Some folks love to sit around and blog about their cool new Sony Vaio or something. For me? It’s all about the Torah and Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my VaYeshev commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Today’s parashah is Va Yeshev, or, “And he settled.” It covers Genesis chapters 37:1 through 40:23. It is in this parashah that we begin the story of one of my favorite characters in all of Genesis. I’m speaking, of course, about Joseph. Of course, there is no “J” sound in Hebrew, so his name was actually Yosef.

In chapter 37, we are introduced to Yosef as a brash teenager. While he possesses all the talents and gifts from God that will serve him well later in life, Yosef at this time lacks the wisdom that comes with experience. Although gifted by God with both the ability to dream prophetically and the ability to interpret those dreams, the seventeen-year-old Yosef is always eager to share his visions with his family, not realizing how his visions might affect this brothers.

We read that Yosef had two dreams, which symbolically show him as a ruler and his entire family bowing down to him. While Jacob – now renamed Israel by the L-RD – rebukes Yosef for sharing a dream that seems to place him over his brothers and even his parents, Israel takes time to ponder the meaning of Yosef’s dream, according to the Torah.

But this was not the case with his brothers. In fact, between Yosef’s apparent ego, and their father’s favoritism of his youngest son, the result is far from ordinary sibling rivalry; what develops between the rest of the brothers toward Yosef is a murderous intent.

Can we really be surprised by the evil intentions of Yosef’s brothers? I suggest that the answer is no. Remember, in last week’s reading, we saw that the sons of Israel, especially Simeon and Levi, were allowed to deal falsely with Shechem and Hamor, and ended up destroying an entire settlement over the sin of one man – Shechem. So the sons of Israel at this point are not living up to the righteousness of their father. They are men capable of murder – even wholesale slaughter of dozens – and who have suffered no real consequence for their actions.

Now, when people are allowed to sin without consequence, do you think they are more likely, or less likely, to sin again? We don’t have to wonder. We can read about the sad results as the sons of Israel once again indulge in an out-of-proportion response to an offense.

Genesis 37:18-20 (NLT)
18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they exclaimed. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we’ll see what becomes of all his dreams!”

So here they are, the sons of Israel, presented with … what? A temptation. And that is the theme I found in my study of this week’s Torah portion: a series of temptations, and different responses to those temptations.

This episode is the first such time of temptation to sin and what the parashah shows us is when you have someone – or in this case, a group of someones – who have sinned in the past and never really suffered for it, it becomes even easier the next time you are tempted to sin, to give in to that temptation.

That is the case here with Yosef’s brothers, the sons of Israel. All of them have reasons to hate Yosef. First, Yosef is the favorite son of their common father, born by their father’s favorite wife. When a parent shows partiality to one child over another, it always breeds trouble between siblings and the sons of Jacob are no exception.

The special coat Israel gives Yosef is a symbol, for the brothers, of that favoritism. And in his youthful exuberance over this prophetic gift, Yosef only makes matters worse by sharing dreams that place him above not only his brothers, but even his father and mother. And of course, we are told early in this week’s reading that Yosef would often report to his father about the affairs of his older brothers. So, not only is Yosef daddy’s favorite, given special gifts no one else receives, and is constantly going on about being better than them, but in schoolyard language, he’s a big tattle-tale, too! My oh my, could anyone but a parent like, let alone love, this brash, seventeen-year-old known as Yosef?

Certainly he is not popular with his brothers, and they are faced with a temptation: there, in Dothan, far away from the protective eye of their father, Israel, the brothers who never really suffered for slaughtering a whole village allow their thoughts to turn again to murder.

Only Reuben comes to Yosef’s rescue.

Genesis 37:21-22
But Reuben came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. “Why should we shed his blood? Let’s just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him.” Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father.

Of course, we know the rest of the story. As they sit down to eat to consider their next step, slave-traders headed toward Egypt happen by and they decide rather than murder Yosef, to simply sell him to the traders. This way, there is no blood on their hands, but they rid themselves of this brother they simply can’t stand being around.

Now, Yosef is saved here from death by the quick words of Reuben. Of the eleven sons of Israel aside from Yosef, all of them would have been happy, initially, to kill their own brother. And in fact, even though they don’t actually kill him, we see that they take Yosef’s special robe, smear it with animal blood, and deceive their father into thinking his favorite son is dead. In effect, they have killed him.

And we see that the lack of consequences for their sins extends not only to murder, but to dealing deceitfully with others; now, their sin has gone unchecked so long that rather than deceiving outsiders, they feel no hesitation in deceiving even their own father. So this helps us to see the importance of consequences to sin; without them, sin does not go away by itself; it continues to grow and worsen and spread. It becomes normal behavior as we become insensitive to it.

Paul warns us about this in:

Ephesians 4:17-19
Therefore, I say this – indeed, in union with the L-RD, I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking. Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God’s will. They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more!

We all know that we will be tested, that we will be tempted in this life to do not what we ought to do, not what God wants us to do, but to satisfy our own wants, needs and desires above all else. When Paul speaks here of sensuality, he’s not using it in the modern, sexual sense, but in its more classic meaning of indulging the desires of the flesh – or, put in more modern terms – doing whatever you want to, because you feel like doing it!

So we can see that even among the earliest descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the children of Israel may be the chosen people of God, but it is not because they are, in and of themselves especially holy. In fact, they are as prone to sin as anyone else.

So then, what hope is there for us? Does this parashah ultimately teach us that none of us can steer clear of sin, that resisting temptation is something only the Messiah Yeshua is capable of? Not at all.

You see, the Torah portion isn’t over yet, and as we read on, we see another situation of temptation. This one is the temptation laid before Yosef in the house of his Egyptian master, Potipher.

Now, if anyone had reason to feel abandoned by God and, therefore, just cause to do whatever he felt like doing, instead of submitting to God’s will, it had to be Yosef. After all, from his perspective, he had to have felt unjustly treated. That special coat? He wore it because his father gave it to him; it was not Yosef who made only one such coat and deprived the other eleven brothers. And when he shared those dreams, it was only because he was so amazed that God was communicating with him in such a unique way; they were God’s messages, not his! He was not the source of offense. And yet he was nearly murdered, then sold into slavery in Egypt. Surely, one could understand if Yosef had abandoned God the same way he felt abandoned by God, and simply taken up a completely Egyptian lifestyle. Certainly he had enough emotional baggage that if he’d slept with his master’s wife, the lawyers of today’s society could have painted him as the hapless victim.
But Yosef’s response to temptation is not the same as that of his older brothers.

Genesis 39:8-10
8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” 10 She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.

Most of us who are familiar with the story of Yosef recognize that in many ways, Yosef is a shadow of the Messiah Yeshua. This is one of the key comparisons between the two. Just as Messiah Yeshua was tempted by the Adversary of God in the wilderness, and resisted temptation, so too is Yosef tempted by Potipher’s wife to give in to the lusts of the flesh, and, like Yeshua, Yosef resists the temptation.

But I think we can learn even more, not just by the fact of his resistance, but how he resists. Yosef doesn’t “just say no,” to Potipher’s wife and then go about his normal duties. He also makes sure not to leave himself alone with her, and when her advances become too strong, rather than surrender, he flees from her! Now, men, especially you single men… how often do you think men today resist the temptation of the company of an attractive woman so completely? It’s so easy to rationalize and say, “Well, I won’t sleep with her, but I can hang out with her, talk to her… just as long as I don’t cross the line.” And yet, by even doing that much, not only are we crossing a line, but we are setting the stage to give in to sin later on. Yosef was not being especially strong here; he was being especially obedient, not allowing temptation to catch him in a weak moment by making sure not to provide an opportunity for one.

Whatever our personal temptations are, we can learn a lot from Yosef here. While Yosef is a shadow of the Messiah, he is not a Messiah, so Yosef’s story is proof that we can not only keep the Torah, but live above the Torah’s minimum standard, just as Yeshua did.

As I mentioned earlier, we are all tested by life, by the Adversary, in our lives and walks as believers. The question this week’s reading ought to pose to us is, which model will we follow? Will we be like most of Israel’s sons, giving into our desire to do whatever we want, whenever the mood strikes us? Or will we be more like Yosef? Will we be a shadow of the Messiah, following his standard of righteousness and not only say no to temptation, but flee from it when it presents itself?

That is our food for thought this week. May we all choose the path of Yosef, which ultimately is the path of our Messiah Yeshua. May we resist the temptation to sin – whatever our personal temptations might be – when the hour of our testing is at hand. May we rise above the minimum standard of Torah observance and live a life far above that level, a life that reflects the perfect standard of our Messiah Yeshua. If Yosef could do it over 1500 years before Yeshua, surely we can do it now.

Shabbat Shalom.

Folks interested in diet pills have plenty of great blogs to explore, but MessianicMusings.com is a rarer sort of thing; we offer up Messianic teachings that will help inspire Jews and Gentile believers alike. Here’s part one of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlach commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Today’s parashah is Va Yishlach, or, “And he sent.” It covers Genesis chapters 32:3 through 36 and since the portion we are going to look at today concerns some very sensitive material, let’s start out in prayer.

“L-RD, as we come before You to study Your Word, I pray that You would open our hearts and heal any old wounds that You, L-RD, may find there. Accomplish Your work in us, so that we may be a better reflection of You, L-RD. Help us to live out Your truth in spite of our pain by the grace and power of the Messiah, Yeshua. Amen.”

This is not a message I’ve looked forward to teaching. My reluctance is based not on a lack of study or preparation, but because of the subject matter, which may touch close to home for many people. Now, certainly, I could have played it safe. I could have spoken about Jacob wrestling with an angel of the
L-RD. However, as I prayed and studied through the full passage, my focus kept coming back to the rape of Dinah.

Let’s begin with some background.

Genesis 34:1-2 (NLT)
One day Dinah, Leah’s daughter, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw her, he took her and raped her.

Now, in the process of committing this atrocity, the Torah says Shechem became enamored of Dinah and tried to win her affection and seek her hand in marriage. When word of his crime reached Jacob, his sons were out in the field and while waiting for them to return, Shechem’s father, Hamor, approached Jacob to work out a peaceful arrangement. Yet when Jacob’s sons returned from the field, they were enraged at the atrocity Shechem had committed.

Now, this is one of the most natural and understandable reactions I can imagine. A terrible crime has been committed, one of the worst things imaginable. They’re shocked. They’re angry. They’re furious. It would be surprising if they were not feeling this way!

But how do they handle to their anger? Do they pray to The L-RD? If so, it’s not apparent by their actions. Now, this is a time prior to the giving of the Torah to Moses, so Jacob’s sons would be subject to the Noachide laws. Do they follow those commands and subject Shechem to judgment by a court? No. The sons of Jacob are thirsting for justice, retribution, revenge! And they proceed to carry that out by their own hands.

The sons of Jacob lead Hamor and Shechem into an agreement; they will allow Shechem to take Dinah as wife, and mix their two peoples into one, on the condition that all of the Hivite males become circumcised as they are. And we know what happened after they agreed. On the third day, when the pain of their circumcision was at its greatest, Levi and Simeon invade and slaughter every male in the town.

Now, Jacob was not pleased with his sons for dealing dishonestly with Shechem and Hamor. He rebukes them!

Genesis 34: 30
Afterward Jacob said to Levi and Simeon, “You have made me stink among all the people of this land–among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will come and crush us. We will all be killed!”

Jacob’s concern here is, in part, a matter of self-preservation, rather than a spiritual objection. That leaves him open to the rationalization his sons offer in response.

Genesis 34: 31
“Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.

One thing I noticed here is that there is no response to this rationalization and this apparent absence of a rebuttal has led some Torah scholars to the false conclusion that their actions were, if not exactly perfect, at least defensible. But is that so? In the wake of certain atrocities, is it OK to rationalize away even the most heinous acts in the name of retribution?

Let’s consider that for a moment. While what Shechem did to Dinah was indefensible, was the response by Levi and Simeon proportional to the crime? Shechem raped one person, and in response, Levi and Simeon wipe out an entire town! Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of people died for the sin of one man. Even the Torah teaches, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” which is about proportionality. But this is more like, “A life for a tooth, and a village for a life!” In other words, it’s not proportional to the original crime.

Moving to how this relates to us today, I would like to suggest that the central question here is not applicable only to the sons of Jacob, or this particular crime. Out-of-proportion responses to injustices are a problem prevalent in the world today … even among believers.

How often have you heard sentiments expressed that sound something like this:

“I’m a peaceful person … but if you mess with my family, we’re going to have issues.”

“I believe in forgiveness… but NO ONE disrespects me.”

“If the driver of that car that just cut us off gets us into an accident, I’ll make him regret it.”

Or how about this: “I submit myself to the direction of Yeshua and the prompting of His Holy Spirit… but if anyone ever did something to hurt or damage one of my children, they’d better lock me up, because I will kill them.”

Now, I’ve heard these statements and others made over the years. I admit I’ve even made similar statements myself at times. Yet every one of these statements I’ve just quoted, I heard come not from worldly people, but out of the mouths of believers. Yes, that includes Messianics!

That tells me these feelings are not uncommon. As Shimon recently pointed out to me, people can say anything they want, but until you’re in an extreme situation like that, you simply don’t know how you’re going to react.

While that’s true, what I’d like to suggest is that I believe it is the attitude we rehearse in our minds and our speech would be our most likely course of action. And that’s dangerous.

Equestrian fans may prefer a blog about English saddles, but those who seek to understand the Messianic mindset need look no further. Here’s part two of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlah commentary. Or listen to it!

Let me be clear: We are NOT speaking of petty offenses today. Such things are relatively easy to forgive. But when it comes to extreme violations – the rape of a sister, the molestation of a son or daughter, the assault or murder of a parent or other loved one – these crimes are the deepest violations one can think of. These things are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to forgive, apart from the direct intervention of God on our hearts, minds and actions.

Does that mean taking such actions is justifiable? Is the underlying message of this parashah that it’s OK to obey The L-RD and his commands up to a point, but if it gets really personal, then toss the Torah aside! Do whatever it takes to gain a sense of justice, because we can repent and be forgiven?

No. Absolutely not! That sort of double-mindedness is why most of us who come here from a more mainstream Christian or Evangelical background left the church in the first place! We who are Messianics believe that what is done in the flesh still counts, that our grace in Yeshua did not come cheap.

Although these are admittedly the hardest of situations, the Torah is not silent on such matters. First, what does the Bible have to say about the issue of retribution or revenge?

Romans 12:17-21
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, “I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,” says the L-RD. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.” Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Now, most of us are familiar with this passage. Yet people make the mistake of assuming that by placing a matter like this into the hands of God, they are somehow being pushovers, or it means the offenders will only get the justice due them in the world to come. But this is not so. In fact, throughout the Bible, The L-RD promises that the feet of the unrighteous will slip and they will have their destiny overtake them. Sometimes, we’re just not aware of it when it happens.

So let’s look at the situation with Jacob’s sons and how they dealt with the rape of their sister. What does the Torah say about how to handle the rape of a young woman who is not someone’s wife or engaged?

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
“If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.

Remember, people of Jacob’s time were under the Noachide laws. Yet Shechem and Hamor were going above and beyond the cure the Torah demands. They were trying to make the situation right! Yet instead of trusting God, Levi and Simeon substituted The L-RD’s justice for their own, because they allowed anger to rule them, rather than the Spirit of The L-RD.

That is really what is at issue here. Retribution and revenge arise from a core emotion of anger. How are we to deal with our anger? Can allowing anger to rule us solve anything? Let’s look at what we are told in the book of:

James 1: 20
Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

Soak that in. Indulging our anger can never make things right in God’s sight. Never! Ultimately, this is a problem of serving our own desires, rather than serving God.

Did Jacob’s sons know what they ought to do? Yes. The Noachide laws include prohibitions against murder and falsehood, and a command to set up courts to deal with those such as Shechem.

One can find blogs that drone on endlessly about cat supplies, but where else can you find solid Messianic teaching? Only here at MessianicMusings.com! Here’s the final part of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlah commentary. Or listen to it!

So what about us? When we are faced with our own extreme circumstances, do we know what we ought to do? Well, if we claim to be Messianics, trusting in Yeshua and led by the Ruach haKodesh in all we do, then yes, we should.

Yet do we live up to that? Not always. Too often, we also let anger control us, rather than the Spirit of God. And there are consequences for doing so. The consequence is that we bring disrespect to the name of the God we claim to serve! And when we do that, as Romans suggests, “the world blasphemes the name of the L-RD” because of us.

Now, I always wondered where the Scriptures said, “the world blasphemes the name of The L-RD because of you.” Well, I found it. It comes from the story of David and Bathsheba. As we read in:

II Samuel 12:13-14
Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the L-RD.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the L-RD has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. But you have given the enemies of the L-RD great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die.”

Will God punish us as he did David? We don’t know. On the one hand, He deals with each of us individually. Yet it would be arrogant to assume he would exempt us from consequences when he did not exempt David. We can never be sure. David’s example must always serve as a warning not to abandon our obedience to The L-RD and His commands under any circumstances.

Remember, we do not set aside our own anger, our thirst for vengeance, justice and retribution, for the sake of those who have wronged us! We do it, in part, for ourselves, to avoid bitterness and even more sin. But more importantly, we do it to protect and exalt the name of our God.

Whenever we give into selfish desires, we hurt more than just ourselves. We damage the reputation of God in the eyes of the world!

Too often, people do terrible things out of selfish desires, and then claim to be believers! Dennis Rader, the serial killer known as the Bind-Torture-Kill Strangler, was the president of his church board and claimed from prison to be a genuine believer, despite the brutal murders of at least ten people over more than twenty years. Such hypocrisy only brings scorn on the name of God!

Remember, we represent the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob and his Messiah, Yeshua! We want people to look at us and see God’s character, rather than for people to look at God and see only ours.

Shabbat Shalom.

There is a growing controversy among Messianics about what name should be used when referring to our messiah, and it goes far beyond promotional items you can get on Messianic Web sites. As messianics, obviously, the Hebrew name of the messiah is the preferred usage. That means his name on this blog will usually be rendered as Yeshua.

And that is Yeshua, not Yehoshua; there’s no “hay” in the Messiah’s name, and therefore no “h” sound.

Among Messianics, preferring the use of messiah’s Hebrew name is not controversial. What is controversial, however, is whether it is legitimate to use His Greek name, rendered into English as Jesus.

Now, some congregations discourage the use of the name Jesus, out of sensitivity to their Hebrew attendees. However, it is one thing to prefer Yeshua and discourage the use of the name Jesus; it is entirely another to develop a sense of legalism around the issue.

Recently, I have heard some fellow Messianics say things as eye-popping as, “You are praying to a false god if you use the name Jesus!” Nothing could be further from the truth!

Speaking historically, there is nothing “false god worshiping” about using Messiah’s Greek name, nor its English equivalent. As a friend of mine recently pointed out, when Yeshua hung on the cross, his name was rendered in three languages, not just Hebrew. Latin and Greek were the other two languages.

I was going to write about my term life insurance quote from Wholesale Insurance, but then I decided I’d better finish my thoughts on the name of our Messiah.

I fear that, in some respects, those who are so legalistic about using the name Yeshua only are in danger of making such usage an idol. There is no “magic quality” to the name Yeshua, or Jesus. They are the equivalents of each other, and one must not be careful to pin the mistakes of the historic church on one of the names for our Messiah.

What has power and meaning and salvation in Him is the person that name represents: the sole incarnate Son of Adonai, the Living Torah. Whether you call Him Jesus or Yeshua is not as important as whether you recognize who He is, as He revealed Himself to be.

I am a messianic and love the name of Yeshua. But I was not always messianic, and when I came to know Messiah, it was the name of Jesus I called on. That does not make the first 15-plus years of my salvation less legitimate, as some might suggest.

I’ll close with this final thought: My father is up here visiting with my wife and I for the Thanksgiving holiday. When we pray over our meals, we have on occasion taught him our Hebrew prayers that use the name of Yeshua.

However, my Dad is 86 and although he tries to be open, there’s a limit to what he can adjust to. As a courtesy to him, we have taken to reciting a prayer over our meal that my father is far more comfortable and familiar with:

“Come, Lord Jesus. Be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed.”

While I will always love the Hebrew meal blessings, and the fact that I know that those are the words Yeshua himself prayed over his meals, I would never want that lesson to transform from a blessing into such spiritual arrogance that I would assume my salvation is superior to that of someone else, who only knows Messiah as Jesus.

Any teaching that denies Jesus as a legitimate name for our Messiah goes too far and leads only to division, spiritual darkness, and worst of all, false theology. Haven’t we had enough of that, both in Judaism and Christianity?

It’s time to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not drive people from Him over petty squabbles like this.