genesis 10:21-32, the sons of Shem

Read Gen 10:21-32 at the Bible Gateway.

From this parsha we can see that the oldest son of Noah was Japheth, while Gen 9:24 showed us that Ham was the youngest. Why then in every place in Scripture, does it list the sons of Noah as Shem, then Ham, then Japheth? Brad Scott of Wildbranch Ministry explains why this is so in Bricks for Stones: the critical context of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The name Shem is shem in Hebrew, Strong's H8035, from the primitive root shem, Strong's H8034, meaning name, reputation, fame, or glory. “HaShem” or “the Name” is how Jews refer to God. They dare not speak His name YHVH for fear of blasphemy.

Shem is in the ancient Hebrew pictographs m?, the shin - mem. The shin is the two front teeth, so also sharp, press, eat, or two. The mem is water, so also chaos, might, or blood. The story the pictographs tell is that which issues through the front teeth mightily, so the verb form means to breathe, the concrete noun is breath, and the abstract concept is renown or reputation, as the breath of a man contains his identity. Thus shem also means “name” in Hebrew. This is a very important Hebraic concept. Our breath, thus our life, we learned from Gen 2:7, was breathed into us by Elohiym, Creator of heaven and earth, and then we became a living being. The Lord God is The Living Being, as His personal name YHVH (I AM THAT I AM) attests. He is the source of life, and He imparted His life to us on the day He created us.

So that shem means breath, while also meaning identity, name, renown, and reputation, tells the story that our name and our identity, and thus, our character, flows from our source of life who is God. When God says in His Word something about us, we need to listen and believe it for it is the truth, and not believe the lie the enemy tells us about ourselves. This is why the enemy lies about who we are! It is to dam up the river of the life out from which flows our identity and character! When we believe God in all His statements, we tear down that dam!

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Pro 23:7

Notice the Word does not say, as a man believes in his heart. This is on purpose, to tell us that it is by our thoughts, the fact statements that fill our minds, what we allow to dwell there and not dwell there, that creates belief in the heart. This is why we must fill our minds with His Word, through the entry way of our eyes (reading the Word) and ears (hearing the Word spoken and preached and sung)! It transforms our thoughts, which in turn transforms our belief!

Please also study Brad Scott's wonderful teaching on the mountain top meaning of shem.

Elam the firstborn of Shem was the father of the Elamites, who settled west of Shinar along the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. The Elamites intermarried with the Medians (of Madai of Japhath) and became the Persians (modern day Iranians and Jordanians).

Asshur the son of Shem was the father of the Assyrians who settled the northern reach of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley (Iraq).

Arphaxad the son of Shem was the father of the Chaldaeans who settled the southern reach of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley (Iraq). The Babylonians were Chaldaeans as Babylon was the principle city of Chaldaea. However, not every Chaldaean was also a Babylonian, but often the terms are used interchangeably to mean the same people.

Eber was a grandson of Arphaxad. He was the father of the Hebrews, as Eber's descendant was Abraham. Eber's two sons were Peleg and Joktan. Abraham was born of Peleg, while all the peoples who Joktan fathered settled the Arabian peninsula with the sons of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah (modern day Arabians).

Lud the son of Shem was the father of the Lydians, who were a powerful and wealthy nation for a time, before the advent of the Romans, in Asia Minor (modern day Lebanon and Turkey).

Aram the son of Shem was the father of the Aramaeans who settled Syria.

Now it is interesting to me that Noah said that Elohiym was the God of Shem, in Gen 9:26. And yet except for Israel, a small branch of Shem, all the nations which Shem produced - the Iranians, the Jordanians, the Iraqis, the Arabians, the Turks, the Lebanese, and the Syrians - are all today followers of Islam who have vowed Israel's destruction. This is the enemy's doing, to take that which is God's province and make it his special stronghold for all which is most vile in the eyes of God. The hatred the enemy has for God is overwhelming. That is why we want NOTHING to do with anything which is of the enemy, especially lies, his choice vehicle for wreaking theft, destruction, and death.

But I believe the prophecy of Noah tells us the end from the beginning, that YHVH Elohiym is the God of Shem. I believe a great revival is coming on all those people descended from Shem who are in bondage today to the lies of the enemy, and the Spirit of God will sweep through those nations and completely transform them. Their overwhelming love and self- sacrifice for Israel as God's beloved, after so many years of virulent hatred, will bear such witness to the world that God is God in heaven and on earth, that no one can deny His existence before His return. And this witness of love, coming as it will from Messiah Yeshua, will so shake Israel to its foundation, that the blinders will be removed from their eyes, and they will see that Yeshua is YHVH the Lord incarnate, the son of David and their promised Messiah. And then Yeshua will return. For Israel will be the last to come to faith, Paul tells us in Rom 11. The second to the last are the Muslims who hate Israel - they are the last nations on the face of the earth who have yet to hear the Gospel, for they have been closed until the time appointed by God. And as we are hearing, the time is now, and great revival is already pouring out on those lands and people!

genesis 10:15-20, the sons of canaan

Read Genesis 10:15-20 at the Bible Gateway.

Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations. Gen 10:15-20

The descendants of Canaan are singled out in this week's parashah by the paragraph divisions among all the descendants of the sons of Noah.

Sidon, Canaan's firstborn, settled the city of Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and became the people known to history as the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians improved the science of navigation, settled trading outposts in almost every part of the world, and spread abroad. The Phoenicians did not invent writing as is attributed to them in library books, but they did take the common pictographic alphabet of ancient Hebrew the common language, and simplify it so it was better suited as a phonetic alphabet and not primarily pictographic. In fact, any science begun by others, the Phoenicians refined and improved, so that in time, the goods, sailors, architects, and technicians of the Phoenicians were the most sought after in the ancient world. This is one way Canaan served Shem and Japheth.

Heth was the ancestor of the Hittites, a powerful nation for a time. The Hittites settled Asia Minor. Most archaeologists believe the chariot was invented (or adapted) by the Hittites. The Assyrians put an end to the Hittite empire.

The Jebusites through Hamathites were all Canaanite nations which settled in the Holy Land.

The Phoenicians, Hittites, and Canaanites all shared a common religion, not centered in the worship of YHVH Elohiym, as we will see in the next parashah.

These five short verses delineate the descendants of Canaan, which Israel was later commanded to obliterate from their land.

“Spread abroad” in Hebrew is interesting: Strong's H6327, puwts, pey + vav + tsadey. The verb means to break or dash to pieces. The pey, the mouth in the ancient pictographs, can mean to blow or scatter, something that is done with the mouth (think of a dandelion flower in seed). The vav is the tent peg, so to hook, secure, or add. The tsadey is the trail with a destination at the end, as a trail which a hunter follows when hunting game. It has meanings of traveling as well as of hunting, chasing, or waiting as beside a trail. The story painted by the pictographs is of being scattered abroad as if attached to disparate destinations. Think of a china dish when it is dropped on a stone floor. It began as a unified object, but when it was broken into pieces, each piece flew away from the parent randomly, and yet no direction away from the parent was left unrepresented. It was as if each piece was drawn away as if attached to a destination away by a path leading away.

We have seen earlier in Torah, that being sent away or cast away is a punishment or consequence of sin and disobedience. I am not sure if Canaan being spread abroad fits that theme or not, but it bears some thinking about.

The theme of the parsha from Gen 10:15-20 is the sons of Canaan.

genesis 10:1-14, the sons of japheth and ham

Read Gen 10:1-14 at the Bible Gateway.

Japheth had seven sons. Each son became the father of a nation, or of a people group who then divided into several nations. The descendants of Japheth first settled around the Black Sea (after the Tower of Babel incident in the next parashah) but then divided into their tribes and nations and migrated from there.

Gomer, the oldest, fathered the people group of the Celts. A province in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) was in ancient days called Gomer after them, and in early Roman times a tribe of Celts, called Gauls by the Romans, resettled that province where it became known as Galatia (land of the Gauls). A province in Spain is still called Galatia today as it was formerly an ancient settlement of Gauls. The Irish tongue is today still called Gaelic as they were originally Gaels (Gauls) who spoke it, and the Welsh tongue is today still called Gomeraeg. The Gauls who remained on the European continent were mostly assimilated into the Romans and Germans who came after them, but the Gauls or Celts who migrated to the British isles live on as a distinct people in the Welsh, Irish, and Scots; and in Brittany (northern France).

Ashkenaz was a son of Gomer. His descendants became the Teutons. The Teutons settled all the land east of the Rhine River (the Celts settled the west side). The Teutons were the forefathers of all the Germanic tribes as well as the Scandinavians, who were also named from Ashkenaz: (A)s(h)ken --> sken --> Scandia. Ashkenaz is the Hebrew word for German or Germany.

Togarmah was a son of Gomer. His descendants settled Armenia probably intermingling with descendants of Ashkenaz. The name Turk and Turkey come from him.

Riphath was a son of Gomer. His descendants settled the Black Sea before migrating westward. Europe gets its name from the descendants of Riphath: Rip(hath) --> Rip -->Europe.

Magog was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the Tartars (Slavs), who settled Central Asia.

Madai was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the nation of the Medes, who with the Persians, overthrew the Babylonian Empire. The Medes migrated to the Zagros Mountains and from there settled India.

Javan was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the Greeks and various tribes settling the Mediterranean Sea. "Jupiter" is a form of "Japheth," while "Ionian" is a form of "Javan." The Iliad mentions "Iawan", a direct transliteration of "Javan."

Elishah was a son of Javan; his descendants were the Elysians, a Greek tribe.

Tarshish was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Tarsus and Cilicia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Kittim was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Cyprus.

Dodanim was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Dodone in Greece. Dodone sent ships for the Greek war against Troy according to the Iliad.

Tubal was a son of Japheth. His descendants settled Central Asia where Georgia is today. Georgia was called Iberia by the Romans. The capital city of Georgia is still today called Tbilisi (city of Tubal). The most important river going through Georgia is the Tobol. Another important Georgian city is named Tobolsk, all after Tubal. Some descendants of Tubal eventually migrated from Iberia and settled in Spain, Spain is in the Iberian peninsula.

Meshech was a son of Japheth. His descendants settled Moscow; the area surrounding Moscow is still today called the Meschera Lowland.

Tiras was a son of Japheth. His descendants named every place they settled after their ancestor, including Thrace, the province north of Greece where Macedonia and Yugoslavia are today; and the country of Troas where the city of Troy stood on the coast of Asia Minor. He was most likely the ancestor of the Etruscans, early inhabitants of Italy, where the province of Tuscany is today. Tiras was worshiped as Thuras or Thor, the god of thunder.

Ham had four sons. Each son became the father of a nation or of a people group who then divided into their nations. They settled mostly south and west of Mesopotamia, where the descendants of Noah first established their homes after the Flood.

Cush, the oldest son of Ham, was the father of Nimrod, the most famous descendant of Noah in the ancient world. Noah was a mighty hunter and warrior, and with his father instigated the Tower of Babel rebellion (more on that in the next parashah). He built the first Empire after the Flood. The descendants of Cush also settled the land south of Egypt, today known as Nubia or Ethiopia (as well as Sudan) but in ancient days known as Cush.

Mizraim was a son of Ham. His descedants settled Egypt and the lands on the northern coast of Africa. One descendant of Mizraim was the father of the Philistines.

Phut was a son of Ham; his descendants settled Libya, known as Put in acient times.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 10:1-14 is the sons of Japheth and Ham.

genesis 9:18-29, the curse on canaan

Read Gen 9:18-29 at the Bible Gateway.

Noah becoming drunk is a little out of character with the Noah that we were introduced to before the Flood, who was perfect in his generation and who did all that the Lord commanded him. The Flood changed the geography and climate of the world. Winter and summer and cold and heat were introduced. Before the Flood, the entire earth was temperate or tropical in climate – archaeologists have found hippopotamus fossils and tropical plant fossils at the North Pole. The Flood introduced the Ice Age. It is not unlikely that fruit that was harvested and stored in the same way as before the Flood resulted in a different outcome after the Flood.

I believe that Noah did not realize that his grape harvest would ferment and become wine which, if drunk, would cause intoxication. This is the first mention of wine in the Bible, and Noah might have been the inadvertent discoverer of it.

Ham found his father intoxicated and uncovered in his tent, and did two things which showed dishonor to his father: he looked on his father’s nakedness. He filled up his eyes with his father’s sin, weakness, falling short. He focused his attention on it, on the negative. And, he told of it to others. I believe he might have even repeated the tale with mocking or laughter. He dishonored his father in the sight of others.

Shem and Japheth, in contrast (contrast is a teaching tool of Torah), refused to look on their father’s nakedness. They averted their faces and did not focus their attention on his sin or weakness. And, they covered their father’s nakedness. They did not tell it, but they covered it.

“He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” Pro 17:9

“And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Pet 4:8

Ham acted out of pride, maybe rebellion, maybe envy, maybe even a little hatred. Shem and Japheth acted out of love. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth for their love, but did not bless Ham for his insolence and dishonor.

Now if Ham had done the transgression, why was Canaan cursed, and not Ham? Ham had been previously blessed by God (Gen 9:1), and I do not believe that Noah was willing to curse that which God had blessed. I also further believe, that the traits which Ham displayed in his treatment of his father in this incident, were passed on to his sons. Children imitate their fathers – it is a spiritual law which God enacted for our blessing, so that righteous fathers would have righteous sons.

Perhaps Noah saw (perhaps by revelation from the Lord) in Canaan the most fertile soil for rebellion and every evil thing. In any case, we see from this passage that words that fathers speak over their children become prophecies which carry the weight of “Thus saith the Lord.” Fathers have a strict command from the Lord to raise up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to not provoke them to wrath by unjust and unloving fathering.

This is the passage previous generations used to justify enslaving the African people, since Africans are descended from Ham. There are several problems with that interpretation. The Bible contains teaching for proper treatment of slaves, because slaves were a part of life (it still is in this day and age in some parts of the world – the Sciptures, as the Word of God, speaks to all cultures and all nations at all times, not just to one culture at one time). But the Bible never commands anyone to enslave anyone else. Slavery is not a command.

Also, the curse was on Canaan, not on Ham. The eventual destruction of Canaan as a nation was carried out by Israel, and then again by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans in subsequent generations. They were continually conquered as a people until they were destroyed from the face of the earth – long before the Europeans began enslaving Africans. Using the Bible as a justification for enslaving other human beings was unregenerate man’s way of deceiving themselves into thinking that what they knew was wrong, was somehow right. It is truly regenerated men and women, from a foundation of true Biblical interpretation, who worked mightily to bring the institution of slavery crashing to the ground.

What is the service that Canaan provided for Shem and Japheth? It is the belief of many biblical historians that the Canaanites, who were the same people as the Phoenicians, discovered or perfected many useful sciences and arts which greatly served the descendants of Shem and Japheth – commerce, navigation, exploration, establishing outposts and the beginnings of civilization in some of the farthest reaches of the earth, bringing goods from the far corners of the earth so that Shem and Japheth could benefit from them – all these things the Phoenicians accomplished and perfected. When their service was finished, the people mentioned above destroyed them from the face of the earth. Israel (from Shem) destroyed them from the heartland of the Holy Land. Alexander the Great (from Japheth) destroyed Tyre, the greatest Canaanite city on the coast of the Holy Land where they had been pushed by Israel, and the Romans (from Japheth) destroyed Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, the greatest Canaanite city outside of their homeland. The Romans eventually seized all the Phoenician mines, trading centers and routes, and enfolded their enterprises into her own.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 9:18-29 is dishonor brings a curse.

parashah vayikyu ben noach (sons of noah), genesis 9:18-10:32

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 8th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Vayikyu ben Noach / Sons of Noah, Gen 9:18-10:32 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 49 / Psalm: Ps 8 / History: Job 15-16 / Gospel: Mat 15:21-39 / Apostolic: Eph 2

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week's Torah portion:
Gen 9:18-29 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Gen 10:1-14 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 10:15-20 ends in a stumah.
Gen 10:21-32 ends in a p'tuchah.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 9:18-29 is that dishonor brings a curse.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 10:1-14 is the sons of Japheth and Ham.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 10:15-20 is the sons of Canaan.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 10:21-32 is the sons of Shem.

The first thing we notice, is that the parsha divisions have singled out the sons of Canaan into their own parsha. We cannot even say that God divided the paragraphs up by the sons of each of the three sons, for Japhath and Ham share a paragraph - except for the sons of Canaan.

So it seems as if the theme of strong paragraph from Gen 10:1 through Gen 10:32 is telling us who the grandsons of Noah are and the 70 nations that came from them (count them - there are 70 descendants who became the heads of 70 nations) - singling out and setting aside the nation of the Canaanites (the Phoenicians), above all the others. Why? Because, we learned, dishonor brings a curse, and we have to know who the people are who have been cursed, to see if the Word of the Lord comes to pass or not.

The theme is the blessing on the sons of Noah, how they were fruitful and how they multiplied, and the curse on Canaan.

Finding Messiah in Torah

I had done a Hebrew word study on the names of each of the three sons of Noah. But as I was thinking about the curse on Canaan, I realized I had not done a word study on the name, "Canaan."

Canaan is from Strong's H3665, unk, kaph - nun - ayin, a primitive root. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the kaph is the open palm, the hand used to bless others rather than to work or fight. The nun is the seed, so also, son, generation, continuation. The ayin is the eye, so also, to watch, look, see, know, or understand.

The kaph - nun combination paints the picture of the opening of the seed, so the going down of the root to provide a firm foundation for the plant above the ground. The verb form, then, means to stand, as the root provides the support that enables the plant to be upright; the concrete noun means a root; and the abstract concept is sureness. So interesting! Now when we add the ayin, the eye, on to that picture, we get the going down of the eye; i.e. to bow the head, to humble oneself, to be humbled, or to be brought into subjection. The name “Canaan” actually means “lowland.”

So what does this have to do with Messiah?

Remember what Noah said of Canaan? “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants he shall be to his brethren;” (Gen 9:25). Of Messiah Yeshua the Word says:

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Mat 11:29

“... Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Phi 2:5-8

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree;” Gal 3:13

The curse on Canaan is a veiled prophecy of the means by which Messiah would redeem us. He brought Himself down, He humbled Himself and made Himself the Servant of servants to His brethren. In so doing, He became a curse for us, when the sin of the world was placed upon Him, and brought about His death.

The next time Canaan plays a prominent role in the Old Testament, we find that the sin of the Canaanites has grown so great, that God executes judgment on them by causing their death as a nation. This is another veiled prophecy in the same manner: the wages of sin is death - but the one who died, is the Servant of servants to the brethren, “canaan,” the One who caused His eye to go down.

parashah tze min hatvah (go out from the ark), genesis 8:15-9:17

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 7th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Tze Min Hatvah / Go out from the ark, Gen 8:15-9:17 (read at Bible Gateway or theHebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 42 / Psalm: Ps 7 / History: Job 13-14 / Gospel: Mat 28 / Apostolic: 2 Tim 2

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week's Torah portion:
Gen 8:15-9:7 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 9:8-17 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that Gen 6:9 (where the last p'tuchah was found) through Gen 9:17 forms a single strong paragraph according to God's paragraph divisions.

Upon outlining, I discovered a chiastic structure in the Gen 8:15-9:7 parsha:
1A) Gen 8:15-19 Be fruitful and multiply;
  1B) Gen 8:20 Noah blessed YHVH by offering the lifeblood of the olah sacrifice;
    CENTRAL AXIS Gen 8:21-22 YHVH smelled the soothing aroma and declared three promises;
  2B) Gen 9:1-6 YHVH blessed Noah; instruction concerning the lifeblood of animals and men;
2A) Gen 9:7 Be fruitful and multiply.

The Gen 8:15-9:7 parsha topic might be YHVH's blessing on the righteous to be fruitful and multiply. But I note that the chiastic structure points to the heart of the parsha, YHVH's three promises which are made to the earth, not solely to Noah; and that YHVH blessed Noah but that Noah also blessed YHVH by the olah sacrifice offered in heartfelt worship and thanksgiving. In fact, the chiastic structure is so constructed, that it reveals that Noah blessed YHVH and YHVH blessed Noah, it reveals the reciprocal nature of the relationship.

The Gen 9:8-17 parsha topic might be YHVH's everlasting covenant with Noah, and the earth.

Today's reading ends with a p'tuchah, which means a strong paragraph has been completed. But this strong paragraph was begun several weeks ago, so in order to discover the point God is trying to make in Torah, I outlined everything from the last p'tuchah to this. The last p'tuchah came at the end of Gen 6:8, so the Lord considers everything from Gen 6:9-9:17 to teach a single strong point:

Gen 6:9-12 s contrast righteous Noah / corrupt earth
Gen 6:13-8:14 s righteous preserved through the judgment of the wicked
Gen 8:15-9:7 s blessing on the righteous, be fruitful and multiply
Gen 9:8-17 p Elohiym’s everlasting covenant with the earth

The overarching theme of this section might be that God preserves the righteous and destroys the wicked.

While I was outlining, I noticed a pattern established in Torah from the beginning: that every time the Torah tells of the judgment or punishment for sin, the thought, the paragraph is not completed until there has been a promise given of deliverance or preservation or hope.

Gen 2:4-3:21: first sin and its punishment, followed by a promise of Messiah in Gen 3:15;
Gen 4:1-26: Cain's sin - murder of the righteous seed - and punishment of banishment, followed by birth of Seth, the promise of righteous seed in Gen 4:25;
Gen 5:1-31: judgment of mortality promised for sin, followed by promise of life in that Enoch did not die in Gen 5:24, and promise of comfort and rest in the birth of Noah in Gen 5:29;
Gen 6:1-7: announcement of judgment coming on the wicked, followed by promise of Noah finding grace in Gen 6:8;
Gen 6:13-8:14: judgment of the Flood, followed by the covenant and the promise of the rainbow in Gen 9:8-17.

This pattern teaches us that what the world believes about the God of the Old Testament is wrong: that all He is interested in is judging sin. Yes, God is holy and He judges sin - very important truth! - but NEVER without a promise of hope, life, and an invitation to come through the open door and escape the judgment.

This parashah also introduces one of the most important teaching tools of Torah: common themes. I was struck, in reading today's parashah, how alike the blessing and the covenant was which God made with Noah in Gen 9:8-17, to the blessing and covenant He made with Adam in Gen 1. In fact, the situations of the two men, Adam and Noah, are very similar, when Noah came out of the ark. There were no humans but Noah and his family, as with Adam. There was no animal life but the male and female pairs with him, as with Adam. The earth was empty of sin, as with Adam. The blessing God spoke over Adam and the animals at the beginning of creation, God repeated to Noah and the animals. The similarities are so striking that it is safe to say that these two passages are linked by a common theme. Why is that important?

What was desirable with Adam's situation in the beginning, was he dwelt with God. He walked with God and talked with Him, and he remained in His presence. By linking Noah's situation with Adam's we can see that Noah and his family had a similar opportunity to dwell with God, to interact with Him -- and the reciprocal nature of their relationship which the chiastic structure of Gen 8:15-9:7 revealed hints at a interactive relationship. It was not just Noah doing obligations, with his prayers hitting a heaven like brass, and God afar off.

Then, if we consider that Noah's Flood is a picture of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits, which is itself a shadow cast by Messiah, we can understand that by entering His covenant God has made a way for us to dwell with Him. It is a picture of restoration and return to Eden!

Finding Messiah in Torah

This week Torah introduces a foundational spiritual truth:

“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” Gen 9:4-6

Life is in the blood. Now on the most basic level, in this passage God authorizes governments for man, for the purpose of punishing sin to deter it. For the man who sheds blood must have his blood shed. This is why we have capital punishment for murder.

But on another level, God is saying, “For your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning.” Our sins make us guilty before God, and our lifeblood then becomes forfeit. For our lifeblood, God will demand a reckoning - a recompense. Then He goes on to say, “From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.” Who is the one who is the brother to every man? Yeshua the Messiah - He is the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8:29). From His hand, God required our life, and Yeshua paid the price for us as a substitute, in full. His blood was shed. This Torah prophecy of the Messiah also shows us that the Messiah would accomplish this work as a man -- only a man can atone for the lifeblood of another man. I believe this is why, all through the Gospels, Yeshua refers to Himself as the Son of Man and not the Son of God.

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.

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.

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!

parashah toledoth (generations), genesis 2:4-3:21

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 2nd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Toledoth / Generations, Gen 2:4-3:21. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Eze 28 / Psalm: Ps 2 / History: Job 3-4 / Gospel: Mat 4:1-11 / Apostolic: Rom 5

The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. Last week we learned about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division. This week we will learn about the second paragraph division, the weak paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character stumah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “s”.)

Gen 2:4-3:15 ends with a parsha (paragraph) stumah, a weak paragraph division.

Every portion of Scripture that ends in a stumah division indicates a continuation of a theme or topic.

That such a long passage ends with a stumah, means that God considers the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:15 a single paragraph with its own main idea - and that the paragraph is a sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:16 ends with a stumah.
This means God considers this single sentence its own paragraph, teaching its own sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:17-21 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that God considers this section to be its own paragraph with its own sub theme; furthermore, that the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:21 is teaching an overarching theme, with three sub themes (as the end of Gen 2:3 was where the last p'tuchah was found).

Right away in the beginning of this Torah portion, there is the establishing of a new pattern, which is different from the pattern established in the previous section. In last week's Torah portion, every time God is mentioned, the Hebrew word used is Elohiym, a masculine plural noun meaning Supreme Being; i.e., He who created the heavens and the earth. This name reveals Elohiym’s plurality of being, His might and creative power, and His character of righteousness, justice, and sovereignty.

But in this week's Torah portion, in almost every place that God is mentioned, it is translated as LORD God. The Hebrew for this is YHVH Elohiym. We are introduced to the four letters, the tetragrammaton, the personal name of Elohiym, meaning “I AM,” the self- existent One; also He was, He is, and He will be, or the eternal One. The personal name of Elohiym is pronounced Yehovah or Yahweh.

So why the change? Last week we saw that the second teaching tool God uses in order to instruct us is to establish a pattern in His Word (the first tool is the paragraph divisions of p'tuchah and stumah). This week we see a third teaching tool God uses in His Word - breaking a pattern previously established. Whenever we see a break in a pattern, we should ask ourselves, “Why the change?” Because the change is there deliberately; God is trying to tell us something!

My theory is that there has been a change of author. In Gen 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth,” the word “account” is the Hebrew toledoth, meaning generations, or history, or even, book. That this section of Genesis is a very ancient written record, and not an oral record until the time of Moses, has been proven by clues embedded in the Torah scroll. Who was the one who wrote it down? Well, the only man alive to witness the events recorded in this section was Adam. He is the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (thus it still remains the Word of God).

That begs the question, then who wrote last week's Torah portion, from Gen 1:1-2:3? The answer must be, logically, the only one alive to witness the events recorded therein - God. He gave the history from Gen 1:1-2:3 to Adam, and Adam, beginning in 2:4, added his own eyewitness account, or toledoth. This is why the creation account in Gen 2 seems to differ from the creation account in Gen 1. They are not contradictory, but just the same events witnessed from two different perspectives. God relayed His account chronologically; however, Adam relayed his account according to a different criteria - thematically. We get in trouble when we expect every narrative in Scripture to be chronological. Understanding this eliminates half the charges of contradictions in the Bible out there. :)

Back to the paragraph stumah from Gen 2:4-3:15. What is the point of this paragraph, the main idea? Whenever we are faced with a section of Scripture bounded by the Lord's paragraph markers, we should ask ourselves, “Why is this section a single paragraph?” What is the point God is trying to get across, by including all these verses (or limiting to these verses) in this paragraph? There is no right or wrong answer. The Holy Spirit will reveal things to us as we seek Him and ask (Joh 16:13).

The topic that I came up with, is that Disobedience to YHVH's Command is the definition of Sin. For it is this incident, the Fall of Man, by which Sin is introduced into God's perfect Creation (as we can see by reading the Apostolic portion of Scripture that accompanies this Torah portion). Notice that God does not end the paragraph, however, until He has given the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who will crush the head of the serpent! Even now, at man's worst moment, God is extending grace and hope to him!

The theme of the paragraph stumah from Gen 3:16 is the curse on the woman. The theme of the paragraph from Gen 3:17-21 is the curse on the man. The word translated “pain” for the woman in verse 16 and the word translated “toil” for the man in verse 17 is the same word in Hebrew: itstsabon. They received the same curse as a result of their sin: toil, or work. The woman's work, I believe, is moreover lifelong, just as the man's is. Her work is in not only bearing children, but rearing them, in making the home for her and her husband and her children to dwell in. His work is in provision - he goes out from the home, and procures by toiling the food (or material things) necessary to sustain himself and his family.

Notice that in the woman's curse, she is also placed in submission to her husband. In Torah portion Bereisheet, both the man and the woman were given equal dominion over the creation. Neither of them were subservient to the other. Now God creates a hierarchy: man, then woman, then creation. Creation is still subject to the man and the woman, but woman is now subject to her husband (not just any man). Who is the man subject to? YHVH, and all mankind and creation is also subject to YHVH through the man's dominion. He exercises dominion in order to bring his wife, his children, and the creation into obedience to YHVH.

The men and women (and children) who understand God's authority, order, and plan, and who order their lives in cooperation with Him and not in opposition to Him, will bring blessings upon themselves (see Psalm 1 from last week)!

So now that we have main ideas for the weak paragraphs, let's see what the main idea is for the strong paragraph, from Gen 2:4-3:21.

Gen 2:4-3:21 ends in a p'tuchah.
a. Gen 2:4-3:15 (stumah) Sin is disobedience to God's command.
b. Gen 3:16 (stumah) The curse on the woman - work (painful toil).
c. Gen 3:17-21 The curse on the man - work (painful toil).

What comes to my mind for the main idea of the entire section is that Sin Brings the Curse of Work. Can it be that sin brings the curse of works on mankind as well - working in order to earn righteousness before God? And here is another instance of the Lord's grace: He established the seventh day as a day of rest, holy to YHVH, before sin, the curse, or work ever entered God's perfect world. Yes, we have been cursed with work as a result of our disobedience. But every seventh day, God lifts the curse of work on our lives, and allows us to rest from our painful toil, as we remember that YHVH is our gracious and loving Creator, to whom we owe worship; to whom we bow the knee!

Finding Messiah in Torah

This week Messiah leaps off the page. He is the Seed of the Woman promised in Gen 3:15, who crushes Satan's head and restores mankind to the perfection, communion with God, and rest we experienced in the Garden before the Fall of Man. He erases the effect of sin on His perfect Creation! There is an entire book in the fact that God chose to represent Messiah as the seed. In fact, my Hebrew teacher, Brad Scott, did write a book about it: The Principle of the Seed. It is fascinating and life- changing and I recommend it!

parashah bereisheet (in the beginning), genesis 1:1-2:3

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 1st Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Bereisheet / In the beginning, Gen 1:1-2:3. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 40 / Psalm: 1 / History: Job 1-2 / Gospel: Joh 1:1-28 / Apostolic: Col 1

The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. This week we will learn about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character p'tuchah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “p”.)

Gen 1:1-5 ends in a parsha (paragraph) p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Every portion of Scripture that ends in a p'tuchah division completes teaching an overarching theme.

Gen 1:6-8 ends in a parsha p'tuchah.
Gen 1:9-13 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:14-19 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:20-23 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:24-31 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 2:1-3 ends in a p'tuchah.

Notice that in today's reading, each p'tuchah, each strong paragraph division, occurs at the end of each day of creation.

The chapter divisions and verse divisions in our English Bibles were added many thousands of years after the Holy Spirit set His paragraph divisions into the text. The chapter and verse divisions were added by medieval Catholics with an anti- Torah bias. Here we see the bias in play as the seventh day, the Sabbath, is cut by the chapter division from the first chapter outlining creation week, where it belongs. It was added to the second chapter of Genesis, which was held to be allegorical in the Middle Ages. This allowed the Church to ignore the command to celebrate the Sabbath without feeling guilty about it. The Protestant church inherited its anti- Torah bias from the Catholic church!

The paragraph divisions which the Holy Spirit has set into the text are the first device God uses to teach His Word to His people. Since each day is set into its own strong paragraph, we understand that God is teaching us that each day of creation is significant. Each day has its own work, its own purpose, and its own completion. He is the doer of the action of creating, in each day. All the paragraphs taken together reinforce that YHVH is God, the Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth. And since He is our own Creator, He is our own God, and no other. This is the historical understanding that we humans need in order to bow our knee to Him in submission to the 1st Commandment.

Something else that becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: the days of creation are significant. There are Hebrew words for other lengths of time, such as years or eons, if those units of time were meant. But God chose the Hebrew yom - “day” - the regular 24 hour day. It sometimes comes as a shock to people that a day as a unit of time, is one of the few that do not depend on the sun or moon for marking it. Anyone can look up in any second- grade science textbook and see that a 24- hour day is the time it takes for the earth to revolve on its axis one revolution. No sun or moon is needed, even a light source is not needed - although God provided one (we are not told what it is; perhaps it was Himself and His Word? Psa 119:105). He created light (energy) on the first day. He also created the earth (matter), the day (time), and the heavens (space) on the first day - the building blocks of our physical universe.

Another thing which becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: each day begins with the same phrase, “Then God said,” day after day, exactly the same. (This illustrates the second device the Lord uses to teach us His Word - patterns and repetition, to draw our attention to the pattern!) So we see that God brought into being, that which did not exist, by His Word.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,” 1 Cor 1:27-28

How does God bring a thing which is not, into being, so that He might bring to nothing that which is? He speaks His Word, and it happens. What was in Gen 1:2, when God began, was formlessness, nothingness, darkness, even vanity - one translation of the word “void.” He brought those things to nothing, by bringing into existence the things which were not: form, light, matter, energy, time, space, and life. He did this by speaking His Word.

What “is not” in our lives? Is there a reality that we wish was brought to nothing? We must speak God's Word to it. When God was faced with darkness, He said, “Light.” When He was faced with formlessness, He said, “Form.” When He was faced with emptiness, He said, “Life.” If we are faced with unbelief, we must speak the Word of God of faith to it. If we are faced with fear, we must speak the Word of God of love and peace. If we are faced with lack, we must speak the Word of God of provision. We must not let that which counters God's Word cross our lips! And the things which are not will bring to nothing the things that are.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

When we read the Gospel reading for this Torah portion in Joh 1:1-28, we discover that the Word that God spoke to create light and every other thing, is Messiah. It is through Messiah Yeshua that God the Father made every thing that has been made (Col 1:15-17) and He continues to uphold the universe by the Word of His Power, Messiah Yeshua (Heb 1:3)!

Admittedly, some of these things are mysteries. How can a person be a word and a person at the same time? But God is showing us, that He is what comes out of His mouth; that what He speaks is what He is and who He is. Words cannot be divorced from persona or character, because “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” (Luk 6:45). So when someone tells a lie, or speaks a curse, or mocks or ridicules, they are really shedding some light on the condition of their heart - which would be at best mixed with dross, unrepented sin, or impurities, and at worst completely unregenerate!