Vayera: And He appeared.
B’reshiyt (Genesis) 18:1 – 22:24
Melekim Bet (II Kings) 4:1-37
Matthew 25:34-40; Luke 2:1-38; 17:26-37; John 3:16-21; John 16:19-24; Jacob/James 2:14-24; 2 Peter 2:4-11; Hebrews 6:13-20; 11:13-19; Rom 9:6-11; Galatians 4:21-31
You’d have thought I’d been in dental school training, I was always so down in the mouth. The last time I could remember laughing was when momma tickled my belly saying, “Coo-chee-coo-chee-coo!” Yeah, I was a sad sack college student smoking pot to get high, only to sink lower in depression. Who could lift me out of my sad state?
But once I heard the Gospel and was born again by the seed of the Messiah, I became a son of Abraham, an offspring of Isaac, whose name means ‘laughter.’ Yeshua turned my sadness into joy, my gloom into laughter! It was then I could rejoice in the LORD!
During these days of bad news, with doom and gloom on the horizon, we sure could use a good belly laugh occasionally. It would do a soul good! I know I’m prone to be a melancholy soul, so our Father is reminding me of what I was born again for – laughter!
Is Laughing OK When Hearing From YHWH?
When Sarah heard the Word of promise that she would bear a son at her age, she was so shocked and so pleasantly surprised, that she couldn’t help but laugh! Many teach that she laughed out of disbelief like she was nervous and did something wrong. Maybe, for she was ‘afraid’, in Hebrew – ‘yare’, ‘to throw self down to one in authority’ (Genesis 18:15). But in Hebrews we find that Sarah was able to conceive – when she was still barren:
By faith, even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive when she was barren and past the age since she considered the One who had made the promise to be faithful. Hebrews 11:11
Could it be that her womb came alive within her at the hearing of the Word when she laughed with surprise? Was that when she first ‘considered the One Who made the promise’? Our loving Abba lifted the downcast soul of Abraham, who by faith in His Word of promise, also received laughter in his revived and healed body (Gen 17:17). The Hebrew in ancient pictographs shows us that they both busted a gut laughing!
Could Abraham have somehow sensed that his wife’s womb was revived as well as in his own body? Solomon connected merriness with healing when he wrote:
A cheerful heart makes good healing, but a stricken spirit dries the bone. Prov 17:22
The ancient picture of laughter is so cool! Let’s look at the son’s name, Yitschaq (Isaac), meaning ‘laughter’. In paleo-Hebrew it is spelled – Yod, tsade, chet, qoof. The four letters picture someone holding hands (yod), where bursting at the seams (tsade), on the wall of the belly (chet), with laughter welling up and spilling out all over (qoof). In other words, the name Yitschaq means – busting a gut laughing so hard!
Could it be that Abba used Abraham’s and Sarah’s laughter to bring healing and life to their bodies, so they could be reproductive and bear a son? Is that how Abba did it?
Why else would they name their surprise son ‘laughter’ who was miraculously conceived?
One thing I love about many in our fellowship, like our congregational leaders Rollyn and Angie, is that they love to laugh. Something that has always attracted me to my wife Leslie is that her laughs bust out from deep within her heart. Everyone feels better by laughing with them, like good medicine for the soul. It’s what the offspring of Isaac does!
Don't Worry, Be Happy!
So let’s not be so serious and laugh a little, why don’t we? Dwelling on the cares of life can choke out a good belly laugh!
Rejoice in YHWH always and again I say rejoice! Philippians 4:4
So let’s let go of all the anxieties and causes for worry in this world, and let’s trust in Abba and rejoice in our Salvation. Like praising YHWH, I believe that laughter is part of the language of faith, trusting in our Elohim – even though:
‘Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in YHWH, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.’
Habakkuk 3:17-18
When it comes to all those enemies in high places of authority who plot and scheme, raging against YHWH and His anointed, our Elohim does not fret, He laughs! Let’s not dwell on conspiracies and rumors of war. Dwell on His Word and smile at the future!
He Who sits in the heavens shall laugh: YHWH shall have them in derision. Psalm 2:4
So when you are feeling down and gloomy, trust in Elohim to turn any sadness into joy. Trust Him to renew in us a right spirit and restore in us the joy of our Yeshua. Psalm 51:12
Our Rabbi Yeshua fulfills this Torah principle of answering prayer in His Name to turn sorrow into joy, as found in Abraham and Sarah’s life, as recorded in John 16:20-24:
“Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and will lament, but the world will rejoice. And you will be grieved, but your grief will become joy. The woman has grief when she bears because her hour came, but when she brings forth the child, she no longer remembers the distress, because of the joy that a man was born into the world. And you, then, truly have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘Whatever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. Until now you asked nothing in My Name; ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.’ ”
Hey! YHVH Loves You!
The first time the Hebrew word for love, ahav, is found in the Scriptures is when YHWH spoke to Abraham about his son:
And He said, ”Now take your son, Isaac, your only one whom you ahav (love), and go into the land of Moriah. And there offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will say to you.” Genesis 22:2
Our Abba in Heaven would only require of Abraham what He would do – give His only begotten Son, Whom He ahav, loved. We now see in the Torah the foundation for the most popular Scripture of all time, the Gospel in a nutshell:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Abba gave His only beloved Son as a sacrifice out of deep and profound love for us.
Like the name ‘Avraham’, the Hebrew word ‘ahav’ is infused with the letter hey, the letter of revelation breathed into the word for father, abba (alef-bet).
YHWH (Yod Hey Vav Hey) infused one letter ‘Hey’ from His Name into the name ‘Avram’, breathing revelation and a very part of His character – transforming him into Avraham.
YHWH did the same for ‘Sarai’, infusing His second Hey into her name to change her name to ‘Sarah’. The letter ‘Hey’ at the end of His Name was for the wife Sarah, who pictures the Bride of Messiah. By Yah imparting His Spirit, Avram was transformed from an exalted father to a father of a multitude. YHWH had breathed reproductive life into the father of faith.
Consider that ‘ahav’, the word for love, has the letters aleph bet, the word ‘abba,’ with the letter ‘hey’ inserted in the middle, making – aleph hey bet – ahav. Therefore, the paleo-Hebrew meaning of ‘ahav’ is that the father, who is the strength of the house, reveals his power through his love. For the joy of YHWH is your strength (Neh 8:10b). May we all be motivated and empowered by the Father’s love for us and rejoice in Him!
Hey! He loves you! Let His love flow through with joy in our hearts! The revelation, the hey, of the Father’s ahav, His love, is in giving His beloved Son as an offering for us; so that we could be brought back into His house as His children and joyfully give to others.
Hilarious Generosity
The only way Abraham could eagerly rise up early in the morning to go offer his only begotten, his beloved son, is by believing that YHWH would raise his son from the dead. How else could he take Isaac and still believe that through his only son, the promised seed would come and be multiplied like the stars in the heavens? (Genesis 22:17)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Abraham was the father of those who walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Abraham knew how binding the covenant was. Not only did Abraham and Isaac bring a knife and cords to bind, but they also brought wood and fire. Abraham’s faith was so binding that he believed YHWH would raise his son – out of the ashes! Out of the ashes, he’d rise!
Yeshua said that Abraham saw His day, the day of His resurrection and he rejoiced! (John 8:56) He believed his son ‘laughter’ would return to him, and so he did.
No matter how much we give up out of love for our Elohim, no matter what kind of persecution we endure, no matter what we lose for the sake of gaining more of Him, He will raise up new life out of the ashes. Messiah in us is the hope of glory! He will turn our sense of sorrow over loss with the joy of His pouring out a blessing we cannot contain – the multiplied blessings of Abraham!
Because Abba gave His best, His only Son Who gave His best, His very life and precious blood, we are motivated and empowered to give to others and to give with joy! Have I tried giving not just with a smile on my face, but with a good belly laugh as well? Sure beats a grimace and a look of ‘you better pay me back, or else.’ That’s what some may call ‘hilarious generosity!’
Let giving flow from your heart, not from a sense of religious duty. Let it spring up freely from the joy of giving – all because God loves hilarious generosity!
2 Corinthians 9:7 (The Passion Translation)
Don’t you also love a cheerful giver? Being a cheerful giver?
May the faith, the joyous generosity, and the blessings of Abraham be with you and yours,
In the Father’s love,
David Klug