Faithful Writers

Whether we would like to admit it or not, in terms of having a global impact, no other book even comes close to the Bible. Volumes have been written on the influence the Bible has had on the world. And when I say the world, I mean the whole world , NOT just Western civilization. If there be any scorners or doubters, chew on this objective fact. As of this writing, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, since 1815, the Bible has sold approximately 2.5 billion copies and has been translated into more than 2,200 languages or dialects. Now I’m not saying that this is evidence of divine intervention pushing book sales anymore than God is behind the success of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” being the most viewed Youtube video on the planet. However, what I am saying is that it is sure proof of the tremendous far-reaching impact the Bible has had on practically every sphere of human activity. I would argue that minus the Bible. …the birth of modern science would NOT have occurred. …the story of Europe, the United States, Canada and other nations would be totally different. And we would NOT have a 7-day week. Since we are in Chapter One of Genesis, it is this one point in particular that I would like to focus on. A 24-hour day is the duration of one rotation of the earth on its axis. A year is the duration of one orbital revolution of the earth around the sun. A month is the approximate interval between new moons. The seasons are marked by the equinoxes and solstices. However. There is NO astronomical basis for a 7-day week whatsoever! So how did the 7-day week originate? Secular scholars have tried to attribute the origin of the 7-day week to all kinds of reasons. One common scholarly objection is that since the Sumerians and Babylonians used a 7-day week before the Hebrews, it could not have found its origin in God’s commandment from the Bible. Another common objection is to attribute the origin of the week to the use of “market days?" However, they also have to point out that the interval between market days was different in different nations, though rarely varying more than a day or so above or below seven days. The problem with this explanation is that it still does not explain how the market days happened to cluster around every “seventh” day, instead of every fifteenth day or nineteenth day or something else. Besides, there were various ancient nations whose weeks were quite unrelated to any marketing customs. Why can’t any of these scholars ever consider the obvious explanation? The seven-day week was established by God Himself, at the beginning. © Richoka

Have you ever wondered about the universal significance attached to the number 7? If you think about it, this number is not “natural” in any physical way. It would be more natural to use the number 10 (the number of a human being’s fingers) . Or the number 12 (the number of months in the year) . Yet, 7 is everywhere perceived as the number of completeness. In some mysterious way, this number has left an indelible impression on the world and mankind. Our planet has seven continents and seven seas. The rainbow only has seven colors. The entire musical scale consists of only 7 notes. In popular culture, we have Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, The 7 Samurai, and James Bond 007. However, there have been times when man has tried to do away with the 7-day week . In 1793 the leaders of the French Revolution produced a calendar divided into 3 ten-day “decades” It never caught on, and Napoleon abandoned it in 1805. In 1929 the Soviet Union tried a five-day week, with one day of rest. However, by 1940, the Russians were back on the familiar seven-day cycle! In 1936 the League of Nations solicited proposals for world calendar reform. They considered almost 200 different schemes, many of which attempted to rearrange the God-ordained 7-day week. They all never came to pass. I once tried 6 days of rest with only day of work. But that didn’t go over too well, especially with my parents. It seems like the 7-day pattern that God established at creation is here to stay. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Then Peter came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?” “No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven! -Matthew 18:21–23 In Revelations, there are 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Personages, 7 vails, SEVEN dooms, 7 new things. Yeshua (Jesus) fed the masses with 7 loaves and fishes. 7 devils were exorcised from Mary Magdalene. © Richoka

When reading Scripture, we’re all guilty of superimposing our own ideas, insecurities, and biases into the text. This is called “ eisegesis ” in convoluted seminary talk. For example, in the Genesis account, most people assume the first human created was a male. However, the Scripture isn’t so crystal clear on this point. Let’s take a good look at the text. “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male [zakhar] and female [nekeivah] He created them.”-Genesis 1:27 The first human being could have been androgynous (both male and female) . Here are some quotes from the ancient rabbis supporting the validity of this idea: “At the time that the Holy One, Blessed Be He created Man, He created him as an Androgynos.” -Rabbi Samuel b. Nahman “At the time that [Adam] was created, he was made with two faces, and [God] sliced him and gave him two backs, a female one and a male one.” -Resh Lakish The authoritative commentator Rashi also says that it was not just a “rib” that was taken from Adam to form a woman, but rather that the original man was split into two sides. Another interesting point is that if Genesis 1 records the creation of males and females, how is it that Adam in Genesis 2, which immediately follows, has no partner? CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female?” -Matthew 19:4 © Richoka

Hebrew is constructed using a system of “root” words. The Hebrew language takes a word, gives it a meaning, and then there are offshoots of that word that gives us different words for different uses (more similar to Chinese or Japanese in this sense I would say) . However, the different words coming from the same root will all have a common thread in meaning. Let’s take a look at the Hebrew word “Adam." The first thing you need to know is “Adam” is a generic term for human being. It is NOT a proper noun. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, it does NOT automatically suggest maleness. So the traditional translation “man” is misleading. A correct translation should say, “Let us make a human in our image” , NOT “a man in our image." The word Adam is also the root word for the color “red” and for the word “soil” or “earth." This makes perfect sense since the Scriptures tell us that God created a human (remember not a “man” but a “human”) from the dust of the ground. However, what connection does the color red have with being human? First, red is the color of blood which is essential for life. Second, in Scripture, red also represents royalty and majesty. I believe this points to the fact that God created a human in His Image. Now, interestingly, white supremacists also have their own take on the Hebrew word Adam. They claim that since according to James Strong’s Hebrew dictionary “Adam” translates as “ be ruddy, red, to show blood (in the face) ”, it can only be referring to Caucasians. Their reasoning is that only white people can blush or turn rosy in the face because hemoglobin only appears under pale skin. So they conclude that the first humans (both Adam and Eve) were Caucasians and the other mud races as they call them are what the Bible refers to as the “beasts of the field." Oh man, I just can’t stop laughing. So I’m ending this post right here. See you all next time. © Richoka

Let’s take a look at the promises God made to Abraham. 1) God would make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. Here God is promising that from Abraham’s wife Sarah’s womb, he would give birth to a people that would be a special nation unto Himself. 2) God would bless Abraham, and Abraham himself would be a blessing. God is promising that not only would he protect Abraham and make him prosperous in his lifetime, but that through him and his descendants, he would bless all the people in the world. This has ultimately been realized through the birth of the Messiah. 3) God would bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him. First, I need to stress that although the verse says God would subsequently bless and curse those who blessed and cursed Abraham as an individual, God is not just referring to Abraham but also to all of his descendants . All one has to do is take a look back at history to see that this is true. There is a direct correlation between the decline of a nation and how it has treated the Jewish people. In closing this post, I would like to share this most piercing and incisive quote from the sermon titled The Two Judaisms given by the messianic Jewish preacher Art Katz . This is what he said concerning the Jewish people. “They (the Jews), are a kind of barometer of the spiritual condition of the Gentile people. I have only to know how a Gentile believer regards the Jew to understand where he is spiritually. When you meet an anti-Semite, you know exactly where he is spiritually. He is a despiser and hater of God, no matter what religious vocabulary he employs. A man’s real regard for the Jewish people is the most sensitive indication of where he is in his relationship with God. And my experience in my eight years of walking with the Lord is this, those Gentiles who have the highest regard for the Jewish people are the most spiritual people.” CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29 © Richoka

“Lot went up from Tzo‘ar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Tzo‘ar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there isn’t a man on earth to come in to us in the manner customary in the world. Come, let’s have our father drink wine; then we’ll sleep with him, and that way we’ll enable our father to have descendants .”- Genesis 19:30–32 When God rained down sulphur and brimstone on Sodom, Lot’s wife didn’t make it. We are told that she “ turned back ” and was turned into a pillar of salt. There is a powerful spiritual lesson to be learned from this event which is that half-hearted commitment is no better than zero commitment. The phrase “ turned back ” is a Hebrew idiom meaning to hesitate or dilly-dally. Yeshua echoed the same notion: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”-Luke 9:62 Unfortunately, the repercussions of Lot’s wife’s actions didn’t end with her death. The now wife-less Lot ends up escaping to a cave with his two daughters. We then witness an interesting turn of justice as the drunken Lot unwittingly takes the virginity of his daughters, the very same virginity he had first offered up to the gang of rapists earlier. One might ask, what possessed Lot’s daughters to do what they did? First, the primary role of a woman in those days was to bear offspring. They would have been terribly ashamed to not have had any children. Second, notice they said “ Our father is old and there is no man on earth to come to be with us. ” They literally thought they had witnessed the end of the world. Third, having grown up in Sodom, where there appeared to be little, if any, moral restrictions placed on sexual behavior, the decision these girls made to mate with their father would not have been that big of a stretch. The result of this unholy sexual union would be the nations of Moab and Ammon. These two nations became the arch enemies of Israel and would later be singled out as those nations with which Israel could NOT intermarry. A final word about Lot. Here I think we get a good portrayal of the fleshly, uncommitted and worldly believer. Although he never renounced his faith in God, never do we never see him actively pursuing the things of God. When Abraham gave him his choice of what land to take, Lot chose Sodom. He wanted the comfort and excitement of living in a big city with all of its wealth and attractions. In the end, God spared Lot the destruction he wrought on Sodom and Gomorrah. So technically he was “saved” but because of the choices he made and the worldly temptations he succumbed to, he became unusable by God. Let all who have ears to hear listen. © Richoka

If there is one area among Gentile believers where misunderstanding reigns, it has got to be in the area of Biblical covenants. This is unfortunate because this is precisely the area where understanding is key. Because it is through the covenants that God made with Israel that anyone is saved. The Gentile believer is grafted into the covenants God made with Israel via his faith in Yeshua. In the same way, the Jewish person has his or her faith completed via his or her faith in Yeshua. Let’s take a look at Webster’s definition of “covenant." Covenant: (1) Binding agreement (2) Agreement among church members (3) Formal contract First, Webster’s definition is NOT the biblical definition of a covenant. To make matters even worse, the Greek word “ DIATHEKE ” used for covenant in the New Testament also misses the true Hebrew flavor of the word. The simple truth of the matter is there are some Hebrew concepts that simply don’t exist in other cultures. And “covenant” is one of them. The Hebrew word for covenant is “ BRIT ." “BRIT ”, most literally, means to cut or divide. During a covenant-making ceremony in the ancient Middle East, an animal was cut up and divided into two. The participants would then walk between the two pieces with the understanding that if they failed to keep their end of the covenant, their bodies would end up like the animal that had just been severed in two. Christians have long believed that a “will” or “testament” is the modern-day equivalent of a covenant. THIS IS NOT TRUE! First, a biblical covenant is permanent unless God makes it clear it is conditional. This is usually indicated by the qualifying word “ if ." If you obey or IF you do this, then in response, I will do this. If man has to uphold some part of the covenant for it to remain valid, then it’s a conditional covenant, which means it can be broken, and therefore a consequence will result. Second, when God makes a covenant, the spiritual and physical universe is never again the same. A God-made Biblical covenant becomes a physical law of the universe. The Hebrew word for covenant , “BRIT,” is the same word used to indicate a law of nature. From a Hebrew perspective, it would not be strange to say the covenant of gravity as opposed to saying the law of gravity. God’s eternal covenants support the very fabric of the universe. © Richoka

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 20. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . For the King James version, click here . Following on the heels of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Scripture tells us that “Abraham journeyed onward from there to the Negeb region and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur , and he sojourned in Gerar. ” Much geographical significance is contained in this one verse, especially as it pertains to our evening news. So let’s do a quick word study of the bolded words. Negeb (or Negev): “Negev” means South. So Abraham travelled South. Kadesh: It was in the exact same place as the Biblical Kadesh-Barnea. This area was a little distance into the barren Sinai. However, Kadesh itself was anything but barren. The area was a good source of water, so it undoubtedly attracted many nomads and wanderers who needed to quench their thirst and get some R&R. The area also served as a pagan god worship site. Shur: First, Shur is simply the Hebrew derivation from the Aramaic Shur-a, which means “a wall fortress." Now, Shur was located in Egypt. About 400 years before Abraham, the Egyptians built a huge wall along the Suez Canal to ward off Asian invaders to the North of them that were constantly encroaching on Egyptian territory. In due time, these Asian invaders would take over Egypt. Here’s a little-known historical fact that most people don’t know about. When Joseph was living in Egypt, Egypt was NOT being ruled by the Egyptians, but instead was being ruled by these Asian invaders I just mentioned. ( I’ll go into this in detail when we come to that chapter. ) Gerar: Gerar, where verse one says Abraham ended up sojourning, is none other than the Gaza Strip. That’s right. Gerar is the location of that hotbed of Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is being beamed into our television sets nightly. However, of more importance biblically, this is the area where Israel’s most consistent and fearsome archenemy will end up residing, not only in all of biblical history but up until our present times. I am talking about the Philistines. And Abimelech, the king whom Abraham will butt heads with, was an early Philistine settler. “Now wait a minute! ” you may be thinking. “You just said that the Philistines are Israel’s archenemies even to this day.” “There isn’t any nation called the Philistines in existence today.” Well, here is another little-known fact. The word “PALESTINE” is none other than the Greek word for “Philistia." Having said that, the majority of those who call themselves Palestinians today are displaced Arabs (descendants of Shem) who have adopted the name Palestine because the ancient Philistines were Israel’s arch enemy, and the title serves their anti-Israel cause well. © Richoka

When examining the history of ancient covenants in the Bible era, it is clear that blood played a central role in the covenant-making process. In the early stages of covenant history, the participants would cut their arms with a knife and then hold their cuts together to seal the covenant. During this process, the name or names of pagan Gods were invoked. In time, instead of the participants cutting each other up, a different procedure came on the scene that entailed the cutting up of an animal in half and the covenant parties walking between the two halved animal parts. Our modern - day English expression “ to cut a deal ” originates from this ancient custom. Just remember that in ancient times, entering into a covenant involved blood and vows made to a god or gods. Another important tradition that will greatly enhance our understanding of certain texts of the Bible is the custom of eating salt together with bread as the final event of a covenant ceremony. This practice was so prevalent that the covenant ceremony also came to be known as The Covenant of Salt . During the days of Moses, when the sacrificial system was established, God commanded the Levites to always sprinkle the sacrifices with salt. Fast forward 2000 years to Yeshua’s day; whenever the expression “covenant of salt was used," it referred to a holy and eternal covenant. This expression also came to be understood as referring to the Abrahamic covenant that we just looked at. Just know that whenever you encounter the word “salt” in the Old or New Testament… Be aware that it is connected to God’s holiness in relation to His covenants or sacrifices. © Richoka

It seems like Abraham can never stay put in one place. Although the Bible doesn’t specifically mention why Abraham was constantly on the move, the answer would have been apparent to anybody in that era. As a shepherd with a huge amount of flock to tend to, it would have been necessary to constantly be in search of fresh water and land for his animals. When he arrives in the land of Gerar, we can see that Abraham is harboring the same worries he had when he ran off to Egypt due to a famine. He fears that his wife’s ( now 90 years old ) beauty will incite the jealousy of the ruling King Abimelech in that area, and he will end up being killed. Before moving on, let’s take a quick look at the etymology behind the name “ Abimelech ." Abi is another form of the word “Abba” which means “father” in Hebrew. “Melech” means king. So “ Abimelech ” means my “ My Father is King ." Abimelech is a fairly common name in Scripture which will come up again referring to a different individual. So history repeats itself as Abraham lies again by informing King Abimelech that Sarah is his sister. Thinking that all is well, Abimelech brings Sarah into his household to make her his wife. However, he doesn’t get very far. The God of Israel appears to Abimelech in a dream and makes it very clear that if he so much as lays a hand on Abraham’s wife, he and all his household will be as good as dead. Abimelech defends himself, saying that he acted on what Abraham told him. God replies, “ I know, and that is why I kept you from touching her. ” God commands Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham, and in return Abraham will pray for him. As a result, Abimelech and all his household will be healed “ for the Lord had shut up every womb in the house of Abimelech ." There is much spiritual insight to be gleaned from this episode. First , although it is a common notion that God only speaks to believers, here we see that when the situation warrants it, God can and will speak to the heathen. Second, God is in control of everyone and everything and while He has basically given all human beings free will, He can and will override the free will of men in certain situations. Third, in verse 4, when speaking to God, Abimelech addresses Him as “My Lord." I know I’ve been harping on the fact that normally when we see the words “ Lord ," “ God, ” or “ Adonai ” in our Bibles, 99% of the time the original Hebrew is YHVH. However, here we have an exception. In this case, the original Hebrew is actually “ Adonai ” and NOT “ Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh ." Abimelech knew he was talking to some type of god but he didn’t know which one. So he simply addressed him as “ My adonai ." Fourth , this is the first scriptural instance of God having one of His servants intercede via prayer for somebody else. Now that this pattern has been established with Abraham, we will see it repeated through Moses and then ultimately through Yeshua, as He is called our ultimate intercessor before the Father. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Messiah Yeshua who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us .” -Romans 8:34 © Richoka