Tag: Rebecca/Rivkah

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

How 1 act of kindness can change your life: 3 great women of faith

Rivkah, Ruth, Photini (Samaritan woman at the well): How one act of kindness can change your life (Genesis 24-28; John 4)

The legacy of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the focus of Torah reading חיי שרה Chayei Sarah (“Sarah’s life,” Gen. 23:1–25:18), is not only her future daughter-in-law Rivkah (Rebecca) but also distant relatives Ruth and the Samaritan woman Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) met at the well.

These women, just as Sarah before them, extended acts of kindness and mercy to a stranger who would change their lives forever and they were rewarded for their kindnesses to strangers with a permanent connection with the Messiah.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 23:1–25:18: A time to rebel and a time to trust

"Different is Great" Vector art by Gabriella Fabbri/Freeimages.com

God put a degree of rebelliousness in all of us because sometimes we have to have a rebellious spirit. When the culture around us, whether it’s in our own family or our national culture, is wicked and evil, we have to have the fortitude to rebel against that and stand firm in living the way that is right.

The name of the Torah portion חיי שרה Chayei Sarah means “life of Sarah,” but it starts with the matriarch’s death. We see how Abraham works hard to find a final resting place for her, but her death had a huge impact on Yitzkhak (Isaac) as well, affecting him for years. Her death also played a larger than life role in how Abraham’s most trusted servant, Eliazer of Damascus, set out to find a suitable wife for Yitzkhak to carry out Abraham’s legacy.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 23:1–25:18: Sarah’s ‘lives’ and our ‘new creation’

When we are pushed to our limits, God promises us that the ways of the Kingdom of God are far more profitable in the long term than trying to avoid pain. That’s what Abraham and Sarah learned over many years of their lives. It’s all the more relevant today for increasing social and physical pressure put on believers in the Holy One of Israel and the Anointed One of God. This lesson of faith is the backdrop of the Torah section Chayei Sarah (“life of Sarah,” Gen. 23:1–25:18).

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Genesis 23:1-25:18: Believers’ bargain bonanza from Sarah and Rivkah

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.

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Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions

8 miraculous women of Chanukah

8 miraculous women of Chanukah: Sarah, Rivka (Rebekah), Raqel (Rachel), Shimshon's (Samson's) mother, Channah (Hannah), Shunami (Shunammite) woman, Elisheva (Elizabeth) and Miriam (Mary)

The eight days of Chanukah (Festival of Dedication, John 10:22–39), historically parallel the eight days of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles). But there is a startling parallel to eight women in the Bible for whom having children would have been miraculous — including the mother of Yeshua (Jesus) — yet these women dedicated themselves to God’s mission to restore the Earth.

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Discussions Torah

Ya’acov returns to Beit ’El; messianic last words of Rachel (Genesis 35)

Studies in Torah

We boast in our pride, we constantly demand our rights, we put our trust in our government to protect these rights, but we don’t ask God to protect us. Ya’akov (Jacob) needed to return to Beit ’El (Bethel) to fulfill the vow he had made to the LORD when he was fleeing from Esau.

God protected Ya’akov and his entourage from being pursued by those who would have wanted to take revenge on Ya’akov’s family for what happened in Shechem (Genesis 34). He put a great terror on those who wanted to pursue them and convinced them to leave them alone.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 26: Yitzkhak flees a famine, digs wells in Canaan

Richard Agee

Yitzhkak (Isaac) seems to have repeated a number of events from Abraham’s life: a famine and claiming his wife was his sister. Yitzkhak also seems to have been obsessed with digging wells, but what should get our attention are messianic symbols of three days of live and death in the ground.