Archive for the ‘Biblical Studies’ Category
In this week’s class Ross continues his teaching through the holiness code. His focus in this class is a message to the priests, but he places special emphasis on the House of Israel – the descendants of the northern Kingdom who abandoned their mission and are now beginning to awaken. Ross shows that the priestly mission is still in force and that the departure can be traced to a violation of the rules given by Moses to the Priestly nation. In this class, Ross shows that the repetition of a single word may provide clues to the source of the problems with the priestly nation. The Hebrew word is typically translated as “desecrate”. There are 11 examples of this word in the Torah Reading known as “Emor”. The most serious form of desecration is the desecration of the name of God. Ross shows examples from the Torah and the prophets and provides a charge to the wakening priests of what they should be doing now. You will not want to miss this class.
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In this week’s class Ross covers the Torah’s view of holiness. For many people, holiness is something that is beyond human grasp. Our culture has redefined the concept of holy as something for another world and another life, but according to the Torah holiness is attainable here and now. It is a command, a requirement. Across the ages, God has called on His people to walk on the “good way” and yet there has been a refusal on the part of the people to walk in His ways. Ross sets out to show from the Hebrew Bible and especially from what is called the holiness code, that Good Way among the ancient paths. This week we begin to make a transition from ritual to ethical. You will not want to miss this teaching as it orients us towards a way that is achievable in the here and now – on earth. Be Holy! It is our task. It is our mission.
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In this week’s teaching Ross covers Torah reading Shemini. Ross shows that this Torah portion and the associated teaching from the prophets make it clear that drawing near to God must be in accordance with what has been commanded in the Torah. He uses the examples of Nadav and Avihu from the Torah and Uzzah from the prophet reading to illustrate that when one draws near in a way contrary to what has been commanded, the results are not good. One of the key points in this teaching deals with Diet. Many have been taught that the dietary laws are no longer relevant. Is this the case? Is it true that diet does not matter? This teaching makes it clear that according to the Hebrew Bible, many of the things that people have been taught don’t matter, are actually very important according to God. You will not want to miss this class.
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In this class Ross presents the second of a two part series covering five themes of the Passover season. This week Ross focuses on the last two themes – (1) The defeat of the enemies of God and the enemies of His people, and (2) A Coming Second Exodus. Whereas the first three provide us with keys to prepare, the last two illustrate what the future deliverance will look like. Ross researched the earliest records of ancient sermons preached in the old synagogues to find and share prophetic passages associated with the final days of Passover. He covers the theme of a Greater Exodus that is to come. This prophesied return of Israel from all nations is the MAJOR theme of all the prophets, mentioned in over 40 separate sections throughout the Hebrew Bible. This coming exodus will overshadow the former exodus. Ross works through some of the key passages dealing with the in-gathering of the exiles.
The photo is of Jewish immigrants returning to the land of their fathers and was taken in 1930. What will be so miraculous as to overshadow the Exodus from Egypt? The return of Israel from all the nations into which they were driven! You will not want to miss this teaching!
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In this week’s class Ross begins to cover themes found within prophetic readings associated with the Festival of Passover. Ross points out that during the Festival, there are a total of 5 readings drawn from the prophets that each contain instruction for key aspects of the redemption. Ross takes the first three in this week’s class. They are, (1) circumcision, (2) a revival through the Torah and (3) the resurrection of God’s son. This teaching will certainly challenge some. In it he addresses some of the things that have been taught contrary to the clear message of the Bible. Is circumcision required for males? Can a rediscovery of the LAW of Moses bring about a revival in the land? And finally on this weekend when millions upon millions are hearing a message about resurrection, Ross teaches about the prophesied resurrection of God’s son that has NOT YET taken place. You will not want to miss this teaching. Can these bones live?
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In this week’s class Ross carefully examines the “work of Elijah.” The Sabbath before Passover is called Shabbat HaGadol (the BIG Sabbath). One of the key themes of Passover is redemption. During the traditional Passover meal, there is a seat which is saved for Elijah. Ross uses a story of this tradition to pose a question to listeners. Should we be waiting for Elijah to bring about the redemption? He shares some of the stories of Elijah’s career and uses them to make some essential points about our personal responsibility when it comes to the work of Elijah. Is the work of redemption too hard for humans? Are the tasks reserved for a “heavenly figure”? You will not want to miss this class.
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This week we begin our study of the 3rd book of the Torah, called Vayikra in Hebrew (also known as Leviticus). Ross sets out to provide a basis for all that will follow in the coming weeks and months as he teaches on the subjects found within this book that was anciently known as “Instructions for the priests.” He begins by giving an introduction to the book itself and then explores the subject of “sacrifice.” Is this book relevant for Bible believers today? After all, we no longer bring sacrifices. Ross answers many questions and resolves some of the greater theological conflicts associated with the contents of Leviticus in this week’s class. He provides a challenging approach to the idea that blood is required to attain forgiveness of sins. What is the true purpose of the priest? Was it primarily to slaughter the sacrifice? And what does God truly require of us? If sacrifices play such a dominant role in the Torah, what is a people seeking to return to God to do at this time when animal sacrifice no longer takes place? You will surprised and challenged by this teaching.
The dialogue for this class is also posted and we are pleased to finally have our new entrance and exit music attached to the teaching file.
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Today brings the New Moon or a new month, but not just any new moon. According to the Torah, “This month (literally “new”) shall be to you head of the months…Exodus 12.
Today is the beginning of Nisan or Aviv, the biblical name of this new moon/month.
Even though the focus on the 1st day of the 7th month is dominant among many, and has been picked up even in our culture as “Rosh HaShanah,” the Jewish “New Year,” the power of YHVH’s word here to Moshe can not be gainsaid. This is indeed the beginning of the “Sacred” year, not the civil year, and the return of the cycle of Sabbaths, New Moons, and Festivals…
If you do a bit of study for the terms “first day” of the “first month” in the Tanakh you might be surprised at how often this “New Year” signals a new beginning, renewal, and new life, including here in the time of Moshe at the Exodus. It is also called the turning of the year, and has to do with the sprouting of the barely, and with what we call “spring,” but on a deeper level it is more than that. For all of us may it be a time of “turning,” and yes, “Here comes the sun!”
Here is a detailed study of what the Bible calls “The Times and the Seasons”:
Blessed be the Name of God
From everlasting even to everlasting!
For wisdom and might are His;
And He changes the times and seasons.
–Daniel 2:20–
One of the most fascinating areas of Biblical study is that of chronology. YHVH is a God of history, of times and seasons. He alone is the One who was, and is, and is to come. He alone determines the outcome of things, knowing the end from the beginning (see Isaiah 46:10). The Torah is full of fascinating indications of how, and particularly when He acts in bringing forth His Divine Plan of the ages. In other words, the Torah gives us insight into what we might call the Divine Counsel or “Strategy.” Much of this chronological material in the Torah is written in coded form and has to be “dug out” with some care. However, the effort is well rewarded as we gain insight into some of the “wondrous things” hidden therein. Remember the prayer of David:
Open my eyes that I might see,
Wondrous things out of Your Torah! (Psa 119:18)
One of the most intriguing examples of God’s strategic chronological Plan in history are the events surrounding the Call of Abram and the birth of Isaac. To follow this study you will need a good literal translation of the Torah in English, a Hebrew text if you have it, and materials for notes.
As you know, Isaac was a wondrous child of promise, born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 (Gen 17:17). A year earlier, when Abraham was 99, we have an important set of references to what was ahead. YHVH and the two heavenly messengers appeared to Abraham at Mamre and revealed to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son. Note the precise language:
I will certainly return to you when the season comes around, and lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son (Gen 18:10).
Is anything too hard for YHVH? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah shall have a son (Gen 18:14).
Two precise Hebrew expressions are used here, lending strong emphasis to the precise timing of the birth of Isaac. There is great meaning in all this. The first phrase, “when the season comes around,” (ca`et chayah) is literally, “at the time (or season) of life.” It is a reference to the new year in the Spring, in the month of Abib or Nisan (see Exodus 12:2). It is significant to note that precisely the same phrase is used in the Haftorah reading for this very section of Torah (Vayerah). There we read of another extraordinary birth, that of the son of the Shunammite woman during the time of Elisha (2 Kings 4:16). Truly this month of Nisan is a month of miracles and “new birth” as we shall see. The second phrase, “at the set time,” (lamo`ed) stresses the exactitude of the timing of this important event. It will come at a precise time or season. These are not merely superfluous passing references. Three chapters later we read:
And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him (Gen 21:2).
What we learn here is that Isaac was born in the Spring of the year, likely in the month of Nisan, at a “set time” of great importance to the plan of YHVH.
Anyone who is a talmid(ah) Torah, a student of Torah, will immediately think of the miraculous birth of yet another child, which also took place in the Spring of the year, in this very month of Nisan. I am speaking of the birth of the nation of Israel, brought out of Egypt at the first Passover. Regarding that pivotal event YHVH Himself declares:
Israel is My son, My first-born,
and I have said unto you: Let My son go (Exodus 4:22).
When Israel was a child I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son (Hosea 11:1).
We all know that this coming out of Egypt, this birth of a nation happened at a precise time, even a precise day according to the Plan of YHVH. Exodus 12:40-41 makes a fantastic claim of great significance. Note it carefully:
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass, at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the very day [i.e., Passover], it came to pass that all the host of YHVH went out from the land of Egypt.
Note that the language is exact and absolute. The reference to the very day is to the 15th of Nisan, the evening of the Passover Seder. But what about this intriguing reference to 430 years? Scholars have disputed over the meaning of this chronological note. It should be noted that the verse, when properly translated, does not say that Israel was in the land of Egypt for 430 years, but rather the that the time of their “sojourning” was 430 years (see KJV for a correct rendering). What event happened, 430 years earlier, to the day, from Israel’s Exodus from Egypt?
Many would begin this 430 year period of “sojourn” with the Call of Abraham in Genesis 12. Others have counted the 430 years from the circumcision covenant with Abraham, when he was 99 years old (Gen 17). Still others have begun the 430 years with the birth of Isaac in Genesis 21. The Rabbinic source Seder Olam preserves what I think is the best solution to this problem.
In Genesis 23:4 Abraham tells the children of Heth, from whom he purchases the burial cave of Machpelah in Kiriatharba or Hebron, “I am a stranger and a sojourner” with you. Have you ever noticed this? Abraham calls himself a ger (stranger) and a toshav (sojourner), even though this very Land had been promised to him! Abraham never received the Land of Promise; he remained a “sojourner” until the day of his death. The same is true for Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the 70 who went down to Egypt. The question is, precisely when did this “sojourning” of the people of Israel begin? According to Seder Olam it begins not in Genesis 12, with the Call of Abram to leave his father Terah’s house in Haran, but five years earlier, when he left Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon)! Note carefully, when Abram leaves Haran he is 75 years old (Gen 12:4). But according to Genesis 11:31 “they went forth . . . from Ur of the Chaldees” some years earlier. This is the actual beginning of their wandering or sojourning. There is a strikingly significant reference in this regard in Genesis 15:7:
And He said to him: “I am YHVH that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
Did you catch it? We might have expected, on the basis of Genesis 12:1-3 (Lech Lacha), for YHVH to say “who brought you out of your father’s house,” i.e., from Haran. But here we learn a crucial point, supported also in Rabbinic tradition, that the ultimate “Call” of Abram was out of Ur in Babylon, not from Haran. In other words, the wandering, or “sojourning” of Abram begins before his call from Haran at age 75. Also, the Hebrew word here is crucial. The phrase here translated “brought you out” is from the verb yatz’ah. Perhaps you remember the same crucial phrase in Exodus 20:2 when YHVH thunders from Sinai:
I am YHVH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
This is the dramatic introduction to the giving of the Ten Words (Commandments). The verb “brought you out” is identical in both passages: Genesis 15:7 and Exodus 20:2. This is crucially important. It strongly indicates that the call of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees was 430 years to the day from the Exodus of Israel from Egypt! Think about that for a moment. That would mean that Abram left Ur, which was his own personal “Exodus” from idolatry and paganism, on the very same night, Nisan 15th, which later becomes the Passover! This timing is certainly no accident. In both symbol and actuality the deep significance of this point is obvious.
The exact chronology of the Hebrew text confirms this. Note carefully the following references and numbers (the years are given as AM, “after Man (i.e., Adam),”which correspond to the standard Jewish years since Creation):
Abram leaves Ur Abram 70 Year 2018 AM (Gen 11:31)
Abram leaves Haran Abram 75 Year 2023 AM (Gen 12:4)
Birth of Isaac Abram 100 Year 2048 AM (Gen 17:17)
Birth of Jacob Isaac 60 Year 2108 AM (Gen 25:20)
Israel to Egypt Jacob 130 Year 2238 AM (Gen 47:9)
Exodus 210 yrs later Year 2448 AM (Ex 12:40)
The total years from Abram leaving Haran at age 75 (2023 AM) until Jacob going down to Egypt (2238 AM) are 215. To this we add the 210 years of Egyptian slavery for a total of 425 years: from Abram leaving Haran, until the Exodus in the year 2448 AM. But, what about the all important reference to 430 years of “sojourning” in Exodus 12:40-41? Here we have only 425 rather than 430. The five additional years are obviously the time Abram spent in Haran. Accordingly, he must have left Ur at age 70. Thus, the total years of “sojourning of the children of Israel,” is precisely 430 years, from the Abram’s “going out from Ur” at age 70 (2018 AM), until Israel’s “going out of Egypt” in the year 2448 AM. The harmony and significance of this parallel can hardly be overstressed.
One important additional note here. Why would Exodus 12:40 speak of the sojourn of the “children of Israel” as 430 years when this period begins with Abram? The answer is that Abram stands for the whole people. The term “Israel” is both a name and a title which includes Abraham and his entire line through Isaac and Jacob. The Covenant with the Jewish people begins with Abraham. It is worth noting that the name ISRAEL in Hebrew is spelled Yod, Shin, Resh, Alef, Lamed. These five Hebrews letters are the first letters of the names of the Patriarchs and their wives. Note: Yod=Yitzak (Isaac) and Yaakov (Jacob); Shin=Sarah; Resh=Rebecca and Rachel; Lamed=Leah! Surely this is no accident! Accordingly, when we speak of the “children of Israel,” we begin with, and certainly include, Abraham.
But there is much more. Remember, Isaac is born at a “set time,” when the “season of life” comes around. We have already seen that this is a reference to the beginning of Spring, or the month of Nisan. It seems likely that Isaac, as a miraculous child of promise, was actually born on Nisan 15th or Passover! The festivals and holy days of Israel, fully set forth in the Torah in Leviticus 23, were known and significant in various ways in much earlier times (Gen 1:14; 8:13). For example, there is a fascinating reference to Lot preparing “unleavened bread” or matzos, for the heavenly guests prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:3)! Why matzos? In the previous chapter Abraham has been told that Isaac will be born “at this season next year” (18:14). So, we know we are in the time of Nisan, when Abram is 99, a year before Isaac’s birth. Is it possible that God rescued and removed Lot and his family from Sodom around, or even on, the very night of Passover? This would certainly make sense. The text contains several Passover motifs. The angels keep urging Lot and his family to leave, to hurry, and not to delay. In a similar way the Israelites make haste to leave Egypt, not even allowing their bread to rise.
Putting all this together we learn some interesting and fascinating things about how YHVH acts in history. Abram left Ur with its idolatry and paganism, on the very night of Passover, and Israel left Egypt on the same day, 430 years later. Isaac is born this same time of year, at a “set time,”(probably Passover), while Lot leaves Sodom just one year earlier at the same “set time,” or season of the year. Each of these events is closely connected in both time and theme. The Passover season is a time of birth and new beginnings, a time for leaving behind the old and beginning the new, a time of rescue and mighty deliverance, a time of miracles and dramatic demonstration of the power and greatness of YHVH!
In this teaching, Ross shows the connection between the Sabbath, the creation of the world and the setting up of the mishkan (or Tabernacle). What is the connection? Ross shows that in the past five Torah readings, there is much repetition, but that a common theme that recurs throughout these readings deals with the heart of man. Ross shows that despite man’s tendency to do bad, that with a right heart and the help of God’s spirit, great work can be accomplished. He shows from Scripture what makes up the “roots of the Spirit”. The prophet Ezekiel records that YHVH will at some point create within His people and new heart and a new spirit, but Ross shows that the responsibility may belong at least in part to us since in another passage we are told to create within ourselves a new heart and a new spirit. You will not want to miss this teaching. There is a small gap in the teaching where we lost the feed for a few minutes, but all but a couple of minutes have been saved.
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In this week’s teaching, Ross teaches on the subject of the BIG sin. The sin of the “golden calf” was called the BIG sin in the Torah. What was it that led the people to commit this great iniquity? Ross shows that Aaron, despite what many commentaries suggest, was very culpable in the sin of the golden calf. In this teaching Ross shows the meaning of the common phrase “Stiff Necked People”. Why are the Israelites called by this phrase and how can we be sure to not be labeled by this term. You will not want to miss this teaching.
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