Introduction
This is a continuation of a project that I originally started as a Yahoo Group. I have decided to change the format to a blog instead, which I hope will be less trouble for all of us. The purpose of this blog is to study scripture, first and foremost. While there will be articles on topics and current events, the majority of the posts will be related to the weekly scriptural studies for the upcoming Shabbat. I have these past several years worked out a companion list of readings from the “New Testament” which read through the entire NT in a year, alongside the entire Torah.
The point of view, so to speak, of this blog is that the written Torah is eternal and unchangeable. The Oral Law is comprised of traditions, precedents and interpretations which may be personally uplifting but are not binding – only the written Torah is binding, and it is binding “forever,” as a “perpetual covenant,” for “all your generations” and “everywhere you live.” The prophets make clear that it is the location of the “new covenant” that is different, not its contents.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-33 “Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Yehudah, not according to the covenenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitzrayim, which was my covenent, that they broke although I was a husband to them, says YHWH. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says YHWH. I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.”
The Torah was handed down from Adam to his descendants, after he learned it from eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But the father-to-son transmission didn’t work out very well, as the stories and laws became distorted in successive generations – this is why many ancient cultures have stories and laws that are similar to those of Torah, but not exactly the same. Then Elohim gave us the Torah written on paper and on stone, and declared that it is binding upon “everyone who was there” and “everyone who was not there,” which pretty much includes everyone on the planet – yet still the Rabbis managed to mess things up, hoarding the Torah to themselves, and adding their “oral law” and calling it all “Torah” to confuse people. The new covenant will write the Torah in a place where it cannot be tampered with, added to, nor subtracted from as Rabbis and Ministers have done for millennia.
Deut 4:2 “You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you.”
They have been false prophets, as Yeshua, as YHWH Incarnate, told us:
Deu 13:1 If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder, Deu 13:2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; Deu 13:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for YHWH your Elohim proves you, to know whether you love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul. Deu 13:4 You shall walk after YHWH your Elohim and fear him, and keep his mitzvot (commandments), and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him. Deu 13:5 That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which YHWH your Elohim commanded you to walk in. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you.
Those who teach people to live in sin, that is, to transgress the Torah, do not know Elohim at all. Grace is not license for sin (Rom 6).
1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of Elohim: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. 1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of Elohim, and it does not yet appear what we shall be [like]: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 1Jo 3:3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 1Jo 3:4 Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the Torah: for sin is the transgression of the Torah. 1Jo 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. 1Jo 3:6 Whosoever abides in Him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen Him, nor known Him. 1Jo 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. 1Jo 3:8 He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of Elohim does not commit sin; for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of Elohim. 1Jo 3:10 In this the children of Elohim are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of Elohim, nor is he that loves not his brother.”
And just in case you weren’t sure – what is righteousness?
Deu 6:24 “YHWH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YHWH our Elohim, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as at this day. Deu 6:25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this mitzvah (commandments) before YHWH our Elohim, as He has commanded us.”
The purpose of this blog is to teach Torah observance and faith in Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel, and to show that these two are not in any way incompatible. To that end, each week I will post the weekly scriptural readings and commentary more or less as follows:
First: The Weekly Torah Portion
Each of the pre-determined divisions of the weekly Torah will be posted along with commentary on how various commandments can and should be observed today. Though I will follow the order and content as the Rabbis have set forth, I will not necessarily do “double portions” on the Rabbis schedule. Unless a festival or Yom Kippur falls on a shabbat, I will simply do one Portion each shabbat. (The festivals have their own readings, of course.)
Second: The Weekly Haftara Portion
Each Haftara portion is a reading from the prophets which the Rabbis have selected to accompany the weekly Torah portion. Originally, they had been selected to be studied in place of the Torah Portions during periods of time when Torah study was forbidden. Like the Torah portions, the text will be discussed along with any issues of observance or prophecy which are raised in the text.
Third: The Talmidim Portion
These are the writings known as the “synoptic” gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) along with the book of Acts which is the natural companion to the book of Luke, and the Book of Revelation which is a direct message to the assemblies from Yeshua HaMashiach.
Fourth: The Espistles
The “epistles” begin with the letters of the original 12 apostles and conclude with the “gospel of John.”
Fifth: Kollel (the “pauline” epistles)
Kollel is “adult Bible study.” It is my firm opinion that children and teens should be thoroughly grounded in the Torah and the rest of the NT prior to beginning study of the Pauline Epistles.
Then, on Sunday or Monday after each Torah Portion is read, the Weekday readings for after that Parashat will be posted. Reading these along with the Sabbath Parashat each week will allow you to read through the entire Bible in the one year Torah Cycle. The Weekday readings start with Joshua and end with Chronicles, following the order of the Hebrew Scriptures, not the Christian Bible.
Also in this blog, as in the previous Yahoo Group, the discussion and commentary will not be afraid to address issues of translational issues, textual criticism, linguistic analysis, and compare and contrast to the Apocrypha, Josephus, the Early Church Fathers, The Talmud, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other complimentary sources, though I will not focus on those things, especially through this inaugural Torah Cycle here on this blog.
For your reference, I will append a chart of the weekly scripture portions that we will be discussing, as soon as I can figure out how to get it to display – I did upload it as a PDF, but I can’t seem to figure out where to display it. In the meantime, I think you can get to it
It is my intention to begin with Beresheit, which will be read around the world on Saturday, the 25th of October, 2008. To that end, I will begin posting the commentaries as indicated above on Monday, October 20th.
In the meantime I will be fiddling with this blog, trying to put up articles and things with permanent links in the smaller column. I’m not really sure how to do that at this time, so I will also post any articles I have or topics I write about as blog entries, just in case it takes me a while to figure it out.
I should also add that we generally follow the Karaite calendar, relying on the monthly moon sightings to determine the correct day for observing the Feasts of YHWH.
Shalom!
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