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Tammuz 2,
5761/ June 23, 2001
Sivan 30, 5764 / June 19, 2004
Sivan 30, 5767 / June 16, 2007
Sivan 30, 5770 / June 12, 2010
Sivan 30, 5773 / June 8, 2013
Tammuz 3, 5776 / July 9, 2016
Tammuz 3, 5779 / July 6, 2019
Tammuz 3, 5782 / July 2, 2022
V'Saray
eshshet / Saray his Wife
SCRIPTURES should be read first
In the first
eleven chapters of Genesis, we have looked at the first 2000 years of Earth’s
history. We have seen Adam’s fall, murder, idolatry, the Great Flood, and the
dispersion of the nations from Babel. This is known as the era of desolation.
Today’s portion
begins thirty-six years into the third millennium. After twenty generations,
Torah (God’s instruction) was mostly being ignored. But God chose Avram to start
a renewal of Torah in a fallen world.
When Avram was
75 and Saray was 65, God sent them the first of ten trials: they were to leave
their home, not knowing where they were going. Now God was giving them greater
promises than they might have imagined. This is a lesson for us to consider,
that we should trust God when we can’t see what lies ahead in our lives.
(V.15:2) Avram
to God: “What can You give me seeing I go childless?”
(V.15:4)
Yahweh to Avram: “One
who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
In chapter
twelve we learned that Pharaoh wanted to add Saray to his harem, but as a
result, he was given a disease that prevented intercourse with his wives and
concubines. To appease God, he then gave Avram many gifts of animals and a
maidservant – a daughter of one of his concubines – the young girl Hagar.
Midrash on v.12:16: “The word ‘maidservants’
is written defectively [without the letter ‘vav’], implying that he was given
only one maidservant, Hagar, Pharaoh's daughter by a concubine (Pirkei d'Rabbi
Eliezer: Midrash Hagadol). It may be that, as a princess, Hagar had servants of
her own. All of them would have accompanied her to Sarah, thus accounting for
the plural form” -
Artscroll Tanach Series: Bereishis, page 451.
Saray,
Avram’s wife (Chapter
16 – ten years later):
(V.16:1-3) “But Saray, Avram's wife had borne him no children”
Avram was 86, Saray was 76. Hagar was
now a young woman. Saray said, “Perhaps
I shall be built up through her” (Hagar) – purposing to build up the
Kingdom of God. This is exemplifying doing something “in God’s Name” –
fulfilling God’s purpose , though in this case misguided. “Avram's wife Saray
took Hagar” – that is, persuaded her with words. Saray gave her domain to
her handmaid – she did not consider her own feelings, but acted solely for the
sake of Heaven (Midrash HaGadol).
Proverbs
30:21-23 – “Under three things the earth quakes, and under four, it cannot
bear up: under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied
with food, under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant
when she supplants her mistress.”
(V.4) We may
hear Hagar saying, “I am the real princess; I am the one through whom God is
fulfilling His promises!” This is believed today by Arab Muslims, who claim that
they are the Holy line through Ishmael.
(V.5) Saray
cried to Avram, “The outrage against me is due to you!” (“You brought this on by
saying I was your sister, and thereby getting this ‘princess’!”) “May Yahweh
judge you for this!” Big boo-boo, Saray! The last request could really cost you!
Punishment is meted out first to the one who cries, and is more severe than for
the one against whom justice is invoked
(Talmud: Bava Kamma 93a). One of the things that call a man’s iniquity to
mind is calling for Divine Judgment on one’s fellow man (Rosh Hashanah 16b).
Therefore, Sarah predeceased Avraham. Matthew 7:1-4: “Do not judge lest you
be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of
measure, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in
your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how
can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and
behold, the log is in your own eye?”
Avram replied,
“She is my wife, what can I do? But you have not released her as your servant,
so you may deal with her as you wish.”
Gossip has it,
that this was the ultimate insult: When Avraham bound Isaac on the altar, it was
through Ishmael and then Hagar that Sarah was told, whereupon Sarah had a heart
attack and died. We never hear any more about Sarah’s life after the Binding of
Isaac.
Psalm 12:5: “Because
of the devastation of the afflicted (Hagar), because of the groaning of the
needy (Ishmael), now I will arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in the safety
for which he longs.” Though Hagar’s despising of Saray may have resulted in
God’s statement that every man would be against Ishmael.
Galatians 4:
Hagar corresponds to the present Jerusalem, in slavery, with Avraham trying by
earthly means to fulfill God’s plan. Saray corresponds to the Heavenly
Jerusalem, with God’s fulfillment of His promise to Avraham by a miraculous Son.
Working in futility for one’s own salvation is contrasted with trusting God for
the promised salvation through His miraculous Son.
In other
words:
The natural
seed of Avraham – Hebrews / Israelites – are largely working for their
salvation. In rabbinic writings, much is made of them being saved by ancestry
and their own merit. Even Avraham is said to have been called because of his own
merit. Thus the earthly Jerusalem is equated with Hagar and her son Ishmael, the
natural seed of Avraham.
But those who
are called by God’s grace – unmerited favor – are related to Avraham by faith.
This congregation of heavenly Jerusalem is equated with Saray and her son of
promise – Isaac, the miraculous son of Avraham.
Slavery here
does not refer to the faithful observing God’s instruction – Torah. It refers to
the faithless laboring to merit salvation. Otherwise, we read of slavery, in a
negative sense, to sin (Romans 6:16), and in a positive sense, to our Savior (2
Timothy 2:24).
A thousand years after Avraham, David
said (Psalm 12:1), “Help,
Yahweh, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among
the sons of men.”
But Isaiah says (v.54:1), that we of
the faith (Hebrew and gentile) should shout for joy: we will be more numerous
than those natural descendents who stake their claim on their own merits.
Readings:
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who chose us from among all peoples by
giving us Your Torah.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
Reader 1* Amen 1 Now Saray, Avram's
wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was
Hagar. 2 So Saray said to Avram, "Now behold, Yahweh has prevented me
from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children
through her." And Avram listened to the voice of Saray. 3 After Avram
had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Avram's wife Saray took Hagar the
Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Avram as his wife.
Reader 2* Amen 4
He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived,
her mistress was despised in her sight. 5 And Saray said to Avram,
"May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she
saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May Yahweh judge
between you and me." 6 But Avram said to Saray, "Behold, your maid is
in your power; do to her what is good in your sight." So Saray treated her
harshly, and she fled from her presence.
Reader 3* Amen 7
Now the angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the
spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, "Hagar, Saray's maid, where
have you come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from
the presence of my mistress Saray." 9 Then the angel of Yahweh said
to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."
Reader 4* Amen 10
Moreover, the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your
descendants so that they will be too many to count." 11 The angel of
Yahweh said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a
son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, Because Yahweh has given heed to your
affliction. 12 "He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be
against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; and he will live to
the east of all his brothers."
Reader 5* Amen 13
Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees";
for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?" 14
Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and
Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Avram a son; and Avram called the name of his
son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Avram was eighty-six years old when
Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who in giving us Yeshua, the Living
Torah, has planted everlasting life in our midst.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
______________________
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who selected good prophets, delighting
in their words which were spoken truthfully.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, Who chose the
Torah, Your servant Moses, Your people Israel,
and the prophets of truth and
righteousness."
Isaiah 54:1
Reader 6* Amen “Shout for joy, O barren one,
you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you
who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
than the sons of the married woman,” says Yahweh.
Psalm 12
(to be sung) For the choir
director; upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Yahweh, for the godly
man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. 2
They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double
heart they speak. 3 May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, the
tongue that speaks great things; 4 who have said, "With our tongue we
will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" 5 "Because
of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I
will arise," says Yahweh; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs."
6 The words of Yahweh are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on
the earth, refined seven times. 7 You, O Yahweh, will keep them; You
will preserve him from this generation forever. 8 The wicked strut
about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
Galatians 4:21-31
Reader 7* Amen 21 Tell me, you who
want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is
written that Avraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free
woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the
flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is
allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from
Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25
Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present
Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the
Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.
Reader 8* Amen 27 For it is written,
"Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not
in labor; For more are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a
husband." 28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh
persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30
But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the
son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman."
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free
woman.
"Blessed are You, Yahweh
our God, King of the Universe,
Rock of Ages, righteous
throughout all generations.
You are the faithful God,
promising and then performing, speaking and then fulfilling,
for all Your words are true
and righteous.
Faithful are You, Yahweh
our God, and faithful are Your words,
for no word of Yours shall
remain unfulfilled;
You are a faithful and
merciful God and King.
Blessed are You, Yahweh our
God, Who are faithful in fulfilling all Your words."
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