Musing - What is the Torah?

Hebraic Musing - What is the Torah?

Is there a more descriptive word to call the Torah rather than referring to it as “Law”?   

The symbolic meaning of the letters in Torah are Tav [Seal/Covenant]; Vav [Connect]; Resh [Highest]; Hei [Breath of God];  or a “Covenant connecting to the highest breath of God”.  -  Yosef

Following is Johanna Hocker’s Readers Digest version of the Torah from her e-mail of January 27, 2015::

Many people feel strongly about keeping the Torah, but there is a strong push back from people who say we are into works righteousness and that the Torah has been done away with.  Those of us who keep the Torah came out of a variety of denominations including Catholicism and Protestantism.  We totally went against the grain, some having horrible stories of being kicked out of churches.  Each person's story is a bit different, but gradually we have come to the realization that the Bible is unified from Genesis to Revelation and nothing needs to be dismissed as it all fits together wonderfully.  

First of all, just a reminder that Torah does not mean "law", generally speaking, it means instruction.

Here is a basic introduction to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  Words in bold have a connection with Yeshua, they are typologies with characteristics reminding us of Yeshua.  

Genesis: creation, disobedience, jealousy ending in murder, call of Abraham and series of covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Joseph being sold into slavery then the famine that brought Dad/Jacob and all the brothers down to Egypt.

Exodus: surviving the famine in Egypt, slavery, rise of the great deliverer Moses, plagues, departure on Passover, formation of the nation, referred to as a congregation or assembly, learning dependence on Yehovah, covenant with Israel, building tabernacle, establishing priesthood, relationship and property guidelines, social and legal issues, and worship instructions.

Leviticus: the stereotype of sacrifices for sin is broken in this book, it contains verbatim quotations from Yehovah and affirmations of His holiness as well as worship through sacrifices, to draw close to Him. Leviticus ends with a list of blessings for following the instructions given and a list of curses for disobeying Yehovah’s instructions.

Numbers:  the book begins and ends with a census for military purposes; then 12 spies were sent into the Promised Land and 10 come back with fear that they will be defeated.  Only Caleb and Joshua acknowledge the situation, but knowing that with Yehovah fighting for them, they would take the land.  Thus began their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness with the death of those alive at the time of the coming out of Egypt, except for Joshua and Caleb.  Rebellion: Korah and those with him, Balaam, and Baal worship.  Chapter 33 has a summary of the journey from Egypt.  The book contains many instructions for living. 

Deuteronomy: this book is a review by Moses of the things that have happened since leaving Egypt.  Chapter 6 is a very important chapter, containing the Shema {quoted in the gospels}.  Deuteronomy also contains the list of blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience.  The book ends with the Song of Moses and his final blessings before his death.  Moses death is recorded.  He was not allowed to go into the Promised Land due to his disobedience when he struck the rock when he was told to speak to it.

Points to ponder

Is there a better description for the Torah than to refer to it as “Law”?  

What English word would better describe the essence of those five books?

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 February 24, 2015                                                

Author “Hebraic Insights”;  “Biblical_Marriage” & “Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Yosef1@cox.net   or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

Musing - What does it mean to ‘keep’ the commandments?

Hebraic Musing - What does it mean to ‘keep’ the commandments?

Since I don’t have pockets to ‘keep’ them in, the word ‘keep’ must mean something else. Even if we substitute the word ‘obey’, there is still so much more to understand. [1]

God promises punishments … but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. Ex 20:6 & Dt 5:10 NIV    Most translations use the word ‘keep’, however the typically over-simplified NLT version uses the word ‘obey’ which is a somewhat better word-choice.

The word translated as ‘keep’ or ‘obey’ is the Hebrew word Shamar or rmv, Shin & Mem & Resh which symbolically means “Protect, Truth, Highest.   Strong’s definition[2] includes these statements:

1) to keep, to have charge of;  2) to keep, to guard, to keep watch and ward, to protect, to save life; watch, a watchman (participle); 3) to watch for, to wait for; 4) to watch, to observe; 5) to keep, to retain, to treasure up (in memory); 6) to keep (within bounds), to restrain; 7) to observe, to celebrate, to keep (sabbath or covenant or commands), to perform (a vow); 8) to keep, to preserve, to protect; 9) to keep, to reserve.

In the New Testament we find the same weak translation.  In Mt. 19:17 Jesus said “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”  The Greek translated as ‘obey’ is tereo (tay-reh'-o); from teros;  to guard (from loss or injury, properly, by keeping the eye upon); …which implies a fortress or full military lines of apparatus.[3]

Point to ponder

Should we be guarding, watching, observing, retaining in memory,
 observing, celebrating, protecting and treasuring
God’s commandments (His Words) to us?

Does this apply only to the Ten Commandments
or to the 613 Mitzvot?

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 February 17, 2015       

Author “Hebraic_Insights”;  “Biblical_Marriage” & “Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Yosef1@cox.net   or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

P.S.  The Hyperlinks in the signature block are ‘alive’!

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[1]  Inspired by Johanna Hocker’s message of Feb. 9, 2015

[2] OT:8104   The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.

[3] NT:5083  in Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.

Musing - How important are our choices?

Hebraic Musing - How important are our choices?

I heard it said that “if we could comprehend just how powerful every choice we made really was, we would be too afraid to move out of our chairs.” 

Here’s a classic Biblical example of the consequences of a choice.  Last year Irene and I stood on Mount Nebo in Jordan, famous as the place where God told Moses that the Israelites were to possess all the land that can be seen from there!  But God also reminded Moses that he would not be permitted to enter that land.  Why? 

“This is because both of you (Aaron & Moses) broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh … and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.  Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel." Deut. 32:51-52 NIV     

Moses learned the hard way that everything we do has repercussions. The first part of the verse refers to the obvious wrong-doing – “you broke faith with me . . .” But the second part of the verse points out the missed opportunity – “you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.” There are the two aspects we need to consider when we do wrong:  
First, the direct consequences of wrong-doing; and
Second, what opportunities are we missing to do something that could be absolutely amazing?

Here’s a practical everyday example to consider:

Suppose someone says something unkind to you?  How do you respond?

First, if you lash out at them with an unkind response, you are probably exacerbating the problem and you will be putting that person into a funk mood or serious depression or worse.  I’m reminded of a scenario my father told me: When the boss started shouting at the employee and the employee said “Boss, when you get me upset, I’ll go home and shout at my wife, and she’ll slap our boy, and he’ll kick the dog.  Now what did the dog do to you?”

Secondly, you also have missed a golden opportunity to minister to that person by responding kindly, thus uplifting their spirits and helping them have a good day.  An act of kindness, a simple apology or a friendly response will likely be passed on to folks they will be meeting later that day; thus, words of kindness could inspire him/her to be kind and to help someone else during the day, and so on. And so on!

So why not simply say “Thank you” and smile.

Points to ponder

Should we go about our day fearing doing wrong?

Or should we be inspired by opportunities that result from doing what is right?

Have and give a great day!

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                              February 10, 2015