The House of God

Last week's Torah portion comes from Genesis 28:10 - 32:2.

When I was a young girl my dad occasionally drove my family by a beautiful, large church where "The house of God and the gate to Heaven," was engraved above the front doors. I thought it was impressive! I loved the sound of the words and how important they made the church seem. Later, I found that same phrase in Genesis.

Genesis 28:17 (KJV)
¹⁷ And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

It was spoken by Jacob as he awoke from his dream of the ladder that led up to Heaven upon which angels ascended and descended. However, he was not in front of any building whatsoever. He continued with this:

Genesis 28:18-19, 22 (KJV)
¹⁸ And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
¹⁹ And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
²² And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Jacob called the place Bethel, which means "the house of God." He even set up a pillar of stones and stated that the place would be "God's house." He also declared that he would give a tithe (tenth) unto God.

Where was this place?

  

Based on Jacob's descriptive words, the location cannot be any other place than Jerusalem. Yet the only identifiable Bethel in the Bible is a town north of Jerusalem and west of Ai. However, the ancient Jewish sages struggled with this problem also. In the Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 88a states "Jacob called Jerusalem Bethel."  

Not only does Jacob's words imply Jerusalem, but the Scriptures themselves indicate that the "House of God" is indeed the Temple which was built in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 6:37 (KJV) 

³⁷ In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif:

Psalm 23:6 (KJV)
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Isaiah 2:2 (KJV)
² And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

So is Jacob's Bethel Jerusalem? This is a question that only God Himself can probably answer. However, it should make us sit up and take notice about our use of the phrase "house of God and gate to Heaven." Considering the importance and uniqueness given to the true "House of God," no church building can make this claim. No church can call itself "the gate to Heaven." This should also remind us of the importance of Jerusalem. This is the place from which Yeshua will one day rule! There will never be another city like it!

The Torah Before Moses?

This week's Torah portion comes from Genesis 25:19-28:9.

Genesis 26:2-5 (KJV)
² And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
⁴ And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
⁵ Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

God appeared to Isaac and told him to live in Canaan and not to go down into Egypt. God would be with him and bless him. God affirmed that the promises made to his father Abraham would be carried out also to Isaac and to his descendants. This was great news not only for Isaac and the Jewish people, but for all the nations of the earth as well, because through Isaac's seed (Messiah Yeshua) the whole world would be able to partake in the relationship between God and His people.

Verse 5 gives the reason for why Isaac would be so blessed. Abraham obeyed God's voice, kept His charge, His commandments, His statutes, and His laws!

But what charge, what commandments, what statutes, and what laws did Abraham obey? Traditional Christianity has long claimed that the Torah was only given to Moses and was somehow fulfilled (meaning set aside) by Yeshua's death and resurrection. However, if Christianity has been wrong about when the Torah was given, couldn't it be wrong about believers being able to set aside the "Mosaic Law?"

The Hebrew words used in verse 5 are: mishmeroti meaning "my charge or safeguards," mitzvotai meaning "my commandments," chukotai meaning "my inscribed statutes," and torotai, meaning "my instructions." This last word translated into English often becomes Law or Torah. Abraham obeyed the Torah! Although it is true that the Torah in its full sense was given to Moses at Mount Sinai, God's people were aware of many of God's desires prior to Moses. The seventh day Sabbath was revealed in Genesis 2. The rules of clean and unclean food were known by Genesis 8. And circumcision began in Genesis 21. So whatever parts of the Torah that Abraham knew about, he obeyed. And God was pleased by his obedience. If God was please by a Saturday Sabbath, the eating of clean foods, and circumcision, why would that change? How could Yeshua's death and resurrection change God's laws, especially those of a God that never changes?

Malachi 3:6a (KJV)
⁶ For I am the LORD, I change not;

May God one day see our obedience in the same way that He saw Abraham's!