An essential and basic principle of Bible interpretation is succinctly stated in the axiom: “a text without a context is a pretext,” and therefore we must endeavor to understand the New Testament in light of the Torah, not the other way around… Without the context of Torah, the meaning and terms of the New Testament will be obscure and subject to misunderstanding. Indeed, we must remember that the Messiah was “embedded” in the Jewish culture of his day (Gal. 4:4-5), and was fluent in Torah reading and study (Luke 4:16-21; John 4:22). Moreover, Yeshua plainly said that the Jewish Scriptures testify of Him: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27; John 5:39). We study Torah to know Yeshua, the “Living Torah” better, as he said: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matt. 13:52).

 

 

Some people claim that Jesus spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. Well, consider this. If the king of the Jews was required to “make a copy of sefer Torah,” then surely Yeshua, the great King of the Jews, the Mashiach, read Hebrew and understood kotzo shel yod (קוֹצוֹ שֶׁל יוֹד) – “every jot and tittle” of its meaning (see Matt. 5:17-19). Indeed, Yeshua knew the traditional Hebrew blessings, prayers, and hymns (Matt. 26:26-30); he chanted Hebrew in synagogue (Luke 4:16), and he reasoned with the sages in Jerusalem as a young boy (Luke 2:42-27). Surely the King of the Jews spoke lashon hakodesh, the holy language of Hebrew!

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Some people imagine spirituality as a climb upward, an “ascent of the soul” that aims to reach God through the performance of good deeds or religious rituals. But God does not say “at the end of the way you will find me,” but rather, “I AM the way, the very road under your feet, the Place (הַמָּקוֹם) where you are, the Bridge to the Father (John 14:6). “For all things come from You (כִּי־מִמְּךָ הַכּל), and from your hand we give to you” (1 Chron. 29:14). The LORD is Present in every “here” and every “now,” the Source of all we are. And no matter what our circumstances, we will find God if we search “bekhol levavkha” – with all our being, as it is written: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

The principle of the self-life, the ego, religious observance, “doing the law,” etc., is a spiritual dead-end because we are without life, without power. The word is this: God gives strength to the weary, to the faint, to those who are without potency or power. But this means that we first must be emptied, broken, and stripped of our self-sufficiency before the strength of God is manifest in us: “My power is made perfect (τελειοῦται) in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). None of this flatters the ego. God’s way is first to break us, to make us weaker and weaker, so that he can then fill us with the miraculous divine nature. Like all sacrifices that were brought to the altar, we must pass through death to life by means of our union with the Messiah at the cross… It is only after the cross that it may be said, “It is no longer ‘I’ who lives; now it is Messiah who lives His life in me” (Gal. 2:20). There is indeed strength, power, and victory – but such comes after the cross, after we reckon carnal energy as useless. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Adonai Tzeva’ot” (Zech. 4:6).

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In our Torah portion for this week (Shoftim) we read: “You shall be wholehearted with the LORD your God” (Deut. 18:13). Note that the word “wholehearted” in this verse (i.e., tamim: תָּמִים) is often translated as “perfect” or “blameless” in many Bible versions, though it is better to understand the word to connote being made “complete” or “whole.” When God said to Abraham, “I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be tamim (Gen. 17:1), he was not saying “be perfect” or “don’t ever make a mistake,” but rather be fully engaged, that is, to walk before God passionately, sincerely, with all his heart, and by doing so to “walk out” the relationship with full assurance that he is accepted and beloved by God. Likewise when Yeshua said “Be therefore perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), he meant that we should be complete, finished, and “made whole” by knowing and receiving the overflowing love and light of God.

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Read more “Made Whole with God…”

The last month of the Jewish calendar (counting from Tishri) is called Elul (אֱלוּל), which begins at sundown on Wednesday, August 19th this year. Traditionally, Rosh Chodesh Elul marks the beginning of a forty day “Season of Teshuvah” that culminates on the solemn holiday of Yom Kippur. The month of Elul is therefore a time set aside each year to prepare for the Yamim Nora’im, the “Days of Awe,” by getting our spiritual house in order.  This year is especially important, friends, since time is short and the return of the Lord is imminent…

Beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul and continuing until the day before Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to blow the shofar (ram’s horn) every day (except for Shabbat). This practice was adopted to help us awaken for the coming High Holidays. The custom is to first blow tekiah (תְּקִיעָה), a long single blast (the sound of the King’s coronation), followed by shevarim (שְׁבָרִים), three short, wail-like blasts (signifying repentance), followed by teruah (תְּרוּעָה), several short blasts of alarm (to awaken the soul), and to close with tekiah hagadol (תְּקִיעָה הַגָּדוֹל), a long, final blast.

Read more “Forty Days of Teshuvah…”

Our Torah reading for this week (i.e., parashat Re’eh) concludes with the commandment to make three “pilgrimage festivals” (i.e., shelosh regalim) each year: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). In the Torah, these “holidays” are called “appointed times” (i.e., mo’edim: מוֹעֲדִים), a word which comes from a root meaning witness (עֵד). Other words formed from this root include edah (עֵדָה), a congregation, edut (עֵדוּת), a testimony, and so on. The related verb ya’ad (יָעַד) means to meet, 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 by revisiting our history and by looking forward to their ultimate fulfillment, when we no longer pass through this world but abide in the heavenly reality. Meanwhile we trust in God’s prophetic plan as revealed in the holy calendar, and observe the seasons as he has commanded. As it says, “All the paths of the LORD are love and truth to to those keeping his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).

Read more “The Paths of the Lord…”

This week’s Torah portion (i.e., parashat Re’eh) is about seeing. We are commanded to see clearly the choices that lie before us and to choose the way of life and blessing. Note, however, that the Hebrew word for seeing (ראה) and the word for fearing (ירא) share the same root, suggesting that we cannot truly see apart from the reverence of God…

Read more “Believing and Seeing…”

From our Torah this week (parashat Re’eh) we read: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing (הַבְּרָכָה), if you obey (שָׁמַע) the commandments of the LORD your God… and the curse (הַקְּלָלָה), if you turn aside (סוּר, “withdraw,” “draw back”) from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known” (Deut. 11:26-28).

Read more “Torah’s Weightier Matters…”

From our Torah this week (Re’eh) we read: “Know within your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you” (Deut. 8:5). This verse expresses the idea of “musar” (מוסר), or moral education intended to develop godly character within us. “My son, despise not the chastening (i.e., musar) of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction (i.e., tokhechah). For whom the Lord loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:11; see also Heb. 12:5-6). In light of Torah we infer that God disciplines us because we are his children, for the sake of our growth and maturity, and not for vindictive reasons. God’s correction indicates that he feels responsible for our character development, as a good father feels responsible for the character development of his child. Correction from the Lord is ultimately “soul-building,” since it enables us to be partakers of His holiness — and is grounded in His love and concern for us as our Heavenly Father (see Heb. 12:5-11). Hang in there, friend. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11). May God help us in our “education for eternity.”

Read more “Education for Eternity…”

Our Torah for this week (i.e., parashat Eikev) appeals to our need to forgive: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer hardened” (Deut. 10:16). The metaphor of a “circumcised heart” (ברית מילה של הלב) symbolizes cutting away the outer covering of the heart so that it is “opened up” to feel once again. God wants us to let go of “hard feelings” so we can experience compassion (i.e., com+passion: “feeling-with”) and sympathy for other people… Heart circumcision represents a radical turning away from the insular realm of the self toward the emotional realm of others and God. When our hearts are open, we are able to receive the flow of the Spirit of God and obey the “law of the Messiah” (תּוֹרַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ) to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).

Read more “What is a “circumcised heart”?”