Torah Portion Summary
The eighth reading from the book of Genesis is named Vayishalach, which means "and he sent." The title comes from the first verse of the reading, which says, "Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom" (Genesis 32:3). Jacob prepares to meet Esau as he returns to the promised land, but first he has a mysterious encounter with an angel in the darkness, who changes his name to Israel. The portion follows Jacob's adventures in the land of Canaan, including the loss of his beloved wife, Rachel.
Haftarah Portion Summary
The Sages choose the entire book of Obadiah as the Haftarah for Parashat Vayishlach because of their allegorical interpretation concerning the sons of Jacob and Esau. To these rabbis, the enmity between Jacob and Esau (Edom) was really about the conflict between the Jewish people and Edom's progenitors that became the nations that surrounded Israel in the Promised Land.
Most likely, Obadiah served as prophecy against the original nation of Edom for joining up with the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the First Temple in 586 BC, but later it came to be regarded as a prophecy concerning the nation of Rome (and by extension, the entire secular world), the bitter enemy of Israel. This attitude becomes triumphalist in the final verse of the book: "Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD's" (Obadiah 1:21), implying that the rule of the LORD from Jerusalem will one day be established upon the earth.
B'rit Chadashah Portion Summary
The reading from the book of Hebrews reviews the story of the birth of Abraham's heir Isaac, and the prophetic offering of Isaac as a sacrifice on Moriah (called the Akedah). Despite this test, Abraham believed that God would keep His promise to make him the father of a multitude of peoples by raising his beloved son from the dead (a clear picture of the sacrifice and resurrection of Yeshua the Mashiach on our behalf). Moreover, the reading tells us that Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob (instead of Esau) as the future progenitor of the Promised Seed of whom he was a type and shadow.
The reading from the gospel of Matthew concerns the passion of the Mashiach in the garden of Gethsemane. As Messianic believers, we understand the Akedah as a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice the heavenly Father would give on our behalf. Unlike Abraham, God the Father actually offered His only Son in order to make salvation available to all who believe. As Abraham said, Elohim yireh-lo haseh ("God Himself will provide a lamb").