Creed or Conditions

“And it shall be, if you truly heed the voice of the LORD your God to keep to do all His commands that I charge you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 28:1  Robert Alter All His commands – Keep them all!  That’s the…

Believing Without the Book

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.  Isaiah 40:8  NASB Word of our God – Yesterday we discovered the awful truth that there was no such thing as “the Bible” until the Christian Church, and particularly the Protestant Christian Church, created a sacred book.  In the first century,…

Absolute Relativity

You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2  NASB Not add/ nor take away – How flexible are your ethics?  Do you hold hard and fast to your own moral commandments?  Are…

The Religious Atheist

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  John 14:15 NASB Commandments – We want to follow the teaching of the Messiah.  We want to be called good and faithful servants.  But that means we need to know what he wants, and that means we need to know what his commandments are.  Now, we…

The Necklace

You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.   Psalm 139:5  NASB Enclosed– There’s not much wiggle room here.  ṣûr, the Hebrew verb used in this expression, is related to words meaning, ‘besiege, bind, tie down’ and ‘encircle.’ The psalmist’s choice seems to make it abundantly clear that God Himself puts restrictive fences around our…

Finding the Lost Sheep

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.  Psalm 119:176  NASB Do not forget– What does it mean to be lost? Our common assumptions probably arise from the evangelical interpretation of the state of the lost, that is, the condition of those who do not know God, have no…

In the Neighborhood

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:13-16 NASB You shall not – Aviya Kushner notices something odd. “In Hebrew, four key ‘commandments’ are crammed into one verse in Exodus 20.13. But in the 1611 King James Bible, they…

Incense and Offering

“For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My Name is great among the nations. And in every place incense is presented to My Name, and a clean offering. For My Name is great among the nations,” said YHVH of hosts. Malachi 1:11 SRI Among the nations – Perhaps it’s time…