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. Amein.
ויסף אברהם
Gen 25:1 And
Aḇraham took another wife, whose name was Qeturah.
וַיֹּסֶף אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקַּח אִשָּׁה, וּשְׁמָהּ קְטוּרָה.
Avraham did not just add another wife to himself,
but he added (Heb ‘’asaf’’) nations unto himself. See I Cron 1:32-33
The Yakult Midrash makes an assertion
concerning all three wives of Abraham – Sarah, a daughter of Shem; Keturah,
a daughter of Japheth; and Hagar, a daughter of Ham. (ibid., chpt.
8)
Rom 4:16 On account of this it is of belief, that it be according to favour, for the promise to be made certain to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Torah, but also to those who are of the belief of Aḇraham, who is father of us all – Rom 4:17 as it has been written, “I have made you a father of many nations” Gen_17:5 – in the presence of Him whom he believed, even Elohim, who gives life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing, Rom 4:18 who against all expectation did believe, in expectation, so that he should become father of many nations, according to what was said, “So shall your seed be.” Gen_15:5.
Gal
3:7 Know, then, that those who are of belief are sons of Aḇraham. Gal
3:8 And the Scripture, having foreseen that Elohim would declare right
the nations by belief, announced the Good News to Aḇraham beforehand, saying, “All
the nations shall be blessed in you,”[a]
Gen_12:3. Footnote: aGen_18:18.
Gal 3:9 so that those who are of belief are blessed with Aḇraham, the believer.
"Certain scholars claim that Keturah was one of the most ignored significant women in the Torah."
The name
Keturah lends itself to a number of Rabbinic interpretations. She was perfumed (mekuteret) with
commandments and good deeds (Gen. Rabbah 61:4); she was (through
her good deeds) more savory (mekuteret) than all manner of spices (Pirkei
de-Rabbi Eliezer [ed. Higger], chap. 29); her deeds were as fine as
incense (ketoret—Tanhuma, Hayyei Sarah 8
These ‘’other’’
offspring of Avraham express the fulfillment of the blessing given by YHVH to
Abraham in Gen. 12:3: “and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves
by you,” for three families came from Abraham: the twelve chieftains
from Esau, the sixteen descendants of Keturah, and (Gen. 25:23)
“two nations are in your womb”- Rivkah- (Tanhuma [ed. Buber], Hayyei
Sarah 8). The Rabbis further learn from Avraham that even if a man has
children while he is young, he should still take another wife in his old age
and beget further offspring (Gen. Rabbah 61:3). All of Keturah’s sons
were the heads of nations (Gen. Rabbah 61:5). http://www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p212d.html
Gen 25:7 And these
are all the years of Aḇraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and
seventy-five years.
Gen 25:8 And
Aḇraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, aged and satisfied, and
was gathered to his people.
Gen 25:9 And his
sons Yitsḥaq and Yishmaʽĕl buried
him in the cave of Maḵpĕlah, which is before Mamrĕ, in the field of Ephron son
of Tsoḥar the Ḥittite,
Gen 25:10 the field which Aḇraham purchased from the
sons of Ḥĕth. There Aḇraham was buried with Sarah his wife.
Gen 25:11 And it came to be, after the death of
Aḇraham, that Elohim blessed his son Yitsḥaq. And Yitsḥaq dwelt at Be’ĕr
Laḥai Ro’i. – Well of the Living One seeing me.
Gen 25:12 And this is the genealogy of Yishmaʽĕl, Aḇraham’s son, whom Haḡar
the Mitsrite, Sarah’s female servant, bore to Aḇraham.
Gen 25:13 And these were the names of the sons of
Yishmaʽĕl, by their names, according to their generations: The first-born of
Yishmaʽĕl, Neḇayoth; then Qĕḏar, and Aḏbe’ĕl,(to be chastened by Elohim) and
Miḇsam, (sweet fragrance).
Gen 25:14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Gen
25:15 Haḏar, and Tĕma, Yetur, Naphish,
and Qĕḏemah. Gen 25:16 These were the
sons of Yishmaʽĕl and these were their names, by their towns and their
settlements, twelve chiefs according to their tribes.
Gen 25:17 And these were the years of the life of
Yishmaʽĕl: one hundred and thirty-seven years. And he breathed his last and
died, and was gathered to his people.
Gen 25:18 And they dwelt from Ḥawilah (Yemen) as far
as Shur, which is east of Mitsrayim as you go toward Ashshur. He settled before
all his brothers.
Gen 25:19 And this is the genealogy (parashat 6- Toldot) of Yitsḥaq, Aḇraham’s son. Aḇraham brought forth Yitsḥaq.
In the light of this
Torah portion, we can understand that Avraham had several sons and grandsons
but only one son and grandson and their seed – the Hebrews – would bring
forth the blessing of the Messianic Redeemer. This obviously was and
remains a cause of great bitterness and contention to this day, and birthed the
three major Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Tragically this
bitterness has also revealed itself in the “church” through replacement
theology. The Christian religion was birthed by the Roman Catholic
Church and Constantine (Edom) with a determined agenda to rid the church of
any “Jewish” influence. This in spite of the fact that Yahshua said that
salvation and deliverance come from the Jews – See John 4:22. Rom 11:29 says
that YHVH will never change His mind regarding the Messianic birth right
blessing of Jews.
Isa 11:9 They do no evil nor destroy in all My set-apart mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of יהוה as the waters cover the sea.[a] Footnote: a Hab_2:14. Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a Root of Yishai, standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him the nations shall seek, and His rest shall be esteem. Isa 11:11 And it shall be in that day that יהוה sets His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Ashshur and from Mitsrayim, from Pathros and from Kush, from Ěylam and from Shin‛ar, from Ḥamath and from the islands of the sea. Isa 11:12 And He shall raise a banner for the nations, and gather the outcasts of Yisra’ěl, and assemble the dispersed of Yehuḏah from the four corners of the earth. Isa 11:13 And the envy of Ephrayim shall turn aside, and the adversaries of Yehuḏah be cut off. Ephrayim shall not envy Yehuḏah, and Yehuḏah not trouble Ephrayim. Isa 11:14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they plunder the people of the east, their hand stretching forth on Eḏom and Mo’aḇ, and the children of Ammon shall be subject to them.
Jubilees 8:9-30
9. And they divided it secretly amongst themselves, and told it to Noah.10. And it came to pass in the beginning of the thirty-seventh jubilee [1801 A.M.] that they divided the earth into three parts, for Shem and Ham and Japheth, according to the inheritance of each, in the first year in the first week, when one of us who had been sent, was with them.11. And he called his sons, and they drew nigh to him, they and their children, and he divided the earth into the lots, which his three sons were to take in possession, and they reached forth their hands, and took the writing out of the bosom of Noah, their father. https://www.hebrewreaders.com/church-rules
Isa 49:12 “See, these come from far away, and see, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” (Southern part of China) Strongs 5515Isa 49:13 Sing, O heavens, rejoice, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For יהוה shall comfort His people and have compassion on His afflicted ones. Isa 49:14 But Tsiyon says, “יהוה has forsaken me, and יהוה has forgotten me.” Isa 49:15 “Would a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Though they forget, I never forget you. Isa 49:16 “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me. Isa 49:17 “Your sons shall hurry, your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from you. Isa 49:18 “Lift up your eyes round about and see, all of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” declares יהוה, “you shall put on all of them as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does. Isa 49:19 “For your wastes, and your deserted places, and the land of your destruction, shall soon be too narrow for the inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up are far away. Isa 49:20 “The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me, make room for me to live.’ Isa 49:21 “And you shall say in your heart, ‘Who has brought forth these for me, since I am bereaved and barren, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who reared them? See, I was left alone – from where did these come?’ ” Isa 49:22 Thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I lift My hand up to the nations, and set up My banner for the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters carried on their shoulders; Isa 49:23 “And sovereigns shall be your foster fathers, and their sovereignesses your nursing mothers. They bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am יהוה – those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.”
Additional
Midrash – where do we fit in?
‘’The Temple played a large role in a collective religious mentality and a collective religion of the people, as a whole. Everybody realized that this was the one most sacred place on earth, the one place on earth where somehow heaven and earth meet, where somehow there is a connection, between heaven and earth, where the earth rises up and heavens somehow descend just enough, that they just touch.... So, even though it was a small institution, entirely run by a small caste of people and even though most people can never ever get in, get inside the innermost precincts, nonetheless, the Temple as a whole, the institution, the values and the structure played a very important role in the society at large.’’
Isa 56:6 “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to יהוה, to serve Him, and to love the Name of יהוה, to be His servants, all who guard the Sabbath, and not profane it, and are holding onto My covenant – Isa 56:7 them I shall bring to My set-apart mountain, and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their ascending offerings and their slaughterings are accepted on My slaughter-place, for My house is called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” Isa 56:8 The Master יהוה, who gathers the outcasts of Yisra’ěl, declares, “I gather still (more) others to him besides those who are gathered to him.”
Ethnic superiority of any kind was
never in the mind of YHVH.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once nations[c] in the flesh, who are called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called ‘the circumcision’ made in the flesh by hands, Footnote: cSee 1Co_12:2. Eph 2:12 that at that time you were without Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Yisra’ěl and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no expectation and without Elohim in the world. Eph 2:13 But now in Messiah יהושע you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. Eph 2:14 For He is our peace, who has made both one, and having broken down the partition of the barrier, Eph 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity[d] – the torah of the commands in dogma – so as to create in Himself one renewed man from the two, thus making peace, Footnote: dAlso see Col_2:14, Col_2:20, Act_11:1-3. Eph 2:16 and to completely restore to favour both of them unto Elohim in one body through the stake, having destroyed the enmity by it. Eph 2:17 And having come, He brought as Good News peace to you who were far off, and peace to those near. Isa_57:19. Eph 2:18 Because through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the set-apart ones and members of the household of Elohim,[e] Footnote: eSee Rom_11:17-24, Isa_14:1. Eph 2:20 having been built upon the foundation of the emissaries and prophets, יהושע Messiah Himself being chief corner-stone, Eph 2:21 in whom all the building, being joined together, grows into a set-apart Dwelling Place in יהוה, Eph 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the Spirit.
Eph 4:4 one body and one Spirit, as you also were called in one expectation of your calling, Eph 4:5 one Master, one belief, one immersion, Eph 4:6 one Elohim and Father of all, who is above all,[a] and through all, and in you all
Rev 2:26 “And he who overcomes, and guards My works until the end, to him I shall give authority over the nations, Psa_2:8. Rev 2:27 and he shall shepherd them with a rod of iron, as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces, Psa_2:9 as I also have received from My Father.
Eze 47:21 “And you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Yisra’ěl. Eze 47:22 “And it shall be that you divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who sojourn in your midst and who bear children among you. And they shall be to you as native-born among the children of Yisra’ěl – with you they have an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Yisra’ěl.[a] Footnote: a Isa_14:1, Isa_56:6-8, Rom_11:17-26, Eph_2:19, Eph_3:6, Rev_21:12. Eze 47:23 “And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger sojourns, there you give him his inheritance,” declares the Master יהוה.
Deu 26:1 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, Deu 26:2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruits of the soil which you bring from your land that יהוה your Elohim is giving you, and shall put it in a basket and go to the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell there. Deu 26:3 “And you shall come to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I shall declare today to יהוה your Elohim that I have come to the land which יהוה swore to our fathers to give us.’ Deu 26:4 “And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and place it before the slaughter-place of יהוה your Elohim. Deu 26:5 “And you shall answer and say before יהוה your Elohim, ‘My father was a perishing Aramean, and he went down to Mitsrayim and sojourned there with few men. And there he became a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.
Psa 86:9 Let all nations You have made Come and bow themselves before You, O יהוה, And give esteem to Your Name. Psa 68:6 Elohim makes a home for the lonely; He brings out into prosperity Those who are bound with chains; Only the rebellious shall dwell in a dry land.
Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls – each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was clean gold, like transparent glass. Rev 21:22 And I saw no Dwelling Place in it, for יהוה Ěl Shaddai is its Dwelling Place, and the Lamb. Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the esteem of Elohim lightened it, and the Lamb is its lamp. Rev 21:24 And the nations, of those who are saved, shall walk in its light,[f]and the sovereigns of the earth bring their esteem into it. Footnote: fSee Isa_60:3. Rev 21:25 And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there. Rev 21:26 And they shall bring the esteem and the appreciation of the nations into it. Rev 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb. Rev 22:2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rom 9:6 However, it is not as though the word of Elohim has failed. For they are not all Yisra’ěl who are of Yisra’ěl,[a] Footnote: aA play on words. See Explanatory Note on “Overcomers.” Rom 9:7 neither are they all children because they are the seed of Aḇraham, but, “In Yitsḥaq your seed shall be called.” Gen_21:12. Rom 9:8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of Elohim, but the children of the promise are reckoned as the seed. Rom 9:13 as it has been written, “Ya‛aqoḇ I have loved, but Ěsaw I have hated.” Mal_1:2-3. Rom 9:14 What, then, shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with Elohim? Let it not be! Rom 9:15 For He says to Mosheh, “I shall favour whomever I favour, and I shall have compassion on whomever I have compassion.” Exo_33:19. Rom 9:16 So, then, it is not of him who is wishing, nor of him who is running, but of Elohim who shows favour. Rom 9:18 So, then, He favours whom He wishes, and He hardens whom He wishes. Rom 9:19 Then you shall say to me, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His counsel?” Rom 9:20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to Elohim? Shall that which is formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Isa_29:16, Isa_45:9. Rom 9:21 Does not the potter have authority over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for value and another not for value? Rom 9:25 As He says in Hoshěa too, “I shall call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.” Hos_2:23. Rom 9:27 And Yeshayahu cries out on behalf of Yisra’ěl, “Though the number of the children of Yisra’ěl be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved. Isa_10:22, Gen_22:17, Hos_1:10. Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That nations not following after righteousness, have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness of belief, Rom 9:31 but Yisra’ěl following after the Torah of righteousness, has not arrived at the Torah of righteousness. Rom 9:32 Why? Because it was not of belief, but as by works of Torah. For they stumbled at the Stone of stumbling. Isa_8:14. Rom 9:33 As it has been written, “See, I lay in Tsiyon a Stone of stumbling and a Rock that makes for falling, and everyone who is believing on Him shall not be put to shame.” Isa_8:14, Isa_28:16.
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheinu, Melech
ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chai-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch
atah YHVH, notein ha-Torah. Amein.
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 – Amein.