Spiritual Seeds and Physical Seeds
Here we are in our third parasha, Lech Lecha. This portion is from Genesis 12:1-17:27. Here we have Avram (later he's called Abraham) being told by YHVH to leave his family and his home land and basically to just start walking. YHVH never told him explicitly where he was to go. This was a test for Avram. A simple definition of a "heavenly test" is one that forces a person to choose between YHVH'S will and his own understanding of the situation in question. It would not have been a test for Avram who was the epitome of kindness to be asked to help the needy, but it would be a supreme test to be told to desert his home and family as he knew it. But along with that request came a wonderful promise, that YHVH would make of him a great nation and a great blessing. So Avram decided that was an offer he couldn't refuse:. Avram was 75 years old when he departed Charan. Along with him came his nephew Lot. We see where Avram was told to leave his father's house, so there's varying opinions as to whether he should have taken Lot with him or not. But needless to say, taking Lot along did not come as any surprise to YHVH. So Avram arrives in Shechem in the land of Kanaan. There YHVH appeared to Avram and told him that He would give this land to his seed. There Avram built an altar to YHVH and offered up offerings. The next place Avram stopped at he built another altar to YHVH. Then a famine came and he went down to Egypt. Enter big fib number one:.
Avram instructs Sarai to tell everyone he is her brother. He believes if she says she's married to him, they will kill him to get her. At first things seemed to be going ok. But then Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's house because of her great beauty. All of a sudden however, Pharaoh's house was plagued with great plagues. According to Rashi, YHVH smote Pharaoh and his household with a debilitating skin disease that made cohabitation impossible, thus assuring Sarai's chastity. Whatever it was, we know it caused Pharaoh to not only keep his hands off Sarai, but to enquire of Avram what was going on. After coming clean with Pharaoh on what he had done and why, Pharaoh sent him away. Of course being blessed as Avram was, he left with lots of possessions. Now he goes back to the place where he had just came from, between Beth-El and Ai. He went back to the altar he had made there previously and there called on the name of YHVH. Now we see how wealth begins to affect Lot and his herdsmen and the herdsmen of Avram's. So Avram tells Lot it's time to part ways. He allows Lot to pick anywhere he wanted to go and Avram will go in the other direction. The Scripture tells us that Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld the plain of Yarden. He noticed how it was well watered and fertile, just like the Garden of Eden was. So Lot chose to go there. The Bible says the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked. Maybe Lot believed he could live there and not be effected by their wickedness.
But we all know when you lay down with the dogs, you get up with their fleas:. As for Avram, he settled in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. There he built another altar to YHVH. Do you notice you never see it mentioned where Lot ever built an altar to YHVH? Now we see a new side of Avram, one of courage. You read of a war between kings. King Chedorlaomer and his allies dominated the region and a wide array of lesser kings paid tribute to them. Then for a period of thirteen years, five vassal kings rebelled, until the alliance asserted its authority crushing the revolt and taking spoils, not only from the rebel kingdoms, but from anyone else they suspected of sympathizing with the rebels. The key battle in the rebellion was when the king of Sodom took the initiative in attacking Chedorlaomer's invading forces. But the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were soft and decadent and fled in panic. This is where they took Lot captive. When Avram gets word that Lot is being held captive, he prepares to do battle.
It says Avram armed his own servants, born in his own household and it totaled 318 men. He ended up bringing Lot out along with all the items stolen and the women who were taken. It says Malki-Tzedek, king of Salem, came out and met Avram. He gave Avram bread and wine (sounds like communion to me). It also says that Malki-Tzedek was the Kohen (priest) of El-Elyon. I don't know anyone who could be YHVH'S personal priest but Yeshua. It says He blessed Avram and Avram paid tithes to him. Did you ever think that the tithe is 10% and there are ten lost tribes? Now YHVH comes to Avram in a vision. After YHVH informs him not to be afraid and that He is his shield and his reward, what is the first thing Avram says back? You got it, he asks YHVH, what will you give me. Isn't that just like us, always wanting to know what's in it for us:? What he wanted was a child, he wanted an heir. So YHVH tells him to look at the stars and if he can count them, that's how many his seed shall be. It says Avram believed YHVH and YHVH counted that as righteousness on Avram's part. So what's Avram's next question? You got it again, how will I know I'm going to get this land you just told me I'm going to inherit? Then YHVH has him take a 3 year old heifer, a 3 year old female goat, a 3 year old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Avram cut all these animals in half except for the turtle dove and pigeon and laid their parts one against another. You notice that deep sleep came over Avram and this took place at sundown, which would be the beginning of a day as YHVH counts time. It says a horror of great darkness fell upon Avram. The sages say this was when YHVH let him see what was to happen to his future generations. He saw the bitter slavery they would endure under the Egyptian ruler. Then after Avram is told of the things to come, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passes between the parts. One is referring to YHVH the Father and one is Yeshua the son.
Things continue on in Avram's life, but Sarai never conceives year after year. So as we all know, they take matters into their own hands. Sarai has this idea that she will give Hagar to Avram as another wife and he could have a child with her. Notice that she gave Hagar as a wife to him not as a concubine. Commentaries say that Hagar was the daughter of the Pharaoh that had taken Sarai into his house when they were down in Egypt previously. It states that the Pharaoh gave her to Sarai and Avram as a gift upon departing Egypt. We can't be sure since Scripture doesn't tell us. But now Hagar conceives and the fighting starts between her and Sarai. It does say, it was Hagar who despised Sarai after she conceived. Now when Sarai complains about her behavior to Avram, he tells her, you deal with it however you see fit. She had did no wrong to Avram and so it was not really his place to get on her case, but she was still Sarai's servant, so it was Sarai's place to discipline her if need be. It says she dealt harshly with her. So Hagar split the scene:.But YHVH had a little talk with her out in the plains and she decided she should return home. She gave birth to Ishmael. It is now 2047 from creation and Avram is 99 years old and Sarai is 89. At this advanced age, Avram was given the commandment of circumcision.
The symbolic significance of this commandment is indicated by the name of the flesh that is removed in performance of this commandment. Orlah, commonly translated as foreskin, actually means a barrier standing in the way of a beneficial result. For example, the sinful habits that predispose a person not to change his lifestyle are called orlah of the heart. Avram not only circumcised himself but every male he could lay hands on in his household:. He circumcised Ishmael when he was 13 years old. Both were circumcised the same day. I call that real father-son togetherness:. But YHVH lets Avram know that it is with Isaac that He is going to make covenant with. However, Ishmael would be blessed also, he would begat 12 princes from his lineage. Notice that, 12 tribes from Jacob and 12 princes from Ishmael? 12 is an important number in Scripture. It is right at this time that YHVH changes their names to Sarah and Abraham. What he actually did was insert the Hebrew letter hei (our letter H) into their names. You cannot say that letter without breathing your breath out. That's what YHVH did to them, he breathed out life into them with inserting the letter hei into their names. After Avram's name was changed to Abraham and Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, the couple conceived Isaac. He was the promised seed. Ishmael was the physical seed, but Isaac was the spiritual seed YHVH made the covenant with. Next parasha we'll look in on Abraham on what the sages say was the third day after the circumcision, ouch! See you then:.
Avram instructs Sarai to tell everyone he is her brother. He believes if she says she's married to him, they will kill him to get her. At first things seemed to be going ok. But then Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's house because of her great beauty. All of a sudden however, Pharaoh's house was plagued with great plagues. According to Rashi, YHVH smote Pharaoh and his household with a debilitating skin disease that made cohabitation impossible, thus assuring Sarai's chastity. Whatever it was, we know it caused Pharaoh to not only keep his hands off Sarai, but to enquire of Avram what was going on. After coming clean with Pharaoh on what he had done and why, Pharaoh sent him away. Of course being blessed as Avram was, he left with lots of possessions. Now he goes back to the place where he had just came from, between Beth-El and Ai. He went back to the altar he had made there previously and there called on the name of YHVH. Now we see how wealth begins to affect Lot and his herdsmen and the herdsmen of Avram's. So Avram tells Lot it's time to part ways. He allows Lot to pick anywhere he wanted to go and Avram will go in the other direction. The Scripture tells us that Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld the plain of Yarden. He noticed how it was well watered and fertile, just like the Garden of Eden was. So Lot chose to go there. The Bible says the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked. Maybe Lot believed he could live there and not be effected by their wickedness.
But we all know when you lay down with the dogs, you get up with their fleas:. As for Avram, he settled in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. There he built another altar to YHVH. Do you notice you never see it mentioned where Lot ever built an altar to YHVH? Now we see a new side of Avram, one of courage. You read of a war between kings. King Chedorlaomer and his allies dominated the region and a wide array of lesser kings paid tribute to them. Then for a period of thirteen years, five vassal kings rebelled, until the alliance asserted its authority crushing the revolt and taking spoils, not only from the rebel kingdoms, but from anyone else they suspected of sympathizing with the rebels. The key battle in the rebellion was when the king of Sodom took the initiative in attacking Chedorlaomer's invading forces. But the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were soft and decadent and fled in panic. This is where they took Lot captive. When Avram gets word that Lot is being held captive, he prepares to do battle.
It says Avram armed his own servants, born in his own household and it totaled 318 men. He ended up bringing Lot out along with all the items stolen and the women who were taken. It says Malki-Tzedek, king of Salem, came out and met Avram. He gave Avram bread and wine (sounds like communion to me). It also says that Malki-Tzedek was the Kohen (priest) of El-Elyon. I don't know anyone who could be YHVH'S personal priest but Yeshua. It says He blessed Avram and Avram paid tithes to him. Did you ever think that the tithe is 10% and there are ten lost tribes? Now YHVH comes to Avram in a vision. After YHVH informs him not to be afraid and that He is his shield and his reward, what is the first thing Avram says back? You got it, he asks YHVH, what will you give me. Isn't that just like us, always wanting to know what's in it for us:? What he wanted was a child, he wanted an heir. So YHVH tells him to look at the stars and if he can count them, that's how many his seed shall be. It says Avram believed YHVH and YHVH counted that as righteousness on Avram's part. So what's Avram's next question? You got it again, how will I know I'm going to get this land you just told me I'm going to inherit? Then YHVH has him take a 3 year old heifer, a 3 year old female goat, a 3 year old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Avram cut all these animals in half except for the turtle dove and pigeon and laid their parts one against another. You notice that deep sleep came over Avram and this took place at sundown, which would be the beginning of a day as YHVH counts time. It says a horror of great darkness fell upon Avram. The sages say this was when YHVH let him see what was to happen to his future generations. He saw the bitter slavery they would endure under the Egyptian ruler. Then after Avram is told of the things to come, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passes between the parts. One is referring to YHVH the Father and one is Yeshua the son.
Things continue on in Avram's life, but Sarai never conceives year after year. So as we all know, they take matters into their own hands. Sarai has this idea that she will give Hagar to Avram as another wife and he could have a child with her. Notice that she gave Hagar as a wife to him not as a concubine. Commentaries say that Hagar was the daughter of the Pharaoh that had taken Sarai into his house when they were down in Egypt previously. It states that the Pharaoh gave her to Sarai and Avram as a gift upon departing Egypt. We can't be sure since Scripture doesn't tell us. But now Hagar conceives and the fighting starts between her and Sarai. It does say, it was Hagar who despised Sarai after she conceived. Now when Sarai complains about her behavior to Avram, he tells her, you deal with it however you see fit. She had did no wrong to Avram and so it was not really his place to get on her case, but she was still Sarai's servant, so it was Sarai's place to discipline her if need be. It says she dealt harshly with her. So Hagar split the scene:.But YHVH had a little talk with her out in the plains and she decided she should return home. She gave birth to Ishmael. It is now 2047 from creation and Avram is 99 years old and Sarai is 89. At this advanced age, Avram was given the commandment of circumcision.
The symbolic significance of this commandment is indicated by the name of the flesh that is removed in performance of this commandment. Orlah, commonly translated as foreskin, actually means a barrier standing in the way of a beneficial result. For example, the sinful habits that predispose a person not to change his lifestyle are called orlah of the heart. Avram not only circumcised himself but every male he could lay hands on in his household:. He circumcised Ishmael when he was 13 years old. Both were circumcised the same day. I call that real father-son togetherness:. But YHVH lets Avram know that it is with Isaac that He is going to make covenant with. However, Ishmael would be blessed also, he would begat 12 princes from his lineage. Notice that, 12 tribes from Jacob and 12 princes from Ishmael? 12 is an important number in Scripture. It is right at this time that YHVH changes their names to Sarah and Abraham. What he actually did was insert the Hebrew letter hei (our letter H) into their names. You cannot say that letter without breathing your breath out. That's what YHVH did to them, he breathed out life into them with inserting the letter hei into their names. After Avram's name was changed to Abraham and Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, the couple conceived Isaac. He was the promised seed. Ishmael was the physical seed, but Isaac was the spiritual seed YHVH made the covenant with. Next parasha we'll look in on Abraham on what the sages say was the third day after the circumcision, ouch! See you then:.