LIFE

This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Va-yeira, meaning "And He appeared". The Hebrew letters used to write Va-yeira are vaw, yod, reysh, aleph. Each of these pictographic letters, when put together, can mean, "The nail in the hand of the Most High Adonai (Lord)". Va-yeira comes from the first verse of Gen. 18: "Then the LORD (YHWY, the Hebrew letters of which mean "Behold the hand, behold the nail") appeared (ra'a, ra'a [2X] - to see, look at, perceive, have vision, foresee, give attention to, discern, to be visible, to be seen, to cause to see, to be exhibited to, to look at each other, face) to him (Abraham) by the terebinth trees (elon/ayil - plain, great tree, oak, strong tree, terebinth/rams, mighty men, posts and lintel) of Mamre, as he was sitting (yasab - sit, inhabit, remain, continue, stay, dwell, have one's abode, to marry, endure, establish, thrones of kings or judges, an army that holds possession of, to lie in wait to spring on a prey) in the tent (ohel/ahal - tabernacle, tent, dwelling, covering, temple/to be clear, shine, to be bright) door (petah/patah - opening, doorway, entrance, gate/to open, appear, engrave, break forth, go free, let loose, be thrown open, unstop, set open, loose bonds) in the heat of the day (yom - day, time, year, lifetime, perpetually, continually, age, season, certain day, now, yesterday-today-tomorrow, all days)." All of these Hebrew words have significant meanings, but we can summarize by saying that Abraham is inhabiting a very special place - the door of his shining tent, or tabernacle/temple, the place of the doorpost and lintel (where later generations would apply the blood of the lamb for Passover), where things are let loose, set free, break forth and appear continually and forever. Abraham was "sitting", dwelling, remaining, married, in the throne of a king or judge in a time of enflaming, kindling heat. It is in this place that the LORD appears (ra'a - see above) to him. What is going to be let loose? Verses 2 and 3 of Chapter 18 tells us: "So he (Abraham) lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw (them), 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 (hen - favor, grace, acceptance) in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant." (v. 3). As we discovered in last week's Sabbath reading (see previous blog entry "Go!", below), when the expression "lifted up his eyes and looked, or saw" is used, "lifted up" is the Hebrew word nasa (to lift, bear up, carry, suport, sustain, endure, forgive, pardon, exalted, desire, long for, to cause to bring, support, aid, assist), and "looked/saw" in this case is the Hebrew word ra'a, which is defined above. Abraham begins to "see" by revelation, and the meaning also gives us the understanding that what he "sees", he spiritually carries, bears, supports, assists, and causes to bring about by doing so. The first loosing, breaking forth, and setting free that the LORD would engage in during His appearance would be the promise of a child to childless and elderly Abraham and Sarah as the LORD said: "I will certainly return (sub - return, restore, refresh, repair, bring back, deliver, recover) to you according to the time of life (et/ad + hay/haya/hava - time, season + forever, eternity, everlasting, world without end/live, life, alive, revival, renewal/alive, restored to life, revive, save/to breathe, live, declare), and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son...Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time (mo'ed/ya'ad - appointed place and time, sacred season, set feast, solemn assembly/betroth, assemble, engage for marriage), I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." (Gen. 18:10, 14). When the LORD said, "according to the time of life", as translated into English, the Hebrew means "everlasting life" and "restored to life", or "revived life". This is what Abraham ra'a "saw" and "carried" that brought forth the birth of his son, Isaac, as promised, with his wife Sarah. However, during this appearance of the LORD to Abraham, there was also a judgment determined against Sodom (and Gomorrha). The appointed time, is the same word used for the feasts of the LORD, as the LORD would command Moses to establish in a future generation. In this case, the appointed time was an appointment with everlasting life, and revival of life, through which a new life, a son to Abraham and Sarah, would be born. This is what can happen when we "lift up our eyes and see". The LORD has also appeared before Abraham for another ministry pertaining to life. It will be the judgment against, and obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah. How could this possibly be viewed as "pertaining to life"? We will see: And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...since...all nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?'...And the LORD said, 'Because the outcry (za'aq - cry, outcry, distress, shriek from anguish, crying, clamor, summon, company) against Sodom (meaning "burning, to scorch") and Gomorrah (amora/amar - submersion, ruined heap/treat as a slave, to manipulate, deal tyrannically with, bind sheaves of grain, make merchandise of, plunge into conflict, rancor, or malice) is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry (se-aqa/sa'aq - cry of distress as heard by God, a shriek/cry for help) against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." (Gen. 18:16-21, excerpt). As we read the disturbing account of the angels of the LORD visiting Sodom to view the conditions there, we know that the sin of Sodom included perversion, molestation and sexual violence against those who could not defend themselves (see Gen. 19:4-11). The anguish of their victims was so great, that their cries came up as clamorous shrieks before the LORD. In the case of Gomorrah, there is a binding together of sheaves in an evil false harvest, rather than the harvest unto salvation of the LORD. There is a merchandising and enslavement of human beings that is called trafficking. We can see this evil revealed earlier in scripture, when Abraham saved the captives of Sodom from an invading king for the sake of his nephew Lot who lived in Sodom. The king of Sodom wanted to reward Abraham for his victory: "Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.' But Abram said...'I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich..." (Gen. 14:21-23). The king of Sodom coveted the "persons", but the Hebrew word used is nepes/napas, meaning "soul, life, mind, heart, body, living being, seat of the appetites, activity of the will, breath/to take breath, refresh oneself, to be breathed upon". They used sexual predation and molestation to harvest and harm the souls of the living. However, the souls of men do not belong to them. God created that living soul of man by breathing into him (Gen. 2:7). Man may try to justify and excuse their ways of slavery, death, and darkness, but God hears the cries of the souls that He has created with His own breath of life, and He will answer those cries. For those who have suffered the manipulation, the trafficking, the enslavement: if you have been the victim of this kind of attack upon your soul, know that God is the healer and restorer of souls, and cry to Him. He IS life. King David wrote of the LORD as his (Good) Shepherd, saying, "He restoreth (sub - see above) my soul (nepes - see above)." (Ps. 23:3). Scripture describes the LORD as the Shepherd, Bishop, Savior, and Preserver (samar - keep, guard, observe, have charge of, to watch for, to wait for, to treasure up, to celebrate, protect, save, take care) of our (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega: See Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) souls (see 1 Pet. 2:25, Ps. 121:7, 1 Pet. 1:6-9). In this Sabbath reading portion of Va-yeira, there are two other miraculous births, and a raising of the dead. In 2 Kings 4, a woman from Shunem (meaning double resting place; quiet) in northern Israel, wanted to establish an upper room for the prophet Elisha in her home, for when he travels through their area. She says to her husband: "Look (hinna/hen - behold, see having a demonstrable power) now, I know (yada - perceive and see, discern, be revealed, cause to know, discover, know by experience, see with the eyes) that this Elisha is a holy man of God who passes by us regularly..." (v. 9). Because of her works based upon this sight and knowledge, the addition of a chamber for him in her home, Elisha prophesied that the Shunammite woman would have a son: "...according to the time of life (see above), you shall embrace a son." (v. 16). Again, as with Abraham, a child is prophesied out of eternal life, according to the Hebrew meanings of the words used. This son was indeed born, but as he grew, he suffered a sharp pain in his head, and died. The Shunammite woman rode a number of miles to Mt. Carmel, to bring back Elisha to her son, all the while declaring "It is well." (v. 23, 26). With prayer, Elisha was able to bring her son back to life as the son laid in the upper chamber that had been built for the prophet (v. 32-35). Elisha did this by being stretched out on top of the child. As this scene is described specifically in v. 34, the formation of their bodies would be in the shape of a cross. In English, Elisha is described as "walking the house to and fro", but in Hebrew it is yalak (to walk, follow, carry, flow, bear, vanish), and ehad,ehad (one, united, alike, together). This reminds me of what Jesus said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Mt. 16:24-25, Mk. 8:34, Lk. 9:23). Do we want to find the kind of life that is everlasting? We are being given the key by Jesus here, and in the account of Elisha and the Shunammite woman. This is indeed our "double resting place", or Shunem. In 1 Sam. 1, from the Va-yeira reading, Hannah, whose name means "grace", was childless. As she brought her feast offering to the tabernacle at Shiloh, she was overcome by sadness, and launched into deep prayer before the door of the house of the LORD. The high priest, Eli, who was sitting by the doorpost of the tabernacle, observes her and finally says, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him...So it came to pass in the process of time (haya/hava +tequpa,tequpa 2X/naqap - arise, appear, to be established, to exist/to breathe + in the complete circuit of time [to strike with violence, to cut down, detroy, join together by nails, to cut], time continually and ever) that Hannah, or "Grace", conceived and bore a son, and called his (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) name Samuel (meaning "name of God" or "Heard of God"), saying, 'Because I have asked for him from the LORD." (v. 17, 20). So again, we have a reference to a life coming from the completed circuit of time. It is interesting that with the use of the Hebrew root word naqap in this verse, the image of the crucifixion is connected to the completed or compassing circuit of time. Scripture tells us that the Lamb of God, Jesus, was sacrificed before the foundation of the world, before time began (Rev. 13:8, 1 Pet. 1:19-20, Jn. 1:29, 32-36). Before closing Va-yeira, we go back to Abraham, who "saw" into eternity to the sacrificial death, and resurrection to life of the Son. This is how it happened. Abraham was commanded by God to take his miracle (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) son, (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Isaac, whom the LORD called "your only son whom you love, and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountains of Moriah, which the LORD would "show" him. (Gen. 22:1-2). So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took his son with him. "Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) place afar off." (v. 4). We know the story of the offering of Isaac, of how Isaac asked, "...where is the lamb for a burnt offering?", and of how Abraham answered, "God will provide for Himself the lamb." (v. 7-8). At the last moment, the Angel of the LORD stopped Abraham. Then Abraham lifted (nasa) his eyes and looked (ra'a), and behind him was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. It was the ram of offering provided by God (v. 11-13). The mountains of Moriah are the mountains that Jerusalem, established long after Abraham's time, sits on. We see the phrase saying that Abraham "lifted up his eyes and saw". From our previous Sabbath reading, we know that this means that Abraham was seeing by the Spirit, by revelation. Abraham saw "the place". This is the Hebrew word maqom, meaning "place", but the root word qum means "arise, raise, proven, valid, fulfilled, become powerful, be established, ordain, perform, accomplish, confirmed, ratify, to raise oneself, raise up, set up, be raised up"! Abraham saw this "place" afar off, the Hebrew words rahoq/rahaq, which not only mean far in physical distance, but far in distance of time, also precious, dear, long ago, of old, great while to come (future) arduous, difficult. I think that when Abraham lifted his eyes and saw in revelation, he saw the cross, and, considering his complete faith, perhaps he also saw the resurrection, as Jesus seems to say: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." (Jn. 8:56). We can see Abraham's intimate knowledge of Christ here in these verses. God is the God of the living, not the dead. He is the God of LIFE forever more. The LORD felt that His people had no excuse for their continual failure to "see" and "understand" who He is. They had no excuse, the LORD told Jeremiah, for relying upon themselves and their meaningless and useless idols, which they honored instead of Him (see Jer. 7). How can we not ra'a see this awesome God who has appeared to us? There are many other lessons to learn from Va-yeira, "And He appeared", but we have enough here to think about! If you would like to know more about our LORD of life and appearing, you can pray with me: "Father in heaven, anoint my eyes to see You and all of Your glory, and the glory of Your resurrected Son, who died for me. You are life, and You hold eternity in Your hand. You know the end from the beginning, and You reveal Yourself to us. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and open my heart to understand how You guard my soul, Your breath of life in me. My soul, spirit, and body belong to you, and are entrusted into Your hands all the days of my life. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."