7/05/2019

Parashat 4 Portion 17 Ber/Gen 20:1-21:5 Yesh/Is 61:1-10 / 1Sam 2:21-28 Mat 1:18-25 Gal 3:15-29



Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed! Baruch ata YHVH
Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. 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.)

Gen 20:1  And Aḇraham set out from there to the land of the South, and dwelt between Qaḏěsh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 

The Scripture mentions Kadesh and/or Kadesh Barnea in a number of episodes, making it an important site (or sites) in narratives concerning Israelite origins. Kadesh was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the Zin Desert(Deuteronomy 1:46), as well as the place from which the Israelite spies were sent to Canaan (Numbers 13:1-26). The first failed attempt to capture Canaan was made from Kadesh (Numbers 14:40-45). Moses disobediently struck a rock that brought forth water at Kadesh (Numbers 20:11). Miriam (Numbers 20:1) and Aaron (Numbers 20:22-29) both died and were buried near a place named Kadesh. Moses sent envoys to the King of Edom from Kadesh (Numbers 20:14), asking for permission to let the Israelites use the King's Highway passing through his territory, which the Edomite king denied.


According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Kadesh (which he called Rekem) is identified with Petra, in Jordan. - Wikipedia


According to Exodus 15:22–23, Marah is located in the "wilderness of Shur".

Gen 20:2  And Aḇraham said concerning Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Aḇimeleḵ sovereign of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 
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.” 
Gen 20:4  However, Aḇimeleḵ had not come near her, and he said, “יהוה, would You kill 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, “Yes, 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.” 
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 loving-commitment 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.

The Birth of Yitschak (Isaac)
Gen 21:1  And יהוה visited Sarah as He had said, and יהוה did for Sarah as He had spoken. 
Gen 21:2  So Sarah conceived and bore Aḇraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which Elohim had spoken to him. 
Gen 21:3  And Aḇraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitsḥaq. 
Gen 21:4  And Aḇraham circumcised his son Yitsḥaq when he was eight days old, as Elohim had commanded him. 
Gen 21:5  And Aḇraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitsḥaq was born to him. 

The Book Of Jubilees Chapter 17
1 And in the first year of the fifth week Yitschaq was weaned in this jubilee, [1982 A.M.] and Abraham made a great banquet in the third month, on the day his son Yitschaq was weaned.

 16:13  And she bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which YAHWEH had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruits of the harvest, Yitschaq was born.

Some additional background information:

‘’The parched desert which now houses the Dead Sea was once a fertile plain through which the Jordan River flowed, periodically flooding the entire plain and creating a lush land. Excavations show evidence of early, sophisticated civilization there.
From the Torah, we can identify that civilization as Sodom and its sister cities. The Torah also relates the fate of that civilization.
The surrounding desert – silent, burning, majestic – cannot be ignored. Many spiritual sects found refuge in its caves and mountains. One of these, in Roman times, was a group of Essenes who left us the Dead Sea Scrolls.’’
Currently It is however shrinking at an alarming rate - the surface level is dropping more than a metre (3ft) a year. When you consider that the surface of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the planet - currently 420m (1,380ft) below sea level - that means that the planet's lowest point is being recalibrated on an annual basis’’ End quote.

Eze 47:7  When I returned, then look, along the bank of the stream were very many trees on one side and the other. 
Eze 47:8  And he said to me, “These waters are flowing toward the eastern country, and go down into the Araḇah, and enter the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters shall be healed. 
Eze 47:9  “And it shall be that every swarming creature, wherever the stream goes, shall live. And there shall be very many fish, for these waters shall go there, and they are healed. And wherever the stream flows all shall live. 
Eze 47:10  “And it shall be that fishermen stand along it, from Ěn Geḏi to Ěn Eḡlayim, being places for spreading their nets. Their fish is to be of the same kind as the fish of the Great Sea, very many. 
Eze 47:11  “Its swamps and marshes shall not be healed, they shall be given over to salt. 
Eze 47:12  “And by the bank of the stream, on both sides, grow all kinds of trees used for food, whose leaves do not wither and fruit do not fail. They bear fruit every new moon (Chodesh), because their water flows from the set-apart place. And their fruit shall be for food, and their leaves for healing.” 

For those who have visited the lowest point on the face of the earth, Ezekiel’s end-of-days prophecy of the Dead Sea coming to life seems impossible, yet recently, scientists have been shocked to discover that the sinkholes appearing around the sea are quickly filling up with fish and other forms of life previously unseen in the inhospitable region.
On the shores of the Dead Sea – more than 400 meters below sea level – are freshwater sinkholes, created as a result of dropping water levels. These large sinkholes were discovered in 2011, carpeted with microorganisms and on the sea’s shores – fish and algae. 

Jubilees 15:20 And as for Ishmael also have I heard you, and behold I will bless him, and make him great, and multiply him exceedingly, and he shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But My covenant will I establish with Yitschaq, whom Sarah shall bear to you, in these days, in the next year.'
22 And He left off speaking with him, and YAHWEH went up from Abraham.
23 And Abraham did according as YAHWEH had said to him, and he took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and whom he had bought with his money, every male in his house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.
24 And on the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and all the men of his house, and all those, whom he had bought with money from the children of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
25 This Torah is for all the generations forever, and there is no circumcision of the days, and no omission of one day out of the eight days; for it is an eternal ordinance, ordained and written on the heavenly tablets.
26 And every one that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs not to the children of the covenant which YAHWEH made with Abraham, but to the children of destruction; nor is there, moreover, any sign on him that he is YAHWEH's, but (he is destined) to be destroyed and slain from the earth, and to be rooted out of the earth, for he has broken the covenant of YAHWEH our Sovereign Ruler.
27 For all the malakim (kings) of the presence and all the malakim of sanctification have been so created from the day of their creation, and before the malakim of the presence and the malakim of sanctification He has sanctified Yisrael, that they should be with Him and with His kodesh set apart) malakim.
28 And do you command the children of Yisrael and let them observe the sign of this covenant for their generations as an eternal ordinance, and they will not be rooted out of the land.
29 For the command is ordained for a covenant, that they should observe it forever among all the children of Yisrael.
30 For Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esau, YAHWEH did not cause to approach Him, and he chose them not because they are the children of Abraham, because He knew them, but He chose Yisrael to be His people.
31 And He sanctified it and gathered it from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are His, and over all has He placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from Him.
32 But over Yisrael He did not appoint any malak or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will preserve them and require them at the hand of His malakim and His spirits, and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be His and He may be theirs from henceforth forever.
33 And now I announce unto you that the children of Yisrael will not keep true to this ordinance, and they will not circumcise their sons according to all this Torah; for in the flesh of their circumcision they will omit this circumcision of their sons, and all of them, sons of Belial, will leave their sons uncircumcised as they were born.
34 And there will be great wrath from YAHWEH against the children of Yisrael, because they have forsaken His covenant and turned aside from His word, and provoked and blasphemed, inasmuch as they do not observe the ordinance of this Torah; for they have treated their members like the Gentiles, so that they may be removed and rooted out of the land. And there will no more be pardon or forgiveness unto them [so that there should be forgiveness and pardon] for all the sin of this eternal error.

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, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn