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Discussions Prophets and Writings

1st Kings 10: Sliver of the Messiah seen in Solomon’s silver and Queen of Sheba’s seeking his wisdom

This passage is the pinnacle of Solomon as a messianic figure. In the first part of the chapter, we are introduced to the Queen of Sheba. She had heard of Solomon’s wisdom and recognized a supernatural source of Solomon’s wisdom.

Then the passage shifts to talk of silver. The people of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) didn’t find any value for silver because symbolically they already were living in the messianic reign, but those in the nations, such as Egypt, symbolically were still longing for the word of God. They were longing for God’s teaching and counsel, just as the Queen of Sheba sought out Solomon’s.

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Discussions Torah

Abraham: An example of hope and trust in God, part 1

This is the first part of a recap of Abraham’s life, looking at about two dozen key events that show why God picked him to be the start of a special group of people on Earth and to be a key example of trust in God being considered righteousness.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Luke 16:1-18: God vs. Stuff, part 1

This passage has three seemingly distinct teachings — parable of the shrewd manager, whether the Law and Prophets stopped with Yokhanan the Baptizer and a “one-liner” on divorce — but all of them as well as the parable that follows of the rich man and Lazar deal with one topic: God as Master or wealth as Master.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 23: Abraham buys grave cave from Hittites to bury Sarah

This chapter sounds like a drawn-out real estate transaction, but it shows two things: Abraham was so important that Hittites, people of a major international power at the time, had great respect for him. Abraham’s first title to land in Canaan was to bury Sarah, who was very significant as the mother of the promised son by way of God, Yitskhak.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

1st Kings 9: Prophecy of the cursed blessing of Israel, the Temple

1st Kings 9 and its parallel in 2nd Chronicles 8 read like reports on building projects, yet God is communicating something extremely important that would ring true over thousands of years to our day: Something that is a great blessing — Israel and the Temple — could become a curse, yet something cursed can become a blessing.

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 22: Binding of Yitskhak foreshadows Yeshua’s death, resurrection

Most of this account is God’s ordered sacrifice of Yitskhak (Isaac). This is a disturbing command until we see that the point was to show Abraham’s deep trust in God’s promises and power to resurrect as well as to show how heart-wrenching a future act against God’s “one and only son” would be.

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Appointments With God Discussions Torah Unleavened Bread

Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread points to the lifelong, arduous journey of trust in God

How do we relate to Israel’s flight out of Egypt to the Red Sea, as recorded in Exodus? We weren’t there. We know that this was a long, arduous journey. It was a seven-day walk — day and night — without sleep or respite. A likely reason God wants us of the Commonwealth of Israel to remember the Israel’s deliverance from both the lure of Egypt and the might of Egypt on the first and seventh days of the Festival of Unleavened Bread they are picture of the full release God gives us through the Great Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah.