Sh’ma
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26 Oct, 2013 ~ 22 Cheshvan 5774
Torah Portion Chayei Sarah - B’resheet 23:1 - 25:18
1st teaching of B’resheet by Brad Scott
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Torah Portion - Cahyei Sarah -B’resheet 23:1 - 25:18 cjb p 22
B’resheet 23: 1-20
This business about Abraham buying the field with the cave to bury Sarah...
This place is called kiryat-Arba and is in Hebron...
according to people who know more than me.... it is one of three locations in Scripture which has a legal deed.
More specifically, this is the Cave of Makhpelah.
What is the Cave of Makhpelah....
In Hebrew this means “a double cave”
B’resheet 25: 7-11
What is the difference or relationship between the PURCHASED LAND and the PROMISED LAND...
B’resheet 22:15-18
The Eastern / oriental method of making a bargain was to offer it for free... all the while knowing that is really NOT what is going to happen.
Then Abraham rose and bowed down ... this is strict social custom.
Why did he do that?
His goal was to be blameless in this whole purchasing even so they could not say later that he didn’t do it right.
In B’resheet 23:7-8 - He sought a middle man... as buying and selling significant purchases, still works in the middle east today with a middleman.
Then Efron says the asking price in verse 15.... is 400 silver shekels.
This would be more than one hundred pounds of silver.
It sounds like this is a “great deal”...
but in fact it is a a highly inflated price...
because the average cost then was about four shekels per acre.
This would have Abraham paying about 40 shekels per acre!
at this time a laborer would earn ten shekels per year and would not expect to earn 400 shekels in his lifetime!
First Efron offered it free, though not expecting this would be the end of it.
Then Efron offers it at a very high price... expecting the bargaining to begin.
But Abraham does something crazy and agrees to the hugely inflated price!
Also it should be noted that nothing was written down - b/c the custom was you didn’t write it down - it was just done in front of Hittite witnesses.
So Efron’s field became Abraham’s field in 23:17-18
After all the legal transaction was completed, Abraham buried Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is in Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
The city of Hebron is in the hill country of Judea, about half way between Jerusalem and Beersheba.
Mamre is about 2 miles north of Hebron. Today there is a mosque built over this cave and it is considered one of the most important mosques in Islam.
So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site (B’resheet 23: 19-20)
the fact that Abraham purchased a burying place in strictly legal form as a hereditary possession in the Promised Land was proof of his strong faith in the promises of YHWH.
Jewish tradition tells us that Adam and Chava were buried in this cave as well, and some believe that it is the gate to Gan Eden.
-We don’t know these things for sure...
Today at Makhpelah there are approximately 6-7 hundred Jews living in the midst of over 20 thousand Arabs.
This small Jewish community has suffered much through the years and in fact continues to suffer. Why would they hold firm?
They hold firm to the Covenant given to Abraham.
A massive stone structure measuring about 200 feet long and 120 feet wide and 50 feet high now sits atop the cave .
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “The Cave of Machpelah is surmounted by a large mosque, the Haram al-Khalil. After the Six Day War (1967) the toms of the patriarchs were opened to all worshippers for the first time in exactly 700 years, the original prohibition against non-Muslims having been made by the Mamluk sultan Baybars in 1267. Both Muslim and Jewish services are not held in the cave; the upper mosque remains the exclusive property of the Muslims.”
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But there is an interesting thing in the B’rit Chadashah to consider....
something that sounds like a contradiction...
Ma’sey ha Shilyekiym/ Acts 7: 15-16 cjb p 1368
So we have been reading about the field and cave Abraham purchased for burial at Mamre...
but this says... Sh’khem. So???
After Sarah died, Abraham lived another 38 years and had 6 more sons! The tomb in Sh’khem was what he purchased from the family of Hamor to bury his “second family”.
Abraham was buried in Mamre with Sarah.
Somehow the family lost possession of the grave in Sh’khem... and about 85 years after Abraham died, Ya’akov came to Sh’khem and bought that land back.
And because Abraham had built an altar there, Ya’akov did as well.
B’resheet 33:18-20 cjb p 37.
Y’Hoshua /Joshua 24:32 cjb 269 “The bones of Yosef, which the people of Isra’el had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Sh’khem, in the parcel of ground which Ya’akov had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Sh’khem for a hundred pieces of silver, and they became a possession of the descendants of Yosef.”
Interesting that Abraham would have still had a family burial plot back in Mesopotamia. (B’resheet 22:20-24).
But he chose to bury his family in the Promised Land....and then he was buried in the Promised Land.
Interesting... this was their way of saying... “This land is HOME. This is the land that YHWH has given us.”
They were declaring YHWH’s promises even in death!
Ivrim / Messianic Jews/ Hebrew 11:13-16 cjb p 1505
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Who’s buried at Machpelah near Mamre?
Sarah was the first (that we know for sure) and
then Abraham (B’resheet 25:9)
Yitz’chak /Isaac (B’resheet 35:27-29)
Leah and Rachel ( B’resheet 49:30-31)
and Yaakov / Jacob (B’resheet 50:13.
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Yosef /Joseph inherited the land at Sh'khem from Ya’akov.
When Yosef died, his descendants brought his bones back from Egypt and buried him at Sh’khem.
Again - making the faith statement.... this land may not look like ours yet --- but it is our home b/c YHWH promised it to us! :)
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Let’s go back to my question:
What is the difference or relationship between the PURCHASED LAND and the PROMISED LAND...
Scripture with land purchase:
1. B’resheet 23 - Abraham buys Makhpelah.
2. Y’Hoshua /Joshua 24:32 cjb 269 “The bones of Yosef, which the people of Isra’el had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Sh’khem, in the parcel of ground which Ya’akov had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Sh’khem for a hundred pieces of silver, and they became a possession of the descendants of Yosef.”
Acts 7: 15-16
- Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 32:6-23; and 33- end of chapter....
- Sh’mu’el Bet / 2 Samuel 24:24 cjb p 365 “But the king (David) said to Aravnah, “No; I insist on buying it from you at a price. I refuse to offer to YHWH Elohim my burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing - floor of the oxen for one- and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels.”
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Why would YHWH have persons purchase the Land when HE gave it to them??
We know YHWH owns the deeds to all Isra’el... and like a landlord can evict his tenant - YHWH can and did evict Isra’el...
In D’varim /Deut 28: 63b - 64a cjb p 229 “... so now YHWH will take joy in causing you to perish and be destroyed, and you will be plucked off the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. YHWH will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to another...”
But person’s who do not understand the Word... overlook the idea that that land was given to Isra’el, through Abraham forever. They don’t get that there is redemption..... that Isra’el will come back and it is their land ...
BUT... people DO understand land deeds - legal actions where land was purchased...
So YHWH gave more than just a promise... he set it up that Isra’el has the deeds the legal rights to the land because they purchased it and never sold it back!!
Do we have trust like these people - whose desire was to not only purchase land - so that the Promised Land was theirs even in the eyes o man....
but they had the trust to be buried in a place that was not yet their “home”.... counting on YHWH so much that - even when it didn’t look like it yet... even when it probably didn’t feel like it yet....
they didn’t look back to where they came from - and desire to return there... they were committed to YHWH’s vision and plan.
May we be as such as well!! - committed to YHWH’s plan!!!
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So with that... we will leave the study of the Torah portion.... all that and only in one chapter!!
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So let’s start the Hebrew Study of B’resheet by Brad Scott - of Wildbranch Ministries.
We are going to do the introduction....
So you will want to open your study guide to the very first page...
- first we have - like all books - the table of contents...
- Then on paige XX = the English and the Hebrew names of the books of Scripture. :)
- Then note, just before the green divider.... is the aleph bet and the meaning of each letter!!
We have been studying the aleph bet on Wed nights - using Passion For Truth’s Aleph Bet teaching... you can watch them on line if you go to PFT web site... This will make this study even deeper for you. :)
Then is the GREEN divider page....
Page 1. “Introduction to the study of B’re’shiyt /Genesis Chapters 1-4.
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Brad Scott says....
“We are going to study the beginning and the foundation of the source of all that is good, righteous, and holy and all that is evil and unrighteous (and not holy). Through the Hebrew language and culture, we will define the beginning of all scriptural doctrine by (understanding) and going back to the original design and Designer.”
How exciting is this!!!?!!!
This is exactly what i wanted to know since i was eight years old!!!
We know Romans 11 talks about the SEED.
Romans 11: 1-12 cjb p 1414
-- We are going to start at the beginning and learn what this means... in a much deeper way! Because this is a key part of understanding the Word - just as understanding the 2 Kingdoms is ... and remember what a revelation that was!!!
We know that everything from the beginning is is “encapsulated in a seed.... a seed is how all living things reproduce.”
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Why do we need to go to the beginning?
Brad Scott - gives the example of the United States Constitution....
He says - and i believe he is exactly correct -- different people read it and understand it differently...
conservatives understand it one way.... and liberals look at the same words and come to different understanding!
Isn’t this what has happened to the Torah /Bible??!!!!
But Scott goes on to say that we can do research and go back and read the speeches and the writings of the men who wrote it... what they were saying AS they wrote it.... and we then can understand what THE AUTHORS meant when they wrote the Constitution.
This is what we are going to do.... go back and understand the meaning of the Words that YHWH said and so learn what HE means.
Not what I think it means!!
Remember how we have said for years... we came out of religion that would decide what Scripture means to them.... but it doesn’t matter what it means to us...
It only matters what YHWH means. ... and if we understand the Hebrew Words... we can know what He means.... !!! :)
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Brad Scott says... “All the Bible is embedded in the first chapters of B’resheet.”
Yesha’Yahu / Isaiah 46:10 cjb p 510
“At the beginning I announce the end, proclaim in advance things not yet done; and i say that my plans will hold, I will do everything i please to do.”
Christianity translates this to mean... “God knows the end in the beginning.”
but...
“At the beginning i announce the end”....
== maggiyd mere ‘shiyth
really means....
== “Declaring out of the beginning ... the end” ...
or spoken easier == “YHWH declares the end ... in the beginning.”
Do we get this.??... that YHWH is telling us... prophecy about what is going to happen - right from the beginning.!!
Way cool!! :)
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So let’s talk about the Hebrew Word / language a bit...
Kefa Bet / 2 Peter 3:3-7 cjb p 1523
vs 5 “...by YHWH’s Word ... there were heavens and there was land which arouse out of water and existed between waters...”
Mizmore /Psalm 105:1-5 cjb p 895
In vs 5 ... “remember” = zachar...
and it doesn’t mean here in the Word - what you and i understand “remember’ to mean.
We think remember means to recall something that happened.
BUT zachar - means “to speak or act on behalf of someone or something.”!!!!
D’varim /Deuteronomy 32:7 cjb p 234 “Remember how the old days were; think of the years through all the ages. Ask your father - he will tell you; your leaders too - they will inform you.”
“remember” = zachar = “to speak or act on behalf of someone or something” !!
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Let’s go back and talk about the Hebrew Aleph Bet
... we know it has 22 consonants... we can look in our book on the 2 pages before the green page and see them.
Now Brad Scott says... he is going to teach something that kabalism teaches... but he doesn’t believe it is kabalism... and it isn’t his fault that kabalists teach it! :).... because it is about good SCIENCE.
Scott says..
The Word of YHWH is the Hebrew language.... it is the language that YHWH created all things with...
He “SAID” let there be.... and there was.
and He passed this language on to human beings....
Only YHWH creates... but even though we are limited by the flesh... when we speak... things change... especially when we speak the HEBREW word.
Remember how we have talked in the past about how scientists have studied languages and Hebrew is the only language where the words changed or effected water and sand in their machine? !!
Ivrim / Hebrews 4:12 cjb p 1497
“See, the Word of YHWH is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword -- it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.”
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Yah means every word HE says....
Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 55:11 cjb p 524
“... so is my word that goes out from my mouth - it will not return to me unfulfilled; but it will accomplish what i intend, and cause to succeed what i sent it to do.”
This is really powerful!
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Hebrew is in the beginning - a Canaanite language...and became Hebrew.
Modern Hebrew is technically not the same language ... but the words and letters mean the same thing....
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We see an expression of this language when we look at the elements on the periodic chart.
All these elements are “the building blocks” as we understand them...
and man takes them and makes things from them... we do NOT CREATE things... but we can use the elements to make things.
This is a picture in the natural of what YHWH has done spiritually.
Plus, we can say... we take these elements and make things... and we do... but the truth is...
science now knows and says... that there are seen and unseen particles in an atom ... in things... and the seen is such a small small amount... and the unseen - well that is way past the majority of an object.... !!
This is what He has done in creation!
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Have you noticed from reading B’resheet before... that YHWH did not begin by creating man?...
but he started with light and water and atmosphere and the heavens and then the vegetation and the animals...
and then he created man / human beings.
and the amazing thing is.... he was creating a way to communicate to us....
When you were in school - did you ever make a time capsule?
when i was in elementary there was a lot of talk about “intelligent life out there somewhere”... and so NASA or someone made a time capsule of sorts... and put things in a container and sent it to space... that would try to communicate that we were here and wanted to be friends... or something like that.
But how do you communicate to others... through time and cultures etc...???
Take for example....
Yochanan’s Revelation - Hitgalut.... There are things in there that he has described... that i don’t think are going to be what we picture when we read his words... to some extent anyway...
like... are the horses really horses? might they be something else in our day...?
like... Hitgalut /Revelation 9:1:11 cjb p 1541 - (the locusts that looked like horses outfitted for battle...)
maybe it is a locust... but he only had his experience to speak from.
Imagine someone born before airplanes were a possibility... trying to describe what an airplane is....
You get the idea here...
“He couldn't have begun B’resheet with symbolism... you have to start out with the natural and then you can use them symbolically”... then the world makes sense...
BUT YHWH - in His amazing wisdom... YHWH always speaks from nature... seed... things that are still here from the beginning!!! and He put the end in the beginning - so we would know... IF we understand His Hebrew Word!!
He reveals things to us logically from the beginning...
as Brad Scott says - He plants them - pun intended - in the beginning!! :)
Yah knew that the natural would still be true in today... as it was in the beginning! B/c the natural has stayed as he created it ...(until recently with GMO!!)
and if he’d have left the information up to man... man would have changed things...
Yah put the information in the heavens - so man couldn’t manipulate it...
and the heavens and nature are always faithful...
they do instinctively what YHWH created them to do...
where man makes choices to serve Him or not.... the plants and the animals do not.
This is why so many people say... when they look at something incredible in nature... “How can anyone say there is no God.” Because they are so inspired by the awesomeness of creation - that always serves and points to Yah!!
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So... before we move past the introduction...
We have to decide which of the 2 world views we have...
- Big bang = something from nothing produced by evolution
2. Something always was... creation = intelligent design
Ivrim /Hebrews 11:3 cjb p 1505
“By trusting, we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of YHWH, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.”
Yochanan /John 6:63 cjb p 1338
“It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. The words i have spoken to you are Spirit and life”
Through trusting /faith we understand...
Ivrim 11:1 cjb p 1505
“Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see.”
Scott says... “Through this trusting /faith - we understand things were framed by the Word of Yah.”
He SAID.... in B’re’shiyt 1... He “SAID” and it was. !!
He created through his word - speaking Hebrew.... The things that are seen and the things that are UNseen.
Mizmore /Psalm 33:6 cjb p 820
“By the WORD of YHWH the heavens were made, and their whole host by a breath from his mouth.”
Brad Scott says “We can take it as He says it or we can allegorize it away...”
Mizmore 104:30 cjb p 894 “If you send out your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.”
Yochanan / John 1:1-3 cjb p 1329
“In the beginning (B’resheet) was the Word (the Living Torah), and the Word (Living Torah) was with YHWH, and the Word (Living Torah) was YHWH. He was with YHWH in the beginning. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing made had being.”
Do you see how this is in the Beginning... B’resheet 1:1
“B’resheet bara elohim et (Aleph-Tav) ha shamayim va-et har Eretz.”
“In the beginning YHWH Aleph Tov created the heavens and the earth.”
:)
In Mattityahu /Matthew 13:3-9 cjb p 1239 “The parable of the sower”
... the seed is the WORD of YHWH.
Colossians 1:16-17 cjb p 1470
“Because in connection with him were created all things - in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities - they have all been created through him and for him. He existed before all things, and he holds everything together.”
Now who did Yochanan say HE is??
The Word / the Living Torah!!!!
2 Corinthians 4:18 cjb p 1444 “We concentrate not on what is seen but on what is not seen, since things seen are temporary, but things not seen are eternal.”
-The unseen things are much more important than the seen... just like what we said about the seen and the unseen atoms and “stuff” that makes up things.
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So we need to decide if we believe the big bang or YHWH’s Word... creationism
Our focus needs to be - NOT to study hard - so that we can understand things before B’resheet 1:1... but we study creation / B’resheet in order to understand things in our past, our present and our future and ALSO so that we know how to be “good children of YHWH and be faithful to The Elohim of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov... NOT to know what came before B’resheet 1:1.
D’varim / Deut 29:29 cjb p 239
“Things which are hidden belong to YHWH our Elohim. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the WORDS of this Torah.”
“Avineu /Father, has prepared everything from the beginning - BY DESIGN....
What we are about to study we will see the design / pattern with man and with the nation of Isra’el....
1 First we will read about creation ... completed
-then the fall
-then the restoration
-and eventually we will see new heaven and new earth
or
2. We can look at it about man...
- man created complete
- then the fall
-then the restoration
- and then, man kind waiting for a new body
or
3 WE can look at it collectively - about Isra’el...
- first Isra’el is created
- Then the kingdom divides to two and there is a fall
- The the restoration by Messiah as revealed in prophets in Tanakh
- and then Bride is made complete and whole in the end...
- and all is restored... :)
Do you see the pattern??
- Creation
- fall
- restoration
- something NEW
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AMEIN
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