Shalom and good morning. Our message today is from Genesis 37.1-4.
37.1-2 Generations of Jacob – the line or family of Jacob.
37.3-4 HATED they personally hated Joseph, utterly hated him as one would hate an enemy or foe.
PEACEABLY They could not speak in a friendly manner to him.
This hatred of Joseph by his brothers is the BEGINNING of the fulfillment of the prophecy GOD spoke to Abraham. And this is how the fulfillment of that prophecy started out so that it would work for GOD’s purpose, His will. GOD’s purpose and will for the moment was for Joseph’s brothers to hate him. Here’s the prophecy.
GENESIS 15.13-16
JUDGE – condemn and punish
Great substance – great riches.
It was Joseph whom The LORD chose some 200 years later, Abraham’s great Grandson, and used for His purpose, that is GOD’s purpose, to bring the children of Israel INTO EGYPT from Canaan. At that time there were just 70 in number. That was the whole house of Israel.
In GOD’s prophecy to Abraham, Egypt was the land that was not theirs. Abraham’s descendants, the children of Israel, served the Egyptians 400 years as slaves, and they were afflicted badly. The Egyptian king set out to kill and destroy Israel by killing every son that was born to a Jewish woman. His plan failed.
After the 400 years of slavery, GOD judged the Egyptians with great wonders, ending with GOD putting to death their firstborn in every Egyptian family. And the children of Israel came out of Egypt with great substance. GOD appointed Moses as the leader of His people, and after 40 years in the wilderness, they RETURNED to the land of Canaan, conquered it, renamed it Israel, and it was the exact time the iniquity of the Amorites, a general term for all the Canaanite nations, was full. Canaan lost their land because it was GOD’s promise to Abraham, and because of their own sin. Their way of life was an abomination to The LORD GOD. See Leviticus 18.
GOD had a purpose and plan for Joseph. He had a great and important mission for him. To bring the children of Israel into Egypt where the Lord God would make of them a great nation. And it started unpleasantly for Joseph, as sometimes GOD’s plans FOR US may have some unpleasantness in them. To get us where He wants us to be. The beginning of Joseph’s unpleasantness was his brothers hating him.
GENESIS 50.18-20 Not only to save GOD’s people, but to bring them into Egypt.
ROMANS 11.33
This was part of GOD’s plan and purpose for Joseph, and it was difficult for him. You might say he was suffering because of the circumstances GOD put him in. But this was part of GOD’s plan to bring His people into Egypt from Canaan. And when the children of Israel came into Egypt, they lived peaceably. But after Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation died, The Bible says, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph”. Thus the children of Israel suffered under those kings 400 years. That was also GOD’s plan for the Children of Israel to suffer so that when GOD brought Moses to them, they would desperately want to get out of Egypt, the house of bondage, and live in their own country, The Land of Israel.
When we as believers in The Messiah Yeshua suffer in life, when we have troubles and hardships, it may be of GOD because The LORD has a reason or a purpose for you as He had for Joseph.
Or perhaps, it may be because you are in sin. Sin is breaking GOD’s Law, His Law of Moses.
1 John 3.4
Or maybe because part of the believer’s walk is to share in the sufferings of Messiah.
PHILIPPIANS 3.10
FELLOWSHIP – a partnership, being a sharer of Messiah’s suffering.
CONFORMABLE – similar, being like Him.
-we also will be resurrected.
Perhaps you’re suffering because GOD is testing you to see if you will continue to obey Him, that is to obey His Commandments and Torah.
DEUTERONOMY 8.1-3, 1 PETER 5.10
SUFFER – As if you didn’t know, to experience pain and trouble and suffering. It’s of GOD and He will deliver you. Be patient, live a righteous life, wait on The LORD, and He will deliver you.
Perhaps GOD brings sufferings into our life because He has a certain plan or purpose for you, and it takes some suffering on our part for whatever GOD’s purpose is, to perform His plan in you, as He did to Joseph.
Not only was Joseph hated by his brothers, they tossed him into a pit without water where he couldn’t get out. He was eventually sold to the Egyptians as a slave, and later tossed into jail for 2 years. But the Pharaoh saw that GOD was with Joseph, elevated him to second in command under Pharaoh, because of the wisdom GOD gave Joseph by interpreting Pharoah’s dreams. And then the conclusion of GOD’s plan is set in motion. Joseph asked the Pharaoh to allow him to bring his family, the children of Israel, into Egypt during a great famine, which was also of GOD. And Pharaoh consented. Maybe in times of suffering in your life, GOD has a plan for you also.
Sufferings also comes into our life at various times, because that’s what GOD wants for us to be joint heirs with Messiah. A true walk with GOD can at times be tough, though wonderful.
ROMANS 8.16-18, 2 TIMOTHY 2.12, ACTS 14.22
Moses had to flee Egypt. He no doubt had a whole lot of heartache and suffering walking the desert to Midian. But GOD had a plan for him also, to lead His people out of slavery to the Promised Land.
King Saul and others tried desperately to kill David, but GOD had a plan for David also. David experienced plenty of suffering in his life. I think becase the Lord sought to instill faith and trust in David. And GOD made David King of Israel.
PSALM 51.8, 12, 17
JOB 13.15-16, Job always remained loyal to GOD.
And Paul, talk about suffering, was blinded, beaten and imprisoned, but GOD used him as a mighty servant and witness.
ACTS 9.13-16, 1 PETER 4.12-13
GOD Himself in the person of Messiah suffered greatly. He was 100% man and 100% GOD, to be an offering for sin, to justify and make many righteous; and to give them eternal life. By Messiah’s atoning death, and Messiah is GOD, GOD forgives our sins and remembers them no more. And He puts His Law, that is His Law of Moses in our hearts so we can lead a righteous life pleasing to Him. Even GOD suffers, and He suffer
s for us. He suffers mightily today because most of humanity disobey Him, His Commandments and Law of Moses. Thus the judgments world wide, even here in the U.S.
The prophets of GOD suffered, but they continued to bring GOD’s Word to the people.
Jews have suffered double for our sins, but GOD has used the Jewish People mightily, to be His servants and witnesses. Jews have written the entire Bible.
ISAIAH 40.2, ISAIAH 43.10-13
ZECHARIAH 9.12-17, GOD blesses His people.
But Judaism, the Jewish people have experienced great sufferings and persecutions at the hands of the nations.
In 1012 AD, the Jews were kicked out of Mainz, Germany. Why? Because they were Jewish.
In 1182, the French kicked the Jews out of France, for the same reason. Because they were Jewish. They allowed them to return 16 years later in 1198. But again kicked them out in 1306, 1327, and 1394.
In 1290, King Edward 1, King of England, kicked the Jews out of England. They started to return 300 years later in the 1600’s.
In Germany, the Jews were told to leave a number of times. In 1348, 1462 and 1483, always for the same reason, being Jewish.
And in upper Bavaria in Germany, Jews were cast out in 1276, 1442, and 1551. And from Cologne, Germany in 1424. And from Augsburg in 1439, and from Brandenburg in 1446, and from Hamburg in 1446, because they were Jewish. But the Germans like all the others had their false and lying reasons.
The Jews were exiled out of Warsaw, Poland in 1483.
Spain kicked the Jews out in 1492. On March 31st, an edict of exclusion, or expulsion, or ejection was signed in Granada which essentially ordered the Jews to convert to Christianity or leave. This ended what is known in Jewish history as the golden age of Spain. Over 100,000 Jews left Spain following this edict, leaving the Iberian penninsula of Spain and Portugal virtuallly empty of Jews unto the present day.
Portugal expelled the Jews in 1496.
In Italy, Naples expelled the Jews in 1486, 1533, 1535, and 1541 without exception. Genoa in Italy kicked the Jews out in 1515, 1550 and 1557.
The Papal states, which today is the Vatican city state, kicked the Jews out in 1569 except in Rome and Ancona.
In 1670, Vienna in Austria expelled all the Jews, and all their property was confiscated, and the great Synagogue of Vienna was made into a Catholic church.
In Bohemia, a region in Western Czechoslavakia and Moravia in eastern Czechoslavakia expelled the Jews in 1744. And in Prague, Czechoslavakia all the Jews were banished from 1745 to 1748.
On the eve of Passover in 1891 in Moscow, a law was issued abolishing the rights of Jewish craftsmen to residence in Moscow, thereby exiling thousands of Jewish families, in 1892. Rewards were offered to those who discovered Jews in hiding. An estimated 30,000 Jews were expelled, and the press in Moscow was forbidden to report on the expulsion.
The Crusades of the 11th and 12th Centuries murdered entire Jewish communities in Europe.
In 1711, all members of the Jewish community of Blois, France were burned at the stake.
Jews were massacred in England from 1189 to 1192.
In the Spanish Inquisition, a permanent court of the medieval Catholic church was established to eradicate Christian heresy from central and western Europe. Christian heresy is an adherance to a religious opinion that is contrary to church doctrine and teaching. Thus Jews were burned at the stake starting in 1483. Under duress, many Jews converted to Christianity but continued to maintain ties with their brethren. They also were tortured and burned at the stake. Dead Jews were exhumed, dug up from their graves and also burned at the stake. The property of those convicted was confiscated by the state and the church.
Then there was the Holocaust, the killing of some 6 million Jews by the nazis in the 1930’s and early part of the 1940’s in Europe. Their crime? They were Jewish.
Suffering is part of the evils of this world. The inhumanity of human against human. And those evils will never be forgotten by The LORD GOD, never. For vengence is Mine, saith The LORD, and GOD will reward them with His own judgments and His own punishments.
And for the believers in Messiah who walk in the righteousness of GOD, who obey His Commandments and Laws, we too will suffer our own personal troubles and the pains of life from time to time. It’s GOD’s will for us for whatever His reason may be. And it will always be for our good, if we do not deny Him.
But getting back to the sufferings of the Jewish people, GOD will save His people, many of His Jewish people because GOD loves them, and because that is His promise though we suffer double for our sins.
EZEKIEL 39.23-29
And finally, though GOD slay me, yet will I trust in Him, yet will I love Him because His plan for me is peace, and always for my good, and always for His purpose.
PSALM 77.7-9, 13-15, 20, PSALM 73.23-26, PSALM 32.4,7, PSALM 27.14
The walk with The LORD is beyond wonderful, but sometimes tough and difficult. But GOD has chosen you to be part of His Chosen People, to be His servant and witness, to continue in the faith, and through much trouble and affliction, to enter into The Kingdom of GOD. To be joint heirs with Messiah, and to suffer with Him. But always remember, GOD will never give you more than you can handle. He will always make a way to escape the suffering, that you will be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10.13), just as He did with Joseph.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
Month: June 2011
GENESIS 36.1-6; A RUTHLESS FAMILY FEUD.
Shalom and Good Morning. This morning’s teaching is about a family feud. A member of Isaac and Jacob’s family became a ruthless enemy to the children of Israel. And we know from Scripture that this feud lasted some 1200 years and it may be active today. The battle is between Amalek, the Grandson of Esau and his descendants and the children of Israel who are the Jewish People.
READ GENESIS 36.1-6
36.1 GENERATIONS – TOWLEHDOTE – the line of Esau, his family history.
36.6-7 I believe this was GOD’s doing, moving Esau, Jacob’s twin brother far from Jacob, GOD’s anointed. But trouble was brewing on the horizon.
36.8 Edom is or was southeast of Beersheeba in southern Canaan or southern Israel where Esau and Jacob and their families lived. Thus GOD moved Esau and all that he had to a country southeast of the Dead Sea where a people called the Horites or Horim lived, and the descendants of Esau drove them out and it became Mt. Seir which is Edom. The Bible says, Esau is Edom. Edom would be in southern Jordan today, but Edom is extinct. It no longer exists.
DEUTERONOMY 2.12
SUCCEEDED – YAHRAHSH – to occupy by driving out the previous tenants and possessing.
BACK TO
GENESIS 36.9-10 Eliphaz was Esau’s son.
GENESIS 36.11-12 Amalek was Esau’s Grandson, and Isaac’s great Grandson. And Amaleks’ descendants became cold-blooded enemies of Israel.
We next read of Amalek in Exodus 17 where they attempt to destroy Israel on their Exodus out of Egypt. This took place some 600 years after the birth of Amalek, Esau’s Grandson. And there are still peoples and nations trying to destroy Israel today. It will never happen.
EXODUS 17.8-16
EXODUS 17.1 – REPHIDIM- a place in the desert just before coming to Mt. Sinai where GOD gave the children of Israel the 10 Commandments.
EXODUS 17.15 JEHOVAH-NISSI- The LORD is my banner
America has the stars and stripes. Israel’s flag was The LORD GOD.
And Moses reminds Israel what GOD said. “You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven”. And they did.
DEUTERONOMY 25.17-19. PSALM 83.1-10
And again we read of the Amalekites in Judges, when the children of Israel were in the Land. And the Amalekites joined with Moab and Ammon, the descendants of Lot to destroy Israel.
JUDGES 3.1-4, 12-14
But Ehud, GOD’s deliverer killed the king of Moab with a two edged dagger about a foot and a half long.
And again the Amalekites joined with the Midianites and others to destroy Israel.
JUDGES 6.1-5, 33-34
Gideon, The LORD’s deliverer saved Israel with 300 men.
King Saul made a huge mistake. GOD told him to utterly destroy the Amalekites but he didn’t. And for that Saul lost his kingship.
1 SAMUEL 15.1-35
The Amalekites were continuously a thorn in Israel’s side, like the Palestinians today, the Hamas and Hezbullah, the Iranians and the long list of Israel’s enemies from Syria to Lebanon, to nations in Europe and Russia, to countries in South America and southeast Asia, to individuals in the United States. The Amalekites were consistent in their hatred toward Israel, and David, before he was King, experienced their evil and hatred.
1 SAMUEL 30.1-10
Ziklag was in southern Judah in Israel.
It appeared that David finally put an end to the Amalekites, but not all.
2 SAMUEL 8.9-14
Verse 11 Subdued – KAHBAHSH. Conquered
Perhaps the end of the Amalekites came in the days of Hezekiah, King of Judah.
1 CHRONICLES 4.42-43
But there was one more Amalekite to deal with. A man hated by the Jews, a descendant of an Amalekite king. His name, Haman, the Haman of Purim fame, or Purim shame.
ESTHER 3.1-2
An Agagite was an Amalekite.
1 SAMUEL 15.8, 32-33
And Haman’s life ended at the end of a rope on a gallows he made for Mordecai the Jew.
ESTHER 7.9-10, ESTHER 9.13-14
We do not read of the Amalekites in The Bible after Haman.
Jews have had enemies down through the ages. And the spirit of anti-Semitism continues even to this day all over the world, everywhere, even here in our back yard in the United States, thus GOD’s words are to be taken very seriously which He spoke 4,000 years ago in Genesis 12.3.
GENESIS 12.3
And the greatest blessing is Yeshua.
GOD’S MERCY, WHAT IS IT? PSALM 136.1
Shalom, and Good Morning. Our message this morning is on GOD’s mercy that endures forever. The question is, what is GOD’s mercy?
Read Psalm 136.1
MERCY – KHESEHD – kindness, GOD’s lovingkindness. GOD’s lovingkindness is His kindness with affection, caring, warm, close lovingkindness. Mercy also means grace, and favor and goodness, also meaning kindness.
GOD is The Father of Mercies. Meaning all mercies come from Him.
2 CORINTHIANS 1.3
Our GOD is merciful, forgiving and never abandons us. NEHEMIAH 9.16-25
Ezra was a Levite, a Scribe in The Law of Moses, and GOD had mercy and kindness and affection on him when he appeared before the king of Persia and he asked the king to allow him and the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem after the 70 year exile and rebuild The Temple of GOD. And the king allowed them to return. EZRA 7.27-28
One of the many great qualities of our GOD and Father is His mercy and kindness toward us. And The LORD had mercy on Joseph when he was in prison in Egypt. GENESIS 39.21-23
FAVOR – KHAYNE – kindness, good-will
Even though we may be going through hard testings and troubles as Joseph experienced, GOD’s mercy and kindness and loving affection never leave us. He will never abandon you, because of His great love for you. ISAIAH 54.10
PEACE – SHALOM – peace, safe, happy, health, prosperity, favor which is His kindness and good-will, peace also means all is well.
MERCY – Webster’s. I’ve included GOD where I thought it was appropriate.
MERCY means compassion or forbearance which is patience, forgiveness and understanding that is shown to an offender. An offender is one who sins and violates Torah, The Law, or to one subject to ones power, that is, we are subject to GOD’s power. Mercy is a blessing from GOD that is an act of divine favor, or compassion. Also, mercy is compassionate treatment of those in distress. Some of the synonyms for mercy are charity, mercy, clemency, grace, leniency, all meaning a disposition on the part of GOD to show us His kindness and compassion. Mercy implies compassion that withholds punishment even when justice demands it. Charity stresses benevolence or kindness and good-will which reveals great understanding on the part of GOD. Clemency implies a mild or merciful disposition in our GOD Who has the power to punish, but does not. Grace implies a benign attitude, that is a gentle and gracious and kind attitude, and a willingness to grant favor and friendliness or make concessions, that is GOD will make an exception. And leniency implies lack of severity in punishing. As The New Covenant states when receiving Messiah, GOD forgives our iniquity, and remembers our sin no more.
PSALM 103.10-18
READ PSALM 136
Yeshua is the perfect representative for GOD because He is GOD. And GOD is merciful, He is kind and forgiving. His mercy endures forever, for you and for me, always.
JOHN 8.1-11
Yeshua is being kind and merciful. He is not changing Torah. He is allowing her to repent and change her ways. Sin no more, meaning, turn to GOD and obey Him. Because if she does not turn to GOD and obey Him, unfortunately, she will die in her sins. But if she does turn to The LORD and obey Him, and for all mankind today, we must receive Messiah, The New Covenant, her sins are forgiven, and GOD will not remember them anymore. That Law applies to all mankind. That is GOD’s mercy, for everyone. His mercy endures forever.
Before Yeshua, Who is The New Covenant that forgives sins, GOD forgave sins through the shedding of blood of animal sacrifices. Then man lived their lives as we are to live our lives today, in obedience to GOD, His Torah.
GOD’s mercy, His kindness and His lovingkindness, His compassion and patience, His forgiveness and understanding all endure forever to those who love GOD and keep His Commandments. Not just the 10 commandments, but His Law He gave to Moses.
DEUTERONOMY 7.9
The FAITHFUL GOD – Our GOD Whom we can trust, believe and is true.
KEEPS COVENANT – Shomehr ha behreet
Our GOD honors all His great promises, and keeps mercy and kindness forever to all those who love Him and keep His Commandments.
GOD explains His attributes, His qualities, His characteristics, what The Name of The LORD GOD means. He is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, meaning patient, and abundant in goodness and truth.
EXODUS 34.5-7
LONGSUFFERING – EHREKH AHFAHYEEM: patient, slow to anger.
GRACIOUS – kind, merciful
VISIT – judge and punish
As much as I would like to say, GOD will ONLY punish the children and children’s children of the fathers who sinned IF they continue doing the sins of their fathers. But The Bible says, GOD will not clear the guilty. That is, they will not be innocent. They will be guilty of their sins. GOD will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children unto the 3rd and 4th generation. Meaning, GOD will punish and judge their children and children’s children to the 3rd and 4th generation.
But our GOD is a merciful GOD. JOHN 3.14-16
WHOSOEVER – anyone and everyone
And it is by GOD’s mercy and grace, His kindness that we are saved. It is not of ourselves. It is the gift of GOD.
EPHESIANS 2.8-10
So, what is GOD’s mercy? GOD’s mercy is His kindness, His lovingkindness for us. His affection and caring, his warm, close love for us. It’s His compassion and patience, His forgiveness and understanding, even when we mess up. Even when we are in distress, GOD pours upon us His mercy and compassion, because His mercy endures forever.
And though we may be going through testings and troubles, GOD’s mercy never leaves us, to them that love GOD and keep His Commandments, that is His Torah. For His mercy endures or continues forever because GOD loves you, and is with you forever.