Discussions of Biblical subjects from the perspective of a Torah observant Messianic community.
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Discussions of Biblical subjects from the perspective of a Torah observant Messianic community.
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Informal conversations with climate-relevant researchers
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From the tribe of Dan, Samson was born to a previously barren woman. His conception was announced by a divine messenger and his manner of life was unique. He was sent by God to deliver Israel from the Philistines.By Jon Behrens
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In contemporary American usage, 'love' is heavily bound up with emotion and romance. Not so in the Torah or in Paul. The command to, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' might be usefully rendered, 'Care as much about your neighbor's welfare as you do about your own.' Read in that light, Ephesians 5 becomes commentary on the Torah's instruction to lov…
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It is important that the census in the wilderness emphasizes that people are to be counted by name. This reinforces that God deals with people as individuals and not as interchangeable units. In addition to the theological implications, this has practical political implications. All of the various 'ism' theories of human governance treat people in …
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The Ammonites revive a 300 year old land dispute with Israel and invade to enforce their claims. Israel persuades Jephthah to take command and drive them out. In that process, Jephthah makes an unwise vow, the result of which is that he had no descendants.By Jon Behrens
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Paul emphasizes unity in the community. Christ gave gifts to men that those having the gifts might use them to build a strong community around the knowledge of Christ and His Kingdom. To be healthy, the members of that community must care for one another.By Jon Behrens
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As God has been driven from the public square, people have lost an awareness of both His goodness and His justice. That void is filled with covetousness, bitterness, anger and resentment. We can see this played out in all of our institutions, but especially in the courts. To quote Jeremiah, "No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; t…
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After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, one of his sons by a concubine, conspired to murder the rest of his brothers in order to become king. His sole surviving brother gave an eloquent parable about a bramble bush becoming ruler over the trees. It is timeless and very much applicable to today.By Jon Behrens
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In several of his letters Paul refers to mysteries. In all cases they allude to the same thing; that gentiles are full members of the Kingdom of God and are fellow heirs. It is the case that if the spiritual rulers and authorities had realized that would happen, they never would have allowed the Crucifixion.…
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In The Torah, God tells Israel that both the land and the Israelite people belong to Him. He specifies that there are to be several economic resets over a 50 year period. Slaves must be freed and debts cancelled every seven years and land must revert to its original owner at 50 years. In this way God assures the maximum possible economic freedom wh…
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After driving the Midianites from the Jezreel valley, Gideon pursued them across the Jordan to finish the defeat. In that process he had to deal with two Israelite cities who refused to give him aid and with the tribe of Ephraim whose noses were out of joint.By Jon Behrens
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In Christ the separation and hostility between Jews and believing gentiles has been abolished. Now gentiles can be citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel and children of God. What does it mean to be a citizen of the Commonwealth?By Jon Behrens
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In Matthew 11, John's disciples ask if Y'shua is actually the Messiah. This is a hinge point in the book. He explains that John could have been Elijah, but both he and Y'shua are being rejected by the ruling elites. This sets up the rest of the story telling how they are willing to corrupt every organ of society to get rid of a populist trouble mak…
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With Israel once again in apostasy, the Midianites spread across the Jezreel valley during the harvest. They plundered Israel's crops and oppressed her people. God called Gideon to drive the Midianites from the land.By Jon Behrens
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In this introduction, Paul writes of the glory and power that God exhibited in raising Christ from the dead. He also writes of the spiritual blessings and the inheritance that await believers. The Spirit being the guarantee of the inheritance promised in the fullness of time.By Jon Behrens
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Fashionable intellectual belief is that reality is plastic, that is it can be formed into whatever people desire it to be. That is the basis for all of the 'isms' from the 19th and 20th centuries. In contrast, God tells us that reality is elastic. That means that it can be pushed out of shape for a while, but it eventually snaps back. The farther i…
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The Canaanites held the fortress city of Hazor and controlled the Jezreel valley which was ideal chariot country. Israel was mostly dismounted infantry. So the problem was how to overcome the tactical advantage of the Canaanite army. In this, God lent a hand by bringing rain.By Jon Behrens
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At the end of the Olivet Discourse where Messiah tells His disciples that even He does not know the timing of His return, He recounts three parables all having to do with our behavior while He is away. The Parable of the Ten Virgins speaks of preparation. The Parable of the Talents of how we should be advancing His interest using the assets we have…
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God designed humans to exercise dominion over the earth and all its creatures. That design feature also drives people to try and dominate each other, often in inappropriate or harmful ways. What does God have to say about the proper exercise and limits to power relationships between people? It turns out, quite a lot.…
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Christ rose from the grave on First Fruits and so became the first fruits from the dead. There are a number of other resurrections in Scripture. What makes that one special?By Jon Behrens
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Having failed to follow God's commandments and destroy the inhabitants of the land, Israel would never fully enjoy peace. They intermarried, followed other gods and reaped the consequences. Since they would not know peace, God set them up to study war.By Jon Behrens
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In a private conversation on the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask Y'shua about the signs and timing of His return. Most of His answer is in the negative; listing events that will be disturbing but are not signs of the end. He is careful to emphasize that His coming will not be subtle and that He expects to find His servants doing what He tells th…
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When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He did not take them directly to the Promised Land. Instead He began a process of teaching the former slaves how to be free. The first stage of the process took 50 days (seven sabbaths plus one day). That pattern is repeated in the Land, but in years instead of days. Every fifty years, Israel was to do a reset,…
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Judges begins with Israel failing to obey God. They were instructed to wipe out the inhabitants of the land yet they took Adoni-bezek captive and humiliated him. This sets the tone for the entire book. Israel was not willing to carry through with the destruction of the Canaanites et al, so they were never to have peace nor were they able to have al…
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The Parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 21 and the great feast in Luke 14, while similar, were given to different audiences for different purposes. The emphasis in the Matthew parable is on the Second Coming and the final judgment. In the Luke parable the emphasis is on the gentiles coming into the Kingdom.…
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As we prepare to celebrate Passover, it is well to reflect on God's appointed times as, among other things, a mechanism to keep our history fresh in our minds. In the west today, our history is under systematic attack. The success of that attack has left our young people adrift, not sure who they are or what 'tribe' they belong to. That gap has bee…
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One of the beliefs of those against whom Peter is warning is a lack of historical perspective. Their attitude seems to be that, since God has not moved within living memory, He is unlikely to care much about what people do with their lives - hence the appeal to sensuality. Peter says that God's perspective is historical, not immediate and that He d…
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Introduction, parable of the laborers in the vineyard and the parable of the tenants. In each of these the question concerns eternal rewards and placement within the Kingdom. The disciples were curious as to what their reward would be. The laborers in the vineyard answers that question. There were also those who were trying to hijack the Kingdom. T…
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Biblical leprosy is regarded as a spiritually caused disease infecting those who's behavior and speech damages the community. Over and over in Scripture one is urged to listen. Listen to God; listen to one's neighbors. On social media today, the art of listening seems largely to have been lost. This is to our harm, both as individuals and as a soci…
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In describing those who creep into the congregation and lead others astray, Peter says that one of their lures is the promise of freedom. This has always been the case with sin. In promising freedom from the restrictions of God's law, it holds out the promise of being a law unto oneself. While this is tempting, it eventually leads to ruin and death…
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After the execution of Haman, the problem of his decree that all Jews be killed remained. Since that edict could not be changed, Esther and Mordecai got the King's permission to send a second decree to the effect that the Jews were allowed to defend themselves. That decree along with Mordecai's prominence effectively took the government bureaucracy…
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During the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests before God, Nadab and Abihu offered profane fire before the altar and were themselves consumed by fire from heaven. Most commentaries focus on speculation about the two men's motivation in doing what was not commanded. Such speculation is completely irrelevant. What matters is what they did, …
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The first paragraphs in the chapter parallel Jude speaking of false teachers who infiltrate the body and entice the gullible into some sort of sexual sin. Their motivation is greed either for money or for influence.By Jon Behrens
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There are ritual elements in the ordination of the High Priest that are repeated only by the procedure to cleanse a leper. That leads to some profound insights into God's plan for the redemption of His creation. (Inspired by Rabbi David Block at AlpehBeta.org)By Jon Behrens
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Starting from a position of faith in Messiah, Peter urges believers to work on the content of their character. It is a strong character that will keep the believer from falling into worldliness and so becoming unfruitful. It is character that makes one's election sure.By Jon Behrens
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Since Esther is not an expert in affairs of state, She would have no chance confronting Haman in the Throne Room. Instead she arranged to get the King into a situation where she had the advantage. Haman, full of hubris doesn't even see it coming.By Jon Behrens
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Demons are a Biblical fact of life. How do they operate? How do people encounter them? What do we do about them?By Jon Behrens
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As an elder, Peter exhorts the elders who receive his letter to be faithful in tending God's flock. In this he is echoing Y'shua who gave explicit instructions and dire warnings to those He would leave in charge of His servants. Specifically, He warns them not to use their positions for personal enrichment at the expense of the flock.…
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On the surface God's laws might appear simply to be organizing principles for a decent society. They certainly are that, but they are also His means for changing His children into the image of Christ. The principle here is, 'As you behave, so you become.' If one simply reads Scripture out of fear of punishment, he misses a great wealth of character…
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The world is a difficult place in which there are trials and suffering. When the trials are for the sake of your faith, you share in Christ's suffering. This is far better than suffering because you deserve it.By Jon Behrens
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The coup attempt prompted Aẖashverosh to completely revamp his court and severely restrict access to himself. Haman, who became the gatekeeper, was not mentioned in the great feast of chapter 1. The fact that he was an Amelikite, the eternal enemy of the Hebrews, is significant. Once can view his decision to destroy all Jews as payback for what Sau…
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Law and Love - The Importance of Emphasis
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The United States was founded and built by Christians. While the scaffolding of our society (consent of the governed, freedom of conscience, etc.) is Biblical, secularists increasingly reject Biblical morals. This stems from a Christian emphasis on rules and doctrine at the expense of love. In a sense that was Christ's criticism of the Ephesian chu…
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The Eyes of the Lord are watching to answer the prayers of the righteous, but ignore those of the wicked. The world is a difficult place and there will be abundant opportunities for others to mistreat you. Here Peter reminds his readers of Christ's example; having been reviled and unjustly killed, He acted to forgive and did not curse. Peter also e…
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The first two chapters of Esther are basically setup for the rest of the book. Aẖashverosh (or Xerxes 1) threw a great feast for all of the administration within his empire. At the end of that feast he was humiliated by his wife. He divorced her on the spot. That set up an opening for a replacement. Esther was finally chosen and elevated to the sta…
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Idols are a perennial human problem, warned against both in the Old and New Testaments. To understand the impulse and recognize the manifestations, it may be helpful to look at idols from three perspectives: as intermediaries to God, as connections to false gods and as blindfolds to truth. All are forbidden, but for different reasons.…
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Writing to a minority Hebrew community within a gentile nation, Peter urges them to be respectful of the gentile government. He also urges respect for God's authority structures within their own community and within their families. This is very similar to Jeremiah's message to the exiles in Babylon - You're going to be there for a while, so seek th…
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The great tribulation and the end of this era. The sealing of the book.By Jon Behrens
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The High Priests' garments described in Ex 28 are made for glory and for beauty. Clothing can do many things. It can define a person's function or status. It can also either reveal or hide the truth about the one wearing it. That ambiguity is inherent in the Hebrew word for clothing. Inspired by the article, "Splendor in the Quest" by Rabbi Noson W…
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Peter, writing to Hebrews reminds them that they are God's chosen people. As such, they have a duty to conduct themselves in a way befitting that status. This is especially true of Hebrews living in exile among the gentiles.By Jon Behrens
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Daniel prayed and fasted for 21 days seeking to understand the oracle that had been revealed to him. The fact that it took Gabriel 21 days to burn through spiritual interference gives some insight into conflict in the unseen realm. The interpretation covered the period starting with the death of Alexander and extending to end times.…
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The design of the Tabernacle speaks of God's mercy and forgiveness. It also speaks of His hopes for each of us. This is contrasted to the current religion of 'Woke' with its purification rituals - the destruction of the past. The gods of that religion have no concept of mercy or forgiveness.By Jon Behrens
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