This is a heart-warming, truly fascinating short video about man and whale. It brought tears to my eyes.
Watch this video to the end where you will see some amazing film footage of a humpback whale expressing the joy of being set free!
May this lift your spirits, and may we all praise YHVH Elohim for the wonders of his creation!
Enjoy—
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EBYPlcSD490
Genesis 12:1, Elohim’s covenant with Abraham. In the recent past on this blog, I inserted several teachings on the Abrahamic Covenant and how this covenant serves as the model for the process by which we as New Covenant believers are redeemed. If you didn’t have a chance to read them, or would like to refresh your understanding, I invite you to read them now.
To access these posts, either use the search and find box at the top of this page by typing in “Abrahamic Covenant,” or click on the phrase “Abrahamic Covenant” in the tag cloud on the right side of this page. Either way, all my past posts on this subject will pop up.
Understanding the Abrahamic Covenant is beneficial to your spiritual understanding in several ways.
Happy reading!
Parashat Lekh L’kha — Genesis 12:1 – 17:27
Haftarah — Isaiah 40:27 – 41:16
Prophets — Joshua 17:1 – 24:33
Writings — Psalms 15:1 – 21:13
Testimony — Matthew 10:25 – 14:21
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages.
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 reading will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle as well as the haftarah. By reading all the scriptures on this schedule each day, you will have read all scriptures from Genesis to Revelation by the end of next Sukkot (2013)!
The full Scripture Reading Schedule broken down by each day can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.”
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.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 10/21 through 10/27/2012
Matthew 10:2–4, The names of the twelve. The disciples’ names reflect the multilingualism that had influence over Jews of the first century in the land of Israel. Likely, Yeshua and his disciples were multilingual. They spoke Hebrew and Aramaic and likely had some knowledge of Greek as well.
Name of the Book
The Hebrew name for Psalms is Sepher Tehillim meaning “Book of Praises.” The word psalm is the Hebrew word mizmor meaning “melody” and derives from a word to mean “to sing, sing praise, make music.” The English word psalm derives from the Greek word psalmos meaning “a song sung to harp music.”
The Nature of the Book
The Book of Psalms is a collection of devotional materials including prayers, poems, and hymns, some of which were set to music. Worship and praise of Elohim through music is a unifying aspect of this book. The psalms include songs of thanksgiving, hymns of praise, psalms of repentance and confession, psalms that invoke curses upon one’s enemies, psalms sung by pilgrims en route to Jerusalem, and messianic psalms.
Authors of the Psalms
This book contains psalms by at least six authors. David wrote 73 psalms (according to the titles of the psalms) and two others are ascribed to him in the Testimony of Yeshua (Ps 2, see Acts 4:25 and Ps 95, see Heb 4:7). Asaph either wrote or was responsible for preserving 12 psalms (Pss 50 and 73 through 83). The sons of Korah wrote 11 psalms (Pss 42, 44 through 49). Solomon composed two psalms (Pss 72 and 127), while Etham wrote Psalms 89, Moses authored Psalm 90 (and possibly Ps 91), and Heman (Ps 88). Several Psalms have no designated author.
Categories of Psalms
The psalms can be group into four categories:
Other classifications of Psalms include:
The Five Books Within the Psalms
According to Jewish tradition, the Book of Psalms can be divided into five smaller books or sections. They are,
Scholars aren’t sure why Psalms is so sub-divided. One theory is that the five sections correspond to the five books of the Torah (or Pentateuch). Or they may simply be individual collections of psalms that were eventually combined to form the larger book we now have.
Matthew 7:21–23, What is the meaning of the word “iniquity” or “lawlessness” (in verse 23)? It is the Greek word anomia (Strong’s G458) meaning “unrighteousness” or “lawlessness.” Righteousness by biblical definition is “adherence to the Torah-commandments of YHVH” (Ps 119:172).
When the Jewish writers of the Testimony of Yeshua (NT) use the word “law” is almost always a reference to the Torah. In Hebrew thought then (and now), there was no other law except the Law of Moses. This “law” or Torah came from Elohim through the “Angel” or more properly the Messenger from heaven who gave the Torah to Moses, and who was none other than the pre-incarnate Yeshua (Acts 7:37–38). So the word “iniquity” or “lawlessness,” as used in our verse could quite simply be understood to mean “Torahlessness.” In fact, Torahlessness would be an apt translation of the Greek word anomia, which is behind the word iniquity or lawlessness (depending on the English translation).
Quite clearly, In Matthew 7:21-23, Yeshua is speaking to those who claim or profess to be his followers, who claim or profess his name, claim his miraculous power, claim to speak by his authority and even claim, no doubt, to love him, but in reality they fail to love him (according to the biblical definition of love) by obeying his word or Torah-commandments (John 14:15). In other words, they are sinners, walking in sinfulness, for John defines sin in his epistle as “the transgression of the Torah-law of Elohim” (1 John 3:4).
Of these same people, in the day of judgment, Yeshua will say, “Depart from me, you that work [do] Torahlessness, I never knew you.” Yeshua will not accept these people on the basis of their verbal professions or claims, nor will he accept them on the basis of their prophetic or miracle-working abilities. Yeshua, the Living Torah of Elohim made flesh, will accept them only on the basis of their obedience to and orientation toward the Torah-law of Elohim.
Is Yeshua here abrogating or nullifying the Torah-law given to Moses or is he reaffirming it to his followers? The language of this scripture is very clear to those who have ears to hear and to those who are truth-seekers. He is loudly and clearly validating the Torah and its relevance upon the lives of his disciples or followers!
If you are a true follower of Yeshua, the Messiah, THEN you will be making every effort to love him by obeying his Torah as best you can by his grace and the power of his Set-Apart Spirit. So help us Elohim!!!
| 10/14/12 | Genesis 6:9–22 | Joshua 9 | Psalms 8 | Matthew 6:16-34 |
| 10/15/12 | Genesis 7:1–16 | Joshua 10 | Psalms 9 | Matthew 7 |
| 10/16/12 | Genesis 7:17–8:14 | Joshua 11 | Psalms 10 | Matthew 8:1-17 |
| 10/17/12 | Genesis 8:15–9:7 | Joshua 12 | Psalms 11 | Matthew 8:18-34 |
| 10/18/12 | Genesis 9:8–17 | Joshua 13 | Psalms 12 | Matthew 9:1-17 |
| 10/19/12 | Genesis 9:18–10:32 | Joshua 14, 15 | Psalms 13 | Matthew 9:18-38 |
| 10/20/12 | Genesis 11:1–32 | Joshua 16 | Psalms 14 | Matthew 10:1-24 |
| Haftarah — Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5 | ||||
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages.
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 reading will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle as well as the haftarah. By reading all the scriptures on this schedule each day, you will have read all scriptures from Genesis to Revelation by the end of next Sukkot (2013)!
The new Scripture Reading Schedule can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.”
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.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 10/14 through 10/20/2012