Toldot 5782 and the letter Dalet Part 1

Toldot 5782 and the letter Dalet Part 1

The letter dalet is the fourth letter of the alephbet. It has the value of 4 and is the picture of a door or a tent door.

The letters that make up the word dalet are dalet, lamed and tav. When we look at the meaning of each of these letters it would look like this:

Dalet – the door

Lamed – authority

Tav – covenant

Dalet can therefor mean ‘the door to the authority of the covenant’.

John 10:9 “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will have life, and will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture.”

1 Corinthians 15: 47 The first man was out of earth, earthy. The second Man was the Master YAHWEH out of Heaven.

This speaks to the first Adam who was made from the earth. Adama means earth. The second Adam was Yeshua – He was born of the Spirit. The principle of this is that whatever is born of the flesh belongs to the flesh but whatever is born of the spirit belongs to the second. It is the source that is so important! Our source needs to be that of the Spirit. We have to die to our flesh each day and the works of our hands needs to come from the right source – the Spirit! When this is true – what we are doing, the works of of our hands and the steps that we take will be ordered of him.

This is exactly what we see in the story of Abraham and Sarah – their acts were rooted in the Ruach HaKodesh and according to the will of their Adonai Elohim. We can tell exactly where and when in their timeline when they stepped out the Spirit and operated from the flesh too!

In John 5:19 Yeshua continually says that He can do nothing without the Father. He did nothing out of the natural realm as it would not have had its source in HaShem! If Yeshua, who was so perfect, did nothing out of Himself, how much more should we not be doing anything out of ourselves! He did not rely upon his perfect flesh but on the Ruach Hakodesh and how much more should we rely on the Ruach?

In Revelation 3:20 Yeshua is speaking to the Church of Laodicea, not to unbelievers. He is standing at the dalet, the door of their hearts and He is knocking. He is coming to the dalet (door), trying to wake the believers up. Why was He on the outside? Surely, He should have been inside the church? The believers of Laodicea thought­­ they had everything they needed but they had locked Yeshua out of their hearts and closed the door – the source of their works was not the Spirit.

Psalm 119: 25-32 My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to Your Word. I have declared my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your Statutes. Make me understand the way of Your Precepts, and I will meditate on Your wonders. My soul drops with grief; Lift me up according to Your Word. Remove from me the way of lying and give me grace with Your Torah. I have chosen the way of truth; I have held Your judgments level; I have clung to Your Testimonies; O YAHWEH, do not shame me. I will run the way of Your Commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.

Here is the person at the door and he has to decide to open it or not. Just like the believers in the church of Laodicea and just like Abraham, when HaShem called him out of the city of Ur.

The dalet can swing different ways. The way in Hebrew is the word ‘derek' and it is connected to the letter dalet. In Psalm 119:25-32 – the word derek is mentioned 5 times. We can either choose the way of deceit and lies or the way of faithfulness and truth.

In these Torah portions we see that these were the choices facing everyone of HaShem’s people, to choose His ways of covenant or not - to sh’ma –  listen and respond in obedience.

When Rivkah and Yitschak first laid eyes on each other [Gen 24:62-64] our English Bibles says he had gone to that field to ‘meditate’. In Hebrew this word is suwach. The action of this verb pictures taking a walk for a spiritual purpose. Yitschak was the picture of devotion – choosing the way of truth and faithfulness. Suwach-ing is is very special part of who Yitschak was. He was taking a walk in a field in the cool of the evening, connecting with his Heavenly Father. The act of suwach-ing is to engage with Elohim, to participate in a relationship with Him. Yitschak is the first person mentioned to step into this depth of engagement with Father.

Yitschak pleaded with HaShem over Rivkah’s (Rebekah’s) womb and it opened supernaturally after 20 years! This act of pleading is ‘atar’ in Hebrew. This is the first time we see this act in Scripture. Adam did not atar. Neither did Noach or Shem or even Avraham. Other than giving us his ‘seed’ – the seed of Messiah – teaching us to atar is Yitschak’s most important contribution to the world.

The Hebraic word picture that could be seen is that of a man’s soul [ayin] walking in the way of the covenant [tav] until HaShem, the King, steps in [resh] to take action on the man’s behalf.

Yitschak’s atar plea is one of complete brokenness. It is the helpless cry of a contrite and humble spirit. We see this again when we read of David’s desperate brokenness before HaShem. (II Samuel 21:14, II Samuel 24:25) We witness this again, beyond what we could measure in the Garden of Gat-sh’manei [Gathsemene] when Yeshua poured forth His anguished pleas before His Father.

This act reveals the heart and the dalet is all about a man’s heart and the opening for the Spirit to take residence. Atar-ing is not giving HaShem your list of requests for an easier life. Atar-ing is what a covenant partner does when he has nothing left of himself and cries out in desperation for the fulfillment of the promises made by his covenant partner.

It makes sense that Yitschak would teach us to demonstrate this for us as he was the one who was bound on the altar – understanding what it meant to be at the end, to have no option except the miraculous intervention of HaShem!

When our hearts are in this space, when we have no agenda except to connect and engage with our Elohim, this is when the door opens and our Mashiach is invited in. May our hearts be ready and prepared when this time does come. May we be a people who are unafraid to die to our fleshly nature and atar and suwach before his throne. May we engage with Him in meaningful conversations and cry out with desire to Him when He places a cry within their hearts.

May we not be like the church of Laodicea, who believed they had everything they needed but walked without seeing or hearing who was at the door, their Saviour, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

May our hearts be prepared and ready, to receive Him without hesitation!

Baruch HaShem,

Michelle

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