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The study of the Bible in its historical context - with a focus on the archaeology, history, geography, customs , culture, and even the languages of the ancient Middle East. WE ask what did they understand THEN - the original intent of the Lord - so that we can expand and enrich our understanding NOW and thus become true disciples of Adonai Yeshua as in John 8:31-32.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Does the Bible, specifically the New Testament, prove that Jesus changed the practices in Second Temple Judaism? Did Jesus do away with the old law, the TORAH, and start a new Sabbath on Sunday? It seems that if you study the New Testament in ENGLISH and separate it from the historical and ancient cultural context, the answer would be yes. However, the Bible was clearly meant for those first disciples like John and Mark and Matthew and Paul and Mary. God gave them His word so they understood it and passed it down to us. So, one might say they are the first audience. But, they are all Jewish, even Luke. There is a strong argument that Luke was Jewish. It isn't conclusive but very strong. Check it out at this link - https://www.levitt.com/essays/luke
Thus, these Jewish believers lived in a Jewish culture 2000 years ago and they perhaps saw things and understood things a lot differently than us. For on thing we have proof that the early church, those first believers, met for the Sabbath on Friday evening to Saturday evening.
(Paul F. Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Making of Jewish and Christian Worship (Notre Dame, 1991). And,
In Video 3 we will again put the Bible in its historical context. Once again we will study His word taking in account the ancient Jewish culture of those first disciples, the first Messianic believers. When we do and study the GREEK and not the English, we find there is a compelling alternative understanding to verses that supposedly suggest Jesus changed everything. The three verses we will study are shown below take from the NASB version.
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;
(1Co 16:1-3)
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. (Act 20:7-12)
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Rev 1:9-11)
This is only a short introduction. It is a deep and expansive subject that can not be completely addressed in a 40 to 60 minutes video. Thus, to continue your study on the Sabbath I strongly recommend the following books and resources ...
Kiesz, John. "A History of the Sabbath and Sunday." The Bible Sabbath Association (January 1, 1983). Free download at this link -
http://www.truthontheweb.org/KieszHistory.htm
Nichols, J. T. “The Origin of the Hebrew Sabbath.” The Old and New Testament Student, vol. 12, no. 1, 1891, pp. 36–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3157542
Hay, Malcolm. "THE ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN ANTI SEMITISM." Available at Amazon.
Dr. Shumel Safrai, “The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious...Vols. 1 and 2.”
Bacchiocchi, Samule. "From Sabbath to Sunday. (1977)." Rome, Italy. Pontifical Gregorial University Press. Free download at this link - http://www.anym.org/pdf/from_Sabbath_to_Sunday_samuele_bacchiocchi.pdf
Encyclopedia Judaica. 1972. Keter Publishing. Jerusalem:Israel.
"Feasts and the Holidays, the Mo’edim." https://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/holidays.html
Flusser, David. "Judaism and the Origins of Christianity." 1988. Magness Press. Jerusalem.
Hayyim, Schauss. "The Jewish Festivals." © 1938
"The Jewish Encyclopedia." www.jewishencyclopedia.com
Levine, Lee. 2005. "The Ancient Synagogue: the First Thousand Years." 2nd Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Stern, David. Jewish New Testament Commentary. 1996. Jewish New Testament Publications. Clarksfield:Maryland.
Stern, David. The Complete Jewish Bible. 1998. Jewish New Testament
Wilson, Marvin. Our Father Abraham. 1989. W.B. Eerdman’s. Grand Rapids:MI. Contours of Hebrew Thought.
Finally, here's a link to a chapter of one of my books I did for my classes. The content is based upon the sources above. Link -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdycam9yad7ekax/e%20Lesson5..signbetweenus..2019..137..188.pdf?dl=0
A second link is related to Paul meeting in Troas on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. Here's the link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/rmkqxbq18k3cmeq/SABBATH%20IN%20TROAS%20AND%20REVELATION.pdf?dl=0
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Monday Jul 24, 2023
We continue with part 3 on the lesson on how is Jesus connected to Shabbat (Hebrew for the Sabbath). Jesus said all scripture testifies of Him. He said that between 24-30 A.D. and they did not have the New Testament. That means the Old Testament is all about Jesus by His own word, the very words of God. So that means the Shabbat is a feast that testifies of Yeshua. Come and join us as we study part 3 and see that Jesus is like a Shadow over the Sabbath. Maybe Sabbath will become a "bigger deal" once we see what God thinks about this.
Saturday Jul 22, 2023
Saturday Jul 22, 2023
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
Over the last 5 to 10 years I have noticed Christians becoming interested in the Jewish Passover Meal – the Seder. Many say they see how it connects to Jesus. Christians also see how Jesus is also related to Passover. The lambs were sacrificed on the same day the Lamb of God was sacrificed or Jesus was crucified. Matter of fact I teach a course on the feasts of the Lord found in Leviticus 23 and how they testify of Jesus. Paul teaches us this. Consider the text …
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Col 2:16-17)
The feasts are shadows of something. Something is casting a “shadow”over the feasts. What? Who? Jesus of course. He is the substance of the shadow or that which makes up the shadow. But, as we have seen in previous lessons, the greatest of all the Lord’s feasts, actually, appointed times set by Him, is the Sabbath, or in Hebrew, שַׁבָּת Shabbat.
God has created an appointed time called the Sabbath on the 7th day of each week. It is a holy TIME; it is 24 hours long and not about just going to church. During this set aside time, or holy time, the Lord commands us to have a special separate meeting during this 24 hour holy time as in Leviticus 23:3. The Jews do a synagogue service and from this the “church” followed suit and did a church service. But Jesus said …
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (Joh 5:39)
Jesus said this between 24-30 A.D. and all they had was the Hebrew Scriptures – a.k.a. the Old Testament. So, the Sabbath must be a SHADOW of things to come. And the Sabbath MUST testify of Jesus. But how? It is easy to “see” Jesus in Passover. It is easy to see how the Jewish Seder relates to Jesus. But שַׁבָּת Shabbat? How? How is Jesus connected to this special, set aside, or holy 24 hour period? Let’s go study this in the next three lessons. So, ready? Come let’s go.
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Lesson 9 Part 2
No one teaches the awesomeness of this feast, this "appointed time" of יהוה Yahvay, the Lord. Few Christians in Sunday congregations or Messianic congregations know that Shabbat is a BIG DEAL. Yes, it is a feast of the Lord by the very words of God. Don't believe me, you can read it for your self in Lev. 23:1-3 and you'll notice that the Sabbath is 1st in the list. There are 8 festivals of the Lord - they are not Jewish feasts. They belong to the Lord.
So, come. Join us. Study what you've been missing. Come and let the Lord help us understand the awesome of His שָׁבַת Shabbat so that He can enhance our walk of faith with המשיח ישוע, HaMaschiach Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Sunday Jul 16, 2023
Sunday Jul 16, 2023
Lesson 9 Part 1
Do you do the Sabbath? It is one of the Ten Commandments, so you'd better. But, do you do it on Sunday? Or, do you do it on Saturday where some might say it is the "Jewish" Sabbath? Who is right? In this video we will not debate whether the Sabbath is Sunday or Saturday. This debate has been going on for 1000's of years and I don't think I can end the debate with a short 30 minute or 60 minute video.
However, what is the Sabbath? What do you think the Sabbath is? Is it simply when you go to church? Oh no, you say, it is about church and resting, right? God said we are to rest. So why do it on Saturday or even Sunday? "Why can't I have a day of rest when I want?," some might say. But, what if He never said to rest? What if He meant something else? What's the 7th day have to do about it? Is that all it's about - going to church and, perhaps, taking a nap? Or is there something bigger that God is having us understand and practice? I suggest to you that the Sabbath - שָׁבַת Shabbat in Hebrew - is much much bigger.
Both groups, ones who practice שָׁבַת Shabbat on Saturday and those who practice שָׁבַת Shabbat on Sunday, are not being taught what this feast of the Lord actually is. This is my experience after growing up in Sunday churches and later attending Messianic congregations. No one is teaching the awesomeness of this feast, this "appointed time" of יהוה Yahvay, the Lord. Yes, it is a feast of the Lord by the very words of God. Don't believe me, you can read it for your self in Lev. 23:1-3 and you'll notice that the Sabbath is 1st in the list. There are 8 festivals of the Lord - they are not Jewish feasts. They belong to the Lord.
So, come. Join us. Study what you've been missing. Come and let the Lord help us understand the awesome of His שָׁבַת Shabbat so that He can enhance our walk of faith with המשיח ישוע, HaMaschiach Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. Let's us return to our first love. Sing along with us, "Ahshuv Ahlecka - Coming Back to You." Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoMT2fqnQyM
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
In lessons 8-11 of podcast 47 on the Ten Commandments we focus on Exod. 20:8-11 or commandment #4 in the Jewish and Protestant list of the Ten Commandments and #3 of the Catholic list. The commandment is to keep the Sabbath, the 7th day of the week, holy. In Hebrew to be holy is to be separate or set aside as special. The commandment is NOT to rest but to make it HOLY. Matter of fact the Hebrew word for Sabbath is שַׁבָּת Shabbat and it has a conceptual meaning of ceasing, to desist, to stop work for a period of time. It does not mean taking a nap, laying around in your backyard drinking iced tea, or picking up a book and reading and relaxing. Many Christians have no idea of the Hebrew and think they can pick their own day to rest and have a break from work. I agree. If you want a day off from work and your boss approves, go ahead. But the 7th day is defined by God and HIS Shabbat (Gen. 2:2-3 and Lev. 23:3), His day where WE cease and desist and do other things to make HIS Shabbat holy. The better idea is to stop one’s normal weekly activity and to lay it aside and to do “work” that makes the Sabbath holy. Thus, if one rests all day, if one sleeps for most of the Sabbath, one probably is not doing what needs to be done to make this day HOLY, special, set aside as unique.
In lesson 8 we will study the Shabbat and consider some basic ideas. One idea is that where did this 7 day week come from? Must’ve come from somewhere right? Some say the Jews stole the 7 day week from the Babylonians. Consider this.
BABYLON AND THE 7 DAY WEEK
Counting from the new moon, the Babylonians celebrated every seventh day as a "holy-day", also called an "evil-day" (meaning "unsuitable" for prohibited activities). The lunation of 29 or 30 days basically contained three seven-day weeks, and a final week of eight or nine days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven-day cycle. But, the Sabbath week has nothing to do with the moon. If the Jews stole it from the Babylonians every full moon of every month would be a Sabbath; for us it’d be a Saturday. Sorry, it just doesn’t work. (Pinches, T.G. (1919). "Sabbath (Babylonian)". In Hastings, James (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Selbie, John A., contrib. Charles Scribner's Sons)
Among other theories of Shabbat origin, the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia of Isaac Landman advanced a theory of Assyriologists like Friedrich Delitzsch that Shabbat originally arose from the lunar cycle, containing four weeks ending in Sabbath, plus one or two additional unreckoned days per month. The difficulties of this theory include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Shabbat in any language. In other words there is no primary sources that in anyway support such a view. (Sampey, John Richard (1915). "Sabbath: Critical Theories". In Orr, James (ed.). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.)
Also, what might be some reasons to keep the Sabbath? Oh I know. It means going to church. Nope. The Sabbath is HOLY time: a 24 hour period that God set aside as His. How do we participate in HOLY time?
So, get ready. You are in for an amazing “ride” to hear God, to hear The Very Words Of God, and join with HIM to make this 24 hours special and awesome.
Who is this guy, Rev. Ferret? What's his background? Why should we take time to listen to him? Here's a link to check out his background ... - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Now we focus on commandment #2 or #3 depending on whether you are a Jew or Catholic or Protestant. Again, here are the three lists of the Ten Commandments.
Jews have one and the Catholics have theirs and the Protestants have theirs. They are all different. Our focus is not studying the Ten Commandments since that phrase never appears in Hebrew in the Bible but the Ten STATEMENTS. That is what it really says. Not commandments. It was a mistranslation of the church first appearing in 1500’s A.D.
We will study Exod. 20:7. The 1st half of the verse is the commandment. But, we can not study the commandment without putting it back into its textual context. When we do we find this act is dangerous. It is perhaps the most dangerous of all things we ever could do. Why? Well. Come join us as we study the commandment that says in English, “do not take the name of the Lord in vain.”
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link -https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Monday Jul 10, 2023
Monday Jul 10, 2023
We are now in the 6th lesson in this special podcast series on the Ten Commandments. In this lesson we will focus on Exod. 20:4-6 …
"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exo 20:4-6)
One thing to observe is in context all this deals with the sin of idolatry. It is important to keep than in mind especially when one takes in the phrase “…visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me…” since this does not mean for all sins. This phrase is only related to the sin of idolatry. This will become clear in the study itself.
A second thing to consider is ONLY the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments it related to these verses. The Jewish and Catholic versions do not include any of the words from verse 4-6. Once again here is the list of the three versions of the Ten Commandments.
This is a clear example that if on studies the Ten Commandments dismissed from the textual context one loses a lot of what God wants us to understand. We will never get the full idea of what God is teaching us, His instruction, His TORAH, about a commandment if it is taken out of context. Thus we need to study ASERET MITZVAOT עשרת מצוות (Hebrew of Ten Commandments which is not found in the original Hebrew) in the context of ASERET HADEVAREEM עשרת הדברים (Hebrew for the Ten Words or Statements of the Lord, in other words, verses 1-17 of Exodus 20).
I mentioned the teachings of the great Bible scholar, Dwight Pryor. He did a series on the divinity of Yeshua. It can be found at the link below. Studying Dr. Pryor’s lesson will help any Christian to be able to answer the question, “Is Jesus God?” I highly recommend this audio series. Here’s the link - https://www.jcstudies.store/one-god-one-lord-the-shema-and-the-divinity-of-jesus/
In this lesson we confront one of the key dogmatic differences between Judaism and Christianity. Judaism believes that God is only spiritual and is not physical and can never appear in the physical. Christianity believes that God became a man. To a religious Jew this seems then to come against these words of God in Exod. 20:3-4. Also, they would bring up …
"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num 23:19)
This shows there is a huge barrier between the beliefs of Judaism and that of Christianity. I urge you to 1st study the lessons from Dwight Pryor mentioned above. 2nd, check out this article on GotQuestions.com – a evangelical Bible study website. Here’s the link - https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-not-a-man.html
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link -https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0
Saturday Jul 08, 2023
Saturday Jul 08, 2023
Our focus in this lesson is verse Exod. 20:3 …
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
This is the 2nd commandment in the Jewish list of the Ten Commandments. But, it is part of the 1st commandment for Catholics and Protestants. See the list of the Commandments for Jews, Catholics, and Protestants below.
One thing we notice is the Catholics and Protestants both left out the phrase “who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.” We will find in this lesson that for Catholics and Protestants this will show that the verse Exod. 20:3 can not be clearly understood. It can be, however, if one studies it in textual and historical context. This lesson will bring that out quite clearly. It is another glaring example that one must study the Ten Commandments in their textual context and not “stand alone” as in the Catholic or Protestant lists.
Just consider the lists below. In the first is the Protestant Ten Commandments highlighted within the all the words of verse 1-17. The second is the Jewish list of the Ten Commandments (they are underlined). If one wants to truly understand the Commandments and their interpretation one must leave them in the original textual context.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a Christian rabbi or Messianic rabbi, is quite famous for his books, “The Harbinger” and “The Harbinger II.” He has written another fascinating book I highly recommend, “The Return of the Gods.” His premise is that there is evidence in our society today that the reasons why the ancients revered and bowed down to ancient gods have returned. It is as if those ancient page gods are back among us. AS a Bible historian I find Rabbi Cahn’s writings very convincing and totally disturbing. See the picture of the rabbi below and the book, “The Return of the Gods.”
The reason I bring up this book is it so relates to Exod. 20:3 …
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
We will see that this verse properly interpreted from the ancient Hebrew shows that a false god is more than some idol of ancient days. It seems as if the TORAH defines what a false god is and thus God’s INSTRUCTION, His תּוֹרָה Torah, shows that this is applicable to today. Jonathan Cahn suggests this in his book makes a clear and convincing argument.
Not only him as a Christian, but Dennis Prager as well. He brings it up in his Torah commentary, “Exodus: the Rational Bible,” but also in his excellent 5 minute video on Exod. 20:3.
You will see how Dennis Prager, a true scholar and deeply religious Jew, shows us what are modern false gods. Here’s the link to the video that is found at PragerU.
Link - https://www.prageru.com/video/no-other-gods
Once again I say thank you to Jonathan Cahn and Dennis Prager. Each man has given us excellent teaching on the false gods in our day. However, the Torah shows what is behind all this. God’s word is clear and precise and quite basic and simple. Taken all together we find that this statement of the Lord in Exod. 20:3 is so awesome and so terrifying as it relates to our day. You’ll see what I mean as you study along with me in this lesson.
Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - click here for the teacher's background