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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