Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2019-2020 with daily readings is available to download and print. If you are still working through 2018-2019’s Scripture Reading Schedule, the link will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links”. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 11/17/19 through 11/23/19.
Matthew 23:3,Whatever they tell you. First what is Moses’s seat as Yeshua uses the term? If Moses’s seat is what you seem to think it is and we have to do ALL that the rabbinic Jews tells us, then the disciples went against what the Jews and Yeshua told them to do when they disobeyed the Jews who told them to stop preaching Yeshua in Acts 5. Into other words, if we’re going to follow everything the rabbinic Jews tell us, then we must all become Yeshua-deniers. Are you a Yeshua denier? If so, this blog is not the place for you. If you’re not, then you’re not following ALL that the Jews say to do. Period. It’s really that simple. I’m trying to be kind and gracious here and speak the truth in love.
We need to make another point here as well. If Yeshua meant in Matthew 23:1–3 that we have to do everything the Jews tell us, then why did he spend the rest of that chapter pointing out all the things that do that are wrong and contrary to the Scriptures? In other words, to NOT do everything they tell you to do. Hmmmmm???!!! There must be more to this Moses’ seat thing than doing all that they tell you to do.
What Should Be Our Involvement With Rabbinic Judaism?
The discussion that follows is in response to the idea that because the Pharisees (and the modern rabbinic Jews who are their spiritual descendants) sit in Moses’ seat, we should do whatever they tell us to do including following their traditions and oral law. Some even have embraced the idea that following rabbinic Judaism is to walk a higher spiritual road (because they ostensibly understand and observe the Torah. What is the truth of the matter and what is Yeshua really saying in this passage?
Admittedly, there is much we can learn from our Jewish brothers. If you have read my Torah study guides and commentaries and my hundreds of teachings, you would know that I draw heavily from the wisdom of the Jewish sages. My approach is very multi-faceted and my learning is very broad. In my mind, and in the mind of Yeshua and apostles (as we shall point out below) the sun does not rise and set on the Jewish sages. Moreover, the Judaism of today is not that of Yeshua’s era. It is true that the rabbinates of today are the direct descendants of the Pharisees of old, but their religion is as far removed from that of their predecessors as modern Christianity is from its originators. In fact, after A.D. 70, the religion of Judaism was virtually reinvented to accommodate the dual realities of the temple’s destruction and the cessation of the priesthood with the fall of the Sadduceean sect. To assume that what the modern Jews teach is an exact replica of the religion of the Pharisees of Yeshua’s day is very presumptive and ignores the facts of history.
Psalm 27:4, Behold. Literally to see as a seer in an ecstatic state, to perceive by experience or with intelligence. (See also Ps 63:12.) There is more than one way to come into contact with the beauty, favor, delightfulness or pleasantries of YHVH.
The psalmist talks about going into the tabernacle to encounter YHVH. Since there is no longer a tabernacle in which the saints can go to seek YHVH, where do they now go?
The saint is the tabernacle or temple of the Spirit of Elohim, and the Spirit dwells in one’s personal spirit. This means that one must go inside himself to seek and behold beauty of YHVH. Perhaps this is “the secret [or the covered, private, hidden or protected] place” to which the writer makes reference in v. 5.
Psalm 27:4, 8, Inquire…seek. Literally “look for, consider or reflect.” Such an effort takes time and energy to do, and to accomplish, one must quiet down the rambunctiousness of the soul (the mind, will and emotions), so that the personal spirit can rise up and speak.
Genesis 24:2, 9, Your hand under my thigh. (Heb. yarek; see also Gen 47:29) Abraham’s servant literally placed his hands on Abraham’s testicles swearing an oath on Abraham’s projected progeny, even as in modern times we place our hands on the Bible.
Interestingly, the word testicle or teste derives from the Latin words testis meaning “testimony, testify and testament.” Yarek is the same word the KJV translates “hollow of his thigh” in Genesis 32:25 and 32, although, in this case, it seems to be referring to the tendon of the hip.
What Abraham had his servant do seems a bit indiscreet if not lewd in our culture, yet this was obviously an accepted custom in this ancient culture.
You see, the Hebrews were a very earthy, simple and basic people in their day-to-day life; there were not a lot of pretenses or veneers. Yet in their understanding of and walk with Elohim, they were deep and had a broad understanding as evidenced through the pages of the Bible. Moreover, because they had the Torah, they were much wiser and at a higher level spiritually than the nations around them who had rejected Elohim and who, instead, worshipped sticks, rocks, trees, idols and demons resulting in all sorts of idolatrous and licentious perversions. Paul talks about this in Romans 1:18–32.
What is the take away here?
The Psalms in a couple of places tells us that the fool has said in his heart that there is no God/Elohim (Pss 14:1; 53:1). As highly developed and advanced intellectually and technologically as our modern society may be, most of the intelligentsia and erudite of our day are a bunch of educated idiots or fools, who deny the existence of Elohim, while they mock the Bible. Instead, most them, being the highly rationalistic and materialistic people that they are, they worship their own minds, their own bodies and other material things all of which, by biblical definition, are idols. Moreover, they believe in unproven theories or mythologies like macro-evolution and they predict the end of the world in a few decades due to global warming or climate change. Like the ancients, many of them worship the same demons and sacrifice their children to the same demon gods (called abortion) as their ancient Baal and Moloch worshiping predecessors.
You know what? I’ll take the “crude,” earthy and basic Hebrews any day, who knew Elohim and obeyed him, had a deep knowledge of spiritual matters, and possessed wisdom and understanding of life issues over the high-minded intellects, who in all of their erudition have totally missed Elohim and in reality still worship sticks, stones, trees and material objects (e.g. homes, money, boats, cars, art objects, political power, education, their bodies) and believe in mythologies rather than the one true YHVH Elohim of the Bible.
I’m reminded of something that Paul the apostle wrote some 2,000 years after the time of Abraham (things hadn’t changed much from Abraham to Paul, and they haven’t changed much from Paul till now either, for human nature remains the same).
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT.”Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD.” (1 Cor 1:18–31)
You know what? In light of what the Bible, the Word of Elohim, has to say on this subject, I really don’t mind being being a “fool” for YHVH Elohim-Yeshua!
A very interesting email came into the comments section of this blog today. I respond to this strange comment below. — Natan
Rob writes:
Jesus said “be wise as serpents and gentle as doves” there he is describing kundalini, caduceus, feathered serpent, etc. The hebrew word for serpent is “seraph”, as in angel.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)
So snake also represents immortality, born again, resurrection, etc. by shedding skin. Below is talking about 3rd eye or pineal gland or eye of ra…look at the structure inside your brain.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22)
Look at picture of jesus sacred heart where his heart is on fire. That is heart chakra. Turn your heart from stone to flesh and circumcize your heart.
The hebrew for “david” is “nun” which means fish in aramaic and, in egyptian, means snake or seed (life).
So not only did jesus teach kundalini, it is the holy spirit itself.
This is a very interesting comment, in fact one of the more unusual one’s that this blog has received in a while. Normally I wouldn’t let this comment come through because of its blasphemous content, but I want to take this opportunity to make a brief critique of it as an example of the subtle inversion lies that the Satan the devil-serpent has foisted upon the minds of many well meaning, yet gullible and misguided people who neither know the Scriptures very well nor are able to separate the wheat of truth from he chaff of error.
I will now parse this comment out and hold it up to the light of the Word and Spirit of YHVH Elohim. (This is actually fun entertainment for me!)
For starters, Paul the apostle says of those who come in the name of Yeshua, yet in reality are false teachers and grievous wolves,
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. (2 Col 13–15)
What Paul is saying here is that there are those who purport to teach the truth of the Bible, but they are actually repeating the lies of the devil, and that these lies seem so close to the truth that they appear actually to be truth to those who are gullible, naive and misguided. It’s like the proverbial counterfeit dollar bill that looks and feels like the real thing, but is patently phony.
Did Yeshua the Messiah encourage his disciples to receive a kundalini serpent by opening up one’s so-called third eye and aligning the chakras (or energy centers) in the body, so that the serpent or kundalini spirit could rise up and bring enlightenment to an individual as Hinduism teaches? There are some people who use Scriptures such as John 3:14–15 and Matthew 6:22 to say that he did.
First, let’s be clear about one thing: One can cherry pick verses out of the Bible and out of their context and cobble them together to make the Bible say just about anything they wants. Let’s put this same shoe on your foot. How to you like it when someone takes something you’ve said out of context to make it appear that you said something you never said? Don’t you feel like you’re being lied about and that your words are being twisted? This is exactly what people are doing with the Bible, the Word of Elohim, who say that Yeshua advocated reception of a Satanic kundalini spirit.
Secondly, how is it possible that humans should follow Satan the serpent, the one who the Bible declares led humans into sinful rebellion against the Word of Elohim (Gen 3:1–7), and was subsequently cursed by the Creator for this evil deed (Gen 3:14–15)? How is it possible that Yeshua the Messiah, the one who came to crush the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15) and to destroy the works of Satan the devil (1 John 3:8), the one who defeated Satan in the wilderness and said, “Get behind me Satan,” (Matt 4:1–11), and who called Satan a liar, a murderer and a thief (John 8:44; 10:10), who defeated Satan at the cross, disarmed him and made of him an open spectacle (Col 2:15), the one who will defeat Satan and his minions at the battle of Armageddon and then throw the same devil into the bottomless pit for one thousand years, and then after that into the lake of fire (Rev 19:19–20:1–10) also be advocating that his followers submit themselves to a satanic kundalini spirit? This is not possible, unless one believes that what the Bible has to say about anything and everything is a hapless humanly contrived joke! I don’t believe this!!
Here is the Sabbath treat that I promised you, and this time it’s not from me, but from one of your fellow blog readers.
Those of you who follow the comments section of this blog are already very familiar with Carol, who comments under the email sobriquet of JesusAntibodies. She is one of our most prolific commenters, for which we are grateful. She adds life and passion to our blog.
For a long time, many of us have been greatly amused and edified by her biblical witticisms and wordplays. At first I didn’t think too much about it. But the more I read them, the more I realized that many of them are downright brilliant! I believe that her ability to come up with truths and put them into aphorisms is a gift from Elohim. Thank you Carol, and all praise be to our Father in heaven for your giftedness.
It’s time for Carol’s sayings to be shared far and wide for the glory of Elohim and the edification of the body of Yeshua!
Recently I asked her to make a list of her terse sayings. She informed me that she had 40 pages of them! Overwhelmed, I asked her to send me some of her favorite ones to share with the multiple thousands of people who read this blog every week. Below is the first installment.
Stay tuned, there will be more Carolisms to come…and let Carol know in the comments section if her saying blessed you! Thank you. — Natan
I will worry ONLY about what I can control. If I can’t control anything, then I have nothing to worry about, Elohim is in control (and that means I’m in a controlled environment).
Cut the unbiblical cord.
How will they recognize Him if they keep changing His Word?
If you take the lie (the LI) out of “oblivious” the Word becomes obvious.
We were told to be fruitful and multiply, not add or subtract
I may not know H-O-W, but I do know W-H-O.
Truth, do you see “u” in the middle?
Woe = w/o Elohim.
You don’t know who you are until you know you are His!
Our Elohim is O-u-r Elohim (Oh you are Elohim).
He parted the Red Sea, He can part the red tape.
Yeshua begins with “Yes” and I positively love that.
Why are they still listening to that talking snake?
Now faith is; it is always now.
What you believe or do not believe never changes the Truth.
If we don’t have what’s right, all we’ll have is what’s left!
My people perish for lack of knowledge; you have to know where the ledge is.
When we dig for gold nuggets in the Word, we hit the Father-lode!
We are called the children of Elohim, never the adults of Elohim
If we fall in love and Elohim is LOVE, then what have we fallen into?
It’s never about religion; it’s about relationship. Who’s your Daddy?
His love is unconditional; His blessings are not (2 Chron 7:14 lists the conditions).
If you’re anti-Semitic, you’re anti-Christ!
He told us what not to eat and we’ve been eating what-not ever since.
To L-I-V-E backwards is E-V-I-L.
Shofar so good.
They don’t call it the MEAN time for nothing.
Take THE two tablets and call on Me in the morning.
Turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
Obedience feels good.
Forgiveness is not a license to go on sinning; that’s Elohim-abuse!
Don’t follow the person; follow the Son!
“U” and “I” are in Yeshua Messiah!
Love is not a feeling; it’s a lifestyle.
Proving one wrong in your opinion, doesn’t make you right in theirs.
Greed, merchandizing, corporatism, and peddling must be driven from the church, even as Yeshua drove the money changers and merchandizers out of his Father’s house of prayer. The church of Elohim must be cleansed of these illegitimate and unrighteous activities. The tables of those who promote such a system must be overturned.
Yeshua is going to clean house before his second coming and expose those who are the greedy hirelings who are shearing his sheep for their personal financial gain versus those who have a heart of sacrificial service and obedience to him.
Elsewhere Yeshua rebukes the selfish shepherds who refuse to lay down their lives for his sheep (John 10:11–13). Ezekiel the prophet also excoriates the greedy hireling shepherds who feed themselves instead of feeding YHVH’s sheep resulting in spiritually weak and malnourished sheep who are prey for the grievous wolves (Ezek 34:1–31).
At the same time, YHVH promises to raise up shepherds after his own heart who will gather in and care for his lost and scattered sheep (ibid.).
Similarly, Paul the apostle though in full-time ministry for decades still worked with his hands as a tent maker to support himself financially. He rebuked some of his fellow ministers when he said, “For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of Elohim; but as of sincerity, but as from Elohim, we speak in the sight of Elohim in Messiah” (2 Cor 2:17). Paul goes on to say elsewhere that in his day there were those preachers “whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain” (Titus 1:11).
Peter chimes in on the subject as well identifying those in the ministry who “[b]y covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber” (2 Pet 2:3).
Finally, Yeshua when speaking of rewards refers to those who serve YHVH for earthy rewards versus those who do so for heavenly rewards:
