Lech Lecha (לד–לד) Get Out - Audio Podcast Nov 12, 2022
Pastor Omar Portillo
B'reisheet - 2022-2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 3:18:20
0 ratings
· 24 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Lech Lecha
Introduction
Introduction
This Torah Portion:
Genesis 12:1-17:27
Isaiah 40:27-41:16
John 8:51-58
In our previous Torah portion we studies Noah and the deluge
We presented hidden meanings like the Broken Olive branch the dove took on her beak being Israel
We spoke about how and why Noah found favour on the eyes of God
We talked about “God Remember” meaning He keeps His covenant with Noah that Noah and his family will remain alive
We said that this remembering was like being put on the spot light where all God’s attention and eyes are on Noah
We talked about the observance of the Feast of God and the Calendar of God already at work in Genesis 8
In our previous Torah portion we also talked about Job, Daniel and Noah being found righteous - obeyed - did what is pleasing to God
Abraham also was found to be righteous
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
This Parsha in Genesis 12, starts with a new birth of mankind: the story of Abraham and his descendants
According to the purpose of creation in:
This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
History
9352 תּוֹלֵדוֹת (tô·lē·ḏôṯ): n.fem.pl.; ≡ Str 8435; TWOT 867g—1. LN 10.26 genealogy, i.e., an account or birth record of a family-line’s descendants (Ge 5:1; 10:1, 32; 11:10; Nu 1:20–42 passim), see also domain LN 33.35–33.68; 2. LN 33.11–33.25 account, i.e., a written record of a story (Ge 2:4; 6:9; 37:2)1
1 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
The first 2000 years from Creation were the Era of Desolation.
Adam had fallen.
Abel had murdered.
Idolatry had been introduced to the world.
Ten dreadful generations had been washed away with the Deluge, and 10 generation from Noah had failed.
Abraham was born in the year 1948 from Creation
After the Tower of Babel, the Dispersion of the Nations, and six years before Noah dies, Abraham starts serving the Lord
The Era of Desolation ends and the Era of the Torah begins
With Abraham and Torah there is a profound change in the spiritual nature of mankind
The plan of Creation is for mankind to share in the same fulfilment of Divine mission: to accept the sovereignty of the One God
His sovereignty is my sanity
Presentation
Presentation
One of the first things that come to mind when we talk about Abraham is the covenant of God
We have taught in the covenant of God
The Hebrew Blood Covenant:
Take off Coat/ Robe
Take Off Belt
Cut the Covenants
Raise the Right Arm/Mix w/blood
Exchange Names
Make a Scar
Give Covenant Terms
Eat a Memorial Meal
Plant a Memorial/tree
. First Born
Most of the time we look at God and glorify Him for the work of His hands
Very rarely do we consider what was Abraham’s response, role, life and walk like in this covenant.
Did he also have to keep the covenant after he was found righteous?
Is believing a mental exercise, a mysticism based experience or a reality to live?
mysticism, the practice of religious ecstasies(religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness), together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related to them.
The term mystic is derived from the Greek noun mystes, which originally designated an initiate of a secret cult or mystery religion. In Classical Greece (5th–4th century BCE) and during the Hellenistic Age (323 BCE–330 CE), the rites of the mystery religions were largely or wholly secret. The term mystes is itself derived from the verb myein (“to close,” especially the eyes or mouth) and signified a person who kept a secret. Early Christianity appropriated the technical vocabulary of the Hellenistic mysteries but later disavowed secrecy, resulting in a transformation of the meaning of mystes. In subsequent Christian usage, mystes, or mystic, referred to practitioners of doctrinally acceptable forms of religious ecstasy.
Encyclopedia Brittanica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism
We will attempt to answers questions about Abraham’s responses to God, with our Torah portion today.
We will examine if he needed to respond to God to be saved
We will also examine what Abraham’s responses did to him. How they helped him. How they became part of his relationship with God.
To our Torah Portion:
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
Lech Lacha - Get out
Found in the Hebrew Bible 1547 times in the expand of 1346 verses
Str 1980, 3212; TWOT 498—
1. go, travel, i.e., make linear motion to another place, with any form of transportation
Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”
travel
There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there.
take, send, i.e., cause linear motion of an object, collection, or mass (Jer 32:5); (hitp) go about
And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”
2. walk, i.e., make linear motion on foot or pod
‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you.
go about, cause to walk
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.
walk about, walk without particular goal
if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.
3.follow, i.e., make linear motion behind another object or collection
and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
4.follow, i.e., be an adherent of a person, group, or belief
‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
5. behave, conduct, live, formally, walk, i.e., go about doing certain actions in a regular, more or less consistent manner, so possibly constituting a life or lifestyle, as an extension of the act. of walking as regular and patterned
And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
Live
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
Lived for, formally, walked
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
1 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
Synonyms are: rûṣ “run,” bô “come, enter,” yāṣāʾ “go out,” ʿālâ “ascend,” and šûb “return.” Its antonyms are: yāšab “sit,” and ʿāmad “stand.” Our root occurs 1562 times. It is a common Semitic root1
1 Leonard J. Coppes, “498 הָלַך,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 216.
Back to Verse 2
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
Although God tells Abram this promise, God does not tell him the process
Also, God is going to “make” Abram a “A great Name”
In Biblical language Name refers to Character
Character formation requires: nurturing, developing, and correction
God chooses to use TESTS to work with Abram and us
Test [Heb. usually nāsâ or bāḥan, also ṣārap̱ (Jgs. 7:4; Ps. 17:3; 105:19), bārar (Eccl. 3:18), ḥâqar (Lam. 3:40), bōḥan (Isa. 28:16); Gk. (verbs) peirázō (Mt. 16:1; 19:3; etc.), ekpeirázō (Lk. 10:25; 1 Cor. 10:9), dokimázō (2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Thess. 2:4; etc.), (adjectives) dókimos (2 Cor. 13:7; Jas. 1:12), adókimos (2 Cor. 13:5), (nouns) dokimé̄ (2 Cor. 2:9; 8:2; 9:13), dokímion (Jas. 1:3), dokimasía (He. 3:9)]; AV TEMPT, PROVE, TRY, TRIAL (Ezk. 21:13; 2 Cor. 8:2), MANIFEST (Eccl. 3:18), KNOW THE PROOF (2 Cor. 2:9), EXPERIMENT (9:13), BE REPROBATE (13:5), APPROVE (13:7), TEMPTATION (He. 3:8); NEB also (PUT TO THE) PROOF (Gen. 42:15; Ps. 26:2; 66:10; Mal. 3:10; 2 Cor. 9:13; Rev. 2:2), ASSAY (Jer. 9:7; Zec. 13:9), TRY TO CATCH OUT (Mt. 22:18; Mk. 12:15), CHALLENGE (Dt. 6:16), “separate” (Jgs. 7:4), “be upon” (Ps. 11:4), WEIGH (v 5), “plunge into” (Eccl. 2:1),VINDICATE (2 Cor. 13:7), EXAMINE (Gal. 6:4), UNDERGO SCRUTINY (1 Tim. 3:10). An evaluation of or challenge to the character or quality of a given object.
For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.
But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
A test is not intended to score or assign any value to the person’s response
It is intended to form character
It is intended to serve as a lesson: trust
In both the OT and NT “test” most commonly appears in the context of an incident or action by which God or a human individual is enabled to determine the moral condition of particular people or objects. The most common OT terms for “test,” Heb. nāsâ and bāḥan, are basically interchangeable; bāḥan, however, occurs more often in poetry, usually in religious contexts, and sometimes implies a more intuitive and less mediated comprehension.
C. L. Blomberg, “Test,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 795.
10 Tests for Abraham
Not all 10 tests are included in this Torah portion
We will have to go to some other portions which we may not be able to study throughly as I would like
1) Abraham’s exile from his family and homeland.
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
From your country (homeland) = וממולד
“G-d added this to prevent Avram from returning to his birthplace, Ur Casdim.
ומבית אביך, “and from the house of your father.” G-d did not want Avram to ever return to his father’s house in order to receive his share of the inheritance. He promised to reward him far beyond anything he could expect as his share of his father’s estate.
Rashi here adds a peculiar comment, writing that here the meaning of בית אביך is that where Avram had resided thus far he would not be able to become a father of children. Apparently, he bases himself on our sages in the Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit: 2,1: that there are three things which are apt to cancel a decree against someone siring children:
1- changing the place of one’s residence
2- changing one’s name
3- observing a fast, praying for children
The first test is intended to make Abram realize his dependency on God
To remove himself from his father’s house (his covering) to come under the covering of God
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
ואגדלה שמך, “I will make your name great.” This was accomplished by adding a single letter to his name (Hey). Through this addition the numerical value of the letters in his name amounted to 248, the total number of limbs in a perfectly formed human (male) specimen. [Incidentally, this is also the total number of positive commandments in the Torah. Ed.] Avraham then had a perfect body and a perfect, whole name.
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land,
2) The hunger in Canaan after God assured him that he would become a great nation there.
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
A test for Abram to see if he is going to worship a tree rather than God. Nonetheless, we must pay attention to the terebinth tree
Two of the most common trees in the Mediterranean forest are the elah (אלה) and the alon (אלון). Both of these Hebrew words are commonly translated as “oak” or “terebinth” in English Bibles, leading to quite a bit of confusion. The reason for this translation mix-up is that, despite the fact that they are two distinct species, these two trees really have much in common. Even seasoned nature guides sometimes find them difficult to tell apart.
The elah tree, most often translated as “terebinth”, bears the the Latin name Pistacia palaestina, meaning it is related to the pistachio tree. Many famous trees in the Hebrew Bible are terebinths, for example: the tree under which Jacob buried Laban’s idols (Genesis 35:4)
Genesis 35:4
and the tree in Orpah under which the angel who visited Gideon sat (Judg 6:11).
Judges 6:11
The most famous appearance of an elah (terebinth) in the Bible is the Valley of Elah where the battle of David and Goliath took place (1 Sam 17).
1 Sam 17:19
Presumably the valley got its name due to the large number of elah trees that grew here in the past.
Because they are among the only relatively tall trees in the Land, the alon and elah were thought to possess divine strength. The words alon and elah both contain the Hebrew root אל (el), referring back to their sacred status in the Canaanite cult of El. Consequently, both these trees were the subject of much criticism from the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Hosea writes:
Hosea 4:12-13
Another reason that the alon and elah might have become the subject of idolatrous worship is because both are very sturdy trees which have a miraculous ability regenerate when cut down. As Isaiah writes:
But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.”
A stump that remains
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
Abram seems to be getting the 7 spirits of God by passing the terebinth tree even if it becomes a stump during the famine
3) The corruption in Egypt that resulted in the abduction of Sarah.
And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.”
So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.
The test revealed he is a prophet
The test made him rich
4) The war with the four kings.
Map
King Chedorlaomer (ke’-dor-la’-o-mer) = Handful of sheaves; to bind sheaves; sheaf band; servants of the god Lagamar; to make merchandise; glory of Laomer.Chedorlaomer king of Elam. (Elam was the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22). He that dwells in a sheaf.1
1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 47.
Region: Elam
The boundaries of Elam varied over the course of its long history, but its heart was in the southwest of modern-day Iran, above the Persian Gulf1
1 Daniel DeWitt Lowery, “Elam,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
King Tidal (ti’-dal) = You shall be cast out of the Most High; you shall be cast out from heaven. Fear; reverence; i.e., of the object of fear; dread. Easing the yoke.1
1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 237–238.
Region: Nations - goyim
1580 גּוֹי (gôy): n.masc.; ≡ Str 1471; TWOT 326e—1. LN 11.55–11.89 people, nation, i.e., a large group based on various cultural, physical, geographical ties, often extended clan relationships (Ge 10:5; 25:23); 2. LN 4.1–4.37 a population of an animal (Joel 1:6; Zep 2:14+); 3. LN 11.12–11.54 the Gentiles, i.e., a national group or groups that are not Jewish, with the associative meaning of being uncultured, pagan and heathen (Ne 5:8)1
1 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
King Amraphel (am’-raf-el) = One that speaks of dark things; an obscure speech. The circle of the few. Powerful people. Sayer of darkness; fall of the sayer.1
1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 16.
Region: Shinar
Shinar (שִׁנְעָר, shin'ar). A region of Mesopotamia that, at various times, included Nimrod’s kingdom, Babel, and Babylon (e.g., Gen 10:10; 11:2; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2; Zech 5:11).1
1 John D. Barry et al., eds., “Shinar,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
King Arioch (a’-re-ok) = The mighty lion. Lionlike; servant; the moon-god.1
1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 21.
Region: Ellasar
Cappadocia
One tradition identifies Ellasar with Cappadocia (eastern Asia Minor, now modern Turkey) or an area nearby, as suggested by the Genesis Apocryphon 21:23 and a copy of the Palestinian Targum. The Latin Vulgate uses this location in Gen 14:1, 9. More recently, Lipinski has suggested that the author of the Genesis Apocryphon was aware of a King Ariuka who lived in the vicinity of Cappadocia (Lipinski, Studies, 72). However, the name Ariuka dates to the third century bc. If Genesis 14 is supposed to refer to an age hundreds of years prior to the third century, then its setting is much too early to reference a Persian or Greek ruler. Nevertheless, the general idea of locating Ellasar in eastern Asia Minor remains compelling. Wenham points out that the Hebrew rendering of Ellasar is very similar to the word for “hazelnuts” (elasareen), for which Pontus, in northeastern Asia Minor on the coast of the Black Sea, was famous (Wenham, Genesis, 308).1
1 John W. Herbst, “Ellasar,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim
against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains.
Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.
They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.
Abraham is recognized as a Hebrew, after relying on the Lord for the victory, in his heart and then he enters in the covenant with God
The test reveal he is a Hebrew
COVENANT
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
5) His marriage to Hagar after having despaired that Sarah would ever give birth.
Ten years have elapsed since Abram parted from his father (v. 3). Throughout this decade of frustrated hopes his wife has suffered in silence. Now the impatience of the infertile Sarai has reached a critical point. Since the divine promises in chapter 15 did not specify that she herself was to be the mother of Abram’s offspring, in her desperation she takes the initiative and resorts to the device of concubinage.1
1 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 118.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
Abraham was 86 years old
Ishmael (ish’-ma-el) = He will hear God; he will be heard of God; whom God hears; the Lord hears; God hears.1
1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 113.
Abram may have learned that the Lord hears, but He responds at His own time
Abram perhaps learned not to take matters in his own hands
Covenant call:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
6) The commandment of circumcision.
And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;
and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Circumcision
Cut = Mul
מול
To move in opposition of something - whatever impedes the process that God has for us.
The process is a humbling experience
There is pain in the process. This is to keep us humble
Part of humility
Weakened us so that He can be strong
In our weakness His strength in our purpose is seen
Hebrew word for what was removed: Orlah (olah) - barrier
עךלה
To remove what does impedes our moving forward
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
The test of circumcision: God will remove the barriers before you.
God wants you to obey
7) Abimelech’s abduction of Sarah.
And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar.
Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?
Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.
And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.”
Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”
And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.
But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him.
And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was rebuked.
So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;
for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Test reveals Abraham is a prophet
That God can remove barriers
That God can touch other people’s hearts for their own integrity
The test reveals the kindness of God
8) Driving away Hagar after she had given birth.
9) The command to drive away Ishmael.
So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.
Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
There are consequences to our choices
The Lord can bless that which we have messed up
10) The binding of Isaac on the altar.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend.
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
The test showed Abraham the Lord is eternal live, strength, deliverer, provider, the sacrificial lamb
Did Abraham also have to keep the covenant after he was found righteous?
Is believing a mental exercise, a mysticism based experience or a reality to live?
Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’
Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
In closing
Obeying the Lord granted Abraham to see the Lord Yeshua and celebrate Passover Shabbat with Him
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Shabbat Shalom