Newsletter 10

Issue Number 11/15/06

Last weeks reading was Parashas Vayeira. It encompassed Genesis 18:1 to 22:24 and then 2 Kings 4:1-37. The parts in Genesis were astounding to me. I cannot tell you what it meant to me during that study. Sometimes, you open your Bible and it is a book, but sometimes, and I pray to HaShem that I grow more and more into this, you open your Bible and it truly becomes The Living Word! Last weeks study was like that to me.

            We all know Abraham; we all know the story of Abraham. But in last weeks study, for the first time, I “saw” Abraham! Not in the physical sense, although it left me better than I was before it, but in the sense of seeing why G-d chose Abraham to be The Patriarch. Why G-d chose Abraham to be the Father of His people. Why G-d chose Abraham to be the Blessing to us all. And there is so much to learn from reading!

            HaShem often referred to Himself as The G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At one time I thought that this more referred to the bloodline of the Hebrew people. More to show them that He was The God of their family. But last week I realized that G-d also refers to them because he is proud of them! Because they, especially in this teaching about Abraham, show us what is possible in the worship and following of HaShem. What it is like to truly live your life for Him.

            The reading opens with three men standing before Abraham. Now the sages teach us that they were Angels, Messengers of G-d. Each with a specific purpose. Angels are a function that G-d wishes to have performed. Each function is a new Angel. There were three functions in this visit, so there were three Angels. In this case it is taught that the three Angels were Michael, who informed Abraham that Sarah would have a son, Gabriel, who overturned Sodom, and Raphael who healed Abraham and saved Lot (both of those actions were a “saving” action and counted as one).  Now Abraham had just circumcised himself and his household. He was at the peak of hurting when the Angels appeared, but he rushed to serve them, to treat them with hospitality. This act showed that Abraham was a giving person, charity being one of his trademarks.

            When the Angels went to Sodom to see Lot, HaShem told Abraham that he intended to destroy Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebolim and Zoar. Abraham, being a loving kind person prayed to intercede for those people in those cities. Abraham knew the decadent level of their lifestyle, but still loved and hoped for them to find G-d and turn to His ways. He asked HaShem to spare the cities if he could find fifty righteous. HaShem told Abraham that He would. Abraham thinking better of truly finding fifty asked G-d if forty-five would do! This went back and forth until it arrived at ten. Ten righteous people would save all five of the cities! That was only two in each town! I think this shows us how very much that HaShem wants to save us. That He will always leave the option open to us to return to Him. He gave us his Son to save us! But this story also tells us that we can turn away from Him and not be saved. Just as the cities were destroyed by their own choice, so can we.

            Now Abraham was blessed by G-d, but that didn’t mean that he was without trials and tests. The sages teach us about the “Ten Trials of Abraham”. If you look at his life, Abraham was asked to leave his family, he was caught in a famine, his wife was abducted twice, He had to run off one of his sons, he was told by G-d that his offspring would suffer under four monarchies, he was caught up in wars, and most of all, he was asked to sacrifice Isaac! Abraham knew that life was not perfect! Abraham had problems! Abraham lived in the same fallen world that we all do! But Abraham never questioned G-d. Abraham always trusted and had faith in The Word of G-d. He lived his life FOR G-d! And for his Faith (as I have stated before, in Hebrew, faith is an ACTION word, not just a thought process), he was counted as righteous!

            When G-d told Abraham that he was to take Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him, he told him “take your son, your only one, the one whom you love”. That is a “picture” folks! He told Abraham to take him to Moriah, that is Jerusalem, and sacrifice him. Just as HaShem himself would do later! When He said to Abraham “take your son, your only one, the one whom you love”, I could not help but compare that to “this is My Son, in Whom I am well pleased”!!!! When our savior Jesus Christ said that all the scriptures were about Him, he meant it!

            Now a bit about Isaac that I found interesting. Like most of us, I think, I looked at this story with Isaac being a child. Well, he wasn’t! The sages and the Oral Torah teach us that Sarah died immediately after this test of Abraham. Sarah died at the age of 127. She had Isaac when she was 90. That means that Isaac was 37 years old! Now think about this! How could Abraham, who was 137 at the time, bind his 37 year old son? How could that happen? Isaac HAD to ALLOW himself to be bound! So great was the faith and trust of Isaac! He ACCEPTED that he was to be the sacrifice! ANOTHER PICTURE FOLKS!

            The sages teach us that this was THE great test of Abraham. What about Isaac? Well, they explain it like this. Isaac was great in faith and longed to do the bidding of G-d. Even if it meant his death! But for Isaac, it would have been over in a blaze of glory. For Abraham, he would have had to LIVE with the knowledge of what he had done; He would have had to try to explain to all that knew him why he had killed his son. He would have had to keep trying to bring people to HaShem, with them knowing what he had done. He would have had to always wonder if he could have done something to prevent this from happening. No, the true TEST was Abrahams. You see, sometimes, LIVING for your G-d is much harder than DYING for your G-d.

This is something that I think the extremist Muslim martyrs ought to realize and think about!

I cannot get across to you how much this teaching touched me. How much it made me see that we CAN LIVE for our G-d. Abraham was a special man, but he was a man. We CAN strive to live for our Lord. We CAN strive to be more like Abraham! We CAN be counted as righteous for our Faith! I cannot get this excitement and joy across to you, because my words are mine, not living, but our Precious Lord’s Words are ALIVE! All I can do is try to get you to look deeper into that Living Word!

Blessings in the Name of The Lord,

Tony and Robin