5th Portion
[5-11 Nov 2023]
Theme of the Book of Genesis:
Desire for life, to choose life and to create!
Meaning of "Chayei Sarah" = "life of Sarah"
This week's Torah portions:
Sunday: Gen 23:1-16
Monday: Gen 23:17-24:9
Tuesday: Gen 24:10-26
Wednesday: Gen 24:27-52
Thursday: Gen 24:53-67
Friday: Gen 25:1-11
Shabbat: Gen 25:12-18 & 1 Kings 1:1-31
Apostolic Writings:
Matt 1:1-17
1 Cor 15:50-57
Daily Bread for Busy Moms portions:
Judges 5-10
Psalms 31-36
Matt 22-26
Gal 4:21-31
In this portion we read about the death of Sarah and how Abraham buries her. We also read how Abraham sent his servant to go and find a wife for his son, Isaac. Remember that the previous parashat (Torah portion) finished off with Abraham receiving the news that Rebecca was born. In other words, Abraham is now responding on the news which he received back then.
When Abraham's servant arrives in the town where Abraham came from, he found Rebecca at the well. Water signifies God's Word, and it's so prophetic that Rebecca was at the water when the servant found her.
When the servant and Rebecca returned home, Rebecca noticed someone in the field. IT was Isaac meditating / preparing himself in the field - for this wife who was coming for him. We then also read how she covered herself when she found out that it was her husband to-be. And we read that Isaac took her as his wife and it brought him comfort after the loss of his mother.
The parashat also includes where Abraham take's a new wife, Keturah. And Abraham had 6 more sons with her as well as a daughter. When Abraham later on dies, Isaac and Ishmael buries him and he's buried next to Sarah. The parashat starts with the death of Sarah and ends with the death of Ishmael.
The strife we see in today's day and age between Israel and the middle east is still to this day the disunity between the descendants of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael. Ishmael was not the son whom God promised to Sarah and Abraham. It was a son that was born from the plans which they have made themselves. Sarah was the one who came up with the plan that Abraham should sleep with her maidservant, Hagar - so that Abraham could have an offspring.
What we can learn from this parashat is that before you can deal with the offspring (fruit) of something, you have to deal with the root thereof. Sarah's plan was the root, Ishmael was the fruit.
When we are born again, we must come to a place were we plant the right seeds. But before we can do that, we have to get rid of the root which caused the bad fruits in the first place. As long as a root remains in the ground, it will continue to bear fruit. You can pull off all the fruit from a tree, but next year it will produce the same fruits again. If you want to get rid of the fruit, you need of get rid of the root! If you deal with the root, the fruit will go away by itself.
This parashat should remind and encourage us to deal with the root of our problems instead of focusing on trying to manage the fruits. We have to ask ourselves, where will we sow our seed?
Sarah took matters in her own hands and it produced bad fruit. But in the same parashat we also see how Abraham acted upon the promise God gave him about Rebecca and he acted upon it - which was sowing good seed.
The theme of this parashat is about pursuing the promises of God and whilst we are doing that, we have to uproot everything in our lives which are not in line with the promises of God. So that those fruit can fall off and the right seeds may be planted. So that the right fruit might come in due time.
We need to act on the promises which God has given us. Uproot the bad fruit and live in expectation of what God has promised us!
This portion of the parashat covers several years... But it's almost strange how there is so much death involved at the same time where this bride for Isaac is born and comes to him.
When we look at the apostolic writings (New Testament) portions connected to this week's Torah Portion - we also see something odd. In Matthew 1 we read about the genealogy from Abraham to Yeshua. In Matt 1:17 we read "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations."
But have you ever counted the names listed in Matt 1? If you haven't, I encourage you to do so! A few years ago I was still one of those people who would just skip over the genealogies or quickly read it just to get through it. I'm pretty sure many of you can relate! If you count - you'll see that there is only 13 generations listed in the names from the time the Israelites were carried away into Babylon until Christ. Does that then mean that there are errors in the Bible? Surely not!
If we look at this Scripture from a spiritual perspective, there are 14 generations from when they were carried away into Babylon until Christ.
In Matt 1:16 we read "And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ." The original Greek in which these Scriptures were written actually says "Jesus who would be Christ." In other words, Yeshua (Jesus) was born as the 13th generation and through His death and resurrection - He was raised as the 14th generation. The One Who overcame death! Yeshua is the firstborn from the death. He was raised as the First Fruit!
Yeshua changed things from the natural to the spiritual. Yeshua didn't have physical kids on earth, but He has many spiritual kids. He trained His disciples so that they in return could also go out and disciple to others. And through His work on the cross we can be part of His inheritance.
1 Cor 15:50 confirms that the flesh cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Thus for us to be saved, it has to be a spiritual thing. We have to die to our fleshly nature and be born again spiritually through accepting Yeshua's work on the cross.
Isaac was a shadow of Yeshua. The One Who was sacrificed so that a bride could be born! And in this parashat we see how Sarah and Ishmael died (the root and fruit of fleshly choices and desires) and how Isaac meets his bride and his offspring was blessed. In the same manner, sin was crucified Yeshua, we died with Him. And then we were resurrected with Him as new spiritual beings who have the opportunity to become His Bride!
Just like Sarah and Ishmael had to die, in the same way we have to get rid of the root (& the fruit) of the things in our lives which are not in line with Scripture. And as a result, we can become the Bride of Yeshua through what Yeshua did for us on the cross and our deeds of righteousness.
In the midst of death (Sarah & Ishmael), there was a bride (Rebecca). If we want to be the Bride of Yeshua, we have to lay down our lives and die to ourselves spiritually.
Death has been overcome through Yeshua and through Him we can become His Bride! It's the greatest gift one can ever receive! We have to be a Bride who desires to walk in righteousness!
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Portion 5: Chayei Sarah (The blog you are reading now)
