To those of you that
missed our Sabbath service yesterday, I wish I had the ability in this blog to
share the entire revelatory message that came forth. Since I can’t, I would at least like to expound
on one powerful point that would probably have been overshadowed by the more
familiar elements of our Parashah. Because
we are studying the 2nd Aliyah in our seven year cycle, we were able
to find a most peculiar nugget within our study.
The KJV says in Genesis
48:16, “Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth”. The Chumash reads different though. It reads, “Let them grow into a multitude, like fish in the midst of the
land”. What a fascinating twist in the
text. I won’t pretend to know why the difference,
but I welcome the opportunity to explore the depth within the context.
Israel was laying his
hands on Joseph’s sons, yet he blessed Joseph.
He spoke the blessing and transferred the blessing that had been handed
down from his father Isaac and his father’s father, Abraham, which ultimately was
spoken over Adam by YHVH. See, the Lord
blessed Adam by breathing life into his nostrils, and that blessing was handed
down through generations to Abraham, who breathed the blessing on Isaac, who
breathed the blessing on Jacob, and now was being breathed upon Joseph and his
sons.
What does this have to
do with a fish? It has to do with the
way a fish breathes; a fish breathes differently than we do. Though we live in this world, we are not of
this world. The very air that we breathe
is the presence of God. As the scripture
says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
The reason Israel used
a fish as an example is because the fish lives and moves and has its being in a
different atmosphere, mainly water, and breathes the very atmosphere that it
exists in. We must endeavor to exist in
the atmosphere of the Shekinah glory of God; we must breathe the atmosphere of
the Kingdom. Inhale His glory, exhale His
word – inhale His word and exhale His glory.
Oh, my brothers and
sisters, our Kingdom nature should radiate to everyone within our realm of
influence. The air that we breathe should
affect the atmosphere of all that come around us. Breathe
upon them, breathe upon your circumstance, your marriage, your finances, your
very life – breathe the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) within and without your
realm of existence. Hallelujah!
My prayer
for you is that everything that you breathe upon and everything that you bless,
would multiply like the fish in the midst of the land.