christine's bible study

moved!

2010-12-29T10:50:00.002-05:00

I have moved this blog to christine's bible study at wordpress.com. It will be easier for me to add and update posts and organize content over there. We are reading through the Bible in one year, just in time for January 2011. Please join us there!

the Lord's prayer: our Father

2010-06-03T10:00:00.002-04:00

Our Father in heaven

Hallowed be Your name

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our debts

As forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory forever. Amen. Mat 6:9-13

Our Father

"And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mat 3:17

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Joh 1:12-13

"Go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." Joh 20:17

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Heb 2:11

"Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:14-16

We pray "Our Father" and not "My Father," because the Our means Jesus + me. He is Father because the blood of Jesus and His resurrection accomplished our rebirth into God's family. We do not go before the Father, the holy and awesome Creator and King of the universe, on our own, but our elder brother Jesus goes with us into His presence. He is the Son in whom the Father is well pleased. Because of Him, we are able to approach His throne boldly as a son or daughter.

the forgotten holiday

2010-05-16T10:07:00.004-04:00

This Sunday is the Day of Pentecost. The day where, in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit "fell" upon the gathered ekklesia, with tongues of fire appearing over their heads. It was the original occurrence of speaking in tongues.

Now the early believers normally met on Saturday evenings (as in Acts 20:7-12), which marked the end of the Sabbath ("the first day of the week" according to the biblical calendar began Saturday evening at sundown, not Sunday morning as we have been trained by Roman custom to count). On this day they were meeting Sunday morning, because it was the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot; pentecost (fifty) in Greek. In Leviticus 23:15-22, the ekklesia is charged with holding a holy convocation, or assembly, on that day, which is what the believers were doing. It was one of the seven annual feast days of the Lord, and one of the three high holy feast days, in which males were to appear before the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem. It was also one of the three harvest feast days.

It was on this day, in history, that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses inscribed on tablets of stone with the finger of God. The rabbis tell in their tradition that the seventy elders of Israel on this day spoke, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the seventy tongues of the nations, as a prefiguring of all the nations that would one day worship and serve the Lord in spirit and in truth. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this day fulfills Jeremiah 31:31-34:

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Shavuot/ Pentecost is a memorial feast; it is the memorial of the day when, by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, God inscribed His Law on the tablets of our hearts. By giving the Law, the Torah, and giving the Spirit, on the same feast day, then linking the two together forever by the prophecy in Jeremiah, and in many other places in the Scriptures, the Lord teaches us that His Law is still, of course, to be obeyed. But the power of obedience is by the Spirit of God, not by the will power of our flesh (Zec 4:6). This is walking by the Spirit.

Shavuot, Pentecost, or Weeks, is a holiday of Sabbath rest. Only food may be prepared that will be eaten on that day. We spend the day enjoying a picnic feast with our family, and playing together.

genesis 10:21-32, the sons of Shem

2010-05-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

Read Gen 10:21-32 at the Bible Gateway.

From this parsha we can see that the oldest son of Noah was Japheth, while Gen 9:24 showed us that Ham was the youngest. Why then in every place in Scripture, does it list the sons of Noah as Shem, then Ham, then Japheth? Brad Scott of Wildbranch Ministry explains why this is so in Bricks for Stones: the critical context of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The name Shem is shem in Hebrew, Strong's H8035, from the primitive root shem, Strong's H8034, meaning name, reputation, fame, or glory. “HaShem” or “the Name” is how Jews refer to God. They dare not speak His name YHVH for fear of blasphemy.

Shem is in the ancient Hebrew pictographs m?, the shin - mem. The shin is the two front teeth, so also sharp, press, eat, or two. The mem is water, so also chaos, might, or blood. The story the pictographs tell is that which issues through the front teeth mightily, so the verb form means to breathe, the concrete noun is breath, and the abstract concept is renown or reputation, as the breath of a man contains his identity. Thus shem also means “name” in Hebrew. This is a very important Hebraic concept. Our breath, thus our life, we learned from Gen 2:7, was breathed into us by Elohiym, Creator of heaven and earth, and then we became a living being. The Lord God is The Living Being, as His personal name YHVH (I AM THAT I AM) attests. He is the source of life, and He imparted His life to us on the day He created us.

So that shem means breath, while also meaning identity, name, renown, and reputation, tells the story that our name and our identity, and thus, our character, flows from our source of life who is God. When God says in His Word something about us, we need to listen and believe it for it is the truth, and not believe the lie the enemy tells us about ourselves. This is why the enemy lies about who we are! It is to dam up the river of the life out from which flows our identity and character! When we believe God in all His statements, we tear down that dam!

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Pro 23:7

Notice the Word does not say, as a man believes in his heart. This is on purpose, to tell us that it is by our thoughts, the fact statements that fill our minds, what we allow to dwell there and not dwell there, that creates belief in the heart. This is why we must fill our minds with His Word, through the entry way of our eyes (reading the Word) and ears (hearing the Word spoken and preached and sung)! It transforms our thoughts, which in turn transforms our belief!

Please also study Brad Scott's wonderful teaching on the mountain top meaning of shem.

Elam the firstborn of Shem was the father of the Elamites, who settled west of Shinar along the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. The Elamites intermarried with the Medians (of Madai of Japhath) and became the Persians (modern day Iranians and Jordanians).

Asshur the son of Shem was the father of the Assyrians who settled the northern reach of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley (Iraq).

Arphaxad the son of Shem was the father of the Chaldaeans who settled the southern reach of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley (Iraq). The Babylonians were Chaldaeans as Babylon was the principle city of Chaldaea. However, not every Chaldaean was also a Babylonian, but often the terms are used interchangeably to mean the same people.

Eber was a grandson of Arphaxad. He was the father of the Hebrews, as Eber's descendant was Abraham. Eber's two sons were Peleg and Joktan. Abraham was born of Peleg, while all the peoples who Joktan fathered settled the Arabian peninsula with the sons of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah (modern day Arabians).

Lud the son of Shem was the father of the Lydians, who were a powerful and wealthy nation for a time, before the advent of the Romans, in Asia Minor (modern day Lebanon and Turkey).

Aram the son of Shem was the father of the Aramaeans who settled Syria.

Now it is interesting to me that Noah said that Elohiym was the God of Shem, in Gen 9:26. And yet except for Israel, a small branch of Shem, all the nations which Shem produced - the Iranians, the Jordanians, the Iraqis, the Arabians, the Turks, the Lebanese, and the Syrians - are all today followers of Islam who have vowed Israel's destruction. This is the enemy's doing, to take that which is God's province and make it his special stronghold for all which is most vile in the eyes of God. The hatred the enemy has for God is overwhelming. That is why we want NOTHING to do with anything which is of the enemy, especially lies, his choice vehicle for wreaking theft, destruction, and death.

But I believe the prophecy of Noah tells us the end from the beginning, that YHVH Elohiym is the God of Shem. I believe a great revival is coming on all those people descended from Shem who are in bondage today to the lies of the enemy, and the Spirit of God will sweep through those nations and completely transform them. Their overwhelming love and self- sacrifice for Israel as God's beloved, after so many years of virulent hatred, will bear such witness to the world that God is God in heaven and on earth, that no one can deny His existence before His return. And this witness of love, coming as it will from Messiah Yeshua, will so shake Israel to its foundation, that the blinders will be removed from their eyes, and they will see that Yeshua is YHVH the Lord incarnate, the son of David and their promised Messiah. And then Yeshua will return. For Israel will be the last to come to faith, Paul tells us in Rom 11. The second to the last are the Muslims who hate Israel - they are the last nations on the face of the earth who have yet to hear the Gospel, for they have been closed until the time appointed by God. And as we are hearing, the time is now, and great revival is already pouring out on those lands and people!

genesis 10:15-20, the sons of canaan

2010-05-10T16:35:00.000-04:00

Read Genesis 10:15-20 at the Bible Gateway.

Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations. Gen 10:15-20

The descendants of Canaan are singled out in this week's parashah by the paragraph divisions among all the descendants of the sons of Noah.

Sidon, Canaan's firstborn, settled the city of Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and became the people known to history as the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians improved the science of navigation, settled trading outposts in almost every part of the world, and spread abroad. The Phoenicians did not invent writing as is attributed to them in library books, but they did take the common pictographic alphabet of ancient Hebrew the common language, and simplify it so it was better suited as a phonetic alphabet and not primarily pictographic. In fact, any science begun by others, the Phoenicians refined and improved, so that in time, the goods, sailors, architects, and technicians of the Phoenicians were the most sought after in the ancient world. This is one way Canaan served Shem and Japheth.

Heth was the ancestor of the Hittites, a powerful nation for a time. The Hittites settled Asia Minor. Most archaeologists believe the chariot was invented (or adapted) by the Hittites. The Assyrians put an end to the Hittite empire.

The Jebusites through Hamathites were all Canaanite nations which settled in the Holy Land.

The Phoenicians, Hittites, and Canaanites all shared a common religion, not centered in the worship of YHVH Elohiym, as we will see in the next parashah.

These five short verses delineate the descendants of Canaan, which Israel was later commanded to obliterate from their land.

“Spread abroad” in Hebrew is interesting: Strong's H6327, puwts, pey + vav + tsadey. The verb means to break or dash to pieces. The pey, the mouth in the ancient pictographs, can mean to blow or scatter, something that is done with the mouth (think of a dandelion flower in seed). The vav is the tent peg, so to hook, secure, or add. The tsadey is the trail with a destination at the end, as a trail which a hunter follows when hunting game. It has meanings of traveling as well as of hunting, chasing, or waiting as beside a trail. The story painted by the pictographs is of being scattered abroad as if attached to disparate destinations. Think of a china dish when it is dropped on a stone floor. It began as a unified object, but when it was broken into pieces, each piece flew away from the parent randomly, and yet no direction away from the parent was left unrepresented. It was as if each piece was drawn away as if attached to a destination away by a path leading away.

We have seen earlier in Torah, that being sent away or cast away is a punishment or consequence of sin and disobedience. I am not sure if Canaan being spread abroad fits that theme or not, but it bears some thinking about.

The theme of the parsha from Gen 10:15-20 is the sons of Canaan.

genesis 10:1-14, the sons of japheth and ham

2010-05-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

Read Gen 10:1-14 at the Bible Gateway.

Japheth had seven sons. Each son became the father of a nation, or of a people group who then divided into several nations. The descendants of Japheth first settled around the Black Sea (after the Tower of Babel incident in the next parashah) but then divided into their tribes and nations and migrated from there.

Gomer, the oldest, fathered the people group of the Celts. A province in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) was in ancient days called Gomer after them, and in early Roman times a tribe of Celts, called Gauls by the Romans, resettled that province where it became known as Galatia (land of the Gauls). A province in Spain is still called Galatia today as it was formerly an ancient settlement of Gauls. The Irish tongue is today still called Gaelic as they were originally Gaels (Gauls) who spoke it, and the Welsh tongue is today still called Gomeraeg. The Gauls who remained on the European continent were mostly assimilated into the Romans and Germans who came after them, but the Gauls or Celts who migrated to the British isles live on as a distinct people in the Welsh, Irish, and Scots; and in Brittany (northern France).

Ashkenaz was a son of Gomer. His descendants became the Teutons. The Teutons settled all the land east of the Rhine River (the Celts settled the west side). The Teutons were the forefathers of all the Germanic tribes as well as the Scandinavians, who were also named from Ashkenaz: (A)s(h)ken --> sken --> Scandia. Ashkenaz is the Hebrew word for German or Germany.

Togarmah was a son of Gomer. His descendants settled Armenia probably intermingling with descendants of Ashkenaz. The name Turk and Turkey come from him.

Riphath was a son of Gomer. His descendants settled the Black Sea before migrating westward. Europe gets its name from the descendants of Riphath: Rip(hath) --> Rip -->Europe.

Magog was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the Tartars (Slavs), who settled Central Asia.

Madai was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the nation of the Medes, who with the Persians, overthrew the Babylonian Empire. The Medes migrated to the Zagros Mountains and from there settled India.

Javan was a son of Japheth. His descendants became the Greeks and various tribes settling the Mediterranean Sea. "Jupiter" is a form of "Japheth," while "Ionian" is a form of "Javan." The Iliad mentions "Iawan", a direct transliteration of "Javan."

Elishah was a son of Javan; his descendants were the Elysians, a Greek tribe.

Tarshish was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Tarsus and Cilicia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Kittim was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Cyprus.

Dodanim was a son of Javan; his descendants settled Dodone in Greece. Dodone sent ships for the Greek war against Troy according to the Iliad.

Tubal was a son of Japheth. His descendants settled Central Asia where Georgia is today. Georgia was called Iberia by the Romans. The capital city of Georgia is still today called Tbilisi (city of Tubal). The most important river going through Georgia is the Tobol. Another important Georgian city is named Tobolsk, all after Tubal. Some descendants of Tubal eventually migrated from Iberia and settled in Spain, Spain is in the Iberian peninsula.

Meshech was a son of Japheth. His descendants settled Moscow; the area surrounding Moscow is still today called the Meschera Lowland.

Tiras was a son of Japheth. His descendants named every place they settled after their ancestor, including Thrace, the province north of Greece where Macedonia and Yugoslavia are today; and the country of Troas where the city of Troy stood on the coast of Asia Minor. He was most likely the ancestor of the Etruscans, early inhabitants of Italy, where the province of Tuscany is today. Tiras was worshiped as Thuras or Thor, the god of thunder.

Ham had four sons. Each son became the father of a nation or of a people group who then divided into their nations. They settled mostly south and west of Mesopotamia, where the descendants of Noah first established their homes after the Flood.

Cush, the oldest son of Ham, was the father of Nimrod, the most famous descendant of Noah in the ancient world. Noah was a mighty hunter and warrior, and with his father instigated the Tower of Babel rebellion (more on that in the next parashah). He built the first Empire after the Flood. The descendants of Cush also settled the land south of Egypt, today known as Nubia or Ethiopia (as well as Sudan) but in ancient days known as Cush.

Mizraim was a son of Ham. His descedants settled Egypt and the lands on the northern coast of Africa. One descendant of Mizraim was the father of the Philistines.

Phut was a son of Ham; his descendants settled Libya, known as Put in acient times.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 10:1-14 is the sons of Japheth and Ham.

genesis 9:18-29, the curse on canaan

2010-05-08T17:13:00.001-04:00

Read Gen 9:18-29 at the Bible Gateway.

Noah becoming drunk is a little out of character with the Noah that we were introduced to before the Flood, who was perfect in his generation and who did all that the Lord commanded him. The Flood changed the geography and climate of the world. Winter and summer and cold and heat were introduced. Before the Flood, the entire earth was temperate or tropical in climate – archaeologists have found hippopotamus fossils and tropical plant fossils at the North Pole. The Flood introduced the Ice Age. It is not unlikely that fruit that was harvested and stored in the same way as before the Flood resulted in a different outcome after the Flood.

I believe that Noah did not realize that his grape harvest would ferment and become wine which, if drunk, would cause intoxication. This is the first mention of wine in the Bible, and Noah might have been the inadvertent discoverer of it.

Ham found his father intoxicated and uncovered in his tent, and did two things which showed dishonor to his father: he looked on his father’s nakedness. He filled up his eyes with his father’s sin, weakness, falling short. He focused his attention on it, on the negative. And, he told of it to others. I believe he might have even repeated the tale with mocking or laughter. He dishonored his father in the sight of others.

Shem and Japheth, in contrast (contrast is a teaching tool of Torah), refused to look on their father’s nakedness. They averted their faces and did not focus their attention on his sin or weakness. And, they covered their father’s nakedness. They did not tell it, but they covered it.

“He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” Pro 17:9

“And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Pet 4:8

Ham acted out of pride, maybe rebellion, maybe envy, maybe even a little hatred. Shem and Japheth acted out of love. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth for their love, but did not bless Ham for his insolence and dishonor.

Now if Ham had done the transgression, why was Canaan cursed, and not Ham? Ham had been previously blessed by God (Gen 9:1), and I do not believe that Noah was willing to curse that which God had blessed. I also further believe, that the traits which Ham displayed in his treatment of his father in this incident, were passed on to his sons. Children imitate their fathers – it is a spiritual law which God enacted for our blessing, so that righteous fathers would have righteous sons.

Perhaps Noah saw (perhaps by revelation from the Lord) in Canaan the most fertile soil for rebellion and every evil thing. In any case, we see from this passage that words that fathers speak over their children become prophecies which carry the weight of “Thus saith the Lord.” Fathers have a strict command from the Lord to raise up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to not provoke them to wrath by unjust and unloving fathering.

This is the passage previous generations used to justify enslaving the African people, since Africans are descended from Ham. There are several problems with that interpretation. The Bible contains teaching for proper treatment of slaves, because slaves were a part of life (it still is in this day and age in some parts of the world – the Sciptures, as the Word of God, speaks to all cultures and all nations at all times, not just to one culture at one time). But the Bible never commands anyone to enslave anyone else. Slavery is not a command.

Also, the curse was on Canaan, not on Ham. The eventual destruction of Canaan as a nation was carried out by Israel, and then again by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans in subsequent generations. They were continually conquered as a people until they were destroyed from the face of the earth – long before the Europeans began enslaving Africans. Using the Bible as a justification for enslaving other human beings was unregenerate man’s way of deceiving themselves into thinking that what they knew was wrong, was somehow right. It is truly regenerated men and women, from a foundation of true Biblical interpretation, who worked mightily to bring the institution of slavery crashing to the ground.

What is the service that Canaan provided for Shem and Japheth? It is the belief of many biblical historians that the Canaanites, who were the same people as the Phoenicians, discovered or perfected many useful sciences and arts which greatly served the descendants of Shem and Japheth – commerce, navigation, exploration, establishing outposts and the beginnings of civilization in some of the farthest reaches of the earth, bringing goods from the far corners of the earth so that Shem and Japheth could benefit from them – all these things the Phoenicians accomplished and perfected. When their service was finished, the people mentioned above destroyed them from the face of the earth. Israel (from Shem) destroyed them from the heartland of the Holy Land. Alexander the Great (from Japheth) destroyed Tyre, the greatest Canaanite city on the coast of the Holy Land where they had been pushed by Israel, and the Romans (from Japheth) destroyed Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, the greatest Canaanite city outside of their homeland. The Romans eventually seized all the Phoenician mines, trading centers and routes, and enfolded their enterprises into her own.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 9:18-29 is dishonor brings a curse.

parashah vayikyu ben noach (sons of noah), genesis 9:18-10:32

2010-05-08T11:28:00.010-04:00

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Mat 11:29

“... Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Phi 2:5-8

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree;” Gal 3:13

The curse on Canaan is a veiled prophecy of the means by which Messiah would redeem us. He brought Himself down, He humbled Himself and made Himself the Servant of servants to His brethren. In so doing, He became a curse for us, when the sin of the world was placed upon Him, and brought about His death.

The next time Canaan plays a prominent role in the Old Testament, we find that the sin of the Canaanites has grown so great, that God executes judgment on them by causing their death as a nation. This is another veiled prophecy in the same manner: the wages of sin is death - but the one who died, is the Servant of servants to the brethren, “canaan,” the One who caused His eye to go down.

parashah tze min hatvah (go out from the ark), genesis 8:15-9:17

2010-05-01T13:34:00.002-04:00

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?), being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 7th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Tze Min Hatvah / Go out from the ark, Gen 8:15-9:17 (read at Bible Gateway or theHebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 42 / Psalm: Ps 7 / History: Job 13-14 / Gospel: Mat 28 / Apostolic: 2 Tim 2

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week's Torah portion:
Gen 8:15-9:7 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 9:8-17 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that Gen 6:9 (where the last p'tuchah was found) through Gen 9:17 forms a single strong paragraph according to God's paragraph divisions.

Upon outlining, I discovered a chiastic structure in the Gen 8:15-9:7 parsha:
1A) Gen 8:15-19 Be fruitful and multiply;
  1B) Gen 8:20 Noah blessed YHVH by offering the lifeblood of the olah sacrifice;
    CENTRAL AXIS Gen 8:21-22 YHVH smelled the soothing aroma and declared three promises;
  2B) Gen 9:1-6 YHVH blessed Noah; instruction concerning the lifeblood of animals and men;
2A) Gen 9:7 Be fruitful and multiply.

The Gen 8:15-9:7 parsha topic might be YHVH's blessing on the righteous to be fruitful and multiply. But I note that the chiastic structure points to the heart of the parsha, YHVH's three promises which are made to the earth, not solely to Noah; and that YHVH blessed Noah but that Noah also blessed YHVH by the olah sacrifice offered in heartfelt worship and thanksgiving. In fact, the chiastic structure is so constructed, that it reveals that Noah blessed YHVH and YHVH blessed Noah, it reveals the reciprocal nature of the relationship.

The Gen 9:8-17 parsha topic might be YHVH's everlasting covenant with Noah, and the earth.

Today's reading ends with a p'tuchah, which means a strong paragraph has been completed. But this strong paragraph was begun several weeks ago, so in order to discover the point God is trying to make in Torah, I outlined everything from the last p'tuchah to this. The last p'tuchah came at the end of Gen 6:8, so the Lord considers everything from Gen 6:9-9:17 to teach a single strong point:

Gen 6:9-12 s contrast righteous Noah / corrupt earth
Gen 6:13-8:14 s righteous preserved through the judgment of the wicked
Gen 8:15-9:7 s blessing on the righteous, be fruitful and multiply
Gen 9:8-17 p Elohiym’s everlasting covenant with the earth

The overarching theme of this section might be that God preserves the righteous and destroys the wicked.

While I was outlining, I noticed a pattern established in Torah from the beginning: that every time the Torah tells of the judgment or punishment for sin, the thought, the paragraph is not completed until there has been a promise given of deliverance or preservation or hope.

Gen 2:4-3:21: first sin and its punishment, followed by a promise of Messiah in Gen 3:15;
Gen 4:1-26: Cain's sin - murder of the righteous seed - and punishment of banishment, followed by birth of Seth, the promise of righteous seed in Gen 4:25;
Gen 5:1-31: judgment of mortality promised for sin, followed by promise of life in that Enoch did not die in Gen 5:24, and promise of comfort and rest in the birth of Noah in Gen 5:29;
Gen 6:1-7: announcement of judgment coming on the wicked, followed by promise of Noah finding grace in Gen 6:8;
Gen 6:13-8:14: judgment of the Flood, followed by the covenant and the promise of the rainbow in Gen 9:8-17.

This pattern teaches us that what the world believes about the God of the Old Testament is wrong: that all He is interested in is judging sin. Yes, God is holy and He judges sin - very important truth! - but NEVER without a promise of hope, life, and an invitation to come through the open door and escape the judgment.

This parashah also introduces one of the most important teaching tools of Torah: common themes. I was struck, in reading today's parashah, how alike the blessing and the covenant was which God made with Noah in Gen 9:8-17, to the blessing and covenant He made with Adam in Gen 1. In fact, the situations of the two men, Adam and Noah, are very similar, when Noah came out of the ark. There were no humans but Noah and his family, as with Adam. There was no animal life but the male and female pairs with him, as with Adam. The earth was empty of sin, as with Adam. The blessing God spoke over Adam and the animals at the beginning of creation, God repeated to Noah and the animals. The similarities are so striking that it is safe to say that these two passages are linked by a common theme. Why is that important?

What was desirable with Adam's situation in the beginning, was he dwelt with God. He walked with God and talked with Him, and he remained in His presence. By linking Noah's situation with Adam's we can see that Noah and his family had a similar opportunity to dwell with God, to interact with Him -- and the reciprocal nature of their relationship which the chiastic structure of Gen 8:15-9:7 revealed hints at a interactive relationship. It was not just Noah doing obligations, with his prayers hitting a heaven like brass, and God afar off.

Then, if we consider that Noah's Flood is a picture of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits, which is itself a shadow cast by Messiah, we can understand that by entering His covenant God has made a way for us to dwell with Him. It is a picture of restoration and return to Eden!

Finding Messiah in Torah

This week Torah introduces a foundational spiritual truth:

“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” Gen 9:4-6

Life is in the blood. Now on the most basic level, in this passage God authorizes governments for man, for the purpose of punishing sin to deter it. For the man who sheds blood must have his blood shed. This is why we have capital punishment for murder.

But on another level, God is saying, “For your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning.” Our sins make us guilty before God, and our lifeblood then becomes forfeit. For our lifeblood, God will demand a reckoning - a recompense. Then He goes on to say, “From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.” Who is the one who is the brother to every man? Yeshua the Messiah - He is the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8:29). From His hand, God required our life, and Yeshua paid the price for us as a substitute, in full. His blood was shed. This Torah prophecy of the Messiah also shows us that the Messiah would accomplish this work as a man -- only a man can atone for the lifeblood of another man. I believe this is why, all through the Gospels, Yeshua refers to Himself as the Son of Man and not the Son of God.

paul washer messages

2010-05-01T06:30:00.021-04:00

God

God is sovereign - dan 4:34-37
the glory of God in marriage - rom 12:2, 8:28-29; eph 5:22-25
the glory of God in ministering to the Lord
the glory of God in missions
the glory of God in moral purity - son 4
the glory of God in motivation
the great white throne
the greatness of God 1 - isa 6
the greatness of God 2 - isa 6
the greatness of God 3 - isa 6
the greatness of God 4 - isa 6
the holiness of God
the judgment of God and the great white throne - rev 20:11-15
the love and anger of God 1 - 2 cor 5:21, psa 7:11
the love of God 1 - psa 7:11-13, exo 34:6-7
the love of God 2 - psa 7:11-13, exo 34:6-7
the mercy and grace of God
the power of God

gospel

eternity - rev 20:11-15
genuine gospel - rom 3:23-26
He drank your hell - rom 3:23-26, pro 17:15
I am not ashamed of the scandal - rom 1:16
no greater truth than the gospel 1 - 1 cor 5:1-4
no greater truth than the gospel 2 - 1 cor 5:1-4
the acropolis of the christian faith - rom 3:23-27, pro 17:15
the cross of Christ (2009) - 2 cor 5:21, psa 75:8
the cross of Jesus Christ - 2 cor 5:21
the gospel (2008) - rom 3:23-26
the gospel: the power of God - rom 1:16
the gospel call - rom 1:16
the gospel of propitiation - rom 3:23-27
the grace of the gospel
the greatest text in the bible - rom 3:21-26, gal 2:15-16
the heart of the gospel - rom 3:21-26
the lost gospel - 2 cor 5:21
the meaning of the cross - pro 17:15, isa 53:10
the true gospel - rom 3:23-28
there's too much riding on eternity
true gospel: man apart from God
true gospel: what is the gospel
true gospel: conversion
true gospel: repent and believe
true gospel: the narrow way
true gospel: acceptance in the beloved
true gospel repentance
what is christianity?
what is the gospel part 1 - rom 3:23
what is the gospel part 2 - rom 3:23

false christianity

am I a worldly christian being deceived?
are you on the narrow path? - mat 7:13-27
be sure of your salvation - 2 cor 13:5
false salvation kills, real salvation brings life - rom 3:23
genuine regeneration - eze 36:22-27
genuine conversion - 2 cor 13:5
genuine conversion: tests - 1 john
I wish that you were hot or cold - rev 3:14-22
is your Jesus an accessory? - rom 12
narrow is the gate (shocking youth message) - mat 7:12-27
regeneration vs. decisionism - rom 1:16
signs of a true christian
ten indictments against the modern church in america 1
ten indictments against the modern church in america 2
true biblical salvation radio interview
what it means to be truly christian - rom 1:16
what's wrong with american christianity

growing in messiah

a living sacrifice 1 - rom 12:1
a living sacrifice 2 - rom 12:1
a solemn assembly
basic christianity - romans
being more like Jesus Christ
being what you are - rom 6
conformity to Jesus Christ in character - mat 5:17
busyness and spiritual discipline
clothed in Christ part 1
clothed in Christ part 2
discerning the times - hag 1
discipleship 1 (2006): true christianity - joh 10:24-27
discipleship 2 (2006): a living sacrifice - rom 12:1-2, pro 13:20
discipleship 3 (2006): a true disciple - rom 12:1-2
discipleship 4 (2006): what it takes to be a man - gen 2:18
everything is missions - mal 1:6-11
examine yourself - 2 cor 13:5, 1 joh 1:6-8, 2:3
examine yourself 1 (2008) - 2 cor 13:5
examine yourself 2 (2008) - 1 john
examine yourself 3 (2008) - 1 john
faith 1: it comes down to faith
faith 2: God is a rewarder of those who seek Him
faith 3: faith obeys
faith 4: childlike faith
following christ - rom 12:1-2
giving our all - rom 12:1-2
God's will for slaves - rom 1:1, jam 1:1
godly fellowship - pro 27:17; heb 10:23-25
guide posts and warning signs - isa 2:22; jer 2:5, 9:23; 2 cor 10:5
how much has christianity cost you? - mat 6:21-23
how you can have assurance
inner working of salvation - 2 cor 5:17-18
men who are broken - rom 12
obedience, the pathway to blessing
offering your bodies
our ambition is to please Him
our Father's goodness and graces to us - 1 tim 4
poverty of spirit - mat 5:1-13
practical holiness
regeneration and self denial - eze 36:22-27, mat 13:44
removing the guilt of the past - 1 john
responsibility
spiritual fasting
the biblical way to witness to the lost - rom 3
the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure - mat 13:44
the reality of regeneration - eze 36:22-27
the vine and the branches - joh 15:1-7, col 1:9-10
to love the word of God part 1 - deu 6:1-9
to love the word of God part 2 - deu 6:1-9
to love the word of God part 3 - deu 6:1-9
to love the word of God part 4 - deu 6:1-9
true disciple (2007) 1: come to me - isa 55:1-11
true disciple (2007) 2: regeneration - eze 36
true disciple (2007) 3: ministry and your prayer life - mar 1:29-37
true disciple (2007) 4: q & a
true disciple (2007) 5: how do I know I am saved? - 1 joh; gal 5:16
true disciple (2007) 6: the greatness of the gospel - 1 cor 15
true disciple (2007) 7: the way is narrow - mat 7:13-27
true disciple 1: are you a true disciple? - joh 1:1, 8:31
true disciple 2: cost of discipleship - mat 7:13-14
true disciple 3: the gift nobody wants - mat 7:13-27; mar 1:13-14
true disciple 4: heart of the gospel - mat 7:21, 13:18-23
true disciple 5: q & a - heb 12:3-11
true disciple 6: following christ - rom 12:1-2
true disciple 7: rewards of discipleship - exo 34:6-7; rom 12:1-2
what is your ambition in life? - 2 cor 5:9-18
what is your life worth? - rom 12
where does passion come from? - isa 6
you are dearly loved by God - son 4:7-6:2
your ultimate purpose - rom 8:28-29

family

a biblical husband (and prayer) - jam 4:2-3, mat 6:33
a sermon for the whole family on father's day - lev 19:32, eph 6:1-2
be a man (2006) - gen 2:18
be a man (2008) - gen 2:24
be a man (2009) - 2 cor 10:5
biblical headship - eph 5:22-24
biblical manhood 1 (2009) - 1 cor 16:13, 2 tim 2:22
biblical manhood 2 (2009) - 1 cor 15:33; 14:20
biblical manhood 1 (2010)
biblical manhood 2 (2010)
courtship part 1
courtship part 2
dating (school of prayer)
dating q & a (school of prayer)
destroying pop christian views of marital bliss - eph 5:22-33, rom 8:28
family 1: adolescence and obedience - eph 6:1-4, 2 tim 3:1-2
family 2: honor, the gateway to blessing - eph 6:1-4, exo 20
family 3: responsibility, the duty of fathers - eph 6:1-4, pro 4:1-4
family 4: father, where are you? - eph 6:1-4, pro 22:6
gaining the world and losing your children - pro 22:6
marriage and the gospel
marriage: being conformed to the image of Christ 1 - rom 8:28-29, gen 1:26
marriage: being conformed to the image of Christ 2 - 2 cor 5:17, mat 22:37-38
marriage: being conformed to the image of Christ 3 - gen 2:18, 1 tim 4:7-8
missions and your family - eph 5:25-33
raising the bar: sons (biblical manhood summit)
raising the bar: wives (biblical manhood summit)
the christian husband - eph 5:21-33
the glory of God in marriage - rom 12:2, 8:28-29; eph 5:22-25

ministry

a biblical pastor 1 - 1 tim 4:1-6
a biblical pastor 2 - 1 tim 4:1-6
a true church - eze 13:9-14
by their fruit part 1 - mat 7:13-20
by their fruit part 2 - mat 5:1-13
great men by the grace of God - 1 cor 1, eze 36:22
ministry 1: training young men for ministry - 2 tim 2:2, 3:16
ministry 2: the sufficiency of scripture in ministry - 2 tim 3:16
ministry 3: for young men going in ministry - 2 tim 3:16
ministry and your prayer life - mar 1:29-37
presence of God and power of God 1 - son 4:7-8
presence of God and power of God 2 - son 4:7-16
things applicable for God's servants - 1 tim 4:1-16

missions

a biblical vision and strategy for missions
everything is missions - mal 1:6-11
great commission - jer 5:18-19, mat 28:16-20
great privilege of being part of the great commission - mal 1:6-11
heartcry missions history
heartcry missions ministries and convictions (2006)
missions and your family - eph 5:25-33
missions 2005: the glory of God and missions
missions 2005: particular redemption and missions
missions 2005: the effectual call and missions
missions 2005: perseverance and missions
missions 2007: I am under obligation - rom 1:14-17
missions 2007: the gospel, the cross of Christ - rom 3:23-27
missions 2007: assurance and tests of true faith - 2 cor 13:5, 1 joh 1:5-7
missions 2007: regeneration and true christian unity - eze 36:22-27, jer 31:31-34
missions 2008: how much do you know God? - mal 1:6-11
missions 2008: what will keep you on the mission field - rom 12:1
missions 2008: an unchanging scandalous gospel - rom 1:16, 10:9
missions 2009 1: taking dominion - gen 1:26-28, 2:18
missions 2009 2: the cost of not following Christ - 2 cor 5:21
missions 2009 3: a christianity worth exporting - mat 23:15, 1 tim 4:1-16
missions 2009 4: the great commission - mat 28:16-20
missions 2009 5: the authority of Christ - mat 28:16-20
missions 2009 6: God bless us - psa 67:1-2
missions 2009 7: things applicable for God's servants - 1 tim 4:1-16
missions 2010 1: the guaranteed harvest - rev 5:9
missions 2010 2: sovereignty of God and world missions - 2 tim 2:8-10
missions 2010 3: as you go, make disciples - mat 28:18-20
the glory of God in missions
world impact 1 - mal 1:6-11
world impact 2 - rom 3:23
world impact 3 - mat 6:5-14
world impact 4 - mat 7:13
world impact 5 - 2 cor 13:5

prayer

a biblical husband (and prayer) - jam 4:2-3, mat 6:33
genuine prayer - mat 6:1-13
ministry and your prayer life - mar 1:29-37
pray and lose not heart (school of prayer)
prayer - luk 11:1-2, 18:1-8
worthless prayer meetings - mat 6:5-14

january reading schedule

2010-04-30T13:09:00.006-04:00

:: under construction ::

day	old testament	psalms / proverbs	new testament
1	gen 1-2	psa 1	mat 1
2	gen 3-4	psa 2
3	gen 5-6	psa 3
4	gen 7-8	psa 4	mat 2
5	gen 9-10	psa 5	mat 3
6	gen 11-12	psa 6	mat 4
7	gen 13-14	psa 7	mat 5
8	gen 15-16	psa 8	mat 6
9	gen 17-18	psa 9
10	gen 19-20	psa 10
11	gen 21-22	psa 11	mat 7
12	gen 23	psa 12	mat 8
13	gen 24	psa 13	mat 9
14	gen 25-26	psa 14	mat10
15	gen 27-28	psa 15	mat 11
16	gen 29-30	psa 16

parashah wayizkor (remembered), genesis 8:1-14

2010-04-24T07:37:00.009-04:00

parashah noach (noah), genesis 6:9-7:24

2010-04-17T13:49:00.004-04:00

In our first paragraph, Gen 6:9-12, we know it is a single paragraph because of the paragraph division - but at first glance it does not seem to contain one unified topic, but rather, two separate topics: details concerning Noah, and a repeat of the narrative on the wickedness of the earth.

It is when faced with paragraphs like these, when it is not readily apparent what the topic is, that the teaching tool of the paragraph divisions gives us the most help. The paragraph division assures us that these four verses are together in the order they are, for a reason - God has placed not only every word deliberately in Torah, but every letter as well.

When I outlined this paragraph, the first thing that jumped out to me is the contrast that exists between righteous Noah and the corrupt earth. They are opposites. I realized that God has used contrast as a teaching tool of Torah before: there was a contrast between Cain and Abel in Gen 4, and a contrast between the descendants of Cain who did what was right in their own eyes, and the descendants of Seth, who walked with God, in Gen 4 and 5.

The contrast between righteous Noah who walked with God, and the corrupt earth is the topic of this parsha, in fact. God is making a distinction between the two, and drawing attention to the distinction by putting these four verses together in a single parsha.

There is another clue that the contrast is what God wants us to see. Note in verse 12, it says, “for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” In the Hebrew, the pronoun “their” is singular: all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth. It is as if God is comparing the singular man, Noah (vs. 9) with the singular flesh (vs. 12).

It is also said of Noah in vs. 9 that he “walked” with God. We learned last week that this word is halak, and it means to walk a revealed path, to walk a lifestyle as a journey through life. As it is said of Noah that he walked a certain way, it is also said of all flesh that he walked a certain way (vs. 12): “all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth.”

This word is derek, Strong's H1870, the dalet - resh - kaph, and means the action of going or walking, hence a journey which anyone takes, thus a course of life. It is a different word from halak, but means essentially the same thing. Noah walked with God, while all flesh walked with - well, we are not told, but the implication is that Noah's righteousness was a result of his walk with God, while the earth's corruption was a result of his walk in his own way.

The result of the corruption: God sent the floodwaters on the earth, so that all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died (Gen 7:21-22). But Noah, and those who were with him in the ark, remained alive (Gen 7:23).

Lesson one: there are two ways to walk, and only two: with Him, and not with Him. And if one is not walking (halak) with Him, then one is walking in the corrupt way (derek) of the flesh, however good it might appear on the surface.

Lesson two: man can choose to walk with God or not. It is up to us, not up to Him. He has defined a path which is His path, and if we choose to walk on it, then we are walking with Him. The definition and boundaries of His path are unchanging and immovable. The definition and boundaries of His path are not up to us! Those are up to Him. His path is His will (Mat 7:13-14, 21-23).

Lesson three: there is a destination and an end result of the path we choose to walk, and the end is either life or death. Those are the only two ends. “There is a way (derek) that seems right to a man, but its end is the way (derek) of death,” (Pro 14:12).

Finding Messiah in Torah

Whenever we see in Torah, a situation of certain death, in which a miraculous deliverance results in either the preservation of life or the restoration of life, we have just seen the Torah theme of life from death; i.e., resurrection! The picture of resurrection is the picture of Messiah, for He told us that He is the resurrection and the life (Joh 11:25)!

In fact, every nature and science museum in the world is declaring witness with a loud voice to all mankind that God judges sin, but in Messiah is the resurrection and the life. For they are filled with the fossils of all manner of animal and plant life, which were laid down with great amounts of sediment by water, and they have been found on every continent, including mountain tops. These fossils declare that what was once living came to their death violently and catastrophically by a worldwide flood which covered the tops of the mountains (Gen 7:20); but that humans exist to view them in science museums testifies that one family was preserved alive through judgment.

Jesus Christ is the ark, and He is the open door (Joh 10:9). If we enter through Him while there is time, we will be saved, but if we enter not, we will likewise perish. For judgment for sin will come, and even though God delay, as we saw with the long lifespan of Methuselah, He will not tarry forever.

love

2010-04-12T17:37:00.001-04:00

the father's love (index)

father

2010-04-12T17:33:00.001-04:00

father: mountain top meaning
the father's love (index)

the father's love

2010-04-12T10:31:00.004-04:00

the father's love, deu 10:12-20
the father's love, 1 corinthians 13

circumcision

2010-04-12T10:29:00.002-04:00

circumcision flows from the father's love, deu 10:12-20

deuteronomy 10:12-20, the father's love

2010-04-12T10:13:00.005-04:00

Read Deu 10:12-20 at the Bible Gateway.

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.” Deu 10:12-20

I saw a chiastic structure in this section:

1A) Deu 10:12-13 what the Lord requires;
  1B) Deu 10:14 the greatness of God;
    --> X Deu 10:15-16 We love Him (circumcise your heart) because He first loved us;
  2B) Deu 10:17-18 the greatness of God;
2A) Deu 10:19-20 what the Lord requires.

The Father's love, delight in, and acceptance of us is the center from which all things flow. Our own circumcised heart of love toward the Lord, the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom, and true obedience to the Lord's will, all flow from the heart that knows his Father's love.

The three actions the Father took on our behalf revealed in the central axis are:

delight: Strong's H2836, in Hebrew chashaq, q?j, chet - shin - quph. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of being bound together with a concentrated emotion, or maybe even being bound together for eternity.

love: Strong's H157, in Hebrew ahab, bha, aleph - hey - bet. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of love which reveals the heart of the father, or the strong emotion and actions inspired by the revelation that one's family is a gift from YHVH.

choose: Strong's H977, bachar, rjb, bet - chet - resh. We have seen this before! The pictographs paint the picture of the choicest animal for sacrifice which was slaughtered outside the fence; thus also the examination, the process of choosing, to determine which animal was the choicest.

So what is the Lord saying, when He says, He delighted in (chashaq) our fathers to love (ahab) them, and chose (bachar) us, their descendants, above all peoples? He bound Himself together with us, so that the connections and the entanglements formed could not be undone; and when He bound Himself together with us, He did this for all time. He bound Himself together with us because He loved us, His heart quickens with strong emotion and longing at the thought of us, and the actions He takes on our behalf are born of that strong emotion and longing. The actions He takes on our behalf reveal His Father's heart of strong love for us. Because we are the seed of those He bound Himself to out of a heart of strong love, He has examined us and chosen us as the choicest above all peoples.

What if someone is not a physical descendant of Abraham? Jesus and Paul taught us that Abraham's seed, whom God set His love upon and chose as well pleasing to Him, are those in whom the Word of God (the seed, who is Jesus Christ, Mar 4:14, Joh 1:1, 14) finds a home (Joh 8:37-47, Rom 9:6-8).

genesis 5:21-24, enoch walked with God

2010-04-11T05:44:00.004-04:00

Read Gen 5:21-24 at the Bible Gateway.

All of the parshas from Gen 5:1-31 follow the same pattern, with one exception. Establishing a pattern is a teaching tool of Torah, and breaking an established pattern is another teaching tool of Torah.

Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”).
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and the birth of Noah (his name means, “comfort, rest”).

Gen 5:21-24:
The history of Enoch is different from the history of all the other patriarchs. God says something about Enoch that he doesn't say about any of the others, even Adam or Seth. Enoch walked with God. And he did not die - God took him. The asumption is that he was taken to heaven alive as Elijah was. God is teaching us by breaking the pattern previously established in Torah, that man suffers mortality, but the man who walks with God does not die.

The Hebrew word “walk” is used one time previously in Genesis: when God walked in the Garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). When God walked in the Garden, that was when He was coming to meet with man! In Gen 3:8, God walks with man; in Gen 5:22, man walks with God.

“Walk” is Hebrew halak, Strong's H1980, ilh hey - lamed - kaph, from an even more primitive root, il lamed - kaph.
l lamed: this is the shepherd's staff, so it also means whatever a shepherd does with his staff - teach, guide, direct, correct, exercse authority or discipline.
i,k kaph: the open palm, also blessing, welcome, giving.

The lamed - kaph root is the picture of the staff in the palm, as a nomad would grasp when he went anywhere, thus “to walk.” (Our English word “walk” is from this Hebrew root: see the l - k, the lamed - kaph? Hebrew is the mother tongue, from which all the languages were divided at Babel.)

The addition of the h hey on the front: the hey is the picture of the man with his arms upraised in wonder, worship, exclamation, astonishment. Thus it often indicates revelation. So ilh hey - lamed - kaph is to walk a revealed path - to walk a journey, thus to live a lifestyle (to walk a journey through life).

Now Enoch was a prophet (Jud 14-15) who warned of two judgments to come which would destroy all the earth: the first by water, the second by fire. When his son was born, he prophesied that when his son died, the first judgment would come, thus he named him Methuselah, “his death shall bring.” Methuselah is the longest- lived person in the Bible at 969 years; thus even in this age, we see God extending grace, and delaying the time of judgment to give as many as possible time to repent!

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

parashah sefer (record), genesis 5:1-6:8

2010-04-10T14:09:00.015-04:00

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?). being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 4th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Sefer / Record, Gen 5:1-6:8 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 30 / Psalm: Ps 4 / History: Job 7-8 / Gospel: Mat 23 / Apostolic: Rom 1

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 5:1-5 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 5:6-8 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:9-11 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:12-14 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:15-17 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:18-20 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:21-24 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:25-27 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:28-31 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:32-6:4 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Gen 6:5-8 ends in a p'tuchah.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:6-8 is the mortality of Seth.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:9-11 is the mortality of Enosh.

And so on and so forth, so that it can be said of the parsha stumahs from Gen 5:1-31 that their theme is the mortality of man. God is employing one of the teaching tools of Torah, which is to establish a pattern.

However, one of the parsha stumahs in this section breaks the pattern previously established - this is also a teaching tool of Torah. The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is first, the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth; and second, that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

God cleansed His “house,” the earth, of the sin which had leavened it, just as on Unleavened Bread, which we just finished celebrating, we cleanse our houses of leaven: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor 5:7

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 6:5-8 is that man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

In order to see the big picture painted by this parashah, we need to back up to the last parsha p'tuchah, so that we can “see” the entire paragraph with all its sub topics:

Gen 3:22-24 (stumah): Adam is exiled (from Eden) as judgment for sin.
Gen 4:1-26 (stumah): Cain is exiled from the presence of YHVH as judgment for sin.
Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”), and the prophecy of coming judgment.
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and with the birth of Noah, the prophecy of coming rest (Noah's name means “comfort, rest”).
Gen 5:32-6:4 (p'tuchah): the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth.
Gen 6:5-8 (p'tuchah): man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single strong paragraph, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin - Adam's exile from Eden, Cain's exile from the presence of YHVH which was with Adam's family, and mankind's exile from the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch walked with God and did not die; and Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of YHVH!

Finding Messiah in Torah

Here is the Gospel presented in Genesis! Not only overtly in the history of Enoch and Noah, but also covertly as a second witness of confirmation: notice that the first ten patriarchs before the Flood tell the prophecy of Elohiym's plan of salvation in their names. “Man is appointed mortality possessed with sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching; and His death shall bring the despairing, comfort and rest.”

“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.” Isa 46:9-10

Listen, if anyone needs proof that the Bible is a supernatural book not born from the imagination of men, this is only one proof of multiplied thousands which we will find in its pages.

genesis 6:5-8, “I will blot out man”

2010-04-10T10:13:00.005-04:00

Read Gen 6:5-8 at the Bible Gateway.

It just so happens there is another chiastic structure in Gen 6:5-8:

1A) 6.5 YHVH saw the wickedness of men;
  1B) 6.6 YHVH's sorrow over the wickedness of men;
    -->CENTRAL AXIS 6.7a “YHVH said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky;”
  2B) 6.7b YHVH's sorrow;
2A) 6.8 YHVH saw (in the eyes of) Noah with favor (or grace).

This is the first occurrence of the word “grace” in the Scriptures. The first occurrence provides the definition.

Grace is Strong's H2580, chen /j, from the primitive root, Strong's H2603, chanan /nj, chet - nun - nun. The ancient pictographs are of the fence, and seed upon seed. Chen, then, is the fence that continues; i.e., when nomads encamped in a place, the families set up their tents so that all the tents formed a circle - a continuous fence. The tribal clan lived and worked within the circle, within the continuous fence. It was home. It was the place of family, of beauty, freedom, and mercy.

Noah was found to be within YHVH's continuous fence; he was found to be of the Lord's family.

Brad Scott on the mountain top meaning of chen.

Why was YHVH sorry with all the other men, but Noah found grace with Him? In the next verse (Gen 6:9), we see that Noah was a righteous man who walked (halek) with God. Torah is not teaching salvation by works, because God is clear that Noah found grace; however, Torah is teaching that righteousness and walking with God accompanies grace and salvation. Torah is painting a picture of two kinds of men: those who align themselves with God, and who, as a result of that alignment, walk with Him, and those who align themselves against God, choosing to walk their own way - not in the revealed path.

This parsha also reveals to us that the heart of God is grieved over wickedness and sinfulness. He isn't just looking for opportunities to squash sinners like ants, gleefully; but evil and wickedness grieves His tender and loving heart.

genesis 5:32-6:4, the nephilim

2010-04-10T09:01:00.004-04:00

Read Gen 5:32-6:4 at the Bible Gateway.

This parsha begins differently than the previous parshas. Instead of saying “Person x lived y number of years, and begot Person z,” it says, “Noah was five hundred years old, and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” We soon discover that Noah's history deviates from the history of the previous patriarchs (Enoch excepted). It seems that the Torah makes an abrupt change of subject and begins talking about sons of God and daughters of men. But in fact, the entire passage from 5:32-6:4 stays on the same topic, as we can tell from the paragraph divisions! It is our job to discover how the seemingly disparate elements relate a single topic theme.

God is providing us detail as to why Noah's history, which will continue, deviates from the pattern previously set. In fact, this parsha forms a chiastic structure:

1A) 6.1 daughters of men born;
  1B) 6.2 sons of Elohiym took them for wives;
    --> CENTRAL AXIS 6.3 “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years;”
  2B) 6.4 children of the sons of Elohiym;
2A) 6.4 that the daughters of men bore to them.

So what was going on here? The sons of Elohiym were most likely angelic beings who had rebelled against YHVH when Lucifer fell and earned the name satan for himself (which means, “adversary”, Rev 12:7-9). Thus they are called fallen angels. In the literature of the ancient world, “sons of God” is a term used for both good and evil supernatural beings. I believe what the enemy was trying to do here, since God had told the woman that her seed would crush Satan's head, was to pollute the gene pool so that the Promised Seed could not come.

The children of these demonic unions were called nephilim, an ancient Hebrew word of uncertain meaning. The KJV renders it “giants,” and it is true that most cultures contain giant myths, who were great in size and strength, but were mostly evil. These giants were demi-gods, i.e., the sons of the “gods” united with human women. Sound familiar? Only in Greek mythology are the demi-gods counted as heroic (the Greeks exalted the serpent as the revealer of secret wisdom); in all others the giants were terrible evil beings who were feared.

Nephilim is Strong's H5303, from the primitive root naphal, Strong's H5307, lpn, nun - pey - lamed. The nun n is the seed (or sperm), also sons or descendants; the pey p is the mouth, also blow, scatter, or edge; and the lamed l is the shepherd's staff.

lp, pey - lamed, is its own primitive root meaning judgment, i.e., the mouth speaking from authority (the shepherd's staff). Thus nephilim is “sons of judgment,” the sons of those who were judged unworthy of heaven - fallen angels.

Jude in the New Testament talks about Enoch, who was a prophet, and who wrote a book of prophecy (however not included in the canon as it had been heavily edited at some point after the Flood) about this particular sin of the fallen angels, and the wickedness of men who followed them:

“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;” Jud 6

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”” Jud 14-15

Now that this sin in particular, immorality with fallen angels, is singled out before the account of the Flood, might give us a clue as to why God chose to destroy mankind. Noah was perfect in his generations (Gen 6:9), i.e., one valid understanding of the Hebrew is that Noah was pure in his genetics, his gene pool. All the other men were destroyed so that the gene pool could not be corrupted again, and the Promised Seed could come.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

genesis 5:1-5, the mortality of adam

2010-04-10T08:28:00.005-04:00

Read Gen 5:1-5 at the Bible Gateway.

“Book” in verse 1 is the Hebrew word sefer which means a written record. This is additional evidence from the beginning that Genesis is not an orally transmitted (i.e., evolved) mythology of the Hebrew people, but beginning with Adam, this history was written down.

As Adam was God's son, so Seth was Adam's son. From the very beginning of Genesis God is revealing who He is to man: Creator, then Judge, but just as importantly, Father.

The son whom Adam begot, was Seth. No mention is made of Cain or Abel. This is because Abel was dead and could not bear children to continue Adam's line, and Cain, although alive and bearing children, was shown, in the last parashah, to be fathering a line of children who did not know the presence of God and who followed in their father's footsteps in doing evil. Thus, by following the geneaology through Seth in this parashah, Torah is making a distinction between two families of men in the earth: the family of Cain, the unrighteous seed who rebelled, and the family of Seth, the righteous seed who obeyed.

This is a sixth teaching tool of Torah: comparison, and contrast. God places two different geneaologies next to each other, why? So that we can discover, by comparing them, how they are similar or different.

Then we discover that after bearing other sons and daughters (Josephus states that Adam bore thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters), Adam died, after 930 years. God promised him that if he ate the fruit, he would die, and so he did.

The topic of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.

“counting the omer”

2010-04-09T08:23:00.007-04:00

“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.” Lev 23:15-16

Counting the omer is what Jews call this time of counting seven Sabbaths or counting fifty days following the Feast of Firstfruits. It is called that, because when the fifty days are completed, we come to the next feast, the Feast of Weeks, in which an omer (a unit of measure of volume) of new grain - wheat - is offered to the Lord. So the time between the firstfruits offering of barley (on the Feast of Firstfruits), and the firstfruits offering of wheat (on the Feast of Weeks) is known as counting (up to) the omer.

This is the only instruction we have for the period leading up to Weeks. All we are asked to do is count. Some people have special devotions for each day, and do extra things, however; nothing but counting is necessary.

Now it is interesting that seven Sabbaths pass - seven sevens. Seven in Hebrew is from the root word sheva, which means to complete or finish a cycle. Seven is found everywhere in Scripture in context with completion and rest.

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has posted a fascinating study on the number seven and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

It is also interesting that fifty days pass. Fifty is the number most associated with the Spirit of God in the Scriptures. Every fifty years, Israel was to keep a year of Jubilee, a year of liberty from debt and bondage (Lev 25:8-10). In fact, the instruction for the year of Jubilee mirrors, by years, the counting of the omer that we do in days every year, from Firstfruits to Weeks. That is not a coincidence.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor 3:17

Brad Scott at Wildbranch Ministry has also posted a fascinating study on the number fifty and its meaning in Hebrew, and as it is used in Scripture.

Every year that I keep the practice of counting the omer, I gain more insight into why God has this practice in the Bible, why He considers it righteousness, and how it relates to my new life in Jesus Christ my Lord!

why I began celebrating the seventh day sabbath

2010-04-08T14:08:00.003-04:00

In April of 2007, I knew of one person in my life, a Christian, my maid of honor at my wedding, my friend who was instrumental in leading me to the Lord over 30 years ago, who celebrated a day of rest on the seventh day, as Scriptures command for the Sabbath day. We had already been celebrating the feasts of the Lord; we had for several years. We attended a church which holds a big feast of Tabernacles celebration every year. This previous year, the pastor was saying that one year, a conflict came up in the schedule (this must have been before we were going there) and they decided to have the Tabernacles on a different day than the actual day, thinking it would make no difference to the Lord (being ignorant Gentiles -- his words) and the presence of the Lord, which is so strong among us during this celebration, was absent that year. He said it mattered to God that we celebrate His feasts according to His calendar.

So I was thinking about that on a Friday in April of 2007, when I looked up in Leviticus 23 to remind myself of the command concerning the feasts. I knew this, but had forgotten it -- the weekly feast of Sabbath is the first feast listed. I asked myself, “Why do we celebrate all the feasts but this one?” I spoke with my husband, who believes that Sabbath- keeping is no longer required, and I asked him, “Would you mind if I kept the Sabbath on Saturday? I am curious to discover what will happen.” He had no objection, so I prepared dinner for that evening, and extra food for the next day, and cleared up all my work.

Then when the sun began to set, I excused myself from the family, went into my “prayer closet,” and prayed to the Lord, “I am not exactly sure what to do, but the Scriptures say that in six days You made the heavens and the earth, and rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it; and we are to keep the seventh day holy -- the seventh day is beginning, so here I am to honor You.” These words were barely out of my mouth when the presence of the Lord descended so powerfully upon me that I could not speak any longer. I ended up worshiping the Lord for several hours, but it seemed like only a few minutes had passed. I slept like a baby that night, and had the most peaceful day the next day, filled with joy. We attend church Saturday evenings anyway, and as we were coming out of the assembly of the believers that night, the sun was setting. I told the Lord, “That was the most beautiful seventh day I have ever experienced -- thank You for making the Sabbath for man.”

My next task was to study all that the Scriptures say concerning the Sabbath, and why the Church does not celebrate this day. From my experiment on that Friday evening in April of 2007, it seemed to me that the Lord was pleased and blessed my Sabbath day of rest.

the spring holy days

2010-04-04T09:55:00.005-04:00

The spring feast days are three, and all fall within a one week period of each other: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits.

passover

At Passover, God judged Egypt in the 10th plague, and the firstborn of every man and beast in Egypt died on the same night (Exo 12). The Hebrews, however, placed the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses, and the angel of death “passed over” them. Thus they were liberated from Egypt and slavery on that night.

Nearly fifteen hundred years later, on the 14th day of the first month, the day of Passover, as Israel was preparing their lambs for sacrifice, Jesus our Messiah was nailed to the cross, and He became our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). John the Baptist said of Him, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh 1:29). When we apply His shed blood to the doorposts of our hearts, the angel of death passes over us.

Notice this is something we must do. The Lamb has been slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8), but we must apply His blood to our households and our hearts. God does not do it for us. He has provided the Lamb for Himself (Gen 22:8), but we must, by faith, receive His sacrifice for ourselves! The Egyptians did not, and they were not delivered from the angel of death. When we apply the blood of Yeshua to the doorposts of our heart, God redeems us from the kingdom of darkness (a type of Egypt), where we were kept in slavery and bondage to sin (Rom 6:6-7).

Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him - His death, burial, and resurrection which was to come (Luk 22:19). Passover commemorates the death of Jesus on the cross, and all that His death accomplished (Isa 53:3-10) - our redemption and deliverance from slavery and sin!

unleavened bread

The week which followed the Passover meal was Unleavened Bread, for Israel left Egypt in haste with their dough unleavened. For one week they ate unleavened bread. At the end of the week, on the seventh day, God delivered them through the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army which was pursuing them to bring them back into slavery.

Leaven is a allegory of sin. For just as yeast in dough begins as a small foothold, but soon multiplies until the whole lump of dough is leavened, so sin begins as a small foothold in our hearts, and can then multiply until it has leavened our whole heart with sin. As Israel removed leaven from their houses in preparation for Passover and Unleavened Bread (Exo 12:15), likewise, we ought to examine our hearts and our homes, and remove every trace of sin which might have gained a foothold, so that we can also celebrate this feast in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8) - not giving lip service to the freedom from sin that God has purchased for us with His own blood, while we harbor secret sins in the recesses of our hearts.

firstfruits

When Israel entered the Promised Land, on the anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt, they offered up the first and best portion of the barley harvest in thanksgiving to God, for He had made them to cease wandering, and had brought them into a good Land, and gave them new life after winter, and an abundant harvest (Lev 23:9-14). This feast of Firstfruits has been celebrated every year since, on the Sunday following Passover, during the week of Unleavened Bread.

Three days and nights following Yeshua's crucifixion on Passover, He was raised from the dead with new life, on the feast day of Firstfruits. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20). Just as His body was buried a natural body, but raised up a spiritual body, one day our bodies too will be clothed with immortality, and this corruption will put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:42-45). Until that day, it is by the resurrection of Jesus that we too have become a new creation in this life (2 Cor 5:17).

summary

The work and ministry of Jesus our Messiah as described by the three spring holy days, and the transforming effect it has upon us who receive Him by faith, is summed up by Paul in Romans:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” Rom 6:1-11

Passover = death. At the Passover, Messiah was crucified, and we too have been united with Him in the likeness of His death. It is our old man who was crucified with Him.

Unleavened Bread = burial. During Unleavened Bread, Moses led Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and so Israel was baptized into the sea (1 Cor 10:1-2). Likewise, Messiah's body was in the ground during the feast of Unleavened Bread, and we also were buried with Him through baptism into death (Rom 6:4). Just as His body was done away with, or buried, so our body of sin was likewise done away with, or buried, so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For Unleavened Bread is a picture of freedom from sin (leaven).

Firstfruits = resurrection. On this day, Messiah was raised from the dead, and just as He was raised from the dead, so we too might walk in newness of life! When we keep the spring holy days in sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8, walking a pure walk of new life free from sin) we bear witness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord!

parashah hen haadam (behold the man), genesis 3:22-4:26

2010-04-03T11:25:00.001-04:00

Prophet: Jer 1 / Psalm: Ps 3 / History: Job 5-6 / Gospel: Mat 28 / Apostolic: Rom 3

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 3:22-24 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 4:1-26 ends in a parsha stumah.

In Gen 3:22-24, God exiles Adam and Eve from Eden in response to their sin. He said that it was so that he would not also take a fruit from the tree of life, and live forever (vs. 22). God had told them that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. God did not lie to them. The death they experienced in that moment was not the death of the mortal body (although from that instant their mortal bodies began to die, i.e. age), but the death of the spirit. Their spirits were now stained with the knowledge of what was evil.

We need to just tuck into the back of our minds, that rebellion = sin = death.

God does not want Adam and Eve to now live forever, in the state of spiritual death which they were now in. If they ate of the tree of life while they were in a state of spiritual death, they would live forever in a state of spiritual death. He did not want that, because He had a plan to redeem us from death (Gen 3:15). So to protect them, He exiled them from Eden.

Now we see that rebellion = sin = death = exile.

When we are in a state of spiritual death, we cannot be where God is. We must be exiled from His presence – not because He doesn’t love us anymore. But because sin cannot abide in His presence - it would mean death for us. Therefore, exile.

Gen 3:22-24 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

In Gen 4:1-26, we see a repeating pattern of knowledge, sin, death, and exile (repetition is the second teaching tool God employs in Torah). Cain and Abel grew up with the knowledge of good and evil. Abel chose to do good, while Cain chose to do evil. We can see this from the talk God had with Cain afterwards - it seemed as if Cain knew what it was that was “doing well,” (Gen 4:7), and that God was encouraging him to choose to do well instead of choosing to do sin.

Gen 4:7 is the first occurrence of the word “sin” in the Bible. In Scripture, a Hebrew word’s first occurrence also provides its definition. This is the fourth teaching tool of Torah.

The Hebrew word is chattath, Strong’s H2403, from the root word Strong’s H2398, chata, afj chet - tav – aleph (see the original meaning of the Hebrew at the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Chart).
j chet: the fence or dividing wall, also, outside, divide, or halve.
f tet, originally a tav: the crossed sticks, x, mark, sign, target.
a aleph: the ox head, strong, powerful, leader.

When looking at the ancient Hebrew, we have to remember that God designed the language in stick figures, and it was meant to be understood by five- year- olds looking at the pictures, who did not even know how to read yet. The picture is telling us: outside the target, strongly. Sin is being strongly outside the target. Strongly missing the mark. The target is God’s way of doing well. Sin is outside of doing well. Not off by a little bit. You want to avoid pork, and you clean the pork out of your house, but you discover one day that pop tarts have gelatin in them. Ooooops! That is not sin. That is not strongly missing the mark. That is a mistake.

This history of Cain and Abel helps to define sin for us. Cain deliberately disobeyed. The heart attitude he consistently displays is one of pride, resentment, stubbornness, rebellion, and selfishness. There is not a glimmer of remorse or submission to God's will anywhere in this narrative. Sin - strongly missing the mark - had made itself Cain's master. He had bowed the knee to it and not to God.

Furthermore, in comparing last week's parashah with this one, we see that God deals with these two instances of sin in exactly the same way. Lay both instances out side and side, point for point, and see. Comparison is the fifth teaching tool of Torah. His disciplinary style is the perfection of wisdom. He is the model for any parent wishing to learn how to handle the disobedience and sin of their children effectively for their good, and for the peace of the home.

Gen 4:1-26 parsha topic: exile is a consequence of sin and death.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

Jewish tradition states that Cain and Abel brought their offerings on the 14th of the month in which the barley was in its head – Passover! You see, God set up the sun, moon, and stars to mark His appointed times on the 4th day of Creation (Gen 1:14, “seasons” is the Hebrew word moed, translated “feast day” many other places in Torah). God’s holy days have been holy to Him from the very beginning. The reason major historical and spiritual events seem to take place on His days are because they are His days in the first place.

Abel was killed on Passover – the righteous by the unrighteous. By this we understand that Abel was a type, a foreshadow, of Messiah who was to come (Heb 11:4, 12:24). The Torah reveals Messiah to us, and in this Torah portion, the Torah teaches us that the Messiah, when He comes, will be righteous, however killed by the unrighteous on God’s appointed holy day of the 14th of the month of Aviv - the month of ripening barley. This identification from the Word of God helps us – Jews – everyone - recognize Messiah when He comes.

God's Word is amazing! This is the Sabbath following Passover, and this Torah portion teaches us about Messiah's death at Passover!

parashah toledoth (generations), genesis 2:4-3:21

2010-03-27T11:50:00.002-04:00

Every portion of Scripture that ends in a stumah division indicates a continuation of a theme or topic.

That such a long passage ends with a stumah, means that God considers the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:15 a single paragraph with its own main idea - and that the paragraph is a sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:16 ends with a stumah.
This means God considers this single sentence its own paragraph, teaching its own sub theme of a greater topic.

Gen 3:17-21 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that God considers this section to be its own paragraph with its own sub theme; furthermore, that the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:21 is teaching an overarching theme, with three sub themes (as the end of Gen 2:3 was where the last p'tuchah was found).

Right away in the beginning of this Torah portion, there is the establishing of a new pattern, which is different from the pattern established in the previous section. In last week's Torah portion, every time God is mentioned, the Hebrew word used is Elohiym, a masculine plural noun meaning Supreme Being; i.e., He who created the heavens and the earth. This name reveals Elohiym’s plurality of being, His might and creative power, and His character of righteousness, justice, and sovereignty.

But in this week's Torah portion, in almost every place that God is mentioned, it is translated as LORD God. The Hebrew for this is YHVH Elohiym. We are introduced to the four letters, the tetragrammaton, the personal name of Elohiym, meaning “I AM,” the self- existent One; also He was, He is, and He will be, or the eternal One. The personal name of Elohiym is pronounced Yehovah or Yahweh.

So why the change? Last week we saw that the second teaching tool God uses in order to instruct us is to establish a pattern in His Word (the first tool is the paragraph divisions of p'tuchah and stumah). This week we see a third teaching tool God uses in His Word - breaking a pattern previously established. Whenever we see a break in a pattern, we should ask ourselves, “Why the change?” Because the change is there deliberately; God is trying to tell us something!

My theory is that there has been a change of author. In Gen 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth,” the word “account” is the Hebrew toledoth, meaning generations, or history, or even, book. That this section of Genesis is a very ancient written record, and not an oral record until the time of Moses, has been proven by clues embedded in the Torah scroll. Who was the one who wrote it down? Well, the only man alive to witness the events recorded in this section was Adam. He is the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (thus it still remains the Word of God).

That begs the question, then who wrote last week's Torah portion, from Gen 1:1-2:3? The answer must be, logically, the only one alive to witness the events recorded therein - God. He gave the history from Gen 1:1-2:3 to Adam, and Adam, beginning in 2:4, added his own eyewitness account, or toledoth. This is why the creation account in Gen 2 seems to differ from the creation account in Gen 1. They are not contradictory, but just the same events witnessed from two different perspectives. God relayed His account chronologically; however, Adam relayed his account according to a different criteria - thematically. We get in trouble when we expect every narrative in Scripture to be chronological. Understanding this eliminates half the charges of contradictions in the Bible out there. :)

Back to the paragraph stumah from Gen 2:4-3:15. What is the point of this paragraph, the main idea? Whenever we are faced with a section of Scripture bounded by the Lord's paragraph markers, we should ask ourselves, “Why is this section a single paragraph?” What is the point God is trying to get across, by including all these verses (or limiting to these verses) in this paragraph? There is no right or wrong answer. The Holy Spirit will reveal things to us as we seek Him and ask (Joh 16:13).

The topic that I came up with, is that Disobedience to YHVH's Command is the definition of Sin. For it is this incident, the Fall of Man, by which Sin is introduced into God's perfect Creation (as we can see by reading the Apostolic portion of Scripture that accompanies this Torah portion). Notice that God does not end the paragraph, however, until He has given the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who will crush the head of the serpent! Even now, at man's worst moment, God is extending grace and hope to him!

The theme of the paragraph stumah from Gen 3:16 is the curse on the woman. The theme of the paragraph from Gen 3:17-21 is the curse on the man. The word translated “pain” for the woman in verse 16 and the word translated “toil” for the man in verse 17 is the same word in Hebrew: itstsabon. They received the same curse as a result of their sin: toil, or work. The woman's work, I believe, is moreover lifelong, just as the man's is. Her work is in not only bearing children, but rearing them, in making the home for her and her husband and her children to dwell in. His work is in provision - he goes out from the home, and procures by toiling the food (or material things) necessary to sustain himself and his family.

Notice that in the woman's curse, she is also placed in submission to her husband. In Torah portion Bereisheet, both the man and the woman were given equal dominion over the creation. Neither of them were subservient to the other. Now God creates a hierarchy: man, then woman, then creation. Creation is still subject to the man and the woman, but woman is now subject to her husband (not just any man). Who is the man subject to? YHVH, and all mankind and creation is also subject to YHVH through the man's dominion. He exercises dominion in order to bring his wife, his children, and the creation into obedience to YHVH.

The men and women (and children) who understand God's authority, order, and plan, and who order their lives in cooperation with Him and not in opposition to Him, will bring blessings upon themselves (see Psalm 1 from last week)!

So now that we have main ideas for the weak paragraphs, let's see what the main idea is for the strong paragraph, from Gen 2:4-3:21.

Gen 2:4-3:21 ends in a p'tuchah.
a. Gen 2:4-3:15 (stumah) Sin is disobedience to God's command.
b. Gen 3:16 (stumah) The curse on the woman - work (painful toil).
c. Gen 3:17-21 The curse on the man - work (painful toil).

What comes to my mind for the main idea of the entire section is that Sin Brings the Curse of Work. Can it be that sin brings the curse of works on mankind as well - working in order to earn righteousness before God? And here is another instance of the Lord's grace: He established the seventh day as a day of rest, holy to YHVH, before sin, the curse, or work ever entered God's perfect world. Yes, we have been cursed with work as a result of our disobedience. But every seventh day, God lifts the curse of work on our lives, and allows us to rest from our painful toil, as we remember that YHVH is our gracious and loving Creator, to whom we owe worship; to whom we bow the knee!

Finding Messiah in Torah

This week Messiah leaps off the page. He is the Seed of the Woman promised in Gen 3:15, who crushes Satan's head and restores mankind to the perfection, communion with God, and rest we experienced in the Garden before the Fall of Man. He erases the effect of sin on His perfect Creation! There is an entire book in the fact that God chose to represent Messiah as the seed. In fact, my Hebrew teacher, Brad Scott, did write a book about it: The Principle of the Seed. It is fascinating and life- changing and I recommend it!

how we celebrate passover

2010-03-26T09:10:00.001-04:00

Even though we have celebrated Passover for ten years now, we are still very much learning how to celebrate the Passover. We do not celebrate it exactly as the Jews do; we try to excise the traditions of men and include the fulfillment of Jesus (Yeshua). So we are developing our own way of celebrating the feast to fulfill its purpose of a memorial for ourselves, and to teach the children. It is subject to change as the Lord continues to teach us. But the following is what we have done so far. This is our understanding to date, subject to change as God reveals more from His Word to us. I encourage everyone to search out the Scriptures for themselves do as the Word reveals!

This feast is the only one where part of the menu is commanded: roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread (Exo 12:8-9). Before the Feast of Firstfruits, we do not eat fresh produce, but stored (Lev 23:14). Therefore our appetizers, sides and desserts for Passover are made with root vegetables, frozen or canned vegetables from the previous harvest, and dried or stored fruits (such as apples).

Now the 15th day is a High Holy Sabbath – the 1st day of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6-7). It can fall on any day of the week, not necessarily a Saturday. It is always a day of rest. The 14th day is the Day of Preparation, to get ready for the rest on the High Holy Sabbath. I do my deep cleaning beginning with the sighting of the new moon (so that I can remove the crumbs thus swept up on the 15th day, which is the 1st day of Unleavened Bread; Exo 12:15); I spend the 14th day cooking the Passover meal that night, and prep work for the next day, the 1st day of Unleavened Bread.

We have our Passover meal of roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread at sundown or in the evening of the 14th day, the Day of Preparation.

Passover is about our deliverance and redemption out of one kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, which is the spiritual Egypt (Rev 11:8), of slavery to sin (Col 1:13-14, Rom 6:14), so that we can be brought in to another kingdom, the kingdom of heaven (Mat 4:17), where we live in freedom (Gal 5:1 - not freedom from righteousness, which the Law defines, but freedom from sin, Rom 6:18-19). It is about changing citizenship (Phi 3:20-21, Heb 11:13-16, 12:28)! The history telling and Scripture reading which follows is designed to remind us of this.

Begin while the food finishes cooking. Mom lights the seven candles, and Dad pours the wine, blessing it, and breaks the unleavened bread, blessing it. As we begin our meal with wine, bread and appetizers, Dad reminds us that the Last Supper which instituted Communion was a Passover supper, and that when we eat the bread and drink the wine tonight, we will be partaking in the body and blood of our Lord. Dad notes to everyone that the bread is striped and pierced, just as Jesus was for us (Isa 53:5, Psa 22:16) - He is the true Bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (Joh 6:32-35)! – and that the wine is the cup of the New Covenant in His blood (Luk 22:15-20). Dad warns us (1 Cor 11:23-29) not to eat or drink without examining ourselves. The two weeks we just spent examining the house and cleaning every scrap of leaven out of it (Exo 12:15) is an object lesson from God for us, His children, that we are likewise not to let the leaven of sin find a foothold or a home in us, but to diligently sweep it all away.

Mom brings the food to the table. Dad blesses the food; and everyone eats.

During the meal, Dad reads (or tells, or has the family take turns reading) the Exodus story from Exo chapter 12, then the story of Jesus’ crucifixion from Joh chapters 18 and 19. He reminds us that Jesus is our Passover Lamb (Joh 1:29, 1 Cor 5:7), who has delivered us from the angel of death (Joh 11:25-26) and has set us free from slavery to sin (Rom 6:14).

Mom gets the dessert ready to serve. Dad explains that by the blood of Jesus, we have been adopted as sons into God’s family (Gal 4:4-5); we have changed our citizenship from the world to the kingdom of heaven (Phi 3:20-21, Col 1:13-14), where Jesus is not only Savior, but also King (Rev 17:14). Now that God has redeemed us, or bought us back, we are no longer our own, since we have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20). God is at work in us every day, through His great love and grace, to accomplish our sanctification (Phi 1:6, 2 The 2:13), or set-apartness from the world and all its ways.

Can we just stop at this moment and break down into tears of joy for all that God has done for us? And then we eat dessert!

We conclude our meal looking forward to the coming kingdom of Yeshua when He will eat and drink the Passover with us (Luk 22:15-16).

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Then following supper, it is my dream that we can leave our timidity behind and spend the evening praising and worshiping the Lord together for the great deliverance He has wrought for us, in song and dance, just as Israel did when God delivered them through the Red Sea (Exo 15:1-20). Let the joy of our salvation break forth, and overflow! Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so (Psa 107:2)! And not just in a church service!

Passover menu recipe index

when we celebrate passover

2010-03-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.” Lev 23:5

It seems fairly straightforward, but there are as many as twelve different calendars in use among the Jews and Messianic believers in Yeshua to complicate things! We do not have to worry about calendars; all we have to do is find out from Scripture when the first month is; and then when the first day of the month is; and by counting, we can always know with certainty when the fourteenth day of the first month is!

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”” Exo 12:1-2

What month is “this month”? The month that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, as can be clearly seen by reading all of Exodus chapter 12. This is the same month in which God was pouring plagues out on Egypt, culminating with the Passover, the 10th plague, in which all the firstborn of Egypt died on that night. The 10th plague, we know, took place on the 14th day of the first month, at about midnight. It just so happens that God built in an unalterable time clock into the narrative, so that no matter who tries to change the calendar, God's people would always know when the first month arrived.

Two weeks before the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn, the 7th plague was being poured out on Egypt, which was the plague of hail. The entire story of the plague is told in Exo 9:13-35. What is interesting, though, is this detail which Scripture records:

“Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head, and the flax was in bud.” Exo 9:31

When the plague of hail was poured out, the barley was in its head. The Hebrew word for this is aviv (or abib in some translations) - which just means, “ripening.” It wasn't in bud, nor was it fully ripe and ready for harvest - it was in the head, or ripening. That the month of ripening barley is the first month of the year for the Israelites, is confirmed over and over again in Scripture:

“On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.” Exo 13:4

“The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.” Exo 34:18

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” Deu 16:1

So, when the first day of the month occurs, in which the barley is ripening, or aviv, that month is declared to be the month of Aviv, and the Passover is kept 14 days later, at twilight. This means that no one knows for sure when the first month is going to be. It will be in the spring, all right - but you cannot print a calendar for 10 years from now and know whether that month will begin in March, or April - you have to be watching and paying attention. And the theme of watching for the (feast) day(s) of the Lord - His appointed time - appears all throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

Now when is the first day of the month? From ancient days and throughout Scripture, the first day of the month was reckoned from the sighting of the new moon. The Jews themselves declare this to be the case, and the way they have always determined when the biblical months begin. The day following the sighting of the new moon was always celebrated as a feast day in ancient Israel (Num 29:9; 1 Sam 20:5; 2 Kin 4:23; Isa 66:23).

Furthermore, David shows us that the three set feast days fall at the full moon, which occurs 14 to 15 days following the sighting of the new moon:

“Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day.” Ps 81:3

It just so happens that the feast days of Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles (the three feast days in which the men were commanded to appear at Jerusalem) all fall on the 14th or 15th day of the month, at the full moon - which shows that the first day of the month was reckoned by the sighting of the new moon.

If you have ever watched the moon in its waxing and waning through the night sky, you know that the first sliver of the new moon appears on the western horizon after the sun sets, but then it sets too, anywhere from an hour to a few hours afterwards. The next night it rises 45 minutes to an hour later so that it sets an hour later - and 14 to 15 days later, when it is full, it rises in the east just when it is dark, so that for a few nights every month, the moon illuminates the night as the sun illuminates the day. But then it rises 45 minutes to an hour later every night, so that when it is waning, there comes a time when the moon is not seen in the night sky at all. It is mirroring the rising and setting of the sun, which means the brightness of the sun completely blocks out any chance of seeing the moon during the day. The next time the moon is seen after its waning - it is a sliver again, a "new moon" - really the old moon appearing to be "renewed," which is its meaning in Hebrew.

This is why I have the moon calendar on the sidebar of this site - so everyone can determine what month it is, according to God's timetable.

why we celebrate passover

2010-03-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

Passover is coming up next week on Wednesday March 31.

We celebrate all of the Lord's seven annual feast days because by doing so, we bear witness of Jesus our Messiah until He comes!

Passover is the first annual feast day of the seven. We celebrate the Passover because it is an eternal commandment to do so (Exo 12:17-18) for all the generations who join themselves to the God of Israel (Lev 24:22, Eph 2:11-13) through Israel’s renewed covenant (Jer 31:31-34, 1 Cor 11:25). Israel's covenant has been extended to all Gentiles through the shed blood of Jesus! The opening of the covenant from just one nation, Israel, to every nation, does not then negate that covenant (Gal 3:15-18)! God's Word is eternal, even the Word He spoke in Exodus (Isa 40:8). (If God spoke this, then what is true of God's Word is true of Exodus and the other books of Torah as well!) Even Jesus said not one jot or tittle of God's Word would pass away, even of Torah (Mat 5:17-19)!

On top of that, it is prophesied in Scripture that in the kingdom of Messiah all nations would celebrate the Lord's feast days (if the vision Ezekiel sees in chapters 40-48 - especially see Eze 45:21 -is of the millennial kingdom, and since some of its description is repeated in Revelation, many think it is). And, at the Last Supper (a Passover supper), Jesus told His disciples He would eat the feast with them when He comes in His kingdom (Luk 22:15-16)! God has not developed an objection to His holy days.

Because of this, Paul exhorted the Gentile believers in Jesus to celebrate the feast (1 Cor 5:8)! The Corinthians were Greeks, not Jews.

Since Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover - He is our Passover Lamb (Joh 1:29, 1 Cor 5:7) - celebrating this feast is a significant way, for us, that we can commemorate this most important day every year. Not only that, but it is an object lesson, a visual aid God commanded fathers to employ to teach their children about God's deliverance and redemption (Exo 12:24-27). It is a God- ordained way to pass the faith, so to speak, from the generation of the parents to the generation of the children.

And that, dear family and friends, is why we celebrate the Passover every year (it is not to obtain salvation by works of the Law, just to put your mind at ease). We are grateful to our Redeemer and Deliverer!

parashah bereisheet (in the beginning), genesis 1:1-2:3

2010-03-20T14:29:00.002-04:00

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 1st Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Bereisheet / In the beginning, Gen 1:1-2:3. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 40 / Psalm: 1 / History: Job 1-2 / Gospel: Joh 1:1-28 / Apostolic: Col 1

The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. This week we will learn about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character p'tuchah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “p”.)

Gen 1:1-5 ends in a parsha (paragraph) p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Every portion of Scripture that ends in a p'tuchah division completes teaching an overarching theme.

Gen 1:6-8 ends in a parsha p'tuchah.
Gen 1:9-13 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:14-19 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:20-23 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 1:24-31 ends in a p'tuchah.
Gen 2:1-3 ends in a p'tuchah.

Notice that in today's reading, each p'tuchah, each strong paragraph division, occurs at the end of each day of creation.

The chapter divisions and verse divisions in our English Bibles were added many thousands of years after the Holy Spirit set His paragraph divisions into the text. The chapter and verse divisions were added by medieval Catholics with an anti- Torah bias. Here we see the bias in play as the seventh day, the Sabbath, is cut by the chapter division from the first chapter outlining creation week, where it belongs. It was added to the second chapter of Genesis, which was held to be allegorical in the Middle Ages. This allowed the Church to ignore the command to celebrate the Sabbath without feeling guilty about it. The Protestant church inherited its anti- Torah bias from the Catholic church!

The paragraph divisions which the Holy Spirit has set into the text are the first device God uses to teach His Word to His people. Since each day is set into its own strong paragraph, we understand that God is teaching us that each day of creation is significant. Each day has its own work, its own purpose, and its own completion. He is the doer of the action of creating, in each day. All the paragraphs taken together reinforce that YHVH is God, the Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth. And since He is our own Creator, He is our own God, and no other. This is the historical understanding that we humans need in order to bow our knee to Him in submission to the 1st Commandment.

Something else that becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: the days of creation are significant. There are Hebrew words for other lengths of time, such as years or eons, if those units of time were meant. But God chose the Hebrew yom - “day” - the regular 24 hour day. It sometimes comes as a shock to people that a day as a unit of time, is one of the few that do not depend on the sun or moon for marking it. Anyone can look up in any second- grade science textbook and see that a 24- hour day is the time it takes for the earth to revolve on its axis one revolution. No sun or moon is needed, even a light source is not needed - although God provided one (we are not told what it is; perhaps it was Himself and His Word? Psa 119:105). He created light (energy) on the first day. He also created the earth (matter), the day (time), and the heavens (space) on the first day - the building blocks of our physical universe.

Another thing which becomes apparent as we look at each section divided into its paragraphs: each day begins with the same phrase, “Then God said,” day after day, exactly the same. (This illustrates the second device the Lord uses to teach us His Word - patterns and repetition, to draw our attention to the pattern!) So we see that God brought into being, that which did not exist, by His Word.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,” 1 Cor 1:27-28

How does God bring a thing which is not, into being, so that He might bring to nothing that which is? He speaks His Word, and it happens. What was in Gen 1:2, when God began, was formlessness, nothingness, darkness, even vanity - one translation of the word “void.” He brought those things to nothing, by bringing into existence the things which were not: form, light, matter, energy, time, space, and life. He did this by speaking His Word.

What “is not” in our lives? Is there a reality that we wish was brought to nothing? We must speak God's Word to it. When God was faced with darkness, He said, “Light.” When He was faced with formlessness, He said, “Form.” When He was faced with emptiness, He said, “Life.” If we are faced with unbelief, we must speak the Word of God of faith to it. If we are faced with fear, we must speak the Word of God of love and peace. If we are faced with lack, we must speak the Word of God of provision. We must not let that which counters God's Word cross our lips! And the things which are not will bring to nothing the things that are.

Finding the Messiah in Torah

When we read the Gospel reading for this Torah portion in Joh 1:1-28, we discover that the Word that God spoke to create light and every other thing, is Messiah. It is through Messiah Yeshua that God the Father made every thing that has been made (Col 1:15-17) and He continues to uphold the universe by the Word of His Power, Messiah Yeshua (Heb 1:3)!

Admittedly, some of these things are mysteries. How can a person be a word and a person at the same time? But God is showing us, that He is what comes out of His mouth; that what He speaks is what He is and who He is. Words cannot be divorced from persona or character, because “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” (Luk 6:45). So when someone tells a lie, or speaks a curse, or mocks or ridicules, they are really shedding some light on the condition of their heart - which would be at best mixed with dross, unrepented sin, or impurities, and at worst completely unregenerate!

daniel 12, the abomination of desolation, part six

2010-02-23T09:52:00.007-05:00

Previously: definition of abomination of desolation

Read Daniel chapter 12 at Bible Gateway.

Daniel's final reference to the abomination of desolation is in Dan chapter 12:

“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. 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. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Dan 12:1-4

“At that time, Michael shall stand up.” At what time? At the time when the king of the north comes to his end, Dan 11:45. The angel is still on the same topic. There has not been a break in it just because we have had a chapter division. So “At that time” links this passage with the passage in Dan 11 about the king of the north, who, we saw, was fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes in every particular.

But this passage also makes it clear that the events being discussed take place at the time of the end. So what is going on? Antiochus Epiphanes lived over 2000 years ago.

One possibility comes from a principle well established in Scripture, that the history of the patriarchs and Israel is history, but also prophecy. In Gen 22, God called Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Whoa, Isaac was not Abraham's only son! But the history prophesies of the Father sacrificing His only Son, the Promised Seed, the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). How about the history of Pharaoh taking Abraham's wife, resulting in plagues on Pharaoh's house, so that his wife is restored to him and he is sent out of Egypt laden with the riches of Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)? This history prophesies of Pharaoh enslaving Israel, the wife of YHVH the Father (Jer 31:32); which resulted in plagues on Egypt, so that Israel was restored to YHVH and sent of out Egypt laden with riches (Exo 1-12). And this history continues to prophesy, when we realize that Egypt is a type of the kingdom of darkness from which YHVH is delivering the Bride of Messiah! And there are so many examples of this recurring cycle of history as prophecy through the Old Testament.

So this means that Antiochus is a type, and that this history of Israel prophesies of another like him, and the history of the king of the north will repeat. And at that time, Michael will stand up, and the events of this chapter will be fulfilled.

The angel goes to explain that at that time, there shall be a time of trouble for the people of Israel, greater than any time of trouble before it, but that Israel will be delivered from it. Not all Israel will be delivered, though - only those whose names are found written in the Book. And then, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, to either everlasting life or everlasting death.

The angel is still giving Daniel event markers. The time of trouble, the great deliverance, but only of those whose names are written in the Book of Life, and the resurrection - these are the event markers. So we can speculate all day long, but the truth is, we won't know for sure what these event markers are until they come to pass. Prophecy is not so much a crystal ball into the future, as a verifier that God's Word is true, in which He spoke the end from the beginning. But these visions are sealed until the time of the end - that is, they won't be understood. But at the time of the end, they will be - by those who are wise and who understand - because they have to do with the time of the end.

Now I do have a theory. And that is, that Hitler also fulfills some of these prophecies concerning the king of the north. Did he set up an abomination of desolation? YES - he sacrificed the Jews as an olah, a whole burnt offering, in the ovens of the concentration camps. The definition of olah, remember, is a holocaust - the ascending up of the smoke. I myself keep in the back of my mind the possibility that the Holocaust was Israel's prophesied time of trouble, which was unequaled by anything in history before it. The Holocaust certainly fits that criteria. And a remnant of Israel was delivered, and he has been returned to his own Land with a great deliverance. But is that THE time of trouble? We will not know for sure until history of this age has finished.

“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” Dan 12:8-12

This is the final reference to the abomination of desolation in Daniel. If, as we saw in Daniel chapter 11, it was Antiochus Epiphanes who took away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination in the Temple (and he did do that), then from that date to another significant date, there will be 1290 days. So I did some math. Guess how many days are in 3-1/2 years, more or less? 1290.

There is one school of interpretation that says that every reference to 3-1/2 which is in prophecy, is referring to the same event in historic time. I don't agree. I think 3-1/2 is a significant number which occurs throughout Scripture (like 7 and 40 do), but nowhere does it say that every reference to it must be to the same event.

Certain spiritual events which take place in historic time seem to occur in the same time frame. It rained for 40 days and nights during Noah's Flood; Jesus fasted and was tempted for 40 days, and Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Just because all of these things were “40,” does not mean they all refer to the same event in historic time. It just means, 40 means something signifiant in the spiritual realm. And likewise I think 3-1/2 means something significant in the spiritual realm, but that does not mean everything 3-1/2 must refer to the same event.

Case in point: we saw in Dan 9 that 3-1/2 years after Messiah was anointed, He was cut off; and then 3-1/2 years after that, He confirmed the covenant with many. This event took place in real historic time. In our passage above, we see that 3-1/2 years after the abomination of desolation, something significant will happen.

Something significant did happen: 3-1/2 years after Antiochus set up the abomination in the Temple, Judas Maccabees and his forces (those who knew their God and who did exploits, Dan 11:32) retook Jerusalem and the Temple, and purified it. Antiochus set up the abomination in 167 BC, and Judas retook Jerusalem and the Temple in 164 BC, toward the end of the year. This is the event that Hanukkah celebrates every year.

So what does the 1335 days refer to? I don't know - we are given no details about it, other than it seems to be a blessed event.

On one level, it appears that the abomination of desolation passages have already been fulfilled, before Jesus was even born. But then, we realize that Jesus referred to the abomination of desolation as a future event in Mark 13. We saw previously, that a second instance of an abomination of desolation occurred, that was future to Jesus' time: when Caligula tried to set up his statue in the Temple in 39 AD, and did set up his statue in synagogues throughout the Empire, which ultimately brought about the desolations perpetrated on the Jews and on Jerusalem in 70 AD and 135 AD.

Bunny trail: 70 AD is 20 x 3-1/2 years from the time that Jesus was born, more or less. And 135 AD is 40 x 3-1/2 years from the time that Jesus was born, more or less. Not sure if that means anything, but what an interesting bit of trivia.

On yet another level, the angel linked the historic events surrounding Antiochus to the time of the end in this chapter. Does that mean that Israel is in for yet another go round? Well, we saw that Israel has already been through the Holocaust. But if that was Israel's time of trouble, Dan 12 makes it clear that the end is the next event on the stage of world history. And so we seem to be entering into it.

The case can be made that the prophecies in Daniel concerning the abomination of desolation have already been fulfilled. And the case can be made that they have been fulfilled, not just once, but several times, and may be fulfilled yet again. Only God is so great, that He can tell what will happen in the future, and from that same passage, we can see it fulfilled in exact detail not only once, but in layers upon layers. Truly He is the great and almighty God and there is none like Him!

definition of abomination of desolation

2010-01-12T10:18:00.005-05:00

Previously: Daniel 11, the abomination of desolation, part five

Just what is an abomination of desolation, anyway? We have seen two historic examples, with the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC, and the Roman emperor Caligula, in 39 AD. In each case, an idol, an object of false worship, was set up or was sought to be set up, in the place where the Lord caused His name to dwell (Deu 12:5, Eze 43:6-7). Of course, one difference between the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, and idols, is that the Lord does not dwell in houses made with hands (Act 7:48), for heaven and earth cannot contain Him. But, in the case of the Temple in Jerusalem, He voluntarily caused His name, His presence, His shekinah glory, to rest there.

The second half of the abomination equation, is the sacrifice. In the Temple in Jerusalem, there was an altar which had been built according to the Lord's specifications, dedicated to the Lord, and upon which sacrifices to Him were made. Sacrifices to Him were not just made willy nilly to try to garner His favor. They were offered for a specific purpose: to atone for sin, to express thanksgiving, to reaffirm YHVH as the One deserving of and receiving worship. Sacrifices began with Adam and his family, and from the beginning, there were acceptable sacrifices to a Holy God, and unacceptable sacrifices to a Holy God (Gen 4:3-5). The fact that every pagan religion also made sacrifices on altars to their gods shows that paganism is a twisted copy of the true worship of the One True God which was from the beginning.

Antiochus first built an altar to Zeus on top of the Lord's altar in the Temple in Jerusalem, then sacrificed to Zeus, not to YHVH, a pig on it. The Lord had declared pigs one of a class of unclean animals (Lev 11), and even from the beginning, the difference between clean and unclean animals was known (Gen 7:2). Sacrificing something unclean to YHVH was an abomination. YHVH is holy and separate, set apart. Those things which are His are also holy, separate, and set apart. His holy people are set apart from the other peoples of the earth. His holy day is set apart from the other days of the week. His holy name is exalted higher than any name which is named, in heaven, on earth, or under the earth. His holy Word is set apart from words uttered by men. And on and on. Those things which have to do with Him, are clean, or need to come into a state of cleanness by purification. Their cleanness reflects His holy nature and His sinlessness. Those things which are not clean, cannot be associated with Him, because they do not reflect His holy nature and His sinlessness.

(People can be brought from a state of uncleanness to cleanness through purification. If someone desires to worship YHVH, but hesitates because of their uncleanness, they do not need to despair. The blood of the Spotless Lamb purifies every spot, wrinkle, or any such thing, and brings a person from a state of uncleanness to cleanness.)

Pigs are fundamentally, intrinsically unclean. They cannot be brought into a state of cleanness or acceptability through purification. There is just no way to make a pig a fit animal as either a sacrifice to the Holy God, or to consume as food. Therefore, they are an abomination as a sacrifice and as a foodstuff. If you go through the Torah, God calls a few other things abominations as well. Not everything that is unclean is an abomination. But those things which are an abomination, cannot be made clean by ritual purification. They can only be repented of and turned from altogether.

Only clean or acceptable sacrifices can be offered to the Holy God. The book of Leviticus describes in detail the difference between clean and unclean, set apart and common, and the processes of purification required to bring something from a state of uncleanness to cleanness, and likewise, what can happen to bring something clean into a state of uncleanness. The first sacrifice described in the first chapter, is the olah - the whole burnt offering (Lev 1:3). If you look this word up in a Hebrew dictionary such as Strong's, this is what you will read:

a step or (collectively stairs, as ascending); usually a holocaust (as going up in smoke): - ascent, burnt offering (sacrifice), go up to.

Let's just remember when Strong's was written. It was first published in 1890.

So an abomination of desolation is not only an idol set up in the place where God has caused His name to dwell forever, but also, an abominable sacrifice, burnt whole, whether to the Lord or to another god, is also an abomination of desolation.

To sacrifice a pig on an altar to Zeus, in the one place on the vast earth where YHVH chose to place His name, is an abomination of desolation. It is a deliberate, intentional, malicious slap in the face to Him who created heaven and earth.

Caligula, as well, wanted to set up a statue to a false god - himself - within the Temple, and have sacrifices offered to it. That is an abomination.

Today, a temple to another god stands on the one place on the vast earth where YHVH chose to place His name. That too is an abomination.

Tuck this info in the back of your brain, because we will need to pull it up and look at it again when we examine the next and last place in Daniel where he speaks of the abomination of desolation ...

daniel 11, the abomination of desolation, part five

2010-01-07T08:57:00.009-05:00

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part four

Read Daniel 11 at Bible Gateway.

We find the next mention of the abomination of desolation by Daniel the prophet in Daniel chapter 11. This entire chapter is a vision, a prophecy, of what will transpire in the kingdoms of the world, the four kingdoms which Nebuchadnezzar saw when he had the dream of the statue with the head of gold (Dan chapter 2); the same four kingdoms which Daniel saw when he saw the vision of the four beasts (Dan chapter 7).

The dream of the statue with the head of gold, and the vision of the four beasts, are telling the same information in two different ways. There will be four kingdoms, which are kingdoms of man, kingdoms of this world. The first kingdom is Babylon. Babylon began at Babel (Gen 11:1-9), the first time a kingdom of man exalted itself in rebellion against the kingdom of God and against God's commands. Babylon, we must remember, is the head of gold (Dan 2:37-38). Upon Babylon, the final plagues, the seven bowls of God's wrath, are poured out, which destroys the head of gold and the kingdoms of this world (Rev 16-18), and ushers in the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, who shall reign for ever and ever (Rev 19-20)! Amen! Come, Adonai Messiah!

Nebuchadnezzar reigned as the head of gold (605-562 BC). Shortly after him, the second kingdom arose: Media- Persia, which became the sole kingdom of Persia. Persia overthrew Babylon. The detail in the prophecy of Dan 11 is so accurate, that most scoffers believe it was written down by the Jews after the events transpired. Of course, Daniel, the author, held positions of authority in the Babylonian and Media-Persian Empires from 604-538 BC, so the vision necessarily dates from that time. It is also true that the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which includes Daniel in its entirety, was made between 283-246 BC, before the main events of this prophecy transpired on the stage of history; so the scoffing of the scoffers is easily refuted.

The third kingdom is Greece, and the fourth is Rome. Rome, in fact, still reigns, in our worldviews of Western Civilization, in our civil laws and political institutions which all come from Rome. (Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today by Richard Maybury will help bring historical clarity to understand how Rome still rules the kingdoms of this world today).

Daniel is told in vs. 2 that the fourth king of Persia will be by far the richest, who will stir up the kingdom against Greece. Cyrus is the first king of Persia; Cambysus his son is the second; the third is the usurper; and the fourth is Darius the Great, not of Cyrus' family, who overthrew the usurper and restored Persia to lawful rule. This is the Darius who instigated the war against the Greeks beginning in 492 BC.

After the fourth king, will rule a mighty one, whose kingdom will be broken up to the four winds (Dan 11:3-4). This mighty one is Alexander the Great, who overthrew Persia in 330 BC. Alexander's kingdom broke up into four kingdoms, north, south, east, and west. These four were headed by four of Alexander's generals, in regency for his infant son, but that didn't last long. The infant son and his mother were soon killed, and before long the four generals and their descendants proclaimed themselves kings over their territories, and spent a great deal of time in warfare with each other. None of Alexander's descendants or his family ever reigned in any of the four kingdoms.

The kingdom of the south was Egypt, ruled by the descendants of Alexander's general Ptolemy. Egypt controlled Israel for a long time. The kingdom of the north was Asia Minor, ruled by descendants of Alexander's general Seleucus, and this kingdom was constantly at war with Egypt in one way or another for a long time. Dan 11:5-28 provides many intricate details of this long war, all of which are historically accurate.

“So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” Dan 11:30b-31

Then in 198 BC, a descendant of Seleucus, Antiochus the Great, the king of the north, wrested Israel away from Ptolemy. In 168 BC, his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, arose to the throne. His title “Epiphanes,” in fact, means, “the manifest god,” i.e., god incarnate in flesh. He is a type of antichrist. In the course of his wars with the Ptolemies, he set up an abomination of desolation in the Temple: he had an altar built on top of the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed a pig on it to Zeus. He forbade the keeping of the Law: resting on the Sabbath, celebrating the feast days, offering the sacrifices, and circumcising the baby boys on the eighth day. He sought to establish Greek paganism throughout Israel.

The family of the Maccabees, of the line of Aaron the priest, revolted against this turn of events, and, with a small band of followers, fought a guerrilla war against the Greek king's forces until they had retaken Jerusalem, purified the Temple (in 165 BC; this event is celebrated at Hanukkah every year), and freed Israel from Grecian rule. Thus the people who knew their God were strong, and carried out great exploits!

“At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with any ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.” Dan 11:40-45

Now in 170 BC, the king of the south, the regents for Ptolemy VI who was still a minor at the time, demanded from Epiphanes a return of their Israelite province. Epiphanes responded by attacking Egypt with a great army, and overcame all; only allowing the Ptolemies to continue ruling as puppet kings through the intervention of Rome. Thus, even though he did not technically conquer Egypt, Epiphanes gained power over all Egypt's treasures of gold and silver.

Then, being preoccupied with Egypt, and the revolt of the Jews in Israel, the Parthians, to the east, rebelled against Grecian rule (167 BC). Antiochus Epiphanes left the Judean war in the hands of a general, and went east himself to quell the rebellion, but succumbed on this campaign to a mysterious disease, and died, in 164 BC. Thus news from the east (and north) troubled him, yet he came to his end, and no one helped him.

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part four

2010-01-05T08:29:00.015-05:00

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part three

Last time we saw that the seventy weeks' prophecy is tied to the first coming of the Messiah by the rebuilding, beginning in 538 AD, and destruction in 70 AD, of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. Continuing on:

“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Dan 9:27

The big question is, who is “he”? I know many Bible teachers teach he is the prince of the people who is to come; but I don't believe he is. It is a grammatical principle that if a pronoun is used, then it must refer to a noun which has already been introduced, and furthermore, the pronoun must match the noun it refers to in gender, case, and number. Since the pronoun used is “he,” not “it,” or “them,” we know that the noun to which it is referring is singular and masculine.

There are two singular masculine nouns in the previous passages: Messiah the Prince in vs. 25, and the prince of the people who is to come in vs. 26. And I believe “he” is referring to Messiah the Prince, because of the grammatical construction of the sentence. Let me explain.

The subject of the one doing the destroying of the city and the sanctuary, is people, not prince. The Hebrew says, The people shall destroy the city, not the prince. The prince is only in the sentence to clarify which people are being talked about. “People” is a plural noun. The pronoun referring to it would be “they,” a plural pronoun, not “he.” So if the “he” was to refer to the destroyer of the city and the sanctuary, which is the assumption many Bible teachers make - leaping to the conclusion of the antichrist - then the Hebrew would properly read, Then they shall confirm a covenant with many.

I just believe God knows His own language and uses it accurately so as not to be confusing or to be misunderstood. It is not His fault that English is not taught properly in schools anymore. But it is incumbant upon us that we do know exactly what is being said and are careful to read exactly what the Scripture says and no more, not injecting our biases into the text, if we want to be found to be not mistaken, not knowing the Word of God (Mar 12:24).

So if “he” refers to Messiah the Prince, then what is this sentence in Dan 9:27 saying?

“Then Messiah shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week Messiah shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

In my NKJV, they even captitalized the second “He,” understanding the pronoun to refer to Messiah! But they leave the first “he” lowercase, because the bias of the Church at present is that the first “he” is referring to the prince of the people who is to come! But the Hebrew and the English of the sentence is most simply understood to mean that the two “he”'s are referring to the same antecedant - Messiah the Prince!

How does Messiah confirm a covenant with many for one week, and how, in the middle of the week, does Messiah bring an end to sacrifice and offering?

One week refers to a seven- year period which follows the 69 weeks. The 69 weeks takes us up to the Messiah's anointing, His being marked as Messiah. The subject of the one week is the same as the subject of the 69 weeks, as the angel shows by saying 70 weeks in the opening sentence of this discourse (vs. 24) - which is the first coming of the Messiah, and His mission in that coming, to make an end of sins, and to confirm vision and prophecy. The rebuilding and destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple are event markers so that Daniel's people would know with certainty when Messiah came the first time.

How does Messiah confirm a covenant with many over the course of one week, or seven years? Going back to Jeremiah, we read:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer 31:31-34

I looked up the Hebrew for “new,” as in new covenant (vs 31). Because if the covenant Jesus makes is new, as in never been seen before, then what covenant is being confirmed? What vision and prophecy is being confirmed? Only something that is pre-existing can be confirmed.

In order to understand the Hebrew word for new, we have to understand something about Hebrew. It is an incredibly beautiful and versatile languge. Every Hebrew word can be used as a verb, to mean an action; as a noun, to mean a concrete object; or as an abstract concept, which the verb and the concrete object help to explain. For example, the Hebrew word which means the abstract concept of “faith” is also the Hebrew word for the concrete noun of a tent peg. Do you see the beauty? Faith is to our relationship with God, as the tent peg is to our house - the thing which secures it in place.

The concrete noun, then, for the Hebrew word for the abstract concept of "new" as it is used in this verse, is the new moon. The first sliver of the moon that is seen after a period of darkness lasting three nights, when the moon is looked for in the sky to see if the new month has begun or not. This is not referring to something that has never been seen before; but rather, to something which was old and waned (Heb 8:13), and which has now been renewed; which has been freshened or restored.

And we can see, in Jeremiah, God does not in fact abolish the Law which He established with Israel in the making of the first covenant, the Law which He called the covenant (Deu 4:13); His covenant which they broke. But when He renewed the covenant, He changed the place where the Law is written - that is what is new or renewed about the new or renewed covenant. Instead of the Law being written outside the man, on tablets of stone, as in the first covenant; in the renewed covenant, the Law is written inside the man, on the tablets of his heart.

Obedience to the Law has not been done away with in the renewed convenant (Mat 5:19), but obedience as a means of salvation, and as a religious obligation through fear of punishment, has been done away with (1 Joh 4:17-18). In the renewed covenant, obedience flows with joy from a heart which is in love with the One whose will the Law expresses (Joh 14:15, 1 Joh 5:3)!

So Messiah confirms the covenant (by renewing it) with many for one week, or seven years. In the middle of that week, i.e., at the 3-1/2 year point, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

In fact, when Jesus was anointed as Messiah at His baptism, it was in the late summer, on the first day of the 6th biblical month. The first day, or new moon, of the 6th biblical month, in biblical culture, is followed by 40 days of teshuvah, or repentance. Thirty days following the 6th month new moon is the 7th month new moon, the first day of the 7th month, the Feast of Trumpets. Ten days after that, for a total of 40 days, on the 10th day of the 7th month, is the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and repentance for sins, in which the high priest made atonement by entering the Holy of Holies on only this day in the entire year.

Five days after Atonement, the seven- day Feast of Tabernacles begins, a joyful time of feasting and celebration. Israel was in fact commanded to celebrate and rejoice before the Lord for His goodness during this time.

Now because it was the month of teshuvah leading up to the Day of Atonement, this is why so many were coming out to John the Baptist in droves, to be immersed in a mikvah - the running water of the Jordan River, to wash away uncleanness. Knowing as we do, that Jesus fulfilled the Law in every particular, and knowing that immediately after His baptism He spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting (Mar 1:9-13), we know that His fasting had to be over before the Feast of Tabernacles. And I believe the 40th day of fasting and the day of His great temptation, coincided with the Day of Atonement, the only holiday of the Lord's which is a day of fasting and affliction and not feasting and rejoicing.

He was anointed as Messiah at His water baptism and baptism in the Spirit, on the first day of the 6th month. This is why John was told that the One on whom the dove would descend and stay, would be the One Israel was looking for (Joh 1:32-34). Jesus was given the title “Messiah” at His baptism.

He was cut off or crucified 3-1/2 years later at the Feast of Passover, which is always in the beginning of the spring. Passover is in fact 6 months, or a half year, following teshuvah and the fall feasts in the 7th month every year. And we know from reading the Gospels that He ministered for three years. So His crucifixion occurred 3-1/2 years after being anointed Messiah.

Once His blood had been offered, once for all, no more animal sacrifices and offerings were necessary (Heb 9:12). In the middle of the week, after 3-1/2 years, Messiah brought an end to sacrifice and offering. So we understand how Messiah confirms the covenant with many for the first half of the 70th week, and how, in the middle of the week, He brings sacrifice and offering to an end. But what about the last half of the 70th week?

Do you realize that the incident with Peter and Cornelius, which is recorded in Acts 10, takes place 3-1/2 years following Pentecost recorded in Acts 2? Up until that day, the only people who could benefit from the death and resurrection of Messiah, to bring an end to their sins, were the Jews. But on that day, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles as well. So at the exact end of seven years, Messiah confirmed the renewed covenant with many.

“And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

This is the last sentence in the discourse on the first coming of Messiah and the destruction of the city and the sanctuary which accompanied it. It follows the 70th week of the Messiah. In real historical time, the abomination of desolation in 39 AD, instigated by the Roman emperor Caligula as we saw yesterday, followed the outpouring of the Spirit on the Gentiles by only a few years. The prince of the people who is to come, the prince of the Romans, was the one who made desolate on the wing of abominations. And we recounted some of the abominations and some of the desolations that he perpetrated on Daniel's people and on Daniel's holy city yesterday. Just file in the back of your mind, that in the seventy week prophecy passage at least, the abomination of desolation had to do with the first coming of the Messiah, and the destruction of the city and the Temple which followed. But chapter 9 is not the only place in Daniel where he prophesies of the abomination of desolation ...

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part three

2010-01-04T10:11:00.007-05:00

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part two

Last time we saw that 69 weeks, or 69 x 7 which is 483, were to transpire from the going forth of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, until the coming of the Messiah. We discussed that this refers to 483 years, and the adjustments that need to be made to our BC calendars, for the years alloted to the Persian kings are too many. We are still on track for the entire seventy weeks prophecy to concern the first coming of the Messiah, and the events which immediately surround His coming. Continuing on:

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.” Dan 9:26

The angel told Daniel that from the time of the decree, to Messiah, there would be 7 weeks and 62 weeks. In other words, a 7 x 7 or 49 year period would first transpire, in which work would begin on rebuilding the Temple and the city, and then a 62 x 7 or 434 year period would follow it, in which work would begin on rebuilding the walls and the city.

The traditional chronology has Cyrus issuing the decree to rebuild the Temple in 538 BC, and the first return of the exiles under Zerubbabel following shortly after. They finished and dedicated the Temple in 515 BC. According to the traditional chronology, a second decree to rebuild the walls and the city was issued by Artaxerxes in 458 BC. This expedition was led by Ezra, with Nehemiah appointed as the new governor of Judea leading another shortly after. This would put the time between the two decrees at ~80 years rather than the ~49 years told by the angel.

We already have seen that there are too many years for the Persian kings, and that the Persian chronology, beginning with Cyrus at 538 BC, is inflated. The time between Cyrus' decree and Artaxerxes' decree is a prime example. I believe that in fact 49 years separated these two events, rather than 80, and this is one place where the Persian chronology can be shortened.

So when the angel says that after 62 weeks, Messiah will be cut off, I believe he means Messiah would be cut off after the completion of the 62 week period, which followed the completion of the 7 week period. He does not mean 62 weeks from the going forth of Cyrus' decree.

The angel has given Daniel several significant events to use as time markers. First, the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Second, the coming of Messiah, at the end of the 62 weeks, followed by His cutting off, but not for Himself. I think almost all Bible scholars believe the angel is talking about Messiah's execution, which, from Heaven's perspective, was not for Himself. He was crucified for the sins of the world, not His own sins.

It is not necessary for Messiah's execution to take place exactly in the 483rd year from the decree. It just means, after the 62 weeks have been completed, Messiah will be cut off. That will be the next event marker. There was a reason Judea was in great expectancy for the coming of Messiah all through the lifetime of Jesus and the apostles, as Josephus records. They knew Daniel, they knew when they returned to Jerusalem, and they knew what year it was.

The next event marker is the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, by the people of the prince who is to come. Messiah was cut off or crucified in approximately 30 AD, and the city of Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.

Now when Daniel was receiving this vision, Jerusalem was a heap of ruins. There were no walls, no Temple, no streets, no houses to dwell in. No one lived there. The angel is telling Daniel, first, it will all be rebuilt; second, Messiah will come. Third, He will be cut off, and fourth, it will all be destroyed again. The first coming of Messiah is tied by this prophecy to the rebuilding and destruction of Jerusalem, between 538 BC and 70 AD.

The angel, continuing to speak of the event marker of the destruction of the the city and the sanctuary, tells that the end of the war will be with a flood, and that until the end of the war, desolations are determined. Here is a list of desolations recorded by historians -- the first desolation is the crucifixion of the Creator of heaven and earth -- until the end of the war:

28 to 30: crucifixion of Messiah.

39: The Roman emperor Caligula declared himself to be a deity and ordered his statue to be set up at every temple in the Roman Empire. For the Temple in Jerusalem, this order was delayed by the Syrian governor for nearly a year, fearing civil war if it were carried out, although the other temples in the Empire complied. The Jews' refusal enraged the already half- mad Caligula, who then threatened to destroy the Temple. A Jewish delegation was sent to pacify him, without avail. He raged at them: “So you are the enemies of the gods, the only people who refuse to recognize my divinity.” Caligula was planning reprisals against the Jews, when he was assassinated in 41 AD. During the course of these troubles, statues of the emperor were set up in various Jewish synagogues in the Empire, and in the decades following, other indignities against their monotheism were perpetrated, which were hard to bear.

66: The Roman procurator stole a large amount of silver from the Temple on his way out of Jerusalem. Some of the outraged Jews massacred the Roman garrison stationed in the city, in retaliation. The Syrian governor sent a larger force of soldiers to restore order. They were killed as well.

67-70: The Roman emperor Nero sent a large force of soldiers to quell the revolt -- 60,000 strong. Over the course of the next three years, these professional soldiers under Vespasian and Titus first overcame the Galilee, then the coastland, and finally surrounded Jerusalem.

The more zealous Jewish faction inside Jerusalem murdered the moderate Jewish leadership who desired to come to terms with Rome. Civil war broke out in the city among three rival factions, who killed each other, and innocents caught in the cross fire. One of the factions burned the city's stored food supply, as Jerusalem was being surrounded by Roman armies, which would have helped the city survive a siege of many years. Terrible famine and pestilence resulted.

Anyone trying to escape the insane civil war, if they were not killed by the Jewish factions inside the walls, were crucified by the Romans outside the walls. Josephus records up to 500 crucifixions per day around the walls of Jerusalem during the siege.

Once the Romans breached the walls, a flood, an orgy of violence followed, in which the emaciated survivors of the civil war and the famine were slaughtered wholesale. In this instance, it was not Rome's policy to take prisoners, even as slaves. The Romans were tired of the long siege and were determined to take their rage out on the Jews remaining inside the city. Over one million Jews were killed in the Jewish Revolt of 67-70 AD, most in the city of Jerusalem, and not all by Romans.

The beautiful Temple in Jerusalem was burned to the ground, as well as the general destruction of the city and its walls.

All of these things are desolations, which caused untold suffering, that continued until the end of the war. The war did not end in 70 AD. A group of insurgents maintained a resistance at Masada, and these were finally overcome in 73 AD. Two other revolts against Roman rule took place after these things, the last one in 135 AD, after which Rome expelled the Jews from Jerusalem and Judea, and they have not lived there in any numbers since that time, until they began to return home in the 20th century.

The angel takes up the 70th week in the next verse ...

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation part two

2010-01-02T15:05:00.003-05:00

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part one

Last time we saw from Dan 9 that seventy weeks were determined for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem, until the first coming of the Messiah, in which He made an end for sin and made atonement for iniquity. Continuing on:

“Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.” Dan 9:25

The angel says that the command will go forth to restore and build Jerusalem, which was lying in desolate ruins at the time that Daniel received this vision. From the time of the command, until the coming of Messiah, there shall be 7 + 62 weeks. Why didn't the angel just say 69 weeks? The command was first issued by Cyrus, then confirmed by one of his successors, Darius, later. The Temple was rebuilt first, then the wall and the city. So it was not accomplished all at once. Now doing some math, we understand that a week is seven days, so 69 weeks is the same as 69 x 7 days, or 483 days. The history books tell us the decree went forth approximately in 536 BC. 483 days later does not bring us to the time of Jesus the Messiah.

First of all, we have to understand, that this vision in Daniel reveals the principle, since we think we know when Cyrus' decree went forth, and we know when Jesus the Messiah came, that one day of prophetic time is the same as one year of historic time. This principle carries through and applies consistently to the days prophesied in Revelation as well.

Second of all, we have to understand that we have too many years in our BC calendar for the Persian kings. The information on the reigns of the Persian kings is taken from Ptolemy's king list, in which a list of kings and years of reigns are given. The years are added up, to the conquest of Alexander the Great, and the date for the first year of Cyrus at 536 BC is arrived at. However, there is evidence that in Ptolemy's list, there is either a confusion of kings (“Darius” was most likely a title, not a personal name, just as “Pharaoh” was a title and not a personal name, and it may be that too many kings were invented to fill every instance of the use of “Darius”), or years of reigns which were in fact overlapping, were taken to be sequential. And perhaps both errors were at work in Ptolemy's document. Please see this and this issue of the Biblical Chronology Newsletter which discusses the problem of Persian chronology in greater detail.

This means it could very well have been 483 years from the going forth of the decree until the coming of the Messiah. I believe it in fact was, because I believe that God knows exactly what year it is, and knew exactly what year it was then also. If it is true, that we have too many years for the Persian kings in our BC calendar, thus it was really only 483 years from Cyrus to the Messiah, this also explains another mystery:

The history recorded in Torah of the world and Israel is history, but also prophecy. It is a true historical fact that God judged the world for sin, and only His righteous family, Noah's, was saved through judgment by faith. This historical event is also a prophecy of the coming judgment of the world for sin. It is a true historical fact that Abraham offered up Isaac in obedience to God's command, but that historical event was also a prophecy of the Messiah, of the Father offering up His only Son. And every historical event recorded in Torah can be shown to also be a prophecy of Messiah and future dealings of God with man and the world.

The first historical event recorded in Torah is in six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day, He rested. The prophecy is that work in the form of the curse for sin (Gen 3:16-19) will rule in the earth for 6000 years, one millennium for each day, but that the 7th millennium will be the millennium of rest under the rule of Messiah Yeshua (Rev 20:4-6). (Why has the enemy attacked creation in six days, and Sabbath rest on the seventh day, so hard in our modern era? These things are prophecies of the reign of Messiah! When we rest on Sabbath, we proclaim with God that Messiah's Kingdom Comes!)

Now chronologers, assuming that the decree of Cyrus went forward in 536 BC, have figured that God created the world in 4004 BC, because every bit of information needed to construct a reliable biblical chronology from the creation of the world until this event is present within Scripture itself. (Please read the excellent and thorough Chronology of the Old Testament by Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones to confirm this fact.) If God did create the world in 4004 BC, then today, in 2010, we are already over the 6000 years alloted for the curse for sin. But, if there are too many years for the Persian kings in our BC calendar, then we are in fact coming up on 6000 years, not over it.

My belief is that God knows what year it is, and the angel knew what year it was when Daniel received this vision, and we can rest assured that if the angel said it would be 483 years until the coming of the Messiah from the time of the decree, it was in fact 483 years.

So we see that so far, the context of this prophecy of seventy weeks, is the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem, and the first coming of the Messiah which followed, within the space of seventy “weeks” of years. We are coming up to the abomination of desolation ...

abomination of desolation

2009-12-31T14:18:00.005-05:00

daniel 9, part one
daniel 9, part two
daniel 9, part three
daniel 9, part four
daniel 11, part five
definition of abomination of desolation
daniel 12, part six

daniel

2009-12-31T14:05:00.007-05:00

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part one
daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part two
daniel 9. the abomination of desolation, part three
daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part four
daniel 11, the abomination of desolation, part five
daniel 12, the abomination of desolation, part six

expert studies on the book of daniel at bible.org*

*There is a lot of valuable material at bible.org, so enjoy digging around! However, I do not agree with every premise made or conclusion drawn in every study. Many have a traditional, learned bias against the Torah which God is stripping away in His Church in these last days.

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation part one

2009-12-31T13:11:00.006-05:00

Read Daniel 9 at Bible Gateway.

We are continuing with Mark 13. In Mark 13, Jesus begins explaining the time of His coming, in which He mentions the prophecies given to Daniel. So we must go back to Daniel and understand what it being referred to, to understand Jesus in Mark 13.

“So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Mar 13:14

So let's look at what Daniel the prophet had to say about the abomination of desolation, one passage at a time:

vs. 24: “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.”
vs. 25: “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.”
vs. 26: “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.”
vs. 27: “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Dan 9:24-27

This is the most important reference in Daniel to the abomination of desolation, because while other passages in Daniel give further details about it, this passage places the event in the context of the big picture. And this passage does not even make it into the cross references in Mark 13! People, you do need to read and know your whole Bible! We should therefore understand this passage, before we go on to the next passages.

“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.” Dan 9:24

Seventy weeks are determined for Daniel's people: Jews, and for Daniel's holy city: Jerusalem. When Christians apply this passage to the Church, they have already made a mistake. The angel tells what will be accomplished at the end of seventy weeks: transgression will be finished, sins will be brought to an end, reconciliation will be made for iniquity, and everlasting righteousness will be brought in. Also, vision and prophecy will be confirmed (the meaning of the Hebrew), and the Holy of Holies will be anointed.

So when was reconciliation made for iniquity? When Jesus was crucified on the cross.

When was transgression finished and everlasting righteousness brought in? When Jesus was crucified on the cross.

When were the visions and the prophecies comfirmed? We must understand, that all the prophecies recorded in the Hebrew Bible have to do with the coming and ministry of Messiah, in one way or another! He is the One who fulfills the Law and the Prophets (Mat 5:17), for all of Torah is also prophectic concerning Him!

When were the visions and prophecies confirmed? When Jesus came and fulfilled His ministry!

When was the Holy of Holies in the heavenlies anointed with His blood to make an end of transgression and sin? When He Himself took it there and presented it on the altar! (Heb 9:12).

All of these phrases in Dan 9:24 are describing the same event, which took place at the first coming of Messiah - this event which was prophesied of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer 31:31-34

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Eze 36:25-27

Sin is lawlessness, John tells us (1 Joh 3:4). To which law is John referring? Man's law, or God's Law, which is recorded in Torah? To God's Law, for Torah provides God's definition of sin and righteousness. An end of sin is made, because by the Spirit of the Lord now indwelling us, an end has been made of lawlessness, torah- lessness, as Paul explains in Gal 5:18-24. (We have discussed before, that to be under the Law, as Paul uses the phrase, means to be under the indictment of the Law which requires the penalty of death for transgression. It does not mean to be obedient to the Law, or the will of God. By no means, for even Paul obeyed the Law (Act 21:24)!)

Back to Daniel. If this understanding is correct, then seventy weeks were determined for Daniel's people, until the end would be made for sin. And we are assuming at this point that the end the angel is speaking of refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus, which took place at His first coming. So tomorrow we will continue to verse 25 and see.

mark 12, the currency of the kingdom

2009-12-23T08:51:00.004-05:00

Read Mark 12 at Bible Gateway.

“Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him.” Mar 12:13-17

“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mar 12:41-44

While I was reading today's chapter, I was thinking about the things that are Caesar's, and the things that are God's, and how this widow rendered to God the things that were God's. That got me to thinking about the currency of the Kingdom - not the kingdoms of men, which are passing away, but the Kingdom of God.

The images and inscriptions on the money indicate whose kingdom the currency operates in. The denarius of Jesus' day was inscribed with Caesar's image and inscription, so the currency belonged to him. Our dollar bills and coins are inscribed with the portraits of our presidents, and “United States of America”, however the inscription still is, In God We Trust. Even with that, the currency still belongs to the kingdom of man.

Now God does not need to use the currency of the kingdoms of men in order to accomplish His work in the Kingdom of heaven. The widow put in, by the kingdom of man's reckoning, two copper mites worth a fraction of a penny, and yet this was greater than all the other offerings put in. That is because treasure stored up in the Kingdom of heaven is not reckoned as treasure is in the kingdom of man. She put in all she had, so the treasure she stored up in the Kingdom of heaven was great (Mat 6:19-21).

So what is the currency of the Kingdom of heaven? I think it is just this: when we give all that we are and all that we have to YHVH, and back up those words with actions, we store up currency in the Kingdom of heaven. The scribes, whom Jesus told us to beware of (vs. 38-40), talked a great talk, but then devoured widows' houses. Presumably, He meant that when the widows could not pay their rent, instead of forgiving their debt and providing for their need, the scribes took what they had and cast them out.

For those of us who are Abraham's children, it is all about how can we be a blessing today (Gen 12:2)? What can we give today? We have a rich Daddy, who is rich in mercy and who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Eph 2:4, Psa 50:10), so we can afford to be generous, LOL. It means more than giving money, although money sure plays an important part, because our hearts can be tied to it. But also, time, food, labor, talents, mercy, forgiveness, listening, respect, as well as money - these things are the currency of the Kingdom. Let our Vinedresser receive His fruit when He sends someone to us to collect it (Gal 5:22-23)!

And when we trade in those things, God increases the Kingdom to us. When the children came out of Egypt, their clothes did not wear out for 40 years and God provided water from the rock in the midst of the desert and manna from heaven. They did not need the currency of the kingdom of man. When Elijah was delivering the word of the Lord to Ahab, God sent a raven with meat and bread for him twice a day for three years. He did not need the currency of the kingdom of man. And when 5000 men, besides women and children, needed to eat after hearing Jesus teach all day, the disciples fed them with five loaves of bread and two fish. They did not need the currency of the kingdom of man.

So what do we do? Do not fear, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom (Luk 12:32). Give Him all that you are and all that you have, and He will take care of the rest.

mark 11

2009-12-19T10:36:00.009-05:00

Read Mark 11 at Bible Gateway.

I saw a chiastic structure in this chapter, but in order to understand it, we have to understand what the fact of the riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey's colt, and the cleansing of the Temple, meant to the Jews. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt, vs. 1 tells us that when they came to Jerusalem, when they were still outside the city, they were at the Mount of Olives. This is significant information, because if you look on a map of Israel, you will notice that the Mount of Olives is due east of the Temple (what follows is from Ezekiel's vision of the Temple):

“Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.” Eze 43:1-2

“Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.” Eze 44:1-2

Do you realize the gate which faces toward the east, is the gate which Jesus entered Jerusalem and the Temple by, when He came riding in on the colt of a donkey from the Mount of Olives? For many centuries now, this gate has been bricked up, as Suleiman the Magnificent so ordered when the Ottoman Turks took the Holy Land from the Persians in 1541. My pastor in Colorado, who goes to Israel every year with a tour group, told us that they bricked up this gate, because they did not want the people of the Book (us and the Jews) thinking that someone who entered that gate was the Messiah, and thereby rising up in rebellion against their Ottoman overlords. Thanks to them, the gate has been shut up, and no man has entered by it, because YHVH the God of Israel entered by it, riding on the colt of a donkey!

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.” Zec 14:4-5

The prophecy makes it clear in vs. 3 that it is YHVH Himself whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives - and of course, YHVH manifest in the flesh is Jesus our Messiah! When He returns, He will return to the Mount of Olives, and He will again enter through the East Gate from the Mount of Olives just as He did the first time!

When He entered through the East Gate from the Mount of Olives the first time, the people cried out before Him:

“Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Mar 11:9-10

Because they knew what Ezekiel prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, and because they knew what Zechariah prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, they were proclaiming the one coming in through the East Gate the son of David, the promised Messiah. They were proclaiming that David's kingdom was coming with Him, and that He would save them from the Romans (Hosanna means, save us!)

Here is the chiastic structure:

1A Mar 11:1-11 The Son of David enters the city and Temple through the prince's gate and is proclaimed to be the Messiah by the people;
  1B Mar 11:12-14 the fig tree
    --> X Mar 11:15-19 Jesus cleanses the Temple;
  2B Mar 11:20-26 the lesson of the fig tree;
2A Mar 11:27-33 Jesus' authority questioned.

Almost every covenant that God established with man carries with it its own sign. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision (Gen 17:10). The sign of the Mosaic covenant is the Sabbath (Exo 31:13). The sign of the Davidic covenant, which is that the Seed of David shall rule the Lord's kingdom forever, is the house in which the Lord's name dwells (2 Sam 7, especially 2 Sam 7:12-14)! Now you know, when Jesus was cleansing the Temple, why He quoted Isa 56:7, in that the Lord's house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations!

So, that Jesus immediately went to cleanse the Temple, after entering through the East Gate and being proclaimed Messiah by the people, is an action taken in order to acknowledge the people's praises and establish that it is His right, as the Son of David, to do so.

The Pharisees and scribes, in asking by what authority Jesus entered the East Gate, and cleansed the Temple, were in essence asking Him whether He was the Messiah or not. They knew the Scriptures and knew that building the Temple/ restoring the Temple is the sign of the house of David! Why do you think a cruel and grasping king like Herod the Great built and beautified the second Temple? He did not care for God! He was trying to establish his claim to the kingship of Israel!

Jesus, in order to answer them, asked them a question in turn which revealed their heart. They did not acknowledge that the ministry of repentance of John the Baptist was from God! They thought that he just got the idea in his head one day to be a prophet and live in the desert, and that it was from his own flesh. Their answer revealed that if He told them the truth about His authority, they would not believe Him. Even a Roman centurion, a Gentile, recognized His authority before they did (Mat 8:5-13).

As to why they were so slow to acknowledge who He was: before Messiah came, they were the authorities on God. But from the beginning, Jesus showed them that they did not understand either the God or the Scriptures they claimed to be experts on. Because of pride, they resisted Him. And that is always the way. Satan resisted Him because of pride, and men resist Him today because of pride.

So now, we see that when Messiah comes, He will cleanse the Temple. That is one of His ministries - to restore to the people the pure worship of God, and to drive out the dross and impurities. Beloved, that is still His ministry! When He comes into our hearts, when we have acknowledged Him not only as Savior but also as King, then He begins to cleanse His Temple - which is us (1 Cor 6:19)! He restores to us the pure and unadulterated worship of God! Sometimes, what He wants to do, will bring us into the cross hairs of the professional experts on God. Thus it has ever been!

It is interesting that cleansing the Temple, in the chiastic structure, is wrapped with the fig tree incident. The fig tree represents Israel, into which us Gentiles have been grafted, so that we are not to consider ourselves Gentiles any longer, but partakers of the covenants of promise, which were all made with Israel (Eph 2:11-13, Rom 11:17). The lesson of the fig tree is a warning, I believe, to us who are called Israel, not be found without fruit when Messiah comes! For if He finds no fruit in us, then our place is forfeit.

We have learned before about the Seed of the Woman, who is Messiah, being planted in the ground of our hearts. In Gen 1 we learn the law that seeds reproduce fruit after their kind, so if the seed of Messiah is planted in our hearts, we will produce the fruit of Messiah in our lives, which is love, joy, peace, patience, meekness, self- control and the like (Gal 5:22-23). The fruit of Messiah is not first miracles, which I think some modern Christians misunderstand. Miracles accompany believers as signs to the world (Mar 16:17-18), but miracles are not the fruit of the Seed of Messiah - a changed life is! A sanctified life in holiness is (Mat 7:21-23)! That is the lesson of the cleansing of the Temple!

So beloved, let us not resist our Savior and King, but let us get in the habit now of submitting to His will in our daily life, of allowing Him to cleanse us from all sin and impurities, so that when He comes, He may say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

mark 10

2009-12-17T08:09:00.002-05:00

Read Mark 10 at Bible Gateway.

“Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Mar 10:17-22

Treasure in heaven caught my attention today. What is it? This passage makes it seem as if providing for the needs of the poor is like making a deposit into a bank account in heaven. But I wanted to be sure, so I looked up “treasure in heaven” to see what the rest of the Scripture had to say about it:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mat 6:19-21

Jesus tells us here not to lay up treasure on earth, but to lay up treasure in heaven!

“Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luk 12:13-20

God calls the one who lays up treasure for himself without laying up treasure in heaven (“rich toward God”) a fool!

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luk 12:32-34

Giving alms was giving to the poor, so Jesus is telling us to sell what we have, and instead of putting the money we have made from the sale, into our money bag, give it to the poor. When we do that, we will have treasure in heaven. This must be because Jesus said,

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” Mat 25:40

When we give to the poor who are His brethren, it is the same as if we are giving to the King, and that is how the treasure gets into heaven. Now something Jesus said in Luke resonated with me: He said, Do not fear, for it pleases the Father to give us the kingdom. The kingdom which is of heaven, which is where our treasure is stored! The reason we are reluctant to do this word of Jesus, is because what happens when the treasure which we have on earth is at zero, because we sold it all? What happens when it is time to provide for our needs? Jesus is saying, Don't be afraid to do My Word, because it makes your Father happy to provide for you out of His great treasure house which He has in heaven!

I looked up the Greek for “good pleasure” (Strong's G2106); do you realize this is the same word God uses when He says at various times throughout the Gospels, that Jesus is His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased (Mat 3:17 and others)?

The Hebrew word, from whence the Greek is derived, is ratsah, Strong's H7521, which means to be delighted in. The ancient Hebrew pictographs are of the resh, the head of a man, and the tsaday, the path one walks. So it is painting the picture of the chief path, as in 1 Chr 29:17, where the Lord says that He has pleasure (ratsah) in uprightness. When someone is walking His path, He is delighted in that person.

Notice that in our passage in Mark, when Jesus learns from the young ruler that he has kept all His commandments from his youth? (Now we know why he was rich, for blessings are commanded upon the head of those who obey Him, Deu 28:1-2!) “Then Jesus looking at him, loved him ...” (vs. 21).

Didn't Jesus love Him before? Yes, but I believe Jesus shows us that while He loved everyone, and had compassion for everyone, He had a special place in His heart for a few. Even among the twelve, there was the disciple whom Jesus loved (John, Joh 13:23), and the three, Peter, James, and John, who were in His inner circle. Among the Jews, He spent time at the house of Lazarus, whom He loved, and his sisters, Mary and Martha (Joh 11:5).

God is not any different, of course, for Jesus is God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8)! It says in the Scriptures, that God loved Jacob, but hated Esau (Mal 1:2-3). I believe this is the Scripture's way of saying that God has a special place in His heart for His own who walk His path, but for those who disregard Him completely, who do not give a fig whether they are on His path or not, as Esau did, they are not well pleasing to Him. He does not delight in them.

So that is the meaning of, It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom! He takes delight in doing so! When Christmas rolls around and you have spent the better part of a year searching for the perfect thing that you know will bring so much joy to your loved one, it gives you more pleasure to watch them open their gift than you get from unwrapping any of your own! So we know what it is feels like for God to take delight in giving us His kingdom!

Listen, if the days draw near for the Lord to return, and we are unable to buy, sell, or otherwise participate in the economy of the kingdoms of this world, let us take heart that we can participate in the economy of the kingdom of heaven, where we do not have to be afraid, because it is our Daddy who is the King - who also takes delight in giving us our inheritance in His kingdom! So if we have not been laying up treasure in heaven, now would be a good time to begin!

The other thing I was thinking about as I was reading Mark this morning, was how much of a gift of grace it is sometimes, from the heart of God, that we have not won the lottery, LOL. For His treasured ones, He wants to make certain that they enter the kingdom of heaven, and would not put a stumbling block before our feet, such as the temptation to trust in riches instead of in Him!

mark 9

2009-12-16T08:03:00.003-05:00

Read Mark 9 at Bible Gateway.

vs. 1-7:

“And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Mar 9:1

Then the vs. 2-7 describes the Transfiguration. The vision of the transfiguration is the vision of the kingdom of God present with power. In the vision, Jesus' appearance becomes shining with white light, i.e., His glory as Messiah, as the Living Word, becames outwardly evident. Moses and Elijah appear with Him. Moses represents the Torah, the Word, and Elijah the Spirit. Moses represents the Judah, and Elijah represents Ephraim. Moses represents Jews and Elijah Christians. When the two are united in Israel's Messiah, then the kingdom of God will be present with power.

vs. 11-13:
Elijah coming first is a reference to the belief among the Jews that Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot and did not taste death, will return and precede the coming of Messiah. Jesus said that Elijah had already come - Elijah preceded the first coming of the Messiah. When the angel announced the birth of John of Baptist, he said:

“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luk 1:13-17

We have just read about the importance of turning a few chapters ago in Mark 4! The ministry of Elijah the prophet in the Old Testament, we can see (1 Kin 17-21 and 2 Kin 1-2), was to turn idolatrous Israel, the northern kingdom, back to the worship of YHVH, the one true God. And we see that this was the same ministry which was foretold for John even before he was conceived.

Jesus not only said that Elijah has come, in the person of John the Baptist, to prepare the way before the first coming of Messiah, but that Elijah will come. The spirit and power of Elijah will be poured out to prepare the way before the second coming of Messiah. The purpose of the ministry will be the same: to turn hearts back toward the Lord God. To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children; i.e., to restore homes with fathers in them who are fulfilling their designated role as the priest of their home!

This is why I believe a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which will manifest as true repentance and restoration to the Lord our God, with revival worldwide, and signs and wonders following, will precede the second coming of the Lord Jesus. I guess I don't believe that Elijah will come this time as a single man. But as it is prophesied in Joel,

“And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” Joe 2:28-31

Joel chapter 2 is fascinating, for it describes the events that will precede the great and terrible day of the Lord. Vs. 1-11 describe a terrible army which is coming upon Israel. Vs. 12-17 describe the weeping and mourning which will take place in Israel because of this army. It is a call to turn!

“Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” Joe 2:12

Vs. 18-27 describe the great deliverance the Lord will execute on behalf of Israel, and the great prosperity and blessing which will follow Israel's deliverance from all her enemies. Then comes vs. 28-32, and the great outpouring of the Spirit in signs and wonders. This whole chapter describes the coming of Elijah who will precede the coming the Lord Jesus, for the ministry of turning, of repentance, and the outpouring of the Spirit in power, are the characteristics of Elijah's ministry!

Now Peter quoted this same passage in Joel on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, when the Spirit fell upon the gathering of the believers, saying that that event fulfilled this prophecy (Act 2:14-21). In fact, it has been “those days” for the past 2000 years, and the work of the Spirit in the world, between the ascension of Jesus and His return, has been to testify of Jesus, to turn all flesh toward the Lord our God, and to prepare the earth for the coming of Messiah in power and glory. But as the time draws near, so will the ministry of the Spirit in repentance and power increase.

Back to Mark 9!

vs. 14-29:
We read a little further down that even those who were not following Jesus were casting out demons in the name of Jesus (vs. 38). Power is inherent in His name, because of the authority He has been given! But before someone decides to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, not having a relationship with Him, please read what happened to the seven sons of Sceva!

However, there is a kind of evil spirit which can only be cast out, Jesus said, by prayer and fasting (vs. 29). Jesus lived a lifestyle of prayer and fasting, where those disciplines were just part of His everyday walk with God. When He encountered the boy with the deaf and mute spirit, He did not have to go away for a week to fast and pray, and then come back to heal the boy. I believe the Spirit is calling those who have ears to hear, to do likewise, so that we will, as our Master was, be ready to help all those whom the Lord brings across our paths, for the glory of the Father!

vs. 33-37:
I think that if someone even desires to be first, he has missed the heart of Jesus, for He is humble and lowly in heart (Mat 11:29). And meekness is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). Moses was the meekest man of his generation (Num 12:3), and we all know he had no desire to be first, and to be the leader that God called him to be (Exo 3-4)! But that is why meekness, humility, lowliness, is the necessary prerequisite in the leaders God raises up - for anyone who desires to be first, can have their hearts corrupted by pride once they acquire a following.

vs. 42-50:
What are the causes of stumbling and sin? Is it your hand, your foot, or your eye? James said:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Jam 1:13-15

The cause of sin, is the desire for that thing that is conceived in the heart of a man. Cutting off the hand will not change the heart. But Jesus, by saying something as radical as, If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, is saying that whenever you find a cause of sin in yourself, don't make the mistake of thinking that you can give in to it once in a blue moon and the rest of the time resist it - but cut that cause completely off - sever it from you!

Obviously, a man's heart cannot be cut off from him. The heart can only be changed, made new, by the new birth in Jesus Christ! If the believer finds a desire for sin in his heart, then the only course is to turn! With prayer and fasting, bring your heart before the Lord, and do not leave His presence until His desires have incinerated the evil desire from you, and the flesh of your heart has been cut away, so that you have a circumcised heart toward the Lord!

“For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Mar 9:49-50

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Mat 5:13

Because Jesus is continuing His same discourse on the causes of sin, He is teaching that His people retain their saltiness, as it were, by maintaining their holiness and their sanctification as the set apart people of YHVH. The world runs after sins, but if the Lord's people do so also, then they have lost their flavor, and are in danger of being thrown out and trampled underfoot.

mark 8

2009-12-15T10:21:00.003-05:00

Read Mark 8 at Bible Gateway.

“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mar 8:34-38

Jesus describes following after two opposite and diametrically opposed people and agendas. The first is, of course, Jesus. Following after Jesus means not following after (denying) self. The self's agenda is the agenda that is in opposition to Jesus!

From Webster's, we learn that to deny means to declare untrue. So to deny self, is to declare the self's wants to be untrue; i.e., not valid! Deny also means to disavow - to refuse to acknowledge. To deny self, is to disavow and refuse to acknowledge the self's rights, wants, or interests. Deny means to not grant or to not concede. To deny self, is to not grant the self's whims and desires. The deny self, is to not concede to the self's logic or manipulation.

The cross was possibly the most horrific form of execution devised by man. Burning at the stake was even kinder, because it was over quicker. Of course, the self runs from death of any kind, but especially a dishonorable and painful death on the execution stake (the literal meaning of “cross”). But to follow Jesus means to take up the execution stake, not run from it. Following Jesus, then, means even more than to deny the self - it means the self literally dies on the execution stake.

This means my goals, my agenda, my wants, my desires, my rights, and my interests, my honor, my prestige, my wealth and my acquisition of comforts to please my flesh and my sense of pride - all of these things that are about me me me, I daily nail to the execution stake. I have to make decisions on a daily basis, even and hourly basis: who am I going to gratify with my words, with my actions, with the attention of my heart and the expenditure of my time? Even if I have prayed a sinner's prayer, if the decisions I make every day gratify self, and do not glorify Jesus, then who I am following? Not Jesus!

If I seek to save for myself all the things that define the life of the self - success, family, status, money, reputation - then I may save the things of my outward life, but I will lose my eternal soul over it. But if I seek to nail to the execution stake all the things that define the life of the self, and lay down me me me, and take up Him Him Him, then I may lose the things of my outward life, but I will save my eternal soul.

If, in front of unbelievers, adulterers and wicked men, I am ashamed to acknowledge Jesus and deny self, or am ashamed to repeat His words in the face of the world, because I want to save the self from being ridiculed or shamed, then when He returns He will be ashamed to acknowledge me as His own in front of His Father and in front of the holy angels! I for one would much rather endure the temporary and short- lived shame from the world than to have to hear anything from His lips other than, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

deuteronomy 7:7, set His love upon

2009-12-15T06:27:00.004-05:00

“The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;” Deu 7:7

When I first began looking into the Hebrew of this verse, I assumed that “to set His love upon” would include ahab, Strong's H157, the strong love which reveals the heart of the father, of which agape is the Greek equivalent. Ahab is used in the next verse, vs. 8, when Moses says, “but because YHVH loves you;” but to my surprise, the word “love,” ahab, is not in the phrase, “set His love upon.”

In Hebrew, this is a single word, chashaq, q?j, Strong's H2836, chet shin quph. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the chet is the fence, thus outside, also divide or half. The shin is the two front teeth, so sharp, eat, or press; also two, again, second, both. The quph is the sun on the horizon, so circle, cycle, revolution, time, even condense, as light is condensed in the sun when it is at the horizon.

The primitive root chashaq is itself from the two letter root, chash, ?j, chet shin, which means to bind. As I was thinking about how chash could mean to bind from the pictographs, I wondered if originally it had been a chet sin or samech, the fence of thorns, as fences in those days were made of bundles of thorns joined together. It would not be the first time the sin had transposed to a shin because of their similar sounds, and vice versa.

So taking the root, chash, being bound together or joined together, and adding the quph and its meaning of condensed light, leads us to being bound together by a concentrated emotion. The meaning of the verb form is to attach or adhere; the meaning of the concrete form is unknown; and the meaning of the abstract form is desire.

Gesenius' Lexicon says of chashaq: “to adhere, to join together, to cleave; to be attached with a very great love, to burn with desire.”

YHVH cleaved to us (chashaq) and chose us (bachar), not because we were great, for we were least of all; but because He strongly loves us (ahab), and because He is faithful to His word that He promised to our fathers, He delivered us mightily, and redeemed us from the house of bondage!

deuteronomy 7:1-11, a chosen people

2009-12-14T08:31:00.007-05:00

Read Deuteronomy 7:1-11 at Bible Gateway.

In the parshas before this one, we saw that YHVH, in order to help us to love Him with all that we are, and worship and serve Him only (the commandment), has instructed us to hear His Word, to take heed to His Word, to do and observe His Word, and to teach His Word to the next generation.

This parsha forms a chaistic structure:

1A Deu 7:1a - YHVH brings Israel into the Land;
  :1B Deu 7:1b-2 - YHVH delivers the seven nations to be utterly destroyed;
  :  :1C Deu 7:3-5 - preserving the worship of YHVH by abhorring the idols of the Canaanites;
  :  :  :1D Deu 7:6 - Israel is YHVH's holy people and special treasured possession;
  :  :  :  :--> X Deu 7:7-8a - YHVH set His love on Israel;
  :  :  :2D Deu 7:8b - Israel is His therefore He redeemed them from Egypt;
  :  :2C Deu 7:9 - YHVH is God;
  :2B Deu 7:10 - YHVH repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them;
2A Deu 7:11 - Israel shall keep the commandment, statutes and judgments of YHVH.

The A pairs show that just as YHVH is keeping something, Israel is to keep something. YHVH is keeping His promise to bring Israel into the Land. Now Israel is to keep their covenant with YHVH, which is expressed by obedience to the commandment, and to the statutes and judgments.

The B pairs show that because it is the seven nations of the Canaanites who are to be utterly destroyed, and YHVH destroys those utterly who hate Him, then it is revealed that the seven nations of the Canaanites hated YHVH. Their wickedness in their idolatry was greater than the idolatry of the other nations, who were idol worshippers out of ignorance. But the Canaanites were idol worshippers out of active hatred for YHVH.

The C pairs show first of all, how Israel is to abhor the idolatry of the Canaanites and to preserve the pure worship of YHVH (for YHVH is our Elohiym, and He alone is God, vs. 9): remove every trace of their idolatry from the Land, and moreover do not mix with them! YHVH's emphasis in the C pairs is on the future generations of Israelites - that they come from marriages and thus households where YHVH alone is God. He is not looking for a racially pure people, but a spiritually pure people of single heartedness!

Then, if Israel will keep covenant with YHVH, by purifying the Land, and keeping themselves from idolatry and not mixing through intermarriage, YHVH will also keep covenant with Israel, by showing His mercy and faithfulness to a thousand generations of Israelites!

The D pairs reveal that because we are the special treasured possession of YHVH, He has redeemed us from the hand of Pharaoh and delivered us from Egypt. We are His because of our fathers, and YHVH is faithful to the Word He promised to our fathers.

YHVH chose us to be His. Chosen is in Hebrew bachar, rjb, bet, chet, resh, Strong's H977. There is a two letter root that this primitive root comes from, and that is bach, jb, bet chet, meaning to slaughter as a verb, or knife, as a concrete object. The bet is the house, the chet is the fence, outside, to divide or half. Slaughtering an animal was a task performed outside the house. The resh, the head of a man, adds the meaning of slaughtering that which is chiefest or choicest, and so bachar is the sacrifice, the firstfruits in its concrete meaning; but an examination to determine the choicest, thus to choose, in its verbal meaning.

A special treasure is segullah in Hebrew, hlgs, Strong's H5459, from the primitive root segul, lgs, samech, gimel, lamed. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the samech is the thorn, so also, pierce, grab hold, and even shield, as thorn bushes were used to fence in the flock in at night to keep them from predators. The gimel is the foot, so also to walk, carry, and even gather, as men walked to an appointed place from all around in order to gather together. The lamed is the shepherd's staff, his tool of authority by which he both guided and protected the sheep, so often to or toward, as the direction of guidance. The lamed can also mean teach, as the father or the patriarch (the one with authority) was the teacher; and yoke, as a staff that is placed across the shoulders; and even bind, as the yoke or staff is bound to the animal.

The mountain top meaning of segul, then, is that which has been gathered is bound up, then placed behind a protective shield. In its verb form, this word means to shut up; in its concrete form, this word means a jewel or precious stone. To YHVH, we are a special treasure (segullah) above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

The central axis of the parsha reveals that YHVH loves us. He set His love upon us, or in Hebrew, He desired us greatly, chashaq, q?j, because He loves us. In fact. He loves us with 1 Cor 13:4-7 love, for the Septuagint translators translated this passage with agape, the same word Paul uses in 1 Cor 13. The Hebrew word is ahab, bha. Ahab is strong love which reveals the heart of the father for his children.

This parsha reveals YHVH's love for us; He first loved us, and delivered us and redeemed us and made us His own special treasure. Now because we are thus set apart, in His heart and on this earth, we respond in love for YHVH, expressed by pure and unadulterated worship, and obedience to His commandments. We love Him because He first loved us (1 Joh 4:19), and we express that love through obedience (Joh 14:15). The theme of this parsha is the love- covenant keeping (or obedience) dynamic.

parashah ki tiqrav (when you approach), deuteronomy 20:10 - 21:9

2009-12-12T11:59:00.009-05:00

For the enemy city which accepts peace, the lives of every citizen are to be spared. If anyone is slain with the sword, then the Israelite has committed murder.

For the enemy city which does not accept peace, the lives of the women and children are to be spared, and the men are to be slain. It is not murder in this case to slay the men, but if a woman or child is slain, then the Israelite has committed murder.

The enemy cities of the seven nations of the Canaanites are not to be spared under any circumstance, man, woman, or child. It is not murder to destroy them, because the wickedness of their idolatry has called down judgment upon them.

The theme of this parsha is do not commit murder against enemies.

Deu 20:10-20 continues the explanation of what does and does not constitute murder during warfare. Trees which are used for food, if they are cut down, induces famine, which would bring death upon a district; thus, cutting down food trees during warfare constitutes murder. The theme of this parsha is do not commit murder against enemies.

This parsha ends with a p'tuchah and thus the strong paragraph begun in Deu 19:11. Every parsha in this section explains what constitutes murder in specific cases.

Deu 21:1-9 leaves the topic of warfare, but explains blood guilt in the case of an unsolved murder. This parsha forms a chiastic structure:

1A Deu 21:1 bloodguiltiness discovered;
  1B Deu 21:2 the responsibility of the elders and judges;
    1C Deu 21:3-4 the heifer and the valley that has not been worked;
      CENTRAL AXIS Deu 21:5 YHVH has chosen the sons of Levi to settle the innocence and guiltiness of every controversy and assault;
    2C Deu 21:6 the heifer and the valley that has not been worked;
  2B Deu 21:7-8a the responsibility of the elders and judges;
2A Deu 21:8b-9 bloodguiltiness put away.

The theme of this parsha is atonement for unsolved bloodguiltiness.

The theme of parashah Ki Tiqrav is avoiding bloodguiltiness (do not murder).

mark 6

2009-12-11T12:19:00.009-05:00

Read Mark 6 at Bible Gateway.

“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him.” Mar 6:3

We learned the other day (in Mark 4) that not everyone will receive Jesus - that some, who see the same miracles that everyone else sees, and yet will not perceive, and who hear the same words of truth that everyone else hears, and yet will not understand -- they will not let the fact of those miracles and that truth teach them about who it MUST be who is doing them. If unclean spirits are being cast out, and people are being healed, and the dead are being raised, and the winds and the waves obey Him, then WHO IS IT who is doing these things? It must be the Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, because NO ONE ELSE has authority over not only the natural world, but the spiritual world, as well as life and death. Then it must be that YHVH has come in the flesh!

Because they will not perceive and not understand, they will not stop going away from His house, and turn around and start going toward His house again (repent) so that their sins will be forgiven them. Today we see that men of His hometown became offended at Him, but why? Because He was of humble origins, but He was greater than they. The excellence of His ministry outshone them, so instead of receiving Him, they took offense at Him, and rejected Him.

Can we see how the enemy will use our pride in our own accomplishments or our pride in our own value as a human being to prevent us from receiving GOOD from the hand of the Lord? Everywhere Jesus went, He taught with wisdom, He healed the sick and He cast out demons - He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Act 10:38). And today we learn He also fed people and met their need for daily bread. All He did, was GOOD, and all He gave, was of BENEFIT. And yet because they were offended at His goodness, they refused to receive that which was good for themselves.

But the enemy will use whatever tool he can to cause men to stumble over Jesus so that they will reject Him. The enemy hates God, and he hates us because we are beloved of God, therefore whatever he can do that will harm us, he will do. And pride, and taking offense, are his fruits; while humility, teachableness, and receiving good from the hand of the Lord (which we all do, even athiests, Mat 5:45) are the Lord's fruits.

“For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.” Mar 6:52

Here we see that a hard heart contributes to seeing and hearing, but not perceiving or understanding. Before we go on to fixing the problem of a hard heart, let's just note who it was who was taking offense at Him and whose hearts were hardened so that they could not perceive or understand. It was the Sabbath go to synagogue folks. It was His own twelve disciples. None of us are above offense or hardness, so we need to take heed of ourselves and watch out!

“But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.” So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?” Mar 8:17-21

Jesus affirms that it is hardness of heart that causes a person to have eyes and yet not see and perceive, and to have ears and yet not hear and understand.

There is a remedy for a hard heart. In the Scriptures, the heart is often compared to ground in which seed is sown:

“And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.” Mar 4:13-15

Now hard ground cannot be sown with seed, because nothing will grow in it. The soil is hard, and the roots of the sprouting seed cannot penetrate it to get nutrients. In order to prepare the ground for seed, first the husbandman needs to break up the hard ground, like rototilling the garden. Then if the ground is watered regularly after that, so that it remains soft, it will receive seed and a harvest will be possible from it.

“Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Hos 10:12

Here the Scriptures reveal to us that if the ground of our hearts is hard, we can break it up by seeking the Lord, and when we do that, He will rain on our hearts so that they remain soft - not a rain of water, but of righteousness!

How does one seek the Lord? First of all, pray! He hears prayers! A simple acknowledgement that Lord, I know You are there, and I know my heart is hard, and I don't want it to be; I want to seek You but don't know how or where to look, will You help me? is a good starting place! Then keep praying, every day!

Jesus taught His disciples, when they asked Him to teach them to pray, to pray this way:

“Our Father in heaven, Holy is Your name. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Please give us this day our daily bread. Please forgive my sins, as I forgive the sins others have sinned against me. Do not let me be tempted, but deliver me from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” Mat 6:9-13

I pray this way every day, even though I have been a disciple for 44 years. I pray this way because Jesus is smarter than I am, and out of all the ways He could have chosen to answer that question, He chose to answer it with this simple prayer -- I assume because that is the best prayer a disciple can pray!

And in order to seek the Lord, I would read the Scriptures, every day. They are His words breathed by His Spirit to mankind, and they will tell us true things about Himself and about ourselves! I would start with Genesis, not John. John is just about the hardest book of the Bible to understand, and knowing who God is and what He has previously said as revealed in the Old Testament helps to understand it. Genesis reveals who the Lord is and who we are and what we have to do with each other! The entire theology of the whole Bible is revealed in this book of beginnings!

There is one other person who wants our hearts to be soft, and not hard; who wants us to see AND perceive, and hear AND understand, more than we ourselves do - and that is God! He will help all those who ask Him for help!

mark 5

2009-12-10T12:14:00.002-05:00

Read Mark 5 at Bible Gateway.

In this chapter we are presented with three pictures of healing. The first is the demon- possessed man. The key to understand his healing, is the phrase, “they ... saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind,” (vs. 15). Before, he had been a wild man, not able to live in society, preferring to live with the dead, and wailing and cutting on himself. But when he was delivered of the demons, he was calm and in his right mind. He experienced a healing of the mind.

Not all mental illness is caused by demon possession. But demon possession often manifests itself as a mental illness. This is because the weapon for destruction which Satan wields is lies (Joh 8:44, 10:10). Lies which are received and believed in the mind, cause torment. And torment drives a person to destructiveness. It is my belief that demon possession is still alive and well in our day and age, even in first world countries like the U.S. It often manifests itself as mental illness. (But go back and read the first sentence of this paragraph: NOT ALL MENTAL ILLNESS IS CAUSED BY DEMON POSSESSION.) Have you ever met a troubled teen who cuts on himself? What is causing his trouble, is the lies which bring torment that he is being lied to, by an evil intelligent speaker (demon) who is speaking them to his mind.

Demons try to attack every believer, and every person, really, especially if some lie finds a place to dwell in someone's heart. I believe that belief in the lie is the open door that lets that demon attach itself to that person. Once they gain entrance, they stay, unless they are specifically driven out by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A person can receive the lie and the demon speaking that lie, and then later in life receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, and still be tormented by that lie and the demon speaking that lie, if that lie has not been demolished by belief in the truth that countermands it (Joh 8:32).

As far as whether the demon is within the person or without the person, merely oppressing him with lies, I don't know all that. All I know is that torment is torment, whereever it is coming from, and as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit within us, to cast out demons (Mar 16:17-18). They must bow their knee at the name of Jesus, and leave (Phi 2:9-11), just as the demons did when Jesus commanded them to depart from the man.

The second healing is the healing of the physical body of the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus makes it clear that it was her faith that healed her, yet the story tells of power which Jesus felt which went out from Him. I believe that our faith works like flipping a light switch to the “on” position, to activate the power that is always there. That is the mechanism the Scriptures describe.

What about those people who believe God for healing and they never get it? Didn't they have faith? This question is the reason some people have decided that miracles passed away with the apostles or that faith is not the mechanism that activates the power of God. James says that God gives to all who ask liberally and without reproach, but let us ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is double- minded, who will not receive anything from the Lord (Jam 1:5-8). There is a remedy for double- mindedness (Jam 4:8)! But denying that this is our problem because it puts the reason we have not received on us instead of on God, is not it!

I believe that the vast majority of the time, faith is the issue if we have not received from God, but there are others. Sometimes illness is a consequence of our choices, thus we might not be unwell if we had believed God's Word from the beginning and obeyed it (for example, heart disease resulting from coveting unhealthy foods). Sometimes it is so that God can show forth His glory at the right time (Joh 9:1-5), and sometimes, God allows us affliction in this life for wisdom He alone knows (Job, 2 Cor 12:7-10). If we ask God to show us why we have not received the healing we are praying for, He will! He will show us the honest reason, if we are willing to hear it. But we can rest assured that all that He does and does not do, He does because He loves us perfectly and knows what is best for us.

The third healing is, I believe, a spiritual healing, because the body of the little girl was dead and her spirit was departed. When Jesus raised the little girl to life, He had to do more than just heal her physical body, because death had already come. He had to swallow up death with life, which is what happens to us when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and our spirits are reborn! He had to recall her spirit from Sheol!

There is so much more that we could say about these healings, but suffice it for now that Jesus has the ability to heal every part of our person, spirit, soul (mind) and body, and not only the ability, but the desire to do so! Thank you Lord!

mark 4

2009-12-09T10:26:00.006-05:00

Read Mark 4 at Bible Gateway.

“And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that ‘SEEING THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND HEARING THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND; LEST THEY SHOULD TURN, AND THEIR SINS BE FORGIVEN THEM.’ ” Mar 4:9-12

Turn is the Hebrew word shuv, Strong's H7725, shin vav bet. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the shin is the two front teeth, and has the meaning of sharp, pressing, eating, two, or possibly, again (a second time). The vav is the tent peg, and means to secure, hook, or add. The bet is the house, so also, household or family. The parent from which this word is derived means to turn; so the mountain top meaning of shuv is to press in securely to the house, or to again secure oneself to the house. Shuv is the root of teshuvah, which is repentance.

The thing that stood out to me, is that anyone who turns around from the direction they are going, and begins to press in toward the house they have left, will be forgiven their sins. The house we have left, is God's house, because history began with Father God, a beautiful garden, and the two children He had made to dwell with Him forever - to be a part of His household.

Now why then is the message of Jesus only for those who have ears to hear? Why is it only for those who see and perceive, or who hear and understand? Jesus was quoting a passage from the Old Testament, in which Isaiah saw a vision of YHVH, Creator of heaven and earth:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.” Isa 6:1-4

Seraphim are a certain class of angel. They cover their face in the presence of YHVH, Creator of heaven and earth, because the weight of His glory is so great that it cannot be looked upon.

God allowed Isaiah to see a glimpse of Him in His majesty as He really was and is, and the picture that Isaiah paints of Him is unimaginable majesty, glory, and greatness. The Lord is greater than words can describe, but to realize that even magnificent and powerful beings like seraphim dare not look on Him because His glory is so great makes a beginning at describing it. David said that the mountains will melt like wax before Him, when His presence comes to the earth (Psa 97:5). In other words, the most enduring substance of this earth, the granite which serves as a foundation for everything else, has sense enough to recognize the greatness of His glory and majesty, and melts before Him. Angels recognize His greatness and glory. So what does mortal man do?

They have one of two responses. They can have Isaiah's response, which is:

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." Isa 6:5

When we see the Lord in all His beauty and majesty, His greatness instantly throws our uncleanness into high stark relief. Isaiah saw the Lord's greatness, and perceived his own filthiness in the light of it, and grave distress at his unclean state came out of his mouth unbidden.

When he saw and his heart perceived, he turned. Because the next thing that happened was:

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”” Isa 6:6-7

First Isaiah saw, then he perceived, and perceiving, pressed again securely toward the Lord's house (shuv), and his sin was purged.

The other response a man can have to the revelation of the Lord's greatness, is to see it with their eyes and to hear it with their ears, but because their heart is dull, it is as if their ears are heavy and their eyes shut, so that they cannot understand or perceive, that the only wise response to YHVH, Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, is to turn - to press in again securely toward our real home, which is with the Lord forever. To be in distress over our state of uncleanness and to cry out to Him! For everyone who turns has their sins forgiven and is healed!

mark 3, what is lawful on the sabbath

2009-12-08T18:44:00.002-05:00

Read Mark 3 at Bible Gateway.

“And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” Mar 3:1-6

The Torah is specific about what may and may not be not be done on the Sabbath:

“Six days you shall labor (abad) and do all your work (melakah), but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work (melakah), you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.” Exo 20:9-10, see also Exo 23:12, 34:21, 35:2, Deu 5:13-14, Lev 23:3, Jer 17:22.

The Hebrew word for work is melakah (Strong's H4399) meaning “deputyship; employment (never servile) or abstract or concrete work; property as a result of labor; business, occupation, workmanship.”

In Exo 23:12, the Hebrew word for work is ma'aseh (Strong's H4639) meaning “an action or transaction; activity; product; property; act, art, business, labor, thing made, occupation, operation, workmanship, thing wrought.”

The Hebrew word for labor is abad (Strong's H5647) meaning “to work in any sense; to serve; to till; to enslave; to be or keep in bondage; to husband; to be wrought.”

From the definitions of work and labor, we can see that what is meant is one's employment by which one provides an income, whether it is as a laborer, a landowner, a businessman or merchant, or a craftsman. The work can be physical labor or mental labor (concrete or abstract work). Work includes commerce: for even if you are buying, your transaction requires someone to labor to provide you with that good or service (see also Neh 10:31, 13:15-22, Amo 8:4-6). Work also includes workmanship: so even doing what might be considered a hobby, and thus restful, such as building models or sewing, if a thing is wrought by effort, then that falls under the biblical definition of work.

Work includes bearing burdens (Jer 17:21-27), because if something is a burden, then it requires effort, exertion, to bear it. If something is not a burden, then bearing it is not work. Not everything is a burden. If we consider that God specifically banned bearing burdens on His day of Sabbath rest, which foreshadows the millennial reign of our Messiah, it gives a whole new meaning to 1 Pet 5:7, doesn't it?

Work includes preparing food, a laborious task in the old days (Exo 16:22-26). I do the food preparation on Fridays. I think it is alright to combine previously prepared ingredients together to make a dish on Sabbath (like combining veggies and dressing to make a salad), or to place a previously prepared meal in the oven to cook or reheat on Sabbath. While monitoring something that was cooking was a laborious task in the old days, today it is not work to just set the oven temp and forget about your dish.

In Torah, work also includes kindling a fire (Exo 35:3). Kindling a fire was a laborious task in the old days. Is flipping a light switch or turning on an oven kindling a fire? Because of the nature of our appliances these days, I don't think so - but that is my opinion. What about striking a match? Well, striking a match does kindle a fire, it just does so in a very non- laborious way. So while it probably isn't work as it was in the old days, I avoid striking matches on Sabbath just because my heart wants to obey the Spirit of the Torah as well as its letter. :)

So if we take all the commands on the Sabbath together, we can see that the intent of the command was to provide a day of cessation of labor, and working to provide an income or to provide for needs, so that a person could rest. Even all the extra details, such as not kindling a fire or preparing food, were included because those daily tasks were often laborious.

Now over time, the Pharisees and teachers of the Torah had built up an elaborate system of dos and don'ts for the Sabbath, which amounted to if a person did anything at all, he was breaking the Sabbath. God did not prohibit every activity, just work. But the Pharisees, because they did not understand the spirit of compassion that was behind the command to rest, prohibited almost all activity, even doing good on the Sabbath. Jesus, in healing on the Sabbath, was showing Israel that it was lawful on the Sabbath to do good and to save life. He was showing us that the true spirit behind the letter of Torah is a soft heart of compassion for our neighbors, not a hard heart which hides from self- sacrificing love in self- righteousness and religious obligation.

sabbath

2009-12-08T18:42:00.001-05:00

lord of the sabbath, mark 2
what is lawful on the sabbath, mark 3

mark 2, lord of the sabbath

2009-12-07T14:39:00.006-05:00

“Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mar 2:23-28

Although an excellent case can be made that the Pharisees' first premise was wrong, that in fact the disciples were not violating the Sabbath by plucking the heads of grain to eat, Jesus did not refute their complaint with that argument. Instead, He used an example from Scripture, when David seemed to violate Torah by eating the showbread in the Temple (Lev 24:5-9, 1 Sam 21:1-6), to show that something greater was being shown since no judgment fell upon David for this act.

Now it was not that David, as king, was immune from violations of Torah. God judged David more than once when he truly broke Torah, as he did in the matter with Uriah and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12), and also the census taking (1 Chr 21). But He refrained from judging him in the instance Jesus refers to. Why? It must be because Torah was not truly broken.

It is prophesied of Messiah that He will serve as king (Psa 2), prophet (Deu 18:15-19), and priest (Psa 110). He will fulfill in one person, all roles of authority designated by Torah (Deu 16:18-18:22). Some scholars believe this is why Saul was rejected from being king over Israel, because he was king, and prophet (1 Sam 10:1-13), but when he took the role of priest upon himself, he was rejected (1 Sam 13:8-14), for by that act he was assuming the mantle of Messiah.

But David is a type of Messiah. He was a shepherd who was called to shepherd God's people Israel. He delivered them from giants and the Philistines, and all their enemies. He established righteous rule from one end of the kingdom to the other. He served as king, and as prophet, for his psalms are Thus saith the Lord, and many are prophetic of the Messiah. But then when David ate the showbread, reserved only for the priests, he was not rejected. I believe Jesus brought out this point to show to the Pharisees that it was because David was foreshadowing Messiah (I.e. it is lawful for Messiah to act as priest), that he was not rejected.

Combined with the dispute over whether Sabbath was really being broken or not, Jesus paints a powerful truth. And that is, that Messiah, who is the Living Torah (the Word of God made flesh, Joh 1:14), knows how to rightly apply Torah in every situation and not be in violation of it, because His heart is right before God. Thus the Son of Man, His own Messianic title for Himself, is the Lord of the Sabbath.

We who have been raised with an anti- Torah bias, read that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and think automatically that by that phrase He must mean that He can now disregard Sabbath at will, since He is Lord of it. But does being Lord of something mean that you can now disregard it?

The biblical principle of rulership, is to care for, protect, and bless what is under your authority. To uphold what is under your authority! It is man's way of thinking that says that a ruler disregards what is under him; in God's way of thinking, a ruler upholds what is under him. We see this is the case, in that God Himself obeys His own Torah! His Torah is His Word, and His Word is Himself, breathed from His Spirit, and He cannot be faithless to Himself (Rom 3:4).

Jesus lived this understanding that to be Lord of something means to uphold it. For He fulfilled Torah perfectly, not transgressing it in any point, while He lived on earth. He did not break Torah cavalierly because He was Lord of it, showing that the sense of being Lord of it could not be to disregard it.

Jesus also taught us something important about Sabbath observance here: Sabbath is was made to serve man. Man was not made to be enslaved by Sabbath. So let's be clear: this understanding is not license to disregard Sabbath. Sabbath is God's holiest of moedim (appointed times or feast days), and He commanded us not to pursue our livings on this day, so that we could rest and have a day to worship and serve Him. Obviously, plucking a few heads of grain because you are hungry, on Sabbath, is not the same as harvesting your grain for your livelihood on Sabbath. So let us honor the Sabbath day, because we honor the Lord whose day it is, without being wrongly enslaved to it as the Pharisees were.

brought out to be brought in

2009-12-02T11:03:00.004-05:00

“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in
Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’” Deu 6:20-25

The father's answer to his son's question, which is, essentially, Why do we do these commandments of the Lord's? is in three parts.

First: Israel was delivered from slavery in the kingdom of Egypt. Deliverance from Egypt is history- prophecy of deliverance from the kingdom of darkness, which is salvation. What commandments did Israel obey in order to be delivered from Egypt? Just one: apply the blood of the Passover Lamb to your doorposts. Thus we see that salvation in the Old Testament is exactly the same as salvation in the New Testament: it is achieved by grace through faith in the shed blood of the Lamb.

So the first part of the answer to Why do we do the Lord's commandments, is that He delivered us from the kingdom of darkness (where we were slaves to sin) by grace through faith in the shed blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Second: God brought Israel out from Egypt, that He might bring them in to the Promised Land. In fact, He brought them out of one kingdom, out of Pharaoh's kingdom, that He might bring them into another kingdom, into His kingdom, where He would be king over them (1 Sam 8:7-8). Israel was not delivered from one kingdom in order to live in anarchy; they were brought out in order to be brought in. This is why, when Jesus preached the gospel, He preached that the kingdom of God was at hand (Mar 1:14-15). He was saying, that with His coming, we were being brought out of the kingdom of darkness in order to be brought in to the kingdom of God. Thus we do not become free from submission to a king upon salvation, but the kingdom in which we dwell changes.

So the second part of the answer to Why do we do the Lord's commandments, is that we were delivered from the kingdom of darkness, in order to be brought into the kingdom of God.

Third: In our new kingdom there are commandments to obey. That is the way it is in any kingdom. If there is a kingdom, there is a king, and if there is a king, there are citizens of that kingdom who reveal their citizenship by obeying the commands of their king. Those who are outlaws have renounced their citizenship and have revealed themselves to be outsiders by living outside the Law (outside the Torah). That is why we do not want to be found to be outlaws (Law-less or Torah- less) when Messiah returns (Mat 7:21-23)!

So if we are not of the kingdom of God, then we are of the kingdom of darkness - because there are only two kingdoms, and no one is an anarchist. But belonging to the kingdom of God is like being born into a big family where your Papa is the King, and moreover, the commandments He has given us are not to benefit Him or anyone else, but obeying them is for our good always.

So the third part of the answer to Why do we do the Lord's commandments, is that we obey the commands of the King in whose Kingdom we dwell as citizens, for our good.

Now it is clearly taught in both Old and New Testaments, that deliverance and redemption (from Egypt in the Old, and darkness in the New) is by grace through faith. We do not obey commands in order to get into the kingdom. But once we become citizens of the kingdom of God, there is a certain way to walk which is worthy of the Name by which we have been called (1 The 2:10-12). And that way to walk, is in accord with the will of Him who is our King. This is why, when we pray for the Lord's kingdom to come, we pray that His will be done (Mat 6:10). His will is expressed in His commands.

The bias many of us have against obeying commandments is a learned bias and not a doctrine of Scripture.

kingdom of heaven

2009-12-01T12:32:00.002-05:00

brought out to be brought in, deu 6:20-25

deuteronomy 6:20-25; teach

2009-11-29T11:49:00.008-05:00

Read Deuteronomy 6:20-25 at Bible Gateway.

“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’” Deu 6:20-25

In parsha bazneikhem, the parsha before this one, we saw the introduction of four verbs that YHVH reminds us of over and over and over again. They are, hear, pay heed, teach, and do. We saw that the first paragraph stumah in this parsha emphasized the hearing. The second paragraph in this parsha emphasized the paying careful heed. The third paragraph in this parsha emphasized the doing. This paragraph emphasizes the teaching.

We learn several things about God's way of teaching children through this parsha. First of all, if the parents are careful to do the commandments of the Lord, that doing will create a question within our children. The best teaching first creates questions, because when the children have the question, their heart is ready to receive the answer. There is a right time to teach - and that time is when the question about that thing has been created within the heart and mind.

Second, parents are responsible before God to create and maintain a relationship with their children, in which their children will be encouraged to come to their parents with their questions. Fathers cannot provoke their children to wrath (Eph 6:4), by ignoring them, being too busy with work or golf, being critical, impatient, or impossible to please, breaking promises, and things of that nature, that destroys the heart bond that God built in between parents and their children. If the heart bond is destroyed, the sons will not come to their fathers to ask them their questions, no matter how knowledgable their fathers are.

Third, there is a right answer for every question. The question, What does it mean that we keep these commandments, also has its right answer. Notice that the right answer is:

1) We were first delivered from slavery in the kingdom of Egypt;
2) We were delivered out of one kingdom in order to be delivered in to another kingdom;
3) In our new kingdom there are commandments to obey.

Deliverance from Egypt corresponds to deliverance from the kingdom of darkness, which is salvation. What commandments did Israel obey in order to be delivered from Egypt? Just one: apply the blood of the Passover Lamb to your doorposts. Thus we see that salvation in the Old Testament is exactly the same as salvation in the New Testament: it is achieved by grace through faith in the shed blood of the Lamb.

Slavery in Egypt corresponds to slavery in the kingdom of darkness, which is slavery to sin. But we were not delivered from one kingdom in order to live in anarchy; we were brought out in order to be brought in (vs. 23, Col 1:13). When Jesus preached the gospel, He preached that the kingdom of God was at hand (Mar 1:14-15). Thus we do not become free from submission to a king upon salvation, but the kingdom in which we dwell changes: we are no longer living in the kingdom of darkness, but in the kingdom of God.

Dwelling in the land of Israel meant obeying the King whose land it was - who was YHVH, Creator of heaven and earth. Likewise dwelling in the kingdom of God means obeying the King whose Kingdom it is - YHVH, Creator of heaven and earth. We do not obey in order to be saved. But once we are saved, we do obey because all citizens of the kingdom of God obey the King of that Kingdom. Those who are outlaws (outside the Law) are outsiders and not citizens. They do not live as a citizen of that Kingdom, therefore the benefits of that Kingdom are not applied to them, and when they are discovered, they are shown the door (Mat 7:21-23).

This is what we are commanded in Torah to teach our children - that salvation by grace through faith with its new heart comes first (Eze 36:25-27), which means we are transferred out of Satan's kingdom and into God's kingdom, and in His kingdom he has given us commands to obey as King, for our good. We train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord - in His love, and in His discipline in walking in His ways, so that when they are old they will not depart from His ways (Pro 22:6), which is for their good always.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Deu 6:20-25 is to Teach to the next generation YHVH's commandments that we have now heard, paid heed to, and are doing.

hanukkah, a biblical feast?

2009-11-23T11:56:00.000-05:00

I didn't used to think so, but I have been seeing some things about Hanukkah that lead me to believe otherwise. There are two holidays celebrated by the Jews, which are mentioned in Scripture, although not commanded by the Lord that Israel celebrates. They might be considered Hebrew versions of the American Independence Day: days of national deliverance and celebration. The first is Purim, the holiday commemorating the deliverance of the Jews of the Persian Empire, that the book of Esther records. The second is Hanukkah:

“Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.” Joh 10:22-23

The Feast of Dedication is Hanukkah. The events leading up to the celebration of the first Hanukkah are recorded in 1 & 2 Maccabees (and here is the history summarized in brief). These books are in the Apocrypha, but are unlike the other books of the Apocrypha, which are contradictory and contain purely fanciful or clearly identifiable content smacking of late editing. The Maccabees are more like Esther as they contain an important historical record, although merely the work of men and not inspired of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus was in Jerusalem, at the Temple, during the Feast of Dedication, just as He was for Passover, or Weeks, or Tabernacles. Hanukkah commemorates a deliverance also, just as Purim does.

Now we have seen before how the menorah, the special candlestick of seven lights that was in the Temple, is a pictoral representation of the seven annual feast days of the Lord.

The Hanukkah candelabrum is like a menorah but with nine lights altogether instead of seven. It seems the representation of the Hanukkah candelabrum is also found prophetically in Scripture just as the menorah is:

“Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand [menorah] of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” ... Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” ... Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he said, “These are the two anointed ones [lit., sons of new oil], who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.” Zec 4:1-3, 11-14

“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.” Rev 11:3-4

In other words, the two witnesses of Rev 11 are the two olive trees of Zec 4, which are also the same as two lampstands, Rev 11 reveals. Zechariah sees these two olive trees or two lampstands standing, one at each end of a menorah - meaning the menorah has nine lights instead of seven. Which is the Hanukkah menorah!

Now as I was meditating on this, I realized that the occasion of the first Hanukkah might be prophetic, as Antiochus Epiphanes forbade the worship of God and defiled the Temple, then when he was defeated the Temple was cleansed and purified. This purification and rededication is what Hanukkah celebrates. Shortly after the first Hanukkah, Messiah came the first time.

So, it seems that Epiphanes was a type of antichrist, for the things that Epiphanes did, the prophets indicate the antichrist will also do. Daniel first prophesies of the abomination of desolation that Epiphanes established before the coming of Messiah (Dan 11:31), then Jesus Himself indicated it would happen again before His return (Mat 24:15-27). If this is so, might the antichrist that precedes the second coming of Messiah, forbid the worship of God and defile the Temple?

But we have to ask ourselves, what Temple? For there is no Temple. But that is not entirely true. Jesus said that if the Temple that was in His day, the second Temple, was destroyed, He would erect it again in three days (Joh 2:19-21). Obviously He was not referring to a physical building, but the Temple of His Body. Now Paul tells us that those who are believers in Jesus Christ are His Body (Eph 5:30, Col 1:24), wherein the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Cor 3:16), and that we are being built into a spiritual house, being living stones, that Messiah Himself is building, being both the foundation stone and the architect (1 Pet 2:5). So it is the Body of Messiah who is being made into the third Temple of living stones.

I believe that it is in the third Temple of His Body that the antichrist will set up the abomination of desolation, and that he will need to be defeated, and the Temple of His Body will need to be purified and restored to the true worship of God.

Then I began to see that the defilement has already been occurring in the intervening years that we have been waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The fourth beast, who is Rome (Dan 7, in the form of the Roman Catholic Church, which lived on in power after the Fall of Rome), defiled the Temple of Living Stones, Messiah's Body, by forbidding the pure worship of God, as can be seen from its decrees against Sabbath and the feast days, and its long history of wars and inquisitions and murders perpetrated upon the saints who kept the testimony of Jesus and the commandments of God. Even in the detail, that Epiphanes sacrificed a pig on the altar of YHVH, and that for 1500 years, give or take, the Temple made with Living Stones has been consuming pig and defiling itself thereby.

But, if the first Hanukkah is prophetic, once the fourth beast is defeated, the Temple of Living Stones is purified again, and the pure worship of God restored to the Temple of Living Stones. And to signify this, Zechariah sees the witness of the two lampstands that is added to the menorah to make nine lights. These two are Christians (Ephraim or Israel) and Jews (Judah) together, not eating pig, and keeping the testimony of Jesus and the commandments of God, both lights shining as a pure witness. Then shortly after the Temple of Living Stones is purified, and the true worship of God in Spirit (Messiah) and in truth (Torah) restablished among Christians and Jews, the Messiah comes!!

mark 2

2009-11-23T09:15:00.003-05:00

Read Mark 2 at Bible Gateway.

This chapter title might read, Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man. In the healing of the paralytic, He was shown by the Spirit that the root of this particular man's paralysis was unforgiveness, possibly of the paralytic himself toward himself. By this Jesus reveals that not every illness or disease has a physical cause, but sometimes a spiritual root can work infirmity in the body. In order to heal the paralysis, Jesus first alleviated the root that was the cause of the paralysis in the first place. In perceiving this, several manifestations of the Spirit, that we learned about in Corinthians, were at work: discernment, and the word of knowledge and wisdom. Discernment, because it was revealed to Him that there was something more than just a simple physical ailment at work. Knowledge, because He was told by the Spirit, a fact, which He could not possibly know by His natural mind or senses, i.e., that it was unforgiveness was the root of the paralysis. And wisdom, to know that in order to heal the paralysis, the man needed the forgiveness of his sins.

He might not have started out intending to prove to His listeners who He was. But it was the natural outworking of His walk, in listening to the Spirit as He was presented with needs, and then going about meeting those needs. We have to remember that everyone was gathered to Him at that house, in order to hear Him teach from the Word (vs. 2).

But in the course of Jesus meeting needs by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a point of doctrine was raised by the Pharisees - isn't God the only One who can forgive someone their sins? Now the person who has been sinned against, can forgive the sin which was perpetrated against him. But that does not clear the sinner with respect to God, for every sin is ultimately a sin against God (Psa 51:4). So even if there is forgiveness from another, there also has to be forgiveness from God (Mat 5:23-24; the sacrifice was still needed at the altar even when there has been reconciliation among men). So the answer to the doctrinal question, is YES! Only God can forgive sins.

But so that all who were in the house would know, that the Son of Man had the authority of God on earth to forgive sins, which would require that He be the Son of God as well as the Son of Man, Jesus healed the paralytic. Mark continues to lay out the case methodically that Jesus was the Son of God, even though Jesus always referred to Himself as the Son of Man.

I have a feeling that everything that Mark recorded in this chapter, was chosen to reveal the Son of God in the Son of Man. We know that not all that Jesus did has been recorded, for the world could not contain the books, if everything that Jesus did had been recorded (Joh 21:25). Therefore what is recorded, was chosen for a reason. In this chapter, Mark shows Jesus as preacher, teacher, forgiver of sins; healer, of not only physical sickness (the paralytic), but spiritual sickness as well (the tax collector's friends called to repentance). He is bridegroom, and the Lord of the Sabbath.

I find it interesting, that Jesus, with all these titles as God come in the flesh, did not exalt Himself as God or even as the Son of God. He did not declare overtly to the Pharisees who questioned Him, “Oh, I assure you, I do have the power to forgive sins, because I am God!” He let His walking do His talking for Him. But when He referred to Himself, it was as the Son of Man. He was bringing the balance, for His works showed Him to be the Son of God, so with His words He showed Himself to be the Son of Man -- so that we would know that He was both God and Man in One person. It had to be clear that He was the Son of Man, because only the Son of Man could die on the cross as the substitute for man's sin.

But Jesus, who had the most reason to exult, was of all men the most humble (Mat 11:29). God is Love, and Love does not parade itself nor seek its own (1 Cor 13:4-5)! Mold me and make me, Lord, into the image of Your Son, for You are the Potter, and I am the clay! May I likewise walk in humility and love toward all I encounter this day!

hanukkah

2009-11-22T11:24:00.003-05:00

For the full history of the Feast of Dedication and the events which led up to it, read 1 and 2 Maccabees, a valuable historical account contained in the Apocrypha.

Here is the history contained in Maccabees in brief:

After Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, his generals rose up after him and divided up the land, setting themselves up as kings. In the course of time, the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes ruled over Judea. Now some of the Jews had desired to live like the Greeks, even so much a Greek gymnasium had been built in Jerusalem, and surgeries were being performed in Jerusalem to remove the evidence of circumcision on the males, so that they could not be distinguished from the Greeks in the gymnasium and at the baths. Of course, this was akin to denying that YHVH was God, and so a sharp division arose in society between those who went after the world, and those who stayed true to the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in all that Moses commanded them.

Now Antiochus Epiphanes, when he entered Jerusalem by deceit and seized the Temple, establishing Greek tyranny over Jerusalem, he stripped the Temple of its gold and silver, forbade the worship of God, and moreover defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar, and setting up an image to his gods, the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel the prophet.

Once the Greeks had taken Jerusalem, they sent envoys from the king to the cities and villages round about, requiring that the leading citizens of each town sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods, showing that they renounced YHVH. And out of fear, some of the towns did so. But when the envoy came to a certain town, in which the leading citizen was Mathaias, a Levite of the house of Aaron the high priest, he refused to offer sacrifice. Another man came forward in his place, to perform the sacrifice, but Mathaias slew him in righteous indignation, and the king's envoy also. Then Mathaias and his five sons ran for the hills, where many of the devout in Israel came to them, and over the course of many years, the family of the Maccabees (as Mathaias and his sons became known) and their army waged a guerrilla war on the Greeks, eventually defeating them and driving them from Judea all together.

When the Maccabees retook Jerusalem, and the Temple in order to purify it, it was discovered that there was only enough holy oil for burning the lights of the menorah to last for one day; but the Torah requires an eight day purification process for the making of the holy oil which kept the menorah lamps lit. Regardless, they lit the oil they had, and miraculously, it burned for eight full days while more oil was being prepared. When the Temple was purified, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which they had been prevented from doing in its appointed time because of the Greeks, in the 9th month beginning on the 25th day. This celebration became known as the Feast of Dedication, because it was at that time that the Temple, having been purified from all the defilement wrought upon it by the Greeks, was rededicated to YHVH and His worship and service restored.

The Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah as it came to be known, was celebrated for eight days (as Tabernacles plus the 8th Day of Assembly which follows it, makes an eight day festival), and to commemorate the miracle of one day's supply of oil lasting for eight days, a special Hanukkah menorah with nine lights on it instead of the usual seven was lit, one candle per day until on the eighth day all nine candles were lit. The central candle was known as The Servant, and was the light from which all the other lights were lit, and was not counted as one of the eight lights. Here is a picture of a regular menorah, such as would have been in the Temple, and here is a Hanukkah menorah.

There is no right way to celebrate Hanukkah; but it begins on the 25th day of the 9th biblical month and runs for eight days. On the first day, the first candle of the Hanukkah menorah is lit; on the second day, the first and second candles are lit, and so on through the feast. On the feast days it is always good to remember why we celebrate them, and such was even commanded for fathers to teach their children in Torah (Exo 13:3-8, for example). Reading 1 and 2 Maccabees in portions each night for the eight nights of the feast is good. (There are 16 chapters in 1 Mac, and 15 in 2 Mac; so 2 chapters per night if only 1 Mac is read, or 4 chapters per night if both books are read.)

Also, feast dinners with family and friends are enjoyed each night of the feast, in which foods fried in oil are traditional. After the meal, usually the family visit, play games, and wine, singing, and dancing to all hours is usual. :) It is only recently that gift- giving, in an effort to compete with Christmas, has become a part of the celebration.