“Sarah lived to be 127 years old; (37 years after she had given birth to Isaac at age 90) these were the years of Sarah’s life.” (Genesis 23:1)
Chayei Sarah (חַיֵּי שָׂרָה), means ‘Life of Sarah,’ but it actually marks her death aged 127 in a place called Kiriat Arba (modern day Hebron). Biblically, a person’s life is celebrated at the end rather than at the beginning with the exception of Yeshua’s birth but even then little is told about His childhood and youth even with Yeshua. Just one instance of Yeshua’s childhood is recorded in Luke and nowhere else in the Gospels.
Sarah is the first woman whose age and funeral is recorded in the Bible. Wherever there are first mentions in the Bible, it is something of special significance.
Sarah’s death was linked to God’s covenant promise to Abraham about the land that he and to his descendants would inherit for ever. Until now, Abraham had received nothing.
Abraham purchased a cave (tomb) of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite for 400 shekels (over a 100kg of silver). This provided a place to bury Sarah but it also signified something else of enormous significance, that being his ownership of the first piece of land promised to him by God for his inheritance.
Our sages tell us that the Torah contains 600,000 letters (counting the spaces between letters), the number of people counted in the Exodus from Egypt symbolic that each Jew possesses something of the Torah. The same is true of the Land of Israel which is the eternal inheritance of the Jewish people, equally the property of every individual Jew. And so it was from the very first moment of Jewish ownership of the Holy Land as described here in this parasha.
Abraham was 137 years at the time and is described as being ‘Old and advanced in years’ yet lived another 37 years. (30+7). 30 (3×10) denotes in the highest degree the perfection of God’s order marking the right moment. Yeshua was around 30 years at the commencement of His ministry Luke 3:23; — Joseph also when he ruled over Egypt, – Gen 41:46 who was a type of Mashiach; and David when he began to reign –2Sam. 5:4. This is underscored by the number 7. (cf E.W. Bullinger ‘Number in Scripture’)
- Seven times he had been promised the land of Canaan, yet when Sarah died he still did not own even a square-inch or even a place to bury his wife.
Abraham never gave up. God had promised him many children and nations ‘as many as the grains of sand in the sea-shore and the stars in the sky.’ But, at that point he had only one son of the covenant, Isaac who remained unmarried at the age of thirty-seven.
Abraham moved forwards instead of regressing into unbelief and was driven by his complete trust in God’s promises. The measure we trust God in all things will determine the measure of our future inheritance. Sometimes, people’s lives are depleted because they are not willing to trust God for His perfect timings.
This parasha links in directly with a parable which Yeshua told of the Rich Man and Lazarus. This constitutes the main part of this parasha (the whole of chapter 24) and also last week’s parasha. When we understand the parable in context we see that it has all to do with being good custodians of the deposit that God has placed in our lives. (LUKE 16:19-31)
19 “Once there was a rich man who used to dress in the most expensive clothing and spent his days in magnificent luxury. 20 At his gate had been laid a beggar named El‘azar who was covered with sores. 21 He would have been glad to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table; but instead, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 In time the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Avraham’s side; the rich man also died and was buried.
23 “In Sh’ol, where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Avraham far away with El‘azar at his side. 24 He called out, ‘Father Avraham, take pity on me, and send El‘azar just to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, because I’m in agony in this fire!’ 25 However, Avraham said, ‘Son, remember that when you were alive, you got the good things while he got the bad; but now he gets his consolation here, while you are the one in agony. 26 Yet that isn’t all: between you and us a deep rift has been established, so that those who would like to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, 28 where I have five brothers, to warn them; so that they may be spared having to come to this place of torment too.’ 29 But Avraham said, ‘They have Moshe and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 However, he said, ‘No, father Avraham, they need more. If someone from the dead goes to them, they’ll repent!’ 31 But he replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moshe and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”
Yeshua had just shared about Parable of the Unjust (shrewd) Steward who was accused of mishandling his master’s money (Luke 16:11-16) to illustrate good and bad stewardship.
Yeshua told the Pharisees: “So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you? No servant can be slave to two masters, for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
Some of the Pharisees ridiculed Yeshua but He replied, “You people make yourselves look righteous to others, but God knows your hearts; what people regard highly is an abomination before God!”
In the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Yeshua continues with the theme of stewardship as a warning to the religious hierarchy in terms of how we use the resources which God has bestowed to us.
LAZARUS (Eleazar)
This is the only time where a person’s name is used in Yeshua’s parables. The name “Lazarus” is a transliteration of the Hebrew “Eli-ezer” (which means “God has helped”).
When Yeshua shared a parable, He would usually refer to a biblical passage and in this case it came from this specific parasha of Chayei Sarah.
Eleazar is described in the parasha as the servant and chief steward of Abraham and he was a Gentile. The phrase, “desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table” as Yeshua described Lazarus in the parable was a common phrase used to describe Gentiles. Another phrase is where it describes Lazarus as being, ‘laid at the gate’ of the Rich Man – a Jewish expression describing the “Proselyte of the Gate” who were Gentiles living amongst Jews but maintaining their Gentile identity.
In Gen. 15, Abraham complains to God about having no heir to his inheritance. It would all go to Lazarus (Eliezar of Damascus). Abraham replied, “Adonai, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek (“The one born to Masek”) inherits my possessions? You haven’t given me a child,” Avram continued, “so someone born in my house will be my heir.” Gen. 15:2–3
(Among the early Hebrews, custom decided that the next of kin should enter upon the possession of the estate of a deceased person. The first-born son usually assumed the headship of the family. When there were no sons, the dying man would appoint a trusted friend as his heir, sometimes to the exclusion of a near relative. When Abraham despaired of having children himself, he was about to appoint his slave Eliezer as his heir, although his nephew Lot was living (Gen. xv. 3). Even when there were children, it was within the right of the father to prefer one child to another in the apportioning of his property. Sarah, not wishing Ishmael to share in the inheritance with her son Isaac, convinced Abraham to drive Hagar and her son out of her house (Gen. xxi. 10); and Abraham later sent away his children by concubines, with presents, so that they should not interfere in the inheritance of Isaac (Gen. xxv. 6).” http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8114-inheritance)
Up to this point Lazarus (Eleazar) had been the legal heir to all of Abraham’s possessions (Gen 15:3) Eliezer, as the firstborn of one of Abraham’s concubines, (Masek) was Abraham’s only natural heir. Before the birth of Isaac, Eliezer was Abraham’s rightful heir (Abraham said, “O my Lord, what would you give me seeing that I am going to die accursed [Heb: ar-iri ], and the one to inherit my household is Dam-Mesek.” (Gen 15:2)
(“Sons were born to Abraham by concubine servants as well. Ishmael, was born of Hagar and, according to the Septuagint, Eliezar of Damascus was born of Masek. In the New Jerusalem Bible (following the Vulgate) Abraham says to the Lord: “Since you have given me no offspring… a member of my household will be my heir.” The Septuagint offers this: “What will you give me, seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus, the son of Masek, my domestic maidservant.” Eliezar as a son of Abraham by a maidservant, parallels the story of Hagar. This means that Abraham had 9 sons: Ishmael, Eliezer, Isaac, Joktan, Zimram, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. There were also daughters. Clearly, God fulfilled His sovereign will concerning Abraham that he should be the “Father of a multitude”.)
Abraham gave Lazarus an assignment which resulted in his own disinheritance which he did willingly and without complaint. Indeed, he carried out Abraham’s orders precisely.
“…swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife unto my son [Isaac] of the daughters of the Canaanites.’” Gen 24:3
Lazarus (Eleazar) forfeited all claim to Abraham’s inheritance and even shared this fact with Laban, Rebecca’s brother: All of what had been Eleazar’s inheritance had now been given to Isaac and his descendants: wealth, prestige, power, kingship, priesthood, and the land of Canaan as an “everlasting” possession. Lazarus had been “cast out” and would inherit nothing. This is why the parable calls Lazarus a “beggar” who possessed nothing of earthly worth.
Though Eleazar [Lazarus], had disinherited himself from earthly rewards by his faithful obedience to Abraham’s wishes, he was later to find himself (after death, when true inheritance comes) with the eternal reward of dwelling in Abraham’s bosom.
Judah (the Jewish nation) who represented Abraham’s sons Judah, inherited all the physical blessings while in the flesh, but as a nation refused the message of salvation offered by Yeshua who said: ”Neither will they he persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Yeshua taught through this parable that the Gentiles had now the possibility to inherit the promises of Abraham.
But there is something more here. Abraham sent Eliezer to travel all the way to Aleppo, Haran, in Syria, to look for a wife for Isaac. He found Rebecca, who was less than half the age of Isaac. This is why, according to the Hebrew text, when she saw Isaac the first time she literally fell off the camel (“nafal”) incorrectly translated in the English that she “dismounted” from her camel. Gen. 24:64. To understand the full impact of this word in context we must compare Scripture with Scripture.
– In Ezek. 8:1 “On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, as I was sitting in my house, and the leaders of Y’hudah were sitting there with me, the hand of Adonai ELOHIM fell (nafal) on me.”
– Ezek.11:5 “The Spirit of ADONAI fell (nafal) on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘Here is what ADONAI says:”
As opposed to falling off her camel, or dismounting in a lady-like fashion, the Spirit of God fell upon her in a manner with power reminiscent of the day of Ezekiel and later on the day of Pentecost.
QUESTION: What was the”sod” (concealed) meaning contained in the word nafal?
Abraham had not told Eliezer to look for any specific traits of character for selecting Isaac’s new wife. He simply told him to find someone from his own extended family. Eliezer, however, devised a test that he brought before God in prayer:
“Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one You have chosen for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness [chesed] to my master.” Gen. 24:12-14
His use of the word chesed was the primary characteristic he was looking for in the future wife of the first Jewish child, Isaac, and he found it in Rebecca. In 1535 Myles Coverdale published the first-ever translation of the Hebrew Bible into English (begun by William Tyndale). It was when he came to the word ‘chesed’ that he realised that it was untranslatable and so he coined the word “loving-kindness.”
The theme of chesed similarly runs through the book of Ruth. It was Ruth’s chesed to Naomi, and Boaz’s to Ruth, that the Tanakh emphasises. The Sages stated that the three characteristics most important to Jewish character are modesty, compassion, and (chesed).
In the Talmud (Bavli, South 14a) we read that, “The Torah begins with an act of kindness and ends with an act of kindness. It begins with God clothing the naked – “The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them,” (Gen. 3:21) – and it ends with Him caring for the dead: “And He [God] buried [Moses] in the Valley.” (Deut. 34:6).
Chesed was what led Eliezer to choose Rebecca to become Isaac’s wife who became the first Jewish bride. And it was the “chesed” of God which brought redemption to the world through Yeshua our Messiah. Paul ends his words in 2Cor 13 with the blessing, “May the grace (chesed) of Messiah Yeshua,…. “God demonstrated His love/grace/kindness/mercy chesed towards us… (Rom. 5:18)
The meaning of chesed is special and different than the type of love we generally see portrayed in the world. Chesed demonstrates true commitment without strings attached. One type of love that exists is very conditional. “I love you because…” With chesed, the phrase should be switched. “Because God loves you… ” God is committed to loving us. Nothing we say, think, or do can change that. Chesed is unconditional.
Chesed occurs 253 times in the Bible, of which
QUESTION: What is the difference between Chesed and Agape love?
Agape is a broader term and focused on grace, while chesed is used in the contexts of covenants and concentrated on mercy.
Whether you are in a marriage relationship or a caring friendship, stay committed to others. Shower loved ones with loving-kindness and goodness. This includes being truthful and trustworthy. It also means caring for one another’s needs, even when it may be difficult. While maintaining boundaries, we need to display God’s love to those he has put in our path.
Raphael ben Levi
