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The Sheep Did What?
Those Mysterious Poles at the Watering Hole
Vayishlach "and sent"
GENESIS 32:4-36:43
HOSEA 11:7-12:12; OBADIAH1:1-21
PSALM 140
Jacob had a strange breeding program for his sheep and goats, one that has puzzled millennia of agriculturists:
Then
Jacob
took
fresh
rods
(
makel
) of
poplar and
almond
(luz) and
plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was
in
the
rods (
ha-maklot
). (Ge 30:37)
Jacob sticks these strange rods around the watering holes, and it allowed him to manipulate their breeding habits, and thus to control the colors and patterns of the lambs and kids. While the exact scientific principle is still in question, the prophecy is not.
Sometimes two Hebrew names of the same person or place will
contrast or are complementary. In last week's portion, Beit-El was formerly called Luz...a fact mentioned more than once in Scripture. The writers want readers to know that we can't really understand Jacob's dream at Beit-El unless we understand the significance of Luz. In last week's newsletter, it was demonstrated how
Beit-El/Luz was a prophecy concerning the ability of the "House of Joseph" to do as Judah had done, to gain entrance to Jerusalem, the House and "the place," HaMakom, of El.
Jerusalem has up to seventy names, none of them in conflict with another, but each teaching some aspect of her essence. In our online Torah classes this week, we examined the reason Esau changed the names of his wives.
Sometimes having an extra name is good. Unlike Avraham or Sarah, Jacob is still called Jacob even after he wrestles with the name-changing man all night. The Nation of Israel is sometimes called the House of Jacob. Prophetic context determines whether a person or place is called by one name or the other.
Last week, Jacob saw an entrance to Heaven at a place called Luz. The luz bone is a tiny bone along the spine, that according to Jewish tradition, is not destroyed by fire. It endures long after other bones disintegrate. It is thought to be the bone from which bodily resurrection will occur.
In rabbinic literature, the expectation is that the luz bone is used in conjunction with some kind of "germination" process for the transformed body at the resurrection of the dead. Yaakov's rod has a sense of germination, and he encounters Luz in his sleep and awakening, his death and resurrection.
Symbolically and prophetically, the luz represents the resurrection of the dead, the bodies in which the exiles will come home to the Garden.
In its plain sense, a luz is an almond tree. It is one type of tree from Jacob cut rods. He peeled the rods in order to increase the reproduction rate of the flocks and herds. Within the text is clue:
Then
Jacob
took
fresh
rods
(
makel
)...
Jacob mentions his rod (
makel) one other time. Not so coincidentally, he is worried about those flocks and herds:
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and
the flocks and the herds
and the camels, into two companies; for he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape." Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, '
Return to your country and to your
relatives [literally, "place of your birth]
,
and I will prosper you,' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness
and
of all the
faithfulness
which You have shown to Your servant;
for with my
staff (b'makli) only I crossed this Jordan
, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and
the mothers with the children
. For You said, 'I will surely prosper you and make
your descendants
as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'" (Ge 32:1-12)
The Jordan is Yarden, "Descending." Jacob had "descended" to exile in Paddan-Aram with only the makel in his hand. The journey was eventful, and at Luz, the resurrection place, Jacob saw how it was possible to pass into Heaven, perhaps the Third Heaven, the Garden of Eden. He made a vow that if the God of his father and grandfather would give him bread to eat, clothes to wear, and bring him back in safety to his father's house, he would pay a vow of tithes. He was on his way to secure a godly wife and begin a godly family that would inherit the promises, including the promise to inhabit the Land of Israel. Jacob descended with only his makel and a promise of offspring, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now the prophecy is easy to see. Jacob believes in more than a physical promise. He believes that the sons and daughters of Israel can inherit eternal life at the resurrection. The makel of the luz tree at the watering hole is evidence of his faith in two things: 1. he will have offspring 2. he and the "mothers" and his offspring will return to that Heavenly place in safety.
While shaked is one name for an almond tree, it represents the menorah, the Holy Spirit. The menorah tree was fashioned with shaked blossoms. The almond tree called the luz, however, represents one tiny piece of physical bone, the body that will be resurrected with the power of the Holy Spirit. So there are two almond trees. There are also two "rods" of Jacob:
One rod is makel:
מַק
ֵּ
ל;
to germinate
; a shoot, i.e. stick
The other rod is a mateh:
מַטֶּה;
a branch (as extending); figuratively, a tribe
Gesenius' Lexicon adds that mateh carries the meaning of "stretching out." The plural of mateh is mattot, which means "tribes." A makel represents the germination stage of growth; mateh represents the "stretched out" great numbers produced from the germination. Jacob left the Promised Land and descended with a makel, but he ascended back to Beit-El in safety with the mattot, or tribes of Israel.
Jacob's sheep and goats represented his ability to prosper in exile, producing clean sacrifices to return to the Temple, "the place of your birth," Jerusalem, the Temple, the Altar. See last week's newsletter if that doesn't make sense. Likewise, Jacob was producing children who would return and ascend as well.
Is this a viable interpretation of Jacob's use of the breeding poles? If there is another who sees an almond tree and rod as a symbol of return from exile, then we have a pretty good case. In Jeremiah's day, he prophesies that Judah, the "House of Jacob," will go into exile, but they will return. Here is how Jeremiah opens his prophecies:
The
word of the LORD came to me saying, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said, 'I see a
rod (
makel)
of an
almond tree
(shaked)
.'
(Je 1:11)
מַקֵּל שָׁקֵד אֲנִי
רֹאֶֽה
Two symbols: an almond tree and a rod. Jeremiah sees a shaked, not the luz. He sees the almond tree that symbolizes the Holy Spirit, not the tree that symbolizes physical resurrection to the Garden. That will occur and be fulfilled at a later time. By the power of the Spirit, however, Judah did return from exile and rebuild Jerusalem and the Second Temple.
Then
Hanamel
my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, 'Buy my field, please, that is at
Anathot
,
which is in the land of Benjamin
; for you
have
the right of possession and the
redemption
is yours; buy it for yourself.'
Then
I knew that this was the word of
the
LORD. (Je 32:8)
Jeremiah knew when he was asked to purchase land in his tribal territory that this was the word of the LORD. Judah was about to go into seventy years of exile, but Jeremiah knew it was important to purchase the property and record the deed publicly as a proclamation. The Temple lay in the land of Benjamin. The tribes of Israel would return.
This, too, Jacob did. He purchased a field from Shechem when he returned with his flocks, herds, sons, and daughter. It didn't matter that the entire land had been promised by prophecy. What mattered was what he could do as a proclamation of faith to his children.
They would stretch out in the land as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. They stubbornly keep returning to the Land of Israel. They will continue returning until the Luz and the Shaked become one almond tree. They will return like the spotted, speckled, and streaked flocks led by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.
The "right of redemption" is yours. Take a step. Do something. Invest your faith of return from exile. Publicly.
And be careful around those almond poles.
Spotlight on Israel
Interested in celebrating Passover 2020 in Israel?
If Sukkot is over, then it's time to plan Passover. Join us in Israel for a Passover seder. To read about the adventure, click
Passover in Israel.
You can't beat the price for room and board!
Relax, hike, volunteer, explore the archaeological ruins, study, count the stars, or day tour, and choose the number of days you spend at Tamar.
If you're interested in a FULL-SERVICE tour, then please consider going at Sukkot 2020. We hope to have registration and information available soon.
'TIS THE SEASON
'Tis the season for lots of questions about why you do what you do or why you don't do what you don't do. If you want a great resource for the BIBLICAL foundation of Hanukkah and how it fits into end-time prophecy, specifically the lost sheep of Israel, click
The Seven Shepherds: Hanukkah in Prophecy for the paperback or
Kindle Copy.
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LaMalah Children's Centre
We will disburse the First Quarter 2020 support funds to the Kenya LaMalah Children's Centre around the 16th of December. We appreciate your donations at any time, but especially in the "slow" months of winter.
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot.
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre through The Creation Gospel, click on the Donate link below. It will say The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation on your receipt. Our local congregation is the non-profit covering for our ministry. Checks or money orders may be sent to:
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PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
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