2/12/2016

Parashat 4 Portion 19 Ber/Gen 22:1-24 Yesh/Is 33:7-22 Matt 27:27-66

Gen 22:1  And it came to be after these events that Elohim tried Aḇraham, and said to him, “Aḇraham!” And he said,        

“Here I am.”
      Gen 22:2  And He said, “Take your son, now, your only son Yitsḥaq, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriyah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I command you.”
      Gen 22:3  And Aḇraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Yitsḥaq his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which Elohim had commanded him.
      Gen 22:4  And on the third day Aḇraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
Gen 22:5  So Aḇraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there and worship, and come back to you.”
Gen 22:6  And Aḇraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Yitsḥaq his son. And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
Gen 22:7  And Yitsḥaq spoke to Aḇraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “See, the fire and the wood! But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Gen 22:8  And Aḇraham said, “My son, Elohim does provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” And the two of them went together.
Gen 22:9  And they came to the place which Elohim had commanded him, and Aḇraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Yitsḥaq his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
Gen 22:10  And Aḇraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son,
Gen 22:11  but the Messenger of יהוה called to him from the heavens and said, “Aḇraham, Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Gen 22:12  And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor touch him. For now I know that you fear Elohim, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Gen 22:13  And Aḇraham lifted his eyes and looked and saw behind him a ram caught in a bush by its horns, and Aḇraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
Gen 22:14  And Aḇraham called the name of the place, ‘יהוה Yireh,’
 as it is said to this day, “On the mountain יהוה provides.”
Gen 22:15  And the Messenger of יהוה called to Aḇraham a second time from the heavens,
Gen 22:16  and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares יהוה, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
Gen 22:17  that I shall certainly bless you, and I shall certainly increase your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies.
Gen 22:18  “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Gen 22:19  Then Aḇraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Be’ĕrsheḇa. And Aḇraham dwelt at Be’ĕrsheḇa.
Gen 22:20  And it came to be after these events that it was reported to Aḇraham, saying, “See, Milkah too has borne children to your brother Naḥor:
Gen 22:21  “Uts his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Qemu’ĕl the father of Aram,
Gen 22:22  and Keseḏ, and Ḥazo, and Pildash, and Yiḏlaph, and Bethu’ĕl.”
Gen 22:23  And Bethu’ĕl brought forth Riḇqah. These eight Milkah bore to Naḥor, Aḇraham’s brother.
Gen 22:24  And his concubine, whose name was Re’uwmah, also bore Teḇaḥ, and Gaḥam, and Taḥash, and Maʽaḵah.

The events surrounding this parashah from the Book of Yasher:

Chp 22:41 And when Isaac was thirty-seven years old, Ishmael his brother was going about with him in the tent.
42 And Ishmael boasted of himself to Isaac, saying, I was thirteen years old when YHVH spoke to my father to circumcise us, and I did according to the word of YHVH which he spoke to my father, and I gave my soul unto YHVH, and I did not transgress his word which he commanded my father.
43 And Isaac answered Ishmael, saying, Why dost thou boast to me about this, about a little bit of thy flesh which thou didst take from thy body, concerning which YHVH commanded thee?
44 As YHVH liveth, the Elohim of my father Abraham, if YHVH should say unto my father, Take now thy son Isaac and bring him up an offering before me, I would not refrain but I would joyfully accede to it.
CHAPTER 23
1 At that time the word of YHVH came to Abraham, and he said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.
2 And he said to him, Take now thy son, thine only son whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which shall be shown to thee, for there wilt thou see a cloud and the esteem of YHVH.
3 And Abraham said within himself, How shall I separate my son Isaac from Sarah his mother, in order to bring him up for a burnt offering before YHVH?
4 And Abraham came into the tent, and he sat before Sarah his wife, and he spoke these words to her,
5 My son Isaac is grown up and he has not for some time studied the service of his Elohim, now tomorrow I will go and bring him to Shem, and Eber his son, and there he will learn the ways of YHVH, for they will teach him to know YHVH as well as to know that when he prayeth continually before YHVH, he will answer him, therefore there he will know the way of serving YHVH his Elohim.
6 And Sarah said, Thou hast spoken well, go my husband and do unto him as thou hast said, but remove him not at a great distance from me, neither let him remain there too long, for my soul is bound within his soul.
8 And Sarah took her son Isaac and he abode all that night with her, and she kissed and embraced him, and gave him instructions till morning.
9 And she said to him, O my son, how can my soul separate itself from thee? And she still kissed him and embraced him, and she gave Abraham instructions concerning him.
10 And Sarah said to Abraham, O my husband, I pray thee take heed of thy son, and place thine eyes over him, for I have no other son nor daughter but him.
11 O forsake him not. If he be hungry give him bread, and if he be thirsty give him water to drink; do not let him go on foot, neither let him sit in the sun.
12 Neither let him go by himself in the road, neither force him from whatever he may desire, but do unto him as he may say to thee.
13 And Sarah wept bitterly the whole night on account of Isaac, and she gave him instructions till morning.
14 And in the morning Sarah selected a very fine and beautiful garment from those garments which she had in the house, that Abimelech had given to her.
25 And whilst Abraham was proceeding with his son Isaac along the road, Satan came and appeared to Abraham in the figure of a very aged man, humble and of contrite spirit, and he approached Abraham and said to him, Art thou silly or brutish, that thou goest to do this thing this day to thine only son?
26 For YHVH gave thee a son in thy latter days, in thy old age, and wilt thou go and slaughter him this day because he committed no violence, and wilt thou cause the soul of thine only son to perish from the earth?
27 Dost thou not know and understand that this thing cannot be from YHVH? for YHVH cannot do unto man such evil upon earth to say to him, Go slaughter thy child.
28 And Abraham heard this and knew that it was the word of Satan who endeavored to draw him aside from the way of YHVH, but Abraham would not hearken to the voice of Satan, and Abraham rebuked him so that he went away.
58 And Abraham approached to build the altar in that place, and Abraham was weeping, and Isaac took stones and mortar until they had finished building the altar.
59 And Abraham took the wood and placed it in order upon the altar which he had built.
60 And he took his son Isaac and bound him in order to place him upon the wood which was upon the altar, to slay him for a burnt offering before the Lord.
61 And Isaac said to his father, Bind me securely and then place me upon the altar lest I should turn and move, and break loose from the force of the knife upon my flesh and thereof profane the burnt offering; and Abraham did so.
62 And Isaac still said to his father, O my father, when thou shalt have slain me and burnt me for an offering, take with thee that which shall remain of my ashes to bring to Sarah my mother, and say to her, This is the sweet smelling savor of Isaac; but do not tell her this if she should sit near a well or upon any high place, lest she should cast her soul after me and die.
69 At that time YHVH appeared unto Abraham, and called to him, from heaven, and said unto him, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him, for now I know that thou fearest YHVH in performing this act, and in not withholding thy son, thine only son, from me.
70 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a ram was caught in a thicket by his horns; that was the ram which YHVH had created in the earth in the day that he made earth and heaven.
71 For YHVH had prepared this ram from that day, to be a burnt offering instead of Isaac.
76 And Satan went to Sarah, and he appeared to her in the figure of an old man very humble and meek, and Abraham was yet engaged in the burnt offering before YHVH.
77 And he said unto her, Dost thou not know all the work that Abraham has made with thine only son this day? for he took Isaac and built an altar, and killed him, and brought him up as a sacrifice upon the altar, and Isaac cried and wept before his father, but he looked not at him, neither did he have compassion over him.

83 And Sarah laid her head upon the bosom of one of her handmaids, and she became as still as a stone.
84 She afterward rose up and went about making inquiries till she came to Hebron, and she inquired of all those whom she met walking in the road, and no one could tell her what had happened to her son.
86 And behold, Satan came to Sarah in the shape of an old man, and he came and stood before her, and he said unto her, I spoke falsely unto thee, for Abraham did not kill his son and he is not dead; and when she heard the word her joy was so exceedingly violent on account of her son, that her soul went out through joy; she died and was gathered to her people.
87 And when Abraham had finished his service he returned with his son Isaac to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and they came home.
88 And Abraham sought for Sarah, and could not find her, and he made inquiries concerning her, and they said unto him, She went as far as Hebron to seek you both where you had gone, for thus was she informed.
89 And Abraham and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly over her; and Isaac fell upon his mother's face and wept over her, and he said, O my mother, my mother, how hast thou left me, and where hast thou gone? O how, how hast thou left me!
90 And Abraham and Isaac wept greatly and all their servants wept with them on account of Sarah, and they mourned over her a great and heavy mourning.
CHAPTER 24:1 And the life of Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years, and Sarah died; and Abraham rose up from before his dead to seek a burial place to bury his wife Sarah; and he went and spoke to the children of Heth, the inhabitants of the land, saying,  I am a stranger and a sojourner with you in your land; give me a possession of a burial place in your land, that I may bury my dead from before me. End quote.

Midrash: The title of this parasha “ the Ekeidah” or “the binding” prophetically points to those who like Yitzchak willingly allowed himself to be bound and offered as an offering. This reminds us too of Messiah who also willingly allowed himself to be bound (nailed) to an execution stake.
This is the testimony of every truly born again person. They testify of a time when they too willingly allowed themselves to be bound to the will and purpose and life of Yahshua. This can only happen when YHVH our Heavenly Father revealed to us our lost state and the path of death and destruction we were following.
Joh 6:44  “No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I shall raise him up in the last day.

This “binding” to Yahshua means we identify with his death and his resurrection. When this realization first comes to us by the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Spirit of YHVH) it deeply grieves and saddens us that YHVH had to take such drastic measures to save us. We realize it required the death of YHVH’s only brought forth Son to bring us to our senses. We begin to realize that it took a death of someone very precious to rescue us from a life of death.
Yahshua not only rescued us from this life of death, he showed us a way back to His Father, where he currently resides. YHVH showed us that once we had been “bound” to Yahshua and rescued from our life of death, the Torah would become our road map back into His presence in the age to come.  Most Christians believe that Yahshua and Yahshua alone is the road map back into the presence of YHVH. Yahshua came to demonstrate that the true evidence of our salvation was the obedience to YHVH’s commandments.

1Jn 5:1  Everyone who believes that יהושע is the Messiah has been born of Elohim, and everyone who loves the One bringing forth also loves the one having been born of Him.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His commands.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands,1 and His commands are not heavy, Footnote: 1See 5:2, 2 John v. 6, John 14:15.


Many of our dear brothers and sisters in the Church proclaim and cling to only one part of YHVH’s Truth. Every Word that YHVH has spoken through His Ruach Ha Kodesh is Truth and every Word YHVH has spoken has forever been settled and established in the heavens and on earth. Many have acted foolishly in selecting for themselves what is truth and what is not truth.
Psa 119:89  Forever, O יהוה, Your word stands firm in the heavens.

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.1 I did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote: 1The Law and the Prophets is a term used for the pre-Messianic Scriptures. Mat 5:18  “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.1 Footnote: 1Lk. 16:17. Mat 5:19  “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

Act 20:27  “For I kept not back from declaring to you all the counsel of Elohim.
Act 20:28  “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Set-apart Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of Elohim which He has purchased with His own blood.
Act 20:29  “For I know this, that after my departure savage
wolves1 shall come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Footnote: 1See Mt. 7:15-23, Mt. 10:16, Lk. 10:3, John 10:12.
Act 20:30  “Also from among yourselves men shall arise, speaking distorted teachings, to draw away the taught ones after themselves.

         2 Cor 11:3  But I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived Ḥawwah by his trickery, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah. 2Co 11:4  For, indeed, if he who is coming proclaims another יהושע,1 whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different Good News which you have not accepted, you put up with it well enough! Footnote: 1Mt. 24:5 & 23-24, John 5:43.
The only way we can walk the walk and talk the talk is by following in the footsteps of Yahshua.
Gal 2:19  “For through Torah I died to Torah,1 in order to live to Elohim. Footnote: 1See Rom. 7. Gal 2:20  “I have been impaled with Messiah, and I no longer live, but Messiah lives in me.1 And that which I now live in the flesh I live by belief in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Footnote: 1Rom. 8:10, 2 Cor. 6:16, 2 Cor. 13:5, Eph. 3:17, Col. 1:27, 1 John 4:4.

The Torah has not died – Paul has died and in that death he no longer fears the condemnation which the Torah so readily provides for those outside of Messiah.
According to Tim Hegg – for Paul the death of Messiah did not present an opportunity for salvation, but actually accomplished the payment of sin. Paul is saying the old Paul is gone – he is dead – the only evidence of his old life is now to be found in the image of Messiah.
These words are so radical that few are ever significantly impacted by them.

Gal 2:21  “I do not set aside the favour of Elohim, for if righteousness is through Torah, then Messiah died for naught.”
Far from distancing himself from the Torah, Paul recognized that it was through the divine revelation of the Torah that he had come to the truth. Paul in reality is saying that he died to the misunderstood and misused Torah.
“For it was letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation …..” Sterns
The Torah without the Spirit, that is apart, from genuine saving faith, only causes a person to sin more and more.
Rom 7:9  And I was alive apart from the Torah once, but when the command came, the sin revived, and I died.
Paul is saying when he received the true revelation of the Torah – he knew he was a dead man.
Rom 7:14  For we know that the Torah is Spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the Torah of Elohim1 according to the inward man, Footnote: 1Ps. 119:16. Rom 7:23  but I see another law in my members, battling against the Torah of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom 7:24  Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Rom 7:25  Thanks to Elohim, through יהושע Messiah our Master! So then, with the mind I myself truly serve the Torah of Elohim, but with the flesh the law of sin.

The goal of the Torah is to lead us to Messiah and into the millennial age and eventually into the very presence of YHVH.
Rom 10:4  For Messiah is the goal1 of the ‘Torah unto righteousness’to everyone who believes. Footnote: 1Or end purpose; not termination.

The great danger for many Jews and Messianic believers is that they seek to find an identity in their adherence to the Torah. Whereas the real purpose of the Torah is to  bring us to the true identity of Messiah and our identification with him through his execution and resurrection.
Living out the Torah was no longer a means of covenant membership, but the result of it.
We must always remind ourselves that the Torah was given after the Abrahamic covenant of faith. We are saved by the same kind of faith Abraham was saved by. The evidence of our salvation is that we are enabled to walk in the ways of Torah. Abraham came before Torah was given to Moses.

Gal 3:13  Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us – for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree.”1 – Footnote: 1Dt. 21:23.
Gal 3:14  in order that the blessing of Aḇraham might come upon the nations in Messiah יהושע, to receive the promise of the Spirit through belief.
Gal 3:15  Brothers, as a man I say it: a covenant, even though it is man’s, yet if it is confirmed, no one sets it aside, or adds to it.
Gal 3:16  But the promises were spoken to Aḇraham, and to his Seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Messiah.
Gal 3:17  Now this I say, Torah, that came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously confirmed by Elohim in Messiah, so as to do away with the promise.
Gal 3:18  For if the inheritance is by Torah, it is no longer by promise, but Elohim gave it to Aḇraham through a promise.
Gal 3:19  Why, then, the Torah? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained through messengers in the hand of a mediator.
Gal 3:20  The Mediator, however, is not of one, but Elohim is one.
Gal 3:21  Is the Torah then against the promises of Elohim? Let it not be! For if a law had been given that was able to make alive, truly righteousness would have been by Torah.
Gal 3:22  But the Scripture has shut up all mankind under sin, that the promise by belief in יהושע Messiah might be given to those who believe.
Gal 3:23  But before belief came, we were being guarded under Torah, having been shut up for the belief being about to be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Therefore the Torah became our trainer unto Messiah, in order to be declared right by belief.
Gal 3:25  And after belief has come, we are no longer under a trainer.
Mat 8:11  “And I say to you that many shall come from east and west, and sit down with Aḇraham, and Yitsḥaq, and Yaʽaqoḇ in the reign of the heavens,
Mat 8:12  but the sons of the reign shall be cast out into outer darkness – there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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