Search: “numbers 10”

We found 198 results for your search.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Genesis 23:1–25:18: A time to rebel and a time to trust

God put a degree of rebelliousness in all of us because sometimes we have to have a rebellious spirit. When the culture around us, whether it’s in our own family or our national culture, is wicked and evil, we have to have the fortitude to rebel against that and stand firm in living the way that is right.

The name of the Torah portion חיי שרה Chayei Sarah means “life of Sarah,” but it starts with the matriarch’s death. We see how Abraham works hard to find a final resting place for her, but her death had a huge impact on Yitzkhak (Isaac) as well, affecting him for years. Her death also played a larger than life role in how Abraham’s most trusted servant, Eliazer of Damascus, set out to find a suitable wife for Yitzkhak to carry out Abraham’s legacy.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9: Learn to judge life & death righteously & mercifully

There are shadows of Messiah in the Torah passage שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim (“judges,” Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9), even down to the ceremony when a community is unable to bring a murderer to justice. There are levels of investigation and a careful pursuit of justice and a balance between the rights of the “avenger” and the rights of the accused.

In Shoftim, Moshe (Moses) elaborates on practical application of the Fifth and Sixth commandments. One lesson is that if you do not have respect for your parents, you lose respect for all kinds of authority, from the babysitters to teachers, employers, police officers, judges, prophets and priests. That disrespect will go all the way up the chain of authority to God Himself.

Categories
Appointments With God Chanukah Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavuot (Pentecost): Spirit-transformed to follow God’s Law

Shavuot for Jews. Pentecost for Christians. We can have a great dialogue with our brethren in faith in the Holy One of Israel about the lessons taught in this memorial of the revelation of God. The Word was spoken and written at Sinai, become flesh in Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ), and put into action by the transformation of the Spirit.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Leviticus 12–15: Dishing and spreading the dirt is easy; preventing its spread is hard

What does childbirth have to do with leprosy? Why do new mothers and babies need sin offerings? How is leprosy connected to gossip and slander? In this study of Leviticus 12–15, we will be taking a step up and a step back the topics discussed. Some of it is unsettling, and it is easy to lose ourselves in some of the more distasteful details, while forgetting the important life lessons the Holy One of Yisra’el is communicating to us.

Categories
Appointments With God Unleavened Bread

Unleavened Bread: First-born of Israel grow in grace and knowledge

The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the beginning of a new living way. But that new living way was not joyous when Israel left Egypt — days of affliction — and our departure from our “house of bondage” isn’t either. They were learning to live in a way, and so are we. God writes His law deep in our hearts, which flow with “living water.” We are to grow in grace and knowledge as we get older. We never stop growing, even when we are very old.

Categories
Discussions Shabbat Torah

God humbled a superpower to free His people from slavery (Exodus 1–5)

It’s cold comfort while we’re suffering to understand that learning how to endure it will make us stronger (James 1:2–4). And it can seem cruel to watch such a struggle from the outside, thinking someone with power should step up and stop it.

That heart cry for deliverance is the focus of the Torah reading שמות Shemot (“names,” Exodus 1:1–6:1). Amid the passage’s exploration of the key question of why the Kingdom of Heaven that spoke the Earth into existence seems to be unable or unwilling to stop the oppression of one of its superpowers — Mitzraim (Egypt) — there’s the subtle hit of Heaven’s coming knockout blow to that bully.

The Holy One blessed about three-score and 10 Israeli immigrants, lifting Mitzraim above its neighbors during a punishing famine while multiplying Israel’s numbers at a rate that was frightening to a pharaoh who thought he was in control of his own destiny. Just think what Heaven will do for those who cry out for relief.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25: ‘I took you into this Land, and I can take you out’

Some have disregarded Israel at the time of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) ministry and in modern times as having anything to do with Bible prophecy, because of perceived failings of the people in trusting God.

But as we see in the Torah reading עקב Ekev/Eikev (“consequence,” Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25), God is faithful to His promises. We should be grateful for God’s mercy and bigger plans for our lives.