Chayai Sarah
Welcome to our fifth parasha in Genesis. It is Chayai Sarah, the life of Sarah. It begins in Genesis 23:1-25:18. It has a sad beginning with the death of Sarah taking place. As we mentioned before, commentaries say it was believed she died after hearing Abraham was going to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Sarah died in Kiryath-Arba, which means city of four. Some say the city was named that because of the four giants that lived there. There Abraham bargained with a man named Ephron for a burial place for Sarah. At first, the man acted as if he was giving the land and cave to Abraham for free, but really he wanted quite a sum of money for it (400 shekels of silver). The cave was called Machpelah, which means double. This was thought to be because it contained two chambers, an upper and a lower chamber. So Abraham is now aging and he realizes that his son Isaac needs to have a wife, doesn't every man ? Eliezer is chosen to go find Isaac a wife. You might say that in this story, Eliezer is a picture of the Holy Spirit and he's looking for his master Isaac (Yeshua) a bride (us) Revkah. He asks Elohim to give him a sign that he is picking the one that Elohim wants Isaac to have. The sign Eliezer prayed for was really a simple one. He arrives at a well. He asks the woman who comes to the well for a drink of water. If she offers him water and to water his camels also, then she is the chosen bride. Maybe watering camels might not seem like such a job, but it is! Ten camels can consume 140 gallons of water.
Try watering those by hand from a well! We know that Revkah did just that, so Eliezer's prayers were answered. You will notice that before he had even met her parents or made any promises, he gave her jewelry. He gave her a golden ear ring of a half shekel of gold by weight, two bracelets of ten shekels of gold by weight. By the way, where you read ear ring, the word in Hebrew (nezem) could also be translated as a nose ring or jewel. Personally, I believe if it had been an ear ring, you would think he would have given her two, after all, I think most people do have two ears:. So it may very well have been a nose ring. The half shekel represented what each person would contribute for the sanctuary every year. The two bracelets represented the two houses of Israel and the weight of ten shekels represented the Ten Commandments. This is my opinion mixed with the famous Rashi's :. Eleizer returns back to Revkah's home with her. He meets her brother Laban. Laban is involved a lot in this story, so I believe he must be the oldest son of Bethu-El. He seems to call the shots more than his father. But notice Eliezer speaks of truth and kindness to them, because it is important for the two of them to work together. Kindness alone can be harmful, because it can cause someone to give in to the wishes of the one he loves, even in cases where it is wrong. Therefore, truth must regulate kindness to prevent it from going astray. So Eliezer wants to get the truth out and things settled before he even eats his meal. After relaying how his master Abraham had sent him to find a wife for Isaac, he relayed to them of how Elohim had answered his prayers and showed him that Revkah was the right choice. So after hearing Eliezer's entire story, her father and brother said she must go with him. Then Eliezer brought out the gold and clothes and jewels and gave them to Revkah.
He also gave gifts to her brother and mother. But her mother and brother wanted her to stay ten days before she left with Eliezer. That was not in Eliezer's plan. So they decide to ask Revkah what she wanted to do. She answered that she would go with Eliezer right away. So off they go to get Revkah's groom. When they reached home, Isaac was out in the field praying. He saw them coming from afar and he went to meet them. Revkah quickly covers her face with a veil when she finds out from Eliezer this is Isaac, her future mate. I say mate, because they did not have "marriage" rituals then as we do now. Isaac never applied for blood tests, a state license and then had a preacher, rabbi, or someone in Las Vegas officially declare them as man and wife. Today we would say that Isaac and Revkah were "living out of wedlock". But it says Isaac took her into Sarah's tent and she became his wife. Isaac was forty years old at this time. Forty, that magical age in the Scriptures. Funny, it didn't seem that magical when I reached it:. YHVH took Eve "out of Adam." The Scriptures say that YHVH is not a respecter of persons, so wouldn't that mean each male has a mate that comes out of him? YHVH said it was not good for man to be alone, so if we are all single in eternity, then I guess YHVH messed up with that statement and will have to take that one back. I guess He meant to say, it is not good for man to be alone until eternity. Then he will be like the angels, right, alone. Let's see, YHVH made male and female in every creation on earth, but he made the angels neuter-humm. The only creation in the universe that can't have a mate, poor angels. That is, unless we don't understand what Yeshua meant when he said the angels were not given or taken in marriage. Given and taken in marriage is an earthly creation, but having a mate is a God ordained union.
If you had the PERFECT MATE that YHVH took you out of, why would you need a paper and a wedding ceremony in eternity? Ok, I'll get off that . Now Abraham took a wife it says and her name was Keturah. Most commentaries agree Keturah was Hagar by another name. She had been away from Abraham for some time until now. Well one thing is for sure, she had no problem having kids by him. So we see that it was Sarah who had the problem of being barren, not Abraham. Of course it played out as YHVH had it to play out. Sarah only had the one child because that was the way YHVH had planned it. Remember, YHVH never has a "plan B." Abraham died at a hundred and seventy five years old. Then look who buries him, Isaac and Ishmael. He's buried in the cave of Machpelah with his beloved Sarah. Now the Scriptures begin to name the sons of Ishmael. There were twelve princes born to Ishmael as YHVH had promised. Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty seven years. Ishmael's part in destiny is finished, so his death is now recorded.
Try watering those by hand from a well! We know that Revkah did just that, so Eliezer's prayers were answered. You will notice that before he had even met her parents or made any promises, he gave her jewelry. He gave her a golden ear ring of a half shekel of gold by weight, two bracelets of ten shekels of gold by weight. By the way, where you read ear ring, the word in Hebrew (nezem) could also be translated as a nose ring or jewel. Personally, I believe if it had been an ear ring, you would think he would have given her two, after all, I think most people do have two ears:. So it may very well have been a nose ring. The half shekel represented what each person would contribute for the sanctuary every year. The two bracelets represented the two houses of Israel and the weight of ten shekels represented the Ten Commandments. This is my opinion mixed with the famous Rashi's :. Eleizer returns back to Revkah's home with her. He meets her brother Laban. Laban is involved a lot in this story, so I believe he must be the oldest son of Bethu-El. He seems to call the shots more than his father. But notice Eliezer speaks of truth and kindness to them, because it is important for the two of them to work together. Kindness alone can be harmful, because it can cause someone to give in to the wishes of the one he loves, even in cases where it is wrong. Therefore, truth must regulate kindness to prevent it from going astray. So Eliezer wants to get the truth out and things settled before he even eats his meal. After relaying how his master Abraham had sent him to find a wife for Isaac, he relayed to them of how Elohim had answered his prayers and showed him that Revkah was the right choice. So after hearing Eliezer's entire story, her father and brother said she must go with him. Then Eliezer brought out the gold and clothes and jewels and gave them to Revkah.
He also gave gifts to her brother and mother. But her mother and brother wanted her to stay ten days before she left with Eliezer. That was not in Eliezer's plan. So they decide to ask Revkah what she wanted to do. She answered that she would go with Eliezer right away. So off they go to get Revkah's groom. When they reached home, Isaac was out in the field praying. He saw them coming from afar and he went to meet them. Revkah quickly covers her face with a veil when she finds out from Eliezer this is Isaac, her future mate. I say mate, because they did not have "marriage" rituals then as we do now. Isaac never applied for blood tests, a state license and then had a preacher, rabbi, or someone in Las Vegas officially declare them as man and wife. Today we would say that Isaac and Revkah were "living out of wedlock". But it says Isaac took her into Sarah's tent and she became his wife. Isaac was forty years old at this time. Forty, that magical age in the Scriptures. Funny, it didn't seem that magical when I reached it:. YHVH took Eve "out of Adam." The Scriptures say that YHVH is not a respecter of persons, so wouldn't that mean each male has a mate that comes out of him? YHVH said it was not good for man to be alone, so if we are all single in eternity, then I guess YHVH messed up with that statement and will have to take that one back. I guess He meant to say, it is not good for man to be alone until eternity. Then he will be like the angels, right, alone. Let's see, YHVH made male and female in every creation on earth, but he made the angels neuter-humm. The only creation in the universe that can't have a mate, poor angels. That is, unless we don't understand what Yeshua meant when he said the angels were not given or taken in marriage. Given and taken in marriage is an earthly creation, but having a mate is a God ordained union.
If you had the PERFECT MATE that YHVH took you out of, why would you need a paper and a wedding ceremony in eternity? Ok, I'll get off that . Now Abraham took a wife it says and her name was Keturah. Most commentaries agree Keturah was Hagar by another name. She had been away from Abraham for some time until now. Well one thing is for sure, she had no problem having kids by him. So we see that it was Sarah who had the problem of being barren, not Abraham. Of course it played out as YHVH had it to play out. Sarah only had the one child because that was the way YHVH had planned it. Remember, YHVH never has a "plan B." Abraham died at a hundred and seventy five years old. Then look who buries him, Isaac and Ishmael. He's buried in the cave of Machpelah with his beloved Sarah. Now the Scriptures begin to name the sons of Ishmael. There were twelve princes born to Ishmael as YHVH had promised. Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty seven years. Ishmael's part in destiny is finished, so his death is now recorded.