Veyetze

Vayetze, which translates into “and he left or he went out,”  is the Torah portion that tells the story of Jacob’s departure from the Holy Land after many years of living there with his parents.

This story depict our journey from the seventh Heavens to the first, where we begin to learn how to rule and reign in the World to Come. Jacob like all of us went out of the Seventh Heaven to earth and his journey back to the Seventh heaven is what his life story is all about.

Jacob spent the night at a place known as Beit El “House of God.” It was here that he encounter his famous ladder experiencing, where Angels were seen ascending and descending from the Heavens to earth.

Who were these Angels? These Angels were sent to accompany Jacob after he left the house of his father Isaac. According to Torah, before YAHVEH TSEBAOTH destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomarroh, HE sent three angels to Abraham to warn him of the impending destruction. The Angels that Jacob saw in his dream ascending the ladder were the Angels sent to assist Jacob.

In Vayetzel, we see that once a person decides to do the right things, to do whatever it take to connect to the Light of the Creator miracles will occur to support that person. But when the CREATOR saw that Jacob had awakened himself spiritually, He realized his mistake and would take unreasonable measures to correct it, the CREATOR sent miracles to assist him.

One of the miracles that awaits Jacob as it awaits us is love. The Torah says that when Jacob arrived in Charan, he met Rachel and he kissed her. This is one of exceptional moments in Torah where we find an man kissing a virgin before bethroal. It is the only time when we see a glimpse of true romance. Jacob after kissing her went to her father and say he would work seven years for Rachel. Can you ever imagine if we would give a father seven years wages for his daughter?

To many, it may have seen a very long time, but to most of us love is selfish; for it is based on “the desire to received,” what in it for me? This is not a sign of true love. To Jacob and Rachel, the seven years that he had to work is similar to the price Messiyah Yahushua paid for our sins. It cost him something precious. If young woman these days would demand something valuable for their virginity, then maybe marriages would last a life time.

One of the gifts of Vayetze is that on this Sabbath, we can ask young men and women to pray for the assistance to achieve true love in our lives. In its ultimate form, the love Jacob and Rachel achieved is known as the Desire to share. Their love had nothing to do with what either one could received from the other.

The love they shared was an appreciation of what they were both capable of giving. Jacob would give her spiritual guidance, while Rachel would provide him sons to fulfill YAHVEH Will for Jacob. When He saw Rachel, Jacob saw her as a chariot for a Malchut, He saw her Anochi, her godwithin, her soul. He recognized the Light that they could reveal together in the world.

Jacob’s love for Rachel was similar to the love Messiyah have for us. The Torah describe such love as yirat haramemut, love based on appreciation. When we appreciate someone, in this case Messiyah’s love for us and we for Him, this appreciation in and of itself awakens more of our love.

Many of us make a distinction between one kind of love and another, between the love we have for a acquaintance, between the love that we try to awaken for the Light of the Creator and the love we have for our friends or our relatives. But at their purest, all of this form of love are identical.

On this Sabbath, we have a special opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to open our heart, to let us connect to the Light of the Holy Spirit that the first fruit of the Spirit may manifest in our lives.

The spiritual development of Jacob entered into another phase as it rightly should in the lives of all believers. Jacob had left his father’s house the seventh heaven, the upper world, on a pilgrimage to Laban’s country, the lower world, where he would find more than a wife, he would learn things about himself or should I say discovered himself.

It is always through our trials and testing, that we learn or discover who we truly are. It is when we are stretch to our breaking point that we learn our true capacity. Sitting at home will not do it! Venturing into the unknown with the aid of the Holy Spirit is where we will learn who we truly are.

This pilgrimage would span a total of twenty years, in which fourteen years spend working for two wives. He would be living in Haran, among people who were spiritually challenged at best. This corrosive environment was to be the tool that cemented the principle of Torah in his life.  

      

Gen 28:10 And Ya’akov departed from Beer-Sheva, and went toward Charan. - The first action of Jacob, describe that he depart from Beer-Sheva. When a righteous man departs from a place it leaves a spiritual void, much like cutting a major limb from a fruit tree. A long as he lies in that city, he contributes to its glory, its splendor, and its beauty; when he departs, its glory, splendor, and beauty diminished.

Gen 28:11 And he reached a certain place, and tarried there, because the Shemesh(sun) was set; and he took of the Avanim(stones) of that place, and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. – That certain place was Mount Moriah, the site where his Grand fathering Abraham bound his father Isaac on the Altar, the future site of the Temple in Yerushalayim.

The place where a righteous man lay his head is his home, and where is home is, is sanctified. This was to be where Jacob encountered EL YAHVEH. It is also possible that the same stone his grandfather used to build his Altar were the same stone he was to use to build his pillar for the night.

What a refreshing story! Do we as believers use the spiritual achievement of our parents to be our resting place? Do we leave our spiritual Altar for our children to used? Do we leave our wood pile a little higher that we found it. As Jacob quite obviously started his evening prayer as he lay his head down on the Rocks which is a symbol of Massiyah. Is it possible that it was a group of 12 stones that Jacob formed into a pillow?

Gen 28:12 And he had a chalom(dream), and hinei a sullam (ladder, stairway) set up on the ground, and the top of it reached to Shomayim: and hinei the malachim(messenger, angels) of Elohim ascending and descending on it. -  Dreams in Scripture are usually vehicle of prophecy; otherwise the Torah which uses words very sparingly would not used them. Jacob’s dream at Mt Moriah symbolized the future of the Hebrew people and man’s ability to connect himself to EL YAHVEH master Plan.

The angels, Teraphim or earth angels, who are EL YAHVEH’s messengers in carrying out HIS Will on earth, are constantly going up and down to receive His Commands and then come back to earth to implement them. This Labber is also the Ladder that link the First Heaven with the Seventh Heavens, the Ladder which all men who believe may climb at any time.

Gen 28:13 And, hinei (behold), YAHVEH stood above it, and said, I am YAHVEH ELohei Avraham thy av (father), and ELohei Yitzchak; ha’aretz (the earth) whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy zera (seed); - Scripture usually uses this word behold to introduce something significant. It’s frequent use in this vision emphasize the great significance meaning, we must take notice. The land upon which you are laying, to you will I give it.

Since the place where Jacob was, were to be the future Capital of the Land of Yisrael, it is the ideal spot for a prophecy such as this. This dream symbolized that as Jacob sanctified the land, the Temple would sanctify the entire land of Yisrael.

Gen 28:14 And thy zera (offspring) shall be as the dust of ha’aretz (the Earth), and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy zera shall kol (all) hamishpochot ha’adamah (the families of the world) be blessed.  –

This verse seems to be a warning to Jacob, if Yisrael should sink to the level of the nations, Yisrael will be no more, they will be scattered across the whole earth. If Yisrael had not forsaken Torah, the nations of the earth would not be give the opportunity it now have, to be apart of Yisrael. The wild grape vine that was graphed in!

Gen 28:15 And, hinei, I am with thee, and will be shomer over thee in all places where thou goest, and will bring thee back into ha’adamah hazot; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have promised thee. -  EL YAHVEH begins to assured Jacob after the warning on the last verse. Saying I am, I will always be with you, until you have reach maturity. Behold, pay close attention: I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you. He who starts a good work in us is faithful to complete. EL YAHVEH was reaffirming HIS faithfulness to Jacob, as He is doing for us today. I was telling someone the other day that I cannot die anytime soon. He taught that I was arrogant.  I told him that my EL YAHVEH had not finished HIS work in me; therefore I cannot die until HE had finished HIS work.

Gen 28:16 And Ya’akov awoke out of his sleep, and he said, Surely EL YAHVEH is in this place! And I had no da’as(know) of it. -  When Jacob spiritual eyes was closed, he returned to his body, he realizes that his spirit was in communication with EL YAHVEH. Dreams are nothing more than a spiritual communication with the spiritual realm.

Jacob said in this place he had experienced a prophecy, he had seen into the future without having prepared himself for it, he realized that the place was so holy that it was a magnet for prophecy. It was a good thing that he did not know or else he would have tried to help. When we rest our head on the Solid Rock called Yahushua, we will be in the realm of the prophetic, since He is the giver of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of prophecy is a correcting spirit, given to us to show the way back to Torah, back to the land.