Descargar Vayishlach porción de la torá

It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.

As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.

Torah Portion Name and Readings-

Vayishlach is the Hebrew word for “and he sent”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Genesis starting in chapter 32 verse 3 and going through chapter 36 and verse 43.

Prophets and New Testament-

It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Obadiah in chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 21.

The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Matthew in chapter 2 with verses 13 through 23.

Torah Portion Overview-

In this Torah portion we see Esau coming to meet his brother Jacob with 400 men. This is obviously a war party coming to kill Jacob and his family. Jacob understands this and responds by sending gifts (or bribes) to his brother to soften him. He also separates his family into groups so that if one group is attacked the other can escape. Jacob wrestles with “a man” and the man blesses him by telling him that his name will be changed to Israel. Esau’s heart was obviously softened by his brother’s gifts, because he embraced him and wept. Jacob travels to Succoth and Shechem and builds an altar to God. He seems to dwell there for a while because the story takes an unexpected and heart breaking turn. A young man wanted Jacob’s daughter Dinah in marriage and so he took her by force and raped her. Her brothers are rightly enraged and hatch a revenge plot. Her brothers waited until the whole town was circumcised and in the peak of their pain and then attacked and killed them all. They killed every man in the city, plunder the city, to “avenge” their sister. Why plunder everything if it was just about avenging their sister? God commanded Jacob to live at Bethel and build an altar to “the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau” (see Genesis 28:10-22). Jacob commands his family to purify themselves and remove the idols. This presumes to include the stolen idols from Laban. God blesses Jacob and changes his name to Israel and Jacob sets up a pillar and pours out a drink offering and oil. The man had said his name would be changed so it is interesting that it is repeated here. Is it trying to tell you the man he wrestled with is God? Further tragedy strikes when Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. She tries to name him “son of my sorrow” but Jacob changes the name to “son of my right hand”. Reuben desiring to concrete his position as the eldest and thus, to oversee the family sleeps with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Because of this he was stripped of his firstborn rights. Isaac dies and is buried by his sons, showing a kind of restoration. Whereas they were separated over Isaac’s blessing, they were able to come together to burry their father in peace. Lastly it covers the offspring of Esau, and Esau moved to Seir (Edom).

I want to focus on Jacob’ and Esau’s reunion. Jacob starts by sending a message to Esau that he is coming.

“Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now, and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

NRSVue Genesis 32:3–6

Esau’s response is clear. You don’t come with 400 men to say hi! He was coming to kill Jacob and his whole family. Jacob immediately understood this and took action.

“Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”

So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.” He instructed the one in the lead, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau, and moreover he is behind us.’ ” He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night in the camp.”

NRSVue Genesis 32:7–21

It may seem easy to judge Jacob here for not automatically just trusting God and “walking in faith”, but think about what you would do if 400 armed men were coming to kill you and your entire family. Would you stay calm or feel anxious and afraid? I know I would be praying, loading guns, and trembling at the same time!

Indeed, Jacob’s response is very natural and normal. He is afraid and takes steps to calm his brother down. Remember what Esua was upset about, since Jacob has the birthright he is entitled to twice the inheritance than Esau is. So Jacob takes of everything he could get that day and sets it as a gift to his brother and sends it ahead. I’m sure at first Esau’s anger wasn’t assuaged. But gift after gift came and slowly he started to calm down. Jacob isn’t coming to take, he is coming to give.

By the time that Esau comes to Jacob he is calm and embraces him as a brother and weeps.

“Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.

But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”

NRSVue Genesis 33:1–4

Compare this to Joseph when he weeps on meeting his brothers. It seems like there is forgiveness and reconciliation between them. Later they separate because their livestock and people are too many for the land to support. But still we have this moment of peace between two brothers that were separated.

What does this mean to us today? How can we apply this to our lives? Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about faith in my life. I want to open up to you one of my struggles, I struggle with fear of not having enough and not trusting God. I’ve been asking myself hard questions, like “do I truly have faith”? I work a good job and am blessed. I make a good living and I’m grateful for that! But the thought has struck me, and I want to ask this question of us all, do we live in faith or just talk and think about it a lot?

Jesus said it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom.

“And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 19:23-24 (ESV)

To put that into perspective, according to my quick Google search and zippia article a person who makes $100,000 a year is in the top 10% worldwide. The average Global yearly income is under $10,000. In other words, if you make over that number, especially over $100,000, the verse in Matthew definitely applies to you. It applies to me. Why is it hard for us to enter the kingdom?

I believe it is because we can start to see our job or career as providing for us and lose track of the fact that God is our true provider! I have been working to thank God for His provisions and look to him as the source of my blessing, my job is a tool that he uses to bless. And so I have begun to turn my focus to him, have faith, and trust in the Lord! We are commanded not to just have faith at salvation, but to live by faith!

Romans 1:17 (ESV)

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-

• Genesis 32:3 Esau comes to meet Jacob with 400 men. Jacob responds by sending him gifts and separating his family

  Genesis 32:22 Jacob wrestles with “a man” and is blessed, the man tells Jacob his name will be changed to Israel

  Genesis 33:1 Jacob and Esau are reunited and make amends

  Genesis 33:17 Jacob travels to Succoth and Shechem and builds an altar to God

  Genesis 34:1 Dinah is raped and her brothers trick the people into circumcising themselves

  Genesis 34:25 Jacob’s sons kill every man in the city, plunder the city, to “avenge” their sister

  Genesis 35:1 Jacob commanded to live at Bethel and build an altar to “the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau” (see Genesis 28:10-22) and Jacob purifies his family and removes the idols

  Genesis 35:9 God blesses Jacob and changes his name to Israel and Jacob sets up a pillar and pours out a drink offering and oil

  Genesis 35:16 Rachel dies in childbirth to Benjamin

  Genesis 35:22 Reuben sleeps with Bilhah, his fathers concubine

  Genesis 35:27 Isaac dies and is buried by his sons

  Genesis 36:1 The offspring of Esau, Esau moved to Seir (Edom)

Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-

• Obadiah 1:1 Judgement is coming on Edom because of how they treated Jacob

  Obadiah 1:17 Jacob will possess Edom

Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-

• Matthew 2:13 Joseph, Mary, and Jesus escape to Egypt

  Matthew 2:16 Herod murders babies while trying to kill Jesus

  Matthew 2:19 Joseph,Mary and Jesus return to Israel but go to Nazareth in Galilee instead of Judea

Bibliography

• Jack Flynn, “Average Global Income [2023]: What Is the Median Income Worldwide?”, Zippia, https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/#:~:text=The%20average%20global%20personal%20income,you%20in%20the%20top%201%25.

To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE