If your life is not in jeopardy for what you believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
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Please read the Introductory Notes to this commentary.
For a glossary of unfamiliar terms,
CLICK HERE. For assistance in
pronouncing Hebrew terms, a pronunciation guide is located
HERE.
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 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) 1Ya'akov also went on his way, and the angels of Elohim[GN] met him.[1] 2When he saw them, Ya'akov said, “This is Elohim’s encampment.” So he nameed that place Machanayim“two camps”. [MAP]
The brakah (blessing) to recite after reading the Parashah is here.
The brakah to recite before reading the Haftarah is here.
The Haftarah for this Portion is Hosea 12:12–14:9
The brakah to recite before reading from the Apostolic Writings is here.
The reading from the Apostolic Writings is John
1:43–51
The Blessing of the
Messiah to recite after reading from the Gospels is here.
Parashah 8: Vayishlach
(“He sent”) • Genesis 32:3 –36:43
(Small Roman numerals in the text indicate each 'aliyah.)
The brakah (blessing) to recite prior to reading the Parashah is here.
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) 3Ya'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] 4He 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. 5I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, manservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6When 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]
7Then Ya'akov was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided his people into two camps, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels. 8He thought, “If 'Esav comes and attacks one camp, then other camp can escape.” 9Then Ya'akov said, “God of my father Avraham, and God of my father Yitz'chak, יְהוָ֛ה Who told me, ‘Return to your country, and to your kindred, and I will cause you to prosper,’ 10I 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. 11Please 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. 12You 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) 13He stayed there that night, and took part of what he had with him as a gift for his brother 'Esav: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milk camels and their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.[15] 16He entrusted them to his servants as separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me and leave some distance between the herds.” 17He 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?’ 18Then 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.’” 19He 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. 20You 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.”
21So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp.
22During 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] 23He took them, and sent them accross the stream, along with all his possessions.
2. Ya'akov Wrestles with HaShem (32:24-26)
24So Ya'akov was left all alone, and a Man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When 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. 26Then 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)
27“What is your name?” the Man asked.
“Ya'akov,” he replied.
28Then 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.”
29Ya'akov asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”
He said, “Why do you ask what My name is?” And He blessed him there.
(iii) 30So Ya'akov named the place Penielface of God, saying, “I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.”[30] 31The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32That 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. The Patriarchs had frequent encounters with not just angels, but also with The Angel of ADONAI.[GN] [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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