Category: Torah Study

Selected verses from the Torah for Hebrew study

The Divine Transposition…

John J Parsons

There is a “transposition” of values, a “holy irony,” in the realm of the Spirit. From God’s perspective that which considered great in the eyes of men is considered of little account, and that which is considered insignificant in the eyes of men is considered of great importance (Luke 9:48). The wisdom of this world (i.e., pragmatic, self-promoting egotism, etc.) is regarded as folly before God (1 Cor. 1:20, 3:19). Therefore Yeshua “made himself nothing” and disguised himself in the form of a lowly servant (ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών). Unlike various systems of religion that attach merit and status to those who have attained “respectable levels” of personal sanctity, those who are called “great” in the Kingdom of Heaven will be identified as the servants of all (Mark 9:35; 10:44). Like the hidden light of the menorah in the Tabernacle, the deeds of the humble are beheld inwardly, where the Heavenly Father sees in secret (Matt. 6:4). As Yeshua Himself said, כִּי מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים בְּקִרְבְּכֶם / “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Spiritual pride is inherently self-flattering, self-exalting, and therefore antithetical to spiritual life. Indeed, the term itself is an oxymoron (e.g., like “bittersweet”), since genuine spirituality is always rooted in humility (i.e., anavah: עֲנָוָה). The humble soul understands its finitude and radical contingency — and therefore understands its absolute need for God’s help. Spiritual pride is really a disguised mode of intolerance, a cocksure smugness regarding matters of infinite significance, and therefore represents a state of negation toward others… It is impatient to listen, spurns self-questioning, and refuses to accept uncertainty about some of life’s deepest questions. Such pride often pretends to “have the answers” regarding all the riddles and mysteries of life. Humility, on the other hand, confesses that it does not always know and is not always so sure. It is a state of openness, of listening, of being teachable. It is aware of our insufficiency, our frailties, and our limitations…

“You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors” (C.S. Lewis: The Weight of Glory). Regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election, understand that the LORD is upon the throne forever, and it is God who sets up and dethrones powers and authorities according to His good pleasure (see Psalm 75:6-7; Prov. 16:33; Job 42:2; Lam. 3:37-39; Sam. 2:7; Rom. 9:17, Col. 1:16-17, etc). “All the nations are as nothing before Him; he regards them as nothingness and unreality” (Isa. 40:17).

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“Blessed are those who weep while the world goes on laughing, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are the meek, for they shall overcome; blessed are those who realize they know little, for they shall find treasure; blessed are those who realize they are unrighteous, for they shall find healing; blessed are the misfits who are disowned by the world as fools, for they shall find mansions in heaven; blessed are the weak, for they shall be made strong; blessed are those who weep, for they shall obtain eternal consolation; blessed are those who refuse to assimilate into this world and its idols, for they shall be called victors in the world to come…”

God turns everything “upside down,” for what is esteemed in this world is regarded as vanity in the world to come, and vice-versa. The Scriptures teach, “Light is sown for the righteous (tzaddikim), and joy for the upright (yashar) in heart” (Psalm 97:11). May it please the LORD God to renew our courage to live wholeheartedly according to His truth, and to resist the pressure to conform to the idolatry of this world. Amen.

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Behar-Buchukotai podcast….

John J Parsons

Shavuah Tov, chaverim! The next two weeks we will read the last two portions of the great Book of Leviticus (ספר ויקרא), namely, parashat Behar and Bechukotai (בהר־בחקתי). May God our Heavenly Father help us draw near and take hold… Like a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD is compassionate toward those who revere Him (כְּרַחֵם אָב עַל־בָּנִים רִחַם יְהוָה עַל־יְרֵאָיו, Psalm 103:13). Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek – “Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened!”

In addition to the two Torah portions, I discuss the holidays of Mem B’Omer (ascension of Messiah) and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) and what these mean to followers of Yeshua the Messiah. I hope you will find it helpful.

Read more “Behar-Buchukotai podcast….”

Torah of Tears…

John J Parsons

The Scriptures are filled with desperate cries from the wounded of heart… “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” (Psalm 13:1-2). “Make haste to help me, O LORD, my salvation!” (Psalm 38:22). “My soul melts away from grief; strengthen me according to your word” (Psalm 119:28). “Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit” (Psalm 143:7). God know that “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov. 13:12), so there can be no turning to God, no teshuvah, apart from the presence of real hope (תִּקְוָה). Indeed, as the Apostle Paul wrote: “We are saved by hope” (Rom. 8:24).

The apostle Peter wrote, “for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Pet. 1:6), which indicates that sorrow and grief are part of the walk of faith. Troubles, oppression, heartache, loneliness, loss, and so on, can grieve and seriously depress us. Lev yodea marat nafsho, “the heart knows its own bitterness” (Prov. 14:10). The cry of the heart is directed heavenward: “I am suffering terribly; O LORD, revive me according to your word” (Psalm 119:25); “for I am on the verge of collapse; my pain is always with me” (Psalm 38:17). We must be careful not to judge those who are hurting by regarding them as weak in faith or perhaps even deserving of their sorrows. On the contrary, the Lord sometimes allows the soul to be grieved by various trials; the heart is broken, the light of the eye grows dim… and there is no ready answer….

Read more “Torah of Tears…”

Parashat Emor Podcast…

John J Parsons

Our Torah portion for this week (parashat Emor) lists the eight main holidays revealed in the Jewish Scriptures. In the Torah, these “holidays” are called “appointed times” (i.e., mo’edim: מוֹעֲדִים), a word which comes from the Hebrew root meaning “witness” (עֵד). Other words from this root include edah (עֵדָה), a “congregation,” edut (עֵדוּת), a “testimony,” and so on. The related verb ya’ad (יָעַד) means “to meet,” “to assemble,” or even “to betroth.” The significance of the holy days, then, is for the covenant people of the LORD to bear witness to God’s love and faithfulness.

 

Emor Podcast:

 

Podcast for Yom Kippur (Acharei Mot)

John J Parsons

In this special “High Holiday” audio presentation, I discuss Yom Kippur and its themes, particularly in reference to the atonement given in the Messiah Yeshua, as well as parashat Ha’azinu, the Torah portion we always read between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  This audio is also applicable for those studying Acharei Mot Torah portion.

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Audio Podcast:

 

Parashat Kedoshim Podcast…

John J Parsons

Our Torah reading for this week, parashat Kedoshim, begins with the call for us to be “holy” or “set apart” on account of our relationship with LORD God: “Be ye holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). Holiness is perhaps best understood as a sense of the awe and sacredness inherent in the apprehension of Reality and Grace. The portion then goes on to define the expression of holiness in our relationship God and with others.

For example, though it is inevitable (and psychologically necessary) that we make judgments about other people, the Torah states, be’tzedek tishpot amitekha, “in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor” (see also John 7:24), which implies that we must use the “good eye” (ayin tovah) when we think of other people. Indeed, the focal point and the very heart of what practical holiness represents is stated as ve’ahavta le’re’akha kamokha – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Note that the direct object of the verb (ahav – to love) is your neighbor.

But who, exactly, is my neighbor? Some have claimed that the word rea (neighbor) refers only to one’s fellow Jew – not to others at large in the world. However this is obviously false, since the “stranger” (ger) is explicitly identified to be an object of our love (Lev 19:34). And note that Yeshua the Messiah answered this question by turning it around. Instead of attempting to find someone worthy of neighborly love, I am asked to be a worthy and loving neighbor myself (Luke 10:29-37).

 

Kedoshim Podcast:

 

 

Hebrew Lesson:

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Keeping your Focus…

John J Parsons

The walk of faith involves “kavanah” (כַּוָנָה), or focus; we are to “press on” (διώκω) to hear the upward call of God (Phil. 3:14). The problem for many of us is that we are distracted by other things, rendered indecisive, and therefore we hesitate to draw near to the Lord… A divided heart is at war within itself, “two-souled” (δίψυχος) and unstable in all its ways (James 1:8).

If “purity of heart is to will one thing,” then impurity of heart is the result of simultaneously willing two things… It is therefore a state of inner contradiction, of having two separate “minds” or “wills” that hold contrary thoughts or desires. Yeshua said that “a divided house cannot stand.” May it please God to heal us of such ambivalence by making our hearts whole, resolute, steadfast, full of conviction, and entirely awake to the glory of His Presence at our right hand (Psalm 16:8).

The LORD is always near; he is not far from each one of us. “Draw near to God (ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ) and he will draw near to you; purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). As it is written: “The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). May we be set free from lesser fears that divide the heart and rob the soul of shalom shelemah, God’s perfect peace… Amen.

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Yom HaShoah Audio Podcast…

John J Parsons1 Comment

In my audio podcast for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) I discuss some of the philosophical influences that led to the atrocities of the attempted genocide of the Jewish people, including the rise of the Idealism of G.W. Hegel and the pragmatic concept of the “dialectic” that was used to negate the value of the individual in preference to the collective…. Hegel directly influenced Karl Marx and his godless materialism and social revolutionary theories, and in general it may be said that German idealism led both to the nihilism of Friedrich Nietzsche and to barbarity of Adolf Hitler’s national socialism.

Listen to the podcast:

 

Philosophy and the Holocaust…

John J Parsons

The Holocaust did not happen in a vacuum but was theoretically justified by appeals to pragmatism and the denial of transcendental spiritual reality…

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It’s been said that modern politics operates on the basis of the so-called “Hegelian Dialectic,” a method of social engineering based on a rather dismal theory about how precious little people can actually know (or be allowed to know). This theory can be easily traced to the “critical philosophy” of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who taught that the human mind cannot transcend itself in order to apprehend ultimate reality. There are limits or boundaries to the mind’s ability to discover “things in themselves,” and at best we are left with methods (or paradigms) we devise (and imitate mimetically) by which we “manage appearances.” Even hard sciences, such as physics, can only deal with the phenomenal realm of life. The inner working of reality — the “noumenal” — is sealed off as essentially unknowable. We are left only with postulates, hypothetical constructs, models, etc., but knowledge is essentially constrained by fundamental structures of consciousness (e.g., the categories of space and time) from which we interpret any possible experience.

 

 

Instead of accepting the limits of the human mind that Kant outlined (the “antinomies of reason”), however, G.W. Hegel (1770-1831) went on to claim that the mind itself is its own endpoint, and therefore the interplay of ideas is itself ultimate reality. In other words, Hegel was an “idealist,” by which is meant that ideas (mental constructs) are the substrata of reality. The phenomenal realm is the product of the mind, after all, and therefore it is the very thing Kant said could not be known — i.e., the noumenal.

 

 

The Hegelian Dialectic is what I call “the devil’s logic,” based as it is on compromise, calling evil good and good evil, hissing out a seductive appeal to a supposed “higher synethesis” of esoteric knowledge, claiming superiority to the commonsense truth claims of experience, justifying human atrocities, barbarity, callous pragmatism, and even cold-blooded murder for the sake of power and control. From Hegel sprang Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and from Nietzsche sprang Hitler and modern fascism. Propagandists and disinformation specialists are masters at the “Problem → Reaction → Solution” technique for coercing social change. It’s the prevailing dogma of the princes of this world, and it is regularly at work in the halls of power today.

 

 

 

Audio Podcast:

 

 

Parashat Shemini Podcast…

John J Parsons

This week’s Torah reading, called Shemini (“eighth”), continues the account of the seven-day ordination ceremony for the priests that was described earlier in parashat Tzav. During each of these “seven days of consecration,” Moses served as the first High Priest of Israel by offering sacrifices and training the priests regarding their duties. On the eighth day however, (i.e., Nisan 1), and just before the anniversary of the Passover, Aaron and his sons began their official responsibilities as Israel’s priests. It is no coincidence that the inauguration of the sanctuary is directly connected to the Passover, since the daily sacrifice of the Lamb served as an ongoing memorial of the Exodus from Egypt — and indeed the laws of sacrifice form the central teaching of the Torah itself. In this connection, we again note that the central sacrifice of the Tabernacle was that of a defect-free lamb offered every evening and morning upon the altar in the outer court, along with matzah (unleavened bread) and a wine offering, signifying the coming of the true Passover Lamb of God and his great sacrifice for us.

Note that this audio broadcast also includes discussion about Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the Hebrew month of Iyyar and its significance in the countdown to the climactic holiday of Shavuot (“weeks” or “Pentecost”).

 

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