In the Torah reading Lech Lecha (“go forth,” Genesis 12–17), we see some key motifs from Abram/Abraham’s life that are repeated or echoed elsewhere in Scripture. Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) is the ultimate expression of these messages from Heaven.
It’s not easy to leave one’s family, even at 75 years old, but God called Abram out of his father’s house for his own good. This was Abram’s first test.
In the Torah passage לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha/Lekh Lekha (“go forth,” Genesis 12:1-17:27), we learn that Abram’s faith came from both hearing God’s instruction and doing it. Doing matters, not just hearing. Hearing is easy, doing is much more involved and more difficult. When our life is smooth and we get instant gratification, it’s easy to continue walking in a way that brings a quick blessing. But when we are doing something that is right but we do not receive instant gratification, it’s harder to continue doing what is right.
When God tells us to do the right thing but we don’t want to do it, it’s hard to do it anyway.
Why did Abraham the nomadic “father of faith” pay so much for a tomb for his wife Sarah? What’s the connection between Abraham’s and King David’s picking a certain son as the successor over other, older sons? Are does the symbol of a well in the account of Yitzkhak marrying Rivkah and in Yeshua’s encounter with the Samaritan woman teach us about the Mashiakh’s work of bringing new life out of death? These are questions tackled in this discussion of the Torah portion Chayei Sarah (“life of Sarah”), covering Genesis 23-25.
There is so much emphasis in Luke 19:29-40 about Yeshua’s riding into Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) on a donkey that had never carried a burden and about the proclamation, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.” That donkey’s first burden was a profound burden, and we see throughout Scripture a number of donkeys carrying important burdens that prophetically point toward that triumphal entry.
What is the connection between this account of the death of Abraham and the prophecy of warring children in the womb of Rivkah (Rebecca) and the accounts of Creation and of the Flood?
God had a wife in mind for Yitzkhak. Although the servant Abraham sent to find her didn’t know who she was or whether she would respond to the call, God knew who He had chosen, and Abraham had faith that God would send His angel ahead of the servant.
This is a review of 11 examples of Abraham’s faith in God in Genesis 17-23. It culminates in his trusting God to resurrect the son of the promise, Yitskhak (Isaac), and in buying property in the Land to bury those also trusting in God to resurrect them.