Vayechi (And He Lived) B’resheet/Genesis 47:28-50:26

Vayechi(And He Lived)B’resheet/Genesis 47:28-50:26

Today I would like us to look at the last Torah portion of Genesis. In this portion we read of the death of both Jacob and Joseph. This portion, like Chayai Sarah in Genesis 23:1, follows an interesting thought. Even though both are called by a name meaning life, they include the death of the main character.  

Shoftim (Judges) D’Varim (Deut.) 16-21

Torah Portion: Shoftim (Judges) D’Varim (Deut.) 16:18-21:9

Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 51:12-53:12

Messianic Scripture  Matthew 5:38-42; Acts 3:13-26; I Timothy 5:17-22

Today I want us to look at a couple of scriptures from our Torah portion this week. Much of my material will come from an article I read this week called, “The Mysterious Prophet” from First Fruits of Zion.

In Deut. 18:15 we read, “The L-rd your G-d will raise to you a prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me, to him shall you listen.” We need to look also at Deut. 34:9-10 where we see the same promise of a prophet to come whom the L-rd knew face to face. So who is this person, this prophet?

Promises of G-d – Shmini (Eight) Leviticus 9

 

Torah Portion: Shmini (Eight) Leviticus 9:1-11:47

HafTorah: II Samuel 6:1-7:17

Tonight I would like to continue building the spiritual picture we have been working on the last few weeks, that of the physical tabernacle and the priests being a shadow of heavenly spiritual truths. This week we see Aaron and his sons assuming their role as earthly priests and how that gives us insight into Yeshua.  Remember on the mountain G-d showed Moses the heavenly tabernacle and told him to build an earthly model of what he had seen in heaven.  This is mentioned in Hebrews 11:8. This same idea is expressed in many rabbinic writings. In Christian thought this shadow and copy language has been seen to diminish the earthly structure. While in Hebrew it is simply a way of comparing and contrasting the two. Each was G-d ordained and each had its unique purpose.