Musing - Why Did God Bless Our Father Abraham?

Hebraic Musing - Why Did God Bless Our Father Abraham?

When God blesses Abraham He gives His reasons …“because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."  In our Tuesday Torah study, my daughter Susan asked “Why did God use four different words?”

God entered a covenant relationahip with Isaac in Genesis 26:3–4 “I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,…”  NIV

Why did God grant Abraham these covenanted and many-faceted blessings?  God answered in the continuing verse 5 we read above… “because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."  Should we understand these four words and their Hebraic background for us to receive blessings?   

Requirements: Trmvm Mishmaret—watch, sentry, post; preservation, safe; observance, duty …”

Commands: tvxm Mitzvot —Good deeds, command, human or divine

Decrees, statutes: yjwqt Chuqowtay —an enactment; an appointment of time, space, quantity, labor or usage. (God used the expression “lasting ordinance” about twenty-four times in the Torah to specify set times, feasts, actions, and sacrifices we are to honor.)

Laws: ytrwt  Towrotaay—a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue (Ten Words) and Pentateuch (Torah). The Root word for Torah is “yarah” to flow as water; to lay or throw (i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if aiming the finger), to teach. (Strong’s Concordance excerpts)

A related word used by God when speaking to Moishe in Exodus 21:1 “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them.” NKJV  The Hebrew <yxpvm MishpaaTiym clearly means Judgments — verdicts (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or divine law, … including a participant's right or privilege…   The NIV translates <yxpvm (mish-pawtim)  in Exodus 21:1 as “law” instead of “judgments”; ESV translates it as “rules”; NASB as “ordinances.”  All three versions miss the real meaning.

Another translation clarification: According to Deuteronomy 6:6, in the NIV, this is what Moishe told the people: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” However, the KJV, NKJV and the CJB use the word words instead of the word commandments. In Hebrew it is <yrbd h HaDav’rim, which we recognize as the Hebrew title for the book we call Deuteronomy; and the direct translation is “the words.” When we read that “commandments are to be on our hearts,” that is not the same as understanding that our loving Father God wants all His Word(s) to be on the hearts of His children.  Remember, “Do what Daddy says…”

Points to ponder

Can you fully appreciate the Torah when we use English translations?

Maybe this is why a rabbi once said,
“Reading a translation of the Torah is like kissing a pretty woman through a veil.”

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                            August 26, 2014                          

Books author “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Twitter  @YosefBrusherd
Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

Musing – Can Israel stand up to its neighbors?

Hebraic Musing – Can Israel stand up to its neighbors?

One look at the blue sliver of land representing Israel makes one wonder how she can possibly have survived.  And can she miraculously survive in the near future considering current events in the Middle-East?  How many times have the Jews been almost annihilated, yet survived because of the hand of God?  (Pharaoh, Esther, Philistines, AD70 Roman conquest,   crusades, Maccabean revolt, Roman conquest, Holocaust…to name a few miracles.)

But then again, the current events in the world against Israel were prophesied!  If the bible is true and all prophesies will come to pass, then…“Yada kiy Shema Yahweh”  or “Know that my name is Yahweh.”

As Jeremiah was weeping about the disasters in Israel, he also recognized an awakening by nations that they had been worshipping false gods.  This is sounding like modern times!  This is what Jeremiah said and heard:  “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, ‘Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.  Do men make their own gods?  Yes, but they are not gods!’  ‘Therefore I will teach them — this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.’”   NIV  Jer. 16:19-21   

Zechariah confirmed that all men will know the name of the Lord and he added that men will be seeking the Jew and the God of the Jews.  This is what the Lord Almighty said  “And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him."   This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”   NIV  Zech.8:22-23

Jesus foretold of this when He told the crowds in Matt 23:39 (red letters)  “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”  So we are awaiting that time when all peoples will cry in Hebrew “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai” or “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

How long will it take for the world to recognize that God is with His people, the Jews, or Israel?

Points to ponder

Can Israel stand?  Can our faith stay strong amidst…?

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels." Ps 122:6-7   

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                                   August 19, 2014

Books author “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Twitter  @YosefBrusherd
Yosef1@cox.net   or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

Musing – “Inspirational Dissatisfaction” is good

Hebraic Musing – “Inspirational Dissatisfaction” is good

I used the expression “Inspirational Dissatisfaction” in a leadership talk recently and caught some by surprise.  It refers to the state of being so dissatisfied with a situation that one is motivated or inspired to take action to fix it. Actually, the seminar was about Leadership, which in turn deals with Mission Statements and Visions.  But what precedes meaningful Vision?  A - “Inspirational Dissatisfaction”

Here are a few of my favorite examples of “Inspirational Dissatisfaction” – situations that triggered a willingness to fix a problem at any cost:

1. Popeye and Olive Oil and Brutus   -- When Popeye finally had seen enough harm done to his girlfriend Olive by Brutus, he would say - “I can’t stand no more!” He eats the can of spinach, muscles grow and he takes action against Brutus.  You have to be over 60 to remember that!

2. Moses   “After Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were …. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.  Glancing around and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian….”  Moses could not stand seeing his people mistreated.  He took action which cost him his elevated position.  Moses had to leave; but he returned with a mission, a Personal Core Purpose.  “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

3. David as a shepherd boy heard Goliath trash talking God.   “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"   You know the rest of the story.

4. Nehemiah  -  Came back from exile and found the walls of Jerusalem broken down.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the neighbors were laughing!  He had to do whatever it took to restore the Glory.

5. Church Leaders get ‘holy discontent’ with: Bad music, lost kids, God being misrepresented, corrupt politics, Holy Spirit not being recognized, Poverty, etc.

Essentially, they all had Holy discontent and said something like “I had no choice, I had to…”  They all took action because they had “Inspirational Dissatisfaction.”

Points to ponder

What happens when people complain about a situation,
but they are not inspired to fix it?

What’s bugging you?  And what are you going to do about it?

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                            August 12, 2014                          

Books author “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Twitter  @YosefBrusherd
Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

Musing - Is the NT the focus of the Gospel, or is it an Epilogue to the OT?

Hebraic Musing - Is the NT the focus of the Gospel, or is it an Epilogue to the OT?

I’ve heard churches proclaim proudly that “We are a New Testament church.”  The New Testament (NT) is studied and frequently quoted as if it were a stand-alone document.  It’s often said to be a covenant of grace whereas the Old Testament (OT) was about law and too often thought to no longer be important.  The OT is associated with Moses, the NT with Jesus.  But yet, the church grew explosively in the first century based solely on teachings derived from the OT that were used to explain the recent events. 

Just recently someone said that the NT is like an appendix or epilogue to the OT.  That comment caused me to think and to do a word search. What is the definition of an “Epilogue” or “Appendix”? 

Wikipedia:   An epilogue or epilog is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work. [1] It is presented from the perspective of within the story.     

Webster: Epilogue -  
Summary:  a final section or speech after the main part of a book, play, or musical composition 
Complete definition:
  1 :  a concluding section that rounds out the design of a literary work
  2 a :  a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by an actor at the end of a play;
            also :  the actor speaking such an epilogue
     b :  the final scene of a play that comments on or summarizes the main action

Webster: Appendix - : a section of extra information added at the end of a book
Full Definition of APPENDIX
  1  a :  APPENDAGE :  an adjunct to something larger or more important
      b :  supplementary material usually attached at the end of a piece of writing

I am still processing questions –

·         Is the NT the focus of the Gospel, or is it an Epilogue to the OT?

·         Or could you call the NT the ‘unpacking’ or the ‘commentary’ on the OT?

·         What do you think?

·         Could you lead someone to the Lord using the OT only?  Early apostles and saints did!

Points to ponder

Can you fully appreciate an epilogue if you’ve not read the book?

or

Can you really understand the NT unless you’ve studied the OT?

Shalom

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                                    August 5, 2014

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
And weekly “Hebraic Musings” e-mails
Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com