Light In Torah

I was asked a question that is directly connected with this week's Torah portion,  Re'eh  ("to see"), and I want to share the answer with you—since inquiring minds want to know :-) This person asked me privately: "If I'm not keeping Shabbat, not eating biblically clean, and not keeping the feasts, am I sinning against God?" I hope you enjoy these thoughts and are able to glean from his willingness to ask. Before we begin, let me say something concerning the character of God. I believe the Apostle John was correct in 1 John 4 when he stated that God is love. He is not the author of confusion (cf. 1 Cor. 14:33); He does not change (Mal. 3:6), nor would He lead anyone to transgress His own words—the Torah. As Yeshua said in Matthew 12, every word that we speak proceeds from the heart. Since we are made in the image of God, we can deduce that God's Word originated in His heart—the seat of His emotion and character. Personally, I want to be like King Davi...

Here are some in-sight'ful thoughts (pun intended) for this week's Torah portion :-). Feel free to go to  www.lightintorah.org  for more studies. In our Torah portion,  Re'eh  ("to see"), we find that the emphasis is on seeing—and throughout the portion, there is INTENSITY! Last week... Deut. 11:13 — "If you will listen, you will listen" Deut. 11:22 — "If you will observe, you will observe" This week... Deut. 12:2 — "Destroying, you shall destroy" Deut. 13:16 — "Smite, you shall smite" Deut. 14:22 — "Tithe, you shall tithe" Deut. 15:8 — "Opening, you shall open" Deut. 15:8 — "Grant, you shall grant" Deut. 15:10 — "Giving, you shall give" Deut. 15:14 — "Extending, you shall extend" These are tautological infinitive verbs—where two different forms of the same verb are used to double the impact of the action. They remind me of the old "Doublemint" commercial from days ...

If I was going to summarize this entire chapter, it would be "carpe diem." Carpe diem means "seize the day." That's exactly what Joshua does.  Could you imagine moving into a neighborhood and you're unpacking your boxes, and a neighbor comes to the door and says, "Hey, welcome to the neighborhood. Get your sword. We've got five nations that are seeking to attack us." And you go, "Don't I even get a chance to take a time to breathe?" The children of Israel, as they are moving into the Promised Land, they've conquered Jericho, they've conquered Ai, and there's no rest. You know, it's amazing because in our lives, sometimes we just wish that we could have the world just stop. "Let me get off and let me do the things that I need to do because I need a rest." But God says, "Nope, there's other things to do." Within chapter 10, it's an amazing story because this is the story where the sun stan...

    The book of Joshua is not only about our journey, literally fighting with the armor of God for the inheritance, but it's really an incredible book on leadership. One of my favorite books for leadership is Nehemiah. But Joshua—wow. Talk about incredible leadership, let alone stories like King David and the way that he handled situations. Joshua chapter 8, we defeat Ai. We take our past failures, and we utilize them to guarantee victory in the future. We follow the instructions of the Lord. He sets up the enemy, and victory is won. After victory, it's really important to remember: who was it who gave you the victory? Really, a major focus of Deuteronomy chapter 8 is, once you've accomplished something, to remember it was God who did it for you. Yes, you're responsible for doing your part, but God is the one who orchestrates and makes things happen. You know, as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he says, "I plant the seed, Apollos waters, and God g...

  Joshua chapter 8 really lays out a big lesson for us. The lesson is, after you've failed, after you've done things in your own power, you've been overconfident, you figured, "No problem, I can handle this." You didn't consult Yahweh. And as a result of that, boom—defeat. The first attempt to go up to Ai, 36 individuals' lives were ended. Joshua's saying, "How in the world could this take place?" The Lord says, "I don't know what you're all upset about." He goes, "You got sin in the camp. Take care of it, and that'll take care of your situation." Joshua chapter 8. Now they're getting ready to go up to Ai the second time. Strategically, they use their failure as the weapon to put their enemy at ease. And then they come back, and they ambush them, which is amazing. The first trip up to Ai, there's no plan. There's no real coordination. There's not anything that would say success. But there's ...

  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...