Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

Isaiah Chapters 1 to 20—Selections from Natan’s Commentary Notes

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The Spiritual State of America and Other Formerly Christian Nations

Isaiah 1:3, The ox knows its owner. The “Beasts of the Field Explained.” Apostasy and spiritual degradation leads to one place: a complete loss of one’s spiritual identity. When one forgets one’s spiritual heritage and relationship with their Creator, they becomes, in a sense, like an animal, maybe even worse. (See 2 Pet 2:12 and Jude 1:10.) 

As an interesting side note, Scripture prophesied that Israel would become animalistic in its apostate condition as it sought to imitate the heathen nations around it. As a result and in judgment, YHVH would allow Israel to be taken over and swallowed up by the same nations, which Scripture refers to by the Hebraism or Hebrew poetic metaphor “the beasts of the field.” In Deuteronomy 7:22, we see that this same Hebraism represent the nations of the earth from which Israel was to stay separate. (See also Jer 12:9; 27:6; Dan 7:3.) The children of Israel were scattered or exiled and became “meat” or prey for all the beasts of the field (Isa 56:9; Ezek 34:5; Hos 2:12). Scripture likens exiled Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom), who fell into idolatry and mixed with the beast (Gentile) nations, to beasts of the field themselves (Hos 2:16–19 cp. Acts 10:12). In the future, YHVH will make a covenant (a marriage betrothal agreement or ketubah) with Israel who had themselves become “beasts of the field” (Hos 2:18; see also Jer 31:31–33 cp. Rom 1:23,18–25).

Can you see America and the formerly Christian West in this? These nations were once a predominately Christian, but now have rejected and scorn their spiritual heritage. What has been the result of this spiritual and moral declension? What is the current state of Christianity in these formerly Western Christian nations? Can we not see how YHVH has been lifting his hand of blessing off of them, and how with their spiritual and moral decline they have been declining economically, geopolitically and culturally?

The Hebrew Word Goy (Meaning Gentile) Explained

Isaiah 1:4, A sinful nation.The Word Goy Explained. The word nation is the Hebrew word goy meaning “gentile”or, in a spiritual sense, “heathen”This is one of a number of passages in Scripture where Israel is referred to as a gentile nation. 

In the KJV, Goy is translated in the Tanakh as nation 374 times, as heathen 143 times, as Gentiles 30 times, and people 11 times. Whenever the word gentile is used in the KJV it is the word goy. According to Strong’s Concordance, the meaning of goy is “a foreign nation; hence a Gentile; also (fig.) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts.”According to Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon,the word goy means “a people, a confluence of men,” and “contextually in holy Scripture it is used to refer to the other nations besides Israel, the foes of Israel, and strangers to the true religion of Israel.” 

There are times when this word refers specifically to Israel: 

  • The descendants of Joseph in general (Gen 48:19) 
  • The Southern Kingdom of Judah when it forsook Elohim and its covenant with him and became like the surrounding heathen nations (Isa 1:4) 
  • The Northern Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim or Samaria (Isa 9:1) 
  • Israel in general (Isa 26:2; 49:7; Ps 33:12; Gen 12:2; 35:11). 

There are numerous other instances in Scripture where the words goy or goyim (plural) are applied to the descendants of Abraham. Scripture’s use of the term is unbiased and lacks any of the pejorative implications that have been applied to the term subsequently (e.g. Gen 17:4, 5, 6, 16; 18:18; 25:23; 46:3; Exod 19:6; 33:13; Deut 4:6, 7, 8, 34; Ezek 37:22). 

As already noted, goy simply means “people group.” The Greek word ethnos (Strong’s G1484) as found in the Testimony of Yeshua is equivalent in meaning to the Hebrew word goy.

There For the Grace of Elohim Go All of Us!

Isaiah 6:4–7, Coal …from the altar. Which altar in the temple did this coal come from and what did it represent spiritually and prophetically? What deeper truth was YHVH trying to teach Isaiah here? There were two altars in the Tabernacle of Moses: the altar where animals were sacrifice—a symbolic and prophetic picture of Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross, and the incense altar in the holy place. 

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Blog Scripture Readings for 3-14 Through 3-20-21

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Parashat Vayikra — Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26 (6:7)*
Haftarah — Isaiah 43:21 – 44:23
Prophets — Isaiah 11:1 – 20:6
Writings — Proverbs 18:1 – 24:34
Testimony — John 15:1 – 19:42

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The link to the previous 2019-2020’s Scripture Reading Schedule will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links” into next year. 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.

* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian English Bibles when they differ from Hebrew Bibles or the Tanakh.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 3/14 through 3/20/2021.

 

Shabbat Bible Study and Fellowship With Natan and YOU

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Join Natan Lawrence of Hoshana Rabbah’s Bible Study Blog via Skype for a review of this week’s Torah portion and selections from the Gospel of John at 8 AM US Pacific Coast Time (minus one hour for daylight savings time) or 15:00 UTC (i.e. Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time). You can connect to Skype (even without a Skype account) through any smart phone, laptop computer or tablet by clicking on the link below.

This will be a moderated and guided discussion on the Scriptures, with a question and answer time at the end. Meet your friends of like mind from around the world who love Yeshua the Messiah and his Torah-Word (those who do not love Yeshua and his Torah-Word are not welcome!)

Here is the link to join the conversation: https://join.skype.com/LCkVYFIJU0Sh

 

Exodus Chapters 33 to 34—Natan’s Commentary Notes

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Exodus 33

Exodus 33:1–2, YHVH…my Angel/Messenger.Who is YHVH and who is the Angel? If YHVH is the preincarnate Yeshua, then who is this Angel?

Exodus 33:7, Moses took his tent.There comes a time when the anointed servant of the Most High can no longer tolerate the sinfulness and faithless of the people he is leading. Even Yeshua, in frustration, despaired on several occasions at his disciples for their lack of faith. Once, in desperation, he cried out, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” (Matt 17:17). Holy men (and women) of Elohim are in a different place spiritually than the people they lead. As anointed and divinely appointed leaders, to lead YHVH’s people higher, they must be ahead of the people and their walk should be a little, if not a lot, higher. Their job is to lead people into a higher and deeper walk with YHVH. Sometimes, in frustration when they feel they have been less than successful in their mission, they must remove themselves from the people for a season to draw closer to YHVH for strength, wisdom, guidance and spiritual renewal as Moses did in this case.

A man who is holy or set apart unto YHVH can’t abide in an unholy situation. It’s anathema to him and causes every fiber in his being to cry out in frustrated disgust. He is in a different, higher world that carnal people know nothing about. This is why Moses had to separate himself from the Israelites—a stiffnecked and rebellious people who didn’t have a heart to follow Elohim.

Exodus 33:12–13, Grace.The mainstream church places a great deal of emphasis on the message of grace. The biblical doctrine of grace finds its roots in this chapter in the Torah and not in the apostolic writings as the mainstream church teaches. 

The noun grace (Heb. chen) is found six times in chapters 33 and 34. The adjective gracious (Heb. chanan and channuwn)as an attribute YHVH’s character is found three times in chapters 33 and 34. Six is the number of man and three is the number of Elohim. That is to say, the grace of the entire Godhead covers man completely even when his children turn away from him and give into golden calf worship. His grace for his people rejoices or triumphs over his fiery and consuming judgments (Exod 33:4; Jas 2:13; Pss 85:10; 89:14; Mic 7:18; Eph 1:7; Rom 5:8) that they deserve for their stiff-neckness and sinful rebellion against his commands (Exod 33:3).

The Hebrew word for grace is chen/IJmeaning “favor, grace, charm, acceptance.” The Hebrew word chen (found 69 times in the Tanakh), which is translated as grace, in this verse is equivalent to the Greek word charis/cariV, which is found 156 times in the Testimony of Yeshua and is translated as grace 130 times in the KJV.The equivalency of these two words is confirmed by the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek Tanakh) who used charis in place of chen when translating the Hebrew Tanakh into Greek beginning in the third century b.c. 

According to The TWOT, in the vast majority of occurrences of chen in the Tanakh, the focus of attention is not on the giver, but on the recipient. The emphasis is on the relationship of the superior to an inferior (e.g. a king to his subjects). What this teaches us is that despite sin and rebellion against him, YHVH (the king) is gracious (to humans, his subjects). Contrary to what many in the church have been led to believe, the grace of Elohim is a very prominent theme in the Tanakh. Examples of this include Noah who found grace in YHVH’s eyes (Gen 6:8), or the children of Israel although dead in their sins in Egypt and deserving of YHVH’s wrath, they were saved by the blood of the lamb. There are a number of other references to the grace of Elohim in the Tanakh as well (Gen 18:3; Exod 3:21; 33:16,17; 34:9; Ps 84:11; Zech 12:10).

Exodus 33:14, My Presence will go with you.YHVH’s Presence led the Israelites through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Yeshua will lead his people through the wilderness of life and into the Promised Land of their eternal inheritance in his kingdom. Where is his Presence today in and among his people?

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Update on Natan’s Bible study and conversation on Skype

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This past Shabbat at 12 noon at US Pacific Standard Time (minus one hour for daylight savings time) about a dozen of us gathered together through Skype for a video fellowship where we feasted upon the manna from heaven—the Word of Elohim. Thank you to those who participated. It was a blessing.

The Word of Elohim is our manna from heaven!

We started our study by tagging some bases in the week’s Torah portion, then moved into the Gospel of John as per the Hoshana Rabbah Bible reading schedule. We also prayed for some needs of those in the study group.

Realizing that people from around the world in different time zones read this blog, we will be having our Bible study at different times of the day in an attempt to accommodate everyone wherever they may be, so that as many folks as possible can participate.

I am thinking that our next meeting will be this coming Shabbat early in the morning (my time). I will post the time and the link to click on to participate later on this week. Sometimes I will have a Friday evening meeting, sometimes an early Shabbat morning meeting, and sometimes an afternoon meeting, and sometimes a late Shabbat meeting. We will see which times are the most popular and go from there.

Stay tuned…

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 2/28 Through 3/6/21

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Parashat Ki Tisa — Exodus 30:11 – 34:35
Haftarah — 1 Kings 18:1-39 | Numbers 19:1-22, Ezekiel 36:16-38**
Prophets — 2 Kings 21:1 – 25:30; Isaiah 1:1 – 2:22
Writings — Proverbs 4:1 – 10:32
Testimony — John 7:53 – 10:42

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The link to the previous 2019-2020’s Scripture Reading Schedule will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links” into next year. 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.

** A different Haftarah and/or Maftir is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Parah on the traditional calendar. Otherwise, 1 Kings 18:1-39 would be read.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 2/28 through 3/6/2021.

 

Join Natan today for a Bible study and conversation on Skype

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Hello friends of Hoshana Rabbah’s Bible Study Blog with Natan/Nathan Lawrence. Today (Shabbat, February 27, 2021) I will be hosting a Skye video conference meeting at 12 noon (US West Coast/Pacific Time minus one hour for daylight savings time) in approximately four hours from now. You are welcome to join the conversation by clicking on the link below.

Anyone who is a lover of Yeshua the Messiah and a Bible believer is welcome to join (non-believers are not welcome!). This will be a conversation (not a preach) guided by Natan where everyone can participate.

If you’re not sure how to use Skype, do a search on the internet and find out. It’s easy. Or simply click on the link below. You can use any electronic device and can join the conversation either by video or audio only (if you have had a bad hair day and don’t want anyone to see your face ;-0 ).

Who knows? This may be the beginning of new fun and exciting adventure for us Hebraic-minded folks who are lost and scattered sheep of the house of Israel, and who love Yeshua the Messiah the Living Torah-Word of Elohim and his Written Torah.

https://join.skype.com/LCkVYFIJU0Sh