WARNING: The text
used for my commentary is my own paraphrase and must not be
considered
“a translation” or authorative in any way. It is, in fact, simply my commentary.
Maps, when used, are from
BibleAtlas.org. Created
using BibleMapper 3.0.
Additional data from OpenBible.info. Source of Dates Used
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית • B'resheet
(“In Beginning” or “At First”)
The First Book of Moses,
Commonly Called
Genesis
Blessed are You, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has chosen us from all peoples
and given us His Torah.
Blessed are You, O Lord, Giver of the Torah.
III. Parashah Lekh L'kha (Get yourself out) (Gen. 12:1-17:27)
A. HaShem Calls Avram (12:1-9)
Rishon [1st] 1Then
Yehovah
[GN]
said to Avram'exalted father',[1] “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s
household, and go to the land that I will show you.
2I will make you into a
great nation. I will bless you and make your name[2] great
so that you will be a blessing.
3I will bless those
who bless you, and I will curse those who treat you with contempt.[3a] All the families of the earth will
be blessed through you.”[3b]
[Haran
[MAP] to
Canaan
[MAP]
ca April 5, 1892 BCE]
2. Avram Leaves for Canaan (12:4-5)
4So
Avram departed, as Yehovah had instructed him, and Lot went with him.[4] Avram was
75 years old when he departed from Haran.
5Avram took his wife
Sarai“princess”, his
nephew Lot“covering”,
and all the possessions and people[5] they had
acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of
Kena'anCanaan.
3. Land Promised to Descendants (12:6-7)
[At Shechem
[MAP], ca April 15, 1892 BCE]
When they came to the land of Kena'an,
6Avram traveled through
the land to the site the oak of Moreh at Shechem. At that time,
the
Kena'aniCanaanites
were in the land.
7There Yehovah appeared to Avram and said, “I will give this land to your
descendants.”[7]
So Avram built an altar there to Yehovah Who had appeared to him.
4. Worship Near Beit-El (12:8-9) [Between
Beit-El and Ai]
1. Avram Leaves for Egypt (12:10)
[ca May 1, 1892 BCE]
10There
was a famine in the land, so Avram went down into Egypt
[MAP] to live
there for a while[10] because the famine was severe.
2. Avram Plans Deception (12:11-13)
11As he was about to
enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Hinneh,[GN] I know that
you are a beautiful woman.
12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will
kill me but allow you to live.
13Please say that you
are my sister[13] so
that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my
life will be spared.”
Sheni [2nd] 14So When Avram entred Egypt
[ca May 15, 1892 BCE], the Egyptians saw
that the woman was very beautiful.[14]15When Pharaoh’s officials
saw her, they commended her to Pharaoh; and she was taken
into Pharaoh’s palace.[15]16He treated Avram
well for her sake, and Avram acquired sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male
and
female servants, and camels.
4. HaShem Delivers Sarai (12:17-20)
17But Yehovah afflicted
Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of
Avram’s wife Sarai.
18So Pharaoh called for
Avram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me
that she was your wife?
19Why did you say,
‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my woman? Now then, here
is your
wife. Take her and leave!”
20Pharaoh
gave his men orders concerning Avram, and they sent him away with his wife and
all his possessions.
1. The Scriptures are silent about
how HaShem first revealed himself to Avram, the son of a wealthy idol-maker.
See note on
Gen 11:27. If not
for Avram, the father of all three of earth’s monotheistic religions, the world would
still be lost in polytheism.
[BACK]
2. Name: Hebrew שםם, shem,
name; but not just the personal name by which one is called. The
Hebrew word denotes one’s reputation, fame, glory. Yehovah promised that He would make
Avram’s reputation great.
[BACK]
3a. Treat with contempt, Hebrew קלל,
qalal, translated “curse” in most English versions. The
verb means not only to curse but, as translated here, to treat with
contempt, to treat lightly, to lightly esteem, to slight, to make light
of. Any nation that treats Israel lightly, doesn’t take Israel
seriously, can expect to be cursed [Heb. אָאֹ֑ר (’ā·’ōr), placed under a curse]
by HaShem. America’s leaders need to be extremely careful in their dealings
with Israel, especially in regards to Israel’s right to dwell securely in
all the land that HaShem gave to Avraham and to his descendants
forever! The so-called “Roadmap to Peace” and “Two-State Solution” both treat
Israel with utter contempt, and HaShem will hold the American people
accountable for the actions of their elected officials, just as He held
the entire nation of Israel accountable for the activities of their evil kings.
(See “What
Adonai Says About the ‘Occupied Territories’.”
[BACK]
3b. Not only did HaShem’s
Messiah come from the family of Avraham, as if that were not blessing
enough for the entire world, but through Avraham and his descendants
we were given not just the concept of monotheism, but also the human
authors of all the Scriptures — everything we know about HaShem — were
all his descendants. Had Avraham not been obedient to HaShem, we
would likely still be sacrificing our children to Ba'al. Additionally, the restored State of Israel is
the source of some of our most important recent advances in medicine
and technology. “At least 208 Jews and people of half- or three-quarters-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2020, and constituting 36% of all US recipients during the same period.”
(jinfo.org)
See also Wikipedia: “List of Jewish Nobel laureates.”
[BACK]
4. Avram immediately
obeyed HaShem and left with his wife and his orphaned nephew. He had
no idea at all of their destination, only that HaShem would show
him. His
obedience is frequently cited in the Apostolic Writings as a testimony
to his great faith, e.g., Hebrews
11:8.
[BACK]
7. “God was dealing
with Abram not in his private and personal capacity merely, but with
a view to high and important interests in future ages. That land his
posterity was for centuries to inhabit as a peculiar people; the seeds
of divine knowledge were to be sown there for the benefit of all mankind;
and considered in its geographical situation, it was chosen in divine
wisdom as the fittest of all lands to serve as the cradle of a divine
revelation designed for the whole world.” (JF&B)
At the time the above commentary was written (1871), Israel had been
in exile from her Promised Land for nearly two millennia. That she
has since been restored to the Land is a stunning example of HaShem’s
faithfulness.
[BACK]
10. That Avram went to
Egypt to live as a foreigner during the famine and not as a
permanent resident speaks to the fact that he had not abandoned
or lost faith in HaShem’s promise of a land for him and his
descendents as a permanent possession.
[BACK]
13. Sarai was indeed Avram’s half-sister,
sharing the same father but with different mothers. (Gen
20:12)
[BACK]
14. Avram was 75 years old when they left Haran
(v. 4) and Sarai was ten years his junior (Gen 17:17). She must
have been beautiful indeed if Pharaoh wanted her for his harem
at the age of 65 or 66.
[BACK]
15. “Eastern kings have for
ages claimed the privilege of taking to their harem an unmarried woman
whom they like. The father or brother may deplore the removal as a
calamity, but the royal right is never resisted nor questioned.”
(JF&B)[BACK]
Added outline, dates, notes, and comments on Monday 12 July 2021
Page last updated on
Monday, 02 October 2023 12:52 PM
(Updates are generally minor formatting or editorial changes.
Major content changes are identified as "Revisions”) ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!