Chayei Sarah - Sarah Lived
Exodus {34:6} "And The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD, God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, {34:7} keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
Have you ever wondered why some families tend to have recurring tragic patterns in their lives? When they look back into their family history they find recurring things like divorce, no father in the home, personal failures, financial problems, homosexuality, drug and alcohol addiction, untimely deaths, depression, mental illness, unexplained health problems, fear, and many other repeated misfortunes that have occurred over the generations of their family? I have heard that alcoholism, addiction to tobacco, and criminal behavior are genetic predispositions, but is that true? Genetics explains why we look like our parents, but can genetics explain why certain catastrophes can be traced through family lines? Is it possible that there is more at work here than just the arranging of chromosomes? Could the sins of our parents, grandparents and even our great grandparents become issues for us? Are we linked to our generations spiritually?
It may be difficult for some to accept; that our sins are visited upon our children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. However, what God has said in the verse I quoted, is not an isolated occurrence in the Scripture. I have found it four other times. (Exodus 20:3-6; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9-10; and Jeremiah 32:17-18). So, since this warning is repeated at least five times in Scripture, I think it is safe to say that God thinks it is significant and worth paying attention to.
First of all, it is very important that we understand that God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and in truth and that He forgives sin, of those who have received Yeshua as their savior and have confessed their sins and repented. But how can we confess past generation's sins that may have been visited on us?
The key to being forgiven is to ask for forgiveness. If we do not ask, then we remain guilty of our sins, and as we read in Exodus 34, God does not clear our guilt, but visits our iniquity on our children, and our children’s children for many generations to come. Now, that is a very frightening thought for both parents and for their children! Just think about it! If our parents or your forefathers committed sins and they failed to ask the Lord for forgiveness, we could be suffering the results of their sins, even though we received Yeshua as our Messiah!
Take a moment to reflect on our sins and their possible connection to past generations. Then pray this adaptation of Nehemiah’s prayer to break the curse of generational sin in your life
Nehemiah 1:5 I "implore You, O LORD God of heaven, the great, awesome and terrible God, that keeps covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments: Let Your ear now be attentive, and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before You now, for my ancestors, and confess their sins which they have sinned against You. I also pray before You and confess my sins and the sins of my father's house. We have dealt very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which You commanded Your servant, Moshe. I ask you to forgive my ancestors, my father’s house and me of our sin. I ask You to clean me of all iniquity accounted to me because of their and my sin. I ask this in the name of and by the blood shed by Messiah Yeshua."
CLICK https://youtu.be/NK2AG-p0zzk To view the Torah commentary on Parasha "Vayera" by Mbugua Njuguna
CLICK https://youtu.be/T_vywdz8ZTM To view the Torah commentary on Parasha "Vayera" by Rabbi Jack.
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Titus {2:13} "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua.”
Shabbat shalom
Jack
D’VAR TORAH
CHAYEI SARAH / SARAH LIVED
B’RESHEET / GENESIS 23:1-25:18
Genesis {23:1} Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. These were the years of Sarah's life. {23:2} Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. {23:3} Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the children of Heth, saying, {23:4} "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
The word “divorce” should never be on the lips of a Believer in Messiah Yeshua; God hates divorce! A marriage, like any vow made before God must be honored at the peril of falling under the judgement of God. But what happens if you are married to an abusive person, drunkard or worse yet, what happens if your spouse commits adultery? My philosophy is that it takes three to make a marriage (husband, wife and Yeshua), and if Yeshua is missing, only two to break one up (husband and wife).
It is interesting to note that many of the saints of the Bible had rocky marriage relationships. For example: Moses and Zipporah argued over the circumcision of their son; that conflict resulted in them separating.
In this week’s Parasha we read that Sarah died in Hebron, while in last week’s Parasha we were told that Abraham lived in Beersheva. If he was travelling on today’s highways these two cities would be only 45 kilometres apart, a twenty-eight-minute drive (no traffic). However, in Abraham’s day the distance was through dry, rough, hard, mountainous terrain with no roads; a difficult, long, arduous trip for anyone especially for a man Abraham’s age. So it is obvious that towards the end of their lives Abraham and Sarah were separated.
Genesis {22:19} “So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; Abraham lived at Beersheva.”
It is believed that Abraham and Sarah split-up over the Akedah (the binding of Isaac), but there is no real evidence of that. However, if we hold to this opinion as being true, then it would mean that both Moses and Abraham argued and split-up with their wives because of disagreements over their children. Children are important, but they certainly should not come between couples that love each other and have God in the center of their marriage.
Moses and Abraham were great men of God who played important roles in biblical and world history. What was it that was lacking in their lives or in their marriages that only separation could resolve? No matter what scholars or I may think happened between these two couples, the truth will only be known when we get to heaven and meet them, by then we probably will not care anyway.
This brings us full circle to what I said: It takes three to make a marriage and only two to break one up. It appears that both Zipporah and Sarah may have been lacking the third person in their marriages.
Moses and Abraham, like so many of us today, struggled in their relationship with the Lord. This could be an explanation for their breakups. Perhaps they, with respect to their marriages, operated more in the flesh than in the Spirit.
