Written by: Peretz
Green
MESSAGE
OF THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL
Part 2: You are blessed
with faith
You are
blessed with the blessing of Abraham "ve-heyei bracha" (and thou
shalt be the Blessing) (Genesis, 12: 2). For the Blessing was above with God
and He did not send it down into the world until He spoke with Abraham saying
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing" (ibid). – With Abraham you
received the blessing which can never be reversed: "And I will bless those
that bless thou, and him that curseth thee, will I curse; and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed" (ibid: 3). With Abraham you received the
blessing of the promise: Unto thy seed will I give this land. So too did you
receive with Abraham the blessing: "And I will make thy seed as the dust
of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy
seed also be numbered" (ibid, 13: 6). With Abraham, in all humility, you
received the redemptional blessing from Malchitzedek, the Priest to EL 'ELYON:
"Blessed be Abram of the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
And blessed be the most high God, who hath delivered thy enemies into thy
hands, and he gave the tithes of all" (ibid, 14: 19-20). With Abraham you
received the blessing of the of the reward: "Fear not Abram; I am thy
shield, thy reward shall be exceedingly great" (ibid, 15: 1). With Abraham
you received the blessing of the heavens: "Look now toward the heaven, and
count the stars, if thou be able to count them: And he believed in the Lord;
and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (ibid: 5). And you received
with Abraham the blessing of perfection: "And when Abram was ninety and
nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him: I am the
Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (ibid, 17: 1).
With
Abraham you received the blessing of the eternal Pact: "And I will make My
covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly" (ibid:
2). With Abraham you received the blessing of the great universal redemption:
"As for Me, behold My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt become the
father of a multitude of nations" (ibid: 4). With Abraham you received the
blessing of God's close protection: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou sojournest, all the land of Canaan, for
an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. With Abraham you received
the blessing of the Circumcision: And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your
foreskin; and this shall serve as a token of the covenant between Me and
you" (ibid: 8-13). So did you receive the blessing of the eighth day:
"And at eight days old shall every man-child in your generation be
circumcised among you, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of
any stranger, who is not of your seed" (ibid: 12). And you have received
the blessing of Sarah: "And I will bless her, and give thee also a son of
her; yea I will bless her, and she shall become a mother of nations; kings of
peoples shall spring from her" (ibid: 16). You are blessed in the blessing
of Isaac: "And God said: Truly, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and
thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for
an everlasting covenant, for his seed after him" (ibid: 19).
You have
received the blessing of hospitality: "And he said: My Lord, if now I have
found favor in thy eyes, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. And I
will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay ye your heart, after that ye may pass
on; since ye have passed by your servant" (ibid: 18: 3-5). – Even though
Abraham was old and tired from the operation he had undergone only three days
before: "And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said: Make
ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. And
Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it the
young boy, and he hastened to prepare it. And he took cream 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" (ibid: 6-8). You are blessed in God's trust in
Abraham: And the Lord said: "Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am
about to do?" (ibid: 17).
You are
blessed in the purpose of God's commandment: "For I know him, that he will
command his children and his household after him, that they shall keep the way
of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord may bring
upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him" (ibid: 19). You
have received the blessing of being allowed, so to speak, with God: "And
Abraham drew near, and said: Wilt Thou then also destroy the righteous with the
wicked? So have you received the blessing to try to understand the measurements
of God's justice: Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt
Thou then also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty
righteous that are therein?" (ibid, 23-24). So are you blessed with the
permission, so to speak, to disagree with Him in the laws of justice if you can
find a way of justice among men which you maintain is more suitable: "Far
be it from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked,
that the righteous should be as the wicked: far be this from Thee; shall the
Judge of all the earth not exercise justice?" (ibid: 25). – You are
blessed with a measure of the humbleness of God who accepts the reasoning of
man in dealing out justice: "And the Lord said: If I find in Sodom fifty
righteous within the city, then I will spare all of the place for their
sake" (ibid: 26). You are blessed in Abraham's love of saving as many
people as possible: "And he said: Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I
will speak yet but this once: Peradventure there will be found there ten. And
He said: I will not destroy for the sake of ten" (ibid: 32). You have
received the blessing of prophecy in Israel: "And now restore the man's
wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for thee, that thou mayest
live" (ibid, 20: 7).
You are
blessed in the prayer-healing of Abraham: "And Abraham prayed unto God;
and God healed Abimelech and his wife, and his maid-servants, so that they
could bear children" (ibid: 17-18). You are blessed in the miracle of
Sarah: "And Sarah conceived, and bore unto Abraham a son in his old age,
at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him" (ibid, 21: 2). You
are blessed in the temptation of Abraham: "And He said: Take now thy son,
thy only one, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I tell thee of" (ibid, 22: 2). You are blessed in the alacrity of
Abraham: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass" (ibid: 3). You are blessed in the faith of God's Providence:
"And Abraham said: God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering,
my son" (ibid: 8). You are blessed in the saving of the angels of God:
"But the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said:
Abraham, Abraham! And he said: Here am I" (ibid: 11). You are blessed in
the Sign of Isaac's resurrection: "And he said: Lay not thy hand upon the
lad, neither do thou the least unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only one, from Me" (ibid:
12).
So with
Abraham have you received the second blessing of the angel of the Lord:
"And he said: By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, since, because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only one. That I will
greatly bless thee, and I will exceedingly multiply thy seed as the stars of
the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, because thou hast hearkened unto My voice" (ibid:
17-18). With Abraham you are blessed in the possession of Machpelah: "And
the field, with the cave therein, was made sure by the sons of Heth"
(ibid, 23: 20). With Abraham you are blessed in the force of an oath: "And
Abraham said unto his servant: Put I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh. And I
will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that
thou should not take a wife unto my son from the daughters of the Canaanites
among whom I dwell. The Lord, the God of Heaven, who took me from my father's
house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke to me, and who swore
unto me, saying: Unto thy seed will I give you this land: He will send His
angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from there"
(ibid, 24: 2-7).
You have
received the blessing of Rebecca: "Our sister, be thou the mother of
thousands of myriads, and let thy possess the gate of those who hate them"
(ibid: 60). You are bless in the modesty of Rebecca: "And the servant
said: This is my master: and she took a veil, and covered herself" (ibid:
65). You are blessed in the consolation of Isaac: "And Isaac brought her
into the tent of Sarah his mother, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife,
and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (ibid:
67). You are blessed in the blessed death of Abraham: "Then Abraham
expired, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was
gathered to his people" (ibid: 25: 8). You are blessed in the blessing
which God gave to Isaac: "And it came to pass after the death of Abraham,
that God blessed Isaac his son, and Isaac dwelt by the well Lechai-ro'i (to the
Living God who sees me)" (ibid: 11). You are blessed in the birthright
which was sold to you: "And Jacob said: Sell unto me this day thy
birthright; And Jacob said: Swear unto me this day: And he swore unto him, and
he sold his birthright unto Jacob" (ibid: 31, 33).
Isaac,
however, because of his particular blessing from God, after Abraham died, was
not permitted to leave the land of Israel: "And the Lord appeared unto him
and said: Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which I sha; tell thee of.
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee, for unto
thee, and unto thy seed, will I give all these lands, and I will establish the
oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father. And I will cause thy seed to
multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these
countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves.
Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My
statutes, and My laws" (ibid, 26: 2-5). You are blessed in the
hundred-fold blessing of Isaac: "And Isaac sowed in that land, and
obtained in the same year a hundred-fold: so the Lord blessed him. And the man
became great, and grew more and more until he became very great. And he had
possession of flocks and possession of herds, and a great household, and the
Philistines envied him" (ibid: 12-14). You are blessed in the Blessing of
the well upon which there was no diatribe: "He moved on from there and dug
another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying,
“Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the
land" (ibid: 22). You have received the blessing of Beersheva: "And
the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said: I am the God of Abraham thy
father: fear not, for I am with thee, and I will bless thee, and multiply thy
seed for the sake of Abraham My servant" (ibid: 24).
You are
blessed in the intelligence of Rebecca who said: "And now my son, obey my
voice in that which I command thee. Go, I pray thee, to the flock, and fetch me
from there two good kids, and I will make them savory food for thy father, such
as he loveth. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, for the
sake that he may bless thee before his death" (ibid: 8-10). You are
blessed in the words of Isaac when he said: "The voice is the voice of
Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau" (ibid: 22). You are blessed in
the good scent of Jacob when he is wearing Esau's garments: "And he came
near and kissed him: And he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him
and said: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of the field which the Lord
hath blessed. And may God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of
the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Nations shall serve thee, and people
bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and thy mother's sons shall bow
down to thee; cursed be they that curse thee, and blessed be they that bless
thee" (ibid: 26-29). You are blessed in Isaac's second blessing to Jacob:
"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee,
that thou mayest become a multitude of people. And may He give the blessing of
Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land
of thy sojourn, which God gave to Abraham" (ibid, 28: 3-4). You are
blessed in the dream of Jacob: "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up
on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of
God were ascending and descending on it" (ibid: 12).