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Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah!
I pray that YHVH will bless you on this Shabbat and that He will show you His ways so that you may be able to walk as He wants us to walk. Please forgive me for not doing the Torah Portion last week. I have decided that while I really like doing the WHOLE portion, if I cannot do the whole portion for time reasons, I will take the part that is the most interesting or what excites me the most, so that is why it is called now, 'A piece.' I will be using some of last's week portion to show a background to this week's portion. Anyway, on to the portion! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha Miketz is the 10th portion in Genesis and goes from Genesis 41:1-44:17. This portion includes a lot of information and is a very important moment in history. It also has some prophetic meanings and will have a lot to do with what happens later in the Torah and even what is happening now. Before we get into that however, I want to show you something that I sadly wasn't able to show you last week: Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Yoseph’s name Zaphnath-Paʽneaḥ. We know from reading our Scriptures that Joseph became 2nd in command in Egypt to Pharaoh and became known as the 'Savior of the Age'. Now, I just found out something REALLY cool and amazing about this name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph, but you are going to have to continue reading this portion to find that out... :') But even before he became the savior of Egypt and the Ancient world of that time YHVH was already showing His plan for Joseph: Genesis 37:5-10 And Yoseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brothers. So they hated him even more. 6 And he said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have dreamed: 7 “See, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field, and see, my sheaf rose up and also stood up. And see, your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Shall you indeed rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 And he dreamed still another dream and related it to his brothers, and said, “See, I have dreamed another dream, and see, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” 10 And he related it to his father and his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we, your mother and I and your brothers, indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” Joseph didn't know it at the time, but YHVH was going to use him for an amazing purpose! We know how this dream would be fulfilled later on when Joseph's family bowed down to him. As we know, Joseph is a shadow picture of Yahshua, being the savior of the Ancient world at that time. But let's look and see Joseph's name in the Ancient Paleo-Hebrew and see if his name has a deeper meaning: Yosĕph יוסף Meaning: Life is added and supported by the mouth And by who's mouth gives life? Matthew 4:4 But He answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of YHVH.’ Which is a direct quote from: Deuteronomy 8:3 “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of YHVH. It is the Torah! Life is added by what YHVH has spoken. In fact, the very breath of YHVH's mouth gave us life: Genesis 2:7 And YHVH Elohim formed the man out of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils breath of life. And the man became a living being. And without YHVH, we cannot exist. Do you understand that??? WITHOUT YHVH, WE CANNOT EXIST!! The very breath of YHVH gave us life, and by His Words we can continue to have life. And who is the Word? John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. 2 He was in the beginning with Elohim. 3 All came to be through Him, and without Him not even one came to be that came to be. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And we all know who this is talking about... YAHSHUA!! Without Yahshua(The Word of YHVH) we don't exist! We are not just dead, we haven't even been born! Life is ONLY possible through the Word of YHVH(Yahshua). Sure, we can be 'born' physically, but that has NOTHING to do with being 'born' spiritually. Without Yahshua(The Word of YHVH), we cannot be 'born' spiritually. Only by accepting The Word of YHVH(Yahshua) can we be born and can exist! HalleluYAH! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In chapter 41 we read that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had 2 dreams, of which he didn't know the meaning of, so he asked his wise men and magicians to interpret them: Genesis 41:8 And it came to be in the morning that his spirit was moved, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Mitsrayim and all its wise men. And Pharaoh related to them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh. It must have been a very interesting moment for Pharaoh and the leaders of Egypt. In the time of the Ancient Egyptians, they believed that Pharaoh was actually their sun god 'Ra' in the flesh. So for Pharaoh not to know what was going on must have been a big deal. But then, someone spoke up: Genesis 41:9-13 Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my crimes this day. 10 “When Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11 each one of us dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. 12 “And there was with us a Hebrew youth, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we related to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 13 “And it came to be, as he interpreted for us, so it came to be. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.” And from there, we should all know what happens next: Genesis 41:14-16 Then Pharaoh sent and called Yoseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon. And he shaved and changed his garments, and came to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Yoseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one to interpret it. Now I myself have heard it said of you that you understand a dream, to interpret it.” 16 And Yoseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me, let Elohim answer Pharaoh with peace.” Pharaoh then tells Joseph the dreams that he had, and then Joseph interpreted them(Genesis 41:25-36), telling him that there would be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of extreme famine. And it is so amazing to see Pharaoh's response: Genesis 41:37-44 And the word was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the Spirit of Elohim?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Yoseph, “Since Elohim has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. 40 “Be over my house, you yourself, and at your mouth all my people shall kiss – only in the throne I am greater than you.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Yoseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Mitsrayim.” 42 And Pharaoh took his seal-ring off his hand and put it on Yoseph’s hand. And he dressed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had. And they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Mitsrayim. 44 And Pharaoh said to Yoseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without a word from you let no man lift his hand or foot in all the land of Mitsrayim.” Just like later on with Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and with Darius with Daniel, Pharaoh realized that there was an Elohim(God) greater than theirs, and that this man had not just a Spirit of any elohim(god), but rather "THE Spirit of Elohim." Pharaoh must of had some sort of knowledge of Elohim, since he said that Joseph had "The Spirit of Elohim." Now to the REALLY COOL thing that has to do with the name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph: Genesis 41:45a And Pharaoh called Yoseph’s name Zaphnath-Paʽneaḥ. Ready??? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This word according to the Strong's comes from an Egyptian derivation. The 2 Hebrew words are, 'צפנת'(Zaphnath) and 'פּענח'(Pa'neah). Now, according to the Ancient Egyptian language means, "Preserver(or savior) of the age." But what does it mean according to the Ancient Paleo-Hebrew? Zaphnath-Paʽnĕah צפנת פּענח Meaning: Desiring to speak the covenant of life and opening the knowledge of the gate of life. Now, if we take this and make it into a readable translation, we could say: To desire to speak of the everlasting covenant and to reveal the gate of life! The gate of life... hmm... who else talked about a gate?... That's right, Yahshua did! Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide – and the way is broad – that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in through it. 14 “Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed which leads to life, and there are few who find it. A gate according to the Webster's 1828 dictionary is: A large door which gives entrance into a walled city, a castle, a temple, palace or other large edifice. It differs from door chiefly in being larger. Gate signifies both the opening or passage, and the frame of boards, planks or timber which closes the passage. So basically it is just a larger door that can allow things to enter but also can keep things from coming out. Now that we know this, who is the door? John 10:1,7,9 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber. 7 Yahshua therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 9 “I am the door. Whoever enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture. Yahshua is the door! The name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph pictures EXACTLY to the Messiah! Joseph was a amazing shadow picture of Yahshua. Just as amazing is that this all happened at the end of the 2nd year, or possibly spoken as the beginning of the 3rd year. 2 also happens to be the number of days it has been since Yahshua left earth, according to 2nd Peter 3:8. And in the book of Hosea it says: Hosea 6:1-2 ‘Come, and let us turn back to YHVH. For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up. 2 ‘After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him. WOW! Now if we put this together, we see that at the end of 2 days/years, and on the beginning of the 3rd day/year, Joseph saved that part of the Ancient world from the famine and starvation that was coming, and guess what? So is YAHSHUA! It is so amazing that even though we may read these passages over and over again, we continue to find things that blow our minds and make us say WOW!! HalleluYAH(Praise Yah) that we are His people, and that He continues to show us even the little things about the Scriptures! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So to close, we see how Joseph was an amazing shadow picture of Messiah, even up to the very numbers and names used. YHVH used people like Joseph, Moses, and others to create a picture of Messiah even way back then, but we haven't realized it until now. He promised to us that He would reveal things in the last days that weren't revealed before. And He is keeping His promises!! May YHVH bless you! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and guard you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shabbat Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah!
I pray that YHVH will bless you and allow you to share the Good News of Messiah with others. Now, on to the portion! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha VaYishlach is the 8th Torah Portion in Genesis. It goes from Genesis 32:3-36:43. There are a lot of key topics in this portion but there is one resounding point that is in this portion, and that is Jacob becoming Yisra'el, turning from 'the one who grabs the heel'(the deceiver), to 'the one who rules with El'. The difference that we will see from the Jacob of the previous chapters to the Jacob we read of in this portion is amazing! Genesis 32:3-8 And Yaʽaqob sent messengers before him to Esaw his brother in the land of Seʽir, the field of Edom 4 and he commanded them, saying, “Say this to my master Esaw, ‘Your servant Yaʽaqob said this, “I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. 5 “And I have bulls, and donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. And I have sent to inform my master, to find favour in your eyes.” ’ ” 6 So the messengers returned to Yaʽaqob, saying, “We came to your brother Esaw, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” 7 And Yaʽaqob was greatly afraid and distressed. So he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups, 8 and he said, “If Esaw comes to the one group and attacks it, then the other group which is left shall escape.” We see here one of the biggest tests of Jacob's life. If we have read the previous Torah Portion we would find out that Esau was very angry at what he thought Jacob did against him(taking away his blessing): Genesis 27:41 And Esaw hated Yaʽaqob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esaw said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father draw near, then I am going to kill my brother Yaʽaqob.” What Jacob does right after this will change his life. Does he try to trick Esau? Does he run away? Does he try to fight? NO, rather he decides: Genesis 32:9-12 And Yaʽaqob said, “O Elohim of my father Abraham and Elohim of my father Yitsḥaq, YHVH who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives, and I do good to you,’ 10 “I do not deserve the least of all the kind acts and all the truth which You have shown Your servant, for I passed over this Yarden with my staff, and now I have become two groups. 11 “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esaw, for I fear him, lest he come and shall smite me and the mother with the children. 12 “For You said, ‘I shall certainly do good to you, and shall make your seed as the sand of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’ ” He prayed! Actually, he did more than that. There is a word that I am looking for that matches what he did perfectly. Can you guess what it is? ...................................................................... He... Had..... FAITH!!! He trusted YHVH to protect him and to deliver him from the hand of Esau. In an amazing turn of events, he humbles himself, knowing he doesn't deserve it, and pleads to YHVH to protect him from Esau. It really reminds me of what we do when we are in trouble, and doesn't it make sense, since things repeat over and over again, not just in Scripture, but in history as well. Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former events of old, for I am Ěl, and there is no one else – Elohim, and there is no one like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My counsel does stand, and all My delight I do,’ Even something small like this is repeated over and over again, throughout time, and is still done today. Sadly, most people take this for granted. The only time they ever really humble themselves and ask for forgiveness is when they get in trouble and in a time of disaster, only then do they ask that God helps them.. But as we see in Genesis 35, Jacob took the next step that a very small percentage of people do. Genesis 35:2-4 And Yaʽaqob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign mighty ones that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments. 3 “And let us arise and go up to Beyth El, and let me make there an altar to El, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” 4 So they gave Yaʽaqob all the foreign mighty ones which were in their hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears. And Yaʽaqob hid them under the terebinth tree which was near Shekem. After He humbled himself, asked for deliverance from Esau, and YHVH delivered him, he didn't go back to being the same old Jacob. He didn't go back and stay the same person that he was. He truly did Teshuvah, he truly repented from his sins and never looked back. And he even went another step and told his entire household to put away their idols, and they ALL did! Sadly, a very small amount of people do that. However, it's not too late! We can still ask for forgiveness and take out all our idols from our lives, no matter how big or important they may seem to be. YHVH was all that mattered to Jacob, and it should be all that matters to us, and as we see with Jacob, YHVH reaffirms His blessing to him: Genesis 35:9-12 And Elohim appeared to Yaʽaqob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And Elohim said to him, “Your name is Yaʽaqob, your name is no longer called Yaʽaqob, but Yisra’el is your name.” So He called his name Yisra’el. 11 And Elohim said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Bear fruit and increase, a nation and a company of nations shall be from you, and sovereigns come from your body. 12 “And the land which I gave Abraham and Yitshaq I give to you. And to your seed after you I give this land.” Because Jacob decided to follow YHVH, YHVH blessed him, made him a great nation, and changed him from someone at the bottom(the heel) to being at the top(ruling with YHVH). And as we see throughout the Scriptures and even today, the one nation that has stayed alive, and the nation that we are all grafted into when we believe in Messiah, and the nation where the Messiah came out from, and the nation where Yahshua will reign for 1,000 years, is YISRA'EL!!! HalleluYAH! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is something else that happens in between the changes that we see in Jacob turning into Yisra'el, and it is one of upmost importance: Genesis 32:24-30 And Yaʽaqob was left alone. And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 And when He saw that He did not overcome him, He touched the socket of his hip. And the socket of Yaʽaqob’s hip was dislocated as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I am not letting You go until You have blessed me!” 27 So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Yaʽaqob.” 28 And He said, “Your name is no longer called Yaʽaqob, but Yisra'el, because you have striven with Elohim and with men, and have overcome.” 29 And Yaʽaqob asked Him, saying, “Please let me know Your Name.” And He said, “Why do you ask about My Name?” And He blessed him there. 30 And Yaʽaqob called the name of the place Peni’el, “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.” Now, there are people that believe this was just a man, or maybe and angel, or maybe a messenger, or in some Rabbinical teachings even one of Esau's men. But it cannot be any of these, for it says in verse 30, "I have seen Elohim face to face." But it couldn't be YHVH either, for 'No man does see Him and live'(Exodus 33:20). It can only be one person, one being. It is the same one over and over and over again. We see Him in SO MANY different ways all throughout the Scriptures, but because we were taught that, "Jesus is only coming twice", we don't see Him. This is YAHSHUA!! He shows Himself ALL over the place, and for 1,000's of years we haven't even seen Him. But now that we do see Him, and we can tell who He is in these passages, we can see that He manifests Himself not just as Yahshua/Salvation, but in SO many other ways, like: He was YHVH Elohim, walking the garden of Eden(Genesis 3:8). He was Melchizedek, the King of Shalem, the Priest of the Most High Elohim, that brought bread and wine and blessed Abram(Genesis 14:18-20). He was the Messenger of YHVH that met Hagar in the wilderness before and after Ishmael's birth, promising her that he would also become a great nation(Genesis 16:7-13, 21:17-20). He was the one who appeared to Abram as El Shaddai, changed Abram and Sarai's name to Abraham and Sarah, and reaffirmed His covenant with Abraham that he would be a great nation(Genesis 17:1-22). He was one of the 3 men that came to Abraham, reaffirmed to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, and told Abraham of the destruction that was going to happen in Sodom and Gomorrah(Genesis 18:1-33). He was the Messenger of YHVH that told Abraham not to kill his son Isaac and reaffirmed His covenant with Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed by him(Genesis 22:11-18). He was the one who appeared to Isaac and promised Isaac that He would bless his seed(Genesis 26:24). He was the one who was on the top of the ladder in Jacob's dream and promised that his seed would be blessed and that He would go with Jacob wherever he went(Genesis 28:12-15). And... He was the one who appeared to Jacob in Paddan Aram, changed His name officially to Yisra'el, promised him that he would become a company of nations, and that the land that He promised Abraham and Isaac He would also give to him(Genesis 35:9-13). And that is just in the Torah Portions we have covered this year!!! HalleluYAH!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The last thing that happened in this Torah Portion(besides the generations of Esau), is the deaths of Rachel and Isaac. We see how Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. I find it interesting who Rachel named him one thing but Jacob named him something else: Genesis 35:18 And it came to be, as her life was going out – for she died – that she called his name Ben-Oni. But his father called him Binyamin. There was an interesting reason that Jacob changed the name from Ben-Oni to Benjamin. The reason he changed the name was because Ben-Oni meant, 'Son of my sorrow', whereas Benjamin means 'Son of the right hand'. Jacob changed what would have been a sorrow into a delight, from being a sad time into a blessed time. He turned something bad into something good, something evil into something blessed. Hmm... do we see that somewhere's else in the Scriptures??? (Hint: It's in the Torah...) And then we see the death of Isaac: Genesis 35:27-29 And Yaʽaqob came to his father Yitsḥaq at Mamre, or Qiryath Arba, that is Ḥebron, where Abraham and Yitsḥaq had dwelt. 28 And the days of Yitsḥaq were one hundred and eighty years. 29 So Yitsḥaq breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, aged and satisfied of days. And his sons Esaw and Yaʽaqob buried him. 1st of all, who was surprised that Isaac was still alive when Jacob came back? That is something new that I finally realized this year. Jacob was away for over 20 years, and when he left Isaac was already old and couldn't see. Another thing that was interesting was that the last time Esau and Jacob were together was at the death of Isaac. It seems that death and disaster can bring people together, no matter how much they dislike each other. It is a... PATTERN! The end is declared from the beginning, and there is NOTHING new under the sun. Everything is a pattern, no matter how big or small. Nothing is done anew. May YHVH be praised! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ May YHVH bless you and make you part of a great and fruitful nation, under Elohim, which is Yisra'el! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and guard you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favour to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat and that you can learn more about YHVH everyday!
Now, on to the portion! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha Toldot is the 6th portion in Genesis. It goes from Genesis 25:19-28:9 and includes the birth of Jacob and Esau, Esau's giving away of his birthright to Jacob, the story of Isaac and Abimelek (not him again!) and what went on there, how Jacob stole Esau's blessing, and why Jacob had to go to Laban's house. This Torah Portion is a rather important one because it is the beginning of the life of Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. His name was changed from Jacob to Yisra'el by YHVH for a very important reason that we will begin to see in this Torah Portion and will see fully in the next portion. He is also the father of the 12 tribes of Yisra'el, who became the people of Yisra'el(who we are grafted into), the chosen people of Elohim. Through his lineage came Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elijah, the prophets, and finally Yahshua. But before he becomes the father of Yisra'el as we know it, he was Jacob. Now, back then and sometimes still today the names were chosen by the parents as a sign to that their child would be. For instance: Noah means 'rest'. Abraham means 'father of many nations'. Aaron means 'teacher'. David means 'well-loved'. Solomon means 'Peaceful'. And Jacob in Hebrew means 'to grab the heel', to restrain or stop the heel', and in a form, 'the deceiver'. It is amazing to see how the parents of these men of the Scriptures knew how their children would act when they became men. But, we know that everything that happens in this world happens for a reason. It would make sense, just like in Yahshua's time, for the stars to declare about this child. I don't remember where I saw it from, but I know there are several videos talking about how the constellations shows what happened in history, including an amazing sight when Yahshua was born on this earth! Anyway we see how Jacob's name fits him perfectly right away in chapter 25: Genesis 25:29-34 And Yaʽaqob cooked a stew, and Esaw came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esaw said to Yaʽaqob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” That is why his name was called Edom. 31 But Yaʽaqob said, “Sell me your birthright today.” 32 And Esaw said, “Look, I am going to die, so why should I have birthright?” 33 Then Yaʽaqob said, “Swear to me today.” And he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Yaʽaqob. 34 Yaʽaqob then gave Esaw bread and stew of lentils. And he ate and drank, and rose up and left. Thus Esaw despised his birthright. Now, we know the prophecy about Esau and Jacob, how the older(Esau) would serve the younger(Jacob). But I do not believe that YHVH guided Jacob to do this. We know that YHVH allows evil, but He doesn't do evil, for He is Perfect. It would make sense to say that Jacob did this against YHVH's will and that may be the reason why He got into so much trouble with Laban later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 26 is really funny. We see how in the beginning of this chapter there was scarcity of food in the land and Isaac went to Gerar. But read this: Genesis 26:6-11 6 And Yitsḥaq dwelt in Gerar. 7 And when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for Ribqah, because she is good-looking.” 8 And it came to be, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelek sovereign of the Philistines looked through a window, and he watched and saw Yitsḥaq playing with Ribqah his wife. 9 So Abimelek called Yitsḥaq and said, “See, truly she is your wife! So how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Yitsḥaq said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ” 10 And Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people had almost lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” 11 And Abimelek commanded all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall certainly be put to death.” I laugh when I think how mad Abimelek must have been when this happened. I mean, this guy Isaac was the SON of the same man(Abraham) that did the SAME thing("She is my sister.") to you 60 years ago! Abimelek must have known or learned about YHVH because he knew immediately what to do. We also see in the rest of this chapter how unkind they are to him. Abimelek had enough with these people, but he also knew how important and rich they were because he came back and did a covenant with Isaac: Genesis 26:26-31 And Abimelek came to him from Gerar, with Aḥuzzath, one of his friends, and Pikol the commander of his army. 27 And Yitsḥaq said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing you have hated me and have sent me away from you?” 28 But they said, “We have clearly seen that YHVH is with you. And we said, ‘Please, let there be an oath between us, between you and us. And let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you do no evil to us, as we have not touched you, and as we have done only good toward you, and have sent you away in peace. You are now blessed by YHVH.’ ” 30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And they rose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another. And Yitsḥaq let them go, and they departed from him in peace. YHVH had blessed Isaac so much that even his enemies had no choice but to ask for peace. It has always been like that and always will be. Amen! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before I go on, I have been reading and looking into what is happening in Yisra'el right now. 1st of all may I say, while we are to always pray for peace in Jerusalem, we know that YHVH is doing this for a reason and a purpose. So, instead of praying for Jerusalem, let's pray for the people in Jerusalem and in Israel. Pray for the wives and children of the men in the IDF. Pray that YHVH would protect them. And most of all, pray that they come and follow the LIVING TORAH, Yahshua the Messiah! Saying that, there are people that believe that Yisra'el was never a land but a people, that the people are what make Yisra'el. That is true, but remember YHVH gave them the land as the SIGN of the covenant that He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without the land there is no Jerusalem, no Zion, and no temple. Without the land we as a people cannot perfectly abide all the Torah since we cannot physically do the sacrifices. Israel is the Promised Land, and we a PART of that land. And don't worry, we WILL be returning SOON, with Yahshua as our KING!!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We now go to chapter 27 where we see Jacob 'stealing' the firstborn blessing from Esau. But did he 'really' steal it, or did he just try to quicken what YHVH was already going to do. Read this: Genesis 25:22-23 And within her the children struggled together, and she said, “If all is right, why am I this way?” So she went to ask YHVH. 23 And YHVH said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body. And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older serve the younger.” Just like we saw with Abraham, sometimes people want to rush what YHVH is going to do. Rebekah knew what YHVH had told her when Jacob and Esau was in her womb. She knew that Jacob would be greater than Esau. But instead of waiting for YHVH to do something great, she decided to take it into her own hands, and that NEVER works! Genesis 27:5-13 And Ribqah heard when Yitsḥaq spoke to Esaw his son. And Esaw went to the field to hunt wild game and to bring it. 6 And Ribqah spoke to Yaʽaqob her son, saying, “See, I heard your father speak to Esaw your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me wild game and make me a tasty dish to eat, and bless you in the presence of YHVH before my death.’ 8 “And now my son, listen to my voice according to what I command you. 9 “Please go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I make a tasty dish from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 “And you shall take it to your father, and he shall eat it, so that he might bless you before his death.” 11 And Yaʽaqob said to Ribqah his mother, “See, Esaw my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 “What if my father touches me? Then I shall be like a deceiver in his eyes, and shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” There is ALWAYS a problem that comes out of us wanting to do our own will instead of waiting for YHVH to do it. There are times where it looks like YHVH won't do it, but we MUST know that YHVH will ALWAYS do it, just not when we WANT it. A BIG part of faith is patience. Without patience we can't live our lives faithfully because we won't be able to wait on YHVH. Without patience, we cannot have YHVH strength with us: Psalms 27:14 Wait on YHVH, be strong, and let Him strengthen your heart! Wait, I say, on YHVH! We see that because Abraham, Sarah, Rebekah, and Jacob didn't wait for YHVH to fulfill His promises to them, now we have a war going on not just in Israel, but around the world. Because of what they did, or better yet because of what they DIDN'T do, now we have chaos in the world... BUT.... we know that YHVH is in control, and He will use our mistakes for His glory. Praise YHVH that He is perfect and He can make all things perfect, because if not, we would be in BIG trouble!! HalleluYAH! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The last thing I want to mention is at the end of this portion, Genesis 28: Genesis 28:1-4 And Yitsḥaq called Yaʽaqob and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaʽan. 2 “Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethu’el your mother’s father. And take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 “And El Shaddai bless you, and make you bear fruit and increase you, and you shall become an assembly of peoples, 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your seed with you, so that you inherit the land of your sojournings, which Elohim gave to Abraham.” We see here once again how YHVH's people are not to mix and mingle with the nations. We are to marry like-minded believers, not people of the world, regardless of 'race', 'nation', looks, speech, etc. Paul/Sha'ul said: 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 And what agreement has Messiah with Beliyaʽal? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? Let us make sure that we are not mixed with unbelievers, against the Messiah, the LIVING Torah of YHVH. We might be in this world, BUT we are not OF this world. We MUST make sure and check continually on whether we are in unity people who are part of the same body(The Body of Messiah) as we are, or whether they are of another body. There is no way we can be in unity with someone of a different body, and if we try, chaos will come out of it. Let's be in unity together, in the same body, the Body of Messiah, that we can be able to put on the whole armor of YHVH together and fight with the sword of Truth. Remember this VERY important thing for the end of days, and it is something that we must continuously check on in our daily walk: UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let's keep standing with YHVH!!! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and keep you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you Shalom/Shalem(peace that passes all understanding!).” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH!! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah!
I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat and that YHVH will use you for His Glory. Times are coming that we will no longer be able to share the Good News without persecution so share with who you can right now! I am sorry I didn't finish this whole Portion because we got really busy but I did want to share with you what I wrote up to in the portion. Now, on to the portion! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The name of this Torah Portion is Chayei Sarah. It is the 5th portion in Genesis and goes from Genesis 23:1-25:18. It includes the death and burial of Sarah, the story of how Isaac and Rebekah were married, and the death and burial of Abraham. This Torah Portion is a mix of the end of a generation and the start of a new one. Everything that has life has a circular pattern. You are born, grow up, get married, have kids, grow old, and then die. But as long as you have children, the circle continues. That is why YHVH's 1st command is: Genesis 1:28 And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creatures moving on the earth.” As long as we obey YHVH by being fruitful, He will bless us and the circle will continue. But if we don't obey Him, and don't have children, our circle will cease to exist, and a part of the pattern that YHVH created for our lives will be incomplete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Genesis 23:1-2 And Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years, the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died in Qiryath Arba, that is Ḥeḇron, in the land of Kenaʽan, and Aḇraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. One of the things we don't realize about all that happened during the life of Abraham was that Sarah was with him. During every trial, during every problem, during every blessing, Sarah was at Abraham's side. Now, from the Scriptures, what can we tell about Sarah? Well, she's a lot like Abraham. 1st of all, her name in Hebrew means 'Princess' or 'Queen'. From the meaning of her name, we can see that she must of been a very important person in Ur where she lived before she married Abraham. She must of had a lot of gold and possessions herself even before she married Abraham. That may be one of the reasons Pharaoh in Egypt and Abimelech in Gerar took her(Genesis 12:14-15, 20:2). In the Middle East today the Beduions still live a lot like Abraham and Sarah would have lived. One way for them to show how many possessions they have is by the women's clothing. The women would literally sow their gold and jewels on their clothing so that others would see the possessions of that family. So because of that, it may be why Abimelech and Pharaoh took her. Another thing we see is that she was barren(Genesis 11:30). In fact, a lot of the Patriarch's wives were barren. Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel were all barren. It was almost like a curse to be barren and not be able to have children. Now, YHVH used these women to help build up Yisra'el. But it wasn't until later on in their lives that YHVH blessed them with children. With Sarah it was so that a promise could begin to be fulfilled(Gen 12:2), for Rebekah it was because YHVH answered Isaac's prayer(Gen 25:21), and for Rachel it was because YHVH saw Rachel's shame(reproach) and listened to her plea(Gen 30:1-2, 30:22-23). YHVH uses different things to test us, and for these 3 women being barren was one of those tests. And one last thing I want to point out on Sarah is this: How many times do we hear of Sarah in chapter 22? I just read the chapter again and it says the word Sarah... Zero, Zip, Nada, Nope, No, None, 0, nothing.... Ok I think you get the point. Here in the most PIVOTAL point in ALL of Abraham's life, and Sarah isn't even mentioned. Why? There can be speculation; but there is really only one answer. She...Had...FAITH! Imagine that. We all think about how hard it must of been for Abraham, but not many of us think how much HARDER it must of been for Sarah. I mean, if mothers get scared just because their children are riding a bike without training wheels for the 1st time, how much more would it be if YHVH told you, "Go, and sacrifice your son." I am not a woman, but my guess is that most women would be just a little bit more scared then the men... But Sarah had faith that YHVH would be in control. Many of us right now would be thinking, "Of course! She obviously would have had to figure it out sometime." But, now I want to make a point that I made last week that some of us may not realize, but this time in Sarah's side of the story: If you had to leave your homeland and go to some foreign land, following some God that you only 1/2 way knew, going through enemy territories and being taken away by Pharaoh, having fights with your relatives over space and property(Hmm... we don't do that, do we?), then having your old husband save your relative and the people that he went to, having these heavenly beings come to your husband and YHVH personally talk to you over and Over and OVER again, each time saying that you were going to have a child and be a great nation, having a husband that didn't want to do anything about the arguments between you and your maidservant, then again having YHVH come to you and say that you were going to have a son even though you are OLD(just don't tell Abimelech that!), then having some other king named Abimelech take you even though you are ANCIENT, and then finally, after ALL this time, you FINALLY have a son, wouldn't you just gain a LITTLE faith to follow YHVH? I mean, seriously! Abraham and Sarah went through a LOT in their lives. They had no choice but to say that YHVH was in control. YHVH is smarter than we are and will get us to do His will one way or another. Does that mean that we don't have a choice? No, not at all. But does it mean that we will do YHVH's will, good or bad? Yes! Remember, HaSatan may be the prince of this world, but he cannot even touch someone if YHVH tells Him not to. But why does YHVH allow sin? So that His will can be done, just like Yahshua said. May YHVH be praised! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, looking at chapter 24, where Isaac marries Rebekah, there are some things here that we didn't understand before when we were in the 'church'. Nowadays people just marry whoever they want, a 'love at first sight' type of deal. Having a matchmaker or someone like that pick out your wife is something very foreign to the Western Greek-Roman lifestyle. But it was, and still is in some rural places, a big part of life. A great movie to watch that gives a funny yet pretty detailed description of how marriages were in Jewish communities even in the 1940's is, "Fiddler on the Roof". Anyway, back then the son's parents or someone with the parents' authority would go and pick out a young lady in their same tribe or community, bring a dowry, and bargain with the parents of the young lady until they make an agreement. There is a LOT of information that goes on in a Ancient Hebrew wedding, and while I would love to be able to go through it now, it would be much too hard and long for me to do it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May YHVH continue to show you His REAL truth! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and guard you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat. Please pray and continue to pray for those affected by "Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy", that they are ok and that they might come to know the REAL truth before it is too late. I know how hard it must be for them. When we 1st came to the states in 2004, we were hit by 3 hurricanes, and they are not to joke around with.
Anyway, on to the Torah Portion! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha VaYera is the 4th portion in Genesis and goes from Genesis 18:1-22:24. It is the continuation of Abram's/Abraham's life. We saw in the last Torah Portion how YHVH brought Abram out of the land of his fathers and brought him to Canaan. We see that there were a lot of tests, and sometimes Abram did fail those tests. But in this Torah Portion, we are going to see what happens when YHVH follows through and is faithful to us as we are faithful to Him! We see in this Torah Portion how YHVH finally fulfilled His promise to Abraham. Abraham had to wait 25 YEARS before Sarah had a son. If we think about it, it is a lot like what is going on now. We have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and.... Anyway, We have been waiting all this time for Yahshua to return and He hasn't come back. Recently we have had an outburst of people saying that the tribulation is this day or that day, including some "Torah Teachers", but Yahshua made it VERY clear NOT to follow them: Matthew 24:23-27 “If anyone then says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe. 24 “For false messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and they shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 25 “See, I have forewarned you. 26 “So if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe. 27 “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines to the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of Aḏam be. What Yahshua said here is the same thing that is happening now. We know though that He said things have to happen before His return(Matthew 24). We have no authority to make any plans about when Messiah will return. In fact, we will be rebuked and condemned if we do, because putting a date on when He will return makes it look like He lied when He says that no man will know the day or the hour. That doesn't mean however that we should just play around and say, "Oh, we won't know when Messiah will return, so we can do whatever we want." like modern christianity does. We have to be prepared always and look for the times and seasons. But putting dates months and years in advance is something that the Scriptures is very much against. We have to be patient and wait, just like Abraham and Sarah had to wait and be patient for their son Isaac. In fact, from their mistakes, we can learn how YHVH wants us to act when we "think" He is delaying. Remember though, YHVH doesn't delay. We just get TOO IMPATIENT!! Amen! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genesis 18:1-2 And YHVH appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, while he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and saw three men standing opposite him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, In chapter 18 we read how 3 men came to meet Abraham. But we can see an unusual thing happen here in verse 2. Abraham, seeing these men, runs to them and bows to them. 2 things that I found interesting. 1st of all, Abraham is 100 YEARS OLD. Even back then that was senior citizen age. He was an elder and as we saw in the previous chapters a rich and famous one, so he really shouldn't have had to run, UNLESS these men weren't just normal men. The 2nd thing I found interesting is that Abraham bowed to them. This man, 100 years old, extremely wealthy and very famous in his time, bowed to these 3 men. Now, how could these be just 3 ordinary men, or even 3 officers or rulers. He didn't bow down to the king of Sodom when he met him. These weren't just your average Billy, Bob, and Joe walking down the road. Now, at a 2nd glance we could think that these may be angels. Now, could 1 or 2 of them have been? Sure. But not all 3 of them could have been angels because we see time and time again in the Scriptures that when men bowed to angels, the angels told them to stand up and not to be afraid. We see a perfect example in Revelation: Revelation 22:8-9 And I, Yoḥanan, saw and heard these matters. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the messenger who showed me these matters. 9 And he said to me, “See, do not! For I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers the prophets, and of those who are guarding the words of this book. Worship Elohim.” So just who did Abraham bow down to? There is only one person, and it is answered to us in verse 3: Genesis 18:2-3 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and saw three men standing opposite him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, “YHVH, if I have now found favour in Your eyes, please do not pass Your servant by. YHVH! He saw YHVH.... wait a minute... Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You are unable to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.” There is only one person this can be, YHVH in the flesh, Yahshua! We keep seeing Him over and over again in Genesis showing Himself in different ways, because remember 2 things: 1. Names in Hebrew shows the character of that person AND 2. Because of that, we can see YHVH's character in different names and ways. Like Yahshua means salvation, Melchizedek means king of righteousness, and El Shaddai means God Almighty. Because of this we can see who we know as Yahshua in many different ways, not just as salvation. I mean, in the last days, do you really think He is going to come JUST to save us? Yes, that is a part of it, but He is also going to come as YHVH Elohim Tsevaot, Melek Tsadik Ha'shalom; YHVH God of Hosts, King of Righteous and Peace! He is coming to restore justice and righteousness to the world with a rod of iron(Revelation 19:15). HalleluYAH! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We see through the rest of this Torah Portion how Abraham started learning to have faith in YHVH. He had enough faith to be able to ask YHVH to save Sodom and Gomorrah, and then bargained with Him until YHVH promised to save the cities if there were only 10 righteous men instead of the 50 he had originally had. He had enough courage to admit his mistake to Abimelech in chapter 20 about Sarah. But of all the moments in Abraham's life, the moment that truly tested his faith was in chapter 22. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Imagine, after all the things have happened in Abraham's life, after all the times YHVH tested him, and after all the trials and tribulations, he finally got the blessing that YHVH promised him. He must of been so joyful and so amazed for all that YHVH had done. He must have been pretty glad it's was finally over, right? Now he could rest... Or so he thought! Genesis 22:1-2 And it came to be after these events that Elohim tried Abraham, and said to him, “Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 And He said, “Take your son, now, your only son Yitsḥaq, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriyah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I command you.” Now, what would be your 1st thought if you were Abraham? I think just about everyone's opinion(probably me too) would have been, "NO WAY!!" But here is where Abraham's life takes a turn away from what most people would do: Genesis 22:3 And Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey , and took two of his young men with him, and Yitsḥaq his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which Elohim had commanded him. "WOW! He finally figured it out!(Haha!)" That's probably what some of us are thinking. But understand this: If you had to leave your homeland and go to some foreign land, following some God that you only 1/2 way knew, going through enemy territories, having fights with your relatives over space and property(Hmm... we don't do that, do we?), then having to save your relative and the people that he went to, having these heavenly beings come to you and YHVH personally talk to you over and Over and OVER again, each time saying that you were going to have a child and be a great nation, having a wife that always nagged about her maidservant, then again having YHVH come to you and say that you were going to have a son from your wife who is already ancient(just don't tell Abimelech that!), and then finally, after ALL this time, FINALLY you have a son, wouldn't you just gain a LITTLE faith to follow YHVH? To be honest, it was the same thing that happened to Yahshua with His disciples. Even after they saw all the miracles that they saw, they still didn't know what He meant when He was talking to them, and Simon Peter still denied Him 3 times. But what do we get from both of these points in the Scriptures? That even though we may not have a good beginning, and even though we fail(a LOT!), and even though we get scared, the most important thing that matters is the end. The most important thing for YHVH isn't how we begin, and it isn't what we do in the middle, but rather how we finish. He wants us to finish strong. I mean, look at the whole Scripture to look for examples. Abraham failed over and over and over again, but because He had faith and obeyed YHVH at the finish, at the most important part, he was saved. On the other hand, Moses had a fantastic middle, leading the children of Yisra'el out of Egypt and to Mt. Sinai, and through him YHVH gave the Torah. But because of his one sin at the end of his life, striking the rock instead of talking to it in Numbers 20, because of that he wasn't able to enter the Promised Land. So what can we learn from this? What we can learn is that just like Abraham, we make mistakes. Just like Abraham, we fail. Just like Abraham, we lose faith. But, if we are just like Abraham, and have the courage to finish, no matter what YHVH asks us to do, we will be blessed. It doesn't matter if we were perfect and followed YHVH in all His ways for 90% of our lives. It is the last 10% that matters. And as we see in Abraham's life, he was blessed beyond what he could have ever imagined: Genesis 22:15-18 And the Messenger of YHVH called to Aḇraham a second time from the heavens, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares YHVH, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 that I shall certainly bless you, and I shall certainly increase your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies. 18 “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Who is 'The Messenger of YHVH?' We see Him several times in the Scriptures. It is very important to see the difference between 'a' and 'the'. A messenger can mean any messenger, but THE Messenger is someone special, someone with greater authority then even the angelic beings. He is Yahshua! This is even more clearly shown in verse 11: Genesis 22:11 but the Messenger of YHVH called to him from the heavens and said, “Aḇraham, Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” If an angel called you out of heaven, would you be like, "Oh, hi, I'm right here!" NO! You would be on the floor, panting, about to have a heart attack. No, Abraham knew who this was, and it is so amazing to think about just how many times we can see Yahshua in the Scriptures! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ May YHVH bless you and may you continue to learn YHVH's Torah more and more everyday! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and guard you; 25 make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat and that YHVH will guide you and give you His shalom/shalem.
Now, on to the portion! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha Lech L'cha is the 3rd Torah Portion in Genesis. It goes from Genesis 12:1-17:27. This Torah Portion is extremely full of information and we could be here for weeks just looking at every single detail and what it means, but let's get this out of the way. Abram is a picture of us,coming out of the land, family, and religions that he had. He had faith that YHVH was the One and Only true Elohim and he decided to follow Him wherever YHVH would take him, with faith that YHVH would protect Him no matter what. It is a picture of many of us today. Many of us have had to leave family, friends, and churches behind, and some of us have even had to move from where we were from. Why? Because we had faith that YHVH was the One and Only true Elohim and that no matter what happened, He was in control and that He was going to protect us no matter what. Sure, we have our falls. Sometimes we lose some of our faith in YHVH and think that our way is better than YHVH's way. But Abram fell as well. He lost some faith after so many years of waiting, and he didn't have enough faith to tell the whole truth about Sarai when they were in Egypt. But through all that, YHVH was still faithful to him, and YHVH is still faithful with us, as long as we return back to Him with humble hearts. Many of us are like Abram in many ways. It just shows once again how YHVH is smarter than we are and that He shows us our future by what has happened in the past. Praise Yah! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We see in chapter 14 about a king named Melchizedek. But if you read the rest of verse 18, you will see something so prophetic and amazing: Genesis 14:18 And Malkitsedeq sovereign of Shalem brought out bread and wine. Now he was the priest of the Most High El. Now this is really cool. Ready for this? The word Melchizedek in Hebrew is actually 2 words, the 1st is 'Melek' and the 2nd is 'Tsadik(Tsedeq)'. Melek means 'king' and Tsadik(Tsedeq) means 'Righteousness'. So combined it means Melektsedeq, the 'KING of RIGHTEOUSNESS'!! Now we probably already know who it is, but let's keep going. The word here for Sovereign is also 'Melek', which means king. It says here though that he was the king of Shalem. But guess what? Shalem is the same word as Shalom, which means 'peace'! So this King of Righteousness is also the King of Peace, but not just peace, but completeness. And don't we see somewhere in the Scriptures that it says something about a king or prince of peace? Isaiah 9:6 For a Child shall be born unto us, a Son shall be given unto us, and the rule is on His shoulder. And His Name is called... Prince of Peace. Wow! There is ONLY ONE person that this could possibly be. Yahshua the Messiah! Now, we figured that out by just reading 1/2 of the verse. Once you figure out that this is Yahshua, then it gets really easy to decipher the rest of the verse. It says that He brought out bread and wine. Hmm... and isn't that the same thing that Yahshua did with His disciples? Matthew 26:26-27 And as they were eating, Yahshua took bread, and having blessed, broke and gave it to the taught ones and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.” 27 And taking the cup, and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 “For this is My blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. Now, we could go through a whole other 3 hour study on the renewed covenant or the Jewish customs with the bread and wine or so on and so forth, but I think it is suffice to say that Yahshua didn't create anything new when He did this. In fact, He was the 1st one to do it! Now, we know that the bread represented life, and the wine represented the blood of the new covenant, so with this and what we have already said, let's use those phrases and put them in the verse and see what it says: And the King of Righteousness, the Prince of Peace brought out the life and the blood. Now He was the priest of the Most High El. Once again, WOW! Now we can understand better the secret, which by the way is the meaning for Sedom(look at verses 17 and 22). HalleluYAH! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hebrews 11:1,8 Now belief(faith) is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 8 By belief(faith) Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Faith!!! Faith isn't just some flimsy, in-your-heart type feeling. It is an action. It is your belief. It is your walk, your way, your life supply. Without faith we are dead. And faith without works is also dead, as James says: James 2:14-26 My brothers, what use is it for anyone to say he has belief(faith) but does not have works? This belief(faith) is unable to save him. And if a brother or sister is naked and in need of daily food, 16 but one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” but you do not give them the bodily needs, what use is it? 17 So also belief(faith), if it does not have works, is in itself dead. 18 But someone might say, “You have belief(faith), and I have works.” Show me your belief(faith) without your works, and I shall show you my belief(faith) by my works. 19 You believe that Elohim is one. You do well. The demons also believe – and shudder! 20 But do you wish to know, O foolish man, that the belief(faith) without the works is dead? 21 Was not Aḇraham our father declared right by works when he offered Yitsḥaq his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that the belief(faith) was working with his works, and by the works the belief(faith) was perfected? 23 And the Scripture was filled which says, “Aḇraham believed Elohim, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” And he was called, “Elohim’s friend.” 24 You see, then, that a man is declared right by works, and not by belief(faith) alone. 25 In the same way, was not Raḥaḇ the whore also declared right by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief(faith) is dead without the works. Now, that isn't saying that works makes you saved, because no one can be saved by works(Ephesians 2:8-9). But our faith is useless unless we show it by what we do. YHVH made us so that we could bless Him, but you can't bless anyone just by saying that you are saved. However, you can bless YHVH and others by SHOWING that you are saved, because if we are saved, we should ACT like we are saved. I know sometimes that's hard, but once again remember that sometimes it was hard for Abraham too. We all make mistakes but we must repent of those mistakes and get back to the narrow path as quickly as possible so that YHVH can be glorified! Amen! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was just thinking about how Abraham had to wait 25 YEARS for YHVH's covenant to start becoming a reality. In chapter 17 we see that Abraham laughed when YHVH said that Sarah was going to have a son. He never would have imagined at that time that just 1 year later he would have a son from Sarah. They were 100 and 90 years old! But as we see again, and Again, and AGAIN(!!!!), YHVH is smarter than we are and His timing isn't our timing. If Noah would have decided to wait a couple of years to build the ark, then he would have been too late and there wouldn't be a single human, land animal, or bird alive. There would be just millions of fish all over the earth! But thanks be to YHVH that isn't the case and He is ALWAYS in control. He always has a plan for us, even if He delays it for 25 or more years. Praise Yah! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May YHVH be praised for the hidden things that He is revealing us in these last days. May you continue to look for His ways and follow His paths, and may YHVH give you Shalom/Shalem all your days. Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and guard you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Jesus Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah!
I pray that you will have a blessed Shabbat and that YHVH will use you for His Glory! I am sorry that I haven't done the Torah Portions lately, but we have been real busy with the feasts and I have been updating on our Central America website: http://lchaimpuravida.blogspot.com. Now, on to the portion! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parasha Noach is the 2nd portion in Genesis. It goes from Genesis 6:9-11:32 and includes Noah's building of the ark, the bringing of the animals on the ark, the flood, the covenant YHVH made to Moshe, the curse on Ham’s son Canaan because he saw his father's nakedness, the generations after Noah, the Tower of Babel, and the generations after Shem. The whole Torah is very important, but to me the most important part of it is the 1st 11 chapters of Genesis. It is the foundation of the world. From YHVH's 6-day creation, to the fall of man, to the promise of Messiah, to Cain killing his brother, to the flood, to the covenant that YHVH made with Noah to never flood the earth again, and finally to the Tower of Babel where the languages where separated. These passages give the reason for why we needed the Torah and how Messiah would come to fulfill the prophecies. I love reading these 2 portions and thinking about how Messiah is ALL OVER them! Noah's name in the Hebrew is, 'Noach', meaning, 'rest'. After sin came into the world YHVH had separated Himself from man and He cursed the ground. In Genesis 5 we read about the genealogy after Adam. In verse 26 we read how Methuselah had a son named Lamach and in verse 28 we read how Lamach had a son. Lamach called his son Noah, but in verse 29 we read a very special and important prophecy over why he named his son Noah: Genesis 5:28-29 And Lamach lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and brought forth a son, 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “This one does comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which YHVH has cursed.” Now, how did Lamach know that Noah was to be the one that comforted the work of the ground? Well, there can be 2 answers in my opinion, either YHVH told Lamach what was going to happen without telling anyone else to write it down, OR maybe, and what I think is the more likely answer, maybe Lamach saw something in the stars and galaxies that showed him what to call his son. That's what they were for, right? Genesis 2:14-15 And Elohim said, “Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years, 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it came to be so. Maybe Lamach saw that the time was approaching when YHVH would send someone to comfort their hard labors, their slavery of sorts! I love how every thing that happens in these 1st couple of portions dictate the rest of history. I mean, how many examples can we find here? Yahshua was in the beginning, He is the Light, He was the One who walked with Adam and Eve, He is the Promised Seed, He is the Lamb of Elohim that was slain to cover our sins, He is the One who comforts us, He is the One who gives us rest, He is the Ark of Salvation, and He is so MUCH MORE! Praise Yah! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is really amazing to see all the parallels between these 1st chapters of Genesis and the things that happened and are happening now, but there is a reason for that: Isaiah 46:9-11 “Remember the former events of old, for I am El, and there is no one else – Elohim, and there is no one like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My counsel does stand, and all My delight I do,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a distant land. Indeed I have spoken it; I also bring it to pass. I have planned it, I also do it. YHVH showed and is showing His plan from the very beginning. There is no doubt that YHVH is MUCH smarter than we are, is there? What He said He would do, He has done. What He has planned, He has done. As Malachi said, YHVH never changes. He always stays the same. Every covenant He has made still stands. May YHVH be praised, that He is perfect even while we still sin. HalleluYAH! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Numbers are a very important part of Scripture, and it one of the things that people don't recognize. I mean, take the number 40 for example... The flood lasted 40 days. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. Moses was 40 years old when he left Egypt the 1st time and 80 years old when he went back, a difference of 40 years. Moses went up to Mt. Sinai and stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights, then after the sin of the golden calf and the breaking of the 1st 2 tablets, he went back up to Mt.Sinai for another 40 days and 40 nights. The 12 spies were in Canaan for 40 days, and Joshua was 40 years old when he spied out the land. The Children of Yisra'el were in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses died at 120 years old, 40 years after he and the Children of Yisra'el had left Egypt. Saul, David, and Solomon each reigned 40 years over Yisra'el. Yahshua was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, and after Yahshua resurrected, He was on the earth for 40 days. 40 is a number of testing, trials, temptation, and cleansing. The flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights and cleansed the world of almost all sin. Moses went up to Mt.Sinai 40 days and 40 nights so that YHVH could test Yisra’el and see what they would do without a leader(as we see, they failed!). The Children of Yisra’el were in the wilderness for 40 years so YHVH could send trials and temptations on them, as well so that they could learn how to follow Him. And Yahshua was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, being tempted by the Adversary. This is just 1 example of this. You can look for 3's, 7's, 10's, 12's, 70's and so on. It just shows how YHVH shows us pictures that most people can't see because they don't study the "Old Testament". May YHVH be praised because He has given us the REAL Word, the TRUE Word, and the LIVING Word, Yahshua the Messiah! He was the one that created everything, and without Him nothing would have ever been made, as John says: John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. 2 He was in the beginning with Elohim. 3 All came to be through Him, and without Him not even one came to be that came to be. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Without Yahshua, we could not really exist. But think about it. If Yahshua is the Living Word, and He is the Torah, does that mean that if we do not have Torah then we could not really exist? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May we all study the Word, earnestly awaiting the return of our King. May you all be blessed on this Shabbat! Numbers 6:24-26 “YHVH bless you and keep you; 25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favour to you; 26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” Until next time... Shalom! Christian Jesus Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! I have been busy working on our family blog and helping my family in the farm. Please visit our blog to see how we live being doers of the Word/Torah and not hearers only.
www.lchaimpuravida.blogspot.com May YHVH bless you and keep you!!! Shalom! Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah.
I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat. I’ve been a little bit busy with my Aunt being here. Anyway, let''s get started! ......................................................................................................... On to the portion! The name of this portion is Ki-Tavo. It goes from Deuteronomy 26:1-29:9 and includes the instruction of the giving of the firstfruits, the instruction of the giving of the tithe to the Levites, strangers, fatherless, and widows, the blessings and the cursings of YHVH, and the instruction to follow the Words of the Covenant. The 1st offering that we see in chapter 26 is the firstfruits offering, wherein we give the firstfruits of our crops and give it to YHVH. This firstfruits offering is one of the most important offerings in Scripture since it has to do with the beginning of the blessings YHVH gives in our crops and animals. I believe the reason why YHVH instructed Yisra'el to give this offering was to see if they were faithful enough to give the 1st of the crops or if they were going to hide it and not give Him what was special to them. Ok, let's say you were growing lots of carrots. It''s been months since you have had any(since the last harvest) and you are just waiting for them to grow. And then one day you wake up and you see the 1st carrots coming out of the ground. Doesn't it make you excited! Now, when you see that the 1st one is ready to eat, what's the 1st thing we as humans normally do? We take it out of the ground, wash it quickly, cut it up, and eat it! I know that I probably would. But from what I see in this passage, I believe that YHVH is testing us to see if we would give Him the firstfruits of what we have instead of just eating it all ourselves. YHVH wants to see if our heart is right and see if we truly love Him by giving our first of what we have to Him. So the question is, what do WE do with the 1st of our crops? Well, the easiest thing to do would be to give it to the poor, widows, and orphans around us. Maybe you could make carrot cake and take a piece to each of your neighbors, even if you don't really know them. Maybe if you see a family that looks like they are in need you could give it to them and pray for them. There are lots of different ways to do it, just make sure you do it with YHVH and the giving of the firstfruits on your mind. Maybe the person you give it to will ask, "Why are you giving this to me?" It would be a blessed opportunity to talk about YHVH and His Word, and maybe that person will accept Yahshua and His Covenant because of it! The 2nd offering that we see in this chapter is the tithe to the Levites, poor, fatherless, and widows. As we see in verses 12-13, this tithe wasn't your $7 dollars that you put in the tithe plate every week: Deuteronomy 26:12-13 “When you have completed tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within your gates and have been satisfied, 13 Then you shall say before YHVH your Elohim, ‘I have put away the set-apart portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your command which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commands, nor have I forgotten. This tithe was given every 3 years and was the tithe of all our increase, and in every other tithe we read, we see how the tithes were YHVH's, not for some church building or for the sunday school field trip to the zoo. Most tithes were supposed to be given to the Levites who would then give it to the poor, widows, and orphans. But this tithe is important because it talks about them coming to our own gates and eating it there. This tithe gave Yisra'el an opportunity to be able to witness their tithe literally being used for the purpose. And now today, we can share with them an even bigger blessing, the blessing of salvation in Messiah Yahshua! Praise Yah! ............................................................................................... Now on to chapters 27-28. The next 2 chapters have all do with blessings and cursings. Now, one quick glance at the next 2 chapters and we see how YHVH looks like He gives out more cursings then blessings. But look at the blessings He gives us. He blesses the fruit of our labors, gives us protection and respect from our enemies, and rain in its season, all if we just guard and obey His instructions for our lives. Those blessings are simple, yet they supply all that we need. BUT if we disobey YHVH, He wanted to make sure we knew just how He was going to do it so that we wouldn't say it was just by chance those things happened. We would know right away that we were doing something wrong and that we needed to check our lives to see where we disobeyed Him. YHVH is a loving El, but He is also a jealous El, as Joshua tells Yisra'el at the end of his life: Joshua 24:19-20 Then Yehoshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve YHVH, for He is a set-apart Elohim, a jealous El is He. He does not bear with your transgression and with your sins, 20 If you forsake YHVH and shall serve mighty ones of a stranger. Then He shall turn back and do you evil and consume you, after He has been good to you.” He must judge the just and the unjust equally. If we obey Him, He blesses us, and if not, He must punish us, even though He does not want to. He never wanted to. He wanted to love us and take care of us but we didn't want His love, we just wanted His blessings. We cannot say that we know Him and then disobey Him, as the apostle John said: 1st John 2:4-5 The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. His love can only be in us if we OBEY Him, as Messiah Yahshua says in John 14: John 14:15 “If you love Me, you shall guard My commands. Blessings only come if we love Him. And we cannot love Him without obeying His commands. YHVH always loves us; even if we are disobedient, but for His love to be perfected and for Him to bless us back, we must 1st bless Him by guarding His Words. It isn't just a one way agreement. There is no such thing as a one way agreement. There are 2 sides to the agreement, where one has to give something so that the other can give something too. In this case if we love YHVH and obey His covenant, He will bless over and above what we need. HalleluYAH! ............................................................................................... Now on to chapter 29. The torah portion ends at verse 9 and in just those verses we see something so powerful. Deuteronomy 29:3-4 “Your eyes saw the great trials, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 “But YHVH has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear, till this day. Wow! Imagine being there and hearing Moshe speak, and then all of a sudden realize how dumb you and your parents were all those years. After all those fights with Moshe, and all those disagreements with Moshe, and all those grumblings with Moshe, and all those... Anyway after all that, you realize that no matter what great things YHVH did through Moshe, you still didn't understand until just now! Of all the great wonders and signs YHVH did, I think this may have been the one that was most important. The blinding of the eyes and the deafening of the ears spiritually, even though physically they were able to see and hear, is a wonder all in itself, and one of the greatest wonders of them all! And finally, verse 9: Deuteronomy 29:9 “Therefore you shall guard the words of this covenant, and do them, so that you prosper in all that you do. You want to be prosperous? OBEY YHVH and His Word. It may not be the way you think, but YHVH knows how to bless you SO much more then you can bless yourself! Until next time... Shalom! Christian Montanez Dodd Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH HalleluYAH! |
Shalom!
I asked for a corner in our ministry website so I can share what YHVH has put in my heart to write about. As I am learning I will post what I have found. Please pray for us as we go where Yah wants us to go, and, if YHVH puts it on your heart, please support my family. YHVH bless and keep you in HIS shalom! How to comment:
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