Parasha Vayishlach 5785

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.

We

God

In Parasha Vayishlach, as we discussed a moment ago, we continue in our 30,000 foot overview of Jacob’s life, and the full train-wreck it often was. But, we see a dynamic shift in the character and nature of Jacob in this week’s Parasha as well, and as such, there is a very powerful eye opening principle we can take away from his story today.

Principle: An important biblical lesson is the need to return to G-d in repentance, preferably before the world comes crashing down around our feet.

(Repeat)

Parasha Vayishlach

Jacob sent messengers and got word that Esau was coming to meet him with an army of 400 men

His immediately reaction was to start figuring things out on his own… AGAIN

Then he changed tactics, for the better

Genesis 32:10–13 TLV

10 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.’ 11 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. 12 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. 13 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

Such powerful words— “I am unworthy of all THE PROOFS OF MERCY and all THE DEPENDABILITY that you have shown to your servant…”

Imagine how much different Jacob’s life and testimony could have been if this had been his prayer in Genesis 28?

Genesis 32:25–31 TLV

25 So Jacob remained all by himself. Then a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 26 When He saw that He had not overcome him, He struck the socket of his hip, so He dislocated the socket of Jacob’s hip when He wrestled with him. 27 Then He said, “Let Me go, for the dawn has broken.” But he said, “I won’t let You go unless You bless me.” 28 Then He said to him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he said. 29 Then He said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but rather Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and you have overcome.” 30 Then Jacob asked and said, “Please tell me Your name.” But He said, “What’s this—you are asking My name?” Then He blessed him there. 31 So Jacob named the place Peniel, “for I’ve seen God face to face, and my life has been spared.”

Parasha Vayishlach

Jacob wrestles with this being until day break

Jacob is proud, strong, and he perseveres through the fight refusing to give in or let go

Then the assailant touches Jacob’s hip with super-natural force and cripples Jacob

Jacob now learns a lesson on true humility… He is broken and has lost everything. He has ben figuratively stripped of his wives, children, servants, and possessions by sending them ahead of himself with uncertainty of what would come of them.

Not only is he left all alone and with nothing, he is also now crippled… Esau is heading toward his caravans of family and possessions, he’s afraid they’ll be killed, and now his mobility is damaged and if Esau wanted to kill him he could do nothing to stop it.

Now that he is fully broken and can no longer do things in his own strength and feels his world crashing down around his feet, he has no options left but to cry out for G-d’s help and blessing

And the blessing is a name change, from Ya’acov (one who suplants) to Yisrael (one who wrestles with G-d)

Genesis 35:1–4 TLV

1 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.” 2 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. 3 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.” 4 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.

Parasha Vayishlach

We don’t know how much time has transpired from the end of Gen 32 to Gen 35.

What we do know is that even after everything Jacob has been through, after everything G-d has done for him, he still hadn’t fully rid himself of the ways of the world.

They still had household idols

After they rid themselves of everything, repented, and cleansed themselves, then everywhere they journeyed the terror of G-d was upon them and no one messed with him

After they have gotten rid of everything not of G-d and had fully rededicated themselves to G-d then G-d reiterates His blessings upon Jacob again and reminds him of the name change

The name change was an Identity reminder—You wrestled with G-d and man and were victorious. This wasn’t saying he was victorious over G-d or over man in a literal sense, but that after all of that time wrestling and running from G-d he ultimately found victory IN G-d.

Genesis 35:9–12 TLV

9 God appeared to Jacob again, after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10 God said to him: “Your name was Jacob. No longer will your name be Jacob, for your name will be Israel.” So He named him Israel. 11 God also said to him: “I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and an assembly of nations will come from you. From your loins will come forth kings. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac— I give it to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land.”

Parasha Vayishlach

Principle: An important biblical lesson is the need to return to G-d in repentance, preferably before the world comes crashing down around our feet.

Parasha Vayishlach

Psalm 51:1–6 TLV

1 For the music director: a psalm of David, 2 when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he went to Bathsheba. 3 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your mercy. According to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 5 For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. 6 Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.

Parasha Vayishlach

Psalm 51:12–19 TLV

12 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 13 Do not cast me from Your presence— take not Your Ruach ha-Kodesh from me. 14 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. 15 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will return to You. 16 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God— God of my salvation. Then my tongue will sing for joy of Your righteousness. 17 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. 18 For You would not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it, nor be pleased by burnt offerings. 19 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Parasha Vayishlach

Principle: An important biblical lesson is the need to return to G-d in repentance, preferably before the world comes crashing down around our feet.

Parasha Vayishlach

Acts 2:37–39 TLV

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away—as many as Adonai our God calls to Himself.”

Parasha Vayishlach

2 Peter 3:8–9 TLV

8 But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Parasha Vayishlach

Principle: An important biblical lesson is the need to return to G-d in repentance, preferably before the world comes crashing down around our feet.

Parasha Vayishlach

You

(Call worship team back)

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