Hearing the Bible

It would be impossible to describe adequately the impact and influence the Bible has had on the World, particularly the Western World and its culture. With the production of the Gutenberg Bible, the printing press helped put Sacred Scripture in the hand of the common man. Currently, with an estimated 5 billion Bibles sold, the Bible holds the record as the best selling book of all time. Generally, Christianity defines the Bible as the Word of God, although attitudes towards the Bible and the canon differ among the various denominations of the Church. For Jewish people, the Bible is more than Sacred Scripture, it is also the sacred history of a people and a land.

In Judaism, the Bible is to be treated very differently than any other book. For example, one cannot take a Bible into a bathroom or into a cemetery. We call the Bible the Holy Bible, at least that’s what is printed on the front cover. In Jewish tradition, the Bible is also thought of as Divine Language. Not only are the words that are in the Bible important, but the sounds that they make are also important and so too are the words that are not in the Bible. How can the words that are not in the Bible be important? Let me explain. God does not say things superfluously, He doesn’t say things for the sake of simply saying them. As Divine Language, things have reasons why they are said and how they are said. By extension then, the words that God chose not to say must also be important. There are reasons why the Bible does not use certain words to describe something when it clearly could have. 

At the time of Jesus people did not read the Bible. Simply because not enough of them existed in printed form to actually be read. People did not have personal copies of the Torah that they could access on a daily basis. The books of the Bible were owned by a community. Instead, people would gather in groups for a public reading of Scripture. During the 2nd Temple Period, you didn’t read the Bible, you heard it. Therefore the sounds the words make are important, and what you don’t hear can teach you just as much as what you do hear. 

One of the classic examples of how Hearing the Bible is important is the Akedah הָעֲקֵידָה, the Binding of Isaac as recorded in Genesis 22. The story is very familiar to all of us. In summary, Abraham has been commanded by God to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah. After leaving their servants, Abraham and Isaac walk alone towards the place the Lord had told Abraham. Genesis does not mention where the mountains of Moriah are exactly. It is Jewish tradition that the Land of Moriah is located over the original Garden of Eden, now Jerusalem. Isaac turns to his father and asks, ‘I see the knife, I see the fire, and I am carrying the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham replies that God Himself will provide a lamb. The word used for lamb is ‘Seh’ שֶּׂה which is the word you would have heard when it was read out in the synagogue. God will provide a ‘Seh’ שֶּׂה. Abraham binds Isaac, prepares to slay his son, but is stopped by an Angel of the Lord, looks up and see a ram caught in the thicket. Here the word is ‘Ayil’ אַיִל. As a hearer of the Bible, you heard Abraham clearly say that God will provide a lamb ‘Seh’ שֶּׂה, but He didn’t He provided a ram ‘Ayil’ אַיִל. You actually heard a different word, the word you might have been expecting to hear was not there. And that becomes important, especially in the context of Divine Language. 

The question for the hearer now becomes, why did God provide a ram when Abraham very clearly said He would provide a lamb? The answer ultimately becomes prophetic. Obviously then God will indeed provide a lamb, however, He will do so in the future. Because Abraham said He would. Thus since Genesis 22 the Jewish People have been waiting for the Lamb of God and it began to take on a messianic character and title. We can see this title active and alive in the psyche of the Jewish people in the 2nd Temple Period that when John the Baptist sees Jesus, he declares Him to be the Lamb of God. And the disciples don’t ask, what’s the Lamb of God? Because they understand the concept, that the word that was not there in the past, is the Word that is here in the present. Many disciples cease following John and start following Jesus. Worthy indeed is the Lamb. (Revelation 5). 

God and Evil

The celebration of Simchat Torah this year in Jerusalem 5779 began 30th September and finished on 1st Oct. שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה Simchat Torah (Literally Rejoicing of Torah) marks the end of the annual cycle of weekly readings of Bible called the Parashat HaShavuah (Portion of the Week). On that Shabbat we ended with the last chapters of Deuteronomy with the death of Moses, but not before he unexpectedly breaks out into song on his deathbed, and began immediately again with the Creation narrative in Genesis. 

The concept of a cyclical reading of Bible is an inherited practice from the Jewish People into the Church and is commonly called a Lectionary. The Lectionary readings in mainstream Churches are a 3-year cycle of reading the Bible. At the time of Yeshua in the late 2nd Temple period, the Jewish People held to a tri-annual cycle of reading the Bible. It was in Babylon that the Jewish people switched to an annual cycle of readings and today the Jewish community worldwide follows the Babylonian tradition and reads the Bible in one-year cycles. 

Thus every year at this time we read of the Creation of all things. Despite any personal views of science and the ‘Origin of the Species’ that we might have, the Genesis account reveals that we are indeed unique, planned by an Intelligent Designer and special. Not the random product of chemical soup. Genesis notes that when God makes a beginning, He creates couplings. He makes Heaven and Earth, Light and Darkness, Adam and Eve, Good and Evil. Each of these couplings is in a relationship with each other. Heaven is connected to Earth. God continually leaves Heaven to come to Adam in the Garden. Light follows Darkness and vice versa. Adam is in relationship with his helpmate Eve and vice versa, and somehow Good and Evil are in relationship too. It’s not easy to wrap your head around the words of Isaiah 45 when God says He created Good (literally Peace) and Evil. 

The problem of Evil poses one of the greatest stumbling blocks to the belief in the existence of God in our world. The sheer amount of suffering, pain and human disasters presents a major hurdle for anyone to acknowledge a loving God. Especially one that declared He created Evil in the first place. Why would a good God do such a thing? However, I don’t think that’s the “real” question. The real question is: Does the existence of Evil discount the existence of God? And what possible relationship does Good have with Evil? 

During the Creation Week God creates things and at the conclusion of a day, He declares it to be Good. When God makes something and calls it Good, He must know by definition what is not Good. Otherwise, the term Good in of itself has no meaning unless it can be compared to something that is not Good. Thus, by creating Good He also sets the stage for the existence of Not Good. In the Garden was a tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Good exists and so does Not Good, henceforth known as Evil. And somehow they are in a relationship. 

The opposite to Creation is of course Evolution. Evolution, in an atheistic worldview, is in and of itself morally neutral. That is, in the absence of absolute truth which we inherit when we acknowledge God, there can be no real such thing as Good or Evil. What is right and feels good for one person will assuredly be different to the next person. Who gets to choose what is really good and what is really evil? Morality becomes subjective and ethics become an illusion. Good and Evil then become completely subjective at the individual level. When tragedies strike, Evolution cannot inform us that something is detrimental or ‘bad’. Death itself can neither be untimely, tragic or Evil. Death is simply the end of Life. Ask this question, How can the atheist know that Evil is indeed Evil? If one is being honest then he can not. The issue is that true objective moral values really do exist and deep down we all know it. People know what Evil is when they see it. Unfortunately, we see it all the time. How do they know this? Where does that knowledge come from? Paradoxically then, the existence of Evil actually serves to argue for the existence of God and not against it. Consequently, because of God, we also know what is indeed Good. Subsequently Good informs us of what is Evil or Not Good. 

Good and Evil are then in a relationship, bonded together at Creation. Starting the annual journey through the Bible we immediately see that God infuses His Creation with Good. The prophet Isaiah notes correctly that by very definition with Good comes Evil, and that Evil also is in the hands of God. However, the prophet also declared that God makes Peace. He does not leave His Creation alone to suffer under Evil. He intervenes. He comes to share in its suffering and restore Good and hope, overcoming all the Evil in this world through the Messiah, the Prince of Peace. And that is Good News!

Hear and Obey

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד 

Hear O’Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. This verse from Deuteronomy 6:4 serves as the centrepiece of the morning and evening prayer in the Jewish Daily Prayers. The Prayer, known as the Sh’ma, is more than a simple prayer or public declaration. It is an oath of loyalty to the One God, the One King, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Sh’ma is taught by parents to their children as the last thing to say before going to sleep, and if possible (according to the Rabbis) is to be the last words to come from the lips of a man before he dies. 

The Sh’ma is probably the best known of all Jewish liturgical prayers and perhaps the most important. There are only three prayers commanded in the whole Bible, two occur in the Torah itself, the Sh’ma (Deut 6vs4) and the Grace after meals (Deut 8vs10), and the third is the Lord’s Prayer as instructed by Jesus in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. Some Christian liturgies, including Anglican, Lutheran and Catholic liturgies, incorporate the saying of the Sh’ma, although in its English form. The Sh’ma appears at its core to be a clear proclamation of monotheism, and yet interestingly, the Jewish Prayer Book, known as the Siddur, translates the verse to read - ‘Hear O’Israel the Eternal our God is an Eternal Unity.’ (Siddur page 13) 

The prayer itself is more than just an allegiance to a monotheistic tradition, the word Sh’ma שְׁמַע is a powerful Hebrew word that is loaded with meaning. Sh’ma is the imperative of the Verb ‘to listen’ or ‘to hear’. It is also the Biblical Hebrew word that is used for ‘to obey’. Oddly enough, despite all the many commandments from God, there is no actual word in the Bible to ‘obey’. All the Authors of the Hebrew Bible used the word Sh’ma to imply obedience. Modern Hebrew, however, has invented a word for obeying, it is לציית, pronounced ‘lets-eye-yet’. When the modern state of Israel was creating its army, they needed a word to make sure their soldiers followed commands from their officers in battle. 

‘Faith comes by hearing’ says Paul in Romans 10. The Bible is the Word of God and needs to be heard as much as it needs to be read. The implication is of course that if we heard the Voice of the Lord we would indeed put those words into practice. Jesus says the same thing in Luke 11vs28 when He declares ‘Blessed is he who hears my words and obeys them’. It’s a play on words in Hebrew. ‘Blessed is he who sh’ma my words and sh’ma them’. Psalm 95 warns us that ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’. And by extension not obey the Voice of the Lord. I must stress that Obedience is not to be confused with Works-Righteousness. Obeying the Lord because He told us to do something is not to be equated as trying to earn one’s place in the world to come. The actions might look the same outwardly but come from very different intentions inwardly. Jesus says ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’. Critical to a healthy relationship with the Messiah is not only to acknowledge His kingship and authority but also in hearing His voice and putting it into practice. 

What's in a Name? Salvation!

“There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4vs12). This declaration by Peter before the Sanhedrin has become a central truth and doctrine of the Christian Faith. It has also become part of a controversial debate as to what we should actually call the Messiah. Can we call him Jesus, or must we use His Hebrew name, Yeshua? What happens if we get His name wrong? Are we more or less saved if we use English or Hebrew? Perhaps we should start by addressing how we arrived at the English name of Jesus. 

There are many conspiracy theories in the world. Usually, they involve secret societies, foreign government plots, alien abductions and large insidious banking corporations manipulating our lives clandestinely in the shadows. Apparently, another plot existed, the one by the early Christian Church to make the new religion more palatable to the pagan world by corrupting the name of Zeus into Jesus. This is simply not true. While Zeus and Jesus might look similar to each other in English, the similarities stop there. Any honest Greek scholar knows that Zeus (Ζεύς) does not resemble Jesus (Ἰησοῦς) in New Testament Greek. 

The angel Gabriel almost certainly told Mary (Miriam), in the Gospel of Luke, to name the boy child Yeshua ישוע. Yeshua is derived from the Hebrew verb “to save”, in the masculine singular form. This corresponds with the angel’s proclamation in Joseph’s dream in Matthew 1 that “He would save His people from their sins”. Greek does not have a ‘sh’ sound for the ש and so an ’s’ was used in translation, and there is no adequate Greek letter to substitute for a silent ע. So it was dropped from the spelling. Greek names also have a tendency to end in ’s’, such as Achilles and Odysseus, known as Nominative Case Endings. Yeshua, when translated into New Testament Greek, became Iesous. ישוע to Ἰησοῦς. Note that the Hebrew Bible had already been translated into Greek (called the Septuagint). The Bible the early believers had outside the land of Israel, the Bible that was in the hands of the Churches Paul wrote to, that Bible was Greek. 

Let’s remember that it was God who confused us at Babel and gave us a varied mix of tongues. Until the Tower, we all truly did speak one language. Now we speak multiple languages, we are not all meant to speak Hebrew. Ultimately, it has been in the Lord’s Wisdom for the New Testament to arrive to us predominately in Koine Greek, although it is also well preserved in Latin, Syriac and Old Church Slavonic. When the King James translators brought out the first English Bible, the name of Jesus was actually written as Iesous, following the Greek. The ‘J’ was added later. There are no J’s in Hebrew, Latin or Greek. Yeshua does not turn into a Gentile through translating His name into Jesus. Many of the disciples had Greek names and they remained very Jewish. 

This is not to say that the name of the Messiah in unimportant. The Name of the Messiah is actually very important in the Church and beyond. It has even become a festival in the Anglican and Catholic Churches. Known as the Feast of the Holy Name, this Feast is celebrated today on 1st January, but in the 17th Century, it’s recorded as being held on 7th August. 

The Name is, however, not magical. Invocation of the Holy Name is not a form of Christian magic. Things don’t happen just because you tack on the name of Jesus at the end of a prayer request. Recall in Acts 19 that several Jewish non-believers, the seven sons of Sceva, tried to use Yeshua’s name to drive out demons to no effect. Making the declaration “in the Name of (someone)” … is in Jewish tradition, an oath of loyalty to that someone. Thus, when we declare “in the name of Jesus/Yeshua” we are acknowledging our loyalty to Him. Nothing magical, rather an expression of our desired obedience to the one being named. In Jewish tradition, there were seven things created before God started Creation: The Torah, Repentance, The Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Temple and the Name of the Messiah (Talmud, Nedarim 39b). The Name of the Messiah is so important that in Jewish tradition it existed prior to Creation. Pre-existant Messiahs are a Jewish tradition, not a Christian invention. 

The Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua, is very important. Calling Him Yeshua reminds the Church of its Jewish Roots and gets back to the meaning of the name and His mission in the world. He saves! Yeshua is a descriptive name and reflects His character. Iesous has no meaning in Greek. The word for Salvation in Greek is Soter σωτήρ. Soteriology is the study of salvation. Likewise, calling Him Jesus does not get you into trouble either, so there is no need to get on your knees and repent for having done so. Subsequently, calling Him Yeshua doesn’t save you any more or less than before. While I was a sinner, Christ died for me … before I even knew His name, He knew mine. 

Equally important is knowing the feelings and emotions the name of Jesus brings to non-believing Jewish people. Obviously, Jesus does not sound like a Jewish name. His name is attached in Jewish history to pogroms, crusades, inquisitions, dispersion, and betrayal of the Jewish people. Understandably the name Jesus presents a foreign, Gentile god devoid of Jewishness and context. Sensitivity, honesty, and patience should be practised in any dialogue with Jewish people. I would most definitely advocate using the Hebrew name Yeshua when engaging with Jewish people. 

Finally for the believers, to quote Shakespeare: Whats in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. In this, William Shakespeare is quite right. For believers it cannot matter what name is used to represent the Saviour, He will always Be the Saviour.

Easter, Passover, Ishtar and Myths

Religious Calendars are interesting things. In Jerusalem, we have just celebrated Passover and Easter together. Passover fell on Good Friday and our community gathered at 1pm to remember the Crucifixion and then headed to the Dead Sea to celebrate Passover and the Redemption from Egypt. It does beg the question, however, how does Death and Resurrection, Passover, Deliverance and Redemption go hand in hand with bunnies and eggs? Well, obviously they don’t. There is no connection between Passover and rabbits and there is also no connection between Easter and pagan ritual. Notwithstanding, Easter does have a strong connection to Passover. 

Myths about Easter abound all over the internet and I am bombarded constantly by many well-meaning believing Christians challenging me on the nature of Easter, Holy Week and its supposed pagan roots. Common claims against any celebration of Easter stem from the misconception that Easter is named after a pagan fertility goddess. The common archetypes are Ishtar of the Babylonian pantheon or of the Germanic goddess of Spring called Eostre. This is simply not true but has become ‘the truth’ essentially through repetition. We keep saying it and hearing it so it must be true without anyone challenging and verifying the source. 

Ishtar is indeed a fertility goddess of the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon. Note that Babylon is in the East in the lands of Iraq and Iran today. The Christian community that resides in the East is the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox community has been there since the first century,  descendants of the first believers in Jesus. In the Orthodox Church, the word used for Easter is not Easter, it’s Pascha. Pascha is the Aramaic of the Hebrew word Pesach (Passover). So the Christians who live in the land where the pagan goddess Ishtar comes from don’t actually call the festival after her at all, they refer to the festival by its Jewish roots, the Pascha or the Passover. 

Meanwhile, over in the West the first recorded written account of the spring goddess Eostre hales from the 8th Century. She has nothing to do with rabbits and/or chocolate eggs, which didn’t start getting sold by Cadbury until the 19th Century. However, people in the Christian world were writing about Pascha/Easter long before then. In the 2nd Century, Melito of Sardis, a Jewish believer and Bishop of the community in Sardis, wrote a defence of Pascha in which he argued for the date of Pascha/Easter to be the 14th of Nisan. That is, he was arguing that Pascha should be celebrated at Passover and not the Sunday following Passover. Nisan, by the way, is the Jewish month in which Passover falls and it really is named after a Babylonian god. Interestingly, the majority of the current Jewish calendar is named after Babylonian gods and the Rabbis don’t seem to mind at all. Perhaps we should learn something from the Rabbis on this one. 

Let’s be absolutely clear: Easter is only called Easter in two languages, English and German. Most other languages call the season of Easter after Pascha or Passover. For example, in French, you say Påques, in Dutch its Pasen, in Indonesian its Paskah etc. Even in Latin, the traditional language of the Catholic Church, Easter is called Pascha. That’s right, the Catholic Church actually does not call Easter - Easter. It’s called Pascha and therefore obviously not named after a pagan god of any sort. Rather, like most languages, it is named after the original Hebrew and Aramaic. 

Easter comes from the old German root word for East or Spring. Austria is called in German Østerreich, the East land or Spring land. The festival season of Passover became known as Eastertide, and the word Easter enters our language. Easter is an eight-day holiday from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday. Why eight days? This tradition we inherit from the Jewish People who have eight-day festivals like Succot, Hanukkah and Feast of Unleavened Bread. The tradition of celebrating the life of the Messiah and His passion for eight days was given to us by the early Jewish Believers in Jesus and it had nothing to do with a pagan god. The Orthodox Churches mark their calendars to ensure that Resurrection Sunday does not fall before Passover. 

Without Passover, Easter makes absolutely no sense. Without the death of the Messiah you cannot have a resurrection, and without a resurrection, you cannot have the Gospel. The Gospel can be stated in one sentence - Messiah rose from the dead. And that is indeed very Good News. 

In the Beginning ... God so Loved the World

There are a few verses in the Bible that we all know by heart. When someone says, ‘In the Beginning …’ most of us know to immediately finish the sentence, ‘… God made the Heavens and the Earth.’ There is so much, and more, in that first verse of Genesis 1 that has occupied philosophers, theologians and scientists for thousands of years. 

God makes the world and He calls it good. He is pleased with what He made, and He loves His Creation. Jesus reminds us that we are more blessed to give than to receive and the best way to love is to give. God gives the most and no one can outgive God. To lay down your life for your friends is the greatest act of love and giving. The Gospel of John says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only son … for God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.’ Note here that it’s not just that He loved the people on the world. God does indeed love the people and whoever believes in Him is not condemned. Jesus is most definitely all about saving people. Note though, that God also actually loved ‘the world’ and He still does. And why not, He created it, He called it good so it must be good.  He loves His Creation and it is worth redeeming. God loves both the World and Man. Rabbinical commentaries on Genesis note that God made the World and wanted to give the world to Man. Man was to be the final inheritor of the World. God wanted to bless Man with the World and to dwell with him and walk with him in the cool of the evening. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that the meek inherit the Earth. Note that we don’t inherit Heaven, we inherit the Earth. Too often in Christianity, we restrict our focus on getting into Heaven. Yet Jesus tells us that our final destination is actually Earth. Eventually, we see in the Revelation to John, the heavenly Jerusalem takes its place on the Earth and Man will dwell with God in the world as was originally intended. 

When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, the world was cursed. Adam was cursed, as was Eve and the snake and so was the world. As it is written, ‘Cursed is the ground’. Yet it was not the world’s fault that Adam ate the fruit and yet it received a curse because of the actions of Man. In Jewish tradition the earth is alive. Let’s be clear, the earth is not a god, but like the animals are alive, the World itself is also alive. Paul reminds us that the earth itself is groaning for its redemption. This verse in the New Testament makes no sense if Creation is purely inanimate. Accordingly then, the world is also looking forward to the Messiah as much as Man is. It is as if the voice of the earth says to Man, ‘You like the colours of my flowers now? Well, you wait till you see colour when the Messiah is here! You like the taste of my fruit now? Well, you wait till you taste fruit when the Messiah is here!’ The world isn’t destroyed with the return of the Messiah, it is renewed and prepared for the Messiah to rule and reign. There is a difference between destruction and renewal. 

According to Jewish tradition, the earth is quite conscious of sin and reacts to the sin on top of it. We read in Leviticus 18vs24-28 that God warns His people (and us) that if they continue to sin/defile the land, the very ground itself will vomit them out. Note that the text says that God won’t do the vomiting, the earth will. The ground, or the World, is reacting to the behaviour of Man on top of it. We can see that happen throughout human history. War, devastation and lack of love affect the environment. There is a change in the very ecosystem. When we fight and tear each other apart, like in Syria, or behave with the madness and cruelness of the dictator of Zimbabwe when love ceases to be shown among men and grows cold. Then often we see the result, that the earth stops producing food, the rain decreases and the animals leave. No one harvests the ground, digs wells or tends the earth. The ground becomes barren with the ecosystem in ruins. In essence, the earth attempts to get the human defilers away from it. Indeed humans do flee and become a torrent of refugees leaving the devastation behind them. We have no one to blame but ourselves for this. Conversely, when we fulfil the command of the Messiah to love as He has loved, when we dominate the earth with our joy and peace instead of pain and hatred, when we apply ourselves to working the earth and healing the land, we find the earth fruitful and are blessed by its abundance. Part of the call of our discipleship is faithful stewardship over Creation. The world that God loves reacts to our behaviour. God made the World and He so loved the World. As followers of Jesus, we should love the World as He does, for this is our inheritance. 

Yom Kippur 5778

It is Yom Kippur in Jerusalem 5778, the Day of Atonement. It is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. There are no vehicles on the road and like many other Israeli children, my family has already partaken of the time honoured tradition of riding your scooter down the main street after prayers. This day is observed even by secular Jews, who throughout the rest of the year wouldn’t venture near a synagogue, will find themselves in prayer today. Even the United Nations officially recognised the importance of Yom Kippur in 2015 and decided never to hold any official meetings on this day.

Contrary perhaps to some, this is not the saddest day in the Jewish year. That honour goes to the day called Tish B’Av and the destruction of the Jewish Temples. The Scroll of Lamentations is read on Tish B’Av and records much sadness and loss. According to many Orthodox Jews, today is a happy day. While the central themes are atonement, repentance, fasting and prayers, the day is also about forgiveness and life in the World to Come. Forgiveness and Life are indeed something to be happy about. During the synagogue service, the Scroll of Jonah is taken from the Ark and is read and discussed throughout the afternoon. 

Why read Jonah on the holiest day of Yom Kippur? There are a few things to learn from Jonah. Jonah endeavoured to escape God’s providence. He ran in the opposite direction but ultimately was unsuccessful in getting away from the Divine Will. Repentance also reminds us we cannot escape the consequences of our actions and the Divine Judgement ahead of all of us. God spared Nineveh and this also reminds us of the fruit of true heartfelt repentance, Forgiveness from Heaven! Note that the people of Nineveh were saved and forgiven without animal sacrifices and without a Temple and priests. Mercy is shown to the Gentiles. 

Jonah also presents the hope of resurrection. Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish (the whale) while trying to escape God’s call. Remember we don’t get to make the Call we just have to answer the Call. Jonah answered it inappropriately. In Chapter 2 of Jonah, we find him praying in heartfelt anguish and penance. It’s where we find him doing the praying that’s interesting. 

ויאמר קראתי מצרה לי אל־יהוה ויענני מבטן שאול שועתי שמעת קולי׃ (Jonah 2:2)

Jonah 2vs2 says that God heard Jonah from the ‘Belly of Sheol’. In verse 1 we are told that Jonah is in the belly of the fish. But then God hears him from Sheol. Sheol is the place of the dead. Translated often in English as the grave, or the pit. Sheol is where everyone goes after they die. Except for Korah and his family when the earth opened up under them and they went alive down to Sheol in Numbers 16. This would infer then to a Jewish hearer … and remember the Bible is an Oral book. You heard the Word of the Lord more than you read it. During the 2nd Temple Period and at the time of Jesus, the printing press hadn’t been invented yet. This would infer to a Jewish hearer that Jonah was dead. He had died after being eaten by the fish. Yet there he is praying! And repenting! Even after he is dead. How can this be, and what can we learn from this?

Jesus also gives us teaching about the afterlife in the Gospel of Luke in which two men die; a rich man and a poor man, whom he calls Lazarus (after His friend in Bethany). Interestingly, in the Latin Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Bible), the name of the rich man is Nineveh. In the parable we find both men communicating, seemingly cognizant of what is around them and even of each other, they even appear to be able to move. Yet they are indeed, according to the parable, very dead. Death is never the end. You can even think, move, talk, pray, and in Jonah’s case, even repent. 

Jesus also declares to a wicked and adulterous generation that they should look for the sign of the prophet Jonah in Matthew 12. What is the sign? Ressurection! Jonah was dead, eaten by the fish. While in Sheol he prayed, sort after the Lord, and repented. God wasn’t finished with Jonah (and Jesus wasn’t finished with Lazarus either), and in a powerful display of love and mercy, He resurrected Jonah to answer the Call and save Nineveh. 

Yom Kippur is a joyful day then, of hope of the resurrection and a place in the World to Come. We believe in this hope, and trust that the Messiah is preparing a place in the World to Come, rooms in His Father’s house, with our names inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This makes it a most joyful day indeed. Now, time to go outside and scooter some more :)

Love the Lord your God

Love as it has been said is a many splendid thing. It is something so simple and beautiful we all seek its possession, yet its complexities astound the most able of philosophers. It cannot be adequately defined, yet as a topic it is one that is most written about, talked about, and sung about. History is replete with poets, kings, priests and peasants chasing after love, often discovering its elusiveness. Something so sort after is too often something that cannot be grasped. Elusive as love can be sometimes, there is however one love affair we must all have. And that is a love affair with the Creator, our Maker and Redeemer. Proverbs provide us with some wisdom of love, Psalms speak of God's great love and the greatest of commandments is to Love God. That which defies definition appears as one of the greatest of commandments, to love God and to love your neighbour.

When asked the question 'What is the most important commandment?' Yeshua replies with the Sh’ma recorded in Deut 6vs4-5. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love God with all your Heart, Soul, and Strength. It should be immediately noted that this is an imperative, not a suggestion. We are commanded to Love, thereby indicating we have a choice in the matter. The choice either to obey or not to obey what has been commanded. Love according to the Bible is a choice. Love is not an emotion nor is it something that you fall into without freewill. Thats something else. Lust is an emotion but Love is a command from the Lord. Technically then, you can love anyone, even as Jesus says, our enemies. 

We are commanded to Love God with all our Heart, Soul and Strength. It is usually obvious to see a connection between Love and the Heart, perhaps even with Love and the Soul, but what is the meaning of Strength? How do I love God with my strength? 

What did Strength mean to 1^st Century Jews? Here the Targums help. Targums are Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible. Most people spoke a vernacular Aramaic over a Hebrew for everyday language in 1^st Century Israel. Aramaic became dominate after the return from Babylon. While Hebrew did remain in use, it was not the most common tongue. Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible were read aloud after a reading of the Hebrew version in a synagogue. The first recording of this taking place occurs in the book of Ezra, following the return under the Decree of Cyrus. One such Aramaic translation is called the Targum of Onkelos. The Targum of Onkelos translates Deut 6vs4-5 as .. 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your property.' 

Strength to the hearer in the 1^st Century meant your property. Your strength was everything you have. Your time, your spouse, your money, your house and possessions. How will you love the Lord your God? You will love God with everything you have and you will hold nothing back. And this is a choice we have to make as we respond to the Command of the Lord. Will we indeed love God in this way? Or will we choose something else? 

Freedom comes with Instructions

Shalom from Jerusalem and Hag Shavuot Sameach! Today is the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) in the Jewish Calendar. Originally a harvest festival with a strong Temple focus, this is one of the three Pilgrimage feasts requiring all able bodied men to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem. Since the destruction of the Temple the significance of the festival has shifted to a more theological focus, that being the receiving of the Torah. Last night the Jewish people stayed up late reading and studying the Book of Ruth. 

Why is Ruth the scroll that is assigned to be read during Shavuot? Perhaps the tradition came about because the scene of Ruth and Boaz takes place during a harvest in Bethlehem. Or perhaps for the attribution of the birth of King David in Bethlehem to have occurred on the eve of Shavuot. Thus a reading of the beginnings of the House of David might be deemed fitting for the Feast. In the New Testament, whenever the text mentions ‘The Feast’ but then doesn't actually say which one, it refers to the Feast of Shavuot. For example, in the Gospel of John in Chapter 5vs1 we read, ‘Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Jews’ but we are not actually told which festival is in mind. 

Shavuot (Pentecost) occurs 50 days after Passover. Shavout essentially concludes the Exodus of Egypt, it finishes the redemption of Israel from slavery. Passover reflects freedom and liberation, while Shavuot denotes the giving of the Torah. It’s interesting that the chronological history of the Bible has the Jewish People being saved and freed from Egypt, and then given the Law. This teaches us many several important aspects of Freedom. Firstly, the Torah does not save you. The Israelites were redeemed before the giving of the Torah. Paul reminds Peter by saying, ‘We know that a man is not justified by observing the Law.’ Galatians 2vs16. The Israelites were saved from Egypt without knowing what the Torah was, they were brought to Mt Sinai and then given the Torah. Redemption and Salvation came first, then the instructions from Heaven. 

Secondly, we learn that freedom, liberation and redemption are empty without instruction. Freedom itself has rules. When someone says, ‘We are free in Christ,’ that does not mean we have license to do whatever we want. Although I suspect that some people actually want to think that is what that means. The phrase, ‘Everyone does what is right in his own eyes’ that we find in the Judges is not a positive one. The Freedom obtained from Egypt leads us to the desert and eventually to Sinai and the Torah. Not initially to the Promised Land of milk and honey. Freedom first actually takes us to the wilderness. It was in that wilderness that the Israelites themselves contemplated returning to Egypt, putting themselves back under Egyptian taskmasters, even if only for the cucumbers. Freedom brings us through dependence on God, to the instruction and teaching of God. Freedom from sin does not brings us to a place of no law, actually it brings us to a place of Obedience to God. 

The Messiah Himself teaches that, ‘If you love me, you will keep my Commandments’. Liberty needs meaning, or it fades away and too quickly we will find ourselves trapped back under the yoke of slavery and the bondage of sin. That meaning we find in the teachings and instructions of the Messiah and of God. How to live, how to love, how to behave with each other and who we truly are. True freedom comes with instructions. 

Cost of Redemption

Passover 5777 approaches, coinciding once again this year closely with Easter and Holy Week. This year our community at Christ Church in Jerusalem will journey to the Dead Sea to celebrate our Seder along the shore of the lowest point on Earth. At 430 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea area is the lowest elevation on the earth’s surface that a human can stand up and breath. Any where else and you’d be underground. 

God gave the Jewish people Feasts and Festivals, each describing how God acted in the World through history. From the book of Leviticus these times are called the Appointed Times of the Lord. Now if you knew that God had made an appointment with you and you knew the time of that appointment, its a strong bet that we would do everything we could to show up on time. God instructs Israel to write the date of Passover, the 14th of Nisan, into their calendars and to celebrate the great redemption that God performed for Israel. They were not to forget it. 

Passover is an amazing story of salvation. The Exodus shows us what redemption looks like. There is the freedom from slavery and being saved from death. Salvation comes at a time when we know very little about God. We are not saved because we know lots about God. Redemption comes before the giving of the Torah. The model of Moses is part of the story showing that the next redeemer figure - the Messiah - must be greater than Moses. God uses slaves to bring judgement on the gods of Egypt and earths mightiest empire of the day. Its the weak defeating the strong. Inherent in the tradition of Passover is that messianic redemption comes at Passover. Thus there will be a place for Elijah, the fore runner of Messiah, at the Seder table. 

The redemption during the Exodus came at a cost. Redemption always does. An unfortunate idea has permeated Western Christianity that redemption (or Salvation) is free. Another unfortunate idea that has emerged from the West is our almost absolute individualism. Its about me and Jesus. And that focus on ourselves has separated us from our historical and global community. Me-vangelicalism too often places us the sole focus of God’s love almost to the exclusion of others. Yes it is very true that God loves me, but He also loves the guy standing next to me just as much. All of us are of intrinsic value to God. Passover reminds us that God saves a people to be a people, and that redemption comes with a price. To redeem something means to buy back that which you already formally owned. 

The cost was the death of the first born. There were ten plagues that struck Egypt. The word plague in Hebrew is ‘Macah’ and it means Strike or Punch. These were the ten punches that God smote Egypt and its gods with. The last of the strikes was the death of the first born. The Israelites had to obey to ensure God would pass over them. The blood they placed on the doorposts and lintels would cover the whole household. Anyone who was inside the house would be spared the Angel of Death. Israelite slaves would invite their Egyptian overlords into their homes for this night, saying ‘Of all nights, you must come come and eat with me tonight’. When the Israelites left Egypt many of the Egyptians joined them in the Exodus, perhaps through the redemption they experienced from the Lord’s Passover. 

Why the first born? Why focus on the biological determinate of being born first, which would not be the first born’s fault. Why not choose to slay those with bad intentions or evil thoughts of the heart? Which would therefore be any of the parents or children in the family and not inherently those born first. Exodus tells the Israelites to consecrate every first born from the womb. The first offspring from every womb belongs to the Lord. God slays only the first born, that which already belongs to Him. God pays the cost of redemption, it was not free. And the price was steep. A whole nation mourned that night. God took that which was already His (Israel) and paying the price for it from His own, the First Born. 

Kings and Prophets

For the last 6 months I have been studying the books of the Kings and looking at the tension between the Kings and the Prophets. To every king there is a prophet. Sometimes there are multiple prophets to the same king. More often than not they are in opposition to each other. As too often occurs, the kings do not walk in the ways of the Lord and then the prophets appear on the scene to chastise them and return the people to the worship of the Lord. The one exception is Solomon, who does not have a prophet at all. Why not? Maybe he was too wise for a prophet? That might say something about the nature of wisdom. Perhaps if Solomon did have a prophet in his court to challenge him when the need arose, perhaps then his reign would not have ended in a divided kingdom. The Book of Kings shows us that in amongst the consistent idolatry of the northern Kingdom of Israel, the battles with foreign armies, and the clash of religions, God continues to warn and woo his people to return to Him. He never gives up on the North. 

The split of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah occurs following the death of Solomon. Several  attempts were made to repair the relationship, and in one occasion the kingdoms did reunite briefly. Ahab, the King of Israel, marries his daughter Athaliah to Jehoram, king of Judah. Athaliah is also the daughter of Jezebel and leads Judah into idolatry. The kingdoms were united ever so briefly, but it was pagan. We also note that for 6 years a non-Davidic king ruled in Jerusalem. After Ahaziah (who is a descendent of David) is killed by Jehu in 2 Kings 9 (because Ahaziah has an alliance with evil King Ahab whom Jehu has also killed) then Athaliah ascends to the throne in 2 Kings 11, slays the rest of her children and brings Baal worship to Jerusalem. She is, after all, the daughter of Jezebel. I guess it is what we would expect her to do. Athaliah, who is not a descendant of David, rules the Kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem for 6 years. Her end comes at the hands of the high priest Jehoiada and the return of Davidic kings with the enthronement of the 7 year old, Joash. 

2 Kings 3 depicts the transition of the prophetic role from Elijah to Elisha. Elijah is about to depart the world in a whirlwind and flaming chariot. In verse one Elijah is attempting to distance himself from Elisha who refuses to leave his masters side. So they travel together to Bethel. In verse two a company of prophets who were living in Bethel come out to meet them. We have to recall that Bethel is one of the major centres of Israelite idolatry. Golden calves had been established in the false temples of Dan and Bethel since the days of Jeroboam. Yet what we find in Bethel is not a mention of the false idolatry but rather of a school of prophets. This leads to many questions. Out of all the places to establish a school of prophecy in Israel, it’s in Bethel? What were they doing there? Why there? Did they challenge the false temple that was so obviously in front of them? The text doesn't give any details. We are left to ponder the role of this school of prophets. 

In verse four Elijah and Elisha travel to Jericho. Elijah, the great opponent to the prophets of Baal, now travels to a city that God had cursed through Joshua during the initial conquest of the Land. Why would he do such a thing, what was wrong with other cities in Judah? Joshua 6vs26 reveals a curse laid against the rebuilding of Jericho. A curse that ends up happening in 1 Kings 16vs34 when the city is rebuilt despite the prohibition to do so. In this cursed city, that God instructs not to be rebuilt, we find a school of prophets. Again, no information on their function and role in the community is given. 

Lastly, in verse 7, Elijah and Elisha journey across the Jordan. This sends them to the territory of their enemies, Moab and Edom. It is in this land that the chariot and whirlwind will come. It is here that the mantle of prophet moves to Elisha. All this does not occur in the Kingdom of Judah, or anywhere near the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Why not? What’s wrong with holding a religious prophetic transition ceremony amongst the Jewish people and in Jewish lands? Why travel to pagan enemy territory to do the hand over from Elijah to Elisha? 

Light shines brightest when the darkness is at its most dark. We see from these verses that God places His prophets where the darkness is at its greatest. Right next to the pagan false temples and the houses of rival worship are the prophets of God. In a cursed city that was forbidden He sends his heroes and establishes a prophetic school. Into the mortal enemy lands God will place his heroes. Elisha’s first miracle will occur in the lands of Moab. This describes something wonderful of the character of God. He never gives up on His people or the world that He created. And God is not afraid of the darkness, He will send His light to shine there all the more brighter. 

We have been taught by the Messiah to be Lights to the Nations and Salt of the Earth. Leviticus tells us to be Holy like God is Holy. So we should see what God does and then we should endeavour to try to imitate His character and behaviour. Wherever it is the darkest, God is shining His light. That’s where He sends His heroes and His prophets. It’s possible that is where He might send us. And if He does send us into the Darkness, we don’t need be afraid. God is already there shining His light through us all the brighter. 

A Great Miracle Happened Here

We are in the Season of Miracles here in Jerusalem. Christmas and Hanukka both began on Christmas Eve, with lots of trees, doughnuts, menorahs and gift giving all joined together. It’s true that Hanukka and Christmas often coincide close together, however the last time there was a direct overlap of these holidays was in 1978. And Christ Church was once again packed with Israeli visitors for Christmas Eve. Approximately 2500 of them braved the cold conditions and came to listen and celebrate a miracle. 

Christmas and Hanukka share some interesting similarities. Both have become heavily commercialized, attractive and popular due to cultural and business pressures. Both come with terrible post-holiday traffic. Both come with special foods, warm spiced wine for Christmas and doughnuts and latkes for Hanukka. This year, the ultra-orthodox Minister of Health in Israel told us doughnuts were unhealthy and recommended we only eat one on Hanukka! Both have had many traditions that are not part of the story introduced to them. Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December and Hanukka is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev. Both have extended Feast days. Hanukka is for 8 days and Christmas has a season of 12 days. Both holidays recall a Great Miracle done by the God of Heaven for His people. The Miracles require more than just one day to fully appreciate and internalize, so we have 8-12 days to ponder and dwell on the mystery. 

Most people would ascribe the Miracle of the Virgin birth and the advent of Messiah as the Miracle that is being celebrated at Christmas. Note that people are not celebrating the Birthday of the Messiah rather the Birth of the Messiah, as the actual day of birth is not recorded. It was not a Jewish tradition to record birthdays during the 2nd Temple Period. However, the Gospels do indeed record His birth and the celebration of that event was added to the Calendar. And I know I have said it before on this blog but it’s worth mentioning again - Christmas does not replace a pagan holiday of the Winter Solstice. This is a mantra I have heard so many times from Christians and secular alike. It’s a false claim that has become unfortunately set in stone. None of the early Church Fathers make a mention of the date or pagan holiday replacement. The Greeks predate the Catholics as the closest to the original Church and obviously did not choose to replace the Winter Solstice, which falls on the Dec 21st, as Greek Christmas is on the 7th January. And the Armenian Orthodox (who are actually the very first nation to embrace Christianity in the year 271 AD) have their Christmas in Jerusalem on the 18th January. 

Most people would ascribe the Miracle of the Oil as the Miracle that is attributed to Hanukka. Hanukka comes from the verb ‘to dedicate’, and celebrates the rededication of a purified Temple following a successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Greeks. The events are recorded in the Books of the Maccabees, of which there are 4 Books of Maccabees. Interestingly, the Jewish people celebrate Hanukka, an event recorded in Books that are only preserved in Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles. If you actually read the Books of the Maccabees you note an absence of one major event - there is no Miracle! There is no mention of Oil or how the Menorah burned with Light for 8 days as new Oil was produced. Why not? What happened?Why did they miss including such a special event that is now synonymous with Hanukka? So when did the Oil appear in the story of Hanukka? Actually, the Miracle of the Oil appears very late in the 6th Century in the Talmud, that’s 600 years after the Maccabees. The real Miracle in the Books of the Maccabees is that a small non-trained Jewish army defeated the mighty Greeks, one of the most well-equipped, well-funded Superpowers of the day. God once again fought for His people. 

The Rabbis and Sages did not agree with the Messianic theology of the Maccabees. The Maccabean nationalism believed they could hasten the redemption of the Messiah through violence and that they themselves played a part of the messianic agenda of God. They even killed their Jewish opponents who disagreed with them. The Maccabees slaughtered the Pharisees in mass crucifixion. A death penalty they had adopted from the Greeks and Romans. In revenge the Rabbis failed to mention or write about the Maccabees during the Mishnaic period (that’s between 100 BC and 200 AD), trying to downplay the disastrous nationalistic fervour of the Maccabees which had resulted in successfully getting rid of the Greeks only to invite the invasion of the Romans and subsequent destruction of the Temple. It was only much later that the Rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud sought to replace the Miracle of a military victory with a Miracle from God. They did a play on words with the Maccabees. In Hebrew the Maccabees descend from the HaShmonim family. Shemen in Hebrew means oil. Ha-Shemen means ‘the oil’ and sounds similar to HaShmonim. Thus was born the Miracle of the Oil, 600 years after the military victory over the Greeks and the rededication of the Temple. 

The Gospels record Jesus being in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication. As that was indeed what was being celebrated, the rededication of the Temple and the relighting of the Menorah in the Temple. Josephus (Jewish Historian) records the Feast as the Festival of Lights, as the focus was on the rekindling of Light in the Temple. Light in Jewish tradition symbolizes the presence of God. God was once again with His people. The military victory of the Maccabees was indeed a Miracle and it is worth recording and celebrating. God has many times in the past fought for His people and He will do so again. For the sake of His great Name. 

In the Prayer Book of the Jewish people today there is only one Prayer for Hanukka. Which shows you how unimportant the Rabbis are actually trying to make it. And it has no mention of the Miracle of Oil at all, rather it mentions the many miracles God has done for His people through the ages. I apologize if this disappoints some people who really like the idea of the oil miracle. However, we, both Jews and Christians, have taken many traditions and added them to the stories we celebrate. Christmas trees, Santa Claus, the three Wise Men have imbedded themselves in the Christmas Story. The Gospels record no trees, Santa was actually a generous 4th Century Bishop, and we are not told the number of Magi from the East. The truth is that God has done Great Miracles for us and our forefathers. The greatest Miracle was the Messiah. And we are indebted to recall all the wondrous Miracles God has done. We are in a Season of Miracles. The world is in a bit of a mess and we need to pray for God to continue to do more Miracles for us this year. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukka.

Majestic Pride

Wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible teaches us that ‘Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall’ (Proverbs 16vs18). Pride is listed as one of the seven deadly sins. Pride is usually accompanied by a negative connotation and is not a quality to be sought after in a person. We don’t usually describe someone as full of pride and mean it as a good thing. 

In a recent study of Daniel we were looking at the Vision of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. There Daniel explains both the dream and the interpretation of the King of Babylon’s vision. An image of multiple metals with the Head of Gold (being Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom) proceeding to lesser quality elements of Silver, Bronze, Iron and Iron mixed with Clay. Each metal being a Kingdom replacing the previous Kingdom. Finally an unmade stone destroys the last remaining Kingdom and grows to fill the earth. Despite clearly hearing the correct interpretation and future, Nebuchadnezzar proceeds to build a large image made solely out of Gold. Not just the head of Gold like in his dream, but the whole body. This shows his pride and arrogance in the face of the God of Heaven. 

Pride גֵּוָה ‘Gevah’ in Hebrew. The Rabbis note that Man was made last in Creation, in order that if he became too proud he could be reminded that even a mosquito preceded Adam. Which is humbling when you think about it. Adam was also made from dust. Which interestingly can be read in multiple ways, on one level it is humbling to be reminded that we are made from dust, as is everything else. So we are no better than anything else for we all come from the same stuff. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. However on the other hand (you have to read the Bible with two hands), from the earth comes everything for life, all food, our shelter and clothing, plus every material of beauty. Which makes the Earth itself very special. And we can be reminded that we come from such a necessary and important material. As the Word of God says. ‘When saw that He had made the world He called it Good’. 

It was pride deep in the heart of the Morning Star (הֵילֵל), Lucifer in Latin and also known as Satan (Isaiah 14vs12) that fermented a rebellion in Heaven, leaving Heaven corrupt to the stain of sin. Accordingly in Jewish thought, Heaven itself is no longer perfect. Sin had started there and left its mark. Revelation reminds us that there is a War in Heaven. Micheal and his angels fight the Dragon and his angels (Rev 12). Thus when praying for peace on Earth, Jewish people also pray for peace in Heaven. Finally God in the end of time will renew both Heaven and Earth. If Heaven was already perfect and uncorrupted then there would be no need to make a new one. 

Pride often has the opposite affect to the intention of the person with the Pride. For example, Nimrod builds Babel. Nimrod becomes the father of rebellion. He knows God flooded the world last time there was abundant evil so he seeks to build a tower tall enough to be above the potential food waters. Also he seeks to build a tower so that man is in one place and not scattered, yet in the end that is exactly what happens, the people are indeed scattered across the face of the Earth, the opposite to Nimrod’s intentions. Subsequently Babel becomes a symbol and word of confusion. 

Yet for all the negative connotations of the word Pride in Man, Pride is a characteristic of God Himself. Psalm 93 declares that ‘The Lord is King, He is robed with Majesty ..’ (Psalm 93vs1)

This is the English translation, the Hebrew actually says the Lord is clothed with Pride. The Translators took the word Pride and made it Majestic. They had their reasons of course. How is it that the Lord God is dressed in Pride and with what sort of Pride? Obviously not the same pride that we often fill our hearts with. The Psalm continues to describe the Creation, the Throne of Heaven and the House of God, and the Lord is higher than all these wondrous things. We, the decedents of Adam, cannot be prideful for our pride too often leads to evil intentions, but the Lord can. He can even wrap Himself in Pride. He made the World and He can boast in its beauty, but not us. After all, when He had made the world He did say its was Good. He can sit on the Throne in Heaven and be majestic and His pride leads only to good intentions and for the benefits of Man.