Weekly Torah Lesson
Parasha: Lech Lecha “Go to yourself”
Torah: BeReishit 12:1 – 17:27
** The Torah records more than just a few covenants. The covenant at Sinai was based on Israel’s obedience to the prescribed laws and the use of animal’s blood to provide atonement. Prior to Sinai, a covenant was secured by an oath from Avinu. Here are some details.
*** “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a Avinu to thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Ge 17:7 )
** Avinu, the Elohei of Avraham, promises that He will be the Elohim of Avraham’s descendants forever.
*** “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to thee at this set time in the next year.” (Ge 17:21 )
** Avinu promises Avraham that he will have a son through Sarah and the Promise will follow that particular blood line into eternity.
*** “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with Avinu.” (Ge 6:9 )
** Avinu kept an unblemished blood line from Adam to Noach. Noach was to carry that blood line into the new world and pass it to Avraham.
*** “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,” (Ro 4:16
** Avraham secured the covenant before the law was codified and given to the nation of Israel. The covenant with Avraham doesn’t depend on our decision but on the “calling” given to the chosen descendants of Avraham.
*** “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44)
*** “7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of Avinu: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Ro 9:7-8 )
** Avraham had eight sons to three different women. Only the descendants that came through Yitzak are counted as “the seed”.
*** “But Avinu gives it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed its own body.” (1Co 15:38 )
** In the resurrection, “the seed” will be given a spiritual body.
*** “What purpose then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” (Gal 3:19)
** “the seed” in this verse refers to Meshiach who came to save “the Lost Sheep” of Israel.
*** “And if ye are Meshiach’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Ga 3:29 )
*** “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of Avinu, and have the testimony of Yeshua HaMeshiach.” (Re 12:17 )
*** “But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 15:24 )
*** “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 10:6 )
*** “24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 25 As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people; and her beloved, who was not beloved. 26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living Avinu.” (Ro 9:24-26 )
*** “What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeks for; but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Ro 11:7 )
** Not all of “the children of the Promise” are being called into this special relationship at this time. Only “the elect” are being “called” now.
*** “25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part hath happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away wickedness from Jacob:” (Ro 11:25-26 )
** The “mystery” is that some of the “gentiles” are the seed of Avraham through the “son of Promise” and are also being called at this time according to the Promise.
*** “19 Say to them, Thus said Avinu Elohim; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. 20 And the sticks where on you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And say to them, Thus said Avinu Elohim; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, where they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their Avinu. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelled; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the middle of them for ever more. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yes, I will be their Avinu, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the middle of them for ever more.” (Eze 37:19-28)
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