Given an outside view of what the Adversary was allowed to do to ’Iyyob (Job), we can look down on the spiritual ignorance of his three friends and even of ’Iyyob’s statements in his defense. Rather, this is a powerful lesson on proverbially removing the “log” from one’s eye before looking for the “sawdust” in someone else’s.
When we deviate from God’s path, it is our duty to bring our deviations back to God’s path, following God’s guidance in doing so. Ba’asha, king of northern Yisrael, was warned by a prophet the danger of his path but refused to address the issue and turn back to God’s path. There is a seven-fold pattern in the lives of Yeroboam (Jeroboam), Ba’asha and Solomon in being God’s instrument but going too far. David provides the correct pattern.
This is the first of four questions between Yeshua and various authorities in the Temple, who unbeknownst to them were examining Yeshua as the spiritually unblemished Lamb of God for the ultimate Passover.
After the death of Yisra’el, fka Ya’akob (Jacob), 10 of his dozen sons approached Yosef (Joseph) with a message from their father: Don’t seek revenge for selling him as a slave. Yosef lived out the “second greatest commandment” in his response, showing he trusted God’s plan that had violently separated him from his family and landed him in prison for a few years.
The eight days of Chanukah (Festival of Dedication, John 10:22–39), historically parallel the eight days of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles). But there is a startling parallel to eight women in the Bible for whom having children would have been miraculous — including the mother of Yeshua (Jesus) — yet these women dedicated themselves to God’s mission to restore the Earth.
Some Christians think references to “the latter days” in the Bible refer to the coming of Messiah, destruction of Babylon and messianic reign. Some connect the blessings for each of the 12 sons in Genesis 49 to particular nation groups that are supposed to exist at the end of time. When I read the chapter, I see Ya’akob (Jacob) only addressing his 12 sons, who would become the 12 tribes of Yisra’el (Israel), in their “end times,” not in those of some modern nation.
It used to be common to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Well, why did Yeshua visit God’s House on an extrabiblical Jewish festival — Chanukah — to make one of the most startling statements about God’s love for humanity? Why did the “disciple whom Iesous loved” record it? Rather than focus on layers upon layers of manmade tradition about a winter celebration of the birth of Yeshua, let’s dig through a number of layered messages that actually are in the Bible about God’s dedicating of a Living Temple — the Messiah — among humanity that could never again by left desolate or destroyed.