“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel . . .” Numbers 24:17 Come Forth – Balaam was not the best among the prophets. His story reads with a touch of humor and pathos. But when it comes…
“and there is salvation in on one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 Name – The declaration of Peter is not as shocking today as it was in first century Palestine. Peter’s announcement was pure heresy; blasphemy of…
“And she will bear a son; and you shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 From – “Jesus Saves!” I remember that billboard on the side of Interstate 5 between Olympia and Centralia. It was there for years. Ten foot letters in black on a white…
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 Assurance – From 300 BC until 1500 AD, this word was about something very different than “assurance.” But when Martin Luther accepted this translation suggestion his friend Phillip Melanchthon 500 years ago, the landscape of this word…
For our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name. Psalm 33:21 Trust – Remember the difficulties we found in Psalm 33:22. Trying to capture the meaning of ka-asher turned into a lesson about tidy answers and worldviews. But what we may have overlooked is the parallelism of Hebrew poetry. In other…
“Remember the law of My servant Moses, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the statutes and judgments.” Malachi 4:4 Remember – Most of us don’t think of this verse when we think of the prophet Malachi. We think of this verse: “Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may…
Let Your lovingkindness, O YHWH, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You. Psalm 33:22 NASB According As – Check a few different English translations of this verse and you will probably come away confused. Many translations render this “even as” rather than “according as.” The Hebrew is ka-asher. It is the combination…
“Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts. For they have not listened to My words and My law, they also rejected it.” Jeremiah 6:19 Fruit Of Their Thoughts – Why must we take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5)? Why should we be held accountable for…
“Put a horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of YHWH because they have broken My covenant and have sinned against My law.” Hosea 8:1 Covenant/Law – Why could Abraham Heschel say, “A Jew without Torah is obsolete”? Heschel recognized that the covenant is directly tied to the Torah. If…
“for they have despised the law of YHWH, and they have not kept His statutes. Their lies after which their fathers walked led them astray.” Amos 2:4 Law of YHWH – The prophet Amos lays a charge at the feet of the nation of Israel. It is not simply a declaration of the guilt of…
