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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 Feb 19, 2025
Wednesday Feb 19, 2025
This is like God's intro to the world. He meets Moses at the burning bush and it's kind of like God saying to Moses and to the world, "Hi y'all. Wanted to introduce myself. I am God." Moreover, God tells Moses and us that He is the God of Moses' father and the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Why repeat? He is God. He is the only God. Why say He is the God Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? Why not say He is God, the God of Moses' father, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Makes more sense, right? But, perhaps something else is going on. Perhaps Adonai says it the way He says it for a very distinct purpose we miss. Not perhaps. Better is, God did it on purpose for a very specific reason.
Here, for the first time, the Lord gives some detail about the Promised Land. He mentions six pagan clans that He will remove so Israel can take over the land. Later in Deuteronomy God does it again but this time ...
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the 1) Hittites and the 2) Girgashites and the 3) Amorites and the 4) Canaanites and the 5) Perizzites and the 6) Hivites and the 7) Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, ..."(Deu 7:1)
We have the addition of one more clan, the Girgashites. You will find this also to be true in the book of Joshua as well. I bring this up since another goal of this Torah study series is to try and grasp how Jesus' disciples, the twelve, may have understood this. Is it possible that Girgashites, where they lived in Israel, and the seven pagan clans or nations might have something to do with Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ? We did not live 2000 years ago? The geography of Israel and our Jewish roots are so foreign to us. But, those 12 disciples perhaps got it. Let's return to those days, let's return to understand the Girgashites, where they lived and the SEVEN pagan clans to see how it may be part of two significant events and miracles in the life of Jesus. This is too awesome.
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 Feb 16, 2025
Sunday Feb 16, 2025
In this lesson I mentioned articles available at the excellent scholarly Christian teaching website, “GotQuestions.org.” The first (see link below) is comments and thoughts on the Lord’s command to His people not to mention other false gods nor even use their names. The article provides some interesting thoughts and ideas that will only add to your study of the Bible in this podcast.
The 2nd article is related to the Canaanites. Who are they? What is so important regarding these pagan tribes who inhabited the “Promised Land” the Lord was to give to Israel.
Link 1 - NOT MENTION OTHER GODS https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-other-gods.html
Link 2 – WHO ARE THE CANAANITES
https://www.gotquestions.org/Canaanites.html
I would recommend the following historical article as well related to the Canaanites - CANAANITE CULTURE - https://biblechat.ai/knowledgebase/old-testament/pentateuch/what-were-religious-practices-beliefs-canaanites/
For the first time in the Bible in Exodus 23 the Lord, יהוה Yahvay, commands the Hebrews that they will do three celebrations only to HIM. They are similar to the feasts practiced among the pagan Canaanites in the “Promised Land.” We know them as the Feast of Unleavened Bread also known as Passover, the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot or Pentecost, and the Feast of Tents or Tabernacles in Hebrew as Sukkot. These are three harvest celebrations in the spring, the early summer, and the fall. At this time we will not go in depth into these festivals. However, the lessons on all of God’s feast (there are eight of them and not seven as taught by many in the church that do not read God’s word carefully) are complete and ready. I mentioned in this podcast that here in the “Comment Section” that I would supply the links to the Playlists for each feast. See the links below.
LOM PLAYLISTS FESTIVALS
PASSOVER - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDKjl7iyVRRkXGHoHaPSPaJ5&si=xCL65TeoFeZBWSlL
SHAVUTO (PENTECOST) - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDJ31uU9AwdnzQLWJk3D4wtX&si=Nx2djS43D7jaFRq8
ROSH HASHANA - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDJybx4VnVFW5A9F4xD9DQaO&si=2cfxCkT4Kjtp4t9Q
YOM KIPPUREEM - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDLzBQoWtJ0Fn5eP3u354rO1&si=UPia9hwCT4hnnAD6
SUKKOT (TABERNACLES – TENTS) - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDKbIxWITDZMT87a0VGwzTvx&si=duR8PvhFPU3jz1UG
SABBATH/SHABBAT - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcIXun2BQDLshZetXi0avkG665YNcI5I&si=-8a_yRhEYbvxwkVd
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
Friday Feb 14, 2025
Friday Feb 14, 2025
Avram (Abram as pronounced in Hebrew – name hasn’t changed yet to Abraham or Saree to Sarah) is about to walk through the blood path – it is an ancient Chaldean (area of the first kingdom of Babylon) ritual to make a covenant. Avram knows it well since he himself is a Chaldean - Gen. 11:28 & 31. So God is communicating to Avram using things familiar he is familiar with.
This covenant ritual means if one walks through the blood path between the animals the person is saying two things. First, that by walking through one agrees to abide by the covenant. Second, if one breaks the covenant then by walking through the blood of the animals you are saying that if I break the covenant then let it be done to me what has been done to the animals. But, Avram never had to walk through the blood. He was represented by someone else. Just like Jesus and the new covenant we too are represented by someone else. This seems to have everything to do with God’s amazing redemption plan of the human race by grace.
A second major topic in this lesson is who is “the angel of the Lord?” There are 52 occurrences of the phrase "the angel of the Lord" in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. You can see the verses starting in Genesis to Exodus 3 which is the focus of this lesson.
Gen_16:7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
Gen_16:9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."
Gen_16:10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."
Gen_16:11 The angel of the LORD said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
Gen_22:11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
Gen_22:15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
Gen_24:7 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
Exo_3:2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
Who is this? What is it? What do the rabbis say? Some Christian scholars say it is Jesus! How can that be if one studies and asks the question what does the Bible say? No where in the Bible does it even hint at the fact that the angel is Jesus.
Once again we need to BRING OUR BRAIN to the Bible. We all agree this is the inspired word of God. In short we say the Bible is God's word. If so and God never said the angel of the Lord is Jesus, then how do some of our Christian scholars say it is Jesus? It is dangerous to put words in the Bible that are not there. I would rather it be taught with words like "is it possible that the angel of the Lord might be a manifestation of Jesus. Perhaps some Bible verses suggest this might be true." But there are many that seem to say they know the answer and it is their way or the highway. Not a good way to teach God's word.
In this lesson one question I pose, and I will again and again, who do you believe? Do you believe the orthodox rabbis? Do you believe so called Christian scholars? Or do you believe in THE VERY WORDS OF GOD? I suggest to you it must be the latter.
An excellent article on this topic can be found at this link.
Link - https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/who-is-the-angel-of-the-lord.html
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 Feb 12, 2025
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
There are 52 occurrences of the phrase "the angel of the Lord" in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. You can see the verses starting in Genesis to Exodus 3 which is the focus of this lesson.
Gen_16:7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
Gen_16:9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."
Gen_16:10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."
Gen_16:11 The angel of the LORD said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
Gen_22:11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
Gen_22:15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
Gen_24:7 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
Exo_3:2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
Moses sees the burning bush and in the bush is this enigmatic character, the Angel of the Lord. Who is this? What is it? What do the rabbis say? Some Christian scholars say it is Jesus! How can that be if one studies and asks the question what does the Bible say? No where in the Bible does it even hint at the fact that the angel is Jesus.
Once again we need to BRING OUR BRAIN to the Bible. We all agree this is the inspired word of God. In short we say the Bible is God's word. If so and God never said the angel of the Lord is Jesus, then how do some of our so called Christian scholars say it is Jesus? It is dangerous to put words in the Bible that are not there. I would rather it be taught with words like "is it possible that the angel of the Lord might be a manifestation of Jesus. Perhaps some Bible verses suggest this might be true." But there are many that seem to say they know the answer and it is their way or the highway. Not a good way to teach God's word.
In this lesson one question I pose, and I will again and again, who do you believe? Do you believe the orthodox rabbis? Do you believe so called Christian scholars? Or do you believe in THE VERY WORDS OF GOD? I suggest to you it must be the latter.
An excellent article on this topic can be found at this link.
Link - https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/who-is-the-angel-of-the-lord.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
Friday Feb 07, 2025
Friday Feb 07, 2025
Recently an associate of mine asked me about the Parable of the Talents in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 25. There are some who say that God is teaching us concepts regarding investing our money. This is highly doubtful once we consider the textual context (the words before and even after the parable) and the historical context. A highly credible archaeologist, Dr. Ben Witherington III (an American New Testament scholar. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church), said that TEXT with no CONTEXT is a PRETEXT for what we want the words to mean. Thus, no context means you can make up your own meaning. This is dangerous and is frequently done in the church today and in many seminaries who have abandoned the study of the Bible in its historical setting.
The parable of the TALENTS is in context. It is similar to what has come before and after. It starts in Matt. 24:36 and the context ends in Matt. 25:46. Jesus is teaching about His return. As you study these verses you'll notice there are always two groups or two types of individuals. There will be two men or women in a field and one will be left behind and the other taken. There will be a faithful servant and an evil servant or there will be 5 sensible virgins and 5 foolish or sheep and goats. There will be good and faithful servants who act on faith and an unfaithful servant who did not do anything but lived in fear. The parable of the TALENTS falls right in the middle of all this. That's the context. It has nothing to do with your abilities, your "talents," your God given blessings or the proper way to invest. It has everything to do with the Kingdom of the Lord and who were are in His Kingdom now and before He returns.
Jesus taught this parable 2000 years ago to His disciples. That Jesus ONLY taught His disciples is clear as this parable, and the parable of the Wise and Foolish virgins, is in a section that begins in Chapter 24 of Matthew's Gospel when Jesus was on the Mt. of Olives. His disciples came to Him and started asking Him about the end times. The Parable of the Talents is taught to His disciples; it was Jesus and His 12 only. For those disciples raised in Judaism of Jesus' day they heard this parable in ways that differ with how we look at it as Christians in the 21st century. Let's return to HEAR what they heard THEN so that we can have the Spirit of the Lord expand our understanding NOW. Once we do we can then understand that from this parable we should ask daily, in every circumstance, in all situations, מה ישוע היה עושה, Mah Yeshua Hayah Osay - what would Jesus do. Thus, we are like our "rabbi" and thus we are true disciples doing the works He gave us after being saved by grace. (Eph. 2:8-10)
One of the great teacher/scholars I had the chance to study under in my masters program was Dr. Brad Young. His website link is https://www.bradyoung.org/ He wrote a book entitled, "The Parables," which gives us the Jewish 1st century context of many key parables of Jesus. I highly recommend this book and you can easily obtain it at Dr. Young's website or at Amazon and other book outlets. Below is a link to an article that Dr. Young wrote that will enhance your study ...
Link - https://www.bridgesforpeace.com/letter/what-did-that-parable-really-mean/
Another awesome view of this parable in its 1st century Jewish context is found at a Messianic scholarly site called TorahClass.com. They show that the parable is related to another famous parable about the characteristics of disciples in the Kingdom, the Parable of the Four Soils. Here's the link -
https://www.torahclass.com/lessons/new-testament/matthew/lesson-86-ch25/
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 Feb 07, 2025
Friday Feb 07, 2025
WALK THE BLOOD PATH WITH GOD!!
This lesson will complete the study on the character of Melchizedek (in Hebrew – Malkee Tzadik – “my righteous king”) and try and understand what is meant by the phrase that Jesus is of the “order” of Melchizedek. Order? Is this a Catholic thing; like the order of Dominicans or Franciscans or the Jesuits? Far from it. Once we understand the Hebrew the explanation is so clear and simple. God is trying to teach us His instruction, His Torah. He is not trying to confuse us or them, 2000 and 3000 years ago.
A huge topic in this lesson is the concept of FAITH. What does it mean to have faith? Is it simply a mental acceptance of a concept in reality? For instance I have a favorite coffee shop in our area. I believe every time I go there the coffee will be awesome. And, it is! But, this is a mental acceptance based upon my prejudice that this coffee is excellent.
In Gen. 15:6 one reads that Abraham BELIEVED in God and then God said based upon this that Abraham was righteous. OK, does that mean we only need a mental acceptance of the existence of God along with grace to be saved? Is that all this is saying? It must be more since Abraham already knew that God was real in Genesis 12 when Abraham obeyed God and left Haran for Canaan. There must be something deeper going on here.
Once again we in the church have few leaders and teachers trained in Biblical Hebrew or Greek. We have few leaders and teachers trained in understanding the Bible in its historical context. Thus, it results in terrible misconceptions of God’s word of faith and belief; a classic example is Gen. 15:6.
In this lesson I said I would provide you with a critically important article that takes us into the Hebraic understanding. You need to read this article. Matter of fact I recommend the Messianic ministry called, “Netivyah,” (means the way of the Lord) in Jerusalem and their Bible studies and lessons. One can check out their “store” at their website and find the magazines in English. You can click on them and download them for free. The links are below …
Link to the article from Netivyah on the translations of faith – https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x44xe0eypsudr81/AAAlaxKIvFqtrNO5JBnizAVla?dl=0
Link to the website for Netivyah ministries in Jerusalem - https://netivyah.org/
Another major topic is the covenant ritual God orders Abraham to prepare. It was something very familiar for Abraham as we will see in this podcast. Avram (Abram as pronounced in Hebrew – name hasn’t changed yet to Abraham or Saree to Sarah) is about to walk through the blood path – it is an ancient Chaldean (area of the first kingdom of Babylon) ritual to make a covenant. Avram knows it well since he himself is a Chaldean - Gen. 11:28 & 31. So God is communicating to Avram using things familiar he is familiar with.
This covenant ritual means if one walks through the blood path between the animals the person is saying two things. First, that by walking through one agrees to abide by the covenant. Second, if one breaks the covenant then by walking through the blood of the animals you are saying that if I break the covenant then let it be done to me what has been done to the animals. But, Avram never had to walk through the blood. He was represented by someone else. Just like Jesus and the new covenant we too are represented by someone else. This seems to have everything to do with God’s amazing redemption plan of the human race by grace.
Check out the articles below for further study to enhance your understanding ...
Link 1- "Walking the Bloodpath" - https://makingtalmidim.blogspot.com/2013/06/walking-bloodpath.html
Link 2 - "Consider Abraham" - https://www.bridgesforpeace.com/letter/consider-abraham/
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
Wednesday Feb 05, 2025
Wednesday Feb 05, 2025
The Hebrews cried out but they did not cry out to the Lord. The Bible is crystal clear on this. The Hebrew word for "cry out" is H2199 זעק pronounced ZA-A-KA. According to the Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon it is more a shriek of terror or a loud cry of total despair. Their ZA-A-KA made it to God's ears and then He remembered what's going on. Huh? Did God forget? Your Bible in English implies that God forgot! This is crazy.
It is very interesting that Moses chose H2199 זעק ZA-A-KA to use. Is it possible that the Hebrews cried out and it had something to do with the fact that the pharaoh died and a new pharaoh, his son, will now ascend to office? The Hebrew grammar and the archaeology says yes but there is even more. It looks as God Himself had a hand in all this. It could be the Lord needed to do something to His people to give them a good reason to leave Egypt. I mean, come on gang, why leave Egypt, the world's most powerful and richest kingdom then, and go back to Canaan? How do you get the Hebrews to want to leave and follow some 80 year old shepherd out of Egypt into the snake and scorpion infested deadly wilderness?
Moses enters the scene. He is the chosen redeemer of the Lord to get His people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. One of the first things that happens is Moses comes to "The Mountain of God." It is so cool that this mountain moves - it's like God's RV. Yup, "The Mountain of God" moves from one place to another. Did you know that? It is a picture of the ultimate plan of God. And it's all right there, in the Bible, as plain as day. How do we miss it?
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 Jan 31, 2025
Friday Jan 31, 2025
You may recall that the Hebrews were said to be building the storage cities of Pithom and Rameses. You can read this in …
Exo 1:11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Problem. We have studied that the Hebrews left Egypt in 1446 B.C. and Rameses the Great (a.k.a. as Rameses II), the supposed pharaoh of the Exodus as per the late date (the wrong date) did not come to power until 1279 B.C. reigned until 1213 B.C. So there are no cities named Rameses in the Nile Delta in 1446 B.C. The city, later called Rameses, is called Avaris in the 15th century B.C., the time of the Exodus. You can visit this site today. It is called Tel el-daba. So, what’s going on?
Also, in this lesson, we deal with the city of Dan in the days of Abraham. The events in chapter 15 are close to 2091 B.C. when Abraham and Sarah entered Canaan. The city of Dan was named by the tribe of Dan – Dan is the son of Jacob the grandson of Abraham – when they moved north and captured the city of Laish (pronounced Lay Esh). This is clear when we read …
Jdg 18:29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
So, Abraham comes to a city called Dan, as we read in the Bible, and the city of Dan is not even there yet! This is nuts! What is going on? Is the Bible wrong? Was it written later in 3rd or 2nd century B.C.? We need to find out and again show the truthfulness of the Bible.
In lesson 30 in Genesis 15 we then come across this verse …
Gen 14:17 Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
Who is this guy? There are some who say it’s Jesus! That’s crazy. Some rabbis say it is Shem or the son of Shem the son of Noah. Consider a few references from ancient Jewish (non-biblical) literature …
- Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah, a priest most high." (Pirke De Rabbi Eliezari)
- "And Melchizedek is Shem, the son of Noah." (Rashi, Commentaries, Genesis 14:18)
- "And Melchizedek is Shem, the son of Noah." (Talmud, Tr. Nedarim32)
That Melchizedek is Shem or his son is a major error since Melchizedek is the king of Salem. Salem is probably Jerusalem. At this time when Abraham and Melchizedek meet, Salem is a Jebusite city. The Jebusites are a clan of the pagan Canaanites. The rabbis show they dismiss real history and make up their own opinions which are in total conflict with historical truth.
So, who is this guy? Not Jesus. Not Shem. Not the son of Shem. How do we understand this enigmatic Bible character?
Come and join us in lesson 30. Come and do what your Lord commanded you to do if you are a TRUE Christian, a real disciple of Rabbi Yeshua.
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
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Exodus - 1446 B.C.
In part 1 we focused on real archaeology that shows 1) the Israelites were in Egypt prior to the Exodus and 2) that real archaeology supports the date of the Exodus to the 15 century B.C. or 1446 B.C. In part 2 we will deal with the dates.
In Exod. 12:40 the sons of Israel (Jacob) lived in Egypt 430 years till they left with Moses. Where does that number come from? Why doesn't anyone explain it? Also it is taught to us that the early date of the Exodus was 1446 B.C. and no one ever justifies this date. It is just stated. Why won't anyone help us understand that this date of 1446 B.C. is supported by REAL archaeology and not someone's opinion or speculation. Well, I will. This lesson is to show that the early date of the Exodus, 1446 B.C. is very likely considering the archaeology supporting it and the study of the events in their historical context.
I mentioned I will provide a number of links to resources to help you study further. These links and resources are shown below.
Link 1 - slides that may help you put all this together - click here for the slides that summarize this podcast
Link 2 - an article on Edwin Thiele that shows how he connects the Assyrian King List (calendar) to 1 Kings 6:1 - click here for the article
Link 3 - an article by Dr. Bryant Wood on setting of the date for the Exodus - click here for this amazing article that completes lesson 5 part 2
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
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Ever since lesson 49 in this series entitled, “The Gospel According to Moses: Exodus,” we’ve been dealing with added laws to the Ten Commandments that Yahvay יהוה is giving to His people at Sinai through Moses. For me I know I have read these chapters (chapter 21-23) in Exodus and have not been overly affected. I mean I am reading laws and in some cases they mean little to me in the 21st century. The content of chapters 21-23 was not very stimulating for my faith and understanding. Once again it is incumbent on us to read the Bible but we can not stop there. We need to go further and study the Bible if we are to be true disciples of Adonai Yeshua.
A number of years ago I began Torah studies “under” Dennis Prager, the famous and renowned conservative radio talk show host, who is also a Torah and Hebrew expert. Matter of fact as a religious Jew (he’s not orthodox) he has said that this is his life’s passion; to teach Torah תּוֹרָה to all, both Jew and Gentile. He has an audio series on the Torah תּוֹרָה that took him 25 years to complete. He is now taking those study materials and bring them to books called the “Rational Bible” one for each of the books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are awesome and Dennis did this to help Jews in Judaism and Christians into a deeper and more profound understanding of God’s Word in the Torah תּוֹרָה. Like Dennis has said, Christians and Jews have the same God and the same Bible except for the New Testament of course.
For me my studies in my graduate program was focused on the historical context of the Bible. So where Dennis stops his lessons because he is a religious Jew, I take up and take us to the Messiah, the Lord, Jesus. By knowing the New Testament and the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day we find that indeed SCRIPTURE testifies of Jesus and we see His teaching and His words in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, just like Jesus taught us in John 5:39 …
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (Joh 5:39)
So I listened to the audio lessons and use them as a foundation for this series in Exodus and the completed series in Genesis. It has been my goal to share these awesome lessons from the true Jewish scholar but also to go beyond Dennis’ lessons and commentaries and show how the words of Torah testify of Yeshua, our Lord, Jesus. For these chapters in Exodus 21-23 I was amazed at how much I missed. The laws, especially in the Hebrew, are more intense and explosive than in the English and so applicable to our day. The Torah תּוֹרָה is God’s instruction for them then and us now. In this lesson, lesson 58 focusing on Exod. 23:6-12, we study and experience that same awesomeness to God’s word. More than that once we go into the Hebrew it takes us to the very words of Jesus again and again. The Torah תּוֹרָה was Jesus’ Bible and He tells us to immerse ourselves and base our entire life on God’s Word when He said …
"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (Joh 8:31-32)
I mentioned in this lesson about the two Hebrew words one of truth and the other for a lie. The Hebrew word for truth is AYMET and in Hebrew it is אֶמֶת – the first and middle and last letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The word for lie is SHEKER and in Hebrew it is שֶׁקֶר – the last three letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Is the Lord giving us a “picture?” Perhaps. Rabbi Daniel Lappin comments in this way …
Truth or AYMET אֶמֶת comprises, in sequence, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the middle letter, and the final letter. The message is that truth fits into the entire story from A to Z as it were. The word for LIE or SHEKER שֶׁקֶר is made up of the 2nd last, the 4th last, and the 3rd last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Since truth and lies are so incompatible, the last letter, having already been used for the final letter of AYMET, truth, cannot be used for falsehood. That leaves the next three letters, jumbled up to indicate that lies never go from A to Z but rather from Y to W to X. (See Rabbi Daniel Lapin’s website for his total teaching on the concept of truth and lies at https://rabbidaniellapin.com/)
The Rabbi also provides a cool picture of Truth and Lie in the Hebrew alphabet. See the picture below.
https://rabbidaniellapin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/HEBREW-ALPHABET-truth-600x565.png
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/scl/fi/8qth6w4e56oub9js1w1gu/BackgrndTeacher-mar-25-2020.pdf?rlkey=f14fr2wmde5fezjmnrny8cycl&st=8kag3nil&dl=0