Sent

This week's scheduled sabbath reading is titled Va-yishlach, which means "he sent". What does it mean to each of us to be sent by God? I found through these readings that it means more than I thought. Added to that is the fact that we are still in the Book of Genesis, or B'reshiet in Hebrew, which means the Book of Beginning. The accounts that we read throughout this Book deal with beginnings and foundations that will affect, and even rule, future events and conditions for God's people. To begin our reading in Gen. 32:23, we find that on his way back to his homeland, and to a dangerous meeting with his brother, Esau, Jacob sends his wives, and children ahead of him, over the ford of the river Jabbok: "He took them (laqah - carry away, take out, take with the hand, take in marriage), sent them over (abar - cross/pass over, pass through, leave, pass away, pass beyond, vanish, cease to exist, pass into other hands, dedicate/devote, cross a stream) the brook (nahal - river, torrent-valley, mine shaft (depth, descent)/inheritance, possession, to be allotted, bequeath, inherit (as a mode of descent), and sent over what he had." The river being crossed over by the family is the Jabbok (yabaq/baqaq - emptying, make void, utterly empty, devastate, empty out, pour out). The wives, children, and all that Jacob has, passed over or through the "utterly empty, devastated, void" place, through a ford (ma'abar - passage, transit, a crossing place, a passing over, a narrow valley). Considering the Hebrew meanings of the words used in this verse, we can see that Jacob spiritually passed his wives, children, and all that he had into Another's hands, God's in this case, as if they ceased to exist, thereby dedicating and devoting them. We would also be reminded of what David said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;" (Ps. 23:4). Sometimes, if we desperately want to preserve something, we have to give it up, give it away, into God's hands, allowing it to become a "dedicated" or "devoted" thing which He receives from us. Along with his precious family, Jacob also sent "what he had" across the river (Gen. 32:23). What he had were the streaked (aqod/aqad - marked with stripes, to bind or tie with things), speckled (naqod -mark by puncturing, marked wwith points, little spots), and spotted (tala - diverse colors, clouted, having large spots, mended with patches, sewn together) flocks that he had bred in front of rods (Gen. 30:38-39). These flocks that had been miraculously created by the sheep gazing upon the striped, speckled and spotted rods while they were at their water, took on the markings similar to the markings inflicted upon Jesus. As Jacob consigned his flocks into Another's hands as they passed over "death, it is possible to me that these flocks represent those who would come to Christ. Perhaps each mark of abuse upon Christ's body drew specific "sheep" to Him. Some came to the stripes created by a whipping administered while He was bound and tied, some to His speckles, or puncture wounds, and some to the large spots inflicted upon Him from a beating that made Him look like pieces sewn together. It brings to mind the verse about the Messiah from Isaiah: "But He was wounded (kalal- pierced through, perforate) for our transgressions, He was bruised (daka - bruised, smite, beat to pieces, crush) for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes (habura/habar - wounds, blows, blueness, bruises, stripe, mark of a stroke on skin, black and blue/join together, be united, variegated with colors, have fellowship) we are healed (rapa - heal, cure, repair, to mend by stitching, to sew together, to restore, comfort, pardon). All we like sheep have gone astray...and the LORD has laid (caused to land) on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:5-6). For me, the similarities are too many to be coincidence. It is possible that we were prophetically represented in those miraculous flocks that Jacob sent across the river. Back to our story: After sending his people and flocks across the river, Jacob was getting ready to take a stand for his future generations, which God had promised him at the place Jacob renamed "Bethel", meaning "the house/family/desendants/descendants of an organized body of God" (see Gen. 28:12-19). We read: "Then Jacob was left alone (yatar - remain, remnant, reserved/preserved, show pre-eminence, excel, to be beyond measure, to exceed bounds, abound, profit, gain a victory); and a Man wrestled (abaq - grapple, float away as a vapor, pound to make small as dust) with him until the breaking (ala - come up, ascend, depart, light, raised, exalted, to be offered) of day (sahar - dayspring, morning, light, rise, wings, end of dark night and coming of dawn, to seek early and earnestly, diligently seek, to painstakingly search for, to break forth as of light, to seek God and long after Him)." (Gen. 32:24). The picture being created to me by these Hebrew words is that Jacob stayed behind to wrestle (become dust, vapor) a Man, not an angel -some say the Man here is Christ- for resurrection life after death. I do believe that the Man was Christ, because He had the authority to bless Jacob, and to rename him "Israel" (see Isa. 62:2, Rev. 2:17). The Man also asked the question, "Why is it that you ask about My name?". That seems like a "Jesus kind" of question to me (see Lk. 18:18-19, Lk. 9:18-20). Also the Person that Jacob wrestled with was connected to resurrection, according to the meaning of the words, "breaking of day", used here. So we can see, the nation of Israel born from a blessing and promise of resurrection to Jacob, would also eventually produce the Person of Resurrection who said: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Mt. 15:24). Also Paul wrote of the connection of Israel to the resurrection: "For if their (Israel's) being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches." (Rom. 11:15-16). Jacob's wrestling for the blessing was a beginning. Resurrection was going to come from out of his promised descendants. In any case, Jacob was sent by God, and in turn, sent his wives, children, and all that he had, in a way that would ensure the survival and restoration of their future generations to come, as we will see in our next sabbath reading portion from Malachi 3. Malachi prophesied a promise from the LORD. The LORD, the Messenger of the Covenant, would come to the house of the LORD suddenly: "Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts. (Mal. 3:1). This is going to be a problem for Israel, because they would not at all be prepared for such an event. The prophet asked: "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap." (v. 2). This is the Messiah, Jesus, of whom the prophet is speaking. He comes, not to destroy Israel and its priesthood, as deserved, but He will purify, purge, and refine them so they are not destroyed: "For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed (kala - consume, end, finish, vanish, perish, be destroyed, exterminate), O sons of Jacob." (v. 6). The LORD specifically identifies His people who will receive this saving mercy of purification as "sons of Jacob". The LORD, instead of consuming His people for their disregard, will send the Refiner to spare them based upon His covenant promise to Jacob, who sent his children to cross over "death", and dedicated them into the hands of the LORD. In Gen. 35, another portion from this Sabbath's readings, God repeated the promise made to Jacob when Jacob had travelled back to Bethel: "Then God appeared to Jacob again...and blessed him. And God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.' So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: 'I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.' (Gen.35:9-12). The name of a man, and also the name of a nation are given again by the LORD in this encounter. This is the beginning of Israel as a nation. Jacob left Bethel, but where would God send him next? Jacob had traveled only a short distance until he and his company came to a place called Ephrath (meaning "place of fruitfulness"), where his dear wife, Rachel, went into labor with her second child, who would be Jacob's twelfth and final son. Rachel would die after giving birth to the son that she named Ben-Oni ("Son of My Sorrow'), but whom Jacob named, Benjamin, meaning "Son of the Right Hand" (Gen. 35:16-20). Both of the names given to the child prophetically identify Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53:3 prophetically called the Messiah to come, "A Man of Sorrows" ("pain, anguish, grief"), and Jesus Christ is said in scripture to be seated at the right hand of the Father, God (see Mt. 22:41-46, Mk. 16:19, Acts 2:30-36, Rom. 8:32-34, Heb. 10:10-14). So where or what is this place named Ephrath where Rachel died? It is also known as Bethlehem, of course! The LORD would later prophesy concerning Bethlehem: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth from Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old (qedem - aforetime, beginning, eternal), from everlasting (yom-olam/alam - day, time, always - ever, everlasting, continuous existence/secret thing, hidden, concealed)....And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth." (Micah 5:2, 4). The death of Rachel after childbirth was very sad, however, the LORD was not finished with Rachel. He used her life as a beginning from which to later prophesy the return of "her children" from captivity in another portion from this sabbath's reading schedule. He promised the following in order to comfort both Rachel, and Israel: "At the same time', says the LORD, 'I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.' The LORD has appeared of old to me saying: 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!...For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim (of the same meaning as Ephrath/Bethlehem) is My firstborn...Thus says the LORD: 'A voice was heard in Ramah (a city within the tribe of Benjamin), lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.' Thus says the LORD: 'Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,' says the LORD, 'and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is a hope in your future', says the LORD, 'that your children shall come back to their own border." (Jer. 31:1, 3-4, 9, 15-17). Rachel was long gone at the time of this prophecy, but her living prophetic voice was still being heard by the LORD. From the beginnings established through Rachel in this case, and Jacob, the relationship between God and Israel, both the person and the nation, was established out of eternity and into time. Jacob didn't just wander according to his own plans, he was sent by God, every establishing step of the way. If you would like to know more about being sent by the LORD, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, in my life, I pray to be like one sent by You, rather than by my own will and plan. Guide the steps of my life, and use them to establish a future and hope in You for those who will follow now and in the future. I see Your omniscient knowledge in these sabbath readings, not only meant to teach me about Who You are, but to assure me that my submitted steps have divine and everlasting purpose in Christ. My voice will never die, and my resurrection life is firmly established from before the beginning through Jesus Christ. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can walk with eyes that see, and ears that hear, and a heart that perceives You. I ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."