flame-carved commandments

Disclaimer: I apologize for the meandering nature of this post. But as G-d is so uncontainable, I found it difficult to condense and contain these ideas into a neat package but hope this wandering is thought-provoking...

I know the verse:
Deuteronomy 9:10 Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. (NKJV)

and so I assumed that literally the 10 Commandments were "written by the finger of G-d." But Ad-nai is a consuming Fire...

Deuteronomy 5:24-25 And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die. (NKJV)

Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. (NKJV)

and the Hebrews literally saw that fire many times:

Exodus 20:18-19 And all the people are seeing the voices, and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking; and the people see, and move, and stand afar off, and say unto Moses, 'Speak thou with us, and we hear, and let not God speak with us, lest we die.'(JPS)

Did you ever notice that the people are "seeing voices"? Here's a more literal translation:

Exodus 20:18-19 And all the people saw⁶ the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw⁴ [it], they removed,⁴ and stood⁴ afar off. (KJV with links to Hebrew words and meaning)

Thunderings = voices; lightning= flames. If we read this account as merely words talking about some historic event or even worse, if we question that this event actually happened, we are missing the awesomeness of G-d. If the Bible is Truth, the details of this event Truly happened, as impossible as they may seem. But back to fire...this verse amazed me:

Psalms 29:7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. (NKJV)

or a more closer translation...

Psalm 29:7 The voice of HaShem heweth out flames of fire. (JPS)

The word hew in Hebrew is chatsab חֹצֵב which means to cut, carve, hew...divide, which the KJV uses. Jewish tradition teaches that, one by one, the commandments were written by flame as the people said "yes we will obey." So could it be that Ad-nai wrote the Commandments with flames of fire, carving His Word into stone, preparing to lovingly sear His Word in our hearts (Jer 31:33),and He does so as we receive what He gives us? Makes G-d-sense to me!

Jeremiah 31:33 "'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'"

I wonder if the word division in Hebrews 4:12, had it been written in Hebrew, would be chatsab?

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (NKJV)

This Hebrew translation of the Brit Chadashah uses chatsab in Hebrews 4:12.

By the way, the 10 Commandments are just a shortened version of the Torah and the Torah is the Word and the Word is Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. So to really encapsulate the ideas in this post: Yeshua is a consuming fire that dwells in our hearts causing us to be like Him to show His Glory.

Parashat Bo - "Enter"

This week's Torah Reading is Parashat Bo which means "Enter." Typically the names of the weekly readings come from the first line of the passage, sometimes the first word.

Blessing before Torah study: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has made us holy through His commandments, and commanded us to actively study Torah.

This week's Torah portion begins in Exodus 10:1 "Then the LORD said to Moses, "'Go to Pharaoh...'" Since "Go" is the main idea or action being expressed, the name of the portion, "Enter," reflects that.

Torah portion: Exodus 10:1-13:16
discussion of above passage

The next part of the weekly reading is the Haftarah which is a passage from Nevi'im which is the section of the Tanakh referred to as the Prophets, e.g. Isaiah, Kings 1. More about Haftarah and Haftarah blessings.

Haftarah portion: Jeremiah 46:13-28

Brit Chadashah: Luke 22:7-30; 1 Corinthians 11:20-34

Blessing after Torah study: Blessed art thou, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who
gave us the Torah of truth and set everlasting life in our midst.
Blessed art thou, O Lord, Giver of the Torah.

out with the old, out with the new

Using the term "Old Testament" for the Hebrew Scriptures seems like a big mistake. The word "old" makes that 2/3 of the Bible sound obsolete, replaced by the NEW Testament. It also makes it much easier for Christians to misuse the 2nd half of I Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (NASB).

They forget what Yeshua says in Mathew 5:18 - "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished" (NASB).

Doesn't that verse make the point clear that God's Word does not change? And remember the Law that Jesus speaks of is the Torah, as that was the only body of Scriptures that was available at the time.

Could it be that even the naming of the Hebrew Scriptures "old" was part of the plan to divide Jews & Christians, anti-Judaic, could we even say anti-semitic in nature? Could it also be that when Christians believe and live as if the Torah is passed away, that they are missing a crucial piece of what God has for them in terms of revelation of His Word, instructions for their lives, and blessings for themselves and their children?

Think about it: when you read Genesis and Exodus do you read them as history, stories that are there for examples for us, but that hold little bearing on our lives? Or do you read them carefully, personally, because those books contain truths (small and large) by which we should live?

Do you sense the same God-breathed Word in the "Old" Testament books as you do in the Gospels and Paul's letters? Does Hebrews 4:12 hold true for the "Old" Testament: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (NASB). The Gospel of John and Leviticus should be equally alive, active in our lives, sharp, piercing us, judging our thoughts and intentions.

B'rit Chadashah is the Hebrew term for the New Testament, which literally means New Covenant. Maybe a better way to refer to these two parts of the Bible is to leave the old and new out of it and simply use the terms Hebrew Scriptures and the Apostolic Writings. And read both parts as ONE testament to ONE God who is unchanging and desires that EVERY person on earth spend eternity with Him.