1.Our HafTorah reading is found in II Kings 4:1-37
Read II Kings 4:1-7 and see what spiritual lessons you can find in this passage that will help us when we are facing a crisis?
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the L-rd. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” 3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” 5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of G-d, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
What spiritual lessons did you find in this passage?
a.When you are facing a crisis seek G-dly wisdom from people who are strong in their faith. This woman’s children were about to be taken away as slaves to pay off her husband’s debt. She went to Elisha, a man of G-d for help.
b. Use what G-d has given you to get where you need to be.
This woman only had one small jar of oil.
She did not count it as nothing.
She used what she had even though it was small.
c.Why did Elisha tell her to ask all her neighbors for empty jars?
Everyone would know her situation.
Would that have been embarrassing to you to go ask for help from your neighbors?
If neighbors knew of her great need before-hand
they would then know of the power of G-d after the miracle.
d. Why did Elisha tell her to pour out the small amount of oil she had.
Sometime it is hard to let go of what we have if we feel “this is all I have. “
Don’t be tempted to hold on to something because you can’t see where the next supply will come from. G-d’s math is different and He will multiply your seed if you trust Him.
e.Why did He tell her to go inside and shut the door to pour out the oil? Why did he not do it for her or at least help her?
She had to trust G-d herself not depend on someone else’s faith.
Hearing G-d’s direction is not the same as getting up and doing it.
Going door to door collecting the empty jars herself, going home, closing the door and then physically pouring that small amount of oil from one jar to the other was an act of faith.
In the physical world it was an impossibility but in G-d’s world it happened.
When we are actively involved in G-d’s miracles it deepens our faith in him.
Next time He asks you to do something that does not seem possible step out and follow Him.
The miracle was given according to the measure of her faith in borrowing vessels.
She borrowed enough jars to have oil to pay the debt to the creditor and to provide for the future.
Had she borrowed more, more would have been provided; had she gathered less, less would have been provided.
Do you think we ever make our blessings small because our prayers are small?
2.Look at the Torah portion’s description of the birth and life of the two sons born to Avraham. What difference can you see from their births forward? Was there joy or strife? Celebration or regret? What can we learn from this?
Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
They called him Yitzchak (Isaac) from the Hebrew word for laugh, tzchok,
because Sarah laughed when she overhead what the angel prophesied.
When Yitzchak was born it brought laughter.
Genesis 21:6, “Sarah said, ‘G-d has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’”
Contrast this scene with the birth of Ishmael.
Genesis 16:1-5, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The L-rd has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May theL-rdjudge between you and me.”
Genesis 21:9-12, “ But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But G-d said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned.”
The birth of Ishmael brought strife between Hagar and Sarah.
It brought sorrow to Hagar when she had to leave.
It brought sorrow to Avraham when he had to send his son away.
It was obvious that Avraham loved Ishmael.
G-d had to tell him to listen to his wife and do what she said.
Ishmael’s birth was a fleshly decision and did not bring joy.
What happens when we choose to do things in our flesh?
Often it will bring strife and frustration;
When the Spirit of G-d gives birth to something in our lives, and we follow His direction it brings joy, not only to us but to others as well.
G-d told Abraham he would bless Ishmael – make him into a great nation.
But the covenant would pass through the lineage of Isaac.
Isaac would inherit the Promised Land.
To protect Isaac and the covenant, Ishmael, son of the bondwoman Hagar, was sent away with his mother into the wilderness.
3.What things do we see in this Torah portion that shows us the people understood the commandments long before they were given in written form to Moses in the desert. Does that have any meaning to us?
It did not have to be explained to Avimelek that adultery was a sin.
In Genesis 20:1-7, “Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But G-d came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” 4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “L-rd, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” 6 Then G-d said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”
Avraham and Isaac already knew the rules of the sacrificial system and specifically what was needed for a burnt offering. They knew what to take with them and Isaac knew the requirements for a burnt offering that was later given in Leviticus 1.
Genesis 22:1-8, “ Sometime later G-d tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then G-d said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place G-d had told him about.4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “G-d himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.”
Also, not in this Torah portion
Noah understood the difference in clean and unclean animals,
Cain and Abel understand making a first fruits sacrifice even though only one did it correctly.
These events remind us that the Torah did not start with Moses
It was not written for Jewish people alone.
G-d’s written word was made known for all of us.
4.If being asked to sacrifice his only son was a test for Avraham. What was the test?
G-d spoke to Avraham four times about children Genesis 12:2, 13:16, 15:5, 17:5-6.
Genesis 17:21 G-d told Avraham his son by Hagar would not be his spiritual heir
He assured him Isaac was to be the son of promise.
Now G-d commands Avraham to sacrifice his son of promise. Avraham’s test was not if he could give up something he loved. He had already given up his country, family and first born son Ishmael.
The real test was:
Could Avraham live with the contradiction of two things he heard G-d saying.
G-d said Isaac was the son of promise. Now He was asking him to sacrifice this very son.
Could Avraham live with uncertainty?
Can we follow G-d’s direction when we don’t understand?
Avraham did just that.
He carried on with what he knew G-d commanded.
He didn’t wait until he understood the whole picture.
He prepared for the sacrifice.
He got the wood and fire and believed that somehow G-d would work things out.
What Questions do you think were going through his mind as he traveled?
Would G-d raise Isaac from the dead after the sacrifice? (But he knew child sacrifice was wrong.)
Would G-d provide another sacrifice instead of Isaac?
The test was not instantaneous.
He had a three day journey to test his perseverance in a difficult painful situation.
He taught us there will not always be certainty in our walk of faith.
Sometimes G-d calls us to have the courage to live our life with uncertainty.
Avraham knew the promises of G-d would come about
He could live with the uncertainty of not knowing how or when.
Our faith must be able to stand the trials of life even in times when no answers are found.
Another truth in this story:
G-d reminding Avraham that he did not own his son Isaac.
That was the practice among pagans of Avraham’s day.
Children were looked at as property to be used or misused as parents so fit.
We are not owners of our children.
We are guardians and our task is to care for and nurture the children G-d gives us.
We are to teach them G-d’s word.
Avraham had to release Isaac to G-d.
We must do the same.
What does this story teach us? Our G-d is a faithful provider who keeps His promises.