And for 2013!
So, here’s the last TW for 2012. Rather than give you one more verse to contemplate, I thought it might be important talk about what we have learned, and then give you some idea of what 2013 looks like.
What did we learn this year?
Hopefully we learned a lot of important things this year – some interesting in the details, some much greater overall concepts. Here’s my list of the big ones:
The BIG ideas:
1. The community of Gentiles and Jews in the first century followed all of the typical religious practices of the synagogue and continued to do this until the later 4th Century (Dacy, Gorelik, Becker, Reed)
2. Jewish interpretation of the NEW TESTAMENT gospels is beginning to recognize a legitimate first century JEWISH community that claimed Yeshua as divine and as the Messiah (Boyarin)
3. Being human is a concept that must be interpreted within the culture of the Pentateuch. It is primarily about how we behave, not about how we are born (Walton)
4. Our individual experiences with God are never in question. They are what brings us into His presence. But MEANING is a function of paradigms and we must learn to think in different paradigms if we are going to understand the meaning of the texts. “If you don’t know what the author meant, then you don’t know what the text means” (Tuttle)
5. Marriage is like being human. It is a process that lasts a long time after which I can say, “I am married.” During the process, I learn to be married by learning how to live for another. The same idea can be applied to becoming human. I learn to live for another and in the process, I discover myself (Kierkegaard)
6. The Beatitudes in Hebrew are not even close to the ideas in Greek (Moen)
7. My culture gets in the way of understanding the authors of the Bible. If I am not aware of my own cultural bias, I will read the Bible as if it were written for me. It wasn’t! (Hanson, Kuhn)
8. Understanding Scripture is hard work and it takes a life-time of learning. There are no lazy disciples (Sarna, Guinness)
9. We all need correction. That’s why we all need community. No one sees perfectly.
10. The idea of community is worthless. Community only exists in the actions we take to make it a reality.
AND NOW 2013 – how I plan to serve you and where God seems to be directing. So, here’s the list. You may comment, add to or make suggestions as you wish.
1. I am working right now on a small book (or booklet) on the meaning of the cross from a Hebrew perspective. I hope to have it done within a month.
2. I plan to write the book The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Babylon. This book will address the PRACTICAL issues of living a Torah-observant life in a culture that completely opposes the Hebraic worldview. Many have asked for this, so I will do my best to complete it. Perhaps you might send me a burning question that needs an answer.
3. I will teach seminars in South Africa between February 20 and March 12.
4. I will be teaching with Barry Jenkins in Virginia Beach several times during the year. The first will be January 18-20. Please come if you are in the area.
5. I will be teaching in Melbourne, FL on Feb 16. Let me know if you need information on this event.
6. I will be participating in an open seminar with Bob Gorelik in Phoenix. Dates haven’t been confirmed yet. If you need information on this, let me know.
7. I will be back with Barry and Susan Jenkins’ group in Virginia Beach from April 11-13.
8. Then a seminar with Cheryl Durham in Philadelphia, April 19-20.
9. I will attend the Bridges for Peace training in Jerusalem from May 19 to June 3, and will then teach a class on what happened in the period between AD 70 and AD 135 that created the Church separation from Messianic Judaism (June 3-5).
10. I will lecture on a Greek Island Cruise leaving Barcelona on Jun 10-22.
11. I will teach at Beit Tikvah near Renton, WA on June 29. Anyone wanting to meet me during that weekend should contact me directly. I will meet with a group of readers in Centralia, WA on June 28.
12. I will give a seminar in Kansas City, MO, on the weekend of July 19-21.
13. I will lecture on the impact of Greek thinking on the Roman world and its consequences for our Western culture on board the ship, Eclipse, leaving Southampton, England on September 8-23.
14. The plan is to be in Africa in October.
15. And return to Barry and Susan’s venue in November (14-16)
In the meanwhile, the Israel DVDs second series is done and needs to get out to all of you. I am working on the White squatter camp documentary, helping Irene, and trying to get back to Central America to teach there. And John Samuel and I will finish the second book, Serving in Your Zone.
and maybe I will have a bit of time at home in 2013. 🙂
Thanks for all your work in 2012 Skip, and all the best for 2013!
Thank you for the overview for 2013 ~ I look forward to new publications. I am chewing on the Lucky Life right now on my Kindle ~ any chance of more of your work being available for the Kindle?
I am also interested in hosting you to come and visit the Napa Valley/Santa Rosa region of Northern California.
Shalom
God bless you this coming year. Your teaching has been a blessing to me. I hope you publish your teaching on the Messianic Community from 70ad-130ad….we all have waited a long time for these much needed text corrections and insights from you and many other Hebrew teachers. And I am starting to see the Christian, Jewish and of course the Catholic Church as a political machine. Shalom
Thanks for all your work, Skip-… but where does your wife and family fit into this exhausting 2013 calendar?
“The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Babylon. This book will address the PRACTICAL issues of living a Torah-observant life in a culture that completely opposes the Hebraic worldview.”
We look forward to this and need it asap. Our burning desire is to know how to celebrate the Feasts without Pharisaical religiosity. We want to be dedicated to celebrating all of them this year, complete with all the different “things” that are symbols of our YHVH and Messiah. Maybe just a booklet on that subject would be possible before March?
YHVH Bless you and keep you………………………………….
Skip,
Many many thanks for your teaching’s & insights into the word of YHVH, truly a gift for a time such as this.
I look forward to your visit to the UK in 2013, i greatly suspect this will be attended by many eager to hear the rich Hebraic truths of the word.
I also welcome and eagerly await the books especially the “Hikers guide”.
On another note, do you have any studies regards the “trinity” as scripture clearly does not state the trinity, but Father / Son & Holy Spirit. How would our Brothers from the 1st centurary have attributed the Father Son & Spirit of God.
Many Blessing’s
Simon (England)
ps- many in the UK are awakening and are looking into their Hebraic roots, and coming into an understanding that Yeshua is the Torah, so your booklet is so in time!! TNX U
I have only briefly touched on the matter of the Trinity in one of two TWs. It deserves much greater attention, but in order to really understand its formation as a doctrine of the Church I must first understand how Greek conceives of “person,” and that will take a lot more research.
Skip, Ok thank you. The reason i asked i came upon some study material to which the ministry that supplied it stated that they were a “non-trinitariun” Church! The statements of beliefs offered were scriptural and they fully hold to the Divinity of Christ, just not the modern statements regards the “trinity”. Interesting as not many churches address this issue. Once again many thanks. Shalom Simon
Thank-you for all you have done, but don’t underestimate our ability to forget what you have already wrote about. The important things need restated over and over, and when newbies come in – they are more likely keep up with the current, than to dig back in the archives.
I’d also love to see a section on supposed “problem verses”, verses that people always bring up to support replacement theology, dispensationalism, ect.
Thank you for your insights in 2012. Looking forward to 2013. Can’t wait for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Babylon. But just one question…. what does that title have to do with a Torah-life? Aren’t we hiking elsewhere?? (oops – that was 2 questions!) 🙂
To the community… anyone out there live in South/central PA area?
Ah, but A Hitch Hiker’s Guide is how to survive WHERE YOU ARE – and we are in Babylon.
I live in Manchester, MD; just south of York, PA.
Shalom,
Toda raba for everything sending all these messages daily. We enjoy very much reading the Guardian Angel
and it help us strengthen our marriage and understanding of ezer kenegdo and Ish Adam.
Baruch haba b’shem Yahweh!
Shalom,
Sarah
I am so glad you found Guardian Angel helpful. It continues to be my best selling book, perhaps because it meets such an enormous need.
Skip,
Looking forward to videos on South Africa and Israel when they become available. Praying that 2013 be the best ever for you and your family. Keep safe. I hope I will be able to attend one of your speaking engagements this coming year. You have been a blessing to us all.
Richard
Skip,
I too want to thank you for your work. I don’t recall how I “discovered” you but it was in 2012…..oh yes, I remember….some friend on Facebook reposted a TW and I got hooked.
Just want to tell you “Cultural Shift” is going to become my personal mission statement……it so describes my reason for living. It’s why I am learning to read Hebrew (and am teaching alefbet to the children at my congregation).
I also stumbled onto Boyarin during 2012 and bought his book and was astonished at what scholarship is digging up about 1st century intellectual milieu.
This and what you write is the type of work I wish to be associated with……..
(oh! and by the way, Rabbi Bob Gorelik was the main teacher at a small congregation down in Garden Grove back in 2001 when I started getting into Hebraic roots. He and Lindy began their central America trips while I was there.)
“If you don’t know what the author meant, then you don’t know what the text means” (Tuttle)
Hi Skip,
I’m somewhat skeptical of the concept of “authorial intention” (knowing what the author meant)
The practice of distinguishing between the “implied” author and reader
And the “real” author and reader makes more sense to me
For example, if the implied reader is expected to be fluent in Hebrew
The real reader might not have the expected level of knowledge
The text can also have meanings to readers that might not have been intended by the author
That’s why I have always been somewhat skeptical of God as “author” of the text
With the Bible, does anyone really know what God meant?
Why for example did He have David commit adultery?
Seems to me that the text is what God intended and he worked through many authors
There were real authors whom we don’t know anything about
And readers with different cultural and historical backgrounds
I think it is easier to say for sure what the text doesn’t mean
Than what it does mean in many instances
On the other hand, we often know exactly what the text means
We’re so glad we found your website and are very grateful for all your work. Just a small suggestion: please make all your books/booklets available as ebook or kindle-version, because shippingcosts outside USA are horrible !!! Looking forward to your new book Hitchhiker’s Guide to Babylon as well as your book with J. Samuel.
Yes, I wish they could all be in eBook format. The problem is simply getting the help for someone to do this. I can easily provide them as pdf files, but converting to eBook or Kindle is another technological challenge.
I would like to help with the project of converting more of your work to eBook & Kindle. Who do I contact?
Check this link for information on easily preparing your book for sale as a Kindle book:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4489551_sell-book-kindle-format
I’ve been fascinated by your writings.
Would love for you to do something on Revelation
Especially chapters 12 -13 that speaks of the beast, etc.
Thanks very much
I usually avoid verses in Revelation, not because they are not part of God’s revelation but because there are so many mistaken assumptions about the genre of literature itself and the symbolic nature of John’s vision. We need so much more Hebrew background to even approach this book. Furthermore, so many Christians have such strong beliefs grounded in one version or another of the rapture-kingdom-judgment ideas formulated only a few hundred years ago that dealing with these verses often raises more ire than devotion. Anyway, in the next month I’ll be writing a bit more about this as we explore the idea of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
“Perhaps you might send me a burning question that needs an answer.”
As I write this it is 9:45 am and it’s a whappin 6* outside our motor home in our off grid location. We have a rip roaring fire in the wood stove and I’m serving up hot coffee and a hot breakfast from it. We are sitting in a comfortable 68*. It’s Shabbat.
How do I interpret Ex 35:3? Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
In Florida this isn’t an issue. In N. Colorado or N. Nevada in Jan. off grid with wood heat it’s huge!
Start the fire before the sun goes down on Shabbat.
That’s always been my solution.
However there are those who believe that keeping it going, or boiling water, heating food, etc…. is a breech. The karaites interpret “kindle” as “burn” therefore any fire is a big nono. You start your fire before sundown and huddle together when it gets cold until the end of Shabbat.
Should I be stoned if I go outside to the wood pile and get an arm load? I dare say some people think so. Some just frown on it and won’t associate with us. Others just blow it off.
Since the Lev. 23 instructions are called “Holy Rehearsals” it makes me wonder if there isn’t some similar future event that will be connected to them. Could they at some point quite literally be “Our Life” I take De 32:47 very seriously.
There is something about The Sabbath that is very closely connected to the first Passover in the command to stay in you place as well as the the burning oven of the covenant with Abraham, the flood when the door was shut and could not be opened again and so forth.
I honestly have no interest in a legalistically observing ANY Torah commands. I simply want to understand the commandment more fully so I can enthusiastically obey it with ALL my muchness.
Since I don’t have the Hebrew skills to sort through all the opinions that have been thrown at me over the last 2 decades, I just thought I’d see what opinion you might be able to add to my confusion. 🙂
Ha! I just realized how literally burning a question this is! LOL
This is a case of loose Torah. Preserving life is the highest priority of Torah, so in hostile climates gathering fuel to preserve life is not a sin on Shabbat. The donkey is still pulled from the ditch. However, if preparation can prevent an action on Shabbat that would usually be prohibited, then it should be done. Honor Shabbat does not mean blind obedience. If a tree falls on the house on Shabbat, do we do nothing about it until the next day. Of course not! Only those who see Torah as a collection of absolutes will refuse to view Torah as guidelines for LIFE. They are perhaps the same people who would tell the Nazis that they are hiding Jews because they don’t want to lie.
You sound just like my favorite Sabbath mentor Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi.
Bless You Brother.
“I am working right now on a small book (or booklet) on the meaning of the cross from a Hebrew perspective. I hope to have it done within a month.”
Can we pre-order and prepay for this?
I have one more burning question. Some dear friends who lead a congregation recently went out and got tattoos. Again, I’ve read and heard (what seems like) zillions of commentaries and opinions. Just asking for yours.
~ “If you don’t know what the author meant, then you don’t know what the text means” ~
Jesus answered and said unto them, “You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22.29)
In the beginning..God spoke the world into existence.
~ All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.. ~ (2 Timothy 3.16)
~ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope ~ (Romans 15.4)
Men wrote the Bible. It was not an infinite number of monkeys sitting an infinite number of typewriters that accomplished this task. First of all, it is hard for a monkey to sit still long enough and second of all, they keep on ‘fat-fingering’ the keyboard. Yes, God used men, human men, to write His own Book. According to the words of God, it was God Himself who authored the Book we now refer to as the Bible.
But the question just begs to be asked (and answered..)- Is the Bible the Word of God? Is God the Author of the Bible and did God (does God) still inspire (breathe His words into) men? The O.T. (older covenant) was written in Hebrew and the N.T. (newer covenant) was written in Greek. Yeshua HaMashiach, (Jesus who is the Christ) said, ~ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit (breath) and they are life. ~(John 6.63) He (our Savior) has also said (unto who?)- ~ if you abide/remain in Me and my words abide/remain in you- you will ask what you will and it will be done unto you ~ (John 15.7).
– Who is “you?” If “you” abide in Me.. Could we, should we say- “that was then- this is now?” Is The Messiah speaking only to His original talmudim/learners/disciples or are these words, His words, addressed to “whosoever will?” Do these words, His words, carry any weight with us who live in this (far-removed?) culture and in this time and in this day and enlightened (ha!) age? ~“Father, sanctify them by your truth, because Your word is truth.” ~ (John 17.17) Who is speaking, who is praying here and who is the “them” being referred to? Sanctify “them.” Make “them” holy. Set “them” apart. Is our Savior (is He our Savior also or only the original twelve?) speaking to them or to us also? Do the words of God live and abide/remain forever? ~ What do the scriptures say? ~ I am really coming into the realization and recognition of this being true: – the best commentary on our Bible is (without a doubt!) the Bible itself! Let the Living word(s) of God speak!! Again, (and again) ~ what do the scriptures say? ~ (Romans 4.3)
~ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away ~ (Luke 21.33)
Who said this? Who is the (actual) Author of these words? Whose Book is it anyway? Who wrote the Book? It is the Book God wrote and His Word (both living and eternal) will remain/abide with us forever.
~ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word ~ (Psalm 119.9) Again, whose word? Whose instruction? The word(s) of God. The ONE who wrote the Book?- tHis is His Book! Our Him-Book!
Why? (he inquired) did our Savior say, not once, not twice, but three times unto the Tempter- ~ it is written? ~ What did He know that we (apparently) do not?
~ May the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand ~ (Psalm 149.6)
(amen!!)
~ take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God ~ (Ephesians 6.17)
Christian, do you know- God our Father has equipped you? ~ Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil ~ (Ephesians 6.11) Yes, not only do we have “weapons” But remember, ~The weapons of our warfare are not according to the flesh, but of the power of God, and by it we subdue rebellious fortresses, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ ~ (2 Corinthians 10.5)
~ for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the LORD; walk as children of Light ~ (Ephesians 5.8)
~ Because God, who spoke that light would shine out of the darkness, has dawned in our hearts that we would be enlightened with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Yeshua The Messiah, (Jesus who is the Christ) ~ (2 Corinthians 9.6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYdQa6Cprc