Musing – Did God give you a Franchise?

Hebraic Musing – Did God give you a Franchise?

Are you a ‘Franchisee’?  When building a secular franchised business you get many rights, privileges, benefits and responsibilities.  For example, thinking of a McDonalds franchise, you get:

a.       A name that is highly recognized and respected and you are expected to bring honor to the name.

b.      Basic instruction in how to manage the franchised business in order to be successful.

c.       Opportunity to sell the franchiser’s product which is a worthwhile product; and the franchiser requires you to keep high quality standards. The franchiser does not want you diluting the name by selling or promoting non-franchised, knock-off products.

d.      The expectation to make a profit – because the franchiser wants royalties and fees from your sales.

e.       An assessment for royalties and promotion/advertising fees by the franchiser in order to promote and support the long-term promotional benefits of the franchise name.

f.       A successful business based entirely on your efforts and decisions.

g.      Pier training and counsel from fellow franchisees by attending meetings of a ‘user’ group.

h.      Benefits accruing in the form of retirement programs, medical insurance and support products.

When you hold yourself out as a Christian then you are a franchisee in the “THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

a.       You have a banner from Jehovah Nissi. Your Christian identity as a member of the KINGDOM OF GOD is a name that is to be highly recognized and respected.

b.      The Bible and God’s Word is your initial instruction manual and you are being trained or discipled in how to be a respected member of the KINGDOM OF GOD franchise.

c.       The Word says to ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel’, so you are obliged and desiring to sell the good news, without introducing non-scriptural teachings (Non-franchise products).

d.      We all want to make a profit by bearing fruit for our efforts – new souls, solid teachings, good example, etc. Growth in the KINGDOM OF GOD is the profitable fruit we seek.

e.       God has required us to tithe and support KINGDOM OF GOD programs with time, money and prayer for the Franchiser’s message to spread and be proclaimed.

f.       How much effort are you willing to put into your Christian walk in the KINGDOM OF GOD franchise to support Christ, the franchiser? You choose your own level of success.

g.      “Do not forsake the fellowship of saints.”  From piers you will learn and are to be held accountable.

h.      The KINGDOM OF GOD retirement program is out of this world.   Jehovah Rapha heals you.  His Word is alive, giving life. The Franchiser provides help from Head Quarters with new ways to witness and thus promote the franchise. The Holy Spirit is the help from the KINGDOM OF GOD

Remember, a Franchiser checks on His Franchisees with visits from Head Quarters to check the integrity of a Franchisee’s operation for rules of purity, appearance, cleanliness and fair treatment of the public. The Holy Spirit of God is hovering over us, inspecting, guiding and counseling us constantly; if we listen.

Point to Ponder

The Franchiser wants to support His successful franchisees.
But the Franchiser has a right to terminate the relationship…
 if the franchisee is unwilling to conform?

May the Lord bless your Franchise in the KINGDOM OF GOD

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                     July 31, 2013

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”

And weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”  Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

    P.S. thank you Claudio Lanuza for the inspiration

Musing – My priorities were wrong!

Hebraic Musing – My priorities were wrong!

During the first eighteen years of my married life I was determined that my priorities were family, profession and community in that order. However, I found myself devoting evenings to community government activities until 3AM all too often; being sleepy the next day while working in my profession and taking on a second job. Not much time left for family!

After making Yeshua the Lord of my life in 1977, He became my Lord, my first priority. Then family came next, and my profession and community fell into their rightful places. And there was no more contention between priorities.

This reminds me of the story of how mixed up our priorities can get:

A businessman on vacation meets a Mexican fisherman. The businessman notices several large yellowfin tuna in the fisherman’s boat. He compliments the fisherman on the quality of the fish and asks how long it took to catch them. “Only a little while,” explains the fisherman. “Well, what do you do with the rest of your day?” the businessman wanted to know. “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos.”

The businessman couldn’t resist giving advice: “Don’t you know that if you spent more time fishing, you could buy a bigger boat, and then with the bigger boat, you could catch more fish until you could buy even more boats? You could eventually catch so many fish that you could avoid the middleman and sell directly to distributors. You would get so large that you could move to New York City where you would run the whole enterprise and then sell your company stock to the public. You could make millions!”

The fisherman thought about this advice and asked, “How long will this take?” The man replied, “Fifteen to twenty years. Then you could retire in a small Mexican village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your children, take a siesta with your wife, and sip wine with your friends.”

The confused fisherman replied, “But I’m doing that now!”

Moses understood this danger of confused priorities when he encountered two tribes who wanted to take care of their cattle so they requested to stay on the East side of the Jordan. The Gadites and Ruebenites said "We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children.” Num.32:16.   But after consulting God, Moses finally gave permission by saying “Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks,…” Num 32:24.   

Point to Ponder

Why did Moses reverse the order of pens and cities?

May the Lord bless you and keep you … close to your families

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                     July 9, 2013

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”

And weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”  Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

Note -- Inspired by Rabbi Eckstein – Holy Land Moments

Musing – How much poetry does the Old Testament contain?

Hebraic Musing – How much poetry does the Old Testament contain?

I heard that one third of the Old Testament was written as poetry.  I just learned that Hebrew poetry does not have metered rhymes as we expect in English poetry. The original Hebrew writings convey thoughts and message as couplets using a variety of forms, plus repetitions. Fortunately, some of the Hebraic poetry is evident in our English translations, if we know what to look for.

We know of the ‘poetic’ books -- Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. And in the Torah and history books we identify poems like Jacob’s blessing of his sons (Gen. 49), Moses’ songs (Ex.15 & Dt.32-33), Miriam’s song (Ex.15:21), the song of Deborah (Judg. 5), and the song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2).  Many of the prophetic writings are poetic in style, like almost the entire book of Isaiah. There are many different forms of Hebraic poetry in the OT. How many will you find after reading this?[1]

Today’s Sunday School lesson opened an explanation of Hebraic poetry called ‘Parallelism’:
(1) Synonymous, in which the second line repeats the idea expressed in the first - There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Job 28:1;
(2) ‘Contrasting’ or ‘Antithetic’, in which the second line contrasts with the first; as seen twice in - I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. Job 30:20;
(3) ‘Emblematic’, in which a literal statement is contrasted with a metaphor or a simile in the second line - As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  (Ps. 42:1); and
(4) ‘Expanding’ or ‘Stair-like’, in which the second line builds on or expands on the first – Therefore I say; Listen to me; I too will tell you what I know. Job 32:10.

Hebrew also uses ‘Cognate Accusative’ - a verb and its related noun are used in the same sentence - Joseph dreamed a dream. Gen. 37:5 in KJV; other translations missed the original Hebrew poetry!

Hebrew likes to use ‘Repetition’ for emphasis - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” Isa.6:3.

Reading original Hebrew reveals frequent ‘Repetition of Sounds’ or ‘Alliteration’. In English we easily remember She sells sea shell by the sea shore.  However, alliterations in Hebrew writings do not survive translation, so this is another reason to learn to read Biblical Hebrew.

Have you heard of ‘Acrostics’ in the OT?  Since learning the Hebrew Aleph-Beit, I’ve enjoyed the acrostic in the long Psalm 119 in which every eighth verse starts with a sequential Hebrew character.  Also, a study of the symbolism of each Hebrew character carries into the nature of the eight verses that follow. How many more acrostics are you aware of in the OT?  Another reason to learn to….

‘Word pairs’ are a technique we see in Jacob & Israel, Father’s Son, heart & soul, heaven & earth and using two words instead of one - You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. (Ps. 50:20)  These pairs make me explore the significance behind the unique choice of words.

Bottom line – The poetic nuances in the OT were not intended for artistic value, but for teaching and worshipping effectively. Repetition is a powerful memorization tool. Much of the Bible had to be carried from generation to generation orally. I remember songs, more readily than scripture verses. Do you?

Point to Ponder

How much poetry will you now identify as you read the OT?

Instead of seeing vain repetition, will His Word now sink in deeper?

May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Does this Aaronic blessing use Hebraic poetry?)

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                     July 2, 2013

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”

And weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”  Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com

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[1] Inspired by Bob Crafton’s Sunday School lesson and Understanding Old Testament Poetry by Kevin Barney