Extra-biblical Texts

I just wanted to write a little snippet on extra-biblical texts.  In the Christian world, one is often warned to stay away from extra-biblical texts as they may “lead one astray from the straight and narrow”.  Since coming to Torah, Brad and I have seen that these other books hold some value and typically reinforce what we already believe and understand from Scripture.  We don’t consider them to be Scripture, but we can see that the apostles and other writers whose books are included in the “Jewish” and “Christian” canons refer to some of the extra-biblical texts, either by name or by quoting from them.  Some of these texts include:

The Book of Jasher - Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18

The Book of Enoch - Jude 1:14, 2 Peter 2:14; 3:13

The First Book of Adam and Eve (or the Life of Adam and Eve) - 2 Corinthians 11:14 (concept of Satan masquerading as an “angel of light”)

Furthermore, the Essenes made copies not only of what we consider canonical books, such as Isaiah, but also the Book of Enoch, the Book of the Giants, the War Scroll, the Book of Noah, the Prophecy of Joshua, and the list goes on and on.  (You can find a lot of the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls online, or you can get a copy of The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English.

Coming out of Christianity (organized religion, in general) and into a truer faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I think it behooves us to look at everything with a discerning eye and not listen when we are told to stay away from something just because a “teacher” has said it is dangerous, especially if it can offer clarity to concepts laid out in Scripture.

I encourage you to check them out and as always use discernment and leading of the Holy Spirit.

Shalom and Blessings,

Sarah

Reflections on Vaiyetzei

Honestly, I have had a rough couple of weeks and just have not had a lot to share on the Torah portions. So I will defer to Tony Robinson’s teaching on the Haftarah portion for Vayetzei.  You can see all Tony’s teachings on the Haftarah portions thematic connections on his Youtube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/restorationoftorah

He also has weekly parsha studies available on his website here: http://restorationoftorah.org/WeeklyParsha/ParashatHaShavuah.htm

The Sh’ma and Marriage

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

שָׁמַע – shama: to hear, listen, obey

This, according to Yeshua, is the greatest commandment.  Why?  I believe it is because until we love the LORD with all our heart, all our soul and all our might, we cannot fully keep the second greatest commandment, which is to love our neighbor as ourself, which I believe we can include as our husbands and children as well as the man on the street.

Before Brad and I came to Torah, our conversations revolved around money or the children.  I won’t say we never discussed spiritual things, but it was indeed a rarity in our house to discuss the sermon from Sunday, do a devotional together, or even to pray together.  And when we did discuss spiritual things, I felt as though I was initiating the conversation most of the time.

When you see that your conversations consist of children and money, this can put a damper on the relationship.  Money will always be a concern (though it shouldn’t be), and one day the children will grow up and leave the house.  What then?

Only when we come to the Father with repentant hearts, seeking to love Him and serve Him and learn about Him, do we open the door to a better life, and in our case a better marriage.

Since embracing Torah, Brad and I embody the verse:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

We are daily seeking treasures from His Torah, sharing with each other and with our children the things we are learning.  Constantly midrashing (studying, investigating) the Scriptures with one another.  We wake up in the morning and Brad says his morning prayers followed by a reading from the Torah portion for the week.  He’ll then  share any interesting commentary or thoughts from what he read, in which I respond.  Throughout the day, we’re calling or emailing back and forth about something from Scripture, a commandment, or some thought that we’re trying to hammer out in our minds.  When Brad comes home there is more conversation on Scripture or other spiritual matters.  And on occasion, at the end of the day, one of us will get out of bed, just to share a thought we’ve just connected with something else.

This daily practice has become second nature and has given us a foundation for our marriage to grow and flourish even after the children are gone and have families of their own.  Not only that, but it serves as an example to our children of what a married couple should look like–what things should be a priority of conversation in the home.

Brad is a busy man, working full-time at a desk job, and then part-time as a photographer.  But somehow God maximizes our time, allowing for us to have meaningful conversations that encourage us both to grow in Him.  I know it sounds like we talk a lot, but I’d say on average, the total amount of time we spend actually talking face to face about the Scriptures and God is about 15-30 minutes a day.  This seemingly short amount of time, is actually quite adequate for me to see the heart of my husband, allowing me to more fully respect him and feel confident in trusting him to lead our family in the way we should go.  And because I respect him and let him lead, he can exhibit more of the love and attention I need.

We hear, as believers in Yeshua, that marriage is not just between man and woman, but between man, woman, and God.  I never knew how true this statement was until Brad and I came to the knowledge of Torah and started walking out the Sh’ma together.  Marriage truly works when God is in the middle of it.

If you are a wife, pray for your husband to have the desire to speak to you about spiritual things.  Be persistent in seeking to speak with him (not at him) about spiritual things.  Take the time to read from the Word (it doesn’t have to be a long passage), so that you have something to share with your husband when he comes home from work as well as questions for him to answer, and God will do the rest.

Blessings and Shalom,

Sarah

Reflections on Toldot

Torah Portion:  Genesis 25:19-28:9

Haftarah Portion: Malachi 1:1-2:7

This is the portion concerning the sons of Isaac–Esau and Jacob.  As we go through the portions, we’ll see time and again that God’s firstborn is not always the same as man’s firstborn.  And such is the case here in Toldot.  It has to do with God’s choice, for He is sovereign.

In the Haftarah portion for this week, God says:

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

“Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

Malachi 1:2-3

In Hebrew thought, love and hate are not so much emotions as a choices or preferences.  If we say we love something, we are saying we prefer it to something else or we choose something over something else.  I do not believe that God necessarily “hated” Esau, although this could be the case.  What I see is that He chose Jacob over Esau as the one who would receive the blessing.  Why?  I am not certain, but could it be that God looked at these two individuals and before they were born knew which one would choose Him  and walk after His ways and which one would have a rebellious spirit and spurn his birthright?

Jacob was by no means a perfect man, but he sought to please his earthly father as well as the God of his fathers.  It is this heart that God seeks in us–one of obedience and love.

It is not only because I believe He knew their hearts and whether they would walk in His ways, but also that He was trying to teach us something about His Son through the choosing of another to receive the blessing of the firstborn.  Just as sin entered the world through the first Adam, so salvation entered the world through the last Adam, Yeshua.  Yeshua came after, but He is the chosen one of the Father to redeem the world.

It may not seem incredibly significant to you, but to me it is a little nugget of truth that I treasure, because He revealed it to me through His Word.  When we seek Him out He will give us insight, encouragement, and confirmation that His Word is Truth and He can be trusted.  Baruch HaShem!

Blessings and Shalom,

Sarah

Showing the World You Belong to Messiah

This morning we woke to a call from an organization that helps families grieve over the loss of their children through photography.  The photographs allow the parents to keep something to remind them of the child they loved and lost.

Brad is, as I speak, headed to hospital to photograph a little baby.  The mother is not doing well, and is not expected to make it.  I do not know their spiritual state.  I don’t even know their names, but I do know that God loves every human being and is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to salvation through Yeshua and walk wholeheartedly with the Father.

Brad is not allowed to pray for or speak about spiritual things with the parents, unless they bring it up.  But he is able to be a silent witness to the love that God has for them.

In a fallen world, we see bad things happen all the time.  People are hurting. People are dying without the knowledge of God or are outside of a relationship with the Father.  Which brings me to the question: what are we doing as the body of Messiah to show the world that we love one another so that others will come to know Him?

I see 33,000 Christian denominations worldwide, and I see fractures even within the Messianic/Hebraic Roots communities.  This is one of the reasons Yeshua is coming back.  He gave us a commandment, the heart of the Torah, to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, so that the world may know that we are His disciples (John 13:35).  Have we been loving one another, or have we been too concerned with being “right” or following a man we believe to be “right”?

We’re now 2,000 years removed from the death, burial and resurrection of Messiah, and yet, we still see mankind following his own path instead of truly walking in God’s ways.  How is the world ever to know the Truth if we are all doing what is right in our own eyes?  If we don’t love one another?  God has called us to more, He’s called us to be righteous people, an holy nation, a city on a hill, a beacon of light to the world, so that all men will come to salvation and relationship with the Father.

Until we learn to major on the majors and stop fighting about the minors, this world will not see an accurate representation of who God is.  We’ve got to stop fighting amongst ourselves, thinking we’re more superior to our brother, humble ourselves before our God, and repent.  We have to put the needs of others above our own.  Edify one another.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

So how do we accomplish this?  We have to go back to the beginning.  We have to look at what God has said and take Him at His word–  believe that what He says, He means.  We need to again reverence and fear Him.  We should be more concerned with not offending Him than offending this world.  We have to stand up for Truth and Righteousness.  We’re called to be holy; we have to live our lives so differently from the world that we no longer have to go to the world and “evangelize.”  Just as Rehab and Ruth, two women from the nations, saw and heard of the faith of Israel and became Israelites (even a part of the lineage of Messiah), so too, the world will come to us if we are truly walking out the faith of the Bible.  By our walking out the commandments found in His Torah, miracles will follow, the Lord’s might will be seen, and the world will know that we serve the one and only God.

 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.”

Isaiah 60:1-4

Be holy, let go of those things that divide, LOVE one another, and you will be a light that no one can put out.

Blessings and Shalom,

Sarah

Reflections on Chayei Sarah

I don’t believe in coincidences.  Therefore, I have to say that God in His infinite wisdom and in order to glorify His name, made me conceive and give birth to a son whose Torah portion would be “Chayei Sarah,” in which I and him would be named (his name is Isaac, for those of you who may not know.)  The Father never ceases to amaze me and show me that He is the one ultimately in control, for I knew nothing of Torah or portions when I conceived Isaac, and yet I chose that particular name.  I believe that He gave me my name and my son’s name.  He ordained it from the foundation of the earth.

Though I could speak of things pertaining to this particular Torah portion, I want to speak about Torah portions in general and how they can shed light on our lives.  A lot of times they give insight into our personalities, our desires, our passion, our giftings, and our ministries.

Mine for example is Beshalach.  It includes the crossing of the Red Sea, the Song of Moses, the Song of Miriam, and the water being brought forth from the rock.  There’s a lot of information there, but for anyone that knows me, you will make the connection of my love for worship and song.  It is big part of who I am. God blessed me with a voice to sing to Him and for Him.  I have been honored and humbled to be able to lead others into worship over the years.  It brings me joy and fulfills something in my heart.

So since we are at the beginning of the new Torah cycle, can I encourage you to look up your Torah portion and see what God may want to reveal to you?  To find out the Torah portion for your birthday, go to hebcal.com and click on the “Date Converter.”  Put in your information, and it will give you the Torah portion as well as your Haftarah portion (which mine again, strangely enough,  has to do with a song–the Song of Devorah).

I’d love to get your comments once you’ve found out what your portion is and anything God shows you about yourself.

Blessings and Shalom,

Reflections on Vayera

At the beginning of this week’s portion, we see Abraham’s meeting with the L-rd and two of His companions.  The L-rd promises that Sarah will bear a son.  Though Abraham had received a son by Hagar, Ishmael was not God’s choice to obtain the promised land or the blessings.  God’s choice was the fruit produced from the womb of Sarah–Abraham’s second son, Isaac. In Genesis 22:1-2, we see a strange request:

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.”

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

An interesting point I want to draw out, and something I think that showed me that God and Abraham were friends was what I saw in the Hebrew.1  The first part of the verse says in Hebrew,

קַח־נָא אֶת־בִּנְךָ אֶת־יְחִֽידְךָ אֲשֶׁר־אָהַבְתָּ אֶת־יִצְחָק

Kach-na et-bin’cha et-y’chidcha asher ahavta et yitzchak

The first two words are קַח kach meaning take, and נָא na meaning please. Notice that please is not translated, but I think this is of utmost importance.  When please is added to the translation, the sentence changes dramatically, from an imperative – “You will do this” – to a request – “Please do this”.  God did not demand the sacrifice of Isaac from Abraham, but instead requested Abraham to show Him how faithful he was to their relationship by offering the most important thing he had–his son.  I am now going to refer back to the book, The Blood Covenant, as I feel Trumbull really gives some insight into this whole request and response between two parties in covenant with one another.

“…it is important to consider two or three points at which the Western mind has commonly failed to recognize the Oriental thought, in connection with such a transaction as this.

An Oriental father prizes an only son’s life far more than he prizes his own.  He recognizes it, to be sure, at his disposal; but he would rather surrender any other possession than that.  For an Oriental to die without a son is a terrible thought.

…The surrender of an only son by an Oriental was not, therefore, as it is often deemed in the Western mind, a father’s selfish yielding of a lesser substitute for himself; but it was the giving of the one thing which he had power to surrender, which was more precious to him than himself.

…it is obvious that, as a fact, God did test, or prove, Abraham his friend, by asking of him the very evidence of his loving and unselfish devotedness to him, which has been, everywhere and always, reckoned the highest and surest evidence possible of the truest and holiest friendship. And this may well be looked at , also, as a symbol of God’s purpose of surrendering His only Son, in proof of His fidelity to his blood-covenant of friendship with Abraham and Abraham’s true seed forever.”2

If you read last week’s blog post, then you will have already seen that the blood covenant of friendship was made through the rite of circumcision of Abraham and his seed.  This week we saw the proof of Abraham’s fidelity and friendship to the L-rd, through the binding of Isaac.  God reciprocated this fidelity and friendship through the death and resurrection of His only Son to redeem and save the seed of Abraham and anyone who would attach themselves to the descendants of Israel (Romans 11).

What an amazing relationship Abraham had with the Father.  May we all seek to have that same closeness in our own walks with the L-rd.

Shalom and Blessings,

________________________________________________________________

1 Textual Criticism (video), Ancient Hebrew Resource Center, Jeff Benner: http://youtu.be/BX6qe6v9hr4

2 excerpts taken from pp. 225-229, The Blood Covenant, H. Clay Trumbell

Reflections on Lech Lecha – Circumcision

Well, this week has been a busy one.  As the time draws near for the birth of my second son, my thoughts have clearly been pointed to the matter of circumcision.  Not coincidentally, this week’s parsha also discusses this topic.

This topic is H-O-T!  There are lots of opinions and lots of information as well of misinformation out there on what circumcision was and is, and whether it should be done.

This is what God told Abraham concerning circumcision:

And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Genesis 17:9-14

There are some who contend that the act of circumcision that we see today is not the same as it was back in biblical times.  To refute this argument, I point you to the story of the rape of Dinah and the massacre of the men of Shechem at the hands of Levi and Simeon. Scripture tells us that:

all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males.

Gen. 34:24, 25

The men were clearly in an extreme amount of pain.  If the circumcision had merely been the cutting of the foreskin to draw blood, these men of Shechem would surely been able to defend themselves against only two of Jacob’s sons.  I believe this story provides solid evidence that the kind of circumcision performed in biblical times is the same kind done today.

As for the argument that God created the body perfect, and so He would never ordain the cutting away of the foreskin, I say He clearly did as seen in the passage from Genesis 17.  Not only did He tell Abraham it was to be a sign of the covenant between Him and Abraham, but also his seed after him as an everlasting covenant.  Everlasting in the Hebrew is עוֹלָם – olam, and means forever, for all eternity, always, perpetual, indefinite or unending future.

The mistake most people make about the covenants that God makes, is assuming that everlasting doesn’t really mean everlasting, but only until…something…i.e. the coming of Messiah, occurs.  But this is not the character of God.  When He says something, when He makes a covenant, He keeps it.  His Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11), neither is God a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He doesn’t change His mind!  Baruch HaShem!

I want to share an excerpt from a book called, “The Blood Covenant” by H. Clay Trumbull1, concerning circumcision.

Again the Lord made a new beginning for the race in His start with Abraham as the father of a chosen and peculiar people in the world. And again the covenant of blood, or the covenant of strong-friendship as it is called in the East, was the prominent feature in this beginning.  The Apostle James says that “Abraham was called a friend of God.”2  God said Himself, speaking through Isaiah, refers to Abraham, as “Abraham my friend”3…This application of the term “friend” to any human being, in his relations to God, is absolutely unique in the case of Abraham and all the Old Testament record…It is only as we recognize the primitive rite of blood-friendship in the incidents of that narrative, that we perceive clearly why and how God’s covenant with Abraham was preeminently a covenant of friendship…

“I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee… And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.”4  And then there came the explanation, how Abraham was to enter the covenant of blood-friendship with the Lord; so that he might be called “the friend of God”…

“The blood covenant of friendship shall be consummated by your giving to Me of your personal blood at the very source of paternity – ‘under your girdle’ thereby pledging yourself to Me, and pledging also, to Me, those who shall come after you in the line of natural descent…

So “in the selfsame day, was Abraham circumcised” and thenceforward he bore in his flesh the evidence that he had entered into the blood covenant friendship with the Lord.

As one can clearly see, the rite of circumcision goes far beyond just the cutting and removal of the foreskin.  The act of shedding blood enacts the blood covenant of Abraham on the one receiving the circumcision.  This covenant includes all the promises and blessings that God promised to Abraham.  The result is an outward sign of an everlasting covenant between God and his friend Abraham and is extended to all of Abraham’s future descendants.

Now with this new understanding, should there still be any doubt in anyone’s mind that circumcision is the actual cutting away of the foreskin, we have only to look at the passage in Exodus in which Zipporah circumcises her son.

Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

Exodus 4:25

With all the voices crying out within the Christian and Jewish communities and without by unbelievers who have no understanding of God or blood covenants, I had to really search out for the answers to the question of the legitimacy of circumcision for today.  It is not necessary to have the answers to all God’s commands–He wants obedience regardless–but it is nice to know the reasons behind circumcision for my own personal comfort and to give an answer to others for why we will be performing this mitzvah on the eighth day with our second son.

As I see it, there is only ONE reason to circumcise your son, and that is for the purpose of entering into the blood covenant of friendship of Abraham with the ONE, True Elohim.  That is why my husband and oldest son will also be circumcised through “Hatafat Dam Brit”, in which a drop of blood is shed from the member and a blessing is said in order to enter into the blood covenant, even though they are already, medically speaking, circumcised.

I hope that if you’ve never heard much or anything about the ancient rite of blood covenant, you’ll check out Trumbull’s book for further insight.  It goes into great details of the rite as it was and is carried out in various parts of the world and how this rite is seen over and over again throughout Scripture.

Blessings and Shalom!

 

————————————————————————————————————————————–

1 excerpts taken from pp. 215-218

2 James 2:23

3 Isaiah 41:8

4 Gen. 17:7-9

Reflections on Noach

I had other intentions for what I wanted to write about, but I kept coming back to Genesis 6:9, so I guess God had other plans for this post. Simple as it may be, I believe the description of Noah is foundational in understanding God’s heart and what He desires to see in all those who say they are His.

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

אֵלֶּה תֹּולְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹֽרֹתָיו אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹֽחַ׃

Noah was a righteous man.  The Hebrew word is צַדִּיק-tzadik. צַדִּיק means “just, lawful, and righteous.”  Lawful?  What law?  Is it possible that God’s law-His Torah was first established with Adam? We know from Scripture that God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, and that they could eat of every green plants bearing seeds as food, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He also commanded Adam to keep and work in the garden in Eden.  And it may not have necessarily been written down, but it is obvious to me that God also given Adam and his descendants commands concerning sacrifice, i.e. the story of Cain and Abel, and the altar and sacrifices by Noah after the flood.

Noah was blameless. Blameless is the Hebrew word תָּמִים-tamim and means unblemished, complete, whole, entire, sound, perfect.  The same Hebrew word is used later in Scripture to describe the sacrifices that were to be brought to YHWH.  His generations were unblemished by the corrupted flesh around him, and as a result, God chose him and his sons to repopulate the earth.

Noah walked with God.  How did Noah walk with God?  Based on the previous attributes of Noah, one can only come to the conclusion that he walked with God by keeping His commandments.  We see many examples in the Torah of how walking with God and keeping His commandments are interrelated.

You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 18:4

You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 13:4

You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice.

Deuteromoy 26:17

The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.

Deuteronomy 28:9

If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

Deuteronomy 30:16

I believe it is important to understand the person and character of Noah in order understand who will be found righteous and blameless, in the days leading up to the return of Yeshua.  Yeshua said to the disciples regarding the time leading up to His second coming,

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:26, 27

According to Genesis 6:5,

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

As I stated in last week’s portion, YHWH has declared the end from the beginning (Is. 46:9,10).  Yeshua confirmed with His words that the world would again become corrupt, as in the days of Noah, before His second coming.

I see the world today drawing very near to fulfilling Genesis 6:5.  A greater part of mankind does not fear YHWH, let alone recognize His existence.  So what hope do we have?

I believe that we who know Him can have confidence in an eternity with the Father–whether our fleshly bodies survive or not–if we will do our best to live righteous, blameless lives, by walking with Him, keeping His commandments, and accepting the work of salvation by Yeshua on the cross.

I leave you with the following passage from Isaiah.  Be encouraged, my dear readers.  God is faithful and will fulfill all His promises.

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 12:1-6

Shalom and Blessings,

Reflections on Bereshit

With the holy days now over (at least for the next several months), I look to this next year with anticipation for what the Father will show me from the new cycle of the Torah readings.  This past week was hurried and I was still very engrossed in the final days of the feast of Tabernacles, and so this week is “catch-up” week with the first Torah portion–Bereshit (Gen. 1:1-6:8)

I don’t have a whole smattering of different “mini-sermons” on the various events found in the first five chapters of the book of Genesis, but I did learn something today that became more than a head knowledge, and became actual understanding in my heart.

In Genesis 2:21-22 we see the story of the “fashioning of Eve.”  If Adam is a picture and type of Yeshua, then Eve is a picture of His Bride–Israel.  God created man in in His own image.  Man was God’s final creation–His crowning glory.  He put Adam to sleep and took a rib from his side while he slept, and then fashioned that rib into the man’s bride.  He fashioned; the Hebrew there is בָּנָה banah meaning “to build, to be rebuilt or established.” Just as God “built” the first woman for the first man, so is He building us to be perfect mates for our husband, Yeshua.  How awesome!

Reveleation 21:9-11 says,

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

And had a wall great and high, [and] had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

(KJV)

I’m sure that some of you, my dear readers, will know all of this already, but for me it clicked today–just how prophetic the Torah is to declare the end from the beginning (Is 46:9,10).

Just as Adam was united with his bride at the end of the 6th day, so we will be united with Yeshua at the end of the 6th millennium, and we will together enjoy the Sabbath rest as man and wife.

Baruch HaShem!

Shalom and blessings,