Ten Tribes Studies (26 December, 2012, Tevet 13, 5773)
Contents:
1. Victor Walker: The Need for Truth
2. New Article and YouTube Clip. Prophecy Proven by the Jews.
(a) New Article. Scriptural Reality. Fulfillment of Prophecy in Early Jewish History
(b) New YouTube Clip. Judah in Prophecy
3. Genesis 49 Blessings to the Tribes
1. Victor Walker: The Need for Truth
Re: Proverbs 14: Responsibility is Sanity
Thank you for the words of wisdom. I just watched "Zeitgeist: The Movie"
and I was feeling apprehensive about the huge task believers have seeking
the middle of the road ahead of us all. With religious extremists on one
side and atheists on the other, there can be no doubt that Creator will
have to participate in enlightening minds and softening hearts. There
appears to be something for everyone to feel betrayed about as Truth
exposes the "Noble Lies" and only with Divine intervention (and
redefinitions) will chaos be averted.
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2. New Article and YouTube Clip. Prophecy Proven by the Jews.
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(a) New Article. Scriptural Reality
Fulfillment of Prophecy in Early Jewish History
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(b) New YouTube Clip. Judah in Prophecy
Duration: 36:12
The Exile of the Jews from Judah and the Jewish experience in their places of Exile in the Diaspora were all prophesied in detail in Scripture. See:
Scriptural Reality. Fulfillment of Prophecy in Early Jewish History
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3. Genesis 49 Blessings to Tribes
This week's Parasha (VaYechi): Blessings to the Tribes
For Jews the most important section of the Bible is the Pentateuch meaning the first five books
referred to in Hebrew as the Chumash [i.e. Five]. Another name given to this section is the Torah and so we have the word Tanach
for the Bible in general. The word Tanach is derived from the initials of Torah [Pentateuch], Nevim (Prophets], Chetuvim [Writings i.e. Hagiographa].
The word "Torah" as well as being applied to the Pentateuch is also used for Jewish Religious Works in general.
Torah in Hebrew connotes Teaching and so in Hebrew we also use this term as applying to Doctrine. They thus have such expression as Torat ha-Refuah (Doctrine of Medicine), etc.
Every week on the Synagogue Service on Shabat a section of the Pentateuch is read out so that in the course of a year all the Torah will have been read through.
Each Shabat a different section, known as a Parashah is read. Each Parashah has its own name usually taken from the first few words of the section read.
This Shabat the Parashah is called VaYechi.
See:
http://britam.org/GenesisContent.html
Parashat VaYechi begins with Genesis 47:28 which in Hebrew begins "VaYechi Yaacov" i.e. AND JACOB LIVED ...
This Parashah encompasses Genesis chapter 49 which deals with the blessings of Jacob to his sons. These blessings help us understand something of the individual characteristics of each tribe.
We hope to begin a series showing how major Rabbinical Commentators (Abarbanel, Malbim, etc) understood these blessings.
As an introduction we suggest that the blessings be first read without any commentary, as given below.
Genesis 49
1 And Jacob called his sons and said, 'Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:
2 'Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
And listen to Israel your father.
3 'Reuben, you are my firstborn,
My might and the beginning of my strength,
The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel,
Because you went up to your father's bed;
Then you defiled it.
He went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
6 Let not my soul enter their council;
Let not my honor be united to their assembly;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel.
8 Â Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father's children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
11 Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea;
He shall become a haven for ships,
And his border shall adjoin Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong donkey,
Lying down between two burdens;
15 He saw that rest was good,
And that the land was pleasant;
He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden,
And became a band of slaves.
16 Dan shall judge his people
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse's heels
So that its rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!
19 Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him,
But he shall triumph at last.
20 Bread from Asher shall be rich,
And he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a deer let loose;
He uses beautiful words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
23 The archers have bitterly grieved him,
Shot at him and hated him.
24 But his bow remained in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong
By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25 By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of your father
Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,
Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at night he shall divide the spoil.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.