Vayetze
Torah: Vayetze (And he went out), B’resheet (Genesis) 28.10-32.3
Haftorah: Hoshea (Hosea) 11.7-14.10(9)
Suggested Messianic Writings reading: Yokhanan (John) 1.19-51
Shalom,
I remember as a youth at summer camp, high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, all of us standing around
the late night bonfire while a leader led us in singing, “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, we are climbing
Jacob’s ladder, we are climbing Jacob’s ladder, children of the Lord.” Everyone was in a somber reflective
spiritual mood (staring at a late night bonfire will do that), freezing on the side away from the fire, burning
up on the side facing the fire, not having a clue as to what this song meant. Oh, we understood the
“children of the Lord” line, but climbing Jacob’s ladder, what does that mean, how do you do that?
Our Parashah this week begins with Ya’akov (Jacob) heading back to the land his father and mother
came from, under the direction of his father Yitz’khak (Isaac), in order to find a wife. We can gain an
understanding of the culture when we realize that when Yitz’khak made this demand of Ya’akov, Ya’akov
was well over 70 years old, according to some commentators.
On the way, Ya’akov received a revelation from ADONAI. B’resheet 28.11 is translated as, “he came to a
certain place…, he lighted upon a certain place…,” etc. The Hebrew for “came to, lighted upon” is פּגע
pah-gah, and can also mean, “prayed, interceded.” I would conclude that, since ADONAI was guiding the
steps of this patriarch of Israel, this was more than a “by-chance” stopping point. I can imagine that when
Ya’akov entered this area, he felt the urgency to stop for the night and pray, since there was such a
heavy spiritual presence. He had, after all, at some point prior to this departure, been given a very
significant blessing and word of prophecy from his father. And yet he was definitely in need of a touch
from his Creator, for at this point he was leaving the scene of a disaster he had pretty much made by
himself, for he had deceived both his brother and his father, and in spite of being blessed, he apparently
was traveling pretty light, that is, not carrying loads of wealth and servants with him in this pursuit of a
wife, contrary to how Yitz’khak’s wife was pursued (see B’resheet 24).
There is a distinction in the wording between the blessing that had previously been given to Avraham,
and the blessing given to Ya’akov. In B’resheet 17.5, Avraham is promised by ADONAI that he will be the
father of a multitude of nations ( גֹּויִם , goyim). Goyim normally refers to non-Jewish people, but is also
used in the Tanakh to refer to nations as a whole, Jewish or Gentile. Avraham was the father of Yitz’khak,
from whom came the Hebrew line, but he was also the father of Yishma’el (Ishmael); we tend to forget
that Avraham later had six more sons with K’turah (Keturah), after the death of Sarah. So Avraham is
indeed the father of a multitude of nations – Jewish and non-Jewish. His son Yitz’khak fathered a
“Hebrew” son, Ya’akov, and a “non-Hebrew” son, Esav (Esau). Esav married some Kena’ani (Canaanite)
women, and later married a daughter of Yishma’el. By this marriage he may have been futilely trying to
please Yitz’khak, but he did not. In fact, what Esav produced by this marriage was an alliance between
two displaced first-borns, an alliance that has been at odds with the line of Ya’akov ever since.
In B’resheet 28.3, Ya’akov is promised that his descendants would be “ קְהַל עַמּיִם k’hal ahm-meem, a
company of peoples”. The terminology here is more direct – “all of your descendants will be of one people
group, one nation.” Ya’akov is the first of the patriarchs who did not father any “non-Hebrew”
descendants. All of his sons were considered to be the founders of one nation, Israel.
So we return to Ya’akov’s first stop on his journey to the land of his parents. This “ladder,” or “stairway,”
as it would more correctly be defined, was indeed a mystery. Ya’akov saw, in a dream or vision, angels
“ascending and descending” this stairway, and realized that he had indeed come upon a holy place. The
next thing he knew, “ הִנֵּה hee-ney, Lo!, Behold!, Suddenly! ADONAI was standing over it, or beside him,”
depending upon the translation. At any rate, Ya’akov was given a mighty promise of blessing and
protection that the land he was in would be given to his descendants. When Ya’akov awoke, he set up the
rock he had been sleeping upon, anointed it with oil, and named that place “ בֵּית אֵל , Beyt El, Bethel,
House of G-d.”
Now regarding the “ladder,” or the “stairway,” upon it Ya’akov saw angels of ADONAI going up and down.
In Yokhanan 1.51, from our reading this week, Yeshua tells Natan’el (Nathaniel) that he, Natan’el, would
see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man!” By saying
that, Yeshua stated that He is the connection between the holiness of heaven and the desperate search
of fallen man; to climb that staircase, to rejoin with the heavenly is now possible only through Him.
Humanity has an internal need to try to re-gain what was lost at the fall. True, much of mankind has jaded
their spirit and does not even realize this inner desire, but when eyes are opened to the truth of Yeshua,
that connection can be made.
When we desire for someone to see the truth of who Yeshua is, intercession is the key to the removal of
the blinders over the spiritual eyes, the veil over the spiritual heart. Sha’ul says in 2 Corinthians 4.4,
concerning people who can not see the truth of Yeshua, that they cannot come to faith “because the god
of the olam hazeh [this world, this age] has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the
light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.” Sha’ul
teaches a little later on that through intercession we are actually engaged in spiritual warfare. As he told
us, the mind of man has been blinded by the god of this world. In 2 Corinthians 10.3-5, Sha’ul teaches us
what to do in order to help open these blinded minds: “For although we do live in the world, we do not
wage war in a worldly way; because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary,
they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments [the logic of the mind] and
every arrogance [the pride of the mind] that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every
thought [the deductions, conclusions, and judgments of the mind] captive and make it obey the Messiah.”
This type of praying for someone is NOT what is sometimes known as “spiritual, or charismatic
witchcraft,” or mind control, i.e., “praying” for a person do something against their will, or for something to
happen to them in the same way; praying for our will to happen in their lives. No, true intercession is the
crushing of the spiritual power that blinds the eyes of a person to the truth. Only then will that person
realize what truth is, and hopefully they will direct their mind, or “will,” to that truth. Sometimes this type of
intercession may take weeks, months, years, even decades. The teaching about intercession in Scripture
is that it must be consistent with and insistent upon ONLY the will of ADONAI.
No doubt that Avraham and Yitz’khak both interceded for Ya’akov. Ya’akov was undergoing a spiritual
transformation here, and it was not against his will; Ya’akov was in a place of complete freedom in ADONAI
when he had this dream. That is the place we should all desire to be in: “And the Lord is the Spirit; and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the
Lord, to the same image are being transformed, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2
Corinthians 3.17-18, emphasis added). As Ya’akov passed through this location, he was moving up to
another level of glory, by the Spirit of ADONAI. As you work your way up the “stairway” to ADONAI Yeshua,
take heart in this fact – you also are being transformed, from glory to glory. Sometimes the next level of
“glory” may not appear to be so “glorious,” but in reality it is. “Furthermore, we know that God causes
everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his
purpose” (Romans 8.28).
Ah, so that is how we “climb Jacob’s ladder;” we live our every day lives – the exciting and the mundane –
in accordance with His will; as we do this, Yeshua walks with us, every step bringing us closer to our real
home.
שַׁאֲלוּ שְׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלָםִ – Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim – Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Pray for spiritual
eyes and hearts to be uncovered, to see the truth of who Yeshua is – the Messiah, God, and King of
Israel – and the true home of the heart of every descendant of Ya’akov. And pray that all of the “cousins”
of Israel will come to the same realization.