- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Mar 4, 2022 10:34:58 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 26:12-35
Haftara- Isaiah 65:17-66:10
D’rash: This is mostly a condensed teaching by Dr. Eli Lizorken-Eisenberg of the Israel Bible Center, along with some other references and a few of my own observations.
Genesis 26:12-14 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
An ancient seafaring people, the פְּלִשְׁתִּים P’lishtim, ‘Philistines,’ never moved much inland; living instead in southwestern Israeli coastline and in the Shephalah. Many came from Crete, mainly migrating from about the beginning of the Iron Age (@1000 BCE). However Avraham lived a few hundred years before their arrival. He lived in the Bronze Age, so either these were not the same as the later P’lishtim, or more likely in biblical terms the title “P’lishtim” is given to anyone living in the region. Recall Torah was given many years after Avraham, so the terminology could easily have become confused.
The Philistines possessed chariots; the Hebrews did not. So the P’lishtim dominated the lower plains of the coast and the Shephalah, while the Hebrews conquered the hill country where chariots lost their advantage.
Genesis 25:12a,18a These are the generations of Ishmael, … They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria.
Shur occupied the western side of the Arabian Pennensula, and its’ northern borders were the Gulf of Aqaba to the south-southeast, Egypt to the north and west, and Phillistia north of the Rift. This northern hill country of Shur, in south-west Israel today is apparently where Yishma’el as well as Yitz’chaq settled in land probably disputed by the Egyptians, P’lishtim, and really any and everyone as it controlled trade routes and thus wealth. Much of the lowlands and valleys are farmable, however it is dryland farming and so not as high yields. It also takes skill to farm it as the rains necessary for irrigation also form a crust on the soil which must be broken up. However overworking drylands powders the dirt so moisture is not held and nothing grows.
Yitz’chak’ prospered there and the P’lishtim feared his wealth:
Genesis 26:15-16 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) And Abimelech [Heb my father is king] said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
Genesis 26:17-21 (redacted) So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar … And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, … But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek [contention], because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah [enmity].
Gerar was in a lower region which would have gotten more water and runoff from the hills. Thus the land would remain fertile and crop production more abundant; as would grazing for livestock. However he would have to leave there also:
Genesis 26:22-23 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth [broad places, or room] saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba [Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath].
So his third well was not contested, which Yitz’chaq named רְחֹבוֹת ‘Rechovot’ (Rehoboth). Its’ root is רחב rachov, ‘a wide path.’ הִרְחִיב יְהוָֹה rechovot YHVH means ‘the Lord makes room for us. The words הִרְחִיב hirchiv and רְחֹבוֹת Rechovot share the same root, רְחֹוֹת rechov, ‘a wide place.’ God made room for the clan of Yitz’chaq.
Beer’sheva sits at the broad mouth of a valley running east to west. This connects to two trade routes down into the Rift and the lower part of the Dead Sea. It controlled a major route from the Gulf of Aqaba up the Rift, then out and westward to the Mediterranean. It was desert land but still arable. So this eventually would become very valuable land. It apparently was not used as a major trade route in Yitz’chaq’s time however, as it would already have been occupied and fortified.
Yitz’chaq sought peace with his neighbors. He dug wells, which were then claimed by the herdsmen of Gerar. Rather than fighting he moved, abandoning the wells he’d dug to those not entitled to them. He must have had a passive personality, evidenced by his submission to being sacrificed earlier. We see a bit of that here in stark contrast to what his descendants would be like. Avraham and Ya’akov were shepherds and thus nomads, not farmers. Yitz’chaq “sowed the fields,” which tied him to the land.
“Avraham and Ya’akov confront their enemies, where Yitzchak allows the P’listim to either take or to fill in his wells. Wells were wealth and life in a desert land. Digging wells required a very serious investment of time and financial resources. It was no easy task to find water beneath the earth. So Yitzchak’s non-confrontational attitude came at a high cost” (Dr Eli).
Genesis 26:24-25 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
The God of his father Avraham appeared to Yitz’chaq at Beer’sheva, saying he should not fear. His God would be with him all the way. And like others before him, Yitz’chaq built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. He then pitches a tent and started work on a well there.
Genesis 26:26-27 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
Abimelech, his chief advisor, and the commander of his army arrives to speak with Yitz’chaq, who is somewhat bewildered. He asks why come to him now, when they had just been so hostile to him:
Genesis 26:28-31 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
A bit odd, given past relations. They had twice angrily forced him from their own lands, they now say they sent him away בְּשָׁלוֹם b’shalom, ‘in peace.’ Now they see he is בְּרוּךְ יְהוָֹה bracha YHVH, blessed of/by the Lord, so they request to make a בְרִית brit, a covenant; and they said נָא אָלָה na atah, “please (with) you.” Yitz’chaq, as was his inclination Feasts them and makes the covenant before sending them off, back to Gerar.
Genesis 26:32-33 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah [Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath]; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
Yitz’chaq named the new well שִׁבְעָה Shevah, connected to the same root as the number seven, שיעה shevah, the number of completion. Also to שביעה shevuah, ‘oath,’ which he’d just completed with the P’lishtim of Gerar.
This event mirrors a previous covenant between Avraham and Abimelech. Avraham however confronted Abimelech that in truth a well he had dug was then taken by Abimelech’s servants. Avraham took shevah, 'seven' sheep, as surety that Avraham had dug the well, thus he rightfully owned it. From that point on the place was called ’באר שִׁבְעָה Beer Sheva, ‘the well of an oath/seven’ (Gen 21.25-34). So these stories are mirror images; Avraham direct, Yitz’chaq conciliatory.
“Hebrew שביעה shevuah, ‘oath’ or ‘curse’ seems to share a root with the word שִׁבְעָ sheva, ‘seven.’ It may have originated from the practice of using sets of seven in maledictions (Lev 26.18, 21, 24). Thus the sense of swearing an oath may have been to “lay curses in sevens” on someone; or to be willing to “accept seven curses on oneself” should an oath be broken. In this way an oath could become a curse” (Dr. Eli).
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; this is mainly condensed from a teaching by Dr. Eli and input from Dr. Parker’s teachings, both of the Israel Bible Center; The Complete Jewish Study Bible; many maps; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 27:1-29
Haftara- Is 46:3-11
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Genesis 26:12-35
Haftara- Isaiah 65:17-66:10
D’rash: This is mostly a condensed teaching by Dr. Eli Lizorken-Eisenberg of the Israel Bible Center, along with some other references and a few of my own observations.
Genesis 26:12-14 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
An ancient seafaring people, the פְּלִשְׁתִּים P’lishtim, ‘Philistines,’ never moved much inland; living instead in southwestern Israeli coastline and in the Shephalah. Many came from Crete, mainly migrating from about the beginning of the Iron Age (@1000 BCE). However Avraham lived a few hundred years before their arrival. He lived in the Bronze Age, so either these were not the same as the later P’lishtim, or more likely in biblical terms the title “P’lishtim” is given to anyone living in the region. Recall Torah was given many years after Avraham, so the terminology could easily have become confused.
The Philistines possessed chariots; the Hebrews did not. So the P’lishtim dominated the lower plains of the coast and the Shephalah, while the Hebrews conquered the hill country where chariots lost their advantage.
Genesis 25:12a,18a These are the generations of Ishmael, … They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria.
Shur occupied the western side of the Arabian Pennensula, and its’ northern borders were the Gulf of Aqaba to the south-southeast, Egypt to the north and west, and Phillistia north of the Rift. This northern hill country of Shur, in south-west Israel today is apparently where Yishma’el as well as Yitz’chaq settled in land probably disputed by the Egyptians, P’lishtim, and really any and everyone as it controlled trade routes and thus wealth. Much of the lowlands and valleys are farmable, however it is dryland farming and so not as high yields. It also takes skill to farm it as the rains necessary for irrigation also form a crust on the soil which must be broken up. However overworking drylands powders the dirt so moisture is not held and nothing grows.
Yitz’chak’ prospered there and the P’lishtim feared his wealth:
Genesis 26:15-16 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) And Abimelech [Heb my father is king] said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
Genesis 26:17-21 (redacted) So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar … And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, … But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek [contention], because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah [enmity].
Gerar was in a lower region which would have gotten more water and runoff from the hills. Thus the land would remain fertile and crop production more abundant; as would grazing for livestock. However he would have to leave there also:
Genesis 26:22-23 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth [broad places, or room] saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba [Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath].
So his third well was not contested, which Yitz’chaq named רְחֹבוֹת ‘Rechovot’ (Rehoboth). Its’ root is רחב rachov, ‘a wide path.’ הִרְחִיב יְהוָֹה rechovot YHVH means ‘the Lord makes room for us. The words הִרְחִיב hirchiv and רְחֹבוֹת Rechovot share the same root, רְחֹוֹת rechov, ‘a wide place.’ God made room for the clan of Yitz’chaq.
Beer’sheva sits at the broad mouth of a valley running east to west. This connects to two trade routes down into the Rift and the lower part of the Dead Sea. It controlled a major route from the Gulf of Aqaba up the Rift, then out and westward to the Mediterranean. It was desert land but still arable. So this eventually would become very valuable land. It apparently was not used as a major trade route in Yitz’chaq’s time however, as it would already have been occupied and fortified.
Yitz’chaq sought peace with his neighbors. He dug wells, which were then claimed by the herdsmen of Gerar. Rather than fighting he moved, abandoning the wells he’d dug to those not entitled to them. He must have had a passive personality, evidenced by his submission to being sacrificed earlier. We see a bit of that here in stark contrast to what his descendants would be like. Avraham and Ya’akov were shepherds and thus nomads, not farmers. Yitz’chaq “sowed the fields,” which tied him to the land.
“Avraham and Ya’akov confront their enemies, where Yitzchak allows the P’listim to either take or to fill in his wells. Wells were wealth and life in a desert land. Digging wells required a very serious investment of time and financial resources. It was no easy task to find water beneath the earth. So Yitzchak’s non-confrontational attitude came at a high cost” (Dr Eli).
Genesis 26:24-25 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
The God of his father Avraham appeared to Yitz’chaq at Beer’sheva, saying he should not fear. His God would be with him all the way. And like others before him, Yitz’chaq built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. He then pitches a tent and started work on a well there.
Genesis 26:26-27 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
Abimelech, his chief advisor, and the commander of his army arrives to speak with Yitz’chaq, who is somewhat bewildered. He asks why come to him now, when they had just been so hostile to him:
Genesis 26:28-31 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
A bit odd, given past relations. They had twice angrily forced him from their own lands, they now say they sent him away בְּשָׁלוֹם b’shalom, ‘in peace.’ Now they see he is בְּרוּךְ יְהוָֹה bracha YHVH, blessed of/by the Lord, so they request to make a בְרִית brit, a covenant; and they said נָא אָלָה na atah, “please (with) you.” Yitz’chaq, as was his inclination Feasts them and makes the covenant before sending them off, back to Gerar.
Genesis 26:32-33 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah [Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath]; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
Yitz’chaq named the new well שִׁבְעָה Shevah, connected to the same root as the number seven, שיעה shevah, the number of completion. Also to שביעה shevuah, ‘oath,’ which he’d just completed with the P’lishtim of Gerar.
This event mirrors a previous covenant between Avraham and Abimelech. Avraham however confronted Abimelech that in truth a well he had dug was then taken by Abimelech’s servants. Avraham took shevah, 'seven' sheep, as surety that Avraham had dug the well, thus he rightfully owned it. From that point on the place was called ’באר שִׁבְעָה Beer Sheva, ‘the well of an oath/seven’ (Gen 21.25-34). So these stories are mirror images; Avraham direct, Yitz’chaq conciliatory.
“Hebrew שביעה shevuah, ‘oath’ or ‘curse’ seems to share a root with the word שִׁבְעָ sheva, ‘seven.’ It may have originated from the practice of using sets of seven in maledictions (Lev 26.18, 21, 24). Thus the sense of swearing an oath may have been to “lay curses in sevens” on someone; or to be willing to “accept seven curses on oneself” should an oath be broken. In this way an oath could become a curse” (Dr. Eli).
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; this is mainly condensed from a teaching by Dr. Eli and input from Dr. Parker’s teachings, both of the Israel Bible Center; The Complete Jewish Study Bible; many maps; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 27:1-29
Haftara- Is 46:3-11
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
