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The Center for Messianic Learning Unashamedly Pro-Israel Irrevocably Zionist |
ב״ה |
“… 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.
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Others:
Please read the Introductory Notes to this commentary.
Maps, when used, are are from
BibleAtlas.org. Created
using BibleMapper 3.0.
Additional data from OpenBible.info.
Source of Dates Used
Parashah 7: VaYetze (continued)
(“He went out”) Gen 28:10 –32:2
(Small Roman numerals in the text indicate each
'aliyah.)
7. Angels at Machanayim (32:1-2)
(Maftir) 1 (31:55) Ya'akov also went on his way, and the angels of Elohim[GN] met him.[1] 2 (1) When he saw them, Ya'akov said, “This is Elohim’s encampment.” So he nameed that place Machanayim“two camps”. [MAP]
פָּרָשָׁה וַיִּשְׁלַח
Parashah 8: VaYishlach |
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This week's
commentary from First Fruits of Zion (Messianic) |
This Week’s Reading Schedule | ||
Sunday Review and meditate on last week’s Parashah Monday Rishon [1st]: 32:1-12 Sheni [2nd]: 32:13-29 Tuesday Shlishi [3rd]: 32:30-33:5 R'vi'i [4th]: 33:6-20 Wednesday Chamishi [5th]: 34:1-35:13 Shishi [6th]: 35:14-36:19 |
Thursday Shvi'i [7th]: 36:20-39 Maftir [Concluding]: 36:40-43 Friday Haftarah: (Selections)[GN] Ketuvei HaShalichim (Apostolic Writings) Basar: The Gospel Matthew 2:13-23 Kepherim: Letters (optional) 1 Corinthians 5:1–13; Revelation 7:1–12 |
The Blessing of the Torah |
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Aliya: (the one who “goes up” to read) | |
Bar-khu et Adonai
ham-vor-ack. (Praise ADONAI Who is worthy to be praised.) |
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Congregation: | |
Ba-rookh Adonai ham-vor-ack
ley-oh-lam vah-ed. (Praise ADONAI Who is worthy to be praised for all eternity.) |
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All: | |
Ba-rookh Adonai ham-vor-ack
ley-oh-lam vah-ed. (Praise ADONAI Who is worthy to be praised for all eternity.) |
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Ba-rookh ah-tah
Adonai, Eh-lo-hay-noo meh-lekh hah oh-lahm, ah-sher ba-char ba-noo me-kol ha-ahmeem, v’na-tahn lah-noo et torah-toe, ba-rookh ah-tah Adonai, no-tane hah-torah. 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. |
![]() Click here to listen to this sung by Cantor Kenneth B. Cohen of Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT. |
VIII. Parashah 8: Vayishlach (He sent) 32:3 –36:43
A. Reunion with Esau
1. Ya'akov Fears Esau (32:3-23)
[Near Mahanaim [MAP] 1710 BCE]
(i) 4 (3) Ya'akov sent messengers ahead of him to his brother 'Esav, to the land of Se'ir“hairt” or “shaggy” [MAP] in the country of Edom.[3] 5 (4) He instructed them, “This is what you are to say to my master 'Esav: ‘Your servant Ya'akov says, “I have been living as a foreigner with Lavan, and remained there until now. 6 (5) I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, manservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
7 (6) When the messengers returned to Ya'akov, they said, “We went to your brother 'Esav. He is coming to meet you with four hundred men.”[6]
8 (7) Then Ya'akov was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided his people into two camps, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels. 9 (8) He thought, “If 'Esav comes and attacks one camp, then other camp can escape.” 10 (9) Then Ya'akov said, “God of my father Avraham, and God of my father Yitz'chak, Yehovah Who told me, ‘Return to your country, and to your kindred, and I will cause you to prosper,’ 11 (10) I am not worthy of all the lovingkindness and faithfulness You have shown to Your servant; indeed I crossed over the YardenJordan River with just this staff, and now I have become two camps. 12 (11) Please deliver me from the hand of my brother 'Esav, for I am afraid of him; otherwise he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. 13 (12) You have said, ‘I will surely cause you to prosper, and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
(ii) 14 (13) He stayed there that night, and took part of what he had with him as a gift for his brother 'Esav: 15 (14) two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 16 (15) thirty milk camels and their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.[15] 17 (16) He entrusted them to his servants as separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me and leave some distance between the herds.” 18 (17)He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother 'Esav meets you and asks you, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? Whose animals are these before you?’ 19 (18) Then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Ya'akov. They are a gift sent to my lord 'Esav. Hinneh,[GN] he also is behind us.’” 20 (19) He also instructed the second one, and the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to 'Esav when you find him. 21 (20) You are also to say, ‘Hinneh, your servant Ya'akov is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease 'Esav with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that I can face him, and maybe he will forgive me.”
22 (21) So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp.
23 (22)During the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Yabbok.[22] 24 (23) He took them, and sent them accross the stream, along with all his possessions.
2. Ya'akov Wrestles with HaShem (32:24-26)
25 (24) So Ya'akov was left all alone, and a Man wrestled with him until daybreak. 26 (25) When the Man saw that He couldn’t defeat Ya'akov, the Man stuck Ya'akov’s hip socket as they wrestled, and dislocated his hip. 27 (26) Then the Man said, “Let Me go, for it’s daybreak.”
Ya'akov answered, “I won’t let You go unless You bless me.”
a. Ya'akov’s New Name (32:27-32)
28 (27) “What is your name?” the Man asked.
“Ya'akov,” he replied.
29 (28) Then the Man said, “Your name will no longer be Ya'akov. It will be Isra'elGod strives; because you have struggled with Elohim and with men, and you have prevailed.”
30 (29) Ya'akov asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”
He said, “Why do you ask what My name is?” And He blessed him there.
(iii) 31 (30) So Ya'akov named the place Penielface of God, saying, “I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.”[30] 32 (31) The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 33 (32) That is why, to this day, the children of Isra'el don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket, because He struck Ya'akov’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.
1. Chapter and paragraph numbers are slightly different in English Bibles than in Hebrew Bibles. Verse numbers in parentheses are the English Bible numbering. [RETURN]
3. Edom (אֱדֹם, “red”) [MAP] is the area southeast of the Dead Sea, named after Ya'akov’s brother 'Esav, who was also called Edom (Gen 25:30). The descendants of 'Esav/Edom are called Edomites, and were later called Idumeans by the Greeks. Note the similarity between Hebrew “Edom” and Greek “Idumea.” [RETURN]
6. Four hundred men. Perhaps 'Esav had followed in his father’s footsteps and created a “caravan business” with a “security department.” See note 2 on Gen 13 and notes 14 and 15a on Gen 14. “Four hundred men” is not to be taken literally; it is a Hebrew idiom indicating a large number of armed men. [RETURN]
15. This speaks to Ya'akov’s enormous wealth. This was far more than most tribal chieftans of the era had to their name, but it was only a small portion (perhaps a tithe?) of his possessions that he was going to offer as a gift to 'Esav. [RETURN]
22. The Yabbok, יַבֹּֽק (yab·bōq, “emptying”) [MAP] is a stream which intersects the mountain range of Gilead and falls into the Jordan River on the east about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. [RETURN]
30. Nobody can see the face of God and live (Exod 33:20-23). Because no one has ever seen God the Father at any time (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12), we know that all physical manifestations of God are God the Son, the pre-incarnate Yeshua HaMashiach. We therefore know that it was Yeshua that Ya'akov wrestled with. [RETURN]
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