The 7 Covenants: The Abrahamic Covenant Part 2

A reiteration, basics of the Abrahamic Covenant is also found in 22:1-19, the story of the Binding of Isaac.

THE AKEIDAH

A devout Jew reads this passage every morning during Shacharit (Morning) prayers.  It’s called the Akeidah (The Binding):  It begins as such:

“Our God and God of our forefathers, remember us with a favorable memory before You, and recall us with a recollection of salvation and mercy from the primeval loftiest heavens.  Remember on our behalf – O Hashem, our God- the love of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants; the covenant, the kindness, and the oath that You swore to our father Abraham at Mount Moriah, and the Akeidah, when he bound his son Isaac atop the altar, as it is written in Your Torah.”

22:1 “Tested” comes from the Hebrew word for a banner that you lift up for all to see.  Thus, the Sages of Blessed memory, Peace be upon them, said, “GOD “elevated” Abraham, trial upon trial, greatness after greatness.”

Rabbi Jonathan said, “A potter does not examine defective vessels, because he cannot give them a single blow without breaking them.  What then does he examine?  Only sound vessels, for he will not break them even with many blows.  Similarly the Holy One, Blessed be He, tests not the wicked but the righteous.”

James 1:1-4, 12-13 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing…Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” (KJV)

GOD tests, not tempts.

V.2    “Only”

 John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)

“bring him up there as an offering…”  Literally: “Lift him up” Jn.8:28 says:

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he…” Didn’t Yeshua say in Jn.12:32 that if He be lifted up, He’d draw all men unto him?

“…one of the Mountains” God is VERY specific.  He was referring to Mt. Moriah, because Mount Moriah IS Mt. Calvary, the same place the Red Heifer was reduced to ashes, and the same place Yeshua was crucified!

 Matt. 21:6-9 “And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” KJV)

V.3a Matt. 21:6-9 speaks of  The Triumphal Entry “This is the same donkey Moses rode into Egypt (Ex.4:20) and the same one Messiah will arrive on (Zech. 9:9).”  - Mishnah

“Two young men” Traditionally said to be Eliazar Abraham’s servant, and Ishmael, his son by Hagar.  They were in essence the two witnesses, and represented the two thieves on the cross next to Yeshua.

V.4   Despite what GOD told Abraham in verse 2, he believed Isaac would return with him.  Notice the “WE” statements.

Heb. 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” (KJV)

3 days:  Traditionally it is said that Satan tempted and tried to trick Abraham and Isaac to try to either stop or invalidate the sacrifice.  Same thing happed to Yeshua in the wilderness after his Mikvah (Baptism).

“Afar off”:  Abraham saw the future sacrifice of Messiah.

John 8:56-59 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” (KJV)

V.6 Jn19:17 “And He (Yeshua) bearing his cross went forth into the place called: the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha…”  This is the same as Mt. Moriah.

“Went together” Amos 3:3 “How can two walk together unless they be in agreement?”

V.7-8 Mt.26:39 “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:  nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

When Yitzhak (Isaac) knew he’d be the sacrifice he said, “As the LORD lives and as thy soul lives, there is nothing in my heart to cause me to deviate either to the right or left from the word that GOD has spoken to thee.  Neither limb nor muscle hath moved or stirred on account of this.  But I am joyful and cheerful of heart in this matter, and I say, “Blessed is the LORD who has this day chosen me to be a burnt offering before Him.”

“GOD will seek out (take out “for”) HIMSELF, THE LAMB for the offering.”  Here GOD says not only that He will provide but He Himself will be the sacrifice, and indeed He was in Yeshua Ha Moshiach (The Messiah)!

“And the two of them went together.”  They are still in agreement.

V.9 “The place…”  God again is VERY specific to where He wants this done.  GOD must have been a realtor, “Location, Location, Location,” was so important in all He did.

“Built and altar there…”  “Abraham did build, while Isaac handed him stones and mortar until they finished erecting the altar.”  -Legends of the Bible

“He bound Yitzhak (Isaac)…”

Abraham 137 yrs.

Yitzhak (Isaac) 37yrs.

Yeshua 30’s also

Yitzhak (Isaac) MUST have been a willing sacrifice.  A 37 yr old can easily overtake and escape from a 137 year old if he wanted to.

We too must be a willing sacrifice for GOD. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto GOD which is your reasonable act of worship.” Rom.12:1

Legends of the Bible says that Isaac said this: “Father, make haste, bare thine arm, and bind my hands and feet securely, for I am a young man, but 37 years of age, and thou and old man.  When I behold the slaughtering knife in thy hand, I may perhaps begin to tremble at the sight and push against thee, for the desire unto life is bold.  Also I may do myself injury and make myself unfit to be sacrificed.  I adjure you therefore my father, make haste, execute the will of the Creator, and delay not.  Turn up thy garments, gird thy loins, and after thou hast slaughtered me, burn me to fine ashes.”

As in verse 3, Yitzhak (Isaac) was to be a “Burnt Offering” an “Olah” the highest order of Levitical sacrifices.

1.    The throat was slit.

2.    Blood was caught and sprinkled on the Altar.

3.    The Body was divided into pieces as prescribed by Oral Torah.

4.    The pieces were placed on the Altar.

5.    The pieces were wholly consumed by fire and reduced to ashes.

None of this, “Plunging the knife into the heart” stuff you see in Christian paintings of the Akeidah.

Abraham was not only going to slit his son’s throat from ear to ear, but was going to disembowel and dismember his own son, THEN he was going to burn him to ashes!   And as it says in Hebrews 11:17-19, Abraham literally believed GOD would resurrect Yitzhak (Isaac) from that!  The Shulamite woman in II Kings 4 believed that through Elisha Ha Navi (Elisha the Prophet) her boy (who like Isaac and like Yeshua was of a miraculous birth) could be resurrected!

Before the Akeidah, Abraham was said to have asked GOD: “Am I fit to perform the sacrifice, am I a priest?  Ought rather the High Priest Shem (Noah’s son) to do it?”  GOD replied: “When thou wilt arrive at THE place, I will consecrate thee and make thee a priest.”

 Ps.110:4, Heb.5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21 say that Yeshua is the High Priest forever after the order of Melchezidek.

We as Natsari Jews know that the Melchezidek priesthood DID NOT replace the Levitical priesthood, but is rather a higher and older order of priesthood.

So, could Abraham have been a Melchezideckian priest?  After all Yeshua IS!

V.10 “Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slaughter his son.”

NOT raised it to plunge it into his chest, BUT simply reached to grab the knife. And or STRECHED out his hand to make a baracha (Blessing) as would be traditional before a sacrifice.  And or STRECHED out his hand in preparation to slit his sons throat.

V.11-12 “Abraham, Abraham…”  Rashi says his name was repeated twice to express love and urgency.

Could be:  Abraham?  (As in, where are you? I need your attention.) Abraham! (As in, to get his attention.)

V.13 Rams often feed in thickets and while feeding it was easy for them to get their horns tangled up in the branches.

The Ram had to have had his horns caught in the thicket.  Why?  Because if the ram would have been cut or gouged by the ticket, it would have rendered the ram blemished and invalid as a sacrifice.  This is a foreshadowing of Yeshua, he was that substitute sacrifice in our place and He wore a crown of thorns on is head!

The Ram’s horns:  Legend has it that after the sacrifice GOD took the two horns of the ram to heaven and made shofars out of them. One was bigger than the other.  The smaller one was blown at the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai.  Which was on Rosh Hashanah, as was the Akeidah.   The Bigger One will be blown when the Messiah returns!  This too will occur around Rosh Hashanah (I Cor.15:52; I Thess. 4:16).

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

V.14 “YHWH Yireh”

Shem called the place “Salem”

Abraham called it “Yireh”

Which was the same place the red Heifer was burnt, the same place Yeshua was crucified.  You put the two names together you get; “Yerushalayim”!

I Kings 9:3 “And ADONAI said to him (Sholomo Melek/King Solomon) I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house which thou has built, to put My name there FOREVER (not until Messiah comes); AND MINE EYES AND MINE HEART SHALL BE THERE PERPETUALLY.

So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

V.19 “Abraham” NOT “Abraham and Yitzhak (Isaac)”

There are two traditions concerning this verse:

1.     Yitzhak (Isaac) ascended to heaven for 3 years.

2.    He went to go study Torah with Shem.

I believe the second tradition. For another tradition says that when he went to take Yitzhak (Isaac) from Sarah, he told her he was taking him to study *Torah with Shem, but did not tell her about his intentions to sacrifice Yitzhak so as not to worry Sarah, and or cause her to refuse to let Yitzhak go.

*(We know the Torah as we know it ( the 5 books of Moses) was not written yet, but Torah was then orally transmitted from God to Adam to Seth on down to Shem and Abraham.)

1.    So, He believed GOD would resurrect Isaac from ashes.

2.    He was a Godly man and kept his word to Sarah and sent him to study Torah with Shem after the Akeidah.

Shem died at 600 years of age, and was only 390 when Abraham was born.  So Shem would have been 527 when Abraham sent Isaac to study Torah with him.

Remember that a devote Jew recites this passage every morning, and we began this reading with the start of the traditional prayer?  Now that the passage has been recited the recitation ends with this prayer.

Master of the Universe! May it be Your will, ADONAI, or God, and the God of our forefathers, that You remember for our sake the covenant of our forefathers.  Just as Abraham our forefather suppressed his mercy for his only son and wished to slaughter him in order to do Your will, so may Your mercy suppress Your anger from upon us and may Your mercy overwhelm Your attributes. May You overstep with us the line of Your law and deal with us – O ADONAI, our God- with the attribute of kindness and the attribute of mercy.  In Your great goodness may You turn aside Your burning wrath from your people, Your city, Your land, and Your heritage.  Fulfill for us, ADONAI, our God, the word You pledged through Moses, Your servant, as it is said: ‘I shall remember My covenant with Jacob, also My covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham shall I remember; and the land shall I remember.’

And I say, “Thank You for doing so in Yeshua Moshieynu (Yeshua our Messiah), Ba Shem (in the Name of )Yeshua Moshieynu, Ameyn!

Ishmael’s Akeidah

Every day in prayer, once a year in our Torah Portion and every Yom Teruah (Rosh Ha Shannah) we read of the Akeidah. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac upon God’s command and we know Isaac was spared becoming a burnt offering because of the Ram that was caught by its horns in the bushes and Abraham ended up offering the Ram instead of his son. All of this because Isaac is the Promised One and the Covenant made by God with Abraham was destined to be carried on through Isaac and his descendants. However, we know of is first born through Hagar named Ishmael. If one reads the Torah carefully you will see Ishmael too was loved by God, regardless of what is descendants may have become today and all the promises given to Isaac, save the Covenant, was given to Ishmael:

Gen. 17:17-21 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

We see that:

·       Ishmael’s Akeidah happened before Isaacs.

·       Instead of Avraham it was Hagar, though Abraham too was grieved.

·       Instead of a burnt offering it was death by thirst.

·       Instead of a Ram as salvation it was the water well.

·       Tradition says Isaac went to study with Shem after the Akeidah, we see Ishmael becomes and Archer

·       Isaac marries shortly after the Akeidah, as does Ishmael.

·       Isaac was in his 30’s and Ishmael was in his teens.

 Gen. 21:10-21 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

According to the Book of Jasher, Abraham went into the wilderness to visit Ishmael several times and Ishmael still loved and followed after the ways of Abraham and his God and took his counsel. We see in the Torah that Isaac and Ishmael reconcile at the death of their Father.

Gen 25:8-10 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

Ishmael is thought and is claimed to be the Muslim people. Ishmael is our cousin, Oh to God that we may bring him back to the God and faith of Avraham Avinu (Abraham our Father)! So be it LORD! So be it! Ameyn!

Despite Esau, Pharaoh, Amalek, Balak, Babylon, Assyria, Hitler, Stalin and the Palestinians attempts to wipe out the Children of Israel; Abraham’s seed, his descendants are still alive and well worldwide and thus this unconditional Covenant is still viable and in effect. It has not been done away with or superseded.

This Covenant was repeated and reaffirmed through Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob.

Isaac:

² And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

⁴ And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

⁵ Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

⁶ And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: - Gen. 26:2-5

Jacob:

¹³ And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

¹⁴ And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

¹⁵ And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. – Gen. 28:13-15