Light In Torah

  We continue our journey through the book of Joshua. Okay, this is what you need to imagine. The shofar has not even stopped ringing in their ears. The dust has not even settled from the walls of Jericho going down. The plunder of the city, the victory, every single detail, the crossing of the River Jordan, the promise that God had given to them—now they have entered the land. Now they have taken their first conquest. Now they have defeated the greatest city in the Promised Land, which brings us to chapter 7—Israel's greatest failure. They are getting ready to move from a life of miracles to a life of participation. Yes, in the wilderness, what did they have? Everything. God provided a pillar of cloud to guide them. God gave them water to drink. God gave them enemies that were defeated who were behind them. God did everything. He provided for them manna. People were never sick. People never pooped. People never peed. Everything was taken care of. Now they are moving out of the wil...

We were in Joshua chapter 5 yesterday, when Jericho falls, and the instructions that were going to be there, and how you have to overcome things that are in the spiritual world. The world has a way of doing things. But God has a different way of doing it when He establishes the premise for how you attack things in the spiritual realm. Chapter 6 says, "Now Jericho"—remember Jericho comes from the word  Yareach , which is the word for moon. And Jericho was like the New York City or the LA or the Kansas City, the Houstons, the Seattles—the major cities of the United States where there is lots of commerce, lots of international trafficking. It was literally the head of Canaan. They had double-layered walls that people actually lived within, and it was the head of pagan idolatry, which ironically is the same that we experience today with the Muslim faith. Muslim faith is built on the crescent moon, and all that goes with it, and ironically, Judaism is very much centered in moon wo...

I am in Joshua chapter 5. The children of Israel are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. And you would think they should get their weapons ready and prepare to go in and take the people of Jericho. One of the things we need to know about Jericho is that Jericho is kind of like Kansas City, kind of like New York, kind of like Los Angeles. The walls were doubly thick. People actually lived within the walls—we see that with Rahab. It was an international city. It was considered the gateway to the Promised Land. It was the head of Canaan, and the word Jericho comes from the Hebrew word for the moon,  Yareach , which they were known for—all their paganism centered around moon worship, which back in that day, every idolatrous practice fit underneath Jericho's walls. So when God gets ready to attack Jericho, He gives them the means to be able to do it, which are exactly the opposite of the way you would attack a city. Instead of with great noise, it was great silence. Instead of j...

  We continue our studies in Joshua, Joshua chapter 4. One of the misconceptions that we have within evangelical Christianity today is that what we call the Old Testament is old and the New Testament is new, when in actuality, Yeshua Himself said that not one jot or one tittle would pass away from the law until everything was fulfilled. If we were to do a good examination of the Torah and the prophets—literally known as the Tanakh, the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim, the first five books, the prophets, and all the writings—we find that there are still so many prophecies, up to 500 prophecies, that still need to take place before the return of the Messiah. So it's very difficult for us to make the statement, "That was old, and this is new." But yet, the reality is, what we call the new is constantly referencing us back. The Apostle Paul, when he speaks about the race that we run in 1 Corinthians 9, beginning in verse 24 and going through chapter 10, verse 12, is all liken...

  The Torah portions from Genesis through Deuteronomy are rehearsed and reviewed every year. Very seldom do we ever move past the first five books of the Torah into the prophets—Joshua, Judges, etc. But now we want to take the time to venture forward, to move past. Because oftentimes, just like the children of Israel, who were in the wilderness for 40 years, and they had the opportunity to get out of the wilderness after just a year and a half, we tend to get comfortable with where we're at. And when you get comfortable, everything becomes status quo. Holiness becomes common, and commonality becomes mundane and boring. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt to take them to the border of the Promised Land. Joshua succeeded Moses—his apprentice, his disciple. And soon, the one whom Moses has been mentoring for all of these years is going to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land. The name Joshua in Hebrew, Yahoshua, is the same as our Savior and our Messiah, Yeshua...

Next week, Wednesday, many will celebrate the happiest day of the year—or at least tied for the happiest day of the year. Huh? I have shared on many occasions that the Bible is a guidebook. Many treat it as a philosophy book, a history book, a science book, a denominational manual, a law book, and/or a theology book. And though it has all of those topics in it, the canon is none of those, inclusively. But without a doubt, it is the best guidebook for life on this earth ever compiled. Yet, with all of its great wisdom, our 66 books are not all that there is written or revealed on the subject of life. For example, the Creation Story in Genesis 1:1–2:3, the Flood Story in Genesis 6–9, or the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11—these stories are just thumbnail sketches of the events they reveal. Even in Yeshua's life, if all was written, not even all the libraries in the world could contain the accounts of what He did (John 21:25). Two negative events have taken place in the history of Israel...

In our Torah portion,  Va'etchanan , Moses pleads with God to allow him to see the Promised Land (Deut. 3:25). Deep students of God's Word have said that Moses prayed 515 times, pleading with the Lord, but God's answer was "No"—and then He said, "We won't talk about this anymore" (Deut. 3:26). How could God say no? Have you ever had your prayer requests go unanswered? Have you ever hoped for something—not even selfishly (James 4:1–4), but on behalf of someone else—and your hope was delayed, or you got a "no"? It makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12). With all the pressures and frustrations of life facing us every morning, inquiring minds want to know: what is this prayer stuff all about? Is it just the law of attraction? A spiritual Santa Claus where I get my latest favorite toy? Let us begin at the beginning. (Nice, Mr. Obvious. :-)) God is the absolute King, Ruler, and Creator of the universe. In other words, God is in control of everything—...

In this week's Torah portion,  Va'etchanan  ("I pleaded"), we find the answer to a dilemma that most of us face when life feels dry, dry, dry: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."  (Hab. 3:17–18) Life is perspective. But perspective without facts is just influential fiction. We are on our way to the 9th of Av (July 22), and we are close to the halfway point of this fifth month—the 15th of Av, also known as Tu B'Av (Judg. 21:19), which falls on July 29. Menachem Av is the fifth month on God's calendar, and it means "the consolation of the Father." This Shabbat, July 25, is the Shabbat of Consolation (Isa. 40:1–3). Historically, the first half of the month is filled with self-im...

Let us conclude our investment into the Land of our inheritance, connecting some very familiar stories 😊. As burying Sarah at great cost tested Abraham's faith in the resurrection, so burying a part of yourself tests your own. Sarah and Abraham were one flesh, and Hebron was said to be the gateway back to the Garden of Eden. Abraham believed so firmly in the resurrection that he paid a premium for prime real estate—staking his hope on that future event. "When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but Jesus was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing!' And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?' Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?'" (Matthew 8:23–27) Yeshua i...

This "accounting" of what it takes to live in the Land of Israel helps us decode some of Yeshua's mysterious statements to His disciples. Take a look at the text, and then we will draw a "Come to Heshbon" connection 😊 "Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.' Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.' Another of the disciples said to Him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.'"  (Matt. 8:18–20) Many commentaries explain that Yeshua was telling these disciples that they were not fit to follow Him. Perhaps Yeshua was saying just the opposite. The scribe was a person who faithfully copied the Torah. This scribe was a ri...