Bereshit (Genesis) 28:10 –32:3
Haftarah: Hoshea (Hosea) 11:7 –12:12
Brit Chadasha: John 1:43 -51
The Aleph Tav
- In the Revelation of Yeshua Ha Mashiach to John we find 4 references to the Aleph Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew Aleph Bet; Rev. 1:8, 1:11, 21:6 and 22:13. The translation reads “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. Messiah Yeshua is a Hebrew man and not a Greek man therefore He would have said “I am the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the ending. He is the entire Hebrew Aleph Bet from A to Z so to speak therefore He is ALL the Hebrew letters, ALL the Hebrew words. Jn. 1:1 confirms this understanding. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim.” In its ancient form the Aleph Tav would read “strength of the covenant.”
- Jn. 17:21 -23: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.” **One as in “like-mindedness.”
Ps. 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Torah is within my heart.”
Parasha V’yeitzei
ויַּצֵֵא to go out, come out, exit or go forth
Parasha Highlights:
- Jacob flees
- Jacob dreams of a ladder
- Jacob meets Rachel
- Leah is substituted for Rachel
- Eleven sons are born to Jacob
- In last week’s sidra Jacob received the birthright blessing. Did he stay long enough to actually receive it? Our Parasha begins in Ge. 28:10 -11: “And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones ( מאֵבְַ נֵי ) of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep.” מאֵבְַ נֵי tells us that stone is plural, more than one stone is being used hence the use of the word “them.” The midrash tells us Jacob used 12 stones representing the not yet born tribes of Israel. Jacob gathered them up and arranged them around his head. The word for pillows, מְרַאשֲׁוֹת , means “place at the head, dominion or head place.”
- V 12: “Then he dreamed, and behold ( הִנּהֵ ), a ladder ( סלָֻּם ) was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of Elohim were ascending and descending on it.” Ladder, sulam, is used only once in the Tanakh. It comes from the root סָללַ which means to elevate, exalt, to gather up or cast up. The Hebrew word for behold is הִנּהֵ . In its paleo form הִנֵּה would read “behold the heir will be revealed.”
If we were living at the end of the third millennia and reading this Scripture, we would be looking forward to the first advent of Messiah. We are currently living at the end of the sixth millennia and reading this scripture; we are now looking forward to the second advent of Messiah. - The ladder, sulam, is Yeshua, the Vav as we discussed in last week’s sidra. This debate is laid to rest when Yeshua says in Jn. 1:51: “Amein, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” What this means to us is that the Aleph Tav Jacob, whose name means supplanter, is the archetype of the Mashiach. Messiah Yeshua will supplant the adversary as represented by the Aleph Tav Esau. We can confirm this theory by the numerical value of the name Jacob, יעַקֲֹב , which is 182; 1 + 8 + 2 = 11, a number associated with Yeshua. So far, we have been shown “behold ( הִנּהֵ ) the ladder (סלָֻּם) of the One who will be exalted ( סָללַ).
- Is. 62:10: “Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.”
- Jn. 12:31 –32: “Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
- V 18: “Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone ( אֶת־הָאֶבןֶ ) that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.” The Hebrew word for stone is אֶב ןֶ .אֶבןֶ means father while אֶ בֶן means son. The plural stones that Jacob used for his pillows have merged together into one stone. This is the cornerstone.
V 19: “And he called the name of that place ( אֶת־שֵֽׁם־הַמָּקֹום ) Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
- Now we have “behold ( הִנֵּה ) the ladder ( סֻלָּם ) of the One who will be exalted ( סָללַ ), the One who will become the head
- (אֶת־הָאֶבןֶ ) of the body.”
- Is. 28:16: “Therefore thus says Yehovah Elohay, ‘behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.'”
- 1 Pt. 2:4 -8: “This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.”
- V 19 -22: “And he called the name of that place ( אֶת־שֵֽׁם־הַמָּקֹום) Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘if Elohim will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then Yehovah shall be my Elohay. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be Elohim’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
- 29:1 –3: “So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. And he looked and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone (אֶת־הָאֶבןֶ) from the well’s mouth, water the sheep (אֶת־הַצּאֹן) and put the stone ( אֶת־הָאֶבןֶ ) back in its place on the well’s mouth.” **East of Jerusalem is the location of the Northern Kingdom where 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel made their home.
- Jn. 4:5 –10: “So, He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Yeshua, therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Yeshua said to her, ‘give Me a drink.” (For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘how is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Yeshua answered and said to her, ‘if you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- V 14: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” **The Samaritan woman is a picture of the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom. The betrothed woman He met at a well. She is Israel intermarried to the nations thereby committing spiritual adultery. Yeshua’s’ call to her is that of repentance and restoration. This was His mission at His first advent as recorded in Mt. 15:24 “I am not sent except to the sheep that have strayed from the house of Israel.” (Aramaic Bible in plain English)
- Jn. 4:18 tells us she has had five husbands and the one she is living with, the sixth, is not her husband: 6000 years of spiritual adultery. The Aleph Tav sheep are those who would be gathered in the 7th millennia.
- Jn. 10:3: “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”
- Jn. 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
Rachel, the bride of promise
- Jacob, the archetype of the Mashiach, is at a well. He meets Rachel, the bride of promise, at this well. Ge. 29:10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel (אֶת־רָחלֵ ) the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep ( אֶת־צאֹן) of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone ( אֶת־הָאֶבןֶ ) from the well’s mouth and watered the flock ( אֶת־צאֹן ) of Laban his mother’s brother.”
- V 18: “Now Jacob loved Rachel ( אתֶ־רָחלֵ ); so, he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” Jacob, the bridegroom, will work and wait for Rachel, the bride of promise, for seven years; 7000 years? We all know the story. Laban tricked Jacob and presented Leah, the older twin, in marriage so Jacob had to work and wait for another 7 days before he could marry Rachel. When Yeshua came the first time was the bride ready? Is the bride ready now?
- Like the matriarchs before her Rachel is barren. V 31 –32: “When Yehovah saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb (אתֶ־רַחמְהָּ ); but Rachel was barren. So, Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, ‘Yehovah has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.'”
- Reuben is the firstborn and would be entitled to the birthright blessing.
- V 33: “Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘because Yehovah has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.’ And she called his name Simeon. She conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore, his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise Yehovah ( אֶ ת־יְהוָה ).” Therefore, she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.” The first four sons are born. Their birth order is significant as we shall see in future Parashot.
- The womb of Rachel remained closed until it was time for the 11th son of Jacob to be conceived. 30:22: “Then Elohim remembered Rachel ( אתֶ־רָחלֵ ) and Elohim listened to her and opened her womb ( אתֶ־רחַמְָהּֽ ). And she conceived and bore a son, and said, ‘Elohim has taken away my reproach” ( אתֶ־חרֶפְּתִָיֽ).
- Why is the Alef Tav attached to the word reproach which is ח רְֶפּהָ ? Reproach, ח רְֶפּהָ , means a person or thing that is despised. Ps. 22:6 Speaks of Messiah: “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.”
- Is. 53:3 –4: “He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely, He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by Yehovah, struck down and afflicted.…” **Is it possible that the Aleph Tav reproach is a prophetic picture of Messiah?
Joseph
- V 24: “So she called his name ( אֶת־שְׁמֹו ) Joseph, and said, ‘Yehovah shall add to me another son.’ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph ( אֶת־יֹוסֵף ), that Jacob said to Laban, ‘send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. Give me my wives ( אתֶ־נשַָׁי ) and my children (אתֶ־ילְדַָי ) or whom I have served you and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.'” **Joseph is the firstborn son of the bride of promise. This is the first time the Aleph Tav is attached to one of the sons of Jacob. Clearly there is something special about Joseph. Joseph is another type and shadow of Yeshua. The numerical value of יֹ וסֵף is 156. 1 + 5 + 6 = 12; reducing to a single digit 1 + 2 = 3, resurrection! We shall see the life of Joseph mirrors the life of Yeshua. The Hebrew word for “ingathering” shares the gematria of 156.
- Jacob has served Laban for 20 years. In 30:26 Jacob requests from Laban: “give me my wives ( אתֶ־נשַָׁי ) and my children (אתֶ־ילְדַָי ) for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service ( אֶ ת־עבֲדֹתִָי ) which I have done
- for you.” Since Jacob is the archetype of Yeshua then what “work or service” are we really speaking about? The use of the next Aleph Tav may give us a hint.
- V 35: “So, he removed that day the male goats (אֶת־הַתְּיָשִׁים) that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. So, we have the Aleph Tav work and the Aleph Tav he goats. Part of the work of the Aleph Tav Yeshua at His first advent was to be The Father’s own atoning sacrifice. At His first advent Yeshua was our Pascal, Passover lamb. Passover or Pesach is a “covenant” festival. There is nothing about Pesach that speaks to atonement. Yom Kippurim, the Day of Atonements, is what is being referred to with the next Aleph Tav regarding the Aleph Tav “he goats.” The Hebrew word for “he-goat,” תַּיִשׁ , is used only four times in the Tanakh with only one Aleph Tav connection which is found in our sidra. I think it’s safe to say the Aleph Tav “he-goat” is a reference to Yeshua’s’ finished work on the stake. The numerical value of “he-goat” is 710; 7 + 1 = 8.
- In conclusion, this Parasha contains many embedded references to Messiah Yeshua. If we choose to be “one” with Messiah, then by extension we will be “one” with The Father and gathered in the last day.
- Col. 1:7 –18 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the assembly; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
Haftarah
- Hoshea (Hosea) 12:13 –14:10 & 12:13 Jacob fled to the field of Aram; Israel (Jacob) worked for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep. Yeshua guards His sheep, His bride.
- V 14 And a prophet Elohim brought Israel up from Egypt, and through a prophet they were safeguarded. Yeshua came up from Egypt to safeguard His sheep.
Brit Chadasha
- John 1:43 –51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
- Our connection to the Torah Portion is Jacob’s dream on Mt. Moriah the future Holy of Holies.