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Who we came from doesn’t necessarily define who we are or will become. On the flip side, if we aren’t “born again” (John 3) into the best of the legacy passed to us — the Kingdom of God — we can turn it into an abomination.
The Torah section תולדות Toldot (“generations,” Gen. 25:19–28:9) reminds us that we are called to recognize the good around us and must become wise to the frequent folly of “following your heart.” We should have the desire to be mature and complete in the knowledge of and relationship to God. We should not be dismayed when “curveballs” come our way.
Ya’akov vs. Eysav: Round 1 (Genesis 25:19–34)
What are toledot or towldah (H8435)? The word translates as “generations” in English and comes from the Hebrew word yalad (H3205).
There are several genealogical lines recorded so far in the Torah:
- of creation (Gen. 2:4)
- of Adam (Gen. 5:1)
- of Noach (Gen. 6:9)
- of the sons of Noach (Gen. 10:1)
- of Shem (Gen. 11:10)
- of Terah (Gen. 11:27)
- of Yishmael (Gen. 25:12)
- of Yitskhak (Gen. 25:19)
We see God is narrowing our focus from the creation to the line of a single family: the descendants of Isaac.
We see that prophecies demonstrate God’s foresight (knowledge and control of events) and insight (knowledge of what’s really happening now or happened at a certain point).
In this reading, we will be introduced to the two nations descended from the Matriarch Rivka.
- יַעֲקֹב Ya’akob (Jacob), the “blameless” man
- תָּם tam (H8535), complete; from primitive root תָּמַם tamam (H8552), to complete, in a good or a bad sense
- עֵשָׂו Eysao (Esau), the “hairy red” man, the first Edomite
- red = אַדְמוֹנִי ʾadmoni (H132), ruddy
- Edom = אֱדוֹם ʾEdowm (H123); from אֱדֹם (H122), ruddy, red
- hairy = שֵׂעָר seʿar (H8181)
- From which will descend the legacy of Abraham to Yitzkhak?
We see that the names Edom and Se’ir become the names of tribes and nations in the Middle East. The nations of Edom and Israel wrestled throughout history.
- Amalaki came from Edom and attacked Israel during the Exodus. Amalek attacks the young and weak, just as a 1 Peter 5:8 warns us.
- Edom turned away Israel from safe passage during the Exodus.
- David made Edom a vassal after border skirmishes.
- Edomi cheered and helped by inaction the destruction of Yerushalayim by Babylon (Ezek. 25:8; 35:1–15; Obadiah 11). We see this even in our day where the spiritual descendants of Edom are trying to carve up the holy city of Jerusalem and steal it from the Jewish people.
- Edom hoped to inherit the land after Yehudah was destroyed.
- Edom = Rome = Christianity: Rabbinic view of Psa. 137:7 equated Edom with Yerushalayim-sackers.
“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.
And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’ [Mal. 1:2]” (Romans 9:1-13 NASB)
We learn from the Torah and Romans 9 that salvation isn’t inherited, contrary to Pharisaical teaching. The prophecy of the older serving the younger was given when “the twins … had not done anything good or bad.” God doesn’t choose people based on their physical descent but on their spiritual descent. God’s plans for this world will be accomplished, either through you, or in spite of you. We all have to choose which camp we will reside.
“Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.’” (Gen. 25:30 NASB)
There is a play on words in the Hebrew of this verse:
- הָאָדֹם הָאָדֹם הַזֶּה ha-’adom ha-’adom ha’zeh, “that red, red [stuff]” Edom was restless and obsessed with things of the flesh.
- Ya’akob was אִישׁ תָּם יֹשֵׁב אֹהָלִים ish tam yisheyb ’ohalim (Genesis 25:27), “a complete man who lives in tents,” while Yitzkhak loved Eysao כִּי־צַיִד בְּפִיו ki-tsayid b’fiw (Genesis 25:28), “because the [taste of] game [was] in his mouth.”
The man of the field was restless, in search of prey, something new. The complete man was content to be with his ancestors.
There’s nothing wrong with rough-and-tumble adventure-seekers. Their courage is inspiring, such as Yehoshua (Joshua), David and Kefa (Peter) but may need to be channeled and certainly self-controlled.
Don’t “sell yourself” for the ungodly pleasures and passions that last only a minute. Don’t be a “hunter” of passionate experiences.
Americans who are descended from the first European settlers to the Americas from England, Holland, France, etc. are descended from people who weren’t satisfied to “dwell in their tents.” They endured a dangerous trip over violent seas to a new land.
They made peace treaties with the Natives who showed them hospitality. The pilgrims understood that the Natives were fellow human beings and that although humans were to have dominion over nature were not to oppress or dominate their fellow human beings.
Those peace treaties held firm for about 100 years until future generations (on both sides) came who didn’t want to live in peace.
We see in scripture that there is a difference between the sorrow to lead to repentance v. sorrow that leads to death.
We are called not to “sell ourselves” for the ungodly pleasures and passions that last only a minute. Don’t be a “hunter” of passionate experiences.
“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:14–17 NASB)
God designed us with the ability to see, hear, feel, taste, but not all that we sense is “profitable” for making us “complete,” i.e. content. We need to study God’s word so we have the ammunition ready to defend our minds and hearts against any snare the evil one puts before us.
“ ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are profitable. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be mastered by anything. ‘Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food,’ but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.” (1 Cor. 6:12-13 NASB)
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:2–8 NASB)
Endurance leads to being perfect, complete, lacking nothing.
- perfect = τέλειος teleios (G5046), “properly, brought to its end, finished; lacking nothing necessary to completeness; perfect.”
- “mature man” (Eph. 4:13 NASB)
- “in your thinking be mature” (1Cor. 14:20 NASB)
- “For Christ is the end [margin: goal] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4 NASB)
- In the Septuagint, it several times translates שלם shalem and תמים tamim.
- complete = ὁλόκληρος holoklēros (G3648), “properly, all that has fallen by lot), complete in all its parts, in no part lacking or unsound, complete, entire, whole.”
- In the Septuagint, it translates שלם šālēm, Deut. 27:6, “uncut stones,” and תמים tāmı̂m, Lev. 23:15, “complete sabbaths”; Ezek. 15:5, “intact.”
Ya’akov vs. Eysav: Round 2 (Genesis 26:34–28:9)
We read about the generations of Eysav and we understand why Rivka was in the right to do eveything in her power to prevent Eysav from getting the patriarchal blessing. He not only lived his own life in unbridled passion but he even chose his wives in a similar manner. He chose his wives based on how they gratified his flesh and not based on how they could be a blessing to the future. Three of his four wives were from nations that God had told Abraham were doomed to destruction.
Haftarat Toledot: Malachi 1–4
“Then [Eysav] said, ‘Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’” (Genesis 27:36 NASB)
מַלְאָכִי Malachi (H4401) means “my angel” or “my messenger.”
Malachi by tradition is among the last of the prophets to Israel after the return of the exiles from Babylon. This book is a message to leaders of the people who had lost their “first love” (Rev. 2:1–7).
Scholars have seen this book as containing six arguments between the LORD’s messenger and the people — mostly, the priesthood:
- About love (Mal. 1:2–5)
- About honor (Mal. 1:6–2:9)
- About faithfulness (Mal. 2:10–16)
- About divine justice (Mal. 2:17–3:5)
- About repentance (Mal. 3:6–12)
- About serving God (Mal. 3:13–4:3)
“The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. ‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the LORD. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.’ Though Edom says, ‘We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins’; thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.’ Your eyes will see this and you will say, ‘The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!’” (Malachi 1:1–5 NASB)
“Love” and “hate” are often used to refer to preference in the Bible.
- Ya’akov “loved” Rakhel but “hated” Leah (Gen. 29:30–31).
- Yeshua the Mashiakh used such “love” and “hate” terms in parables about where His students were to put their devotion (Luke 14:26; compare Matt. 10:37).
Yeshua is not calling us to a form of nihilism that we are to live as though we have a lust or thirst for death. Remember that Yeshua is speaking to people with a deep Torah background. The Septuagint (LXX) version of Gen. 29:30 says Ya’akov agape’d (selflessly loved) Rakhel more than Leah. Mattityahu’s account of Yeshua’s parable reflects a similar understanding of the love/hate idiom.
Ya’akov’s attachment to Rakhel was not merely an attachment based on romantic attachment or love. His love for her was a selfless love. Ya’akov didn’t despise or abhor Leah. His affection for her was different than his affection for Rakhel.
Recall apostle Paul’s discourse on God’s plan for Israel and the nations (Romans 9–11). This speaks to the main point of Malachi.
It is not just about who we are that we are treated a particular way. In Malachi, he is speaking to the priests and warning them that just because they are descendants of Aaron, doesn’t give them the right to ignore priestly guidelines for presenting sacrifices and tithes.
The priests were accepting animals for sacrifice that were blind and lame. These animals would not have been accepted by their human governors to their dinner table as acceptable yet they were presenting them to God’s table. Aaron was the one who set the standard of how a priest was to conduct himself and the priests Malachi was preaching to were not doing their jobs to this high standard.
Aaron was a peacemaker. He had a sacrificial heart and showed a willingness to lose his own life to spare the lives of those in his charge.
They were willing to show honor to their human governors but refused to show proper honor to the Creator of the Universe, the One who is above all governors.
The priests Malachi spoke to were very apathetic of their calling and profession.
Contrast this attitude with that expressed by the first returned exiles from Babylon (Ezra 3; Zechariah 4).
“Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, ‘For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.” (Ezra 3:10–13 NASB)
“Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. He said to me, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.’ Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord? So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (Zechariah 4:5–7 NASB)
The older generation who had served and worshipped in the first temple saw the rebuilding of the temple with sadness as it was not as grand as the first one while the younger generation, who had nothing to compare the temple were overcome with joy at its rebuilding.
““Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you. “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 1:10–11 NASB)
These two verses have been used for hundreds of years as proof texts along with Isa. 1:12–15 that the LORD was done with Israel and had moved the Kingdom to the Gentiles.
“‘When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.’” (Isaiah 1:12–15 NASB)
God does not operate in Plan A and Plan B. The Scriptures do not teach us that the Jewish nation was God’s Plan A and the Gentiles are God’s Plan B.
God looks at the heart and pleads with those who walk away to come back to Him. God doesn’t want us to live in iniquity when meeting in the solemn assemblies.
God sends a messenger not to replace either the house of David or the House of Levi, but to purify them.
This and Mal. 4:4–6 point forward to Yokhanan, who would herald the coming of Yeshua the Messiah.
“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, “MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:2–4 NASB)
What kind of repentance do we show? Are we like those who sorry that we have to suffer the consequences of our actions or are we like those who are sorry for how our actions have hurt God and others.
Summary: Tammy