We remind
ourselves once again that one of the important ways YHVH has chosen to reveal
His counsel to us is through the weekly
Torah portions. This has been the practice of our Hebrew brothers for
millennia.
Heb 1:1 Elohim, having of old spoken in many portions and many ways to the
fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by the
Son, whom He has appointed heir of all, through whom also He made the ages,1
Footnote: 1John 1:3.
The words “many portions” is
the Greek word “polumeros” Strongs G4181. This is the only time this word is
used in this form in the second writings (New Testament). Was the author aware
of the weekly Torah portions as he wrote this letter to a weary Messianic
Jewish community that were facing persecution and exclusion from the early
Jewish community? I believe he was.
Even the Hebrew version of this verse uses the Hebrew
word “mkadem” which implies that YHVH has spoken “in measured ways”
Heb 1:1 האלהים אשר־דבר מקדם פעמים רבות ובפנים שנים
אל־אבתינו ביד
We are reminded that Yahshua did not come to change
the ancient paths of our forefather’s, he came to give full meaning and
understanding to the ancient paths they walked, so that we could follow in their
footsteps.
Our Torah
Portion:
Gen 20:1 And Aḇraham
set out from there to the land of the South, and dwelt between Qaḏĕsh and Shur, and
stayed in Gerar.
There is possibly a subtle hint of Avraham’s
situation in the meaning of the place names mentioned in the opening verse.
The Hebrew word here for “south” is “Negev.” The
Negev is a desert. We assume Avraham found himself in a wilderness situation.
He was confronted with a life and death situation. “Qadesh” means “set apart”
and “Shur” means “wall.” We could say
Avraham found himself between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes it feels
impossible to do the right thing. What is the right thing? To do what is “set
apart” no matter what the consequences, even if it alienates you from all your
friends and you find yourself all alone. The Hebrew says “vayagar biyagar”
means “he dwelt in Gerar”. The Hebrew word “ger” can also means “stranger.”
Gen 20:2 And
Aḇraham said concerning
Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Aḇimeleḵ sovereign of Gerar
sent and took Sarah.
How can we compare the events of this parasha to a
modern day context?
Let us attempt to compare “apples with apples” imagine
you are working for a boss who has a playboy reputation. He is known to keep
several women in his mansion for his pleasure. Your boss informs you that he is
about to retrench many of his employees. To save yourself from retrenchment you
send your wife to live with him in his mansion to be used for his sexual
pleasure. You know this will save your job because you have seen your boss take
a keen interest in your wife. To make matters worse your wife is pregnant with
your miracle son you have been waiting for, for many years.
This action is utterly despicable. Yet Avraham is
called the father of our faith and a friend of YHVH forever – 2 Chron 20:7.
We are strongly reminded here once again that the
covenant we have with YHVH does not depend on our faithfulness but on His
faithfulness.
This is the second time Abraham commits the same
sin. The first time we see in Ber/Gen 12 Abraham lies to Pharaoh about his wife
and now he repeats the same lie to Abimelek. What makes this lie even more
despicable is that Sarah is possibly now pregnant with the promised son –
Yitzchak.
Herein lies a very important spiritual lesson. We
have been taught that our faithfulness brings YHVH’s favour into our lives. So
we really try to be as faithful as we can. Yet in spite of our faithfulness
things don’t always work out the way we would like. This Torah portion teaches
us that it is not so much our faithfulness that causes YHVH to act on our
behalf. It is YHVH’s favour that causes us to become faithful. In other words
we are not able to be who we were meant to be unless YHVH empowers us to be who
we were meant to be. Sadly we have all been caught in the trap that says – it
is our effort that makes the difference, when in fact it is YHVH who is working
in us in order to make the effort that makes the difference.
Php 2:12 So that, my beloved, as you always obeyed –
not only in my presence, but now much rather in my absence – work out your own
deliverance with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13 for it is Elohim who is working in you1
both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.
“Soteria” Greek word for salvation can also means
to rescue and keep safe it can be understood as temporal or eternal salvation
and it involves our active participation. The Greek word “katergazesthe” means
“making effective” for “work out” is a combination of two words which imply an
action that is done to us that produces an effect – the verb used is a passive
verb. Through our obedience with fear and trembling YHVH makes His deliverance
effective in us. Even the obedience with fear and trembling we experience is
His working (operating in us).
Gen 20:3 But
Elohim came to Aḇimeleḵ in a dream by night,
and said to him, “See, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have
taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
“Hineh met” lit means “behold you are dead” as it
appears in the past tense. This implies that you are as good as dead. To
survive he would need a”resurrection from the dead” kind of miracle. It is this
realization that causes the king to take such drastic measures in making
restitution for his action. The irony of this event is that it appears that
Abimelech seems to have more fear and trembling for YHVH than Avraham.
Gen 20:4
However, Aḇimeleḵ had not come near
her, and he said, “יהוה, would You
slay a righteous nation also?
Gen 20:5 “Did he
not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my
brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands I have
done this.”
Gen 20:6 And
Elohim said to him in a dream, “Yea, I know that you did this in the integrity
of your heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. For this reason I did
not let you touch her.
Gen 20:7 “And now,
return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and let him pray for you and you
live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall certainly die, you and
all that are yours.”
This is the first time mention is made of a prophet.
According to the law of first mention a foundational understanding is given of
what kind of person a true prophet is.
Gen 20:8 So Aḇimeleḵ rose
early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in
their hearing. And the men were greatly frightened.
Gen 20:9 And Aḇimeleḵ
called Aḇraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? In what
have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my reign a great
sin? You have done matters to me that should not be done.”
Gen 20:10 And Aḇimeleḵ said
to Aḇraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done
this matter?”
Gen 20:11 And Aḇraham
said, “Only because I said to myself, the fear of Elohim is not in this
place, and they shall kill me for the sake of my wife.
Gen 20:12 “And
yet, she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the
daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
Gen 20:13 “And it
came to be, when Elohim caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said
to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place,
wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
Gen 20:14 Then Aḇimeleḵ took
sheep, and cattle, and male and female servants, and gave them to Aḇraham.
And he returned Sarah his wife to him.
Gen 20:15 And Aḇimeleḵ said,
“See, my land is before you, dwell wherever it is good in your eyes.”
Gen 20:16 And to
Sarah he said, “See, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver.
See, it is to you a covering of eyes before all who are with you and before all
others, and you are cleared before everyone.”
Gen 20:17 And Aḇraham
prayed to Elohim, and Elohim healed Aḇimeleḵ, and
his wife, and his female servants, so they bore children,
Gen 20:18 for יהוה had closed up all the wombs of the house
of Aḇimeleḵ because of Sarah, Aḇraham’s
wife.
Midrash: – how do we deal with the failure that comes
from making the wrong kind of decisions in life?
The same way Avraham did. Avraham saw the day of Yahshua
and was glad.
Joh 8:42 יהושע said to them, “If Elohim were your Father,
you would love Me, for I came forth from Elohim, and am here. For I have not
come of Myself, but He sent Me.
Joh 8:43 “Why do
you not know what I say? Because you are unable to hear My Word.
Joh 8:44 “You are
of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you wish to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks of his own, for he
is a liar and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 “And
because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
Joh 8:46 “Who of
you proves Me wrong concerning sin? And if I speak the truth, why do you not
believe Me?
Joh 8:47 “He who
is of Elohim hears the Words of Elohim, therefore you do not hear because you
are not of Elohim.”
Joh 8:48 The Yehuḏim
answered and said to Him, “Do we not say well that You are a Shomeronite and
have a demon?”
Joh 8:49 יהושע answered, “I do not have a demon, but I
value My Father, and you do not value Me.
Joh 8:50 “And I do
not seek My own esteem, there is One who is seeking and is judging.
Joh 8:51 “Truly,
truly, I say to you, if anyone guards My Word he shall never see death at all.”
Joh 8:52 The Yehuḏim
said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Aḇraham
died, and the prophets. And You say, ‘If anyone guards My Word he shall never
taste death at all.’
Joh 8:53 “Are You
greater than our father Aḇraham, who died? And the prophets died. Whom do You make
Yourself?”
Joh 8:54 יהושע answered, “If I esteem Myself, My esteem
is none at all. It is My Father who esteems Me, of whom you say that He is your
Elohim.
Joh 8:55 “And you
have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall
be like you, a liar. But I do know Him and I guard His Word.1
Footnote: 1See also 15:10.
Joh 8:56 “Your
father Aḇraham was glad that he should see My day, and he saw it
and did rejoice.”
Joh 8:57 The Yehuḏim,
therefore, said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Aḇraham?”
Joh 8:58 יהושע said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
before Aḇraham came to be, I am.”Gk – I exist. We believe Yahshua
always existed in bosom of the Father.
Joh 8:59 Therefore
they picked up stones to throw at Him, but יהושע was hidden and
went out of the Set-apart Place, going through the midst of them, and so passed
by.
In spite of massive personal failure, Avraham looked
forward to the day when Yahshua would set all things straight and make a way
for us to be right with his Father.
Avraham knew the Son because he knew the Father.
Joh 6:28 So they said to Him, “What should we do to
work the works of Elohim?”
Joh 6:29 יהושע answered and
said to them, “This is the work of Elohim, that you believe in Him whom He
sent.”
Joh 6:30 So they
said to Him, “What sign then would You do, so that we see and believe You? What
would You do?
Joh 6:31 “Our
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it has been written, ‘He gave them
bread out of the heaven to eat.’ ”
Joh 6:32 Therefore
יהושע said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
Mosheh did not give you the bread out of the heaven, but My Father gives you
the true bread out of the heaven.
Joh 6:33 “For the
bread of Elohim is He who comes down out of the heaven and gives life to the
world.”
Joh 6:34 So they
said to Him, “Master, give us this bread always.”
Joh 6:35 And יהושע said to them, “I am the bread of life. He
who comes to Me shall not get hungry at all, and he who believes in Me shall
not get thirsty at all.
Joh 6:36 “But I
said to you that you have seen Me, and still do not believe.
Joh 6:37 “All that
the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I shall by no
means cast out.
Joh 6:38 “Because
I have come down out of the heaven, not to do My own desire, but the desire of
Him who sent Me.
Joh 6:39 “This is
the desire of the Father who sent Me, that all He has given Me I should not
lose of it, but should raise it in the last day.
Joh 6:40 “And this
is the desire of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes
in Him should possess everlasting life. And I shall raise him up in the last
day.”
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.
Joh 6:45 “It has
been written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by יהוה.’ Everyone, then, who has heard from the
Father, and learned, comes to Me.
Joh 6:46 “Not that
anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from Elohim – He has seen the
Father.
Joh 6:53 יהושע therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Aḏam and
drink His blood, you possess no life in yourselves.
Joh 6:54 “He who
eats My flesh and drinks My blood possesses everlasting life, and I shall raise
him up in the last day.
Joh 6:55 “For My
flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink.
Joh 6:56 “He who
eats My flesh and drinks My blood stays in Me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 “As the
living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me
shall live because of Me.
Joh 6:58 “This is
the bread which came down out of the heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna
and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.”
Joh 6:64 “But
there are some of you who do not believe.” For יהושע knew from the
beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would deliver Him up.
Joh 6:65 And He
said, “Because of this I have said to you that no one is able to come to Me
unless it has been given to him by My Father.”
Joh 6:66 From then
on many of His taught ones withdrew and were not walking with Him any more.
Avraham saw this day and rejoiced.