Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

Blog Scripture Readings for 9-20 Through 9-26-20

Aside

Reply

Parashat Ha’Azinu — Deuteronomy 32:1–52
Haftarah — Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20; Joel 2:15-27**
Prophets — Nahum 3; Habakkuk; Zephaniah 1:1 – 3:20
Writings — 2 Chronicles 16:1 – 22:12
Testimony — Revelation 2:1 – 8:13

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that begins 10/11/20 is now available to download and print. The link to the current 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 is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Shuva on the traditional calendar. Otherwise, 2 Samuel 22:1–51 would be read.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 9/20 through 9/26/2020.

 

New Moon Sighted in Israel—Today IS Yom Teruah!

Posted on by
4

From https://www.facebook.com/datetree/?ref=page_internal

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for appointed times, and for days and years. (Gen 1:14)
Dear Friends,
 
The new moon was sighted from Israel this evening, Friday, 18 September 2020!
 
* From Tiberias by Denis and Maureen Chkolnik at 7:06pm. 
* From presumably the Zevulun Valley by Yoel Halevi and his son at 7:13pm.
 
This means sunset on 18 September 2020 marks the beginning of the new month. Be sure to keep track what number month this is, based on when you started the new year!On behalf of all of us who rely on these observations, we wish to thank everyone in Israel who looked for the new moon this evening and sent in their observations in a timely manner. We are also extremely grateful to those of you who have stepped up and are supporting our efforts from afar, your support helps us be able to collect the observations and share these reports around the world.

If reliable first-hand New Moon and Aviv Reports from Israel are of value to you, please consider supporting our efforts. We could really use your support in restoring the Biblical Calendar.
 
Chodesh Tov! Make it a great month!
 
Devorah Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel


 

I Need YOUR Help!

Posted on by
15

No, we’re (my wife and I) not asking for money. As many of you know, after 30 years of continuous ministry including 25 years as a pastor, I have never taken an income from the ministry. We use the few gratefully received donations from the beneficiaries of our ministry like you to cover ministry expenses, and we give everything away for free without charge. Rather, I’m asking for your important help in something else—and it is something that you can easily do.

Many years ago, I started this Bible study blog. I put a lot of time into it. Some 20 years ago, YHVH told me to feed his sheep. Growing up on a sheep farm, it was my job to care for the flock as a shepherd—yes, a real, live sheep shepherd of real sheep, so I know what what YHVH meant by feeding his sheep. Currently, this blog, the most active part of our ministry, has been a big part of my helping to feed his sheep.

Over the years, the daily readership of this blog has grown from a few to many hundreds up to a thousand or two per day. It has been a slow, gradual climb. Now I’m not a numbers watcher. I do the same thing in obedience to YHVH’s command to feed his sheep regardless of the size of the floc—something learned on the farm years ago. But the numbers do give one an impression of how many lives are being touched the Kingdom of Elohim, and for this, we give YHVH all the glory!!!

However, last year a strange thing happened. From the fall of 2018 until the spring of 2019, the number of daily readers on this blog was growing each week tremendously until we were averaging 1,200 to 1,500 readers per day. Now considering the population of the planet, that is not very many people, but considering the niche market in which we find ourselves, that is not too bad. Then overnight, in about one day, the numbers of readers suddenly dropped by about two thirds. Whoa, I exclaimed. What just happened? Did algorithms suddenly change? Am I being shadow-banned? Is that even possible on a WordPress website where our website isn’t even hosted by WordPress? Questions and more questions, but not answers.

Well, we licked our wounds and got back to work putting up Bible teachings as always. By the fall of 2019 our numbers were back up there. By spring of 2020, the numbers of daily readers were surpassing those of the previous year. HalleluYah! We’re reaching more lives for the kingdom of heaven and the glory of Elohim. We were reaching nearly 2,000 readers daily. Then all of a sudden, the same thing happened this past spring as happened in the spring of 2019. Almost overnight, our numbers of daily readers dropped by 75 percent or more and have more or less remained at that level until now with perhaps a slight increase. So what’s going on? Don’t know. The message of this blog hasn’t changed. The content is still the same, so it must be something “out there” going on.

Whatever the case, it is all in YHVH’s hands and he can use this blog in any way he chooses. He’s the one who opens doors that no one can shut and shuts doors that no one can open, so my faith and eyes are totally on him. I give it all to him. Frankly I don’t care. I just want his will to be done for his glory. Nothing more or less.

But here now is my request for YOUR help. It’s a simple one. If this blog is a blessing to you, please refer it to others who you think may be blessed by it. That’s all.

Love and blessings to you all in Yeshua the Messiah. — Natan Lawrence

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 9-13 Through 9-19-20

Aside

Reply

(No Parasha This Week)
Haftarah —
Prophets — Micah 3:1 – 7:20; Nahum 1:1 – 2:13
Writings — 2 Chronicles 9:1 – 15:19
Testimony — Hebrews 10:1 – 13:25; Revelation 1

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that begins 10/11/20 is now available to download and print. The link to the current 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.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 9/13 through 9/19/2020.

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 8-30 Through 9-5-20

Aside

Reply

Parashat Ki Tavo — Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8 (9)*
Haftarah — Isaiah 60:1-22
Prophets — Amos 2:1 – 8:14
Writings — 1 Chronicles 23:1 – 29:30
Testimony — 2 Timothy 4; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews 1:1 – 2:18

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that begins 10/11/20 is now available to download and print. The link to the current 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 8/30 through 9/5/2020.

 

Tree “Hugging” Is Biblical

Posted on by
3

Deuteronomy 20:19, Do not destroy its trees. In its commentary on this passage, A Torah Commentary For Our Times states, “While the commandment deals specifically with cutting down trees during a siege, Jewish interpreters extend it to cover all forms of wasteful destruction under the principle of bal tashchit, or ‘do not destroy’ … [all w]asteful destruction is condemned. ‘Anyone who deliberately breaks dishes, tears clothing, wrecks a building, clogs up a fountain, or wastes food violates the law of bal tashchit’” (various rabbinical sources are cite vol. 3, p. 143). 

In Genesis 2:15, Elohim commissioned Adam and Eve to “tend/dress and keep the garden.” The word tend literally means “to serve, work, dress, labor”in the sense of a servant or steward. The word keep means “to observe, guard, watch over, or preserve.” This was one of Elohim’s first Torah-commands to humans—to take care of or nurture the planet. Gardening is the oldest and noblest profession and was given to man by Elohim. Caring for trees and plants is a major aspect of this.

Do you view yourself as a steward with a divine mandate to help preserve, watch over, and guard all that YHVH has given you responsibility over including your body, your marriage, your children, your gifts and talents, your car, your job, your home and garden and everything else in your life? Do you view doing this as a good witness to those around you, as leaving a legacy for future generations, and as glorifying your Father in heaven?

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 8-23 Through 8-29-20

Aside

Reply

Parashat Ki Tetze — Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Haftarah — Isaiah 54:1-10
Prophets — Hosea 10:1 – 14:9; Joel 1:20 – 3:21; Amos 1
Writings — 1 Chronicles 16:1 – 22:19
Testimony — 1 Timothy 3:1 – 6:21; 2 Timothy 1:1 – 3:17

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that begins 10/11/20 is now available to download and print. The link to the current 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.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 8/23 through 8/29/2020.