Parashah #1
(Updated for 10.05.13)
B’resheet ~ תישארב ~ In the Beginning
Torah: B’resheet/Genesis 1:1 ~ 6:8
Haftarah: Yesha’yahu/Isaiah 42:5 ~ 43:11
B’rit Hadashah: Mattityahu/Matthew 1:1-17; Mattityahu/Matthew 19:3-9; Luke 3:23-38; Luke 10:1-12; Yochanan/John 1:1-18; Romans 5:12-21; 1st Corinthians 6:15-20; 1st Corinthians 15:35-58; Ephesians 5:21-32; Colossians 1:14-17; 1st Timothy 2:11-15; Ivrim/Hebrews 1:1-3; Ivrim/Hebrews 3:7-4:11; Ivrim/Hebrews 11:1-7; Kefa Bet/2nd Peter 3:3-14; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:1-5
Writer’s note: I have learned most Christian commentators and Rabbis agree the complete plan of our Creator is in Torah and specifically in (say-fer B’reh-sheet) Sefer B’resheet/Book of Genesis. Most readers of scripture have not been taught to look for our Heavenly Father’s plan and consequently miss what they are not looking for. With what is happening in the world, it is time for us to really pay attention!!!
Here we are again back to the beginning of our journey through Torah! I’m so excited and overwhelmed at the same time!! There is no way, absolutely no way, we can cover all there is to cover in these 6+ chapters. Oh well, I suppose there is always next year!!!
As we begin our cycle, I would like for us to keep in mind . . . Genesis is THE BLUEPRINT for the remainder of the Bible and for our lives as well. In most instances, Genesis, although it is history it is also prophetic. I believe it is a mirror image (i.e. reversed) of the Book of Revelation.
The (Say-fer Ah-lehf) Sefer Alef/first book of Torah tells the story of all beginnings. The first five chapters alone cover . . .
• The beginning of creation
• The beginning of man
• The beginning of man’s relationship with Yehovah
• The beginning of man’s relationship with others
• The beginning of sin
• The beginning of redemption, grace and mercy
CREATION OVERVIEW
• Day 1 ~ Created heavens and earth; light and darkness
• Day 2 ~ Divided the water with a dome; water above dome called “Sky”
• Day 3 ~ Separated water from dry land; called water “seas” and land, “earth”. Spoke plant life into existence
• Day 4 ~ Divided day from night; created sun, moon and stars
• Day 5 ~ Created great sea creatures, every creeping thing, and every winged bird
• Day 6 ~ Created mankind in His own image to rule over fish, birds, animals and the earth
• Day 7 ~ Rested from His work. Only day blessed and set apart as holy.
Please take note, Abba’s days are not like man’s days. Each day of creation mentions “. . . there was evening, and there was morning, a ___ day”. You see, The Almighty doesn’t lead us from “light: into “darkness” but rather from “darkness” into “light” both physically/naturally and spiritually.
CHAPTER 1
“In the beginning, G~d created the heavens and the earth. (Verse 1) Okay, let’s stop right here for just a minute. Created in Hebrew is (bah-rah) bara which implies made from nothing. Surely, if the Creator of this Universe can make something from nothing, how much more so can He make “something” out of us, whom He has already created!
Then there is another Hebrew word eht which is defined as a preposition. What I find interesting about this word are the letters: aleph (א) and tav(ת)! These two Hebrew letters are the bookends for the Hebrew aleph-bet/alphabet. In Revelation 22:13 Yeshua says “I am the Alpha and Omega (Alef and Tav, in Hebrew), the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” This word eht is the fourth and sixth words in the very first sentence of “In the beginning . . .” I believe this is proof positive, in the Torah, our Abba Father worked through Yeshua in creating (Ha Shah-mah-yeem) HaShamayim/the heavens and (Hah Eh-rehtz) HaEretz/the earth. In the (B’reet Ha dah-shah) B’rit Hadashah/Renewed Covenant, this is confirmed in John 1:1-5. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
One more thing before we leave verse 1 . . . HaEretz is literally translated the earth but it is also used to mean The Land which in turn refers to Israel. Is it too far fetched to believe Israel was created first and then the rest of the world?
Verse 2 “The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.” The Hebrew word (kho-shehk) choshek used here, means darkness or obscurity. I found it interesting this is the same word used for the darkness which came over (Mitz-rah-yeem) Mitzrayim/Egypt as part of the ten plagues in Sh’mot/Exodus 10:21. This wasn’t a darkness simply without sunlight or any kind of luminescence. It was a heavy darkness no light of any kind could penetrate and no one could move from where they were. Sh’mot/Exodus 10:23 “They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.” Can you imagine darkness so complete there was a heaviness and you could actually feel it?
Our Creator brought light into darkness at the beginning of creation and He offers light for our darkness even today. “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious, merciful and righteous.” (Tehillim/Psalm 112:4) “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. (Yochanan/John 1:5) Is the equivalent of darkness, (Ha Sah-tahn) HaSatan/Satan? Is Yeshua the light? I am led to believe that Yochanan thinks so and I do too!
Gosh, we’re only to verse 3 (help!!!) A few summers ago, I received the following email about Abba separating the light from the dark and I just couldn’t resist sharing . . .
“Then G~d said, ‘Let there be light . . .’And God separated the light from the dark
. . . and did two loads of laundry.”
I know . . . Oy vey!!! . . . that was bad . . . but it was fun!!!
THE RELATIONSHIP OF “LIGHT” AND “DAY”
There is an interesting and insightful study concerning the Hebrew words or and yom (rhymes with home).
This word or is translated as light and yom is translated as day. According to G~d’s “dictionary”, the Tanakh, day and light have a very strong connection. B’resheet/Genesis 1:3 “Then God said, “Let there be light” and again in B’resheet/Genesis 1:5, “God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. BUT . . . God didn’t create the sun, moon and stars until day four, SO . . . what was this “light” created on day one?
Speaking of “light”, I want to share another interesting thought. In the center of the word “TORAH” is a Hebrew word or which means light. In the Christian vernacular, we call this book THE WORD! In the middle of WORD is the same or, again translating into light.
So let’s take this a step further. Mishlei/Proverbs 6:23 gives us another definition for the word “light”. “For the mitzvah/command/way of living is a lamp, Torah/commandments/ways of living is light.” And Tehillim/Psalms 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my foot and light on my path.” In other words, obeying one mitzvah would be like a lamp in your life, whereas, obeying more than one, or several, would be more light, as in several lamps!
In Hebrew, the phrase The Torah is said HaTorah. Each letter of the Hebrew Alef-bet/alphabet is assigned a numerical value. The numerical value of “HaTorah” is 616. The word day has the same numerical value of 616. Interesting? I think so!
I believe we are being taught through these two words with equal numerical value to live in the day, i.e. the light according to B’resheet/Genesis 1:5 and not in the night, i.e. the darkness, we must have the Torah.
This light is a higher light of understanding. Why? Because, as I mentioned earlier, the light mentioned in B’resheet/Genesis Chapter One is not the physical sunlight or the physical light of the moon. The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day and they are totally different kinds of light. The light mentioned in B’resheet/Genesis 1:5, I believe, is a light which can only be understood to be HaTorah/The Torah.
As Mishlei/Proverbs 6:23 implies, one command(ment) makes us a lamp but the complete Torah makes us a Light. What does this mean but living in obedience to the (mitz-vote) mitzvot/commandments of God makes us shine day and night. Do you see the connection here with Yeshua’s parable of the 10 virgins? All had lamps but only five had the light (Torah). Their light was to illuminate the night.
This brings us to another interesting phrase. The Light in B’resheet/Genesis 1:4, in Hebrew is said (Eht Ha-Ohr) Et HaOr and the numerical value of these letters is 613 which is the same number of mitzvot/commandments found in the Torah. When you add 6+1+3, it equals 10. I believe the 613 mitzvot are just the “fine print”, so to speak, to help us follow “the big ten”. Along this same line, we have already seen where “Et” (את), the Alef/Tav represents Yeshua and “Ha Or” is “The Light”. According to Yochanan/John 8:12 and 9:5, Yeshua is the light of the world and if we follow Him we will not walk in darkness. So if we follow Torah and it’s mitzvot we walk in the light and if we follow Yeshua, we will not walk in darkness. Then Yeshua is the Living Torah who walked among us at one time and will return to make our way straight again!
One more thing, the numerical value of “Et” equals 5. Five is the number of . . .
*grace *the number of books in Torah *and atonement.
Interesting? I think so! Coincidence? Probably not!
Living as lights to the nations is the calling of God’s people, whether we are natural born or grafted in. According to Yesha’yahu/Isaiah 42:6, we must have THE light, which is THE Torah.
A few years ago, I was visiting with a Jewish man who moved to Branson from Canada. In the course of one of our conversations, I mentioned an instance in my life and felt it was a “kiss from my Heavenly Father”. His response to me was something about not considering The Almighty to have lips. So I asked him what he thought it meant in Torah when our Creator said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves . . .” (verse 26). He mentioned something about “our image” was including angels and he didn’t believe anyone had ever seen an angel. Here, in verse 27, it is very clear, “So God created humankind in His own image; in the image of God He created him . . .” and for that matter it is repeated in Chapter 5, verse 1 of B’resheet/Genesis. Personally, I feel these same verses allude to Abba’s triune nature as well!
Have you ever wondered why the Creator of the universe created man? The One who knows the end from the beginning; who knows how much sadness and sorrow we would bring to Him. As I spent last Sukkot “in the wilderness” I pondered on this. Apparently, our Abba Father had a need for a relationship. I guess you might say He was lonely. Of course, as my Jewish friend said, He had angels but it was just not the same as having a relationship with one created “in His image”. I am SO thankful He has chosen us to have fellowship with Him. I would truly be lost if I could not turn to my Abba Father!
Verse 29 gives us very clear direction for our eating habits. “. . . I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. I believe this equates to fresh fruits and vegetables. As I mature (okay, okay, as I get older!!!), I am learning Biblical eating is a major benefit to my well-being. My friend, Rabbi Ya’akov Youlus, of blessed memory, who lived in Jerusalem had some very insightful words concerning verse 29. I quote . . .
“Adam was permitted to eat herbs only. Not until Chapter 9:3 does G-d say that
people could eat animals. Why in the beginning were people only permitted to
eat vegetables? When G-d created Adam, before his sin, he was on a very high
spiritual level. He was close to G-d. Therefore he was not permitted to eat any
living thing, only vegetation. But then man selected bad instead of good and
proceeded to go away from G-d. He decreased his spiritual potential. Therefore
G-d permitted him also to eat any living thing. However, G-d’s intention was that
man should have remained on that higher level and animals should not have had to
suffer death in order to satisfy man’s cravings. Note in Deuteronomy 12:20 – the
Hebrew words speak of a strong longing, like lust, for meat. Here and other places
in the Torah, it indicates that although G-d acquiesces to man’s desires including meat
eating, it is not the ideal.”
Our Creator said everything He made was very good (B’resheet/Genesis 1:31). Ya know, when I make things some are good, some are so-so and some are very good. Not everything has the same quality. However, when The Almighty created the world, the Torah tells us all He created were very good. One was not better and one worse, all were very good. We can’t produce 100% quality all the time but God can!!!!
CHAPTER 2
In verse 2, we see HaShem rested on the seventh day from all His work; verse 3 goes on to say “God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy . . .” How interesting!! In all of scripture, I have not been able to find where the Sabbath was changed to any other day. Only the seventh day was ordained as “holy” by our Abba Father. Let me be quick to say each and every day is a good day to worship The Holy One but HE is the One who appointed the seventh day as the Sabbath and set it aside as holy. By the way, although Abba never changed it, Constantine did in 325 AD when he set up his now all encompassing religion. A worshipper of the sun-god, he mandated sun-worship-day as his lord’s day. Oy vey!!!
Verse 3 gives us a hint about Sh’mittah/release or rest. “. . . God rested from all his work which He had created, so “itself could produce.” “. . . the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land.” (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:4) No planting or harvesting was done; so whatever “itself could produce” was not harvested but left for those in need.
At this point, we learn the earth is in its perfection, according to verses 5 and 6. There were no wild bushes, no wild plants and since there was no rain, the moisture needed for the vegetation came in the form of a mist which rose from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.
Verse 7 is a wonderful one for learning a little more Hebrew. “. . . God formed (ah-dahm) adam/person from the dust of the ground/adamah (ah-dah-mah).
Eating habits are addressed again in verse 9, “. . . G~d caused to grow every tree, pleasing in appearance and good for food . . .”
“A river went out of ‘Eden to water the garden and from there it divided into four streams.” (Verse 10) Verses 11-14 proceed to name those “streams” and I don’t know why Abba wanted me to look them up but I chose to be obedient. Perhaps it is information we may need in the future. I wish I had a map of the Garden of Eden and I wish I knew just exactly where it was located. Anyway, the “streams” and their meanings are:
• Pison/Pishon, meaning dispersive; from a root word meaning to split or divide
• Gihon/Gichon, meaning short stream; from a root word meaning gush forth
• Hiddekel/Tigris, meaning river
• Euphrates, from a root word meaning to break forth or rushing
Then in verses 16-17 the Creator commands man to eat from all the trees except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is Abba’s second command to man; His first command was to multiply and now, His second command, is what to eat and what not to eat. Torah is teaching us man is different from an animal. Because he was created in the image of God, man has been given “free choice”. Animals don’t have “free choice” because they weren’t created in the image of God. The Almighty only commands human beings. Therefore, the privilege of free choice carries with it the responsibilities and consequences for good AND for bad.
Next is the story of (Ah-dahm) Adam, who names all of the creatures The Holy One brought to him but none were suitable as a companion for him so The Holy One causes a deep sleep to come over him and took one of his ribs (from his side), which He took with flesh and made a woman-person. She is to be called (Eesh-ah) Ishah/Woman because she was taken out of Man/Ish (Eesh). (Verses 18-24)
CHAPTER 3
We all know the story addressed in verses 1-19 about the serpent, the woman, the man, the fruit, the tree, their nakedness, etc. etc. etc. You really don’t want me to go there because I am VERY opinionated about the subject. Suffice it to say this is exactly where redemption, grace and mercy first began, in my opinion. When we abandon the parameters laid down by our Creator, we open ourselves up to unfortunate circumstances.
Oh boy! More Hebrew!!! In verse 20, “The man called his wife Eve/(Kha-vah) Chavah, the feminine form of (Khigh) Chai meaning life. The remainder of this chapter is about the shedding of blood for man’s atonement; the covering of man’s nakedness by an ever loving, full of mercy and kindness, Almighty God.
CHAPTER 4
Adam and Eve had (Kah-yeen) Kayin/Cain, meaning acquisition, who was the first farmer and then they had (Heh-vehl) Hevel/Abel meaning breath of God, who was the first shepherd. There are some who believe Kayin/Cain was conceived and born before Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden.
Did you notice the subtle distinction concerning Abel’s offering to Yehovah, as compared to Cain’s? (Verses 3-5) The Sages believe Cain did bring an offering to The Holy One but it was not his first fruits nor was it his best of the crops. Our offerings are to be off the top (first fruits) and are to be our best. If we are offering anything other, we are short-changing ourselves.
After Cain had killed Abel, (verses 9-16) The Almighty asks Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” Do you think for one minute He was unaware of what was going on? It reminds me of the question He asked Adam and Eve after they had sinned in the garden! I believe our Abba Father is so merciful He was giving Cain every opportunity to confess and repent. Needless to say, Cain blew it! and was banished from the area and settled east of Eden in the land of Nod (sounds like “node”).
Here’s a cute little joke from Rabbi Packouz: The story is told of a gorilla who
escaped from the zoo. They looked all over for him until they finally found him
in the public library. The gorilla had 2 books in front of him — the Five Books of
Moses and Darwin’s Origin of Species. Everyone was wondering what the ape was
doing when a rabbi sitting nearby piped up, “It’s obvious! He’s trying to figure out
if he is his brother’s keeper . . . or his keeper’s brother!”
Verse 17 says Cain “knew his wife” and we know when used in this vernacular they were procreating. Where did this wife come from? Yehovah had created Adam and then Eve and they had Cain and then Abel, to this point. So where did this person come from????? On top of that, (verses 18-22) their first child Enoch had a child, who had a child, who had a child, etc. etc. etc. There are some who believe The Almighty created many but chose only Adam and Eve to commune with initially. Therefore, outside of the Garden of Eden there were others who had been created as well. On the other hand, some believe Adam and Chavah had many, many other children and Cain married a sister, which at the time was not considered incest. What do you think? This is another one of those questions I want to ask my Father when I see Him face to face. (Remember this later on when we study about the “first born”!!!)
“Lamech took to himself two wives.” (verse 19) According to the Chumash, this was the practice of the generation of the Flood. They would take two wives; one to bear children and the other for pleasure. The one would be pampered and catered to and the other would be void of companionship and left mourning like a widow throughout her life.
Adam and Eve have another son whom they name Shet/Seth which means granted for Yehovah had granted them another child because Abel had been killed. Seth had a son, Enosh. (Verse 26) I am curious as to the last sentence in Chapter 4. The Complete Jewish Bible says “That is when people began to call on the name of Yehovah.” The Chumash says “Then to call in the Name of HaShem became profaned.” Those are very diverse translations. What does yours say and what do you think this means?
CHAPTER 5
This chapter begins counting the ten generations from Adam to Noah. In the listing below, you will notice after Adam, the genealogy begins with Seth because Abel was killed and Cain’s descendants died in the Flood. These are the generations:
• Adam: died in the year 930 from Creation (lived 930 years)
• Seth: born in the year 130 from Creation; died in 1042 (lived 912 years)
(after his time people begin to do evil, according to the Chumash)
• Enosh: 235~1140 (lived 905 years)
• Kenan: 325~1235 (lived 910 years)
• Mahalal’el/Mahalael: 395~1290 (lived 895 years)
• Yered/Jared: 460~1422 (lived 962 years)
• Hanokh/Enoch: 622~987 (didn’t die ~ HaShem took him up)
• Metushelach/Methuselah: 687~1656 (lived 969 years)
• Lemekh/Lamech: 874~1651 (lived 777 years)
• Noach/Noah: 1056~2006 (lived 950 years)
Noah was born 126 years after Adam died; Lemekh/Lamech was the farthest descendant Adam lived to see. When (No-ahk) Noach/Noah was 500 years he and Naamah, which means lovely, had Shem, Ham and Yefet/Japheth. Many believe these were triplets. Based upon the Biblical Generations, Jim Barfield* has come up with 3988 BC for the estimated date of Adam’s creation. (*See Jim’s Timeline at www.copper-scroll-project.com)
CHAPTER 6
This chapter begins in verse 1 with “And it came to pass . . .” The Talmud notes when this terminology is used in Scripture, it often precedes trouble. For instance, in this case, it begins the story of man’s descent into sin. A positive spin to these same words, which is one of my personal favorites is . . . Praise the Lord, it didn’t come to stay . . . it came to pass!!!!
There seem to be interesting things going on in verses 2-3. Apparently the sons of princes and judges are choosing to marry daughters of the general population, the multitude or lower classes, who did not have the power to resist their superiors. It appears the weak were subject to the more powerful. It is believed the term “sons of God” referred to the God-fearing descendants of Seth, while the “daughters of man”, implying less spiritual people, are the sinful descendants of Cain. The union of these two diverse groups eventually led to the destruction of mankind.
The (Neh-fill-leem) Nephillim/giants spoken of in verse 4, were the same race which terrified the scouts (Moe-sheh) Moshe/Moses sent into the Promised Land (B’midbar/Numbers 13:33). Because of the evil which prevailed, HaShem in verse 7, says He’s gonna wipe everything off the face of the earth because He has reconsidered having made them. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of Yehovah.” (Verse 8) According to the Sages, this grace was needed to save Noah’s family. If a righteous person attempts to make others righteous, God may spare them for his sake, because there is hope he can influence them to repent. The Holy One would wait 120 years before bringing the Flood; so mankind would have ample opportunity to repent.
Verse 8 is one of the verses I like to reference when people tell me Torah is being under the law. Here in the first book only six chapters into it we find The Holy One imputing GRACE upon Noah. Don’t tell me grace is just found in the B’rit Hadashah/Renewed Covenant!!!! Truly, grace began in The Torah!
~ In the BeginningבראשיתB’resheet ~
HAFTARAH: Yeshayahu/Isaiah 42:5-43:10
The Haftarah has the same theme of creation just as our Parashah. According to the Sages, our Creator continues to create the world anew, every second. Were this not so, the world would cease to exist.
In our Haftarah portion this week we see the judgment of our Elohim coming upon the world, yet He also makes provision for His people. In Yesha’yahu/Isaiah 42:16, in the midst of His declaration of judgment, we see The Holy One making provision for all who are blinded to the truth.
“The blind I will lead on a road they don’t know, on roads they don’t know I will lead them; I will turn darkness to light before them, and straighten their twisted paths. These are things I will do without fail.”
As I see it, both the Hebrews and the Christians are partially blind to the truths of Yah. While the Hebrew people have retained and guarded Torah, many are blind to the identity of Mashiach. On the other hand, the Christians know who Yeshua is but they are blind to the Torah’s place in their life. In the midst of The Holy One’s judgment, He will bring both on paths they have not known. The Hebrew people will recognize Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus the Messiah, and the Christians will realize the responsibility which is theirs to Torah. Already we are beginning to see this happening!!! This partial knowing will build and build until it crescendos with the Hebrew people and biblical Truth Seekers becoming one, and bowing before their heavenly bridegroom, Yeshua HaMashiach.
~ In the BeginningבראשיתB’resheet ~
B’rit Hadashah: Mattityahu/Matthew 1:1-17;
Mattityahu/Matthew 19:3-9; Luke 3:23-38; Luke 10:1-12; Yochanan/John 1:1-18;
1st Corinthians 6:15-20; 1st Corinthians 15:35-58; Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 5:21-32;
Colossians 1:14-17; 1st Timothy 2:11-15; Ivrim/Hebrews 1:1-3; Ivrim/Hebrews 3:7-4:11;
Ivrim/Hebrews 11:1-7; Kefa Bet/2nd Peter 3:3-14; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:1-5
Mattityahu/Matthew 1:1-17 In B’resheet/Genesis 5 we have the genealogy from Adam to Noach/Noah and here we have the genealogy from Avraham/Abraham to Yeshua/Jesus.
Mattityahu/Matthew 19:3-9 Verse 4 refers back to B’resheet/Genesis 1:27 and 5:2 concerning the Creator making humankind, male and female. Then, in verse 5, Yeshua reminds them of Torah teaching in B’resheet/Genesis 2:24 where the Father said “a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and the two are to become one flesh”.
Luke 3:23-38 These verses show the genealogy of Yeshua back to “Adam, of God” and parallels the genealogy in B’resheet/Genesis 5.
Luke 10:1-12 I’m not sure how these verses parallels our Torah portion. Our Torah portion doesn’t go into detail concerning Noah’s evangelizing those around him but I’m sure he did as he was building the ark. Verses 8-11 expounds on the importance of sharing the message of the Lord.
Yochanan/John 1:1-18 As we know, the beginning verse here is the same as in B’resheet/Genesis 1:1. Of course, we could go on and expound how Yeshua was in the beginning in B’resheet/Genesis 1:1 as well but that’s another topic for another time.
Romans 5:12-21 We know when Adam and Eve sinned, it set the stage for the downfall of all mankind. By the same token, the second Adam, Yeshua, the Righteous One made righteousness available to all who are willing to accept and receive His atoning sacrifice.
1st Corinthians 6:15-20 Rav Sha’ul/Rabbi Paul is admonishing the believers in Corinth concerning their conduct in many matters but especially sexual promiscuity. Verse 16 is a direct quote from B’resheet/Genesis 2:24.
1st Corinthians 15:35-58 Verse 45 says, “In fact, the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being; but the last “Adam” has become a life-giving Spirit”, which, in part, is a direct quote from B’resheet/Genesis 2:7.
Ephesians 5:21-32 Rav Sha’ul/Rabbi Paul was speaking to the Messianic Community in Ephesus concerning submission to one another as well as wives submitting to their husbands. He goes on to expound, husbands should love their wives as the Messiah loved the Messianic Community. Now tell me, what wife wouldn’t be willing to be submitted to a husband who would be willing to lay his life down for her! Verse 31 goes on to quote B’resheet/Genesis 2:24 about the man leaving his father and mother to remain with his wife and the two will become one. In the part of this passage, where Paul alludes to the relationship between Messiah and believers, many miss the obvious when Paul talks about wives (believers) being obedient. Remember Yeshua’s words, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”? I’m pretty sure these include the ones in the FRONT of the book!!!
Colossians 1:14-17 Verse 15 states “He (Yeshua) is the visible image of the invisible God” which reminds me of HaShem’s words in B’resheet/Genesis 1:26-27 “Let us create man in our image.”
1st Timothy 2:11-15 These verses refer to B’resheet/Genesis 3:6 & 7. Did you notice verse 14 says “it was not Adam who was deceived”? Then why did he choose to eat of the fruit? I’m afraid we could spend our entire allotted time midrashing these verses!!!!!
Ivrim/Hebrews 1:1-3 Verse 2, in part reads, “. . . He has spoken to us through His Son, to whom He has given ownership of every thing and through whom He created the universe.” I believe this parallels all of B’resheet/Genesis 1 and especially when Yah says let us create humankind in our image, which certainly tells us He was not creating alone.
Ivrim/Hebrews 3:7-4:11 Several places during these verses there is reference to “rest” which, I believe, parallels the Sabbath rest spoken of in B’resheet/Genesis. Additionally in 4:4 there is specific reference to B’resheet/Genesis 2:2 “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
Ivrim/Hebrews 11:1-7 Most of us have been taught this chapter is the Faith Chapter or Trusting Chapter. Sure enough, it is by faith or by trusting in the promises of The Almighty we are able to walk our Messianic walk. Verses 3-7 parallel . . .
• The universe being spoken into existence from nothingness (B’resheet/Genesis 1:1-31)
• Hevel/Abel’s greater sacrifice as an act of righteousness (B’resheet/Genesis 4:1-16)
• Hanokh/Enoch being taken – not seeing death “He was not to be found, because God took him away”. (B’resheet/Genesis 5:21-24)
• Noach/Noah found grace from HaShem because of his faith – his trusting (B’resheet/Genesis 6:5-8)
Kefa Bet/2nd Peter 3:3-14 Verses 3-7 specifically speak of the beginning of creation and also speaks about the flood during the time of Noach/Noah, which are found in B’resheet / Genesis chapters 1 & 6.
Revelation 21:1-5 Just as we are given a picture of the beginning of creation in the initial chapters of B’resheet/Genesis, so we are given a picture in these verses of “a new heaven and a new earth.”
Revelation 22:1-5 In the beginning chapters of B’resheet/Genesis we are given a picture of what was created; the earth, the seas, the plant life, etc. These verses do the same for the final kingdom.
Our corresponding Psalm for this Torah portion is: Psalm 139
Next Week’s Lesson: Parashah #2
נ ~ NoahוNoach ~ ח
Torah: B’resheet/Genesis 6:9~11:32
Haftarah: Yesha’yahu/Isaiah 54:1~55:5
B’rit Hadashah: Mattityahu/Matthew 24:36-44; Luke 17:26-37
Acts 2:1-16; Kefa Aleph/1st Peter 3:18-22; Kefa Bet/2nd Peter 2:5
Who fills his mind with Torah clears it of fear and folly. ~ Rabbi Chanina Sgan HaKohanim
Organize yourselves into classes for the study of Torah, since it can best be acquired in association with others. ~ Talmud: Berkot 63b
שבוע טוב
Shavuah tov (have a good week)!!!
