Welcome to Toldot (Generations), this week’s Parasha (Torah Portion).
Toldot (Generations)
· Genesis 25:19–28:9
· Malachi 1:1–2:7
· Romans 9:6–29
“And these are the generations /toldot of Yitzchak [Isaac], Avraham’s [Abraham] son: Avraham begat Yitzchak.” (Genesis 25:19)
In our last Parasha (Torah portion), Yitzchak (Isaac), the son of Sarah and Abraham, carried on the legacy of his parents’ faith and obedience to ELOHIM. After his mother died, Abraham sent his servant to bring home a wife for Yitzchak from among Abraham’s kinsmen.
At the well where the women of the town would soon appear, the servant prayed for ELOHIM’s help in locating the perfect wife for Yitzchak. Just then, Rivkah (Rebecca) arrived and provided water for him and his camels. Yitzchak was 40 when he married her.
Prayer Brings Blessings
“Isaac prayed to YAHUVEH on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. YAHUVEH answered his prayer [atar], and his wife Rebekah became pregnant." (Genesis 25:21)
In this week’s Parasha, we discover that Rivkah is barren. She is one of seven women in the Torah who have difficulty conceiving but finally come to bear children by the grace of YAHUVEH; in this case, in answer to her husband’s prayer.
It is traditionally believed that he prayed for 19 years. Moreover, it is also believed that he prayed in unity with Rivkah.
What a lesson for us today! Just because we pray once and do not receive an answer does not mean we should stop praying! YAHUVEH wants us to bring our requests to HIM in the unity of faith.
The Hebrew expression used in Genesis 25:21 for prayer, ‘atar’, which can also mean ‘to dig’, is related to the Hebrew word for ‘pitchfork’, ‘eter’.
“As a pitchfork turns the sheaves of grain from one position to another, so does the prayer of the righteous turn the dispensations of the Holy One, blessed YAHUVEH, from the attribute of anger to the attribute of mercy.”
Yitzchak’s prayer penetrated the foundation of heaven, and just as grain is turned over with a pitchfork, so too was YAHUVEH’s judgment of barrenness upon Rivkah “turned over” and reversed by YAHUVEH’s mercy because of prayer.
Of course, the Bible makes it clear that we are to be fruitful and multiply. However, though seed is sown, it is YAHUVEH who opens the womb.
“Behold, children are a heritage from YAHUVEH, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3–5)
Sarah, Abraham’s wife, came up with her own solution for her barrenness – she suggested a surrogate mother – Hagar. In her own efforts, she received Ishmael.
Hannah, another barren woman, went to the Temple and cried out to ELOHIM for a child and she received the prophet Samuel.
Rivkah did neither. Instead, she turned to her husband who was her spiritual covering to entreat ELOHIM on her behalf, and YAHUVEH answered Isaac’s prayers for the miraculous gift of new life. Rivkah found herself pregnant with not just one child – but twins – a double portion!
Birthright Brings Blessings
“And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.” (Genesis 25:27)
The twin boys grew up with distinctive character traits, which are reflected in their names.
Yaakov (Jacob’s Hebrew name) is related to the word ‘eikev’ and means the ‘heel’ of the foot. He was so named because he grabbed his brother’s heel at birth.
This shows Jacob’s tenacity to win the birthright and carry forward the spiritual blessings that YAHUVEH promised to his father Abraham.
Esau, however, was named Esav, from the Semitic root, ‘seir’, meaning ‘thick-haired’. He was also nicknamed ‘Adom’, the Hebrew word for ‘red’, since he was born “red and hairy.”
Adom is also related to adamah (land) and dam (blood), which conveys Esau’s love of living off the land, hunting, and thirst for blood.
While Jacob had a quiet and seemingly spiritual-minded nature, Esau had a carnal one, as shown in the way he so easily trades something of eternal spiritual value /his birthright for something that satisfies his physical hunger a bowl of lentils. To him, they were equal.
“'Look, I am about to die [of hunger],’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’” (Genesis 25:32)
Birthrights come with responsibilities as well as blessings.
Even though Jacob was not the firstborn, he receives great blessings bestowed upon him by his father Isaac, coupled with the responsibility to lead nations. Isaac blesses him this way:
“May YAHUVEH give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness – an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.” (Genesis 27:28–29)
Esau, however, who is the firstborn son receives curses:
“Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.” (Genesis 27:39–40)
Jacob received his father’s firstborn blessing because it was pre-ordained according to the will of ELOHIM who said, “Jacob have I loved; but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:13)
Descendants of Curses Bring More Curses
Just as Cain’s jealousy turned into a murderous plot to kill his brother Abel, so too did Esau plot to kill Jacob, but without success.
This struggle between the brothers did not suddenly appear. Even in Rivkah’s womb, the boys jostled with each other. Rivkah sought wisdom from ELOHIM, who revealed to her a truth that continues to this day:
“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)
Over the centuries, jealous, hate-filled character of Esau has been compared to the perpetual struggle between the descendants of both brothers.
Jacob’s descendants were birthed out of obedience to his father Isaac, who told him not to marry a Canaanite woman, and he did not.
Esau, on the other hand, married two Canaanite women. One of Esau’s Canaanite offspring was Amalek, who became an archenemy of pre-state Israel by attacking Moses and the Israelites while in the wilderness (Exodus 17). They also invaded Israel during the time of the Judges:
“Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.” (Judges 6:3)
Many try to link the genealogy of Esau and the Amalekites to the modern enemies of Israel. While this might be accurate to some degree, the truth is that the spirit of Esau and the Amalekites to destroy the heirs of blessing has remained alive among many nations.
We saw this hatred in modern pre-state Israel during the expulsion of Jews from England, the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, and the genocide of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
We saw its vibrancy continue as surrounding nations invaded the newly-formed modern Israel in 1948, again in 1967, and most recently with terrorist groups that vow to claim the land “from the river to the sea” for their own birthright.
While half of the Jewish population has been wiped out in recent decades and specific plans to remove us from the land circulate today, ultimately YAHUVEH will uphold HIS vows to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants:
“I am YAHUVEH, the GOD of your father Abraham and the GOD of Isaac. I will give you [Jacob] and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and ... all peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” (Genesis 28:13–14)
Those who attack YAHUVEH’s everlasting plans through Jacob are, in fact, placing curses over their own land.
Isaac prayed over Jacob, “May those who curse you be cursed” (Genesis 27:29), and ELOHIM assures us through the Prophet Ezekiel that this curse continues to hold true.
“Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live,’ says YAHUVEH GOD, ‘I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.’” (Ezekiel 35:5–6)
The focus of this Parasha is not really curses, but blessings.
The Hebrew word for ‘blessed’ (baruch) is significant in this Parasha: out of 106 verses, ‘baruch’ appears 34 times!
This word, ‘baruch’, comes from ‘brachah’ (blessing). But with a small change in vowel, it becomes ‘breicha’ — a ‘wellspring of water’ or even a ‘pool’.
Today, we see that YAHUVEH has kept HIS promise to turn the barren places of this land into wellsprings and pools of water:
“I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.” (Isaiah 41:18)
Inheriting the Blessing
During the saga of Jacob and Esau, a famine came over the Land. Although Abraham went down to Egypt for food at times of famine, ELOHIM instructed Isaac to stay.
“ELOHIM appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.’” (Genesis 26:2)
Like Abraham, Isaac obeyed ELOHIM and, indeed, was blessed by GOD for it.
“Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father.” (Genesis 26:3)
This shows us the wisdom of seeking YAHUVEH for solutions to our problems and not necessarily repeating what our father before us did, or what seems the logical answer. YAHUVEH may ask us to stay in a situation when everything and everyone is telling us to get out – fast!
If YAHUVEH is instructing us to stay, then we can be a blessing even in dire situations by providing HIS Living Water.
As we watch jealousy and hate in the spirit of Esau rise up in Gaza through rocket attacks and border riots, there is a temptation for some in Israel to think we should escape and “go down to Egypt” or perhaps to the US or Canada.
But if the Spirit of YAHUVEH tells us to stay, then we can know that HE will protect us and establish the oath HE swore unto our forefathers to give us this Land.
"For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways," declares YAHUVEH.” (Isaiah 55:8)
YAHUSHUA Brings the Ultimate Blessing to the Promised Land
“Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.” (Genesis 26:18)
As ELOHIM tested Abraham's faith, Isaac likely suffered some post-traumatic stress from being tied up by his father and almost sacrificed. But in this Parasha, we see that Isaac is a man of Godly character with Godly vision who continues to carry on his father’s business by re-digging the wells Abraham had dug on his way to Beer Sheva.
Why are these wells significant? They were vital sources of water in a harsh, dry desert land. But here we see that these life-giving water holes had been intentionally filled with dirt. This can only be interpreted as a barbaric act, done to discourage and even endanger life in order to prevent Isaac from accessing his father’s wells.
We see similar discouragement from lack of water when the children of Israel camped in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. When they finally came to a well, they sang praises to ELOHIM:
“From there they went to Beer, which is the well where YAHUVEH said to Moses, ‘Gather the people together, and I will give them water.’ Then Israel sang this song: ‘Spring up, o well!’” (Numbers 21:16–18)
Abraham had purposefully named these wells after GOD to remind people that HE is the source of all life. It is with joy today that we draw from deep wells of living water YAHUSHUA HAMASHIACH.
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3)
When YAHUSHUA ministered to the Samaritan woman at a well, HE made the bold claim of being the Jewish Messiah. There, HE proclaimed HIMSELF to be the source of living water that leads to eternal life.
“But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)
The ultimate heirs of blessing are the heirs of the promised MESSIAH, YAHSUHUA HAMASHIACH, who became the final sacrifice for all who trust and believe that HE is that promise.
This salvation is a free gift that 99% of Jewish People do not yet know about because no one has explained to them how the Hebrew Scriptures reveal YAHUSHUA as their promised Messiah.
Nevertheless, the Bible promises that in these last days, as the Times of the Gentiles come to a close, all of Israel will be saved.
"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all of Israel will be saved." (Romans 11:25–26)
"YOU will again have compassion on us; YOU will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19)
