Jesus, the Jewish Messiah

Welcome.

Articles on this hub will explore Y'shua ben Yoseph (Jesus) and how the things he did and said relate to and fulfill the Torah. I will explore this not only through the text of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, but also through the wisdom recorded in the Talmud and Midrash concerning the expectations of the Messiah.

Since having completed this study, I have reversed the order of the articles, so they now may be read chronologically top to bottom instead of bottom to top as they were before the study was completed.

It is my hope that these articles will help you know more about the Messiah, improve your relationship with him, and help you in your day to day decisions in walking the Christian walk.

The first article is from my book, "What DID Jesus Do? Come and Hear the Rabbi Y'shua", which is available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles, any local book store, or through Publish America:

http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/index.htm (Search: "What Did Jesus Do?")

All subsequent articles are new and unique to this hub.

FLASH: In the interest of not making this page run "into infinity", I have decided to separate each of the books of the Torah into separate pages. You will find the parashot (portions) from Exodus through Deuteronomy at the following pages:

Luke 2: 40. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of G-d was upon him. 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. 42. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; 43. and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44. but supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; 45. and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. 46. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; 47. and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously." 49. And he said to them, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50. And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. 51. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with G-d and man.

Only Luke records this incident, so one has to wonder why he tells us of this event. Certainly it is to point out that Y'shua was in mind of his mission from early on, but I believe there's more to it than that. It is my opinion that because Luke was a Gentile and was writing to Theophilus, a Gentile, he may have felt the need to point out that as a young man, Y'shua had been singled out as unusually knowledgeable in the Law; thus, he was an obvious candidate for higher Rabbinic schooling. Mark, Matthew, and John (again in my opinion), did not feel the need to point this out because they assumed knowledge on the part of their respective audiences. While Theophilus probably knew something of Jewish educational customs, Luke lets him know that Y'shua had been singled out early in his life as a candidate to be a rabbi. First, let me address the fact that Y'shua's family did not notice his absence until they had traveled the day's journey. If we find this incredulous, it is because we are listening with modern ears. In first Century Palestine (and well before then), each town was comprised of several units known as "insulars." In these insulars, large extended families lived together, sometimes comprising several hundred people, extending out to very distant cousins. Further, at the time of Peshach (Passover), families who traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem went as insular communities, so each traveling party often consisted of several hundred people. This was partially for safety as they passed through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem, but also because of the strong feeling of community the people wanted to experience during Peshach. Since it is difficult for everyone to keep the same pace, it was the custom for women, younger children, and the very aged to start out earlier than the adult men. Considering the fact Y'shua had just turned 12, he was in that "in-between" stage where he was newly considered a man. It's easy to see how both Yoseph and Miriam would have thought that Y'shua was with the other part of the traveling party. Thus, it was not until they came together at the stopping point for the day that they realized he was missing. Naturally, they sent the family on to Nazareth while the two of them returned to hunt for their missing son. I'm not certain why it took them three days until they decided to search for him in the temple, but perhaps G-d will enlighten me one day if there is a special significance in that. Often in Christian art, we are offered portraits of Y'shua sitting or standing alone surrounded by the priests, who are being confounded by his knowledge. Hiwever, this is not really an accurate portrayal of what happened. In those days, it was standard practice for the Sanhedrin to meet during and after Peshach in the public part of the Temple to discuss and debate the law. This diatribe was open for all to attend. After a certain time, the young boys around the age of 12 were encouraged to ask questions of the Sanhedrin so that their knowledge might be increased by the wisdom of the Sanhedrin, and so that the Sanhedrin might notice the wiser ones as candidates to become rabbis. It was in this setting that Yoseph and Miriam found their son. Obviously, Y'shua was actively participating in the discourse, asking them questions (as was typical of rabbinic discourse). That he was doing so was not unusual, but Luke tells us that "everyone was amazed" by Y'shua's understanding of the scriptures and his answers. I believe that this fact is the key point of Luke's narrative: to tell us that the Sanhedrin found a star pupil in Y'shua. To understand the importance of this, we must know something of the educational culture of Judaism. There are three levels of schooling in the Jewish culture. The earliest is called Beth Sefer (The Place of Books) and today all children are taught the Torah during this period, which lasts from approximately age 5 to age 12. In ancient times, male children were taught the Torah, while female children were taught Psalms, Proverbs, and Deuteronomy (some Orthodox sects still practice this). After Beth Sefer, came Beth Midrash (the Place of Explaining), and in Orthodox Judaism, only boys who had memorized the Torah and shown the proper amount of promise continued at this level. Here, the young men, from ages about 12-15, studied all of the Tanakh. The boys also trained with their fathers during this time to learn the trade of their fathers, just as did those who had not been chosen to continue. When Beth Midrash was finished, the vast majority of young men simply joined their fathers to become apprentices at whatever trade their fathers practiced. Only the extremely gifted moved on to the final level, Beth Talmud (The Place of Interpreting). For to be in Beth Talmud, students must be chosen by a Rabbi as his Talmid (disciple), and the Rabbi then taught them the fine points of the "Torah sh'be al peh" (the Oral Law) until they were about 30. Around age 30, if the disciple had developed to the satisfaction of his teacher, he then became a rabbi himself. Even then, most became merely "teachers of the Law" rather than advanced rabbis who had special authority, which we will discuss momentarily. Luke tells us in chapter 3, verse 23 that Y'shua "was about thirty years of age" when he began his ministry, the traditional age when one became a rabbi. I believe that Luke has told us of this event so that we can then easily sum up the years between 12 and 30 as the years of study done by all young Jewish men who went on to become rabbis. Considering that his knowledge amazed all who heard him that day, there can be no doubt that Y'shua was sent on to Beth Midrash and then to Beth Talmud after he finished Beth Midrash. Every Jewish family hoped that their son might have "what it took" to become a rabbi or a scholar of the Law, so Yoseph and Miriam would have been thrilled to send him on to the higher institutes of learning rather than have him simply become just another carpenter like his father. This is not to say he would not have learned something of his father's trade anyway, but his main focus during those years must have been to study the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Torah sh'be al peh (the oral law). Thus, the years between this event and the beginning of his ministry were spent with the great minds of the Galilean rabbis. This is interesting because generally the scribes of Galilee are the more quoted and important in the Mishnah, not the rabbis of Jerusalem. So Y'shua followed the tradition of the Jewish people and spent about 18 years studying, becoming an influential sage, and influencing the minds of the greatest house of scholarship in Palestine!

Matthew 7: 28. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29. because he taught as one who had authority, and not just as their teachers of the Law.

Still, there is more to seek here, for Y'shua was more than just a Rabbi who was a teacher of the Law (as we see in this verse), he was a rabbi with a particular type of authority called "s'micha". S'micha means ‘leaning with the hands' and describes the practice of the laying on of hands called "s'micha chachomim", which in this situation conferred special status on the rabbi (S'micha was used in other situations as well - for instance, it was required for a man to perform s'micha on an animal when presenting it as a sacrifice for Korban). Most Jewish historians say the practice originated with Moshe himself when he enacted s'micha upon Y'hoshua to succeed him as the leader of the nation of Israel. Numbers 27: 18. So the L-rd said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21. He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the L-rd. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in." 22. Moses did as the L-rd commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the L-rd instructed through Moses.

When disciples passed out of Beth Talmud to become rabbis themselves, they were given the level of authority of "teachers of the Law". Without receiving s'micha, rabbis still could preach, teach young men the Tanakh, head synagogues, make certain judgments, and serve as ‘chaplains', but they could not decide any new questions concerning Jewish Law (this is still true today in Orthodox Judaism). Only the very exceptional ones were given s'micha authority: only upon those Orthodox rabbis who had a) conducted the proper years of intensive study of the Tanakh and the complex Oral Jewish Law (the Torah sh'be al-peh), and b) satisfied their rabbinical superiors as to their scholarship and piety. It usually took at least a couple of decades of service as a rabbi before this authority was conferred upon any rabbi. Such men were considered so knowledgable and wise that they deserved the authority to lay down new Teaching and make rulings concerning the Law pertaining to current events for the community. It was these men who served as judges and the very best of them became the heads of the Sanhedrin. Only these rabbis were allowed to take on disciples: to teach at the level of Beth Talmud.

A quick historical note: According to the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, folios 13 and 14, the emporer Hadrian banned the practice of s'micha on the penalty of death after the defeat of the Kokh-bar rebellion (previously, he also had ordered all of the rabbis serving on the Sanhedrin killed and ordered that the Sanhedrin be permanently disbanded. The Jewish sages decided not to try to renew the Sanhedrin after that, even in secret, because they felt it would be too dangerous to do so). Hadrian went so far as to decree that if anyone were found performing s'micha, the entire town in which it occurred was to be destroyed as well as the men involved. The practice only survived because rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, realizing he was one of the only musmachim (s'micha recipients) remaining after his master Rabbi Akiba had been executed, called together five other former talmidim (disciples) of Akiba and conferred s'micha upon them. According the Talmud, he did this between two mountains so that no city might come to harm were he discovered. Ben Bava was discovered and killed for the act, but not before conferring s'micha upon the five rabbis, who escaped capture. From that time, rabbis in the era of the Mishnah (until 200 CE) and the two Talmuds continued to ordain their successors through the s'micha ceremony, but eventually the rabbis began to confer the title without a hands-on s'micha; instead they used an oral or written formula. This is sometimes known as "neo-s'micha". This kind of s'micha still is conferred upon rabbis today, but most Orthodox Jewish authorities say the original s'micha ended around the 4th Century, during the time of Rabbi Hillel II.

Y'shua obviously had received s'micha. The previous verse tells us the people understood that he taught as though he had that distinction; and never during any of his arguments with the Pharisees did anyone ever question the fact that he had taken on disciples. The question must follow: who conferred s'micha on Y'shua? While we certainly believe he had his authority from G-d, as far as the people of his time thought, they would have wanted to know who had performed the physical act of conferring the authority on him. There are three possibilities to explain how Y'shua was given that authority:

1. He may have received s'mi-cha from the rabbi in Galilee who taught him. We have no record of this, of course, but it follows logically that a disciple as talented as Y'shua would have been granted that level of authority by the rabbi who had taught (and been impressed by) him all those years. Following the conferring of s'micha as Orthodox Judaism practices it today, this would make some sense. It is indeed the simplest scenario, but it is also the most unlikely because of Y'shua's age, for in those days, unlike today, s'micha was not conferred upon young men, but only upon older men who had functioned as rabbis for many years already, usually several decades.

2. Many scholars have postulated that Y'shua received s'micha from John the Baptist because of the exchange recorded in Matthew 21 concerning Y'shua's authority: Matthew 21: 23. And when he enetered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching , and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24. Jesus answered them, "I will also ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25. The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, ‘From heaven,' he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?' 26. But if we say,'From men,' we are afraid of the multitude; for all hold that John was a prophet." 27. So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

The implication here is that Y'shua had followed the standard rabbinic tradition of answering the question with a telling question. To paraphrase the scholars' argument: "John conferred it on me, are you questioning his authority to do so?" This claim left the Pharisees in something of a quandary: if John had been given given s'micha by a rabbi they respected, they would be refuting the judgment of that rabbi. They do not answer Y'shua's question, so he refuses then to answer theirs - or had he done so already? This does take some logical "connecting the dots" on our part, but it certainly follows that he is saying he received his s'micha from John. It is recorded in the Gospels that John had disciples, which means it is most likely that he had been given s'mi-cha as well. This possibility also makes sense; however, there are some problems with it for which there is not enough historical information for us to solve: First, John was the son of Zechariah, a priest (John 1:5). The priesthood remained in the families of the Levites, and priests did not become rabbis. Certainly, many rabbis today are Levites, but in Temple times, that was rare. Yet we are told that John had talmidim (disciples), so it certainly appears that he was functioning as a rabbi with s'micha rather than a priest. We have no way of solving this apparent contradiction because there are no historical documents that solve the conundrum. Secondly, as previously stated, in those times (unlike today) rabbis did not receive s'micha at young age. Among the famous rabbis of antiquity, Akiba was the youngest to receive s'micha, at 60 years old. This was one of the reasons people were so blown away by Y'shua. He was too young, yet he taught as a rabbi with s'micha authority. If Y'shua had s'micha conferred upon him by John, where did he get it since he was only bout 6 months older than Y'shua himself? It seems unlikely that John would have had s'micha conferred upon him at his young age.

3. However, the third possibility is the most intriguing and makes the most sense of all of them. According to the Talmud, only one s'mi-cha rabbi was required to perform the laying of their hands on the rabbi being conferred to give him s'micha, but there also had to be two witnesses present. It may be that we see the answer of who conferred s'micha upon Y'shua in the narrative of his baptism:

Matthew 3: 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15. But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of G-d descending like a dove, and alighting on him. 17. and lo, voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

There are some Jewish historians who point to Numbers 11 as the first incidence of the practice of conferring s'micha, where the seventy elders received the Holy Spirit upon them. Generally, rabbis consider Moshe to be the first "rabbi" of the Jewish people, since he was the leader of the people, but not a priest. At his father-in-law Jethro's suggestion, Moshe appointed men among the people to be "mishpotim" (translated as judges, officials, or elders), separating their jurisdictions by thousands, hundreds, and fifties (Exodus 18: 24-26). It seems probable (really inevitable) that there were more officials than only 70, but it has been postulated that the 70 in the Numbers passage were the highest ranking among them (probably meaning the ones who had jurisdiction over one thousand).

Numbers 11: 24. "So Moses went out and told the people the words of the L-rd; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and placed themround about the tent. 25. Then the L-rd came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did so no more.

Notice in the narrative from Numbers, Moshe never performs the s'micha physically. Here, the Spirit is conferred upon them directly by G-d, though the Spirit did not remain upon them indefinitely. Notice the similarity between this event and the baptism of Y'shua. Does it not seem likely that Y'shua's s'micha was conferred upon him by G-d himself when the Holy Spirit descended upon him and the G-d spoke the words, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"? If we look again at the exchange in Matthew 21, we must note that Y'shua's question is not about the authority of John but specifically the authority of John's baptism. It seems to me that Y'shua was saying that he received his authority directly from G-d in the event of his baptism by John and by the Spirit being laid upon him afterward. This answer makes more sense to me than inferring by his answer that he received his authority from John himself. If we choose this third option, and again, it seems the most obvious answer to me, then we acknowledge that Y'shua received his s'micha authority directly from G-d, something no other rabbi since Moshe himself ever claimed. To further the argument, there is the exchange recorded in Matthew 9 in which Y'shua reveals that he has been given a further authority even greater than s'micha:

Matthew 9: 2. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." 3. And behold, some of the scribes [the rabbis who were teachers of the Law] said to themselves, "this man is blaspheming." 4. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think eveil in your hearts? 5. For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ‘Rise and walk'? 6. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" - he then said to the paralytic - "Rise, take up your bed and go home." 7. And he rose and went home. 8. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified G-d, who had given such authority to men. But the clincher is Matthew 28: 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Whether or not we choose to decide that Y'shua received s'micha from his own rabbi, from John, or directly from G-d, we know that G-d gave him all authority in heaven and earth. Certainly, no other rabbi can claim such a blessing as having G-d himself confer upon him authority over all things. That is the rabbi we follow as Christians!

From the time of creation constant reference is made in Holy Writ to the Messiah and the Messianic hope of Israel. Sometimes we have to know a little more about rabbinic thought to know that, but often it is clearly on the page for all to see. For the sake of time and space, I'll confine my comments only to two points from this week's reading. There are several others, but for now, I'll concentrate on these passages because I feel they are the most significant and basic when relating this portion to the Messiah. Let us begin with the very first words of the Torah.

1 B'reishit barah Elohim et ha'shamayim ve'et ha'aretz.

"In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth"

The Torah begins with these seven words, corresponding to the seven days of creation. It is not any coincidence that the first sentence is seven words: it is meant to help the reader remember and respond to the seven days of creation, and that the words contained in it are divine in nature rather than secular.. It implies that the Torah itself is a complete revelation, something of which G-d would say' "It is good" when it was finished being written, English speakers know the translation of those 7 words very well: In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth. The rabbis say if one cannot bring himself to believe this first sentence of the Torah, he may as well close the book, because the rest of the Torah isn't going to make any sense. Man's very existence hangs on these words; they tell us that the world is not an accident, but something that was intentionally designed and that man and all creation were made with a purpose. What that purpose is, along with the character of G-d himself, is a mystery for man to discover; and, indeed, those subjects are largely the concern of the rest of not only the Torah, but most of the books of the Tanakh as well.

The first letter of the Torah is ‘beth'. One fascinating thing is that when the letter beth is put on a page, a person who knows the Hebrew alphabet can see the outline of the letter ‘peh' created since the ‘beth' fits inside the opening made by a ‘peh': Beth: Peh: Beth inserted into Peh opening: Why is this interesting one might ask? Because Deuteronomy 8:3 says the following: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of YVHV." The letter ‘peh' is also a word in Hebrew. Peh means mouth. So taking Deuteronomy 8:3 and looking at the beth as the first letter of the Torah, rabbis have noted that "every word that comes from the mouth of YVHV" is the Torah itself since the ‘beth' forms out of the center of the letter ‘peh'.

Y'shua quoted this verse to Satan when he tried to tempt him to turn the stones into bread, which would have fulfilled a superstitious belief among the Jewish people of that day that the Messiah would bring manna from heaven just as Moses had. Y'shua tells Satan (and his disciples to whom he told the story of his temptation) that he is here to do the will of the Father as it is spelled out in his Torah, not to fulfill human superstitions or human desires that are not from the Father. He is the true Messiah who was with G-d from the beginning, not some pretender who intends to fulfill Israel's earthly desires of conquering their neighbours.

2 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabba 2 and Leviticus Rabba 14, the phrase "the Spirit of G-d" implies that the Messiah was present with G-d in creation. No one knows exactly how old the tenets of the Midrash are, but doesn't it seem likely that John understood this teaching when he wrote his Gospel?:

Gospel of John 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G-d, and the Word was G-d. 2. He was with G-d in the beginning. 3. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

While some critical scholars look upon John's words as an addition or re-creation of the beginning verses of the Torah, if we apply the rabbinical thought to the first verses of Genesis, we can see that John is simply offering the rendering of those words through that filter. He presents Y'shua as the Messiah that was understood to be present at creation with G-d and that was an integral part of creation.

Genesis 3: 14. So the L-rd G-d said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Many Christian scholars, the first being Irenaeus (c. AD 115- 202), have pointed to this as the first reference of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. While obviously I disagree that it is the first, I do agree that it is a Messianic reference and the early Christians understood it as such. Some critical scholars have contended that Irenaeus invented this idea, but Paul referred to it in Romans 16: 20 when he wrote, "The G-d of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our L-rd Jesus be with you." It is also this concept of which John writes in Revelation 12: 1-12.

1"A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to G-d and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by G-d, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our G-d, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our G-d day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

The Adversary (Satan) is clearly called "that ancient serpent" and make note that the time frame John describes is that he was not thrown out of heaven until after Y'shua had been taken up and indeed that "they defeated him because of the Lamb's blood and because of the message of their witness." The seed of the woman indeed has crushed the head of the serpent and hurled him out. The passage in Revelation tells us that not only Y'shua himself crushed the head of the serpent, but that those who are his followers also crushed his head by "the message of their witness." I would be remiss not to mention some critical scholars' belief that this trait of Y'shua is something copied from other religions. One particular picture of Hercules crushing a snake under his foot has led some critical scholars to assert that this fulfillment as being borrowed from Greek legend. However, since linguistic scholars tell us written Greek comes from the Hebrew, it seems obvious that it was the Greeks who borrowed the image from the Torah of their Jewish neighbours. Even the most liberal scholars date the writing of the Torah at the time of the Babylonian exile, and even that late date precedes the Greeks by hundreds of years. Thus, the promise Y'shua fulfilled pre-dates the Greek copy by quite some time.

Y'shua is indeed the fulfillment of the Messiah seen in the Torah from the very beginning. Praise be to G-d and praise be to Y'shua, our Messiah!

Parashah 2: Genesis 6:9 - 11:32 Noach (Noah)

As the first portion told of the fall of man, the second reading lays out the theme of salvation for man coming from G-d. One might ask, "How are you coming up with salvation of man from the story of Noah?" While it is couched in destruction, the story of Noah actually centers on salvation and uses two of the great themes of salvation that run throughout the Tanakh and the New Testament.

The first of these themes is that salvation comes from the word of G-d. To understand that as a major point of this story, we must explore the Hebrew language and the concept of Hebrew numerology as the rabbis understand it: First, there is the ark itself. The Hebrew word translated into English as ark is "te-vah". Te-vah means box or coffin, but it is also used in Hebrew to mean "letter (of the alphabet)" or "word". Thus, the rabbis contend that Noah and his family are being delivered in the "letter of G-d's word". Yet there is more still to the image, for the dimensions of the ark, which are designated by G-d, further this picture. G-d tells Noah to build the ark 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits. Those three numbers are highly significant in meaning. In Hebrew, there is not a separate set of symbols for numbers. Instead, each letter in the Hebrew alphabet doubles as a number. The letter la-med" is used for the number 30, the letter "shin" is used for the number 300, the letter "nun" is used for the number 50, and when the three letters are put together, they make the word "lashon", which means "speech", "language", or "tongue". Thus, both literally and figuratively, the letter or word, whose dimensions are the tongue, speech, and language of G-d deliver Noah and his family from the destruction of the flood. This theme, like the first letter of the Torah as discussed previously, echoes in Deuteronomy 8:3, which reads, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of YHVH." As mentioned last week, this is the phrase Y'shua quoted when Satan tempted him to follow the earthly picture of the Messiah. This theme recurs in Exodus 2: 2-10 wherein Moshe is places in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. The basket is a "te-vah", the same word used for Noah's Ark. Thus, we see Moshe saved by the "letter of G-d" from the murderous decree of Pharaoh. Then, around 80 years later, Moshe builds a vessel of wood and gold according to the designs given by G-d. It is called the Ark (te-vah) if the Covenant, and within this te-vah are placed the stone tablets Moshe received from G-d. The Ark of the Covenant is carried before the nation of Israel and is their protection. When they enter Canaan, it is the Ark that goes before them and gives them victory over the pagans who fight against them for the land. Once more, we see the word of G-d is the salvation of his people.

Y'shua is the fulfillment of this theme of salvation. Referring again to the Gospel of John as I did last week: "The Word was with G-d and the word was G-d." Y'shua was the Word of G-d made flesh and through the Word of G-d we receive final salvation!

The second of the salvation themes is the cleansing of sin by water. To fully understand this, we need to understand the how ancient Jews perceived bodies of water and the physical make-up of the Earth. While the ancient Hebrews had a slightly more sophisticated picture of the Earth than other cultures, it was still somewhat primitive. The ancient Hebrews had a concept that the land of the Earth laid between the waters of the firmament above it (their concept of the atmosphere) and the waters of Sheol beneath it. Because of this concept, the ancient Hebrews believed that mouths of rivers and the bottoms of lakes and seas were fed out of Sheol itself. Thus, they were "hell-mouths" of a sort. Interestingly enough, ritual cleansing in the Hebrew world had the concept that the person immersed had the sin pulled out of him into the water where that sin flowed away and returned to Sheol, the underworld. Here, in the case of Noah, the water (all the fountains of the great deep were broken open and the window of the sky was opened) came over the land and destroyed all the evil men in the world, leaving behind only the righteous Noah and his family. Thus, we have the picture of sin flowing away and returning to Sheol while the righteous man is left behind after the cleansing.

This picture recurs when Israel finally escapes Egypt at the parting of the Reed Sea (popularly known as the parting of the Red Sea due to a mistranslation from Hebrew into Greek). The people pass through the waters of the Sea as if on dry land and the Sea closes behind them swallowing the Egyptians. The sages say that the nation of Israel was reborn through the water. The Talmud likens the passing of the nation through the Sea of Reeds to a baby passing through the birth canal. According to the Midrash, Exodus Rabba No. 23, by passing through the water, Israel finally had their first real faith in G-d as their deliverer and because of their faith, they received the Holy Spirirt upon passing through the Red Sea, enough so that they were able to compose and sing the song of faith recorded in Exodus 15.

Next, when the nation of Israel first comes to Mt. Sinai after escaping from Egypt, the L-rd tells them they must wash all their clothes and be immersed before he descends onto Mt. Sinai to meet them. They are thus ritually cleansed of the evil in their hearts and presentable before G-d.

From ancient times all the way to the present, Orthodox Judaism has insisted that any Gentile wishing to convert to Judaism must follow the same physical acts the original Jews did. This means they must be circumcised as Abraham was and then immersed as the nation was before they met G-d on Sinai. Thus, their sins are removed and they are dedicated before G-d as one of his people. The Talmud says, "a man who has become a proselyte is like a child newly born," (Tractate Yebamoth, folio 97b) so much so that he even could be permitted to marry his sister because it would no longer be considered incest because he is a completely new person.

Ritual Immersion in a proper mikveh is called for throughout Leviticus to purify oneself from a number of defilements including contact with a corpse, for women after there menstrual period has ended, for contact with unclean animals, for those who have been cured of leprosy, and several other conditions that made a person unclean. Some of these rituals required blood sacrifices in addition to the immersion, and in some cases multiple immersions were required. In fact, the Talmud says that in certain circumstances a woman must be immersed as many as 11 times after her menstrual period has ended! One of the most beautiful pictures of ritual immersion is in Jewish marriage. The bride is to be ritually immersed before being presented to her groom for betrothal. In this ritual, she shaves her head (along the lines of many of the ritual cleansing immersions described in Leviticus), removes all clothing, professes her dedication to G-d and her new life, and is immersed. Again, the image of a new birth is conjured, for she is now a new woman with a new purpose. The groom also goes through ritual immersion with the same imagery in mind (though he does not shave his head); however, historians indicate that the immersion of the groom is a relatively modern addition.

The Essenes took the ritual immersion a step further. They insisted that all Jews must be immersed as though they were proselytes who must be converted just as the original Jews were. The water of the mikveh is designed to ritually cleanse a person from deeds of the past, but the Essenes developed the notion that all Jews should rededicate themselves daily to G-d through immersion every morning.

Some historians suggested that John the Baptist was an Essene because of his baptism "for the remission of sins", but John's baptism was different than the Essenes because he championed a single immersion, not a daily one. Instead, John's baptism follows more regular Orthodox thought about dedicating the person as a new soul before G-d just as the people did before Mt. Sinai. In modern times, Orthodox Jews go through a single ritual immersion as part of a dedication ritual to G-d, but many historians say this is a relatively modern practice that was not the norm among orthodoxy in John's time.

Finally, Y'shua came and baptized with water and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). As he stated in Matthew 5, Jesus came "not to abolish the Law (Torah), but to complete it." This is surely seen in baptism, where Y'shua promises our sins are washed away by his blood sacrifice when we are buried with him and raised to new life in baptism (Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5). Y'shua instituted the Jewish ritual immersion as a sign for the faithful to dedicate themselves to G-d as a new person (ibid.) and to receive immersion of the Holy Spirit, who then indwells in their heart (Acts 2:38). As one can see, G-d had already given all of this imagery to his people. Y'shua merely fulfilled the salvation from evil and death that G-d originally proclaimed for man through the flood and salvation of Noah.

Parashah 3 "Lekh le-kha (get yourself out)" Genesis 12:1-17:27

Ad-nai charges Abram to leave his home in the Chaldean and to the land of Canaan. Abram, at age 75 (!) does not question the command, but simply goes. We are not told Abram's situation in Haran, but considering his father Terah stopped in Haran and settled there instead of going on to Canaan, we can infer that they must have had a decent life there. Yet despite his advanced age and apparently good living situation, Abram leaves for Canaan when G-d tells him to go. We find Abram's faith in G-d continually reiterated throughout the portion. Each time G-d promises something to Abram, he believes G-d. Only once, in Chapter 18, do we see Abram question G-d's promises when he laughs at the notion that he will father a child at the age of 100. Because of his constancy toward G-d, Abram is held throughout scripture as the picture of faith. "Abram believed the L-rd, and he credited to him as righteousness" (15:6) This passage of the Torah is one of the most quoted in the New Testament letters. One may find it in Romans 4: 3, 9, and 22; Galatians 3: 6, and James 2: 23. While the actual scripture is specific to Abram's belief of the promise that G-d would make his descendants as numerous as the stars, it is quoted to represent his overall attitude and actions concerning his faith toward all of the promises and commandments G-d had given him. He is held up as a model of faith for us to follow. As recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28: 19, Y'shua makes the same call to every follower of the L-rd: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Just as Abram was sent to Canaan, the land given to him and his descendants, Y'shua commands us to go unto all the earth to build the kingdom of G-d that has been given to all the spiritual descendants of Abraham. "Walk in My ways and be blameless [perfect]" (17:1). The portion reiterates the call of Abram at the beginning of chapter 17. Y'shua himself echoes this commandment: "Follow [walk after] Me!" (Luke 9:23). Y'shua came to embody the very Word of G-d, the way in which we are exhorted to walk - the same path Abraham saw stretching before him when G-d said, "Lekh, lekha". Our challenge as his talmidim (disciples) is to open our ears to hear him and to follow where he tells us to go. An easy thing to say, but not an easy thing to do, for it will often involve great sacrifice and challenge our resolve to depend on G-d rather than ourselves.

A good friend of ours spent his last Sunday with us today. He and his family are moving to Swaziland in southern Africa to become missionaries there. This is the culmination of a decision made two years ago and recent events in his life tested his resolve and at the same time paved the way for them to make the move. His regular job was gone quite suddenly leaving him in a position where he had to move up his time table for making the move to Swaziland or put it off and find another job in the States. They decided that this was a sign from G-d to move ahead and took immediate actions to get out of their home, sell most of their furniture and their car, pack their other belongings, and move ahead despite not knowing fully the financial situation of the mission work. He told me it would be easy to rationalize putting off the mission and take another job in the computer field making 100K or so, but he knew in his heart that to do so would be relying on himself instead of relying on G-d, and he would be ignoring G-d's call for him. I told him that the portion this week was aimed squarely at him and he had found himself worthy as Abraham's descendant! Just as Abram got up and left Haran when G-d called him to go, so our friend has gotten up and gone to the calling given him by the L-rd. I admire his faith and recommend his work to all who read this. To learn more about his work, go to: www.missionprovidence.org

"And I will bless them that bless you, and him that curses you I will curse, and through you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (12:3). In Romans, Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew, and then also for the Gentile." Then, in the Galatian letter, Paul says, "Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that G-d would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." Indeed, Y'shua has fulfilled the promise made to Abraham. All nations have been blessed by him, the offspring of Abraham; for through him all men are offered salvation and a reuniting with G-d. "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56).

In this week's portion, there are two passages that are deeply intwined in the message of the Messiah: first, G-d's visitation before Abraham at Mamre, and second, the "Abraham problem" of Genesis 22.

The visitation by the L-rd upon Abraham described in Genesis 18 had two interpretations among rabbinic literature. In the Midrash, the opinion is expressed that G-d appeared to Abraham with the two angels Micha'el and Gabri'el. It is those two angels who went on to visit Lot in S'dom while G-d remained and continued to speak with Abraham (Genesis Rabbah, chapters 48-50). The Talmud, in an attempt to deal with the fact that Abraham's visitors apparently dine with him, expresses the opinion that all three who appeared to Abraham were angels, the third being the angel Rapha'el (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma 37a). The Midrash does away with this problem of the eating by simply stating "if you are in Rome, do as the Romans do...when the angels visited Abraham, they partook - or pretended to partake - of the meat and drink prepared for them (Genesis Rabbah 48)."

In both documents is expressed the idea that angels from the L-rd are only assigned one duty and cannot perform more than that one task when they appear. Thus, the Midrash says Micha'el was sent to announce to Abraham that Sarah will bear him a son, and Gabri'el was sent to destroy S'dom. The Talmud says Rapha'el was sent to administer to Abraham since he was still healing from being circumcised; thus, only three angels were present and not G-d himself. While the Midrashic explanation that Gabri'el and Micha'el accompanied G-d fits with the narrative, the Talmudic addition of Rapha'el that leaves G-d absent from the event simply does not jibe with the text of the Torah, which plainly states "YHVH appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre" (Genesis 18:1). G-d's name (the one not to be pronounced) is used repeatedly throughout the passage, so there can be no doubt that it is G-d who visits and speaks to Abraham, not merely his messengers.

This visitation has from the earliest times of Christianity been understood as an appearance of the multifaceted G-d on earth. There are five references to this in the letters of the "early church fathers" from the 2nd and 3rd centuries:

1. Justin, "Dialogue with Trypho" (written c. AD 150) - In chapter 56, Justin expresses to Trypho that the Jewish belief (represented to us by the passage from the Talmud) that all three visitors were angels is incorrect. Looking at the Scripture, Trypho agrees with him. Justin goes on to state that the Torah clearly shows two existing facets of G-d in 19:24, wherein it is stated, "Then YHVH caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon S'dom and Ng'omora from YHVH out of the sky." Justin states to Trypho that when the angels bring Lot out of the city of S'dom, G-d himself speaks to him, for in both verses 17 and 21, the text reads that "he" (being G-d) spoke to Lot, not "they"(the angels, who have been referred to in the plural throughout their discourse with Lot while in the city). Thus, Justin argues that Y'shua, the Son, is the facet of G-d who appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while G-d, the Father, remained in the spiritual realm.

2. Irenaeus makes this same argument in Book 3, chapter 6 of his "Against Heresies" (c. AD 180), quoting 19:24 and stating that the verse infers that the judgment of S'dom and Ngomora had been assigned to the Son.

3. In chapter 13 of "Against Praxeas" (c. AD 200), speaking about the passage of Genesis 19:24, Tertullian says "a much more ancient testimony we have also in Genesis" that "the Father is L-rd and the Son is L-rd".

4. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Antiochians (c. AD 250), Chapter II again repeats this argument for the reading of Genesis 19:24.

5. Cyprian reiterates this concept as a proof of the Gospel of John 5:22, which reads, "the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son". Cyprian's argument is that Y'shua pronounced condemnation on S'dom and Ng'omora since all judgment has been entrusted to him. He uses Genesis 19:24 to prove that G-d the Father was still in the heavenly realms while G-d the Son was present on the earth before Abraham, Lot, and bringing down the fire upon the cities.

The visitation of G-d to Abraham has further Messianic interpretations than merely being a sign of G-d's multi-faceted personality being manifest. During the Passover Seder, celebrants use three matzot just as Abraham had three measures of flour drawn for the visitors; thus three matzot represent that event. In fact, the Midrash goes so far as to state the visitation at Mamre took place during the week of Passover, though the Passover had not yet taken place. According to the Midrash, then, Abraham unknowingly celebrated the victory over death in Egypt and the ultimate victory on the cross at Golgotha by Y'shua.

Look at this passage from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Baba Mezi'a 86a: "Rab Judah said in Rab's name: Everything which Abraham personally did for the Ministering Angels, the Holy One, blessed be He, did in person for his sons; and whatever Abraham did through a messenger, the Holy One, blessed be He, did for his sons through a messenger. [Thus:] And Abraham ran unto the herd - And there went forth a wind from the L-rd; and he took butter, and milk - Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and he stood by them under the tree - Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock, etc.; And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way - And the Lord went before them by day; let a little water, I pray you, be fetched - and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. But he is thus in conflict with R. Hama son of R. Hanina. For R. Hama son of R. Hanina said, and the School of Ishmael taught likewise: As a reward for three things [done by Abraham] they [his descendants] obtained three things. Thus: As a reward for, [and he took] butter and milk, they received the manna; as a reward for, And he stood by them, they received the pillar of cloud; as a reward for, Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, they were granted Miriam's well."

Just as one can see the more immediate response of G-d in his actions among the people when they left Egypt under Moshe's leadership, so, too, we can see the deeper spiritual fulfillment of these things by Y'shua by repeating the passage, but with the fulfillments by Y'shua written instead: [Thus:] And Abraham ran unto the herd - "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Gospel of John 1:14); and he took butter, and milk - "For the bread of G-d is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (Gospel of John 6:33); and he stood by them under the tree - "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father"(Gospel of John 14:9); And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way - "And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20); let a little water, I pray you, be fetched - "To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life" (Revelation 21:6). Thus we see Y'shua fulfill the acts of Abraham's faith.

At the end of the portion, we come to the story of Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac to the L-rd. This passage has transfixed and perplexed the best rabbinic minds for centuries. How to answer "the Abraham problem" seems almost essential to the development of every rabbi. Nearly every aspect of the story has been taken apart and hashed over, from the question of why, in the face of the promised covenant through Isaac, Abraham would believe it was G-d who had spoken to him when he was asked to sacrifice his son, to every conceivable reaction Abraham might have had that led him to follow that command apparently without question. From the perspective of what G-d had done for him and what G-d had promised to him, certainly anyone can see the logical and psychological problems that faced Abraham when given this command. How could he have descendants as innumerable as the stars if he killed his son? Who would carry on the worship of the one true G-d if his only spiritual heir were dead? How could he kill his own son, who he loved? How could he betray his wife thus by killing the boy who brought her laughter in her old age? Yet if Abraham did not believe completely that it was G-d who asked this of him, then these dilemmas would not even arise. Precisely because Abraham is certain it is G-d who commands him (and after the many revelations and conversations he has had with him already, it is easier to understand how he could be certain), we are faced with the dilemma of his unquestioning action in moving to obey G-d.

The sages almost all arrive with the answer that we are all asked to sacrifice to G-d that which is dearest to us, including our own life and family, and asked to do so on a continuing basis rather than as a one time event. This, they say, is the challenge of Abraham and the blessing. Christians, too, see this wisdom and it is told to us by Y'shua himself: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it (Mark 8:35)." Yet Christians see even a deeper - and glaringly obvious - reaction from G-d to the "Abraham problem". Much as G-d personally did for Abraham's descendants what Abraham did during the visitation at Mamre, so too has G-d given as Abraham was willing to give, but so much more so since Abraham was spared of having to actually sacrifice his son. "For G-d so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (Gospel of John 3:16)." Note the details in the Torah text: "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love..." The Hebrew word used for only is "ya-chid", meaning in this context a one and only child. Even though Abraham also had Ishmael, in the context of the Covenant of G-d fulfilled through Sarah and Isaac, Isaac was his only son and his firstborn. At the moment of Y'shua's baptism, "a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased (Gospel of Matthew 3:17)." The parallels continue:

I.  “On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance (22:4)” = “”And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the Law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Gospel of Luke 9:22).”  Also, see Gospel of Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, Gospel of Luke 13:32, 18:33, 24:7, 21, 26; Acts of the Apostles 10:40; I Corinthians 5:14. 

II.  “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac…(22:6)” = “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha (Gospel of John 19:17).”

III.  “Abraham answered, ‘G-d himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son (22:8).” = “G-d made him who had no sin to be sin [a sin offering] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of G-d (II Cor. 5:21)”; “”For Christ, the Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed (I Cor. 5:7b)”; “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect,  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake (I peter 1:18-20)”; “In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise (Revelation to John 5:12)!’”

IV.  “So Abraham called that place ‘YHVH Will Provide’.  And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of YHVH it will be provided (22:14).” + “Then Solomon began to build the temple of the L-rd in Jerusalem on MountMoriah where the L-rd had appeared to this father David.  It was on the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. (II Chronicles 3:1) = “This is what the L-rd says: ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem.  Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the L-rd Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain (Zechariah 8:3)” = “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium)…and when they had mocked him, they took off his purple robe and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him out to crucify him…They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).  Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified him (Gospel of Mark 15: 16,20,22-24).”  Again to note, when questioned by Yitzkach about having no lamb for the burnt offering, Abraham answers him that "G-d will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son".  Then, after Isaac has been released and the ram offered, Abraham names the place "YHVH-yir-eh", which means "the L-rd will provide". Again, the Gospel of John 3:16 is evident, but so much more so because of where Abraham is. Isaac is bound on MountMoriah, the very place where the Temple of G-d would stand in Israel in later days. G-d indeed provided the lamb ("Look, the Lamb of G-d, who takes away the sin of the world!" - Gospel of John 1:29) and the Messiah was announced on the Temple Mount as Apochryphal Jewish literature said he would be, but not in the same way. He was not announced with trumpets from the top of the Temple, but rather by being condemned by the Sanhedrin in the courtyard of the High Priest (Matthew 26:57-68).

V.  “and through your offspring [seed] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me (22:18).” = “He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise form the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem (Gospel of Luke 24: 46-47)”; “…but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal G-d, so that all nations might believe and obey him (Letter to the Romans 16:26)”; “The scripture foresaw that G-d would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you’ (Galatians 3:8).”  After stopping Abraham from sacrificing Yitzkach, the covenant is repeated to Abraham by the Angel of the L-rd: "I swear by myself, declares the L-rd, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." We have already discussed the Christian notion of how Y'shua is the fulfillment that all nations will be blessed through his offspring, but in this passage, that message is clear.

The Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 137b states: "Were it not for the blood of the covenant, heaven and earth would not exist". Indeed, repeating the beginning of the Gospel of John: "The Word was with G-d and the Word was G-d." Y'shua is the Passover lamb who provides the blood of the covenant and as John tells us "all things were created through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made (1:3)." John again reiterates rabbinic wisdom and shows us how Y'shua is the fulfillment of it. G-d himself indeed provided the lamb for the sacrifice to seal the covenant with his creation and has blessed all nations through his cleansing blood! Baruch hu u'baruch shemo!

The portion this week begins by recounting the death of Sarah and Abraham’s procurement of a burial site for her in the Holy Land.  While this may seem like a simple passage with little but historical value, there is much spiritual depth to be mined from these verses.

It is fascinating to note that the years of Sarah’s life, 127, are the exact number of provinces over which her descendant Hadassah (Esther) ruled when Xerxes made her his queen (ref. Esther 1:1).  Secondly, Rashi quotes the rabbinical teaching that says the years are split the way they are in the text (100 years, 20 years, and 7 years) to suggest how spiritually pure Sarah had been in her life: at 100, she had the spirit of a 20 year old, and at 20, she had the spirit of a 7 year old.  Rashi tells us this is the way the author lets us know of Sarah’s righteous life. 

Kabbalah re-affirms this teaching and codifies each number in the following ways: 

100 years (10x10) corresponds to Sarah’s perfection of keter, the highest level of the sephirot (the metaphysical attributes of the soul created by G-d); 20 (2x10) corresponds to Sarah’s perfection of the two intellectual faculties of the soul: wisdom and understanding; and 7 corresponds to Sarah’s perfection of the inner emotions of the heart.  Kaballah ties this idea to Proverbs 31:26, wherein it is written that, “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.”

Further, the Midrash also ties Sarah’s life to Proverbs 31, wherein is listed the characteristics of a virtuous woman.  The sages particularly apply the passage as representing Sarah’s life (to be emulated) because of verse 16, which reads, “She considers a field and buys it.” 

At first glance, this seems a stretch by the sages.  How can this represent Sarah when it was Abraham who purchased the field of Machpelah after her death?  The answer to that question is the beauty of her righteousness, for the sages tell us that she “considered and purchased” this field in the Holy Land by living a life worthy of it.  Machpelah means “two-fold” and many sages suggest this references the bridge between this life and the next.  Because Sarah lived a holy and blameless life of faithfulness to G-d, she earned the right to be buried in a place that suggested the presence of heaven.

Once again, the parallels of the life of the Messiah are apparent.  Like Sarah, his ancestor, he lived a life worthy of Machpelah; indeed, his very existence was “two-fold”, being both G-d and man, thus partly in the spirit world and partly in the physical.  He is the ultimate perfection of the metaphysical, intellectual, and emotional aspects of the soul.

The narrative of Abraham’s purchase of the field from Ephron also reveals unexpected messianic overtones.  Recently archaeological discoveries have revealed that in the ancient world of the Middle East, foreigners could not buy land unless a chieftain gave consent for such a sale before the whole clan.  When this occurred, the buying foreigner in question was no longer considered an alien among the people of that land.

This appears to be the reason that Abraham comes before the assembled men of Kena’an (Canaan) to make his request that he be allowed to purchase the field and cave of Machpelah.  Ephron appears to want to give the burial site to Abraham, but doing so would not have relieved Abraham’s status as an alien in the Promised Land, so he insists on paying for the land.  Ephron then asks what appears an exhorbitant sum for the property in question.  However, when we consider the idea that Abraham essentially also is buying citizenship for himself and his family, the price makes more sense.

The parallel to the Messiah may seem obvious already.  Just as G-d freely offered mankind his love and companionship, Adam made himself an alien by rejecting G-d for himself in the Garden.  The rift thus created between the “two-fold” existence of the physical and spiritual realms in man had to be repaired, and could not be done without a heavy price – and the consent of G-d himself. 

As stated in last week’s comments, G-d paid the price himself through Y’shua (Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from G-d? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor G-d with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Salvation is a gift from him because he paid that price rather than exacting it from each of us, but it is a gift he tells us to take “before the clan”:  “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” – Romans 10: 9-10.

The Midrash comments on Genesis 23:17-18 that the field “arose” (ו סָבִֽיב׃, often translated 'established' or 'deeded' in this verse literally means 'arose') in stature because it had passed from the cursed descendants of Ham (the Kena’ani) into the blessed hands of the man G-d had picked to be the patriarch for the nation of Israel (Genesis Rabbah 48:8).  We, too, when we have been accepted the Messiah and been buried with him in baptism, have been elevated from our former life as part of the lost world (Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of G-d's one and only Son. – Gospel of John 3:18) into being part of the blessed Kingdom of G-d.

Finally, the story is related how Abraham sends his servant to get a wife for Isaac.  There are two major Messianic themes present in this passage I wish to highlight:

First, note that Abraham sends his servant to his kin, not Isaac himself.  Looking ahead to Genesis 26, we find that G-d tells Isaac not to go into Egypt, but to remain in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and their descendants.  The Mishnah makes the ruling that once an offering has been placed on the altar, it can never lose the sense of sanctity.  The sages attribute this quality to Isaac, who was placed on the altar as an “olah” to G-d (Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering [olah] on one of the mountains I will tell you about. - Genesis 22:2).  Even though his blood was not spilled, because he was placed on the altar, Isaac became a living olah to G-d for the remainder of his days. 

Just as Isaac was consecrated to G-d, we have become consecrated to G-d when we have been buried and raised to new life with the Messiah (Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. – Romans 6: 3-5).  Our former life is put to death and we become a living sacrifice to G-d for the remainder of our lives just as Isaac did (But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Peter 2: 9).

Second, take note of the character of Ribkah (Rebecca) and why Abraham’s servant decides that she is the one G-d has chosen for Isaac.  When the servant approaches Ribkah, she reacts just as he had asked G-d for her to do.  Not only does she offer him water, but she also waters his camels until they are slaked.  Then, when he asks if there is room in her father’s house that he might lodge the night there, she again offers not space for him, but straw and food for his camels.  It is at this point, when she has gone beyond what the servant asked G-d to show, that he falls to the ground and worships G-d for delivering her to him.  He knows she is the one, not merely because she is one of Abraham’s kin, but because she exuded the same spirit as Abraham himself, that of the willing servant. 

There is a rabbinic teaching that says when we do service to the poor, rather than expect thanks from them, we should thank them for the opportunity of fulfilling the mitzvoth (commandments) of G-d.  For the true servant of G-d realizes that he receives a greater blessing in his soul then whatever blessing his gift is to the needy.  This is how Ribkah treats the servant of Abraham, going beyond what is asked of her and doing so with true hospitality and concern for her fellow man.

Thus, Ribkah is the embodiment of the Messiah’s words: “The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Gospel of Matthew 23:11).  Ribkah is taken and becomes the holy bride of Isaac, the groom who is an olah dedicated to G-d.  So, too, was Y’shua the embodiment of the selfless servant (but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant) the New Testament writers often refer to the church as the bride of Christ, who also was an olah to G-d and is that and more since his ascension.  We become his bride and we become dedicated to G-d just as he was during his earthly ministry.

The portion begins this week by recounting the birth of Ya’akob (Jacob) and Esau.  It is fascinating to note that the first three generations of G-d’s people Israel all dealt with infertility and spent years in which there appeared that the promised descendants would not come after all.  Sarah, Ribkah, and later both Leah and Rachel are barren for many years.  G-d seems intent on letting us know that it is he who is working in our lives and not our own efforts that secure his will for us.  Abraham’s promised descendants who number like the stars and the sand were a long time in coming and certainly the of Abraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akob faith in the promised covenant must have been tested during those long years without an heir.

The birth of Y’shua is both the antithesis and the apex of this theme.  Instead of being barren for years, Miryam became pregnant without having been with a man.  This was the ultimate act in showing that it was G-d and G-d alone who acted in bringing the Messiah at the proper time and place.  So, too, was the faith of Miryam and Yoseph tested, having to deal with the social stigma thrust upon them since surely almost no one believed their story of Miryam’s miraculous pregnancy.  We have record in the Gospels of some of the family who believed and understood the miracle as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Yasha’yahu (Isaiah), but there must have been many who considered them unclean sinners.

At the beginning of chapter 26, G-d reiterates his promise to Abraham unto Yitzchak.  It is this passage to which the Midrash points when explaining his status as a living ‘olah’ to G-d, for it is her that G-d tells him not to go to Egypt but to remain in the holy Land promised to his descendants.  Interesting to note that after the brief excursion into Egypt to escape Herod, Y’shua lived out the remainder of his days within the Holy Land as well.  While he did venture into the Gentile territory of the Gerasenes (called the Decapolis), this had been part of the Holy Land as well before the 10 northern tribes were taken away by the Assyrians.

From here, we read of the dispute between Ya’akob and Esau that shapes the rest of their lives and the lives of their descendants for thousands of years.  It begins before they are born.  26: 22 tells us they jostled constantly in Ribkah’s womb, and the L-rd told her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

The narrative then goes ahead many years to the point they are grown men and tells us of the differing favour of their parents:

Genesis 25: 27And the youths grew, and Esau is a man acquainted [with] hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob [is] a plain man, inhabiting tents;  28 and Isaac loveth Esau, for [his] hunting [is] in his mouth; and Rebekah is loving Jacob. (Young’s Literal Translation)

The sages have noted the interesting turn of phrase in the Hebrew: “Isaac loved Esau, for hunting in his mouth”.  Usually, this is translated into English along these lines: “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau”.  It is a possible translation, but not the only one.  The sages of the Midrash point out that the passage could mean that Yitzchak loved Esau because Esau flattered him with his mouth.  The sages finally concur that the passage means that Esau pleased his father by hunting what he liked to eat and by telling him what he wanted to hear.  Doing so was a powerful tool in winning Yitzchak’s favour upon himself.  That would not be so bad if Esau’s motives did not appear to be purely selfish, leaving his actions as manipulative instead of respectful. 

Peter talks of that same spirit in 2 Peter 2: 1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Esau’s spirit is one of divisiveness.  We see this first in the way he despised his birthright – and understand that in doing so, he was despising G-d’s covenant promise to Abraham!  Little wonder that G-d had chosen Yitzchak over him before they were born.  For assuredly, G-d already knew the character of both Yitzchak and Esau while they were still in their mother’s womb:

Psalm 139: 15 My frame was not hidden from you          when I was made in the secret place.          When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

 16 your eyes saw my unformed body.          All the days ordained for me          were written in your book          before one of them came to be.

Esau cares only about pleasing his immediate carnal desires.  He continued that trend by going against his parents wishes in marrying two Hittite women, who were “ a source of grief” to them.  It is only when he realizes what despising his birthright has cost him that it finally means something to him.  Even then, it is not a matter of acknowledging G-d’s covenant with his family, but merely a matter of the material goods he expected to receive from his father.  He still has no concept of thinking in the spiritual realm or in giving G-d a place in his life.

I cannot help but think of three passages when assaying the character of Esau and his disdain for the heritage G-d had promised.  First, come the words of John the Baptist that he spoke to the Pharisees:

Gospel of Matthew 3: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones G-d can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Just as Esau despised the covenant of G-d with Abraham, trusting rather in himself, so had the Pharisees put their trust in human matters rather than spiritual ones.  The birthright of Abraham had come to be an end unto itself for them instead of a starting point of a faith relationship with the G-d of their fathers. 

In the second passage, Y’shua laments this divisive spirit of Esau among the people of Yisra’el:

Gospel of Matthew 23: 30And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!  33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.  37"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

We can see Esau’s flattery in the words of the Pharisees.  Yet we see also the loving hand of G-d in verse 36 toward his people, just as the loving hand of Yitzchak reached out to his son.  For the sages ask, why did Yitzchak wish to bless his son Esau?  Surely, as the living ‘olah’ to G-d, he was not so blind to his son’s selfish nature.  Rabbi Eliezer Dessler (1891-1954) gives an exacting explanation of Yitzchak’s motives.  He wrote that Yitzchak knew that his son Ya’akob was a righteous person and that it was his son Esau who most needed the blessing, for Ya’akob hoped to “gather him under his wings” and inspire him to turn from his wickedness to serve G-d.  Ya’akob needed no such prompting.  In fact, since Yitzchak understood the value of suffering, he likely figured his son Ya’akob to be better served without a blessing, for whatever hardship might come upon him would only draw him closer to G-d because that was his nature already.

However, Rabbi Dessler explains, Ribkah understood better than Yitzchak.  She knew that improving Esau’s circumstances would not improve him as a person.  He would only be the negative embodiment of the warning G-d would later give Israel: Deuteronomy 6: “10When the L-rd your G-d brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the L-rd, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Just as Ribkah understood that Esau would misuse the blessing, despising it again by using it only for fulfilling his own carnal desires, she knew that Ya’akob needed the blessing to pass on to the righteous descendants of the promise.  Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch goes on to say, using the words of the Talmud, that “Ribkah had very different intentions (in deceiving Yitzchak into blessing Ya’akob).  In short, she wanted to prove to Yitzchak once and for all that he was mistaken about who should receive the blessing.  If the honest, righteous Yitzchak could so easily trick him into believing he was Esau, how much more easily had the cunning Esau tricked Yitzchak into believing he could be a righteous man like Ya’akob?”  The Talmud says that Ribkah was proven correct by the words Yitzchak speaks to Esau after he has discovered the deception.  Yitzchak does not rescind the blessing, but rather says, “he (Yitzchak) shall even be blessed!” 

The words of Paul echo what happened in this incident:

Galatians 6:  7Do not be deceived: G-d cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturewill reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

As Esau sowed, so did he reap.  He despised his birthright, the very covenant promise of G-d to Abraham, he sought his father’s favour through flattery, he married the accursed descendants of Ham against his parents’ wishes.  Then, in another flawed attempt to win his father’s favour, he married a daughter of Ishmael, yet he kept the Hittite wives that so pained his parents.

The book of James sheds light on Esau’s flawed thinking:

James 4:  1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask G-d. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward G-d? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of G-d.

The Torah validates the opinion of the Torah towards Ribkah’s deception, for rather than rescind the blessing given to Ya’akob, Yitzchak reiterates it and makes certain that his son understands the blessing of G-d’s promise to Abraham has been passed onto him, as we read in chapter 28: 1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 May G-d Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land G-d gave to Abraham."

According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah), when he discovered Esau had forfeited his birthright by selling to Ya’akob, Yitzchak was convinced that Ribkah was correct.  Therefore, he validated Ya’akob’s blessing and recognized him as the sole inheritor of the covenant with Abraham.

When Esau sold his birthright, the Torah tells us he despised it.  It meant nothing to him until many years later, but then it was too late.  It had rightfully been taken from him because of his disdain and it could not be bought back.  This message is timeless and applies to us as well as to Esau and to those to whom Y’shua spoke recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 6:  19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How often do we overlook matters of spiritual importance in favour of matters of physical comfort?  How easily we can trade the eternal rewards for a moment of relatively mundane leisure in this temporal world. 

Romans 6:  1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Indeed, all who are baptized into his death and raised to life have become the children of Abraham, the children of the promise!  The Messiah has called us to recognize the birthright of Abraham’s promise and to embrace it!  Through our actions in spreading Y’shua’s name, his message, and his love, all the people of all the nations may be blessed by coming to him! 

The portion this week begins with Ya’akob (Jacob) leaving the Holy Land headed toward Haran to find a wife (and to escape his brother’s ire for a time). In 28:11, the English tells us he “came to a certain place and stayed the night there”.  The literal translation of the Hebrew text is more dramatic. Va’yifgah ba’makom. “And he collided with a certain place!” The word yifgah suggests a dynamic encounter with an object that is traveling towards oneself, something like two trains colliding.

Tradition holds that the place of this encounter is Mount Moryah - the same place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Yitzchak, when G-d stayed his hand and provided a ram. Some sages say the stone Ya’akob used was one of the stones of the altar of sacrifice upon which his own father had been bound and offered as a sacrifice. Now he rests his head upon it and here G-d once again reveals Himself. It is G-d’s first proclamation of His desire to come down and to establish His dwelling place among His people on earth. This very place of sacrifice is in fact destined to become the site of His glorious Temple. It will be the place of the ultimate sacrifice of His Son and Messiah, and the foundation of His house of prayer for all nations!

When Ya’akob sleeps, he has one of the most famous dreams in religious history. Within the dream G-d reaffirms the promise made to Abraham and lets Ya’akob know that the promise will continue through him. We read once again the promise of the coming Messiah: “By you and your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed”.

The ladder itself also has a Messianic message: According to the Midrash (Tanchum Vayetze): “Ya’akob’s dream depicts the rise and fall of nations and their cultures on the arena of world history…The L-rd stands at its top as the master of history, assuring us that pride and despotism will be brought low, until His sovereignty alone is recognized at the end of days.”  This concept echoes the picture in Daniel 2 of the kingdom that G-d will set up that will never be never be destroyed nor left to another people, the very kingdom of G-d Y’shua established through his sacrifice: the indwelling of his Holy Spirit within his people forever. Truly, a kingdom that “cannot be destroyed nor left to another people.”

And, indeed, because of Y’shua’s sacrifice, we find, as Ya’akob found in his dream, that G-d has come down to us and stands with us. His blessing is upon us and he “will not leave us until he has done all he has promised”. Blessed be his name!  Rabbi Seymour Rossel wrote, “G-d is high above the world! Yet if a man enters a synagogue and hides behind a post and prays in a tiny whisper, the Holy One, blessed be He, listens to the prayer… Can there be a G-d nearer than this, who is as near to His creatures as the mouth is to the ear?”

Another interesting parallel between this event and the life of Y’shua is the time just after the temptation in the desert of which we read in chapter 4 of the Gospel of Matthew and chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke. Y’shua has withstood Shaitan’s temptations to become the earthly Messiah Jerusalem expects, including resisting the temptation to have all the kingdoms of the world given to him if he will but bow to Shaitan’s will. Y’shua echoes the picture given in Genesis and in the Midrash. He rejects worldly kingdoms and says, “The Torah says, ‘Worship Ad-nai your G-d and serve him only” (Deuteronomy 6:13-14). Matthew’s account finishes by telling us, “Then the devil left him, and the angels attended him.”  Thus Y’shua affirms the picture of G-d standing above all the earthly kingdoms and the angels descend from heaven to attend to him.  In the Gospel of John 1: 51, Y’shua tells Nathaniel, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of G-d ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” This is an obvious reference to the vision of Ya’akob and both Nathaniel and Philip surely realized that immediately. The message of Y’shua to them is that he himself will become the ladder upon which the angels ascend and descend and through which men may have access once again to their G-d in heaven.

One disturbing incident in the parashah is Ya’akob’s reaction to Rachel when she tells him in 30:1, "Give me children, or I shall die." Ya’akob replies to her: "Can I take the place of G-d, who has denied you fruit of the womb?" (30:2) The rabbis of the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 71:7), sensitive to Rachel's pain, tell us: "Said the Holy One, blessed be G-d, to Ya’akob: 'Is that a way to answer a woman in distress? By your life, your children will one day stand before her son (Yoseph), who will answer them, 'Am I in the place of G-d?' (Genesis 50:19).”

The sages not only compared identical wording in the Torah, but they stated that just as Ya’akob judged Rachel harshly for crying out in pain, so, too, will Rachel's son be in the position to judge Ya’akob's other sons harshly - but he will show compassion and spare their lives.

So, too, does the blessed descendant of Abraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akob: Y’shua the Messiah, stand in the same place to judge all of the other children of G-d. He is the unique Son of G-d, given as the eternal sacrifice to sanctify and save the children of the creation just as Yoseph’s life was taken from him when he was sold into slavery. Yet by that unwilling sacrifice, Yoseph eventually stood in the place to save his brethren from starvation. When we must answer to the judgment of G-d, it is Y’shua the Messiah who “will acknowledge [our] name before the Father and his angels (Revelation of John 3:5),” because of the willing sacrifice made for us at Golgotha. Of course, the further irony is that Y'shua does stand in the place of G-d because he in fact is part of G-d ("Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me" - Gospel of John 14:11).  As G-d, he is the judge, yet as the Messiah, he is our legal representative and the recompense for our crimes.  In his infinite mercy, he delivers us from eternal spiritual starvation, though it is all we deserve for rejecting him and delivering him to death. 

In this week's portion, Ya’akob (Jacob) returns to his homeland and faces his brother Esau. When they meet, the following verbal exchange happens after Ya’akob has offered Esau a “peace offering”:

In chapter 33, verse 9, Esau tells Ya’akob "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself." To this Ya’akob replies that Esau should accept his “for G-d has been gracious to me and I have all I need."

In the Rambam, the great sage Rashi comments on this exchange, noting the different attitudes of Ya’akob and Esau toward their possessions.

Rashi expounds on Esau’s comment to explain that “Esau spoke boastfully, proclaiming: I have plenty more than I could ever want.” Esau, he tells us, measured his personal worth (and wealth) in quantity rather quality and shows he still is caught in the same attitude of worldliness and self-indulgence that ruled his life as a younger man.

Rashi notes that Ya’akob, on the other hand, assesses his situation according to quality. What he has is not a question of quantity, but quality in that he simply has all his existence requires – and he acknowledges that it is G-d who has given it to him.

The words of Y’shua as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 6:19-20, echo in my head already: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

In relation to this narrative, the Midrash has this to say about the Messiah: “All the gifts which Jacob felt himself constrained--out of fear--to present to Esau, will be restored to Israel at the advent of Messiah.”--Genesis Rabba 75.

One could take this literally and suppose that the Messiah will return the exact number of goats, rams, cattle, and donkeys that Ya’a’kob ceded to Esau as a gift or one can take it figuratively: that the Messiah will return to Israel “all that he needs”. Following the words of Rashi and the Midrash, we see that Ya’akob understood that his physical needs were secondary to the spiritual needs of knowing G-d and following his word. This is exactly what the Messiah returned to Israel when he came. Y’shua fought against the P’rushim (Pharisees) during nearly all of his ministry, and it was always over the fact that they had taken G-d out of the religious equation and replaced him with an ever increasing set of physical rules that took one’s focus off the spiritual and put it squarely on the physical world. Y’shua restored the spiritual focus that had been lost to us. He changed our outlook from that of Esau, focused on our physical desires (whether in giving in to them or in concentrating so much on avoiding them they became an obsession anyway), and turned our outlook to an “inlook”, focusing on our spiritual need to be with G-d and to know him in our heart and mind as the very focus of our life.

The evening before the meeting with Esau, Ya’akob spends the night on the other side of a bridge from all of his family and possessions. It is here that the famous wrestling incident occurred. Whether this was an actual physical happening or a mental/spiritual struggle – and exactly with whom – is something over which biblical scholars have wrestled themselves for centuries. Even the Midrash and Talmud present contradicting views on the matter.

Rather than focus on that, I want to point out the result of that confrontation: that Ya’akob is renamed “Yisra-el”, which means “he struggles with G-d”. Isn’t it fascinating that this name, rather than the name of Abraham or the name of Yitzchak, will become the name of the entire nation of G-d’s people? Thus, the people of G-d are known as “[they] struggle with G-d”. To our ears, this seems cacophonous, but perhaps it is merely because we need to examine this idea of "struggling with G-d" more deeply.

It must be noted that Ya’akob is not chastised for this struggle. He himself belies his amazement when names the place “Peni-el (face of G-d)”, for he says, “I saw G-d face to face, and yet my life was spared.” Yet more than just being spared, we read in verse 29 that Y’akob received a blessing! Rather than punish him, G-d rewards Ya'akob for struggling with him.

Then, perhaps “struggling with G-d” is not a negative thing at all. The psalmist tells us “blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the unrighteous…but his delight is in the law of the L-rd, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1).” Does this passage not describe the struggle with G-d? The righteous man focuses on G-d’s words and he struggles with them in meditation, seeking to understand how to fulfill them and how they will fulfill his life. That is a righteous struggle and one that is worthwhile!

Looking at Y’shua himself, we find that he “struggled” in this manner daily. We read over and over in the Gospels how he went up a mountain or found other means to remove himself from the crowds to meditate and communicate with G-d in prayer. He, who was a part of G-d himself and who knew his purpose more fully than any of us can ever hope to know, still “meditated on the law day and night”, filling himself with the words of G-d to achieve his purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he perhaps struggled more vigorously than in any other time in his earthly life, questioning the necessity of going through with the crucifixion. Yet, in that struggle, he found shalom and the strength to face the earthly agony that awaited him.

This is the struggle to which the Messiah calls us: “"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life (or soul, as ψυχή means either)will lose it, but whoever loses his life (soul) for me will find it (Gospel of Matthew 16:24-25).”

As the people of the Messiah, we too should seek to be “Yisrael”, struggling daily with the words and the actions of our rabbi and Saviour Y’shua as we seek to be like him. All the day and night, we should struggle in meditation on the words of G-d so that we might better understand G-d’s purpose and how we may apply our life to it for his greater glory, to “lose our life” in him daily, and thus gain an everlasting relationship with him in this life and in the everlasting life that awaits his elect beyond the veil.

In much of the apocryphal Jewish literature, the “last redeemer (the coming Messiah)” is often compared to “the first redeemer”, meaning Moshe. However, in truth, the “first redeemer” or “Messiah” for Israel was Yoseph. True, he did not serve as deliverer to a large nation as Moshe did; nevertheless, he saved from death the small band of 70 people that comprised Israel in his time.

It is interesting to note then, the parallels between Yoseph and Y’shua. Y’shua is aware fully of his purpose at least five years younger than Yoseph, but we discover that like Y’shua, Yoseph understood something of his purpose early in his life through the dreams he had that he related to his family.

In those dreams, Yospeh saw that his brothers, and even his father, would bow their knee before him. This verse leaps immediately to mind:

Phillipians 2: 9 Therefore G-d exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is L-rd, to the glory of G-d the Father.

As the nation of Israel (what it was) indeed would come to bow their knee before Yoseph and he would save them from death by the famine, so too Y’shua saves all who will take on his yoke from the second death of the Spirit, and, as we are told, when the day of judgment comes, every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow to him.

Much like Y’shua, the majority of the nation (in Yoseph's time, that simply being his older brothers) rejected Yoseph and sought to destroy him. While time-wise, Y’shua’s persecution and hardship was much shorter than that of Yoseph, it was also far more intense. While Yospeh was thrown into the pit of an empty cistern, Y’shua had to endure the pit of physical death. Where Yoseph was sold into slavery to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, Y’shua was sold for 30 shekels of silver to be delivered to the Romans.

Just as Yoseph was raised out of prison by the King (Pharaoh), so too was Y’shua raised from death by the Eternal King, the G-d of our fathers. Through that rising, each was put in a place to save his people. Yoseph was made chief over all Egypt, answerable only to Pharaoh himself and Y’shua returned to being part of G-d and it is he who will answer on our behalf before G-d the Father in the time of final judgment. Yoseph saved his family from physical famine that would have caused them death by starvation. Y’shua saves us from the spiritual famine of being separated from G-d, of spending eternity apart from him in the pit of Gehenna.

In the midst of the story of Yoseph, the story of Tamar is presented. This is a troubling passage to many for its compromised morals on the part of both Y’hudah and Tamar. Yet Tamar eventually is praised by Y’hudah as “more righteous than he”. Further is the fact that it is through Perez, the son born by Tamar, that comes the lineage of King David and the Messiah Y’shua himself and when that lineage is presented, Tamar is presented with esteem.

It is fascinating to note that the lineage of the four notable women of the Hebrew Scriptures included in the lineage of both King David and the Messiah, three of them were not Hebrew by birth. We know from Scripture that both Rahab and Ruth were Gentiles (Goyim). The Scripture does not spell out the nationality of Tamar, but the Talmud says that she was the daughter of a “yefath to’ar” (literally meaning 'beautiful of form), the term which was used to describe a captive woman taken as a concubine by a tribal leader or King (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, folio 21a). Thus, the Talmud claims that Tamar was also an outsider rather than one of Abraham’s descendants. Yet the line of Y’hudah that produced the kings of Israel (just as Ya’akob stated in his final blessings to his sons) and the Messiah of the nation and the world went through these three women, solidifying the high value of Goyim (Gentiles) in G-d's eyes by placing them prominently even in the highest line of G-d's nation.

After relating the tale of Y’hudah and Tamar, the narration returns to Yoseph, who we find in the house of Potiphar. As noted in the Midrash, his station and his actions are remarkable and extraordinary:

“Slaves do not, as a rule, bring blessings on their master's house, but Joseph's master's house was blessed because of Joseph. Slaves are not remarkable for being scrupulous, but Joseph gathered in the silver in Egypt for his king. Slaves are not distinguished for their chastity and modesty, but Joseph would not listen to a sinful suggestion.”--Genesis Rabba 86.

Y’shua told us similarly that “he would be the greatest among you must be your servant (Gospel of Matthew 23:10).” Obviously, Y’shua points us to the model of Yoseph’s service rather than that of the “as a rule” slave cited in the Midrash. Indeed, just as Y’shua went on to say “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” we see that Yoseph’s humility and honest service are the reasons his masters (first Potiphar, than the Warden of the prison) exalt him to places of high responsibility and standing (as high as a slave or a prisoner might have in those times).

Returning to Philippians, we see that Y’shua, too, humbled himself and G-d made him the most exalted of all history:

Philippians 2: 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very natureG-d, did not consider equality with G-d something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore G-d exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is L-rd, to the glory of G-d the Father.

Baruch hu u’baruch sh’mo (Blessed be his blessed name)!

In this week’s portion, Yoseph is called before Pharaoh to interpret his dream.  According to the scripture, two full years had passed since the cupbearer had been reinstated to his post (41:1).  Now Yospeh was “quickly brought from the dungeon” to appear before Pharaoh.  After so many years of suffering, G-d suddenly rescued Yoseph from his predicament.  “The L-rd is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).”

Similarly, the Messiah’s appearance was sudden after many years of suffering by his people. “‘See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the L-rd you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says YHVH Almighty. (Malachi 3:1).”  After so many years of oppression under not only Roman rule, but also the oppression of religious legalism, Y’shua appeared to rescue not only the chosen race but all of the world and redeem them as His own.

Pharaoh recognizes that the Spirit of God is within him and is so impressed with his clear interpretation and his wisdom that he places Joseph in charge of all Egypt, second only to himself (41:31-48). He gives Joseph a new name, Tzaphnat-Paneach. According to Rabbi Dr. J.H. Hertz, in his book Pentateuch and Haftorahs,  Egyptologists explain that Tzaph’nat means ‘food-man’ and pa’ne’ach means ‘of life’. The connection between Yoseph, the ‘Man of the food of life’, and Y’shua, the living bread of life is obvious!  As Yospeh rescued not only the infant Israelite nation from physical famine, but “all the countries…because the famine was severe in all the earth (41:57)” so has Y’shua rescued the people of G-d from the eternal spiritual famine of separation from G-d, for he is “the power of G-d for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16)”.  Blessed be his name!

It must be noted further that Yoseph was 30 years old when all this occurred.  30 is the age when Levites could enter priestly service, the age when talmidim (disciples) could earn the title of rabbi (with the authority of Torah teacher, not s’micha authority), and the age at which Y’shua began his earthly ministry as our rabbi of salvation.  Much like Y’shua, however, Yoseph earned a title and rank far beyond usual for his years.  He was not merely made a low-level governor over a particular small group of people or over a particular task, but was given power second only to Pharaoh himself over all Egypt (41:41-43).  Similarly, but even greater, Y’shua was given “all authority in heaven and earth (Gospel of Matthew 28: 18),” and proved this authority consistently before the people with his knowledge, his words, and his miracles, confounding the Pharisees and all others who questioned his authority.

In chapter 42,we find that Yoseph’s brothers “knew him not (42:8).” Y’shua was not recognized by Israel, either.  1 Corinthians 1:21 reads, “For since in the wisdom of G-d the world through its wisdom did not know him, G-d was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”  Indeed, Y’shua himself told his talmidim that he taught in parables so the people would not see or understand (Gospel of Matthew 13: 10-17).  If they had, they would have turned to him rather than against him, calling for his crucifixion; then he would not have been sacrificed as he had planned, and salvation would not have been made available to Israel and all who “had not known him” when he appeared to us in Israel.

Finally, the paradox of the fruitfulness and the suffering of the cross is even foreshadowed in the story of Yoseph.  This paradox is made obvious by the names Yoseph gives his sons: Manasseh and Ephraim.  Yoseph names his first-born Manasseh because “God has made me forget all my trouble from all my father's household (41:51)” and names his second son Ephraim because “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering (41:52).”  Yoseph became a sustainer of life for many nations in the very land where he was a foreigner and had been a slave and a prisoner.  Y’shua became the sustainer of eternal life for all nations who believe in him on the very spot where he gave up his own life in sacrifice. 

The words of Yospeh to his brothers: “It was to save life that G-d sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but G-d.” (Genesis 45:7-8)

A question that is often asked concerning the royal and messianic line is, “why Y’hudah (Judah)”?  This is the man who sold his brother into slavery and unbeknownst slept with his daughter-in-law thinking she was a prostitute.  How is this man worthy of receiving such honor as to have the lineage of the Messiah?

In my opinion, the answer occurs right here in this week’s parashah.  While none of the brothers probably “deserve” such a lofty honor (“for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of G-d” [Romans 3:23] after all), Y’hudah’s actions toward Benyamin and his father make him a worthy ancestor and, in fact, echo the meaning of the Messiah’s sacrifice.

When Y’hudah went up to Yoseph and offers himself in the place of Benyamin, he says this particular phrase in verse 32: “Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father.”  Y’hudah made himself a guarantor (arev) for his brother before his father.  A guarantor assumes personal responsibility for another person; in financial terms, a guarantor commits himself to cover the debt of another should that person be unable to pay the debt themselves.  Because of this oath (and the desire not to see his father’s misery), he offers himself in place of Benyamin.  

The echo of the cross is obvious.  Repeating from Romans and continuing: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G-d, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. G-d presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (3:23-26).”  Y’shua covered the debt of our sins, having been a sacrifice of atonement “once and for all” (Hebrews 7:27).  In the 1^st letter of John, the writer tells us, “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (2:1-2).”   Paul echoes concept as well in the letter to the Hebrews, saying that Y’shua “has become the guarantee of a better covenant (7:22).”  The sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate fulfillment of this foreshadowing moment when Y’hudah offered himself in place of Benyamin, who he assumed was guilty of the charge that had been leveled against him by Yoseph.   In the case of Y’shua, of course, it is the Father himself who offered his son as guarantor for our souls.  “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32).”  As a result, we receive salvation and will one day live with the Father in true shalom and love for all eternity.

Y’hudah’s reaction also echoes what should be our proper reaction when confronted with the love and sacrifice G-d made for us: entreaty, confession, and submission of self.  Y’shua says, “whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it (Gospel of Matthew 10:39)” and when we offer ourselves in confession and baptism, we make a commitment to be buried and raised with him, dying to ourselves and beginning a new life in him.  Thus, we reciprocate the gift given to us: we give our life for his.  The Christian carries on his earthly ministry, through him doing “what [Christ] has been doing.  He will do even greater things than these (Gospel of John 14:12)” as Y’shua promised!

After Y’hudah makes his plea for Benyamin, Yoseph can control himself no longer.  He sends out the Egyptian servants and reveals himself to his brothers, who are dumbfounded.   The Midrash makes mention of this and likens it to how each man must be before his maker when the judgment day arises:  “Man when reproached with his misdeeds becomes confused and confounded. Balaam, when reproached by the humblest of animals and asked 'What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' was constrained to reply 'Nay.' Joseph, telling his brethren who he was, said, 'I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to Egypt.' And his brethren, ten great, proud, and mighty men, could not answer him, for they were confounded in his presence. 'How then, O man, will it be with me' (so do thou ask thyself), I when I stand before G-d's tribunal and a record of my conduct, during my life, is placed before me (Genesis Rabba 93).”

But Yoseph forgives his brothers and as we will read in next week’s parashah, tells them “You intended to harm me, but G-d intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50: 20).”  Instead of bringing down just punishment upon them, he gathers them to him, kisses them, and weeps over them.  Y’hudah has proven T’shuvah (repentance) for their actions against him in the most convincing manner possible.   The Rambam (Rashi’s commentary of the Torah) states that “the most perfect form of T’shuvah is a reversal of character evidenced by acting differently in the same situation (Hilkhot T’shuvah 2:1).”  Y’hudah, being the brother responsible for selling Yoseph into slavery, now offers himself as a slave in the place of his brother Benyamin.  Yoseph is overcome with joy that he can reunite with his brothers and that G-d has chosen him to “save [them] alive for a great deliverance (45:7).  So, too, is it with Y’shua.  For indeed, we intended him harm when we sent him to the cross, but G-d intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, saving us alive in a great deliverance.  And, as Y’hudah did, when we show true T’shuvah (repentance) of our personal betrayal of Y’shua and turn to him, he gathers us to him and immerses us in the Spirit of G-d.

Further, as Y’shua “forgives [our] wickedness and will remember [our] sins no more”, so, too, was that foreshadowed by the acts of Yoseph.  For we discover that he has fully forgiven them.  When his father finally reaches him in Egypt, Yoseph makes no mention of his brothers’ betrayal.  Their sin is only mentioned one time further in the Tanakh, and that is when Yoseph reassures them of his complete forgiveness after Ya’akob has died.  He has wiped the iniquity clean and brought them into his care for the rest of their lives.  What he was able to do in the temporal realm, Y’shua has done for us in the spirtual realm that we might live with G-d for all eternity. 

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from G-d, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of G-d is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and G-d himself will be with them and be their G-d (The Revelation to John 21: 1-3).”

FLASH: In the interest of not making this page run "into infinity", I have decided to separate each of the books of the Torah into separate pages. You will find the parashot (portions) from Exodus here:

• Jesus, the Jewish Messiah - Part 2
  I hope you will find the portions there edifying and uplifting. Drew Slatton

In this final parashah from Genesis, Ya’akob blesses his sons each “with the blessing suitable to him (49:28)” and breathes his last.

One of the best known prophecies concerning the Messiah is uttered by Ya’akob to his son Y’hudah: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.”

In the letter to the Hebrews, Paul emphasizes that “we know our L-rd arose out of Judah (7:14)” and this also is shown in the genealogies presented by Matthew and Luke. The question arises of why Y’hudah was given this honor. It is obvious why the birthright was taken from Reuben, yet that birthright was given to Yoseph’s sons. Why then did Y’hudah receive the blessing of having the royal and Messianic lineage come through him?

As discussed previously, Y’hudah had offered himself in place of his brother Benyamin. Yet Y’hudah not only had shown true t’shuvim (repentance) in his action, he had shown the most important value of any leader: that of putting others ahead of himself. Rashi refers to this as "removing one's self." The Patriarch rewarded Yehudah with the promise of monarchy, for this is the quality of leadership: removing one's personal interests and assuming responsibility. (Rashi, 49:9)

Y’shua, “being in very natureG-d, did not consider equality with G-d something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Y’hudah’s act indeed made him worthy of fathering the line of the Messiah, who would put himself in the place of the guilty of this world and who leads all who will follow him to new life.

In the verse that follows, Ya’acob prophetically sees down through the ages that from Yehudah would come forth ‘Shiloh’ – “…and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine” (49:11). Could this be a foretelling of the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who would be the redeemer of nations and yet appear humbly riding on a donkey?

There is an interesting passage just preceding the blessings and rabbinic authorities have spent much time discussing it. In 49:1, the text reads that Ya’akob “called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in the latter days.” Rashi tells us that Ya’akob had meant to reveal to his children the time of the galus (exile) in Egypt, but that G-d prevented him from doing so {Rashi, B’reishis 47:28). The reason given is that G-d wanted his people to have faith in his faithfulness. If the keitz (end time) were known beforehand, the exile would not really be exile since the time of the end is already known. However, without the knowledge of the timing of the end, faith must sustain the chosen people during their suffering while they wait on the promised deliverance from G-d.

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” – Gospel of Matthew 24: 36-37.

How this echoes our life in the Messiah, for neither have we been told the end time. Perhaps it will during our lifetime, perhaps it will come after it. We must live our calling each day, knowing that "suddenly the L-rd, whom you seek, will come to His temple (Malachi 3:1)." In that day, we shall be caught up to him and receive our reward of eternal existence in the presence of G-d. In the meantime, we must live by faith, knowing that no matter what we suffer, the L-rd is with us. Y’shua reminded us of this from the cross when he quoted the great Psalm: “El-i, El-i, lama sabachthani?” While many have misunderstood that proclamation, if one merely reads the 22^nd psalm, the message is quite clear: that no matter appearances, G-d has not abandoned his Holy One (nor his people). In fact, that through the very suffering we endure, his purposes for our lives are accomplished. Certainly this is true of the cross, and it is true in our lives as well!

After Ya’akob’s death, Yoseph “threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him (50:1)”. As he did over being reunited with his brothers (43:30 and 45:1-2), we see Yoseph weep over the loss of his father. It is not a weeping of self-pity, nor as a result of injury, it is rather an expression of emotion that is too deep for words, one that rises from the aching love of the soul. Again, he echoes the character of the Messiah, who cares deeply for his people. When “Jesus wept” over the suffering of the family and friends of Lazarus, the text twice tells us he was “moved deeply.” The actual Greek word is “embrimesthai.” This word initially was used to describe the snorting of a horse, but came to be used to describe a particularly strong emotional reaction in human beings, such that caused an involuntary response like a shudder, an involuntary deep groan, or collapsing. I believe that is exactly the response that is described of Yoseph in the verse, and it is the same response in Y’shua described in the Gospel of John, chapter 11.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering (Isaiah 53:3).”

Yoseph’s brothers now come before him again, in fear that he will have them killed now that his father will not have to witness his retribution. As earlier, they were struck dumb with the realization that their brother was not only alive but now in authority over them, they again are struck by this juxtaposition of life. The one they had rejected is now their L-rd and master. Often through the Tanakh, we find this theme. King Sha’ul was a meek person who even hid when he was to be anointed king. When told one of his sons is to be the anointed, Yishai (Jesse) did not even bring David before Sh’muel. Only as an afterthought, when all seven of his physically impressive older brothers had been rejected, did he think of him. Yet it was he who would become the great unifying King of Y’Israel. Yoseph had been a slave and a prisoner, yet then rose to the second highest office in the known world at that time. Yosef discloses the hidden secret that they “intended to harm [him], but G-d intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” The brothers now see for the first time that the man they believed to be the source of their troubles represents instead their salvation. This poignant scene mirrors the redemption itself, when not only the nation of Y’israel, but all who follow him, discover an inner truth, recognizing that life is not as it seems. By acting deliberately, Y’shua was able to eradicate the cause of the crime committed against him, our very rebellious nature. Just as Yoseph did for his brothers, Y’shua acted not as a passive victim, but as a catalyst for our salvation from our own sinful nature that betrayed him. For indeed, Y’shua is the apex of this theme of life, as the Messiah who “was despised and rejected by men,” and “the stone the builders rejected [who] has become the capstone. YHVH has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Psalm 118:22-23).”