that they met together with one purpose, to fight with Joshua and with Israel. Joshua 9:2 NASB Together/ One – I have often been perplexed at modern Israel’s behavior toward terrorism. As you undoubtedly know, today’s nation of Israel is confronted by the daily threat, if not the action, of terrorist attacks, yet when these terrorists…
“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this great city?’Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’” Jeremiah 22:8-9 NASB Bowed down – After hundreds of years of divine mercy, Isreal finally learned the lesson of idolatry. It…
But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself, “declares the Lord, ‘that this house will become a place of ruins.”’ Jeremiah 22:5 NASB Place of ruins – We examined the contingent prophecy of verse 3. God asked those in authority to reverse their course, to embrace the social responsibilities of Torah, and to fulfill their ultimate…
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3 NIV No wrong or violence – Do not mistreat (yānâ). Do not…
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3 NIV Rescue – Rescue: “to save someone or something from a dangerous or distressing…
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3 NIV Just and right – mišpāṭ and ṣĕdāqâ. We know both these concepts. The first, mišpāṭ, isn’t just about…
Comments on Forgiveness In an article titled “Evil and Forgiveness,” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks cites Hannah Arendt’s insight into the absolute necessity of forgiveness. I offer these citations today, in a world where forgiveness seems an antiquated idea, where past sins are hauled before the public in order to force submission through humiliation, where the politics…
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [p]suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NASB Not good – God’s words, lōʾ ṭôb, are an amazing assessment of the human condition. According to the first chapter of Genesis, everything was good. In fact, more than good. Very good. Blessed. Exactly as intended. But less than 17 verses later, after…
A worthless person, a wicked man, is one who walks with a perverse mouth, who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers; who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil, who spreads strife. Therefore his disaster will come suddenly; instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing. Proverbs 6:12-15 NASB No healing…
Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; Psalm 127:1a KJV Except – In the Hebrew text, this two letter word is attached to God’s name. The expression is ‘im-YHVH. English separates what Hebrew sees as one single concept. The particle ‘im is translated according to the context. It can mean “if,” “since,” “when,” “whether,” or (as in this…
