Appeared

The title of this week's sabbath reading. Va-yeira means "and He appeared", referring to this first sentence of Gen. 18: "Then the LORD appeared to him (Abraham) by the terebinth trees (plains) of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day." (v. 1). There is so much contained in the Hebrew words of this first sentence, that I don't want to present them in a confusing manner. We can start with the word "appeared". This is the Hebrew word ra'a, which means all of the usual meanings connected with the idea of "appearing". However, it also means "to see the face of God- a privilege conferred to few mortals, to be admitted to behold God", and "to enjoy the light, to live", "to see Jehovaah in the land of the living", "to be taught in visions divinely brought as said of the prophets". The terebinth or plains of Mamre in Hebrew refers to a place of great strength, mighty and strong like an oak; a ram as a symbol of the strength of God as a sacrifice, as food, and as dyed skins for the tabernacle, the curled horns of a ram twisted together for strength. One of its root meanings is to be invigorated, to beat the air with wings in order to rise up. The word for "tent" used in this first sentence is ohel/ahal meaning "tent, tabernacle, dwelling/to shine, a shining vibrating appearance". The door, petah, is an entrance or an opening, but also means "to begin, to utter words, to open the mouth to speak". The use of the word "day" or yom, can mean a single day, during daytime as opposed to the night, or it can also refer to "continually as yesterday, today, and tomorrow, perpetually, in all time", If you put all of this information together from just one sentence, we can see that this is not going to turn out to be an ordinary day in Abraham's life! This is a prophetic day, a day of great power and vision. As Genesis is the Book of Beginnings, or B'reishit, we will find a beginning being established here that will bless the people of God, and affect the rest of time. When the LORD appeared to Abraham, He appeared as three men together, which is a Trinity. When Abraham saw the three men, "...he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My LORD, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant...".(v. 2-3). Abraham quickly made arrangements for the Men to rest, wash their feet, and he had his household prepare a full meal, including a tender and good calf which Abraham had run to the herd to select himself (v. 6-8). Abraham stood by them under the tree as they ate: "Then they said to him, 'Where is Sarah your wife?' So he said, 'Here in the tent' (v. 9). We know the rest of the story. The LORD promised to return "according to the time of life", and Abraham's wife would have a son. This was a miracle, because both Abraham and Sarah were old, and had not had a child together (v. 10-11). In fact, Sarah, who had been listening at the tent door, found this prophecy to be very funny, considering their advanced ages, but the LORD wasn't joking. In fact, the LORD said to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (v. 14). Here we are seeing the beginning of something important for us to know, and we will see more in another reading portion from this week's sabbath. In 2 Kings 4, we read about a noble woman from Shunen: "Now it happened one day that Elisha (a prophet with a double-portion anointing) went to Shunem, where there was a notable (gadol - great, high, mighty, important, be magnified, of God Himself) woman, and she persuaded (hazaq - strong, prevail, courage, be resolute, press, be urgent, prevail upon, use one's strength) him to eat some food, and from then on, whenever he was in the area, he would turn in there, or turn aside there, to eat (2 Kings 4:8). Now Elisha's name (el-eeshua) means "God is Salvation". The unnamed woman of Shunem, meaning double portion of rest, practically dragged "God of Salvation" into her house to eat, and wouldn't take no for an answer. She and her unnamed husband even built a chamber (aliya/ala - roof chamber, upper room, going up, light arose, ascent, ascending the steps that went up to the temple/come up, arose, to come up (before God), to be a burnt offering, to raise, recover, restore) onto their house so that the prophet of God could rest there in their home during his travels in the area. There are some similarities here to the story of Abraham above, as we can see. "And it happened one day...he (Elisha) said to Gehazi (meaning "Valley of Vision"), his servant, 'Call this Shunammite woman'...and she stood before him." (v. 11-12). The prophet then asked his servant to ask the woman, '...What can I do for you?' because she had been concerned for him with all of this care. He offered to speak to the king, or to the commander of the army on her behalf, but she told him that she was fine among her own people and didn't need anything from those highest, most powerful earthly authorities. Who would turn down a favor from the king? But there was nothing that she wanted or needed that could be granted by an earthly king. Then the prophet's servant told him that she had no son, "and her husband is old". The prophet called her in to him again, and she stood in the doorway of the upper chamber(v. 14-15). Like Abraham, the only thing the Shunammite woman needed could only be miraculously given to her by God. The prophet said to her, "About this time next year, you shall embrace a son." Like Sarah, Abraham's wife, the Shunammite woman thought that this was absurdly impossible, "But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time (mo'ed/ya'ad - appointed time or season, tent of meeting, appointed sign, set feast, congregation, synagogue, of the feast sacrifices/assemble together, betrothed, to engage for marriage, come together at an appointed time or place) had come, of which Elisha had told her." (v. 16-17). There was a prophesied appointed time set to conceive and bear a child for this woman who had prevailed upon Elisha, "God of salvation", to enter into her house to eat food. This does not end the story of the Shunammite woman and the prophet Elisha. Sometime later "it happened one day" that her miracle son suddenly collapsed in pain. The woman sat the child on her knees (berek/barak - to bless, to adore, to praise, or to curse, blaspheme) until noon (sohar/sahar - midday, window for light (as in Noah's ark), a double light/to squeeze out oil, to make oil, to glisten) when he died. She enclosed the child in the prophet's upper chamber of her house and shut the door. She held that child in the place of blessing, praise and adoration to God, rather than in the place of cursing and blasphemy, until the precious, shining anointing oil had been squeezed out in her prayers. She then immediately left to go to the prophet at Mount Carmel at the greatest speed. The prophet saw her coming, and sent his servant to run to meet her. What she had been speaking up to this point is "It is well." Elisha sent his servant to race ahead. Then he also came to the woman's home because of her insistence, to the chamber that had been set aside for him where the child was now laid, and the child was revived to life by Elisha. The woman fell at Elisha's feet, and bowed to the ground. (v. 18-37). This household, that had prevailed upon "God is salvation", or Elisha, to come in, experienced not only a miraculous birth, but the raising of the dead as well. In another of this sabbath's reading portions, Hannah ("grace, entreaty, prayer, mercy, supplication, favor, pity, implore favor, to be shown consideration, to dwell, to pitch a tent"), who was barren and scorned, went up yearly with her husband and his other wife to worship and sacrifice at the tabernacle of the LORD at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:1-3). Jewish tradition says that Hannah came with her family to Shiloh to observe Passover, but this is not written specifically in scripture. Her husband repeatedly asked her to eat the meal, which could have been the Seder meal, if it was indeed Passover, but her soul was too sorrowful. Hannah's husband, Elkanah (meaning "God has created") provided her with a double portion offering to give to God. She finished eating and drinking, and approached the tabernacle where Eli (ala- see above root for "chamber" - ascension, going up, etc.), the priest, was sitting "on the seat by the doorpost (mezuza/ziz - doorpost upon which the hinges turn/abundance, fulness, moving creatures or any moving thing) of the of the tabernacle of the LORD". (1 Sam. 1:1-9). There before Eli and the door of the tabernacle, Hannah wept bitterly and prayed because of her barrenness. Hannah vowed to the LORD that if He would remember her and give her a male child, she would offer that child back to the LORD in His service (v. 11). The priest, Eli, had at first thought that Hnnah was a drunken worshipper of the false god Belial because of her behavior. When Hannah told him that this was not so, Eli agreed with her prayer that the LORD would grant Hannah her petition, and told her to go in peace (v. 12-17). In any case, Hannah did indeed conceive and bear a son, who would grow to be the prophet and judge of Israel, Samuel. Hannah also went on to have additional children. In fact, 1 Sam. 2:21 says, "And the LORD visited (paqat - to visit, attend to, to pay attention to, to be watched over, to observe, to care for) Hannah, so that she conceived, and bear three sons and two daughters." So this week's sabbath readings titled Va-yeira, or "and He appeared", introduces us to a special phenomenon, when we join the LORD in a place where "He appears", and miracles, and answered prayers occur. We make a place, a tent door, an upper chamber (see also Lk. 22:7-8, 12-14, where Jesus keeps the Passover with His disciples in an upper room), where we meet the Salvation of God, not for everyday earthly needs, which your heavenly Father already knows you have need of (Mt. 6:30-32 - Don't pray as the Gentiles do!!), but pray there instead for the "impossible". God also spoke to Moses at the door of the Tent of Meeting: "All the people saw the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses." (Ex. 33:9-11). Jesus talked to a lukewarm church about meeting Him in this special spiritual place, and inviting Him in: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20). That lukewarm, self-satisfied church, Jesus said, would go from being ineffective to being "overcomers" with Him. Jesus, the Salvation of God, also said, "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately...Blessed are these servants...Assuredly I say to you that he (the master) will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them." (Lk. 12:35-37). And, as Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus how He would manifest Himself (emphanizo/emphanes - to show oneself, appear, make known/God giving proof of His saving grace and thus manifesting Himself) to His disciples, but not to the world, Jesus answered: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." (Jn. 14:22-23). We see another example when Jesus is constrained (parabiazomai - to compel by employing force or by entreaties) to come in and stay, when He would have continued on, in a way similar to the Shunammite woman with Elisha, above. Jesus then sat at the table with them, and broke bread with them, and their eyes were "opened", and they knew Him (Lk. 24:27-35). Sadly, in the last sabbath reading portion for this week, the prophet Jeremiah wrote of how the people of God mis-used and abused this special and intimate spiritual place of meeting with the LORD, mixing in their worldly and profane beliefs, yet still expecting the LORD to manifest Himself as He did with Abraham, the Shunammite woman, and Hannah. This profane mis-use of the house called by the name of the LORD had turned it instead into a den of thieves. They received judgment when they could have received the appearing of the LORD, and "the impossible" from their prayers. (Jer. 7:1, 11, 20). Jesus also cleansed the temple, the place for meeting God, from being a den of thieves, and immediately afterwards, "...the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them." (Mt. 21:12-14). If you would like to learn more about the place where the LORD appears to us, and dines with us, you can pray with me: "Dear Father, God of our Salvation, do not pass by here, but come in and dine with me. Help me to understand how to prepare an upper chamber for You in my heart, which is the door of my tent, where the impossible becomes possible, because You have said, "Is there anything too hard for the LORD?" Let me prepare for You the finest things that I have, and then run to answer Your knock, and receive Your appearing. I ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."