Author: Daniel

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11: What’s on God’s heart is to be on ours

Photo Credit: Heart in my Hands by Freeimages.com/Chelsee Tysoe. Creative Commons License.

This week’s Torah reading, ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deut. 3:23-7:11), includes the beginning of Moshe’s elucidation. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell to the people of Israel.

This section in particular focuses on how to love God, what is idolatry and how to avoid idolatry. We don’t make statues and bow to them but we still struggle with idolatry in our own day. How? We worship our stuff, the works of men. We create a lot of things, most of them don’t honor to God.

Moses has seen the people backslide over and over again for the past 40 years and he knows human nature enough that this pattern is not going to end. He knows they will do things they should not do, because they are humans and they do what humans do. This book offers both hope and warning.

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Anger Discussions Torah

Numbers 30–36: ‘Be angry, and yet do not sin’

"Four men, perhaps farmers, make angry gestures while holding an axe, rifle, pitchfork and stick. They typify the traditional Western concept of an angry rural mob protesting something with the threat of violence." Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Creative Commons License.

The men of Midian used their wives to seduce the Israelites. In the dual Torah readings מטות Matot and מסעי Massei, we learn that Midian did this under the belief that they had to conquer Israel for their own long-term survival, for the sake of their sons.

At some point in our lives, we have all unintentionally “murdered” someone in our hearts. If you hate someone, you are guilty. We should repent, but we still have to deal with that murder guilt. That guilt was paid by the High Priest, our High Priest is Yeshua. It is only the death of Yeshua that pays for that sin.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 22:1–25:9: Stubborn as a donkey about true prophecy

Painting "Landscape with Bileam" by Joseph Anton Koch (1768–1839), owned by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Photo via Wikipedia Commons.

Everyone loves a story about talking animals, especially smart ones. But the account in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak isn’t just fodder for a fun animated kids’ movie. It’s an important lesson that God wants us to recognize false prophets and not follow them.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 16–18: No shortcuts to authority in God’s kingdom

Incense Burner from Eastern Iran (11th-12th century AD). Photo by Los Angeles County Museum of Art (www.lacma.org).

The Torah reading קֹרַח Korakh/Korach is a study in what it means to rebel against God and opens a window into the destructive power of antichrist.

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Appointments With God Discussions Gossip and Slander Life With God Passover Torah

Numbers 8–12: The LORD calls, but will we answer?

The President of the United States reaches to answer a call. Official White House photo by Pete Souza. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

As the Torah reading בהעלתך Beha’alotcha begins, the menorah and the Levites are dedicated to God’s service, and the Tabernacle is ready for business. However, this reading is permeated with all sorts of ingratitude and complaining, from the people complaining about the manna to Miriam and Aaron complaining about Moses. God doesn’t put up with any of it. Whether it’s sending down a consuming fire or a plague, God doesn’t put up with people grumbling about His provision.

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Appointments With God Discussions Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavuot (Pentecost) expands the Kingdom of God

Marriage Contract for Shavuot, artist unknown, circa 17th-18th century. Currently owned by the The Jewish Museum of New York. Photo from Wikipedia Commons.

Shavuot and the sabbatical years of the jubilee are based on three ideas: liberty, restoration and acceptance. Both stand on the same foundation.

What foundation does man stand upon? Dirt + water + breath of life = Man. We all began with Adam and Eve without exception. God gave Adam and Eve the Breath of Life and we have all inherited this because of them.

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 25: Golden Rule behind sabbatical years and Jubilee

Photo Credit: Fallow field near Campos Castilla, Spain by Freeimages.com/Juan Carlos Rodríguez.

The lessons of rest and release in the biblical sabbatical year (shemitah) and Yobel (Jubilee) teach us how we are to be good masters and how good of a Master our Messiah Yeshua is. Embedded in the lessons of the Torah reading Behar (“on the mountain,” Leviticus 25) is we are to treat each other with the kindness Yeshua gives us — the Golden Rule.