by Rod Thomas | Jun 25, 2015 | Blog
Who Do You Think You Are?
Deuteronomy 9:4-29
Verses 4-6 of part 3 of parashah 46 sort of puts us in our respective places, so to speak. Moshe reminds us thusly:
“Don’t think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you (speaking of the nations occupying the land of promise), it is to reward my righteousness that Yahovah has brought me in to take possession of this land. No, it is because these nations have been so wicked that Yahovah is driving them out ahead of you. It is not because of your righteousness or because your heart is so upright that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that Yahovah your Elohim is driving them out ahead of you and also to confirm the word which Yahovah swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov. Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that Yahovah your Elohim is giving you this good land to possess…”
Bottom line friends: it’s never been about us–it’s always been about Him. We benefit from the purpose and will of Yahovah in the earth. Our obedience affords us the opportunity to serve and live fruitful, productive and blessed lives. Those nations that Yahovah moved out of our way as we took possession of the land were moved because of their wickedness and because it served the perfect will of Father. We need to get over ourselves and stop thinking that we are so deserving and that we’ve arrived. Verse 6 slams reality in our faces as Yahovah reminds us that we are a “stiffnecked people” who gave Yahovah through Moshe no end to frustration and misery all these 40-years.
The ensuing verses rehearse our history in the desert and how we transgressed Yahovah’s commands and the covenant that He made with us. Oh how quickly we “forgot” Abba and His commands. So disappointing were we to Abba that He threatened to destroy us and start all over with Moshe as recorded in Exodus 32:9, 10. It was Moshe’s intercession on our behalf (a precursor to Y’shua Messiah who intercedes on our behalf before the throne of Yahovah) that saved us from certain doom. And this rebellion and disobedience repeated itself over again and again. Each transgression Moshe interceded on our behalf and Father’s wrath was abated.
Who are we to think that we’ve arrived. Who are we to entertain that we are beyond reproach. I know for myself, that this scenario has played out in my life countless times. I can only fall down on my face and ask Yahovah for forgiveness and not repeat the mistakes again. Yet it was only by the grace and patience and mercy of the Father that I am still here today. It is only through the intercessions on my behalf by Y’shua HaMashiyach that I can call upon the name of Yahovah today and that I seek to do His will and obey and keep His Torah. Otherwise, I could have very easily been left off to the side to fend for myself and reap that which I’ve sown. We must constantly be cognizant of our position in this spiritual equation. It is only when we understand who we are and understand our position in this spiritual equation, then we are truly blessed. Y’shua, in the well-known Beatitudes, so poignantly laid it out to us:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat. 5:3)
Many believe this to be referring to individuals who are the rejected and poor in our society; the homeless; the dejected; the simple minded of us who seem to never have been afforded a chance in this life. Indeed, this could be the case to some degree. But I submit to you that Y’shua Messiah was primarily speaking to a state of being or even a state of mind and understanding. He was speaking to us having that mindset of knowing from whence we’ve come and of that which we are capable of doing–that is, prone to evil and sin and it is only by the mercies of Father that we still exist in His presence. When we grasp this reality and understand what and who we are, and that we in no way deserving of Yahovah’s good graces, then we are truly happy (i.e., blessed). Oh, it’s not about being in a perpetual state of depression and “woe is me” in response to our sinful nature. Not at all. It’s about being of a mindset that is always seeking and longing for His (i.e., Yahovah’s) gentle touch and mercy; always being on guard of our propensity to transgress Torah and offend Yahovah; always aware that–as the Brother of our Lord and Savior so aptly wrote: “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17). Thank you Father for your grace and gentle mercies this day for you are our God and our Father–beautiful in every divine perfection. Loving us in spite of ourselves, yet your justice prevails through the dispensation of your Torah and through the work of your Son and our older brother Y’shua HaMashiyach.
Thus our Torah Living Daily Challenge today is to always keep in the back of our mind from whence we’ve come. We’ve not arrived. Yes, we have the awesome potential to become Yah’s Kings/Queens and Priests in the earth as we have been redeemed by the blood of Mishiyach; as we conform to the image and example of Mishiyach in the midst of a perverted world; and as we accomplish Yahovah’s perfect will for our lives through the agency of Ruach HaKodesh. So when we come upon that all too familiar feeling that swells up within us of pride and self-aggrandizement because Yah has used us in some way or another, that we step back and examine the bigger picture; ask ourselves, why has Yahovah used me and how may I be of greater assistance to Him and the Kingdom. That we remember from whence we’ve come and how far we must go. How thus by the grace of Yahovah that we could be destitute and without hope like so many millions of people in the earth. That simple reality should prompt us to do whatever we can–using whatever available time we have in the day–to make ourselves available to Yahovah to do the work of the Kingdom. Shalom.
by Rod Thomas | Jun 24, 2015 | Blog
Remembering God
Deuteronomy 8:11-9:3
Part 2 of Parashah 46 (Because) reminds us to “Be careful not to forget Adonai (i.e., Yahovah) your God.” (verse 11). How is it even possible to forget the Creator one could ask, at least that was the question in my mind initially. But when we think about it, how often have we gone through our day and have not spent the quality time we should with the Father? I know that I have had days when my connection with the Father has been lacking. More so, I’m sure that there have been days when the cares of this life has drowned out the Father’s voice in your life, as it has often done in mine. Oh, forgetting the Father is certainly possible. Take for instance Hilary, my wife: I’ve gone to work for the day and for whatever reason, the dynamics of my day prevented me from calling or even texting her. When I arrive home from work on such days, it’s not uncommon for her to ask me: “did you think about me today? I didn’t hear from you.” Hey, talk about a way to jolt me back over to the things in life that are most important. Indeed, nothing is more important in this life than the relationships that the Father has given us. Of course, the top two relationships are our relationship with the Almighty, number one. Number two, the relationship we have with our spouses or if not married, whoever is our direct-next-of kin. Caring for those relationships are the most important thing in our lives. Everything else pales in comparison.
I’m reminded here of the lawyer, likely a Scribe, who asked the Master what he likely assumed to be a challenging question; that being, “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” (Mat 22:36 CJB). Bear in mind that this particular challenge came on the heels of a likely “set-up” on the part of the religious establishment to entangle the Master on trumped-up charges of heresy and or violation of Torah (more so Judaism than Torah). (reference Matthew 22:15) The lawyer’s or Scribe’s question was probably one of the most profound questions any man could ask of the Master (despite the intent behind the question). Yahovah requires order and obedience to His commands and understanding just what our responsibilities are is pivotal to the well-being of our relationship with the Father. We all know the Master’s response, that being–Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mat 22:37-40 KJV)
The question that must be answered and the foundation of today’s Torah Challenge is, how do we remember–or better–how does one love God?
Moshe provides the answer to the challenge–we remember Yahovah (that is we love Yahovah) by keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes. (reference Deu. 8: 11) According to the TWOT Lexicon, to forget Yehovah is to ignore His commandments; it’s to follow other gods as noted in Deu 8:19; to stand in fear of harm and danger as well as to live fretfully and timidly as noted in Isa 51:13;. it is to challenge Him as noted in Psa 106:13.
After all that the Children of Promise went through and the things that indescribable exploits that they witnessed of the Creator, it seems counter-intuitive that one would ignore Yahovah’s commandments, or follow after other gods or live in fear and timidity. How could this be possible? Deu 8:12 and Hos 13:6 suggest “satiety” as one of the greatest precipitating factors leading to one forgetting Yahovah. Satiety is a state or feeling of being full, such as after eating a meal. When we are sated, we often feel confident and desire nothing more. We become lax and seek to delve within ourselves. As it would relate to this Torah portion, if we fall into the trap of being too comfortable, we will tend to tune Yehovah out. I find it interesting that we say “grace” over our meal before we consume it, but we don’t thank Him for it afterwards. I’m not saying it’s wrong to “grace” our meals before consuming it. I’m only saying that being thankful for the meal we’ve just eaten is typically the furthest thing from our minds. How about going on a trip? We typically ask Yehovah for traveling mercies, but when we arrive to our destination, we go about our business without so much as a thank you to Abba for His safe passage. Why, because we are sated as it relates to our safe and secure arrival. From verses 12 to 14 Yehovah tells us that there was a good chance of forgetting Him and His instruction once we were settled in the land and have received the tremendous blessings that had been promised to us. Verse 14 provides the likely outcome: “then your heart will become proud and you will forget Yehovah our Elohim who brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Unfortunately, Yehovah knew our hearts well in advance of our ever entering into the land of promise. We would forget His Torah once we were settled and took on a state of being sated and secure within the confines of our blessed lives. Oh how many of us have fallen into this trap. Yehovah has blessed us and in return we abandoned His ways. We’ve even compromised our standards which must always be Yahovah’s standards. Often we’ve completely placed Yehovah on a shelf to collect dust just as we’ve done with our bibles. Why? Because we’ve been so busy ensuring that our lives remain happy and content.
I’ve said all this that I may submit to you that we must always be on guard that our personal situations in this life do not cause us to forget Yahovah. We must always be cognizant that Yehovah is our primary focus in life and that we must always be in a position to obey Him, trust Him, to avoid at all costs those things in our lives that take our focus away from Him; or even to not challenge Him (such as not seeking His counsel on the weighty things in life). Thus verse 11 directs us to not forget Yehovah’s commandments and ordinances and statutes. In other words, we must not forget to keep His Torah. In order for us to not forget His Torah, we must constantly study His Torah with the mindset and heartset to readily obey. This is why we have the example of our forefathers to keep us in line. We are more fortunate than our forefathers. They had to live through the crucible of the wilderness and the abject testing and refinement of Yehovah. We have their example and thus in theory our feeble attempts to stay true to Torah should be easier by factors of 1000s. But then, when our forefathers were in the wilderness, their survival, their existence, their wellbeing was totally reliant upon Yehovah. There was no one else. They had nothing apart from that which they brought with them when they left Egypt. Thus they learned obedience as well as they learned the consequences of disobedience. There was little distraction to their intense situation, with the exception of the surrounding nations’ gods that they occasionally came into contact with whenever they sent the occupying nation packing. Today, our focus is distracted by the television, the media, work, bills, extra-curricular activities, relationships, keeping-up with the Jones’, careers, etc. We have limited room and time in our minds and lives. Thus, we have to push some things to the side. Unfortunately, more times than not, it is Yahovah that we push to the side. We must fight with our whole being to resist this tendency.
Many in the various denominations that claim to know and honor and worship our Father and our Lord and Savior Yahoshua HaMashiyach contend that it is impossible to keep Torah. We know that sin is transgression of Torah. So in other words, our cousins in denominational churchianity believe that it is impossible to live a sinless life. I would submit to you today that living the life that many of us in the Hebraic Roots and Messianic communities have chosen to live, is indeed not easy. However, keeping Torah in its entirety is certainly doable. I refer you to the writings of the physician Luke:
NAS Luke 1:5 ¶ aIn the days of Herod, king of Judea, there 1was a certain priest named 2Zacharias, of the bdivision of 3Abijah; and he had a wife 4 from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. (Luk 1:5 NAS) NAS Luke 1:6 And they were both arighteous in the sight of God, walking bblamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. (Luk 1:6 NAS)
I don’t know, sounds like these down to earth, beautiful people of Yahovah were able to keep Torah without a problem. Oh, some might contend that this is not what this passage really means. Well, I’m just going by what I’m reading and taking everything in context. There is a reason why Dr. Luke mentioned this fact in his introduction of this couple to us. I don’t know the entire reason why, but I can certainly guess a lot of it has to do with who these folks were and the role they would play in the redemption story to follow. But suffice to say, Dr. Luke was led by the Ruach Kodesh to certify this couple’s keeping of Torah.
We as a people always have issues with obedience to the Creator, whether we openly admit it or not. There is a nature of rebellion in us that fights against the ways of our Father. Yet there are those of us in society who accomplish great and amazing things that I believe makes keeping of Torah pale in comparison. I watched a documentary one Sunday afternoon that chronicled the climbing of “K2” by a group of mountain climbers. For those of you who may not know, K2 is one of the tallest mountains in the world. It is one of a range of mountains located in the Himalayas. It’s treacherous terrain and adverse weather conditions have claimed the lives of more people than that of Mount Everest, known as the tallest mountain in the world. The documentary gave me insight into the types of people who would take on such a “monumental” challenge; who would endure such adverse conditions; who were able to push through the most alien conditions that are inhospitable to human existence. These people fashioned their lives around the climbing of this and other similar mountains. They embarked on a strict regimen of exercise, diet and conditioning that pushed their bodies to a level that permitted them to not only survive the elements and conditions of the climb, but also to remain calm and maintain a positive mindset even when the bravest of us in the world would curl up in a ball in a corner somewhere and cry for our mommies like a little child. These people were relentless in their pursuit of excellence and accomplishments and a few of them were successful in accomplishing the mission of making it to the top of K2 (although no one accomplished this in the episode I saw, but the credits afterwards spoke to one or more making a successful ascent to the summit). Others, despite their superhuman conditioning, died in the attempt to scale the mountain. This is just one example of lifestyles that groups of people adopt and are successful in establishing and maintaining–not only successful but they thrive in the lifestyle. So why do we fall for the bull that we are incapable of keeping Torah. Certainly we will make mistakes along the way and we’ll falter. Every disciplined athelete and professional comes upon days when they fail to make the mark. We’re human. But these unique individuals get back up on their horses and continue the ride. These individuals not only make a supreme effort to not repeat the failure again, these also take note and learn from their mistakes. We can learn from these unique people as we take on the regimen of living a holy life through Torah. We, however, have an aid. We have the Ruach Kodesh to lead us; to energize us; to bring scripture to our remembrance when needed; to rebuke us; to unify us; to lift us above the filth and evil of this world; to magnify the voice of Yahovah so that we may know His voice and obey His commands. We can do this.
Verses 15 through 18, in a quick overview, goes over the many exploits and dangers and experiences we had as we sojourned in the desert. Everything from being fed matzah from heaven and given water out of rock to drink; to enduring the many dangers of the desert to include scorpions and snakes. Then in verse 18 Yehovah reminds us that we must never delude ourselves into thinking that we completed our journey on our own power. Everything came from Him and through His providence. Again, the fear that the Father had was that we would enter the land of promise, become sated, and then gradually forget about Him. And we went over once again how we so easily forget Abba by failing to keep and obey His Torah and then go a-whoring after other gods. The kicker in forgetting Abba is that it ultimately leads to our destruction–in one way or another.
Our Torah Challenge today is: Remembering Yahovah. We do that by keeping (studying, learning, knowing and obeying) His Torah.
Personal side note: one way to help us remember Yahovah and His Torah is by wearing tzitzits wherever we go. I began wearing tzitzits going on 2-years now, whenever I leave the house–be it to run an errand, to fellowship, a conference and even to work. Tzitzits are personal reminders to remember Yahovah and His Torah. (Reference Num. 15:38, 39)
by Rod Thomas | Jun 23, 2015 | Blog
Deu. 7:12-8:10–Read Torah Daily and Obey
Commentary
Continuing my foray into Torah, I’ve come to this Torah portion, #46, day 1, entitled “Because.” For the newbies among us, every Torah portion takes from the first verses of that portion a descriptive word that summarizes the gist of the entire portion. Although the concept of Torah portions is not Biblically based (so to speak)–believed to have come on-line after the Babylonian captivity sometime around the 6th or 5th-century BCE and around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah–it is a concept that can be useful in keeping our heads, eyes and minds in Torah on a daily and weekly basis. I’ve not gone to the point of adhering to Torah portions in accordance with the Jewish-calendar; in fact I go out of my way to circumvent the association altogether choosing to read in accordance with the leading of the Rauch Kodesh and the amount of time it takes me to consume that which the Ruach wants me to learn and pass on; all before I move on to the next portion. Sometimes the amount of content that I’m led to consume from study of a single portion may take me a few days to complete. I’m not inclined to blow off the a leading of the Ruach just to stay in sync with a prescribed schedule of Torah reading. And that my friends is the gist of the challenge for us today–ensuring that we carve out of our busy schedules time to commune with Father and learn of Him and His ways and then apply those principles learned to our daily walk with Messiah.
This portion starts with what I prefer to describe as a “cause and effect” situation and that is why this portion is entitled “Because”: because you keep and obey Torah, Yahovah will keep the covenant and mercy that He swore to our forefathers (7:12). Yehovah will (1) love us; (2) bless us; (3) increase our numbers; (4) bless the fruit of our bodies and the fruit of our ground in the land that He promised to our ancestors; (5) He will remove all illnesses from us; (6) all the diseases inflicted upon Egypt will be instead placed upon those who hate us. Yehovah’s only requirement is for us to listen to and keep His “judgments” (also rendered as ordinances, rulings, regulations or laws). In doing so, He would remain with us as a nation, as a people, the covenant and love that He swore to Avraham, Yaachov and Yishak. For them, the agreement that Yehovah had was a two-way agreement like most contracts–they simply needed to keep the Father’s laws and in doing so, He (Yahovah) would maintain the promises given to them and extended back to our forefathers.
Assuming we kept His Laws and honored the covenant He made with us and our forefathers, then Yehovah would bless us more than all other peoples (7:13-14)–Yahovah swore to Avraham that his seed would be numerous as the stars in heaven and the sand specks of the dessert. In these 2-verses, Yahovah didn’t just promise to multiply us, but to also multiply our livestock and produce that would naturally go to sustain us as a people. All this simply by obedience to Yehovah’s Torah (Deu. 28). This same principle applies to us today. Are we realizing blessings in that which we do–be it our families, our relationships, our work and careers? Are we seeing these things manifested as a result of our obedience to Yah’s laws and precepts. If Yahovah is indeed true to His word and we are grafted onto the olive tree that is Israel, should we not realize the same blessings? Indeed, we in the Hebraic Roots community have cast a dim eye towards the prosperity movement that seemed to dominate traditional Christianity in the 90s and 2000s. But what if those “jack-leg” preachers were really onto something? What if they weren’t that far away from the truth. What if, instead of realizing blessings because we send that preacher $100 of our hard-earned money, we realized these stated blessings of Deuteronomy because we were obedient to Torah? Could this be the very thing that the traditionalist has missed? Indeed, something to ponder.
We were commanded to “devour” all the peoples that He would hand over to us. These would be shown no pity (7:16). How does this apply to us today? When we do not slay and devour the enemies in our lives, we tend to set ourselves up for future problems and eventual failure–just like our ancestors preparing to enter Canaan. I’m not talking about slaying the individuals in our lives that we deem to be physical, flesh and blood enemies. I’m talking about slaying the movies, the entertainment, the habits, the social circles, the music, the careers, the material objects, certain relationships; all the things that we find surrounding us and demanding our attention. When we fail to view these things as enemies and we fail to take action to eliminate them from our lives, then we are setting ourselves up to fall prey to them. We find ourselves bowing down to them and serving them as gods in our lives. We become consumed by them. We are influenced by them. We seek benefits from them that we shouldn’t. How many of us are constantly seeking greater and greater fortunes from our chosen careers? I certainly have. Do we not ultimately become consumed with seeking after promotions and increased wealth from our careers? Do we then not find ourselves bowing down to them–granted not physically bowing down. But we find ourselves compromising ourselves in order to gain favor with the power brokers, the decision makers, the movers and shakers. Before you know it, we find ourselves committing to work on the Sabbath because we have to get some project or another done by Monday. Before you know it, we’re attending social gatherings associated with these ambitions and we find ourselves drinking a little too much; we are getting into conversations that we shouldn’t be in; we are eating things that we shouldn’t; we are compromising our virtues and our morals; we are making promises and lying; and so on and so on. We are commanded to devour these things however! I was there and I found myself doing things that I shouldn’t have, all because I wanted to be looked upon as a team player or a company man. And this principle can certainly play out in many areas of our lives. How often have we kept relationships that we shouldn’t and before you know it, you are compromising yourself for the sake of the relationship? Why? Because we want to be accepted, we want the perceived “benefits” that come from being one of the “gang.” Yahovah tells us not to serve their gods and not to be intimidated by the size of their population. Sometimes we feel that we have no choice but to give in to the bigger group: if you can’t beat them, join them; that sort of thing.
What about relationships in our families that cause us to compromise our convictions and Faith? Do we maintain them in order to make our lives better or to avoid problems? Parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, etc. What about those relationships that are hazardous to our Faith? How do we deal with them? Well, if the Torah is being our school-master, it is a life-exemplar by which we should follow. We must, then, take action against such relationships, right? We may not have to completely sever these relationships, but we will have to probably drastically alter them to such a state that they will have no future influence over us as Yah’s elect. We then are not to be concerned about not having these things, these relationships, and feel that we are going to be left out in the cold without the things that we need for life. We are to remember that Yahovah has performed great exploits on behalf of the Children of Promise and He will do the same for us today if we stay true to His Torah.
Additional Highlights of the Portion
- We are not to serve their gods–be they established false gods or materialistic and relational gods
- The size of the nations we were to chase out of the land should not be of any concern to us as we were once again reminded of the many exploits done by Yehovah against the Egyptians. Indeed, sometimes the enemies in our lives–again, be they physical or spiritual, may at times seem daunting and overwhelming. But we must always remember that “nothing is impossible for Yahovah.” (reference Mat. 17:20 & Luk. 1:37)
- We’ve witnessed great ordeals, signs, wonders, and with a strong hand and outstretched arm Yahovah brought us out of Egypt. Have we witnessed such wonders in our lives? Most of have not. But if we are able to step back and really ponder this thing, we might find that indeed, we have witnessed great wonders that we can only attribute to the the strong and mighty hand of Yahovah our Elohim. I’ve not seen a whole-lot of miracles and wonders in my life per se, but looking back, I’ve certainly been the recipient of a great deal of favor and mercy that could only have come through the intervention of the Father into my life. I should have died many times over simply because of the foolishness of my youth. Yet time and time again, looking back, I can see the providence of the Almighty all over my young life and how He has brought me to where I am today. I’m certain you can equally attest to this.
Yehovah will send hornets against our enemies so they perish ahead of our onslaught (7:20)–Holladay Lexicon describes the hornet as “depression, discouragement.” However, there are some who believe these “hornets” to be actual hornets or wasps that were sent ahead of the Israeli juggernaut. One commentary says: “Let them not be disheartened by the weakness and deficiency of their own forces; for God will send them in auxiliary troops of hornets, or wasps, as some read it in verse 20, probably larger than ordinary, which would so terrify and molest their enemies ( and perhaps be the death of many to them) that their most numerous armies would become an easy prey to Israel. God plagued the Egyptians with flies, but the Canaanites with hornets. Those who take not warning by less judgments on others may expect greator on themselves. But the great encouragement of Israel was that they had God among them…” (Matthew Henry Commentary) When we think about the future, one can only imagine what Yehovah will send in advance of those of us who are coming out of Babylon for the land of promise in the last days. Our Father loves to imitate or repeat exploits that He has performed in the past. Certainly, He seems also enjoy outdoing the exploits of the past. If we live to see the last days, the exploits that Yahovah will perform on behalf of His chosen will certainly exceed those of the past.
More Highlights
- Yehovah will be there with us when we invade and occupy the enemy’s territory. He is great and fearsome.
- Yehovah will expel the nations ahead of Israel little by little. Yehovah knew that destroying the enemies all at once would result in the land being overrun by wild animals. He always has a plan that leaves nothing to chance.
- Yehovah will send one disaster after another on the nations until they are destroyed. How many of us have been in a pickle and Father has taken care of it without so much as the slightest input from us? It can and it does happen, whereby Father takes care of our problems for us without so much as a thought from us.
- Each king was to be wiped out and their names forgotten
- The statues (specially all idols) are to be burned up. what does that say to us today? Anything of negative influence that Father has taken out of lives must be completely and utterly destroyed. How many of us have remnants of things that held us in bondage in the past; yet we still hold on to those things? Do we not realize that those hanging chads will serve to ensnare us and take us right back to where we were before? Many drug addicts who have been delivered from their drug addicted life will often maintain a stash of drugs just in case…in case of what? Or they will hold onto their suppliers’ contact information and connections. Why? Because??? What in our lives have we held on to from our past that can have no possible benefit or purpose apart from providing a portal back to the life we’ve been delivered from. We must eliminate these statues in our lives.
- We were not to be desirous of the gold and silver on these statues as they are traps.
- These idols are abhorrent to Adonai our Elohim. Thus we are to not bring anything abhorrent into our homes, otherwise we will share in the curse that is on it. We are to detest these things as Yehovah does. It’s not until we have the mind of Yahovah through the Spirit of Yahoshua, then we are able to reject the things around us that are anti-Torah. Once we see these things as Yahovah does, then we will act accordingly and live blessed lives.
Yehovah took us 40-years through the desert to humble and test us for purposes of knowing where our hearts are–observing to see if we’d obey His mitzvot or not (8:2) But why? Yehovah is all about what is in our hearts. He has never wanted simple robots to become His children. Thus, He gives us rules and precepts to live by and then He tries/tests (Heb. nasah) us. The traditionalist pompously contends that he/she need not follow the commandments or the Torah and by one following Torah, he or she has fallen from grace. But everything must always go back to its natural start. Yehovah never changes. Thus, if we are only concerned with grace and nothing else, how does Yehovah know what’s in our heart, our inner being, our constitution apart from it being evil and contrary to Him and His ways? If we are unwilling to follow His commands and trust in Him to provide for us and to do as He leads, are we worthy to be considered by Him as His child? 2 Chron 32:31 records: “Howebit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” You see, I believe that most of us reject Torah because we feel incapable of keeping and obeying it. We want to do things our way and in the end, the Father is really not the central focus of our lives. Oh, we believe He exists, but He is not the most important thing in our lives. We place Him in the back of the buses in our lives. But as Yehovah did with Israel, He is looking for a people who will place Him first in their lives. And when we indicate to Him that indeed He is central in our lives, He then tries us and tests us to see where our hearts are.
Thus we have been challenged dear saint, to read and obey His Torah and so by doing, we will be most blessed among the nations of people who do not know Him. Shalom.
by Rod Thomas | Jun 20, 2015 | Blog
What is the difference between a Greek and Hebrew mindset?
Have you ever thought about what it means when someone tells you you have a “Greek mindset?” Well, “Hebrew mindset” and the “Greek mindset” refers to the fact that there is a difference in their respective way of thinking about life, about God, and about Truth. Both the Hebrews and the Greeks were “set” in their thinking about what and how they believed. To the Hebrew God was an easy concept; He was their Creator.
The Greeks, on the other hand, were more prone to be atheistic or agnostic. That is why Rav Shaul (the Apostle Paul) used different approaches when he spoke to the Hebrew and Greek cultures. In speaking to the Hebrews, he could preach the Gospel directly because they already believed in God and in creation. But in his dealings with the Greeks, he first had to present Messiah Yeshua as the Creator God before actually giving them the Gospel.
Rav Shaul (Paul) points out that the “arm of YHWH” is Y’shua who, while on Earth, is addressed in human terms, where Mari (my Master) is more appropriate. This does not mean that Y’shua is not called YHWH elsewhere but, rather, is a forceful way of identifying the source of this “arm” which relates directly to YHWH’s name and His chosen messenger. He is the only “messenger” in the Tanakh with the ability to forgive sin and to officiate in the Name of YHWH, as opposed to the title of “El” (Exodus 23:20-22). The angels all have only YHWH’s “title” within their names: Gabri-el, Rapha-el, Micha-el….
Here’s something that will blow your mind: The “Greek” mindset imagines a tatoo or something similar on the thigh of Y’shua (Jesus) when he returns as “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (Rev. 19:11-13,16). But the Hebrew mindset sees something more realistic: The tzit-tzits (braid/knots/tassels) of Yeshua’s tallit (prayer shawl) falling across his thighs when He returns to earth atop a white horse!
What are we saying? Well, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. Consequently, the knots of the tassels on the four corners of a tallit spell out the name of YHWH….(There are actually different trains of thought about this, depending on how the knots are tied. The Sephardics tie the knots in windings of 10, 5, 6, 5 which spells out the numeric values of “YHWH” but the Ashkenazies use windings of 7, 8, 11, 13 which, adds up to 39, which is the numerical equivalent of Deuteronomy 6:4 which cites the Shema.)
Another example of a Hebrew as opposed to Greek mindset can be seen in their respective calendars/timelines. For instance, according to God, a “day” is from “sunset to sunset” (Genesis 1:5) as opposed to “midnight to midnight”. He called the days of the week the “first day”, “second day”, etc., whereas “the world” has named its days and months after pagan gods….
by Rod Thomas | Jun 18, 2015 | Blog
What is Torah? Here is a condensed explanation.
YHWH (God the Father) created everything, including Man. He commanded all living things – the birds, fish and animals – to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:21-25).
He gave man some rules to follow as well. That is called “Torah” (YHWH’s “do’s and don’t’s”; His Divine Instructions in Righteousness, the first five Books of the Bible). It started out with some simple rules for Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28); “Don’t eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden” (Genesis 2:16 and 17); and “Name all the animals” (Genesis 2:19-20).
Adam and Eve ended up committing the first sin by breaking YHWH’s Torah command to not eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden (Genesis 3), and consequently, they were kicked out into the world to experience “good and evil.”
As the world’s population began to grow, YHWH was forced to add more and more rules to keep mankind in line. Most ended up getting totally away from God; and because of this, the world as a whole, became evil and decadent and He decided to destroy it (the story of Noach, Genesis 6). Fortunately for us, Noah was a righteous man (apparently the ONLY righteous man) and YHWH decided to spare him and his family, and allowed them to restart mankind (Genesis 7 and 8).
As mankind began to flourish on earth once more, YHWH again had to make more rules to keep them in line (i.e., read about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 and also the destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah in Genesis 19).
In Genesis 12, He did something awesome: He spoke to Abraham, the pagan Chaldean and told him he would ultimately be made the father of “a great nation” (Israel) – and to get out of his own country and go to a land he would be shown. Because Abraham decided to obey YHWH, he not only physically “crossed over” into a new land, but also spiritually – which is why He became the first “Hebrew” (Hebrew means “to cross over”). Abraham was our first Patriarch. Please note he was NOT a “Jew.”
Genesis goes on to outline the history of YHWH’s people, the Hebrews. It is important to note these people were NOT ” Jews,” because there were no Jews until after our Third Patriarch, Jacob, had one of his 12 sons (who became “the 12 Tribes of Israel”) whom he named Yehudah (or, Judah, where the term “Jew” originated). Although nobody was a “Jew” until Judah became the Tribe of Judah, EVERY believer in YHWH up until that time was Torah observant: Cain and Abel knew to present animal sacrifices (Genesis 4); Noah knew the difference between “clean and unclean” animals (Gen. 7:1-3), and all the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob obeyed YHWH’s Instructions!
That’s because they knew that He (via His Torah/Divine Instructions in Righteousness) was showing them how to live holy, set-apart lives. He meant Torah for ALL, as we can see in Numbers 15:13-16, wherein He reiterated FOUR TIMES that EVERYONE who chose Him would have to do exactly as His Chosen people – who were Torah observant.
Numbers 15: 13 “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'”
Romans 10: 12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH, over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. 13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH, will have life.
NOTE: It is important to understand that YHWH did NOT make His New Covenant with the Gentiles; He made it with those who were obedient to His divine Instructions! Same God, same rules for both the “natural” and the grafted-in” children….
Jeremiah 31: 31 “Here, the days are coming,” says ADONAI, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Y’hudah.
From this we see that Torah is a YHWH thing, not a “Jewish thing.” The reason Torah ultimately became associated with “Judaism” is because the Tribe of Judah was chosen to take Torah into the world and safeguard and preserve it (Genesis 49:10, Micah 4:2); and, let’s not forget that YHWH caused Yeshua our Messiah to be born into the Tribe of Yehudah/Judah!
Notice in Isaiah 53, we are given a glimpse of our Messiah! (Please read it, if you haven’t done so.) When YHWH caused the Messiah to be born as a human being indelibly linked to God as if by some invisible umbilical cord – we see throughout the Gospels that He came NOT to start any “religion” or change the rules; but rather, to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and expound upon and reiterate His Father’s Divine Instructions, and do everything His Father commanded (see Luke 4:43, Luke 8:1; also Acts 24:14 and Acts 28:23). As a human (albeit, with a Divine nature,[1] He did not have the right to change anything His Father ever commanded. He came to explain and show us how to properly obey and, and to reveal that man had been adding to the Word, thus binding people in man-made legalism and dogma.
[1] Put another way, a “nature” is like a body hidden behind a curtain. For those in the audience, nothing of that nature can be seen. Then, all of a sudden, a hand and part of an arm appears through the veil. While we know there is a body attached to that limb, the limb is all we see. Furthermore, that arm moves with full force, will and agreement of the mind that controls the body. For the viewers, the arm appearing out of the curtain is the qnoma (occurrence) and the hidden mind behind that limb’s movement is its kyanna (nature). (Source: Andrew Gabriel Roth’s Aramaic English New Testament – http://www.aent.org/, footnote to 1 Thess. 4:9)
Yes, we can say that Y’shua was YHWH (you cannot separate the “arm” – Isaiah 53:1 – from the body). He raised the dead, healed the sick, turned water into wine, calmed the storms, and somehow disappeared from a sealed tomb after His death. He came in the power of the Father for He was an “arm of YHWH (see Isaiah 53:1 and Acts 10:36-48), which made Him ONE with the Father.
Notice Yeshua never said that ANYTHING concerning proper worship of His Father would change after the Resurrection. For instance, He never once suggested that believers would be allowed to ignore the Seventh Day Sabbath (which is a SIGN between YHWH and His people – Ezekiel 20: 11; also see Exodus 20:8-11, Isaiah 56:2-7, Isaiah 58:13-14, and Isaiah 66:23). He never said He came to bring “Christianity” which should be splintered into nearly 40,000 denominations…a religion that teaches God’s laws are a “curse” and that “Jesus” came to abolish the law. He kept the Seventh Day holy, He celebrated the feasts, and He ate only kosher foods. He never once suggested His followers should do otherwise.
So you see, Torah is nothing more than our rules for living, given to us by YHWH! It is not a “curse” as some would have you believe, and it was never “done away with.” We cannot follow ALL of Torah today because most of the original “613 commands” (http://therefinersfire.org/original_commandments1.htm) were for the priests of the day; some were men while others were for women; some were only for a certain point in time; and some were meant to last forever, such as the Seventh Day Sabbath (http://therefinersfire.org/true_sabbath_day1.htm) and the Biblical Feasts (http://therefinersfire.org/feasts3.htm). Those are the ones we MUST comply with.
When the Messiah said “Follow me” (Matthew 8:22, 9:9), He meant we are to behave the way He did and obey Torah – the Word of YHWH! His death, as atonement for our sins did not mean we could simply keep on sinning and still obtain our place in the Kingdom! He meant we had our place so long as we did not continue to sin!
And Torah defines “sin.” Sin is transgression of Torah (1 John 3:4)
