Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Matthew 5:38-42: Yeshua restores the mercy-full meaning of ‘eye for eye’

“You have heard it said, but I say…” was a common rabbinic phrase used when a rabbi wanted to encourage yeshiva students to dissect and discuss a particular Torah principle. A “problematic” Torah edicts is “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” etc. Many Christians and Jews are very uncomfortable with this “barbaric” “tit-for-tat” law.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 1-3: Lessons from Exodus, Numbers for the next generation

The first few chapters of Deuteronomy recount events from Exodus and Numbers. Key lessons for the new generation about to enter the Land were to trust God despite the seemingly invincible adversaries and remember His protection of the first generation out of Egypt and long before.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Book of Numbers recap: Important messages behind the censuses, travelogues

The book of Numbers is more than just a collection of long lists of numbers of people in the tribes and families of Israel and of places where the people camped for 40 years. It shows us how God prepares His people then and now to move forward into the tasks He has for them. Numbers contains lessons of character refinement of a people.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Numbers 34-36: Maximum justice, maximum mercy

In the closing chapters of the book of Numbers, among a discussion of land grants to the tribes of Israel we read of a justice-and-mercy system for murderers that prophetically links ransom of the accidentally guilty to the death of the high priest.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Numbers 33:28-56: Lessons of the Exodus and wanderings: Mithkah to Abel-Shittim

Why is it that God specifically told Moses to write down these places? We may not have a complete picture of it but God did not ask Moses to write this down just for the sake of history. There’s a bigger picture to be found in the names of these places that Moses records and we endeavor to discover God’s picture.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Numbers 33:18-27: Lessons of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings: Rithmah to Tahath

Many people consider Numbers a very boring book because it goes over so many names. But as seen in part 1 of this discussion, the Hebrew names of each of the places of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings have important meaning. It might not be the literal meaning of the name but based on the symbolism of what occurred at that place. These are God’s names for these places, not necessarily the common names given to those places by the inhabitants at the time.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Numbers 33:1-17: Lessons of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings: Ramses to Hazeroth

This is a difficult, laborious chapter. There are lots of hard-to-pronounce names — 40, 42 or 43 depending on the count. Yet the name of each encampment carries important teachings from what happened at each site and the meaning of the names themselves.