Category Archives: Weekly Scripture Readings

Outline of Sefer Devarim—The Book of Deuteronomy: of Moses’ Farewell Address

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Chapter 1:1–5, Introduction

Chapters 1:6–4:40, First Discourse

Moses gives a veiled rebuke for sin and disobedience, and gives a review of the journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh with exhortations to obedience.

Chapters 4:44–11, Second Discourse, Part 1

The religious foundations of the covenant, the spirit in which it is to be kept and the motives to right obedience are discussed. Moses shows how the covenant defines the relationship between YHVH and Israel and emphasizes the basic spiritual demands that such a relationship imposes upon Israel.

Chapters 12–26, Second Discourse, Part 2

  • The code of law dealing with:
  • Worship, Chapters 12:1–16:17
  • Government, Chapters 16:18–18
  • Criminal Law, Chapters 19:1–21:9
  • Domestic Life, Chapters 21:10–25
  • Rituals and the Sanctuary, Chapter 26

Chapters 27–30, Third Discourse

The enforcement of the Torah-law with its blessings and curses; establishment of a fresh covenant between YHVH and Israel (i.e., the younger generation).

Chapters 31–34, The Last Days of Moses

  • Chapter 31, Committal of the law to the keeping of the priests.
  • Chapter 32, The Song of Moses (a prophecy about Israel’s future).
  • Chapter 33, Moses’ patriarchal blessing over the tribes of Israel.
  • Chapter 34, The death of Moses.

Overview of the Book of Deuteronomy/Devarim from Various Commentators

This last book of the Torah starts out with “These are the words which Moses spoke ….” The Hebrew name for Deuteronomy is Devarim meaning “words,” which is the plural form of devar meaning “word, speech, a matter or thing, a commandment, a report, a message, promise.” Note the similarity between the Hebrew word devar and the Greek word logos from John 1:1 (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word Continue reading →

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 7-15 Through 7-21-18

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat D’varim — Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
Haftarah — Isaiah 1:1-27
Prophets — Ezekiel 28:1 – 34:31
Writings — Nehemiah 4:1 – 10:39
Testimony — Galatians 3:1 – 6:18; Ephesians 1:1 – 3:21

Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2017-2018 is available to download and print.

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 7/15/18 through 7/21/18.

 

The Promised Land Inheritance Is Still an Unfulfilled Promise

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Numbers 34:2, This is the land. The land of Canaan as described in this passage is but a small portion of Israel’s total land inheritance from the Creator. In the Abrahamic Covenant YHVH made to Abraham and to his descendants, this promise has yet to be fulfilled to its fullest extent (review Gen 17:8 cp. 15:18). Never in Israel’s long history as a nation has it possessed and inhabited the land from Egypt to Iraq.

If YHVH’s promise hasn’t been fulfilled yet, unless he lied to Abraham and the Word of Elohim can’t be trusted, this promise is yet to be fulfilled.

In Ephesians 2:12, Paul mentions “covenants of promise” (plural). Most redeemed believers have heard of the New Covenant and know that it somehow relates to them, but Paul speaks of covenants (plural) with regard to the one-new man believer in Yeshua (read the next few verses for context).

Other than the New Covenant (singular), what other covenants (plural) that YHVH made with the nation Israel might Paul be referring to? The Abrahamic Covenant, of course.

Do you see yourself as a son of Abraham and an inheritor of these promises? (See Rom 4:16; 9:8–11; Gal 3:7, 9; 14, 28–29.) Paul did. What was Paul thinking, how does this affect you and your future, and how does this square with what the church typically teaches is the future inheritance of the saints?

 

Concourse With the World—A Slippery Slope

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Numbers 33:55, If you do not drive out. In his instructions to his children, YHVH is serious: he doesn’t want his saints to countenance the ungodly heathens that were around them in any way.

One has only to read in the pages of the Scriptures the long and sad history of Israel’s numerous involvements with the societies around them resulting in their fall into apostasy again and again.

The reason for this tendency toward spiritual declension is simple. The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 15:33. What does YHVH require his people to do in the face of evil? (See Ps 94:16.)

The problem is that when an unsuspecting saint begins to toy with sin and sinners, slowly and imperceptibly the slide down the proverbial spiritual slippery slope begins. This is what happened to Lot when he left Abraham and moved toward Sodom (review Gen 13:10–12 cp. 19:1–26). Next, we see that Lot is married with children, has a home in Sodom and is a leader there. Even though the Scriptures consider Lot to be a righteous man, it was nevertheless difficult for him to leave that wicked city. Though Lot’s wife left Sodom physically, she couldn’t leave it emotionally. (Remember Yeshua’s warning to us in Luke 17:32 as pertaining to the last days. Let us also not forget Yeshua’s warning to the church of Laodicea in (see Rev 3:14–22).

 

Understanding the Biblical Concept of Atonement

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Numbers 31:50, Make atonement. 

Exploring the Concept of Atonement as It Relates to the Tabernacle and Salvation

In Numbers 31:50 we read,

We have therefore brought an oblation for YHVH, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before YHVH.” In a similar passage in Exodus 30:15–16, we read, “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto YHVH, to make an atonement for your souls. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before YHVH, to make an atonement for your souls (emphasis added).

The question before us is this: Do these passages in the Torah imply that YHVH grants man absolution based something other than the shedding of blood, and by logical extension, does this call into question our redemption from sin through our faith in Yeshua the Messiah’s blood atonement?

The concept of atonement can be a confusing one. Some in rabbinic Jewish circles teach that the Torah (i.e. the first five books of the Bible) does not require the shedding of blood for atonement of one’s sin to occur. According to the above scripture, this could appear to be the case. Before briefly discussing the subject of atonement, let us not forget the stern warnings of the Apostle Peter when he warned end-time saints against false teachers who would lure people away from the simple truth of the gospel:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not…. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly Continue reading →

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 7-8 Through 7-14-18

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Matot-Masei — Numbers 30:2 (1)* – 36:13
Haftarah — Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4
Prophets — Ezekiel 21:1 – 27:36
Writings — Ezra 8:1 – 10:44; Nehemiah 1:1 – 3:32
Testimony — 2 Corinthians 9:1 – 13:14; Galatians 1:1 – 2:21

Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2017-2018 is available to download and print.

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.

* 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 7/8/18 through 7/14/18.

 

Is Your Personal Spirit Defiled or Clean?

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2 Corinthians 7:1, Cleanse…the…spirit. The personal spirit of each person can be defiled by the sinfulness of the flesh, and thus needs cleansing. See notes at Heb. 9:13–14 and Exod 29:13, 17.

Hebrews 9:13–14, Purifying the flesh…cleansing your conscience. The Levitical sacrificial system was never able to atone for sin in the full sense. These sacrifices were effective only temporarily in that they had to be continually repeated. These sacrifices never mitigated YHVH’s judgment against sin. The Levitical sacrifices simply covered over sin, so that the sinner could stand before Elohim without being consumed by his righteous judgments. Only Yeshua’s death could satisfy Elohim’s judgment against sin. Only his atoning sacrifice could thoroughly wash away our sins, remove the death penalty, which is the wages or penalty of sin, and cleanse the sinner of the guilty conscience which resides in his personal spirit, so that one could “serve the living Elohim” with a clean slate. Sin can contaminate the spirit of man, which houses the conscience of man (2 Cor 7:1; see notes at Col 3:10). Only the blood of Yeshua can miraculously cleanse our flesh and spirit and bring us to perfect holiness in the fear of Elohim (ibid.) This Yeshua did in a spiritual sense in the spiritual temple in heaven, which is greater than the physical temple on earth, which was a mere copy or shadow of the one in heaven (Heb 8:3–6). The cleansing the temple system offered was physical and external, while the one Yeshua offers through the heavenly temple gives internal cleansing.

Exodus 29:13, 17, Entrails/inwards…legs. In the process of cleansing the animal to be sacrificed, there are two lessons here for us. First, Yeshua was perfect, totally clean and spotless Lamb of Elohim sacrificed for the sins of man. Second, the saints are to become living sacrifices (Rom 12:1–2). This means we are to be like Yeshua—totally clean on both the inside and outside. Yeshua rebuked the religious hypocrites of his day for being like whited sepulchres and for being like cups that were clean on the outside but dirty on the inside (Matt 23:26–27). As the sacrifice was laid on the alter (Exod 29:18), and as Yeshua went to the altar of the cross, so we must lay our lives down as a living sacrifice as well.