I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat
and that YHVH will use you for His Glory. Times are coming that we
will no longer be able to share the Good News
without persecution so share with who you can right now!
I am sorry I didn't finish this whole Portion because we got really busy
but I did want to share with you what I wrote up to in the portion.
Now, on to the portion!
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The name of this Torah Portion is Chayei Sarah.
It is the 5th portion in Genesis and goes from Genesis 23:1-25:18.
It includes the death and burial of Sarah, the story of how
Isaac and Rebekah were married, and the death and burial of Abraham.
This Torah Portion is a mix of the end of a generation
and the start of a new one. Everything that has life has a circular pattern.
You are born, grow up, get married, have kids, grow old, and then die.
But as long as you have children, the circle continues.
That is why YHVH's 1st command is:
Genesis 1:28
And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them,
“Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it,
and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens,
and over all creatures moving on the earth.”
As long as we obey YHVH by being fruitful,
He will bless us and the circle will continue. But if we don't obey Him,
and don't have children, our circle will cease to exist, and a part
of the pattern that YHVH created for our lives will be incomplete.
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Genesis 23:1-2
And Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years,
the years of the life of Sarah.
2 And Sarah died in Qiryath Arba, that is Ḥeḇron, in the land of Kenaʽan,
and Aḇraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
One of the things we don't realize about all that happened
during the life of Abraham was that Sarah was with him. During every trial,
during every problem, during every blessing, Sarah was at Abraham's side.
Now, from the Scriptures, what can we tell about Sarah? Well, she's a lot
like Abraham. 1st of all, her name in Hebrew means 'Princess' or 'Queen'.
From the meaning of her name, we can see that she must of been
a very important person in Ur where she lived before she married Abraham.
She must of had a lot of gold and possessions herself even
before she married Abraham. That may be one of the reasons
Pharaoh in Egypt and Abimelech in Gerar took her(Genesis 12:14-15, 20:2).
In the Middle East today the Beduions still live a lot like Abraham and
Sarah would have lived. One way for them to show how
many possessions they have is by the women's clothing.
The women would literally sow their gold and jewels on
their clothing so that others would see the possessions of that family.
So because of that, it may be why Abimelech and Pharaoh took her.
Another thing we see is that she was barren(Genesis 11:30).
In fact, a lot of the Patriarch's wives were barren. Sarah, Rebekah,
and Rachel were all barren. It was almost like a curse to be barren and not
be able to have children. Now, YHVH used these women to help build up Yisra'el. But it wasn't until later on in their lives that YHVH blessed them with children.
With Sarah it was so that a promise could begin to be fulfilled(Gen 12:2),
for Rebekah it was because YHVH answered Isaac's prayer(Gen 25:21),
and for Rachel it was because YHVH saw Rachel's shame(reproach) and listened to her plea(Gen 30:1-2, 30:22-23). YHVH uses different things to test us, and for these 3 women being barren was one of those tests.
And one last thing I want to point out on Sarah is this:
How many times do we hear of Sarah in chapter 22?
I just read the chapter again and it says the word Sarah...
Zero, Zip, Nada, Nope, No, None, 0, nothing.... Ok I think you get the point.
Here in the most PIVOTAL point in ALL of Abraham's life, and Sarah isn't even mentioned. Why? There can be speculation; but there is really only one answer. She...Had...FAITH! Imagine that. We all think about how hard it
must of been for Abraham, but not many of us think how much
HARDER it must of been for Sarah. I mean, if mothers get scared
just because their children are riding a bike without training wheels for the 1st time, how much more would it be if YHVH told you, "Go, and sacrifice your son."
I am not a woman, but my guess is that most women
would be just a little bit more scared then the men...
But Sarah had faith that YHVH would be in control. Many of us right
now would be thinking, "Of course! She obviously would have
had to figure it out sometime." But, now I want to make a point that I made last week that some of us may not realize, but this time in Sarah's side of the story:
If you had to leave your homeland and go to some foreign land,
following some God that you only 1/2 way knew, going through
enemy territories and being taken away by Pharaoh, having fights
with your relatives over space and property(Hmm... we don't do that, do we?),
then having your old husband save your relative and the people that he went to, having these heavenly beings come to your husband and YHVH
personally talk to you over and Over and OVER again, each time
saying that you were going to have a child and be a great nation,
having a husband that didn't want to do anything about the
arguments between you and your maidservant, then again having YHVH
come to you and say that you were going to have a son even though you are OLD(just don't tell Abimelech that!), then having some other king named Abimelech take you even though you are ANCIENT, and then finally,
after ALL this time, you FINALLY have a son,
wouldn't you just gain a LITTLE faith to follow YHVH?
I mean, seriously! Abraham and Sarah went through a LOT in their lives.
They had no choice but to say that YHVH was in control.
YHVH is smarter than we are and will get us to do His will one way or another. Does that mean that we don't have a choice? No, not at all.
But does it mean that we will do YHVH's will, good or bad? Yes!
Remember, HaSatan may be the prince of this world, but he
cannot even touch someone if YHVH tells Him not to. But why
does YHVH allow sin? So that His will can be done, just like Yahshua said.
May YHVH be praised!
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Now, looking at chapter 24, where Isaac marries Rebekah, there are
some things here that we didn't understand before when we were in the 'church'. Nowadays people just marry whoever they want, a 'love at first sight' type of deal. Having a matchmaker or someone like that pick out your wife is
something very foreign to the Western Greek-Roman lifestyle. But it was,
and still is in some rural places, a big part of life. A great movie to watch
that gives a funny yet pretty detailed description of how marriages
were in Jewish communities even in the 1940's is, "Fiddler on the Roof".
Anyway, back then the son's parents or someone with the parents'
authority would go and pick out a young lady in their same tribe
or community, bring a dowry, and bargain with the parents
of the young lady until they make an agreement. There is a LOT
of information that goes on in a Ancient Hebrew wedding, and while I would love to be able to go through it now, it would be much too hard and long for me to do it.
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May YHVH continue to show you His REAL truth!
Numbers 6:24-26
“YHVH bless you and guard 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 peace.”
Until next time...
Shalom!
Christian Montanez Dodd
Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH
HalleluYAH!