- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Mar 18, 2022 19:03:17 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 27:30-28:9
Haftara- Micah 1:1, 5:1-15
D’rash: Many struggle with questions: “Was God’s Covenant based on stolen blessing? How can a thief, a liar, and coward be a patriarch of God’s chosen people?” As we saw last week, much of the problem here is in how the church fathers have distorted our view of Ya’aqov. He was none of those things, but he was human. He listened to the council of his mother and slipped into sin. And sin has consequences.
Yitz’chaq had different, carefully considered blessings for his sons. One, the blessing of the first-born and a blessing of prosperity and power was prepared for Esav. The other for Ya’aqov apparently was the covenant blessing of Avraham:
Gen.28:3 “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
Ya’aqov’s commendation was not based upon the blessing he stole, but upon the one Yitz’chaq gave him before he left to Padan Aram. Note the Abrahamic timbre in the above blessing. Much later in meeting Esav Ya’aqov will acquiesce to the sin he had committed toward his brother. Thus he will return that which he’d taken from Esav (Gen.32:1-21). But that is for a later reading.
Since the blessing Ya’aqov obtained by subterfuge was meant for the much more aggressive Esav, the specifics of the blessing were never realized. Neither Ya’aqov nor the nation of Yisroel were ever to wield power and dominate others. However his life did unfold congruent with the covenantal blessing of Avraham and Yitz’chaq. Prosperity and power will belong to Esau (Gen.27:28-29), however to Ya’aqov was vouchsafed the covenantal blessing of Avraham – an unceasing heritage of children and ha’aretz, the land of Yisro’el.
Rivkah’s manipulative intentions triggered Ya’aqov’s sin. But we see God’s providential hand in the affairs of His people. Even the skewed plans of the conspirators are used to accomplish His purposes. But we are getting ahead:
Genesis 27:30-38 (redacted) … as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, … his brother Esau came in from his hunting. … he also made a delicious meal, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you [your soul] may bless me.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac [trembled with a very great trembling] violently, and said, “Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” Esau … cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!” And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” [Was he then named Jacob that he has] betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” … Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and wept.
The marked tenor in the room could be felt, and it may evoke sympathy in us as we read. However we should contrast our feelings for Esav here to Esav’s offspring, Edom, the embodiment of evil and betrayal:
Psalm 137:7 KJV Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase [destroy] it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
Esav had made it clear he wasn’t interested in the spiritual. He knew about the blessing, yet he had despised it. Now he weeps and begs for a blessing, then plots to kill his brother. His heart was not right with man nor God:
Hebrews 12:17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
He now probably sees the value of the birthright he had taken so lightly. Birthright (בְּכֹרָה bechora) and blessing (בְּרָכָה beracha) have the same three consonants, which carry the same meanings in the two words: ב, the home and a place of rest and refuge; as the first letter it means ‘into.’ כ chuf represents an open or outstretched hand; provision protection, help. And ר resh, the head; the first, the highest, the (spiritual) leader. We also may, under evil influence make some irretrievable mistake; surrendering to sin we lower ourselves spiritually. We may later realize some lower blessing, but we’ll never be what we could have been.
Genesis 27:41-45 (redacted) So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing … ; and Esau said [in his heart], “… I will kill my brother Jacob.” Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. … arise, [flee for yourself] to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides [turns away from you] … Then I will send word and get you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
Esav’s murderous grudge recalls the incident of Cain and Abel (Gen 4.3-8). He eventually relents, but this is a resolve his descendants would attempt carry out time after time. The effects of generational sin are that, even though we may try to change we still hand down the attitudes that drove us in the first place.
Esav received a mighty blessing, but not as much as was intended for him. And as we saw last week, the blessing Ya’aqov received was not the full Abrahamic blessing. So because of the deceit of Rivkah and Ya’aqov, both sons got less than a full blessing, tailored to and intended for themselves. However Yitzchaq will later willingly rectify it, giving Ya’aqov what was probably the blessing he first meant to give him. He is promised many offspring by God’s grace, and with the land God promised to Avraham.
Genesis 27:42-45; 28:1-4 (redacted) Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, … arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away from you …Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “… Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife … . May El Shaddai [God Almighty] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land … .”
So to escape the consequences of lies, Riv’kah is now lieing to hide the real reason for Ya’aqov’s leaving. Despite all her scheming, she will never see her son again. Ya’aqov had to go back to Haran where Avraham had started out from. Going back may seem wrong, a reversal in light of Genesis 26:3 when God told Yitz’chaq “Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.” However the more passive Yitz’chaq would probably never have escaped the service of the scheming Lavan, Those instructions were for his father, not for Ya’aqov.
In this blessing Yitz’chaq invokes the name אל שדי El Shaddai as God. The name’s etymology is uncertain, but there are several theories. One is it means God Almighty from the verb שדד shadad, ‘robbed, pillaged, destroyed.’ Another (unlikely) theory speaks of the Akadian shadau, ‘God of the Mountains.’ The letter ש shin may be understood as a prefix meaning ‘then,’ in which case די dai means ‘enough, plenty, sufficiency.’ The most likely is a connection to the word שד shad, the female breast, a clear picture of comfort and provision. (Looking back to the כ in birthright בְּכֹרָה bechora and blessing בְּרָכָה beracha.) Gods’ promise to Ya’akov is he will be “וְיַפְרְךָ וְיַרְבֶּךָ ve’yafrekha ve’yarbekha, ‘fertile and numerous.’” They will become לִקְהַל עַמִּים li’kehal amim, ‘an assembly of peoples.’ This blessing looks back on Genesis 1:28 when God told Adam and Chava to פרו ורבו peru u’revu, “be fruitful and multiply.” Just as with Noach, Avraham, and Yitz’chak a clear connection is made back to Adam.
Wealth and power are not stressed in this blessing, however covenant continuity is deemed essential.
Genesis 28:5 Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Ya’aqov is now a fugitive. He left with Yitz’chaq’s true blessing of the covenant. Still, going into an unknown future and circumstance must have been unnerving. Esav still wanted to kill him, and he would serve the scheming Laban many years. But God was still in control:
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Mekorot: All scripture from the NASB unless otherwise specified; The Stone TNK, notes; JPS TNK notes; Dr. Eli of the Israel Bible Center; W Wiersbe; Dr F Seekins; FB Meyer; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings: Parashah- Gen 28:10-29:30 Haftara- Hos 12:1-14
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Genesis 27:30-28:9
Haftara- Micah 1:1, 5:1-15
D’rash: Many struggle with questions: “Was God’s Covenant based on stolen blessing? How can a thief, a liar, and coward be a patriarch of God’s chosen people?” As we saw last week, much of the problem here is in how the church fathers have distorted our view of Ya’aqov. He was none of those things, but he was human. He listened to the council of his mother and slipped into sin. And sin has consequences.
Yitz’chaq had different, carefully considered blessings for his sons. One, the blessing of the first-born and a blessing of prosperity and power was prepared for Esav. The other for Ya’aqov apparently was the covenant blessing of Avraham:
Gen.28:3 “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
Ya’aqov’s commendation was not based upon the blessing he stole, but upon the one Yitz’chaq gave him before he left to Padan Aram. Note the Abrahamic timbre in the above blessing. Much later in meeting Esav Ya’aqov will acquiesce to the sin he had committed toward his brother. Thus he will return that which he’d taken from Esav (Gen.32:1-21). But that is for a later reading.
Since the blessing Ya’aqov obtained by subterfuge was meant for the much more aggressive Esav, the specifics of the blessing were never realized. Neither Ya’aqov nor the nation of Yisroel were ever to wield power and dominate others. However his life did unfold congruent with the covenantal blessing of Avraham and Yitz’chaq. Prosperity and power will belong to Esau (Gen.27:28-29), however to Ya’aqov was vouchsafed the covenantal blessing of Avraham – an unceasing heritage of children and ha’aretz, the land of Yisro’el.
Rivkah’s manipulative intentions triggered Ya’aqov’s sin. But we see God’s providential hand in the affairs of His people. Even the skewed plans of the conspirators are used to accomplish His purposes. But we are getting ahead:
Genesis 27:30-38 (redacted) … as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, … his brother Esau came in from his hunting. … he also made a delicious meal, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you [your soul] may bless me.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac [trembled with a very great trembling] violently, and said, “Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” Esau … cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!” And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” [Was he then named Jacob that he has] betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” … Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and wept.
The marked tenor in the room could be felt, and it may evoke sympathy in us as we read. However we should contrast our feelings for Esav here to Esav’s offspring, Edom, the embodiment of evil and betrayal:
Psalm 137:7 KJV Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase [destroy] it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
Esav had made it clear he wasn’t interested in the spiritual. He knew about the blessing, yet he had despised it. Now he weeps and begs for a blessing, then plots to kill his brother. His heart was not right with man nor God:
Hebrews 12:17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
He now probably sees the value of the birthright he had taken so lightly. Birthright (בְּכֹרָה bechora) and blessing (בְּרָכָה beracha) have the same three consonants, which carry the same meanings in the two words: ב, the home and a place of rest and refuge; as the first letter it means ‘into.’ כ chuf represents an open or outstretched hand; provision protection, help. And ר resh, the head; the first, the highest, the (spiritual) leader. We also may, under evil influence make some irretrievable mistake; surrendering to sin we lower ourselves spiritually. We may later realize some lower blessing, but we’ll never be what we could have been.
Genesis 27:41-45 (redacted) So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing … ; and Esau said [in his heart], “… I will kill my brother Jacob.” Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. … arise, [flee for yourself] to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides [turns away from you] … Then I will send word and get you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
Esav’s murderous grudge recalls the incident of Cain and Abel (Gen 4.3-8). He eventually relents, but this is a resolve his descendants would attempt carry out time after time. The effects of generational sin are that, even though we may try to change we still hand down the attitudes that drove us in the first place.
Esav received a mighty blessing, but not as much as was intended for him. And as we saw last week, the blessing Ya’aqov received was not the full Abrahamic blessing. So because of the deceit of Rivkah and Ya’aqov, both sons got less than a full blessing, tailored to and intended for themselves. However Yitzchaq will later willingly rectify it, giving Ya’aqov what was probably the blessing he first meant to give him. He is promised many offspring by God’s grace, and with the land God promised to Avraham.
Genesis 27:42-45; 28:1-4 (redacted) Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, … arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away from you …Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “… Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife … . May El Shaddai [God Almighty] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land … .”
So to escape the consequences of lies, Riv’kah is now lieing to hide the real reason for Ya’aqov’s leaving. Despite all her scheming, she will never see her son again. Ya’aqov had to go back to Haran where Avraham had started out from. Going back may seem wrong, a reversal in light of Genesis 26:3 when God told Yitz’chaq “Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.” However the more passive Yitz’chaq would probably never have escaped the service of the scheming Lavan, Those instructions were for his father, not for Ya’aqov.
In this blessing Yitz’chaq invokes the name אל שדי El Shaddai as God. The name’s etymology is uncertain, but there are several theories. One is it means God Almighty from the verb שדד shadad, ‘robbed, pillaged, destroyed.’ Another (unlikely) theory speaks of the Akadian shadau, ‘God of the Mountains.’ The letter ש shin may be understood as a prefix meaning ‘then,’ in which case די dai means ‘enough, plenty, sufficiency.’ The most likely is a connection to the word שד shad, the female breast, a clear picture of comfort and provision. (Looking back to the כ in birthright בְּכֹרָה bechora and blessing בְּרָכָה beracha.) Gods’ promise to Ya’akov is he will be “וְיַפְרְךָ וְיַרְבֶּךָ ve’yafrekha ve’yarbekha, ‘fertile and numerous.’” They will become לִקְהַל עַמִּים li’kehal amim, ‘an assembly of peoples.’ This blessing looks back on Genesis 1:28 when God told Adam and Chava to פרו ורבו peru u’revu, “be fruitful and multiply.” Just as with Noach, Avraham, and Yitz’chak a clear connection is made back to Adam.
Wealth and power are not stressed in this blessing, however covenant continuity is deemed essential.
Genesis 28:5 Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Ya’aqov is now a fugitive. He left with Yitz’chaq’s true blessing of the covenant. Still, going into an unknown future and circumstance must have been unnerving. Esav still wanted to kill him, and he would serve the scheming Laban many years. But God was still in control:
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Mekorot: All scripture from the NASB unless otherwise specified; The Stone TNK, notes; JPS TNK notes; Dr. Eli of the Israel Bible Center; W Wiersbe; Dr F Seekins; FB Meyer; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings: Parashah- Gen 28:10-29:30 Haftara- Hos 12:1-14
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
