Parasha Vayishlach 5784
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Me
Me
This week we read Parasha Vayishlach, Genesis 32:4-36:43, which picks up with Jacob having just parted ways from Laban and now finally headed back to the Promised Land and to what he is hoping is a peaceful reunion with his brother Esau. As he travels he sends messengers ahead of him to announce to Esau that he Jacob was coming and that he was a very wealthy man… The messengers come back to Jacob and inform him that Esau is coming out to meet him and is bringing 400 dudes with him. Which, of course, considering how Jacob left things in shambles when he ran away, he assumed that Esau and his 400 hundred men were on their way to slaughter Jacob.
So he cries out to God and says one of the most powerful and important remarks in all of Torah recognizing that everything he has and everything he is is because of HaShem’s faithfulness… And he asks Adonai to protect and defend him.
Along the way Jacob separates all of his possessions into multiple camps as a fall back plan in case Esau attacks one the others can escape. Then he sends everything, including his wives and children, across the camp and finds himself all alone and wrestling with a stranger (who I believe to be the visible image of the invisible God). Jacob refuses to let go of the stranger and demands a blessing for which Adonai changes His name from Yaacov (one who supplants) to Yisrael (one who wrestles with God).
In Genesis 33 Jacob finally meets with Esau, he is still fearful for his life but is also willing to face whatever lies ahead. Interestingly enough, Jacob appears to learn a lesson from Abraham and Isaac being willing to save their own hide by handing over their wives, because Jacob actually goes on ahead of his wife and children to meet with Esau face to face. At which point Jacob is happily surprised when Esau runs up and throws his arms around him, kisses him, and weeps at the reunion (which gives off an image of the prodigal son’s return).
Later in chapter 33 Esau invites Jacob to come back with him toward his territory, but Jacob opts to go toward Shechem instead. And in chapter 34 Jacob’s daughter Dinah is defiled by Shechem, who then asks for Dinah’s hand in marriage because of his love and obsession with her. The sons of Jacob demand that all the men of Shechem be circumcised in order to intermarry with them with which they agree, and while the men of Shechem are healing from their procedures Simeon and Levi take it upon themselves to enter into Shechem and slaughter all the men of the city.
In Genesis 35 we see Adonai calls Jacob to go back to Beit El, the very site he saw the stairway to heaven. So Jacob gathers up all the household gods of his family and disposes of them, and then they head to Beit El where Adonai appears to Jacob and reconfirms His blessing and covenant with Jacob and reaffirms Yaacov’s new name Yisrael. The chapter then closes out with Rachel’s death giving birth to Benjamin and Isaac’s death and Esau and Jacob coming together to bury him.
Our Parasha closes out with chapter 36 which details the lineage of Esau, the father of the Edomites.
(Talk about shaving head this morning and not checking the condition of the shaver first and head getting cut up because of it…)
We
We
God
God
Principle: A vital part of the process of Sanctification is to humbly allow the Ruach to regularly assess our Walk and remove anything that is not of G-d.
(Repeat)
Parasha Vayishlach
Jacob is now on his way back to the Promised Land after escaping (with G-d’s help) from Laban. Jacob sends messengers to Esau ahead of him. They return and tell him Esau is coming to meet him and he is bringing 400 dudes with him. Jacob appears to get no context on why there’s 400 dudes coming out with Esau and assumes it’s a war party coming to finally exact his revenge.
Jacob becomes afraid and finally chooses to do the right thing… He prays…
Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Adonai, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will do good with you.’
I am unworthy of all the proofs of mercy and of all the dependability that you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed over this Jordan, and now I’ve become two camps.
Deliver me, please, from my brother’s hand, from Esau’s hand, for I’m afraid of him that he’ll come and strike me—the mothers with the children.
You Yourself said, ‘I will most certainly do good with you, and will make your seed like the sand of the sea that cannot be counted because of its abundance.’ ”
Parasha Vayishlach
Jacob has a change of heart and then encounters G-d (the wrestling scene)
This change of heart is important to note, because in last week’s Parasha we see Jacob encounters G-d and has a very arrogant response to it…
Jacob meets Esau, Esau is ecstatic to be reunited
They part ways and Jacob settles in Shechem. But pay close attention to Genesis 33:18-20.
So Jacob arrived in shalom to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped right in front of the city.
He purchased the portion of the field there where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 pieces of money.
There he set up an altar, and he called it, El is Israel’s God.
Parasha Vayishlach
We see Jacob settles in the Promised Land in shalom. But notice how important the words of these previous verses are in connection to his conditional statement in Parasha Vayetzei
Principle: A vital part of the process of Sanctification is to humbly allow the Ruach to regularly assess our Walk and remove anything that is not of G-d.
Parasha Vayishlach
Then God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go up to Beth-El and stay there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
So Jacob said to his household and to everyone who was with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Cleanse yourselves and change your clothes.
Now let’s get up and go up to Beth-El so that I can make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me in the way that I have gone.”
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods in their hand and the rings in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak tree near Shechem.
Then they journeyed, and the terror of God was on the cities that were around them, so they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
Then Jacob arrived at Luz in the land of Canaan (that is Beth-El), he and all the people who were with him.
He built an altar there and called the place El-Beth-El because God had revealed Himself to him there when he fled from the presence of his brother.
Parasha Vayishlach
Principle: A vital part of the process of Sanctification is to humbly allow the Ruach to regularly assess our Walk and remove anything that is not of G-d.
Parasha Vayishlach
Then G-d appeared to Jacob again at Beit-El and reiterated Jacob’s name change to Israel and the covenant promises made with Abraham and Isaac.
We urge you, brothers and sisters, correct the unruly, comfort the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
See that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
Rejoice always,
pray constantly,
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua.
Do not quench the Spirit,
do not despise prophetic messages,
but test all things, hold fast to what is good,
keep away from every kind of evil.
Now may the God of shalom Himself make you completely holy; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept complete, blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Faithful is the One who calls you—and He will make it happen!
Parasha Vayishlach
Principle: A vital part of the process of Sanctification is to humbly allow the Ruach to regularly assess our Walk and remove anything that is not of G-d.
Parasha Vayishlach
But I say, walk by the Ruach, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh sets its desire against the Ruach, but the Ruach sets its desire against the flesh—for these are in opposition to one another, so that you cannot do what you want.
But if you are led by the Ruach, you are not under law.
Now the deeds of the flesh are clear: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency,
idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, just as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.
But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control—against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Ruach, let us also walk by the Ruach.
Parasha Vayishlach
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.
With my whole heart have I sought You —let me not stray from Your mitzvot.
I have treasured Your word in my heart, so I might not sin against You.
Blessed are You, Adonai. Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I rehearse all the rulings of Your mouth.
I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies above all wealth.
I will meditate on Your precepts, and regard Your ways.
I will delight in Your decrees. I will never forget Your word.
Parasha Vayishlach
Principle: A vital part of the process of Sanctification is to humbly allow the Ruach to regularly assess our Walk and remove anything that is not of G-d.
Parasha Vayishlach
You
You
(Call worship team back up)
We
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