parasha "VaYechi" (and he lived) GEN 47:28-50:26

PARASHA: "VaYECHI (and he lived)

GEN 47:28-50:26.....................1 KINGS 2:1-12..................1 PETER 1:3-9

Shabbat shalom to all, hope that all is well. With this Parasha study, we finish the first book of the Torah, B'reisheet, and we will begin studying "Shemot" (Exodus) We see the final days of Jacob, he dies at the good old age of 147, (wouldn't it be nice if we could live that long, and still have all of our parts working) yet Abraham lived until 175, and Isaac 180 years old, the longevity is going down, Joseph dies at 110, but those are still many years to live on this earth, but the conditions were so much different back then, no microwave ovens, no TV sets, no cars, walk every where, fresh produce, fresh meat, fresh water and fruit juices, nothing artificial, no chemicals, Put those patriarchs in a time machine and bring them to the future today, they would probably spend one day and then take a one way trip back to their time, saying "oi vey" all the way home.

Jacob blesses his children, it is interesting to see that Jacob forgets NOTHING, and reminds his kids of what they did; Rueben: infidelity, Simeon and Levi; anger, assassination, Anger, wrath, can be a curse, if it gets out of hand, yet we see a loving God, who forgives, Levi became the priestly tribe, God does not condemn Levi's descendants for what Levi himself did. And we still serve a loving God who will not blame us for what our ancestors did or didn't do.

We see the blessing of "Judah" he gets the prize, "The scepter will not depart from Y'hudah nor a giver of the Torah until Shiloh comes" We see that all the kings on the throne came from the tribe of Y'hudah. From the word "Y'hudah" we get the word "Jew"

and technically, the only people who should use the identity "Jew" are the people from the tribe of Y'hudah, but today, the word "Jew" generally identifies ALL those that adhere to our faith in One God ECHAD, and follow Torah precepts, keep the Sabbath, high holy days, etc... and should I dare say, Accept Yeshua as Messiah, Yes, I dare say!

SHILOH ; to most midrashers, commentators, refers to or alludes to Messiah Yeshua, because look at what follows, "Shiloh" is similar to "Shalom" Yeshua is "Sar Shalom" (Prince of Peace) ...and to him is the obedience of the peoples, we can look at this as a millennial prophecy, when Yeshua is on the throne, ALL peoples will bow down to him and worship Him and obey him. We see today that many still DO NOT, and HAVE NO DESIRE TO, as they are not part of his sheep, and HE is not their shepherd.

49:11,12 talks about a donkey, and a colt of a donkey, did he not ride the colt of a donkey when HE arrived in Yerushalayim? he washed his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes, We can see this in two ways, His garments were bloodied with his own blood when he was whipped for our transgressions and iniquities, When He returns, his vesture will be sprinkled with blood, to symbolize perhaps the blood of the martyrs or a reminder of his own blood, "blood of grapes" (dam ha-gafen) we usually refer to "grape juice" yet scripture says "blood of grapes" we can see these words at Yeshua's last Pesach Seder, "Drink this, this is my blood..." referring to the wine/grape juice symbolically as "His blood"

If we look at the word "Shiloh" in Hebrew, and look at the ancient Hebrew letters that illustrate pictures, we see "sheen" "yod" "lamed" "hey" we can see "behold, teach and instruct, do/make, tooth/destroy" what does that tell us about Yeshua? behold, He came to do many good deeds (healing, raising from the dead) and taught/instructed in the ways of Torah, and destroyed, chewed apart, the curse of sin, with his own death

when we do the Gematria, we get 300 + 10 + 40 + 5 = 355, 300=victory of good over evil.  10= Torah 40=Trial and testing 5= grace 355= resurrection/divine completeness and a double portion of grace. Does not all this add up to who Yeshua is? Yes, it does




_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 KINGS 2:1-12

King David is dying, and is about to say his last words to Solomon, What a talk, short, but to the point, when we read, we can see that in short, he is saying, "A real man is one who follows precepts of the Torah!" no macho stuff, no "he-man" stuff, it is all "Torah-stuff" If we want to be real men and women of God, we have the Torah to guide us, and Yeshua to lead us through His Spirit.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 PETER 1:3-9

Kefa is writing his letter to the believers who did not get a chance to meet Yeshua in person, yet he is giving them "Hope" that in the end, they will "see Messiah Yeshua" even though they will have to go through trials, and those were some trials, persecution by Rome, to mention one, their faith is not in vain, "obtaining the goal (end result) of their faith, "Salvation" (Yeshuah) the same is for us, we did not meet Yeshua when he was on earth, yet we will meet him face to face some day soon, and during our stay on planet earth, we will endure trials, some more so than others, but the "goal" of our faith, hope, trust, is eternal life with Yeshua.

Shabbat shalom.............rabbi Ben Avraham