Bereshit (Genesis) 32:4 –36:43
Haftarah: Obadiah 1 –21
Brit Chadasha: 1 Cor. 5:1 –13
and Rev. 7:1 -12
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.”
- Mt. 13:24 -30 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So, the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.” **The bride is like the wheat; she is humbled and bows down while the tares are haughty and proud.
Hebrew Hermeneutics
- Peshat= literal meaning
- Remez= hint or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.
- Derash= from Hebrew darash: “inquire” (“seek”)
- Sod= secret (“mystery”) or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.
Parasha V’yishlach
ויַּשְִׁלחַ – meaning to send to stretch out, extend or direct
Parasha Highlights:
- Jacob and Esau reunite
- Jacob struggles with the angel; Jacob’s name is changed to Israel
- Dinah is abducted by Shechem
- The men of Shechem are circumcised then decimated by Simeon and Levi
- Benjamin is born
- The death of Rebekah, Deborah her nurse, Rachel and Isaac
- To fully appreciate what is happening in our Sidra we must first look at the final verses in Parasha V’yeitzei beginning in 32:2-3: “And Jacob went on his way, and the “angels” of Elohim met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, “this is Elohim’s’ host: and he called the name of that place Machan aim ( מַֽחֲנָֽ יִם ) and Jacob sent messengers (angels) before him to Esau his brother into the land of Seir, the country of Edom.” Machanaim = means “two camps.” **The sages say there were “two” camps because there was “one” camp of angels watching over Jacob during his time with Laban which was outside the land. The second camp were Elohim’s’ angels that took over when he was ready to enter the land. The “two” camps also allude to the “two” advents of Messiah Yeshua; the “two” redemptions and certainly the first letter of Scripture, the Bet, which is the second letter of the Aleph Bet. The Bet tells us that on account of the Son was creation made. In its paleo or ancient form, the Bet means a house, a tent or a family. There is another possibility. “Two” camps can be speaking of the holy and the profane.
- Jacob is preparing for his meeting with Esau in Ge. 32:4 -6: “And he commanded them, saying, ‘speak to my lord Esau, ‘your servant Jacob says: I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'” Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
- V7 -8: “So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people ( אתֶ־הָעםָ ) that were with him, and the flocks (אֶת־הַצּאֹן ) and herds ( אתֶ־הבַּקָָר ) and camels, into “two” companies. And he said, ‘if Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.'”
- Recall Jacob is a type and shadow of Yeshua. On a deeper level we can see that it is Yeshua who divides the people. In Mt. 10:34 Yeshua said: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” What is the sword? Eph. 6:17: “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
- The “two” camps = the letter Bet (2) which = division; division by the Word of Yehovah, who is Yeshua (Jn. 1:1) Division is necessary to bring together like kind minded believers. Dividing the holy from the profane. There are always “two” camps. Mt. 12:30 tells us: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” **In its paleo or ancient form, which Hebrew letter represents division or separation? It is the Chet, ח , the 8th letter of the Aleph Bet. So, when we talk about division in Scripture, we need to consider the Covenant of Pieces, eight pieces.
- “Two” camps, those in covenant and those that are not in covenant. The Aleph Tav people are those who walk in obedience; the Aleph Tav flocks and herds represent the clean or holy while the camels represent unclean or profane.
- V 9 –11 Then Jacob prays, “O Elohay of my father Abraham and Elohay of my father Isaac, Yehovah who said to me, ‘return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant ( אתֶ־עבַדְֶּ ); for I crossed over this Jordan ( אתֶ־היַּ רְַדּןֵ ) with my staff, and now I have become “two” companies.: “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. **Recall from last week’s sidra that Jacob is a type and shadow of the Mashiach. The Aleph Tav “servant” then is speaking of Yeshua, the ultimate servant.
- Mk. 10:45: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. “
- Phil. 2:5: “Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Messiah Yeshua who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
Dinah
- 34:1: “Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” **Dinah “went out” from the safety of Israel, away from the protection of Yehovah, to investigate the pagan people of Shechem. Dinah, a female, is a type and shadow of the continued behavior of the people of Israel. Israel would walk in covenant with Yehovah for a while then drift back toward the pagan nations trying their best to assimilate. Dinah is the second born twin sister of Zebulun. The name Dinah means “judgment.” Every time Israel drifts away from a covenant relationship with Yehovah judgment soon follows. Dinah, whose name means judgment, would be referred to as Dinah Bat (daughter) Israel therefore we can render her name as “judgment of Israel.” Her name is used eight times in the Tanakh; eight is the number for covenant. Like Israel, she “walked away” from Yehovah and was violated.
Shechem
- V 13: “But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem ( אֶת־שְׁכֶם) and Hamor ( אֶת־חמֲוֹר ) his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled ( טִמּאֵ ) Dinah their sister. Dinah was physically and spiritually defiled, she is tamei which means spiritually and ritually “unclean”
- V 14 -16: “And they said to them, ‘we cannot do this thing, to give our sister ( אֶת־אֲחֹתֵנוּ = our beloved bride) to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. **Dinah = Israel in her spiritually unclean state, tamei. Before she “went away” she was spiritually clean, tabor; the holy became profane. **But on this condition, we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters ( אֶת־בְּנֹתֵינוּ ) to you, and we will take your daughters ( אתֶ־בְּנתֹיֵכםֶ ) to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
- Does anyone see a problem with this concept?
- How do we become “one” people? More particularly the “chosen” people? It’s always been the same. Acts 15:20 –21: “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moshe has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” ** do these four things then study Torah, the first five books of Scripture.
- Circumcision was the issue they were discussing at the Jerusalem council. The same circumcision Simeon and Levi suggested to Hamor. All male infants were to be circumcised on the eighth day. What is the significance of circumcision? Ge. 17:11 “…and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” **The people of Shechem could have easily become “one” with Israel had they also forsaken their own pagan gods and turned to Yehovah.
- Circumcision accomplished “two” things: The 1st thing is it caused a division or separation of people. The “chosen” people from the gentile population. The 2nd thing is it keeps the “seed” pure and undefiled. Dt. 30:6: “And Yehovah your Elohay will circumcise your heart ( אתֶ־לבְבְָ ) and the heart ( אתֶ־לְבבַ ) of your descendants, to love Yehovah ( אֶת־יְהוָה ) your Elohay with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
- What is the circumcision of the heart? Jer. 31:33 “But this is the covenant (8) that I will make with the house of Israel ( אֶת־בּיֵת ) after those days, says Yehovah: I will put My law ( אתֶ־תּ ורתִָי ) in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. V 36“If those ordinances depart from before Me, says Yehovah, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
- Before the command of circumcision was given to Abraham was “seed” all the same? No separation of people? The “seed is physical more importantly the “seed” is spiritual. This is the grafting in process from Rom. 11. This is the condition that Simeon and Levi failed to mention to Hamor.
- Simeon is the second born son of Leah. When the firstborn son, Reuben, loses his birthright blessing by defiling his father’s bed and consorts with Bilhah (35:22) Simeon would have moved into the firstborn position. Instead, Simeon, also lost the birthright blessing because of his actions in Shechem. The question becomes did he lose the blessing because he was part of slaughtering the men of Shechem OR because he was part of the conspiracy to corrupt the royal bloodline? Maybe both! Now the birthright blessing would pass to the third son, Levi. Wait a minute! Wasn’t Levi part of the conspiracy to slaughter the men of Shechem? To be continued.
- 34:30 –31: “And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, should he deal with our sister ( אֶת־אֲחֹותֵֽנוּ) as with a harlot?”
- The Hebrew word for harlot is זָנהָ . Zanah means a woman who commits fornication but also is one who is unfaithful to Yehovah. In this case would be a picture of the collective Israel. Interestingly, the numerical value for Zanah is 62; 6 + 2 = 8. Can a harlot enter the Olam Haba, the world to come? Doesn’t she need to repent, that is return to Yehovah so that she can be restored which means she will walk in obedience to His Covenant. In its paleo or ancient form Zanah would read “cut off the heir which will be revealed.” This makes sense when we think of corrupting the royal bloodline.
Rachel
- 35:16: “They journeyed from Beth-el and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath, when Rachel went into labor and had difficulty in her childbirth. And it was when she had difficulty in her labor that the midwife said to her, “have no fear, for this one, too, is a son for you. And it came to pass, as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben Oni (son of sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of the right hand).” **We see the pattern of “two” continuing representing the 1st and 2nd redemptions. With the name Ben Oni (son of sorrow) we see a picture of the Mashiach at His 1st advent. The stepfather of Yeshua is Joseph therefore He would be called Messiah ben Yossef. The essential function of Mashiach ben Yossef is to prepare Israel for the final redemption, to put them into the proper condition in order to clear the way for Mashiach ben David to come. How did Yeshua do that? Won’t there be “two” thousand years in between the 1st and 2nd advents? He taught the true essence of Torah. Benjamin is unique among all the sons of Jacob in that he never bowed to Esau, and he is the only one born within the holy borders of Eretz Yisrael. It is in his territory that the Temple stood upon Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the Heart of the world. He was born near Beit-Lechem.
- The location of Rachel’s tomb speaks to the very birth of Yeshua. Micah 4:8: “And you, O Tower of the Flock (Migdal Eder), The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
- Micah 5:2 “But you, Beit-Lechem Ephratah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of ancient times, from the days of old.” Midrash Rabbah says, “AND RACHEL DIED, AND WAS BURIED IN THE WAY TO EPHRATH (35:19). What was Jacob’s reason for burying Rachel in the way to Ephrath? Jacob foresaw that the exiles would pass on from thence, therefore he buried her there so that she might pray for mercy for them. Thus, it is written, ‘A voice is heard in Ramah… Rachel weeping for her children…” (Genesis Rabbah 82:10, Soncino Press Edition)
- In conclusion, any way we examine this sidra the pattern of “two” is repeated.
- Two camps; one camp is holy (spiritually clean) while the other is profane (spiritually unclean).
- Jacob and Esau; one is holy while one is profane.
- Dinah and Shechem; Dinah became unclean when she left her own “camp.”
- Israel the circumcised, the holy, Shechem, the uncircumcised.
- Benjamin; son of my sorrow and son of my right hand.
Haftarah
- Ovadyah (Obadiah) 1-21
- Recall the Torah portion gave the chronicles of Esau. Among his descendants are Amalek. Our Haftarah speaks to the destruction of the seed of Esau. During the Exodus the stragglers, the old and infirmed, were killed by Amalek. King Saul was commanded by Yehovah to destroy them all, men, women, children and all they possess but failed to do so.
- “The House of Jacob will be a fire and the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau for stubble..” (Ovadiah1:18): “the progeny of Esau shall be delivered only into the hands of the progeny of Joseph.
Brit Chadasha
- 1st Corin. 5:1 –13 v 10…idol worship. Didn’t Jacob make the people give up their alien gods?
- Rev. 7:1 -12 We have a reference to 12 tribes when the 144,000 are sealed. Our Torah portion lists the last of the 12 tribes, Benjamin, being born in the land.