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The Center for Messianic Learning Unashamedly Pro-Israel Irrevocably Zionist |
ב״ה |
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“… out of Tziyon will go forth Torah,
the word of ADONAI from Yerushalayim.” (Isaiah 2:3) |
The summary of the entire Torah is as simple as this:
Love what HaShem loves; hate what HaShem hates. All else is commentary.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית • B'resheet
(“In Beginning” or “At First”)
The First Book of Moses,
Commonly Called
Genesis
Parashah 4: Vayera (continued)
(“He
Appeared,” Gen. 18:1-22:24)
(Small Roman numerals in the text indicate each
'aliyah.)
[Be'er-Sheva [MAP] 1831 BCE (R), 1829 (K)][a]
H. The Binding of Yitz'chak [The Akeda]
1. Avraham told to Sacrifice Yitz'chak (22:1-2)
Shvi'i [7th] 1Some time later, Elohim[GN] tested Avraham and said to him, “Avraham!”
Avraham answered, “Here I am.”[1]
2“Take your son,” He said, “your only son, Yitz'chakIsaac, whom you love,[2a] and go to the land of Moriah“Chosen by Yah” (“Yah” is one of HaShem’s names.[2b] Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will show you.”
2. Abraham Responds (22:3-8) [Moriah [MAP]]
3So Avraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his servants and his son Yitz'chak with him. He split wood for a burnt offering, and set out for the place Elohim had told him about. 4On the third day Avraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5Avraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The lad[5a] and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you.”[5b] 6Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Yitz'chak.[6] He carried the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
7Isaac spoke to his father Avraham, “My father?”
“Here I am,[7] my son,” Avraham replied.
“Here is the fire and the wood,“ he said, ”but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8Avraham answered, “Elohim will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”[8a] And the two walked on together.[8b]
3. HaShem Provides a Ram (22:9-14)
9When they arrived at the place Elohim had specified, Avraham built the altar there and arraned the wood. He bound his son Yitz'chak and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.[9] 10Then Avraham reached out his hand and took up the knife to slaughter[10] his son.
11Just then, the Angel[GN] of Yehovah [GN] [Yehovah] called out to him from heaven, “Avraham, Avraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12“Don’t lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him,” He said, “for now I know that you fear Elohim,[12] since you have not withheld your only son from Me.”
13Then Avraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns, So he took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.[13] 14Avraham called that place “Yehovah Yireh“Yehovah [Yehovah] Sees” or “Yehovah [Yehovah] Will Provide”.” So to this day it is still said, “On the Mountain of Yehovah it will be provided.”[14]
4. Promise of Blessings (22:15-19) [Beer-Sheba]
15Then the Angel of Yehovah called to Avraham from the heavens a second time, 16and said, “ ‘I have sworn by Myself,’ declares Yehovah ‘that because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your only son, 17I will surely bless you greatly,[17] and I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies. 18And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed,[18] because you have obeyed My voice.’”
19So Avraham returned to his servants, and they got up and set out together to Be'er-sheva. And Avraham settled at Be'er-sheva.
I. News From Nahor (22:20-24)
Maftir [Concluding] 20Some time later, Avraham was told, “Milkah“queen” - daughter of Haran and wife of Nahor, her uncle and Abraham's brother has also borne sons to your brother NachorNahor, “snorting”: [ca 1920 BCE] 21'UtzUz, “wooded” his firstborn, Buz“contempt” his brother, K'mu'el“raised of God” the father of Aram“exalted” - the progenitor of the Aramean or Syrian people, 22KesedChesed, “increase۔, Hazo“vision”, Pildash“flame of fire”, YidlafJidlaph, “weepin”, and B'tu'elBethuel - “God destroys, “man of God,” or “dweller in God”.” 23B'tu'el was the father of RivkahRebekah- “ensnarer”. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nachor, Avraham’s brother. 24Also, his concubine, whose name was Re'umah“elevated”, bore TevachTebah - “a slaughter”, GachamGaham - “burning”, ThachashTahash - “dugong,” a family of marine mammal which includes manatees and the now extince Steller’s sea cow, and Ma‘akhahMaacah - “oppression”.
The Blessing After Torah |
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Ba-rookh ah-tah Adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo meh-lech hah-ohlahm, ah-sher nah-tahn la-noo toe-raht eh-met, v’cha-yaye oh-lahm nah-tah b’toe-chay-noo. Ba-rookh ah-tah Adonai, no-tain ha-to-rah. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, |
 Click here to listen to this sung by Cantor Kenneth B. Cohen of Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT |
The Blessing of the Haftarah |
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Ba-rookh, ah-tah Adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo, Ba-rookh ah-tah, Adonai, Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Blessed are You, O Lord, |
 Click here to listen to this sung by an unknown male soloist from Temple Mount Sinai in El Paso, TX. |
Haftarah Vayera is Melakhim Beit (2 Kings) 4:1-37
Listen to it read from the Complete Jewish Bible
1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yehovah. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Don’t borrow just a few containers. 4 Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”
5 So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil. 6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”
He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. 9 She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually. 10 Please, let’s make a little room on the roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him there. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”
11 One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there. 12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 13 He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’”
She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
14 He said, “What then is to be done for her?”
Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door. 16 He said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.”
She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her. 18 When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. 21 She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out. 22 She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come again.”
23 He said, “Why would you want go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.”
She said, “It’s all right.”
24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”
25 So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. 26 Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’”
She answered, “It is well.”
27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and Yehovah has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”
30 The child’s mother said, “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.”
So he arose, and followed her.
31 Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed. 33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yehovah. 34 He went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm. 35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth, then went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite!” So he called her.
When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.
The Blessing of the Ketuvei HaShalichim |
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Bah-rookh ah-tah Adonai, Eh-lo-hay-noo meh-lekh hah-ohlahm, ah-shehr nah-tahn la-noo mah-she-ahch Yeshua, v’ha-deebrote shell Ha-breet Ha-kha-da-shah, ba-rookh ah-ta Adonai, notain Hah-breet Hah-kha-da-shah. Blessed are You, O Lord our God, |
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Ketuvei HaShalichim (Apostolic Writings)
Basar: The reading from the Gospels is Likas (Luke) 17:26-37
26At the time of the Son of Man it will be just like at the time of Noach. 27People went on eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, right up to the very day that Noach boarded the ark; and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28Just like it was at the time of Lot: people went right on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building; 29but on the very day that Lot left S'dom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30That is just how it will be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, whoever is on the housetop with his possessions in the house, don’t go down to get them! Whoever is in the field, don’t turn back either! 32Remember Lot’s wife! 33Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserves it. 34I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken [to judgment] and the other will be left. 35Two will be grinding grain together; one will be taken [to judgment] and the other will be left.” 36Two will be in the field; one will be taken [to judgment] and the other left.”
37They asked him, “Where, Lord?”
And He answered them, “Wherever the corpse is, that’s where the vultures will gather.”
Continue To Parashah Chayei Sarah
Kepherim (Letters, optional)
6But it is not
as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not
all Israel that are of Israel.
7Neither, because they are Avraham’s
offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted
as from Isaac.” [Genesis 21:12]
8That is, it is not the children of the
flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are
counted as heirs.
9For this is a word of promise:
“At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”
[Genesis 18:10,14]
21Tell me, you
who want to be under the full yoke of Torah,[21]
don’t you understand what that Torah says?
22It says that Avraham had
two sons, one by the slave woman, and the other by the free woman.
23The son of the slave woman was
born out human effort, but the son of the free woman was born through
God keeping His promise.
24Let me explain this allegory: these
two women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and
produces children for slavery; this is Hagar.
25Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in
Arabia; she corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery
along with her
- “Sing, barren woman who has never had a child!
- Burst into song, shout for joy,
- you who have never been in labor!
- For the deserted wife will have more children
- than the woman who is living with her husband,” says Adonai.[27]
28Now you, brothers, just like Yitz'chakIsaac was, are children referred to in a promise made by God. 29But just as then, the son who was born through human effort persecuted the son who was born through the Spirit’s power. It’s the same way now. 30So what does the Tanakh say?
“Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will never inherit along with the son of the free woman.”[30]
31So then,
brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Ivrim (Messianic Jews) 6:13-20; 11:13-19
6 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” [Genesis 22:17] 15 Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed with an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil, 20 where as a forerunner Yeshua entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
11 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son, 18 to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,” [Genesis 21:12] 19 concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 15And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 17Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. 18Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe — and shudder. 20But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? 21Wasn’t Avraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Yitz'chakIsaac his son on the altar? 22You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. 23So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
4 For if God
didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus,
and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;
5 and didn’t spare the
ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a proclaimer
of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly,
6 and turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction,
having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way,
7 and delivered righteous
Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked
8 (for that righteous man
dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day
to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),
9 then the Lord knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
10 but chiefly those
who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise
authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak
evil of dignitaries, …
Chapter 23 • Parashah Chayei Sarah
a. Jewish tradition sets the date for the “Binding of Isaac” at 1677 BCE or 2084 AC. The same tradition sets the date of Isaac’s birth at 1713 BCE or 2048 AC. This would make Yitz'chak 36 years old at this time. [BACK]
1. “Here I am.” Heb הִנֵּֽנִי (hin·nê·nî), lit behold (hinneh)[GN] me. [BACK]
2a. Although Yitz'chak was not actually Avraham’s only son, HaShem identifies him as such, since he is the only son through whom the covenants would continue. Note that HaShem removes all doubt in Avraham’s mind which of the two sons He is requiring to be sacrificed. Your son ... your only son ... the son whom you love. HaShem must have wept bitterly as He thought forward through time to the day some 1700 years later when, in the same place, He must sacrifice His Son ... His only Son ... the Son Whom He loves … for the redemption of mankind. [BACK]
2b. Moriah is present-day Jerusalem; Mount Moriah is Mount Zion, the Temple Mount. Tradition holds that the stone that now sits in the Muslim mosque known as “the Dome of the Rock” is the very stone upon which Avraham offered Yitz'chak. Some also believe that in the Temple the Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place, was located over that stone. [BACK]
5a. According to Jewish chronology, Yitz'chak was 36 years old by this time; yet his father still refers to him as a “lad” (Heb. נַעַר, na'ar, a boy, lad, youth, retainer). [BACK]
5b. We cannot know exactly what was going through Avraham’s mind at this moment. He knew that HaShem had made a covenant with him and promised that Yitz'chak would be the heir that covenant. He knew that HaShem had commanded him to sacrifice Yitz'chak. He completely trusted HaShem Who had never yet lied to him. So was his expection that Yitz'chak was to be resurrected?The Letter to Messianic Jews tells us that “he had concluded that God could even raise people from the dead.” (Heb 11:17-19) [BACK]
6. Nearly two thousand years later HaShem’s Son Yeshua would also carry the wood for His sacrifice on His own back (John 19:17). [BACK]
7. “Here I am.” Same as note 1. [BACK]
8a. HaShem declared that Avraham was a prophet (Gen 20:7), and here Avraham speaks prophetically that in the future HaShem would offer Himself as the sacrifice on the same mountain. [BACK]
8b. “…together.” Heb. יַחְדָּֽו (yaḥ·dāw), union, unitedness; adv 2) together, altogether, all together, alike. They walked on in union. [BACK]
9. This was clearly as much a test of Yitz'chak’s faith as it was a test of Abraham’s. A strong, healthy 36-year-old man (or even a 15-year-old boy) could have easily resisted a 136-year-old man. Yet he did not resist, but submitted to his father and to his God. [BACK]
10. Slaughter: Heb. לִשְׁחֹ֖ט (liš·ḥōṭ), to kill, slaughter, beat, sacrifice. [BACK]
12. The “fear” here is יְרֵ֤א (yə·rê), a reverenetial deep respect. The omniscient HaShem already knew the extent of Avraham’s (and Yitz'chak’s) trust; He wanted Avraham and Yitz'chak to know. [BACK]
13. It is worth mentioning that the innocent sacrificed animal is always offered in place of the one for whom it is being sacrificed. [BACK]
14. It is on this very same mountain that Solomon, and later Herod, built the Holy Temple of Yehovah ; it is here that the Levitical priesthood for centuries offered the sacrifices that temporarily covered the sins of HaShem’s people, and it will be from this same mountain that Messiah will rule over His Kingdom for 1,000 years. [BACK]
17. The word bless is repeated here for emphasis, בָרֵ֣ךְ (ḇā·rêḵ) אֲבָרֶכְךָ֗ (’ă·ḇā·reḵ·ḵā). The first time is an infinitive absolute (to bless) and the second is in the imperfect tense, indicating a continuous action that keeps going on and on (to bless you, I will continually bless you). [BACK]
18. It is through the descendants of Avraham that the world learned of monotheism, and it is through them that the world has received HaShem’s sacred writings. It is through them the world has been given a moral code that provides the very definition of good and evil. And it is through the descendants of Avraham that our Savior entered time and space. The descendants of Avraham are also the source of some of the greatest advances in science and medicine of the past century. [BACK]
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