Vayetze: Jacob's Stargate & Nathanael

[Rebbe]

BRI International Internet Yeshiva Parashah Notes, December 3, 2011

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"I teach nothing new but all things original" -- Rebbe

Parsha Vayetze (and he went out)
Genesis 28.10-32.2
Haftorah Hosea 11.7-12.11  (Sephardic)


In this well-read section of the Torah we read about Jacob and his dream of a heavenly Stargate which involved angels, ascending from earth and descending from the heavens in that order, on a staircase or ladder. In that dream he hears the Voice of HaShem confirming the Abrahamic Covenant through him.

It's interesting how Christians usually portray Jacob as a young man during this incident, and if you have a Bible with pictures scattered throughout its pages he will be so portrayed. Well, very shortly thereafter Jacob meets Rachel and he falls head over heels in love with her. The Hebrew seems to indicate that when he first sees her his heart skips a beat. But even though Rachel was a very young woman he wasn't a young man by any means. If we believe the chronology of the biblical record Jacob was around 85 years old. In fact, he may even have been older than this.

If we turn to Gen 47.28 it is stated there that he died at the age of 147, which is not a bad effort by anyone's standard. The same text informs us that he had spent 17 years in Egypt. In other words, Jacob had to have been 130 years old when he entered Egypt to be relocated with Joseph.

His arrival coincided with the second year of Egyptian famine (Gen 45.6). If we compare Gen 41.46 and add the 7 years of plenty with 2 years of famine Joseph would have been 39 years old. A little mental reckoning, or rapid calculation with pen and paper, will reveal that Jacob had to have been 91 when Joseph was born to Rachel. OK, so what does this prove? Simply this. Turn to Gen 30.20-24 and we find that Jacobs' other wife, Leah, had already given birth to 6 boys (successively) and then gave Jacob a daughter, Dinah (Gen 30.21). Leah's firstborn, Reuben, had to have been conceived at least 8 years before Rachel gave birth to Joseph!

One Bible commentator (who also agrees with a rather "elderly" assessment of Jacob's marriage to a very young girl) suggests that he was so old he could not distinguish between the two sisters on his wedding night and jokingly cites the biblical account of the situation to prove his point (Gen 29.21-26). In his own words: "On his wedding night Jacob had trouble distinguishing whether his wife was Rachel or Leah...the [elderly man] was probably half blind already!"

So all those portraits in the Bible, and in art galleries around the world, have to be redone!

It's rather interesting how chemistry in men differs somewhat in women. When the heart skips a beat its usually a phenomena that is exclusive to males. Indeed, I have experienced a "heart skip" only three times in my entire life. And one of those occasions involved the Rebbetzin when she first attended my Osteopathic clinic wearing hippie clothes and flowers in her long flowing hair. And she's still with me... we seemed to hit it off immediately. And so did Jacob and Rachel.

But, back to the Stargate. "Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to the heavens; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" (Gen 28.12).

Now because we are talking about Jacob, I want to discuss somebody else entirely as my custom is. I mean a man named Nathanael. Nathanael means "Gift of God" or better "Gifted by God."

John records an interesting meeting between Yeshua and Nathanael in his Gospel concerning which expositors and commentators are at a loss of explanation.

"Philip finds Nathanael, and says to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the Torah, and the prophets, did write, Yeshua the Nazarene, the son of Yosef. Nathanael said to him, Can there any good thing come out from the Nazarenes? Philip says to him, Come and see. Yeshua saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael says unto him, Have we met before? Yeshua answered him, Before that moment when Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered and said, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel. Yeshua answered him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe? You shall see greater things than these. And he says unto him, Absolutely, absolutely, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (Jn 1.45-51).

I have a few things I would like to share with you.

Firstly, Philip finds Nathanael but the text fails to mention where he was at the time he was discovered. We find out later in the story when Yeshua informs us of his location.

Secondly, when Yeshua lays eyes on him he infers he knows his basic character -- "an Israelite indeed and in you there is no guile" -- and this sparks a keen interest-response in the mind of Nathanael toward Yeshua. The reason will soon become apparent.

Thirdly, "guile" is an old word meaning deceitful cleverness. It is this evaluation that sparks Nathanael's enthusiastic response. On the surface we are not told what this means, but rabbinic Jews would automatically realise the "in house" secret being shared between the two of them! This becomes apparent a little later in the text. For, Nathanael's response is on the heels of Yeshua referring to his character as "without guile."

Fourthly, the term "under the fig tree" is most important as an expression and was understood by rabbinic Jews of the first century, but alas Christians today have no comprehension of what this meant.

The fig tree is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures. Adam and Eve made their first covering from fig leaves (Gen 3.7). It was their way of covering up what they had done. The fig was also a symbol of prosperity and security: "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (1 Kgs 4.25).

To first century Jews to be seated beneath a fig tree (which symbolises not only the nation of Israel, but the security that comes from a right relation to God) was a perfect place to study the Torah. To the Jews sitting under their own fig tree was the ultimate experience of peace, prosperity and security that is to be found in meditating on the contents of Torah. Hence the prophetic word,

"Every man shall sit under his own fig tree" (Mic 4.3,4).

The Essenes, who claimed to be the true Israel -- the obedient remnant of Israel during the time of Yeshua and Paul -- took the appellation of "Fig Tree" (among other things) to describe themselves, hence the authentic understanding of Torah was seen to be in their grasp only, under the auspices of the Teacher of Righteousness.

Fifthly, we should ask ourselves what it was that Nathanael was actually doing "sitting beneath the fig tree." The short answer is meditating on the Torah. Again, the rabbinic authorities recognized a seat under the fig tree as the right place for study of the Torah. The idea of fig tree and meditative Torah study became synonymous.

Sixth, what could it have been in the Torah that was preoccupying the mind of Nathanael "in whom there was no guile"? I formerly suggested in my third point, that the answer is given by Yeshua himself: "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe? You shall see greater things than these. And he says unto him, Absolutely, absolutely, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

The Torah portion Nathanael was studying was Genesis 28.12.

Nathanael was meditating upon Jacob, the cunning deceiver (filled with "guile") who was dreaming of an event in which heaven opened up and he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on a staircase or ladder (Gen 28.10-13). God spoke to the patriarch, promising that he and his descendants would bless the inhabitants of the world, and that his God would never depart from him. Yeshua contrasted Jacob's character with that of Nathanael, and declared his new student to be head and shoulders above Jacob. While Jacob was full of guile, God still blessed him because God had elected him to a mighty position in Grace. If God had so blessed Jacob, how much more could He bless Nathanael who was without guile?

But the seventh point is even more pertinent: In Jewish thoughtform, Yeshua is revealing his humour and wit when he utilised this expression "under the fig tree." Taking everything we have just considered in its textual context, he's saying in a nutshell to Nathanael, "So, you are a student of Torah! You think you are smart? I actually know what you were contemplating in your studious reading and meditation of the Torah!"

Yeshua had somehow known what Nathanael had been studying -- and this was something concerning which nobody else could have known! This evoked Nathanael's declarative worship -- "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!"

In the scroll of Zechariah we read: "And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down [ascending and descending] in his name, says the LORD" (Zech 10.12).

Have we learned to "walk up and down in the Name" of our God? Even though this is a promise to a future restored House of David and people of Israel, it applies in principle to all who would seek to revere the NAME OF THE LORD in their life. In God we are to have our very existence. Our focus, our life itself, must be totally found in Him. "Hallowed be your Name," taught Yeshua. "In whom we live and move and have our being" said Paul. But rabbinically it means even more than this. To "walk up and down in His Name," means to act in His authority, to command by His authority -- and that authority rests in the converted human heart.

But do not let us act with an authority we do not possess. The only people who can so act are the people who have "wrought His judgment" -- as Jeremiah previously outlined. The people of God are those John referred to in his Apocalypse as "keeping the mitzvot [commandments=Torah] of God and possessing the faith of Yeshua." If we are not doing both of those things, the very words unleashed by us with our new found authority will turn back on our own heads.

Remember, my interpretation of the teaching of the Kabbalah is that we can create our own angels.

The revelation which God gave to Jacob involved angels ascending and descending (in that order) upon his head, and Yeshua confirmed that Nathanael would see just such an eventuating occurring on the Son of Man. The latter term was one which was utilised by Yeshua to refer to Himself as the Messiah. We too are in Mashiach, and we too share that same authority. His "Name" is IN us. We can "walk up and down in His Name." "Up and down." "Ascending and descending" you see.

Without a grasp of the Jewish thoughtform revealed in the account of Jacob at Beth-el in the Torah we would be at a serious loss at comprehending what John had recorded for the later benefit of Jewish students of the School of Yeshua.