"On the basis of two or three testimonies is a man convicted (Deuteronomy 17:6), now show me the evidence" he told us. "Moses whined and griped, yet was held as faithful", one of us answered. "Yes, that's one, now give me another" he stated. "And so did Job" another answered, "Yes, now what does this tell us?" So went our Torah study last Saturday. Yes, I said our Torah study; Dianne and I have begun a study with a Messianic congregation. And the study continued through our Torah (Numb. 22:2 – 25:9) portion, the Haftara (Mica 5:6 – 6:8), and the Brit Chadasha (Romans 11:25-32,) portion. All portions were put to the same level of scrutiny.
Let me do a little explanation here, as I have stated before, The Lord has laid upon my heart to learn as much about the Hebrew culture, thinking, people as possible, so that I can come to a more full understand all of the Bible from that perspective. Will others understand portions of it better than I? Most definitely yes; but from their own perspective. But, being able to understand the culture and thinking of a people at the time they write something will help you understand their writing more completely. At some point you can only go so far with computer searches, you have to get out of the house and talk to people. I made a phone call, and was invited to attend a Messianic Church Shabbot. We were also invited to attend a Torah study on Saturday, and this is the type of study we have.
What was the question above? How does God view us? Hebrews Ch 11 has been rightfully called the "Great Chapter of Faith". Each of those listed are called faithful to God, and through faith were able to do some mighty and wonderful things. Yet each of them was human; they whined, griped, and even sinned.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Heb. 11: 1-2)
Here they are being commended for faith, because this is how the Lord views us; as a Father. "As a father, I know that my children are not perfect, yet I cannot see their imperfections because of their achievements" our leader explained. "Our achievement, according to God, is our belief in Yeshua and through that Grace, God views us". Yes, I know, Hebrews was not on our list of Bible study, but we tended to follow the dictum of:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)
Our leader is not afraid to ask the hard questions and has the ability to focus in on the good questions with laser sharp attention. But his is not the only sharp mind of the group, the one quietly sitting at the side quickly answered a question about what the original Hebrew word used in the Torah meant. The discussions grew lively and deep, references were dug out and different translations and parallel and interlinear texts were passed around (believe me Strongs concordance was in heavy use). Do they all read and speak Hebrew, no; and neither do all the members of a traditional synagogue (I have found out).
How about you? Are you part of a Bible study? If not, find one; if you can't find one, start one yourself and invite a friend to join you. Personal Bible study in of in itself is essential you need to be regularly studying the Bible for personal growth, but a group Bible study is very important to maturity and understanding Chaverim, Solomon (Shlomo, in Hebrew) was the wisest man on earth, because he asked God not for wealth, but for wisdom to reign over Gods people, he was given both. (1 Kings 3: 5-15) He is the one who understood the need to discuss what you have read to better understand it. Let's let Shlomo end this:
As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another. (Prov 27:17)
Baruch HaShem
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