For God's Word is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 WNT
This is {part of} what it means by "the Word is ALIVE". Of course, the Word is alive! Yeshua is the Word of God (John 1:1 & 14). He is alive and has ascended to the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:55, Mark 16:19, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20). Yeshua is also the physical manifestation of the Father, YHWH. Because Yeshua is the Word and alive, and the physical representation of the Father to us, He is able, through the Holy Spirit of YHWH God, and his oneness with the Father, to teach us new things. He has been given all authority on the earth! Each time we read scripture we have the opportunity to see things with bigger eyes, with more understanding through His wisdom.
This week's Torah portion, Vayera, from Genesis 18-22, was this kind of *new* for me.
I remember reading many times before that YHWH, I AM, appeared to Abraham often. I remember in this particular section of scripture, that Abraham stood at the door of his tent and saw three {men} coming toward him. Upon seeing them, he ran out to meet them and fell on his face in front of the LORD God of Hosts. I remember that Abraham asked them to stay, refresh themselves and converse with him, and that he then ran inside and had Sarah fix the visitors some food. Afterward, when the food was ready, Abraham brought it out and set it before the three men and they ate. Shortly two of the men went on their way (to eventually reduce Sodom and Gomorrah to rubble), however the LORD God stayed behind and talked with Abraham. We know for a fact that it was YHWH because of the conversation that is recorded in scripture. YHWH GOD revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy the two wicked cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) , but Abraham pleaded with YHWH, as a friend, about sparing the cities if He, the LORD, found righteous ones there. Abraham counted down from 50 righteous, to 45, to eventually only 10 and inquired of the LORD YHWH about His plans. YHWH said He would indeed spare the wicked for the righteous' sake. What a fabulous interaction between Abraham and his Father, our Father!
Now, what I didn't notice or know before is this:
1) The Bible says that God, YHWH, The Great I Am, the King of kings, "APPEARED BEFORE AND TALKED TO ABRAHAM". Repeat that. Wait. Doesn't the Bible also say that no man can look upon God and live. Isn't that exactly why the Israelites cried out in fear and trembling to Moses at Mt. Sinai and begged him to go up on the mount and commune with God and relay God's message to them? They were afraid! So how did this work with Abraham? Simple! The only way God physically shows Himself to us is through the physical manifestation of His Son - the Messiah, the Savior, Yeshua. However, there are those (in Judaism and other religions, who deny Yeshua's messiahship) who say that it was NOT YHWH God Who appeared to Abraham, but just an angel.
The irony is that these same people named the Torah portion "He appeared". Who appeared, then? YHWH! YHWH God appeared to Abraham in physical form, as the Messiah himself! Wait. Yes, I said that correctly, but let me elaborate some. Some of the same rabbis and Judaic scholars who divided up the Torah into 54 portions for reading throughout the year, and named the portions {usually} after the first word in the section, say that YHWH did not actually appear to Abraham, but yet they names the section "He appeared". Today they say it was {just} a third angel -- but both can't be right - the scripture AND the rabbis. One of them is wrong (or lying to cover up truth). I wasn't completely sure what was right or going on, so I did some research.
While I don't have a conclusive answer, here is my logic of sorts. If the Judaic authorities (who say the Torah portions are named after the first couple of words in the Torah portions, and that their Tanakh is correct and without error) admit it was YHWH God that appeared to Abraham then they have a big problem on their hands. They deny that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah (Christ) == SO they have to say it was only an angel and not YHWH God in physical form as Yeshua the Messiah or they have to go back ad revisit the Yeshua questions. They have a conundrum because the Bible, both in the New and Old Testaments says that the physical appearance of YHWH is only through His Messiah. YHWH's physical appearance is through his son and His son is none other than Yeshua. If Yeshua is the son of YHWH, then He is God, and John 1:1 and 14 are true. And THAT is the great issue for the Judaic authorities in a nutshell. he Word was made flesh and dwelt among us in Yeshua the Messiah. Rabbinical Judaism and Jews who adhere to rabbinical Judaism (instead of the Word of YHWH) have issue with that. They won't always have that issue, but right now they still do.
2) The second aha! moment had to do with Deuteronomy 14:21, Exodus 23:19, 34:26 (that being a simple comparison of the rabbinical kosher laws vs the food and dietary laws contained with in actual scripture). The same instructions are repeated three times in the Bible. It says:
Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk. Deuteronomy 14:21
Jewish authorities (rabbis) explain this statement about a young goat being cooked in it's mother's milk to mean that NO MEAT item can be cooked in, served with, or eaten with or NEAR any dairy item. The verses copied above DO NOT SAY THIS. This is strictly a rabbinical law, not YHWH's law. "The meat and the dairy shall not touch" is not biblical. The Bible, even in the the original languages, does not say "all meat and dairy must be separated at all times". It simply says, paraphrased, 'do not kill a young animal and then cook it in the milk of its own mother'. HOW CRUEL that would be! It isn't about keeping the meat and cheese separated, it's about ethical considerations and kindness vs cruelty. This statement is about doing that which is right and good. In the same vein, the Bible instructs us not to take the eggs from a nest while the mother bird is present (Deuteronomy 22:6), which speaks of ethical considerations, kindness, doing what is right vs cruelty.
If we are to believe that we should keep all meat and dairy separate, then are we to also keep eggs products and meat separate? Is that what YHWH meant when we look at it all in context? I do not believe so, and neither do millions of Bible scholars or laymen, Jews, or gentiles followers of YHWH's laws.
Apparently YHWH wanted to concretely, without-a-doubt, explain this to me; He led me next to Genesis 18:8 (pasted in several versions for clarity):
He [Abraham] then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they [the Three] ate, he [Abraham] stood near them under a tree. NIV
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. KJV
And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. JPS Tanahk 1917
...and he taketh butter and milk, and the son of the herd which he hath prepared, and setteth before them; and he is standing by them under the tree, and they do eat. YLT
Then he took curds, milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it all before the men; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. CJB
Full Massoretic Hebrew Text and Literal Translation of the Hebrew Tanahk, with Strong's Annotations
And he took 3947 z8799 butter, 2529 and milk,2461 and the calf 1121 1241 which x834 he had dressed, 6213z8804 and set 5414 z8799 [it] before x6440 them; y6440 and hex1931 stood 5975 z8802 by x5921 them under x8478 the tree,6086 and they did eat. 398 z8799
וַיִּקַּח חֶמְאָה וְחָלָב וּבֶן־הַבָּקָראֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וַיִּתֵּן לִפְנֵיהֶםוְהוּא־עֹמֵד עֲלֵיהֶם תַּחַת הָעֵץוַיֹּאכֵלוּ
waYiQach chem'ähw'chäläv ûven-haBäqär ásheräsäh waYiTën lif'nëyhemw'hû-omëd álëyhem Tachathäëtz waYokhëlû
A literal, word-for-word reading in any and every translation or ancient text says it simply:
YHWH God APPEARED to Abraham. Abraham and Sarah prepared a meal of milk, curds/butter and meat for YHWH God and the two angels with Him. Abraham set the meal before the three, and YHWH God ATE the meal that Abraham and Sarah had prepared. Nothing is said about there being a problem with serving meat and dairy together. We must assume that Abraham and Sarah did not kill a young animal that day to prepare it in it's own mother's milk. That would have been against the commands. BUT they do serve GOD and the Angels milk and butter and meat TOGETHER, and the angels and GOD ATE THE MEAL. Was Abraham so bold and so arrogant to serve the God of the universe something that He forbid? No, not at all.... Abraham simply did not kill a calf or kid and boil it in its own mother's milk and then serve it. There was no need or reason to separate the meat and the dairy. This is another one of the "fences around the Torah" that the rabbis have come up with and imposed upon men.
I will finish with these two verses, one from the Tanahk and one from the B'rit Hadashah:
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it." Deuteronomy 4:2 and also Deuteronomy 12:32
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this Book" Revelation 22:18-19.