Lesson date:04/23/5858AA

Why did I entitle the study the way I did? Because in the English translation of the Hebrew Tanakh this is the first time that the term Word is used. We have looked at it in the past but that was according the the Aramaic Targums and the use of the word Mamre or Memra(h), which is Word.

Remember wat had just happened: Lot had been kidnapped, Abram took his men against four tough kings, did battle and chased them all night and recover everything and everyone that had been taken. On the way home he meets Malkitseḏeq and he is offered all the treasure taken and he refuses it because he said he wants no on(person/man) to be able that they made Abraham rich. Instead, he puts all his faith in YHVH.

Verse 1 – Look at it closely and imagine what is taking place: the Word of YHVH is coming to Abram in a dream and makes the promise of a covenant and that as a sign of the fulfillment of the covenant YHVH would give him descendants as numerous as the stars. Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 15 — The Word of YHVH and the Covenant →

Lesson date: 13/15/5854AA

Have you ever stopped and thought about Burger King’s motto “Have it Your Way” is our approach to Yah’s Word? Being raised Baptist is a perfect example of that, we hear a “prophecy” spoken and then the next thing we do is form a committee, take up an offering and then do what we heard was Yah’s Will. But I can assure you Baptists won’t wait 10 years like Abram and Sarai have done. By golly, we are going to get it done at the next business meeting. Let me give you an example.

Verse 5 – “I screwed up and it is your fault!” That is not what Sarai said but it is what she meant. Imagine what Hagar must have felt, “YHVH has promised the master of the house a son and I am now carrying it. I am now the mistress of the house. Why do I have to listen to that barren old woman?”

Verse 6 – Abram, probably afraid of Sarai’s wrath, simply told her, “She is your servant do what you want.” This was not the “grownup in the room” approach but simply a dodge. He might as well have told her, “You did it your way now, deal with it.” No matter what, Sarai mistreated Hagar and she fled into the wilderness.

Verse 7 is a very important verse because it begins a construction in Hebrew phraseology. Let’s disect it: “a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur”. This is huge. The word for spring is: H5869 – עין – ‛ayin – BDB Definition: 1) eye

So this spring is not the spring on the way to Shur but a spring near the spring on the way to Shur. We are given the impression that is spring is new or previously unknown. What does water represent? People. We now have an “eye” of people, not previously known to exist on the way to Shur = wall(end).

Verses 8-13 – The Angel of YHVH informs Hagar, at the previously unknown spring in the “wilderness” /midbar **((Bells and whistles should be going off right now.)) that the child she is bearing will become a people too numerous to count and that her son will be a wild man whose hand will be against everyone. Wild = H6501 – פּרה / פּרא – pere’ / pereh – BDB Definition: 1) wild ass ((In the sense of running wild”))

Look at Hagar’s response: “You are the Ěl who sees,” for she said, “Even here have I seen after Him who sees me?”

Let’s put our construction together: Near the spring of people previously unknown in the Word/midbar on the way to the wall/end, this people will be numerous, the children of a wild man(running wild) and against everyone and will spring up between the holy place/Qadesh/sanctuary and Hail/Bered.

Sound like anyone you know?

Where else do we see a woman flee into the wilderness, a large group of water(people) and an “eye” or hole open up in the wilderness(Word)? Maybe Revelation 12?

Verse 14 – A transformation takes place in this verse, “That is why the well”. A spring pops out of the ground and can be random but now this is a well = established. What does the name mean? “The well of the Living One seeing me.” An eye.

Verse 15 – Ishmael = H3458 – ישׁמעאל – yishmâ‛ê’l – BDB Definition: – Yishma’el = “God will hear”.

Verse 16 – All of this happened when Abram was 86 years old. Remember, all this began when Abram was 75 years old (Ber. 12:4)). Chapter 16 began after 10 years (85) and now Yishma’el is born when Abram is 86.

Ahavah vberakhot

Lesson date: 05/07/5858AA

Verse 1- Thirteen years have passed since Yishma’el’s birth. And Abram is now 99 years old. I have had many men in my family live to be 99 and beyond but none of them fathered a child at that age. Also, we see, once again, the use of the word וַיֵרָא  – vayyerah like we did in Chapter 12. It comes from the root word  H7200 – ראה – râ’âh – which is being translated as “appeared” but actually means “to make visible.”

“I am Ěl Shaddai – walk before Me and be perfect.” ((I AM the Almighty walk before my face/H6440/paneem and be without sin. This is the literal translation of this phrase.)) Where have we seen this before?

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 17 — “Covenant, covenant, covenant” →

Lesson date: 13/22/5854AA

Verses 1-2 – Bereshith 18 & 19 have a very special meaning to me. One day, while reading them, I had to stop and ask a question, “Who is the Messenger of YHVH”? Like we have talked about many times, I came to Hebrew through Arabic and Aramaic, so as I read these chapters I kept getting slapped in the face by the word Mamre. Mamre in Aramaic means word, or actually Word! So, look at it for my standpoint, “Vayyera” = H7200 – which is written in the niphal verb form of ra’ah which means “He appeared” or better yet, “He presented Himself before” Abraham beside the strong, mighty tree of “the Word”. I was completely blown away. In actuality it is saying, “He made Himself visible to Abraham”.

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 18 — “The Messenger of YHVH” or “And He appeared” →

Lesson date: 05/21/5858AA

In John Milton’s book (epic poem) Paradise Lost – Book II he has Lucifer justifying what he did with the following, saying, “it is better to rule over – be like a king in hell than to serve somebody as a slave in heaven”. I have often wondered if that is where Lot is at this point in his life. He came to Sedom as an outsider and at first dwelt outside the city in his tents. It was obvious to the people of the city that he was a wealthy man. He had many flocks and herds and it was his uncle that had rescued the people of the city and the wealth of the city from the hands of Amraphel (Nimrod).

At the very beginning of Chapter 19 we see Lot sitting at the gate of Sedom, which means he is now a judge over Sedom and now resides in the city: 1Co 15:33 Do not be led astray, “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

I’m just speculating, that Lot feels that he has finally “arrived”.

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 19 →

Lesson date: 13/29/5854AA

Verse 1 – Abraham “set out” –  H5265 – נָסַע – nâsa‛ – naw-sah’ – A primitive root; properly to pull up, especially the tent pins, that is, start on a journey:

Nasa’ means to pull up the tent stake: Mat 10:38  “And he who does not take up his stake and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Mat 16:24  Then יהושע said to His taught ones, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake, and follow Me.

Mar 10:21  And יהושע, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One matter you lack: Go, sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me, taking up the stake.”

Gerar. קָדֵּש Qaḏĕsh – Strong’s H6946 means, ‘set-apart’

Yehuḏah. שוּר Shur – Strong’s H7793 means, ‘wall’

Gerar – Strong’s H1642 means, ‘a lodging place’

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 20 — Abimelek the righteous →

Lesson date: 13/29/5854AA

Verse 1-2 – We are not told what time of year it was but it was the appointed time spoken of in Ber. 18:14. We have proof of this in verse 1 with the word ‘visited’ (H853). Visited = H6485 – פָּקַד – pâqad – paw-kad’ – A primitive root; to visit (with friendly or hostile intent); by analogy to oversee, muster, charge, care for, miss, deposit, etc.: – appoint. Tehillah/Psalm “What is man that You remember him? And the son of man that You visit him?”

Tehillah 106:4 “Remember me, O יהוה , in the acceptance of Your people; visit me with Your deliverance”

One more verse about visit, this one for the B’rit Hadasha: Kěpha Aleph 2:11-12 “Beloved ones, I appeal to you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts which battle against the life, 12 having your behaviour among the gentiles good so that when they speak against you as evil-doers, let them, by observing your good works, esteem Elohim in a day of visitation.”

Do you see what is being said here? By our keeping the appointed times, the commands and right rulings of Elohim, when people criticize us for doing so, it will bring praise upon YHVH. “Don’t they realize the Yeshu’a (Jesus) did away with all that at the cross? Do they think they are saved by works instead of grace?

Pro 28:4  Those who forsake the Torah praise the wrong, Those who guard the Torah strive with them.

Verse 3 – Imagine being 100 years old and having a son that has been promised to you for the last 25 years. Of course Abraham was happy and that is why he called the boy Yitshaq – laughing. ((Or was it because of Sarah’s laughing in the tent when the angel of YHVH came to them and told them of the child’s birth?

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 21 — The appointed time →

Lesson date: 1/6/5855AA

Verse 1 – Here we see a word used for the first time which is only found in the Tanakh 36 times, nasah – H5254 – to try, to test, to tempt or to prove. It is almost always used about the Children of Yisrae’l:

Deu 8:2  “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.

Psa 26:2  Examine me, O יהוה, and prove me; Try my kidneys and my heart.

The odd thing about nasah, it is only to be done by YHVH our Elohim and not by us: Deu 6:16  “Do not try יהוה your Elohim as you tried Him in Massah. However, our Messiah changed all of that. By becoming a human in all senses He too was tempted: Heb 2:18  For in what He had suffered, Himself being tried, He is able to help those who are tried.

Heb 4:15  For we do not have a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was tried in all respects as we are, apart from sin.

The Greek word used in both of the above Scriptures is G3985 – πειράζω – peirazō – pi-rad’-zo

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 22 →

Lesson date: 01/13/5855AA

Verse 1 – We have talked a lot about Sarah up to this point but here are some things about Sarah you must consider: 1) Sarah is the only woman whose age is given in Scripture; 2) Sarah is the only woman whose death is given in Scripture; 3) Sarah is the only woman for whom the nation of Yisra’el is named.

Did you know that? Yisra’el is named after Sarah. H3478 – יִשְׂרָאֵל – yiśrâ’êl – yis-raw-ale’ – From H8280 and H410; he will rule as God;

H8280 – שָׂרָה – śârâh – saw-raw’ – A primitive root; to prevail: – have power (as a prince). Actually Sarah is the feminine form of this word and means “Princess”. Remember, I told you Sarah had a covenant with YHVH, well here it is manifested to us and lives on in each of us who have now been grafted into the spiritual kingdom of Yisra’el. We are princes and princesses in Yisra’el because of Sarah. It is no wonder that we are given more detail in the life of Sarah than we see in any other woman of Scripture, including Miriam, the mother of Yeshua. You have to search outside of the canon of Scripture to find that Miriam accompanied Yohannan to Patmos and followed him to Ephesus upon his release and died there and was buried not far for the temple of Hercules. It says in Yasher that Hasatan appeared as an old man and told Sarah that Abraham was taking Yitshaq to Moriah to kill him and that this caused her to die and that when Yitshaq returned for Moriah he grieved so much that Abraham had to send Eli’ezar to select a wife for Yitshaq.

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 23 — “Why Sarah” or “The Life of Sarah” →

Lesson date: 1/20/5855AA

Verse 1 – Please note exactly what it says in verse 1, “And YHVH had blessed Abraham in every way.”

Not only had YHVH blessed Abraham with “physical” wealth; gold, silver, livestock, etc. but He had also given Abraham a son by Sarah, as promised, named Abraham as a prophet to Pharoah, was known as a Prince of YHVH to the sons of Heth, victory over Nimrod (Amraphel, and Kedolomer, his general) and respected by all. By all measures of the world Abraham was a success, but despite all this he still walked in the WAY of YHVH. His eyes could not be turned from depending on the guidance of YHVH despite his wealth, not because of it. ((I wish I could insert an emoji right here.))

Verse 2-4 – Abraham calls his oldest servant, most faithful servant to his side to swear: shaba – H7650 – swear, exchange oaths, to make a vow, by placing his hand beneath Abraham’s thigh. This is close personal contact which represents a close personal bond between the two men. Remember, if this Eli’ezer that by this time he is already in his 60’s at least and has probably bathed his master many, many times. When YHVH told Abram of what he was going to do Abram pointed out the fact that his servant born in Damaseq would inherit everything because he had no son.

This oath begins by telling Eli’ezer not to take a wife for Yitshaq from among the Kena’anites but to go back to his own people to take a wife for his son. This is a close personal bond between these two men for the father to entrust the responsibility of finding a wife for his son. This means that Eli’ezer must have been with Abraham since before he left Haran and knew the way back to Abraham’s kin folk. Remember, at this time Yitshaq is at least 37 years old and has never been outside of the Promised Land in his life.

Continue reading Bereshith (Genesis) 24 — “Following my Master’s Instructions” →