Monday, December 7, 2015

48th B're'shiyt Teaching - Torah Portion Vayetze - Scrolls of Ezekiel

21 Nov 2015  ~  9 Kislev 5776
Torah Parashah Vayetze ~ “He Went Out”
B’re’shiyt 28:10 - 32:2  RSTNE p 28
48th B’re’shiyt


Reading the book of Ezekiel in the order it was written will broaden your understanding!



Thanksgiving is coming up and most of us were taught that Thanksgiving was - a nice friendly sit down and give thanks meal.
You may want to watch:  Matthew Nolan’steaching on Thanksgiving from 14 Nov.

**
I want to share some information Matthew Nolan taught during Sukkot.  It is very very important. 
As long as I have known, people have looked at the book of Yechezkel and got to the end of the “book” and thought this was a prophecy about the third temple being restored - complete with offerings and animal sacrifices....  But let’s look at some things Matthew points out...

Yechezkel (Ezekiel) -

Yechezkel - teaching Sukkot 2015 - by Matthew Nolan

Yechezkel is a collection of 13 scrolls written by the prophet himself - to deliver these messages to bring Yisra’el to teshuvah. 

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 32:10-12  p 376
Talks about how scrolls were sealed and dated... and this is how the scrolls of Yechezkel were found... rolled separately - all dated by the prophet - but one that was dated by a scribe - b/c the date was probably taken off ...  by the finders... as near as we can tell.... 

That is the date in Yechezkel 1:2 - We know this because it is written in 3rd person so it is easy to tell.  This is in scroll # 13.
The 13 Scrolls of Yechezkel

# 1.  8:1-19:14 - The present state of Yisra’el, temple abominations, wicked slain, the glory departs, opportunity of regather, Judah and Jerusalem’ guilt
          6th month, 1st day, 5th year of Yehoyachin’s exile
#2.   20:1-23:49  - Yisra’el, Judah and Jerusalem rebellious need for teshuvah - and opportunity for restoration.
          5th month, 10th day, 6th year of Yehoyachin’s exile

#3. 24:1 - 25:17 - Proclamation against surrounding territories
          10th month, 10th day, 9th year of Yehoyachin’s exile

#4.  29:1-16  - Proclamation against Egypt
          10th month, 12th day, 10th year of Yehoyachin’s exile

#5.  26:1- 28:26 - Proclamation against Tyre and its King (metaphor of hasatan)
          ?month, 1st day, 11th year of Yehoyachin’s exile

#6.  30:20-26 - Proclamation against Pharaoh
          1st month, 7th day, 11th year

#7.  31:1-18 - Egypt cut down like a tree
          3rd month, 1st day, 11th year of Yehoyachin’s exile

#8.  32:17-33:20 - Egypt assigned to the pit
          ? month, 1st day, 12th year

#9.  32:1 - 32:16 - Lamentation for Egypt
          12th month, 1st day, 12th year of captivity
          Egypt fall came before the fall of Jerusalem

#10.  33:21 - 39:29 - Fall of Jerusalem
          10th month, 5th day, 12th year
          PROPHECIES CLOSE HERE - no more after this point.
         
There is a problem with the dates of Scrolls 9 and 10.  Jerusalem was destroyed by fire in the 5th month of the 11th year of Yehoyachin’s exile
What we know is a copy-iest (scribe) probably messed this up. 
          11 = ayin, shin, tov, yod
          12 = ayin, shin, tov - with NO yod.


#11.  40:1- 48:35 - To shame Yisra’el into repentance - and offer an interim constitution - if both houses repent then there is a new temple with sacrifices etc going on... UNTIL Mashiach comes.   BOTH houses refused.
          “This scroll was regulated to the back of the Volume as an appendix.  = a conditional offer of national restoration contingent on both houses repenting.  This would have been an interim constitution “until the time of restoration when the Seed would come.” “  This is after 13  years of silence from YHWH.

          10th month, 4th day, 25th year of Yehoyachin’s exile.

#12. 29:17 - 30:19 - Babylon will plunder Egypt
          1st month, 12th day, 27th year of Yehoyachin’s exile.

#13.  1:1-2 - 7:27  - Priestly commission of judgment and wrath that all of Yisra’el has rejected the interim constitution of YHWH, and he has set for the sword of chapter 5. 

~
So what this means is - there is no third temple with animal sacrifices - because at the time that prophecy was given - both houses of Yisra’el refused to do Teshuvah and did not take up YHWH on his offer for an interim constitution until the Messiah came....

So I invited you to read Yechezkel in the order the prophet delivered the scrolls to the princes of Yisra’el.... and understand what he was actually saying!  AMEIN!!  Baruch hashem YHWH!! :)

******
Brad Scott - B’re’shiyt Study

study guide p 56

we are finishing.... verse
B’re’shiyt 1:22
“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”

“Vay-y’varek  ‘otam  Elohiym le’mor p’ru  ur’vu  umile’u  ‘et-ham-mayim  bay-yam-miy  ve’ha’oph  yirev ba’aretz.”


p 57 in study guide

UMILe’U
          Translated as = to fill the earth or fill the waters.

          Some say - it is “replenished”... the angelic beings existed before man... and according to IS 14 - and 1/3 of angels fell with him - and roamed the earth....

from Hebrew root Mala = to fill something to overflow... more than full...

Joshua 3:15  “over-flows”

translated as fill, fulfill, 

and a couple times translated as “replenished”
also the word translated into “consecrated”
based on another definition = satisfaction, accomplished

(see scripture listed on p 57)

= to fill the waters and the seas...

“pleres” = Greek  = fill to abundance (Not about ending - full)

Mattityahu 15:37

Acts 6:5  - full

2 Yochanan 8

Mattityahu 5:17 “fill”
          = Hebrew idiom... to destroy and fulfill the law are idioms....
B/c He obeyed the law - he filled it up.

**
p 58 in study guide:

B’re’shiyt 1:23
“Vaye’hiy--erev  vaye’hiy  voqer  yom cha’mishiy.”

“And there was evening and there was morning day fifth”

“And the evening and the morning were the 5th day.”

Vaye’hiy -- erev = And there was evening

vaye’hiy = and there was

voquer = morning

yom = day

CHa’MISHIY =  5th

Chumash = is name of a particular volume / commentary of first 5 books... = the five

even though this is a number, it also has a literal meaning.

cha’mishiy = armed, prepared, to be ready

#5 = grace and mercy

see p 59 in study guide on #5

*****  *********

Torah Parashah Vayetze ~ “He Went Out”
B’re’shiyt 28:10 - 32:2  RSTNE p 28

1.  Yaakov goes out from Beer-Sheeva toward Charan.
He stops and sleeps on a rock - and sees a ladder/stairway with heavenly malachim (angels) ascending and descending and YHWH stood above it and blesses Yaakov - like He blessed Avraham and Yitzchak.

B’re’shiyt 28: 13- 15


2.    Yaakov gets to Charan and finds Rachel at the well.... and she takes him to her father’s (Lavan’s) house.

3.   Yaakov makes a deal with Lavan to work for the privilege to marry Rachel - 7years... he then gets stuck with Leah - and has to work 7 more years for Rachel....
4.   Billah - Rachel’s maid and Zilpah - Leah’s maid are also thrown in there as mothers of Yaakov’s children.

Wikipedia says - The Testament of Naftali, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, says that Bilhah and Zilpah's father was named Ahotay. He was taken into captivity but redeemed by Laban, Rachel and Leah's father, who gave Ahotay a wife named Hannah, who was their mother. Rabbinic sources (Midrash Raba, and elsewhere), on the other hand, state that Bilhah and Zilpah were also Laban's daughters, through his concubines,[2] making them half-sisters to Rachel and Leah.

5.    Yaakov has lots of children

LEAH
ZIPAH
(Leah's servant)
BILHAH
(Rachel's servant)
Rachel
Reuben (1)
Gad (7)
Dan (5)
Joseph (12)
Simeon (2)
Asher (8)
Naphtali (6)
Benjamin (13)
Levi (3)



Judah (4)



Issachar (9)



Zebulun (10)



Dinah (11)




6.    B’re’shiyt 30:25-27 p 30
Yaakov asks Lavan to let him go back to his home country... and Lavan changes the requirements many times.

7.    Yaakov makes a deal about the sheep and goats...  the all white ones are Lavan’s and the speckled goats and the brown sheep are Yaakov’s.

8.   and Lavan started to not be happy with Yaakov  31:1-2

9.   31:3 YHWH tells Yaakov to take his people and things and leave and go home.  

10.            They leave - and Rachel steals the house idols of Lavan... 

11. Lavan chases them down and searches for his idols...

12.    31:32 - Yaakov declares death for anyone who stole the idols and he doesn’t know it was his beloved Rachel.

13.    Lavan and Yaakov make a covenant and Lavan leaves and goes back to his  home.

*
I’d like to go back to the beginning of this Parashah and look at

B’re’shiyt 28:10-22 p 28

Yaakov has to be exhausted.

 Now we know that Rivkah is worried about Esav killing Yaakov... so look what she did in B’re’shiyt 27:46

Yitzchak told Yaakov -  in 28:2 “Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the bayit of Bethu-El your eema’s abba; and take a wife from there from the daughters of Lavan your eema’s brother.”
So Yaakov leaves... finally he’s away from his twin brother.  This must be a relief and also sad. 

remember:
Change  - even good change - is difficult.

So Yaakov gets to a “certain place” and he is so tired that he uses a stone for a pillow.

28:12  - and Yaakov has a dream of a ladder “set up on the earth and the top of it reached to the shamayim” and “heavenly malachim” (heavenly angels or messengers) were “ascending and descending on it”

and 28:13 - YHWH stood above it.

What does this ladder represent?

~
In the Menorah - on one side we have three lights that stand for

“B’re’shiyt - bara - Elohiym” = YHWH

On the other side we have

“ha shamayim v’et  ha aretz.” = earth

What is the connection between the two?....
the same things as the ladder ....

..... the Aleph Tov - the shemesh - the Light of the World. 

Y’shua haMashiach. 

He is always the connection.

Interesting that YHWH meets Yaakov here... in this place.

What is so unique about this place?

After all Yaakov has just been given the bachor (first born)blessing.

But how much sense does this make?  He gets sent away by his parents?

Remember he can’t know what we know... we’ve read ahead...

He knows he is blessed - he is the one to inherit all his Father has....or the majority of it anyway...

And so it would stand to reason that he should be made the leader of the house and all the people that have followed his grandfather Avraham, and his father Yitzchak... 

-   Yaakov has a  purpose - and he is extremely important.
-   I am guessing he thought he knew what his life would look like... 

and then he gets sent away. 

He’s in the desert somewhere - on his way to his mother’s family.
Somewhere between Beer-Sheva and Charan.

He has to feel all alone in the world.

I think he has to be wondering what in the world he is supposed to do.  He thought he knew... but then life happened...

Does this sound familiar?
Do you come to places where you thought you knew what your life was supposed to look like... and then - life happens ... and it isn’t looking like you thought it would?....

So for most of my life - when things happened and messed with how i thought it was supposed to be - my response was anger.

So i am guessing that is perhaps where Yaakov is.

This comes through in the story...

He has a most amazing dream of heavenly angels or messengers ascending and descending on a ladder that represents the Mashiach Himself.... 

When Yaakov wakes - he knows something amazing happened...
and he sets his pillow /stone up and poured oil on it.

He calls the place Beth-El  - the house of Elohiym.

BUT then... is where the - perhaps anger - shows up.

Keep in mind that YHWH has just spoken the same blessing over Yaakov, that he spoke of Avraham and Yitzchak - in verses 13-15....

and what Yaakov does...
well some say it was gutsy - maybe it was angry?...  maybe there was nothing left in him to even have the energy to be angry... maybe he was where Y’shua said those people HE spoke about in the beatitudes in Mattityahu 5 were....  so broken and on their knees - knowing that there is nothing good in them....  begging YHWH for provision and life...

What does Yaakov do?

Yaakov challenges YHWH, the El of his fathers...
Yaakov tells YHWH that if YHWH will go with him on his journey and provide him bread and a safe return,

-   Then YHWH will be known not just as the El of Avraham, and Yitzchak, but also the El of Yaakov.

~
On a side note recently i listened to a couple who were legitimately concerned about the choices their daughter is making.  - choices that aren’t healthy or safe.  BUT more than that - choices that don’t line up with the faith of the parents.

I can get that this is very concerning and deeply troubling... 

One of the things i said - besides acknowledging their efforts in raising her and the legitimate concern for safety...  I said... well, as difficult as it is for you - she has to make the faith she decides to have - her own.

They weren’t particularly blessed by this.  They do not understand Torah.

~
But the point is - the text doesn’t say that - despite how offensive this might sound - it doesn’t say that YHWH was bothered in the least.

wow.

So what happens in the days ahead - is Yaakov must deal with Lavan - who is full of deception.  - just how the world is for all of us.

But YHWH never leaves him... In fact, He blesses and blesses Yaakov.

Now we read Torah- and read the stories of the covenants YHWH made with His people....  and we can understand how we can be part of that... 

And we can look at the world outside - the amazing beauty of the earth and heavens...  and recognize He is there...

But at some point - we have to decide if WE are going to walk in that covenant of the Word.

In many ways - we here at HLM have left the pagan practices of what we grew up with and are learning what EXACTLY we believe and exactly WHO we serve and HOW to serve HIM.

We did it stomping mad sometimes and we did it with tear stained cheeks in others....

So where are you in your faith journey?

Some where between Beit-El and a pagan land??

Remember that YHWH met Yaakov in that desert place “between”...
He will meet you there too...

The key is - when the ladder shows up - you don’t ignore it. :)

Remember the pure in lev (heart) ??
Mattityahu 5:8 p 680
          “Blessed are the pure in lev: for they shall see YHWH.”

If you are clean on the inside - have done Teshuvah - you will see YHWH in your life all around you.

And when we truly see Him all around us...  we won’t just walk in the covenant of our abba’s... but our own...   and when we figure it out....  we will RUN.

amein.

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