Ay caramba, I have fallen behind again. Let’s go back a few Torah portions to where I left off. Vayechi is the last Torah portion of Genesis, which means, “And he lived,” which is curious since the portion describes Jacob’s final blessings, his death, and Joseph’s death. Death is going to be an enemy that we all face.
You may think that death is an enemy because it keeps us from our loved ones or because it cuts off our memory from the world, but in the Scriptures, death is an enemy because it keeps us from walking in God’s instructions. Many Christian churches teach that the mitzvot, or commandments of the Holy One, are a curse or burden from which Yeshua came to release us. This teaching could not be further from the truth. The term ‘mitzvot’ refers to the divine commandments found in the Torah, which guide us in living a righteous life. The Creator spoke the universe into existence. There is no life without the word of God. The same Creator who weaved together the world, you and I, also breathed out the written instructions contained in the Torah. These instructions produce life in that they give us wisdom to make decisions, understanding to relate to others, counsel to help others untie internal knots, truth to show us what will produce life and what will not, and the power to live in truth. They describe what it means to fear God.
Joseph and his brothers returned Jacob’s bones to the cave of Machpelah, a significant burial site that Abraham purchased in Genesis 23. Still, Joseph asked his descendants to take his bones with them as they left Egypt. The sages of Judaism describe the Israelites carrying the ‘aron,’ or the Ark of the Covenant, with the two tablets inside containing the commandments, and the ‘aron’ or casket where Joseph’s remains lay during their wilderness wanderings. Both the Torah scroll and Joseph were vessels of the living word of God. Only one of these vessels could walk out the word, and that was Joseph until he died. In his blog, The Goal of Life, Rabbi Lewis Eron writes that the sages envisioned the people who wandered the desert asking, “What is the meaning of these two caskets?” According to our sages, our Israelite ancestors replied, “This one is the coffin of a deceased person, and that one is the Ark which carries the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence.” The onlookers then asked, ‘But is it proper that a corpse (normally seen as a source of ritual impurity) should move side by side with Shekhinah, God’s Presence?” To which our Israelite ancestors replied, “Of course, the body in this “aron,” casket, fulfilled all that is written in that “aron,” that casket. (B. Sota 13a; Mekilta, Be-shallah, Va-yehi, 1)
Isaiah 28:18-19: For Sheol (hell or the pit) cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
Psalm 30:9: What profit [is there] in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth?
Do we wake up every day stoked that we get to live out these divine instructions? Many years ago, I heard a saying, “Preach every day, wherever you go, in whatever you do, and with whomever you may find yourself in contact with, only do it without saying a word.” That is a crazy thought. That would mean embodying the word so that it seeps through our actions and behaviors. Our very being would reflect the light of the living word.
Daniel 12:3: Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Did you know that even after a star dies, we still see its light reflected in the sky? In the same way, those who walk in wisdom and do righteousness leave a light that continues to shine even after they are gone. When we die, we will enter a new cycle of life—one where our body’s frailties and the boundaries of the mind will no longer limit us. In the world to come, we will exist in the whole light of the Holy One, a state of complete knowledge, understanding, power, love, and truth where His word continually goes forth. Death is the last enemy that Yeshua overcame, and He shows us how to overcome it, too. Be full of the light of the Holy One that overcomes darkness, live a life of love, and place your hope in Yeshua. Light can refer to love, wisdom, righteousness, and life. How cool that our hearts will live forever.
Proverbs 14:32: The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
Psalm 69:32: The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
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