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.
When you are called to move, what is your first question? Do I move to the next town, next state, across the country or to a foreign land? We usually want to know our exact destination before we move.
We also prefer to plan how we will transport ourselves? Will we go by car, train, bus or plane?
In the Torah section לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (“get going,” Gen. 12:1-17:27), Abram was not given a destination. It’s a strange place to be when you don’t know where you’re going. It takes trust to make the first step. And this is the beginning of his journey to become Abraham, father of faith in God (Rom. 4:16-25).
We also learn through this Bible study why all cultures are not equal and what was truly the unforgivable problem in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Torah portion לח לח Lech-Lecha (Genesis 12-17) includes Abraham being called out of Ur of the Chaldeans. But there’s a specific event in Genesis 14 that deserves special focus: Abraham’s encounter with the mysterious Melchizedek. We meet this ancient pre-Israel king of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) again in the books of Psalms and Hebrews. Why is he so important, and what does he have to do with Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ)?
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.
God is not an American. As we study the Torah reading לֶךְ-לְךָ Lech Lecha (“get going!” Genesis 12–17), we should remember that the Bible He divinely inspired should not be interpreted through the lens of American history.
Paul’s discussions of circumcision, mainly in Galatians, Philippians and Romans, have been interpreted as being condemnation against the Torah, because the Law calls for circumcision for newborns and those wanting to participate in key parts of worship of God.
However, it must be remembered that circumcision by the first century A.D. had become an “identity marker” separating Jews from non-Jews. Like observance of Shabbat, circumcision was listed among the “works of [the] law” in the Dead Sea Scrolls that defined those separate from the corrupt religious system around the time of the first century. The rite of circumcision could be behind the division between Jewish and “unconverted” non-Jews that Paul dressed down Peter and the Galatian congregations in chapters 2 and 3 of this letter.
Galatians 4, with its discussion of freedom from being “under [the] law” and not of the Jerusalem related to the flesh, is often cited by those who argue that observing the Torah is a backward step for believers in Messiah Yeshua. However, considering what Paul already wrote in chapters 1 through 3 and the parallel discussion in Romans 5–7, his point in this chapter is that both Jews and non-Jews are in the same situation without God’s method of salvation, which isn’t God’s Law. Yet God’s goal for humanity long-term is heart-led obedience to His Law.