Faithful Writers

While the Bible is constantly ridiculed as a book filled with historical inaccuracies and fictional legends… The simple truth of the matter is that secular archaeologists and scholars who specialize in ancient Middle Eastern studies will often use the Bible… As a trustworthy source document to cross-reference and support the many artifacts they have dug up. Furthermore, even when the truthfulness of Biblical accounts comes into question… Based on the findings of archaeology and/or apparent conflicting evidence found in extra-biblical source documents… More often than not it is found that the problems lie with… Misinterpretation… Lack of evidence… Or poor scholarship… And NOT the Bible itself . I think the following joke well illustrates my point. ATHEIST: Oh Rabbi with your silly beliefs, don’t you know that there are dozens of cultures that have an ancient flood myth? RABBI: That makes me feel so much better. I’ve often wondered how nobody heard of the flood except us Jews. Now that I know others have also heard of it, I’m sure it happened. The rabbi in this joke has a point. The flood is told by the Greeks, the Hindus, the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Algonquins, the Hawaiians, etc. To me, this alone blows the “local flood theory” out of the water ( pun intended ). The Scriptures report that after bobbing around for a couple of days, the ark finally came to a rest on top of an area called the Mountains of Ararat. But where the heck is this location? The answer is parts of what is now Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, and Iran. According to a Turkish travel agency, “Mount Ararat may be the largest single-mass or volume mountain in the world as it is huge (one really has to see it in person to appreciate its immensity) and rises to 17,000 feet from the plains surrounding it at 2,000–3,000 feet while most other large mountains are in a mountain range with less differential and base circumference. ” © Richoka

As we walk through the Torah, I will be reviewing certain principles over and over again because they are essential to a proper understanding of the Bible. One of these principles is the one I have titled the “As-in-Heaven-So-on-Earth” principle. Again, this principle simply means that certain objects and events depicted in Scripture are the physical manifestations of spiritual truths in the heavens. And Yeshua was the perfect example: “He who has seen me has seen the Father (in heaven).” In Genesis chapter 8, which we are studying now, we also encounter a few interesting examples of this “As-in-Heaven-So-on-Earth” principle in action. God’s Spirit manifesting as the wind: In verse one, it says that God sent a wind over the earth to push back the waters. Now the Hebrew word for wind here is “Ruach” and it means “spirit.” Maybe you are familiar with the term “Ruach Ha-Kodesh." which means the Holy Spirit. So here is another demonstration of the “As-in-heaven-so-on-earth” principle. God’s spirit is manifesting Himself physically as wind. The Raven and the Dove: After 40 days pass, Noah opens the door of the ark and sends out a raven. The raven is a scavenger that feeds off the flesh of the dead. However, the raven does not return. So Noah lets seven days pass and then sends out a dove that soon returns. Noah lets another seven days pass and sends out the dove a second time. It returns again but this time with an olive tree leaf in its beak. Noah sends out the dove a third time and this time the dove does not return. The time to leave the ark and begin a new life on earth had arrived. There is some interesting symbolism expressed through the raven and the dove. The raven is an unclean bird and is considered to be a symbol of evil. In contrast, the dove is a clean bird and in Scripture is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Notice the characteristics portrayed by the raven. The Scripture says that the raven went forth “to and fro” and never returned. Who else in Scripture is described as roaming the earth to and fro? None other than Satan himself. Second, the raven is a bird that feeds on the flesh of the dead. Similarly, the unbeliever who knows not God nor the things of the Lord goes through life aimlessly, deriving futile pleasures from things that have no life in them. Now, whereas the raven was only sent out once, the dove was sent out three times. Although I don’t quite agree with their interpretation, Christians point out that the dove being sent out three times is a reflection of the triune nature of God. That point aside, there is no doubt however that the number 3 holds a special Godly significance in the Scriptures. For example, Noah had three sons. Yeshua Himself was raised on the third day… And the ark of the covenant contained 3 sacred objects and there are many other examples. In comparing the raven with the dove, it should be noted that while the raven was able to derive satisfaction from the dead fleshly things of the world, the dove wasn’t able to and thus returned. When the dove came back a second time, it had an olive tree leaf in it’s beak. Christianity and Judaism both agree that the olive tree symbolizes peace. Let us consider some interesting facts about the olive tree. First, olives themselves have been known throughout the ages for their nutritional and healing value. In the Bible, olive oil has played a significant role in anointing kings and high priests and was used to light the menorah in the Holy Temple. The national emblem of the State of Israel is olive leaves cradled around a menorah. The symbol for the Israel Defense Forces is a sword wrapped by an olive branch. The meaning is… “We seek peace, but we are prepared to defend against our enemies." © Richoka

“Abram believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.” -Genesis 14:6 I know I said this before, but I’m going to say it again. Grace is NOT a New Testament promise, and this verse proves it. The definition of grace is that if we trust God to save us, God will credit it to us as righteousness. Salvation by grace was Adam’s hope. It was Noah’s hope. And it was Abram’s hope. The ancient Hebrews did NOT believe they could work their way to heaven. I want to make sure you get this drilled into your head. Grace began in the Garden of Eden! However, it is evident that Abram still had not completely overcome his doubts. He then asks God, “ How am I to know I will possess the land? ” Abram, in his fear, wanted a sign from God. He wanted some visible and tangible evidence that God would indeed do what He promised. In Abram’s mind, his request may not have been all that unreasonable because, based on the traditions and customs of that era, promises had structure just like we have contracts in our day. Certain established protocols were done by and for the sake of the parties agreeing. Although we may not be aware of it, we all carry the expectation and assumption that God will deal with us on our cultural terms. Many times in Scripture, we see examples of God communicating to people within the confines of their own unique culture and language. Come to think of it, God has to. If God spoke to me in Chinese, I wouldn’t understand what the heck he was talking about unless he gave me the supernatural ability to all of a sudden speak Chinese. God, in His infinite wisdom, I would say, is a master at meeting people where they are spiritually and within their own culture and language. So God agrees to enter into a covenant via the common procedures normally done in Avram’s time to reassure and give him peace of mind. Verses 9 and 10 explain the details of the ceremonial protocol common in that time. Certain “clean” animals are cut up and split into two groups on the ground. Again, the Hebrew word for covenant, Brit, means “to cut” or “to divide.” Now, under normal circumstances, what would happen next is that the two parties would walk between the animal parts with the understanding that if they did not live up to their part of the bargain, they would end up like the slaughtered animal parts they had just walked through. However, if you read carefully, only a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch representing God passed through the animal pieces. Smoke and fire usually represent the presence of God in the Bible. God walked between the pieces, signifying His agreement and word to keep the terms of the covenant. But notice that Abram did NOT walk between the animal pieces. This was to be a unilateral agreement! As far as Abram was concerned, there were no conditions he had to fulfill. It was all on God. There are two things I would like to say to those who wish to invalidate Israel’s claim to the land. We have just read that it was an unconditional covenant. Thus, it is eternal! Forever! Second, the specific boundaries of the land have been defined in this passage. The truth is, throughout all of Israel’s history to this present day, the Jewish people have never fully occupied the areas specified in Genesis chapter 15. However, as long as God lives, soon, the land of Israel, and I mean ALL the land of Israel, will be returned to Abram’s descendants, the Jewish people. © Richoka

The events of the flood as related in the Bible read like a time log. God really wanted us to know in exacting detail the specific days and times certain events took place. We are told the waters rose for 150 days and then receded for 150 days. We are told on the 1st day of the 1st month of the 600th year, Noah opened the covering of the ark. Afterwards, we are told that on the 27th day of the 2nd month of the 600th year, God instructed Noah to leave the ark and begin repopulating the earth. Let’s take a look at the following verse: “On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” -Genesis 8:4 Now what’s interesting is that the 17th day of the 7th month is when Yeshua was resurrected from the dead! I don’t believe this is coincidental. Both the flood and Messiah’s resurrection teach us that only through death does new life come. This is another principle that is repeated again and again throughout the Scriptures. If we are to successfully move forward toward the new life that God has prepared for us, we have to die to our old life. Abraham died to his old life by leaving his home country and separating from his family. The Israelites had to die to their old life of captivity in Egypt to enter the promised land. There is no fence straddling here. It is NOT possible to keep one foot in the world and one foot in the Word. There were tremendous differences between the Old World that existed before the flood and the New World that Noah and his family entered after the flood. Adam was born into a perfect world. Noah was born into a fallen world. Adam was created in the “image of God." Noah was created in the “image of Adam." We are more closely related to Noah than Adam. What we are going to see as we move forward is that in the new world, man’s relationship to God, his environment, and his responsibilities changed. Certain “living creatures” will now be okay for food… And animals will now fear men. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT And Yeshua said unto him, “No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back , is fit for the Kingdom of God.” -Luke 9:62 © Richoka

“Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ” -Genesis 15:11 As Abram was laying out the animal parts into two groups on the ground in preparation for the covenantal ceremony, it says that carrion or birds of prey swept down in an attempt to carry away the dead animal carcasses. However, Abram shoos them away. There is some important symbolism here that we should not overlook. These birds of prey are symbolic of death and evil. They are symbolic of Satan himself trying to put a stop to this all-important covenant that God was about to make with Abram. This scene is both prophetic and a spiritual lesson for all wholehearted believers who place their faith in the God of Israel. We are warned in the Scriptures that the devil will try his best to prevent God from blessing us. However, to ward off the devil and his evil ways, in these verses, Abram has shown us the proper response. In other words, we are not to lazily sit on our butts and just “ trust God ” to take care of everything. We are to take vigorous action and resist the devil. We are to be God’s warriors here on earth. © Richoka

Notice that once Noah leaves the ark, his first action is to build an altar and pay homage to the Lord through sacrifices. Again, it is obvious why God commanded Noah to bring seven pairs of clean animals. If there were only a single pair of each clean species, then each sacrifice would have been the extinction of each species of clean animal. God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifices. The Scriptures tell us the Lord “ smelled ” the fragrant odor. Keep in mind this is just an anthropomorphism . An anthropomorphism is the literary device of ascribing human attributes to God. It’s not like God had some huge nose with nostrils and was able to physically smell the scent of the smoke rising from Noah’s sacrifices. Remember God is spirit. So when you come across phrases like “ God remembered ," “ God stretched out his hands ” or “ Incline your ear O Lord ," these statements are metaphorical. God then proclaims the following to Noah: “ I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imagination of a person’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy all living things, as I have done. So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease. ”-Genesis 8:21 Notice the phrase “ The imagination of a person’s heart is evil from his youth ." “from his youth ” is “ MINE ‘ ARAW ” in Hebrew. This means “ from his awakening ." One of the ancient Jewish sages has explained that this means from the time a human has awareness. In rabbinic circles, it’s debated whether awareness takes place in the womb, immediately after birth, or shortly after. Regardless, the point here is that ALL humans are born with hearts that “form evil." As explained in an earlier teaching, per the Principle of Opposites, this phrase goes hand in hand with the idea that mankind was created with both an inherent evil inclination and a good inclination. Remember, God holds man responsible for the evil that he commits. He does not blame Satan although Satan is very real and is capable of planting evil thoughts and suggestions into the mind of man. Satan’s strategy is to take advantage of the evil inclination in all of us. So even after the flood, we can see that fundamentally man’s nature has not changed and that humans will still struggle to not sin and commit evil. ( In fact, Noah is going to find himself in a quite embarrassing situation in the next chapter ) Again, since it is contrary to traditional Christian teaching on the subject, I feel compelled to reiterate that this verse is NOT saying that the human heart is ONLY evil. Babies are NOT born 100% evil. But neither are they born 100% innocent. Don’t forget the principle of opposites I talked about in this post . God is simply pointing out to us that all people are born with an evil inclination. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” -Romans 3:23 © Richoka

“As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Abram; horror and great darkness came over him.” -Genesis 15:12 After driving away the birds of prey, Abram falls into a deep slumber. While asleep, we’re told that a “ great darkness ” comes over him. The Hebrew word used for dark dread is chashekah, which comes from the word CHOSHEK. Do you remember this word from a previous post? CHOSHEK is the exact opposite of God’s spiritual light or illumination. So it means a depressing spiritual darkness. What occurs next is that God speaks to Abram in his sleep and informs him that the time will come when his descendants will be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years. However, the nation that enslaved them will be punished, and as a result, they would leave with much wealth. Of course, we know that God is talking about the period in the Book of Exodus. The Israelites were slaves in the land of Egypt, and then God raised up Moses to rescue them. In spite of the tragedy that is going befall Abram’s descendants, God promises that Abram himself would live a full lifespan and die in peace. Let’s look at verse 16. “And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” I just want to quickly point out that for a certain period, the name Amorites was synonymous with the name Canaanites. The reason is that the Amorite culture became the dominant culture in the land of Canaan. So, although it says Amorites, God is referring to Canaan here. © Richoka

Today we begin our study of Genesis Chapter 9. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . For the King James Version, click here. This chapter starts off with God’s first post-flood speech to Noah in the Bible. This is also the first time Scripture has God addressing someone in narrative form using the phrase “ And God said…. ” Immediately, we are introduced to a major change that has occurred. The vegetarian man of the Garden of Eden is now allowed a carnivores’ diet… And as a result, the animal kingdom that once had a harmonious relationship with man will now live in fear of him. Why do you think it was so easy for Noah to get the animals to cooperate with him prior to the flood? The answer is because before the flood man had a different relationship with the animal kingdom. “Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything — only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat.” -Genesis 9:3–4 Based on the above verse, at this stage, it seems like no living creature was off-limits for food. However, there was a very strict rule placed on the eating of meat, and it was that man was NOT allowed to eat the blood from an animal. The reason is because blood carries the life essence in it. We will see that moving forward blood is only to be used for sacrifices. Blood is way too holy for man to partake of! We see the importance of blood also being applied to human beings. The taking of human blood ( in other words murder ) is strictly prohibited and if it happens, the person guilty as charged will have his or her life taken from her. He or she will be subjected to the death penalty. “Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image. ” -Genesis 9:6 Notice in verse 6 that God assigns the responsibility of meting out justice for murder over to man now. Up until now, God had dealt with it Himself. What’s interesting is that when God dealt with Cain, the punishment meted out was banishment from His presence. The mere separation from God’s presence was sufficient punishment. However, in the post-flood age, when man murders man, he will incur the death penalty. Honestly, if I was a murderer and had to choose between the death penalty and eternal separation from God’s presence, I would choose the death penalty any day. (I mean, we’re going to die anyway right.) Concerning this portion of the Scripture, the ancient Jewish sages have pointed out that here God is establishing the principle of earthly government. Actually, this is the beginning of what would eventually come to be called the 7 Noachide Laws. The 7 Noachide Laws are the most fundamental principles of justice that God gave to Noah and from these basic laws will come all the other civil laws that will eventually comprise the Torah. The seven laws are as follows: 1) No idol worship. 2) No taking God’s name in vain. 3) No murder. 4) No incest. 5) No robbing and stealing. 6) No eating blood nor meat of strangled animals. 7) Man must submit to government authority. Thousands of years later after Yeshua’s ascension, these Noachide Laws were brought up by the Jerusalem Council of 49 AD as the minimum behavioral requirements for Gentiles who wanted to fellowship with Jewish believers in Messiah. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood . For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat .”-Acts 15:20–21 © Richoka

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 16. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . For the King James version, click here . In this chapter, we are introduced to a series of events leading to the birth of the forefather of the Arab race. A good long 10 years has passed since Abram departed from his hometown in Mesopotamia. Much has happened since then. Abram had been through famine as well as war, and although the Lord had protected Abram and kept him strong and healthy throughout the years, God’s promises seemed increasingly distant and unlikely to happen. So one day, no longer able to bear the shame and tension of failing to produce a son for her husband, Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands. Sarai summons Abram and suggests that he impregnate her slavegirl Hagar so that she can have a son through her. “Slavegirl” is the word translated from the Hebrew SHIFAH . Now I understand that most English versions will use the term “ maid ” or “ handmaiden ,” but frankly, this just imposes a misleading sense of European gentility on the sociology of the story that just isn’t there. The point is that Hagar belonged to Sarai as property. So Sarai could pretty much do with Hagar as she pleased. The existence of this type of surrogate maternity institution was well attested to in ancient Near Eastern legal documents. As a result of this action, the legal status of both Sarai and Hagar did not change. Hagar did not acquire extra rights, nor did she legally achieve equality with the barren Sarai. However, socially, something did change. When one examines the Law Codes of Ur-Nammu, dating to 2100 BC, or the Law of Hammurabi from about 1800 BC, it is made clear that when a barren wife took the serious step of making her slavegirl a concubine for her husband, her social status decreased in the eyes of those around her. To put it plainly, she was looked down upon. I think this backdrop explains quite well why Sarai dealt with Hagar so roughly following the birth of a child through her. Ironically, she used Hagar, her own property, as a means to ward off humility, but ended up inviting more humility because of her. © Richoka

The incredible trauma of the flood would’ve undoubtedly left Noah quite battered. Think about it. Besides him and his family, every human being on earth had been destroyed. Once the waters burst forth from both the heavens and the ground, Noah would have heard the screams of his neighbors, men, women, and children, as they cried out for help. Many of them would have been banging on the ark doors and walls, their fingernails piercing into the gopher wood as they futilely attempted to gain entrance to the only means of salvation that God had provided to mankind. I am sure there was much sorrow in his heart because he knew there was nothing he could do at that point. It was too late. Noah wanted to reach out and save those who were perishing but could not. However, we still have that chance that Noah didn’t. We still have a chance to lead others to salvation by sharing the good news of Yeshua. Remember, Yeshua said his second return would be just as it was in the days of Noah. NOW is the chance to reach out to that cynical neighbor or that elderly relative of yours whom you so dearly love and tell them about Yeshua. Given that the flood was the most terrifying experience that Noah had ever been through… He probably needed extra reassurance that the world would never again be subjected to another flood of such cataclysmic proportions. God not only verbally reassures Noah… But he announces that he will place a rainbow in the sky as a physical sign and reminder to Noah and his descendants that never again will He ever destroy the world by flood. This is the FIRST COVENANT that God made between Himself and man. Actually, this particular covenant was made between God and ALL living creatures (both man and beasts). One important point you should recognize. This covenant with Noah was unilateral. In other words, this covenant did NOT depend on man’s response nor man’s behavior……it was all on God. Later, we will see that with other covenants, there will be mutual requirements that both God and man must fulfill for the covenants to remain valid. © Richoka