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
5Avraham left
everything he owned to Yitz'chakIsaac,
6but while he was still
alive Avraham gave gifts to the sons his
concubines and sent them away from his son Yitz'chak to the east country.
(Maftir)16These are the sons of Yishma‘el,
and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments:
twelve princes of their tribes.
17This the length of Yishma‘el’s
life: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit
and died, and was gathered to his people.
[1744 BCE]18Yishma‘el’s descendants
settled from Havilah to Shur,
[MAP] which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria,
and they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has given us a Torah of truth,
and has planted eternal life in our midst.
Blessed are You, O Lord, Giver of the Torah.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who selected good prophets,
and was pleased with their words
which were spoken truthfully.
Blessed are You, O Lord,
Who chooses the Torah,
Your servant Moses, Your people Israel,
and prophets of truth and righteousness.
Haftarah Hayyei-Sarah is 1 Kings 1:1–31 Listen to it read from the Complete Jewish Bible
1 Now king David was old
and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep
warm.
2 Therefore his servants
said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king. Let her stand
before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord
the king may keep warm.”
3 So they sought for a
beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Isra'el, and found Abishag
the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
4 The young lady was
very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and served him; but the king didn’t
know her intimately.
5 Then
Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he
prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
6 His father had not
displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also
a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.
7 He conferred with Joab
the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest; and they followed Adonijah and
helped him.
8 But Zadok the priest,
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men
who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.
9 Adonijah
killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En
Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Y'hudah,
the king’s servants;
10 but he didn’t call
Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother.
11 Then
Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Haven’t you heard that
Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn’t know it?
12 Now therefore come,
please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life and your son
Solomon’s life.
13 Go in to king David,
and tell him, ‘Didn’t you, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying,
“Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?”
Why then does Adonijah reign?’
14 Hinneh“Behold”,
from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used
as an interjection., while you are still talking there with the king,
I will also come in after you and confirm your words.”
15 Bathsheba
went in to the king in his room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite
was serving the king.
16 Bathsheba bowed and showed
respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?”
17 She said to
him, “My lord, you swore by Yehovah[GN] your Elohim
to your servant, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my
throne.’
18 Now, hinneh, Adonijah
reigns; and you, my lord the king, don’t know it.
19 He has slain cattle and fatlings
and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, Abiathar the cohen,
and Joab the captain of the army; but he hasn’t called Solomon your servant.
20 You, my lord the king, the eyes
of all Isra'el are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord
the king after him.
21 Otherwise it will happen, when my
lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.”
22 Hinneh,
while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.
23 They told the king, “Hinneh,
Nathan the prophet!”
When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with
his face to the ground.
24 Nathan said, “My lord, king, have
you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?’
25 For he has gone down today, and
has slain cattle, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the
captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before
him, and saying, ‘Long live king Adonijah!’
26 But he hasn’t called me, even me
your servant, Zadok the cohen, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon.
27 Was this thing done by my lord the
king, and you haven’t shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king
after him?”
28 Then king David
answered, “Call Bathsheba in to me.” She came into the king’s presence and stood before the king.
29 The king vowed and said, “As
Yehovah lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
30 most certainly as I swore to you by
Yehovah, the God of Isra'el, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after
me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ I will most certainly do this today.”
31 Then Bathsheba bowed
with her face to the earth and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my lord king David
live forever!”
Blessed are You, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has given us Messiah Yeshua
and the commandments of the New Covenant.
Blessed are You, O Lord, Giver of the New Covenant.
7A woman of Shomron came to
draw water. Yeshua said to her, “Give Me a drink.”8(His talmidim had gone into the
town to buy food.)
9“You are a Jew,” the woman of Shomron said.
“How can you ask for a drink from me, a woman of Shomron?”
(For Jews do not associate with people from Shomron.)
10Yeshua answered her,
“If you knew the gift of God, and Who is asking you
for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living
water.”[10]
11The woman said to Him,
“Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where
will You get
that living water?
12Are you greater than our father Ya'akov,
who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”
13Yeshua answered her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks
the water that I give him will never thirst again; indeed, the water I will give him will become in him a
fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
22But Yeshua said to him,
“Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”[22]
27 3Then
Y'hudahY'hudah the Sicarius who betrayed
Him, when he saw that Yeshua had beem condemned to death, felt remorse, and
returned the thirty silver coins to the Cohenim Gadolim and Zakenim,
4saying, “I sinned by betraying an innocent
man to death.”
But they said, “What is that to us? That’s your problem!”
5He hurled the silver
coins into the sanctuary and left. Then he went away and hanged
himself.
6The Cohenim Gadolim took the coins
and said, “We’re prohibited from putting them into the treasury, since it’s blood
money.”
7So they decided to use the money to
buy the potter’s field as a cemetery for foreigners;
8so that field is still called
“The Field of Blood.”
9Then what
JeremiahYirmeyahu the prophet
spoke was fulfilled:
“They took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price of him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of
the children of Yisra'el priced,
10and they gave them for the
potter’s field, as Yehovah commanded me.”[10]
Luke 9:57–62
57As they were on their way, a
man said to Him, “I will follow you wherever You go.”
58Yeshua said to him,
“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have
nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
59Yeshua
said to another man, “Follow me!”
But the man replied, “Sir, let me first to go
and bury my father.”[59]
60But Yeshua said to
him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go
and announce the Kingdom of God.”[60]
61Another also said,
“I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to bid farewell to those
who are at my house.”
62But Yeshua said to
him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and
looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
The Blessing After the Ketuvei HaShalichim
Click here
to listen to this canted by
Jeremiah Greenberg of Messianic Liturgical Resources.
Page numbers refer to his
Messianic Shabbat Siddur.
Blessed are You, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has
given us the Word of Truth and has
planted life everlasting in our midst.
Blessed are you O Lord, Giver of the
New Covenant.
The Blessing of the Messiah
Click here
to listen to this canted by
Jeremiah Greenberg of Messianic Liturgical Resources.
Page numbers refer to his
Messianic Shabbat Siddur.
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.
22The children inside her struggled
with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?”
She went to inquire of Yehovah.
23Yehovah said to her, “Two
nations are in your womb; two peoples will be separated from your body.
The one people will be stronger than the other people, and the elder will
serve the younger.”[23]
[Death of Shem 1817 BCE]
[Hebron?
[MAP]
1808-1807 BCE]
27When
the boys grew up, 'Esav became a skillful hunter, a man of the field,
but
Ya'akov was a quiet man who stayed at home.
28Now Yitz'chak loved 'Esav,
because he had a taste for wild game, but Rivkah loved Ya'akov.
4. Esav Sells the Birthright (25:29-34)
[1777 BCE]
29One day whil Ya'akov was
making stew, 'Esav came in from the field and was famished.
30'Esav said to Ya'akov,
“Please let me have some of that red stew, for I am famished.”
(That is why he was also called
Edomאֱדֹם, “red”.)
31Ya'akov
said, “First, sell me your birthright.”
32Esav said,
“Hinneh,[GN] I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”[32]
33“Swear to me first,”
Ya'akov said.
So 'Esav swore to him and sold Ya'akov his
birthright.
34Then Ya'akov gave 'Esav bread
and lentil stew. He ate and drank, then got up and went away. Thus
'Esav despisedto hold in contempt,
disdain his birthright.[34]
23. It was unprecedented
in Bible times for the elder to serve the younger.
[BACK]
32. Clearly an exaggeration. How often are we, as
Believers, willing to “sell” our spiritual birthright for a bit
of physical gratification?
[BACK]
34. The birthright refers to the right of the
eldest son as chief inheritor of the father’s estate; a double portion. If there
were more than two sons, the eldest would recieve two shares; if only two sons,
the elder would receive 2/3 of everything, plus rights as head of the clan.
In
this case, 'Esav also transferred to Ya'akov his right to inherit the covenant that HaShem had
made with his father and grandfather.
[BACK]
Notes on the John Passage
10. “Living water” is free-flowing water.
Yeshua was referring to the “water of life.”
[BACK]
Notes on the Matthew Passage
21a. Another of His talmidim:
Yeshua had hundreds, sometimes thousands, of talmidim, not just the twelve.
We are not told how many were here with Him in Capernaum, just that it was
a large crowd.
[BACK]
21b. We don’t know if this
talmid’s father was old or sick at the time. It may possibly be that
he was saying, I'll be happy to follow you, but I don’t want to leave
my family right now, because I don’t want to risk losing my inheritance.
After my father dies and I’ve received my inheritance, I’ll come join
your team.
[BACK]
22. “… leave the dead to bury
their own dead …”
There are plenty of people who are spiritually dead and are more concerned
about chasing their inheritance than they are about the Kingdom of God. They
can bury the dead.
[BACK]
59. We don’t know if this
man’s father was old or sick at the time. It may possibly be that
he was saying, I'll be happy to follow you, but I don’t want to leave
my family right now, because I don’t want to risk losing my inheritance.
After my father dies and I’ve received my inheritance, I’ll come join
your team.
[BACK]
60. “… leave the dead to bury
their own dead …” There are plenty of people who are spiritually dead and
are more concerned about chasing their inheritance than they are about the
Kingdom of God. They can bury the dead.
[BACK]
Originally posted on Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Revised and updated on Friday, 14 October 2022
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!