Tag: Moab

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Discussions Torah

How you can recognize the Antichrist (Numbers 22–24)

How to recognize the Antichrist (Numbers 22-24)

The prophet Bilam (Balaam), described in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 22:2–25:9), was a gentile prophet from the ancient country of Aram. We see that even though Bilam was a Gentile, he was a prophet of God.

God did not only send prophets to Israel. God, in His mercy, sent prophets to all the nations of the world.

Unfortunately, we meet with Bilam, not in his early years when God first called him to prophetic office, when his heart was open to God. Instead, we are meeting Bilam at the point when his evil inclination has overtaken the good in him. We follow along with him as his greed, corruption and vanity lead him to his downfall, which was so complete, that his story is given to us a template of how the Antichrist will one day function in the world, deceiving, if possible, the elect.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Deuteronomy 1–3; Isaiah 1: Why crowdsourcing your morality is a fail

In the Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deut. 1:1–3:22), Moses started giving a more complete record of what happened during the entire 38 years in the wilderness.

The Israelites didn’t have the same degree of bravery as their cousins (Edom, Ammon and Moab). They didn’t follow God’s direct instructions and suffered as a consequence. Their leaders became rotten; they ignored Torah, and the people suffered as a consequence.

This is why God hits the reset button from time to time (e.g., the Flood, first-born of Egypt, Day of the LORD), and sets aside a remnant to carry His truth into the world. A remnant is more teachable than a mob.

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Discussions Torah

Ready for restoration? (Deuteronomy 32)

Restoration of the icon of Tsarevich Dmitry, 2009. (Photo by Shakko via Wikimedia Commons)

At times we can feel so lost or out of control that there seems to be no way back to normal. The “lyrics” of the “Song of Moshe” (Moses), recorded in the Torah reading Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32), foretold of a time when Israel would wander so far from the One Who freed them from slavery in Mitzraim (Egypt) that the would appear to be lost forever.

While this is not an uplifting number, Israel is commanded to memorize it. That’s because the song shows the only way they would be able to return to the LORD.

Let’s find out more about why the redeemed from the world on the Day of the LORD will be singing the Song of Moshe and the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3–4).

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 22:1-25:9: God sent emissaries to the Gentiles too

Cartoon of Balaam and the King of Moab by Jack Foster of MrBibleHead.blogspot.com via Creative Commons License.

The prophet Bilam (Balaam) is not an isolated individual, an anomaly in Scripture. He was not the first or last emissary to the Gentiles. God did not leave them without guidance. Bilam is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Saul of Tarsus, aka the apostle Paul, whose experience on the road to Damascus echoes the account in the Torah reading בָּלָק Balak of Bilam’s experience with a “recalcitrant” she-donkey.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings

2nd Kings 3: Moab illustrates that wages of rebellion against God are fear and death

Daniel Agee

There are many strange details in 2nd Kings 3, but the backstory is a rebellion of the ancient kingdom of Moab that roped in the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Edom to the southeast.

This chapter helps illustrate apostle Paul’s teaching that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). In this case, the wages of Moab’s rebellion was death.

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 29: Agape-love the LORD with all your heart, soul, strength

What is agape? Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That love is to be an agape, selfless love, not a selfish “feeling” kind of love.

Those who “follow their hearts” against God’s Torah are running headlong into stubbornness and rebellion and will reap a curse.

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 22-23: Laws on finding lost items, cross-dressing, bird hunting, conduct in war, tithing ill-gotten gain, inappropriate relationships

Studies in Torah

Deuteronomy documents the thoughts of Elohim, illustrated by how often Messiah Yeshua and the apostles quote from it. By studying these commandments, statutes and judgments — at times difficult to understand — we can see a small glimpse of how God thinks, not in the past tense but in the present tense.