Tag: abraham

Parashah Yitro (Jethro) Exodus 18-20

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This parashah starts with the reunion of Moses to his wife and children, whom he had sent away while still in Egypt to be with her father, Jethro, the Priest of Midian. Now in the desert and with Egypt no longer a threat of any kind, Jethro brings Moses’ family back to him.

The next day, while watching Moses dispense justice all day long, Jethro suggests that Moses delegate his authority so that he, alone, doesn’t have to hear every single case. Moses accepts this advice and does as Jethro suggested.

Proverbs 12:1– “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”

The rest of this section of Torah takes us to the mountain of God, Sinai (also known as Horeb) and the people are told to prepare to meet the Lord, who came down to the mountain in fire and smoke and gave us the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments.

Before reading the Torah, we recite this prayer:

Blessed art thou, oh Lord, our God, king of the Universe, who has chosen us from all peoples and given to us his Torah. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, giver of the Torah. 

And after we read from the Torah, we recite this prayer:

Blessed are thou, oh Lord our God, king of the universe, who has given us the Torah of truth, and placed everlasting life in our midst. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, giver of the Torah.

Why were the Jewish people granted this wonderful election- to be given the Torah, which provides everlasting life? The answer is simple: God loved Abraham, who was a righteous and faithful servant, and since one of the 13 Attributes of God is to bless those who love him to the thousandth generation (Exodus 20:6): that is why the descendants of Abraham were chosen, and blessed with receiving and being the guardians of the Torah.

Notice I said “descendants of Abraham” and not “the Jewish people”: I did that because once someone accepts the God of Abraham as their God, that person is considered by God’s commandment to be an adopted child of Abraham (Romans 9:8 and Galatians 3:29), and as such is afforded all the rights and privileges under the Torah (as well as the obligation to obey the Torah) as any “natural born” descendant.

The Torah was given to those who are descendants of Abraham: the purpose not being for their use only, but to show the world how God wants us to worship Him and treat each other (Exodus 19:6.)

Christians are descendants of Abraham because they accept Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah, and so through that relationship are worshiping the same God who sent Yeshua. That means they are adopted sons and daughters of Abraham, and as such, have also been given the Torah to provide them everlasting life.

Why then do so many Christian organizations teach that the Torah is (essentially) dead, and the laws and commandments in the Torah (which God said to obey) are not binding on Christians?  It’s like they want to have their cake and eat it, too- give us the everlasting life that Torah provides, but don’t expect us to obey the Torah.

Huh? Really?

I use this analogy when teaching about the split between Christianity and Judaism:

Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon where Elmer chases Bugs into a tree? Bugs is sitting on a branch, and Elmer is on the tree sawing the branch, laughing derisively as he knows Bugs will fall to the ground. But when the branch is cut through, it is the tree that falls to the ground while the branch remains suspended in air. That’s what Christianity thinks is possible when they teach that they can ignore the Torah.

The Torah is what God gave to the world– the Jews are nothing more than the first ones to learn the lessons. God’s commandment to the Jewish people is to follow, then teach others to follow. That is how the descendants of Abraham are to be a blessing to the world (Genesis 22:18), and why it is so important to realize that accepting Yeshua means becoming a descendant of Abraham, which carries the obligation (even the commandment) to teach the nations and the peoples of the world about the Torah, which was, and is, part of God’s plan of salvation.

To put it more succinctly: if you teach that the Torah is not necessary, you are working against God’s plan of salvation. If you think faith is all you need to be saved, you are right, but without obedience then your faith is empty; everything (EVERYTHING) Yeshua taught us to do is directly from the Torah. Everything His Talmudim (Disciples) taught the newly grafted branches onto the Tree of Life to do was directly from the Torah.

I am not saying to be a Christian you have to convert to Judaism, and because I am Born Again that doesn’t make me a Christian- I am a Jew. But everyone who accepts Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah and Savior becomes a descendant of Abraham and, as such, is required to obey the commandments God gave to the descendants of Abraham- the same ones we read in the Torah, starting with this parashah and the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments is the “Reader’s Digest” version of the entire Tanakh, the first 5 dealing with our duties to God and the next 5 with our duties to each other. As Yeshua said, the most important commandments are to love God and love each other, and on those two commandments pivot all the writings and the Prophets (Matthew 22:36-40.) These 10 commandments teach us how to love God and each other, but neither God nor Yeshua ever meant that we should exclude all the other commandments found in the Torah. That is what Yeshua meant when He said that the writings and the Prophets pivot on, or are contained, in these two things. He wasn’t saying we can ignore the rest, He was saying that the rest will come more naturally from doing these two things.

We need to get back on line, back in the proper groove, which is to honor the Torah, which honors God, and try to obey all that God said we should do. There shouldn’t be differences in religions, in fact, there shouldn’t be different religions, at all! There should only be God and each other- that is the game plan He gave us to follow. Apparently, we didn’t like a lot of God’s rules, so we’ve made up a bunch of our own, from Talmudic laws of Halakha (Way to Walk) to Christian Canons and rites. And whom do these rules honor?  Not God, because they are man-made and their main purpose is to provide a few with power over the others.

Anything different from what God told us to do is not from God- think about that.

Salvation comes from faith, but faith without works is dead, so prove your faithfulness by your works: the works God, Himself, gave us in His Torah.

Parashah V’yetze (and he went out) Genesis 28 – 32:3

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Jacob has left his home in fear of his brother, whose blessings were given to Jacob. He goes to Haran where Rebekah’s brother, Laban, lives and Jacob stays with him. On the way he has a dream in which God appears and confirms to Jacob the promises that He gave to Abraham and Isaac.

Jacob sees Rachel before he sees Laban, and falls in love with her right then and there. Laban welcomes him into his home, and after a month Laban offers to pay Jacob. Jacob names his wages: he will work 7 years and then Rachel is to be his wife.

Now we start to see how the one called the “Supplanter”, who manipulated his brother into giving up his birthright, now meets his match. Well, almost his match.

After 7 years Jacob is all set to marry Rachel, but Laban throws Leah into the tent and by the time Jacob realizes who he has been celebrating the honeymoon with (I gotta think- how drunk was he to not notice the difference?) it is too late. Laban has pulled a fast one on Jacob, who now is forced to work another 7 years for Rachel (at least he gets to marry her first, after he spends the mandatory 1 week with Leah.)

Now that he is married and the years of labor for Rachel are in full swing, Leah starts to drop male rug-rats like there’s no tomorrow, whereas Rachel is barren.  Then Rachel orders Jacob to give her children through her handmaiden, to which Leah counters with the same demand, and eventually Rachel gives birth to Joseph, and we have the birth of 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel, and are told the reason for each of their names.

Meanwhile, back at the sheep troth, Jacob asked for speckled and dark sheep and goats (the less valuable) as payment for tending  Laban’s flocks, and by using streaked rods when the animals drink and mate, he manages to get the strongest kids and lambs to be in his flocks, whereas Laban’s flocks are weaker. Jacob hears Laban’s sons becoming hostile and decides it’s time to go back home, so he takes his family and flocks and beats a fast retreat to Canaan when Laban is not anywhere around. Laban goes after him and catches up, but God warns Laban in a dream not to do anything bad to Jacob.

Laban is also upset because, unknown to Jacob, Rachel has taken the family gods which are the inheritance of the firstborn and gave Laban authority over the other members of the family. Laban never found the gods because Rachel said she was in her time of Niddah (menstruating) so that Laban would not come near her to search under the saddle she was sitting on, where the gods were hidden.

Finally, Laban and Jacob make a pact that neither will cross over a standing stone to do the other harm, and Laban goes back to his home.

Well, well, well…what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?

Jacob finagles the blessings and rights of the firstborn from his brother, then is tricked into marrying Leah, consequently forcing Jacob to work an additional 7 years to marry Rachel (who was first promised to him.) Then Jacob manipulates the flocks so that he has the healthiest and Laban has the dreck (Yiddish for trash.) Then, when Jacob sneaks away, Rachel steals the family gods, which are part of the birthright of the firstborn.

‘Round and ’round, up and down- Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

I find it interesting that here we have the Patriarchs! The fathers of Judaism, the ones that are righteous before God, who God, Himself, talked to. More than once, even! And yet, they are deceptive, they are self-centered (telling your wife to allow herself to be taken into a harem to protect your own skin) and they end up marrying the same type of person: Rebekah told Jacob to fool Isaac and Rachel stole from her father.

I read in my Chumash that the Midrash explains why Rachel stole the family gods: it was so that her father wouldn’t worship them. C’mon, really? That is what I call giving something that isn’t holy a holy “spin.” Those gods represented power and authority in that culture: the other family members would go to the oldest, who was the keeper of these gods, and pay him to pray to the gods so that their crops would be plentiful and their herds reproduce well. I don’t believe for a second that Rachel had anything else in mind other than to take what she felt was hers.  I base this on Genesis 31:14, where both Rachel and Leah state that they no longer have any inheritance in their fathers house. They accuse Laban of having sold them and used up what there was of the purchase price. In other words, Laban has nothing left to give them as an inheritance. I think it is pretty clear that Rachel stole the gods to recoup what she felt was owed to her.

This is what is so wonderful about the bible- we see the people in it for who and what they really are: human beings. There is no “sugar-coating” their actions or their intentions. And why I think this is so wonderful is that it shows us that we don’t have to be super holy to be loved by God; we don’t have to be sinless to be saved; and God will help us even when we aren’t doing everything on the “up and up” so long as we are trying to do what He wants from us.

The bible stories are so interesting, so full of romance, deceit, murder, retribution, and (best of all) a happy ending for the good guys. I am not at all surprised that thousands of years after these events happened, we are still fascinated reading about them (well, I am) and the message they have is never old or out of date.

Maybe that’s because the bible is about more than just God and salvation- it is about us. About people, about society, and about what the world is like. And, of course, about what the end will be and how to finish on the winning side.

If you aren’t reading the bible every day, please do so. If you know someone who doesn’t read it at all, share these stories but don’t tell that person where they are from until he or she asks. I really want to do something to help people read the bible because they need to know what God is saying, not only what some Pastor, Rabbi or Priest is telling them they learned in Theology class.

The world is witnessing the fulfillment of God’s promise of judgement on the nations, and seeing the regathering of Israel. It is not coming soon, it is happening now! We who know the Lord and know what is to happen are obligated to tell those who are ignorant and obstinate.

Tell someone else about this blog- I don’t mean to sound uppity or self-important but I am trying to write in here that which will always give glory and honor to God, and I want to help people realize the truth about what God says so they can compare it to what they are being told. We need to understand what being “holy” really means, and not what the church or synagogue makes it seem like.

To be holy means to be separated, that’s all- and when we are separated from the world, which is a cursed and sinful place, although we may still be sinful in our hearts we can control ourselves to be less sinful.

I was a sinner before I knew the Lord, and now that I know the Lord I am still a sinner! BUT- I am a saved sinner because I have done T’shuvah, I have turned from my desire to sin and now have a desire to sin less. I understand I can never be sinless, but I know that I can always sin less.

Read the “manual” and get to know the people in it, who and what they are, and be empowered by their weaknesses which they overcame with God’s help. As Shaul (Paul) says in 2 Corinthians, 12:9:

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me.

Let the weaknesses of the Patriarchs encourage you so that you, too, can be a Patriarch (or a Matriarch) of your own future.

Parashah Chaiyei Sarah (the Life of Sarah) Genesis 23-25

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The end of the beginning, and the beginning of the promise happen in this Parashah. Abraham and Sarah, the beginning of the Jewish faith, both die in this parashah, and between the passing of Sarah and Abraham, Isaac is married to Rivkah (Rebekah) and it is through his progeny that we have the founding of both the 12 tribes of Israel and also the nations of the Arab people (In Gen. 25:23 God tells Rebakah she has two nations in her womb.)

The burial cave of Abraham is in Hebron, a very dangerous place for Jews to visit as the majority of Hebron is Arab controlled, with a few Jewish settlements. I have been told by people who have made multiple visits to Israel that, as sad as it is, a place so important to Judaism is so dangerous to see that most Jews going to Israel will not be able to visit it.

The Chumash (a “Chumash” is a commentary of the 5 books of Moses, the Torah, as well as the Haftarah readings.  The one I have is the Soncino edition, and was a present from my Reform Temple when I had my Bar Mitzvah) states that when Sarah died the blessings and pious customs of the Patriarch stopped, and were not re-initiated until Rebekah came into the tent. This is understandable because the wife is the one in charge of the household. The Father is the leader of the family, but the wife is, traditionally, the one who runs the house.

Here is an excerpt from the chabad.org website which describes the role of the Jewish wife (I bold printed explanations I have added):

She has been entrusted with, and is completely in charge of, the kashrut (ceremonial cleanliness) of the foods and beverages that come into her kitchen and appear on the dining table. She has been given the privilege of ushering in the holy Shabbat by lighting the candles on Friday, in ample time before sunset. Thus she actually and symbolically brightens up her home with peace and harmony and with the light of Torah and mitzvot (laws, as well as good deeds). It is largely in her merits that G-d (many Jews will not misuse God’s name, even in the spelling of it) bestows the blessing of true happiness on her husband and children and the entire household. This is the great task and mission which G–d gave to Jewish women – to observe and disseminate the observance of Taharat Hamishpachah (Laws of the Family) and of the other vital institutions of Jewish family life. For besides being the fundamental mitzvot and the cornerstone of the sanctity of Jewish family life, as well as relating to the well-being of the children in body and soul, these pervade and extend through all Jewish generations to eternity.

Too often we hear people tell of the misogyny of the bible, but in truth both in the New and Old Covenants, woman are respected and honored. The problem people have with the bible is the separation of the roles of men and women. That would be, in my opinion, like saying (I really don’t like sports analogies, but have to admit they often work really well) the pitcher of a baseball team should also play in the outfield, and the catcher should be allowed to pitch. If you are not familiar with baseball, this is a ridiculous thought, since each of these positions are unique in the skills needed. True, there may be someone talented enough to pitch well and play the outfield, but you can’t do both at the same time, or do both interchangeably and do each one well. The wife has her role, the husband his role, and when they work together they can achieve something impossible to achieve when everyone does the same thing- that is called synergy.  Synergy is defined as when the total is greater than the sum of its parts.

In my world, the world of technology, we need to have anti-virus programs to protect our data. However, if you have two anti-virus programs running simultaneously (both checking every single data stream, both reading through every file for something unusual, both tracking and dissecting every attempt to read or change anything on the hard drive), instead of having twice the efficiency, what happens is that you can’t get anything done! The computer resources are so over-worked that even opening a web site takes longer, editing a Word document takes a lifetime, and you end up with less productivity than if you had no anti-virus running at all. Now, if you have an anti-virus program and you supplement it with an anti-malware program, which doesn’t interfere with the anti-virus but adds to its effectiveness by checking things the anti-virus doesn’t, now you have a synergistic effect.

This is what we want in the Jewish home. Actually, in every home there should be the proper separation of roles that husband and wife play so they can show their children how well people can get along when they are different, have different things that they do, and work together as a team.

When Sarah died, a very important team member of the family was missing, so that role, that position on the field (so to speak), was left unoccupied. When Rivkah (Rebekah) joined the family (in Hebrew, family is “Mishpachah”) that role was again filled. Hence, the blessings that the wife provides within the family unit returned to Isaac and Abraham.

This is what is so wonderful about the bible- you read about Sarah dying and with the appropriate commentary and understanding of the cultural and historical context, you receive a message that is not directly given in the text. We read about Sarah’s death and then Isaac took his new wife into his mother’s tent, indicating that Rebekah took over the role of Sarah, and with that the family was once again made whole and the blessings available that are based on the role of the wife returned to the Patriarch.

How do you distribute the responsibilities in your home? Are they seen as a burden or as a blessing?  Does the husband help the wife and the wife help the husband, or do you both just do what you want to do? I clean the dishes because Donna usually does the cooking, and since I will be retiring at the end of this year I will be able to cook more often and when I do, Donna will clean up. Donna does most of the outside gardening, and I do most of the heavy lifting and work in the yard. We know that we each have our own duties to perform as a team, which doesn’t mean we always do the same things but that we do what we each need to do and work together to accomplish getting everything done; we each work within our best skill sets. It may not be “perfectly biblical” with regards to what we each do, but it is biblical in that we each have our own role to play and we are responsible to do what we are supposed to do for , as well as with, each other.

Don’t let the world’s view rule your life. The world says that everyone should be the same, everyone gets the same treatment, and that everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want to: C’mon, let’s get real!- having the right to do whatever you want to do doesn’t mean you have the ability.  The truth is that we are all different, blessed with talents that are meant to serve the Lord (not ourselves) and when we use the gifts God gave us to serve Him and each other, then we will live such a blessed existence that heaven will almost appear to be anti-climatic!

Treat each other with respect, work together to achieve synergy, do what you are supposed to do before you worry about what the other person is supposed to do, and if that person needs help, then help. Teamwork is not doing something for someone else, it is doing what you are supposed to do and then, if the other person needs help, supplementing their duties. That is how you achieve synergy, and I believe God wants us to be synergistic in our relationships with each other and with Him.

 

Parashah V’Yerah (he appeared) Genesis 18-22

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There are two famous stories of the bible in here- the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the binding of Isaac, called the Akedah (also the traditional reading for Rosh Hashanah services.)

How often I hear myself saying (or, more correctly, see myself writing), “There is just SO much in here to talk about!”, and I guess the reason for that is that there is so much in here to talk about.

One thing that I find interesting, a minor but (again) interesting item: there were three men who came to Abraham at the beginning of the chapter, and yet only two men went to Sodom. Actually, the two men who went to Sodom were identified as angels- according to my Chumash, the beginning of Chapter 19 is the first time they were identified as angels, even though in the prior chapter (18:17) it is the Lord, Himself, who wonders if He should tell Abraham what He is about to do.

I have heard some people discuss whether the angels of the Lord we read about being sent to humans are just angels, or are they also God? Often it seems to be God talking because there is authority in the way they speak, and yet they are called angels. Today, we read about three men, but later we can’t help but know that one of them is unquestionably God, because the Torah says “And the Lord said…” The next chapter starts with, “And the two angels came to Sodom..”, so we know neither of them is the Lord. Wait a minute! Three men came to Abraham, the Lord says He will go down to Sodom to see for Himself if the cries of injustice that have reached His ears are real, yet God isn’t there when the angels arrive in Sodom. God told Abraham He was going to investigate, but He isn’t there. What’s with that? Did God lie? Did God change His mind?

It really seems that way, doesn’t it? God told Abraham He was going to go down to Sodom, yet only the two angels that accompanied the Lord actually went there.  Of course, since God is omnipresent, He can’t really go anywhere, since He is already there, right? And, likewise, because God is also omniscient, He already knew there were no righteous men in Sodom; not 50, not 30, not even 10. However, God allowed Abraham to negotiate on Sodom’s behalf as a way to test Abraham’s compassionate nature.

But God already knew Abraham’s heart, so why test?

God tests us not to find out about something He doesn’t know, but to show us what we don’t know- about ourselves! In this Parashah, Abraham is tested a few times:

1- when the angels and God appear to him, Abraham’s generosity and charity is tested

2- when an angel tells Abraham he will have a child through Sarah, his faith is tested in whether or not he believes

3- when Abraham goes to Gerar (20:2) his faith was tested, and he failed (in my opinion) to show faithfulness in God’s protection because he told Sarah to say she is his wife to protect himself

4- the greatest test was when Abraham unflinchingly offered Isaac as a sacrifice to God

Maimonides says that Abraham was tested no less than ten times:  1. God tells him to leave his homeland to be a stranger in the land of Canaan.

  2. Immediately after his arrival in the Promised Land, he encounters a famine.
3. The Egyptians capture his beloved wife, Sarah, and bring her to Pharaoh.
4. Abraham faces incredible odds in the battle of the four and five kings.
5. He marries Hagar after not being able to have children with Sarah.
6. God tells him to circumcise himself at an advanced age.
7. The king of Gerar captures Sarah, intending to take her for himself.
8. God tells him to send Hagar away after having a child with her.
9. His son, Ishmael, becomes estranged.
10. God tells him to sacrifice his dear son Isaac upon an altar.

The first test was a hard one- to leave everything and everyone you know and go somewhere else without even knowing where that somewhere else is. The other tests show both when Abraham was faithful (4 and 6) and times when he was not so faithful ( 3, 5, and 7). Finally, with the willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham’s faith is at it’s fullest, and Abraham reveals his own understanding of this by calling Mt. Moriah ‘the place where God is seen’- prophetic, as that will be the very foundation of the Temple in Jerusalem, thousands of years later.

We are all tested, just as Abraham was, and I doubt that we even know it is happening when we are in the midst of it. The testing becomes known to us only after it is done, and sometimes (as my own experiences have shown me) it isn’t until much later that we realize what happened. If only I, myself, was able to hear the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) more clearly then I would know I am being tested while it is actually happening. Then I would at least have a chance of passing (I confess I don’t usually do well on these types of tests.)

God tests us all, but not for His sake- it is for our sake. We can have our faith strengthened and feel more empowered to do God’s will when we realize that we have already done what is right. Looking back, do you see times when you were being tested and failed to live up to what God wanted from you? And, can you look back and see times when you were being tested and you passed? If you are like me, after you realize that you were being tested and know that you did what was right in God’s eyes, don’t you feel proud (in a good way) to know that you passed? I am so happy, and thankful, when I don’t argue back even though I am really mad, when I overcome my instincts and take the side of compassion (even though I am a cynical so-and-so), or when someone tells me they are grateful for what I did and I didn’t even realize I was doing something good for them. That is not me, trust me on this- that is not me; it is God in me doing those things.

When I write a particularly meaningful posting, give a heartfelt and spiritually uplifting message, I can say, without false humility, that I am absolutely positive it comes from God in me, from the leadership of the Ruach HaKodesh, and not from Steven. Steven is becoming holy because he is dying to self and letting God live more and more in him. But don’t get the idea that this is happening quickly- I have been a Believer for nearly 20 years and the percent of God to the percent of Steven is really small. I mean, REALLY small.

But it’s there, and as slowly as it is growing, it is growing. Every day I get a little closer: many days I fall back, I slip, and almost every day I do or say at least a dozen things I would rather not have done or said, but even with this I am closer to God than I used to be.

And the way I know this is because God tests me so I can see how well I am doing. We are tested in school to show where we are weak in our learning; we are tested in sports to show what skills we need to improve; we are tested at our workplace to show what knowledge and abilities we need to work on. And when God tests us, it is for the same reason- to show us where we need to grow.

God knows what we are, who we are, and what we really want even when we don’t know or understand what that is. I think I want something but God knows what I really need, and that is what He provides. When He does that, isn’t that also a test? A test to see if I am willing to look into myself, to see why this happened (i.e., I ask for one thing but God gives me something totally different), to trust in God’s judgement and be thankful to Him for doing what He does and not what I ask?

Look for the testings in your life- past and present. Be always watching for them , and ask the Holy Spirit to lead your understanding about what is happening while it is still happening, so that you may pass the test. We need to pass in order to get to the next class, and each class brings us closer to graduation, to a better and more intimate relationship with God….to Paradise.

 

Do sinners go to heaven?

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Geeze, I hope so! Otherwise, I am in BIG trouble!!

Frankly, so are you.

Anyone, and everyone, is a sinner. Whether they commit murder, rob, lie, or just eat ham on Shabbat, they (and we) all are sinners. Adam sinned, Eve sinned, Cain sinned, Nimrod sinned, Enoch (well, maybe not Enoch), and just about everyone else down the line, sinned. Moses was a murderer, King David was more than just a murderer, he was an adulterer who committed murder to cover his crime, Solomon burned his own children to Molech; yet, I don’t think anyone doubts that Moses, King David or Solomon are in heaven.

Look, Yeshua came to earth to die for our sins because we are sinners. DUH! And no one can live a sinless life. As I have said, and will continue to say:

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

So, if sinners can go to heaven why bother not sinning? Oy! Now I sound like Shaul (Paul) in his letters. The reason we try to stop sinning is to demonstrate the one thing that separates the sinners who live and the sinners who die- it’s called T’shuvah, which is the Hebrew word meaning “repentance.”

We have the propensity to sin in our DNA, we are born into it, and it is what (in Hebrew) we call the Yetzer Hara, the Evil Inclination. We also have the Yetzer Tov, the Good Inclination, but the Rabbi’s tell us that doesn’t develop until we are old enough to study Talmud and Torah (unfortunately, that is often the order the Orthodox take. I think it should be the other way around), so we all start out with sin in our hearts.  We are all sinners, who continue to sin.

Again, the difference is not who sins and who doesn’t, but who doesn’t want to anymore!  I have another saying you might have heard me repeat (often):

Before I was saved I was a sinner who rationalized my sins; now I am a sinner who regrets my sins.

Yeshua (Jesus) came to earth, stripped Himself of His divine nature and took on a mantle of flesh, specifically so that He could act as the substitute for us, to take on the penalty for sin that we deserve. He gave up eternal divinity so that we could have eternal life. But, if being sinless (as He was) is the condition for salvation, then it was all a waste because no one can be sinless. It would have been just plain stupid for Him to give up what He did if we have to be sinless to avail ourselves of His sacrifice.

Let me tell you something you probably already know: God and Yeshua?  they ain’t stupid!

The difference is simple- if you have truly accepted God’s grace through Yeshua, have accepted the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and live every day in order to die to self, then you will have done T’shuvah, you will regret your sins, you will  live to sin less, and thereby you will be able to spend eternity in the presence of God. That is really what heaven is- eternally in God’s presence.

On the other hand, even if you call on the name of the Lord but do not change your attitude towards sin, if you say you’re a good person because you don’t kill and lie but you cheat on your taxes and fail to give to the poor or tithe, and if you constantly try to get away with explaining your sins as OK because Jesus died for you, then you are going to be very, VERY sadly disappointed when you come before the Throne of God (as we all will); because, when God starts to read off your sins and you turn to the right hand of God and scream,

“Yo! J-man! How you be? Get me outta here, ‘K?”

I am afraid you will only hear Yeshua say, “Get thee away from me- I know you not.”

We all sin, and yes- sinners do get to go to heaven (we can discuss another time that we really don’t go to heaven- read Revelations) as long as they are repentant sinners who have fruits of righteousness they can present to the Lord. We are told never to come before the Lord empty handed, and at Judgement what we bring will not be the blood of goats or rams, but the fruits of the Spirit we have developed, the execution stakes we picked up when we decided to follow Yeshua, and the good works we did in spite of the iniquity within us.

Yes, Virginia- there is a heaven for sinners, but only those sinners who constantly sin less because they are faithfully obedient to God.

Parashah Lech Lecha (walk) Genesis 12-17

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This parashah is known as the History of the Patriarchs. We read how Abram (later called Abraham) was called by God. How he went to Egypt where he gained wealth, how he took care of his deceased brother’s son, Lot. We learn of the separation between Abram and Lot due to both of them having such wealth in cattle, and we see how Abram allowed Lot to choose the best land.

Lot is captured when the 5 kings attacked Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abram and his 300 men save them. This is where we first meet Melchizedek, the righteous king of Salem and the High Priest (Cohen HaGadol), a precursor to Yeshua .

Sarai (not yet Sarah) gives birth to Ishmael through her handmaiden, and God promises Hagar that Ishmael will also be a prince of many tribes, and that he will always be at war and in conflict with his own brothers.

We end this reading with God’s promise to (now called) Abraham that he will bear a son through Sarai (now called Sarah), and they shall name him Isaac, and through Isaac God’s covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled.

The sign of this covenant is the circumcision, which Abraham performed on himself, Ishmael and all his men the very next day.

Wow! The stories alone are wonderful, and demonstrate God’s majesty and power, as well as the weaknesses of humanity. If anyone should ever doubt the truth of the bible, all they have to do is ask themselves this: if the bible is supposed to make God and all those who worship him look like powerful and saintly people, why then do they act the way they do?

Abraham pimped his wife to save his skin (twice!); Lot moved next door to the most sinful and disgusting place in the world; Sarah asks her hand-maiden to bear a child for her, then when she does Sarah throws her out into the wilderness to die, along with her son.

These are wonderful people? These are the saintly Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people? They sound just like you and me!

That’s the reason the bible is verifiable and believable- because these people are just like you and me! That is also why these stories are so wonderful and empowering: because the people in the bible are like you and I, that means you and I can be chosen by God to do great things, just like they did.

The part of this parashah I want to discuss, and this will be brief (no, really- it will be!) is right at the very beginning: Genesis 12: 2-3, where God is talking to Abram and tells him:

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

God made the Jewish people His vessel for blessing the world. That is what being the “Chosen People” means, to be chosen to bring God’s blessings to everyone. And the two greatest blessings of all that God gave the world through the Jewish people were the Torah, and Yeshua ha Maschiach- Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

I have written before about the blessings the world has received through the Jews, the number of Nobel prize winners who are Jewish (a percentage that is far greater than the percentage of Jews in the population), the many wonderful performers, the writers, the poets, the financiers (no stereotyping now!), and many other things.

And I have also written about how God’s promise to curse those that curse the Jews has been proven to be trustworthy: Pharaoh in the time of Moses,  The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Philistines, Spain, the Nazi’s- all demolished or reduced to nothingness. Not even a shadow of their former glory left to them, those that are left at all.

And for those that have blessed the Jews, well, America is about the only country that has done so, but we are moving away from that and soon will be cursed and judged, just as all the other nations will be (and are being judged, even now.)

These two lines in Genesis are the beginning of the Jewish people’s influence on the world and God’s plan of salvation, and they are also the end of it. Judgement is not coming, it is here! The countries that have cursed the Jews are being cursed, the countries that have forsaken God and rejected His Torah are suffering punishment (global warming, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami’s, war), and it is getting worse every day.

Here is the simple lesson that God is telling us in this parashah: choose sides.

On the one side, you can choose God by accepting and supporting His people (chosen to save you), accept the Messiah He sent to bring you back into communion with Him, and obey the teachings (the Torah) that He gave you to know how he wants to be worshiped and how He wants you to treat each other.

On the other side, you lose. Everything. You lose blessings while you are alive, and you lose heaven on earth and eternal peace after this life is over.

When you look at it, you have to ask yourself: what the heck is wrong with people? Why would anyone give up eternal joy for a short-lived reward of hedonistic pleasures that will never really satisfy?

Because we’re stupid, that’s why.  The definition of stupid is one who is lacking common sense. Rejecting God and His path to salvation is, well, stupid. There is no better word for it, and even Shaul (Paul) used that word in Galatians: 3:1 (some interpretations use the word “foolish”, but I believe the correct word is “stupid.”) Those who reject God, reject His Messiah, reject His Torah and refuse to support the Jewish people and Israel are just plain stupid!

And as Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.” So if someone out there doesn’t appreciate being called stupid, then stop acting stupid!

I am not calling you to give up your life as it is and run an underground railroad from the former Soviet Union countries to help Jews escape and make Aliyah (return to Israel)- we have organizations already doing that. Ezra International, Bridges for Peace, and others like Jacobs Hope, helping Jews when they get to Israel.

I am not asking you to convert to Judaism.

I am simply asking that you think about your choices; God has given you free will and intelligence so you can think about your choices. Think about how much better your life will be if God is blessing you, how much better your life will be when you are helping others (treating them as you would want them to treat you), how much more peaceful you will feel knowing that you are promised eternal joy.

I spent 2/3 of my life rejecting all this, and I can remember why I did. It seemed to make sense at the time, but it was, now knowing better, truly senseless. And I can tell you this, unequivocally: I am so very, very glad I came to my senses!

 

 

Called or Commanded

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Is there a difference? If God commands us to do something, or not do something, that is pretty clear. And if we disobey, we are in sin and must atone.

But what if God only calls us to do something? Technically, I guess, we have an option to refuse without really being in sin. I am pretty sure what will happen is that God will raise up someone else to do what He needs done, and we will have been guilty, not so much of a direct sin against God, but of failing to faithfully obey Him.

Wait a minute! Isn’t refusing to obey God a sin? If He commands or if He requests, shouldn’t we obey either way?

I believe the answer is that we should obey, either way, but I also believe there is a difference between commanded and called. It’s subtle, it’s a technicality, but there is a difference.

Remember that person in the bible whom God called to perform a great act and refused to do it? I’m not talking about Jonah, because he did (eventually) go to Nineveh. I’m talking about the man that God called to perform a wondrous act in His name and never did it. Do you remember reading about him?

No? That’s because he never did what God asked of him, so he never made it into the bible. Sometimes I wonder, especially after reading the book of Jonah, how many people has God called to do things that seem little at the time but, from the view of history, might have been great- but they failed to do it. Or maybe they just never got around to it. How many?

What really scares me is that I might be one of them, one day. I felt called to write my book, and I know I should do much more to sell it- if I think it is truly honoring to God and important, then I should do more than just write it. I keep telling myself next year, after I’m retired, I will have time. Am I just putting off the calling God gave me? Was it really God calling me to write it or am I just being myself: self-centered and self-important, thinking I am someone who has the right to tell others what God wants from them?

Self-evaluation is important, since it keeps us humble, but too much of it can do more harm than good. I want to keep a healthy view on myself to make sure I listen to God when He talks to me. I want to be like the people we read about in the bible, not like the ones that never made it. And I do believe that there are many who never made it. I can’t give you any definitive reason why: let’s just say from my experience with people and from a sense of human nature I feel certain there have been people God has called to do something for Him, and have been too afraid, too choked by the tares of this world, or just too stubborn to accept God’s call.

I also believe there are, and have been, many who are just the opposite- doing what they believe to be God’s calling in their life, but it is really what they want to do and they are using God as an excuse for doing it.

What about you? Do you feel you have a calling from God to do something with your life? If so, don’t over-evaluate it, don’t spend time thinking about it, but right now pray for confirmation (God is good at doing that.) Really- if you think or feel you have a calling, then go do it! Don’t think too much on it and don’t worry about how it will get done (God is good at making things happen, too)- just get started!

Abraham didn’t check out MapQuest or go to AAA for a trip ticket when God told him to leave Ur- he just left. Moses was really unsure of himself at first, but he eventually took the call and ran with it. Gideon tested that the call was really from God, and after receiving confirmation he performed his calling with a passion. We can be the same as these people- maybe not as great, maybe not as influential, maybe even just as scared (at first), but we can be like them.

I believe God has a job for everyone who calls on His name: you know, God never hesitates, He never thinks it over; if anything, He might wait until the time is perfect but God hears us when we call to Him and He is faithful to answer our prayers for help.

Don’t you think it is only right that He deserves for us to do what He asks when He calls?

Parashah V’Yishlach (and he sent to him) Genesis 32:4 – 36

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Jacob comes back to the land he left, and hears that Esau is coming out to meet him with 400 men. Frightened for his family, he splits the camp, sends them ahead and stays behind the Jabbok River that night by himself. That night he wrestles with an angel, who (in order to be released by Jacob, who has prevailed against the angel even after the angel damages his hip) gives Jacob the name “Israel” and blesses him. Jacob limps across the river, then decides to send gifts to Esau to appease him before the camp even gets close. As he gets closer, he sends his favorite wife and her child  (Rachel and Joseph) to the very rear, then next closest is Leah and her children, and right behind Jacob are the handmaidens of his wives and their children. It is obvious that the least favored of his children’s mothers were to be closest so if Esau killed Jacob and the family, these would be next, and hopefully Esau’s anger would not reach all the way to the end to find Rebekah and Joseph. However, Jacob’s prayers are answered when Esau embraces and cries over reuniting with his brother, and that is about all the lovey-dovey they do. Esau goes back to his family and life in Seir, and Jacob ends up settling at that time in Shechem, in the land of Canaan.

In this land Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is raped by the son of Hamor, the king of Shechem. After doing so, however, the prince falls for her and asks a bride price. The sons of Jacob (interesting that Jacob is not in this discussion) state that the men of the city, all the men, must be circumcised before Dinah can marry even one of them. Then when the men are recovering, Levi and Simeon attack the men, kill all the adult men and take the women, children and possessions as spoil. Jacob is enraged about this, and (reasonably) concerned for his welfare and that of all his family. God tells Jacob to get to Beth-el. Jacob sets up a standing stone there, an altar to God, and as they continue to travel towards Bethlehem, Rachel dies in childbirth as Benjamin in born. She is buried there, and they continue to Bethlehem. One other major event is that Reuben sleeps with his father’s concubine, and this is an affront for which he is not forgiven, even unto Israel’s dying blessing on him, and Reuben also loses the rights of the firstborn (which go to Joseph and his sons.)

The parashah ends with a brief review of the sons of Jacob, and then an entire chapter to cover the descendants of Esau. From this point forward we don’t really hear that much about Esau and his relationship to Jacob, and the storyline shifts starting with the next parashah further away from Jacob and into the life of Joseph.

I could write a book on this parashah: there is so much in the telling of the brotherly love-hate relationships we’ve seen so far in the bible. Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau: each set of brothers had strife between them. Cain and Abel strove over the acceptance of God, Ishmael and Isaac strove over the acceptance of Abraham, and Esau and Isaac strove over the rights of the firstborn. From God’s acceptance, to their fathers acceptance, to receiving the blessings for themself.  We see the relationship deteriorate from between me and God (accepting my sacrifice), to me and Dad (Abraham sending Ishmael out on his own with no real inheritance), to pretty much me and me (Jacob and Esau struggling over the blessing and rights of the firstborn.) There’s plenty of juice in this orange we could squeeze out.

There’s also the changing of Jacob’s name, his wrestling not just with an angel, but with his (or mankind’s) desire to use deviousness over doing what is righteous. The name change is more than just that- The Chumash indicates that it represents a change in his entire viewpoint and actions from one of being the “supplanter” to one of being the “champion of God.” We see this change somewhat in how Jacob despises the deviousness of Levi and Simeon.

So, nu?  With all this good stuff to talk about, what do I talk about? Actually, as I am writing this I am not sure. But I think I know where to go, and it isn’t from the storyline. It’s from the comments I read in the Chumash.

The “Rabbis” who contributed to the Chumash, even though they were learned and godly men in many ways, just had to find something deep and studious in the word of God. For instance, at the very beginning of this portion we are told that Rashi takes the term, “I have sojourned” to mean that Jacob is telling Esau that although he has become as rich as a prince, he really was never more than a humble wanderer, a sojourner, and that the blessing he received from Isaac saying  Jacob would be greater than Esau has not been fulfilled, therefore Esau has no reason to be angry with Jacob. The Midrash states that the letters used in the word “גרתי” (sojourned) has the numerical value of 613, the exact number of commandments in the Torah, and it uses that to demonstrate that even though Jacob dwelt in a land that was not the one promised to him by God, he still remained subject to and obedient to the Torah- an exhortation to his descendants to do the same. Honestly, and with all due respect, to me that seems to be stretching it a bit; I mean, the Torah wasn’t even given to us yet.

Throughout the Chumash one can read many of these interpretations, and they do make sense in many ways, yet I was taught that you can’t make an argument from nothing. The fact that Hebrew letters have a numerical value and that it is part of interpreting the bible is valid- I have no problem with gimel (ג), or 8, representing a new beginning,  7 is completion,  3 is the godhead, and 4 for man and God. Yet, I can’t forget that old expression I learned when in banking: “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”  If we look deep enough, and manipulate things enough, eventually you can get blood from a stone.

When we read the bible the best way to interpret it is to let God, who wrote it, tell you what it means. The way that is done is through the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit. I do not, in any way, feel that what I am writing now is spirit-led. I think it is more my own feelings, and experiences, and not some divine revelation. Still, I think it is valid ( or I wouldn’t write it) and ask that you think it over for yourself. Whether I tell you something, or your Rabbi/Pastor/Priest/Minister/whatever tells you something, you need to verify it for yourself by asking God to tell you what it really means. Of course, the spirit will only indwell when you ask for it.

The bible is, even for someone who doesn’t believe in God, a wonderful book, a valuable lesson in human relations, and a history of more than just the Jewish people (and every day it is proven more and more to be an accurate historical document.)  It has wisdom, poetry, substance, and value to everyone and anyone who has to survive in this world. To those who do believe in God, and who have accepted the Ruach HaKodesh, they will read all that the non-believers will read but get so much more out of it.

I give to you today a blessing and a curse regarding the Word of God: the blessing is that if you allow the Ruach HaKodesh to be your ultimate interpreter when you read the bible you will receive wonderful, life-changing, and eternal understanding of God and His kingdom. The curse is this: if you only listen to others, you accept what you like and reject what you don’t like, and never ask God to lead your understanding, then the bible will become a trap and a snare for you and you will be led not to eternal joy but placed on a direct path to the Lake of Fire!

The bible is like fire: when handled with respect and awe it can warm you, save your life and provide protection; but, when not respected, understood or treated with concern it will turn on you, destroying you and everything you have.

God is just so much so! He is so far above us and so much holier than we can even imagine that He must be treated with the ultimate level of respect. He is the One, He is all there is, He is everything (and I mean, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G) and the only thing that matters. As humans, we want to have the world revolve around us, but we need to revolve around God. He should be the center of our universe, and His word should be treated with total respect and awe. It is like dynamite- when you use it respecting it’s power, you get tremendous benefit from it. When you treat it casually and without respect, you get blown to bits!

Look for what God has in the bible for you, but make sure that no matter what you hear from humans, you always test it against what God tells you through the Ruach HaKodesh.

 

Parashah V’Yetze (he went out) Genesis 28:10 – 32:3

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Another great story from the bible. Jacob goes to find a wife, sees and immediately falls in love with Rachel, the daughter of Laban. Laban, the head of the family, welcomes Jacob in and Jacob lives with them. Laban offers to pay Jacob for the help Jacob provides, and Jacob asks that his wages be Rachel, so Laban agrees to let Jacob work for him 7 years to “earn” Rachel. After 7 years Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Leah, then gives Rachel, too, but for 7 more years of labor. We saw Laban’s treachery when Eliazer wanted to take Rebekah back to Isaac, and now we see Laban is still a trickster. Next he makes a deal with Jacob to give Jacob the weakest sheep and goats, but Jacob turns the tables and ends up with the strongest of the herds and flocks. After 14 years the sons of Laban are angry with Jacob for having tricked their father, and Jacob hears of it and flees back to his father’s land, but is not fast enough. Laban catches up, and uses the fact that Rachel stole the family idols to accuse Jacob of the theft, but Rachel, a bit of a liar herself, hides the idols where Laban cannot look for them (under her saddle/chair, which she said she could not rise from because it was her time of Nidah, her menstrual period.)

So Laban can’t prove Jacob a thief, and they make a vow by a standing stone Laban sets up not to cross over to do harm to each other. I think that they hated each other and made this vow not to promise to visit each other peacefully, but really to say ,”You stay on your side and I’ll stay on my side, otherwise there will be trouble.”

The importance of taking the family idols was not because Rachel was an idol worshipper- the family idols were more than just religious: they represented the leadership and power of the one who owned them. The other family members would go to that person to ask them to pray for successful crops, for children, healing, whatever they needed. By stealing these idols Rachel was taking the inheritance she felt that she and her family were entitled to have.

So far in Genesis we have seen that from the very first humans created there has been treachery and sin in the world. God is perfect, but He doesn’t create perfection. That is not a mistake on His part, He did so to fulfill His plan. There is balance in the universe, and in human nature we all, like Shaul says, do what we don’t want to do and don’t do what we want to. In some they want to do evil more than they want to do good, and others do more good than evil. There is a wide bell curve with good and evil in each of us, no one being right in the middle, and very few at the extremes. Eve sinned and caused Adam to sin, Cain killed Abel,  Noah got drunk, Abraham pimped Sarah (twice!), Isaac pimped Rebekah, Jacob tricked Esau and his father, Laban tricked Jacob, Jacob tricked Laban back, and Rachel tricked Laban, too.

And these people are supposed to be the Patriarchs and Matriarchs we look up to? Yes, they are. Because, as I say above, we all have the desire and opportunity to sin, and we also have the desire and opportunity to do good. We see the great Patriarchs did sin, sure enough, but they also did good. And the good they did was far more valuable and faithful than whatever evil they performed. Some of what they did that we see as sinful was culturally acceptable, in many ways. Stealing the family idols was almost understandable, from Rachel’s viewpoint. Jacob didn’t really trick Laban into stealing the strongest of the animals, he used good husbandry methods and was successful because of what he did with what he had (and God, of course, was helping.)

None of us is perfect, and the parashah we read this Shabbat shows that. But, on the other hand, none of us is purely evil (well, in today’s world with the current events in France and Israel, maybe I shouldn’t be too sure of that) and what really matters is not so much what we do, but what we want to do.

I believe that we read enough times in the Bible where God says He sees the heart, and how the blood of bulls and goats means nothing to Him. God wants a broken spirit and a contrite heart to come before Him; just doing the letter of the Torah is not going to please God. Obedience is important, and even forced obedience is better than non-obedience. What God wants, and what He constantly tells us in the bible, is that He wants joyful obedience, faithful obedience, obedience that comes from love and awe, not from coercion or threat of punishment.

We all have good and bad, Yin and Yang, Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Tov. We all have free will and the right to make our own decisions about what we do. And all God wants of us is to worship Him as He said we should (that’s all in the Torah) and to do so in order that we may live. God wants a cheerful and willing worshipper, He wants our obedience to be labors of love, He wants us to treat each other with compassion and respect. He knows we are sinful in nature and desire. I think that’s why He is so pleased when even one person does what is right in His eyes, because He understands how hard it is for us to do so.

You are going to sin. You are going to do so, over and over, no matter how hard you try not to. The thing to remember is that although it is wrong to sin, when we do we can ask forgiveness and receive it when it is our heart’s true desire to want to stop.   God is not stupid or gullible, and if you sin because you want to and ask forgiveness while your heart is still desiring to sin, do you really think God will buy that? He sees your heart! He knows what you really want! The bible tells us that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, and that is true; but, the underlying meaning is that the ones calling are not doing so just to save their butts from Sheol- they do so because they want to stop sinning! We should ask for more than just “Forgive me!”- it should be a call for “Forgive me, and help me to stop!” That is a call that demonstrates you are truly doing T’Shuvah in your heart, that you are turning from your sin, that you are trying to do what God wants and are not just sorry you sinned. You need to be rueful and feel totally distraught. Many people, I think you will agree, feel sorry they sinned not because of what they did,  but because they got caught. We need to be sorry for what we do to others that is hurtful and we need to feel terrible when we sin because no matter who we sin against, it is always first and foremost against God.

The enemy, HaSatan, wants you to feel so bad that you just give up trying to do right, so don’t fall for that. And don’t beat yourself up (well, maybe a little but not too much) when you keep doing the same sin over and over because your flesh is weak. It is your heart’s desire that is important.

I often say that before I was saved I was a sinner who rationalized my sins, and now I am a sinner who regrets my sins. That is the real difference- the feeling in my heart, the sadness in my soul when I sin, and the desire to stop doing wrong and to only do right.

We should look up to the people in the bible who are great leaders, righteous men and women, and recognize they are as weak and sinful as we are. Why? Because that gives us hope for ourselves: if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rebekah, Noah, Moses (he committed murder, remember?), if all these great leaders and godly people were just as sinful as I am, then I can also be a righteous and godly person despite my sin. I just need to have the right attitude, have a constant desire to do what God wants me to do, and constantly work at it.

If you take three steps forward and then backslide two steps, you are still one step closer to God. We do right, we do wrong, we walk straight paths, we swerve, we fall, and we get up.

What matters is that you stay the course, that you keep walking forward,  and that you keep improving. How fast or how slow is not important; what is important is that you keep improving.

Parashah Toldot (the generations) Genesis 25:19 – 28:9

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This parashah has one of the best known stories of the bible- the selling of the birthright. Esau is hungry and asks his brother, Jacob, for some lentil stew he was making. Jacob says he will give it to Esau if Esau sells his birthright as the firstborn to Jacob. Esau is hungry, probably not even near death or starvation, but as the bible says, he “hated his birthright” (took no special interest in it) so sold it for some soup. If you read carefully, you will realize that Jacob also gave Esau bread and drink. He wasn’t all that cruel.

The next thing that Jacob “stole” was the blessing of the firstborn that Isaac was going to give Esau. Now, this is also on Rebekah’s head because the whole scam was her idea. Once Esau learns of this he lets it be known he is planning to kill Jacob, so Rebekah (again with some deviousness) gets Isaac to send Jacob away.

For both a Patriarch and Matriarch of Judaism to steal, lie and cheat, you would wonder why they were so loved by God, right?

But let’s look a little closer at this. As for the “theft” of the blessing, I don’t think it is right or fair to say that Jacob “stole” Esau’s blessing. Here’s why: Jacob was, legally (for lack of a better term) the firstborn ever since Esau sold that birthright. As such, he was entitled to whatever the firstborn is entitled to receive, which included the blessing. True, Isaac may not have known about the sale (most likely he didn’t- if you were Esau, would you tell your father you sold your birthright?) so to get what did belong to him, Jacob had to use a bit of subterfuge to ensure he received what was, now, rightfully his.

As for the original sale of the birthright, we can only wonder what would have happened if Esau had refused to sell it. After all, how far away from the tents of Isaac and Rebekah could Jacob have been? Was it so far that Esau would not have been able to make it all the way there? And would Jacob, really, have allowed Esau to starve? I always say you can’t make an argument from nothing, but I have to tell you, even if Esau refused to sell the birthright I just don’t see Jacob letting his brother starve or die of thirst.

Anyway, it doesn’t really matter what would have happened if the birthright hadn’t been sold because the fact remains it was sold. Esau was a man of the moment- now, now, now. Jacob was a thoughtful man, planning out his moves and showing patience and maturity.

When we read about the events in the bible we need to remember to filter them with the cultural ethics of that time. It was a very lawless period, and even though there is evidence that moral codes existed, it was certainly not like anything we know today. For instance, both Abraham and Isaac said their wife was their sister so men wouldn’t kill them to be able to marry her. Therefore, if the woman was married it was morally wrong to have sexual relations with her, but if you murder her husband, then it’s OK to marry her.  Adultery is definitely out, but murder is fine. Huh?

I would go as far as to say that when Jacob bought the birthright of Esau, it was Esau who is the real villain because he had no respect for himself or his obligations that come with being the firstborn. Back then the firstborn was to not just to get a double-portion of the inheritance; he was to be the leader of the family. There were responsibilities on him because the family was more than just parents and kids- there were all the servants, too. Remember Abraham took 300 men with him to fight against the 5 kings when he rescued Lot. Isaac is very wealthy and powerful, meaning he must have had many servants. Esau, as firstborn, was responsible to take over the family business, if you will, and be the leader. From what we read about him, it doesn’t seem that he would have been all too keen on that. He liked to hunt, he was a man of strong emotions, of immediate desires and needs, and he apparently (by his choice of wives) didn’t “get it”, as far as being faithful to God was concerned. He really had it all going for him, and yet he thoughtlessly threw it all away for a bowl of stew.

Jacob, on the other hand, showed faithfulness, thoughtfulness and planned ahead whereas Esau planned as far as his nose, and no further. Esau was not a very good choice to carry on the position of Patriarch, and Jacob clearly was. The fact that he fooled his father to gain the blessing that (as I explained above) he really deserved only showed that he was willing to do what needed to be done to attain that which he was entitled to. We see this later on, when Laban tries to fool and cheat him out of the rightful payments, and Jacob turns it to his advantage. But…that’s for later on.

In Genesis 25:23 God tells Rebekah that she will have two sons, and the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob was God’s choice from the beginning, so we could say that anything Jacob did in order to secure his position as the birthright holder was in keeping with God’s will.

In that verse God tells Rebekah she has two nations in her womb, …”even with 

When Jacob took his entire retinue with him to return to the land of his father, Esau seems to have had many more men with him than Jacob had. Esau was the stronger of the two, but he (Edom) eventually served his brother (when Israel was under David) so what God told Rebekah was fulfilled. We can see that this shows strength in numbers is not going to get in the way of God’s plan. We see that throughout the bible, and even today- the creation of Israel, the 7-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, even in the midst of the current terrorism, Israel is the weaker of the surrounding nations yet they cannot come even close to subduing or overcoming this tiny little nation. That’s because this tiny little nation is like an iceberg- we only see the land of Israel but what supports Israel is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings- the Holy One of Israel, God, Almighty. Nothing is more powerful, so although the people of one nation may be more powerful than the people of the other, Israel has God on their side and no nation or group of nations can stand against Him.

We may not understand or even agree with what the Patriarchs and leaders we read about in the bible did, but it represents that they were no different from us than we are from each other. God is the God of doing great and wonderful things with schmo’s and schlemiels like you, like me, like Abraham, like Jacob, like Shimshon (Samson), and even with people like Jonah, who was about as unwilling a prophet as any I’ve ever read or heard about.

God can do whatever needs to be done, with whomever He chooses to do it with. If you want to be one of those He chooses, then remain faithful, listen for His guidance, accept His grace and don’t worry about the opposition.

What can man do to us when God is with us?