PARASHAH: “Lech Lecha” (go, go for yourself)
GENESIS 12:1-17:27
“Now YHVH (God) said unto Abram: Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” These are the opening words that YHVH speaks unto Abram. A Midrash interprets this to mean; “Go forth to find your authentic self to learn who you are meant to be”
This might be a command to every person on earth. We are to “go forth” and find “Adonai” and discover who He intends us to be! Our destiny should be entirely in HIS hands.
Now we might ask, “Why did YHVH (God) choose Abram to begin his chosen people?” No one knows the “why?” only that he DID choose him. Perhaps he had a curious and searching mind, searching for the real and true God.
We must remember that there was no such person as a “Jew” back then. Abram was a Mesopotamian, from the Chaldean city of “Ur” similar to the Hebrew “Ir” which means “city”. He was raised as an idol worshipper, and his family’s business, according to the rabbis, was making and selling idols. Abraham's family moved to "Haran" which was also part of Mesopotamia, but the call was to "leave" Mesopotamia completely. Abraham's father "Terah" died in Haran, so from Haran, the "calling of Abraham" was issued from the mouth of HaShem (The Name) "which is also used to indicate "God"
Hebrew tradition teaches that when Abram was young, he attended the “School of Shem”. Shem, the son of Noah taught youths about the true God, Adonai-Elohim, the great El Shaddai, so, Abram might have known something about Elohim from Shem, that is if the story is true. But like I said, it is a story based on tradition.
We only know that YHVH chose Abram, and he accepted and obeyed the voice of YHVH. Here is a commandment and the blessings of obeying the commandment. “Leave your father’s house and go to a land which I will show you.” We see that G-d wanted Abram to distance himself from idol worshipping and everything connected with the such. Once he obeyed the voice of HaShem, THEN… the blessings would come;
“I will make of thee a great nation”, “I will bless thee and make thy name great (shem gadol) and be thou a blessing”, “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee”, “In thee shall all the families of the world be blessed” we later see that under “being a great nation” we could add the promise; “Your seed will be like the dust of the earth” and also “like the stars of heaven” What do these promises involve?
First of all, let’s look at the words; “Dust of the earth” and “stars of heaven”. Am Israel becoming "like" the “dust” of the earth, in that they were “trampled upon” by many nations that wanted to extinguish the Jewish people, yet they were also as the “stars of heaven” they shone with the light of Adonai, they brought the worship of the ONE true GOD, Adonai-Elohim-Yeshuah. And from Am Israel, came “Yeshua” who is the “Light of the World”
Once Abram obeyed the voice of YHVH, and he arrived in the land of Canaan, then came the testings.
We see that Adonai wanted to test his faith like he tests us all in many different ways. Yes, we all want blessings, but at times, blessings come with a price.
“Am gadol” a great nation, or a great people. It started with Yitzchak (Isaac), the first and only son of Abram and Sarah. From him, we know the story; Yitzchak > Ya’akov (Jacob) > 12 tribes > multitudes! As a sign, YHVH changed the name of Abram to Abraham. If we look at the paleo Hebrew symbolism in the name “Abram” we see “Alef” (A) “Beit”(B) “Resh”(R) and “Mem”(M). 4 letters, “4” symbolize the 4 corners of the earth. The descendants of Abraham are in all 4 corners of the earth. But we can see these letters meaning or symbolizing “the father who is the head of a multitude”. Also, we can read this as; God blesses the first house with a multitude”.
Later, YHVH changes his name by adding the letter “hey” (H). Now it is “abraHam”. What is the significance of the “H”? Well, one way we can look at it is that the “hey” (h) is the only letter in the Hebrew Alef-bet that is pronounced with one “breathing out air”. When you pronounce “h” we send out a puff of air from our mouth. We can also say “wind” in Hebrew; “Ruach” it also means “spirit”. SO…we can say that “YHVH sent out the “spirit of life” into the womb of Sarah through the seed of Abraham. Also, the ancient meaning of the letter “hey” is “Behold!” so, we can say “Behold, a multitude is coming from Abraham and Sarah!” starting with Yitzchak.
Yet we cannot forget about Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian. The promise extended to him too, although this was not part of God’s “perfect” will. He “permitted” the union between Abraham and Hagar, yet with consequences; the Arab nations who are the enemies of Israel. “Ishmael” means “God listens (to man)” “Ish+shema+El. (reading right to left) HOWEVER, if we read from left to right we get “Man listens to God” and every man that listens to God, in obedience, whether Arab or any other ethnic identity, that man will be blessed also.
GENESIS 12:1-17:27
“Now YHVH (God) said unto Abram: Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” These are the opening words that YHVH speaks unto Abram. A Midrash interprets this to mean; “Go forth to find your authentic self to learn who you are meant to be”
This might be a command to every person on earth. We are to “go forth” and find “Adonai” and discover who He intends us to be! Our destiny should be entirely in HIS hands.
Now we might ask, “Why did YHVH (God) choose Abram to begin his chosen people?” No one knows the “why?” only that he DID choose him. Perhaps he had a curious and searching mind, searching for the real and true God.
We must remember that there was no such person as a “Jew” back then. Abram was a Mesopotamian, from the Chaldean city of “Ur” similar to the Hebrew “Ir” which means “city”. He was raised as an idol worshipper, and his family’s business, according to the rabbis, was making and selling idols. Abraham's family moved to "Haran" which was also part of Mesopotamia, but the call was to "leave" Mesopotamia completely. Abraham's father "Terah" died in Haran, so from Haran, the "calling of Abraham" was issued from the mouth of HaShem (The Name) "which is also used to indicate "God"
Hebrew tradition teaches that when Abram was young, he attended the “School of Shem”. Shem, the son of Noah taught youths about the true God, Adonai-Elohim, the great El Shaddai, so, Abram might have known something about Elohim from Shem, that is if the story is true. But like I said, it is a story based on tradition.
We only know that YHVH chose Abram, and he accepted and obeyed the voice of YHVH. Here is a commandment and the blessings of obeying the commandment. “Leave your father’s house and go to a land which I will show you.” We see that G-d wanted Abram to distance himself from idol worshipping and everything connected with the such. Once he obeyed the voice of HaShem, THEN… the blessings would come;
“I will make of thee a great nation”, “I will bless thee and make thy name great (shem gadol) and be thou a blessing”, “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee”, “In thee shall all the families of the world be blessed” we later see that under “being a great nation” we could add the promise; “Your seed will be like the dust of the earth” and also “like the stars of heaven” What do these promises involve?
First of all, let’s look at the words; “Dust of the earth” and “stars of heaven”. Am Israel becoming "like" the “dust” of the earth, in that they were “trampled upon” by many nations that wanted to extinguish the Jewish people, yet they were also as the “stars of heaven” they shone with the light of Adonai, they brought the worship of the ONE true GOD, Adonai-Elohim-Yeshuah. And from Am Israel, came “Yeshua” who is the “Light of the World”
Once Abram obeyed the voice of YHVH, and he arrived in the land of Canaan, then came the testings.
We see that Adonai wanted to test his faith like he tests us all in many different ways. Yes, we all want blessings, but at times, blessings come with a price.
“Am gadol” a great nation, or a great people. It started with Yitzchak (Isaac), the first and only son of Abram and Sarah. From him, we know the story; Yitzchak > Ya’akov (Jacob) > 12 tribes > multitudes! As a sign, YHVH changed the name of Abram to Abraham. If we look at the paleo Hebrew symbolism in the name “Abram” we see “Alef” (A) “Beit”(B) “Resh”(R) and “Mem”(M). 4 letters, “4” symbolize the 4 corners of the earth. The descendants of Abraham are in all 4 corners of the earth. But we can see these letters meaning or symbolizing “the father who is the head of a multitude”. Also, we can read this as; God blesses the first house with a multitude”.
Later, YHVH changes his name by adding the letter “hey” (H). Now it is “abraHam”. What is the significance of the “H”? Well, one way we can look at it is that the “hey” (h) is the only letter in the Hebrew Alef-bet that is pronounced with one “breathing out air”. When you pronounce “h” we send out a puff of air from our mouth. We can also say “wind” in Hebrew; “Ruach” it also means “spirit”. SO…we can say that “YHVH sent out the “spirit of life” into the womb of Sarah through the seed of Abraham. Also, the ancient meaning of the letter “hey” is “Behold!” so, we can say “Behold, a multitude is coming from Abraham and Sarah!” starting with Yitzchak.
Yet we cannot forget about Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian. The promise extended to him too, although this was not part of God’s “perfect” will. He “permitted” the union between Abraham and Hagar, yet with consequences; the Arab nations who are the enemies of Israel. “Ishmael” means “God listens (to man)” “Ish+shema+El. (reading right to left) HOWEVER, if we read from left to right we get “Man listens to God” and every man that listens to God, in obedience, whether Arab or any other ethnic identity, that man will be blessed also.
