Audio Message & Outline Notes for Parashat Toldot
Bereshit (Genesis) 25:19-28:9
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Outline Notes:
I. Introduction
A. Parashah Outline
- Isaac marries Rivkah. After twenty childless years their prayers are answered and Rivkah conceives. She experiences a difficult pregnancy as the "children struggle inside her"; G-d tells her that "there are two nations in your womb," and that the younger will prevail over the elder. Vss. - 25:19 - 23
- Esau emerges first; Jacob is born clutching Esau's heel. Esau grows up to be "a cunning hunter, a man of the field"; Jacob is "a wholesome man," a dweller in the tents of learning. Isaac favors Esau; Rivkah loves Jacob. Returning exhausted and hungry from the hunt one day, Esau sells his birthright (his rights as the firstborn) to Jacob for a pot of red lentil stew. Vss. - 25:24 - 33
- In Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Isaac presents Rivkah as his sister, out of fear that someone coveting her beauty will kill him. He farms the land, reopens the wells dug by his father Abraham, and bores a series of his own wells: over the first two there is strife with the Philistines, but the waters of the third well are enjoyed in tranquility. Vss. - 26:1- 33
- Esau marries two Hittite women. Isaac grows old and blind and expresses his desire to bless Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father's favorite food, Rivkah dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Jacob to his father. Jacob receives his fathers' blessings for "the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land" and mastery over his brother. When Esau returns and the deception is revealed, all Isaac can do for his weeping son is to predict that he will live by his sword, and that when Jacob falters, the younger brother will forfeit his supremacy over the elder. Vss. - 26:34 - 27: 46
- Jacob leaves home for Charan to flee Esau's wrath and to find a wife in the family of his mother's brother, Laban. Esau marries a third wife -- Machlat, the daughter of Ishmael. Vss. - 28:1 - 9
B. The operative word for this section is bless - לברך- ברכה - The Hebrew verb for "bless" is "livrek" The substantive "blessing" is "berakah" - Kneeling Ber. 24:11, Bowing Ber. 41:43, Unhindered prosperity Dev. 11:26, Pool of Water Ec. 2:6
C. The central theme of this message is The Blessing of Avraham
- The beginning of the story - Ber. 25:11; cp. Bereshit 12:1-3, 17:1-8, 21: 12
- G-d's faithfulness in the past can be counted on in the present and in the future. What He has done for the fathers he will do for the sons cp. Rom. 4:16-17; Gal. 3: 14, 29
II. Parashat Toldot - The Blessing Belongs to Avraham's Seed
A. Those who persistently seek the Lord are blessed. Cp. Matt. 7:7-12
- 20 years between promise and fulfillment. Vss.- 25:19-21
- G-d answers Rivkah's prayer. Vss - 25: 22- 23; Cp. Mal. 1:2-3
B. Despising one's birthright will cause one to lose his blessing
V. 25:24, cp. Heb. 12:16- 17
- One could lose one's birthright through immoral behavior . cp 1Chronicles 5: 1-3
- G-d's blessing is not dependent on a birthright because G-d judges the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
- Evidence suggests that at that time It was legal to sell one's birthright
C. Bloom where you are planted. That is the place of blessing. Even in a time of famine, you will be blessed. Vss. 26:1-4, 12- 14
D. Avraham's faithfulness to obey G-d's Word brought blessing to Yitzchak. V 26:5 cp. Dev. 11:1,13
E. G-d blesses a man of peace. Vss. - 26:15 - 33; cp. Mishlai 16:7
III. Conclusion
A. Do not despise your birthright for a moment's pleasure.
B. Bloom where you are planted.
C. May G-d bless you with:
- Dew from Heaven and the fat of the earth. Ber. 27:28
- Avraham's blessing. Ber. 28:4; 12:1-3
- Every spiritual blessing in Messiah Yeshua Eph. 1:3ff
IV. More morsels
- Was Yitzchak really deceived or did he know that he was blessing Ya'acov? Cp. 27:18, 20