Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Why?
[00:00:01] Sometimes you just have to ask that question. Why? Why did this have to happen? Why can't things work out the way we need them to? Why do we have so much pain and suffering? But maybe the bigger question is, how do we respond during those times? Do we run away from God, or do we hold on tighter? Because how we respond can determine what happens next. Sure, it can be difficult to hold on during times of testing, but sometimes God is just waiting on us to make the next move, as we'll soon discover in this week's five minute Torah.
[00:00:44] This week, we're studying the Torah portion of Toladolt, Genesis 20 519 through 28 nine. And here are the three things that you need to know about it. Number one, wrestling in the womb, Jacob and Esau. Parashat Toldolt gives us the backstory of the conflict between Isaac's twin sons, Jacob and Esau. From the womb, there was strife between them. Sensing the trouble within her, Rebecca asks the Lord, what is going on? He responds by telling her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. After telling their unique birth where Esau is born, with Jacob holding onto his heel, the Torah quickly moves into the story of Esau, spurning his birthright and selling it to his brother Jacob for a pot of lentil soup, setting the stage for what happens at the end of the Torah portion. Number two, Isaac and Abimelek. Like father, like son. Another famine hit Canaan, as it did in the days of Abraham, and Isaac repeated his father's actions nearly verbatim. He took his family toward Egypt, but only as far as the Philistine city of Garar. When he entered the city, he pretended that Rebekah was his sister, like his father Abraham had done. One day, Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac flirting with Rebekah and realized that she was not Isaac's sister, but indeed his wife. He rebuked Isaac and sent out a decree that Rebecca would be protected from any lustful man in the city. Once again, God protected his children despite their seemingly poor choices. And number three, the first heist, Isaac, blesses Jacob. Although God had promised Rebecca that Jacob would be the one he would choose over his older brother Esau, evidently it wasn't a known fact with the rest of the family, it seems as if Isaac fully intended on carrying on with Esau at the head. In his old age, his vision had gotten to the point where he had trouble making out the features of people and evidently couldn't tell his sons apart by merely their looks. Rebecca uses this to her advantage and has Jacob pretend to be Esau when his brother was away in order to receive Isaac's blessing. That was supposed to be reserved for Esau. For many years after this event, Jacob would live in fear of his brother's retribution. Hey, Hanukah is just a few weeks away. If you want to have a great family experience for Hanukkah, be sure to pick up your copy of eight Lights, my Hanukkah how to and devotional that will make each night of Hanukah a night to remember. It has well over 105 star reviews on Amazon, has consistently been in the top ten bestsellers for the Messianic Judaism category in the weeks leading up to Hanukah. So if you want to have fun and learn to be a better disciple of our master Yeshua, then check out my book eight lights, using the link below. Well, hey, this week's Torah commentary is called the Prayer of the Righteous, and it comes from my book five minute Torah, Volume two.
[00:03:52] The Torah portion of Toldot is essentially the story explaining how Jacob ended up receiving the birthright in place of his older brother Esau. At the very beginning of the story, however, Isaac and Rebecca are without children. Like her mother in law Sarah, Rebecca is barren just a few chapters over. We also see that Rachel, the favored wife of Jacob, is also barren. All three of these matriarchs struggle with fertility, yet all three eventually are able to conceive. Why is it that all three of these godly families struggled in this way? Well, the Talmud proposes that it was because the Lord desired their prayers. Rabbi Isaac stated, why were our ancestors barren? Because the Holy One, blessed be he, longs to hear the prayer of the righteous. This is from tractate Yavamote 64 a well. Is this truly the case? Well, in Genesis 25 21 we read, and Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. In Hebrew, the words prayed and granted his prayer use two different forms of the same root word Ata, which has the general meaning of pleading or supplicating the way it is used in the second part of this passage, however, seems to be less passive than our English translations generally render it. Rashi suggests that it should read quote, and he prevailed on the Lord, commenting, he, meaning God, allowed himself to be entreated and placated and swayed by him. The Minrash suggests that Isaac's entreatment quote dug through to the Lord and compelled him to act on his behalf. It uses a play on words to compare the entreatment of Isaac to a prince digging a tunnel to his father. From this perspective, Isaac's prayers were not only answered but also aided by the Lord. Rabbalevi said, this may be compared to the son of a king who was digging through to his father to receive a pound of gold from him. Thus the king dug from within while his son dug from without. This is from Genesis. Rabba 63 Five Another perspective of Isaac's prayer is found in the Talmud. Using a play on words, Rabbi Isaac connects the word for entreat with the word for pitchfork to convey the concept that the prayer of the righteous has the ability to sway the divine will. Why is the prayer of the righteous compared to a pitchfork? As a pitchfork turns the sheaves of grain from one position to another, so does the prayer of the righteous turn the dispensations of the Holy One, blessed be he, from one attribute of anger to the other attribute of mercy. Yevamote 64 Eight well, James, the brother of our Master, testifies to this when he writes, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 516 he then explains that Elijah was a person whose prayers were answered miraculously, not because of some special ability he had in himself. His prayers were answered simply because he was in right standing with his Creator. Bold tenacity, or chutzpah in Hebrew, is sometimes needed in our prayer. Our master Yeshua taught his disciples several parables to convey this concept. His main point, however, was that we should be diligent in our prayers, never giving up. If we believe that our Heavenly Father loves his children, then we should be persistent in praying for those things that we desperately need. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? Matthew Seven, verses seven through eleven sometimes we may feel as if our prayers are falling on deaf ears. It's real. However, we must always remember that we have a loving father who desires to hear his children and bless us with what we need. Well, recently we've had an onslaught of tragedy in our community. One of our elders had a heart attack. One of my closest friends was in a head on collision that nearly claimed his life. And most recently, my father was hospitalized because of a serious condition and is actually awaiting surgery. Even as I record this, however, Baruch Hashem. Praise God. Each of these men are still with us here today, but they may not have been if men and women around the world had not been praying. Time after time after time, I've seen where God's people are in need. They cry out to him, and he provides for their need. My wife and I have been blessed with five amazing children. But like the matriarchs, we were barren for several years before God opened the womb for our first child. We know several families who were in a far more desperate place than we were. Yet God intervened and gave them children as well. We have close friends who didn't receive their first child for 17 years. This past week, they welcomed their second child.
[00:09:40] God is faithful, but we must be faithful as well, especially through our prayers. Right now, we're in a pivotal point in history where the prayers of the saints are critically important. I want to challenge you to up your game when it comes to prayer. Not only does the world need prayer, but God desires our prayers. He wants us to be close to him, for us to communicate with him daily. Will you join me by committing to developing an active prayer life? If you're willing to make that commitment, please let me know by leaving a comment on this video. Let me know what you plan on doing to ramp up your prayer life. And let's work together to transform this broken world into a better place where Yeshua can establish his kingdom. May our prayers ascend to heaven as a sweet aroma before the Holy throne. I'll see you again soon with another messianic insight into the eternal Torah of God. Blessings from Amet Hatorah.
