Parashah Toldot
Genesis 25:19-28:9
With Commentary by, Rashi, and Marty Cohen
Toldot means Generations, and so it starts by giving us the generations after Abraham. And it tells us that Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca. Because Rebecca was barren, we’re told that she & Isaac went to opposite corners of the room, and that G-d heard and she conceived. But, since they offered up double prayers, G-d answered each of their prayers with a child. And these two boys started out, even in the womb struggling against each other.
And this conflict is seen even to this very day, with the war between Israel, the descendants of Isaac, Israel & the descendants of Esau, HAMAS & Hezbollah, the Arabs.
With such tzuris (trouble), Rebecca wondered why she had ever prayed. And so, she inquired of G-d basically “Whazup?” Of course He explained that the progenitors of two nations would diverge from within her, two powers, and that the upper hand would pass from one to the other continually. Nevertheless, even when the Elder has the upper hand, he will always serve the younger.
The firstborn was full of hair all over like a woolen cloak.
So, everyone present called him Esau (from the Hebrew word asui, completed. His brother emerged, and his hand was grasping Esau’s heel. So, G-d named this second son Jacob, from the Hebrew word akev, heel. Isaac was in his 60th year when Rebecca gave birth to them. Imagine, waiting 20 years to have their prayers answered. Rashi explains Jacob rightfully held onto Esau to hold him back. Jacob was created from the first drop of seed and Esau from the second. Go and learn this idea from a tube with only one, narrow opening. Insert two stones into it, one after the other; the one inserted first will come out last, and the one inserted last will come out first. Consequently, Esau, who was conceived last, came out first, and Jacob, who was conceived first, came out last. Jacob therefore tried to hold Esau back, so that he would be born first just as he was conceived first, and he would be the first out of his mother’s womb and claim the birthright rightfully.
The boys grew. Esau became an expert in ensnaring his father. He was a man who spent his time in the field. Jacob was a guileless man; he went to live in the tents of Shem and Ever to study the Torah. Isaac loved Esau, both for the game he provided from his hunting and because he was deceived by his cunning words, while Rebecca loved Jacob.
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Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, exhausted. |
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30Esau said to Jacob, “Now feed me a gulp of that red, red stuff, for I’m exhausted!” He was therefore given the nickname Edom [adom—“red”]. |
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Rashi explains: They were red lentils. On that day Abraham had died, which God had brought about so that Abraham not see his grandson Esau falling into bad ways, and then there would not have been a realization of the “good old age” that the Holy One, blessed be He, had promised him. 10 Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, shortened his life by five years – for Isaac lived 180 years, but Abraham lived only 175 years. Jacob was cooking lentils with which to feed the mourner the customary first meal. Why lentils? Because they are similar to a wheel, and the state of mourning is like a wheel that revolves in the world. Furthermore, just as lentils have no “mouth” (opening), so, too, the mourner has no mouth, for he is forbidden to speak to greet others. Therefore, the custom is to feed the mourner eggs for his first meal, because they are round and have no “mouth,” just as a mourner has no mouth; as we say in Mo’ed Katan: 11 “During the first three days a mourner does not return a greeting to anyone, and certainly does not initiate greetings; from the third to the seventh day he may return a greeting to one who mistakenly greeted him, but not initiate greetings….” |
Jacob replied, “Sell me your birthright, irrevocably, so the transaction be as clear as day.” Esau said, “Look, I am going to eventually die anyway, so of what use is a birthright to me?”
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Jacob said, “Make an oath to me this day,” so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. |
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Jacob then gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank and got up and left. Thus, Esau spurned the birthright. |
Bereshit (Genesis) Chapter 26
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1There was a famine in the land, apart from the first famine that had been in the days of Abraham, so Isaac went to dwell with Avimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. |
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2God appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Rather, live in the part of the Holyland and of which I will tell you. Rashi gives clarity to this instruction: Bereshit (Genesis) Chapter 26
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As G-d had appeared to Abraham, He now appears to his son Isaac. Now, we know that no one may see G-d and live. So, how is this possible? I believe, as do many, that the physical aspect of G-d is Y’shua.
We see Him so clearly appearing to Moses, to the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, to some of the Matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Hagar. Each Biblical account of these men & women experiencing G-d appearing to them, contrary to clearly understanding that no one may see G-d and live. This is so clearly a preterist Body of Y’shua appearing, conversing with in answers to prayer or to give them instruction that could only come from G-d… Back to the text:
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3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, and I will fulfill the oath that I made to your father Abraham: |
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הָאֵל - is the same as הָאֵלֶּה “these.” |
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4I will make your descendants so numerous that you will not be able to count them, just as it is impossible to count the stars of the sky, and give all these lands to your descendants. All the nations of the earth will bless themselves by mentioning the names of your descendants: when someone will want to bless his children, he will say, ‘May you be like Isaac’s children.’ |
Bereshit (Genesis) Chapter 26
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6So Isaac settled in Gerar. |
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7When the local people asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” He purposely misled them because he was afraid to say to them, “She is my wife”—“lest,” he thought to himself, “the local people kill me on account of Rebecca, because she is of good facial complexion.” |
As his father had done, so too does Isaac.
8After Isaac had been there a long time, he decided that he no longer needed to be circumspect. Avimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out the window of his palace and caught sight of Isaac gladdening his wife Rebecca in the course of marital intimacy.
So, Avimelech summons Isaac to blast him for saying Rebecca was his sister. After all, the king could have taken her to his bed to bring a curse on himself
and all his people.
12Isaac sowed grain in that region and in that year. He reaped a hundredfold more than he expected, for God had blessed him.
Bereshit (Genesis) Chapter 26
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13Thus, the man prospered and continued to prosper until he became extremely wealthy.
27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and therefore sent me away from you?” 28They replied, “We have seen about your father and seen regarding you, too, that God has been with you, so we said: Let the solemn oath made between us and your father now continue to be in force between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you 29that you will do us no evil, just as we did you no harm when we asked you to leave, and just as we treated you only with kindness and sent you off in peace. Now, please treat us in the same manner, you who are blessed by G-d.” Remember these folks were pagans who worshipped lots of gods, but here the recognize that Isaac is blessed by the One True G-d of Israel.
Bereshit (Genesis) Chapter 27
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