torah (B’resheet 50:15-21), we will find that for the brothers, like so many of us today, even though forgiveness had been granted on their behalf, they still sometimes wrestled with the concept of total and complete restitution.   Yosef’s brothers received a revelation of the plans of HaShem, brought on as the façade melted away to reveal this simple truth beneath: one was chosen from among the rest and singled out to preserve the life of all.  The Stone Edition, Artscroll TaNaKH (Mesorah Publications) has this to say about the reunion:   “When Joseph said, “I am Joseph,” God’s master plan became clear to the brothers; everything that had happened for the last twenty-two years fell into perspective.  So, too, will it be in the time to come when God will reveal Himself and announce, “I am HASHEM!”  The veil will be lifted from our eyes and we will comprehend everything that transpired throughout history (Chafetz Chaim).”   I believe that the above commentary is hinting in the right direction.  However, today, unequivocally, to understand Yeshua IS to understand HaShem!  Only by placing one’s trusting faithfulness in Yeshua can one ever hope to catch a genuine glimpse of the sweeping scope of humanity, thereby, comprehending the Will and plans of HaShem.  To know HaShem today, one must contend with the Son.  Once this surrender takes place, the blindness vanishes and a reconciling between family members—between us and our Heavenly Abba—takes place.   Yosef’s brothers now listened as he related how what they meant for evil, God had used in creating a good situation.  What have we to fear when things don’t go the way that we plan?  Why consider giving up when our friends and family forsake and seemingly abandon us?  Certainly Yosef was susceptible to these thoughts and emotions, and he had good reason to experience them, if indeed he did.  Yet, our Father has demonstrated time and time again that he is intimately interested in the well being of our lives, and that if we will earnestly trust in him, he will take care of us.   The parashah goes on to detail the events surrounding the reuniting of Isra’el to his long lost son Yosef.  Isra’el meets the Pharaoh and blesses him, further demonstrating the potential blessing that awaits those who show favor to HaShem’s chosen few.  Isra’el was also God’s anointed one.  The Pharaoh, I believe, found favor in the site of HaShem because he chose to “speak well of” both Yosef and his immediate family.  Remember, when those who are not of Avraham (symbolized by the surrounding nations) bless (speak well of) Avraham (symbolized by his offspring), then HaShem blesses them in return.  This blessing and promise of heritage as a child of Avraham (if you will remember from Parashat Lekh L’kha, B’resheet 12:3), extends to those faithful from among the nations that have joined him in righteousness (read Romans chapter 4).   Conclusions   Finally, I want to briefly examine the haftarah portion along with this Torah portion.  The address is Ezekiel 37:15-28.  Here the prophet is instructed by HaShem to tell of the future restoration of the House of Y’hudah with the House of Isra’el.  In this family reunion, HaShem promises to purge them of their filthiness and forgive their transgressions.  This renewal of the heart of the Nation will also result in HaShem replacing them back into the Land of Promise, never again to be uprooted.  Moreover, the Holy One promises to renew his covenant of shalom with them, to multiply them, to sanctify them, and to place his sanctuary among them for evermore!  “Baruch habah b’shem ADONAI!—(Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD)—namely Yeshua!”   These are 100% literal and very significant promises awaiting Am Yisra’el (the People of Isra’el) in the coming Millennial reign of their (as of yet, not corporately realized) Messiah, Yeshua!  Some biblical scholars have attempted to finesse or, even worse, spiritualize away these blessed promises, but the unchanging, literal Word of HaShem remains true, despite their erroneous views.  In fact, as the passage also promises in verses 21-25, many of the people have already begun their ‘aliyah (return) to the Land of Isra’el!  This fact alone flies in the face of the mistaken biblical teaching taught lately.  Replacement Theology cannot not thwart the eternal plans of the Holy One of Isra’el!   However, in order for Isra’el to come to the place where HaShem will deal with them as Yosef dealt with his brothers, they, like Y’hudah, must be willing to admit their guilt and shame in forsaking their brother Yeshua, and they must beg for his forgiveness.  The wonderful truth is that, not only is he willing and able to forgive them, but he has already made the necessary provision for their forgiveness!   He died and rose again to demonstrate that HaShem sent him ahead of them to insure the survival of the Land, and to preserve life!  Yes, he will prove to them, corporately and finally, that what they intended for evil, God intended for good!  May that day come soon!!   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1]Rabbi Zalman Melamed, Fathers and Sons (Yeshiva.org.il 1988), 2-5 [www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/doc/doc6/EVaygash61.doc] as of 12.16.2005

11 Vayigash (Part B) - He approached - Genesis 44:18-47:27

PDF 12ParashahVayechi *Updated:  December 16, 2005   (Note: all quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translation by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., unless otherwise noted)   Let’s begin with the opening blessing for the Torah:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you, O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   This week, we conclude our study of the book of B’resheet (Genesis) with Parashat Vayechi, he (Ya’akov/Jacob) lived.  Actually, we will read about the death of Ya’akov in this parashah; likewise, our study on Yosef will draw to a close with his death at the end of B’resheet.  During this study about the most famous son of Ya’akov, I have attempted to show how the Torah masterfully used his life to portray the life of our Messiah, Yeshua.  In no way did I intend to minimize the significance of Yeshua’s divinity by using Yosef as a type and shadow.  In fact, what I have done has been done elsewhere, using many other Scriptural characters, including a man of whom we shall quickly become familiar with in our next parashah, by the name of Moshe.   I believe that the Torah was written so that we might attain to the goal that HaShem has set forth for us, namely the righteousness that is found when we place our trusting faithfulness in his Son Yeshua.  Remember that according to a proper translation of Romans 10:4, the goal that the Torah is aiming at is (our knowledge of and placing our trust in) the Messiah!  Moreover, in defining what “sin” is, in the Hebrew word, its fullest definition is conveyed as “missing the mark.”  So as we study the pages of God’s Torah, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we are to be conformed into the image of his Son (Romans 8:28-29), which is the “righteousness of HaShem!”   The Choices We Make   The aging Isra’el (Ya’akov) is nearing his death and rightly calls for his grandsons Efrayim and M’nasheh, in order to bless them.  It is significant for us to realize that this formula, employed by Isra’el’s father Yitz’chak, was the method by which ADONAI would prophetically identify the destinies of the offspring of Avraham.  In other words, the men were operating under the divine influence of the Ruach (Spirit) when they spoke these verbal blessing onto their children.  And to be sure, as we learned in the case of Isra’el and his brother ‘Esav, the verbal blessing was a coveted thing to receive.   Keeping true to the pattern that HaShem had been displaying, the younger of the two brothers (Efrayim) received the preeminent blessing instead of his older brother. This is the third time that this has happened, the first being Yishma’el and Yitz’chak, and the second being Ya’akov’s and his brother ‘Esav.  Why does HaShem seem to confuse the issue by circumventing the older brother?  I believe that HaShem wants us to realize, as is taught elsewhere in his Torah, that he can and often does use the “weak” things of this world to confuse “that which is wise.”  In other words, we normally expect the older to be wiser and more suited to become the chosen one, yet HaShem chooses the younger ones to demonstrate his mighty power, displayed through their own weakness and (seeming) less importance.  This is also the case with the future king of Isra’el, Dah-vid.  In fact it is even more to the point with Dah-vid, for he was not the second oldest, but the youngest of all of his brothers!   So Isra’el blesses Efrayim above his brother M’nasheh, but he does include both of them in his immediate inheritance.  This can be observed in his wording to Yosef in verses 5, 6.  So we learn from these verses why Efrayim and M’nasheh from this moment on are counted with the other twelve tribes.  In fact, they are considered as half-tribes.  Isra’el also institutes a well-known formula, used to this very day whenever fathers bless their sons.  In 48:20, he predicts that future Isra’el the Nation will bless their sons, asking HaShem to make them like these two boys, in blessing and good favor.  Anyone who has attended a conventional synagogue these days knows that this is the blessing spoken specifically for this occasion.   Isra’el’s sons (here in chapter 49) are the recipients of blessings that directly involve their individual actions, but also incorporates their future inheritance and characteristics as tribes.  In essence, HaShem, through Isra’el, blesses them according to what they have done, but simultaneously, grants them grace for what they could not achieve on their own.  Comparing the above-mentioned blessing of Y’hudah with, per se, Shim’ on and Levi, we can see this.  In the case of the latter, their blessings (or lack thereof) directly point to their prior actions taken during the incident with Dinah their sister, taught in B’resheet chapter 34.  In this story, they took matters into their own hands, much to the shame of their father Isra’el (34:30, 31).  Yet in the case of the former, nothing is mentioned of his shameful actions in B’resheet chapter 38.  Still, HaShem sees fit to bless him abundantly, by promising to send forth the promised ruler from his loins.  Amazingly enough, this promise of “Shiloh,” a title/name which has no corresponding Hebrew roots or stems relating to it, has been almost universally accepted by rabbis and Christian scholars alike, as referring to the coming Messiah!  Observe the opinions of early Judaism as preserved for us in their writings (a few quotes for our study):   “Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah…until King Messiah comes.”[1]   UNTIL SHILOH COMETH; this alludes to the royal Messiah. AND UNTO HIM SHALL THE OBEDIENCE (YIKHATH) OF THE PEOPLE BE: he [the Messiah] will come and set on edge (makheth) the teeth of the nations of the world.[2]   In the Babylonian Talmud Rabbi Johanan said:   “The world was created for the sake of the Messiah, what is this Messiah’s name? The school of Rabbi Shila said ‘his name is Shiloh, for it is written; until Shiloh come.’“[3]   Judah receives much favor despite his shameful actions.  We see that the Torah remains consistent when, several centuries later, a prominent Jewish Pharisee named Sha’ul (Apostle Paul) would go on to explain that HaShem will have mercy on whomever he wills to have mercy on, and compassion on whomever he chooses to have compassion on (read Romans 9:13-16).   Obedience and disobedience… the Torah is full of blessings and curses based on our dynamic interaction with the God if Ya’akov.  I wish to take time while we are still early into the Torah to deal early on with the Scriptural topics of ‘covenant’ and ‘commandment’ (this will pave the way to better understand our upcoming studies of the Torah in Sefer Sh’mot [Book of Exodus] as a national constitution for the Nation of Isra’el).   Covenant and Commandment   In Hebraic thinking the term “covenant” is synonymous with the term “commandment.”  I am of the understanding that in the Bible these terms and concepts are interwoven in such a way as to render them inseparable.  But can my postulation be substantiated Scripturally?   In ancient suzerain treaties, if the situation changed for one party, a covenant could be amended (or renewed) to adapt to the new circumstance. But only what no longer fit would be revised; everything else remained in effect exactly as before.  When looking at the Mosaic Covenant, was there something “wrong” between the parties of the existing or previous covenants that necessitated a renewal on God’s part?  Let’s read the passage for the answer:   “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.” (Jer. 31:31-32, RSV)   Scripture goes on to describe that HaShem found fault with “them,” viz, Isra’el.  How did they “break” the first covenant? —By not keeping the commandments.  Observe:   6. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.   7. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples;   8. but it is because the Lord loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.   9. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,   10. and requites to their face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him who hates him, he will requite him to his face.   11. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day.   12. “And because you hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which he swore to your fathers to keep;   13. he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.   14. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-14, RSV)   Ariel, are you suggesting that mere commandment keeping is tantamount to covenant faithfulness?  In “Bible times” is that all it took to be found righteous in God’s sight?  Before I get labeled as a legalist, let me demonstrate God’s view of TRUE commandment keeping:   “For those who trust HaShem for the promises, the proper order for faith and obedience is set by the sequence in which the covenants were given.  In other words, faith must precede obedience.  But the kind of faith accepted by HaShem is one, which naturally flows into obedience.  True obedience never comes before faith, nor is it an addition to faith.  It is always the result of true biblical faith.  To rephrase this in terms of the covenants: the covenant of promise (Avraham) must come before the covenant of obedience (Moshe).  If we were to put Moshe first, attempting to secure those promises by obedience, we would be going against HaShem’s order.  (This, by the way, is the key to unlocking the difficult midrash used by Sha’ul in Galatians 4:21-31.)  All we could hope for would be a measure of physical protection and a knowledge of spiritual things.  But we could not receive justification or a personal relationship with the Holy One through obedience to the Torah; it all had to start with faith.  Avraham came before Moshe, but Moshe did not cancel out Avraham!  The two complemented each other—as long as they came in the proper order.”[4]   We see that “commandment breaking” was the reason that God needed to renew the covenant.  In a sense, when Isra’el walked away from the covenant—when she forsook the commandments of God—she was declaring to God that she had no interest in him and ultimately this unfaithfulness was seen as grounds for divorce.  Observe:   Isaiah 54:1-10: the faithful husband (HaShem) is seen promising the unfaithful wife (Isra’el) reconcilement unto himself after a brief period of rejection (verses 7, 8).  Why did he reject her?  Because she willfully walked out of the covenant agreement in order to pursue alien love, causing HaShem to act in accordance with his own Torah and give her a bill of divorcement (see Deut. 24:1-4).   Jeremiah 3:1-20: God is the husband and Isra’el is the wife.  Verse 1a reinforces what Moshe stated in Deuteronomy.  Verses 1b through 7 show that the unfaithful bride did not remain pure, but adulterated with another “lover,” spurning the sorrow and fury of her first husband HaShem.  In verse 8, after desiring her to return to him, HaShem hands her bill of divorcement, based on her refusal to remain a faithful bride to him alone.  In verses11-15 the faithful husband pleads with his unfaithful wife to return to him and find forgiveness but she persists in her adultery.  Thus, the unfaithful bride walked out on the marriage covenant to pursue other sexual interests, causing the faithful husband to write her a bill of divorcement.  Did HaShem wish to write her this bill?  According to Genesis he desires unity for eternity.  But hard-heartedness drove his wife to force, as it were, God’s hand of divorce upon her.  She willingly left God; he always remained faithful waiting for her return.   Covenant Status:  Earned or Freely Given?   So, is covenant status something we can earn on our own?  Is there a commandment that we can keep that will turn God’s Hand in our favor?  We affirm that there is nothing that we can do to earn covenant status.  God freely bestows covenant status upon those who surrender to his Salvation-working Power—the Spirit of Messiah Yeshua, Savior of Isra’el and of the whole world.  Some might argue that grace is all we need.  For them a Torah does not even figure into the scenario.  What shall we “Torah-keepers” say then?   Here at the end of Sefer B’resheet (the Book of Genesis) allow me to recall some words from a previous parashah:   What [made] Avraham such a great role model of faith is that, not only did he trust in the Word of HaShem, but the LORD saw into his future and predicted that his offspring would also be taught how to trust in the Almighty.  Let’s look at [Genesis] 18:17-19,   “ADONAI said, “Should I hide from Avraham what I am about to do, inasmuch as Avraham is sure to become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by him?  For I have made myself known to him, so that he will give orders to his children and to his household after him to keep the way of ADONAI and to do what is right and just, so that ADONAI may bring about for Avraham what he has promised him.” (Emphasis, mine)   This is a fantastic statement from the mouth of the One who sees every human possibility!  Would that we might have HaShem pronounce this blessing over our families today!  What must we do?  The divine tandem-like actions spoken of here must not be taken too lightly.  Firstly, God promises to be faithful to make himself known to us.  We like faithful Avraham are then enabled and subsequently covenant-bound to obey the Teachings of our Heavenly Father.  Finally, such Teachings are uniquely designed to bring about a righteous behavior in our lives, aligning our lives to be the object of God’s righteous promises!  To be sure, the syntax of the above p’sukim (verses) is hinting at that very reality (note the running continuity suggested by the connecting phrases “so that” in the quote above)!  Furthermore, we must, like faithful Avraham, trust in the LORD against all unbelievable odds, to perform in our lives, the promise that he has given us through Yeshua our Messiah!  What is that promise?   “Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!”  (Romans 8:28-30)   We usually stop at the first verse, but reading further informs us of our true identity in Messiah: righteous heirs according to trusting faithfulness, causing us to be called, as faithful Avraham was called, “righteous!”[5]   I like to imagine that grace steps in when we misunderstand the Torah as a document of legalism.  Not all who approach God approach him correctly.  Not all understand his gracious ways.  Mankind has a human tendency to pervert God’s gracious document into something it was not meant to be used for.  To be sure, the Torah cannot, in and of itself, bring to the goal, the participant and his conscience (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14; Gal. 3:21b; Hebrews 7:11, 19).  In fact, to use a “kal v’chomer argument” (light and heavy, argument from a weighty premise to a less weighty one), if actually participating in the sacrifices of ancient Isra’el could not bring about covenant membership, then surely all attempts to follow Torah today will ultimately result in failure without regeneration from the inside:   “For the Torah has in it a shadow of the good things to come, but not the actual manifestation of the originals. Therefore, it can never, by means of the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, bring to the goal those who approach the Holy Place to offer them. Otherwise, wouldn’t the offering of those sacrifices have ceased? For if the people performing the service had been cleansed once and for all, they would no longer have sins on their conscience.” (Messianic Jews [Hebrews] 10:1, 2)   Only the Spirit of the Holy One, writing the Torah on the heart and mind, can bring the participant to the intended goal of surrendering to the Mashiach. With our natural mind, we read, “do this…” and “don’t do that…” and we have a tendency to misunderstand the grace behind the words. Yeshua came to explain the gracious intent of every command, by explaining the primary thrust of the Torah in the first place: leading its reader to a genuine trusting faith in the Messiah found therein—namely himself!   Moreover, grace is needed when sin blinds our eyes to believe that covenant status is granted on the basis of ethnicity, whether natural or achieved.  Historic Isra’el of the 1st century genuinely believed that by virtue of being born Jewish they were automatically guaranteed covenant status.  What is more, from their point of view, if someone from non-Jewish stock wished to join the covenant people all he or she needed to do was convert to Judaism, hence my use of the terms “natural” and “achieved” respectively.  Natural Isra’elites—those native-born—held to the prevailing theology that Torah was given to maintain the covenant status already acquired at birth.  The “ger” (Hebrew for stranger, alien, etc.) was deemed as someone in the process of becoming a Jew via the vehicle of proselyte conversion.   Sha’ul went to great lengths to refute such teaching in his letters both to the Romans and to the Galatians.  To be sure, if we apply this hermeneutic to those letters, instead of adopting a “grace versus law” hermeneutic, the Apostle begins to make more sense theologically and historically.  I am convinced more now than ever that a foundational understanding of Paul’s writings must take into account the historical fact that 1st century Isra’el reckoned herself as right-standing before HaShem on the basis of ethnicity (read as “being Jewish”) alone! She did not feel that keeping the Torah equaled positional (forensic) righteousness; she concluded—albeit incorrectly—that keeping Torah was the vehicle that one used to maintain covenant status already achieved either at birth or by conversion.   Conclusion: Covenant Status and the Promise   In closing, we affirm with perfect faith that genuine and lasting covenant status is granted to the individual who eventually exercises genuine faith in the Promised Word of HaShem—namely, the Messiah Yeshua.  Such status is offered freely to both Jew and Gentile.  Jewish people with natural lineage tracing back to Ya’akov are in fact born with a “corporate covenant status” given freely by God and based on his promises made to Avraham.  However, this does not automatically grant them the status of right standing in a positional sense.  There is no such thing as “involuntary corporate righteousness” in the Torah of HaShem.  For the native-born Jewish person, the proper sequence for the covenants is demonstrated when such an individual “graduates” from [mere] corporate faith and belonging towards personal faith in God.  To be sure, it is only when God does his monergistic work of opening the eyes of the blind and drawing the individual into his covenant of faith that the person attains genuine and lasting covenant status—the kind of covenant status that is worthy of a place in the ‘Olam Haba (Age to Come).   What place hath the Torah in the life of such an individual?  The Torah comes alongside of the Promise (covenant status) and acts as a guarantor that the individual will also achieve behavioral righteousness, thus placing him or her on a direct collision course with the blessings of HaShem!  Far from frustrating the grace of God, Torah compliments the grace of God!  In the weeks to come I shall elaborate on this most wonderful truth as it flows from the never-changing pages of God’s Word.   It is customary after the completion of a book of the Torah to say,   “Chazak, chazak, v’nit’chazek!” (Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!)   The closing blessing is as follows:   “Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-’Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”   (Blessed are you O’ LORD, our God, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, LORD, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)   “Shabbat Shalom!”   Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman yeshua613@hotmail.com [1] Targum Pseudo-Jonathan [2] Midrash Rabbah, Genesis XCVIII. 8 [3] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b [4] Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz, Torah Rediscovered (FFOZ, 1996), p. 32-33 [5] Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy, Parashat Vayera (Tetze Torah Ministries, 2005), p. 8-9

12 Vayechi (Part B) - He lived - Genesis 47:28-50:26

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