HANUKKAH'S FINAL NIGHT

Tonight we celebrate the final night of Hanukkah. Over the past few days I have looked at Hanukkah as in the Bible, from Jesus celebrating it, to Daniel prophesying it. I have looked at the story itself as seen in the pages of the Maccebees. I have learned of the dreidle, and of the reason for it being an eight day celebration. Today, though, I want to share a piece I recently heard from Rabbi Curt Landry

There are eight candles placed on the menorah this final night, excluding the Shamash (servant) candle. But what if instead of looking at these candles as candles, we look a little deeper into a potential meaning of them all.
Candle 1 - This candle represents God. In Duet 6:4 we read, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Giving God the first place, be it in the menorah, or more importantly in our lives, is a good place to start.
Candle 2 - This candle represents Jesus. John 5:19 states that Jesus did only what He saw the Father do. We would be wise to walk in this same example and do only as we see Jesus doing, knowing that He mirrored His Father.
Candle 3 - The candle represents the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1 reminds us that the Holy Spirit fell when the disciples were all in one accord. While the disciples had to be in one accord, so also the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all had to be in one accord. This is the same concept behind the wording that the "...LORD is one." In Hebrew it would be ACHAD - the merging of many into one.
Candle 4 - Four is the new of Creation. Putting this in a practical sense, if I want to be a new creation, I have to be linked into the ACHAD, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 5 - Five is the number of Grace. I need the grace of God filling my life and making me into the new creation I want to be in the ACHAD.
Candle 6 - Six is the number of man. I am a man, sinful at best, but who finds the grace of God washing over me, transforming me from a sinful nature to the nature of the new man of whom I can only be when I am in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 7 - Seven is the number of perfection. I cannot be made perfect until first I forego my sinful, fleshly man nature, allowing God's grace to wash me and transform me into the new creation He wants me to be. And how is this possible? By being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 8 - Eight is the new of New Beginnings. I want to find myself at a place of new beginnings. Is this possible? Yes. How? I find new beginnings when I allow God to perfect me, stripping off my sinful man, bathing me in His grace, and transforming me into the new creation He has destined for me. This, however, can only happen when I am founded, not wavering but founded, in the ACHAD.

So how about you? Are you wanting to experience a new beginning? Then this season of miracles is for you. Allow yourself to come in order like the candles, allowing God to light a new one each night. It begins with being founded in God, but it ends with Him giving you a brand new beginning.

VAYESHEV

“But she kept pressing him, day after day. Nevertheless, he didn’t listen to her; he refused to sleep with her or even be with her”
Genesis 39:10

The account of Joseph begins with the giving of a coat, the jealousy of brothers, and the eventual selling of him to a caravan of Ishmaelites. The account continues in Genesis 39, where we find in verse 2 and following that the LORD blessed Joseph. So blessed was he that “…[Potifar] left all his possessions in Yosef’s care; and because he had him, he paid no attention to his affairs, except for the food he ate” (Gen 39:6a). While Potiphar was not paying attention, knowing he could trust Joseph, Potiphar’s wife was paying attention, and not in the right way. Potifar’s wife saw him as a well built desire, and a possession to be had. When Potifar’s wife confronted him and gave her offer of a one night fling, he refused (Gen 39:7-8). She, however, was resilient. Day after day she kept coming to Joseph with her offer, and day after day he kept saying no. The desire and lust for what she could not have continued to grow toward Joseph. But it was this lust that continued also to feed. “But she kept pressing him, day after day. Nevertheless, he didn’t listen to her; he refused to sleep with her or even be with her” (Gen 39:10).
What Potifar’s wife most wanted to hear was “Yes”, but what she kept hearing from Joseph was “No”. Seeing she was constantly being denied, she tried another more forceful approach. With the house fully empty, she waited for Joseph. Catching him in her trap, and catching him by the cloak, she offered again, “Come to bed with me.” No matter how many times she approached him, his answer was always the same. Leaving his cloak behind, he left her once again.
Think about it this way. A leech makes a special type of saliva which allows them to drink quickly and painlessly. As they spread this saliva over the area where they will feast, they also spread an anesthetic which stops any pain. This anesthetic then keeps the host from feeling the bite. It is common for leeches to be connected to a person for hours before they are ever noticed or realized. But a second agent is also found in the saliva, one called anticoagulant. This agent prevents the blood from clotting, which in turn becomes like a flowing waterfall of blood for the leech to drink freely from. Once filled, the leech will drop off and be filled for months.
When I think of this portion of Joseph’s life where daily he was hounded by Potiphar’s wife, I think of how she was in essence, a leech. She came to him with her saliva of anesthesia working to convince him that no one would ever know. She also came to him with her anticoagulant in the offering more and more and more, just like the waterfall of blood. But Joseph came with one item she was not expecting. He came with God on His side. In one of her attempts prior, Joseph had even replied to her advance saying, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against Adonai?” (Gen 39:9)
On this final advance made on Joseph by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph stood his ground, said “No!,” and ran out. He didn’t care about his cloak, he only cared about getting out. When Potiphar returned home, she lied to her husband and Joseph was placed in prison. But even with all that had happened already, from the bitterness of his brothers, to his being sold into slavery, to now being placed in prison for additional lies against him, Joseph saw God’s hand.
I question of us, do we have this same passion to obey? Do we have the urgency to get out? Are we too concerned with our coat instead of being concerned with getting out? Joseph could have had one night of fun, but what more would that have cost him? What is it costing us?

VAYISHLACH

“’Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.’ And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.”
Genesis 33:11

The day had finally come when the two camps would reunite. Jacob was moments away from seeing his brother again after an estimated twenty years. But the deceitful man that Esau may have remembered was no more. God had worked in Jacob to change him. In some places the change had had time to set in, but in others the change was recent. In fact, it was only hours before that Jacob wrestled with the man. So moving forward, he stepped with a limp. “Ya’akov raised his eyes and looked out; and there was Esav coming, and four hundred men with him. So Ya’akov divided the children between Le’ah, Rachel and the two slave girls” (Gen 33:1).
It is in this humility and change of character that Jacob marched out to meet his brother Esau, but not before sending a number of gifts to him first.. Following all the presents of livestock, and the parade of wives and children, Jacob approached and prostrated himself on the ground seven times before his brother. A meeting that could have been set in anger seemed to subside with compassion as the brothers embraced one another. Then, Jacob formally introduced his children and himself as ‘your servant’ (Gen 33:5). It is noted by scholars that in addressing himself as ‘your servant’, Jacob made a plea to show a heart of humility.
Jacob told Esau that the livestock that had gone before him was now his, and encouraged his brother to accept. “’Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.’ And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.” Yet within this verse is found a nugget of missed information. The word present, or gift, here in this text is the Hebrew word BERAKAH. The translation goes beyond just the word gift. It translates as ‘blessing’. It was in this act of giving these gifts to Esau that Jacob was in some form trying to give Esau back the blessing that he had once stolen. Unable to change the past, he was able to at least share a portion of the blessing God had given him.
As the meeting lingered, Esau felt the move to continue with his brother on to Seir. However, after an already long trip, a night spent wrestling, and perhaps the emotional and physical toils of the stress of meeting his brother now being relaxed, Jacob and his caravan needed a rest. Watching Esau in the distance headed for Seir, Jacob headed toward Sukkot. It was here that he pitched tents and made shelters for his animals. It is here that we see the first use of Sukkot, which is where we derive the background for what we now understand is wrapped up in one of the High Holy days.
Still moving forward, Jacob landed at Padan-Aram before finally settling within sight of Shechem. It was at Shechem that Jacob put up an altar and named it El-Elohei-Yisra’el. The translation of this is “God, the God of Israel” or” mighty is the God of Israel”. In questioning as to why he may have named it this, I think on what all he had been through. Maybe the obvious is his recent name change. Just a few nights back he had wrestled and been renamed Israel. But this man had also truly seen God’s might. He had been protected by God’s hand from his angry brother. He had been blessed by God’s hand in the brown, spotted, and speckled livestock he possessed. And he had been kept in God’s hand despite the trickery that once defined him. Jacob had lived to know God’s might, and for that God was the God of Jacob.

VAYETZE

“…What kind of thing is this that you‘ve done to me? Didn’t I work for you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?" (Gen 29:25).

The old saying that what comes around goes around may not be too far from the truth. I would venture to say, though, that God says it a little different. You reap what you sew. Yet still, maybe an even better way to put it is be sure your sins will find you out. With the same trickery that Jacob had once played on Esau, now Jacob was getting played. Originally Laban had agreed that if Jacob worked in his field for seven years, he could have the prize of his daughter Rachel. So smitten with Rachel was he, that he worked for those seven years. To him the Torah records they felt like only a few days. When it came time to collect the wages for his tarry, Jacob asked for Rachel’s hand in marriage.
When the agreement between Laban and Jacob was made, I am guessing the small print wasn’t read. The small print stated that within the area of Laban’s clan, the youngest could not marry before the oldest. That would have been good to know beforehand. But maybe it was read and just excused, after all he was smitten. Nonetheless, Jacob married and took his bride into the marriage chamber. In the morning he realized it was Leah he had wed and became upset with Laban, asking, “…What kind of thing is this that you‘ve done to me? Didn’t I work for you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me? (Gen 29:25).” Laban worked to explain the details of their culture, the fine print so to say, and in the end Jacob agreed to finish the wedding week with Leah and then marry Rachel the following week in exchange for another seven years of toil.
It didn’t seem to end there, though. The Torah records that Leah had weak eyes. Let us not read that wrong. The Hebrew word here is RAK. I have been taught this description of weak eyes means she wasn’t cute. But the true term here is ‘tender’. While Rachel had a sparkle in her eyes, Leah had gentleness in hers. But Jacob’s heart was for Rachel. Seeing that Leah was unloved, lacking sparkle in Jacob’s eyes, God opened Leah’s womb and hindered that of Rachel. Could we again be seeing the deceiver becoming the deceived? Was he just doing the marital duties with Leah to fulfill an agreement only, and not out of love? If so, it seems as though God was aware of this and closed the womb of the one Jacob truly loved. Yet, the battle for Jacob’s love and devotion which was proved through the birth of sons was underway.
In time the nation of Israel was being birthed just as God had promised, as not only did Leah and Rachel engage in the child war, but they brought their maidservants into the battle as well. In just a short time Jacob was father to a number of sons. Let us briefly look at these sons and learn a little about them.

REUBEN - Re’uven – birthed of Leah. His name means “See a son!” Leah believed that with a son, that she would be loved finally, or at least a little less than she was compared to Rachel. She also believed that the LORD had seen her affliction and had had mercy on her.
SIMEON - Shim’on – birthed of Leah. His name means “The LORD has heard”. Still knowing she was not as loved as Rachel, she believed the LORD had again heard her cry, and this time had had pity on her in giving another son.
LEVI – Leivi – birthed of Leah. His name means “joined”. With now three sons, Leah hoped that she would now be joined with her husband, Jacob.
JUDAH - Y’hudah – birthed of Leah. His name means “praise,” saying that with the birth of this son, praise would be given to the LORD.
DAN - Dan – birthed to Bilhah (Rachel’s maidservant). His name means “God has vindicated”. Rachel felt that since she was unable to have children, she too would have them through her servant, and in this she would be honored as a mother.
NAPHTALI – Naftali – birthed to Bilhah. His name means “wrestling”. This name stems from the wrestling over Jacob’s love between Leah and Rachel.
GAD – Gad – birthed to Zilpah (Leah’s maidservant). His name means “fortunate”. Once Leah stopped having children, she used Zilpah to continue her family, declaring how fortunate she was to continue her sons through her servant.
ASHER – Asher – birthed to Zilpah. His name means “happy”. In naming him Asher, her thought was that women would see her as blessed.
ISSACHAR – Yissakhar – birthed to Leah when traded with Rachel for mandrakes, believed by many to be an aphrodisiac and fertility drug. His name means “God has given me my wages”.
ZEBULUN – Z’vulun – birthed to Leah. His name means “dwell, living together”. In this meaning, Leah felt that Jacob would now want to dwell with her.

However, not one of these ten sons came from the woman Jacob had wanted to marry from the start. What we find in the end is that God had compassion on Leah, the one who seemed not to be so loved. But this same God who had compassion of Leah is recorded as having compassion on Rachel as well in Genesis 30:22. “Then God took note of Rachel, heeded her prayer and made her fertile.” Through Rachel would come the final two sons of Jacob.
JOSEPH – Yosef – birthed to Rachel. His name means “may he add”. With the birth of Joseph, Rachel finally felt as though God had taken her disgrace away, and in time would add other sons.
BENJAMIN – Binyamin – birthed to Rachel. His name means “son of my right hand”. As Rachel lay failing in health with the delivery of her final son, she named him Ben-Oni (son of my grief). However, Jacob changed his name to Benjamin (Gen 35:16-20).

What stands out to me in this list of children is that while Jacob did not have children with the wife he longed to have them with till the end, God was still in control. God, putting all the pieces in order, allowed Jacob's line to expand and thus fulfill the promise he had given to Abraham years before. Let this stand as an encouragement to us also that while at times what we are in may be different than we hoped and expected, God is still...and always...in control.