Parashah 3: Lech Lecha Get Yourself Out

Parashah 3: Lekh L'kha (Get yourself out) - Genesis 12:1 through 17:27.
Haftarah (Writings and Prophets): Isaiah 40:27 through 41:16.
B'rit Hadasha (New Testament): Acts 7:1-8; Romans 3:19 - 5:6; Galatians
3:15-18, 5:1-6; Colossians 2:11-15; Hebrews 7:1-19, 11:8-12.

Summary & Overview

TORAH
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Genesis
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Genesis

12:1 | The Call of Abram

12:10 | Abram and Sarai in Egypt
13:1 | Abram and Lot Separate
14:1 | Lot's Captivity and Rescue
14:17 | Abram Blessed by Melchizedek
15:1 | God's Covenant with Abram
16:1 | The Birth of Ishmael
17:1 | The Sign of the Covenant

This Torah portion starts with the words Lech Lecha that means get yourself
out YHVH shows you where to go it is up to you to go. YHVH spent more time
discussing Abrahams life than all the previous chapters starting from Genesis. It
seems like YHVH speeded things up to get to Abraham and then slowed down
to reveal the details of Abrahams life. This shows us that Abrahams life is very
significant and we have to take note and study it carefully

Quick Summary of Abrahams life in this Torah Portion:

Abraham lived in a land that was pagan, and he used to serve pagan
gods.
YHVH chose Abraham first and reveals Himself to him instead of him
choosing YHVH first. This shows YHVHs grace and compassion for the
lost people in the world. Who are we to despise them?
YHVH had blessed Abraham before he believed. We are used to the
concept that YHVH will bless you if you do something. YHVH bless us
because of His goodness, not because of ours.
Abraham received the Blessing and the promise and actually went to the
Promised Land. This was prophetic because the Nation that YHVH
blessed him with was in him.
Abraham was the father of Fear before he became the father of Faith.
Ismael was born out of the flesh and not out of faith and resulted in
becoming Israels greatest enemy even to this day.

Abrahams Fear
Gen 12:10-13 There was a famine in the land.
Abram went to Egypt to stay a while because the
famine was severe. 11 When he was about to enter
Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, I know that
youre a beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see
you, theyll say, This is his wife! Then theyll kill me
but let you live. 13 Please say that youre my sister.
Then everything will be alright for me, and because
of you I will live.
Abram and his wife Sarai travelled to Egypt due to a famine in Canaan.
Q - What do you get after an encounter with YHVH?
Personal Application: You get a challenge. Abram obeyed YHVH to leave his
homeland, and the first thing he faced was a famine. This is what our faith is
about; YHVH will stretch you after giving you revelation so that your character
can grow large enough to handle the blessing or Promise. Then Abram faced
the second test, will he keep his cool facing the Egyptians? Abram failed, he
instructed his wife to tell people in Egypt that she was his sister instead of his
wife. The reason was to protect him, and his motive was fear. Because Sarai
was so beautiful, Abram FEARED someone would kill him and take Sarai as
their wife. The plan to pass her off as his sister would ensure that Abram would
be well received by those he met.
YHVH promised to bless Abram, to give Him a Land and to make him a great
nation. How is he going to become a great nation without his wife if she is to be
taken as a wife by the King? It seems like Abram did not think it through and
acted out of fear rather out of intelligence, let alone faith.
In Egypt, Serais beauty attracted the attention of Pharaoh, the ruler of that
country. Sarai was taken into Pharaohs house, and many gifts were given to
Abram. We read that YHVH afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai being taken by the king. This seems puzzling. After all, the
King was the victim of Abram and Sarais deceit.
Q - Why did the King suffer for the sin Abram committed?

Small Cures Activate Large Curse

Part of the blessing that was given to Abram was
that YHVH would bless those who bless Abram and
curse those who curse him. This means that the
Kings act in taking Abrams wife was a curse
against Abram in the eyes of YHVH that activated
the curse or plague to come upon the King.
There are two different words used for curse, the
first is arar where YHVH will curse someone
severely and the second is kalal that means to make light or small or despise.
It seems like the first word is more severe than the second and gives the picture
of a large stone that is held up by a small support and removing the support,
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(the small curse), will make the large stone crush the one that removed it. The
Kings small act of unintentional sin against Abram triggered a severe curse in
the form of plague that came upon the King.
YHVHs Promise to Abram came true in a literal sense where He said that He
will curse those who curse Abram. We saw in last weeks portion that you can
trigger judgement upon yourself if you separate yourself from YHVH, here we
see that judgement will come upon those who do bad things against YHVHs
people.
Personal Application: One thing is for sure; you do not speak evil against
Israel, belittle or despise them because they are the Nation that came out of
Abram. If you do that, then you will bring a severe curse upon yourself.
Secondly, if you are a Believer in Messiah Yshua, you are in Abraham, grafted
into Israel and protected by this same promise YHVH gave Abram, where
anyone who speaks against you, belittle you or despise you will bring a curse
against themselves. This Curse is a protection mechanism that protects
YHVHs people.
We also learn that even if we make mistakes, like Abram, YHVH will still honour
His Promises and protect us when we are in trouble, even if we have brought it
upon ourselves.

The Consequences of Abrams Sin

Abraham received a lot of gifts as a peace offering from the
King; that consisted of cattle and servants so that YHVH
would remove the curse. Among these gifts was a
maidservant called Hagar whom Sarai gave to Abram so
that she can bear him a son, fulfilling YHVHs promise to
Abraham. Her son, Ismael, became the father of the nation,
that later on, will become the greatest enemy of Israel. This enemy is known as
the Arab nations because this was a fleshly idea and a consequence of
Abrahams fear.
Not only that, the cattle that the King gave also caused future problems creating
conflict between his herdsman of Abram and Lot. This ended in the separation
between Abram and Lot and Lot went to live in Sodom.
Q What can we learn from this?
Personal Application: We saw last week that sin creates enemies that are
lurking in your future, waiting to attack and we see exactly the same here, but
this time the enemy came in the form of a gift, nicely wrapped in gift paper that
everybody is very excited about when they receive it.
Sin always presents itself as a blessing and Satan uses the lust of the eye to
attract people towards their destruction so that He can entrap them out of their
own free will.
Secondly, anything you receive, even money that comes from an act of sin or an
illegal source, will have an element of nastiness attached to it and will have
adverse consequences.

Example: One example of this is playing Lotto, you can win a lot of money but
the money you receive comes from thousands of people with an addiction, and
they gave their money, that is attached to spirits of greed and covetousness.
That money will not be blessed and will only bring destruction even if it is a
Million Dollars.
The question you have to ask yourself is, do I believe YHVH or will I make a
plan to meet the gap or need in my life. Sarai made a plan; Abram made a plan
and those plans only ended up in bad consequences. Rather trust YHVH, know
His Promises for your life and be faithful in believing Him for the outcome. He
WILL look after you and guide you and protect you.

The Garden of Sodom

Gen 13:5-10 Lot, who had been travelling
with Abram, also had his own sheep, cattle,
and tents.6 There wasnt enough pastureland
for both of them. They had so many possessions
that they were unable to remain
together. 7 Quarrels broke out between Abrams
herders and Lots herders. 8 Abram said to Lot,
Please, lets not have any more quarrels between us or between our
herders. After all, were relatives. 9 Isnt all this land yours also? Lets
separate. If you go to the left, Ill go to the right, and if you go to the right,
Ill go to the left. 10 Then Lot looked in the direction of Zoar as far as he
could see. He saw that the whole Jordan Plain was well-watered
like Yahwehs garden or like Egypt.
There were quarrels among the herdsman, and Abraham
gave Lot the option to choose where he want to go, and he
will go the opposite direction. We know direction as NorthEast-South and West, but Abraham used Left and Right.
In the Hebrew culture, Left means North, Right means
South, Ahead means East and Behind means West.
Abraham offered Lot a portion of the Promised Land, the
Land of Canaan that YHVH promised him. This Land
reached from the North to the South (Left to Right) but Lot
choose the Plains of the Jordan on the East, meaning that
he decide to live outside of the Promised Land. This area
Lot choose was like the garden of YHVH, as in the Garden
of Eden, beautiful green and lush as far as your eye can
see.
Q What do we learn from this?
Abraham offered Lot to settle in the land of Canaan that YHVH promised, but
Lot did not choose according to YHVHs promise, according to faith, he chooses
according to the eye according to the flesh. He did not believe the promise was
for him or was misled by the lust of the eye, the same thing that caused Eve to
fall into sin, choosing something YHVH did not offer. The cycle repeats again
and what happened to Adam and Eve will happen to Lot, he will be chased out
of this Garden with fire at the gate preventing him from returning. Only this
time the Garden of Sodom will be destroyed by fire.
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Personal Application: We may be attracted to things in this world but these

things might not be according to YHVHs promises or Word and we need to
guard our eyes not to be entrapped by these things. They are designed for
those who are fleshly orientated and are led by the lust of the eye in order to
enslave them. Satan uses the same tactic that worked in the Garden of Eden
and he created a Garden of Sodom similar to the Garden of Eden. Within this
counterfeit garden, Satan planted trees that are not good to eat from, but they
look very, very attractive. Can you think of some of these trees and the fruits
that hang in this world? The world, media and the internet are saturated with
these bad fruits, and we are bombarded with it on a daily basis, trying to trick
our eyes attracting us to eat the evil fruit so that we can be enslaved. Here are
some of the fruit out there: gluttony, covetousness (keeping up with the
Joneses), lust, pornography, alcohol, drugs, entertainment addiction, etc.

Hebrew Study Tip

You can divide any Hebrew word into two parts and look at the meaning
of each part individually that will add to the actual meaning of the word.
Any three-letter word can be divided by grouping the first two letters
making a two-letter word and use the last two letters (the middle letter is
used twice) to make a two-letter word as well. Look up the meaning of
each and combine their meanings with the original meaning of the
original word in order to get a richer and deeper meaning. We will apply
this technique in the following section.

Sodom Enslaves
Sodom ,dc samech-dalet-mem that comes from an unused
root meaning to scorch or burnt. This word can be divided
into two to make up two words. Firstly you take the first two
letters dc Samech-Dalet that spells sod that means stocks
or shackles that are normally found on the ankles of a slave or
prisoner. and the last Secondly you take the last two letters ,d
Dalet-Mem . that spells the word dam that means blood that
when it is outside of the body means death. This gives us the
idea that that Sodom enslaves and brings death. This in
conjunction with the meaning of Sodom gives us the
understanding that Sodom is a place of burning, a place that
will scorch you, that leads to slavery and death. The burning
can be the desires and lust of the flesh, and the scorching can
be the consequences of a sinful life that damage the spirit and the soul of the
sinner that ultimately leads to enslavement and death. Sodoms name also
reflects its destiny where it will be destroyed by fire that is a prophetic picture of
what will happen with sin and sinners cast into the destructive lake if fire after
Yshuas Second Coming
When Lot looked at Sodom, he saw the Garden of Eden, green lush full of
wealth, comfort and beauty, but this garden was YHVHs garden, because it was
the centre of all evil, that only brought slavery, destruction and death.

Evil is the word Rah ir Resh Ayen, r Resh means back of the head and
the head is looking left where Left means physical. Resh also means human
reasoning. Ayen i means eye and we saw earlier that the lust of the eye
attracts those who are fleshly orientated, led by the flesh and not by faith.
Sodom is filled with fleshly people who follow their fleshly desires, led by the lust
of the eye and they feed from the trees of sin planted in the Garden of Sodom
leading to sin and death.
Q What will set you free from this bondage of Sin and Death?
Personal Application: Blood is also found in the Passover symbolism except in
this case it represents life, not death. Applying the Blood of the Lamb to the
Doorpost of your heart will cause the Angel of Death to Pass you Over.
Thereafter they encountered Sinai accepting YHVHs Commandments that were
engraved on stone. The word engraved also means freedom, which is the
opposite of what Sodom offers, namely bondage. The Truth will set you free
from sin and bondage that leads to death.

The Blood Covenant

The concept of a Covenant is a foundational principle for our
faith and this is the way YHVH reached back into the Physical
Realm to rectify what sin distorted within His Creation. We saw
last week that the First Covenant was made with Noah and
this Covenant has to do with Judgement. The Covenant made
with Abraham is the Second Covenant mentioned from the
beginning of Scripture and has to do with Salvation.
Q - Why the two Covenants?
A Covenant has two purposes, firstly it acts as a sign or Reminder and
secondly, it Covers so that YHVH can have a relationship with fallen man. The
Covenant made with Noah acted as a physical sign that reminds YHVHs people
of past Judgement as well as Future Judgement so that they can be prepared.
The Covenant with Abraham is about Salvation, covering of man up to and
during the final Judgement. These Two Covenants are linked and make up parts
of the Larger Covenant that consist of a total of 7 Covenants that is set up and
prepared over a period of time up to the Second and final Judgement. We will
look briefly at these 7 Covenants in the next section.
Before YHVH made the Covenant with Abram He told him the result or purpose
of this Covenant.
Gen 15:1-7 After these things the word of YHVH came unto Abram in a
vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great
reward. 2 And Abram said, YHVH Elohim, what wilt thou give me, seeing
I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one
born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of YHVH came
unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth
out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he
believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7 And he
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said unto him, I am YHVH that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to
give thee this land to inherit it.
YHVH told Abram that He is his exceedingly Great Reward, in other words, you
get Him. We tend to look forward to going to Heaven one day when we die and
live in a Mansion prepared for us. Firstly, we are not going to Heaven; Heaven is
coming down to be re-established with the Earth again in the form of the New
Jerusalem. Secondly, the main reward we will get is YHVH Himself, and our
focus should not be on the things we get in the Kingdom, but rather the
Relationship we will have with Him.
After that YHVH promised Abram an offspring that will become a great nation
and from that nation would come the Answer that will restore His fallen Creation.
What is interesting is that YHVH Created with Words and He decided to repair
and restore His Creation with Words as well, sending His Word in the form of a
sinless Man. This we know as the Messiah that will come and rule as King over
His Creation after it has been restored. Lastly, YHVH promised Abram a Land.
Q - What did YHVH actually reveal to Abram through the promises that He gave
Him?
YHVH gave Abram the King, coming from his lineage, He gave Abram a People
or a Nation as well as a Land. This is the definition of what a Kingdom consist
of; a Land with People living in that Land, ruled by a King. All that is missing is a
Law or Government the King needs to rule by, but that part of the Covenant will
come at the time of Moses. After this, He told Abraham to prepare the elements
that are required so that He can cut the Covenant with him.
Gen 15:9-21 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old,
and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a
turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and
divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but
the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the
carcases, Abram drove them away. 12 And when the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell
upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall
be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they
shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they
shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great
substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be
buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come
hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet full. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the
sun went down, and it was dark, behold a
smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that
passed between those pieces.
In ancient times when a blood Covenant was made
where the animals are split in half, put opposite each
other and the two parties entering into covenant with
each another, walked in between these pieces in a
figure 8. If either of them broke the Covenant
conditions, then the same will happen to that person as
what happened with the animals, that person has to
die.
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YHVH made a Blood Covenant with Abram and let Abram go into a deep sleep
while a Burning Torch moved between these pieces. n the same way but He
moved in between the pieces. This means that YHVH made the Covenant with
Himself on behalf of Abram and his generations. This was known as the
Covenant of Grace because YHVH has to die even if man sin and that is why
YHVH send His Son to die for us because of this Covenant He made with
Abram.

Melchizedek and the Covenant

was the King of Salem or Shalom. His name consists of two parts Melech that
means King and Tzadik that means Righteous. This shows that he
represented three offices; King or Prince of Peace, Priest and Righteous One.
This sounds just like the offices Yshua represented.
Melchizedek was the High Priest of YHVH who met with Abraham to eat bread
and drink wine, which is the sign of the Blood Covenant of Messiah. This is, if
you like, a travel into the future where Melchizedek met with Abraham and ate
the Covenant meal with Him. This was as if YHVH established the End of the
Covenant (Tav) with the Beginning of the Covenant (Aleph), symbolising Yshua
Who is the Aleph-Tav.
We have touched on the concept of the Seven Covenant parts that makes up
the Larger Covenant YHVH made in order to restore His Creation. Here is an
overview of how the Main Covenant is made up of different Covenants over
time.
Adam
Man

Noah
Judgement

Abraham
Covering

Moses
Govern

David
King &
House

Yshua
Lamb,
Judge &
King

Melchizedek
Peace
Kingdom

The First and the Last Covenant steps are perfect, indicating the Beginning with
the First Adam and the End with Last Adam or Melchizedek. In between these
two we have the restoration process of the fallen state of Creation consisting of
5 parts. The number 5 means Grace and these steps of grace take the Creation
back to its original state and design. This 7 step Covenant can be placed on the
7 Branch Menorah. From Left to Right we see the First Step, which is the
creation of Adam, followed by a Judgement Step (Water). The Final Step; the
Kingdom of Peace, is preceded by a Judgement Step (Fire - Yshua the Judge).
In the Middle Branch, we have the basis and foundation of the Recreation
Process namely the Word or the Torah. On either side of the Middle Branch we
have the two Blood Covenants, the first one with Abram (shadow) and the
second Blood Covenant with Yshua (the Lamb - the Real). David represents the
Shadow of the King and Yshua the Real King.

Re-Creating Process starting with Abraham

We saw in the first Parashah that the Creation Process involves 4 steps; a
Creation Process (speaking into existence), a Separation Process, a Naming
Process and a Filling Process. Abrahams life depicted these four processes
and it is as if YHVH Created Abraham for this specific purpose.

Creation: YHVH spoke everything into existence and with His Voice He called
or spoke Abram into His restoration plan, calling him out of a Pagan Nation
(waters of the deep) to follow Him and be part of His Re-Creation Process.
YHVH is also calling His people from all the nations (sea) hovering with His
Spirit over the water (nations) to see whom He can use. (2 Chr 16:9)
Separation: We see the Separation Process with the Covenant YHVH cut with
Abram, separating the animals. YHVH separates people from their old tree and
grafts them into Israel, the new Olive Tree through a Separation process.

Naming: Abrams name was changed to Abraham by inserting a Hey into

his name. The letter Hey means life, breath and revelation. YHVH restored the
Breath that Adam lost, the Ruach or Spirit of YHVH He breathed into Adam.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost that spiritual connection, the Breath of
Life (nashamah) that connected them to YHVH. He changed Abrams name as a
sign of restoration of His Spirit k to man.
Filling: YHVH promised Abram a Land and an offspring that will become a great
Nation that will fill that Land. When you accepted YHVHs Covenant through
Yshua you will be gathered at His Second Coming and returned to the Land of
Promise, the New Jerusalem.

Hebrew Study Tip

We know a concept of a name as a beautiful sound that is connected to
a person. Every persons name in Scripture has a meaning that can
sometimes be connected to an event that happened or has a prophetic
significance with future application. In the Hebrew Culture, a Name is
connected to your destiny as well as your character.
Every time your name is spoken over you, your character and destiny is
spoken into existence, over and over again. This makes you think again
when naming your child, keeping in mind what their character and
destiny is connected to that name.
Another thing we see in Scripture is that peoples names were changed and had
you ever wondered why YHVH changed someones name? YHVH generally
changes someones name after He called them and that means that their
destiny and/or character will change as well. All of our names will be changed
when we receive new names entering the Kingdom after the Second Coming.

Changing Abrams Name

YHVH changed Abrams name to Abraham. Abraham was the first Hebrew and

IXAR that means one from beyond. Adding a mem M

or water at the end of this word, we get MIXAR Abarim that means;
regions beyond, This sounds nearly just like the word MXA@ Abram
it is the word ibree

meaning high father. Abrams name was changed to Abraham by adding a

D MXDA@

Hey :
Hey means light and revelation and this means that
YHVH revealed His plan to Abraham, shedding light into Abrahams life.

Adding the two letters together that changed ibree to ibreem (Mem
Abram to Abraham (Hey

D ) gives the word MD,

abundance. We see that Abrahams name MD

M) and

haym that means

XA@

consisting of the Aleph

@ and bar XA Bet-Resh that means Son, purity, cleanness, pureness, with
abundance Hey-Mem MD at the end. Hey D means Light and Mem M
means Water (YHVHs Word). This makes a beautiful word picture that shows
that Abraham's name had YHVHs Character, His abundance, His Truth and His
Revelation, everything Abram needed to fulfil his destiny as the Father of Faith.
It started off with Abraham and ended in a nation of Hebrews (Israel), and even
the Gentiles can be grafted into them. YHVH brought the Hebrew culture to the
world to represent Him on this planet and shine forth His light to all nations.
Yshua came so that all nations can become part of YHVHs nation to adapt to
His Hebrew culture and live pure set apart lives in this dark world. He washes

MD

us clean with His Word so that we can bear His fruit in abundance (haym)
.
Yshua is also called the Bar or Son of YHVH. He is the Firstborn of many and
we can become sons of the Father through accepting Yshuas Sacrifice and
become bondservants (adopted) being born again in His Name.

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