Commentaries on Weekly Torah Readings

Lech Lecha (לך לך) – Genesis 12:1–17:27.

by
Jon Thompson

Abraham did what YHVH told him to do even if it didn't look like a good idea. Even when the call from YHVH required personal sacrifice, Abraham was faithful to do what he was instructed to do. We can learn from Abraham.

“YHVH said to Abram [later called Abraham], Go forth yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house.” (Genesis 12:1)

To us this may seem like a small request. But Abraham had already followed his father Terah from Ur Kasdim to Haran where the family settled in a new home. It was from their new home in Haran that YHVH called Abraham to leave and go the rest of the way to Canaan.

In Genesis 11:31 the Torah says, “Terah took his son Abram . . . to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran and they settled there.” Although Terah set out to go to Canaan, for some reason (not seen in the text) he settled in Haran, about half the distance from Ur to Canaan. “And Terah died in Haran.” (Genesis 11:32)

Terah didn't die immediately, but he lived until Isaac was about thirty–five years old. The text tells of his death at the end of Genesis Chapter 11. We don't know why Terah settled in Haran even though he set out for Canaan. But we do know some time after they settled in Haran, that Abraham, Sarah, and Lot continued on to Canaan—the Promised Land.

Today we repeatedly see evidence of others who make the same incomplete journey as Terah. How many times have you encountered someone who starts out on the path laid out by YHVH but they stop short of arriving? Sometimes because the way is hard, they think they heard wrong. I think Yeshua told us the reasons in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3–9). Some seeds fall on rocky ground, thorny ground and hard packed ground.

The competing voices and theologies rampant in the world trample the quiet message of the Torah and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) in our life unless we listen carefully and guard it. Abraham listened. Leaving home during Biblical times was significant. Families stayed together for protection and because they were family. Breaking up the group was serious.

But at YHVH's instruction, Abraham left his father's home and completed the journey to Canaan. When he arrived, he built an altar, sacrificed and “invoked YHVH by name.” (Genesis 12:8) And then the Torah records: “There was a famine in the land.” (ibid 12:10) I have heard people say they knew YHVH was in a certain endeavor because everything worked out so well. How would they have responded if they were in Abraham's sandals?

Things did not work out well for Abraham—for most of his exploits. Yet he believed YHVH was leading him and he did what YHVH told him to do.

An important distinction here is that YHVH did lead Abraham. What if we assessed whether YHVHH was “in the work” of Abraham (if he was one of our contemporaries) based on commonly applied tests? If we looked at the ease with which the task went, or the success of it, we would probably doubt YHVH was “in it.”

When Abraham first arrived in the Promised Land, there was a famine. He had to leave the very land where YHVH told him to go. When he got to Egypt, he was afraid Pharaoh would murder him because of his wife, so he had Sarah lie about their marriage. Pharaoh kidnapped Sarah. Abraham got Sarah back, but the Pharaoh kicked his whole group out of Egypt where the food was. There followed disagreements, fights, more kidnappings, and wars.

Where were all the good times and easy life that were supposed to attend “being in God's will”? By the standard of many modern Christians, Abraham was evidently going the wrong way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have faced so many troubles.

But I have heard people say, “Abraham was special.” True, as was Jacob, Joseph, the Twelve Tribes, David, Elijah, Elisha, and Jeremiah. They all faced monumental hardship even though the Scriptures show they were often in the will of YHVH in the midst of their difficulty. Yeshua and His disciples did not live smooth and easy lives either.

The common idea that we can tell if something is YHVH's will or not by how easy or successful it goes is not well supported by Scripture. However, He does promise to bless us and prosper us when we do His will. By looking at our Torah portion and the lives of others who do His will, reinforces that He will give us enough strength to endure and make it through, and that we will survive until the end of the mission.

Two of the lessons we can learn from this week's Torah portion lech lecha (לך לך) (meaning “go forth yourself”) are:

Make sure the voice, feeling, or impression you hear is really YHVH. Test the spirit against the standard of the Torah and see if it measures up. If it fails the test, reevaluate who is speaking to you. The enemy may fill your ears with Truth and then sneak in the lie. You need to have the Word in your mind so you recognize the lie, then you will know if the spirit is the Ruach haKodesh or not.
Make sure you listen to what YHVH tells you and don't go off to the right or the left by adding to it or by taking away from it. Don't make the mistake Chava (Eve) made in the Garden of Eden. She added to the word she received and incorrectly told the serpent she was forbidden to touch the fruit of the tree rather than that she was just forbidden to eat it. He used her mistake to his advantage.

If you test the spirit, and it is the Ruach haKodesh, and you accurately receive the Word without adding to or taking away from it, then do what YHVH tells you to do with your whole heart. Run to do His will. When YHVH told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2) the Torah records: “So Abraham woke up early in the morning and he saddled his donkey.” (ibid 22:3) He did not hesitate to act.

We should be careful that we do not end up like Terah and only make it half way to our goal. The Torah does not tell us what stopped him from continuing on to Canaan. We do know he died in Haran—he never saw the Promised Land.

May we be eager to do the will of YHHVH completely and not be sidetracked or swayed by the cares of the world or the opinions of others. This is especially so when we have asked Him what His will is and He has shown it to us. Most importantly, may we be strong and courageous in doing all that He requires of us whether the way is easy or difficult.

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Noach (נח) – Genesis 6:9–11:32.

by
Jon Thompson

Quickly! How many of each kind of bird and animal did Noach (Noah) preserve from the flood on the ark?

If you answered two of every kind you are in the majority, but it is only partly correct. The answer is that he took two of every unclean animal and seven pairs of clean animals.

“Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth.”
(Genesis 7:2, 3)

The issue of how many animals went with Noach points out a problem. Many people get their knowledge of the Scriptures from stories and tales. As cute as they are, many stories teach incorrect doctrine that remains with a person long after he becomes an adult.

Some doctrinal inaccuracies in stories don't seem to do any real damage, others are pernicious. When the serpent tempted Eve in the garden, it did the same sort of thing; it perverted the Truth. Moshe cautions us not to add to or take away from the Torah. The sages say to do so is to change life into death. That is what the serpent did and by Noach's day:

“Now the earth was corrupt in Elohim's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And Elohim saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And Elohim said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:11–13)

The Hebrew word translated as “violence” used in the verses above is hamas (חמס)— the name many Islamic terrorists go by. As we look at the spread of Islamofacism across the globe under that banner, it should cause us to pause and wonder—“Is it happening again?” The earth was corrupt—shachath (שחת), defined as “to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay.”

When we look at the actions and agenda of the hamas terrorists, what do we see? Destruction, corruption of Biblical values, ruin of whatever they overrun—their land is full of decay. Look at photos from the Middle East. You can tell the areas apart because the Jewish and Christian quarters of Jerusalem are well kept, green, and maintained. The Muslim quarter looks like a dilapidated slum.

One might argue that the Muslims are poor. But that's not the determining factor. There are many poor Yehudim (Jewish people) in Jerusalem, but they clean and maintain their property. Perhaps it is too strong a connection, but Yeshua said the adversary comes only to kill, steal, and destroy. Hamas seems to have the same agenda.

Other than their mosques, what do they build? When the Israeli government ousted the Jewish settlers, the Palestinians stole the Israeli housing and trashed the homes they inhabited. The press constantly assaults the Yehudim for the crime of wanting to live peacefully in their ancestral home. And the world sides with their assailants.

What would you do if a group of people set up tents and cardboard shanties in the vacant lot next door and told you that they wanted you dead? You would call the police, right? But when the police arrive they tell you that you are being hateful and unfair, that the shantytown has the right to illegally squat on the vacant land. One must question how anyone has the “right” to perform an illegal act.

Your new “neighbors” shout obscenities at your children when they are outside, and begin to throw rocks at your house. They break the windows on the side of your house facing the shanties. Again, you call the police. This time the police warn you that if you cause any further problems for the squatters that they will arrest you for violating the squatter's rights.

The next time your child is in the yard, the squatters throw rocks again, this time striking the child and knocking her out. You run to her side and the squatters pelt you with rocks. After carrying your child inside you call the police, then rush the child to the hospital amid a hail of rocks.

When the police arrive at the hospital, they inform you that in your absence, your house has been burned down. “It was those squatters!” you yell. Whereupon the police arrest you for hate speech and take you to jail. Welcome to the world of the Israeli. Welcome to the new world of tolerance.

In a corrupt world, only the corrupt thrive in the system. In a violent world, only the violent survive. Consider two people—the first wants what the other has and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it, and the second is willing to do whatever it takes to maintain peace. What will happen? The first will end up with everything and the second will be a slave to the first. Peace at any price means slavery or death for someone.

YHVH waited in the days of Noach until hamas filled the earth and the earth was corrupted. Yeshua said, “But as the days of Noah, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37) Once hamas filled the earth, YHVH brought the flood. Could the “peaceful” expansion of Islam be one of the signs that the end is drawing near? I know there are good peaceful Muslims, but only insofar as they have not yet been given marching orders by zealot leaders.

The Ark of Safety . . .

“Make an ark of gopher wood; with rooms shall you make the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.”
(Genesis 6:14)

When YHVH tells Noach to pitch the ark, the Hebrew word is kaphar
(כפר). You may recognize kaphar from its use as the cover of the ark—the mercy seat—the kapporeth (כפרת).

Kaphar is used 102 times in the Tanakh. Seventy–three times it is translated “atonement”; 28 times as “purged, purge, reconcile” or some other word in the same sense of “atone”; and once as “pitch”, here in this verse. It is not the word for either tree pitch—zepheth
(זפת) or the word for asphalt—chemar (חמר).

The second use of the word “pitch” in Genesis 6:14 is the word kopher (כפר), primarily translated as “ransom.” It seems that the true protection from destruction in the flood is the atonement made and the ransom paid that covers them while they ride out the storm in the ark.

Although the same English word ark is used for both the ark of the covenant and Noach's ark, the Hebrew word for the ark of the covenant is aron (ארון) and the Hebrew word for Noach's ark is tebah
(תבה)—it is the same word used for the basket of bulrushes that Moshe's mother set him afloat in as a baby (Exodus 2:3).

In Moshe's case, the Torah uses both the Hebrew words referred to above for pitch—zepheth and asphalt—chemar in describing the construction of his ark.

I see a correlation between Moshe, the greatest prophet, who spoke to YHVH face to face, and the reference to the atonement (kaphar) covering the ark of Noach in which the only ones to survive the destruction of all living things were protected. Most believers see in the mercy seat (kapporeth) a shadow of Yeshua haMashiach Who is the Prophet like Moshe that Israel waited for.

When we look into the account of the salvation of Noach and his family, we see that safety lies in the atonement of Yeshua for those who are righteous and without blemish. That is why Paul refers to the bride of Yeshua haMashiach in terms of—“That He might present the assembly to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27)

May we be found without spot, wrinkle or blemish—all references to unrighteousness, lawlessness and sin—when the Bridegroom comes for His bride.

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Beresheit (בראשית) – Genesis 1:1–6:8.

by
Jon Thompson

We begin our new cycle of Torah study in Genesis on the same day we end the previous year's study in Deuteronomy—Devarim (דברים). Judaic tradition tells us that at the end of the Torah cycle the adversary stands before YHVH. He accuses Israel that although they persevered and completed the study of the entire Torah, they won't do it again this year. To deflect the accusation, after we complete the last verse of Devarim, we begin immediately with the first few verses of Genesis and renew our study of the Torah.

In like manner, we begin the Torah cycle with our study of Genesis—Beresheit (בראשית) by reading the final verses of Devarim:

“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moshe, whom YHVH knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which YHVH sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moshe showed in the sight of all Israel.” (Devarim 34:12)

At the end of the Torah, the final letter of the last word at the end of Devarim, is the letter lamed (ל). Immediately after reading the final verse of the Torah we begin with the first verse of the Torah. The first letter of the first word of the first verse of Beresheit is the letter
bet (ב).

When we put together the lamed, from the end, and the bet, from the beginning, we have the Hebrew word for heart, leb (לב). This teaches us that the entire Torah is the heart of YHVH. It also foreshadows the instruction in the Shema— “These words which I command you today shall be on your heart.” (Devarim 6:6)

In the beginning . . .

John the apostle taught:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

Many scholars believe that John was literally saying that the aleph tav (את) in the first verse of Genesis refers to Yeshua:

“In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1)

In the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible the Hebrew word et (את) is defined as “the point at which one plowing a field focuses to plow a straight furrow.” In the pictographic paleo–Hebrew script, the letter aleph (א) is an ox, and signifies strength, and tav (ת) is two crossed sticks used to make a sign or a mark.

This idea complements what Paul said, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10:4) The Greek word for “end” in this verse is telos (τηλως) and is defined by Strong's Concordance as “to set out for a definite point or goal.” Paul's reference points us back to the first verse of Beresheit and Yeshua as the aleph tav and the Torah as the goal of righteousness that we are to keep our eyes on.

The resurrected Yeshua told John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 1:8). Since John was a Jew and spoke Hebrew, and Yeshua was a Jew and spoke Hebrew, it is most likely that what He really said was, “I am the Aleph and the Tav . . .”

By referring to Himself as the א and the ת, as well as the beginning and the end, Yeshua directly linked Himself to the first verse of the Torah. What is translated in the King James Bible as the beginning and the end is more accurately the “head and the goal“ as reflected in the Greek.

Elohim created . . .

Throughout the portion, we see that Elohim created the earth, the sun, moon, the stars, and all living things. The Torah is not a scientific text, nor a history book. It is a testimony of the Living Elohim. It is interesting to note that as “science” collects more evidence and new theories replace disproved ones; the new theories draw scientific conclusions that are ever closer to the biblical account.

The primary message of these first books is that Elohim is the Creator. He has authority as the Creator to set the rules of His creation. If we follow His rules, we are blessed. If we don't follow His rules, we are cursed. In the beginning, Elohim establishes His Headship over creation.

In the first verse of our portion, notice the wording:

“And Elohim said, Let there be light; and there was light. And Elohim saw that the light was good; and Elohim separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3, 4)

He created the light and it was good. He does not create darkness, He separates the light from the darkness, and he doesn't call the darkness good. Keep that distinction in mind when you read Yeshua's comments about light and the darkness in the New Testament. Darkness is the absence of light, and the Torah is described as light.

On the second day:

“And Elohim said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:6, 7)

My daughter pointed out that in her reading she came across the explanation that Elohim does not call the separation on the second day good because He knew He was holding the waters above the firmament in store for the flood that would destroy almost every living creature.

Not only is Elohim the Creator and makes the rules, He also enforces the rules. We should not confuse Elohim's grace in not carrying out punishment and wrath today with an inability to do so. In the book of the Revelation, we see that when the Appointed Time comes, He will pour out His wrath.

The serpent tempted . . .

When the serpent tempted Eve, it used the three types of temptation that John warns us about:

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)

Adam and Eve were apparently content in the garden until the serpent pointed out the desirability of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
(Genesis 3:6)

We learn from this that we should not look longingly at that which Elohim forbids. According to the sages, we should consider those forbidden things as though they sat on Mars—unattainable, unreachable. Then we are not tempted to try for them, they are beyond our reach. In contrast to forbidden things, Moshe tells us:

“But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14)

The lie the serpent used on Eve is the same one it has used ever since, that you can violate Elohim's instruction and, “You will not surely die.” (Beresheit 3:4) In contrast to the lie, the Truth is, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of Elohim is eternal life through Yeshua haMashiach our Adonai.” (Romans 6:23) And John defines for us what sin is: “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law (Torah).” (1 John 3:4)

Speak of them . . .

We who are blessed to receive the Torah in a language we can read and understand have a responsibility to guard and do what Elohim instructs. We also have the responsibility to share the knowledge of the Torah with others who will listen. As Moshe instructs: “Speak of them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road.”
(Devarim 6:7)

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“Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah
. . . I will put My law in their minds,
and write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Jeremiah 31:31,33b