Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. Psalm 119:98 NASB Than – We need to pay close attention to the Hebrew text here. מֵאֹֽיְבַי תְּחַכְּמֵ֣נִי מִצְוֹתֶ֑ךָ כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם הִיא־לִֽי The opening word is from the root ʾāyab (to be an enemy), but it is the preposition (the prefixed min) that…
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB You shall love – Have you considered the fact that this commandment, the most important commandment in Scripture, is simply impossible? Think about it. How can anyone, even God, demand that you love Him? …
God is the Master of war, God is His name. Exodus 15:3 Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (The Living Torah) God – Kaplan’s translation retains the Jewish practice of not speaking the letters Yod Hey Vav Hey as God’s personal name. But English translations fare no better, simply substituting “the LORD” for the Hebrew יְהוָה, out of respect…
but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. Philemon 1:14 NASB By compulsion – It doesn’t work, does it? Legislated morality, I mean. No matter how many laws or how many threats and punishments, you simply…
Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Isaiah 29:13 NASB Tradition – When you read this verse, what do you think it means? Yes, we see God’s…
Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. Psalm 71:3 NASB Commandment to save me – The NASB translation is a bit awkward. What does it mean for David to say that God has given…
that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 6:14 NASB Commandment – In the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, G. Schrenk makes the following observation: “In Pauline writings entole [commandment] always denotes an OT commandment except in 1 Tim. 6:14 . . .”[1] …
“but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” Genesis 3:3 NASB Touch it – So why did Eve (Havvah) misrepresent God’s command? Why did she add “or touch it”? The typical explanation…
Be as careful with a minor commandment as with a major one, for you do not know the rewards of the commandments. Pirke Avot 2:1B Minor – A penny here, a penny there. Accomplishing God’s purposes one tiny deed at a time seems to be God’s effective plan for nearly all His children. But in…
“The whole law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:40 (R. T. France) Whole – How much of the Torah hangs on the two weightier commandments “love God” and “love your neighbor”? Holos – all of it! Agreed? Now think about what this means. If Yeshua is correct, then every one of…
