Parasha Vayetzei 5784
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Me
Me
This week we read Parasha Vayetzei, Genesis 28:10-32:3, in which we pick up with Ya’akov on the run after having stolen the firstborn blessing and with tremendous fear that Esav is hot on his heels trying to kill him. As our Parasha opens up we see that Jacob is fleeing Be’er-Sheva and heading to Charan. Interesting the Hebrew word play here is intriguing, Jacob went from Be'er Sheva (Place of Seven/Oath/Week/Rest) to Charan — literally meaning "parched" from the root meaning to incite anger or wrath.
He stops to catch a little shut eye along the route and grabs a rock to use as a pillow. While sleeping he has a dream in which he sees a tremendous staircase reaching to the Heavens with angels going up and coming down it. Then God appears to Jacob at the staircase and he reiterates the covenant Adonai made with Abraham and Isaac now with Jacob.
Jacob wakes up from his dream and calls the place Beit-El (House of God). and sets up and anoints a memorial stone there.
In chapter 29 Jacob arrives in Charan and almost immediately encounters Rachel, the daughter of Laban, at the community well. Laban got word that Jacob, the son of his sister Rebekah was in town and got excited, ran to meet him, and invited him to stay with his family. Jacob, by this point has fallen in love with Rachel and agrees to work with Laban for seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage. However, he is tricked and is wakes up the day after the wedding to find Leah by his side rather than Rachel. He has a little “conversation” with Laban, some lame excuses are made as to why Laban tricked Jacob and Jacob agrees to work for yet another seven years to marry Rachel.
Rachel is loved far more than Leah, but struggles to have children whereas Leah is popping them out left and right. Then Leah and Rachel both give their servants Bilhah and Zilpah to Jacob as wives as well so that they can give him more children… And obviously, nothing could possibly go wrong with having four wives, especially when you already had two who are sisters and are already at each other’s throats…
After Jacob has already worked 14 years for Laban to marry Rachel and Leah, he agrees to work a little while longer in order to earn himself some actual wages and God blesses his hands tremendously. Laban and his sons become jealous of Jacob’s success and begin to develop some severe animosity against Jacob and Jacob can start to feel the winds shifting with regards to his overstaying his welcome in Charan.
Our parasha ends with Genesis 31 and the first few verses of Genesis 32 with Jacob, his now very large family, his servants, and all his herds and flocks trying to sneak out in the dead of night (so to speak) to get away from Laban and Charan and to begin their journey back to the Promised Land. Laban figures out they’ve snuck away and chases after him to confront him. On his way chasing after Jacob Laban has a divine encounter and Adonai tells him to watch himself with what he says and does to Jacob.
(Talk about conditional statements and our shopping policy that if the kids ask for something they will get nothing…)
We
We
God
God
Today, as we dig into Parasha Vayetzei, we’re going to look at what is likely on the the most “human” stories we can find in the Bible. And as we do, I want us to keep this principle in mind.
Principle: As fallen humans, we are only faithful after we see G-d’s unconditional faithfulness.
Parasha Vayetzei
Discuss— Jacob is running from Esau and lays down to rest having a powerful dream and encounter HaShem firsthand...
Then Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.
He happened upon a certain place and spent the night there, for the sun had set. So he took one of the stones from the place and put it by his head and lay down in that place.
He dreamed: All of a sudden, there was a stairway set up on the earth and its top reaching to the heavens—and behold, angels of God going up and down on it!
Surprisingly, Adonai was standing on top of it and He said, “I am Adonai, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your seed.
Your seed will be as the dust of the land, and you will burst forth to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed—and in your seed.
Behold, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not forsake you until I have done what I promised you.”
Parasha Vayetzei
Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, “Undoubtedly, Adonai is in this place—and I was unaware.”
So he was afraid and said, “How fearsome this place is! This is none other than the House of God—this must be the gate of heaven!”
Early in the morning Jacob got up and took the stone, which he had placed by his head, and set it up as a memorial stone and poured oil on top of it.
He called the name of that place Beth-El (though originally the city’s name was Luz).
Parasha Vayetzei
Then Jacob made a vow saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this way that I am going, and provide me food to eat and clothes to wear,
and I return in shalom to my father’s house, then Adonai will be my God.
So this stone which I set up as a memorial stone will become God’s House, and of everything You provide me I will definitely give a tenth of it to You.”
Parasha Vayetzei
Principle: As fallen humans, we are only faithful after we see G-d’s unconditional faithfulness.
Parasha Vayetzei
We see a similar heart reality as Jacob in another individual in the Besorah…
Talk about Nicodemus’ encounter with Yeshua in John 3…
Now there was a man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jewish people.
He came to Yeshua at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You, a teacher, have come from God. For no one can perform these signs which You do unless God is with Him!”
Parasha Vayetzei
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim.
Parasha Vayetzei
Nicodemus didn’t quite have the faith at this point to trust in Yeshua unconditionally… We see him reappear briefly in John 7 after Yeshua proclaims Himself the Waters of Life at Sukkot at the Temple.
“Never has anyone spoken like this man,” the guards answered.
The Pharisees responded, “You haven’t been led astray also, have you?
Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?
No, but this mob that doesn’t know the Torah—they are cursed!”
Nicodemus, the one who had come to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them,
“Our Torah doesn’t judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”
They answered him, “You aren’t from the Galilee too, are you? Search, and see that no prophet comes out of the Galilee!”
Then everyone went to his own house.
Parasha Vayetzei
He still didn’t have the unconditional faith to stand up for Yeshua, but we finally see him have a seemingly moment of T’shuva in John 19…
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take Yeshua’s body away. Joseph was a disciple of Yeshua, but secretly for fear of the Judean leaders. Pilate gave permission, so Joseph came and took the body away.
Nicodemus, who had first visited Yeshua at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Then they took the body of Yeshua and wrapped it in linen with the spices, as is the Jewish burial custom.
Now in the place where He was executed, there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb where no one had yet been buried.
Because it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Yeshua there.
Parasha Vayetzei
Principle: As fallen humans, we are only faithful after we see G-d’s unconditional faithfulness.
Parasha Vayetzei
Discuss God being called HaMakom (The Place) — everything is contained in God, but He is not contained in anything. As our Sages say: "He [G-d] doesn't have a place, rather He is The Place of the Universe."
Then tie into Psalm 46…
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth change, though the mountains topple into the heart of the seas,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at their swelling. Selah
“Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth.”
Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong tower. Selah
Parasha
Two concepts of refuge used in Psalm 46
(Used in verses 8 & 12)
misgav
(or other lofty or inaccessible place)
defence, high fort (tower), refuge
Masada is a great example
Psalm 46 Verse 2
Elohim lanu machaseh
makh-as-eh'
a shelter (literally or figuratively):
=> hope, (place of) refuge, shelter, trust.
Principle: As fallen humans, we are only faithful after we see G-d’s unconditional faithfulness.
You
You
(Call up worship team)
We
We
If our worship team will make their way back up to the stage.