8.3 Par’shah Vayishlach

[alon]

I am putting this up early again so everyone can be mindful of these as you read. But please, if anyone (even those who normally just lurk) has any questions, finds more, or has issue with what I put up here, I sincerely ask that you post about it. It is how we all, including me, learn. Todah!

Name of Par’shah: Vayishlach- He Sent
Par’shah: Genesis 32:4–36:43
Haftara: Hosea 11:7–12:12; Obadiah 1:1-21

D’rash: And we continue our search, primarily for actual commandments. But we can glean principles and insights as we go.

Genesis 32:4-5 (ESV) instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.  I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”

Again we see some commandments were meant only for one individual. However we can glean a principle from all of this; that we should strive to make peace with family.

Genesis 32:28 (ESV) Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel [Israel means He strives with God, or God strives], for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

This is not a true name change, more like a title:

name- שֵׁם shêm, ; a primitive word [perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064]; an appellation (A name, title, or designation), as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character:—+ base, (in-) fame(-ous), named(-d), renown, report.

We know this because when God changes a name, that person is thereafter referred to by the new name in scripture. However Jacob is immediately, and several times thereafter referred to by his given name, Ya’akov.

Genesis 32:32 (ESV) Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

I think we can safely infer a commandment here. While it doesn’t say “thou shalt not,” it does clearly say that God’s people do not do this, and it says why. Some things are done as a memorial, or a reminder.

Genesis 33:11 (ESV) Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

A few principles here: we are to bless others first off. And not just the needy, but everyone can get some kind of blessing from us. I look back on my life and see some of the people I knew who were a huge blessing to me. Some shared friendship, some knowledge and experience, and some gave generously of time, money, and resources to help me through some tough times. Others just put up with me when I was being a butt head. Sometimes just a kind word made all the difference. We can all bless others in some way.

Another principle is generosity. Both men were generous to each other. But in the end, Esav accepted the gifts, showing us anothr principle: that of learning to accept the blessings others offer graciously. But mostly I am reminded of a quote from Pastor Ed Cole: “Grab the gold, but give God the glory!” Ya’akov was able to give abundantly because God had blessed him abundantly, and he says as much.

Genesis 33:1-2 (ESV) Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.  And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her.

Young people often get in trouble because they are where they shouldn’t be or with people they shouldn’t be with.

Genesis 33:30-31 (ESV) Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

This is a principle: there are consequences to whatever we do, and most often they extend far past just us. Dinah was visiting where she shouldn’t, and got raped. Consequently the house of Hamor was put to the sword and plundered. Now Ya’akov fears the other inhabitants of the land will come together against him.

Genesis 33:11 (ESV) And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

Again, we see this commandment that is specific to the one who it is given to. And God even tells us why; he is to build a nation!

We do have a commandment in our haftara:

Hosea 12:6 (ESV) “So you, by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice,
    and wait continually for your God.”

I think that even though this is not from , we can all apply it to our lives today. I know I need to hear (which in Hebraic thought requires action) this message right now! But return to what? My take is this is about repentance, so we’d be returning to that state of Adam when he walked in the Garden with his God; the same God as ours.


So from this we have 2 tings we can say are commandments:

Genesis 32:32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh. “Do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket.”

Hosea 12:6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” With God’s help, return (repent), hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.


Dan C

[alon]

Commandments- so let’s update our list:

Genesis 1:5 (ESV) God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

This sets the calendar, dividing it into days and weeks at this point. This will later be important as HaShem’s moedim, His appointed times must be kept on God’s calendar.

Genesis 1:14-15 (ESV) And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons [Or appointed times], and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

The commandment to use the heavenly lights to know when His appointed times are is implicit here.

Genesis 2:3 (ESV) So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Shabbat, the first of the moedim! God made it holy; and what God declares set apart, we keep set apart!

Genesis 1:26-27; 2:15 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created *man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. … The Lord God took the *man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. *The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind, and becomes the proper name Adam.

We have a responsibility before God to care for our environment.

Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Consider sin and its nature. Every bad habit, every forbidden pleasure, every sin I ever indulged in, loved and was habitually attracted to would have been a whole lot easier never to have partaken of than it was to quit! Don’t eat the forbidden fruit!

Genesis 4:7b (ESV)  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

This just naturally goes with the above commandment. The commandment: speaking of sin, which crouches at the door- we “must rule over it.”

Genesis 2:24 (ESV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And here we have the model for marriage: 1 man, 1 woman, 1 marriage, making 1 new family. God allowed multiple wives at times, but looking at the examples where there were more than one wife, it caused a lot of problems.

Genesis 3:7,21 (ESV)  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. … And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

So cover it up.

Genesis 9:4 (ESV) But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Don’t eat the blood.

Isaiah 42:10a, 11b-12 (ESV)  Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!

There is a little doble entendre here. God, through the prophet was speaking of idols of wood and stone facetiously telling them to hear and see. However He is primarily telling us to wake up, put away our idols and worship the One True God.

Genesis 12:1 (ESV) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country [land] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

Many missionaries (including Messianics) say “If God calls you, go. But if you are not called, do not to force the Lord’s hand.” Go where you are called, not where you want.

Genesis 17:1b (ESV) “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,”

Pretty clear.

Genesis 17:11-12 (ESV) You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 

If you are male and joined to God’s family, you must be circumcised.

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I take this as a command and a promise.

Genesis 32:32 (ESV) Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

It clearly says that God’s people do not do this.

Hosea 12:6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”

With God’s help, return (repent), hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.

[alon]

Out of curiosity, I looked up the mitzvoth Judaism takes from our passages so far. Based on the works of Moshe ben Maimon, a 12th century scriptural scholar more commonly known as Maimonides or "the Rambam.” He was the first to enumerate the commandments given in the .

I expected to find we were way behind, but was surprised to find we have 10, while Rambam lists only 2!

* Gen 1:28     to have children with one's wife (marriage and family)

* Gen 32:32   do not eat the sinew of the thigh

Gen 1:28 we (I) said was for a specific people to populate the earth. There is no commandment to overpopulate. However I will give them this, if believers do not have children and raise them right, we deprive the next generation of a witness.

We do have and agree on the Gen. 32:32 reference.

Remember too, some of these things will be repeated, and given more specifically as commandments later. Also these are HaShem’s instructions for holy living. We do these readings every year to learn Abishter’s mind, to internalize these instructions so that we can live to please Him. So don’t get bogged down in any list. And don’t panic if you can’t remember parts of the “list.” Just like revealed the will of the Father to those who lived through it gradually, in stages; so it instructs us gradually. We learn more each week.

There will be some “Thou shalt’s” or “shall not’s” as we go, and we want to pay particular attention to those. But is not just a book of laws. Most of it is history (with a point) and instruction. There is a hierarchy to the mitzvoth, as we’ve discussed many times. And there is leeway in keeping much of the mitzvoth, as we’ve also discussed. So relax.

This is not meant to tell you what to do to be saved- that’s by grace through faith, and this will not save you. It will help, but keeping the mitzvoth does nothing for that initial acceptance, repentance, and commitment. And it is not meant to regiment our lives. It teaches us to live holy lives, set apart to HaShem. It does this a little more each year, so it is not a yoke we must bear to be accepted into His fellowship in the olam ha’zeh (this world) or in the olam ha'ba (the hereafter, which begins at our death). However we do believe if truly saved, one will want to do as instructed to please HaShem. We also believe you can lose your salvation by choosing to walk away. Living as He said helps keep us focused on Him and not on the world, thus helping keep us from self destruction.

Dan C

[mystic]

Dec 11, 2019 9:29:49 GMT -8 alon said:

Commandments- so let’s update our list:

Genesis 12:1 (ESV) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country [land] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

Many missionaries (including Messianics) say “If God calls you, go. But if you are not called, do not to force the Lord’s hand.” Go where you are called, not where you want.

Genesis 32:32 (ESV) Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

It clearly says that God’s people do not do this.

I am not getting the "Go where you are called, not where you want" from that scripture. It is my dream to do hands on work helping the needy especially the homeless and families in unfortunate situations. I don't know if that is a calling, it is my passion and deepest desire is all and is where I want to go.

I am not understanding the hip socket part, I eat only chicken mainly so what mart of the chicken would that be please?

[alon]

Mar 2, 2020 4:53:44 GMT -8 mystic said:

Dec 11, 2019 9:29:49 GMT -8 alon said:

Commandments- so let’s update our list:

Genesis 12:1 (ESV) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country [land] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

Many missionaries (including Messianics) say “If God calls you, go. But if you are not called, do not to force the Lord’s hand.” Go where you are called, not where you want.

Genesis 32:32 (ESV) Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

It clearly says that God’s people do not do this.

I am not getting the "Go where you are called, not where you want" from that scripture. It is my dream to do hands on work helping the needy especially the homeless and families in unfortunate situations. I don't know if that is a calling, it is my passion and deepest desire is all and is where I want to go.

I am not understanding the hip socket part, I eat only chicken mainly so what mart of the chicken would that be please?

Many people are caught up in the supposed romance of being a missionary. Or for whatever reason they think that is what they should do. But it is hard work, and often dangerous. You must have a real heart for those to whom you go. If HaShem has placed a calling on your life and given you a real heart for the homeless, then that is where you should go; they are who you should be reaching out to. But a good Christian friend of mine here does that. It is hard work, often long hours reaching out to the kind of people we'd all rather not even know existed. Donations are hard gotten, and the need is great, especially in winter. It can be heartbreaking. Many of them are addicts, so anything you give them that can be sold will be, the money used on drugs. Often those he helps can be demanding and manipulative. But he used to be an addict and lived on the streets himself. He knows all the games, because he played them on others. He knows how to talk to and help those people, reaching them with the salvation message. If that is not truly a calling from HaSHem, people do not last in that ministry. If it is a calling God has placed on your heart, then you can do a lot of good work there and definitely should go. And it is a ministry you can do right here at home, so if unsure the risks are not as great as say going to India or Pakistan. But if those were where you were called to, then you'd have the protection of the Ruach Ha'Kodesh. But I've talked face to face with missionaries to those places, and it can be scarry. Being there will test your faith! 

There is no commandment against eating sinew in chicken, but I tend not to eat sinew anyhow. It is the gluey, sort of clear looking, really chewy chord present near or in joints. Also called tendons.  

Dan C 

[mystic]

I guess the word "missionary" does not apply to me as my desire is not going overseas, that is not for me. I am seeking ways to do it here locally where I live but thanks for that description, you've mentioned some stuff I have never encountered and will need to consider.

I never knew what the sinew was and I eat it but now even though there is no commandment I will avoid it anyway.