Parashat 2- Portion 5

Beresheet/Gen 6:9 – 7:24

Our congregation has decided to follow the three year cycle of Torah study. Below is a brief description of the triennial cycle.

“The Triennial cycle of Torah reading refers to the historical practice in ancient Israel by which the entire Torah was read in serial fashion over a three year period, or to the practice adopted by many congregations in which the traditional weekly Torah portions were divided into thirds, and in which one third of each weekly  "Parashah" of the annual system is read during the appropriate week of the calendar.

According to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, the triennial cycle "was the practice in Palestine, whereas in Babylonia the entire Pentateuch was read in the synagogue in the course of a single year," As late as 1170 Benjamin of Tudela mentioned Egyptian congregations that took three years to read the Torah”. (Wikipedia)

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, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

 “Noach” the title of this week’s parasha means to “rest or take a rest.” Today these words still apply to a remnant who desire to walk as our Master walked.

Ivrim/Heb 4:11  Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.¹ Footnote: ¹See 3:18.

Heb 4:12  For the Word of Elohim is living, and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through even to the dividing of being and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (The Torah or Word of Elohim was given on mount Sinai, the rest of the scriptures is commentary on this Word)

The same warning Noach gave to his generation applies to our generation today.

Luk 17:26  “And as it came to be in the days of Noaḥ, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of Aḏam:

Luk 17:27  “They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noaḥ went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Luk 17:28  “And likewise, as it came to be in the days of Lot: They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building,

Luk 17:29  but on the day Lot went out of Seḏom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all.

Luk 17:30  “It shall be the same in the day the Son of Aḏam is revealed.

 Note how YHVH protects and also removes His people from destruction.

In the account of Noach we have a “hidden” teaching about the “mikvah” (immersion) of believers.

Kepha addresses this mystery when speaking of the disobedient generation during Noach’s time saying:

 1Pe 3:20  who were disobedient at one time when the patience of Elohim waited in the days of Noaḥ, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight beings, were saved through water,

1Pe 3:21  which figure now also saves us: immersion – not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward Elohim – through the resurrection of יהושע Messiah,

When the Ruach of YHVH calls you and guides you, you will often find yourself in a wilderness, sometimes it will feel like you are dying. When we go through a “mikvah” or immersion we acknowledge that this is the way we follow our Master.

The mystery we know is that a special kind of living requires a special kind of dying.

About “Tevilla” or “Mikvah” (Some say “Mikveh”):

How can the Mikvot/Immersions (plural for “mikvah”) that were part of the life of the children of Yisrael and of the early believers in Yahshua (Jew and non-Jew) become important concepts in our lives as Grafted-in believers today?

Let’s examine the origins of the mikvah and discover the rich symbolism that is available to us as Grafted-In believers. 

There are two terms, Tevillah and Mikvah or Mikveh used here. Originally in Hebrew, the word Tevilah is the Hebrew Scriptural (Biblical) act of immersing oneself in a natural water source. In ancient times a stream or river was used but in modern times a specially constructed pool called a mikvah is normally built at Synagogues (Orthodox and Messianic Jewish synagogues) but many non Jewish Messianic believers like us are making use of streams and rivers for a mikvah. Today, in Judaism, the terms Tevilla and Mikvah are used somewhat interchangeably, with mikvah emerging as the more familiar term. According to the Sages the “Mikvah”, or ritual bath must contain 40 “seah” of rainwater (a seah is a typical halachic measurement that corresponds to approximately 7.33 litres, therefore 40 Seah’s equals 293.2 litres) The “forty” being a hidden reference to the forty days and nights that rain came upon the earth during the flood.

Water baptism (Mikvah/Immersion) was not originally a ‘Christian’ act.

 All through the TaNaKH (so called Old Testament), the children of Yisrael, whenever they would have to come before Elohim, would cleanse themselves.

Reasons that we find in Torah and in the Hebrew halachic foundations for going through a mikvah:

The High priest and Priests should immerse themselves for the maintenance of ceremonial cleanliness.

(On Yom Kippur once a year the High Priest immersed himself before he went into the Most Set Apart place).
If a man has an emission of semen.
If you come into contact with a dead body.
If you come into contact with a dead body of an unclean animal.
If you walk through a grave yard.
If you touch someone else who is ceremonially unclean.

If you are healed of a disease.

After childbirth.

If a woman has a monthly period.

A bride before her wedding.

Other personal meaningful reasons for a mikvah:
If you have showed excessive anger and have a heart of repentance.

Immersion of ourselves as an act of repentance for a sin that we got involved in and repented of. 

(In order to move on in YHVH, we must strive for a higher degree of set apartness (holiness), (without set-apartness no man shall see Elohim). We must remember that the water does not defile and the water does not purify ... it is heart attitude. We can never immerse ourselves enough to wash away our sins. Only the Blood of Yahshua can do that.

Yochanan came with a special immersion (mikvah):

Let us reflect why was Yochanan immersing? It was not just a mikveh for a woman at her season. It was not for a man with a skin disease or a running sore etc. In fact it was for something different and special. It was for repentance! It was fulfilling the words of the prophet, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for Master, make straight paths for him.'" This was a mikveh for repentance.

Then after Yashua’s death, resurrection and ascension, on the day of Shavuot as seen in Acts 2, came the “mikvah of a believer into Messiah Yahshua/Yeshua/Yahoshua/Yeshoshua” that we used to call “believer’s Baptism” . As believers in Messiah Yahshua the term “baptism” (transliterated in the Second Writings from the Greek word “baptidzo”) plays a significant part of our walk with our Messiah and identifying with Him (Rom 6). It is an act of obedience, an outward sign of an inner heart attitude. An outward sign of a change of status.

For many Grafted- in believers this might be their first and very important Mikvah as according to the meaning given so clearly in Romans 6, but like we have seen above, this is not the one and only mikvah that there is. There are many reasons for a mikvah in Scripture. It was not uncommon for the people of Yisrael to be immersed in water.

I personally believe that there are special blessings that have been lost to us in our neglect of the practice of immersions (mikvot). This is a time of the restoration of all things and I believe we are once again going to enter into and experience a greater spiritual cleansing once this act is going to be properly restored.

It is amazing how the enemy has concealed a deeper revelation and application of this truth to believers for centuries.

Torah Portion:

Ber/Gen 6:9  This is the genealogy of Noaḥ. Noaḥ was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noaḥ walked with Elohim.

“Righteous man” “ish tzadik”

“Walked” hitpael verb meaning continually.

“perfect” Noach did not wilfully pursue any kind of sinful agenda.

Gen 6:10  And Noaḥ brought forth three sons: Shĕm, Ḥam, and Yepheth.

“Shem” means “name” the Semitic people come from Shem. This would include the Yisraelites, who would be chosen to bear the name of YHVH.

“Cham or Ham” means “hot” this could possibly allude to “Cham’s” son not having much control over his sexual appetites.

“Yepeth” means “enlarged or opened” We see in Beresheet 9:27   “Let Elohim enlarge Yepheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shĕm. And let Kena’an become his servant.”

This is possibly a very early prophecy of how the gentile nations would come to dwell or be grafted into the house of Yisrael.

Gen 6:11  And the earth was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence.

Gen 6:12  And Elohim looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt – for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth –

The Hebrew says -  “All the earth had become corrupt”. The Hebrew word for “corrupt” is “shachat” This word clearly conveys a meaning that an object or person in this state is beyond human redemption.

  According to popular opinion it was sin and rebellion that caused the flood to come, yet the word “sin or rebellion” is not used once in this parashah.

“Shachat” is the Hebrew word used as the reason for the destruction of the flood. It is found in different places in the scriptures:

Yirmeyahu/Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was ruined (shachat) in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

The vessel could not be repaired, it had to be remade. Our physical bodies will also one day be transformed.

Yeshayahu/Isa 52:14  As many were astonished at You – so the disfigurement (shachat) beyond any man’s and His form beyond the sons of men –

This is referring to the state of our Messiah – commentators say that this was the deepest degradation possible for any human being to undergo. We see here how Messiah took upon himself our degradation.

Without Messiah we are a “shachats” people. Sadly most of our teaching and preaching today does not even remotely address the seriousness of our condition. Our pulpits are filled with motivational messages and a clear understanding that “things” are not “so bad”.

When Yeshayahu saw YHVH, his own condition was revealed and he cried out:

Yes/Isa 6:5  And I said, “Woe (oivai) to me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips – for my eyes have seen the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts.”

Ber/Gen 6:13  and Elohim said to Noaḥ, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence (chamas) through them. And see, I am going to destroy them from the earth.

Gen 6:14  “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover (kaphar) it inside and outside with tar.

Gen 6:15  “And this is how you are to make it: The length of the ark is three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

Gen 6:16  “Make a window for the ark, and complete it to a cubit from above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Gen 6:17  “And see, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heavens – all that is on the earth is to die.

Gen 6:18  “And I shall establish My covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

Gen 6:19  “And of all the living creatures of all flesh, two of each, you are to bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you – a male and a female.

Gen 6:20  “Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, and of all creeping creatures of the earth after their kind, two of each are to come to you, to keep them alive.

Gen 6:21  “As for you, take of all food that is eaten and gather it to yourself. And it shall be food for you and for them.”

Gen 6:22  And Noaḥ did according to all that Elohim commanded him, so he did.

Gen 7:1  And יהוה said to Noaḥ, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

Gen 7:2  “Of all the clean beasts take with you seven pairs, a male and his female; and of the beasts that are unclean two, a male and his female;

Gen 7:3  and of birds of the heavens seven pairs, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

Gen 7:4  “For after seven more days I am sending rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights, and shall wipe from the face of the earth all that stand that I created.”

Gen 7:5  And Noaḥ did according to all that יהוה commanded him.

Gen 7:6  Now Noaḥ was six hundred years old when the flood-waters were on the earth.

Gen 7:7  And Noaḥ and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.

Gen 7:8  Of the clean beasts and of the beasts that are unclean, and of birds, and of all that creep on the earth,

Gen 7:9  two by two they went into the ark to Noaḥ, male and female, as Elohim had commanded Noaḥ.

Gen 7:10  And it came to be after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.

Gen 7:11  In the six hundredth year of Noaḥ’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

Gen 7:12  And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Gen 7:13  On that same day Noaḥ and Shĕm and Ḥam and Yepheth, the sons of Noaḥ, and Noaḥ’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark,

Gen 7:14  they and every living creature after its kind, and every beast after its kind, and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.

Gen 7:15  And they went into the ark to Noaḥ, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.

Gen 7:16  And those going in, male and female of all flesh, went in as Elohim had commanded him, and יהוה shut him in.

Gen 7:17  And the flood was on the earth forty days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.

Gen 7:18  And the waters were mighty and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.

Gen 7:19  And the waters were exceedingly mighty on the earth, and all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.

Gen 7:20  The waters became mighty, fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.

Gen 7:21  And all flesh died that moved on the earth – birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth, and all mankind.

Gen 7:22  All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.

Gen 7:23  So He wiped off all that stand, which were on the face of the ground – both man and beast, creeping creature and bird of the heavens. And they were wiped off from the earth. And only Noaḥ was left, and those with him in the ark.

Gen 7:24  And the waters were mighty on the earth, one hundred and fifty days.

When one thinks about the narrative of Noach, one is struck by the tremendous destruction and loss that has come about because of man’s actions.

A modern day sage once said “human beings don’t really know how far they have fallen until they realize where they once stood”

So let us return to the foundations of our faith to find our way back into the perfect plan and will of our Heavenly Father.

Ivrim/Heb 6:1  Therefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Messiah, let us go on to perfection,¹ not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of belief toward Elohim, Footnote: ¹Mt. 5:48 or completeness.

Heb 6:2  of the teaching of immersions, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of everlasting judgment.

Heb 6:3  And this we shall do, if Elohim indeed permits.

Only once our spiritual foundations have been firmly established can one go on into maturity. The curse on modern day faith is the “spiritual immaturity of believers”

We have taken a look at “Vtorat ha tivilot”- the instructions of baptisms.

We see then through this Torah portion that it is through this watery grave that a new creation was made possible. It is through death and dying to self that we are made into the likeness of our Messiah. The Hebrew word for “likeness” is “damuth” (daleth, mem, vav, tav) The word death in Hebrew is “mut”. It is the same word as likeness only with a “daleth” added. We can assume from the construction of this word that death is the doorway (daleth) to bring us into the likeness of Yahshua.  (The letter “daleth” symbolizes a door).

Today religious men still continue to seek transformation through their own faith, self effort, religious experiences and so called prophetic revelation. Genuine transformation can only take place through death to everything that will stand in the way to our genuine and everlasting transformation.

In this week’s teaching the narrative of Noach goes on to show us for the first time the difference between clean and unclean animals.

We anticipate here that even though we may lay down our lives as symbolized in the watery grave of immersion, we still require the willingness of an innocent life to be a substitute for our lives to bring about our redemption.

This Torah portion teaches us that it is through death that mankind is saved.

Some extra notes concerning the clean and unclean animals:

Before the flood

We read in Beresheet/Genesis1:29 And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food.

Nothing is mentioned here about animals for food. Man was not allowed to eat meat until after the great flood. (See Beresheet/Genesis 9:3 in next paragraph.)

Beresheet/Gen 1:30  “And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping creature on the earth, in which there is life, every green plant is for food.” And it came to be so.

– All animals also ate fruits and vegetables. No animal killed another to eat it. The world was created very differently than what we see today. (“Then”, “in the beginning” it was before the fall, “now”, “today” as in after the fall). See Romans 8:19-22.

In Beresheet/Gen chapter 7 YHVH commands Noach to enter the ark in order to save the human race and animals, and especially the clean animals, which would serve as offerings to the Eternal.

 

It is interesting to see that the revelation about clean and unclean animals (chapter 7:2) existed already at the time of Noach. They must have known then the difference. That did not mean that the clean animals could be eaten (it was still before the flood that they went into the Ark). We saw already that man could not eat meat before the flood. The difference between clean and unclean animals was, at that time, only in connection with the offerings. The clean animals were able to serve as food for YHVH. In Bemidbar/Numbers 28:2 we see that offerings were considered by the Allmighty as his food.

 

After the flood

We read in the account after the flood that Elohim said to Noach in Beresheet/Gen9:3: Gen 9:3  “Every moving creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants.

Gen 9:4  “But do not eat flesh with its life, its blood.

Gen 9:5  “But only your blood for your lives I require, from the hand of every beast I require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I require the life of man. “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.”

Man now (after the flood) had permission to eat animals. The clean animals are named as those that would serve as food for the people that were created to be like Elohim. If the unclean animals could not serve as food for the Eternal, then they don’t serve as food for His children either, who are called to be set apart as He is set apart. Beresheet/Genesis does not tell us which animals were clean and which were unclean, but it is obvious that Noach knew the difference. About a thousand years later, when the Torah was given to Moshe, YHVH went into great detail and listed which animals were clean (fit for human consumption) and which were unclean (not fit for human consumption). The entire 11th chapter of Vauqra/Leviticus is devoted to this subject. A shorter version of the list is repeated in Devarim/Deuteronomy 14.

See verses 43-44 of Vayiqra 11 - Their food is one of the most important things that mark the difference between the children of Yisrael (natural and grafted-in) and other people. This chapter teaches us that what man eats is very important to the YHVH our Elohim.

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 YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe,

you have given us your Torah of truth,

and have planted everlasting life within our midst.

Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

Please note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no way a final authority on any subject.