Showing posts with label Messianic Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Messianic Bible. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2014

Messianic Hebrew Bible - ready after 20 year project

A Modern Messianic Hebrew Bible

Friday, January 31, 2014 |  David Lazarus  ISRAEL TODAY
There are many reasons for the discrepancy between what people say they believe and what they do with their beliefs. But the Messianic Jews in Israel are working to bridge that gap with a new project aimed at getting people in the Land of the Bible to read their own book.
For the first time, the ancient Masoretic text of the entire Hebrew Bible has been translated into modern Hebrew. The Messianic publishing company Hagefen (The Vine) finally completed the project, a painstaking effort that took over 20 years.
The full article appears in the February issue of Israel Today Magazine.
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Monday, October 28, 2013

Covenants ("Brit" in Hebrew)


Messianic Bible (news@biblesforisrael.com)




Jerusalem

Shalom,

“This is the covenant…” (Jeremiah 31:33)

While Western cultures are familiar with the idea of blood brothers, they are often not so familiar with the concept of a blood covenant, which is important in much of the world.

Covenant is also one of the most important concepts and central themes found in the Bible.



Jewish men pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall

The Hebrew word for covenant is brit, which appears 284 times in the Tanakh (Old Testament). (Strong's)

This word implies pact, contract, treaty or agreement between two parties and is likely derived from the Hebrew verb barah, which means to cut.

This Hebrew root brings to mind the Covenant of the Pieces (Brit bein HaBetarim or Covenant Between the Parts) in which the smoking firepot and blazing torchpassed between the halves of the heifer, goat, and ram that Abraham cut when God promised him the Land, providing its physical dimensions:

“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadie of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates….” (Genesis15:17–21; see also Jeremiah 34:18)

And because the physical dimensions of the Land are provided in this covenant, there can be no over-spiritualizing its meaning into some otherworldly spiritual realm.



A street in Old City of Jerusalem

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The word brit (covenant) carries a connotation of the shedding of blood. This is nothing unusual: even from the earliest of times, covenant agreements were often ratified by animal sacrifice or an exchange of blood.

Such a covenant is so binding that to break it would result in the death of the person who broke it and often the family as well.

Abraham, therefore, was following an ancient custom when he cut the three animals in two and placed them in such a way that the blood formed a pathway.

The two parties entering into this covenant would walk through the blood to confirm a covenant in which each party could lay claim to all the possessions of the other party.

But in the case of this covenant, only the smoking, burning Presence—a manifestation of God that is reminiscent of the pillar of fire that guided the Israelites through the wilderness centuries later—walked through the blood.

Why? Only God could establish this everlasting covenant, and the responsibility for maintaining it fell solely upon Him.

This was no mere contract that could be voided. It was an unconditional, eternal trust. This covenant is often referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant.



Orthodox Jewish children play at the Lions Fountain in 
Yemin Moshe, a Jerusalem neighborhood that 
overlooks the Old City.


Implied Covenants in the Garden of Eden

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)

The first covenant between man and God was probably made with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and it did not involve the shedding of blood.

Though Genesis does not use the word covenant in regards to God’s conditional promises made to Adam, the prophet Hosea does refer to it as a covenant:

“As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.” (Hosea 6:7)

Hosea seems to be speaking of God’s commands when he placed Adam in Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) to care for it:

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:15)



El Mona Garden in Julis, a Druze village in the 
Galilee region of Israel

Perhaps the earliest example of a blood covenant can be traced to the time in the Garden when animals were first killed to provide clothing for Adam and Eve(Genesis 3:21).

This was the second covenant that God made with them.

Because Eve, and then Adam, succumbed to the temptation of the serpent, their connection with God was severed. They realized they were naked and tried to weave a garment of fig leaves to cover their shame.

In response, God promised to give the Messiah who would come to destroy the work of the serpent and restore the relationship between humankind and God.

The promise is worded in such a way as to infer that God would be intimately involved in the person of this promised Redeemer:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (Genesis 3:15–16)

What followed is considered by some to be an implied covenant: the shedding of innocent blood to provide a covering that was necessary as a result of sin.



Noah's Ark, by Edward Hicks


Noahic Covenant

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: … I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’” (Genesis 9:8–11)

The first covenant explicitly spoken of in the Bible is the covenant God made after the flood destroyed the earth.

It is unique in that God made it with all of humankind; and through this covenant, all of humanity is still in a covenant with God in which people are not permitted to eat blood or to commit murder (Genesis 9:4–6).

In this covenant, God promised to never again destroy the earth through a flood as he had during Noah’s time.

The sign that God gave Noah to seal this covenant is the rainbow (Genesis9:12–17).



A double rainbow over Petah Tikvah, which is about 
11 kilometers (7 miles) east of Tel Aviv.


Abrahamic Covenant

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7–8)

In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises Abraham the Land of Israel, descendants, and blessings. (Genesis 12:1–3)

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3)

Understanding the Abrahamic Covenant is extremely important since it governs God's unique relationship with Israel, as well as His relationship with the nations.



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) 
and Malta Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muscat (left) 
at a recent meeting in Jerusalem.

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Each of the three aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant—land, descendants, and blessing— form a basis for three other covenants:

God’s promise of land is expanded with the Land Covenant(Deuteronomy 29:1–30:20).

“For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:16)

God’s promise of descendants is expanded with the Davidic Covenantand its promise of the coming King Messiah (2 Samuel 7:11–16; 1 Chronicles 17:10–14).

“I will set Him over My house and My kingdom forever; His throne will be established forever.” (1 Chronicles 17:14)

God’s promise of blessing is expanded through the New Covenant(Jeremiah 31:31-34).

“I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. … they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:33–34)



A Jewish man wears a tallit (prayer shawl) 
and tefillin (phylacteries) while he prays slichot 
(penitential poems and prayers).

As an eternal sign of His covenant with Abraham, God gave him the Brit Milah(Covenant of Circumcision) (Genesis 17:9–14).

The Brit Milah takes place with every Jewish male infant on the eighth day after birth.

This rite of circumcision is the vehicle through which every generation is able to enter into the covenant formed between God and Abraham.


The practice of wearing tefillin during weekday morning
prayer is based upon the Biblical injunction in Exodus
13:9, 16 and Deuteronomy 6:8, 11:18 to bind God's Word
on the arm and place it close to the heart.



The Mosaic Covenant

“Now if you obey me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5–6)

When God cut the Covenant of the Pieces with Abraham, He told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years in a country that was not their own.

The Mosaic Covenant is the covenant that God made with the Israelites—Abraham’s descendants—at the end of this 400 year period, after He saved them from slavery in Egypt.

In this covenant, God separated the Israelites from the nations, making them a light for those nations—a kingdom of priests and a holy nation that serves the One True covenant-keeping God.

He gave His law to the Jewish People through Moses on Mount Sinai—laws that govern morality, the sacrificial system and the priesthood, and civil life.

To violate any one of these laws is to violate the Law as a whole.



Moses and the Ten Commandments,
by James Tissot


While the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, the Mosaic Covenant is conditional.

If Israel is obedient to this covenant, they will experience the blessings of this covenant, but if they are disobedient, they will experience its curses.

The blessings and curses that are associated with this conditional covenant are detailed in Deuteronomy 28.

This covenant reveals the absolute holiness of God and the sinfulness of mankind.

It is a continuous reminder to the Jewish People, indeed, all the nations, of our need for the Redeemer, the promised Messiah.


An Orthodox father and his children examine the 
world map near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.

As with other covenants, blood is involved. When Moses ratified the covenant with the Israelites, he sacrificed young bulls:

“Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” (Exodus 24:8)

Furthermore, the covenant has a sacrificial system that provides a means of entering the presence of the righteous and holy God. This system also providescoverings (atonements) for the sins of the people of Israel.

While circumcision is the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, the Sabbath can be considered the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:12–18).

"Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe My Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” (Exodus 31:13)



Foot traffic and street traffic stand in stark contrast in 
Jerusalem on a busy Shabbat (Saturday) afternoon, since 
starting a combustion engine on Shabbat is considered a 
violation of the Law of Moses by those who are observant.


The New Covenant

“‘Days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.’” (Jeremiah 31:3)

The New Covenant, which is a term that is only explicitly used once in the Tanakh (Old Testament) in Jeremiah 31:31–34, it is founded on covenant promises that came before it.

It fulfills the promise that God made in the Garden to Adam—that One would cometo crush the serpent’s head (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8; Colossians 2:15; Romans16:20) and restore an intimate relationship with the Holy God.

This promised One came through Abraham’s lineage under the Abrahamic Covenant.

Jeremiah states that the New Covenant will not be like the Mosaic Covenant of law that God made with the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt, which they broke.

It is an unconditional covenant of grace given to Israel that is capable of transforming people from the inside out so that God’s laws are internalized and written on the heart—one in which His people can draw close to Him.



A woman prays at the Western Wall.

The New Covenant was ratified through Messiah’s sacrificial death on the Roman execution stake.

Whereas we were unable to keep the Mosaic Covenant, continually turning away from God and suffering the consequences, in the New Covenant, Yeshua alone has the ability to save those who put their faith in Him; this salvation cannot be attained by good works or by keeping the law or by anything other than faith in Him.

Moreover, He has provided the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to empower Believers to keep the covenant and receive an eternal inheritance.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Many have argued that the New Covenant abolishes or replaces the Mosaic Covenant, but Yeshua said this was not so:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17–19)




The New Covenant also does not end the Abrahamic Covenant, but is a measure for carrying out the blessings purposed in it.

In fulfillment of the blessings that the Abrahamic Covenant would bring to the nations(Galatians 3:14), those who put their faith in Yeshua (Jesus) are grafted into the olive tree of Israel.

“You, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.” (Romans 11:17)

After all, God promised Abraham that he would be “the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:3).




Through the New Covenant, God has brought all the pieces together that are necessary for the realization of the coming Kingdom that Yeshua promised.

And when Yeshua returns, the full power of the New Covenant will be seen both here in Israel and around the world.

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"My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David My Servant will be their prince forever." (Ezekiel 37:24–25)

Monday, August 19, 2013

Does the Shekinah - Divine Presence rest on the Western Wall?

Bibles For Israel

Messianic Bible news@biblesforisrael.com



Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem

"Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.” (Song of Songs 2:9)



A Jewish man prays at the Western (Wailing) Wall with his tallit (prayer
shawl) over his head.


Today, because the Third Temple has not yet been rebuilt, the Western Wall is considered by many to be Judaism’s most sacred accessible site.

At all hours of the day and night, a steady stream of worshipers and tourists pour into this holy place that is located in the Old City of Jerusalem.

It is much more than a national site; it is a huge open-air synagogue where daily and Sabbath prayer services are held, as well as special events, such as Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.



In the same way men and women sit separately in an Orthodox Jewish
synagogue, the Western Wall Plaza is divided into two sides: one side is
for women, and one for men.



The Divine Presence

Many people report that they have profoundly experienced the presence of God at the Western Wall.

Zalman Shazar, who served as the president of Israel from 1963 to 1973, described a similar sensation when he came to the Wall during his first visit to the Land of Israel in 1911.

“You will go down through the narrow alleys of ancient Jerusalem and arrive at the Wall and stand there. Then you will not only see with your eyes but you will also feel with your entire being the single eternity in our past ... And when your feet enter the courtyard of the Wall, here you feel and experience the re-weaving of your soul into the eternal fabric of 2,000 years ...

Into the space at this remnant of the Wall the sighs from all the ends of the earth and all eras penetrate ... The Wall does not differentiate between lands and eras. The tears have all flowed from the hearts of one people, they have all come from one source and they will all pray to One.” (HaAretz)


Women pray at the Wall.

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It is traditionally believed that the Divine Presence of God is on the Western Wall.

The Midrash (ancient Jewish commentary on Scripture) states in Bamidbar Rabbah 11:63 that “this is the Western Wall of the Temple, which is never destroyed for the Shekhinah is in the west.”

Although this is likely a reference to the Temple’s western wall, and not the Western (retaining) Wall, God’s Presence is nevertheless perceived to have remained here after the destruction of the Temple.

It is customary, therefore, for people—even high-profile dignitaries visiting Israel—to place prayers written on slips of paper between the eroded joints, cracks, and crevices of the ancient stones of the Wall.



Prayers stuffed between the stones of the Western Wall.

So many prayers are left here that they must be collected twice a year.

According to Jewish law, anything with the name of God on it must be treated with the same respect that a scroll of Torah or a book containing the name of God would receive.

Since these prayer slips cannot be thrown away, when they are collected, they are buried in the Jewish cemetery on the nearby Mount of Olives.



Lifting the Torah scroll at the Western Wall in Jerusalem


More Than Meets the Eye

Most of the Western Wall, which runs along the western portion of the Temple Mount, is concealed behind existing structures.

It actually stretches some 488 meters (1,600 feet).

Of the above-ground sections of the Wall, the most famous area is the Kotel Plaza, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

Only 28 of its stone rows are above ground. Seventeen layers lay below the surface.

Because the plaza area in front of the Wall measures 57 meters (187 feet) long and 37.5 meters (123 feet) wide, thousands can gather here for prayer.

Every year, in fact, the Kotel Plaza is the number one tourist destination in Israel; millions from all over the world are drawn to this place to pray and recite from the Book of Psalms.

Large crowds visit on the Jewish holidays, when the destruction of the First and Second Temples are remembered, and mourners recite the Book of Lamentations while seated on the ground.



The Small Western Wall

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Another exposed section of the Western Wall is the HaKotel HaKatan (The Small Wall) in the Muslim Quarter.

Although only the two lowest levels of bricks belong to the Second Temple period, this eight meter (25 foot) section is also holy to the Jewish People because of its proximity to the spot where the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple was located.

In fact, it is actually closer to that spot than the Kotel Plaza.

It is not as crowded as the larger plaza section and unlike at the Kotel, men and women can pray here side by side.


Robinson’s Arch, which once supported a monumental staircase to the Temple Mount, is located close to the southwestern corner of the Mount. The people walking near the bottom middle of the photo help to provide a sense of the scale of these toppled stones.


Yet another above-ground section is in the southern part of the Western Wall.

In 1968, Benjamin Mazar began excavating this section, which lay under the heap of stone fragments left by the Romans.

These mammoth stones had been thrown down by the Roman soldiers from the Temple Mount when they destroyed the Temple, smashing many of the large slab paving stones and crushing buildings located near the wall.

Here on this ancient commercial thoroughfare, Jewish pilgrims coming to the Temple Mount once shopped.



Western Wall Tunnel


The Western Wall Tunnel

While the full length of the Western Wall is not exposed above ground, there is a tunnel in which the original street level can be viewed.

Although this tunnel was excavated by Israel between 1970 and 1988, and opened in 1996 to the public, the excavations continue and long hidden secrets are still being revealed.

"The most important events in the history of the Jewish people happened right here," said California venture capitalist Isaac Applbaum, a board member of The Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

"I actually feel my ancestry, I feel my history, I feel my religion. My great-great-great-great grandfather worked here, toiled here, found his religion here. It's like coming home," he said. (Business Insider)



The Western Stone is currently the largest stone visible in the Western Wall Tunnel. At an estimated 570 tons, it is not only one of the heaviest objects ever lifted without machinery, it is also one of the largest known building blocks in the world.

The Western Wall Tunnel (Minheret HaKotel) runs the full length of the wall beneath residential buildings in the Old City of Jerusalem, allowing access to an additional 485 meters (1,591 ft) of the wall.

While the stones above ground are scarred with bullet holes and worn by weather, here the stones are practically perfect.

The finely cut stone blocks called “Herodian ashlars” have two inch margins that run around a flat raised boss. (These margins are visible in the above photo.)

In the tunnels are First and Second Temple era mikva'ot (ritual baths). There are also halls that are large enough to host events such as Bar Mitzvahs. Here you can also walk on a portion of a street where Yeshua may have walked with His talmudim (disciples).

Here is also the place that is traditionally considered to be closest to the actual location of the Holy of Holies. This section of the tunnel is open for Jewish worship.



Western Wall Tunnel: some believe that before the Jewish People began praying at the Kotel Plaza, they prayed inside Warren’s Gate, which is now sealed. For hundreds of years, Warren’s Gate was a synagogue called The Cave. (Temple Mount)


The Sacredness of the Western Wall

Although the Western Wall is important by virtue of its proximity to the place where the Holy of Holies was located on the Temple Mount, for many, it has become more important than the Mount itself.

Part of the reason for this may be the fact that the Muslim Waqf, which was given authority over the Mount by Israel, does not allow non-Muslim prayer on the Mount.

Furthermore, Jewish visits are frequently blocked by Waqf authorities, who are backed by Temple Mount police.

A survey in Israel found that about two-thirds of those questioned named the Western Wall as the most sacred place for the Jewish People, with only one-third identifying the Temple Mount as being most sacred. (YNet)

Almost half of those surveyed believe that the Muslim Waqf has sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and only about a fifth recognizes Israel's sovereignty.

Forty percent, however, are against the police barring Jewish access to the Temple Mount.



Israeli Temple Mount police

It seems inconceivable that the Western Wall, by virtue of its history as a place of prayer for the past 2,000 years and the current struggles concerning access to the Temple Mount, could actually be considered more sacred than the Temple Mount itself.

It is true that many Jews and Christians report that they have had visions or deeply experienced the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) at the Western Wall.

One Jewish teenager described to Bibles For Israel an experience that he had before he came to faith in Yeshua through the Messianic prophecies:

"This beautiful spiritual force circled around my body, I didn't know God, but I knew it was God, and I believe now that God's Presence is at the Temple Mount and the Kotel," he said.

Although the Temple Mount might be seen as a political liability today, and many are satisfied that the Divine Presence stills abides in the Western Wall, the fact is, the Lord has chosen the Temple Mount as the place for the Jewish People to seek Him.

"But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for His dwelling. To that place you must go." (Deuteronomy 12:5)



A Jewish man prays at the Western Wall.

Though it is true that we have access to the Divine Presence through Yeshua, it is also true that in the last days, the Third Temple will be built in Jerusalem.

"In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s Temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob.'” (Isaiah 2:2–3)

The crowds that are drawn to the Western Wall in this generation perhaps foreshadow the time in the near future when the nations will come to the Temple to seek the Lord.

Today, the Divine Presence at the Wall is hidden from view. But the day is coming, and is not too far away, when the Divine Presence will appear with undeniable power and glory in the Third Temple.

"I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory. ... The glory of the Lord entered the Temple through the gate facing east... and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple." (Ezekiel 43:1–5)



A young man reads the Bible in Jerusalem.

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