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 →

 

Are Passover and the Day of Atonement Redundant?

Posted on by
7

Leviticus 16:1–34, A cursory reading of the Scriptures seems to indicate that there exists overlapping similarities between some of the blood atonement ceremonies of Passover/Pesach and the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur. What are the differences between the sin atonement offerings of Pesach and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)?

Are Passover and Atonement mirror images of each other, more or less?

Are Passover and Atonement mirror images of each other, more or less?

Perhaps realizing the fact that the Passover occurs during the spring feast day season and the Day of Atonement occurs during the fall feast day season may answer this question. Prophetically the spring feast days picture Messiah Yeshua’s first coming, while the fall feast days prophetically point to his second coming. How does this understanding shed light on the answer to this question?

Both Pesach and Yom Kippur picture redemption through the shed blood of Yeshua; that is, being delivered from bondage to sin and the rudiments of this world. Passover symbolizes the first steps a new believer takes when coming out of spiritual Egypt and accepting Yeshua, the Lamb of YHVH, as one’s Savior and Master.

Yom Kippur, on the other hand, pictures the blood of the Lamb covering over the sins of the individual and the corporate sins of the nation of Israel. Yom Kippur also prophetically points to the time when Yeshua will return to the earth to initiate the final regathering of lost Israel, and to prepare to marry his bride, redeemed Israel. Perhaps this understanding will help to answer why another Passover-like moed (appointed time) is needed. Yom Kippur doesn’t focus so much on leaving Egypt, but rather on YHVH’s people preparing to enter the millennial kingdom under the Messiah.

 

New Video: What the New Testament Says About Clean and Unclean Meats

Posted on by
Reply

In this video, Natan discusses controversial passages in the New Testament that many Bible teachers use to invalidate the Old Testament dietary laws, and he shows how their arguments are illogically invalid.

  • What does it mean when Mark says, “And he [Yeshua] declared all foods clean”?
  • What about Peter’s vision of the sheet with unclean animals?
  • Will prayer over food sanctify unkosher food?
  • What did Paul mean when he said that “nothing is unclean of itself”?
  • What did Paul mean when he told us to let no man judge us in the things we eat?
  • Did Yeshua and Paul tell us to eat whatever is put before us when we’re at someone’s home, even if it’s unclean?

Find the answer to these questions in this video.

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

Watch this video at

 

Funny, Sad, But True

Posted on by
Reply

Hopefully you’re not this uninformed and gullible.

Californians Sign Petition to Ban and Confiscate Firearms

Infowars.com

April 12, 2013

Media critic and social analyst Mark Dice shows how people are literally in a trance as he gets people to sign a petition banning their birthrights. The public’s zombie-like mental state is what will allow Obama to get his gun ban through.

http://www.infowars.com/californians-sign-petition-to-ban-and-confiscate-firearms/

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 4/14 through 4/20/13

Aside

Reply

Parashat Achrei Mot – Kedoshim — Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27
Haftarah — Amos 9:7-15
Prophets — Jeremiah 4:1 – 11:23
Writings — Job 9:1 – 15:35
Testimony — Acts 20:1 – 24:27

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 4/14 through 4/20/13.

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 3rd week of the counting of 7 weeks.

 

Same Play, Different Actors

Posted on by
Reply

An Overview of Jeremiah 1–8

Jeremiah chapters 1—8. Jeremiah prophesied to ancient Israel some 2800 years ago. What relevance could a bearded and robed prophet from the Middle East have to us living in the 21st century? The answer is simple: People are people! Only the actors, costumes, sets and venues change.

Prophet 15228598

So what social and spiritual issues burdened the old prophet’s heart?

  • Israel worshipped other gods besides YHVH Elohim (Jer 2:5).
  • Their religious leaders didn’t know Elohim (Jer 2:8).
  • False prophets filled the land (Jer 2:8) who predict only ear-ticklying nicety things (Jer 6:11).
  • Religious people relied on their own efforts—programs, man-made religious systems—instead of relying on the Spirit of Elohim to lead them (Jer 2:13).
  • The fear of YHVH Elohim was gone from the land (Jer 2:19; 5:24).
  • Israel had turned to false eastern religious systems (e.g. pantheism and earth worship, Jer 2:27).
  • The abominable practice of abortion/infanticide was socially acceptable (Jer 2:34).
  • The fatherless and needy were not being defended (Jer 5:28).
  • The religious system was full of self-appointed leaders who were con artists who lacked spiritual power (Jer 5:31).
  • False spiritual leaders were popular among the people (Jer 5:31)
  • The people and spiritual leaders were given over to greed and covetousness—i.e., the love of money (Jer 6:13; 8:10).
  • Everyone had rejected the Torah (Jer 6:19).
  • People refused to repent of their wicked sins (Jer 8:6).
  • The land was full of false spiritual teachers who didn’t know the Torah, and who spoke falsely (Jer 8:8–9).

From Jeremiah’s day until now, are things really different in our society or even in the church world?