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This Torah Portion:
Gen 32:3 - 36:43
Messengers
Introduction
In the previous Torah portions we talked about God calling Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make a covenant with them
We also heard how God also uses his daughters: Sarah - Abraham’s wife, Rebekak - Isaac’s wife
We have been talking about how the whole book of the Bible is about the generations that belong to the Lord
We talked about the Generations coming from Esau and how the colour red seems to be a tendency for those who come from him- an attraction to blood
Esau has grown bitter and desires to kill Jacob.
Jacob has received Isaac’s blessing, and is advised to leave, and to to Laban’s house
We also talked about Isaac’s descendant: Jacob, and how God revealed Himself to him, and changed his name
Jacob left his parents to begin a personal exile that, unknown to him at the time, this exile will include 20 years in the home of Laban
Jacob spent 14 years at the academy of Shem and Eber, before going to Haran
Jacob needed to study the Torah with Shem and Eber to survive the environment, and learned from those who had experience with corrupted environments.
We talked about Jacob coming to a certain place- holy place close to the temple
The bread of Life
The Hebrew perspective of the symbolism in this section is:
The dreams mentioned in Scripture are vehicles of prophecy, otherwise the Torah would not cite these dreams
Angels represent Moses and Aaron and God atop the ladder
The Ladder is where God stood to give the Torah
The Torah being the Bread of Life - Yeshua
Jacob rested his head on the Rock
All matriarchs of Israel: Sarah, Rebekah and Rachael were barren at some point in their marriages.
This proves that the existence of Israel was a miracle.
Most famous Edomite, descendant of Esau, King Herod The great .
Herod (400- 1 BC)
Roman empire arrives in Israel in 63 BC with the Roman general Pompey - 135 years later the temple is in ruins.
In this Torah Portion we continue to talk about Jacob’s descendants still within the historical line of Rome and the Tendency to blood of the descendants of Esau
We will have a general survey of this Torah portion in:
Gen 32:3 - 36:43
Starting with Jacob’s leaving Laban and facing Esau as the first point
Jacob’s meeting God - establish a covenant
We will look at his children, and we will focus on Rachel
The objective is to present to you some historical information so that you may draw you own conclusions as to where we are now.
By no means does this information have as a purpose to denigrate, look down on, or even disrespect history and the beliefs picked up during the history of Christianity
We we are seeking is information that would allow us to make our assessment regarding truth
This presentation seeks to answer the question: What happened in history?
Presentation
In Hebrew understanding when reading the Holy Scriptures, Jacob (Israel) seems to be closely intertwined with Messiah, as a type or a shadow, as we explained in our previous Torah portion
It is safe to say this verse, as well as the experience with Angels ascending and descending on the ladder are a type and a shadow of Messiah first and second coming.
Jacob is looking to pay tribute to his brother, although afraid that Esau might retaliate
Seir =שֵׂעִיר means - Land of Edom, South the Dead Sea
8541 I. שֵׂעִיר (śē·ʿîr): n.pr.; ≡ Str 8165; TWOT 2274g, 2274h—LN 93-place (terr) 1. Seir: land of Edom, S of Dead Sea (Ge 14:6; 32:4[EB 3]) 2. (mount) in Arabah(Dt 1:2; 2Ch 20:10, 22, 23a)
James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
Edom = Red = Destruction
Jacob calls the name of the Lord
This is the first recorded example of prayer in the Bible
Jacob plans a to also take action by sending a present (goats and small cattle) to Esau:
Jacob combined active exertions with earnest prayer; and this teaches us that we must not depend upon the aid and interposition of God in such a way as to supersede the exercise of prudence and foresight.
Superiors are always approached with presents, and the respect expressed is estimated by the quality and amount of the gift
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 35.
He takes his wives and 11 children, and all his camp: servants to cross over the ford of Jabbok (Jordan River shallow area)
This mysterious person is called an angel
and God
This is when God changes Jacob’s name to Israel, which means Prince with God
Jacob lifts his eyes and sees Esau was coming with 400 men
He takes his all his children and puts them in front of him
But puts Leah- her children, Rachel - and Joseph behind
Leaves the dearest family last - that they might be the last to be exposed to danger
After the encounter with God, he is confident and He bows before Esau 7 times, all his wife and children do the same - Bowing = respect
Esau kisses Jacob (Judas kisses Yeshua)
Betrayal is the most difficult things to forgive
Remember our previous Torah portions when we spoke about the Descendants of Esau even to the current age.
they depart from each other and Jacob returns to Succoth and builds Booths - Sukkot
Jacob eventually returns to Bethel where the Lord says
Israel has 11 children so far
Tribes
Now we get to a crucial point in the history of Israel- the death of Rachel when giving birth to Benjamin (Who she first calls - Ben-Oni = son of my sorrows) but Israel calls him Benjamin - Son of the Right Hand
Crucial in that we can use this event to reflect on the Christmas story
Death that brings life is not sorrow
Death that brings life does so because of the Right Hand of God
Jacob erects a memorial for his wife
God buried Moses Himself so that the children of Israel would not make the place of his burial a place of worship
For a Hebrew person, biblically speaking, what is important is not when she/he is born, but how he/ she finishes the race
Paul sees it the same way
There are many instances recorded in the Bible on how humanity benefited from brothers and sisters lives with us
Jesus death itself is a more marked event than His birth
His life lied down for others is what it means to end well
He died so that we could live
He provided eternal life to us by His sacrifice
He said:
The celebration of birthdays is not Hebrew or biblical
We do it because it is a tradition in the west
Is then celebrating Christmas the celebration of the birthday of the Lord?
There are only three accounts of birthday celebrations in the Bible, all of them concerning to Gentiles and people held in great regard
Consider:
There is mention of a celebration of a “day” in Job, but not enough evidence that refers to a general practice among the Jews to be a birthday celebration - I would propose they are celebrating Shabbat
The Lord Himself did not command us to commemorate His birthday, but rather His death
Paul continues with that commandment:
For a Hebrew person, biblically speaking, what is important is not when she/he is born, but how he/ she finishes the race
Birth-day— They were specially celebrated in the land of Egypt (Gen.
40:20).
There is no recorded instance in Scripture of the celebration of birth-days among the Jews.
On the occasion of Herod’s birth-day John the Baptist was beheaded (Matt.
14:6).1
1 M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 100.
How come we celebrate Christmas as the Birthday of the Lord?
There are different sources that attempt to explain the origin and link to the Messiah.
CHRISTMAS.
Tourists taking the Christmas pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Bethlehem are apt to be surprised at finding it celebrated there on three different days a Roman Catholics and most Protestants observe December 25.
The Eastern Orthodox church holds to January 6, while the Armenian church observes January 19.
There is no evidence for the observance of December 25 before c. a.d.
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