GOP: Week Twelve
This Week is Under Construction
Week 12: Even Strong Women Can Make Mistakes
Contents of this week’s study:
Day One: Not Your Child
Day Two: He Loves the Unloved
Day Three: The God Who Sees Me
Day Four: You Will Serve No Other
Day Five: He Laughs
Day Six: The Shema - Intro and Section One
Genesis 16
Day One: Not Your Child
*You know your marriage is (and your priorities are) off the rails when anything would cause you to allow another man or woman to come between you and your wife or husband.
Genesis 16:1-2 (CJB)
1 Now Sarai Avram’s wife had not borne him a child. But she had an Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar; 2 so Sarai said to Avram, “Here now, Adonai has kept me from having children; so go in and sleep with my slave-girl. Maybe I’ll be able to have children through her.” Avram listened to what Sarai said.
This practice of a barren wife using a servant girl to provide the wife with a child -- by means of the servant girl engaging in an intimate relationship with the woman's husband -- seems to have been an accepted practice in ancient Mesopotamia, though I don’t imagine it ever actually turned out well.
In today's verses, It’s been many years since Avram and Terah moved their family out of Ur of the Chaldees and we noted the oddly placed comment about Sarai’s inability to conceive.
Avram was seventy years old when they left Ur. He’s around eighty eight years old now, and Sarai is about seventy eight years old, way past child bearing age. Even though God had promised they would have descendants, Sarai seems to have finally given up on the idea of having a child of her own.
"Why", you may ask, "did Avram go along with the plan?" Well, one can only guess, but my suspicion is that Avram willingly took the -apple- oops! I mean the servant girl --- for the same reason Adam ate the apple in Gan-Ayden: because he wanted it.
Genesis 16:3 (CJV)
3 It was after Avram had lived ten years in the land of Kena‘an that Sarai Avram’s wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to Avram her husband to be his wife.
Many scholars say the translation of this scripture posing the idea of there being a marriage between Avram and Hagar is a complete misunderstanding, because Sarai would not have given Hagar - the slave girl - as a wife but a concubine or even as a kind of valueless incubator, and I have to concur with that idea in light of what is about to happen.
Genesis 16:4 (CJV)
4 Avram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she conceived. But when she became aware that she was pregnant, she looked on her mistress with contempt.
*Uh oh, this is not good. People always wonder, “like, didn’t they all know what was going to happen before they started all this nonsense”? I will tell you, however, that when human beings want something bad enough, we have an uncanny ability to convince ourselves that “this is going to be different”, or “I can totally handle this”. It’s never true, however. If you put yourself in the path of trouble, brace yourself, you’re going to have trouble, and there is a good probability that the result will be devastation at sometime and to someone .
What happened in the tent between Avram and Hagar was a total miscommunication. Avram was probably tender and attentive with this young woman; who may never before have had anyone actually appreciate her in any tangible way. For a very short, happy time the slave girl became a princess, and she liked it.
I will tell you right now that the only person who believed this arrangement had any chance of being a marriage was Hagar.
Re-read vs. 3 and answer this question:
Is their any indication that Hagar was taken to Avram’s tent kicking and screaming?
*I suspect she went willingly and perhaps even a little expectantly with her head full of illusions and fantasies about Avram, the wealthy landowner, trusted and respected pillar of the community becoming her wise and loving husband. Naively, Hagar probably told herself that Avram would be dazzled by her youth and submission, and that he would be so appreciative of her for giving him children that he would fall in love with her.
We’re not told so, but to be sure of having a child, Avram may have continued a relationship with Hagar, thereby encouraging a belief that he wanted to build a family with her. There was probably pillow talk and the sharing of their childhood experiences and dreams for the future. When Hagar realized she was carrying Avram’s child, she was certain that he would choose to be a family with her and their child; and Sarai, well, she was not able to fulfill her husband’s desire for an heir, so she was nothing and should soon be pushed aside to make way for Hagar and her baby.
Yuck, the abuse inherent in this whole scenario, from all sides, sickens me, and I can guarantee it is repulsive to God too. In the end we are left with broken hearts and anguish all the way around (the natural result of sin), but no one felt the pain, which always results from unhealthy choices, more than precious, young Ishmael.
Genesis 16:5 (CJV)
5 Sarai said to Avram, “This outrage being done to me is your fault! True, I gave my slave-girl to you to sleep with; but when she saw that she was pregnant, she began holding me in contempt. May Adonai decide who is right — I or you!”
How tragic. Sarai is anguished and threatened because she realizes that Avram had feelings for Hagar, and that Hagar had realized this while they were together in his tent.
The fact is that Sarai’s plan of claiming Hagar’s child as her own, is being denied. Hagar sees Sarai as pathetic and is refusing to give up her child and the dream of being the wife of a distinguished and wealthy gentleman.
Genesis 16:6 (CJV)
6 However, Avram answered Sarai, “Look, she’s your slave-girl. Deal with her as you think fit.”
This whole situation is just spiraling out of control.
Journaling:
Ruminate on the idea of making God's promises come true in our preferred timing and by our own means. Do things ever turn out well if we inject ourselves and our own will into the fulfillment of God's plans?
Day Two: He Loves the Unloved
Genesis 16:6 (TLV)
6 Abram said to Sarai, “Look! Your slave-girl is in your hand. Do to her what is good in your eyes.” So Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her presence.
If Hagar, overheard this argument between husband and wife, and I can’t imagine she wouldn’t have heard from a tent nearby, it must have been a crushing blow. Her delusions of being a princess instantly vanished in mid-air; like mist in sudden full sun light. Although she carried his child within her, he wouldn’t cast Sarai aside and tell her he preferred Hagar. He wouldn’t give her a title and defend her. She was nothing but a slave girl after all.
This jealous woman, Sarai, has the agreement of her husband that she is the wife, and Hagar’s refusal to give Sarai’s “husband’s” offspring into her hands has her in a rage. Let’s face it, Hagar the slave girl was most likely never much loved, but now, to be so cruelly despised and persecuted. Next to the torment and hate she was receiving from Sarai the wilderness must have looked inviting.
Genesis 16:7-8 (TLV)
7 Then the angel of Adonai found her by the spring of water in the wilderness, next to the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave-girl, where have you come from and where are you going?”
She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
In the Strong’s:
Spring (fountain in KJV) 5869H ´ayin, ah´-yin; probably a primary word; an eye (literally or figuratively); by analyses a fountain (as the eye of the landscape): --- affliction, outward appearance, + before, + think best, color, conceit, + be content, countenance, + displease, eye ([-brow], ]-d], -sight), face, + favor, fountain, furrow [from the margin], x him, + humble, knowledge, look, (+ well), x me, open (-ly), + (not) please, presence, + regard, resemblance, sight, x thee, x them, + think, x us, well, x you (-rselves).
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What do you make of the mysterious reference to eye and sight in this description of the word ayin (spring or well), and how does it relate to Hagar running away and her encounter with the messenger of God?
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Who do you think "saw" Hagar as she was (probably) curled up and crying beside this well in the wilderness?
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Wilderness 4057H midbâr, mid-bawr’; from 1696H in the sense of driving; a pasture (i.e. open field, whither cattle are driven); by implication, a desert; also speech (including its organs): --- desert, south, speech, wilderness from 1696H dabar, daw-bar’; (PR); perhaps (properly) to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue: --- answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, promise, pronounce, rehearse, say, speak, be spokesman, subdue, talk, teach, tell, think, use [entreatise], utter, x well, x work.
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Acknowledgements:
1) I want you to know that Hagar was dreaming of a redeemer who would take her out of the drudgery of servitude, but the redeemer, whom she thought had chosen to rescue her, refused to marry her and abandoned her when she needed him most.
2) From the idea of driving [herding] cattle in the definition of the word "wilderness" (above) I want to suggest that Hagar didn’t just choose to run out into the wilderness. She was driven or pulled there by God.
Think back on (or turn back to) my description of why God takes us through a time in the wilderness (in the intro - on the home page) and answer the following question.
Q What reason would God have for taking (pulling, driving) Hagar out into the wilderness?
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Our scripture says Hagar was on her way to Shur.
Shur 7793H Shûwr, shoor; … the same *[root] as 7791H shoor; a wall (as going about): --- a wall, from 7788H shoor; (PR); properly, to turn, i.e. travel about (as a harlot or a merchant): --- go sing.
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I want to assure you that Hagar was not just fleeing from Sarai. Hagar had been fooled into believing she was finally loved. She fully expected that Avram would cast away his barren wife to make room for Hagar and the baby, but in the end, as always had been, it was she who had been cast aside like yesterday’s news.
This desperate young woman was humiliated and broken. I’m sure she really didn’t want to be face to face with Avram again when all her dreams lay in ruins around her.
Genesis 16:9-12 (TLV)
9 The angel of Adonai said, “Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the angel of Adonai said to her, “I will bountifully multiply your seed, and they will be too many to count.” 11 Then the angel of Adonai said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and about to bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael— for Adonai has heard your affliction. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him, and away from all his brothers will he dwell.
From the Strong's:
Ishmael 3458H Yish - ma - el, God will hear, From 8085H; (PR)shama *[shema] shaw-maw; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.)... and From 410H el,...mighty: especially the Almighty (but used of any deity): --- God...
1) Was God concerned for Hagar the slave girl? Did He assure her that He was her helpmate and that He had a plan for her son?
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2) Did God's promises to Hagar mean He was making a covenant with her and her offspring? Think about the last two letters of Ishmael's name. What does it indicate when God gives part of His own name - in this case "El" - to someone? If you're stumped by this question take another look at the article on the blood covenant in the topics cache on the home page.
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Journaling:
Write your thoughts
Is God assuring Hagar in their conversation that she does not have to give up her baby because He has had a better plan all along, so now she can go back, submit to Sarai and allow her son's father to help raise him to be a good man?
Day Three: The God Who Sees Me
Genesis 16:11-12 (TLV)
11 Then the angel of Adonai said to her, Behold, you are pregnant and about to bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael— for Adonai has heard your affliction. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him, and away from all his brothers will he dwell.
In yesterday's lesson we noted that Adonai knew (saw) Hagar the slave girl’s affliction. As we’ll see today, it is God (not merely a messenger) who has met Hagar by the well. Of course, we know it is actually Yeshua because the scriptures tell us that no human has ever seen God the father and lived.
Isaiah 64 (TLV)
1 As fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil,
make Your Name known to Your foes, so the nations may tremble before You! 2 When You did awesome things that we were not expecting, You came down—the mountains shook at Your presence! 3 For from days of old no one has heard, no ear perceived, no eye has seen God, except You, who acts on behalf of the one waiting for Him.
John 1:18 (TLV)
18 No one has ever seen God; but the one and only God, in the Father’s embrace, has made Him known.
Yeshua and the Father are one:
John 14:8,9 (TLV)
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.” 9 Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you haven’t come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
In the Strong’s:
Ishmael 3458H Yishmâ′e′l, yish-maw-ale´; God [root word is El, “Almighty”) will hear (root word means to be attentive and discern) ; Jishmaël, …
*Note:I will no longer add the dotted line after the Strong's definitions and my questions --- as I am sure you know what to do by now.
Have you ever wondered if God heard and saw you when you were going through trials and heart ache? Here we see such an awesome answer to that question. God even saw and cared for the (no longer useful) slave girl who everyone else had discarded.
Things generally don’t come about in the way we think they should, but I typically end up feeling thankful that I am not in control in the long run.
Write (in your journal) a short testimony of a time in the past when you were going through trials and pain, and you wondered whether God cared at all. Then write about what you see in hind-sight.
Affliction 6040H ′ŏnîy, on-ee´; depression,i.e. misery: --- afflicted (-ion), trouble.
Wild [Donkey] 6501H pere′, per´- reh… running wild; the onager: --- wild ass.
It’s interesting that the Strong’s mentions the onager in the definition of the "wild donkey". The onager was a very common breed of donkey in the middle east in the past. It is a little larger donkey than the African variety and apparently very fast. The most interesting fact I’ve found about them is that they are, even to this day, un-domesticated.
What do you think Adonai meant when He compared Ishmael and his descendants to the characteristics of this agile, indomitable animal?
Genesis 16:13 CJB
13 So she named Adonai who had spoken with her El Ro’i[God of seeing], because she said, “Have I really seen the One who sees me [and stayed alive]?”
The TLV says:
13 So she called Adonai who was speaking to her, “You are the God who sees me.” For she said, “Would I have gone here indeed looking for Him who looks after me?”
According to the Tree of Life version, Hagar acknowledges here that although her intention was to run away, It was actually God who brought her out into the wilderness to make Himself real to her and to speak with her. Now she truly knew that she would never be alone again. No matter what else happened, El Ro’i, the God who sees, will be watching out for her and guiding her and her son.
Genesis 16:14-16 (TLV)
14 That is why the well is named, the Well of the Living One Who Sees Me. [“Be’er- Lachai-Ro’i” ] (Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.)
15 Then Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for Abram.
Journaling:
When Avraham[Avram]passed away, his sons, Ishmael and Isaac came together to honor and bury their father. Some people believe this may be a prophetic picture of unity between these two people groups, both descended from Avraham, in the last days.
Write your thoughts.
Genesis 17
Day Four: You Will Serve No Other/Covenant of Circumcision
Q) Is circumcision still important for male believers today?
Genesis 17:1-2 (TLV)
1 When Abram was 99 years old, Adonai appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am El Shaddai *[a Hebrew name of God, as to say, “the source” or “sustenance”]. Continually walk before Me and you will be blameless. 2 My heart’s desire is to make My covenant between Me and you, and then I will multiply you exceedingly much.”
1. What did God say Avram had to do to be “blameless” before Him?
2. What do you think it means to “walk continually before God”?
You may be thinking, “wait a minute, God just made a covenant with Avram in chapter fifteen, why does He need to do this again?” We need to understand, however, that God doesn’t just want to make one covenant which will encompass every aspect of our relationship with Him. His requirements for us are not that simplistic. He wants to bring us ever closer and, ultimately, back into His presence.
In our lesson last week we saw that Hashem [God] told Avram to prepare several animals for a sacrifice and when Avram followed through with His commands, God performed a passing through ceremony - alone; showing that, although Avram's descendants would, throughout time, fail to carefully keep their covenant with God and end up in bad situations, God would always remain faithful and bring His people back to inhabit His land. Aside from Avram preparing the sacrifice --- God promised to perform, or fulfill, the oaths of the Covenant of the Pieces Himself.
This week the covenant is a bigger promise. God is requiring a self-sacrifice from the males of the descendants of Avram. This covenant is going to cause a male some temporary pain. For more information, see the link to the article on circumcision in the resources section. For Avram’s male descendant’s faithful commitment to have a natural part of themselves and their eight day old sons cut away, Hashem promises three things.
Genesis 17:3-8 (TLV)
3 Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, 4 “For My part, because My covenant is with you, you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 Yes, I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come forth from you. 7 Yes, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, in order to be your God and your seed’s God after you. 8 I will give to you and to your seed after you the land where you are an outsider—the whole land of Canaan—as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
God's Promises to Avraham and His Off-spring
1. God not only promised Avraham, the aging man who had been so eager to have children that he ignored God’s standards and utilized human laws to get them (what Avram, Sarai and Hagar did was actually written law in many places in Mesopotamia), that he would be exceedingly fruitful, the father of many nations, but God also promised this to Avraham’s descendants after him. This is an interesting promise. I am adding a video that I think presents an idea as to today’s identity of the lost Northern Kingdom of Israel and the many nations formed by Avram’s seed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXbzO4xl_c
2. God says "I will be your God and God to your seed (descendants) after you".
3. Finally, Hashem [God] again promises Avraham that the whole land of Canaan would be a home to him and all his descendants after him. Think about this in light of Israel being the location of Gan Ayden, i.e. the kingdom.
Genesis 17:9-12 (TLV)
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, My covenant you must keep, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant that you must keep between Me and you and your seed after you: all your males must be circumcised. 11 You must be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this will become a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 Also your eight-day-olds must be circumcised, every male, throughout your generations, including a house-born slave or a slave bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed.
Q) Do you believe God’s “heart’s desire” is to make His covenant between Himself and each of us today?
Journaling:
Circumcision of the heart: Write your thoughts in your journal
Deuteronomy 30:6 (CJB)
Then Adonai your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live.
A) Note that this scripture is from the Torah itself --- Old Testament [Tanakh]. What Paul said in the scripture references below was not a "new-covenant" teaching as the church has long claimed.
Colossians 2:11-12 (CJB)
11 Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, 12 you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead.
A) Paul [Shaul] is simply using the "circumcision" as a metaphor for what happens inside us as we begin to learn (and keep) our covenant oaths to Hashem.
Colossians 3:11-12 (TLV)
11 Here there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, savage, slave and free; but Messiah is all, and in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves in tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Q) Many have used this scripture to claim men no longer have to be circumcised because "there is no longer Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised". However, there is also no longer "barbarian, savage, slave or free". I'd like to suggest that this scripture is not addressing the issue we have assumed. The topic of verses 11 and 12 is not circumcision; it is man made divisions in God's kingdom. So how are we to understand what is being said here? I believe we must, again, apply the understanding of God divorcing the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the teachings of certain sects of Jews saying that the Northern Kingdom could not be "resurrected from the dead", i.e. un-divorced.
Nowhere does scripture state that the physical circumcision was replaced by "the circumcision of the heart"; although it does say that the issue of circumcising the heart is a requirement for those who wish to inherit the kingdom. To try to make this clearer, circumcision of the heart is the beginning of our metamorphosis into members of God's kingdom. Circumcision of the flesh is a constant reminder to a man that he is in covenant with the King and it is not acceptable to join himself to the world.
Day Five: He Laughs
Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of the future. We are not, however, to try to make it happen, even when it's something we really want. The temptation to try to make what God showed us happen sooner rather than later can be so hard to resist, but, just as with Avraham and Sarah, we will end up causing a whole lot of pain for people all around us.
Genesis 17:15-22 (CJB)
15 God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. 16 I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
A couple things we should think about in the first part of this scripture.
1. We should have no doubt in our minds that whether Sarah was openly mocked by people or not, she certainly felt the emotional sting of being childless. She was different and, I’m sure, felt like less of a woman because of her affliction.
Even today in some parts of the world, women who are not able to produce children are ridiculed, harmed and sometimes they are even killed by their husband and/or his family so the husband can find another wife who will, hopefully, be able to produce offspring for the husband.
Also, as we noted in an earlier section of our study, the words used in verses like; Genesis 1:28, Genesis 8:17 etc. can mean to produce offspring, but the more prominent command inferred is to be a leader, interceding for those who cannot defend themselves and to help those in need- always in God’s chesed [loving-kindness].
In the Strong’s:
Fruitful 6509H pârâh, paw-raw´; (PR); to bear fruit (literally or figuratively): --- bear, bring forth (fruit), (be, cause to be, make) fruitful, grow, increase.
Think about this definition in light of Galatians 5:22-23
(CJB)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.
*Make no mistake, our most urgent crop is to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit which will naturally draw more people to love our Messiah, and it’s also a very important element in bringing up children.
· Take a couple minutes and write the list of evidence that Ruach is at work in your heart (Galatians 5:22-23 above).
Then note the ones that you know you need to work at and pray God will help you to grow in Yeshua’s image in these areas.
Multiply 7235H râbâh, raw-baw´;(PR); to increase (in whatever respect): --- [bring in] abundance (x -antly), … be in authority, bring up, continue, enlarge, excel, exceeding (-ly), be full of, (be make) great (-er, -ly, x -ness), grow up, heap, increase, be long, (be, give, have, make, use) many (a time), (any, be, give, give the, have) more (in number), (ask, be, be so, gather, over, take, yield) much (greater, more), (make to) multiply, nourish, plenty (-eous), x process [of time], sore, store, thoroughly, very.
In your journal, using the clues from the definition above or your own thoughts, write how you believe Jehovah wants us to apply the definition of this word.
*As I’ve said before, I don’t think Jehovah had to tell Adam and Eve, nor Noah’s sons and their wives to procreate. I think that was naturally going to happen.
Colossians 1:6 (CJB) 6 has made its presence felt among you, just as it is also being fruitfuland multiplyingthroughout the world in the same way as it has among you since the day you heard and understood the grace of God as it really is.
Colossians 1:10 (CJB) 10 so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.
2. God, Himself, changed Sarai’s name from “Mockery” to “Princess”.
*Although we always want to believe we will stand for God through troubles, I wonder if any of us are actually willing to suffer and take being humiliated and mocked, without complaining, for the sake of revealing Jehovah’s glory. We don’t know how Sarai dealt with her situation, but we have an excellent example in Yeshua. He was humiliated, beaten, mocked and spat upon at a level that might not be survivable for any of us. I know that in my own times of testing, humiliation and trouble I try so hard to face it all willingly, but complaints are always found on my lips, and in the end of a severe test, I often find myself briefly questioning Jehovah’s love for me.
*What do we need to do to “earn” our royal names?
I think it’s interesting that Sarai and Avram didn’t seem to have to do or achieve anything to “earn” their new names, accept, perhaps, to have some kind of trust and willingness to follow Jehovah’s orders.
*Finally, notice that Sarah received the same prophetic promise that Abraham did.
17 At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?”
18 Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!”
*Avraham, undoubtedly, loved Ishmael, and had believed, along with everyone else, that he and his wife had helped Jehovah out in His plan to give them the son of the promise, but we must see that Avraham and Sarah’s step outside Jehovah’s commands brought pain and complication to the lives of everyone around them.
*Although Avraham believed the purpose (the line of the redeemer) could be fulfilled through Ishmael, who knows if Ishmael would have lived in Jehovah’s presence as Isaac [Yitz’chak] did. God knows men’s hearts and the future. He knows what needs to happen to bring about the fulfilment of His plan. Our job, my friends, is to watch and listen. I want to assure you that if Jehovah has promised you something, He is faithful to fulfill His promise in His time and in His way.
*It is so hard to continue to battle doubt and resist letting our desire for the thing or person Jehovah has promised make us jump in to try to make the plan come to pass in our own, flawed, human way. The best thing we can do is to let go, mindfully put our eyes on Jehovah and listen patiently for His instruction knowing He is at work even though we can’t see or hear what He’s doing.
19 God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak (laughter, some say “He Laughs” because Avraham laughed when Jehovah told him Sarah would give him a son). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
*Notice that God says He will establish His covenant with Isaac. Yitz’chak cannot enter the kingdom on his father’s coat tails, nor can we. Have you ever heard the saying “God does not have grandchildren”? Every person must make the choice and walk the walk for themselves.
Of course, as parents, it is our job to teach our children to serve and revere God, and we must equip ourselves to give our children solid Biblical answers for many perplexing questions that need to be explained these days.
But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants.
He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22 With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.
Journaling:
Notice that Hashem says Ishmael will have twelve sons which echo’s the twelve sons of Jacob [Israel], Isaac’s son. Messiah would come through the line of Isaac, but Ishmael was also a useful vessel for Hashem. Write your thoughts about this idea.
Day Six: The Shema
As promised, we will now begin learning the most prayed prayer in Judaism; the Shema. Aside from a couple of lines, which I will add the interpretations for, we will be learning the Shema in English as it is important to understand what we are praying and English is most likely the primary language for most of us. You can find many resources for learning this prayer in your native tongue and in Hebrew on your own, or maybe we'll work on that here if we have time in the future.
If you already pray the Shema and/or know it in Hebrew, you will still benefit from this exercise as a refresher course and perhaps we will unearth some insights which you have not heard or considered before.
We have looked into the meaning of the word "shema" before, however, I want us to have a more illuminated understanding of what it actually means to shema.
At its heart, the word shema means to harken, i.e. to lean-in to hear completely and to take the actions as requested with all your heart.
When we pray the Shema prayer therefore, we are asking God to incline His ear to us, to fulfill His covenant promises; to take careful notice of all our situations and intercede on our behalf. At the same time we are straining beyond our natural bounds to hear God and to dedicate ourselves and all our resources to fulfilling our covenant oaths to Him.
As we've noted before, prayer is that illusive, ethereal part of our relationship with God, and it is therefore the hardest part for many of us to devote portions of our already demanding schedule to.
Please stick with me here though, because I am sure that by the time we get through learning the four sections of this, the most elemental of prayers, you will have a deeper understanding of what it means to have a relationship with the King of the universe and how He says we are to serve Him.
We will be parsing each - one of the four basic sections of this prayer at some point in each of the following weeks; starting with Section One today.
As I've said before, I always thought praying was merely like talking with God, and that is one form of prayer, but definitely not the most important kind of prayer. I say that the personal prayer is not the most important because:
1) As Yeshua said in Matthew,
Matthew 6:7,8 (CJB)
7 “And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. 8 Don’t be like them, because
your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
2) If we have truly committed to keeping our covenant with the King of all creation, we have an important role, a greater purpose.
As God told Avraham in this week's scriptures, we are to "keep our covenant with Him". Our covenential purpose is the same as it was for Adam and Havah in Gan Ayden, to rule in His likeness [as His vassals] --- to make Him known and to proclaim Him King.
This proclamation of God as the great suzerain king is the most important purpose for our lives and for our prayers, and the Shema is the king of all prayers because there is no better for fulfilling this purpose.
So, let's get started with the first section of the Shema.
The Shema - Section One: Acknowledging the Creator of Lights
When we pray most of the prayers, we face East toward Jerusalem and the Temple Mount [ Mt. Moriah] i.e the seat of power of the great king of the universe --- the place He, Himself chose and the place He said He will rule from forever.
2 Chronicles 7: 15, 16 (CJB)
15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears will pay attention to the prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house, so that my name can be there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.
This first section of the Shema prayer consists of eleven verses [sentences or paragraphs].
Verse-1) "Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohanu, Melech ha Olam."
This opening is how most of the historic Hebrew prayers begin.
Interpretation: Baruch = Blessed, ata = are you, Adonai Elohanu = Lord our God, Melech ha Olam = King of the Universe.
Parse: Note that we are fulfilling our greatest purpose from the very first line of this prayer. When we recite this first line we are proclaiming that God [Hashem] is our God, and in fact, He is the king of the universe [all creation].
We repeat this blessing (proclamation, worship/praise) toward God several times during the Shema prayer.
Verse-2) "Creating light and fashioning darkness, ordaining the order of all creation; You illumine the world and its creatures with mercy."
Parse: Here in vs. two, we are proclaiming God to be the creator of both light - and darkness, that He designated the purpose and order of everything and, finally, we acknowledge that it is His mercy which has made the way back to His kingdom; in other words --- to bring His kingdom.
Verse- 3) "In Your “goodness”, day after day, You renew creation. How manifold your works, oh Lord; with wisdom You fashioned them all. The earth abounds with Your creations."
Parse: This verse is so powerful, but after the intensity of the first two verses it is far too easy to pass over all the depth in vs. three.
Here we begin by noting God's inherent goodness, and at the same time acknowledge that He is intimately involved in the minutia of the "every day" sustaining work of maintaining His creation which means --- the universe and all that exists within it.
Do you get the feeling of being really small in the presence of the one who is keeping the planets and stars and all the vast reaches of the universe in existence on a "daily" or even a moment by moment basis?
Perhaps we should slow down from time to time when we pray verse three and consider how amazing it is that God is actually intimately involved with all the big stuff and also all the small stuff in the universe --- and in our little lives.
The rest of verse three serves as a reminder that God created a humanly unimaginable menagerie of objects and beings and that even the earth, itself contains an unknowable amount of evidence of His creative power and wisdom.
This insight should help assure us that we are safe in His mighty hands.
Verse- 4) Uniquely exulted since earliest time, enthroned on praise and prominence since the world began; Eternal God, with Your praise and prominence since the world began; Eternal King, with Your manifold mercies; continue to love us our pillar of strength, protective rock, sheltering shield, our sustaining stronghold.
Parse: In all of history and, indeed, all of existence no one has ever even come close to being so exulted or worthy of the exultation --- which is due our great God.
Verse four here asks God, not because we are worthy (because we are obviously not), but because it is His character and nature, because of His endless mercy and His worthiness of the praise we long to give Him, to continue to "love" us. In other words, to continue to keep His covenant promises to Avram; that He would take care of his [Avraham's] descendants and those of us who join ourselves to [and with] Avraham's descendants.
Verse- 5) Our praise-worthy God, with vast understanding, fashioned the rays of the sun. The good light He created reflects His splendor. Radiant lights surround His throne. His heavenly servants, in holiness, exult the Almighty; constantly recounting His sacred glory.
Parse: Here in verse five, the psalmist again gives us a brief glimpse of God's vastness and the vastness of His glory.
We also have hidden here a mysterious reference to the idea that the light which we see as the light of the sun (and therefore the moon) is actually the reflection of God's "light" or perhaps the revelation of His light [also means life and/or glory]. So, if the moon is a dim reflection of the sun's light, how great is the light reflected by the sun --- which is merely [dimly] "reflecting" the light of God?
Think about Yeshua's statement in John 8:12
Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.”
Verse- 6) Praise shall be Yours, Lord our God, for all Your wondrous works; for the good lights You created; the sun and the moon which reflect Your glory.
Parse: Do you see now? Verse six is the praise which must result from the revelation of the vastness of God's glory which was so neatly, yet elusively, embedded in verse five.And again, we have a reference to the sun and the moon "reflecting God's glory".
Verse- 7) Our Rock, our Redeemer, our King; creator of holy beings; You shall be praised --- forever. You fashion angelic beings to serve You; beyond the heavens they all await Your command. In chorus they proclaim with reverence words of the Living God; our eternal King. Adoring, beloved and choice are they all; in awe fulfilling their Creator's will.
Parse: By beginning verse seven with "Our Rock, our Redeemer, our King", we are acknowledging God's faithfulness to keep His covenant promises to us.
Verse- 8) In both purity and sanctity, they raise their voices in song and psalm, extolling and exulting; declaring the power, praise, holiness and majesty of God; our great, mighty, awesome King; the Holy One.
Parse:
Verse- 9) One to another, they vow loyalty to God's Kingship; one to another they join to hallow their creator with serenity, pure speech and sacred song; chanting with reverence, Yitchiahu 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy, Adonai Tzva’ot, the whole earth is filled with His glory”. As in the prophet’s vision, soaring celestial creatures roar; responding with a chorus of adoration; “praised be the glory of the Lord throughout the universe”.
Parse:
Verse- 10) To praise-worthy God, they sweetly sing; the living, enduring God they celebrate in song; for He is unique, doing mighty deeds, creating new life, championing justice, sewing righteousness, reaping victory, bringing healing. Awesome in praise, Sovereign of Wonders; day after day He renews creation; so-sang the Psalmist; “Praise the creator of great lights, for His love endures forever”.
Parse:
Verse- 11) Cause a new light to illumine Tzion. May we all soon share a portion of its radiance. Baruch ata Adonai, Elohanu, Melech ha Olam; creator of lights.
Parse:
Be'er Lahai Roi
The well of the living one who sees me