Now, on to the portion!
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Parasha Toldot is the 6th portion in Genesis. It goes from Genesis 25:19-28:9
and includes the birth of Jacob and Esau, Esau's giving away of
his birthright to Jacob, the story of Isaac and Abimelek (not him again!)
and what went on there, how Jacob stole Esau's blessing,
and why Jacob had to go to Laban's house.
This Torah Portion is a rather important one because it is the beginning
of the life of Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac.
His name was changed from Jacob to Yisra'el by YHVH for a very important reason that we will begin to see in this Torah Portion and will see fully in
the next portion. He is also the father of the 12 tribes of Yisra'el, who
became the people of Yisra'el(who we are grafted into),
the chosen people of Elohim. Through his lineage came Moses,
Aaron, David, Solomon, Elijah, the prophets, and finally Yahshua.
But before he becomes the father of Yisra'el as we know it, he was Jacob.
Now, back then and sometimes still today the names
were chosen by the parents as a sign to that their child would be.
For instance:
Noah means 'rest'.
Abraham means 'father of many nations'.
Aaron means 'teacher'.
David means 'well-loved'.
Solomon means 'Peaceful'.
And Jacob in Hebrew means 'to grab the heel',
to restrain or stop the heel', and in a form, 'the deceiver'.
It is amazing to see how the parents of these men of the Scriptures knew
how their children would act when they became men. But, we know that
everything that happens in this world happens for a reason. It would make sense, just like in Yahshua's time, for the stars to declare about this child.
I don't remember where I saw it from, but I know there are several videos
talking about how the constellations shows what happened in history,
including an amazing sight when Yahshua was born on this earth!
Anyway we see how Jacob's name fits him perfectly right away in chapter 25:
Genesis 25:29-34
And Yaʽaqob cooked a stew, and Esaw came in from the field, and he was weary.
30 And Esaw said to Yaʽaqob, “Please feed me with that same red stew,
for I am weary.” That is why his name was called Edom.
31 But Yaʽaqob said, “Sell me your birthright today.”
32 And Esaw said, “Look, I am going to die, so why should I have birthright?”
33 Then Yaʽaqob said, “Swear to me today.”
And he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Yaʽaqob.
34 Yaʽaqob then gave Esaw bread and stew of lentils. And he ate and drank,
and rose up and left. Thus Esaw despised his birthright.
Now, we know the prophecy about Esau and Jacob, how the older(Esau)
would serve the younger(Jacob). But I do not believe that YHVH guided Jacob
to do this. We know that YHVH allows evil, but He doesn't do evil, for He is Perfect. It would make sense to say that Jacob did this against YHVH's will
and that may be the reason why He got into so much trouble with Laban later.
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Chapter 26 is really funny. We see how in the beginning
of this chapter there was scarcity of food in the land and Isaac went to Gerar.
But read this:
Genesis 26:6-11
6 And Yitsḥaq dwelt in Gerar.
7 And when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said,
“She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for Ribqah, because she is good-looking.”
8 And it came to be, when he had been there a long time,
that Abimelek sovereign of the Philistines looked through a window,
and he watched and saw Yitsḥaq playing with Ribqah his wife.
9 So Abimelek called Yitsḥaq and said, “See, truly she is your wife!
So how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Yitsḥaq said to him,
“Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”
10 And Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the
people had almost lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
11 And Abimelek commanded all his people, saying,
“He who touches this man or his wife shall certainly be put to death.”
I laugh when I think how mad Abimelek must have been when this happened.
I mean, this guy Isaac was the SON of the same man(Abraham)
that did the SAME thing("She is my sister.") to you 60 years ago! Abimelek must have known or learned about YHVH because he knew immediately what to do.
We also see in the rest of this chapter how unkind they are to him.
Abimelek had enough with these people, but he also knew how important
and rich they were because he came back and did a covenant with Isaac:
Genesis 26:26-31
And Abimelek came to him from Gerar, with Aḥuzzath,
one of his friends, and Pikol the commander of his army.
27 And Yitsḥaq said to them, “Why have you come to me,
seeing you have hated me and have sent me away from you?”
28 But they said, “We have clearly seen that YHVH is with you.
And we said, ‘Please, let there be an oath between us, between you and us.
And let us make a covenant with you,
29 that you do no evil to us, as we have not touched you,
and as we have done only good toward you, and have sent you away in peace.
You are now blessed by YHVH.’ ”
30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 And they rose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another.
And Yitsḥaq let them go, and they departed from him in peace.
YHVH had blessed Isaac so much that even his enemies had no choice
but to ask for peace. It has always been like that and always will be.
Amen!
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Before I go on, I have been reading and looking into what is happening
in Yisra'el right now. 1st of all may I say, while we are to always pray for peace in Jerusalem, we know that YHVH is doing this for a reason and a purpose.
So, instead of praying for Jerusalem, let's pray for the people in Jerusalem
and in Israel. Pray for the wives and children of the men in the IDF.
Pray that YHVH would protect them. And most of all, pray that they
come and follow the LIVING TORAH, Yahshua the Messiah!
Saying that, there are people that believe that Yisra'el was never a land
but a people, that the people are what make Yisra'el. That is true,
but remember YHVH gave them the land as the SIGN of the covenant
that He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without the land
there is no Jerusalem, no Zion, and no temple. Without the land we as a people cannot perfectly abide all the Torah since we cannot physically do the sacrifices. Israel is the Promised Land, and we a PART of that land.
And don't worry, we WILL be returning SOON, with Yahshua as our KING!!!!!
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We now go to chapter 27 where we see Jacob 'stealing'
the firstborn blessing from Esau. But did he 'really' steal it,
or did he just try to quicken what YHVH was already going to do.
Read this:
Genesis 25:22-23
And within her the children struggled together, and she said,
“If all is right, why am I this way?” So she went to ask YHVH.
23 And YHVH said to her, “Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples shall be separated from your body.
And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older serve the younger.”
Just like we saw with Abraham, sometimes people want to rush what
YHVH is going to do. Rebekah knew what YHVH had told her when
Jacob and Esau was in her womb. She knew that Jacob would
be greater than Esau. But instead of waiting for YHVH to do something great,
she decided to take it into her own hands, and that NEVER works!
Genesis 27:5-13
And Ribqah heard when Yitsḥaq spoke to Esaw his son.
And Esaw went to the field to hunt wild game and to bring it.
6 And Ribqah spoke to Yaʽaqob her son, saying,
“See, I heard your father speak to Esaw your brother, saying,
7 ‘Bring me wild game and make me a tasty dish to eat,
and bless you in the presence of YHVH before my death.’
8 “And now my son, listen to my voice according to what I command you.
9 “Please go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats,
and I make a tasty dish from them for your father, such as he loves.
10 “And you shall take it to your father, and he shall eat it,
so that he might bless you before his death.”
11 And Yaʽaqob said to Ribqah his mother,
“See, Esaw my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.
12 “What if my father touches me? Then I shall be like a deceiver in his eyes,
and shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son.
Only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
There is ALWAYS a problem that comes out of us wanting to do
our own will instead of waiting for YHVH to do it. There are times
where it looks like YHVH won't do it, but we MUST know that YHVH will
ALWAYS do it, just not when we WANT it. A BIG part of faith is patience.
Without patience we can't live our lives faithfully because we won't be able
to wait on YHVH. Without patience, we cannot have YHVH strength with us:
Psalms 27:14
Wait on YHVH, be strong, and let Him
strengthen your heart! Wait, I say, on YHVH!
We see that because Abraham, Sarah, Rebekah, and Jacob didn't
wait for YHVH to fulfill His promises to them, now we have a war
going on not just in Israel, but around the world. Because of what they did,
or better yet because of what they DIDN'T do, now we have chaos in the world...
BUT.... we know that YHVH is in control, and He will use our mistakes
for His glory. Praise YHVH that He is perfect and He can make
all things perfect, because if not, we would be in BIG trouble!!
HalleluYAH!
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The last thing I want to mention is at the end of this portion, Genesis 28:
Genesis 28:1-4
And Yitsḥaq called Yaʽaqob and blessed him, and commanded him,
and said to him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaʽan.
2 “Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethu’el your mother’s father.
And take a wife for yourself from there,
from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3 “And El Shaddai bless you, and make you bear fruit and increase you,
and you shall become an assembly of peoples,
4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your seed with you,
so that you inherit the land of your sojournings, which Elohim gave to Abraham.”
We see here once again how YHVH's people are not to mix and mingle
with the nations. We are to marry like-minded believers,
not people of the world, regardless of 'race', 'nation', looks, speech, etc.
Paul/Sha'ul said:
2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 And what agreement has Messiah with Beliyaʽal?
Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?
Let us make sure that we are not mixed with unbelievers, against the Messiah,
the LIVING Torah of YHVH. We might be in this world, BUT we are not
OF this world. We MUST make sure and check continually on whether
we are in unity people who are part of the same body(The Body of Messiah)
as we are, or whether they are of another body. There is no way we can be
in unity with someone of a different body, and if we try, chaos will come out of it.
Let's be in unity together, in the same body, the Body of Messiah,
that we can be able to put on the whole armor of YHVH together and fight
with the sword of Truth. Remember this VERY important thing for the end of days, and it is something that we must continuously check on in our daily walk:
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!!
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Let's keep standing with YHVH!!!
Numbers 6:24-26
“YHVH bless you and keep you;
25 YHVH make His face shine upon you, and show favor to you;
26 YHVH lift up His face upon you, and give you
Shalom/Shalem(peace that passes all understanding!).”
Until next time...
Shalom!
Christian Montanez Dodd
Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH
HalleluYAH!!