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.
The Hebrew word for blessed (baruch) is
significant in this Parasha: out of 106 verses, baruch appears 34 times!
ואלה תולדת
ספר תולדת ישוע המשיח בן־דוד בן־אברהם׃
אברהם הוליד את־יצחק ויצחק הוליד את־יעקב ויעקב הוליד את־יהודה ואת־אחיו׃
Gen 25:19
And this is the genealogy of Yitsḥaq, Aḇraham’s son. Aḇraham brought forth Yitsḥaq.
Gen 25:20 And Yitsḥaq was forty
years old when he took Riḇqah as wife, the daughter of Bethu’ěl the Aramean of
Paddan Aram, the sister of Laḇan the Aramean.
Gen 25:21 And Yitsḥaq prayed to יהוה for his wife, because she was barren. And יהוה answered his prayer, and Riḇqah his wife conceived.
Three of the four matriarchs, Sarah (Genesis 11:30), Rebekah (Rivkah) (25:21), and Rachel (29:31) were barren. All three of their sons were miraculous births and coincidentally all three sons came close to death. Sound familiar?
Centuries before the Messiah came int the world devout Jews had a deep understanding and expectation of the times and circumstances that would usher in His first and second coming of Messiah.
The Talmud speaks of the Messiah who first comes as Moshiach Ben Yosef and then again as Moshiach Ben David – first the suffering servant then then the conquering King.
The Talmud also said: “The world will exist six thousand
years. Two thousand years of desolation; two thousand years of
Torah; and two thousand years of the Messianic era; but because our
iniquities were many, all this has been lost (Sanhedrin 97a-b).”
The Talmud expounds on these passages and
derives the following teaching: “If they [the Jewish people] are worthy, the
Messiah will come ‘with the clouds of heaven’; if they are not worthy, ‘lowly
and riding upon a donkey’ (Sanhedrin 98a).”
I saw in the visions of the night, and
behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came
up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him. (Dan. 7:13)
Be exceedingly happy, O daughter of Zion;
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold! Your king shall come to you. He is just
and victorious; humble, and riding a donkey and a foal, the offspring of [one
of] she-donkeys. (Zech. 9:9)
Gen 25:22 And within her the
children struggled together, and she said, “If all is right, why am I this
way?” So she went to ask יהוה.
Gen 25:23 And יהוה said to her, “Two nations are in your
womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body. And one people
shall be stronger than the other, and the older serve the
younger.”
Gen 25:24 And when the days were
filled for her to give birth, and see, twins were in her womb!
Gen 25:25 And the first came out
red all over, like a hairy garment, so they called his name Ěsaw.
Gen 25:26 And afterward his
brother came out, with his hand holding on to Ěsaw’s heel, so his name
was called Ya‛aqoḇ. And Yitsḥaq was sixty years old when she bore them.
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew up. And
Ěsaw became a man knowing how to hunt, a man of the field, while Ya‛aqoḇ was a
complete man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:28 And Yitsḥaq loved Ěsaw because he ate of his wild game, but Riḇqah loved Ya‛aqoḇ.
Mal 1:1 The message of the word of יהוה to Yisra’ěl by Mal’aḵi. Mal 1:2 “I have loved you,” said יהוה. “But you asked, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ “Was not Ěsaw Ya‛aqoḇ’s brother?” declares יהוה. “And I love Ya‛aqoḇ, Mal 1:3 but I have hated Ěsaw, and have laid waste his mountains and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Mal 1:4 If Eḏom says, “We have been beaten down, let us return and build the ruins,” יהוה of hosts said thus: “Let them build, but I tear down. And they shall be called ‘Border of Wrongness’, and the people against whom יהוה is enraged forever. Mal 1:5 And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, ‘Great is יהוה beyond the border of Yisra’ěl!’
For the
first time in this portion we are introduced to Yaqov. His name comes from the
Hebrew word ‘’akev’’ or heel. The first time this word is used is Gen 3:15
Gen 3:15 “And I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.[b] He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel.” Footnote: bFirst promise of the Messiah.
So, the sages debate whether Yaqov was trying to steal the birthright or weather Esau was trying to kill Yaqov in the womb, by crushing his head.
Why
would YHVH want to completely destroy Esav (Esau)?
Maybe
because of their ‘’halachah’’ the way they walk.
Joh 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. Joh 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you. Joh 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they shall persecute you too. If they have guarded My Word, they would guard yours too.
Edom's
Violence Against Yaqov
Oba 1:10 “Because of your violence against your brother Ya‛aqoḇ, let shame cover you. And you shall be cut off forever. Oba 1:15 “For the day of יהוה is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your reward shall come back on your own head. Oba 1:16 “For as you have drunk on my set-apart mountain, so do all the nations drink continually. And they shall drink and shall swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been. Oba 1:17 “But on Mount Tsiyon there shall be an escape,[a] and they shall be set-apart. And the house of Ya‛aqoḇ shall possess their possessions. Footnote: a Isa_4:2-3, Joe_2:32, Rev_14:1. Oba 1:18 “And the house of Ya‛aqoḇ shall be a fire, and the house of Yosěph a flame, but the house of Ěsaw for stubble. And they shall burn among them and they shall consume them, so that no survivor is left of the house of Ěsaw.” For יהוה has spoken.
There is a Jewish tradition stemming from the Talmud, that the descendants of Esau would eventually become the Romans, and to a larger extent, all Europeans.
And according to the first-century
historian Flavius Josephus, born in Jerusalem (30-100 AD), King Herod came from Esav’s/Esau’s
linage. He too tried to kill Yahshua.
Mat 2:13 And when they had left, see, a messenger of יהוה appeared to Yosěph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Mitsrayim, and remain there until I bring you word, for Herodes is about to seek the Child to destroy Him.” Mat 2:14 And rising up, he took the Child and His mother by night and departed for Mitsrayim,
Esav Sells His Birthright
Gen 25:29 And Ya‛aqoḇ cooked a
stew, and Ěsaw came in from the field, and he was weary.
Gen 25:31 But Ya‛aqoḇ said, “Sell me your birthright
today.”
Gen 25:32 And Ěsaw said, “Look, I am going to die, so why
should I have birthright?”
Gen 25:33 Then Ya‛aqoḇ said, “Swear to me today.” And he swore
to him, and sold his birthright to Ya‛aqoḇ.
Gen 25:34 Ya‛aqoḇ then gave Ěsaw bread and stew of lentils. And he ate and drank, and rose up and left. Thus Ěsaw despised his birthright.
Birth right is primary about inheritance. Upon the death of the father, the firstborn (eldest) son became the new head of the family. As this was his right because of the order of his birth, he was referred to as the birthright son (see Gen. 43:33). The birthright son was entitled to a double portion (that is, twice as much as any other son) of the father’s inheritance—one portion as a son, the second portion as the new head responsible for the family. (see Gen. 48:22; Deut. 21:17), including the care of his mother and unmarried sisters. As firstborn son, under the Aaronic order, he also held the right of presiding over the family.
It is important for us to consider that YHVH has an only brought forth Son – John 3:16. 5
Joh 3:35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all into His hand. Joh 15:7 “If you stay in Me, and My Words stay in you, you shall ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
1Jn 3:23 And this is His command, that we should believe in the Name of His Son יהושע Messiah and love one another, as He gave us command. 1Jn 3:24 And the one guarding His commands stays in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He stays in us, by the Spirit which He gave us.g Footnote: g Joh_14:23-24, Act_5:32, Rom_8:7-11, 1Jn_2:5, 1Jn_4:13.
Yahshua has not changed YHVH’s commands as given to us in the Torah.
Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.[e] I did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote: eThe 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 yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.[f] Footnote: f Luk_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.
Yahshua will ‘’complete’’ bring to full perfection everything written in the Torah.
Isa 2:2 And it shall be in the latter days that the mountain of the House of יהוה is established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. And all nations shall flow to it. Isa 2:3 And many peoples shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of יהוה, to the House of the Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ, and let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk in His paths, for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah, and the Word of יהוה from Yerushalayim.”
Many in the church have traded their birth right for ‘’bacon and eggs’’; Sunday worship, Christmas and Easter and doing away with the Torah, calling it all legal bondage.
Gen 26:1
And there was a scarcity of food in the land, besides the first scarcity of
food which was in the days of Aḇraham. And Yitsḥaq went to Aḇimeleḵ, sovereign
of the Philistines, in Gerar.
Gen 26:2 And יהוה appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Mitsrayim, live in
the land which I command you.
Gen 26:3 “Sojourn in this land.
And I shall be with you and bless you, for I give all these lands to you and
your seed. And I shall establish the oath which I swore to Aḇraham your
father.
Gen 26:4 “And I shall increase
your seed like the stars of the heavens, and I shall give all these lands to
your seed. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed,
Gen 26:5 because Aḇraham obeyed My voice and guarded My Charge: My commands, My laws, and My Torot.”a Footnote: aTorot - plural of Torah, teaching.
Yitschak and Abimelech
Gen 26:6 And Yitsḥaq dwelt in
Gerar.
Gen 26:7 And when the men of the
place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was
afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place
should kill me for Riḇqah, because she is good-looking.”
Gen 26:8 And it came to be, when
he had been there a long time, that Aḇimeleḵ sovereign of the Philistines
looked through a window, and he watched and saw Yitsḥaq playing with Riḇqah
his wife.
Gen 26:9 So Aḇimeleḵ called Yitsḥaq
and said, “See, truly she is your wife! So how could you say, ‘She is my
sister’?” And Yitsḥaq said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of
her.’ ”
Gen 26:10 And Aḇimeleḵ said, “What
is this you have done to us? One of the people had almost lain with your wife,
and you would have brought guilt on us.”
Gen 26:11 And Aḇimeleḵ commanded all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall certainly be put to death’’
Why were the matriarchs silent? They realized that the transgression was so serious only YHVH could bring correction and restoration.
Joh 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He might give you.
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.