 |
Empty Altars and the Second Lekh Lekha
Vayeira "and appeared"
GENESIS 18:1-22:24
2 KINGS 4:1-37
PSALM 11
JOHN 8:50-59
Tamar Fortress Guarding Ancient Spice Road
Photo by Randy Heaton
It's easy to miss the second Lekh Lekha and Abraham's empty altars. Like so many other things, we assume facts not in evidence. That's something that drives writers crazy. We can make a typo, but our eyes miss it because the brain knows what
should be there even if it isn't. Do I hear an amein?
The second Lekh Lekha occurs in the portion Vayeira, but this Lekh Lekha ("go for yourself") is just as important as the first:
Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He
said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you
.
(Ge 22:1-2)
וַיֹּאמֶר
קַח־נָא
אֶת־בִּנְך
ָ
אֶת־יְחִֽידְך
ָ
אֲשֶׁר־אָהַבְת
ָּ
אֶת־יִצְחָק
וְלֶךְ־לְךָ אֶל־אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה
וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם לְעֹלָה עַל אַחַד הֶֽהָרִים אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶֽיךָ
׃
Between the first Lekh Lekha and this one,
there have been a lot of empty altars. Of course, there is the Covenant Between the Pieces, but that's a covenant, a bit different. Check out all these altars without sacrifices:
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your
descendants
I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him
. (Ge 12:7)
Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD
. (Ge 12:8)
to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD
. (
Ge 13:4
)
Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the
oaks
of
Mamre
, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD
. (Ge 13:8)
Say, Abraham, why no sacrifices?
While each of these altars marked important access points to the holiness of Adonai, there is only one altar at which Abraham is called to sacrifice a living creature,
Eretz Moriah.
Finally, Abraham puts a living creature on an altar:
"Then
they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood
." (Ge 22:9)
When Isaac "resurrects," he is replaced with a ram. After all the altars he's built, and after recognizing in each of those places some aspect of connection to Heaven, Abraham realizes he's reached "The Place," possibly the region of
Shalem
of Shem. He will rename it
Yerushalayim, Jerusalem
. There is only one place where resurrection can take place. While Hebron and Beit-El were "doorways" to Jerusalem, on Moriah was the altar that touched the heart of Heaven.
There are word connections to Moriah:
mor
- dripping myrrh (H4843) in Exodus 30:23 & Esther 2:12, a raw component of anointing oil; also related:
maror
- bitter herbs of Passover.
Moriah
- instruction, the place where the Torah would go forth to the nations.
According to tradition, when Avraham lifted his eyes, he saw a cloud enveloping the mountain. Because the young men could not see it, but Isaac could, only Avraham and Isaac continued to the mountain. Tradition says it was the smoke of sacrifice and the incense cloud of prayers.
Some people have limited "lifting power." Like Lot. Lot's name, which means "stealthy," can also be translated as myrrh in context:
לֹט
Lot lifted his eyes to see the plain of the Yarden (Jordan) was like the Garden of the Lord, but he didn't see sacrifice
. He baked matzah for the angels, so he knew about Passover. When he was told to go to the mountains, the implication was to go back to Abraham. Lot preferred even a "little one," a small city of unrighteousness:
Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the
mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will
die..." (Ge 19:19)
This sounds like the Israelites begging Moses to go up Mount Sinai for them, "for why should we die?" For some, living a dedicated life of holiness and righteousness is just too heavy to lift. Without the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, resurrection seems so distant that daily sacrifice and death today are pushed away in favor of...well...favor. Favor of our peers. Like Lot, a judge in the gate of Sodom, the respect of the wicked outweighed the respect of righteous relatives.
Another context for wishy-washy believers is
the
words of Elijah:
Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate (
pasach: hop like a bird between branches
) between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word. (1 Ki 18:21)
Abraham and Sarah were promised a son at the same appointed time "next year," which was Pesach. Lot bakes matzah for the angels.
He has knowledge of appointed times (vaguely) and is hospitable. He has a (very vague) notion of sexual morality. He's somewhere in between Abraham and the Sodomites. What Lot is not really understanding is that Passover is the time that the death angel "hops" (pasoch) from house to house, checking doorposts. Even when the angels pull him into the house and supernaturally shut the door, Lot still doesn't completely get it. He still doesn't want to go to righteousness. Like so many others, Lot is content with mere salvation from death. He's not interested in a transformed life.
Perhaps the reason Avraham doesn't put a sacrifice on the altar until he reaches Eretz Moriah is because at that "land of Moriah" another sacrifice would take place, a bitter
mor
drink would be offered to
Yeshua. T
hose who loved Yeshua would eat truly bitter
maror
with the lamb that Pesach evening with their doors shut tight against the wrath of Herod and Pilate. Think of this verse as possibly being out of chronological order:
He
said,
'Take
now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell
you.' So
Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance
. (Ge 22:2-4)
This may
explain why Abraham next
"took
the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife
." What he saw convinced him that Isaac could be resurrected:
...there
is
One who seeks and judges
.
Truly
, truly, I say to you,
if anyone keeps My word he will never see death
."
"...If
I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God';
and
you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to
see My day, and he saw it and was glad.
"
So
the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham
?"
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham
was
born, I am."
Therefore
they picked up stones to throw at Him, but
Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple
. (
Jn
What Abraham saw was the "third day" of life from the dead. The empty altars of self-sacrifice led him to Moriah where he saw Yeshua rise from the dead. Yeshua speaks of this in the Temple, Mount Moriah. He would become the sacrifices of every altar, but like the ram took Isaac's place, only Yeshua could fulfill the sacrifice and merit eternal resurrection. On that altar of wood, Yeshua was offered myrrh on a sponge, but he refused the anesthetic. The Miriams prepared myrrh to anoint Yeshua's body, but it was unnecessary. He'd submitted to the bitterness of human judgment and was found innocent. The death judgment was overturned...like a cake.
The Sodomite territories of the Jordan
plain are "in between" areas. It connects Edom and Moab with Israel. When Israel is righteous, then the fringe is inside the circle. When Israel is apostate, historically, the fringe reverts to "hoppers."
The fortress at Tamar is a great example. It guarded the spice route from Sheba, India, and beyond into
Egypt and Sidon
. It also was a guard post for the extensive copper mining and smelting, including the technology.
Myrrh
, nard, and other spices for the Temple's incense cloud (
Rashi
to Ge 22:2) came along this "fringe" route.
In times of righteous Judean kings, it was ruled by Israel. In times of apostasy, it was ruled by Edom or other nations. It is an extreme southern boundary until a later time prophesied when Israel will control Edom, Moab, and Ammon. (Ge 15:18-19).
The
Yarden
, the Dead Sea, the districts where Moab, Ammon, and Edom border Israel lie in the Great Rift Valley. The mountains of Moab run one direction, while the Israeli mountains of the
Aravah
run the other direction.
Symbolically, this is critical.
Yeshua
died for something, just as he lived for resurrection. That something is sin, specifically, that the world would seek forgiveness for sin and be spared judgment and eternal separation. This explains the ellipsis as it pertains to Sodom:
I will go down (erdah) now
, and see if they have done
entirely
according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know
. (Ge 18:29)
Question: Adonai didn't already know?
The answer is from the "missing" or understood text: "...if they have not
repented
, I will know."
Lot had been appointed a judge of Sodom, and he would have proclaimed measures of repentance. He modeled hospitality. Sodom paid no heed, and scorned him. "I will know" implies that the angels will test Sodom's repentance by giving a final opportunity.
Of interest is the verb
erdah
, from
yarad
, which means "to descend." The
Yarden
River descends into the Dead Sea. At the resurrection, Adonai Himself will descend with a shout to gather the righteous, yet to destroy the completely wicked. The Dead Sea will once again become living water.
In the destruction of the four cities of the Yarden Plain, a great earthquake is thought to have fractured the earth to such an extent that the hot, boiling water beneath spewed up and engulfed the plain, exposing the salty reservoir beneath. The earth's shift created the Salt Sea:
and
He
overthrew (
hafak
)
those cities, and all the
valley (
kikar
),
and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground
. (Ge 19:25)
Hafak
= "to turn over, as a cake"
The "fringe" cities of the valley were turned over in the Great Rift Valley because of unrepentance. When Messiah returns on this pathway from Edom, garments dipped in blood, to Moriah's holy cloud of incense, perhaps he intends to judge and turn it right side up, restoring the fresh, living water. No more fringes. No more bitterness. No more death. No more hopping Lots.
And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of
nets
. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. (Ezek 47:10)
May our empty altars be accompanied by fervent prayers of intercession, even for the Sodom cities of the earth. Should we need repentance from hopping and wishy-washing, let us repent and live. Let us go up for ourselves to the Land of Moriah in a second Lekh Lekha. Abraham and Isaac will be waiting for us.
Spotlight on Israel
Interested in celebrating Passover 2020 in Israel?
We are considering celebrating Passover in Israel again. It would
not be a tour, but everybody meeting at Tamar Park for the seder. Room and board would be priced in at a daily rate, and we all pitch in to make a schedule for cooking meals and kitchen cleanup. Alan and I plan to go into Jerusalem for at least a day. The dates we'd stay in Israel are April 6-16.
You'd be free to do whatever you wanted to do: relax, hike, volunteer, or day tour, and choose the number of days at Tamar. I might do some teaching o
n the Sabbaths.
We're not asking for a commitment, and I can't give you more information at this point. We're just deciding whether we want to take a personal trip or invite others to join us. It's for fairly confident travelers who are not afraid to drive a rental car or ride a public bus (we can supply precise instructions to take bus or train).
If you want to take day tours, we'll connect you with a private guide, and those who go can price-share. We can also show you wonderful things in the Aravah near the park. I'll be continuing Biblical, historical, and archaeological research on King David's and Solomon's activities in that area for a book, so will be happy to discuss the "latest" over an ice cream in the sukkah at night.
If you're SERIOUSLY interested in such a trip, send a message "
Passover in Israel: send info when available." to
[email protected]. If there's enough interest, then I'll negotiate the price details with Tamar and get them to you, then I'll check with a couple of guides to see if they're available during those dates for day tours. Again, this is not an organized tour. We'll send you travel tips and our itinerary info, and you'll network with others who want to do similar things, but there is no set schedule or "leader" other than the seder, which Alan and I would sponsor.
If you're interested in a FULL-SERVICE tour, then please consider going at Sukkot 2020. We hope to have registration and information available for that soon.
A New BEKY Book!
Click Cloudy to order the paperback version of the new BEKY Book. The resurrection explained where it begins: the Torah portions! The second section addresses the question, "What happens when we die?" Finally, a simple Biblical correction to the modern "rapture" theory that anyone can understand.
Hebrew Class
Did you miss the Beginner Hebrew class with Rabbi Shlomo the first time around? The new class has been delayed to allow more people to enroll. Information from Rabbi Shlomo is below:
Shalom! Welcome to the Hebrew alephbet and basic reading course. In this course we will proceed in 4 major steps, and we will dedicate a class to each step. The class takes place live in a Zoom virtual classroom. The basic syllabus is:
The names and the shapes of the block letters.
Introduction of the vowels and how the vowels allow us to pronounce the letters, and begin reading.
Use of script
Basic reading
Although the class is broken into 4 major steps, there is a possibility that we will move faster than the predetermined curriculum if I deem it possible, and it is in the interest of the majority of students.
I am optimistic that every student who completes this 4 part class will be qualified to begin our first level of Hebrew course.
The cost of the Alephbet course is $40, and the cost of the subsequent course, which is10 lessons, is $80/month, which means a total of $200.
I'm looking forward to learning with you! We hope to get started November 17th.
I will be available for questions at the email: [email protected].
Best,
R. Shlomo Eitan
LaMalah Children's Centre
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot. Here is a note from Brother Ndungu:
Shalom in the Name above all names:
We had a wonderful feast together with our children. We thank Abba for His providence and steadfast mercies. People came from many locations, some from as far as Uganda. And we all had enough to eat. People slept well. All were happy and full of joy throughout the feast. We pray Father will continue to bless , lead and guide. You really helped us have a feast worth the Name.
Thank you very much indeed and Shabbat Shalom,
Peter
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre or other Torah-based orphanages 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:
The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
|
|
|
|
|
|
