Genesis (Messianic) - The Harvest Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy

The Signature of God   “In the beginning God….” I can remember growing up, listening to rabbis’ and preachers’ sermons using the first four words of our parashah for this Shabbat, B’resheet. There is quite a bit to contemplate within that first verse, they always told me. In fact, some say, the opening phrase pretty much sums up the foundation and purpose for our existence. In this first of two sections, I want to examine some of the details for the creation perspective.   “In the beginning God….” Were it not for this foundational starting point we would be left with very little direction in our lives. Unlike that of HaShem, our existence is finite. We have beginnings, and we need to be able to trace our simple beginnings to something substantial. Even the non-believing scientists espouse to this fact, by the presence of various evolutionary models that all purport a beginning “Somewhere…. Out there….” By beginning with HaShem, however, the authoritative groundwork is laid, whereby we can build a solid purpose for our existence, even as meager tenants of his creation. To be sure, as we shall soon find out, one of the primary reasons for man’s creation was to rule over the fish, birds, animals, and over all the earth (1:26). Modern scientists would like for us to believe that we are all some fantastic jumbled mass of preconceived amino acids that supposedly grew intelligence in the course of a few million years. They claim that we have simply evolved and crawled from the “primordial soup”, into the awareness of being able to scientifically study, in depth, our own simple beginnings. But the opening verses here in Genesis not only diametrically oppose that hypothesis, they don’t even afford us the luxury of scientific research. The narrative takes for granted the fact that all things came to be by the power of God, without going into any scientific studies to prove it! Beginning with HaShem changes our viewpoint from that of scientific observation, to one of absolute faith, grounded in the Word of God. A scientist, who refuses to objectively deal with a supernatural creation, is a scientist who refuses to deal with a supernatural God! By removing God from the equation, mankind effectively dulls his own conscience towards the responsibility of his own actions, good or bad—if there is “no God”, then ultimately, there is no need to answer to anyone but “myself”. In this way, the Torah teaches that mankind ultimately destroys himself, and becomes a fool. The mercy of the Holy One offers us an authoritative beginning, complete with purpose and structure for our lives. When God begins something, its destined purpose is made sure.

Spiritual Power   The word translated as “hovered”, in verse two of chapter one, is “m’rachefet." The root word is “rachaf," and conveys the sense of “shaking,” “moving,” or “fluttering,”[1] as when a bird softly relaxes its flight to alight upon its young. It adequately describes the actions of the Ruach (Spirit) as he lovingly and closely watches over the created substance. How so? Well, this verb, although found three times in Scripture, is defined as “hovering” only one other time in the entire TaNaKH:   “He found his people in desert country, in a howling, wasted wilderness. He protected him and cared for him, guarded him like the pupil of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them and carries them as she flies.” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)   This beautiful illustration of the protective power of the Spirit, in relation to his children, Am Yisra’el (People of Isra’el), as they traveled through the wilderness reminds me of the same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation. The word translated “hovers”, in our above verse, is the same root as the one used in Genesis 1:2, “rachaf”. In fact, to strengthen the connection between the two applications, the Haftarah to B’resheet is Isaiah 42:5-43:10. A “haftarah” is a prescribed reading portion from the prophets and writings, chosen to compliment the Torah portion. In this passage, we read in the opening seventeen Hebrew words, a summary of the first chapter in Genesis:   “Thus says God, ADONAI, who created the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it….”   Omniscience at Work   Unlike the evolutionist models, we find in the Torah, a Creator that is intimately interested in his creation. He doesn’t just whip something together, via cosmic dust and proton-charged molecules, and then abandon it to “evolve” on its own. His beginnings, as stated above, carry with them, meaning and divine purpose.   Reading further into our parashah, HaShem goes on to create:   1.    Light and Darkness on the first day 2.    Firmament and sky on the second day 3.    Dry land and seas, grass, plants and trees on the third day 4.    Stars, planets, sun and moon on the fourth day 5.    Marine life and birds, livestock and crawling animals on the fifth day 6.    Male and female on the sixth day 7.    A time of rest and refreshing on the seventh day   The sequence of events is not randomly initiated like the evolutionary models suppose. Everything is done with a super-intellect at the helm. Our galaxy is not just spinning along, drifting through the universe with no one to chart its course. Our LORD, ADONAI Tzva’ot (the LORD of Hosts) was there at its birth, and he will be there when it comes to an end, orchestrating every minute detail. When all of his creation has run it’s chosen course, he will be there to facilitate another new beginning. I have spent quite a bit of time discussing the details of creation versus evolution, and the consequences of choosing the wrong system. However, believe it or not, that was not the primary thrust of my commentary. I want to briefly talk about the decision to sin, from a different angle. This brings me to the second part of my commentary: man’s choices.

Noach walked the invisible road of faith, just like everyone else, who names the name of ADONAI, is expected to walk! He wasn’t some super-human faith hero, endowed with abnormal amounts of trust! He was, in fact, singled out to receive a prophetic word about the impending judgment that was to befall all of mankind. Yet, once he received the instructions to begin building the ark, the word was out! He obediently acted in faith, with regards to HaShem’s instruction (Genesis 7:22) and the impending calamity, which was, as of yet, unseen (Hebrews 11:1a, 7b)! The remaining mass of humanity wasn’t asked to build the ark, they were only instructed (via Noach’s preaching, 2 Peter 2:5) to get into the ark. HaShem promised that any who would “run to the tree” of safety, that is, to the ark that Noach was building, would find life. Moreover, the very same floodwaters that destroyed that wicked and perverse generation, were the very same waters that floated the ark to safety! But the same Adversary, who was at work in the Garden, was the same one at work in the world of Noach’s day also. In the Garden, he tricked mankind into “running to the tree” when God said “stay away”; in Noach’s situation, the Adversary tricked mankind into “running from the tree” that God said to “run to!"

In the fourth century, when the organized Church decided to divorce herself from her spiritual mother, Judaism, she unwittingly planted the seeds of anti-Judaism. Anti-Judaism is not to be confused with Anti-Semitism. The former is the dislike or disinterest of Jewishness and Judaism specifically; the latter is the dislike or disinterest in the Semitic race altogether. By the way, both fall into the category of violating the verse in examination and both are disrespectful to Father Avram and displeasing to HaShem! Over the centuries, this seedbed has blossomed into a full-grown weed called Replacement Theology. This heretical belief fosters the mistaken idea that “God gave up on the Jews when they corporately rejected his Son Yeshua, and instead, adopted the newborn Gentile Church as his chosen people. The unfortunate Jews were left to face the curses of the Torah, and the Wrath of an angry Father, while the Church inherited (spiritually of course) most of the blessings and promises to the Jews, as pronounced in the Torah.” Fortunately, this theological framework is neither blatantly taught to Christians, openly favored by the same, nor endorsed by HaShem!

May I suggest (under the guidance of the Apostolic Scriptures) that the Memra of YHVH appeared to Avram in such a way as to allow Avram to address him as a servant would address his earthly master in respect? Did Avram see a man? Did he see the LORD? I can't be dogmatic either way. But one thing is sure: Avram believed the unbelievable, but it was to the Word of the LORD, the Memra, that he addressed his objective faith! Surely HaShem saw into the heart of the patriarch and recognized the appropriation of the choices that lay before him. What is more, only the LORD himself can supernaturally open the eyes of a man to allow him to make a choice between choosing his Messiah or rejecting him. Avraham chose to lay hold of the Promise given in Genesis 12:1-3 by seeing at the heart of such a promise a glimpse of the Messiah who would bring it to pass!

To neglect circumcision (b’rit milah) is to neglect the chosen sign of the covenant, and consequently, it is rejection of the covenant itself. It was to become a unique marker, outwardly identifying those males of the offspring of Avraham, as inheritors of the magnificent promises that HaShem was making with this man. It does not serve to secure those promises through personal effort. What is more, the sign of circumcision was to be an indicator that the participant was adopting the same faith that Avraham possessed! The promises were of faith (read Romans chapter 4 carefully). To be 100% sure, the Torah says that the promises were given to him before he was circumcised (Ibid. 10, 11)! This is why, after HaShem promised that his seed would be as numerous as the stars (15:5, 6), Avraham was credited with being righteous—because he believed the unbelievable!