Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

All the Men Named “James”

Posted on by
2

James 1:1, James. The Testimony of Yeshua records five men with the name James/Jacob/Ya’acov. They are:

Twelve Disciples 25481685

James the Greater (Elder), the brother of John and one of the twelve apostles. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome. James was killed by King Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1–2).

James the Less was the son of Alphaeus. He was one of the twelve apostles (Matt 10:1–3, Mark 3:14–19; Luke 6:13–16; Acts 1:13)

James is also the name of one of the half-brothers of Yeshua, and probably the author of the book of the Bible that bears his name. He was most likely the apostolic leader of the Messianic community in Jerusalem (Matt 13:55; Acts 1:14 [i.e., Yeshua’s “brothers”]; 15:13; 21:18; Gal 1:19) whom history calls James the Just and whom the Jews martyred in Jerusalem in 62 AD (see Josephus’ Ant. 20:9). (Galatians 1:19).

James, the father of the Apostle Judas (not Iscariot, Acts 1:13).

James who was the brother of Joses and the son of Mary (Matt 27:56).

 

Was the Epistle of James Named After King James?

Posted on by
2

James 1:1, James. This name is the English form of the Old French variation of James from the Late Latin name Iacomus, which was derived from the Greek New Testament name Iakobos, which in turn derives from the Hebrew name Ya’aqov. This was the name of five men recorded in the Testimony of Yeshua.

The Testimony of Yeshua/The New Testament

The Testimony of Yeshua/The New Testament from my 1790 KJV Bible.

It is speculated that the development of Iacobus to Iacomus is a result of nasalization in the French language of the o and assimilation to the following b followed by simplification of the cluster mb through loss of the b.

The notion that the name James derives from King James of England, who ordered the translation of the Bible version (published in 1611) that bears his name, is erroneous. This is because earlier English versions of the Bible (the Geneva Bible published in 1557 and the Wycliffe Bible published 1382 to 1395) used the name James (the English equivalent name Jacob) long before King James was born.

 

New Video: The Gospel of Yeshua in the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle of Moses

Posted on by
Reply

In this video, Natan begins to decode the mysteries of the Tabernacle of Moses and shows how YHVH’s plan of salvation and the gospel message of Yeshua are encrypted within the tabernacle’s ceremonies and furnishings. The focus of this teaching is on the tabernacle sanctuary.

Learn how the following things point to Yeshua and relate to your spiritual journey to the New Jerusalem:

  • The door to the Tabernacle of Moses
  • The menorah
  • The table of showbread
  • The altar of incense
  • The veil
  • The ark of the covenant
  • The glory cloud

A free study guide is available at http://hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/tabernacle.pdf.

Watch this video at

 

New Video: The Gospel Message in the Tabernacle of Moses — The Courtyard

Posted on by
4

In this video, Natan begins to decode the mysteries of the Tabernacle of Moses and shows how YHVH’s plan of salvation and the gospel message of Yeshua are encrypted within the tabernacle’s ceremonies and furnishings. The focus of this teaching is on the outer courtyard.

In this video, you will learn…

  • How the Red Heifer Altar and the Brazen Altar point to Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross.
  • How the  door points to Yeshua and the four Gospels.
  • How the linen curtains are a picture of the saints.
  • How the Bronze Laver relates to the first steps a new believer in Yeshua takes after getting saved.

A free study guide is available at http://hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/tabernacle.pdf

Watch this video at http://youtu.be/BEyM8h-WDCc

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 4/21 through 4/27/13

Aside

Reply

Parashat Emor — Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23
Haftarah — Ezekiel 44:15-31
Prophets — Jeremiah 12:1 – 18:23
Writings — Job 16:1 – 22:30
Testimony — Acts 25:1 – 28:31; James 1:1 – 3:18

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 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 4/21 through 4/27/13.

We are instructed in Vayikra/Leviticus 23:15-16: “You shall count for yourselves – 
from the morrow after the Shabbat, 
from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving – seven Shabbatot [weeks], they shall be complete. 
Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat 
you shall count fifty days; 
and you shall offer a new meal offering to YHVH.”

This is the 4th week of the counting of 7 weeks.

 

On Crime and Punishment—Biblical Style

Posted on by
1

Leviticus 20:1, On capital crimes. This chapter contains a number of Torah laws that when violated carry capital punishment. In 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, several of the same crimes are mentioned (i.e., adultery, fornication, homosexuality, idolatry), but the violators were forgiven and received salvation (verse 11). Why were these sins punishable by death in ancient Israel, but not later on? The Leviticus 20 directives apply to Israelites or those from foreign nations who had attached themselves to Israel (verse 2) who are held to a higher accountability and thus should know better not to commit these sins in the first place. On the other hand, the believers in Corinth had practiced these sins before they came to a knowledge of the truth, and were thus held to a lower level of accountability because of their ignorance.

20343970

What about the Corinthian believer who was sleeping with his stepmother (1 Cor 5:1–5)? In Leviticus, in the nation of Israel, this sin would have been punishable by death. In the first century, the Jews didn’t have their own nation, but were under Roman law and were thus not able to execute people for capital crimes. The next best thing to do apart from capital punishment was to put the sinning man out of the congregation, which is what Paul did. This was tantamount to spiritual death. These are the exact discipline protocols Yeshua advised be carried out within the body of believers (Matt 18:15–20). Such an individual was to be excommunicated and treated as a heathen and sinner (verse 17). And how are heathens and sinners to be treated? They are to be evangelized and brought to repentance, which is what happened to the sinner in Corinth (2 Cor 2:5–8).

Now David committed adultery and murder in his affair with Bathsheba, but was not sentenced to death. Why? Why was the Torah not carried out fully in David’s case? Surely he knew that he was sinning beforehand. For one thing, he repented bitterly (see Ps 51) and was forgiven. He never again committed these sins. In his case, mercy of Elohim rejoiced over or trumped his judgment (Jas 2:13 cp. Ps 85:10; Jer 9:24; Ezek 33:11; Mic 7:18; Exod 34:6–7).

Though Leviticus 20 records capital punishment for a variety of crimes, in Israel’s long history, the Jewish sages inform us that very few executions ever occurred for violating these laws. Mercy and grace seemed to be more the rule than the exception, and this modus operandi carried over into the era of the New Covenant as well.

 

Wake Up Call to an Apostate Nation

Posted on by
3

Jeremiah 2:4–28 and 3:4, Weeping for and a Warning Against an Apostate Nation

In this scripture passage, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet (lamenting for the apostate condition of the nation of Israel), speaking on behalf of YHVH, pleads with Israel to return to YHVH, the Elohim (God) of Israel, who had graciously blessed that nation. Under YHVH’s watchful care, Israel had prospered, yet eventually, like the first century believers in Laodicea (Rev 3:14–22), material prosperity had led to their forsaking YHVH for secularism.

Shofar-NL blowing

Jeremiah addresses all levels of Israelite society: kings, princes, priests, prophets, pastors and the people. No one escaped his stinging rebuke. In our day, kings and princes would correspond to our political leaders, while prophets, priests and pastors to our spiritual leaders. The people would be everyone else.

In verse 13, Jeremiah states that Israel was guilty of two sins: they had forsaken YHVH, the Fountain of Living Waters, and had exchanged his divine and life-giving truth for the stagnant waters of man-made cisterns, which in Hebraic poetic symbolism is a metaphor for false, humanistic religious and philosophical systems of men. In verse 27, Jeremiah accuses Israel of turning its back on YHVH and exchanging worship of the Creator for worship of the creation and material objects (idols). This is reminiscent of what the Apostle Paul declares in his Epistle to the Romans (chapter one) of a society that rejects the divinely revealed truth of YHVH as found in the Scriptures, and then begins worshipping that which the Creator created including the earth, animals and their own bodies (resulting in hedonism and sexual perversion). In verse 21, Jeremiah declares that Israel had become like a degenerate plant and a strange or foreign grape vine, which can be related to the wild olive tree Paul speaks of in Romans 11. (See also Jer 11:16.)

With all this in mind, can we identify any spiritual parallels between ancient Israel and modern America? If Jeremiah were alive today what might he say to America?

A Wake Up Call — The Battle For the Soul of America

For several generations now, a righteous remnant of end-time warriors has been fighting an uphill battle against immorality, abortion, rebellion against the biblical laws of YHVH, Continue reading →