Parashat B’midbar — Numbers 1:1 – 4:20 Haftarah — Hosea 2:1(1:10) – 2:22(20)* | 1 Samuel 20:18-42** Prophets — Jeremiah 10:1 – 16:21 Writings — Job 40:1 – 42:17; Song of Songs 1:1 – 4:16 Testimony — James 3:1 – 5:20; 1 Peter 1:1 – 4:19
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.
* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian English Bibles when they differ from Hebrew Bibles or the Tanakh.
** A different Haftarah is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Machar Chodesh on the traditional calendar so 1 Samuel 20:18-42 is read. Otherwise, Hosea 2:1(1:10) – 2:22(20)* would be read.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 5/17 through 5/23/2020.
James 2:20–24, Faith without works is dead. James is referring here to the works of faith, not the works of the law. No man can live a good enough life to be saved by his Torah-obedience or the works of the law (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16; 3:11).
At the same time, faith in Elohim is more than just mental ascent—“a knowing in your heart.” It has to be backed up by action (and we’re not talking about the works of the law). For example, when Elohim told Abraham to leave Babylon or to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed by leaving that country and moving to Canaan.
Moreover, many were healed in Yeshua’s ministry because they had faith in the Master and backed that faith up with corresponding action, which was the evidence of their faith. This faith-action continuum had nothing to do with Torah-obedience per se, but had everything to do with “putting your money where your mouth is” by backing up your faith or belief with action.
It is this kind of faith that James is talking about here, and this in no wise contradicts the teachings of Paul who said that no man is justified by the works of the law. When Paul declares in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim, not of works…,” he was correct and not opposed to James. What’s more, Paul goes on to say in verse 10, “For we are [Elohim’s] workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works…that we should walk in them.” These good works (i.e. obedience to the Torah) are the fruits, evidence or proof of our salvation and are the works that back up our faith.
So, in summary, the Bible teaches that we need the faith (a heart that believes and wants to obey Elohim) to lead us to salvation, as well as the works of faith after we have received Elohim’
Castles, palaces and mansions dot the landscape in many regions of Europe. These edifices are silent monuments of the wealth that has been concentrated into the hands of a few over the millennia. The sizes of these homes are staggering. It becomes especially evident when one tours these palatial residences—some of which boast hundreds of rooms and vast acreages. What are castles, palaces and mansions really all about? What’s behind it all. How does YHVH Elohim view what they represent? These are the questions I found myself asking on my recent trip to the British Isles, Ireland and Paris.
Kensington Palace, London
In many cities you visit, the castles, palaces and mansions of the wealthy “elite” top the list of the most popular tourist attractions. Everyone wants to experience the lifestyles of the rich and powerful if only vicariously. People the world over flock to them in droves as they purchase their tickets, board buses and often travel great distances to some remote and exclusive location with commanding view on a mountain or cliff top, beach or lake side or some other venerable piece of real estate, where they will spend the better part of a day touring the extravagant grounds, gardens and residences. We did! Some palaces are so elite that photography is even forbidden. It’s hard not be awed at the sight of throne rooms, mirrored ballrooms with frescoed ceilings and dozens of yards of rich tapestries, exotic wood carvings and paneling and marbled flooring and enormous art galleries with paintings up to the gilded ceilings.
The Louvre Palace, Paris
But all of this richness is, in reality, a pathetically thin veneer covering, in most cases, a sinister and evil side of palaces, castles and mansions. The tour guides, while giving the awestruck tourist the front story, will every so often allude to the backstory of how these wealthy “elite” obtained their vast lands and wealth. Yes, this background information paints a completely different story that betrays the rich but superficial patina of tree lined boulevards leading up to these grand estates as you drive past the high stone walls and gate houses, through the wrought iron gates to these homes surrounded by formal botanical gardens with their lakes, fountains, statuary and Greek-styled columned verandas, porticos and even garden sheds.
Yes, the tour guides don’t want to ruin the fun for their bedazzled paying guests, but the honest guides, when pressed with questions, will let slip out the truth of how these rich folks often acquired their land, and it’s not a pretty picture—certainly not as nice as the homes they left behind.
We started in a garden and we’re going to end up in one. So why not spend some time in the garden between our past and our future?
Then YHVH Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (Gen 2:15)
A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, fragrant henna with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices—a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits. (Song 4:12–16)
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of Elohim is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. Elohim Himself will be with them and be their Elohim.…And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 21:1–3; 22:1–2)
A psalm by Natan Lawrence
The Flowers in My Garden (written 5 April 2016) The uglier the world becomes, the more I plant flowers in my garden. The deeper and darker the pit society falls into, the brighter and more colorful are my flowers. The more vile, crass, ungodly, evil and profane people become, The more my garden resembles the sublimity and idyllicism of Eden. The greater the degradation of the surrounding culture as it gleefully parades its descent into hell, The more my garden reflects heaven on earth. Yehovah, I love you, praise you and find my hope and joy in you through the flowers in my garden!
From Natan’s garden and a couple of other places too.
And now here are some flowers from my mother’s garden. Hmm…I wonder where I got my love of flowers from?
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? (Psalm 94:16)
Jeremiah 7:4, The temple of YHVH. Trusting in man-made religion is pointless. Religious icons, systems and rituals will not save a person or nation from YHVH’s judgment against sin and apostasy. The Jews found out the hard ways that just because YHVH’s temple was located in their land, this was not a guaranteed get-of-jail-free card or a fire insurance policy that would magically save them from the results of their sinful disobedience and rebellion to YHVH and his commandments. Similarly, simply going to church, attending mass or synagogue, praying the rosary or shema, or adorning one’s house with Christmas lights and a Christmas tree or any other religious exercise will not save a person if they fail to repent of their sinful ways and turn back to serving YHVH with their whole heart!
Jeremiah 7:16, Do not pray. (Also see Jer 11:14 and 14:11.) There comes a time when YHVH’s people have become so apostate and reprobate that in their condition of lostness it is pointless to pray for them, and so YHVH will not hear any intercessory prayers offered up on their behalf. At this point, the only things that will capture the attention of such a people is severe divine judgment.
Jeremiah 7:22, For I did not speak. YHVH added the sacrificial system because of Israel refused to hear and obey YHVH (verse 23). It was YHVH’s original intent that Israel simply obey YHVH from a willing heart without a rigorous sacrificial system. It was a temporary system to teach Israel that sin doesn’t pay, to train his people to obey him, and to point the way to Yeshua, who would be that our great sin sacrifice once and for all.
Jeremiah7:31–32, Burn their sons…in the fire. Child sacrifice as part of their cultic rituals was how the ancients disposed of unwanted children even as abortion serves the same wicked and grisly purpose in our day. These children were offered on the altars of Tophet while priests beat drums to drown out the shrieks of the children being burned alive (The ArtScroll Chumash, p. 1167). Jeremiah prophesied that those Jews who practiced this holocaust would become victims themselves with their very own carcasses becoming food for the scavenger birds. (This sad prophecy has been fulfilled numerous times in the long history of the Jewish people including most recently during the holocaust of WW II.)
It has been said that the abortion rate is the same in the American Christian church as that of non-Christians. How concerned are you about the slaughter of the innocent in America, and what are you doing about it?
Jeremiah 7:21–8:3, 9:22 (23)–23 (24), “The Sacrifice of the Wicked Is an Abomination” to YHVH (Prov 15:8).
This message of Jeremiah reveals that the purpose of sacrifice and of all outward acts of worship should be to deepen the inward sense of religion and to stimulate one to a holy or set-apart life. Jeremiah, speaking for YHVH, decries the uselessness of religious activity when accompanied with unholiness and unrighteousness. Furthermore, he denounces the mere mechanical performance of acts of worship; of the superstition that the temple ritual could be a guarantee of security from the judgments of Elohim, while the Israelites were divorced from obedience to YHVH’s Torah. Only whole-hearted repentance could avert a national disaster brought on by YHVH’s judgments (Soncino Pentateuch, p. 439).
What is the true meaning of religion and what was the true purpose of the temple in Israel? Its purpose was to transform people into living temples that would be set-apart or holy unto YHVH Elohim. If they acted one way while in the temple and another way while outside the temple, then the temple activities had only become a mockery of YHVH, a farce and a repugnance to the very one they had supposedly come to worship. Humans may kid themselves by their religiosity, but they cannot deceive the Holy One of Israel who sees all and who reads their hearts and minds. He is not moved by mere outward show of religious piety. What are your true heart motives for pursuing the religion of the Bible? If it is for any reason other than out of a deep, abiding love for Yeshua, for a desire to draw close to the Father in a personal one-on-one way, to walk in righteousness as an act of faith and worship toward him, then your motives need to be reevaluated and readjusted.
Let us define some important words that sadly all too often relate to religious folk. These words are:
Pretense, which is “a claim made or implied, but not supported by fact; ostentation.”
Ostentation, which is “anexcessive display; pretentiousness.”
Hypocrisy, which is “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.”
What does the Word of Elohim have to say about hypocrisy? Please review the following biblical passages:
Job 13:16; 15:31,33,34; 20:4,5; 27:8–10
Psalm 78:34–37
Proverbs 15:7; 21:27
Isaiah 1:13,15; 29:13–16; 48:1–2; 66:3–5
Jeremiah 3:10; 7:4, 8–10
Hosea 10:1,4
Matthew 6:1,2,5,16,24; 7:5,15,21–23; 15:7–9, chapter 23
Luke 11:39,42,44,52
Romans 16:18
Galatians 6:3
Titus 1:16
James 1:8,22–24,26; 2:14–26; 3:17
2 Peter 2:1–3,17,19
1 John 2:4,9,19; 4:20
Revelation 3:15–18
Now let’s review some statistics relevant to the state of the American Christian church from George Barna’s book, The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators—A Statistical Report on the State of Religion in America. This book was first published in 1996, yet how much has the American church changed for the better since then? Here are some startling statistics:
85% of Americans claim to be Christian
10% of Americans are “Bible Christians”: that is, they fully accept biblical authority, total trust in Christ for salvation, are evangelistic and are active in a church, and believe in moral absolutes.
25% of Americans are “Conventional Christians”: they claim total trust in Christ for salvation, are involved in a church, they exercise a privatized faith, believe in moral relativism and appreciate the Bible.
28% of Americans are “Cultural Christians”: they have a universalistic world-view, their religion is works based (i.e., they believe that good people will go to heaven), they are moral relativistic, nominal church involvement and are Christian in name only.
Of those who claim to be Christian, only 40 percent believe in a literal Satan; 63 percent believe in the accuracy of the Bible; only 30 percent read their Bible in a week; only 57 percent agree that good people will go to heaven; only 31 percent believe in a fiery place of torment after death; 37 percent believe hell is only symbolic; only 9 percent knew what the “Great Commission” was; 63 percent had no idea what “John 3:16” referred to; and only 35 percent could accurately define the meaning of the word gospel.
YHVH sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn the nation of Israel of impending doom if it failed to repent of its disobedience to him. He then cites many examples of various sins that had become odious in YHVH’s nostrils. In their smugness, the Jews felt secure because they possessed the temple in Jerusalem. Surely YHVH would not allow the Jews to be destroyed for the sake of his spiritual house. Yet Jeremiah warned that this security was a false one and to prove his point he calls to their attention the example of the Northern Kingdom or house of Israel, which had already been taken captive a couple of generations earlier. What parallels do we see in the Christian church that are similar to those of the Southern Kingdom or house of Judah of Jeremiah’s day? How many Americans take comfort (and pride) in the notion that America is a “Christian nation” and that certainly YHVH would allow nothing disastrous to happen here? Some take comfort in America’s military and economic might. Others feel that a pre-tribulation rapture will carry them “out of here” when the going gets tough. Is it possible that some might be in for a rude awakening one of these days when things don’t go as planned? We know from history that the temple in Jerusalem—as if it were some lucky talisman—did not protect the Jews who. The stark reality of this came to rest on the Jewish people as they watched their beloved temple go up in flames, even as their conquerors were dragging them off in chains to be slaves in a foreign nation. Could the unexpected happen to America, or any other country? Is YHVH any more duty-bound to protect us than he was the Jews of that day?
I just received a question in the comments section of this blog as to whether I would submit to forced government virus testing and quarantining. Below, I will answer this question as well as share with you my position on vaccines.
For the record, I am 60 years old and have never had a vaccine in my life—not a single one. I don’t intend to ever get one either. Are all vaccines bad? No. But most are because of the toxic substances (adjuvants) that they contain.
Now I’m not opposed to all vaccines. Vaccinations are not necessarily a bad concept. It’s called allopathic medicine and is based on the idea, among other things, that a little toxic substance put into the body can help to build the body’s immune system to fight the pathogens of a particular disease. However, before I would ever take a vaccine, I would have to be certain that it didn’t contain any toxic materials, biblically unclean substances, or biblically forbidden ingredients such as aborted fetal tissues. I would also want to make certain that the vaccine was effective and was actually fighting the disease for which it was intended, and NOT last year’s virus as opposed to this year’s virus.
So far in my life, I have never needed a vaccine, and if I’ve lived this long without one, I suspect that I can make it to the end of my life without one as well. YHVH has healed me many times, and I live a clean, pure life physical and spiritually, so there’s no reason that I should get the virus that’s currently pandemically circulating.
I haven’t exactly spent my life in a cave either without being exposed to possible diseases. I’m out in the world every day running my business. I have travelled to more than 20 countries on four continents, have been in some of the biggest cities in the world, been on many cruise ships and on countless airplanes and otherwise lived a normal, unsheltered life. But I’m careful, know how to protect myself and stay in a right spiritual relationship with my Creator. So far I’ve been spared by YHVH’s grace. I have been to the doctor only once in my life for a medical emergency, and that was more than 30 years ago because of a broken bone.
As far as the leftist governor of Washington State goes and his recent mandates regarding forced government testing for the Corona/COVID-19 virus along with forced quarantines, let me say this. I live in Oregon, which is between Washington and California, so I’m watching the situation in Washington carefully, since such measures could potentially come to my state. I am a libertarian at heart and am opposed to big-brother government encroachments and controls. Basically I want to be left alone to run and manage my own life. I am not opposed to reasonable government measures to protect its citizens from evil things, but am opposed to having my life micro-managed and my constitutional liberties abridged in any way.
With regard to testing, I’m not necessarily opposed to be being tested if I were to come down with symptoms resembling the Corona-COIVID-19 virus. I’d like to know what I’ve got, so I can protect myself and others from it. Quarantine is a biblical-Torah concept after all. If I were to be cursed with this virus, I’d want to know. Beyond that, the less the government knows about me, the less they can control me. They already know a lot, but I’m reluctant to give them voluntarily and for no good reason any more information than absolutely necessary. So to answer your question as to whether I’d submit to testing and mandatory quarantine as the governor of Washington is proposing, I’d have to read the fine details, pray for wisdom from above as to what to do or not to do, and then act out my conscience, and beyond that trust YHVH for his protection and then let the chips fall where they may. This is a decision that each person has to make on their own.
Know this, that the book of Revelation predicts that in the last days, the political and economic powers that run the planet will use pharmaceutical drugs to control the populace for their evil, nefarious and Antichirst purposes (Rev 18:23). I don’t intend to be one of their mind-numbed, subservient, worker bee peasant-serfs. I am a redeemed, blood-bought servant-saint of Yeshua the Messiah, and am in a blood covenant relationship with the Almighty YHVH Elohim, the Creator of the universe, and I will not allow myself to come under any dictates of man that in anyway compromises my relationship with my Elyon or goes against his Written Word. Period. So help me YHVH!
