Author: Daniel

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 1:1–6:8: The Creator shows why to ‘have no other gods before [Him]’

Fresco of God creating the sun, moon and stars. Fanefjord Church, Møn, Denmark.

Some Bible versions translate Gen. 1:1 as “In the beginning, God created…” or “In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth….” בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereysheet (Genesis) is not a science book. It is not designed to teach you how God created anything. The purpose of the beginning of Bereisheet is to teach us who God is, what He did and how powerful He is, much like Devarim (Deuteronomy) starts with reminding the people who God is and why the Ten Commandments say to have no other gods before Him.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Amos 5: Why are the prudent silent?

There will come a time when prudent judges will remain silent rather than risk hardship. Photo via Creative Commons license by FreeBibleimages.org

Have you ever wondered what the “Wormwood” mentioned in Rev. 8:11 is all about? There is an ongoing lesson in Scripture about the herb wormwood that helps explain what it has to do with God’s actions on the Day of the LORD.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Amos 4: Real vs. false worship

Shomron capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also called Samaria. Photo from From Wikimedia Commons.

The way we can correct our path and avoid judgement is to look at our history, our personal history and the history of our nation. God hasn’t changed His toolkit. He created the Heavens and Earth. Humans have no control over those tools. Amos details to Northern Israel the abuses of the elites in the government and monarchy upon the regular citizens.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Amos 3: To whom much is given, much is required

The descendants of Israel, North and South, inherited the covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at Mt. Sinai hundreds of years before. Yet, instead of living in that covenant, the children of Israel preferred to imitate the practices of the nations around and actually surpassed the surrounding nations around in their iniquity. This is why God judges the entire family of Israel much more severely than He punishes the other nations. This is the prophet’s warning in Amos 3.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Amos 2: Amos starts calling out Israel’s social injustice

Amos is warning the people of Israel that although the nations around them have committed heinous sins but Israel’s sins are even worse. Israel could easily see the failures of the nations but they could not see their own failures. Amos is trying to take the veil off their eyes. He wants Israel to look inward at themselves.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Amos 1: Calling Israel to repent from social injustice

Amid the seemingly disconnected warnings about various nations in Amos 1 is a message for the people of God: The answer to social injustice is not socialism but spiritual revival that brings personal transformation. This is also the message of Revelation 1-3.

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Appointments With God Atonement Discussions Prophets and Writings

Jonah 4: God does not desire the death of the wicked

Studies in Prophets and Writings

The primary lesson of the book of Jonah is this: God is willing to hear to remove sin, even for people you don’t like. God doesn’t want to kill anyone: Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever. God wants all these groups to be saved. When Yeshua (Jesus) said that the sign of His being the Messiah was the “sign of Jonah” (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Luke 11:29), it was not only about the three days in the fish representing his three days in the grave. The entire book of Jonah is the “sign of Jonah” Yeshua references.