Blessing for the Torah Reading:
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.)
The Torah tells that Avraham died
– Beresheet 25:8 – “Avraham va yamat”. Yitchak also dies – Beresheet 35:29
“Yitzchak va yamat” Mosheh dies – Devarim 34:5 – “Va yamat Moshe” – Yosef also
dies – Beresheet 50:26 - “Yosef va
yamat”.
When Yakov dies the Hebrew word
“va yamat” is not used. The Hebrew word used for his death is “gava” means to
“give up his spirit” – maybe so that his spirit could continue to live in those
who would want to walk as he walked.
We get the same picture when we
consider the death of Messiah.
Yochanan/Joh 19:30
So when יהושע took the sour wine He said, “It has been
accomplished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We get the idea that something
important lives on even though the person has died. The title of this last
parasha in Beresheet is “vayechi” “and he lived.” The life – the dream of Yakov
would never die. The dream of Yakov will revive in the last days as YHVH’s true
family come together again.
This is also perhaps true of Esav.
“Esau's death is not mentioned in the Scriptures. The Rabbis
supply the information that it was brought about in an altercation with Jacob's sons over their right
to bury their father in the cave of Machpelah (Soṭah 13a). The "Sefer
ha-Yashar" gives full details of the dispute. Joseph invokes the
"bill of sale" witnessed between Esau and Jacob after Isaac's death,
and sends Naphtali to Egypt to fetch the document. Before quick-footed Naphtali
returns, Esau unsuccessfully resorts to war, and is slain by Dan's deaf and
dumb son, Hushim, who, though assigned to protect the women and children at
Jacob's bier, upon seeing the commotion rushes on Esau, smites him with the
sword and cuts off his head; whereupon Jacob is buried in the cave”.
The same
murderous religious spirit has flourished amongst the descendants of Esav and
thrives even to this day in modern religions – Christianity, Islam and even
Judaism.
The death of Yakov signals a period
of a spiritual decline amongst Yisrael.
According to the popular
Midrash, Bnei Yisrael had fallen to the 49th level of "tumah"
(spiritual impurity)
“The rabbis tell us that at
this point in Yisrael’s history they have fallen into a terrible state of
declension. In fact, the situation is so dire, that
Am Yisrael is said to have fallen to the 49th level of degradation.
According to the sages of Jewish Yisrael one more degree and the people of
Yisrael/Am Yisrael would have fallen into a state where they would have been
totally beyond hope of redemption.”
We see the exodus from Mitsrayim/Egypt was
meant to save a remnant who were willing to follow and obey YHVH’s Moshiach and
Torah. Today this remains true that even the remnant may fall away if YHVH does not
intervene.
Mat 24:22
“And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for
the sake of the chosen ones those days shall be shortened.
Mar 13:20 “And if the Master had not shortened those
days, no flesh would have been saved; but because of the chosen ones, whom He
chose, He shortened the days.
Our Torah portion begins:
Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Yisra’ĕl,
and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them, he blessed
each one according to his own blessing.
These twelve tribes –
the twelve sons of Yakov – are the ones chosen by YHVH to be channels of
blessings for the nations. The families of Yisrael will come from these twelve
tribes. The twelve gates in the New Yerushalayim are named after these twelve
sons of Yakov.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a renewed heaven and a renewed
earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea
is no more.
Rev 21:2 And I, Yoḥanan,
saw the set-apart city, renewed Yerushalayim, coming down out of the heaven
from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And
I heard a loud voice from the heaven saying, “See, the Booth of Elohim is with
men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and Elohim
Himself shall be with them and be their Elohim.
Rev 21:9 And one of the seven messengers who held the
seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and spoke with me,
saying, “Come, I shall show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a
great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the set-apart
Yerushalayim, descending out of the heaven from Elohim,
Rev 21:11 having the esteem of Elohim, and her light was
like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,
Rev 21:12 and having a great and high wall, having
twelve gates, and at the gates twelve messengers, and names written on them,
which are those of the twelve tribes of the children of Yisra’ĕl:1
Footnote: 1See Eze. 47:22-23, Eze. 48:31-34.
Rev 21:13 three gates on the east, three gates on the
north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve
foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve emissaries of the Lamb.
Note the connection between gates and foundations – this serves to
remind us that we cannot remove the teachings of Messiah from the Torah. Unless
we return to the Hebraic foundations of the faith we will not have access into
the New Yerushalayim.
Gen 49:29 And he commanded them, and said to them, “I
am(I am being …) (participle is used) to be gathered to my people, bury me with
my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Ḥittite,
Gen 49:30 in
the cave that is in the field of Maḵpĕlah,
which is before Mamrĕ in the land of Kenaʽan,
which Aḇraham bought with the
field of Ephron the Ḥittite as a possession
for a burial site.
Gen 49:31
There they buried Aḇraham and Sarah his
wife, there they buried Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah his wife, and
there I buried Lĕ’ah –
Gen 49:32
the field purchased, and the cave which is in it, from the sons of Ḥĕth.”
Gen 49:33
And when Yaʽaqoḇ ended commanding his
sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered
to his people.
Gen 50:1 And Yosĕph fell on his father’s face, and
wept over him, and kissed him.
Gen 50:2 And Yosĕph commanded his servants the
physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Yisra’ĕl.
The
sages remind us that embalming is against Torah – Beresheet 3:19 “ …. For dust
you are, and to dust you return.” Embalming prevents a corpse from “returning to
the dust” and is an Egyptian pagan practice.
It
may be that embalming symbolizes the world’s way of trying to keep something
alive that is dead – Religion – this is man’s way of trying to preserve truth –
YHVH’s way is to obey truth and not change it – religion seeks to get you to
obey men rather than YHVH and changes the truth in support of its own self - seeking
agenda. However dead religion can also serve a purpose – it can bring you to
the place where YHVH can connect with you and lead you in the way of His Torah.
Gen 50:3 And forty days were completed for him, for so
are completed the days of embalming. And the Mitsrites wept for him seventy
days.
Gen 50:4 And when the days of weeping for him were
past, Yosĕph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If, now, I have found
favour in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying,
Gen 50:5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “See, I am
dying, bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Kenaʽan.” And now, please
let me go up and bury my father, and return.’ ”
Gen 50:6 And
Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
Gen 50:7 And
Yosĕph went up to bury his father. And with him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Mitsrayim,
Gen 50:8 and
all the house of Yosĕph, and his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their
little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.
Gen 50:9 And
there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great
company.
Gen 50:10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Ataḏ, which is beyond the
Yardĕn, and they lamented there with a great and very heavy lamentation. And he
observed seven days of mourning for his father.
The Hebrew word “Atad” comes from an unused root probably meaning to “pierce or make fast” this image
reminds us of how our Messiah was bound and pierced on an execution stake.
Seven days reminds us of the seven millennia “seven thousand years” mankind has to affect
Yahshua’s redemption over their lives.
Seven days can also
remind us of the seven years of tribulation that will crush out all the dross
of man -made religion -
Gen 50:11
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Kenaʽanites, saw the
mourning at the threshing-floor of Ataḏ,
they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Mitsrites.” That is why its
name was called Aḇĕl Mitsrayim, which is
beyond the Yardĕn.
Abel Mitsrayim:
The
rabbis say that both names, signifying respectively "The Mourning of
Egypt" and "The Thorn Threshing-floor," are derived from the
mourning over Jacob. According to the rabbinical account the sons of Jacob had
scarcely crossed the frontier at Abel-mizraim with the body of their father,
when their cousins, the sons of Ishmael, Esau, and Keturah, appeared in large
numbers against them, believing that the Egyptians, of whom there were many in
the procession, intended to invade Palestine. But when they perceived Jacob's
bier (Embalmed body), and Joseph's crown carried behind it in state, the
thirty-six princes among them sent their crowns also, to be carried in the
funeral procession. Hence the name "Thorn Threshing-floor"; for
Abel-mizraim was so encircled by a row of crowns as to remind one of a threshing-floor,
which is usually surrounded by a hedge of thorns (Soṭah, 13a; Tan.,
Wa-yeḥi, 18, ed. Buber, i. 222, and the parallels there cited).
It may require a great “crushing” before
Mitsrayim/Egypt and Esav/Esau recognize the true Messiah.
Gen 50:12
And his sons did to him as he had commanded them,
Gen 50:13
for his sons brought him to the land of Kenaʽan, and buried him in
the cave of the field of Maḵpĕlah, before Mamrĕ,
which Aḇraham bought with the
field from Ephron the Ḥittite as property for
a burial site.
Gen 50:14
And after he had buried his father, Yosĕph returned to Mitsrayim, he and
his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.
Gen 50:15
And when Yosĕph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
“What if Yosĕph hates us, and pays us back all the evil which we did to him?”
Gen 50:16
And they sent word to Yosĕph, saying, “Before your father died he
commanded, saying,
Gen 50:17
‘This is what you are to say to Yosĕph, “I beg you, please forgive the
transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” ’ And
now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your
father.” And Yosĕph wept when they spoke to him.
Gen 50:18
And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said,
“See, we are your servants.”
Gen 50:19
And Yosĕph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of Elohim?
Gen 50:20 “And you, you intended evil against me, but
Elohim intended it for good, in order to do it as it is this day, to keep a
great many people alive.
Gen 50:21
“And now, do not fear, I provide for you and your little ones.” So he
comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
According to the
midrash of Tanchuma – while Yakov was alive the family often gathered to share
a meal. Yakov would ask Yosef to sit at the head of the table. However when
Yakov died, Yosef did not want to assume the head of the table as he felt it
would bring dishonour to Reuven and Yehudah.
The brothers were
initially unaware of Yosef’s struggle and that it made him uncomfortable and
caused him to stop the family meals.
Gen 50:22
And Yosĕph dwelt in Mitsrayim, he and his father’s household. And Yosĕph
lived one hundred and ten years.
Gen 50:23
And Yosĕph saw Ephrayim’s children to the third generation. The children
of Maḵir, son of Menashsheh,
were also brought up on Yosĕph’s knees.
Gen 50:24
And Yosĕph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but Elohim shall certainly
visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ.”
Gen 50:25
And Yosĕph made the children of Yisra’ĕl swear, saying, “Elohim shall
certainly visit you, and you shall bring up my bones from here.”
Gen 50:26
And Yosĕph died, being one hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed
him, and he was placed in a coffin in Mitsrayim.
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 Yahweh, 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, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn
And we say at the end of the
study of Beresheet:
“Chazak, chazak, ve nitchazek!” – Be strong, be strong, and may we be
strengthened!
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.