Bible Studies
Parshat Toldot
“And these are the offspring of Isaac son of Abraham—Abraham begot Isaac.” Genesis 25:19 (Stone)
“HASHEM allowed Himself to be entreated by him, and his wife Rebecca conceived.” Genesis 25:21b (Stone)
This displays the supreme power of Father. He allowed Himself to be entreated. He did not have to allow Rebecca to have children. He did not have to even allow Isaac to pray that she would. He could have silenced Isaac. But no, He allowed Isaac to pray, and so Rebecca conceived.
“And HASHEM said to her: ‘Two nations are in your womb; two regimes from your insides shall be separated; the might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.’” Genesis 25:23 (Stone)
This pattern is repeated over and over. Seth was over Cain, Isaac was over Ishmael, Jacob was over Esau, Joseph and Judah were over Reuben. Even Jerusalem is described as a younger sister in Ezekiel 23:4. Over and over Father chooses the least over the greatest. “But many who are first shall be last, and the last first.” Matt. 19:30 (Lamsa)
Paul teaches an important lesson from this passage. “Not, however, that the word of God hath actually failed. For all are not Israel, who are of Israel. Neither are they all sons, because they are of the seed of Abraham: for it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, it is not the children of the flesh, who are the children of God; but the children of the promise, are accounted for the seed. For the word of promise was this: At that time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. Nor this only; but Rebecca also, when she had cohabited with one [man], our father Isaac, before her children were born, or: had done good or evil, the choice of God was predeclared; that it might stand, not of works, but of him who called. For it was said: The elder shall be servant to the younger. As it is written: Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.” Romans 9:6-13 (Murdock)
Father made His decision not based on what they had done, but based on who they were. He created who they were, and chose their destiny. As He told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you left the womb I sanctified you; I established you as a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 (Stone)
This is a teaching on the justice of Father. His justice is beyond human understanding because His justice is beyond human preconceived ideas of justice. Because He is ultimate, He sets the standards of justice.
In Jeremiah 1:5, the word, “sanctify” means “set apart.” Being set apart is not always a good thing. Often people think that being sanctified is always a good thing. But Father can just as easily sanctify something bad as He can sanctify something good. While Jacob was sanctified to have the birthright, Esau was sanctified to give it away.
“Jacob simmered a stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.” Genesis 25:29 (Stone)
Literally, this is “Boiled Jacob a boiling and came in Esau from the field/plain and he was tired/faint.” While zud does literally mean “boil” it is more commonly used for “contempt” or “anger.” The word for “stew” (the King James says “pottage”) is naziyd, which comes from the root-word zud. Is it possible that Jacob was angry? If so, what was he angry about? The previous verse says, “Isaac loved Esau for game was in his mouth; but Rebecca loved Jacob.” (Stone) Was Jacob angry because Isaac preferred Esau? Perhaps he was angry because he knew that he was supposed to rule Esau, and yet Esau had the birthright.
“Esau said to Jacob, ‘Pour into me, now, some of that very red stuff for I am exhausted.’ (He therefore called his name Edom.)” Genesis 25:30 (Stone)
Literally, that is, “And said Esau to Jacob pour to me I pray red red that for faint am I therefore called his name Edom.” When a word is repeated this way in Hebrew it means it is most or the most. “most red” or “the most red” is what this is. What is most red?
“Take heed lest any man among you be found short of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness spring forth and harm you, and thereby many be defiled, or lest any man among you be found immoral and weak like Esau, who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat.” Hebrews 12:15-16 (Lamsa)
This stew was not only lentils, it was meat, which is what made it red. Esau did not ask for a bowl of stew, he asked for a bit of meat out of the stew. Esau wanted only meat, not herbs or bread. He did not want the substance of the ground, which is what Father gave in the beginning, or bread, which is Yeshua, the Word of God. He only wanted meat, the dead remains of a once-breathing creature. Moreover, Esau was a hunter. Game is the only kind of food that was not sacrificed. This is the man Esau.
“Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, got up and left; thus, Esau spurned the birthright.” Genesis 25:34 (Stone)
In the end, Jacob gave Esau much more than he actually asked for. But this verse offers something much more important. Esau despised his birthright. He was not swindled, and he was not tricked. His birthright was not stolen from him. Esau despised it. This is why he lost his birthright.
“And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.” Genesis 26:18 (JPS)
Why did they fill in the wells that Abraham had dug? “Yeshua answered and said to her, ‘If only you had known the gift of God, and who this is who said to you, “Give me to drink,” you would have asked him and he would have given you living waters.’” John 4:10 (Younan)
Verse 19 of Genesis 26 says, “And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water.” (JPS)
The well of living water is living Torah. The unbelieving Philistines filled in the wells of Torah. This does not explain what physical reason they had to fill them in. However, it gives a spiritual insight into what nonbelievers do with the Torah and with the Messiah, Who is Torah made flesh.
In the following verses, Isaac uncovers the wells of Abraham, and the Philistines repeatedly take the wells from him. Finally, he uncovers a fourth well, Rehobot (meaning “wide places”) and the Philistines don’t take it from him. From there he goes to Beer Sheba. Does this symbolize the descendants of Abraham uncovering Torah, and the goyim repeatedly contending with them over it? Finally, Father makes a wide place for the descendant of Abraham, and from there he goes down to Beer Sheba, the place of covenant. Father finally reveals a well that the goyim don’t want. What is that well?
“And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said: 'I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for My servant Abraham's sake.'” Genesis 26:24 (JPS)
It is at Beer Sheba, the well of covenant, that Father tells Isaac that He is the God of Abraham.
“And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his host. And Isaac said unto them: 'Wherefore are ye come unto me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?’” Genesis 26: 25-27 (JPS)
Seeing that Isaac was blessed, the Goyim came down to him, but Isaac pointed out the problem in very blunt language, “you hate me”. Because they rejected Isaac, even hated him, Abimelech and his people missed out on the blessings of Beer Sheba, the well of covenant, the living waters, or living Torah. When the chosen of Father are rejected, the blessing is missed. But where they are accepted, they bring the blessing with them.
“And they said: 'We saw plainly that the LORD was with thee; and we said: Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace; thou art now the blessed of the LORD.'” Genesis 26: 28-29 (JPS)
This sheds an entirely new light on Zecheriah 8:23. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'” (JPS) Abimelech wanted separation from Isaac because he saw that Father was with him. But the day is coming when the Goyim will beg to be with the Jews because they know that Father is with them. While, throughout history, gentiles as a whole have rejected Israel because they know that Father is with them, in the end it will be exactly the other way around.
“And when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.” Genesis 26:34 (JPS)
It is interesting that Abraham bought the tomb of Sarah from a Hittite, and that Esau married two Hittite women. Scripture says that they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah (verse 35). Perhaps this is not only because the women were pagan, and perhaps their customs were also grating, but this showed that Esau could not be the one to inherit the mantle from Abraham, because he was no longer a stranger in a strange land. He had married native women.
While in Genesis 27 Jacob seems to get away with, and even be blessed for, lying. However, had Jacob not lied, perhaps Father would have provided another way, and because of his lying, Jacob was exiled to Haran.
“until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him; then I will send, and fetch thee from thence; why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?’” Genesis 27:45 (JPS)
When did Rebekah call for him? And yet, Esau wasn’t angry with Jacob by the time he returned. Did Rebekah forget? Does Scripture simply not mention when Rebekah sent for Jacob? Or perhaps Esau had just come to forgive Jacob when Jacob returned, and Rebekah had not yet had opportunity to send for him. This makes sense because in Genesis 31:3 Father sends Jacob back to Isaac, and Father’s timing is perfect.
“And Rebekah said to Isaac: 'I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?'” Genesis 27:46 (JPS)
And what good would her life have been? She was too old to bear a child outside of a miracle, and she would have had no son to bear the promise. Indeed, what good would her life have been?
“And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a congregation of peoples; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto Abraham.’” Genesis 28:3-4 (JPS)
Some have said that the original plan for Israel was to be a single unified nation, and not be divided into tribes. But the blessing on Abraham, Isaac, and Israel was to be a multitude or congregation of peoples. Many nations was the blessing that was on the patriarchs. Jacob was literally blessed to be an assembly of nations. The word used for “congregation” is qahal. This is the same word that is used in Exodus 12:6, “and ye shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk.” (JPS) This is a religious assembly. Not religious in the sense of man-made religion, but in the sense of following the instructions of God. Jacob was blessed to be a religious assembly of peoples, nations following Father.
The Readings: Parshat Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9. Haftarat Toldot, Malachi 1:1-2:7. Tehillim Toldot, Psalm 36. B’rit Chadesha Toldot, John 4:1-44, Romans 9.
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