january reading schedule

:: under construction ::

day	old testament	psalms / proverbs	new testament
1	gen 1-2	psa 1	mat 1
2	gen 3-4	psa 2
3	gen 5-6	psa 3
4	gen 7-8	psa 4	mat 2
5	gen 9-10	psa 5	mat 3
6	gen 11-12	psa 6	mat 4
7	gen 13-14	psa 7	mat 5
8	gen 15-16	psa 8	mat 6
9	gen 17-18	psa 9
10	gen 19-20	psa 10
11	gen 21-22	psa 11	mat 7
12	gen 23	psa 12	mat 8
13	gen 24	psa 13	mat 9
14	gen 25-26	psa 14	mat10
15	gen 27-28	psa 15	mat 11
16	gen 29-30	psa 16

parashah wayizkor (remembered), genesis 8:1-14

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?), being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 6th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Wayizkor / Remembered, Gen 8:1-14 (read at Bible Gateway or theHebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Hab 3 / Psalm: Ps 6 / History: Job 11-12 / Gospel: Luk 1:39-80 / Apostolic: Act 10

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week's Torah portion:
Gen 6:13-8:14 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.

The outline of the events in the parsha from Gen 6:13-8:14 (outlining helps me see patterns or chiastic structures):
1) Warning and preparation for judgment, Gen 6:13-22;
2) Command to enter the ark given, Gen 7:1-5;
3) Noah entered in, Gen 7:6-16;
4) Judgment of the wicked, Gen 7:17-24;
5) Preservation of the righteous, Gen 8:1-14.

The outline revealed an elegant chiastic structure:
1A) Gen 6:13-16 instructions for the preservation of the righteous;
  1B) Gen 6:17 warning of the coming judgment;
    1C) Gen 6:18-22 instructions on who and what will enter the ark;
      1D) Gen 7:1-3 command to enter the ark;
        1E) Gen 7:4 after seven more days the flood will come;
          1F) Gen 7:5 Noah did according to all that YHVH commanded him;
            CENTRAL AXIS Gen 7:6-9a Noah was 600 years old when the flood came; Noah and his family entered the ark with the animals by twos;
          2F) Gen 7:9b as God had commanded Noah;
        2E) Gen 7:10-12 after seven days the flood came;
      2D) Gen 7:13-15 on that same day, they entered the ark;
    2C) Gen 7:16 who and what entered as YHVH commanded;
  2B) Gen 7:17-24 judgment of the wicked;
2A) Gen 8:1-14 preservation of the righteous.

The Gen 6:13-8:14 parsha topic is the righteous are preserved through the judgment of the wicked.

Listen, I know hard times are coming on the earth - for the ungodly. We do not need to fear, because God is not sending the judgment on us. He will preserve us through the judgment. This is what Torah is trying to teach us, by having the central axis of the entire parsha, two chapters worth of narrative, be the single sentence that on the day the judgment came, Noah entered the ark (which is preservation). But please note how many times in this parsha a variation of “Noah did all that the Lord commanded him” appears. Repetition is a teaching tool of Torah!

Finding Messiah in Torah

Whenever we see a picture in Torah of miraculous deliverance from certain death, this is the Torah theme of resurrection, who is Messiah! The deliverance which God wrought for Noah is the same deliverance which God wrought for us through the blood of Jesus our Lord!

Notice also what God says in Gen 8:4: “In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.”

The 17th day of the 7th month is seven days following the Day of Atonement (the Day of Atonement falls on the 10th day of the 7th month). The seventh day is the Sabbath of Rest. Notice that in this one small detail, God is telling us that Rest follows Atonement! (The sin of the earth had just been atoned for by the flood of judgment.) In fact, the verb used to say the ark “rested” is the same verb used in the Ten Commandments, to say that on the seventh day God “rested” from all His work of Creation!

parashah noach (noah), genesis 6:9-7:24

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?), being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 5th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Noach / Noah, Gen 6:9-7:24 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 54 / Psalm: Ps 5 / History: Job 9-10 / Gospel: Mat 24:29-51 / Apostolic: 1 Pet 3

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week's Torah portion:
Gen 6:9-12 ends with a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 6:13-8:14 ends with a stumah.

This means we will not get to the end of our second paragraph in this week's reading.

In our first paragraph, Gen 6:9-12, we know it is a single paragraph because of the paragraph division - but at first glance it does not seem to contain one unified topic, but rather, two separate topics: details concerning Noah, and a repeat of the narrative on the wickedness of the earth.

It is when faced with paragraphs like these, when it is not readily apparent what the topic is, that the teaching tool of the paragraph divisions gives us the most help. The paragraph division assures us that these four verses are together in the order they are, for a reason - God has placed not only every word deliberately in Torah, but every letter as well.

When I outlined this paragraph, the first thing that jumped out to me is the contrast that exists between righteous Noah and the corrupt earth. They are opposites. I realized that God has used contrast as a teaching tool of Torah before: there was a contrast between Cain and Abel in Gen 4, and a contrast between the descendants of Cain who did what was right in their own eyes, and the descendants of Seth, who walked with God, in Gen 4 and 5.

The contrast between righteous Noah who walked with God, and the corrupt earth is the topic of this parsha, in fact. God is making a distinction between the two, and drawing attention to the distinction by putting these four verses together in a single parsha.

There is another clue that the contrast is what God wants us to see. Note in verse 12, it says, “for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” In the Hebrew, the pronoun “their” is singular: all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth. It is as if God is comparing the singular man, Noah (vs. 9) with the singular flesh (vs. 12).

It is also said of Noah in vs. 9 that he “walked” with God. We learned last week that this word is halak, and it means to walk a revealed path, to walk a lifestyle as a journey through life. As it is said of Noah that he walked a certain way, it is also said of all flesh that he walked a certain way (vs. 12): “all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth.”

This word is derek, Strong's H1870, the dalet - resh - kaph, and means the action of going or walking, hence a journey which anyone takes, thus a course of life. It is a different word from halak, but means essentially the same thing. Noah walked with God, while all flesh walked with - well, we are not told, but the implication is that Noah's righteousness was a result of his walk with God, while the earth's corruption was a result of his walk in his own way.

The result of the corruption: God sent the floodwaters on the earth, so that all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died (Gen 7:21-22). But Noah, and those who were with him in the ark, remained alive (Gen 7:23).

Lesson one: there are two ways to walk, and only two: with Him, and not with Him. And if one is not walking (halak) with Him, then one is walking in the corrupt way (derek) of the flesh, however good it might appear on the surface.

Lesson two: man can choose to walk with God or not. It is up to us, not up to Him. He has defined a path which is His path, and if we choose to walk on it, then we are walking with Him. The definition and boundaries of His path are unchanging and immovable. The definition and boundaries of His path are not up to us! Those are up to Him. His path is His will (Mat 7:13-14, 21-23).

Lesson three: there is a destination and an end result of the path we choose to walk, and the end is either life or death. Those are the only two ends. “There is a way (derek) that seems right to a man, but its end is the way (derek) of death,” (Pro 14:12).

Finding Messiah in Torah

Whenever we see in Torah, a situation of certain death, in which a miraculous deliverance results in either the preservation of life or the restoration of life, we have just seen the Torah theme of life from death; i.e., resurrection! The picture of resurrection is the picture of Messiah, for He told us that He is the resurrection and the life (Joh 11:25)!

In fact, every nature and science museum in the world is declaring witness with a loud voice to all mankind that God judges sin, but in Messiah is the resurrection and the life. For they are filled with the fossils of all manner of animal and plant life, which were laid down with great amounts of sediment by water, and they have been found on every continent, including mountain tops. These fossils declare that what was once living came to their death violently and catastrophically by a worldwide flood which covered the tops of the mountains (Gen 7:20); but that humans exist to view them in science museums testifies that one family was preserved alive through judgment.

Jesus Christ is the ark, and He is the open door (Joh 10:9). If we enter through Him while there is time, we will be saved, but if we enter not, we will likewise perish. For judgment for sin will come, and even though God delay, as we saw with the long lifespan of Methuselah, He will not tarry forever.

love

the father's love (index)

father

father: mountain top meaning
the father's love (index)

the father's love

the father's love, deu 10:12-20
the father's love, 1 corinthians 13

circumcision

circumcision flows from the father's love, deu 10:12-20

deuteronomy 10:12-20, the father's love

Read Deu 10:12-20 at the Bible Gateway.

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.” Deu 10:12-20

I saw a chiastic structure in this section:

1A) Deu 10:12-13 what the Lord requires;
  1B) Deu 10:14 the greatness of God;
    --> X Deu 10:15-16 We love Him (circumcise your heart) because He first loved us;
  2B) Deu 10:17-18 the greatness of God;
2A) Deu 10:19-20 what the Lord requires.

The Father's love, delight in, and acceptance of us is the center from which all things flow. Our own circumcised heart of love toward the Lord, the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom, and true obedience to the Lord's will, all flow from the heart that knows his Father's love.

The three actions the Father took on our behalf revealed in the central axis are:

delight: Strong's H2836, in Hebrew chashaq, q?j, chet - shin - quph. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of being bound together with a concentrated emotion, or maybe even being bound together for eternity.

love: Strong's H157, in Hebrew ahab, bha, aleph - hey - bet. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of love which reveals the heart of the father, or the strong emotion and actions inspired by the revelation that one's family is a gift from YHVH.

choose: Strong's H977, bachar, rjb, bet - chet - resh. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of the choicest animal for sacrifice which was slaughtered outside the fence; thus also the examination, the process of choosing, to determine which animal was the choicest.

So what is the Lord saying, when He says, He delighted in (chashaq) our fathers to love (ahab) them, and chose (bachar) us, their descendants, above all peoples? He bound Himself together with us, so that the connections and the entanglements formed could not be undone; and when He bound Himself together with us, He did this for all time. He bound Himself together with us because He loved us, His heart quickens with strong emotion and longing at the thought of us, and the actions He takes on our behalf are born of that strong emotion and longing. The actions He takes on our behalf reveal His Father's heart of strong love for us. Because we are the seed of those He bound Himself to out of a heart of strong love, He has examined us and chosen us as the choicest above all peoples.

What if someone is not a physical descendant of Abraham? Jesus and Paul taught us that Abraham's seed, whom God set His love upon and chose as well pleasing to Him, are those in whom the Word of God (the seed, who is Jesus Christ, Mar 4:14, Joh 1:1, 14) finds a home (Joh 8:37-47, Rom 9:6-8).

genesis 5:21-24, enoch walked with God

Read Gen 5:21-24 at the Bible Gateway.

All of the parshas from Gen 5:1-31 follow the same pattern, with one exception. Establishing a pattern is a teaching tool of Torah, and breaking an established pattern is another teaching tool of Torah.

Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”).
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and the birth of Noah (his name means, “comfort, rest”).

Gen 5:21-24:
The history of Enoch is different from the history of all the other patriarchs. God says something about Enoch that he doesn't say about any of the others, even Adam or Seth. Enoch walked with God. And he did not die - God took him. The asumption is that he was taken to heaven alive as Elijah was. God is teaching us by breaking the pattern previously established in Torah, that man suffers mortality, but the man who walks with God does not die.

The Hebrew word “walk” is used one time previously in Genesis: when God walked in the Garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). When God walked in the Garden, that was when He was coming to meet with man! In Gen 3:8, God walks with man; in Gen 5:22, man walks with God.

“Walk” is Hebrew halak, Strong's H1980, ilh hey - lamed - kaph, from an even more primitive root, il lamed - kaph.
l lamed: this is the shepherd's staff, so it also means whatever a shepherd does with his staff - teach, guide, direct, correct, exercse authority or discipline.
i,k kaph: the open palm, also blessing, welcome, giving.

The lamed - kaph root is the picture of the staff in the palm, as a nomad would grasp when he went anywhere, thus “to walk.” (Our English word “walk” is from this Hebrew root: see the l - k, the lamed - kaph? Hebrew is the mother tongue, from which all the languages were divided at Babel.)

The addition of the h hey on the front: the hey is the picture of the man with his arms upraised in wonder, worship, exclamation, astonishment. Thus it often indicates revelation. So ilh hey - lamed - kaph is to walk a revealed path - to walk a journey, thus to live a lifestyle (to walk a journey through life).

Now Enoch was a prophet (Jud 14-15) who warned of two judgments to come which would destroy all the earth: the first by water, the second by fire. When his son was born, he prophesied that when his son died, the first judgment would come, thus he named him Methuselah, “his death shall bring.” Methuselah is the longest- lived person in the Bible at 969 years; thus even in this age, we see God extending grace, and delaying the time of judgment to give as many as possible time to repent!

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

parashah sefer (record), genesis 5:1-6:8

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?). being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 4th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Sefer / Record, Gen 5:1-6:8 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 30 / Psalm: Ps 4 / History: Job 7-8 / Gospel: Mat 23 / Apostolic: Rom 1

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 5:1-5 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 5:6-8 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:9-11 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:12-14 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:15-17 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:18-20 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:21-24 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:25-27 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:28-31 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:32-6:4 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Gen 6:5-8 ends in a p'tuchah.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:6-8 is the mortality of Seth.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:9-11 is the mortality of Enosh.

And so on and so forth, so that it can be said of the parsha stumahs from Gen 5:1-31 that their theme is the mortality of man. God is employing one of the teaching tools of Torah, which is to establish a pattern.

However, one of the parsha stumahs in this section breaks the pattern previously established - this is also a teaching tool of Torah. The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is first, the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth; and second, that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

God cleansed His “house,” the earth, of the sin which had leavened it, just as on Unleavened Bread, which we just finished celebrating, we cleanse our houses of leaven: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor 5:7

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 6:5-8 is that man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

In order to see the big picture painted by this parashah, we need to back up to the last parsha p'tuchah, so that we can “see” the entire paragraph with all its sub topics:

Gen 3:22-24 (stumah): Adam is exiled (from Eden) as judgment for sin.
Gen 4:1-26 (stumah): Cain is exiled from the presence of YHVH as judgment for sin.
Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”), and the prophecy of coming judgment.
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and with the birth of Noah, the prophecy of coming rest (Noah's name means “comfort, rest”).
Gen 5:32-6:4 (p'tuchah): the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth.
Gen 6:5-8 (p'tuchah): man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single strong paragraph, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin - Adam's exile from Eden, Cain's exile from the presence of YHVH which was with Adam's family, and mankind's exile from the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch walked with God and did not die; and Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of YHVH!

Finding Messiah in Torah

Here is the Gospel presented in Genesis! Not only overtly in the history of Enoch and Noah, but also covertly as a second witness of confirmation: notice that the first ten patriarchs before the Flood tell the prophecy of Elohiym's plan of salvation in their names. “Man is appointed mortality possessed with sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching; and His death shall bring the despairing, comfort and rest.”

“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.” Isa 46:9-10

Listen, if anyone needs proof that the Bible is a supernatural book not born from the imagination of men, this is only one proof of multiplied thousands which we will find in its pages.

genesis 6:5-8, “I will blot out man”

Read Gen 6:5-8 at the Bible Gateway.

It just so happens there is another chiastic structure in Gen 6:5-8:

1A) 6.5 YHVH saw the wickedness of men;
  1B) 6.6 YHVH's sorrow over the wickedness of men;
    -->CENTRAL AXIS 6.7a “YHVH said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky;”
  2B) 6.7b YHVH's sorrow;
2A) 6.8 YHVH saw (in the eyes of) Noah with favor (or grace).

This is the first occurrence of the word “grace” in the Scriptures. The first occurrence provides the definition.

Grace is Strong's H2580, chen /j, from the primitive root, Strong's H2603, chanan /nj, chet - nun - nun. The ancient pictographs are of the fence, and seed upon seed. Chen, then, is the fence that continues; i.e., when nomads encamped in a place, the families set up their tents so that all the tents formed a circle - a continuous fence. The tribal clan lived and worked within the circle, within the continuous fence. It was home. It was the place of family, of beauty, freedom, and mercy.

Noah was found to be within YHVH's continuous fence; he was found to be of the Lord's family.

Brad Scott on the mountain top meaning of chen.

Why was YHVH sorry with all the other men, but Noah found grace with Him? In the next verse (Gen 6:9), we see that Noah was a righteous man who walked (halek) with God. Torah is not teaching salvation by works, because God is clear that Noah found grace; however, Torah is teaching that righteousness and walking with God accompanies grace and salvation. Torah is painting a picture of two kinds of men: those who align themselves with God, and who, as a result of that alignment, walk with Him, and those who align themselves against God, choosing to walk their own way - not in the revealed path.

This parsha also reveals to us that the heart of God is grieved over wickedness and sinfulness. He isn't just looking for opportunities to squash sinners like ants, gleefully; but evil and wickedness grieves His tender and loving heart.

genesis 5:32-6:4, the nephilim

Read Gen 5:32-6:4 at the Bible Gateway.

This parsha begins differently than the previous parshas. Instead of saying “Person x lived y number of years, and begot Person z,” it says, “Noah was five hundred years old, and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” We soon discover that Noah's history deviates from the history of the previous patriarchs (Enoch excepted). It seems that the Torah makes an abrupt change of subject and begins talking about sons of God and daughters of men. But in fact, the entire passage from 5:32-6:4 stays on the same topic, as we can tell from the paragraph divisions! It is our job to discover how the seemingly disparate elements relate a single topic theme.

God is providing us detail as to why Noah's history, which will continue, deviates from the pattern previously set. In fact, this parsha forms a chiastic structure:

1A) 6.1 daughters of men born;
  1B) 6.2 sons of Elohiym took them for wives;
    --> CENTRAL AXIS 6.3 “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years;”
  2B) 6.4 children of the sons of Elohiym;
2A) 6.4 that the daughters of men bore to them.

So what was going on here? The sons of Elohiym were most likely angelic beings who had rebelled against YHVH when Lucifer fell and earned the name satan for himself (which means, “adversary”, Rev 12:7-9). Thus they are called fallen angels. In the literature of the ancient world, “sons of God” is a term used for both good and evil supernatural beings. I believe what the enemy was trying to do here, since God had told the woman that her seed would crush Satan's head, was to pollute the gene pool so that the Promised Seed could not come.

The children of these demonic unions were called nephilim, an ancient Hebrew word of uncertain meaning. The KJV renders it “giants,” and it is true that most cultures contain giant myths, who were great in size and strength, but were mostly evil. These giants were demi-gods, i.e., the sons of the “gods” united with human women. Sound familiar? Only in Greek mythology are the demi-gods counted as heroic (the Greeks exalted the serpent as the revealer of secret wisdom); in all others the giants were terrible evil beings who were feared.

Nephilim is Strong's H5303, from the primitive root naphal, Strong's H5307, lpn, nun - pey - lamed. The nun n is the seed (or sperm), also sons or descendants; the pey p is the mouth, also blow, scatter, or edge; and the lamed l is the shepherd's staff.

lp, pey - lamed, is its own primitive root meaning judgment, i.e., the mouth speaking from authority (the shepherd's staff). Thus nephilim is “sons of judgment,” the sons of those who were judged unworthy of heaven - fallen angels.

Jude in the New Testament talks about Enoch, who was a prophet, and who wrote a book of prophecy (however not included in the canon as it had been heavily edited at some point after the Flood) about this particular sin of the fallen angels, and the wickedness of men who followed them:

“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;” Jud 6

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”” Jud 14-15

Now that this sin in particular, immorality with fallen angels, is singled out before the account of the Flood, might give us a clue as to why God chose to destroy mankind. Noah was perfect in his generations (Gen 6:9), i.e., one valid understanding of the Hebrew is that Noah was pure in his genetics, his gene pool. All the other men were destroyed so that the gene pool could not be corrupted again, and the Promised Seed could come.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

genesis 5:1-5, the mortality of adam

Read Gen 5:1-5 at the Bible Gateway.

“Book” in verse 1 is the Hebrew word sefer which means a written record. This is additional evidence from the beginning that Genesis is not an orally transmitted (i.e., evolved) mythology of the Hebrew people, but beginning with Adam, this history was written down.

As Adam was God's son, so Seth was Adam's son. From the very beginning of Genesis God is revealing who He is to man: Creator, then Judge, but just as importantly, Father.

The son whom Adam begot, was Seth. No mention is made of Cain or Abel. This is because Abel was dead and could not bear children to continue Adam's line, and Cain, although alive and bearing children, was shown, in the last parashah, to be fathering a line of children who did not know the presence of God and who followed in their father's footsteps in doing evil. Thus, by following the geneaology through Seth in this parashah, Torah is making a distinction between two families of men in the earth: the family of Cain, the unrighteous seed who rebelled, and the family of Seth, the righteous seed who obeyed.

This is a sixth teaching tool of Torah: comparison, and contrast. God places two different geneaologies next to each other, why? So that we can discover, by comparing them, how they are similar or different.

Then we discover that after bearing other sons and daughters (Josephus states that Adam bore thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters), Adam died, after 930 years. God promised him that if he ate the fruit, he would die, and so he did.

The topic of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.

“counting the omer”

“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.” Lev 23:15-16

Counting the omer is what Jews call this time of counting seven Sabbaths or counting fifty days following the Feast of Firstfruits. It is called that, because when the fifty days are completed, we come to the next feast, the Feast of Weeks, in which an omer (a unit of measure of volume) of new grain - wheat - is offered to the Lord. So the time between the firstfruits offering of barley (on the Feast of Firstfruits), and the firstfruits offering of wheat (on the Feast of Weeks) is known as counting (up to) the omer.

This is the only instruction we have for the period leading up to Weeks. All we are asked to do is count. Some people have special devotions for each day, and do extra things, however; nothing but counting is necessary.

Now it is interesting that seven Sabbaths pass - seven sevens. Seven in Hebrew is from the root word sheva, which means to complete or finish a cycle. Seven is found everywhere in Scripture in context with completion and rest.

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has posted a fascinating study on the number seven and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

It is also interesting that fifty days pass. Fifty is the number most associated with the Spirit of God in the Scriptures. Every fifty years, Israel was to keep a year of Jubilee, a year of liberty from debt and bondage (Lev 25:8-10). In fact, the instruction for the year of Jubilee mirrors, by years, the counting of the omer that we do in days every year, from Firstfruits to Weeks. That is not a coincidence.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor 3:17

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has also posted a fascinating study on the number fifty and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

Every year that I keep the practice of counting the omer, I gain more insight into why God has this practice in the Bible, why He considers it righteousness, and how it relates to my new life in Jesus Christ my Lord!

why I began celebrating the seventh day sabbath

In April of 2007, I knew of one person in my life, a Christian, my maid of honor at my wedding, my friend who was instrumental in leading me to the Lord over 30 years ago, who celebrated a day of rest on the seventh day, as Scriptures command for the Sabbath day. We had already been celebrating the feasts of the Lord; we had for several years. We attended a church which holds a big feast of Tabernacles celebration every year. This previous year, the pastor was saying that one year, a conflict came up in the schedule (this must have been before we were going there) and they decided to have the Tabernacles on a different day than the actual day, thinking it would make no difference to the Lord (being ignorant Gentiles -- his words) and the presence of the Lord, which is so strong among us during this celebration, was absent that year. He said it mattered to God that we celebrate His feasts according to His calendar.

So I was thinking about that on a Friday in April of 2007, when I looked up in Leviticus 23 to remind myself of the command concerning the feasts. I knew this, but had forgotten it -- the weekly feast of Sabbath is the first feast listed. I asked myself, “Why do we celebrate all the feasts but this one?” I spoke with my husband, who believes that Sabbath- keeping is no longer required, and I asked him, “Would you mind if I kept the Sabbath on Saturday? I am curious to discover what will happen.” He had no objection, so I prepared dinner for that evening, and extra food for the next day, and cleared up all my work.

Then when the sun began to set, I excused myself from the family, went into my “prayer closet,” and prayed to the Lord, “I am not exactly sure what to do, but the Scriptures say that in six days You made the heavens and the earth, and rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it; and we are to keep the seventh day holy -- the seventh day is beginning, so here I am to honor You.” These words were barely out of my mouth when the presence of the Lord descended so powerfully upon me that I could not speak any longer. I ended up worshiping the Lord for several hours, but it seemed like only a few minutes had passed. I slept like a baby that night, and had the most peaceful day the next day, filled with joy. We attend church Saturday evenings anyway, and as we were coming out of the assembly of the believers that night, the sun was setting. I told the Lord, “That was the most beautiful seventh day I have ever experienced -- thank You for making the Sabbath for man.”

My next task was to study all that the Scriptures say concerning the Sabbath, and why the Church does not celebrate this day. From my experiment on that Friday evening in April of 2007, it seemed to me that the Lord was pleased and blessed my Sabbath day of rest.

the spring holy days

The spring feast days are three, and all fall within a one week period of each other: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits.

passover

At Passover, God judged Egypt in the 10th plague, and the firstborn of every man and beast in Egypt died on the same night (Exo 12). The Hebrews, however, placed the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses, and the angel of death “passed over” them. Thus they were liberated from Egypt and slavery on that night.

Nearly fifteen hundred years later, on the 14th day of the first month, the day of Passover, as Israel was preparing their lambs for sacrifice, Jesus our Messiah was nailed to the cross, and He became our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). John the Baptist said of Him, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh 1:29). When we apply His shed blood to the doorposts of our hearts, the angel of death passes over us.

Notice this is something we must do. The Lamb has been slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8), but we must apply His blood to our households and our hearts. God does not do it for us. He has provided the Lamb for Himself (Gen 22:8), but we must, by faith, receive His sacrifice for ourselves! The Egyptians did not, and they were not delivered from the angel of death. When we apply the blood of Yeshua to the doorposts of our heart, God redeems us from the kingdom of darkness (a type of Egypt), where we were kept in slavery and bondage to sin (Rom 6:6-7).

Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him - His death, burial, and resurrection which was to come (Luk 22:19). Passover commemorates the death of Jesus on the cross, and all that His death accomplished (Isa 53:3-10) - our redemption and deliverance from slavery and sin!

unleavened bread

The week which followed the Passover meal was Unleavened Bread, for Israel left Egypt in haste with their dough unleavened. For one week they ate unleavened bread. At the end of the week, on the seventh day, God delivered them through the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army which was pursuing them to bring them back into slavery.

Leaven is a allegory of sin. For just as yeast in dough begins as a small foothold, but soon multiplies until the whole lump of dough is leavened, so sin begins as a small foothold in our hearts, and can then multiply until it has leavened our whole heart with sin. As Israel removed leaven from their houses in preparation for Passover and Unleavened Bread (Exo 12:15), likewise, we ought to examine our hearts and our homes, and remove every trace of sin which might have gained a foothold, so that we can also celebrate this feast in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8) - not giving lip service to the freedom from sin that God has purchased for us with His own blood, while we harbor secret sins in the recesses of our hearts.

firstfruits

When Israel entered the Promised Land, on the anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt, they offered up the first and best portion of the barley harvest in thanksgiving to God, for He had made them to cease wandering, and had brought them into a good Land, and gave them new life after winter, and an abundant harvest (Lev 23:9-14). This feast of Firstfruits has been celebrated every year since, on the Sunday following Passover, during the week of Unleavened Bread.

Three days and nights following Yeshua's crucifixion on Passover, He was raised from the dead with new life, on the feast day of Firstfruits. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20). Just as His body was buried a natural body, but raised up a spiritual body, one day our bodies too will be clothed with immortality, and this corruption will put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:42-45). Until that day, it is by the resurrection of Jesus that we too have become a new creation in this life (2 Cor 5:17).

summary

The work and ministry of Jesus our Messiah as described by the three spring holy days, and the transforming effect it has upon us who receive Him by faith, is summed up by Paul in Romans:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” Rom 6:1-11

Passover = death. At the Passover, Messiah was crucified, and we too have been united with Him in the likeness of His death. It is our old man who was crucified with Him.

Unleavened Bread = burial. During Unleavened Bread, Moses led Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and so Israel was baptized into the sea (1 Cor 10:1-2). Likewise, Messiah's body was in the ground during the feast of Unleavened Bread, and we also were buried with Him through baptism into death (Rom 6:4). Just as His body was done away with, or buried, so our body of sin was likewise done away with, or buried, so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For Unleavened Bread is a picture of freedom from sin (leaven).

Firstfruits = resurrection. On this day, Messiah was raised from the dead, and just as He was raised from the dead, so we too might walk in newness of life! When we keep the spring holy days in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8, walking a pure walk of new life free from sin) we bear witness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord!

parashah hen haadam (behold the man), genesis 3:22-4:26

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 3rd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Hen HaAdam / Behold the man, Gen 3:22-4:26 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:

Prophet: Jer 1 / Psalm: Ps 3 / History: Job 5-6 / Gospel: Mat 28 / Apostolic: Rom 3

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 3:22-24 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 4:1-26 ends in a parsha stumah.

In Gen 3:22-24, God exiles Adam and Eve from Eden in response to their sin. He said that it was so that he would not also take a fruit from the tree of life, and live forever (vs. 22). God had told them that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. God did not lie to them. The death they experienced in that moment was not the death of the mortal body (although from that instant their mortal bodies began to die, i.e. age), but the death of the spirit. Their spirits were now stained with the knowledge of what was evil.

We need to just tuck into the back of our minds, that rebellion = sin = death.

God does not want Adam and Eve to now live forever, in the state of spiritual death which they were now in. If they ate of the tree of life while they were in a state of spiritual death, they would live forever in a state of spiritual death. He did not want that, because He had a plan to redeem us from death (Gen 3:15). So to protect them, He exiled them from Eden.

Now we see that rebellion = sin = death = exile.

When we are in a state of spiritual death, we cannot be where God is. We must be exiled from His presence – not because He doesn’t love us anymore. But because sin cannot abide in His presence - it would mean death for us. Therefore, exile.

Gen 3:22-24 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

In Gen 4:1-26, we see a repeating pattern of knowledge, sin, death, and exile (repetition is the second teaching tool God employs in Torah). Cain and Abel grew up with the knowledge of good and evil. Abel chose to do good, while Cain chose to do evil. We can see this from the talk God had with Cain afterwards - it seemed as if Cain knew what it was that was “doing well,” (Gen 4:7), and that God was encouraging him to choose to do well instead of choosing to do sin.

Gen 4:7 is the first occurrence of the word “sin” in the Bible. In Scripture, a Hebrew word’s first occurrence also provides its definition. This is the fourth teaching tool of Torah.

The Hebrew word is chattath, Strong’s H2403, from the root word Strong’s H2398, chata, afj chet - tav – aleph (see the original meaning of the Hebrew at the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Chart).
j chet: the fence or dividing wall, also, outside, divide, or halve.
f tet, originally a tav: the crossed sticks, x, mark, sign, target.
a aleph: the ox head, strong, powerful, leader.

When looking at the ancient Hebrew, we have to remember that God designed the language in stick figures, and it was meant to be understood by five- year- olds looking at the pictures, who did not even know how to read yet. The picture is telling us: outside the target, strongly. Sin is being strongly outside the target. Strongly missing the mark. The target is God’s way of doing well. Sin is outside of doing well. Not off by a little bit. You want to avoid pork, and you clean the pork out of your house, but you discover one day that pop tarts have gelatin in them. Ooooops! That is not sin. That is not strongly missing the mark. That is a mistake.

This history of Cain and Abel helps to define sin for us. Cain deliberately disobeyed. The heart attitude he consistently displays is one of pride, resentment, stubbornness, rebellion, and selfishness. There is not a glimmer of remorse or submission to God's will anywhere in this narrative. Sin - strongly missing the mark - had made itself Cain's master. He had bowed the knee to it and not to God.

Furthermore, in comparing last week's parashah with this one, we see that God deals with these two instances of sin in exactly the same way. Lay both instances out side and side, point for point, and see. Comparison is the fifth teaching tool of Torah. His disciplinary style is the perfection of wisdom. He is the model for any parent wishing to learn how to handle the disobedience and sin of their children effectively for their good, and for the peace of the home.

Gen 4:1-26 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

Jewish tradition states that Cain and Abel brought their offerings on the 14th of the month in which the barley was in its head – Passover! You see, God set up the sun, moon, and stars to mark His appointed times on the 4th day of Creation (Gen 1:14, “seasons” is the Hebrew word moed, translated “feast day” many other places in Torah). God’s holy days have been holy to Him from the very beginning. The reason major historical and spiritual events seem to take place on His days are because they are His days in the first place.

Abel was killed on Passover – the righteous by the unrighteous. By this we understand that Abel was a type, a foreshadow, of Messiah who was to come (Heb 11:4, 12:24). The Torah reveals Messiah to us, and in this Torah portion, the Torah teaches us that the Messiah, when He comes, will be righteous, however killed by the unrighteous on God’s appointed holy day of the 14th of the month of Aviv - the month of ripening barley. This identification from the Word of God helps us – Jews – everyone - recognize Messiah when He comes.

God's Word is amazing! This is the Sabbath following Passover, and this Torah portion teaches us about Messiah's death at Passover!