Nehemia Gordon & Keith Johnson – Pearls from the Torah Portion – Vayetze – Genesis 28:10-32:2
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I was wondering if Rachel took the idols because of what was said in 31:16, sounds like Laban withheld their dowry and spent it himself? Since those teraphim were sometimes made with gold and silver I thought maybe it was taking back what she thought she was entitled to? Of course, maybe there were no dowrys back then, pure guess!
Awesome broadcast, once again!
Thank you all once again for the Torah Pearls! And it is so neat to hear you guys being yourself’s. How refreshing to be listening and learning and having a giggle at the same time with you. 🙂
Many blessings, Ingrid
We enjoy your back and forth discussion of the Torah Pearls. My daughter and I read the portions together each week and then listen to the Torah Pearls. You shed so much light on the scriptures for us. It is a true joy in finding out about all that the bible holds. On fridays we meet with a few friends to discuss the Torah portion before the Sabbath. With listening to you and conversing with our friends, we get such an indepth picture of the portion by the time the Sabbath comes. We are so grateful we can listen in and become more informed Torah keepers 🙂 Looking forward to hearing you next week.
Blessings and peace to you my friends,
Robin and Megan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)
kindest regards
Sandra
uk
What a delight to listen to every week!
Jono, the Stone you mentioned concerning the British Israelism was made into a movie. It was in the possession of England but was stolen a number of years ago and brought back to Scotland where they say is the origin of the stone. WHICH is interesting because people are finding evidence that the Celts were part of the scattered tribes. They made a movie a few years ago about the True story of the Stone being stolen from West Minister Abby.
They broke it in the process.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037156/
Also in this portion, Gen. 28:12 is repeated by Yeshua in John 1:51
Oh, it was a good movie by the way. I highly recommend it. My wife and I watched it a few weeks ago. No smut or bad language.
So RICH
todah raba!
I see Rachel as a shadow of Israel. She was taken from Laban(Egypt) but retained her idol worship(golden calf).
This is my understanding of story with speckled flocks.
Jacob had been watching Laban’s flocks for fourteen years and had most likely watched his father’s flocks before he left for Haran which made him a knowledgeable shepherd understanding the cycles of breeding and the reality that solid-colored sheep and goats can and do give birth to speckled, spotted, and brown offspring. It is well known fact. By mere “genetical” engineering Jacob began building his flock. Jacob puts striped and spotted rods of various trees before the eyes of the female sheep while they are drinking not to perform a magical ritual but probably to attract the female sheep to the water where Jacob would get them stuck between the sticks (Gen 30:41) facilitating the males to do their job. Why did he use those specific kinds of trees? May be those trees when peeled have smell or flavor that attracts the animals to eat the bark. And in Gen 30:42 we see that he did his selection of the strongest sheep. Smart move!
This past year I bought a copy of the Book of Jasher. In that book it tells of Esau sending his son, Eliphaz,to kill Jacob as he goes to get a wife (as he flees Esau’s wrath). In the culture of that day a man would take a dowry for his bride (just as Abraham sent Elieazer with a dowry to get a wife for Issac). In Jasher it tells that as Eliphaz was ready to kill Jacob, Jacob talked Eliphaz out of the killing by giving him the dowry. In this way Jacob arrived before Laban without anything.
I believe it was actually Esaw’s wife who was the first to have YHWH incorporated into her name. In Breishit 26:34 Esaw marries Yehudit, before Yehudah was born to Yaaqov.
I’m really glad to hear you doing the weekly Torah portions with Nehemia’s perspective. 🙂
Thank you for this opportunity.
As I read about Rachel, I realize that she is steepted in her fathers religion. If he is reading tea leaves, she and her sister are sharing mandrake herbs perhaps the reason she takes her fathers personal idol is this. Rachel is desperate to have children. She will go to what ever lenth she has to in her mind to conceive. So what does she do but steal her fathers playboy bunny image in hopes, perhaps in one last attempt that it might enhance Jacob and her ability to conceive. Later in the portion Laban confronts Jacob and says he had stolen pleural gods. Interesting that they could not have been only hand held images, otherwise Rachel could not have sat on them. I personally think Laban was very upset thinking Jacob had stolen his playboy books given his mindset and character. As far as the questions about the rods before the sheep idea. I have seen the text of the Torah that Yah will take practices of the Goyim turn it around and say, ”Now, this is how and why it will be done unto me, Your Elohim. So perhaps the rod idea was a fable or divination practice already known in the land. Jacob thinks he will try it. Then the angel of Elohim intercepts and now the plan is according to Yah.
Jono, don’t try this experiment on your goats using rods of eucalyptus and wattle otherwise your goats:
a) will sit around guzzling beer,
b) gorge themselves on meat pies, and
c) move into your lounge room to watch the footy on your TV.
Look around you, goats everywhere are doing these things.
So the Sacred Namers are the Word Police. lol. Yes, guilty as charged. I have a friend who is an SDA, he intellectually knows vegetarianism isn’t scriptural yet he has been one so long he just can’t eat meat. As a Sacred Namer I’m in a similar position saying “God”. It’s the same Gimmel Dallet describing Jacob’s son and the Cannanite deity. Vowel pointing aside where do you draw the line? Keep up the good work!
I have loved you,” said יהוה. “But you asked, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ “Was not Ěsaw Yaʽaqoḇ’s brother?” declares יהוה. “And I love Yaʽaqoḇ, but I have hated Ěsaw, and have laid waste his mountains and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”
Mal 1:2-3
Could it be that since he did not value his (Esau) birthright that it shows that Esau also did not value YHWH.
Thank you Nehemia for pointing out, besides other pearls, the Aramaic and the Hebrew meanings of Gal’ed.
Interesting midrash. Thank you, all.
Shalom!
question for Gen 29:25 concerning the word connected to deceived. my BDB uses the word Ramah and Nehemia used a different word. could i get the spelling and strongs number for that word? thanks so much
Shalom Jono
There is something that I would like to bring to attention that I know will not be approved as a comment on this post, but I am writing it to bring this to your attention.
Firstly, I would like to explain who I am:
I live in South Africa but do not call myself a South African, but rather a Hebrew. This is because I do not follow the South African way of life, and they also reject our lifestyle. I have been studying the Hebrew language and the grammar and the history on the language for a very long time. My wife and I follow the Hebrew Tanakh and take it very literally without compromise. When we do the Torah portions, we read the Hebrew text for ourselves. I am also not a “sacred namer” but rather follow what the Torah teaches.
The point that I would like to bring up is the fact that Nehemiah made a statement about people being “word police” and referred to “Gad/God (gimel dalet)” on this Torah Pearl recording called “Vayeitzei” Now he is actually referring to the people who live by Torah and do not compromise, let me explain.
In Exodus 23:13 it states that we are not to use the names of other elohim, we are not to even let it be heard out of our lips. So us as followers of the Torah, who live among the Roman galut (dispersion) needs to research everything so that we do not learn the ways of the other nations and use their terminology and titles. The common saying among the Hebrews in the first century was, “it is better to feed your child swine’s meat before you teach him the Greek language” This is because Greek is riddled with names of pagan deities even as common words. Now let us have a look at the word “God” very briefly.
Nehemiah does make mention of Isaiah 65:11 which makes it clear that the name “Gad/Gawd/God” is also a name of an idol.
Now something to consider is that Leah was previously an idol worshiper while she lived in her father’s household. She knew that the idol of fortune was called “Gad.” B’reishit 30:11 states, “and Leah declared, it has become good luck/fortune (gad)! So she called his name Gad (fortune)”
It is very possible that she called him that name because that was her understanding as she grew up with the knowledge of that idol and its meaning.
Should we in this case refer to the Almighty by such a name that originates from an idol?
Now let us assume that this is not the case, that it is just the name of the son of Zilpah. Why is it that everyone then substitutes the Hebrew title “Elohim” with “Gad”? Is that not changing what the Scriptures say? How is “Gad/Gawd/God in any way related to the word elohim? This is a Roman tradition that was adopted by many Jewish sects and is not “accepted among the Jewish community. But has it always been so? Certainly not.
If we are to refer to the Almighty, then we should either use His Name, or refer to him according to how the Hebrew Scriptures do, and NOT according to any Roman/English terms that are not even related to that term (substitution).
Us “word police” live according to the Torah without any compromise, and then get rebuked and mocked by Nehemiah… is that not a little hypocritical?
I do hope that this meets you with love and understanding as I am not trying to speak evil of anyone, but simply trying to get the truth and understanding out there to those who want to accept it and not just follow others, even if they seem credible.
Shalom
David
djb206@gmail.com
…and Jacob used the stone for a pillow… And then what happened? The end of the recording came at that point. I started over again and realized that there was only about four or five minutes to the recording right from the start. What is this about?
G’day Chuck, It streams all the way at this end. Must be a problem at your end. I hope it solves itself.
Thanks for the reply Jono. It’s the next day and the previous problem has magically disappeared. Also, I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you all how much I appreciate what you’re doing. Having come from another tradition, these interpretations are new to me and very enlightening.
I found a recent article that there may be some science behind the speckled and spotted sheep… http://jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/364/364_sheep.pdf