Haftarat Lech Lecha
Isaiah 40:27-41:16
In the haftarah portion for Lech Lecha, God tells the exiles of Israel that He has not forgotten them Their plight is a matter of His concern, and He is sending redemption. He tells Israel to take courage because He cares for them, and He does not become weary or tired. (Is 40:28)
He encourages them to wait on Him and renew their strength through confidence in His comparable wisdom and power. He reminds Israel that He has chosen them, and because of His relationship with their illustrious father Abraham, He will come to their rescue. Isaiah 41:8 says, “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham my friend.”
Those who trust in idols have no basis for such a hope. To illustrate the point the prophecy describes a craftsman making an idol 41:6-7) and try to keep it from toppling. How foolish to trust in the work of human hands when human beings are the work of God’s hands. Israel should place her confidence in the one who made all things, not is something made by a man.
The sages who created the reading cycle chose Isaiah 40:17-41:16 as the haftarah for Lech Lecha because of three supposed references to the story of Abrahams’s journey to the promise land. The direct mention of Abraham the friend of God (41:8) supplied the correlation.
To the rabbinic mind, the ironic depiction of the idol-makers at work in a workshop is an allusion to the story of Abraham. According to legend, Abraham’s father was an idol-maker, and as a child, Abraham worked in his father’s shop. A third connection to this week’s Torah portion is the description of God calling up a hero from the east: Who has around one from the east whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him and subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, as the wind-driven chaff with his bow. (Isaiah 41:2)
According to rabbinic interpretation, the one call from the east is Abraham. God called him from Mesopotamia and brought him to Canaan. In Genesis 14 of this week’s Torah portion, Abraham and 318 of his men pursue, fight and defeat the army of four kings. Isaiah 41:2 is understood as a description of Abraham’s victory over those forces.
Many scholars, however, identify the one called from the east in Isaiah 41:2 as Cyrus, the king of the Persians and Medes, not Abraham. Although Cyrus was neither Jewish nor of the house of David, Isaiah describes him as the LORD’s anointed one (Messiah). Just as the Messiah will one day return all the exiles of the Israel, Cyrus decreed the return from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple.
From FFOZ Torah Club Voice of the Prophets
Ffoz.org