Lech lecha – walk! Walk on your own
behalf.
Perhaps this
Torah portion is showing us that the Ruach (Spirit) of YHVH will bring again
and again those who have been called, to a place where a choice must be made to
forsake all that is familiar and choose a path that very few have the courage
to follow.
Some have chosen such a life, however even those who
have chosen to live this way may find further challenges down the road, where
they realize there is still much more that they need to be willing to forsake
and change in order to be true to their calling. Maybe to even lay down their
own lives.
Yahshua said many are called but few are chosen or few
choose. Choose what? Choose to walk as he walked.
Mar 10:29 יהושע said, “Truly,
I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children or lands, for the sake of Me and the Good
News,
Mar 10:30 who
shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age
to come, everlasting life.
We believe that this was particularly true of
Yahshua’s talmadim/disciples. They left everything to follow the Master. What
about their families? We believe Yahshua made sure they were well taken care
of. The reward spoken of in this verse may also include the time of the
millennium.
We also need to remind ourselves that of all Yahshua’
talmadim/disciples, perhaps only Yochanan died of old age – the rest of them
died for their faith.
Many who are responding to the call of the restoration to the Hebraic
roots of our faith realize that a paradigm shift is required. The magnitude of
this shift in our way of life and thinking is far greater than what most of us
have realized. Many on this journey continue to seek the safety of that which
is known; very few seem willing to abandon everything that seems safe and normal
to pursue a Messianic calling along a journey that is filled with uncertainty
risk and even danger. Those who embark on this “risky” journey are usually
willing to lose everything they have to get there. How about you?
This Messianic kingdom is like a treasure
hidden in a field …. a pearl of great price – Mat 13:44-46 – How much are we
willing to surrender in order to obtain this treasure?
Yesh/Is 40:29-31 - He gives power
to the faint, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
Isa 40:30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and
young men stumble and fall,
Isa 40:31 but those who wait on יהוה renew their
strength, they raise up the wing like eagles, they run and are not weary, they
walk and do not faint.
The Hebrew word for “wait” is “kava” and means to be
stretched while enduring the tension of waiting. Those that endure this “stretching and
tension” of waiting for the Messianic kingdom to come will know and experience
an ever increasing newness and vigor of life. This is the promise of YHVH.
The book of Yasher
from chapter 11 onwards records a very interesting history about Avram. (This
book Yasher is mentioned in Josh 10:13
and 2 Sam 1:18)
The Book of Jasher, however, as well as some other
Midrash literature, speaks about Terach (Avram’s father) being a general in
King Nimrod’s army when Avram was born. Because of an astrological omen, Nimrod
decided to kill all new born children in his kingdom, since he was afraid that
a new king had been born that would oust him from his throne. Terach gave
Nimrod a newborn child of one of his maidservants and said that it was Avram.
By this ruse, Avram was able to survive the first attack on his life and was
hidden in a cave for 13 years. This was the first of the ten great trials that
our forefather Avram was exposed to.
The second test that the Midrash literatures tell us
about was when Avram refused to worship his father Terach’s gods of wood and
stone. He also challenged King Nimrod’s idolatry and was therefore imprisoned
for 10 years and afterward thrown into a burning oven together with his brother
Haran. YHVH delivered him from the test by a miracle, but his brother was
consumed by the flames.
Because of all this Terach decided to leave Ur; in
order to have peace in the family. He had planned to travel all the way to the
land of Kana’an. He never succeeded in reaching it, but stopped halfway, in
Charan, which is in the southeast part of what is known today as Turkey.
Our Torah portion for this week – 12/12/15.
Gen 12:1 And יהוה said to Aḇram,
“Go yourself out of your land, from your relatives and from your father’s
house, to a land which I show you.
The only time we will
ever truly discover our life’s purpose and our destiny is when we agree to
“lech lecha” This means a willingness
and courage to separate yourself from everything that will separate you from
YHVH’s calling and purpose. This is the nature and heart of the Hebrew. The
word “Hebrew” comes from the Hebrew word “avar” which speaks of one who has
“crossed over”. Crossed over from Babylon or from man- made religion to embrace
the Sovereignty of YHVH and His Torah as taught to us by Moshe rabbeinu and
Yahshua the Messiah.
Stones Chumash page 55 “Though Abraham and Sarah had
many disciples, they were essentially alone; they could never blend into
whatever culture surrounded them. Abraham was called an “ivri” from the word
“avar” which essentially means “from the other side” Literally this means that
he came to Canaan from the other side of the Euphrates, but the sages interpret
the title in a deeper sense, too. He was on one side of a moral and spiritual
divide and the rest of the world was on the other. Righteous people must be
ready to endure such isolation; popularity is pleasant but it can also be a
snare, because the natural desire to win the approval of others can lead people
to bend their principles. Abraham and
Sarah were now given the challenge of moving to the other side – not only of
their native river, but of anyone who preferred not to acknowledge the
sovereignty of YHVH”
Gen 12:2 “And I
shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall
be a blessing!
The Hebrew reads “I have made you a great nation and I have
blessed you and I have made your name great” These three statements are
written in the past tense.
Gen 12:3 “And I
shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. And in you all
the clans of the earth shall be blessed.”
In Hebrew there are various words used for the verb
"to curse" they are "arar, qualal, quabab".
"Arar" means "to curse thoroughly and properly in a premeditated manner with intention of bringing about great harm"
Qualal means "to revile or vilify in a casual way, to esteem lightly, to make a contemptuous comment to slight". It is a hasty reaction.
Quabab means "to pierce or bore through with a hole, to execrate, to stab with words".
The Arabic kebab derives from "quabab" has come to be the word used to show the practice of sticking a pin into the effigy of a person to hurt him by an accident illness disaster or even death; it is a common demonic exercise.
"Arar" means "to curse thoroughly and properly in a premeditated manner with intention of bringing about great harm"
Qualal means "to revile or vilify in a casual way, to esteem lightly, to make a contemptuous comment to slight". It is a hasty reaction.
Quabab means "to pierce or bore through with a hole, to execrate, to stab with words".
The Arabic kebab derives from "quabab" has come to be the word used to show the practice of sticking a pin into the effigy of a person to hurt him by an accident illness disaster or even death; it is a common demonic exercise.
To understand best the meaning of a word, one needs to go to the first time the word was used. In the case of the word “arar” or curse, this word first appears in Gen/Ber 3:14 when YHVH cursed the serpent. This was an extremely severe curse which resulted in ha satan’s eternal separation from YHVH and with no possibility to ever repent and return.
Here in vs 3 it
tells us that YHVH will "arar"(curse) those who "qualal"
Abram.
Two different words for curse are used in this
sentence. The word “qualal” (779) is a piel verb and carries a meaning of
treating with utter contempt.
We have seen over the years how the Jewish people have
been treated with “utter contempt”
Sadly some in the Messianic restoration are too
treated with contempt. This is an extremely dangerous position to take against
someone who is identified with or seeking to be identified in covenant with the
Ekohim of Yisrael through the Moshiach according to the Torah.
Gen 12:4 So Aḇram
left, as יהוה had commanded him, and Lot went with him.
And Aḇram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Ḥaran.
Gen 12:5 And Aḇram
took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that
they had gathered, and the beings whom they had acquired in Ḥaran,
and they set out for the land of Kenaʽan.
And they came to the land of Kenaʽan.
Gen 12:6 And Aḇram
passed through the land to the place of Sheḵem, as
far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. At that time the Kenaʽanites
were in the land.
“Everything
that happened to the Patriarchs is a signpost for their children. This is why
the Torah elaborates its account of their journeys, their well-digging and the
other events [of their lives]... These all come as an instruction for the
future: for when something happens to one of the three Patriarchs, one
understands from it what is decreed to occur to his descendants.” (Nachmanides)
“Shechem” means back
or shoulder.
The Hebrew word “elyon” is used for “Terebinth”.
”Elyon” means
“supreme” and “of Moreh” means “Teacher”
This is a reference to Messiah and to those who will follow in the footsteps of
our fathers when they return to the land to meet their Messiah, who will teach
YHVH’s Torah to the nations. (Is 2:3) Note at that time the
Kenaanites were in the land – the descendants of Cham.
We take note of this
pattern because in the last days when we return to the land, it will be on “the
shoulders” of the Torah as taught by our Moshiach who will remove all
Kennaanites from the land.
Gen 12:7 And יהוה appeared to Aḇram
and said, “To your seed I give this land.” And he built there an altar to יהוה, who had appeared to him.
Gen 12:8 And from
there he moved to the mountain east of Bĕyth Ěl, and he pitched his tent, with
Bĕyth Ěl on the west and Ai on the east. And he built there an altar to יהוה, and called on the Name of יהוה.
The
Hebrew used here is “pitched her tent”. Why her tent and not his? Is this a
possible future reference to the tent of the “kehelat of Moshiach” (the bride
of Messiah)
Gen 12:9 And Aḇram
set out, continuing toward the South.
Gen 12:10 And a
scarcity of food came to be in the land, and Aḇram
went down to Mitsrayim to dwell there, for the scarcity of food was severe in
the land.
Gen 12:11 And it
came to be, when he was close to entering Mitsrayim, that he said to Sarai his
wife, “See, I know that you are a fair woman to look at.
Gen 12:12 “And it
shall be, when the Mitsrites see you, that they shall say, ‘This is his wife.’
And they shall kill me, but let you live.
Gen
12:13 “Please say you are my sister, so
that it shall be well with me for your sake, and my life be spared because of
you.”
Today we may understand this to mean that if we are
willing to lay down our lives and take upon us the execution stake of Yahshua –
blessing will come into our lives.
Luk 9:23 And He said to them all, “If anyone wishes to
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake daily, and follow
Me.
Luk 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose
it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall save it.
Luk 9:25 “For what is a man profited if he gains all
the world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Luk 9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words,
of him the Son of Aḏam shall be ashamed
when He comes in His esteem, and in His Father’s, and of the set-apart
messengers.
Luk 9:27 “But truly I say to you, there are some
standing here who shall not taste death at all till they see the reign of
Elohim:”
Luk 9:28 And it came to be, about eight days after
these words, taking with Him Kĕpha and Yoḥanan
and Yaʽaqoḇ, He went up to the
mountain to pray.
Luk 9:29 And
it came to be, as He prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His
garment dazzling white.
Luk 9:30 And
see, two men were talking with Him, who were Mosheh and Ěliyahu,1
Footnote: 1Mk. 9:4.