Torah - Lech Lecha - covenant of promise - B’re’shiyt
12 and 15
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Sh’ma
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1 Nov 2014 ~ 8 Cheshvan 5775
Torah parashah - Lech Lecha - Get yourself out
B’re’shyiyt 12:1 - 17:27
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“Cross my heart and hope to die...”
Beginning to understand the Covenant of Promise
{resource - “Back to the Melchizedek Future” by Dr David L Perry, Th.D.}
Remember that old saying that kids say... “cross my heart and hope to die”.... ?
Well, that, my friend, is a good picture of exactly what YHWH did in the blood covenant of B’re’shiyt 15.
Crossing the heart is about dividing flesh.
The ‘hope to die’ part evidences a death penalty.
Let’s also note here that B’re’shiyt 15 is the only place in the Scriptures where YHWH makes a blood covenant with man.
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The first thing we need to do is to understand COVENANTS the way the ancients understood them...
The COVENANT is a formalized agreement.
Let’s read :
B’re’shiyt 12:1-8.
Now what i have always understood is that this is a promise YHWH made to Avraham.
While that is true... we need to recognize this as ....
“an autonomous agreement that YHWH made with Himself.”
In other words... the B’re’shiyt 12 OATH is a COVENANT.
“YHWH oathed (agreed/covenanted) to Himself to bless Abraham and his descendants BEFORE He ever entered into covenant with Abraham and his descendants at B’re’shiyt 15.”
What was the oath or promise?....
B’re’shiyt /Genesis 12:2-3,7 RSTNE
“2 And i will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a bracha (blessing):
3 And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all the mishpachot (family) of the earth be blessed - (Hebrew = “nivrechu” = mixed (grafted in / intermingled).
7 And YHWH appeared to Avram, and said, ‘To your zera (seed) will i give this land: and there he built an altar to YHWH who appeared to him.”
That’s the covenant of promise.
Now let’s skip chapters 13 and 14 and go to
B’re’shiyt 15.
Read :
B’re’shiyt 15
Now first of all... let me tell you that i used to teach this as an unconditional covenant ... because Abraham had nothing to do with the covenant - since he was asleep.
I was wrong.
What i am learning is very much different.... and i want to begin to share this with you.
First let’s look at see a couple Scriptures in this chapter:
B’re’shiyt /Genesis 15:6
“And he (Abraham) believed in the Word of YHWH, and He counted it to him as tzedakah (righteousness).”
(WHO is “the Word of YHWH” ???!! )
Yochanan / John 1:1
“B’re’shiyt was the Miltha
(Aramaic meaning force, emanation, power substance and Torah/Word to apply a unique term to the man manifestations of YHWH)
the Living Torah, and the Living Torah was with YHWH, and the Living Torah was YHWH.”
(This is how Abraham was “saved”!)
B’re’shiyt /Genesis 15:8
“And he said, Master YHWH, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”
This is kind of funny!
First - Avraham believes YHWH and he is tzedakah /righteous - saved - because of that belief...
and then in 15:8 the same guy is asking how he will know... or ... another way to say this is... “can you sign on the dotted line?” !!
By obliging Abram, what YHWH was actually doing was insuring His promises (in addition to His oath in B’re’shiyt 12).
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
Note that at this point - Abram is still uncircumcised... he hasn’t done anything to come into agreement... but believe.
This is a big deal!...
~
So then Avraham is the one getting the animals and birds... and he is the one doing the cutting....
Avraham knows what is going on.... a covenant is being made.
I don’t think we can say that he is not a part or not involved.
Also let’s notice here that Abram is cutting animals in half....
So what would he have looked like?
-He’d have been covered in blood.... the blood that ratifies the covenant.
Then in B’re’shiyt 15:12 - the still uncircumcised Avraham was put to sleep.
B’re’shiyt 15:10-12
In 15:12... the English says “a deep sleep”
but that Hebrew word that “sleep” is translated from is...
“tardemah”
This is important - the premise we had for saying / thinking/ believing that this covenant was unconditional was that Abram was asleep so he had no part of this...
but let’s look at what the Word actually says - not what we were taught it means....
Tardemah has been translated to mean “sleep” or “deep sleep”... as in incoherent, incapacitated, unconscious and not cognitively aware....
or in other words.... “dead to the world” - as Dr Perry wrote.
BUT - ‘tardemah’ can also mean “lethargy OR a trance-like state”.
So let’s look at the next verse - after “tardemah” happens...
B’re’shiyt 15:13-16
“And He said to Avram, ‘Know of a certainty that your zera shall be gerim in the land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom shall they come out with great substance. 15 And you shall go to your ahvot (fathers) in shalom; you shall be buried in a tov old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
wow.
Here is YHWH speaking to Abram.
We know that YHWH is not about confusion... There is no reason for Him to speak and demonstrate - where there is no visual or audible conscious perception.
Besides... let’s look at -
Yochanan /John 8:56
“Your abba Avraham rejoiced to see My yom (day): and he saw it, and had gilah (rejoicing).”
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There’s bigger things that this issue about taredmah - or Abram being in a trance-like state....
B’re’shiyt 15:17
“And it came to pass, that, when the shemesh (sun) went down, and it was dark, see a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”
In christianity - we heard that “God walked between the pieces”
But maybe we should learn about the “smoking furnace” and the “burning lamp”.
We know that YHWH is a “consuming fire”
and Y’shua is the “light of the world”
We need to also remember that to make this kind of covenant - there must be at least two parties.
Dr Perry says...
“The covenant of B’re’shiyt 15 is a two-party agreement evidenced by the word ‘AND’ in B’re’shiyt 15:17.”
Dr Perry goes on to say...
Abba YHWH is the smoking furnace - is the party to the first part of walking through agreement...
and “the pre-incarnate Y’shua, the lighted lamp is standing in for, or taking the place of Abram. He is the substitute for the still uncircumcised and name not changed, Abram AND his descendants collectively.”
This - passing through the pieces was signifying 2 main pledges.
Pledge 1. An agreement to keep the covenant being made
Pledge 2. Acceptance of death, should this covenant ever be broken.
“Cross my heart and hope to die”….
Now the big question becomes...
“If the covenant of B’re’shiyt 15 is an unconditional covenant - then why is it attached to a condition? Why is it attached to the most severe penalty possible -- DEATH ???
We have to understand that Abba YHWH needed that Covenant condition... It was part of His plan from the start.
Y’shua was Abram’s substitute.
He was willing to take on the death penalty for Abraham and his descendants IF they ever broke this B’re’shiyt 15 covenant.
Dr Perry says..
Yirmeyahu /Jeremiah 31:32 is the empirical proof that YHWH declared that the descendants of Abraham DID BREAK this covenant.
Yirmeyahu 31:32
“Not according to the brit (covenant) that I made with their ahvot (father) in the yom (day) that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt / sin); which brit (covenant) they broke, although I was a husband to them, says YHWH.”
Note - “ahvot (father)” here can not mean Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as is classically thought...
.... For we know that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could have never been ‘led by the hand’ out of Egypt.
....Plus there is no biblical evidence that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob every broke the covenant .
Also note that the term “ahvot” here in Yermeyahu 31:32 speaks of generations.
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Dr Perry goes on to state
“The B’re’shiyt 15 covenant tells us why Y’shua died the way he did.”
“The covenant demanded that the death of the one who broke it would resemble those halved animals.”
If this covenant would not have been broken, would Y’shua have to die?
NO.
Little did i know... this is exactly what is at stake in Mattityahu 26:39...
Mattityahu /Matthew 26:39
“And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and made tefillah (prayer), saying, O My Abba, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.”
The ancient world would have known that there is no reason to put any party of the covenant to death unless the covenant was broken.
“The fact that Y’shua was put to death because He accepted that position is not only iron clad evidence for the conditionality of the covenant - it is an amazing example of intentional grace!”
Baruch haShem YHWH!!
A lot of people can’t deal with the idea that “God” required a human sacrifice....
But “there is a huge difference between DEMANDING a sacrifice and OFFERING to be that sacrifice.”
let me say that again....
“There is a huge difference between DEMANDING a sacrifice and OFFERING to be that sacrifice.”
Mattityahu /Matthew 26:39
“And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and made tefillah (prayer), saying, O My Abba, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.”
It was NOT possible for “this cup to pass from (him)”.
Because... this was the ONLY WAY that all the prophecies could be fulfilled.
Are you getting this yet?
Y’shua walked the path between the dead animals… and said… “if the covenant is broken - let it be unto me as these dead animals”… as was per tradition in this kind of a covenant in that day.
Y’shua said… for us…
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
Y’shua’s death simultaneously satisfied all the prophecies...
He died the death of the adulterous bride.
He died the death of the rebellious son
He died the death for the sins of the whole world
He died the death for the breaking of the B’re’shiyt 15 covenant
Most importantly -
He died AS the spotless lamb of YHWH.
Yochanan / John 1:29
“The next yom (day) Yochanan saw Y’shua coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of YHWH, who takes away the sin of the olam hazeh (this age or this world).”
Y’shua’s death (and resurrection)- how it happened - is and was the ONLY WAY the covenant could have been restored, the Bride to be made whole and spotless, the Bride-groom could remarry the Bride, the Melchizedek priesthood could be restored, and you and i can have our sins forgiven.
There is NO OTHER WAY.
Do you understand there is no other way??
The only way we get to the Father….
b/c this is the covenant… nobody else could do it - only Y’shua… and it could be done no other way.
He is the only way.
because He entered into that covenant for us… instead of Abraham dying - Y’shua said… I’ll do it instead….
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
amein! Praise YHWH!
So how did Avraham’s descendants break the Covenant of B’re’shiyt 15?
Remember last week i introduced to you... that first in Scripture - was the Covenant of Promise... (B’re’shiyt 12 and 15) and then came the Covenant of Law - Sh’mot (Exodus) 24:12 and following... even though the Levitical priesthood doesn’t develop right away....
We will come back to this in the Shabbats ahead... but let’s just say...
As we read in B’re’shiyt 15 today - the Book of the Covenant - aka The Covenant of Promise - had already been blood ratified ...
and blood ratified means that nothing can be added or taken away. (Think about what that means about Y’shua’s death and resurrection!! :))
So if you go look at Sh’mot 24:12...
This is Moshe’s 4th trip of Mt Sinai .... and starts the infamous 40 days of Moshe being up on the mount ...
... which leads to the golden calf...
Sh’mot (Exodus) 24:12
“And YHWH said to Moshe, ‘Come up to Me into the mount, and be there: and I will give you tablets stone and a Torah, and mitzvot that I have written; that you may teach them.”
- But note that this Torah - had not been agreed to yet.
So this is a new covenant.... the covenant of LAW.
YHWH understands and abides by law, including the law of a sealed, and blood ratified covenant ....
... that is why we can trust Him. :)
Dr Perry writes...
“By the same token, YHWH’s intimate knowledge of the Isra’elites ... knew what they would do.”
He knew all those people at the base of the mountain wouldn’t wait 40 days and 40 nights with out a bail -out....
He knew they would break the B’re’shiyt 15 blood covenant.
During those 40 days and 40 nights... Sh’mot 24:12 - Sh’mot 32:1.... the people had no idea what Moshe was doing, how long he’d be or even IF he would return.
During that 40 day period Moshe was “getting instruction that would double as damage control. He was getting a back-up plan, Plan B.” -
= The Covenant of the Law.
and this Covenant of Law would bring the Levitical Priesthood... and ended the Melchizedek Priesthood - until Y’shua would restore it.
“Isra’el would no longer be (because of their covenant breach) a nation OF Melchizedek priests....
Instead, she would not be a nation WITH a Levite priest.
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Dr Perry states:
“Y’shua’s crucifixion was all by itself the slam -dunk proof that:
- The B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant Promise was, in fact, a two party covenant.
-The B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant Promise was broken - rendering it null and void.
- Breaking it required the death penalty. Death was the ‘condition’ attached tot he B’re’shiyt 15 covenant (hence the crucifixion).
-The B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant Promise came with A GUARANTEE making this a CONDITIONAL covenant.
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“The B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant Promise also required that there would be a future ‘answer’. An answer that Avraham was not going to live long enough to see - this answer would include another covenant. This time only with Abram’s descendants.
YHWH fulfilled His promise.
The Sinai Book of the Covenant (LAW) was the ‘answer’ to the B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant Promise YHWH mad with Abraham’s descendants.
But because these descendants broke the Covenant - now the ‘promise’ had no ‘answer,’ but still had a ‘GUARANTEE’.
Remember the ‘answer’ was guaranteed by a covenant that carried a death position.
If Abraham’s descendants ever broke the ‘answer’ Y’shua had accepted the death penalty as the covenant go’el - kinsman redeemer for them.
Therefore, the B’re’shiyt 15 covenant could be broken.
It could be made invalid.
And once so, the attached penalty of death would be enacted.
This was intricately needed for YHWH’s plan for” (restoration of Isra’el) “and salvation through blood covering.”
YHWH has a plan... and He is still working out that plan....
We have the Mo’ed that tells us that plan....
He is still blessing Avraham’s children (us - those nivrecu -intermingled) ...
...because of His oath in B’re’shiyt 12 - the promise.... not because of B’re’shiyt 15 Covenant.
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The main difference between the covenant in 12 and the covenant in 15 is that 15 had the death position.... and 12 did not.
“furthermore, the covenant at B’re’shiyt 15 gave Y’shua the covenant legal right to die in our place; the oath of 12 did not.”
“Thus, the covenant of B’re’shiyt 15 was made because it could be broken and broken for a purpose....YHWH’s plans...
YHWH knew that it would be broken and He declared it so in Jeremiah 31:32... knowing exactly what it could cost Him and entering it anyway is true grace.”
“Remember the only covenant we ( as fallen humans) can not break is the one we are not party to.
The only covenant YHWH is obligated to keep is one that has never been broken.
It is good news we cannot break YHWH’s oath to Himself and even better that neither will YHWH break an oath to Himself.”
Tehillim (Psalm) 89:34
“My brit (covenant) will I not break, nor alter the thing that hs gone out of My lips.”
- not “our lips” but YHWH says “MY lips”.
B’re’shiyt 12 is a single party covenant - “My covenant”.
B’re’shiyt 15 is a two-party covenant - “Our covenant”.
There is no other way - but through Y’shua HaMashiach
… because he was willing to covenant instead of Avraham… he was willing to be the stand in, the substitute… taking what should have been ours….
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
Baruch HaShem YHWH!
AMEIN.
