Is it OK to mix the practices of other religions with the worship of God? How far must we go in following the instructions of leaders and judges? These are the sobering lessons on the standards of Heaven and earthly authorities raised in the Torah passage שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim (“judges,” Deut. 16:18–21:9). Learn more through this Bible study.
Whether we’re secular or religious, we all worship something. What does it mean to worship or not worship?
The Torah reading עקב Ekev or Eikev (“consequence,” “because,” Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) focuses on an elaboration of the First and Second of the Ten Commandments.
The lessons in Ekev also teach us that Heaven’s blessings come with a condition: Listen to God; observe and follow. Some will say that salvation doesn’t come from obedience, but the lesson in Ekev is more about building the relationship with Heaven than forming it. Discover how.
Long before Yeshua’s arrival on Earth in the 1st century, another special anointed one led Heaven’s ambassadors to humanity out of slavery and toward freedom, foreshadowing a greater Prophet Who would take humanity the distance to the Kingdom of God. In the Torah reading וָאֶתְחַנַּן Va’et’chanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we see the beginning of Moshe’s (Moses’) explanation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), a lesson that stretches almost to the end of the book.
God forgives us for our screwups when we turn back from them (i.e., repent). What must we then do? Forgive others. That includes those in the Body of Messiah who we think have “lied” to us about the Sabbath’s being changed, Day of Atonement’s being abolished, New Moon’s being nailed to the cross or the Torah’s being abrogated. Those who taught us these things may have been misled themselves or had misunderstood or misinterpreted teachings. Our job is to forgive.
That’s a key lesson Moshe (Moses) had for the second generation of Israel, who had to grow up outside the Promised Land because of the failings of the first generation in trusting every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) is the beginning of Moshe’s address near the end of his life, spanning most all the book.
Why wasn’t I born tall? Athletic? In a prosperous country? To wealthy parents? In a loving, stable home? There are so many ways popular culture, our peers and we ourselves can tell us that we are less than valuable. We might glean from a cursory pass through the Torah readings מטות Matot (“tribes”) and מסעי Massei/Mase’y (“journeys of”), covering Numbers 30–36, a few more points of discrimination against us: born a woman, born in the wrong family.
Yet we will discover in this Bible study after lifting the hood on the full message from Heaven, rather than pulling soundbites convenient to our bias, that where we start out in life and where we find ourselves doesn’t have to define what truly matters: “the content of our character,” to quote Martin Luther King Jr.
Here’s what Moses, Isaiah and apostle Paul have to say.
Selfless love. Righteousness. Mercy. These teach us how to be strong in our walk through life, how to keep from wandering from the path that the God of Israel has shown as the way life works best. These three show us what the point of our journey through life. They are the key lessons from the LORD’s appointments with humanity, further explained in the Torah reading פינחס Pinchas (“Phinehas,” Numbers 25:10-30:1). Discover why chief among those appointments and the entry point for new believers is the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath).
Another key lesson in Pinchas is about the man after whom this reading is named. This junior priest, who would later be known as the “anointed for war,” looks forward to the coming Day of the LORD, when Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the Melchizedek high priest, will serve on Earth side by side with the legacy of the Aaronic priesthood.
It’s apt that the double Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 19:1–25:9) this year includes Shabbat on July 4, when we here in the United States celebrate the Declaration of Independence and what it states about the intent for where this nation was going to go.
Ancient Israel was at a spiritual and literal crossroads. Would it embrace its destiny as the people beyond number (Genesis 15 and 22) and as a nation of priests (Exodus 19), taking the nations closer to the Creator?
Similarly, we in the U.S. can ask ourselves if we’re going to follow the God-led legacy of freedom started at Plymouth in 1620 or the greed-led legacy of bondage started in Jamestown in 1619? The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights point to the Spirit-led legacy of Abraham through Sinai and Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) to Plymouth, rather than flesh-led legacy of Jamestown.
And we’ll see in this study that we can ask ourselves which kind of legacy are we pursuing in how we walk out our lives today and in the days to come.