Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
Parashah #7: Vayetze (He went out) B’resheit (Genesis) 28:10-32:3
Haftarah: Hoshea (Hosea) 11:7-12:12
B’rit Chadashah: Yochanan (John) 1:43-51
This parashah begins a new section of Genesis, one that focuses on Jacob, his positive and negative attributes, and how G-d used them to prepare Jacob as the patriarch who would carry forth the promises G-d originally made to Avraham. As we examine Jacob’s life, we should be able to envision our own lives and apply the concepts of spiritual growth G-d developed in Jacob to ourselves.
G-d in his wisdom, knew that Jacob was afraid of Esav finding and killing him. So G-d gave Jacob a profound dream whereby he saw a ladder that reached heaven with angels ascending and descending the ladder (this event warrants a separate teaching that will not be covered in this lesson). Suddenly, Jacob saw Adonai standing next to him. Adonai repeated the promises he made to Avraham that were now to be continued through Jacob. This reassurance demonstrated that regardless of how Jacob manipulated Esav out of birthright, Isaac’s blessing on him conformed to G-d’s will and that Jacob’s exile would be temporary (vv.13-15). Jacob realized the awesomeness of this experience and consecrated it as a sanctuary vowing to give G-d a tithe for His protection as He has promised (vv2-22). This dream was certainly an example of G-d’s benevolence, mercy, and grace. Note that G-d made it a point to repeat the promise he made to Avraham to Isaac, and Jacob separately. This is an important point because many believe that salvation will be a reward based on the merits of our ancestors, in this case, Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is not a biblically supported belief. Everyone is a sinner and must establish a personal relationship with G-d. Jacob was no exception.
The task of separating ourselves from the progressively secular and pagan world we live in is daunting and would be impossible without G-d in our lives as the only true “Compass Point.” At the writing of this lesson, we are in the middle of the “Christmas season” in America at least, inundated with spiritual challenges such as attending Christmas themed functions with family, co-workers, friends, etc. As true believers are presented with such situations, we should recognize that G-d wants us to be separate people that live the testimony we profess to love and follow. We may try to rationalize, minimize or justify attendance at such functions, but we must ask ourselves, would Yahshua attend such functions to “keep the peace with a secular crowd?
Although the answer to this question is addressed through out G-d’s Torah, we are given an example of how we are to deal with the pressures of people with whom we want to associate no matter the consequences of choosing not to participate or assimilate. In this parashah the awesome task of overtly living our testimony for G-d that by default means that we must internalize G-d’s Torah in our hearts and minds is demonstrated through Jacob’s life, only revealed in part to this point. As we have already learned, Jacob was just as we are, sometimes spiritually weak, sometimes self-confident, sometimes afraid. But his weakness was not the same as many others, that of loving pagan holidays and all the associated customs and traditions. Jacob’s main weakness was that of pride and self-sufficiency, and fear, failing to stand up for what is right, even amid what seems to us in our frail humanness unreasonable or impossible. Thanks be to G-d, then and now, we have the privilege to seek and obtain the strength, confidence, and wisdom to overcome our human egos, desires, fears, and any other responses to situations that are not consistent with those of a true believer.
Even though we encounter narratives throughout G-d’s Torah that described some of the negative character attributes in Jacob’s life and the results of bad judgment, we also see Jacob’s inextricable spiritual connection to G-d as he matured. Jacob believed in G-d and his promises of the promised seed and the promised land. As Jacob grew, his faith and trust in G-d matured. He learned to cast himself completely upon G-d, learning to trust G-d’s care and leadership (Gen. 28:10-22; 32:22-32).
G-d knew Jacob’s heart and blessed him the unique privilege of fathering 12 sons who would become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, the great nation that will never be destroyed and who would bear the promised seed, Yahshua HaMashiach.
Looking back we can see that Jacob’s life had four stages, each one including a personal encounter with G-d (Life Application Study Bible,2004). Jacob lived up to his name meaning “supplanter,” “he grabs the heel,” he deceives.” He grabbed Esav’s heel on the way out of the womb, and by the time he fled to Haran, he had “grabbed” the birth right and the blessing meant for the first born by culture. As he fled, G-d first appeared to him and confirmed the blessing first given to Avraham and Isaac. G-d endowed Jacob with a personal knowledge of himself demonstrating His grace and love. In the second stage, Jacob had the chance to see the other side of manipulation as Lavan deceived and manipulated him. But at this point there is a curious change in Jacob’s maturity. The Jacob in stage one would have just left Lavan. But Jacob in stage two, after deciding to leave, waited six years for G-d’s permission (31:38; 31:41-2). In the third stage, Jacob was in a new role as “the grabber” this time by the Jordan River. He grabbed onto Yahshua in the form of an angel and would not let go. In various translations, Yahshua is described as “a man,” or “an angel.” (Chumash,1994; The Complete Jewish Bible, 1998). According to Sforno who was a 15thcentury Italian rabbi, “G-d dispatched the angel to pave the way for the ultimate salvation of Jacob and his descendants. Just as Jacob was temporarily injured in the struggle but prevailed and went on to greater accomplishments, the Jewish people would suffer losses in the future but would emerge with even greater victories and blessings.”
In the above commentary, we see that indeed, the angel or man was Yahshua who would pave the way for salvation for Jew and Gentile who repent, accept Yahshua as the Messiah, and keep the commands of G-d. That Yahshua is G-d, Jacob was not in error with his declaration that he had seen G-d face to face and survived (Hosea 12:4-5). Remember “face to face” in this case is an idiomatic expression meaning relating to someone personally such as a close friend. Jacob knew he had just had another personal encounter with G-d, this time as Yahshua manifested as an angel/man. During this encounter, after Jacob continued to wrestle with and hold onto the angel/man (Yahshua), he was blessed but also injured. According to a Midrash, the angel’s crippling Jacob at the hip/thigh was “symbolic of a weakening of commitment on the part of those who financially support Torah education. “Another interpretation is that the location of the injury also alludes to the persecution of Jacob’s descendants, literally “the issue of his loins” such as that of the Roman atrocities against the Jews during the generation of religious persecution two generations after the destruction of the Second Temple and the Nazi attempts to “exterminate” the Jews. Just as Jacob recovered from the injury (33:18) although he may have maintained a limp, he recovered and moved to Shechem (33:18). Likewise, Israel, although “struck” many times with atrocities such as that which occurred on October 7,2023 and so many others, will recover and go on to serve as an overt living testimony to the validity and reliability of G-d’s promises.
Jacob’s last stage of life was to be “grabbed”. G-d achieved a firm hold on Jacob. His response to Joseph’s invitation to come to Egypt was to obtain G-d’s approval before making a move. The perfect strategy for all true believers!
The warning given by Hosea who was a contemporary of Isaiah is certainly applicable to true believers today who are doing their best to live a G-dly testimony in the midst of a deteriorating society. In the haftarah, we are speaking of the kingdom of Samaria, the ten Tribes of Israel. Hosea reminds the people of G-d’s past mercies of the past with Israel’s failure to recognize that everything they had, and we have today, is due to G-d’s unmerited kindness and mercy. Even so, G-d makes it clear that He will never desert Ephraim, the rebellious leader of the Ten Tribes. With the reassurance that Ephraim and the Ten Tribes will not be forgotten or forsaken, G-d describes in the remaining chapters of Hosea that are not included in today’s commentary that Israel will not go unpunished. Judah will also be punished but remain intact; Ephraim Israel and Judah Israel (12:7; 14) eventually repenting and returning to G-d. May those who continue to rebel against the G-d of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob follow suit before the “door of the ark” closes to those who will be lost.
B’rit Chadashah: Yochanan (John) 1:43-51
This passage echoes the interaction between Yahshua who was manifest as an angel in his encounter with Jacob described in our parashah and provides further validation of the importance the Old Testament plays in G-d’s plan for Israel and mankind in general. Natan’el and Philip would have had to be well acquainted with the Torah and the Prophets to be able to understand that which Yahshua was referring when He said in response to Natan’el’s declaration that Yahshua is the Son of G-d and the King of Israel; “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of G-d going up and coming down on the Son of Man!”
It is a curious thing that Philip understood who Moshe told the Israelites that “The L-rd your G-d will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers- it is to him you shall listen” ( Deut. 18:15). Moving on to verse 18: “And the L-rd said to me, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
I find it interesting that Philip and Natan’el were able to put Moshe’s prophesy together with what they were witnessing at that moment, yet the majority of the world’s people including many of the Jewish sects continue to argue that Moshe was the greatest prophet, completely blinded to the truth that Yahshua ben-Yosef from Natzeret is the One to whom Moshe was referring. Not only that, but Yahshua is also Messiah ben-David who will soon return and fulfill all that He promised in His Torah from Genesis to Revelation. Amein!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Tamah Davis-Hart