That the term salvation is so meaningfully used in connection with so many religions, however, shows that it distinguishes a notion common to men and women of a wide range of cultural traditions.

The fundamental idea contained in the English word salvation, and the Latin salvatio and Greek sōtēria from which it derives, is that of saving or delivering from some dire situation.

According to WEBSTER:
SALVA'TION,n.[Hebrew.H3444 Yeshua,save,deliverance,victory; Greek. G4991 soteria, save, rescue, deliver; Latin. salvo, to save.]

1. The act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great calamity.

2. Appropriately in theology, the redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation.

[NOTE: Greek Scriptures perspective - reflecting what most of humanity is wanting.
From the Hebrew Scriptures perspective, the afterlife was not a big part of Jewish thinking until after Babylon. Up until then, "salvation" was about the "here and now".
Other religious cultures had their own understanding of "salvation".]

2Co_7:10
2 Corinthians 7:10 YLT
(10) for the sorrow toward God reformation to salvation G4991 not to be repented of doth work, and the sorrow of the world doth work death,

[NOTE: There are many different theological "systems" in Christianity, i.e., "This is what we believe"; the various Apostles' Creeds, etc.]
3. Deliverance from enemies; victory.

[NOTE: this is is Hebrew Scriptures perspective - the "here and now". The life that is here now and how to live life here and now instead of focusing on the afterlife.]

Exo_14:13
Exodus 14:13 YLT
(13) And Moses saith unto the people, 'Fear not, station yourselves, and see the salvation H3444 of Jehovah, which He doth for you to-day; for, as ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, ye add no more to see them—to the age;

4. Remission of sins, or saving graces.

Luk_19:8-10
Luke 19:8-10 YLT
(8) And Zaccheus having stood, said unto the Lord, 'Lo, the half of my goods, sir, I give to the poor, and if of any one anything I did take by false accusation, I give back fourfold.'
(9) And Jesus said unto him—'To-day salvation G4991 did come to this house, inasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham;
(10) for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'

[NOTE: Did Zaccheus understand "salvation" in the Greek or Hebrew context?

Zaccheus was a Jew.
Did he understand the Master's words as meaning that He was here to set Israel back on the correct track?
OR, since "salvation" in Hebrew is "Yeshua", and using Luk_19:10 as context, did Zaccheus understand Luk_19:9 as an announcement that Yeshua had arrived?]

Luk_19:11-27 adds even more context.
Even the apostles were confused by salvation’s meaning:

Act_1:6-8
Acts 1:6-8 YLT
(6) They, therefore, indeed, having come together, were questioning him, saying, 'Lord, dost thou at this time restore the reign to Israel?'
(7) and he said unto them, 'It is not yours to know times or seasons that the Father did appoint in His own authority;
(8) but ye shall receive power at the coming of the Holy Spirit upon you, and ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the end of the earth.'

5. The author of man's salvation. (WEBSTER - AU'THOR, n. [L. auctor. The Latin word is from the root of augeo, to increase, or cause to enlarge. The primary sense is one who brings or causes to come forth.]

1. One who produces, creates, or brings into being; as, God is the author of the Universe.)

Psa_27:1
Psalms 27:1 YLT
(1) By David. Jehovah is my light and my salvation H3468 , Whom do I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life, Of whom am I afraid?

Heb_2:10
Hebrews 2:10 YLT
(10) For it was becoming to Him, because of whom are the all things, and through whom are the all things, many sons to glory bringing, the author G747 of their salvation through sufferings to make perfect,

Hebrews 2:10 ASV-2015(10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

6. A term of praise or benediction.

Rev_19:1
Revelation 19:1 YLT
(1) And after these things I heard a great voice of a great multitude in the heaven, saying, 'Alleluia! the salvation G4991 , and the glory, and the honour, and the power, is to the Lord our God;

NEXT

Continue SALVATION study.
Resume SECULAR and HISTORICAL CONTEXT, laying the foundation for the Scriptural study.

The idea of saving or delivering from some dire situation logically implies that humankind, as a whole or in part, is in such a situation.
This premise, in turn, involves a series of related assumptions about human nature and destiny.

The creation stories of many religions express the beliefs that have been held concerning the original state of humankind in the divine ordering of the universe, going all the way back to The Enuma Elish, or Sumerian (Babylonian) Creation Tales, considered the oldest written creation story, perhaps from the second millennium B.C. (https://www.magicgatebg.com/Books/The%20Seven%20Summerian%20 Tablets%20of%20Creation.pdf)
The Enuma Elish is composed of almost one thousand lines of cuneiform script that have often been compared with
the Hebrew Scriptures creation story in Genesis.
The story features a great battle between gods Marduk and Tiamat that results in the creation of the Earth and mankind. The storm god Marduk is ultimately declared a champion, which enables him to rule over the other gods and become the chief god in Babylonian religion.
Marduk uses Tiamat's body to form the sky and the earth.
He forms the great Mesopotamian rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, from the tears in her eyes.
Finally, he forms mankind from the blood of Tiamat's son and spouse Kingu, in order for them to serve the gods.
The Enuma Elish was written across seven cuneiform tablets that were copied by ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.
The epic was recited or re-enacted in the annual New Year's events, as is recorded in Seleucid era documents.
Many of these stories envisage a kind of golden age at the beginning of the world, when the first human beings lived, serene and happy, untouched by disease, aging, or death and in harmony with a divine Creator.
Stories of this kind usually involve the shattering of the ideal state by some forbidden human deed, with wickedness, disease, and death entering into the world as the result.
Adam and Eve (Gen_2:1-31, Gen_2:7-9, Gen_2:15-25, Gen_3:1-24) is particularly notable for tracing the origin of death, the pain of childbirth, and the hard toil of agriculture to humanity’s disobedience of its Creator.
It expresses the belief that sin is the cause of evil in the world and implies that salvation must come through humanity’s repentance and whichever

god that religion happens to have at that time forgiveness and restoration.
In ancient Iran, from Zoroastrianism's sacred book, the Zend-Avesta, a different cosmic situation was contemplated, one in which the world was seen as a battleground of two opposing forces: good and evil, light and darkness, life and death.
In this cosmic struggle, humanity was inevitably involved, and the quality of human life was conditioned by this involvement.
Zoroaster, an Assyrian and the founder of Zoroastrianism, called upon human beings to align themselves with the good, personified in the god Ahura Mazdā, because their ultimate salvation lay in the triumph of the cosmic principle of good over evil, personified in Ahriman.
This salvation involved the restoration of all that had been corrupted or injured by Ahriman at the time of his final defeat and destruction.
Thus, the Zoroastrian concept of salvation was really a return to a golden age of the primordial perfection of all things, including humans.
Many believe Zoroastrianism had a profound effect on early Judaism.
Some ancient Christian theologians (e.g., Origen (c. 185 – c. 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian) also conceived of a final “restoration” in which even devils, as well as humans, would be saved.
This idea, called universalism, was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heresy.
In those religions that regard humans as essentially psychophysical (the branch of psychology that deals with the relationships between physical stimuli and resulting sensations and mental states) organisms (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam), salvation involves the restoration of both the body and soul, or body and spirit.
Modern Judaism, as a result of Hellenism post-Yeshua, has adopted the

concept of resurrection of body and soul.
Yeshua was an orthodox, pious Jew.
The concept of resurrection of body and soul was foreign to ancient Judaism.
These religions teach doctrines of a resurrection of the dead body and its reunion with the soul, or spirit, preparatory to ultimate salvation or damnation.
At this point, some intersting questions arise:
1. With all these differing beliefs and points of view:
A. Which religion is correct in its presentation of the Creator's Word?
OR,
B. Is each one as correct as the others?
That is, does the Creator give differing enlightenment to different peoples, so that a "footstep follower" in any religion has as much of an opportunity of salvation as any other religion's adherents?
If 1.B is chosen, then explain the fact that some teachings in each religion are diametrically opposed to other religions' teachings.
Also, most religions claim that following their teachings are the only way to acheive salvation.
For example:
Christians:
Joh_14:6
John 14:6 YLT
(6) Jesus saith to him, 'I am the G3588 way G3598 , and the G3588 truth G225 , and the G3588 life G2222 , no one G3762 doth come unto the G3588 Father, if not G1508 through G1223 me;
Yet, even amongst Christians, there are many different Christian organizations that claim theirs is the ONLY road to salvation.
Almost every religion has its own sacred writings that are considered to be THE G3588 authoritative sources of doctrine, practice, and history.
These texts may have different origins, forms, and functions, depending on

the religion and its context.
Some religions have one main text, while others have multiple texts that complement each other.
Some texts are believed to be divinely revealed, while others are composed by human authors inspired ( G2315 - "God-breathed") by the divine.
Some texts are written down, while others are transmitted orally or through other media. Many written texts began orally and were written down years, even centuries, from their beginning.
Some texts are fixed and unchangeable, while others are open to interpretation and adaptation.
Some organizations "update", that is, change the wording or interpretation, their texts based on a myriad of factors, e.g., the current popular beliefs, a change in organizational leadership, etc.
One possible reason why every religion writes its own sacred texts is to provide meaning and purpose for its followers.
According to the website The Spiritual Life,
"Religious texts may be used to provide meaning and purpose, evoke a deeper connection with the divine, convey religious truths, promote religious experience, foster communal identity, and guide individual and communal religious practice."
Sacred texts may also answer existential questions such as the origin of life, the nature of the universe, and the destiny of the soul (or spirit or personality).
Another possible reason why every religion writes its own sacred texts is to preserve and transmit its sacred history and narrative.
According to Wikipedia,
"Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred texts, symbols and holy places, that primarily aim to give life meaning. Religions may contain symbolic tales that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other

phenomena; some followers believe these to be true stories."
Sacred texts may also record the lives and teachings of prophets, sages, saints, and other religious figures.
A third possible reason why every religion writes its own sacred texts is to reflect and respond to its cultural, historical, and geographical context.
According to a book chapter on World Religions: The Spirit Searching, "The use of sacred texts helps make tangible the beliefs and history of a faith tradition. This can be useful in approaching any particular faith. It can also, in some ways, freeze a faith tradition in time. Cultural, historic, and geographic context matters, as one considers what has gone into making a text what it is."
Sacred texts may also adapt to changing circumstances and address new challenges and opportunities.
In conclusion, every religion writes its own sacred texts for various reasons that relate to its identity, beliefs, values, and goals.
Sacred texts are not only sources of information but also expressions of faith and inspiration.
From the Judeo-Christian experience, the Torah began orally (with the exception of the Ten Commandments) and much later was written down as the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament).
When Yeshua was teaching on earth, the only written Word of YHVH was the Hebrew Scriptures of the Jews.
Yeshua was well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures and often quoted or referred to them in His teachings and conversations.
In all His teachings He referred to the divine authority of the Hebrew Scriptures (Mat_5:17-18; Mat_8:17; Mat_12:40-42; Luk_4:18-21; Luk_10:25-28; Luk_15:29-31; Luk_17:32; Luk_24:25-45; Joh_5:39-47).
He quoted the Hebrew Scriptures 78 times, the Pentateuch alone 26 times.

He quoted from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, and Malachi.
He referred to the Hebrew Scriptures as “The Scriptures,” “the word of God,” and “the wisdom of God.”
The apostles quoted 209 times from the Hebrew Scriptures and considered it “the oracles of God.”
However, He did not always quote them verbatim, but sometimes rephrased them in His own words to make a point or apply them to a new situation.
For example, in Mat_24:32-33 and Mar_13:30-31, He used the analogy of a fig tree to illustrate the signs of the end times, drawing from passages like Hos_9:10 and Joe_1:7.
Yeshua also quoted from different parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, such as the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, showing that He respected and fulfilled the whole of YHVH's revelation.
Some of the most frequently quoted or referenced Hebrew Scriptures passages by Yeshua are:
- Deu_6:4-5 : The greatest commandment to love YHVH with all one's being.
Yeshua quoted this in Mat_22:37 and Mar_12:30, and added a second commandment from Lev_19:18 to love one's neighbor as oneself.
- Psa_110:1 : The messianic prophecy of the Lord saying to David's Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool."
Yeshua quoted this in Mat_22:44, Mar_12:36 and Luk_20:43 to challenge the Pharisees' understanding of the Messiah's identity and authority.
- Isa_61:1-2 : The mission statement of the Messiah to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and the year of YHVH's favor.
Yeshua quoted this in Luk_4:18-19 when He announced His ministry in Nazareth, and applied it to Himself.

- Psa_118:22-23 : The prediction of the stone that the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone.
Yeshua quoted this in Mat_21:42, Mar_12:11 and Luk_20:17 to warn the Jewish leaders that they would be rejected by YHVH for rejecting Him, the only begotten Son of YHVH.
- Dan_9:27, Dan_11:31, Dan_12:11 : The prophecy of the abomination that causes desolation standing in the holy place.
Yeshua quoted this in Mat_24:15 and Mar_13:14 to describe the future destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in AD 70.
These are just some examples of how Yeshua quoted the Hebrew Scriptures to reveal His identity, authority and purpose as the Messiah, and to teach His followers about YHVH's will and plan for His people.
The first Greek Scriptures (New Testament) book to be written and available for distribution was probably the epistle of James, written by James, the half-brother of Yeshua, around AD 44-49.
This letter was addressed to the Jewish Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire and dealt with practical issues of Christian living.

At the time, “presumably” this was considered a "new sacred text" from a "new" religion - CHRIS-ti-ans.

(Note)
Evidence suggests any New Testament writings were not considered scripture until much later. The “old” scriptures were still the foundation of the faith.

The first gospel to be written was likely the gospel of Mark, composed around AD 65-70.
Mark was a companion of Peter and wrote down his eyewitness account of Yeshua's life and ministry.
The other gospels followed later, with Matthew and Luke using Mark as a source along with other oral and written traditions.
The gospel of John was the last one to be written, probably around AD 90- 95.
John was one of the original disciples of Yeshua and wrote his gospel to present a theological portrait of Yeshua as the Word (Logos) of YHVH and the only begotten Son of YHVH.
The earliest surviving complete text of the Greek Scriptures is the Codex

Sinaiticus, dating to the 4th century CE.
This manuscript contains the Greek translation of the Hebrew and Greek
Scriptures, along with some other Christian writings.
It was discovered at the Saint Catherine monastery at the base of Mount Sinai in Egypt in the 19th century.
Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the Bible was copied by hand by scribes and monks who worked with parchment and ink.
The copying process was slow and prone to errors, but also produced some beautiful and artistic manuscripts that are now preserved in museums and libraries around the world.

NEXT
Continue SALVATION study:
SECULAR and HISTORICAL CONTEXT (Continued):
Resume SECULAR and HISTORICAL CONTEXT, laying the foundation for the Scriptural study.

Mat_28:19-20
Matthew 28:19-20 NWT-2013
(19) Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
Matthew 28:19-20 YLT
(19) having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them—to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days—till the full end of the age.'
Matthew 28:19-20 IGNT+
(19) G4198 [G5679] GOING G3767 THEREFORE G3100 [G5657]
DISCIPLE G3956 ALL G3588 THE G1484 NATIONS, G907 [G5723] BAPTIZING G846 THEM G1519 TO G3588 THE G3686 NAME

G3588 OF THE G3962 FATHER G2532 AND SON G2532 AND G3588 OF THE G40 HOLY (20) G1321 [G5723] TEACHING G846 THEM
G3588 OF THE G5207 G4151 SPIRIT;
G5083 [G5721] TO
OBSERVE G3956 ALL THINGS G3745 WHATSOEVER G1781 [G5662] I COMMANDED G5213 YOU. G2532 AND G2400 [G5628] LO, G1473 I G3326 WITH G5216 YOU G1510 [G5748] AM G3956 ALL G3588 THE G2250 DAYS G2193 UNTIL G3588 THE G4930 COMPLETION G3588 OF THE G165 AGE. G281 AMEN.

There are obvious problems with these verses.
Various Christian groups cite them as a command and the basis for ministry work and evangelism.
A casual reading of almost every translation of the Bible for this verse seems as if this is a command.
Go! Make disciples!
That's pretty clear, is it not?
Unfortunately, English is hardly ever clear.

For example:
The text does not say, "go".
The verb is an aorist, passive, participle, not an imperative, thus, it should say something like "as you have been going."
It is a continuing action from the past to the present, something that is still ongoing.

from the IGNT+:
G4198 [G5679] GOING
G4198
- Original: πορεύομαι
- Transliteration: Poreuomai
- Phonetic: por-yoo'-om-ahee - Definition:
1. to lead over, carry over, transfer

a. to pursue the journey on which one has entered, to continue on one's journey
b. to depart from life
c. to follow one, that is: become his adherent
1. to lead or order one's life
- Origin: middle voice from a derivative of the same as G3984
- TDNT entry: 15:26,9
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: Middle voice from a derivative of the same as G3984; to traverse that is travel (literally or figuratively; especially to remove [figuratively die] live etc.): - depart go (away forth one ́s way up) (make a take a) journey walk.
Here's where it gets a bit complicated for those of us who do not know and understand the Greek language and nuances (SEE FOOTNOTE):
[G5679]
Tense-Aorist Voice-Passive Deponent Mood -Participle
[G5777]
Tense-Aorist
See [G5777]
See [G5789]
See [G5796]
The aorist tense is characterized by its emphasis on punctiliar action; that is, the concept of the verb is considered without regard for past, present, or future time.
There is no direct or clear English equivalent for this tense, though it has been generally rendered as a simple past tense in most translations.
The events described by the aorist tense are classified into a number of categories by grammarians.
The most common of these include a view of the action as:
• having begun from a certain point ("inceptive aorist"), or
• having ended at a certain point ("cumulative aorist"), or
• merely existing at a certain point ("punctiliar aorist").
The categorization of other cases can be found in Greek reference grammars.

It is easier, but less accuate, for English reader not to be oncerned with most of these finer points concerning the aorist tense, since in most cases they cannot be rendered accurately in English translation, being fine points of Greek exegesis only.
It was a common practice of translators to render an aorist by a simple English past tense, which may suffice in some cases, but certainly not all cases.
[G5789]
Voice-Passive Deponent
The passive deponent forms in almost all cases are translated as being in the passive voice.
See "Passive" [G5786] Voice-Passive
The passive voice represents the subject as being the recipient of the action. E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball, " the boy receives the action.
[G5796]
Mood-Participle
The Greek participle corresponds for the most part to the English participle, reflecting "- ing" or "- ed" being suffixed to the basic verb form.
The participle can be used either like a verb or a noun, as in English, and thus is often termed a "verbal noun."

The text also does not say, "make disciples" but it says "disciple." What is the difference?
The Hebrew concept of discipleship involves a lot of time and energy.

Discipleship is a demonstration of God's will in my life to the student. A disciple in Hebrew culture copies the life of the master.
This is not the passing on of information that we experience in our Greek educational system.

You may have heard someone say, "do as I say, not as I do."
Yeshua certainly never imagined that as a possibility.
Living the way the master lived, doing what the master did is a disciple.
The master teaches the disciple to observe a particular way of life.
For Yeshua that life revolved around the word of YHVH, the Torah.
As you live, whether you are a welder, a carpenter, a tax collector, you teach others as you go along.

For example:
Act_18:1-4
Acts 18:1-4 YLT
(1) And after these things, Paul having departed out of Athens, came to Corinth,
(2) and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquilas, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife—because of Claudius having directed all the Jews to depart out of Rome—he came to them,
(3) and because of being of the same craft, he did remain with them, and was working, for they were tent-makers as to craft;
(4) and he was reasoning in the synagogue every sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks.

It seems Paul and the other apostles spent much of their time plying their trades, yet, he took every opportunity to reason with Jews and the Greeks.
Yet, their actions, conduct and behavior in whatever communities they were in testified to their beliefs.

The condition under which you are going to perform the command is your basis for discipleship. You live differently than the rest of the world and they see you live differently.
Just like the Jewish leaders were always trying to catch Yeshua doing something that violated YHVH's Word, people today watch carefully to see whether or not a self-claimed disciple negates what s/he preaches.
How do I imitate Yeshua if I do not know who Yeshua was?

The early followers did not have this problem, but as time went on and the faith grew into a Hellenistic religion under Rome, Yeshua became someone else, something else.

The "church" does not represent who Yeshua was. They do not represent Him as an obedient first-century Jew.

These verses are not a great commission to evangelize and build "the church."
We have no control over the process.

God draws people to himself through his son.(Joh_6:44)
John 6:44 YLT
(44) no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day;
We plant and water, but God causes the growth.
(1Co_3:6-7)
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 YLT
(6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God was giving growth;
(7) so that neither is he who is planting anything, nor he who is watering, but He who is giving growth—God;

Evangelism is not our job, being a follower of Yeshua is our job, and when we walk the path, we are to be doers of the word as we go.
Deu_30:11-20

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 YLT
(11) 'For this command which I am commanding thee to-day, it is not too wonderful for thee, nor is it far off.
(12) It is not in the heavens, —saying, Who doth go up for us into the heavens, and doth take it for us, and doth cause us to hear it—that we may do it.
(13) And it is not beyond the sea, —saying, Who doth pass over for us beyond the sea, and doth take it for us, and doth cause us to hear it—that we may do it?
(14) For very near unto thee is the word, in thy mouth, and in thy heart—to do it.
(15) 'See, I have set before thee to-day life and good, and death and evil, (16) in that I am commanding thee to-day to love Jehovah thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, and His statutes, and His judgments; and thou hast lived and multiplied, and Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in the land whither thou art going in to possess it.
(17) 'And if thy heart doth turn, and thou dost not hearken, and hast been driven away, and hast bowed thyself to other gods, and served them,
(18) I have declared to you this day, that ye do certainly perish, ye do not prolong days on the ground which thou art passing over the Jordan to go in thither to possess it.
(19) 'I have caused to testify against you to-day the heavens and the earth; life and death I have set before thee, the blessing and the reviling; and thou hast fixed on life, so that thou dost live, thou and thy seed,
(20) to love Jehovah thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave to Him (for He is thy life, and the length of thy days), to dwell on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.'
Isa_48:17-19
Isaiah 48:17-19 YLT
(17) Thus said Jehovah, thy redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, 'I am Jehovah thy God, teaching thee to profit, Causing thee to tread in the way thou goest.
(18) O that thou hadst attended to My commands, Then as a river is thy peace, And thy righteousness as billows of the sea,
(19) And as sand is thy seed, And the offspring of thy bowels as its gravel, Not cut off nor destroyed his name before Me.

Mat_28:19, probably originally written in Hebrew, is a very trinitarian verse, "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Some scholars claim this part of the verse was added after the fact - not in the original manuscripts.

I have not even gotten to the baptism part of these verses yet. That is another story for another day.This is only the tip of the iceberg when we consider the bigger picture.
There are so many problems with the text and so few problem-solvers.
Personally, I am not a problem solver. I simply enjoy pointing problems out and sharing ideas.
We each have to decide how comfortable we are with the idea of errors, inaccuracies, and purposeful glosses in a text we consider sacred and inspired.

FOOTNOTE:
Unfortunately, a cursory look at what some of the Greek grammarians say about the aorist participle may yield more confusion than enlightenment.
Greek grammarian, Ernest De Will Burton, attempting to explain more clearly what was written by A. T. Robertson, in, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, can be summarized:
• It is not accurate to say the Aorist Participle properly denotes past time.
• The action denoted by the Aorist Participle may be past, present, or
future either with reference to the speaker or relative to the leading verb. [Robertson denies that it is ever future relative to the leading verb, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 861ff.]

• The Aorist Participle is distinguished from the present or perfect participle in terms of kind of action, not time of action, in that it conceives of action not as in progress (Present), nor as an existing result (Perfect), but as a simple fact.
• The aorist participle will not ordinarily be used when one wishes to
indicate action as coincident with the leading verb, because that idea necessitates ongoing activity and is therefore better described by the present tense.
• Nor will the aorist participle be used when the result of the action is especially in view, because that idea is best expressed by the perfect tense.
Nor will the Aorist be used if the writer desires distinctly to indicate that the doer of the action will perform it in time subsequent to that of the principal verb, the Aorist being incapable in itself of suggesting subsequence or futurity.
• Excluding these instances, the aorist is useful in many instances when the action denoted by the participle is thought of simply as an event.
• Action antecedent to that of the principal verb furnishes the largest number of these instances.
• So it can be said action antecedent to that of the principal verb is the most frequent use of the Aorist Participle.
Got it?

The bottom line, take home message seems to be that the English language is extremely poorly equipped to properly translate the author's intention in many Scriptures.
While the Greek aorist was very often translated as a simple past tense in English, its implications in Greek can be quite different.
The use of the Greek aorist has more to do with the author's view of an event than with the time at which that event happened.
An aorist participle may express any time (past, present, or rarely future) relative to the main verb.

A participle is considered a "verbal adjective".
It is often a word that ends with an "-ing" in English (such as "speaking," "having," or "seeing").
It can be used as an adjective, in that it can modify a noun (or substitute as a noun), or it can be used as an adverb and further explain or define the action of a verb.

For example:
Adjectival use: "The coming One will come and will not delay." Heb 10:37 Adverbial use: "But speaking truth in love, we may grow up into Him in
all things." Eph 4:15
Greek has been called a 'participle loving language'.
"There are few languages which have equaled the Greek in the abundance and variety of its use of the participle, and certainly none has surpassed it.... This wealth of significance which belonged to the Greek participle at the zenith of its development lies undiminished before the student of the New Testament, and becomes a valuable asset in interpretation when adequately comprehended."
(A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Dana and Mantey, pg 220.)
A participle is called a 'verbal adjective' because it is formed from a verb, yet often modifies other words.

Oftentimes it may be hard to to translate a participle into English and still bring out the same force as it has in the Greek.
First try to understand the meaning of the Greek participle is trying to convey, then worry about an appropriate English translation.
The translation may have to be as an English relative clause when used adjectivally in Greek.

The participle can be used in one of three major categories of use:
1. Adjectivally
A participle can be used as an adjective to modify a noun or assert something about it. This is a common use of the adjective in Greek.
E.g. Colossians 1:12 "to the Father who made us sufficient". The word 'made sufficient' is a participle in Greek, but it needs to be translated into a relative clause in English to make sense.
2. Substantively
(This category is really a subset of the adjectival use.)

A participle can be used as a 'substantive' to take the place of a noun.
3. Adverbially
Participles can also be used in the same way that an adverb is, to modify a verb.
There are different classifications and uses of adverbial participles. (These are also referred to as 'Circumstantial participles'.)
One of the most challenging and enlightening areas of Greek grammar for the student of the Greek Scriptures comes in identifying the correct use of these adverbial participles.

NEXT
6/22/2023
Continuing with:
The great "addition/omission" commission (Mat_28:19-20)
How does this harmonize with Joh_20:21 (CONTEXT: Joh_20:19-23)?

ADDITIONAL NOTES
We have to recognize that ALL the "errors, inaccuracies, and purposeful glosses" are of human origin -
• some unintentional (through ignorance or mistakes),
• many others intentional (usually to force the Scriptures to conform to
some human organizational doctrine),
• others translational (so many Hebrew and Greek words have no English
equivalent), and,
• Greek Scripture scribes and copyists of 1st through early 3rd centuries
were not always accurate. In first century, scribes did not always believe that it was the inspired Word of YHVH (for example, the Apocrypha). These scribes were copying these over and over, and were not always careful. It wasn't until 3rd-4th century that they were trying to keep the written word accurate - but these had already been corrupted by the first three items listed above (1Jn_5:7).
Example:
It has been taught by Trinitarian scholars that:
"Name in Mat_28:19 is singular. One name or essence, yet three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
Matthew 28:19 IGNT+
G3588 THE G3686 NAME

Yet these same scholars fail to mention that the same Greek word has been translated "names" (plural) in 9 verses:
Mat_10:2; Act_1:15; Act_18:15; Php_4:3; Rev_13:8; Rev_17:3; Rev_17:8; Rev_21:12; Rev_21:14
and, in fact, as "the names" in Mat_10:2.
How do we harmonize Mat_28:19-20 with Joh_20:21 (CONTEXT: Joh_20:19-23)?
John 20:19-23 YLT
(19) It being, therefore, evening, on that day, the first of the sabbaths, and the doors having been shut where the G3588 disciples were assembled, through fear of the G3588 Jews, Jesus G2424 came and stood in the midst, and saith to them, 'Peace G1515 to you;'
(20) and this having said, he shewed them his hands and side; the G3588 disciples, therefore, rejoiced G5463 , having seen the G3588 Lord.
(21) Jesus, therefore, said to them again, 'Peace G1515 to you; according as the G3588 Father hath sent G649 [ G5758 ] me, I also send G3992 [ G5719 ] you;'
(22) and this having said, he breathed on G1720 them , and saith to them, 'Receive G2983 the Holy G40 Spirit G4151 ;
(23) if of any ye may loose G863 the sins, they are loosed G863 to them; if of any ye may retain G2902 , they have been retained G2902 .'
DISCUSSION:
When we are learning from Yeshua, we know the source, the Father.
The source is VERY IMPORTANT.
If our source is human, it is liable to human tradition, bias and error, even if that human claims to be from the Father.
Joh_20:19 It was now the Sunday evening of the same day that YHVH resurrected Yeshua (Joh_20:1-18).
The disciples were assembled together, perhaps in the same room where they had met four nights ago.
The doors were shut .... through fear G5401 of the G3588 Jews G2453 . Suddenly, they saw Jesus standing in the midst, and they heard His voice saying, “Peace G1515 to you.”

Wouldn't Yeshua have said, "Shalom H7965 to you"? In Septuagint, the related words to "peace" are:
H983 betach H1980 halakh H3948 leqach H6703 tsach H7962 shalvah H7965 shalom H8252 shaqat
It seems clear that Yeshua entered the room without opening the doors. This, clearly, was a miracle.
It should be remembered that His resurrection body was a real body of flesh and bones.
Yet He had the power to pass through barriers and otherwise act independently of natural laws.
The words “Peace G1515 to you” now have new meaning because Christ has made peace - ended the enmity between mankind and YHVH - by the blood of His cross.
Those who are justified by faith have peace with YHVH.
Cross References:
that day. Mar_16:14, Luk_24:33; Luk_24:36-49, 1Co_15:5.
the first. Joh_20:1, Mar_16:9, Act_20:7 1Co_16:2, Rev_1:10 when the doors were shut. Joh_20:26, Gen_45:1, Neh_6:10-11, Act_5:19; Act_5:23; Act_12:6-10, 1Co_15:44, Rev_1:9.
where. Mar_14:15, Luk_22:12, Act_1:13.
were assembled. Luk_24:33, Heb_10:25.
for fear. Gr. phobos (S# G5401, Mat_14:26). Joh_7:13; Joh_9:22;
Joh_19:38, Act_12:12-17.
the Jews. Joh_5:10.
came Jesus. Joh_14:19-23; Joh_16:16; Joh_16:22, Act_1:3; Act_12:10; Act_13:31.
in the midst. Joh_20:26, Mat_18:20.
Peace. Isa_57:19, Joh_20:21; Joh_20:26, Joh_14:27; Joh_16:33, Gen_43:23, Jdg_6:23, Psa_85:8-10, Pro_16:24, Isa_42:3; Isa_57:18-19, Mat_10:13; Mat_28:9, Mar_6:50, Luk_24:36, Rom_15:33, Eph_2:14; Eph_6:23, Php_1:2, 2Th_3:16, Heb_7:2, 1Pe_5:14, Rev_1:4.

NOTE:
An interesting debate about "rooms" has existed for centuries:
The question of whether the disciples were in THE upper room at Pentecost has been debated by biblical scholars and tradition.
The upper room G508 was the place where Yeshua celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples (Luk_22:12 (CONTEXT: Luk_22:7-13) and, perhaps, the same upper room G5253 where they gathered after His ascension (Act_1:13 (CONTEXT: Act_1:6-14)), although the Greek definitions indicate the former was a second floor room and the latter was a thrid floor room.
However, the book of Acts does not explicitly state that they were still in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost.
Some claim that the disciples were in one of the courts of the Temple, as they were required to present themselves before YHVH on that feast day .
They also point out that the Temple was a more likely place for a large crowd of Jews from different nations to hear Peter's preaching and witness the miraculous signs of tongues and fire .
Moreover, the Temple had pools for mass immersion, which could explain how three thousand people were baptized that day.
Others maintain that the disciples were in the upper room, based on local tradition and the continuity of Luke's narrative.
They suggest that the phrase "it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Act_2:2) refers to the upper room, which is also called "the house" (oikos G3624 ) in Act_2:2.
They also propose that the crowd gathered outside the house after hearing the sound of the wind and seeing the fire, and that Peter addressed them from a balcony or a window.
Therefore, there is no definitive answer to this question, as both views have some merits and difficulties.

The most important thing is to recognize that the disciples received the Holy Spirit as Yeshua promised, and that they became His witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Another interesting debate surrounds the relationship between Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and the disciples receiving Holy Spirit.
According to some sources, Moses received the Ten Commandments on the same day as Pentecost, which is a Jewish feast that commemorates this event.
Pentecost, also known as Shavuot H7620 in Hebrew, means "the fiftieth day" and it occurs fifty days after the Passover.
However, other sources argue that there is no clear biblical evidence that the giving of the Law at Sinai happened on Pentecost, and that this is a later tradition that is not supported by the original text.
They point out that the exact date of the Exodus and the arrival at Sinai are not specified, and that there are discrepancies between the chronology of Exodus and Leviticus regarding the timing of the events.
Therefore, it is not certain that Moses received the Ten Commandments on the same day as Pentecost, and some scholars suggest that it may have been a different day or even a different month.
Moses received the Ten Commandments during the time when YHVH revealed to him the entire Torah, with all its laws and interpretations.
He went up the mountain and stayed there for forty days and forty nights (Exo_24:18).
He came down with two tablets of stone, written by the finger of YHVH, containing the Ten Commandments that summarized the moral and spiritual obligations of the people of Israel.
The Ten Commandments (Exo_20:1-17) are considered to be the foundation of the Jewish faith and ethics, as well as a source of inspiration for many other religions and cultures.

Joh_20:20 After announcing peace to them, He shewed them the marks of His sacrifice, by which peace had been obtained.
They saw the print of the nails and the wound cause by the spear.
Joy G5463 filled their hearts to realize it was truly the Lord.
He had done what He said He would. He was raised from the dead.
Cross References:
had so said. Luk_24:40.
he shewed. Joh_20:25; Joh_20:27, Joh_21:1; Joh_21:14, Luk_24:39-40, Col_1:20, 1Jn_1:1.
hands and his side. Luke (Luk_24:39-40) says hands and feet. All three were pierced. Joh_19:34; Joh_19:37, Mat_27:35.
Then. Joh_16:22, Isa_25:8-9, Mat_28:8, Luk_24:41, Rom_5:1; Rom_5:2. rejoiced. [glad - KJV]. Joh_16:22, Psa_69:32; Psa_118:24, 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:8.
having seen [when they saw - KJV]. Joh_20:25, Joh_21:7, Mar_6:50; Mar_16:14, 1Co_15:14; 1Co_15:19-20; 1Co_15:56-58.
the Lord. Joh_20:18; Joh_20:25; Joh_20:28, Joh_21:7; Joh_21:12; Joh_21:15.
Joh_20:21

Does this verse teach that believers are not meant to enjoy His peace selfishly, but are commanded to share it with others?
Was He sending them into the world, as the Father had sent Him?:
Christ came into the world as a poor Person.
He came as a Servant.
He emptied Himself.
He delighted to do the Father's will, instead of his own. He identified Himself with man.
He went about doing good.
He did everything by the power of the Holy Spirit. His ultimate goal was the cross.
Now He said to the disciples, “I also send you.”
The question becomes, EXACTLY WHAT is Yeshua sending His disciples to do?
Become leaders in their churches on Sundays and live their regular, worldly lives the other days?
OR
Knock on doors, take a break at Dunkin', at the end of the day return to their regular, worldly lives?
OR
Live as Yeshua lived, and as the original disciples lived?

Mat_10:7-14
Matthew 10:7-14 YLT
(7) 'And, going on, proclaim saying that, the reign of the heavens hath come nigh;
(8) infirm ones be healing, lepers be cleansing, dead be raising, demons be casting out—freely ye did receive, freely give.
(9) 'Provide not gold, nor silver, nor brass in your girdles,
(10) nor scrip for the way, nor two coats, nor sandals, nor staff—for the workman is worthy of his nourishment.
(11) 'And into whatever city or village ye may enter, inquire ye who in it is worthy, and there abide, till ye may go forth.
(12) And coming to the house salute it,
(13) and if indeed the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; and if it be not worthy, let your peace turn back to you.
(14) 'And whoever may not receive you nor hear your words, coming forth from that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet,
Compare with Mat_28:19-20
Matthew 28:19-20 YLT
(19) having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them...... (20) teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) ......'
AND
Luk_24:44-49
Luke 24:44-49 YLT
(44) and he said to them, 'These are the words that I spake unto you, being yet with you, that it behoveth to be fulfilled all the things that are written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, about me.'
(45) Then opened he up their understanding to understand the Writings, (46) and he said to them—'Thus it hath been written, and thus it was behoving the Christ to suffer, and to rise out of the dead the third day,
(47) and reformation and remission of sins to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem:

(48) and ye—ye are witnesses of these things.
(49) 'And, lo, I do send the promise of my Father upon you, but ye—abide ye in the city of Jerusalem till ye be clothed with power from on high.'
AND
Mar_16:15-16
Mark 16:15-16 YLT
(15) and he said to them, 'Having gone to all the world, proclaim the good news to all the creation;
(16) he who hath believed, and hath been baptized, shall be saved; and he who hath not believed, shall be condemned.

Cross References:
Peace. Isa_57:19, Joh_20:19, Joh_14:27, Gen_43:23, Num_6:26. as the Father. Joh_14:28, Isa_22:24; Isa_48:16.
hath sent. Joh_3:17; Joh_3:34; Joh_6:38; Joh_17:18, Luk_4:43, Heb_3:1.
so send. Note the distinction. The Father sent the Son alone, but the Son sends His disciples with an "escort" or guard, i.e. the Holy Spirit.
This is to emphasize the fact that Yeshua Messiah remains (by the Spirit) with those whom He sends. Joh_13:20; Joh_15:16; Joh_17:18-19; Joh_17:22; Joh_21:15-17, Isa_61:1-3, Jer_23:21, Eze_2:3; Eze_3:4, Mal_2:7, Mat_9:38; Mat_10:5; Mat_10:16; Mat_10:40; Mat_13:37; Mat_23:34; Mat_28:18-20, Mar_16:15-18, Luk_24:47-49, Act_1:2; Act_1:8, Rom_10:15, 1Co_1:1, 2Co_5:20, Gal_1:1, 2Ti_2:2, Heb_3:1, 2Pe_1:1, 1Jn_4:6.
Joh_20:22 This is one of the most difficult verses in the entire Gospel.

We read that Yeshua breathed on G1720 the disciples and said, “Receive G2983 the Holy G40 Spirit G4151 .”
breathed on G1720
- Original: ἐμφυσάω
- Transliteration: Emphusao - Phonetic: em-foo-sah'-o
- Definition:

1. to blow or breathe upon. This word used only once by the LXX translators in Gen_2:7 where God breathed on Adam and he became a living soul. Just as the original creation was completed by an act of God, so to the new creation was completed by an act from the head of the new creation. (AWP Joh_20:22)
- Origin: from G1722 and phusao (to puff) [cf G5453] - TDNT entry: 10:56,2
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: From G1722 and φυσάω phusaō(to puff; compare G5453); to blow at or on: - breathe on.
Total KJV Occurrences: 1 • on, 1
Joh_20:22
The difficulty is that the Holy Spirit was not given until later, on the day of Pentecost.
Yet how could Yeshua speak these words without the event taking place immediately?
Several explanations have been offered:
(1) Some suggest that Yeshua was simply making a promise of what they would receive on the day of Pentecost. This is hardly an adequate explanation.
(2) Some point out that what our Redeemer actually said was, “Receive Holy Spirit,” rather than, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (the Definite Article, G3588, is not present in the Greek) They conclude from this that the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit in all its fullness at this time, but only some ministry of the Spirit, such as a greater knowledge of the truth, or power and guidance for their mission. They say that the disciples received a guarantee or a foretaste of the Holy Spirit. Hmmmm.
(3) Others state that there was a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at this time. This seems unlikely in view of such statements as Luk_24:49 and Act_1:4-5, Act_1:8, where the coming of the Holy Spirit was still spoken of as future. It is clear from Joh_7:39 that the Spirit could not come in its fullness until Yeshua was glorified, that is, until He had gone back to heaven.
In the past, Moses was given Holy Spirit. Moses apportioned out Holy Spirit to the builders of the Tabernacle.

Cross References:
he breathed. Gen_2:7, Job_33:4, Psa_33:6, Eze_37:9, 1Co_15:45.
on them. The Firstfruits of the resurrection here bestows the firstfruits of the Spirit, not only on the apostles, but on "them that were with them" (Luk_24:33, Act_1:14; Act_2:1) [Eze_37:5, Act_1:4, Rev_3:1.
Receive. Joh_7:39; Joh_14:16; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7, Act_2:4; Act_2:38; Act_4:8; Act_8:15; Act_10:47; Act_19:2, Gal_3:2, 1Th_4:8.
Spirit Gr. pneuma, +Mat_1:18 .
The suggestion that this and the following texts teach that the Holy Spirit is merely is an "active force," is questionable, for it confounds what is said of His gifts with what is asserted of His person. (Joh_16:13 , Joh_16:14 Mat_12:32 ).
Joh_14:26, Isa_48:16, Mal_2:15, Mat_3:16, Luk_24:49 Act_1:8; Act_2:2- 4; Act_2:16-17; Act_2:33, 1Co_12:4-13, Eph_5:18.
Joh_20:23 This is another difficult verse, about which there has been a great deal of controversy.
(1) One view is that Yeshua actually gave His apostles (and their supposed successors) the power to forgive sins or to retain sins, since all authroty had been given to Yeshua by YHVH (Mat_28:18). This is in direct contradiction of the Hebrew teaching that only God can forgive sins (Luk_5:21).
(2) Another view is that the power promised and authority given is in connection with the preaching of the Gospel, announcing on what terms sins would be forgiven, and if these terms are not accepted, sins would be retained.
(3) A third view (which is similar to the second) is that the disciples were given the right to declare sins forgiven.
To illustrate this third view:
• The disciples go out preaching the gospel.
• Some people repent of their sins and receive Yeshua Messiah. The disciples are authorized to tell them that their sins have been forgiven.
• Others refuse to repent and will not believe on Christ. The disciples tell them that they are still in their sins, and that if they die, they will perish eternally.
In addition to this explanation, the disciples were given special authority by Yeshua in dealing with certain sins.

For examples:
• In Act_5:1-11, Peter used this power, and it resulted in the death of
Ananias and Sapphira.
• Paul is seen retaining the sin of an evil-doer in 1Co_5:3-5, 1Co_5:12-13,
and remitting sin in 2Co_2:4-8.
In the latter example, it is forgiveness from the punishment of these sins in this life.

Cross References:
Whose soever. Mat_4:9, literally, "If the sins of any ye forgive."
A condition of the third class. Only YHVH has the power to forgive sins (Mar_2:8).
Yeshua asserted his authority and power to forgive sins (Mar_2:10), thus indirectly asserting his deity.
There is no evidence that Yeshua by this statement intended to convey this power to Peter alone, the other apostles exclusively, or their alleged successors, for not just the twelve disciples but other men and women were gathered, perhaps in the same room as Yeshua's Last Supper (Joh_20:19, Luk_24:48-49, Act_1:15).
Rather, every Christian who shares the message of YHVH’s terms of forgiveness recorded in the Bible does the work of authoritatively announcing the goodness of YHVH (Rom_11:22) by declaring the grounds of the forgiveness of sins (Act_10:43), so securing their remission (Jas_5:19; Jas_5:20); and by declaring the severity of YHVH (Rom_11:22), sharing YHVH’s terms of judgment (Joh_3:18; Joh_3:36, Act_4:12; Act_17:31, 1Co_5:4-5; 1Co_6:9-10, 2Co_5:11; 2Co_5:20), so authoritatively pronouncing the grounds of their retention (Mat_12:31; Mat_12:32, 1Jn_5:16).
sins ye. Gen_3:7.
remit. Gen_2:17, Lev_13:2; Lev_13:3, Mat_16:19 Mat_18:18, Mar_2:5-10, Act_2:38; Act_5:31; Act_10:43; Act_13:38-39; Act_22:16, 1Co_4:18-21; 1Co_5:3-5; 1Co_6:11, 2Co_2:6-10, Eph_2:20, 1Ti_1:20, Jas_5:20.
are remitted. Mat_9:6, Luk_5:24; Luk_7:48, 2Co_2:10, Eph_1:7. retain. Lev_13:3, Deu_17:12, Jer_18:23, Mat_18:18 Act_5:3-10, 1Co_5:11-13, 2Co_12:21, 1Ti_1:20, 1Jn_5:16.

Now what about "(baptizing them—to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," (Mat_28:19 YLT)?
Returning to Br. Lee Anthony's Study:
(for more, please visit Bible Talk with Lee Anthony, at: https://studytheway.org/ )

Was Matthew written in Hebrew?
Did it include the Trinitarian baptismal formula?

No manuscripts including Matthew chapter 28 exist prior to Constantine.
As a result, we cannot say, as some contend, that the text was tampered with after the fact because we have no surviving manuscripts prior to the 4th century.
However, once we research the subject and consider the cultural and religious views of the first-century Jews, we find that something is not quite right.
An early writer named Papias in the late 1st-early second century wrote that "Matthew composed his history in the Hebrew language, and everyone translated it as he was able."
He is not the only person to make this claim, many of the early church fathers say as much.
The Shem Tov Hebrew gospel of Matthew is a later work, so does not provide much evidence.
However, it is believed by many to have been translated from earlier editions of a Hebrew text.
Esebius, who was part of the council of Nicea in 325, lived at the great Christian library Caesarea and had access to manuscripts far older than what is available today.

His earlier writings quote Mat_28:19 numerous times and none include the Trinitarian formula of baptism until after the council of Nicea.

One example is found in "Demonstratio Evangelica, by Eusebius, A.D. 300-336, col. 240, p. 136," where it reads, "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in my name, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I commanded you."
Perhaps the most important evidence available is the rest of the New Testament scriptures regarding baptism and, of course, the words of Yeshua that are verifiable through older manuscript evidence.

I will begin with the other gospel accounts.
(Mar_16:15-16)
"And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned."
(Luk_24:44-49)
"Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them,
"So it is written, that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed IN HIS NAME to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things.
"And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
(Joh_20:21-23)
"So Yeshua said to them again, "Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

Nothing is mentioned about being baptized according to the Trinitarian formula.
The concept of being baptized in the name of three separate beings was foreign to second-temple Jews.
God is one and his name one.
The Messiah was sent forth by the Father to do the will of the Father under the authority of the Father.
Let us look at what some of the other writers had to say about "the name" of Yeshua and about baptism.
(Php_2:9-11)
"For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Yeshua every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Messiah Yeshua is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Act_2:38)
"Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
(Act_22:15-16)
'For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.
"Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name."
(Act_10:47-48)
"Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?
"And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Messiah
Yeshua. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days."

A few other examples can be found in

Gal_3:27
Galatians 3:27 YLT
(27) for as many as to Christ were baptized did put on Christ;
Rom_6:3-4
Romans 6:3-4 YLT
(3) are ye ignorant that we, as many as were baptized to Christ Jesus, to his death were baptized?
(4) we were buried together, then, with him through the baptism to the death, that even as Christ was raised up out of the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we in newness of life might walk.
Act_19:4-5
Acts 19:4-5 YLT
(4) And Paul said, 'John, indeed, did baptize with a baptism of reformation, saying to the people that in him who is coming after him they should believe—that is, in the Christ—Jesus;'
(5) and they, having heard, were baptized—to the name of the Lord Jesus,
Col_2:11-12
Colossians 2:11-12 YLT
(11) in whom also ye were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of the Christ,
(12) being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with him through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead.

"Belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was defined by early general councils of the Christian church: The council of Nicea in 325 and the council of Constantinople in 381...(World Book Encyclopedia, 2004 Edition, vol. t, p. 363.)

The New International Encyclopedia, 1916 Edition, Vol. 22, p. 47, 477, records:
"The Trinity doctrine; the Catholic faith is this: We worship one in trinity, but there is one person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy ghost - The glory equal; the majesty coeternal." The doctrine is not found in its fully developed form in the scriptures. Modern theology does not seek to find it in the Old Testament. At the time of the Reformation, the

Protestant church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious examination."
The history of an idea must be researched in order to determine if the idea is a valid scriptural teaching.
There are so many doctrines in the faith of Christianity that were developed hundreds of years after Yeshua and have been read back into the text.

Knowing nothing of the culture and religion of the first-century Jew named Yeshua means we only know what the church tells us, and that is not an accurate representation of the Messiah or the faith of the Messiah.

NEXT
6/29/2023
Return to our in-depth study of SALVATION.

The idea of salvation is a characteristic religious notion related to an issue of profound human concern.
It is reasonable the argue that the primary purpose of all religions is to provide salvation for their followers, and the existence of many different religions indicates that there is a great variety of opinion about what

constitutes salvation and the means of achieving it. According to WEBSTER:
SALVA'TION,n.[HebrewH3444 Yeshua-save,deliverance,victory;
H3444
ישׁוּעה :Original -
- Transliteration: Y@shuw`ah - Phonetic: yesh-oo'-aw
- Definition:
1. salvation, deliverance a. welfare, prosperity b. deliverance
c. salvation (by God) d. victory
- Origin: passive participle of H3467 - TWOT entry: 929b
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
- Strong's: Feminine passive participle of H3467; something saved that is (abstractly) deliverance; hence aid victory prosperity: - deliverance health help (-ing) salvation save saving (health) welfare.
Total KJV Occurrences: 78
• deliverance, 2 Psa_18:50; Isa_26:18
• deliverances, 1 Psa_44:4
• health, 3
Psa_42:11; Psa_43:5; Psa_67:2
• help, 3
2Sa_10:11; Psa_3:2; Psa_42:5
• helping, 1 Psa_22:1
• salvation, 65
• save, 1 Psa_80:2
• saving, 1 Psa_28:8
• welfare, 1 Job_30:15
Greek G4991 soteria - save, rescue, deliver; Latin. salvo, to save.]
G4991
- Original: σωτηρία
- Transliteration: Soteria - Phonetic: so-tay-ree'-ah - Definition:
1. deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation
a. deliverance from the molestation of enemies
b. in an ethical sense, that which concludes to the souls safety or salvation
1. of messianic salvation
2. salvation as the present possession of all true Christians
3. future salvation, the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God. Fourfold salvation: saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly the pleasure of sin. A.W. Pink
- Origin: feminine of a derivative of G4990 as (properly, abstract) noun

- TDNT entry: 23:05,1
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
- Strong's: Feminine of a derivative of G4990 as (properly abstract) noun; rescue or safety (physically or morally): - deliver health salvation save saving.
Total KJV Occurrences: 43
• deliver, 1 Act_7:25
• health, 1 Act_27:34
• perfect, 1 Heb_2:10
• salvation, 37
Luk_1:69; Luk_1:77; Act_4:12; Act_13:26; Act_13:47; Act_16:17;
Rom_1:16; Rom_10:10; Rom_11:11; Rom_13:11; 2Co_1:6(2); 2Co_6:2(2); 2Co_7:10; Eph_1:13; Php_1:19; Php_1:28; Php_2:12; 1Th_5:8; 1Th_5:9; 2Th_2:13; 2Ti_2:10; 2Ti_3:15; Heb_1:14; Heb_2:3; Heb_5:9; Heb_6:9; Heb_9:28; 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:9; 1Pe_1:10; 2Pe_3:15; Jud_1:3; Rev_7:10; Rev_12:10; Rev_19:1
• saved, 2
Luk_1:71; Rom_10:1
• saving, 1 Heb_11:7
Per Webster's:
1. The act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great
calamity.
2. Appropriately in theology, the redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation.

[NOTE: Greek Scriptures perspective - reflecting what most of humanity is wanting.
From the Hebrew Scriptures perspective, the afterlife was not a big part of Jewish thinking until after Babylon. Up until then, "salvation" was about the "here and now".
Other religious cultures had their own understanding of "salvation".]
Most religious organizations and institutions claim that following their teachings is the only way to achieve salvation.
For example:
Christians:
Joh_14:6
John 14:6 YLT
(6) Jesus saith to him, 'I am the G3588 way G3598 , and the G3588 truth G225 , and the G3588 life G2222 , no one G3762 doth come unto the G3588 Father, if not G1508 through G1223 me;
Yet, even amongst just the Christian religious organizations, there are many of them that claim theirs is the ONLY road to salvation.
Almost every religion has its own "sacred writings" that are considered to be THE G3588 authoritative sources of doctrine, practice and history.

There's a difference between sacred and inspired.
A sacred writing may be texts earlier followers believed in.
Ex: Judaism has many extra-Bible text they consider sacred;
Some texts are believed to be divinely revealed, while others are composed by human authors inspired ( G2315 - "God-breathed") by the divine.
The difference is whether people consider the texts authoritative, e.g., Maccabees - authoritative in an historical and traditional sense, but not inspired by YHVH.
However, something that a particular community claims is authoritative may or may not actually BE authoritative.

QUESTION:
How to convince any particular community that what they believe is untrue?
DISCUSSION:

First, that particular community would need to WANT to hear something different from what they currently believe.
That seems to require YHVH's leading.
The 2nd Temple Jews used the Torah as the arbiter of what is and what is not true.
For example, Paul cites the Torah to prove Yeshua's words, life and works were in line with the Torah's definition for the Messiah.
Thousands of Jews, especially after Pentecost, accepted Yeshua as Messiah. Modern Jews include the Talmud as part of the proving process.

These "sacred" texts may have different origins, forms and functions, depending on the religion and its context.
Some religions have one main text, while others have multiple texts that complement each other.
Some texts are written down, while others are transmitted orally or through other media. Many written texts began orally and were written down years, even centuries, from their beginning.
Some texts are fixed and unchangeable, while others are open to interpretation and adaptation.
Some organizations "update", that is, change the wording or interpretation, of their texts based on a myriad of factors, e.g., the current popular beliefs, a change in organizational leadership, etc.
One possible reason why every religion writes its own so-called "sacred" texts is to provide meaning and purpose for its followers.
In conclusion, every religion writes its own "sacred" texts for various reasons that relate to the organization's identity, beliefs, values and goals.
Sacred texts are not only sources of information but also expressions of faith and inspiration.
From the Judeo-Christian experience, the Torah began orally (with the exception of the Ten Commandments) and much later was written down as

the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament).
When Yeshua was teaching on earth, the only written Word of YHVH was the Hebrew Scriptures of the Jews.
Yeshua was well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures and often quoted or referred to them in His teachings and conversations.
In all His teachings He referred to the divine authority of the Hebrew Scriptures (Mat_5:17-18; Mat_8:17; Mat_12:40-42; Luk_4:18-21; Luk_10:25-28; Luk_15:29-31; Luk_17:32; Luk_24:25-45; Joh_5:39-47).

He quoted the Hebrew Scriptures 78 times, the Pentateuch alone 26 times.
He quoted from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, and Malachi.
He referred to the Hebrew Scriptures as “the Writings [Scriptures - KJV] G1124 ,” “the word G3056 of God G2316 ,” (Mat_4:4; Mar_7:13; Luk_8:11;
Luk_8:21; Luk_11:28 ) and “the wisdom G4678 of God G2316 .” (Luk_11:49 )
“the Writings [Scriptures - KJV] G1124 - Original: γραφή
- Transliteration: Graphe
- Phonetic: graf-ay'
- Definition:
1. a writing, thing written
2. the Scripture, used to denote either the book itself, or its contents 3. a certain portion or section of the holy Scripture
- Origin: of uncertain affinity
- TDNT entry: 13:29,1
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
- Strong's: From G1125; a document that is holy Writ (or its contents or a statement in it): - scripture.
Total KJV Occurrences: 37
• scripture, 24
Mar_15:28; Joh_2:22; Joh_7:42; Joh_19:24; Joh_19:28; Joh_19:36;

Joh_19:37; Joh_20:9; Act_1:16; Act_8:32; Act_8:35; Rom_9:17; Rom_10:11; Rom_11:2; Gal_3:8; Gal_3:22; Gal_4:30; 1Ti_5:18; 2Ti_3:16; Jam_2:8; Jam_2:23; Jam_4:5; 1Pe_2:6; 2Pe_1:20
• Scriptures, 13
Luk_24:27; Luk_24:32; Luk_24:45; Act_17:2; Act_17:11; Act_18:24; Act_18:28; Rom_1:2; Rom_15:4; Rom_16:26; 1Co_15:3; 1Co_15:4; 2Pe_3:16
LXX related word(s) H3789 katav H3791 ketav H4097 midrash
The apostles quoted 209 times from the Hebrew Scriptures and considered it “the oracles G3051 of God G2316 .” (Rom_3:2; Heb_5:12; 1Pe_4:11)

NEXT 7/6/2023
Continue SALVATION study.

In this dualistic view of human nature, salvation has meant essentially the emancipation of the soul from its physical prison or tomb and its return to its celestial home.
Such religions generally explain the incarceration of the soul in the body in terms that imply the intrinsic evil of physical matter.
Where such views of human nature were held, salvation therefore meant the eternal beatitude (consummate bliss) of the disembodied soul.

Christian soteriology (the systematic theology dealing with salvation especially as effected by Yeshua Messiah) contains a very complex eschatological (relating to the end of the world or the events associated with it) program, which includes the fate of both individual persons and the existing cosmic order.
According to Christian soteriology:
The return of Christ will be heralded by the destruction of heaven and earth and the resurrection of the dead.

Rev_20:11-15 THROUGH Rev_21:1-27
The Last Judgment, which will then take place, will result in the eternal beatitude of the just (Roman Catholics add the requirement of these souls have been purified in purgatory - (Latin: purgatorium, from purgo, I cleanse), although not found in the Bible, is the name given in by the Roman Catholic Church to the place of imprisonment which the Church of Rome and the Eastern Church teach that holds the departed souls until they are fit for the divine presence) and, in many organizations' hermeneutics (a method or principle of interpretation), the everlasting damnation of the wicked.
The saved, reconstituted by the reunion of soul and body, will forever enjoy the beatific vision; the damned, similarly reconstituted, will suffer forever in everlasting fires in hell, together with the Devil and the fallen angels.
Some schemes of eschatological imagery used by both Christians and Jews envisage the creation of a new heaven and earth, with a New Jerusalem at its center.

Rev_21:1-3
Rev 21:1-3 YLT
(1) And I saw a new G2537 heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more;
(2) and I, John, saw the holy city--new Jerusalem--coming down G2597 from God out of G1537 the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband;
(3) and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, `Lo, the tabernacle G4633 of God is with G3326 men, and He will tabernacle G4637 with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with G3326 them-- their God,

new G2537
- Original: καινός
- Transliteration: Kainos - Phonetic: kahee-nos'
- Definition:
1. new
a. as respects form
1. recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn b. as respects substance
1. of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of - Origin: of uncertain affinity
- TDNT entry: 10:27,4
- Part(s) of speech: Adjective
- Strong's: Of uncertain affinity;
new (especially in freshness; while G3501 is properly so with respect to age): - new.
Total KJV Occurrences: 24
• new, 23
Mat_27:60; Mar_1:27; Joh_19:41; Act_17:19; 2Co_3:6; 2Co_5:17(2);
Gal_6:15; Eph_2:15; Eph_4:24; Heb_8:8; Heb_8:13; Heb_9:15; 2Pe_3:13(2); 1Jn_2:7; 1Jn_2:8; 2Jn_1:5; Rev_5:9; Rev_14:3; Rev_21:1(2); Rev_21:2
• thing, 1 Act_17:21

LXX related word(s) H312 acher
H2319 chadash
From the Jewish perspective, "new" like the Flood. i.e. freshened, renewal) Isa_65:17-19,
Isaiah 65:17-19 YLT
(17) For, lo, I am creating new heavens, and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart.
(18) But joy ye, and rejoice for ever, that I am Creator, For, lo, I am creating Jerusalem a rejoicing, And her people a joy.
(19) And I have rejoiced in Jerusalem, And have joyed in My people, And not heard in her any more Is the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying.

Isa_66:22-23
Isaiah 66:22-23 YLT
(22) For, as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making, Are standing before Me, An affirmation of Jehovah! So remain doth your seed and your name.
(23) And it hath been from month to month, And from sabbath to sabbath, Come do all flesh to bow themselves before Me, Said Jehovah.
2Pe_3:10-13
2 Peter 3:10-13 YLT
(10) and it will come—the day of the Lord—as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up. (11) All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons doth it behove you to be in holy behaviours and pious acts?
(12) waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt;
(13) and for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise we do wait, in which righteousness doth dwell;
The hope of salvation has naturally created human ideas about how it might be achieved.
These ideas have varied according to the form of salvation understood and/or taught by individuals and/or organizations (claiming to be religious), but the means employed can be divided into three significant categories:
(1) the most primitive is based on belief in the efficacy of ritual magic; initiation ceremonies, such as those of the ancient mystery religions;
(2) salvation by self-effort, usually through the acquisition of esoteric (private) knowledge, ascetic (spiritual, not of the physical world) discipline, purchasing admittance into heaven (indulgences, or, the toll for crossing some mystical barrier), or heroic death, has been variously promised in certain religions, such as Orphism, Hinduism, and Islam; or, (3) salvation by divine aid, which usually entails the concept of a divine saviour who achieves what humans cannot do for themselves, as in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

NOTE: Please read the Notes from 6/29/2023 for definitions of the Hebrew and Christian concepts of "salvation".

In Islam, in general (ignoring the different branches, sects and extremists), salvation is a concept that refers to the attainment of Allah's mercy, forgiveness, and guidance in this life and the hereafter.
Muslims believe that salvation is a gift from Allah that is granted to those who sincerely repent from their sins, believe in His oneness, and follow His commands.
Salvation is not dependent on rituals, deeds, or intermediaries, but on the sincerity and purity of one's heart. Muslims also believe that salvation is not exclusive to Islam, but that Allah will judge all people according to their beliefs and actions, and that He is the most merciful and compassionate.
Study of the relevant evidence proves that the menace of death and eternal suffering are the basic causes of soteriological concern and action.
Salvation from disease or misfortune, which also figures in religion, is of comparatively lesser significance, though it is often expressive of more immediate concerns.
But the menace of death is of another order to humans because of our profound personal awareness of the temporal categories of past, present, and future.
This time-consciousness does not appear to be possessed by any other species with such insistent clarity.
It enables humans to draw upon past experience in the present and to plan for future contingencies.
This ability, however, has another effect: it causes humans to be aware that they are subject to a process that brings change, aging, decay, and ultimately death to all living things.
Humans know what apparently no other animals know about themselves - namely, that we will die at some future time, that is, cease to exist, in this system of things until we are resurrected.
We are aware that there were thousands of years before we were born that we simply weren't here. And after we die, we simply will not be here once again.

Psa_6:5
Psalms 6:5 YLT
(5) For there is not in death Thy memorial, In Sheol, who doth give thanks to Thee?
Isa_38:18
Isaiah 38:18 YLT
(18) For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth.

Psa_115:17
Psalms 115:17 YLT
(17) The dead praise not Jah, Nor any going down to silence.
Ecc_9:1-10
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 YLT
(1) But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole is before them.
(2) The whole is as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as is the good, so is the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath.
(3) This is an evil among all that hath been done under the sun, that one event is to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after it—unto the dead.
(4) But to him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it is better than to the dead lion.
(5) For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten.
(6) Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, hath already perished, and they have no more a portion to the age in all that hath been done under the sun.
(7) Go, eat with joy thy bread, and drink with a glad heart thy wine, for already hath God been pleased with thy works.
(8) At all times let thy garments be white, and let not perfume be lacking on thy head.

(9) See life with the wife whom thou hast loved, all the days of the life of thy vanity, that He hath given to thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for it is thy portion in life, even of thy labour that thou art labouring at under the sun.
(10) All that thy hand findeth to do, with thy power do, for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol whither thou art going.
Yet, we can thank YHVH that our time after death is going to be like being asleep is now:
Psa_13:3-6
Psalms 13:3-6 YLT
(3) Look attentively; Answer me, O Jehovah, my God, Enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep H3462 in death H4194 ,
(4) Lest mine enemy say, 'I overcame him,' Mine adversaries joy when I am moved.
(5) And I, in Thy kindness I have trusted, Rejoice doth my heart in Thy salvation H3444 .
(6) I do sing to Jehovah, For He hath conferred benefits H1580 upon me!
And this is later confirmed by our Master:
Joh_11:11-14
John 11:11-14 YLT
(11) These things he said, and after this he saith to them, 'Lazarus our friend hath fallen asleep G2837 , but I go on that I may awake G1852 him;' (12) therefore said his disciples, 'Sir, if he hath fallen asleep, he will be saved;'
(13) but Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought that about the repose of sleep he speaketh.
(14) Then, therefore, Jesus said to them freely, 'Lazarus hath died G599 ; NOTE: Supporting Scriptures:
Dan_12:2, Mat_9:24; Mat_27:52, Mar_5:39, Luk_8:52, Act_7:60, 1Co_15:12-28; 1Co_15:50-55, 1Th_4:13-15; 1Th_5:10.

Nonetheless, in our natural, worldly, mortal fear of the unknown, we can project ourselves mentally into the future and anticipate our own deaths.
Human burial customs grimly attest to a preoccupation with death from the

very dawn of human culture in the Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age). Significantly, the burial of the dead is practiced by no other species.
The menace of death cannot be disentangled from the human consciousness of time.
In seeking salvation from death, humanity has been led on to a deeper analysis of its situation: a person’s subjection to the ravages of time is the true cause of the evil that besets him.
The quest for salvation from death, accordingly, becomes transformed into one for deliverance from slavery to the destructive flow of time.
How such deliverance might be effected has been conceived in varying ways, corresponding to the terms in which the worldly process is imagined.
The earliest known examples occur in ancient Egyptian religious texts.
In what is commonly referred to as the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400 BCE), the dead pharaoh seeks to fly up to heaven and join the sun-god Re on his unceasing journey across the sky, uniting himself in a mode of existence beyond change and decay.

Later, a passage in the Book of the Dead (1200 BCE) represents the deceased, who has been ritually identified with Osiris, declaring that he comprehends the whole range of time in himself, thus asserting his superiority to it.
The recognition that humankind is subject to the inescapable law of decay and death has produced other later attempts to explain its domination by time and to offer release from it.
Such attempts are generally based on the idea that the temporal process is cyclical, not linear, in its movement.
Into this concept a belief in metempsychosis (transmigration of souls, that is, the passing of the soul into another body, according to the opinion of Pythagoras), aka, reincarnation, can be conveniently fitted, for the idea that souls pass through a series of incarnations becomes more understandable if

the process is seen as being cyclical and in accordance with the pattern of time that apparently governs all the forms of being in this world.The conception has been discussed in various ways in many religions.

In Hinduism and Buddhism, elegantly imaginative chronological systems have been worked out, comprising mahayugas, or periods of 12,000 years, each year of which represents 360 human years.
In turn, 1,000 mahayugas (12,000,000 years, or, 4,320,000,000 human years) make up one kalpa, or one day in the life of the creator deity Brahma, and span the duration of a world from its creation to its destruction.

After a period of rest, the world would be re-created by Brahma for another kalpa.
The purpose of this chronological scheme was to emphasize how the unenlightened soul was doomed to suffer an infinite series of incarnations, with all of their attendant pain of successive births and deaths.
In the texts credited to Orpheus in ancient Greece, the human destiny to endure successive incarnations is significantly described as “the sorrowful weary Wheel,” from which the initiate hoped to escape through the secret knowledge imparted to him.
As an alternative interpretation to this view of humanity’s fatal involvement with time, the tragedy of the human situation has also been explained in terms of the soul’s involvement with the physical universe.
In some systems of thought (e.g., Hinduism and Buddhism), the two interpretations are synthesized, and in such systems, it is taught that, by accepting the physical world as reality, the soul becomes subject to the process of time.

Concentration on the soul’s involvement with matter as being the cause of the misery of human life has generally come from a dualistic view of human nature.
The drawing of a sharp distinction between spirit and matter has been

invariably motivated by a value judgment: namely, that spirit (or soul) is intrinsically good and of transcendent origin, whereas matter is essentially evil and corrupting.
Through the body, humans are seen to be part of the world of nature, sharing in its processes of generation, growth, decay, and death.
How the soul came to be incarcerated in this corruptible body has been a problem that many myths seek to explain.
Such explanations usually involve some idea of the descent of the soul or its divine ancestor from the highest heaven and their fatal infatuation with the physical world.
The phenomenon of sexual intercourse has often supplied the imagery used to account for the involvement of the soul in matter and the origin of its corruption.
Salvation has thus been conceived in this context as emancipation from both the body and the natural world.

In Gnosticism and Hermeticism (an ancient occult tradition encompassing alchemy, astrology, and theosophy) - esoteric theosophical and mystical movements in the Greco-Roman world - deliverance was sought primarily from the planetary powers that were believed to control human destiny in the sublunar world.

NEXT 7/13/2023
Continue SALVATION study:
SECULAR and HISTORICAL CONTEXT (Continued).

Some explanations fitting the latter category also represent humans as the victim of the deceit of a malevolent deity or demon.
Because death has been universally feared but rarely accepted as a natural necessity, the mythologies of many peoples represent the primeval ancestors of humankind as having lost, either accidentally or in some other way, their original immortality.
One Sumerian myth, however, accounts for disease and old age as resulting from the sport of the gods when they created humans.
In contrast, the Hebrew Scriptures' account of Adam and Eve finds the origin of death in Adam's act of disobedience in eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, after being told by YHVH to NOT eat of the tree.
This causal connection between sin and death was elaborated by Paul in his soteriology, outlined in his Epistle to the Romans, and forms the basis of the Christian doctrine of original sin (Rom_5:12, Rom_5:17, Rom_5:19, Rom_6:23).

Christian doctrine holds that through all humans, being descended from Adam, every human being shares in the guilt of Adam’s sin, and a child, even at birth and before it acquires the guilt of its own actual sins, is already deserving of YHVH’s wrath for its share in the original sin of disobedience of humankind. Some refer to this as the "dented bread pan" analogy, that is, that a dented breadpad always turns out bread with a defect - the dent.

Jewish thought views all offspring as not responsible for the sins of his/her father (Eze_18:18-20, Deu_24:16).

Could this be where evil comes in?
Death comes as a result of sin, so Adam and Eve die.
Even Yeshua had the choice to sin or not to sin - where sin is an act of rebellion or falling short of YHVH's commands.
So, before one can sin, a person has to choose to disobey YHVH's commands.
Moreover, because each individual inherits the nature of fallen humanity, s/he has an innate predisposition to sin, which seems to proven true to even the most casual observer of world events.
Both the Jewish and Christian doctrines naturally conclude that a person cannot save himself by his own will and effort but depends absolutely upon the saving grace of the Messiah.
Ultimately, the saving grace of YHVH is the determiner.
In religions where a dualistic view of human nature has been held, it has been necessary to explain how spiritual souls first became imprisoned in physical bodies, in the first place.
Generally, the cause has been found in the supposition of some primordial ignorance or error rather than in a sinful act of disobedience or revolt - i.e., in an intellectual rather than a moral defect.
According to the Hindu philosophical system known as Advaita Vedanta, a primordial ignorance (avidya) originally caused souls to mistake the empirical world for reality and so become incarnated in it and incarcerated by it.
By continuing in this illusion, they are subjected to an unceasing process of death and rebirth (samsara) and all of its consequent suffering and degradation.
Similarly, in Buddhism a primordial ignorance (avijja) started the chain of “dependent origination” (paticca samuppada) that produces the infinite misery of unending rebirth in the empirical world.
All of these competing beliefs have given rise to equally competing rituals. that is, the means by which salvation might be achieved has been closely related to the manner in which salvation has been conceived and to what has been deemed to be the cause of the human need of it.
Thus, in ancient Egypt, where salvation was from the physical consequences of death, a technique of ritual embalming was created.
Ritual magic has also been used in those religions that require their devotees to be initiated by ceremonies of rebirth (e.g., baptism in water in Christianity, in bull’s blood in rites of Cybele) and by symbolic communion with a deity through a ritual meal in the Eleusinian Mysteries, Mithraism, and Christianity (the Last Supper, Lord's Supper, or Eucharist).
Religions that trace the ills of the present human condition to some form of primordial error or ignorance offer their own understanding to ensure salvation.
Such knowledge is of an esoteric kind and is usually presented as divine revelation and imparted secretly to specially prepared candidates.
In some instances (e.g., Buddhism and Yoga), the knowledge imparted includes instruction in mystical techniques designed to achieve spiritual deliverance.
Whenever humankind has been deemed to need divine aid for salvation, there has been an emphasis on a personal relationship with the savior-god concerned.
Such relationship usually connotes faith in and loving devotion and service toward the deity, and such service may involve moral and social obligations.

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the bhakti cults of India are notable examples.
Christianity adds a further requirement in this context: because human nature is basically corrupted by sin, YHVH’s prevenient (preceeding, antecedent, activating) grace is needed before the human will can be disposed even to want salvation.

Egyptian:
The Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt provide the earliest evidence of the human quest for salvation.
They reveal that by about 2400 BCE a complex soteriology connected with the divine kingship of the pharaohs had been established in Egypt.
This soteriology was gradually developed in concept and ritual practice and was popularized; i.e., the original royal privilege was gradually extended to all the classes of society, until by about 1400 BCE it had become an elaborate mortuary cult through which all who could afford its cost could hope to partake of the salvation it offered.
This salvation concerned three aspects of postmortem existence, as imagined by the ancient Egyptians, and, in the concept of Osiris, it involved the earliest instance of a savior-god.
An elaborate ritual of embalming was designed to save the corpse from decomposition and restore its faculties so that it could live in a well- equipped tomb.
This ritual imitated the acts that were believed to have been performed by the gods to preserve the body of Osiris, with whom the deceased was ritually assimilated.
The next concern was to resurrect the embalmed body of the dead person, as Osiris had been resurrected to a new life after death.
Having thus been saved from the consequences of death, the revivified dead had to undergo a judgment (presided over by Osiris) on the moral quality of his life on earth.
Unlike Christianity, deceased had no advocate or expiator to intercede on his behalf.
In this ordeal, the deceased could be saved from an awful second death only by personal integrity.
If he safely passed the test, he was declared maa kheru (“true of voice”) and was admitted to the beatitude (consummate bliss) of the realm over which Osiris reigned.
This Osirian mortuary cult, with its promise of postmortem salvation, was practiced from about 2400 BCE until its suppression in the Christian era.
In some respects, it constitutes a prototype of Christianity as a salvation religion.

Hinduism:
Running through the great complex of beliefs and ritual practices that constitute Hinduism is the conviction that the soul or self (atman) is subject to samsara - i.e., the transmigration through many forms of incarnation.
Held together with this belief is another, karma - i.e., that the soul carries with it the burden of its past actions, which conditions the forms of its future incarnations. Similar to today's concept of "you reap what you sow" and "what goes around comes around."
As long as the soul mistakes this physical world for reality and clings to existence in it, it is doomed to suffer endless births and deaths.
The various Indian traditions offer ways in which to attain moksha (“release”; “liberation”) from the misery of subjection to the inexorable process of cosmic time.
Basically, this liberation consists in the soul’s effective understanding of its essential unity with brahman, the Absolute or supreme reality, and its merging with it.
Most of the ways by which this goal may be attained require self-effort in mastering meditation techniques and living an ascetic life, that is, retired from the world; rigid; severe; austere; employed in devotions and subduing the passions and appetites of the flesh by penance, abstinence or painful severities inflicted on the body..
But in the devotional (bhakti) movements associated with Vishnu and Shiva, an intense personal devotion to the deity concerned is believed to earn divine aid to salvation.

Buddhism:
Buddhism accepts the principles of samsara and karma, but it differs in one important respect from the Hindu conception of human nature.
Instead of believing that an atman passes through endless series of incarnations, Buddhism teaches that there is no such preexistent, eternal core of an individual that migrates from body to body.
Each individual consists of a number of physical and psychic elements (khandhas; Sanskrit skandhas) that combine to create the sense of personal individuality.
But this combination is only temporary and is irreparably shattered by death, leaving no element that can be identified as the soul or self.
By a subtle metaphysical argument, however, it is maintained that the craving for personal existence generated by the khandhas causes the birth of another such personalized combination, which inherits the karma of a sequence of previous combinations of khandhas.
The enlightenment attained by the Buddha was essentially about the cause of existence in the physical world, from which suffering inevitably stemmed.
Buddhist teaching and practice have, accordingly, been designed to acquaint people with their true nature and situation and enable them to free themselves from craving for existence in the space-time world and so attain nirvana (the final deliverance of the soul from transmigration).
Traditionally, this goal has been presented in negative terms - as the extinction of desire, attachment, ignorance, or suffering - creating the impression that Buddhist salvation means the complete obliteration of individual consciousness.
In one sense, this is so, but, in terms of Buddhist metaphysics, ultimate reality transcends all the terms of reference relevant to existence in this world.

Theoretically, the Buddhist initiate should, by his own effort in seeking to destroy utterly desire for continued existence in the empirical world, achieve his own salvation.
But, as Buddhism developed into a popular religion in its Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) form, provision was made for the natural human desire for assurance of divine aid.
Consequently, belief in many saviors, known as bodhisattvas (bow·dee·SAAT·vuhz - “buddhas-to-be”), developed, together with elaborate eschatologies concerning human destiny.
According to these, before the ultimate attainment of nirvana, the faithful could expect to pass through series of heavens or hells, according to their merits or demerits and the intensity of their devotion to a bodhisattva.

Judaism:
Because Judaism is by origin and nature an ethnic-plus-proselytes religion, salvation has been primarily conceived in terms of the destiny of Israel as the elect people of YHVH (often referred to as Yahweh, Jehovah, or “the LORD”), the God of Israel.
It was not until the 2nd century BCE that the religion, presently referred to as Judaism, began to focus on an afterlife, for which the dead would be resurrected and undergo divine judgment.
Before that time, the individual had to be content that his posterity continued within the holy nation.
But, even after the emergence of belief in the resurrection of the dead, the essentially ethnic character of Judaism still decisively influenced soteriological thinking.
The apocalyptic faith, which became so fervent as Israel moved toward its overthrow by the Romans in 70 CE, conceived of salvation as the miraculous intervention of YHVH or His Messiah (literally, “anointed one”) in world affairs.

This saving act would culminate in the Last Judgment delivered on the nations that oppressed Israel and Israel’s glorious vindication as the people of YHVH.
From the end of the national state in the Holy Land in 70 CE, Jewish religion, despite the increasing recognition of personal significance, has remained characterized by its essential ethnic concern.
Thus, the Exodus from Egypt has ever provided the typal imagery in terms of which divine salvation has been conceived, its memory being perpetuated each year by the ritual of the Passover.
The restoration of the holy nation, moreover, always has been linked with its Holy Land, and Hebrew literature, both in biblical and later forms, has described the establishment of a New Jerusalem and a new Temple of YHVH, whether it be in this world or in some new cosmic order.
Into this new order the rest of humankind, repentant and purified, will be incorporated, for the original promise made to the patriarch Abraham included all within the divine blessing.

(Gen_17:1-19)
In the Book of Zechariah, the ultimate salvation of humankind is graphically envisaged: the Gentiles, in company with the Jews, will return to serve YHVH in an ideal Jerusalem.
(Zec_2:11; Zec_8:20-23; Zec_14:16-19)

Christianity:
Christianity’s primary premise is that the incarnation and sacrificial death of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) formed the climax of YHVH's divine plan for humanity’s salvation.
This plan was conceived by YHVH because of the Fall of Adam, the progenitor of the human race, and it would be completed at the Last Judgment, when the Second Coming of Christ would mark the dramatic end of this current system.
This soteriological evaluation of history finds expression in the Christian

division of time into two periods:
• before Christ (BC); and,
• anno Domini (AD).

This classification of time has been increasingly superseded since the late 20th century by the periods Before the Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE), respectively.
The evolution of the Christian doctrine of salvation was a complicated process essentially linked with the gradual definition of belief in the divinity of Yeshua of Nazareth.
In Christian theology, therefore, soteriology is an integral part of what is termed Christology.
Whereas the divinity of Yeshua Messiah has been the subject of careful metaphysical definition in the creeds, the exact nature and mode of salvation through Christ has not been so precisely defined.

Most organizations have been content to state in their creeds that Christ was incarnated, crucified, died, and rose again “for us men and for our salvation.”

The basic tenets of Christian soteriology may be summarized as follows:
• humanity deserves damnation by YHVH for the original sin, which it
inherits by descent from Adam;
• each human also deserves damnation for his own actual sin.

But because sin is regarded as also putting humans in the power of the Devil, Christ’s work of salvation has been interpreted along two different lines:
• Thus, His crucifixion may be evaluated as a expiatory sacrifice offered to
YHVH as propitiation or atonement for human sin.
• Alternatively, it may be seen as the price paid to redeem humanity from
the Devil.

These two ways of interpreting the death of Christ have provided the major themes of soteriological theory and speculation in Christian theology.
Despite this fluidity of interpretation, belief in the saving power of Christ is fundamental to Christianity and finds expression in every aspect of its faith and practice.

NEXT 7/20/2023
Continue SALVATION study:
SECULAR and HISTORICAL CONTEXT (Continued):

Although the word najāt (Arabic: “salvation”) is used only once in the Qurʾān (the holy book of Islam), the basic aim of Islam is salvation in the sense of escaping future punishment, which will be pronounced on sinners at the Last Judgment.
Muhammad did teach that Allah had predestined some humans to heaven and others to hell, but the whole logic of his message is that submission to Allah is the means to salvation, for Allah is merciful.
Indeed, faithful submission is the quintessence of Islam, the word islām itself meaning “submission.”
Although in his own estimation Muhammad was the prophet of Allah, in later Muslim devotion he came to be venerated as the mediator between God and humanity, whose intercession was decisive.

Taoism

Taoism is a philosophy and a religion that originated in ancient China.
It is based on the concept of the Tao, which means "the Way", the source and essence of everything that exists.
Taoists believe that living in harmony with the Tao is the natural and ideal way of life.
They follow the teachings of Lao Tzu, who is said to have written the Tao Te Ching, a collection of wisdom and guidance on how to live according to the Tao.
Taoism also incorporates various practices such as meditation, martial arts, and rituals to cultivate one's spiritual and physical well-being.
Taoism values balance, simplicity, and nature, and rejects violence, greed, and artificiality.
Taoism has many sects and traditions, some of which worship gods and ancestors, while others focus more on ethics and self-cultivation.

Zoroastrianism:

According to Zoroaster, a good and evil force struggled for mastery in the universe.
Humanity had to decide on which side to align itself in this fateful contest.
This dualism was greatly elaborated in later Zoroastrianism.
Good, personified as the god Ormazd, and evil, personified as the demonic Ahriman, would contend for 12,000 years with varying fortune. At last Ormazd would triumph, and Saoshyans, his agent, would resurrect the dead for judgment.
The righteous would pass to their reward in heaven, and the wicked would be cast into hell. But this situation was temporary.
A meteor would later strike the earth, causing a flood of molten metal.
Through this flood all would have to pass as an ordeal of purgation.
The sensitivity of each to the anguish would be determined by the degree of his guilt.
After the ordeal, all humans would become immortal, and all that Ahriman had harmed or corrupted would be renewed.
Salvation thus took the form of deliverance from postmortem suffering, for ultimate restoration was assured to all after suffering the degree of purgation that the nature of their earthly lives entailed.

Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

The term "Mormon" is often used to refer to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but it is not an authorized title and the church discourages its use. The term originated as a derogatory nickname given by outsiders who associated the church with the Book of Mormon, one of its scriptural texts. The church prefers to use its full name or the shortened terms "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ".
The church also requests that its members be called "Latter-day Saints" or "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" instead of "Mormons".
The term "Mormon" is acceptable only when used in proper names or historical expressions, such as the Mormon Trail or the Book of Mormon. The term "Mormonism" is inaccurate and should not be used to describe the doctrine, culture, and lifestyle of the church.
The church teaches that it is the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ and that it follows the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
They teach that YHVH's name is Elohim or Heavenly Father.
They believe that He is the Father of all human spirits and the creator of the universe.
They also believe that He is one of three distinct divine persons in the Godhead, along with His Son, Jesus Christ , and the Holy Ghost. They believe that the name YHVH (Jehovah) is used in the Hebrew Scriptures to refer to God the Father.
Further, they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and they do not use the name Jehovah to refer to Him.
They believe that the name YHVH is a title that is used to refer to God the Father, and that it is not a proper name.
They believe that the proper name of God the Father is Elohim.
They also believe that Jesus Christ has a proper name, which is Emmanuel. However, they do not use this name in their worship services. Instead, they refer to Jesus Christ as Jesus, Lord, Savior, and Redeemer.
They worship Elohim in the name of Jesus Christ and pray to Him for guidance and blessings. They acknowledge Him as the ultimate object of their worship and the source of all truth and love.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that salvation is a combination of the Heavenly Father's grace and human actions.
They believe that everyone will be resurrected through the atonement of Jesus Christ, but to achieve the full quality of eternal life, they also need to obey the teachings of the Mormon church, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).
Mormons also believe that salvation is eternal life with their families in the highest heaven of the celestial kingdom.
They perform proxy baptisms for the dead, hoping that they will accept Mormonism in the spirit world.
However, the Bible teaches that salvation is a gift of the Heavenly Father by grace through faith in Christ alone, and that there is no second chance after death.
There are off-shoots from LDS that have modified their beliefs to conform to their own understanding.

Native Americans

Living in the Western Hemisphere, it would be remiss not to mention how Native Americans viewed salvation.
Native peoples once depended on their natural environment for survival.
Of course, not all environments in North and South America were the same, so many different cultures, languages, traditions, and practices developed, each reflecting the different peoples' relationships to their different environments. in spite of this, some similarities existed among Native American religions.
Until the 1950s it was commonly assumed that the religions of the surviving Native Americans were little more than curious anachronisms, dying remnants of humankind’s childhood.
These traditions lacked sacred texts and fixed doctrines or moral codes and were embedded in societies without wealth, mostly orally, without writing, and without recognizable systems of politics or justice or any of the usual indicators of civilization.

Today the situation has changed dramatically.
Scholars of religion, students of the ecological sciences, and individuals committed to expanding and deepening their own religious lives have found in these traditions many distinct and varied religious worlds that have struggled to survive but that retain the ability to inspire.
The histories of these worlds are also marked by loss.
Five hundred years of political, economic, and religious domination have taken their toll.
Scholars note when complex ceremonies become extinct, but often community members mourn even more the disappearance of small daily rituals and of religious vocabularies and grammars embedded in traditional languages - a loss of memories that include not only formal sacred narratives but the many informal strands that once composed these tightly woven ways of life.
Nevertheless, despite the pervasive effects of modern society, from which there is no longer any possibility of geographic, economic, or technological isolation, there are instances of remarkable continuity with the past, as well as remarkably creative adaptation to the present and anticipation of the future.

North America

Many Native American people themselves often claim that their traditional ways of life do not include “religion.”
They find the term difficult, often impossible, to translate into their own languages.
Western tradition distinguishes religious thought and action as that whose ultimate authority is supernatural - which is to say, beyond, above, or outside both physical nature and human reason.
In most indigenous worldviews there is no such divisions.

Plants and animals, clouds and mountains carry and embody revelation.
Even where native tradition teaches about a realm or world apart from the terrestrial one and not normally visible from it, as in the case of the Iroquois Sky World or the several underworlds of Pueblo cosmologies, the boundaries between these worlds are permeable.
The metaphysical distance between land and sky or between land and underworld is short and is traversed in both directions.
Instead of encompassing a duality of sacred and profane, indigenous religious traditions seem to conceive only of sacred and more sacred.
Spirit, power, or something akin moves in all things, though not equally.
For native communities religion is understood as the relationship between living humans and other persons or things, however they are conceived. These may include departed as well as yet-to-be-born human beings, beings in the so-called “natural world” of flora and fauna, and visible entities that are not animate by Western standards, such as mountains, springs, lakes, and clouds. This group of entities also includes what scholars of religion might denote as “mythic beings,” beings that are not normally visible but are understood to inhabit and affect either this world or some other world contiguous to it.
Because religions of this kind are so highly localized, it is impossible to determine exactly how many exist in North America now or may have existed in the past.
Distinct languages in North America at the time of the first European contact are often estimated in the vicinity of 300, which linguists have variously grouped into some 30 to 50 families.
Consequently, there is great diversity among these traditions.
For instance, Iroquois longhouse elders speak frequently about the Creator’s “Original Instructions” to human beings, using male gender references and attributing to this divinity not only the planning and organizing of creation but qualities of goodness, wisdom, and perfection that are much like YHVH.

By contrast, the Koyukon universe is notably decentralized. Raven, whom Koyukon narratives credit with the creation of human beings, is only one among many powerful entities in the Koyukon world. He exhibits human weaknesses such as lust and pride, is neither all-knowing nor all-good, and teaches more often by counterexample than by his wisdom.
Teaching proper behaviour toward others, which is defined by one’s relationship to them, is an essential part of child rearing.
This instruction is religious as well, because of the expectation that the parent will instruct the child in all areas of life: the entire world, one’s life, and one’s other-than-human relatives will be treated in the same way as all human relatives.
As evidenced, there is no such thing as a generic “Native American religion.”
Attempts to understand these religious traditions en masse are bound to produce oversimplification and distortion.
Instead, it may be useful to consider the broad characteristics that pertain to the religious lives of many indigenous North American communities.
In the Native American experience, place is important, and religious practices are often localized.
The importance of place is revealed in the beliefs of the Menominee, who use local geography to explain the origin of their people, and the Iroquois, whose longhouses are understood as microcosms of the universe.
Moreover, traditional knowledge, passed on orally across the generations, maintains the memory of visible and invisible inhabitants of a place. Access to some kinds of knowledge, however, is restricted.
Actions, words, and thoughts are understood in many traditions to have power in the world.
Some knowledge may be considered so powerful and dangerous that a process of instruction and initiation is required for those who will use it.
Participation is more important than belief. Arguments about doctrinal truth are largely absent from most native North American religious traditions.
Good-hearted participation in the ceremonial and everyday work of the community is the main requirement.
However, knowledgeable people with considerable life experience may discuss such matters informally.
Cooperation with and devotion to the larger kin group is a central part of small-scale societies, and this is true of Native American communities
Generosity, in the Native American tradition, is a religious act as well as a social one.
The value of generosity is perhaps most dramatically figured in the northern practice known in English as giveaway or in the potlatch of the Northwest Coast peoples, in which property and gifts are ceremonially distributed.
Human beings are taught to give eagerly because in so doing they imitate the generosity of the many other-than-human entities that provide for human sustenance.
A community’s oral narratives contain a record of human interaction with other-than-human beings, powers, and entities in a place.
In addition to the more solemn genres, such as creation stories and migration narratives, there are moralistic stories, family histories, instruction meant to teach traditional skills, and many kinds of jokes. Moreover, joking, clowning, and other forms of entertainment are integral parts of many ceremonial events and settings, either formally or informally. Sometimes such performances are a means of shaming individuals into correcting troublesome behaviour, but they are also employed simply to spread happiness and to lighten moods.
Significant achievements and life passages are meant to be shared by relatives and the community.
Various forms of coming-of-age and initiation ceremonies make up a large portion of the ritual repertoire of many Native American traditions.
These ceremonies provide structures for instruction in traditional knowledge, but, more important, they reintegrate an individual into kin, community, and cosmos when new status is attained.
One of the more important life passages is death, which is understood as a transition and not an ending. Beliefs about death, and ritual responses to it, however, are among the more heterogeneous aspects of Native American religious life.
Many Native American traditions appear to conceive of human beings as complex entities that bind together different kinds of essences, breaths, or spirits, which are thought to undergo divergent outcomes after death.
It is believed that after death some of these essences may be harmful for living people to encounter without ceremonial protection.
A serious misconception about native North American religions is that, before contact with European civilization, they existed in a changeless “Golden Age” and that what happened later can be described only as degeneration.
This view owes much to the misgivings of many 19th-century Europeans over the deep changes wrought on their own societies by the Industrial Revolution. Change, borrowing, and innovation are characteristic of any living religion, but indigenous communities relied on strands of oral communication to maintain both continuity and the memory of change, and Euro-American observers were ill-equipped to notice and record these sources.
At the same time, the changes that visited Native Americans in the wake of the arrival of the Europeans were massive, unprecedented, and mostly destructive.
Whole languages - and with them ceremonies, narratives, and oral libraries of accumulated knowledge about human and natural history and humor - were lost.
Even the most earnest and energetic efforts to rejuvenate traditional ways can seem pale and pathetic to those who remember earlier days. Yet some elders reject this pessimism.
Instead, they note that there was a community - the Hopi - where a snake dance was once performed, but the ceremony became extinct. Anthropologists expressed alarm, but an elder insisted that people should not be disturbed. “If it was lost it was because we didn’t need it any more,” he said. “If we really need it back again, the snakes will teach it to us again. It was they who taught it to us in the first place.”

Sometimes, however, disruption is so catastrophic that individuals and communities must respond with fresh, powerful visions that transplant the germ of past wisdom into entirely new seedbeds.
When it succeeds, such inspiration can meld tradition and innovation in surprisingly effective ways.
Two such examples are the Native American Church, sometimes known as the peyote church, and the Ghost Dance movement.
The Native American church emerged in the mid-19th century when an ancient ritual of central Mexico moved into the United States and blended with Christian influences.
It spread, in part, through the medium of government-run Native American schools, and it is the only native religious tradition that has become truly portable, spreading from coast to coast.
The Ghost Dance was one of two movements influenced by Christian traditions that announced the imminent return of the dead and the restoration of Native Americans’ traditional way of life.
Although the Ghost Dance tradition suffered a terrible tragedy at the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890, it was for a time a powerful expression of both hope and despair as the Euro-American conquest of the continent neared completion.
It also continued in modified form until the 1950s and underwent occasional revivals in the later 20th century.
A third response to religious disintegration involves the creation of American Indian Christian congregations.
In some instances conversion to Christianity was enforced, with dire penalties for refusal.
In other cases it appears to have been accepted voluntarily, out of sincere devotion to the missionaries and their message.
In yet other cases it was probably accepted for a more practical mix of reasons.
Often conversion meant an increased chance for physical survival, regardless of how sincere the conversion was.
Once physical survival and a degree of stability had been established, many congregations of Native American Christians recast their faith and practice to include traditional views and values. Kinship obligations, sharing of resources, and a general emphasis on community in preference to individualistic approaches to salvation have been some of these Native Christian adaptations.
In some cases traditional language and symbolism have been incorporated into Christian worship as well.
American Indian traditionalists believe that the values, knowledge, narrative traditions, and ritual worlds they were taught, however compromised by historical loss and the demands of modern life, are vital to the survival of their human and other-than-human communities.
Apart from the Native American church and Native Christian congregations, most American Indian traditionalists believe that ceremonial work and traditional knowledge are authentic and potent only when conducted in their native languages.
Yet most of these languages are eroding rapidly and among persons under age 40 are nearly extinct.
In oral societies it is vital that each generation identify and train individuals to memorize this knowledge and so carry it forward.
Wide swaths of this knowledge can disappear when there are no young people fluent enough to preserve it. For some communities it is already too late.

Ani'-Yun'wiya (Cherokee) Nation

One native culture that we know a great deal about is the Cherokees, or Ani'-Yun'wiya, "the principle people," who lived for hundreds of year here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in parts of present-day Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Knowledge of their beliefs is because, in the 1880s, Cherokee elders in the North Carolina mountains allowed a white man named James Mooney to observe and record information about their culture.

The Cherokee stories that Mooney gathered and wrote down in English help explain the world of the Cherokee. These myths show that, for the Cherokee, the world was primarily a relationship of proper balance.
To the Cherokee, the Earth was a flat disc of water with a large island floating in the middle. The Earth hung by four cords - one each in the north, east, south, and west - from a sky arch made of stone. This was the Middle World, where the plants, animals, and humans lived.
Above the sky arch was the Upper World.
This was where the guiding and protective spirits of humans and animals lived. These spirits could move from the Upper World to the Middle World and back to help the humans keep balance and harmony on the Earth. Below the Earth was the Under World of bad spirits. Bad spirits brought disorder and disaster. They could rise to the Middle World through deep springs, lakes, and caves.
When these spirits caused trouble, the Cherokee called on the spirits from the Upper World to help restore balance and harmony to the Middle World.
Everything in the Cherokee environment - from corn and tobacco to eagles, deer, and snakes, to fire and smoke, to creeks and mountains - had an intelligent spirit and played a central role in Cherokee stories as well as daily practices. The Cherokee did not view themselves as separate from their environment - they were an integral part of it. Like other native peoples, the Cherokee did not try to rule over nature but instead tried to keep their proper place within it. A healer might listen to the spirit of a plant to find out what disease that plant could cure.
A hunter might pray to the spirits of animals for guidance and forgiveness.

In order to respect and cooperate with all of nature, the natives found ways to conserve its parts. When the Cherokee gathered medicinal plants in the forest, they harvested only every fourth one they found, leaving the other three to grow undisturbed for a future use. All of these practices contributed to the balance of their world. The Cherokee believed that if the balance of nature was upset, everyone would have trouble. They feared a loss of balance could cause sickness, bad weather, failed crops, poor hunting, and many other problems.
Humans were responsible for keeping the balance within themselves and between the animals, the plants, and other people.
One of the stories Mooney collected, "The Origin of Disease and Medicine," illustrates the idea of keeping balance:

In the old days, the animals and plants could talk, and they lived together in harmony with humans. But the humans spread over the earth, crowding the animals and the plants out of their homelands and hunting and killing too much. The animal tribes called a council to declare war on the humans. They each selected a disease to send to the humans that could cripple them, make them sick, or kill them. When the plants heard what had been done to the humans, they agreed this action was too severe and called a council of their own.
They agreed to be cures for some of the diseases the animals had sent.
In this story, when the humans destroyed the balance of nature, the animals tried to regain it. But they went too far, so the plants tried to restore the balance by stepping in and helping the humans.

The Cherokee looked to the guiding and protective spirits of the Upper World to help keep balance and harmony on the Earth.
They also maintained order on the Earth by participating in daily prayers, rituals, and seasonal ceremonies.
One ritual, called "going to water," was performed on many occasions - at the new moon, before special dances, after bad dreams, or during illnesses. Going to water cleansed the spirit as well as the body.
The ritual was performed at sunrise.
Cherokee men, women, and children would face the east, step into a river or creek, and dip under the water seven times. When they emerged, they would be rid of bad feelings and ready to begin anew, with a clear mind.

The annual Green Corn Ceremony also symbolized a fresh start. It was held each year at harvest time. First, any unused corn from the previous year's harvest was collected and burned. Afterward, the town's sacred council fire, which had been used for the past year, was put out. A new fire was then started, and the community gave thanks and forgave each other for all their quarrels and crimes of the past year (except murder).
Finally, the women, who were the farmers in the Cherokee culture, presented the first of the new year's corn harvest.
A feast began, and so did a new cycle.
Native American peoples did not use a word such as "religion," but every part of their world had a sacred connection or religious meaning.
Their ideas of religion were everything to them. They believed the world should have balance, harmony, cooperation, and respect within the community and between people and the rest of nature.
Cherokee stories and legends taught the lessons and practices necessary to maintain natural balance, harmony, and health.
Cherokee songs, dances, stories, artwork, tools, and even buildings expressed the moral values of their culture.
The Cherokee homeland and its mountains, caves, and rivers also carried symbolic meanings and purposes.
The religion of the native peoples was so different from the Christian religion of the Europeans that early explorers, settlers, and missionaries did not see native beliefs as a religion. The white Christians did not understand, for instance, the sacred meanings behind "going to water," festivals of thanksgiving, or rituals for maintaining balance. These native practices looked like childish magic and evil superstition to the Christian Europeans, who usually regarded the natives as "savage heathens." Almost from the moment the Europeans arrived, they had tried to get the natives to abandon their traditional, tribally held hunting grounds so they could have more land for white settlement.
After the Revolutionary War (1776-1783), the United States government began to develop a "civilization" policy, which was intended to convert the natives to Christianity and to pacify them.
During all this time, the Cherokee had allowed several different Christian denominations to establish missions in their area.
Some of the Cherokee accepted Christianity.
Many were eager to learn English and other skills the missionaries taught so they could understand the white man's world.
They hoped that if they could read and understand white documents, they could help fight the efforts of the whites in taking their tribal lands. But their hopes did not save the Cherokee Nation. By the 1840s, almost all the Cherokees had been removed to territories west of the Mississippi River — only about one thousand remained in their old homeland.
In time, the New Testament of the Christian Bible was translated into Cherokee and written in the Cherokee syllabary.
Scriptures, hymns, and services also began to be spoken in the Cherokee language.
Still, communities blended older Cherokee values like respect and sharing into the practices of their new Christian churches.
Some of the traditional Cherokee healers even became ministers or elders in Christian churches. Today, about ten thousand Cherokees live in North Carolina. Most of them are Christian, but traditional ideas can still be found in the use of traditional plants for healing, dances that reinforce the Cherokee identity, references to some of the old sacred Cherokee sites, and a festival that is held each year at Green Corn time.

Navajo and Peublo

A sharp contrast is found in Navajo and Pueblo ritual. Most traditional Navajo ceremonies are enacted on behalf of individuals in response to specific needs.
Most Pueblo ceremonial work is communal, both in participation and in perceived benefit, and is scheduled according to natural cycles.
Still, the healing benefits of a Navajo sing naturally spread through the families of all those participating, while the communal benefits of Pueblo ceremonial work naturally contributes to individuals.

South America

A sense of the nature and variety of religious life in South American tribes can be conveyed by examining beliefs about creation, practices associated with the calendar and with the initiation of new adults, forms of special religious authority, and prophetic movements concerned with the end of the world.
Even though they differ in detail, creation mythologies play a singularly important role in the religious life of many South American tribes.
These myths describe the origin of the first world and its fate and sometimes include narratives of the creation and destruction of subsequent worlds.
In some narratives creation is the work of a supreme being, and some myths describe creation from nothing while others involve creation from a preexisting substance.
Moreover, many creation myths describe in dramatic ways the exit of the creative beings.
They may be driven off, sent into the sky in the form of stars, or moved off into the forest, or they may take refuge in other levels of the universe. The manner of a being’s disappearance figures in the ritual celebrations that commemorate it.

The myths of the destruction of multiple worlds place a great question mark at the beginning of existence.
Why should powerful worlds fall prey to disaster? Why should beings so perfect and powerful suffer destruction?

The religious life of many South American peoples places this kind of question at the foundation of religious experience.
Rather than providing answers to such questions, the myths of multiple destruction install the questions themselves as fundamental.
Scenarios of universal catastrophe and destruction mark the passage of time and can thereby lead to the institution of the calendar.
The most obvious calendrical marker of time that arises from universal catastrophe and disaster is the procession of stars.
South American mythologies consistently join the death of primordial beings (often later known in the form of animals) with the cataclysmic destruction of the first worlds and the ascent of the stars into the heavens.
Notably, the Makiritare of the Orinoco River region in Venezuela tell how the stars, led by Wlaha, were forced to ascend on high when Kuamachi, the evening star, sought to avenge the death of his mother.
Kuamachi and his grandfather induced Wlaha and the other stars to climb into dewaka trees to gather the ripe fruit.
When Kuamachi picked the fruit, it fell and broke open.
Water spilled out and flooded the forest.
With his powerful thoughts, Kuamachi created a canoe in which he and his grandfather escaped.
Along the way they created deadly water animals such as the anaconda, the piranha, and the caiman.
One by one Kuamachi shot down the stars of heaven from the trees in which they were lodged.
They fell into the water and were devoured by the animals.
After they were gnawed and gored into different ragged shapes, the survivors ascended into the sky on a ladder of arrows.
There the stars took their proper places and began shining.
Religious ideas and practices associated with the end of the world abound in South America.

Eschatological movements have swept across South America since the time of European contact and, most probably, long before that.
Many of the movements of resistance to colonialism have appeared as messianic revolts led by millennial prophets and saviours.
Among various Guaraní groups in Paraguay, shamans led groups on messianic pilgrimages, seeking to find the Land Without Evil.
The very existence of the Land Without Evil offered the Guaraní hope, security, and courage in the face of the hunger, sickness, and death that followed the Spanish conquest.
As these eschatological groups succumbed to failure, they concluded that, on their paths to paradise, they had been overtaken by tekò-achy, the weight of accumulating imperfections that blot out the light of the sun and weigh humans down so that they are incapable of ecstatic flight into the Land Without Evil.
It seems that South American eschatological thinking and behaviour share common ground with Christian eschatology.

A Note about Scriptures:
Scriptures of the various religions comprise a large part of the literature of the world.
They vary greatly in form, volume, age, and degree of sacredness, but their common attribute is that their words are regarded by their believers as sacred.
Sacred words differ from ordinary words in that they are believed either to possess and convey spiritual and magical powers or to be the means through which a divine being or other sacred reality is revealed in phrases and sentences full of power and truth.
Most sacred scriptures were originally oral and were passed down through memorization from generation to generation until they were finally committed to writing. A few are still preserved orally, such as the hymns of Native Americans.

Many bear the unmistakable marks of their oral origin and can best be understood when recited aloud; in fact, it is still held by many Hindus and Buddhists that their scriptures lack, when read silently, the meaning and significance they have when recited aloud, for the human voice is believed to add to the recited texts dimensions of truth and power not readily grasped by the solitary reader. Not all Scriptures, however, were originally oral, nor were they in all parts directly effectual in rituals that sought the granting of magical and spiritual powers.
The greater part of recorded scripture has either a narrative or an expository character.
The types of sacred and semisacred texts are, in fact, many and varied.
Besides magical runes (ancient Germanic alphabet characters) and spells from primitive and ancient sources, they include hymns, prayers, chants, myths, stories about gods and heroes, epics, fables, sacred laws, directions for the conduct of rituals, the original teachings of major religious figures, expositions of these teachings, moral anecdotes, dialogues of seers and sages, and philosophical discussions.
In fact, Scriptures include every form of literature capable of expressing religious feeling or conviction.
Types of sacred literature vary in authority and degree of sacredness.
The centrally important and most holy of the sacred texts have in many instances been gathered into canons (standard works of the faith), which, after being determined either by general agreement or by official religious organizations, become fixed- i.e., limited to certain works that are alone viewed as fully authoritative and truly beyond all further change or alteration.
The works not admitted to the canons (those of a semisacred or semicanonical character) may still be quite valuable as supplementary texts; authoritative and/or historical texts that are not considered "inspired", e.g., Macabbees to Protestant faiths, in spite of Yeshua's referring to the "abomination of desolation" historically occurring first in Macabbees (Mat_24:15, Mar_13:14), and the "Book of Enoch", the same Enoch who is mentioned in 11 verses in the King James Bible and Jud_1:14-15 referring to 1 Enoch 1:9, which seems to be a direct quote from Jude. The book of Enoch is recognized as NOT having been written by the original Enoch.

The canon of the Bible is the set of books that are considered to be authoritative and inspired by YHVH.
The process of deciding which books belong to the canon was not done at a single point in time, but through a long and complex history that involved different criteria and authorities.

The Jewish canon, or the Tanakh, consists of 24 books divided into three parts: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings.

The Christian canon includes the Hebrew Scriptures, which is based on the Jewish canon but with some variations, and the Greek Scriptures, which contains 27 books: the four Gospels, Acts, 21 letters, and Revelation.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches also accept some additional books as part of the Hebrew Scriptures, called the deuterocanonical books or the apocrypha.
The canon of the Greek Scriptures was officially decided in the fourth century CE by various church councils, based on the divine qualities, reception, and apostolic connection of the writings. However, some scholars argue that there was already a general consensus on the 27 books of the Greek Scriptures by the end of the first century CE, as evidenced by their use and citation by early "church fathers".
The Bible canon itself is the collection of books that are considered authoritative and inspired by YHVH.

The criteria for which writings were included in the Bible canon vary depending on the time period and the religious tradition.
However, some common factors that influenced the canonization process were:

- Apostolicity: The writings had to be attributed to an apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle, such as Mark or Luke.

- Orthodoxy: The writings had to conform to the teachings and doctrines of the early church, especially regarding the nature and identity of Yeshua Messiah.

- Catholicity: The writings had to be widely accepted and used by the majority of the Christian communities across different regions and cultures.

- Inspiration: The writings had to demonstrate the guidance and influence of the Holy Spirit, both in their content and in their effect on the readers.

NOTICE: Each consideration depended entirely on HUMAN interpretation of whether or not the book in question met the criteria.
These criteria were not always applied consistently or uniformly, and there were debates and disagreements among different groups of Christians about which writings should be included or excluded from the canon. The process of canonization was gradual and complex, and it took several centuries for the Bible canon to reach its current forms.

NEXT 7/27/2023
Continue SALVATION study.
Continue studying major religions and their various sacred and semi-sacred texts.

Its earliest portions, namely the four ancient Vedas (hymns), seem to have been provided by Indo-European families in northwestern India in the 2nd millennium BCE.
These and the supplements to them composed after 1000 BCE - the Brahmanas (commentaries and instruction in ritual), the Aranyakas (forest books of ascetics), and the Upanishads (philosophical treatises) - are considered more sacred than any later writings.
They are collectively referred to as Shruti (“Heard”; i.e., communicated by revelation), whereas the later writings are labeled Smriti (“Remembered”; i.e., recollected and reinterpreted at some distance in time from the original revelations).
The former are canonical and completed, not to be added to nor altered, but the latter are semicanonical and semisacred.

Buddhism:

Buddhist sacred literature recollects Gautama Buddha’s life and teaching in the 6th century BCE and first appeared in the dialect called Pali, allied to the Magadhi that he spoke.
As time passed and his movement spread beyond India, Buddhism adopted as its medium Sanskrit, the Indian classical language that was widely used in ancient Asia.
A distinction arose between the Theravada (“Way of the Elders”), preserved in Pali and regarded as canonical, and the vast number of works written in Sanskrit within the more widely dispersed Buddhism called by its adherents Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”).
The Mahayana works were later translated and further expanded in Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese.

Confucius:

Whether the basic texts of indigenous Chinese religion should be called sacred, in the sense of Holy Scriptures, is open to question.
Neither classical Taoism nor Confucianism can be said to have been based on revelation; the texts of these faiths were originally viewed as human wisdom, books written by humans for humans.
They acquired authority, actually a canonical status, however, that caused them to be regarded with profound reverence and thus, in effect, as sacred.
This certainly was true of the revered Taoist book, the Daodejing (“Classic of the Way of Power”), and of the Wujing (“Five Classics”) and the Sishu (“Four Books”) of Confucianism.

Taoism

The Tao Te Ching is a classic text of Chinese philosophy that is traditionally attributed to the sage Lao Tzu, who lived in the 6th century BC.
The text consists of 81 short chapters that express the essence of the Tao, or "the Way", which is the ultimate reality and the source of all things.
The Tao is also the principle of harmony and balance that guides human conduct and governs the natural order.
The Tao Te Ching teaches the wisdom of wuwei, or non-action, which means acting in accordance with the Tao and not interfering with its flow.
By following the Tao, one can achieve peace, simplicity, and contentment in life.
The concept of "salvation" in Taoism is not about escaping from this world or achieving a permanent state of bliss in the afterlife, but rather about living in harmony with the natural order and the cosmic forces that sustain it.
Taoists do not believe in salvation as a matter of being saved from sin or damnation, but as a matter of participating in the eternal cycle of creation and transformation that characterizes the natural world.
Taoists seek to become immortals, not by preserving their physical bodies forever, but by transcending the limitations of the human condition and attaining a state of spiritual freedom and spontaneity.
Salvation for Taoists is thus a matter of aligning oneself with the Tao, the ultimate principle of reality, and following its way of non-action and simplicity.

Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah):

The most precisely fixed canons are those that have been defined by official religious bodies of human organizations.
The Jewish canon, known to Christians as the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures), is thought by some scholars to have been fixed by a synod of rabbis held at Yavneh, Palestine, about 90 CE. However, there is no scholarly consensus.
The semisacred books that were excluded were labeled by Christians, the Apocrypha (Greek: “Hidden Away”).
Roman Catholicism later included the Apocrypha in its Bible canon.
Yeshua, the founder of Christianity, left nothing in writing, but He so inspired His followers that they preserved His sayings and biographical details about Him in oral form until they were written down in the four Gospels.
To these were added the letters of Paul and others and the Book of Revelation to John, the whole forming a sacred canon called the New Testament (Greek Scriptures), which was ecclesiastically sanctioned by the end of the 4th century.
There was also a New Testament Apocrypha, but it did not achieve canonical status because of numerous spurious details.

Qurʾān:

Where no religious body has provided sanction or authorization, Scriptures have had to stand on their own authority.
Muslims believe that the Qurʾān does this easily.
The Qurʾān, their only sacred canon or standard of faith, authenticates itself, they believe, by its internal self-evidencing power, for it is composed of the very words of Allah (God Almighty) communicated to Muhammad and recited by him without addition or subtraction.
This faith of Muslims in the Qurʾān is similar to that of fundamentalist Christians who believe that the Bible, as YHVH’s word, is "God-breathed" from beginning to end.

Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

Mormons believe that the King James Bible is a true and accurate translation of the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures, but that it is not complete.
They believe that the Book of Mormon is a companion volume to the Bible that contains additional scripture that was lost or corrupted over time, as well as a record of the ancient peoples in the Americas.
According to the book, the prophet Moroni buried a set of gold plates containing the history and teachings of his people in a hill near present-day Palmyra, New York.
In 1823, the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, a young farmer, and told him where to find the plates.
Smith claimed that he translated the plates by the gift and power of the Heavenly Father, and published the Book of Mormon in 1830.
Smith said that he showed the plates to eleven other men, who became known as the witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Three of them, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, said that they saw the plates and an angel who testified of their truthfulness. Eight others, Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Samuel Smith, said that they saw and handled the plates.
All of them signed testimonies that were printed in the first edition of the Book of Mormon.
These witnesses never recanted their statements, even though some of them later left or were excommunicated from the church founded by Smith.
According to LDS teachings, the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets in the Americas.
It tells the story of the people of Nephi, who were descendants of Lehi, a Hebrew prophet who left Jerusalem around 600 BC.
The Book of Mormon describes the Nephites' journey to the Americas, their wars with the Lamanites, and their eventual destruction.
They believe that the Book of Mormon is a true account of ancient history and that it contains important truths about Elohim, Jesus Christ, and salvation.
They also believe that the Book of Mormon is a living book that can provide guidance and inspiration to its readers.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teaches that the King James Bible and the Book of Mormon are both essential parts of the Christian canon.
The LDS Church believes that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are complementary works that together provide a complete record of Elohim's dealings with humanity.
The LDS Church also teaches that the Book of Mormon is a modern-day revelation from Elohim.
The Book of Mormon is a controversial text.
Some people believe that it is a true account of ancient history, while others believe that it is a work of fiction.
The LDS Church has been criticized for its teaching that the Book of Mormon is a modern-day revelation from Elohim.
Despite the controversy, the Book of Mormon remains an important text for the LDS Church.
The LDS Church teaches that the Book of Mormon is a source of truth and guidance for its members.

Other literature:
There exists a large body of literature that possesses less of the aura of true Scripture than the works just mentioned.
They are interpretations about divine truth and divine commands, or stories that illustrate how persons, exalted or lowly, have acted (with or without awareness) in response to a divine stimulus.
They are, in effect, supportive of true Scripture.

Talmud, or (the written Oral Torah):
The Talmud is a compendium of law, lore, and commentary that to many Jews has more authorit than others as the Mosaic Torah (the Written Torah, Law, or the Pentateuch).
Indeed, in the postbiblical rabbinical writings it was generally considered a second, or Oral, Torah, complementing the Written Law of Moses.
In Orthodox Judaism, rabbis might give different answers about the authority of the Talmud, due to varying opinions by different rabbis.
There have always been questions about the Written Torah concerning, for example, HOW to do this or that.

There is so much in the Written Torah that is circumstantial, ex: the culture (the way people lived) - as cultures change, the Torah changes in response to those changes.

Exa: The Written Torah does not have a lot of details about how to keep the Sabbath. The Pharisees added human traditions based on oral traditions passed down through the generations on to how the keep the Sabbath as well as any other subject one might imagine.

In the first century there were two major schools of thought for which impacted the belief systems of a majority of Jews. The school of Hillel and the school of Shammai.

For more see https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2832622/jewish/Hillel-and-Shammai.htm

One group viewed Gentiles as dirty and untouchable, and could become proselytes without circumcision - another side say this differently.
The Oral Torah is very important in Jewish tradition. The Gemara and the Mishna, and major repositories of debates and commentaries which make up the Talmud.
The Talmud, itself, has two different versions: the Babylonian and the
Jerusalem. The Talmud has been characterized as a product of historical process of continual interpretation.

Another example is provided by the Christian church, most particularly the Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses and Bible Students organizations.
Each of their major creeds have, at one time or another, been regarded as infallible statements, to depart from which would be heresy, and the basis for excommunication or disfellowship from the organization.
This is particularly true of the Apostles’ Creed and the three “ecumenical creeds” of Nicaea (325 AD), Constantinople (381 AD), and Chalcedon (451 AD).

Roman Catholics add to these the papal decrees summarizing in credal form the conclusions of the councils of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the sacraments, transubstantiation (the changing of the substance of the bread and wine in the mass into the body and blood of Christ), confession, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, papal infallibility, and the Assumption of the body and soul of the Virgin Mary to heaven.

More or less binding for Protestants are their distinctive statements of faith:
• the Augsburg Confession of 1530 (Lutheran),
• the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 (Reformed),
• the Westminster Confession of 1646 and
• Shorter Westminster Catechism of 1647 (Presbyterian), and
• others.
Other writings:
During the last seven centuries in the West, some religious writings have attained a semisacred, if not fully sacred, status:

• Imitatio Christi of Thomas à Kempis (1379/80–1471);
• John Bunyan’s (1628–88) The Pilgrim’s Progress; and,
• Mary Baker Eddy’s (1821–1910) Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures. References:
• Cyclopedia of the Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature of the Bible
• New Strong's Expanded, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
• Brown,-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions
• Encyclopedia Brittanica
• Blue Letter Bible
• Wikipedia Judeo-Christian:
The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Greek Scriptures (New Testament) are the two parts of the complete Bible that tell the story of YHVH's relationship with humanity.
The Hebrew Scriptures cover the creation of the world, the history of Israel, the laws and covenants of YHVH God, and the prophecies about the coming Messiah.
The Greek Scriptures reveal how Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) fulfilled those prophecies, how He established a new covenant through His ransom sacrifice (death) and resurrection, and how His followers spread His gospel to the ends of the earth.

NEXT 8/3/2023
(finally!!!) Begin Scriptures study

The Lockman Foundation claims that the NASB "has been widely embraced as a literal and accurate English translation because it consistently uses the Formal Equivalence translation philosophy."[4]
One of the challenges of translating the Bible from its original languages is how to balance accuracy and readability.
Different translation philosophies have different approaches to this issue.
The **Formal Equivalence Translation** philosophy, which seeks to represent each word of the original text with an exact equivalent word in the target language, as far as possible.
This means that the translation tries to preserve the lexical details and grammatical structure of the original, even if it makes the text less natural or smooth in the target language.
Examples of Bible translations that use formal equivalence include: King James Version (KJV), Young's Literal Translation (YLT), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and English Standard Version (ESV).
Other translation philosophies, such as Dynamic Equivalence or Functional Equivalence, are more concerned with conveying the meaning and message of the original text in a way that is understandable and relevant for the target audience.

They use more paraphrasing, idiomatic expressions, and cultural adaptations to achieve this goal, but they may sacrifice some of the literal precision and fidelity of the original.
Examples of Bible translations that use dynamic equivalence include: New International Version (NIV), New Living Translation (NLT), and The Message (MSG).
The main difference between formal equivalence and other translation philosophies is the degree of literalness that they aim for.
Formal Equivalence tries to be as close to the original words as possible, while Dynamic Equivalence and Functional Equivalence try to be as close to the human translators choose as the original meaning as possible.
For example, a Dynamic Equivalence translation of Philippians 2:6 would say that Yeshua is YHVH in His very nature, while a Functional Equivalence translation would say that Yeshua was in the form of YHVH.
The Dynamic Equivalence philosophy can make the translation more readable and understandable for the target audience, but it can also lose some of the accuracy, nuances and details of the original text.
The Functional Equivalence philosophy can make the translation more accurate and consistent with the original text, but it can also make the translation more difficult and unnatural to read for the target audience.
All have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on the purpose and audience of the translation.
Formal Equivalence is more suitable for in-depth study and analysis of the biblical text, while the other philosophies are more suitable for general reading and communication of the biblical message.
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) and Formal Equivalence Translation Philosophy
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is considered by some sources as the most literally translated of major 20th-century English Bible translations.[5]
According to the NASB's preface, the translators had a "Fourfold Aim" in this work:
1. These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
2. They shall be grammatically correct. 3. They shall be understandable.
4. They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work
will ever be personalized.[6]
The NASB is an original translation from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts, based on the same principles of translation, and wording, as the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901.
It offers an alternative to the Revised Standard Version (1946–1952/1971), which is considered by some to be theologically liberal,[7] and also to the 1929 revision of the ASV.[8] The Hebrew text used for this translation was the third edition of Rudolf Kittel's Biblia Hebraica as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was consulted for the 1995 revision.
For Greek, Eberhard Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece was used; the 23rd edition in the 1971 original,[9] and the 26th in the 1995 revision.[8] Seeing the need for a literal, modern translation of the English Bible, the translators sought to produce a contemporary English Bible while maintaining a word-for-word translation style. In cases where word-for- word literalness was determined to be unacceptable for modern readers, changes were made in the direction of more current idioms. In some such instances, the more literal renderings were indicated in footnotes.
The NASB claims to be reliable and faithful to the original languages.
It includes printing of verses as individual units (although more recent editions are available in paragraph format).
YHWH H3068 יהוה :Original -
- Transliteration: Y@hovah
- Phonetic: yeh-ho-vaw'
- Definition: Jehovah = the existing one
1. the proper name of the one true God
a. unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of 0136
- Origin: from H1961
- TWOT entry: 484a
- Part(s) of speech: Proper Name
- Strong's: From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah the Lord. Compare H3050 H3069.Total KJV Occurrences: 96
YHWH (rendered as "Jehovah" in the original ASV/A.S.V.) is rendered LORD or GOD in capital letters in the NASB.[9]
The committee stated the reason as:
This name has not been pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the divine name. Therefore it has been consistently translated LORD.
The only exception is when it occurs in immediate proximity to the word Lord, that is, Adonai.
In that case it is regularly translated GOD in order to avoid confusion.
It is known that for many years YHWH has been transliterated as Yahweh, however no complete certainty attaches to this pronunciation.[10]
This is in direct contrast to the preface of ASV of 70 years earlier, where the committee explained that "the American Revisers...were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the
Old Testament."[11] Genesis 1:1–3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit
of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.[3]
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.[3]
1995 revision
In 1995, the Lockman Foundation reissued the NASB text as the NASB Updated Edition (more commonly, the Updated NASB or NASB95).
Since then, it has become widely known as simply the "NASB", supplanting the 1977 text in current printings, save for a few (Thompson Chain Reference Bibles, Open Bibles, Key Word Study Bibles, et al.).
In the updated NASB, consideration was given to the latest available manuscripts with an emphasis on determining the best Greek text. Primarily, the 26th edition of Nestle-Aland's Novum Testamentum Graece is closely followed.
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is also employed together with the most recent information from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.[12]
The updated NASB represents recommended revisions and refinements, and states that it incorporates thorough research based on current English usage.[13]
Vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure were meticulously revised for greater understanding and smoother reading, hence increasing clarity and readability.[13]
Terms found in Elizabethan English such as "thy" and "thou" have been modernized, while verses with difficult word ordering are restructured. Punctuation and paragraphing have been formatted for
modernization, and verbs with multiple meanings have been updated to better account for their contextual usage.[13]
2020 revision
The 2020 revision is the version used in this study, along with other versions of the Scriptures.
Starting in 2018, the Lockman Foundation posted some passages from "NASB 2020", an update of the 1995 revision.[14]
Key differences from the 1995 revision include:
• an effort to improve "gender accuracy" (for example, adding "or sisters" in italics to passages that reference "brothers", to help convey the mixed- gender meaning of a passage that might otherwise be misunderstood as only speaking of men),
• a shift (where applicable) from the common construct "let us" when proposing action to the more-contemporary construct "let's" (to disambiguate a sort of "imperative" encouragement rather than a seeking of permission that could otherwise be misunderstood from a given passage), and,
• a repositioning of some "bracketed text" (that is, verses or portions of verses that are not present in earliest Biblical manuscripts, and thus printed in brackets in previous NASB editions) out from inline-and-in- brackets down instead to footnotes.[15]

Translators
The translation work was done by a group sponsored by the Lockman Foundation.[16]
According to the Lockman Foundation, the committee consisted of people from Christian institutions of higher learning and from evangelical Protestant, predominantly conservative, denominations (Presbyterian, Methodist, Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, Nazarene, American Baptist, Fundamentalist, Conservative Baptist, Free Methodist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Free, Independent Baptist, Independent Mennonite, Assembly of God, North American Baptist, and "other religious groups").[17][18]
The foundation's Web site indicates that among the translators and consultants who contributed are Bible
scholars with doctorates in biblical languages, theology, "or other advanced degrees", and come from a variety of denominational backgrounds.
More than 20 individuals worked on modernizing the NASB in accord with the most recent research.[18] References
1. "More Information about NASB 2020" (https://www.lockman.org/nasb- bible-info/more-inform
ation-about-nasb-2020/). The Lockman Foundation. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2 0210110073221/https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/more- information-about-nasb-202 0/) from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021. "For the Old
Testament: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) for the books available. Also the LXX, DSS, the Targums, and other ancient versions when
pertinent."
2. "More Information about NASB 2020" (https://www.lockman.org/nasb- bible-info/more-inform
ation-about-nasb-2020/). The Lockman Foundation. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2 0210110073221/https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/more- information-about-nasb-202
0/) from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021. "For the New
Testament: NA28 supplemented by the new textual criticism system that uses all the
available Gr mss. known as the ECM2."
3. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible. http://www.lockman.org
4. "NASB Bible Info" (https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/). Lockman Foundation.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210115054730/https://www.lockman.org /nasb-bible-info/) from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
5. Pope, Christopher. "Comparing Bible Translations: Conclusions" (http://lwelliott.com/Documents/Translations_Summary.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved May 21, 2013.
6. "The Lockman Foundation - NASB, Amplified, LBLA, and NBLH Bibles" (https://web.archive.org/web/20191218085036/http://www.lockman.org/ nasb/nasbprin.php).
Lockman.org.
Archived from the original (http://www.lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php) on December 18, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
7. Harris, R. Laird (1969). "Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible: An Historical and Exegetical
Study". Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p. 58.
8. "NASB Translation Principles" (http://lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php). lockman.org. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
9. "Preface" (http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb-preface.html). Retrieved August 9, 2010.
10. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible (https://books.google.com/books?id=Se9YB864j PMC&pg=PT10) (NASB 1977 ed.)
April 21, 2011. ISBN 9781581351521. Retrieved February 16, 2012.

11. "Preface to the American edition" (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.ii.html). Retrieved August 9, 2010.
12. "Why the NASB?" (http://lockman.org/nasb/nasbcmp.php). The Lockman Foundation.
Retrieved June 16, 2009.
13. "New American Standard Bible" (http://lockman.org/nasb/index.php). The Lockman
Foundation. Retrieved June 16, 2009.
14. "The Lockman Foundation (NASB, Amplified, LBLA, NBLH)" (https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Nonprofit Organization/TheLockmanFoundation/posts/). http://www.facebook.com. Retrieved June 27, 2019. 15. "More Information About NASB 2020" (https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/more-inform ation-about-nasb-2020/). lockman.org. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
16. Metzger, Bruce (2003). The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content (3rd ed.)
Nashville: Abingdon Press. p. 336.
17. BeDuhn, Jason David (2003). Truth in Translation -- Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament. University Press of America. p. 35,39. ISBN 978-0761825562.18. "The Lockman Foundation - NASB, Amplified Bible, LBLA, and NBLH Bibles" (http://www.lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php).
The Lockman Foundation.
Further reading
Marlowe, Michael D. (October 2002). "New American Standard Bible" (http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb.html).
Retrieved March 19, 2005.

The Lockman Foundation (1995). "Preface to the New American Standard Bible" (http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb-preface.html). Retrieved March 19, 2005.
The Lockman Foundation. "New American Standard Bible" (http://lockman.org/nasb/index.php).
Retrieved April 13, 2006.
The Lockman Foundation. "Translation Principles" (http://lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php). Retrieved April 13, 2006.
Ryken, Leland (2002). The Word of God in English. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. ISBN 1-58134-464-3
External links
Official webpage (https://www.lockman.org/new-american-standard- bible-nasb/)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_American_Standard_B ible&oldid=1165287887"

NOTE:
In the Scriptures used in this study from the NASB, there are three (3) different superscripts utilized in the text.
The superscripts beginning with H or G refer to the Strong's numbers. The superscript N indicates a footnote and the R indicates cross-reference verses.
They give the information usually found in the center line concordance. The references are expanded underneath each verse in their order of appearance in the Scripture.

ANOTHER NOTE.
About the name YHWH (or, YHVH or Jehovah) and translations from the Hebrew and Greek.
In these studies, the Creator, the Heavenly Father, may be referred to by His title, God, or by the various translations of His personal name:
Psalms 83:18 YLT
(18) And they know that Thou—(Thy name is Jehovah—by Thyself,) Art the Most High over all the earth!
Psalms 83:18 KJV
(18) That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
JEHOVAH H3068 H3068
יהוה
yehôvâh yeh-ho-vaw'
(the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord.
OR
Psalms 83:18 CLV (Concordant Literal Version)
(18) So that men may realize that You, You, Whose Name is Yahweh, Yours alone, Are the Supreme over all the earth.
The name of God in the Jewish Scriptures is an enigmatic mystery.
Exodus 3:13-15 CLV
(13) Now Moses said to the One, Elohim: Behold! When I am coming to the sons of Israel, and I say to them, The Elohim of your fathers sends me to you, then they will say to me, What about His name? What shall I say to them?
(14) Then Elohim spoke to Moses: I shall come to be just as I am coming to be. And He said: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, I-Shall-Come-to- Be has sent me to you.
(15) And Elohim said further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name for the eon, and this the remembrance of Me for generation after generation.
While people often pronounce God's name as “Yahweh”, “Jehovah” or "Yehovah", the god of the Israelites, His name was revealed to Moses as four Hebrew consonants (YHWH) called the tetragrammaton (the term to .). יהוה ,designate the sacred name of Jehovah, in four letters
The truth is that today, no one really knows how to say it.
In most Bibles the tetragrammaton is translated as “the LORD”.
After the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE), and especially from the 3rd century BCE on, Jews ceased to use the name that is believed to be, Yahweh, apparently for two reasons:
• As Judaism became a universal rather than merely local religion, the
more common noun Elohim, meaning “God,” tended to replace "Yahweh" to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.
AND
• At this same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too
sacred to be spoken; it was replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai (“My Lord”), which was translated as Kyrios (“Lord”) in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures.
The Masoretes, who from about the 6th to the 10th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible, replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew words Adonai or Elohim.
Latin-speaking Christian scholars substituted the "Y" (which does not exist in Latin) with the letters "I "or a "J" (even though the sound, "Jay" was not invented yet, instead it was pronounced in Latin as a variant form of "I").
The vocalization of the tetragrammaton, as "Iehouah", was first introduced by William Tyndale in 1534 A.D., in his translation of the Pentateuch in Exodus 6:3:
Exodus 6:3 Tyndale
(3) and I appeared vnto Abraham, Isaac and Iacob an allmightie God: but in my name Iehouah was I not knowne vnto them.
Eventually, the tetragrammaton became the artificial Latinized name, "Jehovah".
As the use of "Jehovah" spread throughout medieval Europe, the initial letter "J" was pronounced according to the local vernacular language rather than Latin.
How did the letter "J" get the sound we use today?
Both "I" and "J" were used interchangeably by scribes to express the sound of both the vowel and the consonant.
It wasn't until 1524 when Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian known as the "father of the letter "J", made a clear distinction between the two sounds, giving "J" the sound we use today.
Although Christian scholars after the Renaissance and Reformation periods used the term "Jehovah" for the tetragrammaton, in the 19th and 20th centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form "Yahweh".
Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used a form like "Yahweh", and this pronunciation of the tetragrammaton was never really lost.
Many Greek transcriptions also indicated that the tetragrammaton should be pronounced "Yahweh".
How does that apply to the name of Jesus?
Yeshua and His disciples were all Jewish and so they had Hebrew names - although they would likely have spoken Aramaic.
The “J” sound used to pronounce Jesus’ name does not exist in Hebrew or Aramaic, which is strong evidence that Jesus was called something entirely different by His contemporaries.
Jesus' original Hebrew name is Yeshua, which is short for Yehōshu'a. It’s a version of Joshua, and it means “Jehovah-saved”.
The name Jeshua was known and used in Jewish history – you can find men called Yeshua in the roll calls of teams serving in the temple (1Ch_24:11, 2Ch_31:15, Ezr_2:2).

Luke 1:30-31
(30) And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
(31) And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus G2424
Jesus G2424
G2424
Ἰησοῦς
Iēsous
ee-ay-sooce'
Of Hebrew origin [H3091]; Yeshua (that is, Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites: - Yeshua.
H3091
ע יהוֹשוּ ע יהוֹש
yehôshûa‛ yehôshûa‛
yeh-ho-shoo'-ah, yeh-ho-shoo'-ah
Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (that is, Joshua), the Jewish leader: - Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua.
Since not every language shares the same sounds, people have historically adapted their names so as to be able to pronounce them in various languages.
Even in modern languages, there are differences in the pronunciation of "Yeshua".
In English, the name is pronounced with a hard “J” sound while in Spanish, even though the spelling is the same, the name is pronounced with what would be an “H” sound in English.
It is precisely this type of transliteration that has evolved “Yeshua” into the modern “Jesus.”
The New Testament was originally written in Greek (hence, the "Greek Scriptures"), which not only uses an entirely different alphabet than Hebrew but also lacks the “sh” sound found in “Yeshua.”
The Greek Scriptures translators decided to use the Greek “s” sound in place of the “sh” in Yeshua and then added a final “s” to the end of the name
to make it masculine in their language.
When, in turn, the Bible was translated into Latin from the original Greek, the translators rendered the name as “Iesus.”
John 19:19-20 YLT
(19) And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the cross, and it was written, 'Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews;'
(20) this title, therefore, read many of the Jews, because the place was nigh to the city where Jesus was crucified, and it was having been written in Hebrew, in Greek, in Roman.
This inscription has been a standard part of depictions of the crucifixion in Western Christianity for centuries as “INRI,” an abbreviation for the Latin: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum
(pronounced: eye-ee-sus Naz-uh-ree-nuss Rex eye-oo-day-oh-rum), or “Iesus the Nazarene King of the Jews.”
Since Latin was the preferred language of the Catholic Church, the Latin version of “Iesus” was the name for Christ throughout Europe.
Even the 1611 publication of the King James Bible used the “Iesus” spelling.
In Swiss, the “J” is pronounced more like an English “Y”, or the Latin “Ie” as in “Iesus”.
When the Catholic Queen, “Bloody” Mary I took the English throne in 1553, droves of English Protestant scholars fled, and many ultimately found refuge in Geneva.
It was there that a team of some of the most devout English Christian minds of the day produced the Geneva Bible that used the “Jesus” with a "J", Swiss spelling.
The Geneva Bible was an enormously popular translation and was the version of the Bible quoted by Shakespeare and Milton.
Eventually, it was brought over to the New World on the Mayflower. By 1769, most English translations of the Bible were using the “Jesus” spelling popularized by the Geneva Bible.
Thus, the name used by English-speakers today is an English adaptation of a German transliteration of a Latin transliteration of a Greek transliteration of an originally Hebrew name.
Though His name may actually be Joshua, the name "Jesus" wasn't born out of creativity but of translation.
When "Yeshua" is translated into Greek, from which the New Testament is derived, it becomes Iēsous, which in English spelling is "Jesus."
Overall, the difference in names is due to translation.
While any particular religious group may prefer one of the other, the Bible doesn't explicitly deem one translation more respectful than any other.
Whether identified as Jesus or Yeshua, the story of His life and mission remains consistent.
It is unfortunate that the Lockman Foundation decided to interpret the tetragrammaton as a title, such as, LORD or GOD.
Wherever the Tetragrammaton, "יהוה", appears in the text of the Hebrew
Scripture, the the Lockman Foundation's translation to the title they selected will be annotated with [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH], to indicate the proper Name of the Almighty, just as He, Himself, "breathed" it to the original writers (2Ti_3:16-17).
A discussion arose concerning the seven "days" of creation. Some might ask, what does this have to do with Salvation? That's not an easy question to answer in just a few words.
Some believe that the Hebrew word, H853, (Hidden Treasures In the Biblical Text, by Chuck Missler), which consists of two Hebrew letters, the aleph and the tau,
the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, are analagous to the Alpha and Omega in the Greek Scriptures - therefore identifying Yeshua Messiah in its two occurrences in Genesis 1:1 in the original Hebrew text.
If true, Genesis 1:1 would have a direct Scriptural relationship with YHVH's plan of salvation. But that's another study.
The question at hand is about the harmonizing the creative "days" with so many conflicting theories.
To begin, what was the Hebrew definition of a "day"?
A Jewish-calendar day does not begin at midnight, but at either sunset or when three medium-sized stars should be visible, depending on the religious circumstance.
Sunset marks the start of the 12 night hours, whereas sunrise marks the start of the 12 day hours. This means that night hours may be longer or shorter than day hours, depending on the season.
How did first century Jewish understanding of a DAY and a Sabbath Day?
Genesis 1:3-5 NASB
(3) Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
(4) God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
(5) God called the light H216 “day H3117 ,” and the darkness H2822 He called “night H3915 .” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Notice how the darkness preceeds the light in defining when a Day begins.
Yeshua alludes to there being twelve hours in a day.
John 11:9 NASB
(9) Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? G2250 If anyone
walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
The Romans had 12 day-hours and 12 night-hours. Their next day began at midnight.

The first daylight hour (hora prima) began at sunrise, noon was the sixth hour (hora sexta), and the last hour (hora duodecima) ended at sunset. There were no minutes or seconds.
The Jewish day begins at sunset and ends at the next sunset, roughly 24 hours later.
Depending on the time of year there may be more or less hours in the daytime and nighttime.
Yeshua mentioning "twelve hours in a day" was typical of the average amount of sunlight during a day depending on the season.
The length of each hour was relative.
The official Jewish daytime (light) always had twelve hours and the night (darkness) twelve hours.
It was the hours themselves that would be shorter or longer to fit into the season of the year.
Not really an issue when you don't have a clock controlling your every moment.
Ancient Jewish writings always refer to hours in a relative sense. The Romans were similar in their reckoning as well.
Genesis 1:5 should ultimately be our authority and was likely Yeshua’s, as well:
“And there was evening and there was morning, one day H3117”
Each new day had an evening and a morning, or a sunset followed by a sunrise, and lasting until the next sunset.
Scripturally, one day is approximately twenty-four hours: twelve hours in daylight and twelve in darkness, but this is relative because in Christ's time on earth it is the sunset that determines when it starts and finished - not hands on a clock as in modern times.
YHVH's clock is the master clock.

HOWEVER, there is another definition of time in the Scriptures:
2Pe_3:8
2 Peter 3:8 NASB
(8) But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day G2250 is like a thousand years G2094 , and a thousand years like one day.
Being cognizant of the Scriptural counsel against humans believing we can think like YHVH thinks:
Pro_3:5
Proverbs 3:5 NASB
(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
Isa_55:8-9
Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB
(8) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
(9) “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Nonetheless, it seems apparent from the Scriptures that the "days" of creation were the thousand year variety as mortals reckon time (as indicated by Adam's life span - provided in its proper sequence).

BEFORE THE CREATIVE DAYS BEGAN:
Genesis 1:1-2 NASB
(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(2) And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
NOTE:
FWIW, using the Strong's definitions, Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 NASB+
(1) In the beginningH 7225 God H430 created H1254 the heavensH8064 and the earth H776 could be interpreted:
Genesis 1:1 NASB+
(1) First H7225 Elohim, mighty Gods H430 miraculously made from nothing H1254 sky H8064 and earth H776.
Also, these verses appear to have taken place outside of the creative "days" and, therefore, may have taken thousands or millions of years to complete - - or, perhaps, just an instant.

CREATIVE DAY ONE:
Gen_1:3-5
Genesis 1:3-5 NASB
(3) Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
(4) God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
(5) God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one H259 day H3117

CREATIVE DAY TWO:
Gen_1:6-8
Genesis 1:6-8 NASB
(6) Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
(7) God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.
(8) God called the expanse “heaven H8064 .” And there was evening and there was morning, a second H8145 day H3117

CREATIVE DAY THREE:
Gen_1:9-13
Genesis 1:9-13 NASB
(9) Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
(10) And God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the waters He called “seas”; and God saw that it was good.
(11) Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
(12) The earth produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good.
(13) And there was evening H7992 and there was morning, a third day H3117

CREATIVE DAY FOUR:
Gen_1:14-19
Genesis 1:14-19 NASB
(14) Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years;
(15) and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
(16) God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. (17) God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
(18) and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
(19) And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth H7243 day H3117

CREATIVE DAY FIVE:
Gen_1:20-23
Genesis 1:20-23 NASB
(20) Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
(21) And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
(22) God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
(23) And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth H2549 day H3117

CREATIVE DAY SIX:
Gen_1:24-31
Genesis 1:24-31 NASB
(24) Then God said, “Let the earth H776 produce H3318 living creatures
according to their kind: livestock and crawling things and animals of the earth according to their kind”; and it was so.
(25) God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and everything that crawls on the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
(26) Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.”
(27) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
(28) God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (29) Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
(30) and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
(31) And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth H8345 day H3117

NOTE:
Gen_5:1-2
Genesis 5:1-2 NASB
(1) This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
(2) He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them “mankind” on the day when they were created.

CREATIVE DAY SEVEN:

Gen_2:1-3
Genesis 2:1-3 NASB
(1) And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights.
(2) By the seventh H7637 day H3117 God completed His work which He had done, and He rested H7673 on the seventh H7637 day H3117 from all His work which He had done H6213 .
(3) Then God blessed the seventh H7637 day H3117 and sanctified it, because on it He rested H7673 from all His work which God had created and made H6213

NOTE:
rested H7673
שבת :Original -
- Transliteration: Shabath - Phonetic: shaw-bath'
- Definition:
1. to cease, desist, rest a. (Qal)
1. to cease
2. to rest, desist (from labour) b. (Niphal) to cease
c. (Hiphil)
1. to cause to cease, put an end to 2. to exterminate, destroy
3. to cause to desist from
4. to remove
5. to cause to fail
2. (Qal) to keep or observe the sabbath
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 2323, 2323c - Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; to repose that is desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively figuratively or specifically): - (cause to let make to) cease celebrate cause (make) to fail keep (sabbath) suffer to be lacking leave put away (down) (make to) rest rid still take away.

NOTE:
At this point the Scriptural narrative breaks its chronological order and backs up in time to creative "days" THREE through SIX:

Gen_2:4-9
Genesis 2:4-9 NASB
(4) This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 God made earth and heaven.
(5) Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
(6) But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
(7) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person.
(8) The LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
(9) Out of the ground the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

REMAINING IN CREATIVE DAY SIX:
Gen_2:15-25
Genesis 2:15-25 NASB
(15) Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
(16) The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;
(17) but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
(18) Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (19) And out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
(20) The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
(21) So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. (22) And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
(23) Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” (24) For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
(25) And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

STILL REMAINING IN CREATIVE DAY SIX:

Gen_3:1-24
Genesis 3:1-24 NASB
(1) Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
(2) The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
(3) 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.’”
(4) The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!
(5) “For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”
(6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
(7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.
(8) Now they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
(9) Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
(10) He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
(11) And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
(12) The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
(13) Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(14) Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;
(15) And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
(16) To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
(17) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life.
(18) “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
(19) By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
(20) Now the man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
(21) And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
(22) Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
(23) therefore the LORD God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

(24) So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
REMEMBERING THAT EACH CREATIVE DAY (TO YHVH) EQUALS 1,000 YEARS (TO MANKIND),
EVEN STILL REMAINING IN CREATIVE DAY SIX: Gen_4:1-24 (Cain and Abel)
Gen_4:25
Genesis 4:25 NASB
(25) Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another child in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”
Gen_5:3-5
Genesis 5:3-5 NASB
(3) When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
(4) Then the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
(5) So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

NOTE:
In prayerfully considering these Scriptures, it seems that Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden BEFORE Adam was 130 human years old (Gen_5:3).
It also seems that Adam died BEFORE the end of CREATIVE DAY SIX, or, perhaps, within the first 69 human years of CREATIVE DAY SEVEN (Gen_2:17).

NEXT 8/10/2023
Continue Salvation

Mat_25:34
Matthew 25:34 NASB
(34) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Joh_17:24
John 17:24 NASB
(24) “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
1Pe_1:17-21
1 Peter 1:17-21 NASB
(17) If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;
(18) knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
(19) but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
(20) For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
(21) who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Rev_13:1-9
Revelation 13:1-9 NASB
(1) And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blasphemous names.
(2) And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.
(3) I saw one of his heads as if it had been fatally wounded, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
(4) they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
(5) A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.
(6) And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
(7) It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
(8) All who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slaughtered.
(9) If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
Rev_17:8
Revelation 17:8 NASB
(8) “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who live on the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was, and is not, and will come.
Can it be reasonable to conclude, then, that YHVH already knew that Adam would partake of the fruit in the Garden?

Isa_46:9-11
Isaiah 46:9-11 NASB
(9) “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
(10) Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
(11) Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a distant country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it.
And by committing the sin of disobedience by partaking of the fruit, that
death would be introduced into the world?
Gen_2:15-17
Genesis 2:15-17 NASB
(15) Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
(16) The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;
(17) but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Rom_5:12
Romans 5:12 NASB
(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned—
AND, that YHVH had already worked out His plan of salvation for mankind?
Gen_3:15
Genesis 3:15 NASB
(15) And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
So that, with Adam's sin, Adam and Eve, and indeed all mankind, could now learn first-hand the result of using their self-will to govern their own lives their own way, instead of accepting the will of YHVH.
Now, YHVH's Plan for educating the human race and rescuing them - us - from the wages we all so richly deserve, was now in motion and moving forward.
If all that is true, then, Yes, the Sixth "Creative Day" was, indeed, a "very good" day.
Today, people are taught to blame Adam and Eve for EVERYONE's sin and death, in particular. The Scriptures seem to imply that the Garden was outside of earth, along with Paradise.

The Christian teaching of being "born again" is based on the teaching of Yeshua Messiah, who said
Joh_3:3
John 3:3 NASB
(3) Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born G1080 again G509 [Or, from above] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
born G1080 G1080 γεννάω
gennaō
ghen-nah'-o
From a variation of G1085; to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate: - bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring.
LXX related word(s) H3 ev
H1249 bar
H1416 gedud H2981 yevul H3318 yatsa H3384 yarah hi. H4395 meleah H6510 parah H8393 tevuah H8570 tenuvah
again G509 G509 ἄνωθεν
anōthen
an'-o-then
From G507; from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew: -nfrom above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.

Notice that the word, born G1080 attributed to Yeshua refers to procreation.
Yet the second word, again G509 , seems to refer to a non-physical kind of procreation.
Yeshua, Himself, explains this is the verses that follow:
Joh_3:4-12
John 3:4-12 NASB
(4) Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” (5) Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born G1080 of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
(6) “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
(7) “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born G1080 again G509 [Or, from above].’
(8) “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born G1080 of the Spirit.”
(9) Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” (10) Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
(11) “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.
(12) “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Clearly, Yeshua is not referring to a physical rebirth, but a spiritual one, in which a person receives a new nature and a new relationship with YHVH through faith in Yeshua Messiah.

Peter uses a different Greek word, perhaps invented by him (but unfortunately translated as the same English words), to explain this:
1Pe_1:3-5
1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB

(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born G313 again G313 to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(4) to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
(5) who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe_1:17-25
1 Peter 1:17-25 NASB
(17) If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;
(18) knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
(19) but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
(20) For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
(21) who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
(22) Since you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brothers and sisters, fervently love one another from the heart,
(23) for you have been born G313 again G313 not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
(24) For, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY IS LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,
(25) BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
born G313 again G313 G313
ἀναγεννάω
anagennaō
an-ag-en-nah'-o
From G303 and G1080; to beget or (by extension) bear (again): - beget, (bear) X again.

Notice - ONE Greek word, requiring TWO English words to convey its complete meaning.

To be born G313 again G313 (born G1080 again G509) is to experience a transformation of the soul and heart by the work of YHVH's Spirit, who gives birth to spirit.
Joh_3:5-6
John 3:5-6 NASB
(5) Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
(6) “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
The born G313 again G313 (born G1080 again G509) Christian realizes that s/he is a sinner who needs YHVH's forgiveness and grace, and that Yeshua Messiah voluntarily laid down His life on the cross to pay the penalty for mankind's sin and to give humans the possibility of eternal life. Joh_3:14-17
John 3:14-17 NASB
(14) “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
(15) so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
(16) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
(17) “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.
The born G313 again G313 (born G1080 again G509) person also receives Holy Spirit, who, if allowed by the human, guides, teaches, empowers and sanctifies her/him.
Joh_3:6-8
John 3:6-8 NASB
(6) “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
(7) “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
(8) “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

Joh_14:26
John 14:26 NASB
(26) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.
Rom_8:9-11
Romans 8:9-11 NASB
(9) However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
(10) If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
(11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Being born G313 again G313 (born G1080 again G509) is not a result of human effort or ritual, but a gift from YHVH that can only be received by believing in Yeshua Messiah as Lord and Savior.
Eph_2:8-10
Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB
(8) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
(9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
(10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Joh_1:12-13
John 1:12-13 NASB
(12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,
(13) who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

Another perspective on Yeshua and his reference to being “born again”

This term was already in use during 1st century. This was not new for Yeshua. Why did Nicodemus ask what he did? Strange question for a learned Pharisee who was a sage, a respected member of the Sanhedrin.

Nicodemus understood what it meant he just did not understand how it applied to him.

The ? Is not a serious one but is hyperbole! The English translation from Greek written by someone from a hebrew cultural perspective, someone thinking in Hebrew whose first language is likely Hebrew, causes a modern reading of the text to be difficult to understand. It would not have been problem in the 1st century

He is trying to connect Yeshuas born again or born from above with who Yeshua is...

Who are you Yeshua (your not a scholar like me) to tell me I Have to be born from above.This is a Hebrew idiomatic expression.

In the mind of Nocodemus, Yeshua is telling him that he must do as the proselytes do. I can imagine Nicodemus thinking to himself, how dare you! I’ve served God my whole life and you say I have to do what a gentile does?

Notes: As they recieve torah on Sinai it is as if they were born from above or born again. This was regarded as a new birth. Being Jewish was not enough to save you, there must be a conversion of the heart, spiritual circumcision if you will.

Talmud speaks of a proselyte like a newly born child

Usually this applies to one who turns to YHVH and becomes part of Israel. They are cleansed in a mikvah, aka immersed aka baptized. They are now born again. This was a Jewish practice for those turning to th faith.

Water and the spirit. Also a hebrew expression. It is called a doublet... Expressing things the same way twice. This is very common in Hebrew.

(Exa. (Judges 13:3) You are sterile and childless... Same thing in a different way. Says it twice. She knows sterile means childless.
Solution: you will conceieve and have a son. That is how it works, as we know. Hebrew communicates the thought by saying it twice.
He got up and went, he looked up and saw...Where is Frank? Frank got up and went to the store.

In Hebrew communication happens often in doublets.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, spirit to spirit.
You need to be moved by God's spirit, have encounter with God.

This is about more than cognitive-emotional responses. To do an outward application of the commands without doing it from the heart is legalism.

Even as a religious Jew Nicodemus still had to be “born again.” Going through the motions are not enough.

Yeshua gives example to Nico from Numbers regarding the serpent on a pole. The word for bite in Hebrew doesn't mean simply biting but fatally biting, causing death spiritually not just in the flesh. What is required of them to be saved? Trust in God, faithfulness because of faith. The pole had no power, the faith of those who trusted Gods word that they would be healed just by looking at the serpent and it would heal them and restore them to Relationship with God.

Restoration of a relationship with God which was lost or not previously known is the event. Being born again is a deep change that happens within. Loving God with all of one's heart, soul, and strength. Not just with the mind.

Is the spirit a new thing? Yeshua goes away and now spirit can come? The spirit never worked before in the lives of God's people? The dispensation of the spirit is based on a paradigm.

Vs.8) when He comes... Sounds like the spirit had not manifested before...

The builders of the tabernacle were anointed with God's spirit. The invisible manifestation empowered these people to use their natural abilities to build the tabernacle according to the pattern God gave to Moses. Skill, ability, knowlege and all kinds of crafts according the Torah.

Pauls's list in Corinthians is not exhaustive.

Num. 27:18) Moses anoint Joshua. A man in whom is the spirit gives the authority to Joshua. The spirit is said to be in Joshua, Joseph, Moses and so on. The spirit anointed them in the same way as the apostles. The prophets were anointed by the spirit. The spirit seems to have a more active role but is not doing something now it never did before.

Judges 3:8-10 Authniel is anointed, the spirit comes upon him he is now a messiah.

The spirit can be in, with, upon in Greek. Hebrew does not describe things the same way as Greek. The style of communication is different. The argument that in Greek uses different expressions is not a valid argument. The translation of the text is the reason this is significant, the original meaning is not affected.

Samson had the spirit come upon him in power! This is still an anointing of the spirit. Obviously the spirit is at work in people's lives thousands of years before Yeshua.

Saul is anointed as king, 1 Sam. 10:6 spirit of lord comes upon him in power, he prophesies and is changed to a new person.

Why is my new creature in Messiah so similar to the old? Because I am human. Duh! We are not instantly changed into a new person that never sins again. The evangelical Dogmas have tainted the reality of anointing and what the work of the spirit is.

1 sam 16) anointing of David
2 chron Same with azaria the prophet
Psalm 51:10-12) Don't take spirit from me o lord?
Some say the spirit cannot be removed from a “Christian”
This verse has nothing to do with this.
David did not plead to lose spirit but that God would not remove his favor as he did from Saul.

The spirit convicts the world of sin. Spirit helps complete the message of God through the apostolic writings. The spirit will not lead us into anything not already revealed by God in Scripture.

John 7:37) last day of tabernacles. Yeshua says come to drink of me. There was a ceremony where water is being poured out. It says up to that time spirit had not yet been (given) Given not in the text...

The spirit had not what? Because Yeshua not yet been glorified...
This is cited as a distinction between new and old covenants. Spirit is different.
Is this true? What does the text say?

To receive the spirit is not theological.
Response in text is “Surely this man is the prophet!” vs. 40 messiah
He is identified as messiah because of his words regarding the outpouring of spirit.

Substitute “given” with “poured out.” Both words are supplied. Most bibles dont italicize supplied words in text. KJV and Nasb are some that do.

Given?
Gen. 1) spirit of God is hovering.
John 7 seems to say spirit is not yet in existence. We know that is not true.
Spirit was active in creation. Think Hebrew not Greek.

NEXT 8/17/2023
Next week we will discuss an article from thinkersbiblestudies.com. View Creation Days, and People before Adam. Continue salvation.

Genesis is not a history book.
"Is Genesis History" (Amazon Prime Video - Free) - Dr. Del Tackett.

The English translation of Genesis is not the same meaning as the original Hebrew.
Richard Lundborg, the writer of the site, is a lawyer and businessman - apparetnly financially extremely well off.
He is also the founder of the Lundborg Foundation, which he claims provides financial support for his website, along with his own financial investments.

Hebrew Vowel Points - Gen_3:16 Genesis 3:16 CLV
(16) And to the woman He says, "Multiplying, yea, multiplying am I your grief and the groaning of your pregnancy. In grief shall you bear sons. "Yet by your husband is your restoration, and he shall rule over you.

NOTE:
This rendering points out that the mother's sorrows will begin with each birth. Now, the mother has to watch as her children have their own travails as they disobey their mother, just the way Eve disobeyed her Father (YHVH).
The upshot of this is that there is much that YHVH decided was not necessary for man to be told all the details. But He already had a plan for mankind's salvation before 'the Fall".

There are other possible translations of Genesis 3:16 which change the interpretation. A few of helpful links can be found below.

https://ishshahsstory.com/2015/08/06/another-look-at-genesis-316/

https://kbonikowsky.com/2016/09/14/esv-changes-genesis-316-a-brief-history-of-this-verses-transformation/

https://skipmoen.com/2009/10/vowel-problems/

Psa_32:8
Psalms 32:8 NASB
(8) I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will advise you with My eye upon you.
Psa_119:99
Psalms 119:99 NASB
(99) I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.
2Ti_3:16-17
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB
(16) All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;
(17) so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.
2Pe_1:20-21
2 Peter 1:20-21 NASB
(20) But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation,
(21) for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
IOW, YHVH made sure the human authors wrote exactly what He wanted them to write - no more, no less.
1Co_4:6 (CONTEXT - 1Co_1:10 through 1Co_4:21)
1 Corinthians 4:6 NASB
(6) Now these things, brothers and sisters, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos on your account, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
These authors weren’t passive robots, however.
YHVH didn’t erase their personalities or commandeer their minds. They wrote as thinking, feeling human beings.
God "breathed" His Word through their unique personalities and educations and backgrounds and experiences to enable - to inspire - them to write divine truth.
YHVH’s Word is true because YHVH’s character is true.
Tit_1:2
Titus 1:2 NASB
(2) in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
He is not a liar; YHVH of Truth cannot speak false words.
To doubt the truthfulness and trustworthiness of YHVH’s Word is to doubt the truthfulness and trustworthiness of YHVH Himself.
Some people think that while the Bible’s “spiritual” concepts are true enough, much of the other content (say, historical or geographical details) probably isn’t.
But this assumption is false, for Scripture doesn’t make any restriction on the kinds of subjects to which it speaks truthfully.
If the Bible isn’t fully reliable at every point, how can we be certain it’s fully reliable at any point?
Looking to Scripture itself, we find numerous claims to pervasive truthfulness (e.g., Psa_12:6; Psa_19:7-9; Psa_119:160; Pro_30:5-6; Joh_10:35; Joh_17:17).

Every word is described as flawless (Psa_12:6; Pro_30:5), eternal (Psa_119:89; Isa_40:8; Mat_24:35), unbreakable (Joh_10:35), boundless in perfection (Psa_119:96), and completely reliable (2Pe_1:19).
Yeshua affirmed it concisely: “[God’s] word is truth” (Joh_17:17).
Scripture’s truthfulness is so comprehensively assumed, in fact, that entire arguments can hinge on appeals to a single word (Mat_22:45), the number of a noun (Gal_3:16), even the tense of a verb (Mat_22:32).
When properly interpreted, the Bible will never mislead you.
What it says, YHVH says.
UNFORTUNATELY, there's the rub.
Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek all have words and nuances that have NO - that is, ZERO - English equivalents.
Unless we read Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and from the there the Bible in its original languages, the interpretation has inherent flaws.
But that's another study.

The Bible is an ancient document.
It can feel foreign.
Some parts are confusing (2Pe_3:16).
Nevertheless, the Bible is clear enough (Psa_119:130).
There's an old saying that Scripture is shallow enough for a child to wade, but deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Sometimes Scripture is difficult to understand because it’s talking about complicated things.
Often, however, it’s hard to grasp because we simply don’t like what it says.

As Mark Twain famously quipped,
“It ain’t those parts of the Bible I can’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts I do understand.”
Often it’s not that the Bible is unclear, but that we’re unreceptive.
Scripture contains all the words from YHVH that we need in order to know Him truly, trust Him fully, obey Him as perfectly as we can, and enjoy Him abundantly (2Pe_1:3).
Likewise, Paul says, the Bible is so complete that through it we are not partly or mostly equipped for every good work, but,
2Ti_3:16-17
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB
(16) All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;
(17) so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.
While the Bible may not tell us everything we WANT to know, it does tell us everything we NEED to know.
Its truth isn’t exhaustive, but it is enough (Deu_29:29; Pro_25:2). It contains all we need to know in order to be adopted as a son of YHVH (2Ti_3:15; Jas_1:18, Jas_1:21; 1Pe_1:23) and to obey YHVH in faith (2Ti_3:16; 2Pe_1:3-4).
No wonder severe warnings accompany adding to or removing any of its words (Deu_4:2, Deu_2:32; Pro_30:5-6).
Again, while the Bible may not tell us everything we WANT to know, it does tell us everything we NEED to know. Its truth isn’t exhaustive, but it is enough.
The case can be made that every corruption of biblical Christianity begins by compromising the principle of sufficiency. Every deviation from Christianity established by Christ and the apostles begins by adding to the Bible or by taking away from it. Every deviation is the Bible plus or minus something.

2Ti_4:2-4
2 Timothy 4:2-4 NASB
(2) preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction.
(3) For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,
(4) and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Rom_15:4
Romans 15:4 NASB
(4) For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Eph_4:11-16
Ephesians 4:11-16 NASB
(11) And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers,
(12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;
(13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
(14) As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
(15) but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,
(16) from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Joh_16:12-13
John 16:12-13 NASB
(12) “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time.
(13) “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
1Ti_1:3-11
1 Timothy 1:3-11 NASB
(3) Just as I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, to remain on at Ephesus so that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines,
(4) nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to useless speculation rather than advance the plan of God, which is by faith, so I urge you now.
(5) But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.
(6) Some people have strayed from these things and have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
(7) wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
(8) But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
(9) realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and worldly, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
(10) for the sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
(11) according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
Ecc_12:12-13
Ecclesiastes 12:12-13 NASB
(12) But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive study is wearying to the body.
(13) The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
Pro_3:5-7
Proverbs 3:5-7 NASB
(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
(6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
(7) Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
Pro_13:13-20
Proverbs 13:13-20 NASB
(13) One who despises the word will do badly, But one who fear Is the commandment will be rewarded.
(14) The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn aside from the snares of death.
(15) Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is their own disaster.
(16) Every prudent person acts with knowledge, But a fool displays foolishness.
(17) A wicked messenger falls into adversity, But a faithful messenger brings healing.
(18) Poverty and shame will come to one who neglects discipline, But one who complies with rebuke will be honored.
(19) Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.
(20) One who walks with wise people will be wise, But a companion of fools will suffer harm.
Pro_18:1-7
Proverbs 18:1-7 NASB
(1) One who separates himself seeks his own desire; He quarrels against all sound wisdom.
(2) A fool does not delight in understanding, But in revealing his own mind.
(3) When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes, And with dishonor comes taunting.
(4) The words of a person’s mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
(5) To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Nor to suppress the righteous in judgment.
(6) A fool’s lips bring strife, And his mouth invites beatings.
(7) A fool’s mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul.
Pro_19:8-9
Proverbs 19:8-9 NASB
(8) One who gets wisdom loves his own soul; One who keeps understanding will find good.
(9) A false witness will not go unpunished, And one who declares lies will perish.
2Co_11:13-15
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NASB
(13) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
(14) No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
(15) Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
2Pe_2:1-3
2 Peter 2:1-3 NASB
(1) But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
(2) Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
(3) and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Mat_24:10-13
Matthew 24:10-13 NASB
(10) “And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.
(11) “And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.
(12) “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.
(13) “But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.

NEXT 8/25/2023
We'll resume our Scriptural study of Salvation, from Jewish and Judeo- Christian Bibles.

Some Scriptures from the Bible that summarize what the Hebrew Scriptures teach are:
Gen_1:1-3
Genesis 1:1-3 NASB+
(1) R1In the beginningH7225 R2GodH430 R3createdH1254a the heavensH8064 and the earthH776.
R1
Psa_102:25; Isa_40:21; Joh_1:1-2; Heb_1:10
R2
Psa_89:11; Psa_90:2; Act_17:24; Rom_1:20; Heb_11:3 R3
Job_38:4; Isa_42:5; Isa_45:18; Rev_4:11
created H1254a
bara (135b); a prim. root; to shape, create:—
brings about(1), clear(2), create(6), created(32), creates(1), creating(3), Creator(4), cut them down(1), make(2), produced(1).

NOTE:
A question arises: Just how many "beginnings" were there?
The first word of the Hebrew text of Genesis , H7225 , as traditionally
vocalized means literally "In a beginning." However, tradition gives it the meaning and translation "In the beginning."
The literal meaning is considered as contradicting reality.
Therefore, Rashi suggested a syntactic solution that maintains the traditional meaning. (Shlomo Yitzchaki (Latin: Salomon Isaacides; French: Salomon de Troyes, February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105), generally known by the acronym Rashi, was a medieval French rabbi, the author of comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He was, and is still, a highly repected sage and rabbi.)

However, Rashi's syntactic solution, as is shown below, requires a change in the vocalization of the second word of Genesis.
Should we accept the traditional Masoretic vocalization along with its literal meaning?
NOTE:
Masoretic (WEBSTER)
MASORET'IC, a. [Heb. to deliver, whence masora, tradition, whence the Masorites, the adherents to the traditionary readings of the Scriptures.] Relating to the Masorites, who interpreted the Scriptures by tradition, and invented the Hebrew points to fix the true reading and pronunciation. Whence the vowel points are denominated masoretic.
This is the basis for modern Hebrew. Since ancient Hebrew is all consonants, this teaches how a word should be said, according to their interpretation.
Many modern Christian Bibles, take their interpretations and translations using Masoretic texts.
There are differing traditions about how Masoretic texts should be read, but the Masoretic texts are generally considered authoritative.
The Septuagint, however, has been used since 2nd century BCE. Yet, while Greek was the lingua franca, the Septuagint was still subject to human interpretation.
However,
Heb_11:6
Hebrews 11:6 NASB
(6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek G1567 H1875 Him.
Deu_4:29
Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB

(29) “But from there you will seek H1245 the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search H1875 for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
The most commonly given English translation of Gen_1:1, b'reshit bara elohim et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz, is:
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
This translation, however, may be inaccurate.
If so, the misunderstanding is not restricted to renderings into English but may occur in direct biblical translations into every language.
The problem is that "b'reshit" is translated "In the beginning."
If the meaning were, in fact, In the beginning, the first word would have been vocalized slightly differently, with a "qamatz" vowel underneath the "bet," making the word "bareshit."
What is written, however, is a "shva" under the "bet," making the word "b'reshit," meaning "In a beginning."
That is, the "qamatz" serves as a definite article, while a "shva" would serve as an indefinite article.
In its traditional written form, the Bible has no vowel signs to distinguish between these two possible readings.
The vocalization that has been handed down by tradition, and documented in vocalized versions of the Bible, is the
one that has the first word spoken and written as b'reshit, with the indefinite article.
This is the vocalization that is used in every standard and scholarly text of the Hebrew Bible and in every synagogue.
It has been heard it on Simhat Torah and on Shabbat B'reshit when the annual Torah-reading cycle begins anew with the first chapter of Genesis.
It should be noted that it is not just translations that may be wrong.

It appears, at least today, that even in Israel, those whose mother tongue is Hebrew understand the word "b'reshit" as meaning "In the beginning" and are taken aback when "In a beginning" is proposed.
However, this reading perhaps derives from familiarity with the Bible's translations into other languages.
Even in the standard multi-volume Even-Shoshan dictionary of the Hebrew language,1 the first entry for "b'reshit" is "bat'hila, barishona" [in the beginning], both with definite articles.
It is not totally surprising that native speakers of Hebrew might understand differently from what they hear themselves say, because English has many expressions that literally mean other that what people believe they mean, such as "head over heels", which should be "heels over head" when its intent is to describe someone flipping through the air, either literally or figuratively.
This problem was noted as early as the 11th century by Rashi, who provided a grammatical solution.
That is, he treated what is normally considered the first sentence as a relative clause modifying what is normally considered the second sentence.
In Rashi's treatment, the traditional first sentence is treated as a relative clause; vocalized as b'reshit b'ro elohim et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz.
It leads into the traditional second sentence, v'ha'aretz hay'ta tohu vavohu v'hoshekh `al-p'ney t'hom v'ruah elohim m'rahefet `al-p'ney hamayim (Gen_1:2), now considered the main clause modified by the relative clause.
Under this vocalization, the relative clause (Gen_1:1) can be translated into English as:
"In the beginning of God's creation of the heavens and the earth", [leading into the main clause, translated as] "the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, [and] God's wind hovered on the face of the waters" (Gen_1:2).
This different division into sentences is not a problem.
In the original Hebrew text there is no mark to show where a sentence ends, and the division is also something determined by tradition.

Here, b'reshit b'ro elohim is a construct form in which the definite article would show up only in the last word, and
only if that last word were not a proper noun.
Since in this case the last word is is the proper noun "elohim" the definite article is only implied.
The primary support offered for this interpretation is that the traditional first sentence now has a grammatical construction that is identical to that found in the so-called second Creation narrative that begins in the second half
of Gen_2:4 :
b'yom `asot hashem elohim eretz v'shamayim.
This narrative can be translated as "on the day of the Lord God's making earth and heavens."
There is one main reason to discount Rashi's interpretation.
Rashi offers one change in vocalization to avoid another change in vocalization. Who is to say which change is more acceptable, especially in a tradition that devoutly adheres to traditional vocalizations?
The grammatical approach to solving the problem arose from an attempt to keep to the understanding that YHVH is talking about the beginning of the universe.
That is, a syntactic change is accepted to preserve the understood semantics.
Nahum Sarna's recent translation 2 is:
"When God began to create heaven and earth", . . .
Sarna thus skirts the issue entirely by converting beginning to a verb form, thus avoiding the need for any article.
Robert Alter offers his translation 4:
"When God began to create heaven and earth"
A SEMANTIC SOLUTION

What happens if we keep the traditional vocalizations and understand it as written?
That is, what are the implications of the semantics of the text as it is written?
If we accept that the first sentence of Genesis says b'reshit bara elohim et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz,
that means what can be translated into English as
"In a beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
There are several advantages to doing so:
1. This interpretation fits the traditional vocalization.
2. YHVH is indeed literally talking about more than one Creation. The first is that of the universe during some time preceding Creative Day One. Then there are a myriad of creations of light, night, day, the earth, oceans, plants, animals, and finally human beings, created in YHVH's own image.
3. This interpretation of multiple creations solves the age-old question of the origin of Cain's wife (Gen_4:17). At the time she is mentioned, there had been only four people mentioned, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. Cain had killed Abel. There was no mention of any sister. Besides, would Cain marry his sister? Perhaps YHVH is describing with Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, only one representative creation among many. Another of these creations could easily provide a proper and unrelated woman for Cain to marry. Indeed, this interpretation is more appealing than to conjecture that Cain married a previously unmentioned sister.
4. This interpretation provides the other creations that can explain the existence of the people who might want to kill Cain for having murdered Abel (Gen_4:14) and of the people for whom Cain built a city (Gen_4:17).
The Midrash speculating about the great flood in Noah's time remarks that there were many creations.
"Rabbi Abbahu said: 'The Almighty created many worlds and destroyed them . . . until our present world was formed.'"
CONCLUSIONS
If we keep the traditional vocalizations and understand it as written, a literal translation and understanding of the first sentence of the Bible says that the creation of the universe described in Genesis was only one of possibly many creations.

This literal meaning was considered contradicting organizational dogma, and thus incorrect.
Rashi attempted a syntactic solution to resurrect what is believed to be the intended understanding.
If literal semantics are accepted, it answers some other questions about Genesis, namely:
From where did the other people that are mentioned in the text come?
In addition, the literal meaning of multiple creations might be YHVH's clue to solve some mysteries in cosmology.
For all the details, please see the full report, from which this part of the study is derived.3

NOTES
1. A. Even-Shoshan, The New Dictionary: Complete Treasury of the Hebrew Language (Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sefer, 1983).
2. JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (New York, NY: Jewish Publication Society, 1999).
3. http://se.uwaterloo.ca/~dberry/FTP_SITE/tech.reports/breshit.pdf
4.
The Hebrew Bible - Robert Alter
Gen_1:2
(2) And the earthH776 was a N1 R1formlessH8414 and desolateH922 emptinessH922, and R2darknessH2822 was overH5921 the N2surfaceH6440 of the deepH8415, and R3the SpiritH7307 of GodH430 R4was hoveringH7363b overH5921 the N2surfaceH6440 of the watersH4325.
N1
Or waste
R1
Jer_4:23
R2
Job_38:9
N2
Lit face of
R3
Psa_104:30; Isa_40:13-14

hoveringH7363b
rachaph (H934b); a prim. root; to hover:— hovering(1), hovers(1).
R4
Deu_32:11; Isa_31:5
N2
Lit face of
Gen_1:3
(3) Then R1GodH430 saidH559, “N1Let there be lightH216”; and there was lightH216.
R1
Psa_33:6; Psa_33:9; 2Co_4:6
N1
I.e., a command, not a request; and so throughout the chapter

Gen_1:1-3 from the The Hebrew Bible - Robert Alter
CHAPTER 1 When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God s breath hovering over the waters, God said, “Let there be light ” And there was light.

NOTES from Robert Alter:
CHAPTER 1
2. welter and waste.
The Hebrew tohu wabohu occurs only here and in two later biblical texts that are clearly alluding to this one. The second word of the pair looks like a nonce term coined to rhyme with the first and to reinforce it, an effect I have tried to approximate in English by alliteration. Tohu by itself means “emptiness” or “futility,” and in some contexts is associated with the trackless vacancy of the desert.
hovering. The verb attached to God’s breath-wind-spirit (ruah) elsewhere describes an eagle fluttering over its young and so might have a connotation of parturition or nurture as well as rapid back-and-forth movement.

NEXT 9/1/2023
Continue Scriptural SALVATION study, beginning with Gen. 3:16.

The upshot of this is that there is much that YHVH decided was not necessary for man to be told all the details. But He already had a plan for mankind's salvation before 'the Fall".

Genesis 3:16 NASB
(16) To the woman He said, “I will greatly H7235 multiply H7235 Your pain H6093 in childbirth, In pain H6089 you shall deliver children; Yet your desire H8669 will be for H413 your husband H376 , And he shall rule H4910 over you.”
Genesis 3:16 HSB
(16) H413 'el- to H802 ha·'ish·Shah Unto the woman H559 'a·Mar, he said H7235 har·Bah I will greatly H7235 'ar·Beh multiply H6093 itz·tze·vo·Nech thy sorrow H2032 ve·he·ro·Nech, and thy conception H6089 be·'E·tzev in sorrow H3205 te·le·Di thou shalt bring forth H1121 va·Nim; children H413 ve·'el- will be for H376 'i·sheCh [shall be] to thy husband H8669 te·Shu·ka·Tech, and thy desire H1931 ve·Hu and he H4910 yim·shol- and he shall rule H0 Bach. ?sa·Mek

From Br. Lee Anthony:
(for more, please visit Bible Talk with Lee Anthony, at: https://studytheway.org/ )

"I have found a whole bunch of information regarding the alternate translations of Gen_3:16 in more than one place which are all interesting."

NOTE:
From Br. Lee Anthony's E-Word Study – Text and Tradition for 8/30/2023:

More about text and tradition

Gen_3:16
“To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children;
Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

The traditional translation and interpretation of this verse (and those around it) assumes that the man and woman are being cursed by God.
It also assumes the man was designed to be the authority figure in the relationship.
We will not deal with the second part today.
I want to focus on the supposed “curse” on the woman.
A careful reading of the text reveals the serpent was cursed, and the ground was cursed.
This is prescriptive, but for the man and woman, it is descriptive. God is describing what will happen because of their sin.
This is not the only issue, however, as you probably guessed.
The original Hebrew had no vowels or syllables and, as a result, some words are subject to interpretation based on context.
Many of our modern translations are based on the Masoretic text, which was a translation done roughly a thousand years after Yeshua.
The Masoretic placed the vowel points into the text, thus systematizing the text.
They decided how the text should be read based on their traditions.
Christianity has largely accepted this Jewish tradition even though they tend to reject many others.
There are two possible renderings of “greatly H7235 multiply H7235.” The Hebrew letters making up the word could be Resh-Bet-Hey or Aleph-Resh-Bet.
The word could change based on the vowel point added.
If the word is “Arab" H693 instead of a repetition of “Rabah” H7235 the meaning changes to “to lie in wait, or to ambush” instead of “greatly multiply.
A language scholar named Bushnell offered this as a possible translation in the early 1900s in the book, God’s Word to Women.

[NOTE: a free PDF of this book can be downloaded at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=-
web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAIQw7AJahcKEwi4-erF--
YuBAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg&url=-
https%3A%2F%2Fgodswordtowomen.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%-
2F10%2Fgods_word_to_women1.pdf&psig=AOvVaw0-LkBcYyIK9_-
W2NHgx8lgL&ust=1693744634307431&opi=89978449

Because this was in opposition to established church tradition and also because Bushnell was a woman at the turn of the century, it was mostly ignored.
Imagine that.
Based on this reading, the translation would say, “a lier in wait (or a snare) has increased your sorrow.” In this case, it would mean that the serpent catching the woman in a snare has caused the sorrow.

So, what do we do about the conception H2032 part?
The Hebrew text mentions bearing children, but does it actually say that
God is going to make childbearing itself more painful?
In Hebrew, the word
“hērāyôn” H2032
translated conception is also found in Rth_4:13 and Hos_9:1.
There is a different Hebrew word used for giving birth, which is “yālad.”
H3205
It is translated “bear, bring forth, deliver” in this verse. Interestingly, the Septuagint translates “hērāyôn” H2032 as sighing.
I also want to note that in verse 17, the word translated “sorrow” or “toil” H6093 regarding the man is the same word used regarding the woman, which is usually translated “pain.”
Taking all of this into account, a probable translation would be, “a lier in wait (or a snare) has increased your sorrow in pregnancy in sorrow (or “and sighing”) you will bring forth children.”
Once we consider the second part about the “desire” for her husband and him “ruling over you,” it should come together.
Even without digging into part two, the context seems to be more about relationships or the collapsing of said relationships.
God’s relationship with Adam was affected, as was Adam’s relationship to the earth.
The serpent’s deceit affected the woman’s relationship with her children.
This caused the entire process of bearing and raising those children in a now broken world to be painful.
What seems more likely?

God adding more pain to women during birth or the serpent’s seduction of the woman leading to raising children in pain and sorrow.
Raising children is difficult, but I can tell you what is not a complaint for the vast majority of humanity. The act which leads to conception.
Next week we will look at the second part of verse 16.
We will attempt to determine what the Hebrew says and whether our English translations are more faithful to the text or to our long held traditions."

NEXT 9/8/2023

Gen_3:16 - "Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” [NASB]

Genesis 3:16 NASB
(16) To the woman He said, “I will greatly H7235 multiply H7235 Your pain H6093 in childbirth, In pain H6089 you shall deliver children; Yet your desire H8669 will be for H413 your husband H376 And he shall rule H4910 over you.”

Genesis 3:16 HSB
(16) H413 'el- to H802 ha·'ish·Shah Unto the woman H559 'a·Mar, he said H7235 har·Bah I will greatly H7235 'ar·Beh multiply H6093 itz·tze·vo·Nech thy sorrow H2032 ve·he·ro·Nech, and thy conception H6089 be·'E·tzev in sorrow H3205 te·le·Di thou shalt bring forth H1121 va·Nim; children H413 ve·'el- will be for H376 'i·sheCh [shall be] to thy husband H8669 te·Shu·ka·Tech, and thy desire H1931 ve·Hu and he H4910 yim·shol- and he shall rule H0 Bach. sa·Mek

from Br. Lee Anthony

Which text? Which tradition?

Gen_3:16 (NASB20) “To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

Greek Septuagint
καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ εἶπεν πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὰς λύπας σου καὶ τὸν στεναγμόν σου ἐν
λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνα καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα σου ἡ ἀποστροφή σου καὶ αὐτός σου κυριεύσει

Hebrew text (WLC)

אל־ה א שּׁה אמר הרבּה ארבּה ע צּבוֹנ וה רנ בּעצב תּלדי בנים ואל־אי שׁ תּשׁוּקת והוּא י משׁל־בּ׃

As I mentioned last week, we are not finished with Gen_3:16.
The focus of the
second part of this verse will be the word "desire".
This is translated from the Hebrew “ təšûqâ” which generally means "desire".
However, the word underlined above in the Greek Septuagint is “apostrophé” which means to turn away or turn back.
Almost all modern translations use the word "desire".
Interestingly, almost every ancient version of scripture uses some form of the word "turning".
Among those versions are the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and even the Latin Vulgate.

Here is a fun fact.
Early “church fathers” such as Clement, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen all only seem to be familiar with the use of the word "turning" Even in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate we find the word “conversio.”
You can probably guess what that one means.

There has been much study done on this issue. The word “ təšûqâ” occurs only three times in Scripture.
We find it in Song of Songs 7:10 a.k.a.
Song of Solomon 7:10 NASB
(10) “I am my beloved’s, And his desire H8669 is for me.
Gen_3:16, and
Gen_4:7.
Genesis 4:7 NASB
(7) “If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire H8669 is for you, but you must master it.”
A look at these verses reveals that “desire” can certainly be an acceptable translation in all three verses.
The question is, why is it not translated this way in Gen_3:16 in older versions of the text?
This rare Hebrew word is not entirely understood, which is one good reason there is no scholarly consensus about how it should be translated.
In Gen_3:16, the common view teaches this is about sexual desire, which is a bit suspect if you think about it.
The idea of sexual desire might make sense in Song of Songs, yet it certainly does not fit with God’s warning to Cain about sin in Gen_4:7.
Of course, desire can be literal, figurative, sexual, or cognitive.You get the idea.

Some doctrines say this means the woman will desire to control the man.
There is, of course, a Bible for that.
The NET says,
“You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”

In 1528, an Italian monk named Panino translated “ təšûqâ” as "lust". He based his translation on commentary from the Babylonian Talmud, which speaks about the “ten curses of Eve.” Every English translation since has adopted this idea employing words like desire or craving.
What if the ancient translations were better renderings?
Let us consider this verse using the word "turning" instead of "desire".
Remember that this is a description of what is going to happen because of the disobedience of the man and woman, not a prescriptive curse from God.
The woman is now going to have more difficulty in bearing and raising children.
Instead of the woman looking to please God first, she now seeks to please her husband first.
If her “turning” is now toward her husband and he will rule over her, perhaps it is speaking of authority.
Now the man assumes the role of being her authority instead of God being the authority of the two together as equals.
God intended the human pair to be one, and he was to be their authority.
Paul tells husbands to love their wives as the Messiah loved the church.
You might be thinking about those verses where Paul supposedly tells women to “shut up” in the assembly and that men are the “head,” so what they say goes.
But, think carefully about what Yeshua’s love for us is like.
Sin has caused the fabric of human relationships to become frayed, and the relationship between God and man has been
weakened.
In many cases, relationships are completely broken. The role of God in our lives and the roles of men and women in marriage have been corrupted by sin.
A closer examination of Gen_2:18, where the woman is called a “helper H5828 ” should be enough to make you at least consider the possibility of this translation.
The most important word here is “Ezer. H5828 ”
In scripture, “ezer” usually describes God.
Here are a few verses to consider where “ezer” is used. (Exo_18:4)
(Deu_33:7, Deu_33:26, Deu_33:29)
(Psa_33:20)
(Psa_115:9-11)
Continuing on into our verse, the common Hebrew conjunction and
preposition translated above as “yet your” can also mean “toward.”
In the Septuagint, the Greek preposition “pros” is used where it is translated above as “for your” husband.
“Pros” can also mean “toward.”
Based on the older versions, our translation would be something like:
“Your turning will be toward your husband, and he will exercise authority over you.”
If we connect the possible rendering from last week to this one, Gen_3:16 could read;
“a lier in wait has increased your sorrow in pregnancy (or and sighing) in sorrow you will bring forth children. Your turning will be toward your husband, and he will exercise
authority over you.”
Admittedly, the rendering of the first part of Genesis from last week, while possible, is not as easy to determine because of the different ways Hebrew can be read.

As for the second part, the oldest manuscripts support the different renderings without the textual issues.
Even the newer manuscripts can be read this way because of the possibilities of the odd Hebrew word “ təšûqâ.”
Considering the Septuagint translated “ təšûqâ” as the Greek “apostrophé” it is safe to assume "desire" is incorrect in almost all our modern Bibles.
We desire certainty and conformity of thought in our faith, but in ancient times, there was no systematized standard of belief.
There was, however, a standard of conduct.
How we live was, and should still be, more important than the doctrines we believe.
Of course, some of those doctrines determine conduct, but that is another issue altogether.
Are you uncomfortable learning most modern Bible translations include as much bias, error, and doctrinaire as a politically motivated documentary?
If you do not see it yet, then keep digging because you have yet to dig deep enough.
OTOH
Consider this entire section in context, one verse with another:
Gen_3:14-15
Genesis 3:14-15 NASB
(14) Then the LORD God said to the serpent H5175 , “Because you have
done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;
(15) And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
Then the Lord God said to the serpent -
The tempter is not asked why he deceived the woman; he cannot roll the blame on any other; self-tempted he fell, and it is natural for him, such is his enmity, to deceive and destroy all he can.
His fault admits of no excuse, and therefore YHVH begins to pronounce sentence on him first.
And here we must consider a twofold sentence, one on Satan and the other on the agent he employed.
The “nachash H5175”, whom it could be argued was at the head of all the inferior animals, and in a sort of society and intimacy with man, is to be greatly degraded, entirely banished from human society, and deprived of the gift of speech.
"Cursed are you more than all the livestock, and more than any animal of the field" - or, "you are the most contemptible of animals";
"On your belly you shall go"- or, perhaps, "you will no longer walk erect, but mark the ground equally with your hands and feet";
"and dust you shall eat" - or, perhaps, "though formerly possessed of the faculty to distinguish, choose, and cleanse your food, from this day forward you shall feed like the most stupid and abject quadruped",
"all the days of your life" - or, "through all the innumerable generations of your species.
YHVH's Justice manifested His displeasure against the agent employed in this sad business; and perhaps this is founded on the part which the intelligent and subtle “nachash” took in the seduction of mankind's first parents.
Apparently, he was capable of it, and for some reason he became a willing instrument.
And I will make enemies Of you and the woman - This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is much more likely a fancy than a reality.
It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race has any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals.
Men have much more enmity to the common rat and magpie than they have to all the serpents in the land, because the former, aside from being the vector of the Great Plague, also known as the Black Death, which killed millions of people between 1347 and 1351, and was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. While rats and their fleas can carry this bacterium and transmit it to humans, some historians argue that the plague spread too fast and too widely for rats to be the main culprits. Instead, they propose that human fleas and lice, which can also harbor the bacterium, were more efficient vectors of infection. This theory is supported by computer simulations that compare different models of plague transmission and historical records of plague outbreaks. But that's another story.....
Rats also destroy the grain, just generally creep many people out, etc.
Serpents in general, far from seeking to do men mischief, flee his approach, and generally avoid his dwelling.
Some claim that the word "nachash H5175 " is taken to mean any of the Simia or ape species because, they claim, there is a more consistent meaning, as there is scarcely an animal in the universe so detested by many women as these are; and indeed many men look on them as continual caricatures of themselves.
However, "nachash H5175 " is consistently translated as the English word "serpent", in some form, in the Hebrew Scriptures.
But without looking for merely literal meanings here: it is evident that Satan, who actuated this creature, is alone intended in this part of the prophetic declaration.
YHVH in his endless mercy has put enmity between men and "nachash H5175 "; because were it otherwise, who could be saved?

If humans can be convinced that it is Satan they have been serving, that it is to him they have been giving up their spirit, body, goods, etc.; they are with horrified when this conviction fastens on their minds, and shudder at the thought of being in league with the old murderer.
But there is a deeper meaning in the text than even this, especially in these
words, "He shall bruise you on the head", or rather, H1931 (hu, He (she, it)); who? the seed of the woman; the person is to come by the woman, and by her alone, without the concurrence of man.
Therefore, the address is not to Adam and Eve, but to Eve alone; and it was in consequence of this purpose of YHVH that Yeshua Messiah was born of a virgin; this, and this alone, is what is implied in the promise of the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent.
Yeshua Messiah died to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and to destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.
Thus, He bruises his head - destroys his power and lordship over mankind, turning them from the power of Satan unto God.
Act_26:18
Acts 26:18 NASB
(18) to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
And Satan bruises His heel - YHVH so ordered it, that the salvation of man could only be brought about by the death of Christ; and even the spiritual seed of our Redeemer have the heel often bruised, as they suffer persecution, temptation, etc., which may be all that is intended by this part of the prophecy.
This verse, Gen_3:15, is known as the Protoevangelium or earliest Gospel. It is a spurious gospel ascribed to James, containing an account of the birth of Mary and of Christ.
It is supposed to have been originally composed in Hebrew. Postellius brought the text of this gospel from the East, translated it into Latin, and sent it to Oporinus, a printer at Basle, where Bibliander, a Protestant
divine, and the professor of divinity at Zurich, caused it to be printed in 1552.
Postellius asserts that it was publicly read as canonical in the Eastern churches.
It has obtained this name because of the promise contained in the words, “He shall bruise you on the head.”
The meaning of the words in the original is a little uncertain, but some take the translation of the Authorized King James and Revised Versions to be the metaphor of a man crushing a serpent with his foot and a serpent fastening its teeth in a man’s heel.
The crushing of the head is more than the biting of the heel; and thus is found in the passage the good news of YHVH that Christ will trample Satan under foot and gain a complete victory over him, although He Himself may be wounded in the struggle.
Gen_3:16
Genesis 3:16 NASB
(16) To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
To the woman He said -
She being second in the transgression is brought up the second to receive her condemnation, and to hear her punishment:
"I will greatly multiply, or multiplying I will multiply";
i.e., "I will multiply your sorrows, and multiply those sorrows by other sorrows",
and this during conception and pregnancy, and particularly so in parturition or child-bearing.
And this curse has fallen in a heavier degree on the human female (woman) than on any other female of other species.
Nothing is better attested than this, and yet there is certainly no natural reason why it should be so.

Could it be that this is a part of her punishment, and a part from which even YHVH’s mercy will not exempt her.
It is added farther, "Your desire shall be for your husband" - or, you will not be able to shun the great pain and peril of child-bearing, because your desire, your appetite, shall be to your husband; and he shall rule over you
Even though at their creation both were formed with equal rights, and the woman had probably as much right to rule as the man; but subjection to the will of her husband is one part of her curse; and so very capricious is this will often, that worse punishment no human being can have, to have lost being in a state of liberty, and under the protection of wise and equal laws.
If we read the next verse, Gen_3:17:
Genesis 3:17 NASB
(17) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened H8085 (to hear, listen; obey) to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed H779 (to execrate: - bitterly curse.) is the ground because of you; With hard H6093 labor H6093 you shall eat from it All the days of your life.
Then to Adam He said - The man being the last in the transgression is brought up last to receive his sentence:
“Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife" – or, “you were not deceived, she only gave and counseled you to eat; this you should have resisted;” and that he did not - resulting in his disobedience to YHVH's command, are the reasons of his condemnation.
"Cursed is the ground because of you" –
or, "from this day forward it will no longer provide freely because its fertility shall be greatly impaired;
"With hard H6093 labor H6093 (worrisomeness, that is, labor or pain: - sorrow, toil) you shall eat from it" -
or, "be in continual perplexity concerning the seed time and the harvest, the cold and the heat, the wet and the dry.

How often are all the fruits of man’s toll destroyed by blasting, by mildew, by insects, wet weather, land floods, etc.!
Anxiety and carefulness are the laboring man’s portion.

Gen_3:18
Genesis 3:18 NASB
(18) “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
Both Thorns and thistles, etc. -
Instead of producing nourishing grain and useful vegetables, noxious weeds will be peculiarly prolific, injure the ground, choke the good seed, and stifle the hopes of the husbandman; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field - or, "You'll no longer have the privilege of this garden of delights, but must go to the common open plains, and feed on such herbs as you can find, till by labor and industry you have raised others more suitable to you."
In the curse pronounced on the ground there is much more implied than generally appears.
The amazing fertility of some of the most common thistles and thorns makes them the most proper instruments for the fulfillment of this sentence against man.
As any gardener knows, thistles multiply enormously; a species called the Carolina sylvestris bears ordinarily from 20 to 40 heads, each containing from 100 to 150 seeds.
Another species, called the Acanthum vulgare, produces above 100 heads, each containing from 3 to 400 seeds.
Conjecturing that these thistles produce at a medium only 80 heads, and that each head contains only 300 seeds; the first crop from these would amount to 24,000 seeds.
Once these are spread, their crop will amount to 576 million.
These spread, and their produce will be 13,824,000,000,000, or thirteen billion, eight hundred and twenty-four thousand million; and a single crop from these, which is only the third year’s growth, would amount to 331,776,000,000,000,000, or three hundred and thirty-one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six billion; and the fourth year’s growth will amount to 7,962,624,000,000,000,000,000, or seven thousand nine hundred and sixty-two trillion, six hundred and twenty-four thousand billion.
A progeny more than sufficient to stock not only the surface of the whole world, but of all the planets of the solar system, so that no other plant or vegetable could possibly grow, allowing but the space of one square foot for each plant.
The Carduus vulgatissimus viarum, or common hedge thistle, besides the almost infinite swarms of winged seeds it sends forth, spreads its roots around many yards, and throws up suckers everywhere, which not only produce seeds in their turn, but extend their roots, propagate like the parent plant, and stifle and destroy all vegetation but their own.
As to thorns, the bramble, which occurs so commonly, and is such a pain (literally), there is a sufficient proof how well the means are calculated to secure the end.
The genista, or spinosa vulgaris, called by some "furze", by others "whins", is widely considered one of the most mischievous shrubs on the face of the earth.
Almost nothing can grow near it, and it is so thick set with stickers that it is almost impossible to touch it without being wounded.
It is very prolific; almost half the year it is covered with flowers which produce pods filled with seeds.
It also shoots out roots far and wide, from which suckers and young plants are continually springing up, which produce others in their turn.
Where it is permitted to grow it soon overspreads whole tracts of ground, and it is extremely difficult to clear the ground of its roots where once it has got proper footing.
See USDA Plants Database, USDA Technical Bulletin No. 1616, and USDA Plant Profile.
Such provision has YHVH justly made to fulfill the curse which He has pronounced on the earth, because of the crimes of its inhabitants.

Gen_3:19
Genesis 3:19 NASB
(19) By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
By the sweat of your face -
Though the whole body may be thrown into a profuse sweat, if hard labor is continued for a long while, the face or forehead is the first part where this sweat begins to pour; this is the result of the blood being strongly propelled to the brain, partly through stooping, but principally by the strong action of the muscles; in consequence of this the blood vessels about the head become turgid through the great flux of blood, the fibers are relaxed, the pores enlarged, and the sweat poured out. For this reason, then, the very commencement of every man’s labor may put him in mind of his sin and its consequences.
For you are dust H6083 , And to dust H6083 you shall return - YHVH had said that in the day they ate of the forbidden fruit, "dying they should die" [ H4191 repeated] - they should then become mortal, and continue under the influence of a great variety of deadly agencies in the atmosphere and in themselves, from heats, colds, drought, and damps in the one, and morbid increased and decreased action in the solids and fluids of the other, till the spirit, finding its earthly house no longer tenable, should return to YHVH who gave it; and the body, being decomposed, should be reduced to its primitive dust H6083

A side note about dying you shall die

(The repeating of the Hebrew which would say literally die, die is for em and is meant to draw the reader to he repetition of the earlier where ot says eat freely of all in the garden, the Hebrew says to eat, eat. The idea of dying spiritually, thus, does not account for this Hebrew language issue. We might think that there is either feast or famine. Instead of provision fom God, which God offered, you may eat, eat, Adam chose death leadimg to a life where he must now toil in order to sustain himself. This means being outside the provision of God, something a Hebrew readermight recognize in the Hebrew text but English translations do not account for nor rarely make note of. So, there is more to freely eating or surely dying than meets the eye.)

It seems evident from this that man would have been immortal had he never transgressed, and that this state of continual life and health depended on his obedience to his Maker.
The tree of life was apparently intended to be the means of continual preservation.
For as no being but YHVH can exist independently of any supporting agency, so man could not have continued to live without a particular supporting agent; and this supporting agent under YHVH appears to have been the tree of life.

Ολιγη δε κεισομεσθα Κονις, οστεων λυθεντων.

Anac. Od. 4., v. 9. **
“We shall lie down as a small portion of dust, our bones being dissolved.”

** Anac. Od. is an abbreviation for Anacreontea Ode, a collection of ancient Greek poems attributed to the poet Anacreon, who lived in the 6th century BC.
However, most of the poems in the collection are not authentic works of Anacreon, but rather imitations by later poets who followed his style and themes.
The collection was preserved in a single manuscript that was discovered in the 10th century AD and is now kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The poems are written in a variety of meters, but mostly in the Ionic dimeter that Anacreon favored.
They celebrate love, wine, beauty, and pleasure, often with a playful and humorous tone.

CONCLUSION:
Reading Gen_3:14-19 in context may give a more harmonious understanding of the "nachash H5175," man and woman's punishments.

NEXT: Continue our study on SALVATION.

Passover is a national and collective celebration, which remembers how YHVH saved the Israelites and formed them into a nation; and the same people later on, as a nation and collectively, accepted the Mosaic Covenant thus becoming YHVH’s Chosen People.

Deu_7:6
Deuteronomy 7:6 NASB
(6) “For you are a holy people to the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH- yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God; the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God has chosen H977 you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Exo_20:2
Exodus 20:2 NASB
(2) “I am the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Likewise, Yom Kippur is meant to be observed by the whole community of Israel, not just the individual.
YHVH’s pact was not made with the individual Israelite but with the whole nation.

Moses explained it:
Deu_29:10-15
Deuteronomy 29:10-15 NASB
(10) “You stand today, all of you, before the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, (11) your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, (12) so that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD [YHWH- YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God, and into His oath which the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God is making with you today,
(13) in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(14) “Now it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath,
(15) but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] our God, and with those who are not with us here today.

Judaism believes that in the same way that YHVH saved the children of Israel in the past as a nation. He also promises to restore Israel as a nation, meaning collectively, not individually.
This is the way that rabbinic literature understands every prophetic passage that deals with Israel’s restoration, especially passages like Jer_31:31 which clearly states that the New Covenant will be made:
“with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” '
Again, this is restoration is collective and national. In the Talmud the rabbis taught:
“The rest of the prayer: [Accept my] song, petition, supplication before Thee for Thy people Israel, which are in need of salvation” (Yoma 70a).
Again, the Talmud implies that salvation is for all Israel:
“Said Raba, Samuel may have taken all Israel collectively, using the singular expression [verb], as it is written [elsewhere]: O Israel, thou art saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation, Ye shall not be ashamed?” (Makkoth 23b).
In the Jewish Bible salvation comes from YHVH and is a favor bestowed upon the nation as a whole.
In Deu_28:23 and following, Moses reminds the children of Israel of the consequences of disobedience: dispersion and bondage among the nations, a desolate land, sufferings and hunger.
Deuteronomy 28:23 NASB
(23) “The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.
Conversely, the following chapter states that if they repent, their blessings shall be restored:
Deu_30:1-10
Deuteronomy 30:1-10 NASB
(1) “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God has scattered you,
(2) and you return to the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons,
(3) then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD [YHWH- YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God has scattered you. (4) “If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
(5) “The LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and make you more numerous than your fathers.
(6) “Moreover, the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.
(7) “And the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
(8) “And you will again obey the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH- yehôvâh; JEHOVAH], and follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today.
(9) “Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God will prosper you abundantly in every work of your hand, in the children of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH- yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;
(10) if you obey the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, if you turn to the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God with all your heart and soul.
Yet Judaism does place responsibility for the sins of the individual, but while in Messianic Judaism the believer puts his hope in what the Messiah does for him in atoning for his sins, Judaism places that responsibility on the sinner himself.
A difference must be made, because in traditional Judaism the blessings for obedience and the consequences for disobedience have effect in tthe 'olam H5769 ha-ze H2088 , the "world that is", or the former days.", not in he 'olam H5769 ha-ba H1961 in the "world to come".
"So the "former days" and the "latter days" make up one whole, or different parts of the whole, in the Hebrew thought."
Messianic Jews and Bible-believing Christians understand that salvation has eternal effects, that is, salvation not only applies to the here and now but also to there and then.
Judaism stresses the fact that instead of “salvation,” one’s relationship with YHVH has to be based on three elements:
• repentance – “teshuva“ H8666 H7725 ; • good deeds resulting from repentance – “tzedakah H6666 and mitzvot H4687 “; and

• a life of devotion – “kavanah H3554 and tefilah H8605 .”
The question is whether these three things, albeit meritorious, are able to
restore one’s relationship with YHVH.
An answer may be discerned when considering what was in biblical times YHVH’s remedy to man’s disobedience.
YHVH provided a way for “covering” man’s sin when he instituted Yom Kippur H3725 (the Hebrew root kopher H3724 , defined as, “cover”, and kippur H3725 , defined as "expiation" or "atonement".)
In present day observance of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, devout Jews base their hopes for forgiveness on three main foundational principles:
• repentance,
• prayer, and
• the merits of the Patriarchs.
It seems that it would be impossible to observe this day the way YHVH commanded, as there is no Temple, no priests, and no sacrifices.
Can these be replaced with prayer, repentance and the merits of the Patriarchs?
Why didn’t YHVH establish these principles instead of the rituals commanded in Leviticus?
In general, Torah provides many different sacrifices.
The more serious sins, such as murder, had no sacrifice to deal with that.
Yet YHVH is still a forgiving God and has forgiven these kinds of sins. Example: David's murder of Uriah.
Like today, in courts where there is a minimum and maximum penalty, the maximum penalty is not the required punishment. There is room for lenience and mercy with justice. Some devout Jews believe that there was a need for sacrifice and although today there is no Temple to fulfill these requirements, in order for there to be salvation from sin there has to be a sacrifice.

Was YHVH incapable of stopping the Romans from destroying the Temple, or did He have another means that did not need the Temple while preserving the significance of sacrifices?
One can reason that in Yeshua Messiah the sacrificial requirements were met: an innocent dying for the guilty, a blameless lamb accepted by YHVH and the severity of sin erased by the shedding of blood.
There are only two options to the dilemma of salvation and the Jewish people.
Standing firm with the principles of salvation as declared in the Scriptures, then Yeshua Messiah has to be the provider of salvation.
His ransom sacrifice is for the whole, inclduing the individuals that make up that whole.
If YHVH chooses to forgive someone of their sin, it is forgiven, because He is merciful and forgiving, along with just.
Following His Father's will, Yeshua said to many people, "Go, your sins are forgiven".
Conversely, deviating from biblical principles and replacing them with man-made systems, albeit they seem reasonable, there may be a risk of having devised a way for salvation that puts eternal life in peril.
Although present-day Judaism denies the need for individual and personal salvation, it acknowledges the need for forgiveness, atonement and repentance.
Messianic Jews believe the words of the Apostle Peter, when addressing the people of Israel after their rejection of Yeshua Messiah, he declares: Act_4:12
Acts 4:12 NASB

(12) “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”
More Scriptures that summarize what the Hebrew Scriptures teach are:
Exo_14:30-31
Exodus 14:30-31 NASB+
(30) R1So the LORDH3068 [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] savedH3467 IsraelH3478 that dayH3117 from the handH3027 of the EgyptiansH4714, and IsraelH3478 R2sawH7200 the EgyptiansH4714 deadH4191 on the seashoreH3220 H8193.
R1
Exo_14:13; Psa_106:8; Psa_106:10; Isa_63:8; Isa_63:11 R2
Psa_58:10; Psa_59:10
(31) When IsraelH3478 sawH7200 the greatH1419 N1powerH3027 whichH834 the LORDH3068 [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] had N2usedH6213a against the EgyptiansH4714, the peopleH5971a N3fearedH3372a the LORDH3068[YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] , and R1they believedH539 in the LORDH3068 [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH- yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] and in His servantH5650 MosesH4872.
N1
Lit hand
N2
Lit done
N3
Or, revered
R1
Exo_4:31; Exo_19:9; Psa_106:12; Joh_2:11;
saved H3467 ישׁע :Original -
- Transliteration: Yasha` - Phonetic: yaw-shah'
- Definition:
1. to save, be saved, be delivered a. (Niphal)
1. to be liberated, be saved, be delivered
Joh_11:45
2. to be saved (in battle), be victorious b. (Hiphil)
1. to save, deliver
2. to save from moral troubles 3. to give victory to
- Origin: a primitive root - TWOT entry: 929
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; properly to be open wide or free that is (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor: - X at all avenging defend deliver (-er) help preserve rescue be safe bring (having) salvation save (-iour) get victory.
Total KJV Occurrences: 205 • all, 2
Jer_11:12(2) • avenged, 1
1Sa_25:31
• avenging, 2 1Sa_25:26; 1Sa_25:33
• defend, 1 Jdg_10:1
• deliver, 3
Jdg_10:13; Jdg_10:14; Jdg_13:5
• delivered, 8
Jdg_2:16; Jdg_2:18; Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:31; Jdg_8:22; Jdg_10:12;
Jdg_12:2; Jdg_12:3 • deliverer, 2
Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15
• help, 10
2Sa_10:11; 2Sa_10:19; 2Sa_14:4; 2Ki_6:26; 2Ki_6:27(2); 1Ch_19:12;
1Ch_19:19; 2Ch_20:9; Psa_12:1
• helped, 2
Exo_2:17; Psa_116:6
• preserved, 4
2Sa_8:6; 2Sa_8:14; 1Ch_18:6; 1Ch_18:13
• preservest, 1 Psa_36:6
• rescue, 1 Deu_28:31
• safe, 1 Psa_119:117
• salvation, 3
Isa_59:16; Isa_63:5; Zec_9:9
• save, 103
Deu_20:4; Deu_22:27; Deu_28:29; Jos_10:6; Jos_22:22; Jdg_6:14;
Jdg_6:15; Jdg_6:31; Jdg_6:36; Jdg_6:37; Jdg_7:7; 1Sa_4:3; 1Sa_7:8; 1Sa_9:16; 1Sa_10:27; 1Sa_11:3; 1Sa_14:6; 1Sa_23:2; 2Sa_3:18; 2Sa_22:28; 2Sa_22:42; 2Ki_16:7; 2Ki_19:19; 2Ki_19:34; 1Ch_16:35; Job_22:29; Job_40:14; Psa_3:7; Psa_6:4; Psa_7:1; Psa_18:27; Psa_18:41; Psa_20:9; Psa_22:21; Psa_28:9; Psa_31:2; Psa_31:16; Psa_37:40; Psa_44:3; Psa_44:6; Psa_54:1; Psa_55:16; Psa_57:3; Psa_59:2; Psa_60:5; Psa_69:1; Psa_69:35; Psa_71:2; Psa_71:3; Psa_72:4; Psa_72:13; Psa_76:9; Psa_86:2; Psa_86:16; Psa_106:47; Psa_108:6; Psa_109:26; Psa_109:31; Psa_118:25; Psa_119:94; Psa_119:146; Psa_138:7; Psa_145:19; Pro_20:22; Isa_25:9; Isa_33:22; Isa_35:4; Isa_37:20; Isa_37:35; Isa_38:20; Isa_45:20; Isa_46:7; Isa_47:13; Isa_47:15; Isa_49:25; Isa_59:1; Isa_63:1; Jer_2:27; Jer_2:28; Jer_14:9; Jer_15:20; Jer_17:14; Jer_30:10; Jer_30:11; Jer_31:7; Jer_42:11; Jer_46:27; Lam_4:17; Eze_34:22; Eze_36:29; Eze_37:23; Hos_1:7(2); Hos_13:10; Hos_14:3; Hab_1:2; Zep_3:17; Zep_3:19; Zec_8:7; Zec_8:13; Zec_9:16; Zec_10:6; Zec_12:7
• saved, 35 Exo_14:30; Num_10:9; Deu_33:29; Jdg_7:2; 1Sa_10:19; 1Sa_14:23;
1Sa_23:5; 2Sa_22:4; 2Ki_14:27; 1Ch_11:14; 2Ch_32:22; Neh_9:27; Psa_18:3; Psa_33:16; Psa_34:6; Psa_44:7; Psa_80:3; Psa_80:7; Psa_80:19; Psa_106:8; Psa_106:10; Psa_107:13; Pro_28:18; Isa_30:15; Isa_43:12; Isa_45:17; Isa_45:22; Isa_63:9; Isa_64:5; Jer_4:14; Jer_8:20; Jer_17:14; Jer_23:6; Jer_30:7; Jer_33:16
• savest, 3
2Sa_22:3; Job_26:2; Psa_17:7
• saveth, 7
1Sa_14:39; 1Sa_17:47; Job_5:15; Psa_7:10; Psa_20:6; Psa_34:18;
Psa_107:19
• savior, 13
2Sa_22:3; 2Ki_13:5; Psa_106:21; Isa_19:20; Isa_43:3; Isa_43:11;
Isa_45:15; Isa_45:21; Isa_49:26; Isa_60:16; Isa_63:8; Jer_14:8; Hos_13:4
• saviors, 2 Neh_9:27; Oba_1:21
• victory, 1 Psa_98:1
LXX related word(s) G4982 sozo
G292 amuno
G998 boethos G1522 eis akouo G1807 ex aireo G4160 poieo G4506 rhuomai G4990 soter
G997 boetheo G1295 dia sozo

NOTE:
YHVH delivered, that is, saved, them from oppressors.
In verse 31 (Exo_14:31), the act of delivereance that they put their trust in YHVH. There is a connection to Yeshua, in that YHVH had delivered them from 400 years of slavery. It's not trusting in only YHVH, but also, Moses, who was YHVH's instrument, and the first Mediator.
They trusted in Moses when he delivered YHVH's commandments.
Moses was the first Mediator - he, by YHVH's Will, delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery.
Yeshua is the Great Mediator - He delivers, by YHVH's Will, all mankind from slavery to sin and death from the sin.

DEATH - is the ultimate slavery.
By YHVH's command, Moses used the symbol of death - SNAKES - and turned it into a symbol of life.
Num_21:4-9,
Numbers 21:4-9 NASB
(4) Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.
(5) So the people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we are disgusted with this miserable food.”
(6) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
(7) So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] and against you; intercede with the LORD, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
(8) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.”
(9) So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

2Ki_18:1-6
2 Kings 18:1-6 NASB
(1) Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
(2) He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
(3) He did what was right in the sight of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] , in accordance with everything that his father David had done.
(4) He removed the high places and smashed the memorial stones to pieces, and cut down the Asherah. He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
(5) He trusted in the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] , the God of Israel; and after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who came before him.
(6) For he clung to the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] ; he did not desist from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] had commanded Moses.
In Yeshua's time, there were Roman crosses - symbols of DEATH were everywhere.
Before the Romans, the exact origin of crucifixion is unclear, it was a common method of capital punishment among ancient civilizations such as the Persians, Carthaginians, even before the Romans.
Historically, crucifixion was considered one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death. Probably originating with the Assyrians and Babylonians, it was used systematically by the Persians in the 6th century BC.
According to Britannica, the first historical record of crucifixion was about 519 BCE when:
"Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon".
Crucifixion was also used by Alexander the Great, who crucified 2,000 survivors of the siege of Tyre in 332 BCE.
The Phoenicians introduced it to Rome in the 3rd century BC.
By YHVH's command, after about 500 years of the cross symbolizing DEATH, the human Yeshua became its victim at the hands of the Romans. And, by YHVH's command, just a few days later, Yeshua was resurrected and this symbol of death was transformed into a symbol of LIFE.
Yeshua proclaimed to His disciples that He would not rise from the dead until three days after He had been killed.
Yeshua’ statement that He would rise three days after He had died is most significant.
According to first-century Jewish law, to be declared legally dead, a person had to be dead for more than three full days.
If someone who appeared dead revived and came back to life prior to three full days, he or she was not legally deemed to have been dead.
Therefore, if Christ had risen from the dead before, roughly, 3 PM on the afternoon of Nisan 17, a weekly Sabbath, He would not have been considered legally dead.
As a result, His return to life would not have been considered a true resurrection from the dead.
Knowing this fact, one can understand why Yeshua delayed going to Lazarus in the account in Joh_11:1-44.
Yeshua knew that Lazarus was sick unto death, but He deliberately remained where He was for two more days (Joh_11:6).
He knew that Lazarus would not be considered legally dead until he had been dead for four days.
The next Hebrew Scriptures we will study are the so-called "Ten Commandments"
"So-called" because the title "Ten Commandments" originates from the Greek translation of the Hebrew phrase that means "the ten words" or "the ten sayings".
This phrase is used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the list of religious precepts that YHVH revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two tablets of stone.
Exodus 34:28 NASB
(28) So he was there with the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH- yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten H6235 Commandments H1697

The Hebrew phrase is also translated as "the ten matters" or "the ten utterances".
The Greek word for "ten words" is dekalogos, which became decalogus in Latin and Decalogue in English.
The English word "commandments" comes from the Tyndale and Coverdale biblical translations, which used "ten verses", and was followed by the Geneva Bible and the King James Version.
The exact date when the Ten Commandments were written is unknown, as scholars have proposed different dates based on different interpretations of their origin.
Some scholars suggest that they were written between the 16th and 13th centuries BCE, because Exodus and Deuteronomy connect them with Moses and the Sinai Covenant between YHVH and Israel.
Other scholars suggest that they were written after 750 BCE, because they regard them as an epitome of prophetic teachings from Amos and Hosea.
One traditional answer is 1491 BCE, which is based on a calculation of the date of the Exodus from Egypt.
If we use the Hebrew reckoning of the "ten words", one can argue there are actually ELEVEN "Words of YHVH", beginning with:
Exo_20:1-2
Exodus 20:1-2 NASB
(1) Then God spoke all these words, saying,
(2) “I am the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Technically, the first "commandment", or actually WORD, is YHVH's identifying himself - who He is, and what He did.
Egypt had many gods, and YHVH displayed His power over all of them with the plagues, down to killing Pharoah's first-born son - remember that Pharoah was considered a god by Egyptians.
This identifies YHVH as the one and only True God, who has defeated all the other gods.
"Get these false gods of human tradition out of your thinking, because I, YHVH, delivered you from slavery into freedom, and I am going to take care of you. You are MY people and I am your ONLY God.
You are no longer slaves to Egypt, but are slaves to YHVH."
Understanding this connection, between Exo_14:30-31 and Exo_20:1-17, we can continue our Scriptural study of SALVATION beginning with:

NEXT 9/22/2023
Exo_20:1-17 - (aka, The Ten Commandments, given to Israel after YHVH delivered them (salvation) from bondage in Egypt. Salvation first, then, the rules for living a redeemed life.)

Most base their practices on:
1Co_5:11
1 Corinthians 5:11 NASB
(11) But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person.
1 Corinthians 5:11 OJB (Orthodox Jewish Bibile)
(11) But, now I wrote to you not to mix with any “Ach b'Moshiach” (Ach = brother; b' = in; Moshiach = Messiah) who is a zannay (fornicator) or a kamtzan (miser) or an oved elilim (idolater) or a megadef (reviler) or a shikkor (drunkard) or a shoded (robber); with such a man do not sit at tish (table), do not share betzi'at halechem (breaking of bread).
From there, they concoct their own, human-inspired ritual, as reported by one of these organization's publications:
"11 Support the decision [of the elders to disfellowship the "offender"]. Disfellowshipping is part of Jehovah’s arrangement. His loving correction is in the best interests of everyone, including the wrongdoer. (Read Hebrews 12:11.) Any negative comments about the way a disciplinary matter was handled by the elders have likely been initiated by someone who did not mention details that would put the wrongdoer in a bad light. We simply do not have all the facts. It is wise, then, to trust that the elders who took judicial action made every effort to follow Scriptural principles and to judge “for Jehovah.”—
2 Chron. 19:6.
12 By supporting the elders’ decision to disfellowship your loved one, you may actually help him to return to Jehovah. “Severing family association with our adult son was extremely difficult,” admits Elizabeth, quoted earlier. “But after he returned to Jehovah, he admitted that he deserved to be disfellowshipped. In time, he expressed appreciation for the lessons he learned. I came to value Jehovah’s discipline,” she says. Her husband, Mark, adds: “Much later, our son told me that he wanted to come back in part because we did exactly what we had to do. I’m so glad Jehovah helped us to be obedient.”
Yet, these organizations conveniently ignore:
Luk_17:3-4
Luke 17:3-4 NASB
(3) “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
(4) “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Luke 17:3-4 OJB
(3) Pay attention to yourselves. If your ach (brother) sins and you rebuke him, and if he makes teshuva (answer, repentance, turning from chet to Hashem), grant him selicha (forgiveness).
(4) And if shevah paamim (seven times) during the yom (day) he sins against you and shevah paamim he turns around to you saying, I make teshuva, you will grant him selicha (forgiven, forgiveness).
The ministers, elders, etc., of these organizations claim that because of their "calling" to the ministry, they have YHVH's authority to devise their own punishments, protocols, etc., to deal with the offender.
The questions become:

• EXACTLY WHO did the "calling"; and,
• To EXACTLY WHOM are these people rendering service?

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) Bible is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English that relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.
The word "authority" appears several times in the NASB Bible, and it has different definitions depending on the context.
There are many verses that use this word or related words, such as "power", "dominion", "rule", etc.
Some examples of how the word "authority" is used in the NASB Bible:
- In Rom_13:1-7, the word "authority" refers to the governing authorities that YHVH has established, and that every person should be subject to them:
Romans 13:1-7 NASB
(1) Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities G1849 . For there is no authority G1849 except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
(2) Therefore whoever resists authority G1849 has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
(3) For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority G1849 ? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
(4) for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
(5) Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.
(6) For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
(7) Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.
Notice how in this case, the word is used in connection with being in subjection G5293 to the human rulers, but not as adopted sons.
- In Luk_20:1-26, the word "authority" G1849 refers to the source of Yeshua's power and teaching, which the chief priests and the scribes questioned. The passage says: "Tell us by what authority G1849 You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority G1849 ?" Yeshua replied to them with a question of His own: "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?"
- In Mat_28:18-20, the word "authority" G1849 refers to the dominion that Yeshua has over heaven and earth, which He delegated to His disciples: Matthew 28:18-20 NASB
(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority G1849 in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
(19) “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

These are just a few of the ways that the word "authority" is used in the NASB Bible.
In the first example, those "called" to "minister" are called by human authorities and that "ministry" is given to the world, through treating fellow humans as being "in subjection".
In the latter examples, the "calling" authority is YHVH, and a "called" person's "ministry" is given to YHVH through strictly following YHVH's standards to the letter (adding nothing and taking nothing away) in dealing with fellow humans.
Each individual, through studying YHVH's Word, must discern between YHVH's standards and the "traditions of men" to determine who is "called" by and "ministering" ot YHVH versus human organizations.
Mar_7:6-13
Mark 7:6-13 NASB
(6) But He [Yeshua] said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
(7) ‘AND IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’
(8) “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
(9) He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
(10) “For Moses said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER’; and, ‘THE ONE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS CERTAINLY TO BE PUT TO DEATH’;
(11) but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’
(12) you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; (13) thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

Clearly, YHVH’s standards are higher and more important than man's standards, and humans should never compromise or replace them with human preferences or customs.
YHVH's standards are based on His love, holiness and wisdom, while man's standards are often based on convenience, pride, power-seeking and ignorance.
Col_2:6-10
Colossians 2:6-10 NASB
(6) Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, (7) having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
(8) See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.
(9) For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
(10) and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority G1849 ;
Paul warns us not to be deceived by false philosophies and teachings that are contrary to Christ, and that YHVH's standards are different and superior to the world's standards, and that we should not be influenced or corrupted by them.
YHVH's standards are based on His truth, grace and power, while the world's standards are based on lies, vanity and weakness.

Gen_1:26-31
Genesis 1:26-31 NASB
(26) Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.”
(27) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
(28) God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (29) Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
(30) and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
(31) And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
This authority is not absolute, however.
Humans are still subject to YHVH's authority, and they are to use their authority in a way that is consistent with YHVH's will.
Additionally, the book of Romans teaches that all human authority is ultimately subject to God's authority.
Rom_13:1-2
Romans 13:1-2 NASB
(1) Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
(2) Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
This does not guarantee that the government is always right, but it does mean that we should submit to the government's authority unless it is asking us to do something that is contrary to YHVH's will.
Also,
1Co_11:3
1 Corinthians 11:3 NASB
(3) But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
This seems to teach that all authority, whether governmental, religious, or familial, comes from YHVH.
The Bible also teaches that we should submit to authority figures, even when we disagree with them.
1Pe_2:13-14
1 Peter 2:13-14 NASB
(13) Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,
(14) or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
This seems to teach that we should submit to authority figures, even when we disagree with them, because they are appointed by YHVH, unless they are violating YHVH's will.
OTOH, the Bible also teaches that there are limits to our submission to authority.
Act_5:29
Acts 5:29 NASB
(29) But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
This clearly teaches that we should not obey authority figures if they are commanding us to do something that is against YHVH's will.

Clearly, every human being has been given the authority to learn what is and what is not YHVH's will, and once knowing that, the authority to follow YHVH's will.
In another sense, the Bible teaches that authority is not absolute. Instead, it should be used to serve others and to promote justice and righteousness.
In Exo_3:10, Moses is given authority to lead the Israelites out of slavery. Exodus 3:10 NASB
(10) “And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses used his authority to serve the Israelites and to help them escape from their slavery.
Moses was not a natural leader, but YHVH gives him the authority to do what he needs to do. This story shows that authority comes from YHVH, and it is to be used for His purposes.
The Bible also teaches that authority should be used with humility and compassion.
This is evident in many Scriptures, but noe so poignant as on the night befire His torture and crucifixion, when Yeshua teaches his disciples to be servants rather than masters:
Joh_13:1-17
John 13:1-17 NASB
(1) Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He would depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
(2) And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,
(3) Jesus, knowing that the Father had handed all things over to Him, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, (4) *got up from supper and *laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself.
(5) Then He *poured water into the basin, and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which He had tied around Himself.
(6) So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, You are washing my feet?”
(7) Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not realize right now, but you will understand later.”
(8) Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no place with Me.”
(9) Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”
(10) Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet; otherwise he is completely clean. And you are clean—but not all of you.” (11) For He knew the one who was betraying Him; it was for this reason that He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
(12) Then, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you?
(13) “You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’; and you are correct, for so I am. (14) “So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
(15) “For I gave you an example, so that you also would do just as I did for you.
(16) “Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
(17) “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Yeshua also teaches his disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who persecute them.
Mat_5:43-45
Matthew 5:43-45 NASB
(43) “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’
(44) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
(45) so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
The Bible also teaches about authority in the context of the church.
Eph_1:20-23
Ephesians 1:20-23 NASB
(20) which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (21) far above all rule and authority G1849 and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (22) And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church,
(23) which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Clearly, Christ has authority G1849 over the church, and those who lead in the church are to exercise their authority in a way that is consistent with Christ's authority.
Overall, the Bible teaches that authority is a gift from YHVH and that it should be used to serve others and to promote justice and righteousness.
Authority should not be used for personal gain or to oppress others. Instead, it should be used to build up others and to make the world a better place.
Finally,
Mat_28:18
Matthew 28:18 NASB
(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority G1849 in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
He was stating that He has absolute power and authority over all of creation.
This claim is based on His identity as the only begotten Son of YHVH, the true Messiah.
Yeshua's authority is not limited to any one area of life.
He has authority over nature (Mat_14:13-21), over the spiritual world (Mat_28:18), and over human beings (Joh_17:2).
He has the power to forgive sins (Luk_5:24), to heal the sick (Mat_10:8), and to raise the dead Mat_10:8),.
He also has the power to judge the living and the dead (2Ti_4:1).
Yeshua's authority is not given Him for His own sake, but for the sake of others.
He uses His authority to serve and to save.
He came to earth to die for mankind's sins and, complete His office as mankind's Mediator, (2Ti_2:3-6).

He also sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to live holy lives and to spread the gospel to all the world (Act_1:7-8).
Here are some examples of how Yeshua exercised His authority during his earthly ministry:
He stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mat_8:23-27). He healed the sick and lame (Mat_9:35-38).
He cast out demons (Mar_1:21-28).
He raised the dead (Joh_11:1-44).
He forgave sins (Luk_7:47-50).
After His resurrection, Yeshua ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father (Eph_1:20).
There He continues to exercise His authority over all of creation (Eph_1:21) .
He is the head of the church and the Savior of the world (Eph_5:23). TONIGHT:
From a Hebrew perspective, consider how the Ten Commandments are related to the Hebrew understanding of "salvation".

NOTE:
The Ten Commandments (or Aseret Hadibrot - the “Ten Sayings,” “Ten Statements,” or, “Ten Words,” in Hebrew), the first ten of the 613 commandments, are the core of the Torah, the divine instruction that YHVH gave to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.
They are not only a set of rules, but also a blueprint for living a life of ethical monotheism, the belief in one God who is the source of morality and justice.

The Ten Commandments contain within them the principles that guide all the other commandments in the Torah, which are meant to help the Jewish people fulfill their covenant with YHVH and become a holy nation.
The Hebrew word for salvation is "yeshuah" - yes, THAT Yeshua - which means deliverance, rescue, salvation or saving power.
About Ye•shu•a (Jesus) H3091 G2424 : Variant of "Y'hoshua" (Joshua; see below).
In the Tanakh nine persons and a city have the name Yeshua, usually transliterated as "Jeshua" or "Jeshuah."

NOTE:
Ta•nakh is an acronym formed from the first letters of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah, Nevi'im and K'tuvim. Hence, the Hebrew Scriptures, or, Old Testament.
Rendered "scripture" or "it is written" in most translations of the Greek Scriptures (New Testament).
The Greek Scriptures writers cite the Tanakh so frequently because they understaood it as YHVH's authoritative Word to mankind.

Mat_4:4. Matthew 4:4 NASB
(4) But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
Lev_23:29
Leviticus 23:29 OJB
(29) For whatsoever nefesh it be that shall not be afflicted H6031 in that
same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
"Afflict yourselves" - generally refers to fasting, but also used in other Scriptures as "being humbled".
Deu_8:1-3
"He humbled you" H6031
- same as "Afflict yourselves".
This connects to Mat_4:4.
Points out that YHVH afflicted Israel, let them go hungry to test them to see whether or not they would stay faithful to YHVH's commandments, and then fed and took care of them.
YHVH even lets Satan do the testing, within YHVH's Will. Today, are we learning that same lesson of Mat_4:4?
YHVH takes these bad situations, and works them out for our own good.
Jas_1:13
James 1:13 NASB
(13) No one is to say when he is tempted G3985 , “I am being tempted G3985 by God”; for God cannot be tempted G3985 by evil, and He Himself does not tempt G3985 anyone.
Gen_22:1-2
Genesis 22:1-2 NASB
(1) Now it came about after these things, that God tested H5254
(Septuagint = G3985 G3984) Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
(2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
NOTE: The Septuagint uses G3985 for "test", the same Greek word used in Jas_1:13.
Scripturally, YHVH does not TEMPT humans, but He does TEST humans.
We have to be careful of translations - some words do not translate well from Hebrew to any other language.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB
(13) No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted G3985 beyond what you are able, but with the temptation G3986 will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Is "God", like "tempt" in the above Scripture, a noun or a verb? It appears that "God" in Hebrew is considered a verb, but in Greek is considered a noun.

NEXT 10/6/2023

Exo_20:1-17 - (aka, The Ten Commandments, given to Israel after YHVH delivered them (salvation) from bondage in Egypt. Salvation first, then, the rules for living a redeemed life.)

The Ten Commandments contain within them the principles that guide all the other commandments in the Torah, which are meant to help the Jewish people fulfill their covenant with YHVH and become a holy nation.
The Hebrew word for salvation is "yeshuah" - yes, THAT Yeshua - which means deliverance, rescue, salvation or saving power.
About Ye•shu•a (Jesus) H3091 G2424 : Variant of "Y'hoshua" (Joshua; see below).
In the Tanakh nine persons and a city have the name Yeshua, usually transliterated as "Jeshua" or "Jeshuah."

NOTE:
Ta•nakh is an acronym formed from the first letters of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah, Nevi'im and K'tuvim. Hence, the Hebrew Scriptures, or, Old Testament.
Rendered "scripture" or "it is written" in most translations of the Greek Scriptures (New Testament).
The Greek Scriptures writers cite the Tanakh so frequently because they understood it as YHVH's authoritative Word to mankind. Mat_4:4. Matthew 4:4 NASB
(4) But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

TONIGHT:
From a Hebrew perspective, consider how the Ten Commandments are related to the Hebrew understanding of "salvation".
In the Septuagint and the Greek Scriptures Yeshua's name was brought over into Greek as Iêsous , then later into English as "Jesus," because until the year 1524, there was no letter 'J' in the alphabet. The letter 'J' was originally the same letter as 'I.' The 'father of the letter J' is Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian author and grammarian.
Yeshua means "Y-H-V-H saves" H3091 from H3068 plus H3467 (Mat_1:21) and is also the masculine form of yeshu`ah ("salvation").
Mat_1:20-21
Matthew 1:20-21 NASB
(20) But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
(21) “She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus G2424 , for He will save His people from their sins.”
(1) The Messiah of Israel, Yeshua from Natzeret (Nazareth).
In modern Hebrew Yeshua's name is pronounced and written "Yeshu," or, "Yeshua," which may have been the ancient pronunciation in the Galil (Galil is a masculine name of Hebrew origin. A variant of Galilee, this name can translate to “rolling hills” or “hilly,” referring to the hilly region in Israel).
However, reflecting two thousand years of conflict between the Church and the Synagogue, it is also an acronym for Yimach sh'mo v'zikhrono ("May his name and memory be blotted out").
However, the late Yosef Vaktor, a Messianic Jewish Holocaust survivor, took it as an acronym for Yigdal sh'mo umalkhuto ("May his name and kingdom grow").
Mat_1:1
Matthew 1:1 NASB
(1) The record of the genealogy of Jesus G2424 the Messiah G5547 , the son of David, the son of Abraham:

NOTE:
In Mat_1:20-21, the angel is talking to Joseph.
That Joseph was to name the child (“you shall name” is second person singular) is significant.

If the father named the child it meant he was claiming the baby as a member of his family.
This gave Yeshua legal rights to the line of David.
Even if Joseph had difficulty in doing this, obedience to YHVH required that he comply.
(2) A Messianic Jew in Rome, "Yeshua, the one called Justus."
Col_4:11
Colossians 4:11 NASB
(11) and also Jesus G2424 who is called Justus G2459 ; these are the only
fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.
Yeshua was a very common name in Israel.
The concept of salvation in Judaism is not about escaping from sin or eternal punishment, but rather about being redeemed from exile, oppression and suffering, and being restored to a state of harmony with YHVH and His creation.
Salvation is both a historical and an eschatological reality, meaning that what has happened in the 'olam H5769 ha-ze H2088 , the "world that is", or
the former days.", will happen in the 'olam H5769 ha-ba H1961 in the "world to come".
So the "former days" and the "latter days" make up one whole, or different parts of the whole, in the Hebrew thought.
Hebrew time is circular. The past is in the future and the future is in the past, and these different parts together make up one whole. In Hebrew this is called "ages" H5769 , or in Greek, "aion" G166 .
In the English translations, on Sinai, YHVH puts Moses in a cleft and passes him by, where Moses sees His back.
In Hebrew, Moses sees where YHVH has been in the past, thus providing Moses with a view of where YHVH is going.
In Greek thought, like a rowboat (with regular oars, not bow facing oars), we see what's behind us as we are going forward.
In Hebrew thought, seeing behind shows us where we are going.

The Exodus from Egypt, the return from Babylonian captivity, and the establishment of the State of Israel are examples of historical (Hebrew) salvation, while the Messianic era and the resurrection of the dead are examples of eschatological (Greek) salvation.
The Ten Commandments are related to the Hebrew understanding of salvation in several ways:
• First, they begin with the declaration that YHVH is the one who brought
the Israelites out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This reminds them of their first experience of salvation, when YHVH liberated them from slavery and made them His chosen people;
• Second, they command the Israelites to honor YHVH, observe the Sabbath, respect their parents, and refrain from murder, adultery, theft, false testimony and coveting. These are all ways of expressing gratitude to YHVH for His salvation, as well as ways of maintaining a relationship with Him and with each other that reflects His holiness and justice.
• Third, they point to the ultimate goal of salvation, which is to live in the Promised Land under YHVH's rule and protection. The commandment to honor one's parents is linked to the promise that one's days will be long upon the land that YHVH gives them. The commandment not to covet anything that belongs to one's neighbor implies that everyone will have enough and no one will be oppressed or exploited.
In summary, from a Hebrew perspective, the Ten Commandments are not only a legal code, but also a spiritual guide that connects the Jewish people to their past, present and future salvation by YHVH.
IOW, After YHVH delivers Israel from bondage and slavery in Egypt, He then gives them the Torah and tells them this is how Israel should live this redeemed life.
The Torah is the expression of the heart of YHVH - how He feels about things; what sin is; what is good and what is bad.
When Yeshua came, He lived that perfect life and demonstrated to mankind how living a redeemed life should - and could - be accomplished.
Notice that He showed mankind that it CAN be done. Yeshua became mankind's greatest example of leadership by doing.

Exo_20:1-17 - (aka, The Ten Commandments, given to Israel after YHVH delivered them (salvation) from bondage in Egypt. Salvation first, then, the rules for living a redeemed life.)
Exodus 20:1-17 NASB+
(1) Then GodH430 spokeH1696 allH3605 theseH428 wordsH1697, sayingH559,
(2) “R1I am the LORDH3068 [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] your GodH430, R2whoH834 broughtH3318 you outH3318 of the landH776 of EgyptH4714, out of the houseH1004 of N1slaveryH5650.
R1
Lev_26:1; Deu_5:6; Psa_81:10
R2
Exo_13:3; Exo_15:13; Exo_15:16; Deu_7:8 N1
Lit slaves

NOTE:
from Br. Lee Anthony's E-Word Study for 9/19/2023:

(for more, please visit Bible Talk with Lee Anthony, at: https://studytheway.org/ )
"The first of the “ten commandments” identifies the name of God and what he did. This is not a commandment at all. The Hebrew text calls the ten commandments, the ten words. The idea of the ten commandments comes from tradition. My spell checker even tells me I need to capitalize “ten commandments” every time I write it."
(3) “R1You shall haveH1961 noH3808 otherH312 R2godsH430 N1beforeH5921 H6440 Me.
R1
Deu_6:14; 2Ki_17:35; Jer_25:6; Jer_35:15 R2
Exo_15:11; Exo_20:23
N1
Or besides Me
NOTE:
gods H430 in this verse is the same exact Hebrew word as God H430 in
verse one.
This is why it is important to declare YHVH's name as the one, true, almighty God to distinguish Him from all the false, human-contrived gods, such as Metatron.
Metatron, an angel frequently mentioned by rabbinical writers, and to whom they ascribe superior prerogatives.
He is said to, be "the king of angels," and to "ascend to the throne of glory above nine hundred firmaments to carry up the prayers of the Israelites." He is supposed by some to have been the angel who conducted the Israelites through the wilderness, and by others to have been Enoch.

From Britannica:
Metatron, the greatest of angels in Jewish myths and legends.
Metatron is not a figure of the Hebrew Bible, but his name appears briefly in several passages of the Talmud.
His legends are predominantly found in mystical Kabbalistic texts.
He is variously identified as the Prince (or Angel) of the Presence, as Michael the archangel, or as Enoch after his bodily ascent into heaven.
He is commonly described as a celestial scribe recording the sins and merits of men, as a guardian of heavenly secrets, as YHVH’s mediator with men, as the “lesser Yahweh,” as the archetype of man, and as one “whose name is like that of his master.”
Could this be a reference to Yeshua?
In ancient Jewish thought long before Yeshua appeared on earth?
The latter appellation is based on Hebrew numerology: i.e., when the consonants that constitute the names Metatron and Shaddai (Almighty) are analyzed according to preassigned numerical values, each name totals 314. Elisha ben Abuyah (flourished c. 100 CE) is said to have apostatized after having had a vision of Metatron.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Metatron
from Zohar (Kabbalistic Literature) - about 7 CE, but was known in 2nd Temple Judaism (after returning to rebuild 2nd Temple from Babylon captivity - 70 CE):
Metatron, the eldest servant of his house, the most powerful of all the angels, was given power over the all the angels.
May have been Enoch's angelic name.
How does Enoch, Elijah and Paul's "twinkling of an eye" relate to each other?
Gen_5:22-24, 2Ch_21:12; 1Co_15:51-52, 1Th_4:17.

NEXT

10/13/2023
Continue studying Salvation with Exo_10:4-17.

Mount Sinai
The meeting between YHVH and Moses on Mount Sinai (Exo_19:20) has had a profound impact on the world.
While its effects are still being felt to this day, the exact location of Mount Sinai is unknown.
It seems that the site never became a religious shrine attracting the devout on pilgrimages.
Mount Sinai appears to be the same as Mount Horeb (Exo_3:1), where God spoke to Moses in a burning bush and commissioned him to lead Israel out of Egypt (Exo_3:2-10).
Horeb may refer to a mountain range or ridge, with Sinai indicating a particular summit on the ridge.
Usually the Bible uses the name Sinai to indicate the actual place where Israel met YHVH (Exo_19:11), and it uses the name Horeb in reflecting on the events that happened there (Deu_1:6).
A few peaks in the Sinai Peninsula have been suggested as the biblical Mount Sinai:
• Jebel Musa (named after Moses; 7,519 feet), which has a broad plain at its base that could have held the Hebrew encampment;
• Jebel Serbal (6,759 feet); and
• Jebel Katerina (8,551 feet).
TONIGHT
Continue studying Salvation with Exo_20:7-17.
Exo_20:7
Exodus 20:7 NASB
(7) “R1You shall not takeH5375 the nameH8034 of the LORD [YHWH- YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 your GodH430 in vainH7723, for the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 will not N1leaveH5352 him unpunishedH5352 whoH834 takesH5375 His nameH8034 in vainH7723.
R1
Lev_19:12; Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20 N1
Or, hold him guiltless

NOTE:
Historically, as the second commandment concerned the issue of exercising power over YHVH, the third turns its attention to exercising YHVH's power over others.
This commandment does not refer to blasphemy or foul language.
Rather it is intended to prevent the exploitation of the name of YHVH for magical purposes or hexing.
It also continues the concerns of the second commandment in that someone's name was believed to be intimately connected to that person's being and essence.
The giving of one's name was an act of favor, trust and, in human terms, vulnerability.
Israel was not to attempt to use YHVH's name in magical ways to manipulate Him.
The commandment was also intended to insure that the use of YHVH's name in oaths, vows and treaties was taken seriously.

The third commandment concerns the sanctity of YHVH's personal name (Psa_83:18, Exo_3:14-15).
The revelation of God's name, [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH], entailed the risk that being broadcast among the people there was some likelihood that people would not hold it in reverence.

name H8034
שׁם :Original -
- Transliteration: Shem - Phonetic: shame
- Definition:
1. name a. name
b. reputation, fame, glory
c. the Name (as designation of God) d. memorial, monument
- Origin: a primitive word [perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position
- TWOT entry: 2405
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
- Strong's: A primitive word (perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064); an appellation as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor authority character: - + base [in-] fame [-ous] name (-d) renown report.

- Original: ו שׁואשׁo
- Transliteration: Shav' - Phonetic: shawv
- Definition:
1. emptiness, vanity, falsehood
a. emptiness, nothingness, vanity b. emptiness of speech, lying
c. worthlessness (of conduct)
- Origin: from the same as H7722 in the sense of desolating - TWOT entry: 2338a
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
- Strong's: From the same as H7722 in the sense of desolating;
evil (as destructive) literally (ruin) or morally (especially guile); figuratively idolatry (as false subjectively) uselessness (as deceptive objectively; also adverbially in vain): - false (-ly) lie lying vain vanity.

Use of God's name H8034 in vain H7723 seems to include, but is not limited to:
• trivializing His name through casual usage, as if it is a justification
incantation or by regarding it as insignificant (although Robert Alter
disagrees);
• trying to use it to advance human purposes by calling on YHVH in any
sense that would violate His character and purposes (one of the ways priests of false religions often used the names of their false gods); and even,
• using it in worship thoughtlessly and casually.
This precept not only forbids all false oaths, but all uses where YHVH's
personal name is abused.
This is deeper than a literal, personal name, because a name includes many things, like character.
If a religious organization misrepresents the character of YHVH, that can be considered taking His name (aka, character) in vain.
Also, if a personal, literal name is used and overused for anything and everything, the personal, literal name is made trivial, thus taking that name in vain.
Phrases like, "swear to God", burdens the person with fulfilling the rest of pledge.
If one takes the title (God, Lord, etc.) "in vain", but not His personal name, is one still taking His name "in vain"?
Some reason that it depends - in their heart - whether or not they are equating that title with YHVH.
Nowadays, many people use phrases like "swear to God" to mean, "honestly".
Sometimes, phrases like "Oh, my God" are just blurted out.

Where does YHVH draw the line?
Is it safer to purge ourselves of such expressions, and ask YHVH for forgiveness when we fall short?
1Co_10:31-33
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 NASB
(31) Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.
(32) Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God;
(33) just as I also please everyone in all things, not seeking my own benefit but the benefit of the many, so that they may be saved.

NOTE:
In Paul's time, there were only three groups: •Jews;
• Greeks - anyone non-Jewish; and,
• Church of God - followers of Yeshua. So this was referring to everyone.

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury (UCRT))
You shall not take the name of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH], your God in vain. Young states "’take up,’ on the lips, in conversation; it has no reference whatever to judicial proceedings." %+*Exo_22:11; *Exo_23:1 h. %+Gen_22:16, Lev_18:21; +Lev_19:8; +Lev_19:11; +*Lev_19:12; Lev_20:3; +*Lev_21:6; *Lev_24:11- 16, Num_23:7 h. Num_30:2, *Deu_5:11; %+*Deu_6:13; Deu_23:21-23, Jdg_11:10; Jdg_11:35; Jdg_17:2, 1Sa_28:10, **2Sa_12:14, %1Ki_17:1; %1Ki_22:14, Job_27:1 h. +*Psa_15:4; Psa_50:14-16; Psa_74:10; Psa_81:3 h. *Psa_139:20, Pro_30:8-9, Ecc_5:4-6, Isa_29:13; Isa_48:11, Jer_4:2; Jer_23:10; Jer_34:16; Jer_42:5, Eze_20:9; Eze_36:21; Eze_39:7, Hos_4:2, Zec_5:3, *Mat_5:33-37; Mat_23:16-22; Mat_26:63-64; Mat_26:72, +*Rom_2:24, 2Co_1:23; 2Co_11:31, +**Col_4:5, %+1Th_2:5, 1Ti_1:10; *1Ti_6:1, Heb_6:16-17, Jas_2:7; **Jas_5:12, %Rev_10:5; Rev_13:6; Rev_16:9.
the name. +**Psa_9:10, Luk_1:49.
Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH],. +Exo_15:26, 2Ki_5:20.
your God. Gen_3:5; Gen_24:3; Gen_24:5; Gen_27:20.
vain. [or, for vanity or falsehood. lit. vain thing].
Young 's Concordance notes, i.e. a worthless, empty thing; it prohibits the unguarded use of YHWH's personal name on trivial occasions. Psa_12:2 h. Psa_41:6 h. Psa_139:20, Isa_59:4, +*Mat_15:9.
not hold. [lit. make.] +Gen_2:17. +Gen_21:16.
unpunished [guiltless - KJV]. Exo_34:7, Lev_24:16; Lev_24:23, Deu_23:21-23, Jos_2:12; Jos_2:17; Jos_9:20, 2Sa_21:1-2, 1Ki_2:9, Job_9:28; *Job_10:14, Psa_19:13; Psa_34:21, Pro_16:5, Jer_30:11, **Eze_17:13-19, Zec_5:3-4, or, declare innocent. Num_14:18, Deu_5:11, Jer_46:28; Jer_49:12, Nah_1:3.
Exo_20:8
Exodus 20:8 NASB
(8) “RememberH2142 R1the SabbathH7676 dayH3117, to keepH6942 it holyH6942.
R1
Exo_23:12; Exo_31:13-17; Lev_26:2; Deu_5:12; Jer_17:21-27; Num_15:15-36; Isa_56:2-8

NOTE:
Almost always, the Scriptures include reference to the Sabbath being a sign, identifier, marker, relating to the seventh day of creation, when YHVH "rested" from His creating.
While we are commanded what NOT to do on the Sabbath, we are not commanded to DO anything, other than resting in union with the Creator.
Sabbath observation has no known parallel in any of the cultures of the ancient Near East and is distinctive in that it is independent of any of the patterns or rhythms of nature.
A similar term was used in Babylonian texts as a full moon day when the king officiated at rites of reconciliation with deity, but it was not a work-free day and has little in common with the Israelite Sabbath.

The Babylonian legislation does not require rest as much as it stipulates cessation, interrupting the normal activities of one's occupation.

NEXT 11/2/2023
Continue with Exo_20:8.

(A) Exo_20:8, The Sabbath day to be kept in remembrance by man.
(B. a.) Exo_20:9, The six days for man’s work.
(B. b.) Exo_20:10, The seventh day for man’s rest.
(B. a.) Exo_20:11, The six days for YHVH’s work.
(B. b.) Exo_20:11, The seventh day for YHVH’s rest.
(A) Exo_20:11, The Sabbath day blessed and made holy by YHVH.
For an in-depth discussion of this, see either the Companion Bible margins
or Figures of Speech Used in the Bible for illustrations of this figure of
speech.
Other instances of this figure noted by EW Bullinger's Companion Bible are
Psalms 39, 84, 105, 144, 148, and Mar_3:22-25.
Chiasms appear all over the Bible.
One use of these is to make these Scriptures easier to memorize, and more
poetic.
This technique is also useful to make a particular point.
Remember H2142 . lit. To remember.
Jos_1:13, Job_32:10, Psa_17:5; Psa_22:8, Isa_32:11, Jer_2:2, Luk_9:3,
Rom_12:15, Php_3:16,
Young comments, "obviously implying the previous existence of the thing to
be remembered" (Concise Critical Comments, p. 64).
But contrast the declaration in Deu_5:2-3 and its parallel Scriptures which
assert the Law had not been previously given to their fathers, or possibly,
that YHVH did not make this covenant [ONLY] with "our fathers", but with
"all of us", due to Gen_26:5.
Genesis 26:5 NASB
(5) because Abraham obeyed H8085 H6963 Me and fulfilled his duty
H4931 to Me, and kept My commandments H4687 , My statutes H2708 ,
and My laws H8451 .
”
QUESTION: If the Law was not given until Mount Sinai, what
commandments, statutes and laws did Abraham know and keep?
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
Because H6118 H834 .
The YHVH's will is strongly indicated by the attributes employed; "voice,"
"charge," "commands," "statutes," "laws" (Young).
1Ki_15:4, +*Psa_119:56.
obeyed H8085 H6963 .
A great variety of words is here used to express the divine will, to which
Abraham was obedient (obeyed me [my voice - KJV], fulfilled his duty to
Me [my charge - KJV], my commandments, my statutes, and my laws),
which seems to point out that Abraham’s obedience was universal; he
obeyed:
the original laws of nature;
the revealed laws of divine worship, particularly that of circumcision;
and,
all the extraordinary precepts YHVH gave him, as that of quitting his
country, and that (which some think is more especially referred to) of
the offering up of his son, which Isaac himself had reason enough
to remember.
The several expressions made use of seem to refer to Abraham’s unreserved
obedience, in:
leaving his native country,
sojourning in Canaan,
offering sacrifices,
being circumcised, and circumcising his sons and servants, and at
length intentionally sacrificing Isaac, at YHVH’s command; as well as to his
general course of piety, righteousness, and holiness.

Some would infer from the four special terms first used here in Scripture
that Abraham had a full revelation of the commandments given by YHVH,
including in particular the Fourth Commandment regarding keeping the
Sabbath.
Some believe this is most unlikely, for the record in Genesis never once
mentions the Sabbath, furnishes no record of a Sabbath Commandment, no record of it ever being kept, no record of it ever being broken.
A possible explanation for this utter silence is that the Sabbath
Commandment was first given after the Exodus from Egypt, and was
unknown and not practiced prior to this event.

It does not follow from these four terms, which were frequently used after the law was given upon Mt. Sinai, that Abraham already possessed the law of Moses, as the Jews assert.
Had this been the case, no doubt he would have transmitted it to his
children.
Moses, however, chooses these expressions, which were in use in his time, in order to point out clearly to the people of Israel how Abraham had submitted himself entirely to the divine will and command, and earnestly
abstained from everything to the contrary in his walk before YHVH.
To these four terms there are sometimes added two more, that is., rules and testimonies [Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Lewis, T., & Gosman, A. (2008). A
commentary on the Holy Scriptures : Genesis (507). Bellingham, WA:
Logos Research Systems, Inc.].

Num_15:29-36
Numbers 15:29-36 NASB
(29) ‘You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for
the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong
unintentionally.
(30) ‘But the person who does wrong defiantly H7311 H3027 , whether he
is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 ; and that person shall
be cut H3772 off H3772 from among his people.
(31) ‘Since he has despised H959 the word of the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 and has broken His
commandment, that person shall be completely cut H3772 off H3772 ; his
guilt will be on him.’”
(32) Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man
gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
(33) And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and
Aaron, and to all the congregation;
(34) and they placed him in custody, because it had not been decided what
should be done to him.
(35) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; all the
congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
(36) So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him
to death with stones, just as the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-
yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 had commanded Moses.
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
Num_15:30
defiantly H7311 H3027 [presumptuously - KJV]. Heb. with a high
hand.
Note: That is, bold, daring, deliberate acts of transgression against the
fullest evidence, and in despite of the Divine authority.
Such conduct "blaspheming H1442 the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh;
YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 [reproacheth the Lord - KJV]," as
if His commands were needless, unreasonable, and adverse to the
happiness of man; His authority were only fit to be trampled under foot;
His favor were not desirable, or His wrath not to be feared: in short, as if it
were more advantageous to rebel against Him than to serve Him.
Such acts admitted of no atonement (Heb_10:26): the person was
condemned to bear his own iniquity, and to be cut off. Exo_14:8. NOTE the
Hebrew words repeated in both passages.
Num_15:32-36
This example seems to have been introduced to illustrate the foregoing law.
The man despised H959 YHVH's Word, defiantly [presumptuously - KJV]
broke His commandment, and on this ground was punished with death.
Exo_16:23; Exo_16:27-28; +*Exo_20:8-10; Exo_31:14-15; Exo_35:2-3.
Isa_56:1-8
Isaiah 56:1-8 NASB
(1) This is what the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 says: “Guard justice and do righteousness, For My
salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed.
(2) “Blessed is a man who does this, And a son of man who takes hold of it;
Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing
any evil.”
(3) Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 say, “The LORD
[YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 will certainly
separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry
tree.”
(4) For this is what the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And
choose what pleases Me, And hold firmly to My covenant,
(5) To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a
name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting
name which will not be eliminated.
(6) “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068, To attend to His
service and to love the name of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-
yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 , To be His servants, every one who keeps
the Sabbath so as not to profane it, And holds firmly to My covenant;
(7) Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in
My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be
acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all
the peoples.”
(8) The Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]
H3068 GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “I will yet gather
others to them, to those already gathered.”
Isa_56:1-8: Sabbath.
The Sabbath observation has no known parallel in any of the cultures of the
ancient Near East and is distinctive in that it is independent of any of the
patterns or rhythms of nature.
A similar term was used in Babylonian texts for a full moon day when the
king officiated at rites of reconciliation with deity, but it was not a work-
free day and had little in common with the Israelite Sabbath.
There were particular days of the month in Mesopotamia that were
considered unlucky and were often seven days apart (that is, the seventh
day of the month, the fourteenth day of the month, etc.).
Israel's Sabbath was not celebrated on certain days of the month; it was
simply observed every seventh day.
During the Babylonian captivity, the Sabbath became the most conspicuous
marker showing membership in the community of Yahweh worshipers.
It became one of the central themes in postexilic Judaism (including during
the time of Yeshua).
This is addressed to those who returned to the land of Israel before the
rebuilding of the temple in 520 B.C.
The temple was still in ruins (Isa_63:18; Isa_64:8-12), but its rebuilding
was foreseen (Isa_56:6-8).
The restored worshiping community faced the question of who would be
admitted into the religious community.
As before the Exile, Israel continued to struggle with idolatry (Isa_57:1-13),
hypocrisy (Isa_58:1-14), injustice (Isa_59:1-8), and spiritual uneasiness
(Isa_64:1-7).
Keeps from profaning [defiling - KJV] the Sabbath (Exo_20:8-11)
characterizes righteousness, for the Sabbath was the sign of the covenant
(Exo_31:13-17; Jer_17:21-27; Eze_20:20-21).
Since keeping the Sabbath revealed clear commitment to YHVH, it was
closely associated with righteousness and justice.

NEXT
11/9/2023
Continue studying Exo_20:8-17.

(5) because Abraham obeyed H8085 H6963 Me and fulfilled his duty
H4931 to Me, and kept My commandments H4687 , My statutes H2708 ,
and My laws H8451
QUESTION: If the Law was not given until Mount Sinai, what
commandments, statutes and laws did Abraham know and keep?
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
Because H6118 H834 .
The YHVH's will is strongly indicated by the attributes employed; "voice,"
"charge," "commands," "statutes," "laws" (Young).
1Ki_15:4, +*Psa_119:56.
obeyed H8085 H6963 .
A great variety of words is here used to express the divine will, to which
Abraham was obedient (obeyed me [my voice - KJV], fulfilled his duty to
Me [my charge - KJV], my commandments, my statutes, and my laws),
which seems to point out that Abraham’s obedience was universal; he
obeyed: the original laws of nature; the revealed laws of divine worship, particularly that of circumcision;
and, all the extraordinary precepts YHVH gave him, as that of quitting his
country, and that (which some think is more especially referred to) of
the offering up of his son, which Isaac himself had reason enough
to remember.
The several expressions made use of seem to refer to Abraham’s unreserved obedience, in: leaving his native country,
sojourning in Canaan, offering sacrifices, being circumcised, and circumcising his sons and servants, and at length intentionally sacrificing Isaac, at YHVH’s command; as well as to his general course of piety, righteousness, and holiness.

my commandments H4687 .
Some would infer from the four special terms first used here in Scripture
that Abraham had a full revelation of the commandments given by YHVH,
including in particular the Fourth Commandment regarding keeping the
Sabbath.
Some believe this is most unlikely, for the record in Genesis never once
mentions the Sabbath, furnishes no record of a Sabbath Commandment, no record of it ever being kept, no record of it ever being broken.
A possible explanation for this utter silence is that the Sabbath
Commandment was first given after the Exodus from Egypt, and was
unknown and not practiced prior to this event.

It does not follow from these four terms, which were frequently used after
the law was given upon Mt. Sinai, that Abraham already possessed the law
of Moses, as the Jews assert.
Had this been the case, no doubt he would have transmitted it to his
children.
Moses, however, chooses these expressions, which were in use in his time,
in order to point out clearly to the people of Israel how Abraham had
submitted himself entirely to the divine will and command, and earnestly
abstained from everything to the contrary in his walk before YHVH.
To these four terms there are sometimes added two more, that is., rules and
testimonies [Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Lewis, T., & Gosman, A. (2008). A
commentary on the Holy Scriptures : Genesis (507). Bellingham, WA:
Logos Research Systems, Inc.].
25

NOTE:
Jewish tradition says the Sabbath was ordained from the very beginning.
Around 70 CE, when the Temple was destroyed, the Sadducees pretty much came to an end. Others ended soon after.
The Pharisees survived, but eventually split after the Bar Kokhva revolt in
132 CE, divisions began, leading to Orthodox, Conservative (Germany in
1840s) and Reform (Progressive or Liberal, began in Germany in early
1800s) organizations, among others.
Num_15:29-36
Numbers 15:29-36 NASB
(29) ‘You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong unintentionally. (30) ‘But the person who does wrong defiantly H7311 H3027 , whether he is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 ; and that person shall
be cut H3772 off H3772 from among his people.
(31) ‘Since he has despised H959 the word of the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 and has broken His
commandment, that person shall be completely cut H3772 off H3772 ; his guilt will be on him.’”
(32) Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
(33) And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation;
(34) and they placed him in custody, because it had not been decided what should be done to him.
(35) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; all the
congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
(36) So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-
yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 had commanded Moses.
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
Num_15:30
defiantly H7311 H3027 [presumptuously - KJV]. Heb. with a high
hand.

Note: That is, bold, daring, deliberate acts of transgression against the
fullest evidence, and in despite of the Divine authority.
Such conduct "blaspheming H1442 the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh;
YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 [reproacheth the Lord - KJV]," as
if His commands were needless, unreasonable, and adverse to the
happiness of man; His authority were only fit to be trampled under foot;
His favor were not desirable, or His wrath not to be feared: in short, as if it were more advantageous to rebel against Him than to serve Him.
Such acts admitted of no atonement (Heb_10:26): the person was
condemned to bear his own iniquity, and to be cut off. Exo_14:8. NOTE the Hebrew words repeated in both passages.
Num_15:32-36
This example seems to have been introduced to illustrate the foregoing law. The man despised H959 YHVH's Word, defiantly [presumptuously - KJV]
broke His commandment, and on this ground was punished with death.
Exo_16:23; Exo_16:27-28; +*Exo_20:8-10; Exo_31:14-15; Exo_35:2-3.
Isa_56:1-8
Isaiah 56:1-8 NASB
(1) This is what the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 says: “Guard justice and do righteousness, For My
salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed.
(2) “Blessed is a man who does this, And a son of man who takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing
any evil.”
(3) Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 say, “The LORD
[YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 will certainly
separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
(4) For this is what the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And
choose what pleases Me, And hold firmly to My covenant,
(5) To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a
name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be eliminated.
(6) “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD [YHWH-
YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068, To attend to His
service and to love the name of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-
yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 , To be His servants, every one who keeps
the Sabbath so as not to profane it, And holds firmly to My covenant;
(7) Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in
My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be
acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
(8) The Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]
H3068 GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “I will yet gather
others to them, to those already gathered.”

NOTE:
It seems like this is something in the future - the days to come.
Isaiah is not teaching just Jews, but everyone of any background - - YHVH's
rules are for everyone who attaches him/herself to His people:
Isa_56:2 - A Jewish man and his son;
Isa_56:3 - includes even foreigners H1121 H5236 and eunuchs H5631
Isa_56:4 - includes eunuchs H5631
Historically, his Hebrew term, eunuchs H5631 , can at times refer simply to a court official, but it later came to refer specifically to eunuchs.
Eunuchs were highly valued in government service in many varied roles
during the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods.
The great demand for eunuchs led to young boys being included in the
tribute paid to Persia so that they could be castrated and trained for
government service.
They had no families to distract them from their service.
They were often entrusted with the care and supervision of the royal harem since they posed no threat to the women of the harem and could not engender children by the harem women who might be mistaken for royal heirs. They would be less likely to become involved in conspiracies because they would have no heirs to put on the throne.
Assyria, Urartu and Media had all made use of eunuchs in government
offices.
Eunuchs H5631 (or, more accurately, castrated ones) had originally been
forbidden in the Israelite community (Deu_23:1).
The context in Isa_56:5 makes it clear that these officials cannot have
children, yet YHVH provides for them.
Isa_56:6 - again, includes even foreigners H1121 H5236
Isa_56:7 - Yeshua quoted this when He cast the vendors from the Temple, so clearly it was not the way it was actually done, at least in Yeshua's earthly time.
Isa_56:8 - the dispersed [outcasts - KJV] H5080 of Israel
Isa_56:2: Sabbath.
The Sabbath observation has no known parallel in any of the cultures of the ancient Near East and is distinctive in that it is independent of any of the patterns or rhythms of nature.

A similar term was used in Babylonian texts for a full moon day when the
king officiated at rites of reconciliation with deity, but it was not a work-
free day and had little in common with the Israelite Sabbath.
There were particular days of the month in Mesopotamia that were
considered unlucky and were often seven days apart (that is, the seventh
day of the month, the fourteenth day of the month, etc.)
Israel's Sabbath was not celebrated on particular days of the month; it was simply observed every seventh day.
During the Babylonian captivity, the Sabbath became the most conspicuous
marker showing membership in the community of YHVH's worshipers.
It became one of the central themes in postexilic Judaism (including during
the time of Yeshua).
Isa_56:1-8 is addressed to those who returned to the land of Israel before
the rebuilding of the temple in 520 B.C.
The temple was still in ruins (Isa_63:18; Isa_64:8-12), but its rebuilding
was foreseen (Isa_56:6-8).
The restored worshiping community faced the question of who would be
admitted into the religious community.
As before the Exile, Israel continued to struggle with idolatry (Isa_57:1-13),
hypocrisy (Isa_58:1-14), injustice (Isa_59:1-8), and spiritual uneasiness
(Isa_64:1-7).
Isa_56:2 - Keeps from profaning [defiling - KJV] the Sabbath
(Exo_20:8-11) characterizes righteousness, for the Sabbath was the sign of
the covenant (Exo_31:13-17; Jer_17:21-27; Eze_20:20-21).
Since keeping the Sabbath revealed clear commitment to YHVH, it was
closely associated with righteousness and justice.

NEXT
11/16/2023
Continue studying Exo_20:8-17.

With this command, YHVH set Israel apart from its neighbors. Other peoples had their
own various patterns of work and rest, but Israel was to set aside one day in seven for
rest.
The word Shabbath H7676 is literally, “Intermission.”
It comes from Shabath H7673 , which is translated "repose, cease, desist, rest".
The day was kept holy by ceasing all labor H5647 on that day, translated as "to work, to
serve, enslave".
The Sabbath was specifically the seventh day, Saturday.
It was patterned after the seventh day of rest for YHVH God following the six days of
creation.
During the Sabbath, the Israelites worshiped YHVH and recalled His deliverance of
them from slavery (Deu_5:15).
The observance of the Sabbath included everyone, even foreigners.
Keep It Holy H6942.
What was YHVH's will for the Sabbath H7676 H7673 (or “day of cessation,” as the term
literally means)?
The fourth commandment is straightforward: “keep it holy” (Exo_20:8).
But what does it mean to keep the Sabbath “holy”?
Holy H6942
קדשׁ :Original -
- Transliteration: Qadash
- Phonetic: kaw-dash'
- Definition:
1. to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be
separate
a. (Qal)
1. to be set apart, be consecrated
2. to be hallowed
3. consecrated, tabooed
b. (Niphal)
1. to show oneself sacred or majestic
2. to be honoured, be treated as sacred
3. to be holy
c. (Piel)
1. to set apart as sacred, consecrate, dedicate
2. to observe as holy, keep sacred
3. to honour as sacred, hallow
4. to consecrate
d. (Pual)
1. to be consecrated
2. consecrated, dedicated
e. (Hiphil)
1. to set apart, devote, consecrate
2. to regard or treat as sacred or hallow
3. to consecrate
f. (Hithpael)
1. to keep oneself apart or separate
2. to cause himself to be hallowed (of God)
3. to be observed as holy
4. to consecrate oneself
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 1990
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; to be (causatively make pronounce or observe as) clean
(ceremonially or morally): - appoint bid consecrate dedicate defile hallow (be keep)
holy (-er place) keep prepare proclaim purify sanctify (-ied one self) X wholly.
The prologue to the Ten Commandments (Exo_20:2) provides a clue.
All ten laws rest on the close relationship that YHVH has with His people:
• He is their sovereign Lord.
• He is their Almighty God.
• He is their Deliverer.
• He is their Savior.
• They are His children.
Many reason that if YHVH's people keep in mind their relationship to Him and value it
in their hearts, they will naturally exhibit the kind of behaviors outlined in the Ten
Commandments.
For example, they will set aside one day of the week, the “day of cessation,” in order to
consciously emulate what the Creator did on the seventh day of creation.
YHVH “rested” or ceased from His creative labors on that seventh day.
He did not stop sustaining, maintaining, and redeeming the world, but He did cease
from creating, shaping, and forming it.
And that appears to be what He asks His people to do, to set the day apart for Him, in
order to do whatever He loves and desires, everything except the routine labors that are
normally carried out on the other six days of the week.
Exo_16:22-30
Exodus 16:22-30 NASB
(22) Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one.
When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
(23) then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a Sabbath
observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you
will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”
(24) So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not stink nor
was there a maggot in it.
(25) Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will
not find it in the field.
(26) “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be
none.”
(27) Yet it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather,
but they found none.
(28) Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My
commandments and My instructions?
(29) “See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; for that reason He gives you bread for
two days on the sixth day. Remain, everyone, in his place; no one is to leave his place
on the seventh day.”
(30) So the people rested H7673 on the seventh day.
NOTE:
We have here:
1. YHVH's enforcement of the observing of a seventh day Sabbath, not only before the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and seemingly, from the very beginning, Gen_2:3.
For, if the Sabbath had been first instituted at Exo_20:8, how could Moses have understood what YHVH said to him (Exo_16:5), concerning a double portion to be gathered on the sixth day, without making any express mention of the Sabbath?
And how could the people so readily take the hint (Exo_16:22), even to the surprise of the rulers, before Moses had declared that it was done with a regard to the Sabbath, if they had not had some knowledge of the Sabbath before?
The setting apart of one day in seven for holy work, and, in order to that, for holy rest, appears to have been a divine appointment ever since YHVH created man upon the earth, and the most ancient of positive laws.
2. The double provision which YHVH made for the Israelites, and which they were to make for themselves, on the sixth day: YHVH gave them on the sixth day the bread of two days, Exo_16:29.
Appointing them to rest on the seventh day, He took care that they should be no losers
by it; just as none ever will be losers by obeying and serving YHVH.
On that day before the Sabbath they were to fetch in enough for two days, and to prepare it, Exo_16:23.
The law was very strict, that they must bake and seeth (boil - (Exo_16:23)), the day
before, and not on the Sabbath day.
Yeshua taught that it is not unlawful for mankind to prepare meals on the Sabbath
(Mat_12:1-8), but appears to direct us to handle our family affairs so that they may hinder us as little as possible in the work of the Sabbath.
Works of necessity, no doubt, are to be done on that day; but it is desirable to have as little as may be to do of things necessary to the life that now is, that we may apply ourselves the more closely to the one thing needful.
That which they kept for their food on the Sabbath day did not putrefy, Exo_16:24.
When they kept it in opposition to a command (Exo_16:20) it stank; when they kept it in obedience to a command it was sweet and good; for everything is sanctified by YHVH's Word
3. The intermission (cessation) of the manna on the seventh day.
YHVH did not send it then, and therefore they must not expect it, nor go out to gather,
Exo_16:25, Exo_16:26.
This showed that it was not produced by natural causes, and that it was designed for a confirmation of the divine authority of the law which was to be given by Moses. In this manner YHVH took an effectual course to make them remember the sabbath day; they could not forget it, nor the day of preparation for it.
Some, it seems, went out on the seventh day, expecting to find manna (Exo_16:27); but
they found none, for those that will find must seek in the appointed time: seek YHVH while he may be found (Isa_55:6-7).
YHVH, upon this occasion, said to Moses, How long refuse you to keep My commandments and My instructions? Exo_16:28.
Why did He say this to Moses?
Moses was not disobedient.
No, but he was the ruler of a disobedient people, and YHVH charges it upon him that he might the more strictly charge it upon the people, and might take care that their disobedience should not be through any neglect or default of his.
It was for going out to seek for manna on the seventh day that they were thus reproved.
Note, too:
(A.) Disobedience, even in a small matter, seems to be very provoking to YHVH.
(B.) YHVH is jealous for the honor of His Sabbaths.
If walking out on the Sabbath to seek for food was disallowed, going out on that day purely to find one's own pleasure seems to not be justified.
Perhaps the most amazing feature of the manna concerned the Sabbath.
On the sixth day of the week, the people were to gather a two-day supply for each person.
On any other day, manna that was kept from the day before would spoil and fill with
worms. But on the Sabbath, the manna from the previous day would be as fresh as when first gathered.
This is the most convincing argument that this “bread” was not a naturally occurring substance. six days … the Sabbath (v. Exo_16:26): The characteristics of manna were a built-in reminder of the importance of the Sabbath day in the life of the people
of Israel (Exo_20:8-11).
Some Christian organizations today reason that they have a degree of latitude in how
they fulfill YHVH's intentions for the Sabbath (Rom_14:5-13).
But the spirit of “keeping the Sabbath holy” still means to honor YHVH, to focus on the
needs of others rather than their own selves, and to pursue fellowship, unity, and concern for other believers.
Specifically, Paul's letter to the Romans is addressing specific issues of the Roman church. In those days, there were so many gods and goddesses and so many celebrations, but
these are not honoring YHVH.
Paul always used the Torah as the authority for everything he wrote.
The Torah is clear on the Sabbath; Paul is clear on the Sabbath.
Remember that word "holy" H6942 is fundamentally the same word used in Gen_2:3
where God sanctified the seventh-day Sabbath.
The only difference is that the parts of speech are different.
It takes a holy God to make holy time.
He made no other time holy than His Sabbaths.
Mankind can be made holy by YHVH as well, but man cannot make something holy
because he does not possess a holiness that can be passed on to anything.
It takes a holy God to make something holy, thus any other day than what YHVH God
has made holy - even though billions of humans may proclaim it to be holy time -
cannot be holy time.
It is utterly impossible; Sunday cannot be made holy.
For a comprehensive study of which day is truly the Sabbath, go to:
Is Sabbath, Saturday, Sunday or Everyday? Defining the Biblical Sabbath day – Part I | Bible things in
Bible ways (wordpress.com)
https://biblethingsinbibleways.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/is-sabbath-saturday-
sunday-or-everyday-defining-the-biblical-sabbath-day-part-i/
This proves that the Sabbath is worthy of respect, deference, and even devotion that
cannot be given to other periods of time or days.
It is set apart for sacred use because it is derived directly from YHVH.
Because of YHVH's assignment of the word "holy" H6942 to the Sabbath, this day is
changed into something special.
The general thrust of "holy" H6942 is different.
The root word means "to cut," "to cut out," "to separate from," or "a cut above."
The Sabbath is separate from other days, even though it is a part of the same cycle.
It has been cut out, apart from, the other days - that is, sanctified.
It is a cut above other days because YHVH made it holy.
It is different.
The Sabbath, then, is different from the common or ordinary.
The other six days are common, and they are given for the pursuit of the common and
ordinary things of life.
On the Sabbath, believers should strive to avoid those mundane things that promote
making the Sabbath into an ordinary day.
The Sabbath is a day for special things, different things.
The example of Moses and the burning bush illustrates what makes the day holy.
It is not merely because of a proclamation by YHVH.
The burning bush provides a biblical example of how something becomes holy:
So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst
of the bush and said:
Exo_3:4-5
Exodus 3:4-5 NASB
(4) When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst
of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
(5) Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the
place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
This is what makes the Sabbath holy.
Because YHVH was present, Moses had to treat the ground in a different way - with a
respect and deference that one would not give to something common.
Until YHVH put Himself in that area, the ground where Moses saw the burning bush
was no different from all the other ground in the area.
But as soon as YHVH put His presence there, it became sacred - holy.
It became holy by means of a spiritual action.
Holiness is not something that is physically discerned. (It is interesting to note in this
context (in Exo_3:1-5) that Moses was not aware that the ground was holy until YHVH
told him!)
So the Sabbath is a spiritual thing.
Its holiness must be revealed to a person:
1Co_2:6-16
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 NASB
(6) Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of
this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
(7) but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God
predestined before the ages to our glory;
(8) the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had
understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
(9) but just as it is written: “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS
NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HUMAN HEART, ALL THAT
GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
(10) For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things,
even the depths of God.
(11) For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the
person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of
God.
(12) Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.
(13) We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those
taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
(14) But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
(15) But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no
one.
(16) For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT
HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
How do things become holy?
Like time and areas of ground, they become holy because YHVH puts His presence into them. For the sake of His people and His spiritual creation, YHVH's presence is in the Sabbath.
Humans cannot understand HOW He does it.
Somehow, He puts His presence into the weekly Sabbath and into His holy days,
making them different to those to whom He has revealed that those days consist of holy
time.
Some people reason that the Fourth Commandment may be temporary because:
(1) its predicted cessation, Hos_2:11;
Hosea 2:11 NASB
(11) “I will also put an end to all her joy, Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, And
all her festivals.
NOTE: This refers to YHVH's punishment of Israel.
(2) the commandments written on stone are done away and annulled, 2Co_3:7-11;
2 Corinthians 3:7-11 NASB
(7) But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that
the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his
face, fading as it was,
(8) how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?
(9) For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of
righteousness excel in glory.
(10) For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that
surpasses it.
(11) For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in
glory.
(3) the Sabbath commandment is never ordered by the Apostle Paul; Paul disapproves
of those who turned to observing the Jewish days, months, or years, Gal_4:8-11, as
forming no part of his Gospel;
Galatians 4:8-11 NASB
(8) However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which
by nature are not gods.
(9) But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it
that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you
want to be enslaved all over again?
(10) You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years.
(11) I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

NOTE:
Paul is talking to pagans and Gentiles who worship idols, who were probably not
keeping holy days and the Sabbath.
(4) Paul asserts we are not to be judged regarding our observance of holy days and
Sabbaths which are but a shadow of the reality to come, Col_2:16-17;
Colossians 2:16-17 NASB
(16) Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect
to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—
(17) things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

NOTE:
Paul is making the argument FOR these things - to both Jews and Gentiles who ARE
keeping the Sabbath.
Continuing this passage:
Col_2:18-23
Col 2:18-23 NASB
(18) Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility
and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without
cause by his fleshly mind,
(19) and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied
and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
(20) If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if
you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
(21) “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
(22) (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the
commandments and teachings of man?
(23) These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion
and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly
indulgence.
(5) Paul permits each person to be persuaded in his own mind, Rom_14:5-6;
Romans 14:5-6 NASB
(5) One person values one day over another, another values every day the same. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
(6) The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, does so with regard to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God. (6) there is no record in the Greek Scriptures that Christians observed the Sabbath for the purpose of Christian worship;
(7) the historical record plainly declares that the disciples customarily met for the breaking of bread on the First Day, Act_20:7;

Acts 20:7 NASB
(7) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
(8) when Paul wanted to address his fellow countrymen he went to the synagogues on Saturday, the Sabbath, Act_13:14; when he wished to address his fellow believers in Christ he went on Sunday to their meeting place, wherever it happened to be, Act_20:7.
Acts 13:14 NASB
(14) But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
Acts 20:7 NASB
(7) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
OTOH, Others reason that the Sabbath is considered as a type: all types are of full force till the thing signified by them takes place; but the thing signified by the Sabbath is that rest in YHVH's Kingdom which remains for His people, therefore the moral obligation of the Sabbath must continue until time itself is swallowed up in eternity. And the fact that Yeshua Himself observed the Sabbath, as well as taught:
Mat_5:17-20
Matthew 5:17-20 NASB
(17) “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to
abolish, but to fulfill G4137 .
(18) “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or
stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!
(19) “Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and
teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(20) “For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes
and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
NOTE:
Matthew 5 - 7 is the first block of teaching material in Matthew, dealing with the ethics
of YHVH's Kingdom.
In Mat_4:17 Yeshua summarizes His message: “Repent, for the kingdom has come near
[is at hand - KJV]”; Matthew 5 - 7 shows in greater detail the repentant lifestyle that characterizes the people of the kingdom.
This block is introduced by a common Hebrew Scriptures literary form called "beatitudes": “Happy [Blessed - KJV] are those who…, for they shall….” (e.g., Psa_1:1).
Here the blessings are the promises of the kingdom for those who live the repentant life.
Yeshua's hearers would have understood them especially as promises for the future
time of YHVH’s reign; today they must be read in the light of the present aspect of the
kingdom as well.
The future kingdom was sometimes defined by images from the creation narratives or
from Israel’s exodus from Egypt, which the Jewish people regarded as their original
redemption.
Mat_5:17. Jewish teachers said that one “abolished” the law by disobeying it
(Deu_27:26), because one thereby rejected its authority. Such highhanded rebellion
against the law - as opposed to particular sins - warranted social and spiritual
expulsion from the Jewish community. The charge of openly persuading others that the
law was no longer in force would be even worse. Yeshua opposed not the law but an
erroneous interpretation of it that stressed regulations more than character.
Mat_5:18. Yeshua refers here to the yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
Later rabbis told the story that when YHVH changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, the yod
that was removed complained to YHVH for generations till he reinserted it, this time in
Joshua’s name. Jewish teachers used illustrations like this to make the point that the
law was sacred and one could not regard any part as too small to be worth keeping, and
that even YHVH, since the law was His standard, kept it.
Mat_5:19. Later rabbis decided that the greatest commandment was honoring one’s
father and mother, and the least, respecting a mother bird; they reasoned that both
merited the same reward, eternal life (based on “life” in Exo_20:12; Deu_22:7). A
modern reader might ask, What happens to the person who breaks one and keeps
another? But such a question misses the point of this hyperbolic language which other
Jewish teachers also typically used to say, “God will hold accountable anyone who
disregards even the smallest commandment.”
Mat_5:20. The Pharisees were the most respected religious people of the day, and the
scribes the supreme experts in the law (especially, no doubt, the Pharisaic scribes).
Mat_5:21-48 show what Yeshua's demand for a “higher” righteousness involves. The
Pharisees also stressed the right intention of the heart (kavanah); Yeshua criticizes not
their doctrine but their hearts as religious people. Religious communities led by
Pharisaic teachers may have also been opponents of Jewish Christians in Syria-
Palestine in Matthew’s day, giving Matthew additional incentive to record these words.
Luk_16:16-17
Luk 16:16-17 NASB
(16) “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John came; since that time the
gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
(17) “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of
the Law to fail.
NOTE:
Luk_16:16. Jewish people sometimes summarized the Bible as “the Law and the
Prophets”; many of them believed that after the era of the prophets the prophetic voice
had been muted until the messianic time. Thus John introduces the messianic era.
This is one of those confusing verses, no doubt due to the complexities and limitations
of Greek-to-English translation, as well as a lack of 1st century cultural context here in
the 21st century, as in Php_2:6.
Perhaps the Amplified Bible's translation of this verse is more helpful in harmonizing
both verses:
Luk 16:16-17 AMP
(16) Until John came, there were the Law and the Prophets; since then the good news
(the Gospel) of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone strives violently to
go in [would force his own way rather than God's way into it].
(17) Yet it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to fail
and become void.
Luk_16:17. Later rabbis told the story that when YHVH changed Sarai’s name to
Sarah, the yod that was removed complained to YHVH for generations till he reinserted it, this time in Joshua’s name. Jewish teachers used illustrations like this to
make the point that the law was sacred and one could not regard any part as too small
to be worth keeping, and that even YHVH, since the law was His standard, kept it.
note.
the sabbath H7676 day H3117 . lit. ’the day of the rest.’
Lev_23:38, Num_28:9, Deu_5:14, Neh_9:14; Neh_13:15-18, +*Isa_58:13, Eze_20:12;
Eze_44:24.
to keep H6942 it holy H6942 . or, to sanctify it. i.e. ’separate’ or ’set it apart,’ from all
other days (as in Gen_2:2-3), by a cessation from ’work or servile labor’ (Young).
*Jer_17:22, *Luk_23:56, Joh_5:10.

NEXT
11/23/2023
Continue study beginning with Exo_20:9-17.

Injunctions concern those things that would jeopardize the covenant's
continuity from generation to generation or that would jeopardize the
family line or reputation.
The covenant must be passed on in the family, and the family must be
preserved.
Historically, in the ancient Near East the concerns were similar, but the
focus on preservation of the community was viewed more in social and civil terms. Lists of ethical violations are found in Egypt in the Book of the Dead, where the individual denies that he has committed any of a long list of crimes.
In Mesopotamia the incantation series known as Shurpu contains a list of
crimes the individual confesses to in order to absolve himself of unknown offenses and thus appease an angry deity.
But in neither of these works are these actions prohibited.
They also include a wide range of other types of offenses.
Exo_20:12
Exodus 20:12 NASB
(12) “R1HonorH3513 your fatherH1 and your motherH517, soH4616 thatH4616
your R2daysH3117 may be prolongedH748 on the landH127 whichH834 the
LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 your
GodH430 givesH5414 you.
R1
Lev_19:3; Deu_27:16; Mat_15:4; Mat_19:19; Mar_7:10;
Mar_10:19; Luk_18:20; Eph_6:2
R2
Deu_5:16; Deu_5:33; Deu_6:2; Deu_11:8-9; Jer_35:7
NOTE:
The idea of "honor" goes deeper than showing respect. WHen we are born, we are completely helpless and rely 100% on our parents to do everything for us.
As we grow, we still need them, even if just for advise and knowledge.
Grandparents figure into this, as well.
When they get older, what do we do to bring honor to them?
Today, the common action is to throw them into a nursing home - alone -
without visits from their offspring.
Honor, a weight (of responsibility), to take care of them as they took care of us.
It is part of the Golden Rule.
It's about being an honorable person, especially towards our parents.
From https://www.blueletterbible.org/help/verbtense.cfm
When accessing information about verbs throughout our Old Testament
concordances, you'll find numerous references to Hebrew verb tenses such as Qal or Hiphil. The following list identifies each verb tense and it's part in speech via a comparative example in English using the verb "to love."
Simple
Qal (active) - he loved
Niphal (passive) - he was loved
Intensive Giving force or emphasis; emphasizing ("very" in the "very same man" is an intensive adverb)
Piel (active) - he loved indeed! / he loved excessively
Pual (passive) - he was indeed loved / he was loved excessively
Hithpael (reflexive) - he loved himself
Causative Expressing causation, as certain verbs (fell is a causative verb meaning to cause to fall)
Hiphil (active) - he caused to love
Hophal (passive) - he was caused to love
Honor H3513 .
בד כּ בד כּ :Original -
- Transliteration: Kabad
- Phonetic: kaw-bad'
- Definition:
1. to be heavy, be weighty, be grievous, be hard, be rich, be honourable,
be glorious, be burdensome, be honoured
a. (Qal)
1. to be heavy
2. to be heavy, be insensible, be dull
3. to be honoured
b. (Niphal)
1. to be made heavy, be honoured, enjoy honour, be made abundant
2. to get oneself glory or honour, gain glory
c. (Piel)
1. to make heavy, make dull, make insensible
2. to make honourable, honour, glorify
d. (Pual) to be made honourable, be honoured
e. (Hiphil)
1. to make heavy
2. to make heavy, make dull, make unresponsive
3. to cause to be honoured
f. (Hithpael)
1. to make oneself heavy, make oneself dense, make oneself
numerous
2. to honour oneself
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 943
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; to be heavy that is in a bad sense (burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable); causatively to make weighty (in the same two senses): - abounding with more grievously afflict boast be chargeable X be dim glorify be (make) glorious (things)
glory (very) great be grievous harden be (make) heavy be heavier lay heavily (bring to come to do get be had in) honour (self) (be) honourable (man)
lade X more be laid make self many nobles prevail promote (to honour) be rich be (go) sore stop.
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
Hebrew -
(make heavy), but always in a figurative sense. (glorify). 1Sa_15:30,
Psa_22:23
(glorify). Pro_3:9, Isa_24:15
+1Sa_2:30, Young suggests such honor includes reverence, love, obedience,
and support. Synecdoche; or, Transfer. Synecdoche of the Genus. All is put for the greater part. Exo_9:6. +Exo_23:2.
By this figure, the command applies also to all who stand in the place of
parents, thus all who legitimately have the rule over us.
Exo_21:15; Exo_21:17; Exo_22:28, Gen_9:22-23; Gen_28:7; Gen_31:35;
Gen_43:5; Gen_43:8; *Gen_47:12; Gen_48:12; Gen_50:12, Lev_19:3;
Lev_19:32; *Lev_20:9 note. Num_12:15, *Deu_5:16; Deu_21:18-21;
Deu_27:16, Rth_3:6, 1Sa_22:3; 1Sa_24:8, %2Sa_15:3, 1Ki_2:19, 2Ki_2:12;
2Ki_5:13; 2Ki_13:14, Pro_1:8-9; Pro_6:20; Pro_15:5; Pro_15:20;
Pro_19:26; Pro_20:20; Pro_23:22-25; Pro_28:24; Pro_30:11; Pro_30:17,
Isa_3:5, Jer_35:6; Jer_35:18-19, Eze_22:7, Mal_1:6, >Mat_15:4-6;
>Mat_19:19, >Mar_7:10-12; >Mar_10:19; Mar_12:17, Luk_2:51;
>Luk_18:20, Joh_19:26, Rom_1:30; Rom_13:7, Eph_5:21; +**Eph_6:1;
>Eph_6:2; Eph_6:3, **+Col_3:20; Col_3:21, 1Ti_5:1-4; 1Ti_5:17; 1Ti_6:1-
2, 2Ti_3:2, Tit_1:6, Heb_12:9; Heb_13:7, 1Pe_2:17; 1Pe_3:1-7; 1Pe_5:5-6,
Jud_1:8.
father H1 and mother H517 . Exo_21:15; Exo_21:17, Gen_28:7,
*Lev_19:3; Lev_20:9, *Deu_21:18-21, Pro_10:1; Pro_15:20; Pro_17:25;
Pro_19:26; Pro_20:20; Pro_23:22; Pro_23:24-25; Pro_28:24; Pro_30:11;
*Pro_30:17, Mal_1:6, Eph_6:2, Heb_12:9.
that thy days. Deu_4:26; +Deu_4:40; Deu_5:16; Deu_5:33; Deu_6:2;
Deu_11:9; Deu_17:20; Deu_25:15; Deu_32:47, Pro_3:16, *Jer_35:18;
Jer_35:19, >Eph_6:3.
prolonged H748 [long - KJV].
Gen_26:8, Exo_20:12, Num_9:19 (tarried long; mg, prolonged),
Num_9:22, Deu_4:26 (prolong),
Deu_4:40; Deu_5:16; Deu_5:33; Deu_6:2; Deu_11:9; Deu_17:20;
Deu_25:15 (lengthened).
Deu_30:18; Deu_32:47, Jos_24:31 (overlived; mg, prolonged).
Jdg_2:7 (outlived; mg, prolonged).
1Ki_3:14 (lengthen).
1Ki_8:8 (drew out).
2Ch_5:9 (drew out).
Job_6:11, Psa_129:3 (made long).
Pro_19:11 (deferreth).
Pro_28:2; Pro_28:16, Ecc_7:15; Ecc_8:12-13, Isa_48:9 (defer).
Isa_53:10; Isa_54:2 (lengthen).
Isa_57:4 (draw out).
Eze_12:22; Eze_31:5 (became long).
land H127 . Deu_2:29, Psa_115:16.
Before the discovery of ancient treaty patterns and their relation to the Ten Commandments, many people assumed that the two tablets of the Law
(Exo_34:1) were divided on the basis of laws relating to YHVH and those
relating to other people.
In this approach, this verse, the fifth commandment, would begin the
second tablet.
However current understanding of ancient treaties makes it probable that each of the two tablets contained all ten commandments.
In the ancient world, one copy of a treaty would be placed in the principal
temple of each contracting party.
Here both copies were kept together before YHVH and the people in the
Most Holy Place.
The term honor would be understood as “to treat with significance.”
It is the opposite of in vain (Exo_20:7).
Care of one's elderly parents was a basic element of social responsibility
and godly piety in Israel.
Here it is tied directly to how a person would fare in the land.
Apparently, people who were faithless to YHVH in disregarding their
parents would not last long in the new Promised Land.
Honoring and respecting parents consists of respecting their instruction in the covenant.
This assumes that a religious heritage is being passed on.
The home was seen as an important and necessary link for the covenant
instruction of each successive generation.
Honor is given to them as representatives of YHVH's authority for the sake of covenant preservation.
If parents are not heeded or their authority is rejected, the covenant is in
jeopardy.
In this connection, notice that this commandment comes with covenant
promise: living long in the land.
In the ancient Near East it is not the religious heritage but the fabric of
society that is threatened when there is no respect for parental authority
and familial obligations are neglected.
Violations included:
• striking parents,
• cursing parents,
• neglecting the care of elderly parents, and,
• failing to provide proper burial.
However, it may be asked, WHY should children be obligated to honor their parents?
Aside from the obvious:
• They have given birth to their children.
• They have educated them.
• They have provided for their wants in days of infancy and weakness.
• They love them as no one else can.
• They watch them with intense interest, in the opening of their minds to
truth, and in their progress in social and commercial life.
YHVH has placed parents are over their children and children must give
honor not merely in the social and domestic life, but in the moral aspects of the relationship.
How should children honor their parents?
Not by mere lip-service of respect or a Hallmark card delivered to the
nursing home where the parents have been dumped; but by true reverence,by constant affection, by untiring obedience, and by every effort calculated to enhance their welfare and delight.
Children should speak well of your parents, take care of them in old age,
never cause them pain by evil doing and always praying for them to YHVH.
Remembering, “That your days may be prolonged on the land which the
LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 your
God gives you.”
It is well to observe that this is the only one of the commandments which
has a distinct promise connected with it.
Paul reminds us:
(Eph_6:1-3).
Eph 6:1-3 NASB
(1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
(2) HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first
commandment with a promise),
(3) SO THAT IT MAY TURN OUT WELL FOR YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY
LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.
Contrast this with another passage:
Deu_27:16
Deu 27:16 NASB
(16) ‘Cursed is one who treats his father or mother contemptuously.’ And
all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Children must honor their parents.
Because YHVH has commanded it, because blessing will be attached to it, because the high relationship demands it, because self-respect prompts it, and because in the future they will need their children to treat them same way. Some young people may say that their parents are:
• not lovable, and that therefore they cannot love them;
• not wise, and that therefore they cannot respect them;
• that they are unreasonable, fickle, and selfish;
• that they have vices of temper and speech, and, perhaps, vices of a still grosser kind; and
• it is simply impossible to honor them.
It seems there are children in today's world who have this opinion, and
maintain it as a principle:
"Parents have a right to just that measure of respect and affection from us, which they can claim on the ground of their intelligence and worth, no more and no less."
At first sight this looks reasonable enough.
There is very much to be said for that view of matters.
"How can I love anyone who has very little in her to love, simply because
she happens to be my mother?"
"How can I respect any one in whom there is nothing to respect, simply
because he happens to be my father?"
"My love, respect and honor are and must be altogether independent of
mere relationship, and are determined by the character and power of the
people with whom I have to do."
That looks very philosophical, no doubt.
But that rope has a knot in it:
"How would it have fared with you if your father and mother had had the
same ideas about your claims on them?"
"You want your parents to stand on the same ground as other men and
women, and to be loved and respected according to their personal merits, just as if they had no natural relationship to you; what would have
happened if they had been equally philosophical and impartial, and if they had given you only as much affection and care as you seemed to deserve, or as you claimed on the ground of your helplessness; if, in short, they had
justified themselves in ignoring any special obligation to love you and to
care for you, beyond the obligation which would have rested on them to
love and care for any child that happened to come into their hands?"
The information on the childhood and youth of Yeshua Messiah in the Bible are very few.
But look at His obedience to His earthly parents.
He honored them, first by being “subject to them;” (Luk_2:51).
He was obedient; He was “full of grace and truth” (Joh_1:14).
He grew in wisdom daily (Luk_2:40).
His understanding and His answers astonished all that heard Him, even the most learned doctors of the day (Mat_7:28; Mat_13:54; Mat_22:33;
Mar_1:22; Mar_5:42; Mar_6:2; Mar_7:37; Mar_10:24; Mar_10:26;
Mar_11:18; Luk_2:47; Luk_4:32; Luk_5:9; Luk_8:56).
On the cross, in His last act of earthly responsibility, Yeshua:
Joh_19:25-28
Joh 19:25-28 NASB
(25) Now beside the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
(26) So when Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved
standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
(27) Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that
hour the disciple took her into his own household.
(28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been
accomplished, in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, *said, “I am
thirsty.” And yet this Son went down to Nazareth with His parents, and was subject to them.
What a lesson for all is this:
• He who was higher than the kings of the earth was subject to His
parents;
• He honored His father;
• He obeyed them.
Nothing can excuse a child from this duty; it belongs to the relation.
We find the greatest characters in the Scriptures honoring their parents:
Joseph, though governor of Egypt, went himself in his chariot to his father Jacob to meet him, and, in the interview, showed:
(1.) How much he honored him: He presented himself unto him. Note, It is the duty of children to reverence their parents, even though in outward
condition, the child has advanced above his parents.
(2.) How much Joseph loved Jacob. Time did not wear out the sense of his obligations, but his tears which he shed abundantly upon his father's neck, for joy to see him, were real indications of the sincere and strong affection he had for him (Gen_46:29).
And, Solomon, the most magnificent of all earthly kings, honored his
mother with the same reverence, rising up to meet her and bowing himself unto her, and giving her the place of honor at his right hand (1Ki_2:19).
And, “behold, something greater than Solomon is here,” (Luk_11:31) “who
was subject to His parents” (Luk_2:51) -not merely courteous and
reverential, but “subject” to them, obedient to them.
YHVH's commandment shows that that age no way in the least interferes
with this duty on the part of children, but that obedience is due from the
child to the parent as long as the relationship exists.
There may be a variety of reasons why the parent should have no occasion to exercise his authority; but should occasion arise, the child, however advanced in years, is in no sense exempt from obedience; because the parent is certainly not exempt from the exercise of authority, although. YHVH has requirements for the father as well:
Eph_6:4
Eph 6:4 NASB
(4) Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in
the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Pro_22:6-16
Pro 22:6-16 NASB
(6) Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.
(7) The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s
slave. (8) One who sows injustice will reap disaster, And the rod of his fury will perish. (9) One who is generous will be blessed, Because he gives some of his food to the poor.
(10) Drive out the scoffer, and strife will leave, Even quarreling and
dishonor will cease. (11) One who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.
(12) The eyes of the LORD protect knowledge, But He overthrows the
words of the treacherous person.
(13) The lazy one says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the
streets!”
(14) The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; He who is cursed of the
LORD will fall into it.
(15) Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline
will remove it far from him.
(16) One who oppresses the poor to make more for himself, Or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
There is a connection between the Commandments, YHVH, parents and
children. This first four honor YHVH, the last five honor the human community.
This commandment, the fifth, bridges the gap.
When we honor our parents with each and every thought, word and deed, we also honor YHVH, who is the Father over all humanity.
Life, as seen above, is also linked to honoring parents.
Deu_21:18-21
Deu 21:18-21 NASB
(18) “If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey
his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them, (19) then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.
(20) “And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is
stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’ (21) “Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear about it and fear.

NOTE:
While there is no record in any writings of this actually being done, it
further demonstrates how serious YHVH is about this.
And Paul adds:
Rom_1:28-32
Rom 1:28-32 NASB

(28) And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper,
(29) people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; (32) and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

NEXT
12/7/2023
Continue studying Exo_20:13-17.

Simple
Qal (active) - he loved
Niphal (passive) - he was loved
Intensive
Giving force or emphasis; emphasizing ("very" in the "very same man" is an intensive
adverb)
Piel (active) - he loved indeed! / he loved excessively
Pual (passive) - he was indeed loved / he was loved excessively
murder H7523
רצח :Original -
- Transliteration: Ratsach
- Phonetic: raw-tsakh'
- Definition:
1. to murder, slay, kill
a. (Qal) to murder, slay
1. premeditated
2. accidental
3. as avenger
4. slayer (intentional) (participle)
b. (Niphal) to be slain
c. (Piel)
1. to murder, assassinate
2. murderer, assassin (participle)(subst)
d. (Pual) to be killed
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 2208
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; properly to dash in pieces that is kill (a human being)
especially to murder: - put to death kill (man-) slay (-er) murder (-er).
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury
(UCRT))
Exo_21:12; Exo_21:14; Exo_21:20; Exo_21:29; Exo_22:2-3, *Gen_4:8-15; *Gen_4:23;
%*Gen_9:5; Gen_9:6; Gen_27:41; Gen_27:45; Gen_49:6, Lev_24:17; Lev_24:21,
Num_35:16-21; Num_35:31-34; %Num_35:6; Num_35:11; Num_35:12; Num_35:15-
31, Deu_4:42; *Deu_5:17; Deu_19:11-13; Deu_21:1-9; %Deu_22:26; Deu_27:24,
*2Sa_12:9; *2Sa_12:10, 1Ki_2:5-6, 2Ki_21:16, 2Ch_24:22, Psa_10:8-11; *Psa_51:14,
Pro_1:11; Pro_1:18; Pro_28:17, Isa_1:15; Isa_26:21, Jer_26:15, >Mat_5:21; Mat_5:22;
*Mat_15:19; **>Mat_19:18, >Mar_10:19, >Luk_18:20, *Joh_8:44, Act_3:15;
Act_16:28; Act_28:4, **>Rom_13:9, Gal_5:21, 1Ti_1:9, **>Jas_2:11; **Jas_2:13;
Jas_4:1-2, *1Pe_4:15, **1Jn_3:12-15, Rev_16:6; Rev_17:6; **Rev_21:8; **Rev_22:15.
NOTE:
One view, kill or murder - has to do with AUTHORITY.
To harmonize with Israel's history, their enslavement and being oppressed, Jews had
no problem with their understanding.
The rabbis had authority over the synagogues.
The Gentiles were not familiar with this, so the idea of being obedient to the synagougs
and churches.
Paul (Rom_13:1-13) discusses authority.
Many of his statements did not fit with Jewish history.
Then, beginning in Rom_13:5, he bridges from synagogue authorities and servants
G3011 and paying taxes to Caesar.
Remember, Daniel and his three companions did NOT submit to Nebuchadnezzar and
YHVH delivered them.
If these Scriptures indicate that people have to obey secular rulers to go to war and kill,
will it be murder,
The word used here is not technically restricted to murder, but it does assume a person
as both subject and object.
It has been observed that it is used only in the context of homicide (whether accidental
or intentional, premeditated or not, judicial, political or otherwise) within the covenant
community.
This is one of the laws of nature, and was strongly enforced by the commands given to
Noah and his sons, Gen_9:5-6.
The Jews understood it as meaning no more.
Yeshua's comment clearly shows that it was spiritual as well, and was designed to
extend to the thoughts and feelings as well as the external act (Mat_5:21-26).
John taught that it forbids all malice and hatred to any person (1Jn_3:15), and all
personal revenge arising from that hate; also all rash anger upon sudden provocations,
and hurt said or done, or aimed to be done, in passion, according to Yeshua
(Mat_5:22).
Because of the nature of the term used, this verse cannot easily be brought into
discussions of pacifism, capital punishments or vegetarianism.
Historically, some law collections of the ancient Near East do not treat murder, while in
others the punishment only entails monetary compensation.
Nevertheless the murderer still ran the risk of being targeted for execution by the
victim's family in a blood feud.
The sixth commandment, you shall not murder, does not forbid all taking of life, for
the Law itself includes provisions for capital punishment (Exo_21:15-17, Exo_21:23-31)
as well as warfare (Exo_17:8-16).
The deliberate murder of another person (outside the legitimate provisions of capital
punishment or war) flagrantly violates the sanctity of life.
This includes murder committed by officers of the state (read the story of Naboth,
1Ki_21:1-29).
The first murder recorded in the Bible was the killing of Abel by Cain (Gen_4:8-14).
Indeed, Yeshua's death, based on false charges and an illegal trial, was the most
horrible murder of all time!
For us, the question becomes:
Is there a difference between killing versus murdering"
Many believe that the Christian worldview condemns the use of deadly force
unilaterally.
However, the Scripture delineates a distinction between killing and murdering.
“You shall not kill” is actually not a command found in the Ten Commandments.
The command from scripture in the original language actually says “You shall not
murder” (Exo_20:13).
The Hebrew word for “murder” - H7523 - literally is defined as, “the intentional,
premeditated killing of another person with malice.”
Interestingly, most people are familiar with this definition of murder, because it is
reflected in the Penal Codes.
In most states, HUMAN-defined Penal Code provides this definition of murder:
(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice
aforethought.
Malice H5767 is a form of evil intent that separates “murder” from “killing”.
Even today there are acceptable forms of killing that lack this kind of evil intent, and
these forms of killing exist as exceptions in the murder laws of the United States:
• A person kills someone accidentally
• A person is trying to defend him or herself and prevent his or her own murder (self-
defense)
• A person is trying to prevent someone from entering his or her house to commit
some violent felony
• A person is trying to prevent the murder of someone else (protecting an innocent)
In all these situations, killing is actually legal and justifiable, and exceptions of this
nature exist in the Penal Codes of every state in America.
Even those who don’t accept YHVH's existence or the authority of the Bible recognize
the necessity for laws like these; laws that allow for deadly force to be used to
accomplish some greater good.
It’s interesting to note, however, these exceptions are not the invention of modern
humans; they are simply a reflection of ancient Biblical Law.
The Bible is the source for these modern laws and the exceptions come straight from
the pages of scripture:
An accidental killing is not murder:
Exo_21:12-13
Exo 21:12-13 NASB
(12) “He who strikes someone so that he dies shall certainly be put to death.
(13) “Yet if he did not lie in wait for him, but God caused him to fall into his hand, then
I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.
Num_35:22-25
Num 35:22-25 NASB
(22) ‘But if he pushed him suddenly, without hostility, or threw any object at him
without malicious intent,
(23) or had any deadly stone, and without looking he dropped it on him so that he
died, while he was not his enemy nor was he seeking to harm him,
(24) then the congregation shall judge between the one who fatally struck the victim
and the blood avenger H1350 in accordance with these ordinances.
(25) ‘And the congregation shall save the one who committed manslaughter from the
hand of the blood avenger H1350 , and the congregation shall return him to his city of
refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was
anointed with the holy oil.
BUT:
Num_35:26-34
Num 35:26-34 NASB
(26) ‘But if at any time he goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he flees,
(27) and the blood avenger H1350 finds him outside the border of his city of refuge,
and the blood avenger H1350 kills him, he will not be guilty of bloodshed,
(28) because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high
priest. But after the death of the high priest the one who committed manslaughter may
return to the land of his property.
(29) ‘These things shall be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations
in all your dwelling places.
(30) ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of
witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
(31) ‘Moreover, you shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is
condemned to death, but he must be put to death.
(32) ‘And you shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, so
that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.
(33) ‘So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and
no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the
blood of the one who shed it.
(34) ‘So you shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell;
for I the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 am
dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”
A killing performed in self-defense (or in defense of one’s home) is not murder:
Exo_22:2
Exo 22:2 NASB
(2) “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be
no guilt for bloodshed on his account.
A killing performed in an attempt to save the life of an innocent person is not murder:
Exo_2:11-12
Exo 2:11-12 NASB
(11) Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to
his fellow Hebrews and looked at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a
Hebrew, one of his fellow Hebrews.
(12) So he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he
struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand.
(NOTE: Apparently, YHVH did not judge Moses as a murderer because he was
protecting the life of the slave)
Gen_14:14-16
Gen 14:14-16 NASB
(14) When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained
men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
(15) Then he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and
defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
(16) He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with
his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.
(NOTE: Again, apparently YHVH did not judge Abram as a murderer because he was
protecting the life of Lot)
It seems that, Scripturally, killing becomes murder when (and only when) it is not
properly justified.
When the justifications are clear: one can use whatever force necessary to protect
human life from a hostile aggressor, or to save the life of an innocent from such
imminent, life-threatening danger.
The difference between the legal or illegal use of deadly force is really a matter of
motive, intent and justification, and these distinctions come straight from the pages of
Scripture.
QUESTION: How can Exo_20:13 be harmonized with WAR?
The sixth commandment in the Bible, Exo_20:13, states "You shall not murder."1
The Hebrew word for “murder” is “ratsach,” which means "to dash in pieces, kill, slay,
murder."2
This commandment is often interpreted as a prohibition against killing another human
being without justification.
However, the Bible also contains many instances of war and violence, which can be
difficult to reconcile with this commandment.
One way to harmonize Exo_20:13 with war is to consider the context in which the
commandment was given.
The Israelites were a people who had just been freed from slavery in Egypt and were
about to enter the Promised Land.
They were surrounded by hostile nations and faced many threats to their survival.
In this context, HUMANS find it understandable (REMEBERING: Pro_3:5-8;
Isa_55:8-9) that YHVH would allow them to engage in warfare to defend themselves
and secure their future.
Another HUMAN way to harmonize this commandment is to recognize that it is not an
absolute prohibition against killing, but rather a prohibition against unjustified killing.
In other words, HUMANS reason, there are situations in which taking a life is
necessary or justified, such as in self-defense or in the defense of others.
In these cases, killing is not considered murder, but rather an act of self-preservation
or protection.
From HUMAN reasoning, while the Bible contains many instances of war and violence,
it is important to remember that the sixth commandment prohibits unjustified killing,
not all killing.
1: Exo_20:13 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary - Bible Study Tools
2: Exo_20:13 Commentaries: "You shall not murder. - Bible Hub
WAR
As used in the Bible:
WAR H4421
מלחמה :Original -
- Transliteration: Milchamah
- Phonetic: mil-khaw-maw'
- Definition:
1. battle, war
- Origin: from H3898 (in the sense of fighting)
- TWOT entry: 1104c
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
- Strong's: From H3898 (in the sense of fighting); a battle (that is the engagement);
generally war (that is warfare): - battle fight (-ing) war ([-rior]).
As defined by WEBSTER:
WAR, n. [G., to perplex, embroil, disturb. The primary sense of the root is to strive,
struggle, urge, drive, or to turn, to twist.]
1. A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, either for defense, or for
revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce or acquisition
of territory, or for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over
the other. These objects are accomplished by the slaughter or capture of troops, and the
capture and destruction of ships, towns and property. Among rude nations, war is often
waged and carried on for plunder. As war is the contest of nations or states, it always
implies that such contest is authorized by the monarch or the sovereign power of the
nation. When war is commenced by attacking a nation in peace, it si called an offensive
war, and such attack is aggressive. When war is undertaken to repel invasion or the
attacks of an enemy, it is called defensive, and a defensive war is considered as
justifiable. Very few of the wars that have desolated nations and deluged the earth with
blood, have been justifiable. Happy would it be for mankind, if the prevalence of
Christian principles might ultimately extinguish the spirit of war, and if the ambition to
be great, might yield to the ambition of being good.
Preparation for war is sometimes the best security for peace.
2. In poetical language, instruments of war.
His complement of stores, and total war.
3. Poetically, forces; army.
Oer the embattled ranks the waves return, and overwhelm their war.
4. The profession of arms; art of war; as a fierce man of war.
5. Hostility; state of opposition or contest; act of opposition.
6. Enmity; disposition to contention.
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart.
Psa_55:21.
Man of war, in naval affairs, a ship of large size, armed and equipped for attack or
defense.
Holy war, a crusade; a war undertaken to deliver the Holy Land, or Judea, from
infidels. These holy wars were carried on by most unholy means.
WAR, v.i.
1. To make war; to invade or attack a nation or state with force of arms; to carry on
hostilities; or to be in a state of contest by violence.
He teacheth my hands to war. (2Sa_22:35, Psa_18:34)
And they warred against the Midianites. (Num_31:7).
Why should I war without the walls of Troy? (Troilus and Cressida Translation Act 1,
Scene 1)
2. To contend; to strive violently; to be in a state of opposition.
Lusts which war against the soul. (1Pe_2:11).
WAR, v.t.
1. To make war upon; as, to war the Scot. [Not used.]
2. To carry on a contest.
That thou mightest war a good warfare. (1Ti_1:18).
The Bible indicates that there were two kinds of wars among the Hebrews.
Some were of obligation, being expressly commanded by YHVH; others were free and
voluntary.
Examples of the the first were such as those against the Amalekites, and the intrusive
and wicked Canaanites, nations devoted to idolatry.
The others were to avenge injuries, insults, or offences against the nation, such as that
against the city of Gibeah, and against the tribe of Benjamin; and such was that of
David against the Ammonites, whose king had insulted his ambassadors.
Or they were to maintain and defend their allies, as that of Joshua against the kings of
the Canaanites, to protect Gibeon.
In fact, the laws of Moses suppose that Israel might make war, and oppose enemies.
As to details, the laws of war among the Hebrews, as we have seen, permitted severities
in the treatment of the conquered that are considered barbaric today.
Possibly, in practice, limitations were put upon the abstract rights of conquerors
among the Jews just as among Christian nations.
This is not invalidated by severities such as those of Gideon towards the kings who had
enslaved Israel (Jdg_7:25; Jdg_8:18-21); or of David cutting off and carrying away
Goliath's head (1Sa_17:54); nor: by such exceptional dealings as those with the
Midianites, who had made themselves almost as obnoxious to punishment as the
devoted Canaanites (Num_31:1-54).
The same may be said of the fearful threatening in Psa_137:8-9; but, as a matter of
practice, contrast the cruelty of putting out eyes by the Philistines, the Ammonites, and
the Chaldeans (Jdg_16:21; 1Sa_11:2; 2Ki_25:7).
The treatment of the men of Succoth and Penuel by Gideon, of the Ephraimites by
Jephthah, and of the men of Jabesh-gilead by the assembled Israelites (Jdg_8:4-7;
Jdg_12:1-6; Jdg_21:8-12), are unmistakably punishments of extraordinary severity on
account of aggravated acts of treason against YHVH.
The treatment of ten thousand Edomites by Amaziah is a parallel on the part of one
whose principles and practice ought to have been better (2Ch_25:12).
OTOH, it should be kept in mind that these were not usages of Judaism as such, nor
peculiar to the Hebrews; but manifestations of the common spirit of the age and region,
which the Mosaic law did all it could, as we have seen, to soften and lessen.
Nor should we judge a distant era by the rules of modern humanity which is the
offshoot of Christianity.
It has been questioned whether wars are, under any circumstances, justifiable from
Jewish example.
While it is certain that the practice of offensive' wars cannot be defended by reference
to sacred history, it is equally clear, if wars must be, that they can only be consistent
with the light of that dispensation which breathes forgiveness and forbearance on the
clear and obvious ground of necessity and self-defense.
When Christ's Kingdom is in full effect, when the principles of the Bible shall have
illuminated the minds of all nations, wars shall cease from the ends of the earth, and all
men will give glory to YHVH in the highest, and on earth peace and good-will will
universally prevail (Psa_46:9; Psa_76:3; Isa_2:4; Eze_39:9; Luk_2:14).
NEXT
12/14/2023
Continue studying Exo_20:14-17.
ADDENDUM (optional – for EXTRA CREDIT):
(The information in section is based on James Strong's & John McClintock's
Cyclopedia of the Bible)
I. Early History of Warfare.
Only in its relation to the Hebrews.
1. Patriarchal.
It is probable that the first wars originated in nomad life, and were occasioned by the
disputes which arose between wandering tribes for the exclusive possession of
pasturage favorable to their flocks and herds.
Tribes which lived by hunting were probably more warlike than those which led a
pastoral life; and the latter, again, were more devoted to war, than agricultural races.
There seems to have been an almost a natural source of hostility between these races;
the hunters were enraged against the shepherds because they appropriated animals by
domestication, and the shepherds equally hated the agriculturists because they
appropriated land by tillage, and thus limited the range of pasturage.
Hunting also indisposed those who lived by the chase to pursue more, toilsome and less
exciting occupations; also, those who supported themselves in this manner appear to
have wanted to throw all the burden of manual labor on their wives, their children, and
afterwards on persons whom they captured into slavery.
There is a common tradition in Western Asia, that Nimrod, mentioned in Scripture as
“a mighty hunter before the Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 ” (Gen_10:9), was the first who engaged in extensive wars for the
purpose of obtaining slaves, and that he was also the first who introduced the practice
of compelling conquered nations to redeem themselves by the payment of a ransom.
So early as the days of Abraham, we find that wars were undertaken for the express
purpose of obtaining slaves and tribute.
Chedorlaomer (Gen_14:1-24) forced several neighboring princes, including the king of
Sodom, to pay him tribute for twelve years; and when they stopped paying, he invaded
their territories for the purpose of bringing the inhabitants to slavery.
He succeeded, and carried away a host of captives, among whom were Lot and his
family; but the prisoners were rescued by Abraham.
2. Among the Early Nations, Neighbors to the Israelites.
From the existing monuments of Egypt and Assyria, it is observed that war was, among
the ancient nations, the main business of life.
The Egyptians early possessed a considerable standing army, maybe kept up by
conscription.
Wherever the armies are represented on the great monuments of Egypt, they are
composed of troops of infantry, armed with the bow or spears, and of ranks of war-
chariots, drawn by two horses. The few figures upon horses almost all belong to
foreigners.
Chariots also appear in Homer, as the principal strength of the Egyptian army (Iliad,
9:383). The war-chariots were the cavalry of the age; cavalry, properly speaking, did
not exist then in Egypt.
Hence, when Pharaoh pursued the fugitive Hebrews, he “took six hundred select
chariots”, evidently the royal guard; and also all the chariots of Egypt, i.e. the
remainder of his disposable mounted forces; as the infantry were not suite for pursuit.
“And the Egyptians followed them and overtook them, where they were encamped by
the sea, all the chariot-horses of Pharaoh and his riders and his host” (Exo_14:6-7;
Exo_14:9; Exo_14:23; Exo_14:25-26; Exo_14:28).
The Assyrian monuments exhumed by Botta and Lavard exhibit the military force of
the Assyrians as composed of infantry armed with the bow and the lance; also of war-
chariots and regular cavalry (Isa_36:8-9; Eze_23:12).
The war-chariots, which are depicted on the walls of Khorsabad are low, with two small
wheels, with one or two persons standing in each, besides the driver; the horses are full
of mettle, some of them splendidly caparisoned (Nah_3:2-3). - Wikipedia
II. Military Tactics among the Hebrews. (Kitto's Cyclopedia.)
The Hebrew nation, so long as it continued in Egyptian slavery, might be regarded as
non-military, since the Egyptians would not have permitted such a numerous and
dense population as Israel, which retained their seat in Goshen, the means of resistance
to authority.
Placed as this portion of the people was, with the wanderers of the wilderness to the
south and the mountain robbers of Edom to the east, some kind of defense must have
been provided to protect its cattle and, in a measure, to cover Lower Egypt itself from
foreign inroads..
Probably the laboring population, scattered as slaves through the Delta, were had very
few weapons; while the shepherds had the same kind of defensive arms, which are still
in use and allowed to all classes in Eastern countries today.
This mixed state of their social position appears to be demonstrated by the fact that,
when suddenly permitted to depart, the whole organization required for the movement
of such a multitude was clearly in force; yet not a word is said about physical means to
resist the pursuing Egyptians.
The Israelites were, therefore, partly armed; they, doubtless, had their bows and
arrows, clubs, and darts, wicker or ox-hide shields, and helmets (caps) of skins or of
woven rushes.
From their familiar knowledge of the Egyptian institutions, the Israelites, doubtless,
copied their military organization, as soon as they were free from bondage, and became
involved into a warlike life during their forty years wandering in the desert
But there is this remarkable difference: while Egypt had her hundred thousands of
regulars, either drawn from the provinces or names by a kind of conscription, such as is
to be seen on the monuments, or from a military caste of hereditary soldiers, the
Hebrew people, preserved the patriarchal institution of nomads, embodied by families
and tribes, as is plainly proved by the order of march; which was preserved during their
pilgrimage to the Promised Land. (Num_9:15-23; Num_10:5-6)
That order likewise reveals a military circumstance which seems to attest that the
distribution of the greatest and most warlike masses was not on the left of the order of
movement - that is, towards their immediate enemies - but always to the front and
right, as if even then the most serious opposition might be expected from the east and
northeast -possibly from a remembrance of past invasions of the giant races and of the
first conquerors, furnished with, cavalry and chariots, having come from those
directions.
At the time of the departure of Israel, horses were not yet abundant in Egypt, for the
pursuing army had only six hundred chariots; and the shepherd people were even
prohibited from breeding or possessing them.
The Hebrews were required to trust, under divine protection, to the energies of infantry
alone, their, future country being chiefly within the basin of high mountains, and the
march to it over a district of Arabia where, to this day, horses are not in use.
Is it possible YHVH rejected horses because they were already known to be less fit for
defense at home than for distant expeditions of conquest, in which it was not intended
that the chosen people should engage?
Where such exact order and instruction existed, it may not be doubted that in military
affairs, upon which, in the first years of freedom, so much of future power and success
was to depend, measures no less appropriate were taken, and that, with the Egyptian
model universally known, similar institutions or others equally efficient were adopted
by the Israelites.
Great tribal ensigns (flags, banners) they had, which may infer the existence of others
for subordinate divisions.
Like the Egyptians, they could move in columns and form well-ordered ranks in deep
fronts of battle; and they acted upon the best suggestions of human ingenuity united
with physical daring, except when expressly ordered to trust to YHVH.
The force of circumstances caused, in time, modifications of importance to be made,
where doctrine had interfered with what was felt to hinge on political necessities; but
even then they were long and urgently wanted before they took place, although the
people in religion were constantly disregarding the most important points, and
forsaking YHVH God who, they all knew and believed, had taken them out of bondage
to make them a great nation.
Thus, although, from the time the tribes of Reuben and Manasseh received their
allotment east of the Jordan, the possession of horses became in some measure
necessary to defend their frontier, still the people persisted for ages in abstaining from
them and even in the time of David would not use them when they were actually
captured; but when the policy of Solomon had made extensive conquests, the
injunction was set aside, because horses became all-important.
From the Captivity till after the destruction of Jerusalem, the remnant of the Eastern
tribes were in part warlike equestrian nomads, who struck terror into the heart of the
formidable Persian cavalry, won great battles, and even captured Parthian kings.
When both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were again confined to the mountains,
they reduced their cavalry to a small body; because, it may be, the nature of the soil
within the basin of the Libaunus was, as it still is, unfavorable to breeding horses.
Another instance of unwillingness to violate ancient institutions is found in the
Hebrews abstaining from active war on the Sabbath until the time of the Maccabees.
There are, however, indications in their military transactions, from the time Assyrian
and Persian conquerors pressed upon the Israelite states, and still more after the
Captivity, which show the influence of Asiatic military ideas, according to which the
masses do not act with ordered unity, but trusted to the more adventurous to decide
the fate of battle.
Later still, under the Maccabees, the systematic discipline of Macedonians can be
observed, even though in Asia, the Greek method of training, founded on mathematical
principles, had never been fully complied with, or had been modified by the existence
of new circumstances and new elements of destruction; such, for example, as the use of
great bodies of light cavalry, showering millions of arrows upon their enemies, and
fighting elephants introduced by the Ptolemies.
But all these practices became again modified in Western Asia when Roman dominion
had replaced the Greek kingdoms.
Even the Jews, as is evident from Josephus, modeled their military force on the
Imperial plan; their infantry became armed and was maneuvered in accordance with
that system which everywhere gave victory by means of the strength and mobility
which it imparted.
The masses were composed of cohorts, or their equivalents, consisting of centuriae and
deculrise, or subdivisions into hundreds, fifties, and tens - similar to modern
battalions, companies, and squads; and the commanders were of like grades and
numbers.
Thus the people of Israel and the nations around them cannot be accurately
understood, in a military view, without taking into account these successive changes;
for they had the same influence which military innovations had in Europe between the
eras of Charlemagne and the emperor Charles V, including the use of cannon.
The army of Israel was chiefly composed of infantry, formed into a trained body of
spearmen, and, in greater numbers, of slingers and archers, with horses and chariots in
small proportion, excepting during the periods when the kingdom extended over the
desert to the Red Sea.
The irregulars were drawn from the families and tribes, particularly Ephraim and
Benjamin; but the heavy armed derived their chief strength from Judah, and were, it
appears, collected by a kind of conscription-by-tribes, like the earlier Roman armies -
not through selected officers, but by genealogists of each tribe under the
superintendence of the princes.
Of those selected, a proportion greater or less was selected, according to the need of the
time; and the whole male population might be called out on extraordinary occasions.
When, Israel's kings modified the system of government to be more efficient, there was
an officer denominated "shoter" (officer), a sort of muster-master, who were
responsible for the effective force or number of soldiers ready for service, but who was
subordinate to the "sopher", or scribe, a kind of secretary of state.
These officers, or the "shoterim", "struck out" or excused from service:
• those who had built a house without having yet inhabited it;
• those who had planted an olive or vineyard and had not tasted the fruit, which gave
leave of absence for five years;
• those who were betrothed, or had been married less than one year;
• the fainthearted, which may mean those with delicate dispositions, rather than the
cowardly, as that quality is seldom without personal inconvenience, and where it is
no longer a shame, the rule would destroy every levy.
The soldiers were drilled to march in ranks (1Ch_12:38), and in column by fives
(chamushim) abreast (Exo_13:18); which, it seems, that they borrowed from the
Egyptian system a decimal formation - two fifties in each division making a solid
square, equal in rank and file for twice tell in rank and five in file being told off by
right-hand and left-hand tiles, a command to the left-hand files to face about and
march six or eight paces to the rear, then to front and take one step to the right, would
make the hundred a solid square, with only the additional distance between the right-
hand or unmoved files necessary to use the shield and spear without hindrance; while
the depth being again reduced to five files, they could face to the right or left and march
firmly in column, passing over every kind of ground without breaking or lengthening
their order.
The pentastichous system, or arrangement of five men in depth, made it possible to
double number, and at the same time afforded the necessary space between the
standing files of spearmen, or light infantry, for handling their weapons without
obstacle - always a primary object in every ancient system of training.
Between the fifth and sixth rank there was space made for the ensign bearer, who, as he
then stood precisely between the companies of fifty each, had probably some additional
width to handle his ensign, being stationed between the four middlemost men in the
square having five men in file and five in rank before, behind, and on each side.
There, he was the regulator of their order, coming to the front in advancing, and to the
rear in retreating; and this may explain why a file (men marching in line or order), and
the Hebrew "degel" (banner, flag) and "nes" (rallying flag or an ensign), are in many
cases regarded as synonymous.
Although neither the Egyptian depth of formation, as pictured on their monuments,
nor the Greek phalanx, nor the Roman legion, was constructed upon decimal
principles, yet the former was no doubt so in its origin, since it was the model of the
Israelites; and the tetrastichal system, which afterwards succeeded, shows that it was
not the original, since even in the phalanx, where the files formed, broke, and doubled
by fours, eights, sixteens, and thirty-twos, there remained names of sections which
indicated the first-mentioned division.
Such was the "pentacontarchy", meaning some arrangement of fifty, while in reality it
consisted of sixty-four; and the decany and mecurio, though derived from a decimal
order, signified an entire file or a compact line in the phalanx, without reference to
number.
With centuries thus arranged in masses, both movable and solid, a front of battle could
be formed in simple decimal progression to a thousand, ten thousand, and to an army
at all times formidable by its depth, and by the ability it created for the light troops,
chariots of war, and cavalry to rally behind and charge forward to the front.
Archers and slingers could ply their missiles from the rear, which would be more
certain to reach an enemy in close conflict than was to be found the case with the Greek
phalanx, because from the great depth of that body, missiles from behind were liable to
fall among its own front ranks.
These divisions were commanded, it seems, by ketsinim, officers in charge of one
thousand, who, in the first ages, may have been the heads of houses, but in the time of
the kings were appointed by the crown, and had a seat in the councils of war; but the
commander of the host, "sar al hatsaba" such as Joab, Abner, Benaiah, etc. - was either
the judge, or, under the judge or king, the supreme head of the army, and one of the
highest officers in the State.
He, as well as the king, had an armor-bearer, whose duty was not only to bear his
shield, spear, or bow, and to carry orders, but, above all, to be at the chief's side in the
battle (Jdg_9:54; 1Sa_14:6; 1Sa_31:4-5).
Besides the royal guards there was, as early at least as the time of David, a select troop
of heroes, who appear to have had an institution very similar in principle to modern
orders of knighthood, and may have originated the distinctive marks already pointed
out as used by the Romans; for it seems they covered their hair with gold dust.
In military operations, such as marches in quest of, or in the presence of an enemy, and
in order of battle, the forces were formed into three divisions, each commanded by a
chief captain or commander of a corps, or third part (shalish), as was also the case with
other armies of the East.
These constituted the center and right and left wing, and during a march formed the
van (front line of an army), center, and rear. The great camp in the wilderness was
composed of four of these triple bodies disposed in a quadrangle, each front having a
great central standard for its leading tribe, and another tribal one in each wing.
The war-cry of the Hebrews was not intonated by the ensign-bearers, as in the West,
but by a Levite; for priests had charge of the trumpets and the sounding of signals; and
one of them, called “the anointed for war,” was said to have had the charge of
animating the army to action by an oration, may have been appointed to utter the cry of
battle (Deu_20:2).
It was a mere shout (1Sa_17:20), or, as in later ages, "Hallelujah!", while the so-called
mottoes of the central banners of the four great sides of the square of Judah, Reuben,
Ephraim, and Dan were more likely the battle songs which each of the fronts of the
mighty army had sung on commencing the march or advancing to do battle
(Num_10:34-36; Deu_6:4).
These verses may have been sung even before the two books wherein they are now
found were written, and indeed the sense of the text indicates a past tense.
It may have been to these that Jehoshaphat addressed himself, when about to engage
the Moabites he ordered the singers before the Lord to chant the response
(2Ch_20:21):
“Give thanks the Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 ,
for His faithfulness is everlasting.”
With regard to the password, the sign of mutual recognition occurs in Jdg_7:18, when,
after the men had blown their trumpets and shown light, they cried, “For the Lord
[YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 and for Gideon” - a
repetition of the very words overheard by that chief while watching the hostile army.
Before an engagement the Hebrew soldiers were spared fatigue as much as possible,
and food was distributed to them; their arms were enjoined to be in the best order, and
they formed a line, as described above, of solid squares of hundreds, each square being
ten deep, and as many in breadth, with sufficient intervals between the files to allow
ease of movement, the management of the arms, and the passage to the front or rear by
slingers and archers.
These slingers and archers occupied posts according to circumstances, on the flanks or
in advance, but in the heat of battle were sheltered behind the squares of spearmen.
The slingers were always stationed in the rear, until they were ordered forward to cover
the front, impede an approaching enemy, or commence an engagement, somewhat in
the manner of Colonial British skirmishers.
Meantime the king, or his representative, appeared clad in the sacred ornaments
("hadrey kadesh", in NASB version rendered “In holy splendor,” Psa_110:3;
2Ch_20:21), and made the final dispositions for battle, in the middle of his chosen
braves, and attended by priests, who, by their exhortations, animated the ranks within
hearing, while the trumpets waited to sound the signal.
It was at this point, with the enemy at hand, that the slingers would be ordered to pass
forward between the intervals of the line, and, opening their order, would let fly their
stone or leaden missiles, until, by the gradual approach of the opposing fronts, they
would be hemmed in and recalled to the rear, or ordered to take an appropriate
position.
Then was the time when the trumpet bearing priests received command to sound the
charge, and when the shout of battle burst forth from the ranks.
The signal being given, the heavy infantry would press forward under cover of their
shields, with the romach, protruded directly upon the front of the enemy.
The rear ranks might then, when so armed, cast their darts, and the archers, behind
them all, shoot high, so as to pitch their arrows over the lines before them into the
dense masses of the enemy beyond.
If the opposing forces broke through the line, a body of charioteers in reserve rushed
from their post and:
charged in among the disjointed ranks of the enemy before they could rally their order;
or,
wheeling round a flank, fall upon the rear; or
being encountered by a similar maneuver, and perhaps repulsed, or rescued by Hebrew
cavalry.
The king, meanwhile, surrounded by his princes, posted close to the rear of his line of
battle, and, in the middle of showered missiles, would watch the enemy and strive to
remedy every disorder.
Thus it was that several of the sovereigns of Judah were slain (2Ch_18:33; 2Ch_35:23),
and that such an enormous waste of human life took place; for two hostile lines of
masses, at least ten in depth, advancing with confidence in breastplate and shield,
when once engaged hand to hand, found it nearly impossible to retreat, because the
hindermost ranks, not being exposed personally to the first slaughter, kept pressing
forward, resulting in the foremost could not fall back; neither could the commanders
disengage the line without a certainty of being routed.
The fate of the day was therefore no longer within the control of the chief, and nothing
but obstinate valor, along with strength and valor, and/or superior numbers, was left to
decide the victory.
Add in the stubborn character of the Jews, and battles fought among themselves were
particularly bloody; for example, as that in which Jeroboam, king of Israel, was
defeated by Abijah of Judah (2Ch_13:3-17), resulting in, if there is no error of copyists,
there was as great a slaughter as in Antietam, Gettysburg, Leipzig, D-Day, and Dien
Ben Phu, although on those occasions hundreds of thousands combatants were
engaged for multiple successive days; provided with all the weapons of modern
destruction in full use.
Under such circumstances defeat led to irretrievable confusion, and, where either party
possessed superiority in cavalry and chariots of war, it would be materially increased;
but where the infantry alone had the mission to pursue a broken enemy, that force,
loaded with shields and preserving order, could overtake very few who chose to
abandon their defensive armor, unless they were hemmed in by the terrain.
Sometimes a part of the army was posted in ambush, but this maneuver was most
commonly practiced against the garrison cities (Jos_8:12; Jdg_20:38).
In the case of Abraham (Gen_14:15), when he led a small body of his own people,
suddenly collected, and, falling upon the guard of the captives, released them, and
recovered the booty, it was a surprise, not an ambush; nor is it necessary to suppose
that he fell in with the main army of the enemy.
At a later period there is no doubt-the Hebrews formed their armies, in imitation of the
Romans, into more than one line of masses, and modeled their military institutions as
near as possible upon the same system.
Such were the instruments and the institutions of war which the Hebrew people, as
well as the nations which surrounded them, appear to have adopted; but in the
conquest of the Promised Land, as regarded their enemies, the laws of war given to
them were more severe than in other cases.
All the nations of antiquity were cruel to the vanquished, perhaps the Romans most of
all.
Even the Egyptians, in the sculptures of their monuments, attest the same disposition;
the males being very generally slaughtered, and the women and children sold for
slaves.
With regard to the spoil, except in Abraham's special case above, the Hebrews divided
the booty in part with those who remained at home, and with the Levites, and a portion
was set apart as an oblation to YHVH (Num_31:50).
This right of spoil and prey was a necessary consequence of military institutions where
the army received no pay.
Shaldl, that is, the armor, clothes, money, and furniture, and malkoach, prey,
consisting of the captives and live-stock, were collected into one general mass, and then
distributed as stated above; or, in the time of the kings, were shared in great part by the
crown, which then took care to subsist the army and grant military rewards.
III. Military Preparations, Operations, and Results.
(This section from Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.)
Before entering on a war of aggression, the Hebrews sought for the divine sanction by
consulting either the Urim and Thummim (Jdg_1:1; Jdg_20:27-28; 1Sa_14:37;
1Sa_23:2; 1Sa_28:6; 1Sa_30:8) or some acknowledged prophet (1Ki_22:6; 2Ch_18:5).
The "heathens" did likewise to various kinds of divination for the same purpose
(Eze_21:21).
Divine aid was further sought in actual warfare by bringing into the field the Ark of the
Covenant, which was the symbol of YHVH Himself (1Sa_4:4-18; 1Sa_14:18); a custom
which prevailed certainly down to David's time (2Sa_11:11; Psa_68:1; Psa_68:24).
During the wanderings in the wilderness, the signal for warlike preparations was
sounded by priests with the silver trumpets of the sanctuary (Num_10:9; Num_31:6).
Formal proclamations of war were not interchanged between the belligerents; but
occasionally messages either deprecatory or defiant were sent, as in the cases of
• Jephthah and the Ammonites (Jdg_11:12-27);
• Ben-hadad and Ahab (1Ki_20:2); and,
• again, Amaziah and Jehoash (2Ki_14:8).
Before entering the enemy's district, spies were sent to ascertain the character of the
country and the preparations of its inhabitants for resistance (Num_13:17; Jos_2:1;
Jdg_7:10; 1Sa_26:4).
When an engagement was imminent, a sacrifice was offered (1Sa_7:9; 1Sa_13:9), and
an inspiring discourse delivered either by the commander (2Ch_20:20) or by a priest
(Deu_20:2).
Then followed the battle signal, sounded from the silver trumpets as already described,
to which the host responded by shouting the war cry (1Sa_17:52; Isa_42:13; Eze_21:22;
Amo_1:14).
The combat often assumed the form of a number of hand-to-hand contests, depending
on the qualities of the individual soldier rather than on the disposition of masses.
A high value was attached to fleetness of foot and strength of arm (2Sa_1:23; 2Sa_2:18;
1Ch_12:8).
At the same time, various strategic devices were practiced, such as:
• ambushes (Jos_8:2; Jos_8:12; Jdg_20:36),
• surprise (Jdg_7:16), or
• circumvention (2Sa_5:23).
Another mode of settling the dispute was by the selections of champions (1Sa_17:1-58;
2Sa_2:14), who were spurred into battle by the offer of high reward (1Sa_17:25;
1Sa_18:25; 2Sa_18:11; 1Ch_11:6).
The contest having been decided, the conquerors were recalled from the pursuit by the
sound of a trumpet (2Sa_2:28; 2Sa_8:16; 2Sa_20:22).
The siege of a town or fortress was conducted in the following manner:
A line of circumvallation (literally, an “enclosing”, "surrounding with a wall" or
“besieging,” and applied to the wall by which the siege directed) was drawn round the
place (Eze_4:2; Mic_5:1), constructed out of the trees found in the neighborhood
(Deu_20:20), together with earth and any other materials at hand.
This line not only cut off the besieged from the surrounding, country, but also served as
a base of operations for the besiegers.
The next step was to throw out from this line one or more” mounts” or “banks”
(Saalschütz Theorum [Archaölogy, 2, 504] understands this term of the scaling ladder,
comparing the cognate sulleam H5551 [Gen_28:12], and giving the verb "shaphah",
which accompanies "solelah", the sense of a “a hurried advancing” of the ladder) in the
direction of the city (2Sa_20:15; 2Ki_19:32; Isa_37:33), which was gradually increased
in height until it was about half as high as the city wall.
On this mound or bank towers a bulwark (seige wall or watch tower H1785 )
NOTE: Some doubt exists as to the meaning of this term.
The sense of “turrets” assigned to it by Gesenius [Thesaurus p. 330] has been objected
to on the ground that the word always appears in the singular number, and in
connection with the expression “round about” the city.
The sense of “circumvallation” has been assigned to it by Michaelis, Keil [Archaölogy.
2, 303], and others.
It is difficult, however, in this case, to see any distinction between the terms dayek and
matszor.
The expression “round about” may refer to the custom of casting up banks at different
points: the use of the singular in a collective sense forms a greater difficulty) were
erected (2Ki_25:1; Jer_52:4; Eze_4:2; Eze_17:17; Eze_21:22; Eze_26:8), from where
the slingers and archers might attack with effect.
Battering rams (Eze_4:2; Eze_21:22) were brought up to the walls by means of the
bank, and scaling ladders might also be placed on it.
Undermining the walls, though practiced by the Assyrians (Layard, Nineveh, 2, 371), is
not found in the Bible: the reference to it in the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, in
Jer_51:58, does not appear to be accurate translation by the original text.
Sometimes, however, the walls were attacked near the foundation, either by individual
warriors who protected themselves from above by their shields (Eze_26:8), or by the
further use of such a machine as the helepolis, referred to in 1Ma_13:43.
1Maccabees 13:43 NAB-A
(43) In those days Simon besieged Gazara and surrounded it with troops. He made a
siege machine, pushed it up against the city, and attacked and captured one of the
towers.
This is described by Ammianus Marcellinus (The Roman History of Ammianus
Marcellinus, 23: 4, 10) as a combination of the testudo (the Roman Tortoise) and the
battering ram, by means of which the besiegers broke through the lower part of the
wall, and thus “leaped into the city;” not from above, as the words prima facie imply,
but from below.
Burning the gates was another mode of obtaining entry (Jdg_9:52).
The water-supply would naturally be cut off, if it were possible (Jdt_7:7).
The besieged, meanwhile, strengthened and repaired their fortifications (Isa_22:10),
and repelled the enemy from the wall:
• by missiles (2Sa_11:24);
• by throwing over beams and heavy stones (Jdg_9:53; 2Sa_11:21; (Josephus, War, 5,
3, 3; 6, 3);
• by pouring down boiling oil (Josephus, War, 3, 7, 28), or, lastly,
• by erecting fixed engines for the propulsion of stones and arrows (2Ch_26:15).
Raids were also made for the purpose of burning the besiegers works (1Ma_6:31;
Josephus, War, 5, 11, 4), and driving them away from the neighborhood.
1Maccabees 6:31 NAB-A
(31) They passed through Idumea and camped before Beth-zur. For many days they
attacked it; they constructed siege-devices, but the besieged made a sortie and burned
these, and they fought bravely.
The foregoing operations receive a large amount of illustration from the
representations of such scenes on the Assyrian slabs.
There, is the “bank” thrown up in the form of an inclined plane, with the battering ram
hauled up on it assaulting the walls; movable towers of considerable elevation brought
up, from where the warriors shoot their arrows into the city; the walls undermined, or
attempts made to destroy them by picking to pieces the lower courses.
The defenders, actively engaged in archery, and turning away the force of the battering
ram by chains and ropes; the scaling ladders at length brought, and the conflict become
hand-to-hand (Layard, Nineveh, 2, 366-374).
The treatment of the conquered was extremely severe in ancient times.
The leaders of the host were put to death (Jos_10:26; Jdg_7:25), with the occasional
indignity of decapitation after death (1Sa_17:51; 2Ma_15:30; Josephus, War, 1, 17, 2).
2Maccabees 15:30 NAB-A
(30) Then Judas, who was ever in body and soul the chief defender of his fellow
citizens, and had maintained from youth his affection for his countrymen, ordered
Nicanor's head and whole right arm to be cut off and taken to Jerusalem.
The bodies of the soldiers killed in action were plundered (1Sa_31:8; 2Ma_8:27);
2Maccabees 8:27 NAB-A
(27) They collected the enemy's arms and stripped them of their spoils, and then
observed the sabbath with fervent praise and thanks to the Lord who kept them safe for
that day on which he let descend on them the first dew of his mercy.
The survivors were either:
• killed in some savage manner (Jdg_9:45; 2Sa_12:31; 2Ch_25:12),
• mutilated Jdg_1:6; 1Sa_11:2), or
• carried into captivity (Num_31:26; Deu_20:14).
Women and children were occasionally put to death with the greatest barbarity
(2Ki_8:12; 2Ki_15:16; Isa_13:16; Isa_13:18; Hos_10:14; Hos_13:16; Amo_1:13;
Nah_3:10; 2Ma_5:13);
2Maccabees 5:13 NAB-A
(13) There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a
slaughter of virgins and infants.
But it was more usual to retain the maidens as concubines or servants (Jdg_5:30;
2Ki_5:2).
Sometimes the bulk of the population of the conquered country was removed to a
distant locality, as in the case of the Israelites when conquered by the Assyrians
(2Ki_17:6), and of the Jews by the Babylonians (2Ki_24:14; 2Ki_25:11).
In addition to these measures:
• the towns were destroyed (Jdg_9:45; 2Ki_3:25; 1Ma_5:28; 1Ma_5:51; 1Ma_10:84),
• the idols and shrines were carried off (Isa_46:1-2), or destroyed (1Ma_5:68;
1Ma_10:84);
• the fruit-trees were cut down, and the fields spoiled by overspreading them with
stones (2Ki_3:19; 2Ki_3:25); and
• the horses were lamed (2Sa_8:4; Jos_11:6; Jos_11:9).
1Maccabees 5:28 NAB-A
(28) Thereupon Judas suddenly changed direction with his army, marched across the
desert to Bozrah, and captured the city. He slaughtered all the male population, took all
their possessions, and set fire to the city.
1Maccabees 5:51 NAB-A
(51) He slaughtered every male, razed and plundered the city, and passed through it
over the slain.
1Maccabees 5:68 NAB-A
(68) Judas then turned toward Azotus in the land of the Philistines. He destroyed their
altars and burned the statues of their gods; and after plundering their cities he returned
to the land of Judah.
1Maccabees 10:84 NAB-A
(84) But Jonathan burned and plundered Azotus with its neighboring towns, and
destroyed by fire both the temple of Dagon and the men who had taken refuge in it.
OTOH, if the war was carried on simply for the purpose of plunder or supremacy, these
extreme measures would rarely be carried out - the conqueror would restrict himself to
rifling the treasuries (1Ki_14:26; 2Ki_14:14; 2Ki_24:13), or levying "contributions"
(2Ki_18:14).
The Mosaic law, however, mitigated to a certain extent the severity of the ancient
usages towards the vanquished.
With the exception of the Canaanites, who were delivered over to the ban of
extermination by the express command of YHVH, it was forbidden to the Israelites to
put to death any others than males bearing arms; the women and children were to be
kept alive (Deu_20:13-14).
In a similar spirit of humanity the Jews were prohibited from felling fruit-trees for the
purpose of making siegeworks (Deu_20:19).
The law further restricted the power of the conqueror over females, and secured to
them humane treatment (Deu_21:10-14).
The majority of the savage acts recorded as having been practiced by the Jews were
either in retaliation for some gross provocation, as in the cases of Adoni-bezek
(Jdg_1:6-7), and of David's treatment of the Ammonites (2Sa_10:2-4; 2Sa_12:31;
1Ch_20:3); or else they were done by lawless usurpers, as in Menahem's treatment of
the women of Tiphsah (2Ki_15:16; Jdg_9:45).
The Jewish kings generally appear to have obtained credit for clemency (1Ki_20:31;
2Ki_6:20-23; Isa_16:5).
The conquerors celebrated their success
by the erection of monumental stones (1Sa_7:12; 2Sa_8:13, where, instead of “made a
name for himself,” it more accurately is translated “set up a memorial”),
by hanging up trophies in their public buildings (1Sa_21:9; 1Sa_31:10; 2Ki_11:10), and
by triumphal songs and dances, in which the whole population took part (Exo_15:1-21;
Jdg_5:1-31; 1Sa_18:6-8; 2Sa_22:1-51; Jdt_16:1-17; 1Ma_4:24).
Judith 16:1-17 NAB-A
(1) "Strike up the instruments, a song to my God with timbrels, chant to the Lord with
cymbals; Sing to him a new song, exalt and acclaim his name.
(2) For the Lord is God; he crushes warfare, and sets his encampment among his
people; he snatched me from the hands of my presecutors.
(3) "The Assyrian came from the mountains of the north, with the myriads of his forces
he came; Their numbers blocked the torrents, their horses covered the hills.
(4) He threatened to burn my land, put my youths to the sword, Dash my babes to the
ground, make my children a prey, and seize my virgins as spoil.
(5) "But the Lord Almighty thwarted them, by a woman's hand he confounded them.
(6) Not by youths was their mighty one struck down, nor did titans bring him low, nor
huge giants attack him; But Judith, the daughter of Merari, by the beauty of her
countenance disabled him.
(7) She took off her widow's garb to raise up the afflicted in Israel. She anointed her
face with fragrant oil;
(8) with a fillet she fastened her tresses, and put on a linen robe to beguile him.
(9) Her sandals caught his eyes, and her beauty captivated his mind. The sword cut
through his neck.
(10) "The Persians were dismayed at her daring, the Medes appalled at her boldness.
(11) When my lowly ones shouted, they were terrified; when my weaklings cried out,
they trembled; at the sound of their war cry, they took to flight.
(12) Sons of slave girls pierced them through; the supposed sons of rebel mothers cut
them down; they perished before the ranks of my Lord.
(13) "A new hymn I will sing to my God. O Lord, great are you and glorious, wonderful
in power and unsurpassable.
(14) Let your every creature serve you; for you spoke, and they were made, You sent
forth your spirit, and they were created; no one can resist your word.
(15) The mountains to their bases, and the seas, are shaken; the rocks, like wax, melt before your glance. "But to those who fear you, you are very merciful.
(16) Though the sweet odor of every sacrifice is a trifle, and the fat of all holocausts but little in your sight, one who fears the Lord is forever great.
(17) "Woe to the nations that rise against my people! the Lord Almighty will requite them; in the day of judgment he will punish them: He will send fire and worms into their flesh, and they shall burn and suffer forever."
1Maccabees 4:24 NAB-A
(24) As they returned, they were singing hymns and glorifying Heaven, "for he is good, for his mercy endures forever."
The death of a hero was commemorated by a dirge (2Sa_1:17-27; 2Ch_35:25), or by a national mourning (2Sa_3:31).
The fallen warriors were duly buried (1Ki_11:15), their arms being deposited in the grave beside them (Eze_32:27), while the enemies corpses were exposed to the-beasts of prey (1Sa_17:44; Jer_25:33).
The Israelites were directed to undergo the purification imposed only those, who had touched a corpse, before they entered the precincts of the camp or the sanctuary.
(Num_31:19) Next 12/14/2023

NOTE:
From https://www.blueletterbible.org/help/verbtense.cfm
When accessing information about verbs throughout our Old Testament
concordances, you'll find numerous references to Hebrew verb tenses such as Qal or Hiphil. The following list identifies each verb tense and it's part in speech via a comparative example in English using the verb "to love."

Simple
Qal (active) - he loved
Intensive
Giving force or emphasis; emphasizing ("very" in the "very same man" is an intensive adverb)
Piel (active) - he loved indeed! / he loved excessively
commit H5003 adultery H5003
Note the repeated Hebrew word, Na'aph H5003
נאף :Original -
- Transliteration: Na'aph
- Phonetic: naw-af'
- Definition:
1. to commit adultery
a. (Qal)
1. to commit adultery 1a
b. usually of man
1. always with wife of another 1a
c. adultery (of women) (participle)
1. idolatrous worship (fig.)
d. (Piel)
1. to commit adultery
e. of man
f. adultery (of women) (participle)
1. idolatrous worship (fig.)
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 1273
- Part(s) of speech: Verb
- Strong's: A primitive root; to commit adultery; figuratively to
apostatize: - adulterer (-ess) commit (-ing) adultery woman that breaketh
wedlock.
Historically, it seems that the purpose of the seventh commandment was to protect the husband's name by assuring him that the family's children were his own. This was all the more important to protect the family lineage for inheritance rules, as well as protecting the man from having to support
children fathered by someone else.
The law does not insure marital fidelity; its focus is paternity, not sexual
ethics.

The integrity of the family is protected rather than the integrity of the
marriage. In olden times, if a married man had an affair with an unmarried woman, it was not considered adultery.
The offender had to pay damages to the father (Exo_22:16-17).
This is a natural result of a polygamous society.
There is nothing in the Torah that talks about a marriage ceremony.
If the marriage is consummated before the ceremony, the marriage has
been established. Promiscuous behavior is not acceptable (Deu_22:21; Deu_23:2), but it is not called adultery if the woman is not married.
According to the Bible, YHVH created a wife as an extension of the husband
(Gen_2:23-24), and the family honor (name) is damaged through adultery.
In other cultures the wife was considered property, and this would merely
have been a case of damaged goods.
Nonetheless, in Egypt (marriage contracts), Mesopotamia (hymns to
Ninurta and Shamash) and Canaan (king of Ugarit (Ammittamru II, who
ruled from 1260 to 1235 BC [Wilson-Wright, Aren (2016). Athtart: The
Transmission and Transformation of a Goddess in the Late Bronze Age. p.
122. ISBN 9783161550102.]) extradites and executes his wife), adultery was regularly referred to as “the great sin” and was considered extremely
detrimental to society in that it was characteristic of anarchy.
Hittite laws, Middle Assyrian laws and the Code of Hammurabi all contain
legislation against adultery.
The protection of the integrity of the family unit was important because the family was the foundation of society.
Compromise or collapse of the family meant compromise or collapse of
society.
"At this time, if a Jewish man associated with a woman who was not his
wife, his concubine, or his slave, he was guilty of unchastity, but committed no offense which gave a wife reason to complain that her legal rights had been infringed.
If, however, the woman with whom he associated was the wife of another,
he was guilty of adultery - not by infringing his own marriage covenant, but by causing a breach of that which existed between this woman and her husband" (Michaelis, Mosaisches Recht, art. 259; Jahn’s Arcaologie, Th. 1,
b. 2, § 183).

It seems that the Roman law made the same distinction with the Hebrew
between the infidelity of the husband and of the wife, by defining adultery
to be the violation of another man’s bed (violatio tori alieni).
(Smith’s Dictionary of Classical. Antiquities).
OTOH, YHVH regards the sanctity of marriage as a sacred trust similar to
the sanctity of life (Exo_20:13).
Yeshua teaches:
Mar_10:1-12
Mar 10:1-12 NASB
(1) Setting out from there, Jesus *went to the region of Judea and beyond
the Jordan; crowds *gathered to Him again, and, as He was accustomed,
He once more began to teach them.
(2) And some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began
questioning Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
(3) And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
(4) They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send his wife away.”
(5) But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
(6) “But from the beginning of creation, God CREATED THEM MALE
AND FEMALE.
(7) “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND
MOTHER,
(8) AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer
two, but one flesh.
(9) “Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”
(10) And in the house the disciples again began questioning Him about
this.
(11) And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
woman commits adultery against her;
(12) and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she
is committing adultery.”

The marriage relationship is a symbol of faithfulness.
An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a
betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress.
Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was
fornication.
Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong, as well as a great sin.
The Mosaic law prescribed that the suspected adulteress should be tried by the ordeal of the “water of jealousy.” (Num_5:11-31)
There is, however, no recorded instance of the application of this law.
In subsequent times the Rabbis made various regulations with the view of
discovering the guilty party, and of bringing about a divorce.
It has been inferred from Joh_8:1-11 that this sin became very common
during the age preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.
Idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are spoken of as adultery spiritually
(Jer_3:6, Jer_3:8, Jer_3:9; Eze_16:32; Hos_1:1, Hos_2:1, Hos_3:1
Rev_2:22).
An apostate church is an adulteress (Isa_1:21; Eze_23:4, Eze_23:7,
Eze_23:37), and the Jews are styled “an adulterous generation”
(Mat_12:39).
It is probable that the Pharisees had explained this commandment, as they had the sixth, as extending only to the external act; and that they regarded evil thoughts and a wanton imagination as of little consequence, or as not forbidden by the law.
Yeshua taught them that the commandment did not regard the external act merely, but the secrets of the heart, and the movements of the eye.
He declares that they who indulge a wanton desire, that they who look on a woman to increase their lust, have already, in the sight of YHVH, violated
the commandment, and committed adultery in the heart (Mat_5:27-30).
Such was the guilt of David, whose crimes fully show the danger of
indulging in evil desires, and in the rovings of a wanton eye. 2Sa_11:1-27
THRU 2Sa_12:1-23 AND Psa_51:1-19; 2Pe_2:9-16.
So exceeding strict and broad is YHVH's law !
And so heinous H2154 H2161 in his sight are thoughts and feelings which
may be forever concealed from the world (Job_31:9-11) !
Yet, Yeshua also taught:
Joh_8:1-11
Joh 8:1-11 NASB
(1) But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
(2) And early in the morning He came again into the temple area, and all
the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began teaching
them.
(3) Now the scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and after placing her in the center of the courtyard,
(4) they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very
act of committing adultery.
(5) “Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what
then do You say?”
(6) Now they were saying this to test Him, so that they might have grounds
for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
(7) When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to
them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a
stone at her.”
(8) And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
(9) Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning
with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard.
(10) And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did
no one condemn you?”
(11) She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you,
either. Go. From now on do not sin any longer.”
Notice in:
Joh_8:5-6
Joh 8:5-6 NASB
(5) “Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such G5108 women;
what then do You say?”
(6) Now they were saying this to test Him, so that they might have
grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger
wrote on the ground.
to test G3985 [tempting - KJV].
It appears that the actual test G3985 , or temptation, was in the word
"such," G5108 and of two cases the scribes and Pharisees mention the
punishment without defining what it was:
• for the one in Deu_22:23-24 (a virgin) the death was stoning;
• but in the case of a "wife" the punishment was not stoning, but required
a special procedure (Num_5:11-31) which left the punishment with
YHVH.
This remarkable example under the Jewish law in cases of this offense
occurs in the account of the “brought a woman caught in the act of
adultery” from which some scholars have even erroneously inferred that
Yeshua regarded her act as excusable - a view that is refuted by Paley
(Moral Philosophy, vol. 1).
It is true, great doubts exist as to the genuineness of the entire passage

(see the dissertations of Johann Philipp Friedrich Dettmers (1751-1809),
Vindiciarum Authentias Textus Graeci Pericopae Joannis Evangelistae
Cap. VII 53. VIII I-II Particula I., Frnkft. ad V. 1793; Karl Friedrich
Stiludlin (1761-1826), Pericope de adultera veritas et authentia defenditur,
Gotting. 1806),

as it is omitted in many of the early manuscripts. and
versions, and greatly corrupted in others (Tischendorf, Origin and history
of the books of the Bible, both the canonical and the apocryphal, designed to show what the Bible is not, what it is, and how to use it, 7th ed.), and rejected by numerous scholars; yet, as it is retained in some good texts and editions, and as its presence cannot be explained by predilections (since it is not only without a trace of the exactness of these, but appears so lax in its doctrine as to involve serious difficulty in its adjustment to the ethics of all who could have been the authors of the interpolation), it seems to present strong claims to, being true history, if not entitled to its place in the Gospels
(Tregelles, Account of the Text of the New Testament, p. 236-242).
From these Scriptures, many have supposed - WITHOUT Scriptural
specifics - that the woman’s accusers were themselves guilty of the crime (at
that time very common, Mar_8:38; Mat_19:3-10) which they alleged
against her; and, as it was not just to receive the accusations of those who are guilty of the evil of which they accuse others, Yeshua dismissed them with the most obvious justness.
But it seems enough to suppose that the consciences of these witnesses
accused them of such crimes as restrained their hands from punishing the
adulteress, who, perhaps, was guilty, in this instance, of a less enormous sin than they were conscious of, though perhaps of another kind.
OTOH, it may be, too, that their malevolent design to entrap Yeshua was
appealed to by Him, and was no slight cause of their confusion, if they
wished to found a charge which might affect His life.
Their intended murder was worse than the woman’s adultery; especially if,
as might have been, the woman had suffered some violence.
Historically, adultery commonly denotes the sexual intercourse of a
married woman with any other man than her husband, or of a married man
with any other woman than his wife.
Yet there were, and are, many variations of this theme.

I. Nature of the Crime:
1. Jewish.
Among the Hebrews, as in other Middle East nations, adultery was the act
whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious
offspring imposed upon him.
An adulterer was, therefore, any man who had prohibited intercourse with
a married or betrothed woman; and an adulteress was a betrothed or
married woman who had intercourse with any other man than her
husband.
An intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was
simply fornication - a great sin, but not, like adultery, involving the
contingency of polluting a passing from an ancestor to an heir, of turning
aside an inheritance, or of imposing upon a man a charge which did not
belong to him.
Adultery was thus considered a great social wrong, against which society
protected itself by much severer penalties than attended an unchaste act
not involving the same contingencies.
If a Jewish man associated with a woman who was not his wife, his
concubine, or his slave, he was guilty of unchastity, but committed no
offense which gave a wife reason to complain that her legal rights had been infringed.
If, however, the woman with whom he associated was the wife of another,
he was guilty of adultery - not by infringing his own marriage covenant, but by causing a violation of a moral duty which existed between this woman and her husband (Michaelis, Mosaisches Recht, art. 259; Jahn’s
Arcaologie, Th. 1, b. 2, § 183).
2. Roman.
It seems that the Roman law made the same important distinction with the
Hebrew between the infidelity of the husband and of the wife, by defining
adultery to be the violation of another man’s bed (violatio tori alieni); so
that the infidelity of the husband could not that the husband's
unfaithfulness could not break the bond between him and his wife, even
though she had committed an offense against him, yet, was silent as to the offense of the husband
(Smith’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities).
3. Spiritual.
Adultery, in the symbolical language of the Hebrew Scriptures, means
idolatry and apostasy from the worship of YHVH (Jer_3:8-9; Eze_16:32;
Eze_23:37; Rev_2:22).
"Adulteress" is also used referring to an apostate Church or city,
particularly, “the daughter of Jerusalem,” or the Jewish Church and people
(Isa_1:21; Jer_3:6; Jer_3:8-9; Eze_16:22; Eze_23:7).
This illustration appears to have resulted from the primary one, which
describes the connection between YHVH and His separated people as a
marriage between Him and them (Jer_2:2; Jer_3:14; Jer_13:27;
Jer_31:32; Hos_8:9).
By an application of the same figure of speech, “an adulterous generation”
(Mat_12:39; Mat_16:4; Mar_8:38) clearly refers to a faithless and
irreverent generation.
II. Trial of Adultery.
The Mosaic trial of the suspected wife by the bitter water, called the water
of jealousy (Num_5:11-31) - the only ordeal in use among the Israelites, or
sanctioned by their law - is to be regarded as an attempt to mitigate and
bring under legal control an old custom which could not be entirely
abrogated. The forms of Hebrew justice all tended to limit the application of this test:
• By prescribing certain facts presumptive of guilt, to be established on
oath by two witnesses, or a preponderating but not conclusive testimony
to the fact of the woman’s adultery.
• By technical rules of evidence which made proof of those presumptive
facts difficult (see the Talmudical tract Sotah, 6, 2-5).
• By exempting certain large classes of women (all, indeed, except a pure
Israelitess married to a pure Israelite, and some even of them) from the
liability.
• By providing that the trial could only be before the great Sanhedrim
(Sotah, 1, 4).
• By investing it with a ceremonial at once humiliating and intimidating,
yet which still harmonized with the spirit of the whole ordeal as recorded
in Numbers 5; but, the nuptial contract was latterly regarded. (See
Simeon, Works, 2, 1.)
When adultery ceased to be capital, as no doubt it did, and divorce became a matter of mere convenience, it would be absurd to suppose that this trial was continued; and when adultery became common, as the Jews themselves confess, it would have been profane to expect the miracle which it supposed.
If ever the Sanhedrim were driven by force of circumstances to adopt this
trial, no doubt every effort was used, nay, was prescribed (Sotah, 1, 5, 6), to overawe the culprit and induce confession.
Even if she submitted to the trial, and was really guilty, some rabbis held
that the effect on her might be suspended for years through the merit of
some good deed (Sotah, 3, 4-6).
Besides, moreover, the intimidation of the woman, the man was likely to
feel the public exposure of his suspicions hateful and repulsive.
Divorce was a ready and quiet remedy; and the only question was, whether the divorce should carry the dowry and the property which she had brought, which was decided by the slight or grave character of the
suspicions against her

(Sotah, 6, 1; Gemara, Kethuboth, 7, 6; Ugolino, Uxor
Hebraica c. 7).

If the husband were incapable, through derangement, imprisonment, etc.,
of acting on his own behalf in the matter, the Sanhedrim proceeded in his
name as concerned the dowry, but not as concerned the trial by the water of jealousy (Sotah, 4, 6).
This ordeal was probably of the kind used to be found in Western Africa,
the trial by red water, as it was called, although varying among different
nations in minute particulars, and a comparison of the two may suggest the real points of the evil which the law on Moses was designed to rectify, and the real advantages which it was calculated to secure.
This ordeal was in some tribes confined to the case of adultery, but in
others it was used in all crimes.
In Africa the drink, in cases of proper ordeal, is poisonous, and calculated
to produce the effects which the oath imprecates; whereas the “water of
jealousy,” however unpleasant, was prepared in a prescribed manner, with
ingredients known to all to be perfectly safe.
It could not, therefore, injure the innocent; and its action upon the guilty
must have resulted from the consciousness of having committed a horrible perjury, which crime, when the oath was so solemnly confirmed by the drink, and attended by such awful invocations of evil for the guilty, was believed to be visitable with immediate death from heaven.
On the Gold Coast the ordinary oath-drink (not poisonous) was used as a
confirmation of all oaths, not only oaths of purgation, but of accusation, or
even of obligation.
In all cases it was accompanied with an imprecation that the fetish may
destroy the partakers if they speak untruly, or do not perform the terms of
their obligation; and it is firmly believed that no one who is perjured under
this form of oath will live an hour (Villault; Bosman).
Doubtless the impression with respect to this mere oath-drink is derived
from observation of the effects attending the drink used in the actual
ordeal; and the popular opinion regards such an oath as of so solemn a
nature that perjury is sure to bring down immediate punishment.
The red water, as an ordeal, was confined to crimes of the worst class.
These were murder, adultery, witchcraft.
Perhaps this arose less from choice than from the fact that such crimes are not only the highest, but are the least capable of that direct proof for which the ordeal was intended as a substitute.
A party was accused: if he denied the crime, he was required to drink the
red water, and, on refusing, was deemed guilty of the offense.
The trial was so much dreaded that innocent persons often confessed
themselves guilty in order to avoid it.
And yet the immediate effect was supposed to result less from the water
itself than from the terrible oath with which it was drunk.
So the person who drinks the red water invoked the fetish to destroy him if he was really guilty of the offense with which he was charged.
The drink was made by an infusion in water of pieces of a certain tree or of herbs, and, if rightly prepared, the only chance of escape was the rejection of it by the stomach, in which case the party was deemed innocent, as he also was if, being retained, it had no sensible effect, which could only be the case when the priests, who had the management of the matter, were influenced by private considerations or by reference to the probabilities of the case, to prepare the draught with a view to acquittal.
The imprecations upon the accused if he be guilty were repeated in an awful manner by the priests, and the effect was watched very keenly.
If the party seemed affected by the draught, like one intoxicated, and began to foam at the mouth, he was considered undoubtedly guilty, and was slain on the spot; or else he was left to the operation of the poisonous draught, which caused the belly to swell and burst, resulting in death.

(Barhot, p.
126; Bosman, p. 148; Artus, in De Bry, 6:62; Villault, p. 191; Corry’s
Windward Coast, p. 71; Church Missionary Paper, No. 17; Davis’s Journal,
p. 24.)

Traces of a similar ancient custom may be produced from other quarters.
Hesiod (Theogon. 755-95) reports that when a falsehood had been told by any of the gods, Jupiter was wont to send Iris to bring some water out of the river Styx in a golden vessel; upon this an oath was taken, and if the god swore falsely he remained for a whole year without life or motion.
There was an ancient temple in Sicily, in which were two very deep basins,
called Delli, always full of hot and sulfurous water, but never running over.
Here the more solemn oaths were taken; and perjuries were immediately
punished most severely (Diod. Sic. 11:67).
This is also mentioned by Aristotle, Silius Italicus, Virgil, and Macrobius;
and from the first it would seem that the oath was written upon a ticket and cast into the water.
The ticket floated if the oath was true, and sunk if it was false.
In the latter case the punishment which followed was considered as an act
of divine vengeance (q.v.).
The trial for suspected adultery by the bitter water amounted to this, that a woman suspected of adultery by her husband was allowed to repel the
charge by a public oath of purgation, which oath was designedly made so
solemn in itself, and was attended by such awful circumstances, that it was in the highest degree unlikely that it would be dared by any woman not supported by the consciousness of innocence.
And the fact that no instance of the actual application of the ordeal occurs
in Scripture affords some evidence to the assertion of the Jewish writers,
that the trial was so much dreaded by the women that those who were really guilty generally avoided it by confession; and that thus the trial itself early fell into disuse.
And if this mode of trial was only tolerated by Moses, the ultimate neglect
of it may have been desired and intended by him.
In later times, it was disputed in the Jewish schools, whether the husband
was bound to prosecute his wife to this extremity, or whether it was not
lawful for him to ignore it and pardon her act, if he were so inclined.
There were some who held that he was bound by his duty to prosecute,
while others maintained that it was left to his pleasure (Sotah, 16, 2).
The same source mentions that this form of trial was finally abrogated
about forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem (Wagenseil’s Sota,
containing a copious commentary, with full illustrations of this subject,
from rabbinical sources, Altdorf, 1674).
The reason assigned is, that the men themselves were at that time generally adulterous, and that YHVH would not fulfill the imprecations of the ordeal oath upon the wife while the husband was guilty of the same crime (Joh_8:1-8).

III. Penalties of Adultery.
1. Jewish.
By excluding from the name and punishment of adultery the offense which
did not involve the enormous wrong of imposing upon a man an offspring
sired by another man, in a nation where the succession to landed property
went entirely by birth, so that a father could not by his testament alienate it from anyone who was regarded as his son, the law was enabled, with less severity than if the inferior offense had been included, to punish the crime with death.
It is still punished wherever the practice of polygamy has similarly
operated in limiting the crime - not, perhaps, that the law expressly assigns that punishment, but it recognizes the right of the injured party to inflict it, and, in fact, leaves it, in a great degree, in his hands.
Now death was the punishment of adultery before the time of Moses; and, if he had assigned a less punishment, his law would have been inoperative,
for private vengeance, sanctioned by usage, would still have inflicted death. But by adopting it into the law, those restrictions were imposed upon its operation, which necessarily arise when the calm inquiry of public justice is substituted for the impulsive action of excited hands.
Death would be less frequently inflicted; and that this effect followed seems to be implied in the fact that the whole Biblical history offers no example of capital punishment for the crime.
Indeed, Lightfoot goes farther, and remarks, “I do not remember that I
have anywhere, in the Jewish Pandect, met with an example of a wife
punished for adultery with death. There is mention (in the Talmud,
Sanhedron, 242) of the daughter of a certain priest burned for committing
fornication in her father’s house; but she was not married” (Hor. Hebr. ad
Mat_19:8).
Eventually, divorce superseded all other punishment.
There are, indeed, some grounds for thinking that this had happened before Yeshua's time, and a good question is whether the Scribes and Pharisees, in attempting to entrap Christ in the matter of the woman taken in adultery, did not intend to put Him between the alternatives of either declaring for the revival of a practice which had already become obsolete, but which the law was supposed to command, or of giving His sanction to the apparent infraction of the law, which the substitution of divorce involved (Joh_8:1-
11).
In Mat_5:32, Christ seems to assume that the practice of divorce for
adultery already existed.
In later times it certainly did; and Jews who did not wish to part with their
adulterous wives were compelled to put them away (Maimon. in Gerushin,
c. 2).
In the passage just referred to Yeshua does not appear to declare divorce
compulsory, even in case of adultery; He only permits it in that case alone,
by forbidding it in every other.
In the law which assigns the punishment of death to adultery (Lev_20:10),
the mode in which that punishment should be inflicted is not specified,
because it was known from custom.
It was not, however, strangulation, as the Talmudists contend, but stoning,
(e.g. Eze_16:38-40; Joh_8:5); and as, in fact, Moses himself testifies,
comparing Exo_31:14; Exo_35:2, with Num_15:35-36.
If the adulteress was a slave, the guilty parties were both scourged with a
leather whip, the number of blows not exceeding forty.
In this instance the adulterer, in addition to the scourging, was subject to
the further penalty of bringing a guilt offering (a ram) to the door of the
tabernacle, to be offered in his behalf by the priest (Lev_19:20-22).
Those who wish to enter into the reasons of this distinction in favor of the
slave may consult Michaelis (Mosaisches Recht, art. 264).
Notice that the Moslem law, derived from old Arabian usage, only inflicts
upon a slave, for this and other crimes, half the punishment incurred by a
free person.
The system of inheritances, on which the polity of Moses was based, was
threatened with confusion by the doubtful offspring caused by this crime,
and this secured popular sympathy on the side of morality until a far
advanced stage of corruption was reached.
Yet, from stoning being made the penalty, it appears that the prevention of private revenge was intended.
It may be that, when that territorial basis of government passed away - as it did after the captivity - and when, owing to Gentile example, the marriage tie became a looser bond of union, public feeling in regard to adultery changed, and the penalty of death was seldom or never inflicted.
Thus, in the case of the woman brought under our Lord’s notice (Joh_8:3-
11), it is likely that no one then thought of stoning her, in fact, but there
remained the written law ready for that purpose.
It is likely, also, that a divorce in which the adulteress lost her dowery, and
rights of maintenance, etc. (Gemara, Kethuboth, cap. 7:6), was the usual
remedy suggested by a wish to avoid scandal and the excitement of
commiseration for crime.
The word G1165 (“make a shew,” Mat_1:19) probably means to bring the
case before the local Sanhedrim, which was the usual course, but which
Joseph did not propose to take, preferring repudiation (Buxtorf, De Spons.
et Divort. 3, 1-4), because that could be managed privately.
2. Roman
As the Roman civil law defined adultery to be “the violation of another
man’s bed,” the husband’s lack of restraint could not constitute the offense. The punishment was left to the discretion of the husband and parents of the adulteress, who, under the old law, could be put to death.
The most usual mode of taking revenge against the man offending was by
mutilating, castrating, or cutting off the nose or ears.
The punishment assigned by the lex Julia de adulteris, instituted by
Augustus, was banishment, or a heavy fine.
It was decreed by Antoninus, that to sustain a charge of adultery against a
wife, the husband who brought it must be innocent himself.
The offense was not capital until made so by Constantine, in imitation of
the Jewish law.
Under Macrinus, adulterers were burnt at the stake.
Under Constantius and Constans they were burnt, or sewed up in sacks and thrown into the sea.
But the punishment was mitigated, under Leo and Marcian, to perpetual
banishment or cutting off the nose; and, under Justinian, the wife was only to be scourged, lose her dowery, and be shut up in a monastery; or, at the expiration of two years, the husband might take her back again; if he refused, she was shaven, and made a nun for life.
Theodosius instituted the shocking practice of public violation, which,
however, he soon abolished.
3. Other ancient Nations.
The punishment of cutting off the nose brings to mind the passage in which the prophet Ezekiel (Eze_23:25) after, in YHVH's name, reproving Israel and Judah for their adulteries (i.e. idolatries) with the Assyrians and
Chaldeans, threatens the punishment, “They will remove your nose and
your ears” which Jerome states was actually the punishment of adultery in those nations.
One or both of these mutilations, most generally that of the nose, were also inflicted by other nations, as the Persians and Egyptians, and even the Romans; but we suspect that among the former, as with the latter, it was less a judicial punishment than a summary infliction by the aggrieved party
(AEn. 6, 496).
It would also seem that these mutilations were more usually inflicted on the male than the female adulterer.
In Egypt, however, cutting off the nose was the female punishment, and the man was beaten terribly with rods (Diod. Sic. 1:89, 90).
The respect with which the conjugal union was treated in that country in
the earliest times is manifested in the history of Abraham (Gen_12:19).
The Greeks put out the eyes of the adulterers.
In Crete adulterers were covered with wool as an emblem of their
effeminacy, and carried in that dress to the magistrate’s house, where a fine was imposed on them, and they were deprived of all their privileges and their share in public business.
4. Modern.
Among other nations, before Western influence, the penalties of adultery
were generally severe.
The Mohammedan code pronounces it a capital offense.
It is one of the three crimes which the prophet directs to be expiated by the blood of a Muslim.
In some parts of India it is said that any woman may prostitute herself for
an elephant, and it is reputed no small glory to have been rated so high.
Adultery is stated to be extremely frequent in Ceylon, although punishable
with death.
Among the Japanese and some other nations it is punishable only in the
woman. On the contrary, in the Marian Islands, the woman is not punishable, but the man is, and the wife and her relations waste his lands, burn him out of his house, etc.
Among the Chinese it is said that adultery is not capital; parents will even
make a contract with the future husbands of their daughters to allow them
the indulgence. In Portugal an adulteress was condemned to the flames; but the sentence was seldom executed.
By the ancient laws of France this crime was punishable with death.
Before the Revolution the adulteress was usually condemned to a convent, where the husband could visit her during two years, and take her back if he saw fit.
If he did not choose to receive her again by the expiration of this time, her
hair was shaven, she took the habit of the convent, and remained there for
life. Where the parties were poor she might be shut up in a hospital instead of a convent.
The Code Napoleon does not allow the husband to proceed against his wife in case he has been condemned for the same crime.
The wife can bring an action against the husband only in case he has
introduced his paramour into the house where she resides.
An adulteress can be imprisoned from three months to two years, but the
husband may prevent the execution of the sentence by taking her back.
Her partner in guilt is liable to the same punishment.
Castration was the punishment in Spain.
In Poland, previous to the establishment of Christianity, the criminal was
carried to the market- place, and there fastened by the testicles with a nail; a razor was laid within his reach, and he had the option to execute justice on himself or remain where he was and die.
The Saxons consigned the adulteress to the flames, and over her ashes
erected a gibbet, on which her paramour was hanged.
King Edmund the Saxon ordered adultery to be punished in the same
manner as homicide; and Canute the Dane ordered that the man should be banished, and the woman have her ears and nose cut off.
In the time of Henry I it was punished with the loss of the eyes and genitals.
Adultery in England is considered as a spiritual offense, to be tried by the
spiritual courts, where it is punished by fine and penance.
The common law allows the party aggrieved only an action and damages.
In the United States the punishment of adultery has varied materially at
different times, and differs according to the statutes of the several states.
Adultery is, moreover, very seldom punished criminally in the United
States.
5. Ecclesiastical.
Constantine qualified adultery as a sacrilege which was to be punished with death.
His successors went farther, and placed it on a level with patricide.
But the definition of adultery remained, in general, confined to the
infidelity of the wife and her accomplice, and for a long time the Church did not succeed in establishing with the Romanic nations the conviction that the infidelity of either party deserved an equal punishment.
This principle was, on the other hand, carried through in the codes of most of the Christian Germanic States.
The penalty was in all cases very severe, and, if there were aggravating
circumstances, death.
Later, especially since the eighteenth century, the penalty was reduced in all legislations to imprisonment.
The canon law punished both adulterer and adulteress with
excommunication, and a clergyman who was an accomplice with
imprisonment for lifetime.
Protestant churches, which are not impeded in the exercise of their
jurisdiction by a connection with the state, generally exclude persons guilty of adultery from church membership; while state churches are mostly prevented, in this case as in others, from taking any measures.
According to the canons of the Roman Catholic Church a clerk guilty of
adultery was punishable by deposition and perpetual imprisonment in a
monastery.
Since the Reformation clerks have been deprived of their benefices for the
sin of adultery. (Stillingfleet, Eccl. Cases, p. 82.)
In the opinion of the Oriental Churches the marriage tie is broken by the sin of adultery, so that the husband of an adulterous wife may marry again
during her lifetime.
This opinion is founded on Mat_19:9.
The contrary doctrine is taught by the Western Churches (Augustine, lib. 2,
de Adult. Conjug. cap. 13; Tebbs, Scripture Doctrine of Adultery and
Divorce (Lond. 1822, 8vo).
6. In 2024
In 2024, adultery is considered a crime in some countries and a civil
offense in others.
The punishments for adultery vary depending on the legal system, the
culture, and the religion of the people involved.
In 2024, some of the most common punishments for adultery are:
- Fines: Some countries impose monetary penalties for adultery, either as
a fixed amount or as a percentage of the income or assets of the adulterer.
For example, in France, adultery is a civil offense that can result in a fine of up to 45,000 euros or half of the marital property.
- Imprisonment: Some countries have laws that allow for the
imprisonment of adulterers, either for a short term or for life.
For example, in Iran, adultery is a criminal offense that can result in
imprisonment of up to 99 lashes or death by stoning.
- Divorce: Some countries grant the right to divorce to the spouse who has been cheated on, either automatically or upon request.
For example, in the United States, adultery is a ground for divorce in most
states, and can affect the division of property and custody of children.
- Social stigma: Some countries have no legal consequences for adultery,
but the social and moral norms of the society condemn it.
For example, in India, adultery is not a crime, but it is considered a sin and
a shame by many religions and communities.

NEXT
12/21/2023
Continue studying Exo. 20:15-17.

NOTE:
This is not as simple as "Hey, don't take something that doesn't belong to you". The same Hebrew word seems to infer deceptions too, such as in
Gen 31:26-27 NASB
(26) Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving H1589 me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?
(27) “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourine and with lyre; As trickster, like the serpent, being deceitful.
So this word can also apply to telling a lie or falsehood.
The same word is used in Genesis 31 with different meanings, e.g.:
Gen_31:30
Gen 31:30 NASB (30) “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal H1589 my gods?”
The Septuagint (LXX) has 3 words related to this Hebrew Word:
LXX related word(s)
G2809 klemma
G2813 klepto
G2829 klope
It seems the same idea as lust, where coveting would be the thought, followed by stealing as the action (consequence) resulting from that thought.
Jas_2:10
(Jas 2:10 NASB) For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

Also,

Deu_30:11-20
Deu 30:11-20 NASB
(11) “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. (12) “It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’
(13) “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’
(14) “On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it. (15) “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, (16) in that I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. (17) “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them,
(18) I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. (19) “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, (20) by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” In Gen_3:2-3 and Gen_3:6, Eve saw the fruit, coveted it, then stole (through disobedience) the fruit for her and Adam. Gen 3:2-3 NASB (2) The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; (3) 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.’” Gen 3:6 NASB (6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. During the thousand years, sin will still be an possibility until the very end:

1Co_15:21-28
1Co 15:21-28 NASB
(21) For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (23) But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, (24) then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
(25) For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
(26) The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
(27) For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. (28) When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

Isa_65:17 (CONTEXT: Isa_6:6-25)
Isa 65:6-25 NASB
(6) “Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their laps, (7) Both your own wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of your fathers together,” says the LORD. “Because they have burned incense on the mountains And scorned Me on the hills, Therefore I will measure their former work into their laps.” (8) This is what the LORD says: “Just as the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’ So I will act in behalf of My servants In order not to destroy all of them. (9) “I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from Judah; My chosen ones shall inherit it, And My servants will live there. (10) “Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks, And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, For My people who seek Me.
(11) “But as for you who abandon the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And fill a jug of mixed wine for Destiny, (12) I will destine you for the sword, And all of you will bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not listen. Instead, you did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.” (13) Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
(14) “Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart, But you will cry out from a painful heart, And you will wail from a broken spirit.
(15) “You will leave your name as a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord GOD will put you to death. But My servants will be called by another name. (16) “Because the one who is blessed on the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And the one who swears an oath on the earth Will swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight! (17) “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. (18) “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. (19) “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. (20) “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days, Or an old person who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of a hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred Will be thought accursed. (21) “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (22) “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
(23) “They will not labor in vain, Or give birth to children for disaster; For they are the descendants of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. (24) “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen.
(25) “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.
NOTE:
Isa_65:17 seems to harmonize with Rev_21:1
Rev 21:1 NASB
(1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Robert Alter opines that this might be more plausible to consider this poetic hyperbole and not prophetic.

Please notice, too, the harmony between
Isa 65:18-19 NASB
(18) “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness.
(19) “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

And

Rev_21:2-4
Rev 21:2-4 NASB
(2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, (4) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

QUESTION:
Is there harmony between Isaiah 65, Zechariah 14, Revelation 20-22?
The following sequences are one possibility, with additional Scriptural references:

The Second Coming of Christ:
Yeshua returns to the earth with His heavenly army to defeat the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies. (Rev_19:11-21; Zec_14:1-15).
Yeshua sets His feet on the Mount of Olives, which splits in two, creating a valley for the escape of the remnant of Israel (Zec_14:4-5).
He establishes His throne in Jerusalem and judges the nations (Zec_14:9; Mat_25:31- 46).
The Millennial Kingdom: Yeshua reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords over the earth for 1,000 years
(Rev_20:4-6).
Satan is bound in the abyss during this time (Rev_20:1-3).
The saints who were resurrected or raptured before the tribulation will rule and reign with Him (Rev_20:4; 1Co_6:2-3).
The earth will be restored to a state of peace, prosperity, and righteousness (Isa_65:17-
25; Zec_14:16-21). The temple will be rebuilt and the sacrificial system will be reinstated as a memorial of Christ's death (Eze_40:1-48; Zec_14:20-21).
The Jewish people will recognize Yeshua as their Messiah and be saved (Zec_12:10-14;
Rom_11:25-27).
Satan Is Released and The Final Rebellion:
At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be released from the abyss and will deceive the nations to gather for war against YHVH and His people (Rev_20:7-9).
They will surround the holy city, Jerusalem, but fire will come down from heaven and devour them (Rev_20:9).
Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are, and will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev_20:10).
Notice that ONLY Satan, the beast and the false prophet reciev this punishment. The Great White Throne Judgment:
The dead who were not part of the first resurrection will be raised and stand before YHVH's throne (Rev_20:11-13).
They will be judged according to their works recorded in the books (Rev_20:12). Anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death (Rev_20:14-15).
Notice that the Bible refers to this as a death, not as eternal punishment.
Yeshua taught us what it means to be dead:
Joh_11:11-14
Joh 11:11-14 NASB
(11) This He said, and after this He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.”
(12) The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will come out of it.” (13) Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about actual sleep. (14) So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died, In fact, the Bible often uses the metaphor of sleep to describe the state of death. Here are some scriptures that refer to death as being asleep: In the Hebrew Scriptures many kings and prophets are said to have "slept with their fathers" when they died, meaning they were buried with their ancestors.
For example, Deu_31:16 says: "The LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers."
See also 1Ki_2:10, 1Ki_11:43, 1Ki_14:20, 1Ki_22:50, 2Ki_14:16, 2Ki_5:7, 2Ki_16:20, etc.
In Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, Job expresses his hopelessness and desire to die by saying: "For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will search for me, but I will no longer exist." (Job_7:21) and "So a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens no longer exist, He will not awake nor be woken from his sleep. (Job_14:12).
In the Psalms, David prays to YHVH to save him from his enemies and prevent him from falling into the "sleep of death" (Psa_13:3). He also compares the mortality of humans to a sleep that is swept away by a flood (Psa_90:5).
In the Greek Scriptures, Yeshua not only uses the term "sleep" to describe the death of his friend Lazarus, but also a young girl whom He later resurrects. He says: "for the girl has not died, but is asleep." (Mat_9:24; Mar_5:39; Luk_8:52) and In Acts, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is said to have "fell asleep" after being stoned to death (Act_7:60).
Similarly, Paul refers to David and other patriarchs as having fallen "asleep" after serving YHVH's purpose in their generation (Act_13:36).
In his letters, Paul uses the term "sleep" to comfort the believers who were grieving for their deceased loved ones. He assures them that those who "have fallen asleep through Jesus" will be raised again when Christ returns (1Th_4:13-15). He also contrasts the resurrection of Christ with those who "are asleep" (1Co_15:20).

In the book of Revelation, John hears a voice from heaven saying:
Rev_14:13
Rev 14:13 NASB
(13) And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest G373 from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” The word for "rest" G373 here is “anapauo”, which can also be defined as "to refresh" or "to take ease". It implies a temporary cessation of activity until a future time. The New Heaven and the New Earth:
YHVH will create a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no more curse, sin, death, sorrow, pain, or tears (Rev_21:1-4; Isa_65:17-19).
He will dwell with His people and be their God, and they will be His children
(Rev_21:3, Rev_21:7).
The holy city, the new Jerusalem, will descend from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev_21:2, Rev_21:9-10).
The city will have the glory of YHVH, and its light will be like a jasper stone, clear as crystal (Rev_21:11).
It will have a great and high wall with twelve gates, each named after one of the tribes of Israel, and twelve foundations, each named after one of the apostles of the Lamb
(Rev_21:12-14).
The city will be a perfect cube, measuring 12,000 furlongs (about 1,500 miles) in length, width, and height (Rev_21:15-16).
The wall will be 144 cubits (about 200 feet) thick, and made of jasper (Rev_21:17-18).
The foundations will be adorned with various precious stones, and the gates will be made of pearl (Rev_21:19-21).
The street of the city will be pure gold, like transparent glass (Rev_21:21).
The city will have no need of the sun or the moon, for the glory of YHVH will illuminate it, and the Lamb will be its light (Rev_21:23).
The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it (Rev_21:24).
Its gates will never be shut, for there will be no night there (Rev_21:25).
Nothing unclean, or anyone who practices abomination or lying, will enter the city, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev_21:27).
The River of Life and the Tree of Life: A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, will proceed from the throne of YHVH and of the Lamb, in the middle of the street of the city (Rev_22:1).
On either side of the river will be the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, each yielding its fruit every month (Rev_22:2).
The leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations (Rev_22:2).
There will be no more curse, but the throne of YHVH and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him (Rev_22:3).
They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads (Rev_22:4).
There will be no more night, and they will not need any lamp or sun, for the Lord God
YHVH will give them light (Rev_22:5).
They will reign forever and ever (Rev_22:5).
By many reckonings, however, Isa_65:20-25 is difficult to harmonize with Revelation 21 and Revelation 22.

Isa_65:20-25
Isa 65:20-25 NASB
(20) “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days, Or an old person who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of a hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred Will be thought accursed.
(21) “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (22) “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
(23) “They will not labor in vain, Or give birth to children for disaster; For they are the descendants of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them.
(24) “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen.
(25) “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

NOTE:
These two passages have some similarities, such as the creation of new heavens and a new earth (Isa_65:17; Rev_21:1), the presence of YHVH with His people (Isa_65:19; Rev_21:3), and the harmony among the animals (Isa_65:25; Rev_22:2).
However, they also have some differences, such as the existence of death, sin, and curse in the millennial kingdom (Isa_65:20, Isa_65:22-24), but not in the eternal state.
(Rev_21:4, Rev_21:27; Rev_22:3).
However, Isa_65:20-25 and Revelation 21 and 22 are not contradictory, but complementary.
They reveal different aspects of YHVH’s plan for the future of His creation and His people.
Isa_65:20-25 appears to teach that the millennial kingdom will be a time of restoration, peace, and blessing, but not yet the ultimate fulfillment of YHVH’s promises. Apparently, in this chronology, right about here the following Scriptures will be fulfilled:
Isa_55:11
Isa 55:11 NASB
(11) So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
Heb_2:14-15;
Heb 2:14-15 NASB
(14) Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
(15) and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
1Co_15:3-4
1Co 15:3-4 NASB
(3) For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
(4) and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1Ti_2:3-6
1Ti 2:3-6 NASB
(3) This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
(4) who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (5) For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
1Co_15:20-28
1Co 15:20-28 NASB
(20) But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. (21) For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (23) But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, (24) then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
(25) For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
(26) The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
(27) For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. (28) When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

NOTE:
One of the most important teachings of the Bible is that Christ paid the ransom for all humans.
A ransom is a price paid to free someone from captivity or bondage.
The Bible teaches that all humans are sinners and under the power of sin and death
(Rom_3:23; Rom_6:23).
Only YHVH can rescue us from this condition, and He did so by sending His Son, Yeshua Messiah, to die on the cross (or, stake, if you prefer) for our sins.
Yeshua Messiah is the perfect and sinless Lamb of YHVH who gave His life as a sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sins and to satisfy YHVH's justice (Joh_1:29; 1Pe_1:18-19).
By His death and resurrection, Yeshua Messiah defeated sin, death, and the devil, and secured our salvation and eternal life (Heb_2:14-15; 1Co_15:3-4).
The Scriptures teach that Yeshua Messiah is the only mediator between YHVH and humans, and that He gave Himself as a ransom for all (1Ti_2:5-6).
This teaches that His death is sufficient and effective to save anyone who believes in Him and receives His grace by faith (Joh_3:16; Eph_2:8-9).
The Bible also teaches that Yeshua Messiah did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mat_20:28; Mar_10:45).
His death is not only a payment, but also an example of love, humility, and service that mankind should imitate (Joh_13:12-17; Php_2:5-11).
THEN, Revelation 21 and 22 teach that the new heaven and the new earth will be the final and perfect state, where YHVH will dwell with His people forever in glory and joy.
Until:
Rev_22:15
Rev 22:15 NASB
(15) Outside [of New Jerusalem] are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

NOTE:
This iseems to be a verse that describes the fate of the wicked who will be excluded from the new heaven and the new earth, which are described in Revelation 21 and 22.
This verse may seem to contradict the rest of Revelation 21 and 22, which portray the new heaven and the new earth as a place of perfect peace, joy, and holiness, where YHVH will dwell with His people and wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rev_21:3-4).
How can there be sinners outside the city, if the city is the only place that exists in the new creation?
One way to harmonize this verse with the rest of Revelation 21 and 22 is to understand that the verse is not speaking literally, but symbolically.
The verse is using figurative language to emphasize the contrast between the righteous and the wicked, and to warn the readers not to follow the ways of the world, but to keep YHVH's commandments and the testimony of Yeshua (Rev_22:14).
The verse is not implying that there will be a literal place outside the city where sinners will exist, but rather that they will be completely separated from YHVH and His people, and will suffer the second death, which is annihilation in the lake of fire (Rev_20:14-15;
Rev_21:8).
Another way to harmonize this verse with the rest of Revelation 21 and 22 is to understand that the verse is speaking from the perspective of the present time, before the final judgment and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth.
The verse is describing the current situation of the world, where there are many people who reject YHVH and His truth, and who practice all kinds of evil deeds.
The verse is warning the readers that these people will not inherit YHVH's kingdom, but will face YHVH's wrath and judgment.
The verse is not describing the future state of the new heaven and the new earth, where there will be no more sin, death, or curse, but only the glory of YHVH and the Lamb

(Rev_21:22-27; Rev_22:1-5).
Revelation 22:15 is a verse that can be harmonized with the rest of Revelation 21 and 22 by considering the literary genre, the symbolic language, and the temporal perspective of the book of Revelation.
The verse does not contradict the vision of the new heaven and the new earth, but rather complements it by showing the contrast between the destiny of the righteous and the wicked, and by exhorting the readers to remain faithful to YHVH and His word.

NEXT
12/28/2023
Continue studying Exo_20:15-17.

NOTE:
Under this commandment Aubrey Charles Price observes:
"In one sense this Commandment would cover also breaches of all the other Commandments, for every violation of duty to God or man is really robbing them of what is their due, but the reference here is clearly to what we know as theft, i.e. the wrongful acquisition of the property of some other person. It is not however always recognized how much even in this narrower sense it involves. We are apt...to neglect...the perversion of character and moral blindness from which it springs, for thefts are included by Christ among the evil things which ’proceed from the heart’
(Mar_7:21-22)."
"We forget also that law is only an imperfect embodiment of morality, and tend to regard all that is not punishable by law as morally justifiable. For the Christian at any rate the Commandment must be interpreted by the Law of Love (Mat_7:12), and the gist of it seems to be that he should himself be thoroughly honest in heart, that honesty should characterize all his dealings with others, and that to enrich himself by taking advantage of the weakness or necessities or ignorance of others is a sin in the sight of God."
"...it is hard to see how the teaching of Christ can be made to square with such things as the confiscations that have been the scandal of most revolutions, ...the ’bearing’ and ’bulling’ on the Stock Exchange, ...the extortion of enormous rents when there is dearth of accommodation; nor how any nation is entitled to be called Christian in which inferior goods are foisted on poor or ignorant purchasers and caveat emptor is regarded as a legitimate basis for business transactions, or employees are ’sweated’ by their employers, or workmen cannot be trusted to do their best unless under the eye of a master. As to the last point it may be noticed how stress is constantly laid in the Bible on diligence, both in religious matters (Exo_15:22-26), and also generally (Pro_10:4); and as to idleness (Pro_18:9), to which we may add the parables of the Talents (Mat_25:14-30) and the minas G3414 [Pounds - KJV] (Luk_19:12-27), and the references to the continual work of God and Christ (Joh_5:1-17; Joh_9:1-4) and to Paul’s labor both religious and manual (Act_18:1-4; Act_6:1 - Jews who adopted Greek Hellenism)" (Biblical studies, a guide to what the Bible actually says as to the nature and meaning of Christianity, pp. 147, 148).

Robert Young (of YLT) notes:
"The primary idea of the original word is, to do a thing secretly, as in Gen_31:27;_40:15; 2Sa_15:6; 2Sa_19:3; 2Sa_19:41; Job_4:12; Job_21:18; Job_27:20,"Gen_30:33; Gen_31:19-20; Gen_31:26-27; Gen_31:30; Gen_31:32; Gen_31:39;Gen_40:15; Gen_44:8, Exo_20:15; Exo_21:16; Exo_22:1; Exo_22:7; Exo_22:12, Lev_19:11, Deu_5:19, Jos_7:11, 2Sa_15:6; 2Sa_19:3; 2Sa_19:3; 2Sa_19:41; 2Sa_21:12, 2Ki_11:2, 2Ch_22:11, Job_4:12 (secretly brought; mg, by stealth).
Job_21:18 (carried away; mg, stealeth away). Job_27:20, Pro_6:30; Pro_9:17; +Pro_30:9 (to be prevented from stealing).
Jer_7:9, Hos_4:2, Oba_1:5, *Zec_5:3, **Rom_13:9, +*Rev_9:21.
Property theft is prohibited by Exo_20:17 one step before the act.
Though the verb used here in the eighth commandment can be used of stealing property, the command is much broader in its focus.
Issues such as kidnapping (Deu_24:7) as well as stealing intangibles (dignity, self- respect, freedom, rights) are all important.
The word is also used for stealing in the sense of cheating - by cheating someone out of something, youthat is stealing from the victim.
To steal is a universal temptation, common to all sorts of people.
It may spring from the sense of necessity - it is this that gave such tragic power to Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables,” whose hero, Jean Valjean, stole a loaf of bread. It may also spring from laziness; for there are those who, instead of getting an honest living by working, prefer to get it by what they call their wits, resorting to all sorts of shifts and tricks, which are really stealings. We see examples of this in shop lifting and mob stealing.
It may also spring from dissolute, or "fast living".
How many of the embezzlements detailed in the evening news spring from the fact that the embezzlers had entered on careers of personal debauchery!
Maybe also from the love of display - how many of the embezzelments which land a person in prison are due to their passion for expensive items, furniture, jewelry, fashion, trips, cars, or even BOTOX treatments?
Again, and chiefly, the temptation to steal springs from, "I want it all and I want it right now".
How true is 1Ti_6:10
1Ti 6:10 NASB
(10) For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
There are many different methods of stealing:
Private Stealings:
For example:
• there is the taking advantage of the ignorant or gullible in a bargain.
• there is the taking advantage of the needy, when they are down and helpless, demanding from them, for instance, the "ex's"; extortionate interest for the use of money, exorbitant rent for shelter or tools, or extravagant prices for daily necessities.
• there is employERs' refusing, not lawful wages, but fair wages - that is, just compensation to employees, whether in the family, the farm, the factory, the store, or the bank; for every man born into this world is entitled, by the very fact of his existence upon this footstool of YHVH (Isa_66:1, Lam_2:1, Mat_5:35, Act_7:49), to a decent living;
• there is employEEs' using the time they are being paid to work for non-work, personal agendas - e.g., personal conversations, emailing, ZOOMing, SKYPE-ing
friends and family; gaming (either online or offline, etc.;
• there is the delay in the payment of debts when due.;
• there is the contracting of debts beyond any reasonable possibility of paying them back, the indulgence in daring speculations, the living beyond income - these, and such as these, morally examined, are stealing;
• there is the practice of endorsing, or co-signing. It seems right for someone to help friend or family when there is trouble; but it is not right to help them, however much in trouble, if the endorsement of the note is going to cost some other friend or family member comfort or home. To aid one by endorsement may result in stealing from many;
• there is the habit of begging for endorsements - for example: tempting one to misrepresent, on the one hand, the amount of assets, and, on the other hand, the amount of liabilities; contracting liabilities without the knowledge of the endorser; keeping up appearances when insolvent; in brief, offering a premium for the use of your name;
• there is the evading of government taxes and fees by making deceitful or ambiguous returns - a mode of stealing which is fashionable among people of position or power;
• there is the lazy subsistence or dependence on charity and the dependence on friends to help us out, when, if one had been less lazy as well as a little more energetic, their aid might have not been needed;
• etc.
Official Stealings:
It does not matter what the office is, whether public or private, whether in a bank, or in a store, or in an institution, or under the government.
Public Office is in its very nature a trust.
To betray a trust is one of the worst, and meanest, kinds of stealing.
Corporate Stealings:
There is something in the very nature of the organization of a company which somehow tends to the obfuscate and eliminate personal responsibility.
It is well understood that many will, as members of a corporation - no matter what kind, whether a trust company, like a bank or a charitable institution, or an executive company, like an entertainment, construction or communications organization - do things as a manager of that company which they would condemn others doing as a private individual on their own personal responsibility.
In fact, it has become a maxim that "corporations have no souls".
And monopolies, or corporations granted the exclusive privilege of manufacturing or selling certain articles of commerce - are oftentimes organized robberies of society and thefts of individuals' money.
But there are other kinds of property besides those which are called real and personal, which may also be stolen.
For example, there is the stealing of time; and time is much more than money.
Money, no matter how much is stolen, can be replaced.
OTOH, once someone has had one-tenth of a second of their life wasted or stolen, it can never, ever be recouped in the current system - it is gone forever.
When someone comes and takes up twice the time that is necessary in arranging for their own advantage, or even the advantage of a good institution, they steal time, and in stealing time, they steal life.
There are many examples of stealing from others, including, but not limited to:
• there is the stealing of another’s time and opportunity and serenity when someone keeps another waiting and fuming through one's own failure to keep the engagement with him punctually;
• there is the theft of plagiarism, the stealing of ideas, the withholding of credit or praise when credit or praise is due;
• there is the stealing of reputation or character; and lastly,
• there is contempt of YHVH - the typical specimen of perfect theft. For while humans in relation to fellow humans have right to own property on his own account, mankind in his relation to YHVH is but a trustee.
The violation of any of YHVH's commandments is the most heinous form of stealing.
(Pro_11:1; Pro_16:8; Pro_21:6; Pro_22:16; Jer_17:10-11; Mal_3:1-11.)

For example, the result of violations of:
• Exo_20:3-7 - the reverance and respect due YHVH is stolen;
• Exo_20:8-11 - YHVH's gift of rest to humankind is stolen;
• Exo_20:12 - the respect YHVH has commanded for parents and the family name is stolen;
• Exo_20:13 - the victim's life is stolen;
• Exo_20:14 - the sanctity of marriage is stolen;
• Exo_20:16 - the victim's honor is stolen;
• Exo_20:17 - the perpetrator's peace of mind and spirit are stolen by the perpetrator himself, and his brain's attention is stolen from proper thoughts by these harmful and sinful thoughts.

Exodus 20:16 NASB
(16) “R1You shall not N1giveH6030 falseH8267 testimonyH5707 against your R2neighborH7453.
R1 Exo_23:1; Exo_23:7; Deu_5:20; Mat_19:18
N1 Lit answer as a false witness against
give H6030aanah (772c); a prim. root; to answer, respond:—
agrees to make(1), answer(87), answered(82), answered*(1), answering(1), answers(5), answer will one give(1), continued(2), declare*(1), get no answer(1), give(2), gives(1), gives you as an answer(1), give an account(1), give an answer(1), give my share of answers(1), give Pharaoh an answer(1), giving him such an answer*(1), go unanswered*(1), grant them their request(1), have an answer*(1), on the testimony(1), replied(27), replied*(3), reply(3), respond(10), responded(16), responded*(17), said(1), said*(2), spoke
out(1), testified(4), testifies(4), testify(6).
R2 Lev_19:18
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury
(UCRT)) false H8267 . Exo_23:1; Exo_23:6-7, Gen_39:17, Lev_19:11; Lev_19:16, *Deu_5:20;
**Deu_19:15-21; Deu_22:14, 1Sa_22:8-19, 2Sa_16:3; 2Sa_19:27, 1Ki_21:10-13, Job_13:4, *Psa_15:3; Psa_27:12; Psa_50:20; Psa_52:2-4; *Psa_101:5-7, Pro_6:19;
Pro_10:18; Pro_11:13; Pro_12:17; Pro_14:5; Pro_18:8; Pro_19:5; Pro_19:9; Pro_20:19; Pro_25:18; Pro_25:23; Pro_26:20-22, Isa_59:3-4, Jer_9:4, Eze_22:9, Mat_5:11;
>Mat_19:18; Mat_26:59-60, >Mar_10:19, Luk_3:14; >Luk_18:20; Luk_19:8,
Act_6:13, Rom_1:30; **>Rom_13:9, 1Co_6:10, +Eph_4:25; Eph_4:31, **Col_3:9,
1Ti_1:10; 1Ti_3:11, 2Ti_3:3, Tit_2:3, Jas_4:11, 1Pe_2:1; 1Pe_4:14, 2Pe_2:10-11, Rev_12:10; Rev_22:15.
testimony [witness - KJV] H5707 . Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15, Rth_4:9-11, Isa_8:2,
Mar_14:55-56.
neighbour H7453 .
****Luk_10:25-37
Lev_19:18, Deu_5:20, Pro_24:28, Eph_4:25.
NOTE:
Luk_10:25-37; Joh_4:3-43

At this time, Jews viewed Samaritans as nearly "untouchables". They were hated, and almost considered non-humans.

(The Samaritan Woman Reconsidered
by Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg)
found at israelbiblicalstudies.com.

Historically, the terminology seems to be in recognition of those tribunals which were necessary to the peace and to the very existence of the State and indicates the main focus is on perjury, formal slander and libel, and is concerned primarily with the legal setting.
The maintenance of justice was dependent on the reliability of the witness.
Nevertheless, character assassination in any of its forms, legal or casual, would constitute false witness and would be a violation of this commandment.
First, this command protected the reputation of people from libel by others.
Second, this command established the ancient Israelite system of justice on a firm foundation. In ancient Israelite law, the judging of a person's guilt or innocence was based on testimony by faithful witnesses (Deu_17:6).
False witnesses would undermine justice.
In a larger, community sense, not only false oaths, to deprive a man of his life or of his rights, are here prohibited, but all whispering, tale-bearing, slander, and falsehoods, in a word, whatever is spoken as a truth, which is false in fact, and tends to injure another in his goods, person, or character, is against the spirit and letter of this law
(Lev_19:16).
Not only that but suppressing the truth when known, by which a person may be defrauded of his property or his good name, or lie under injuries or disabilities which a discovery of the truth would have prevented, is also a crime against this law.
He who gives (bears) a false testimony against or belies even the devil himself, violates this law, because the testimony is false. (Exo_23:1; Pro_19:9; Pro_24:28)
By the term neighbor H7453 , all human beings are included, whether they rank among our enemies or friends, was clearly taught by Yeshua (Luk_10:25-37).
This seems mostly a legal term dealing with lying or deceiving in court or to legal offices.

NEXT
1/3/2023
Complete the study of the Ten Commandments (Ten Words - Hebrew) with Exo_10:17.

covet H2530
חמד :Original -
- Transliteration: Chamad
- Phonetic: khaw-mad'
- Definition: v
1. to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in
a. (Qal (active)) to desire
b. (Niphal (passive)) to be desirable
c. (Piel (active)) to delight greatly, desire greatly n f
2. desirableness, preciousness
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 673
- Part(s) of speech:
- Strong's: A primitive root; to delight in: - beauty greatly beloved covet delectable thing ( X great) delight desire goodly lust (be) pleasant (thing) precious (thing). Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury (UCRT))

You shall not covet H2530 . +*Gen_3:6; Gen_14:23; Gen_34:23, *Deu_5:21, Jos_7:21, 1Sa_15:19, 1Ki_21:6-16, 2Ki_5:20, Job_31:24; Job_31:28, +*Psa_10:3; +*Psa_119:36, Pro_21:25-26; Pro_23:4-5, Ecc_4:8; Ecc_5:10-11, Isa_5:8; Isa_33:15; Isa_56:11; Isa_57:17, Jer_22:17, +*Eze_33:31, Amo_2:6-7, Mic_2:2, *Hab_2:9, Mat_6:19-24; Mat_13:22; Mat_16:26, Mar_7:21-23, +*Luk_12:15; Luk_16:14, Joh_12:6, *Act_20:33, **>Rom_7:7; **>Rom_13:9, 1Co_5:10-11; **1Co_6:10, **Eph_5:3; Eph_5:5, Php_3:19, +*Col_3:5, **+1Ti_6:6-10, 2Ti_3:2, **Heb_13:5, *Jas_4:1; Jas_4:2, 1Pe_5:2, 2Pe_2:14-15, *1Jn_2:16, or, desire.
Gen_2:9 (pleasant). Gen_3:6, Exo_20:17; Exo_20:17; Exo_34:24, Deu_5:21; Deu_7:25, Jos_7:21, Job_20:20, Psa_19:10; Psa_39:11 mg.
Psa_68:16, Pro_1:22 (delight). Pro_6:25 (lust). Pro_12:12; Pro_21:20, Son_2:3, Isa_1:29; Isa_44:9 (delectable; mg, desirable). Isa_53:2, Mic_2:2. neighbor’s H7453 house H1004 . Gen_3:6, Gen_14:23, Gen_34:23; Jos_7:21; 1Sa_15:19; Psa_10:3, Psa_119:36; Ecc_4:8, Ecc_5:10-11; Isa_33:15, Isa_57:17; Jer_22:17; Eze_33:31; Amo_2:6-7; Mic_2:2; Hab_2:9; Luk_12:15, Luk_16:14; Act_20:33; Rom_7:7; 1Co_6:10; Php_3:19; Col_3:5; 1Ti_6:6-10; Heb_13:5 neighbor’s H7453 wife H802. Deu_5:21, 2Sa_11:2-4, Job_31:1; Job_31:9, Pro_4:23; *Pro_6:24; Pro_6:25; Pro_6:27-29, Jer_5:8, *Mat_5:28, Jas_1:14-15, 2Pe_2:14. or anything H3605 that belongs to your neighbor H7453 . Deu_5:21, 1Ki_21:2, 2Ki_5:20, +*Psa_101:3, Mat_20:15, Act_5:4, 1Th_4:6, 2Th_3:12,

NOTE:
Coveting does not appear to be the same thing as "would like to have" something similar. This is wanting specifically THEIR property.
There is difference of opinion and practice in counting and dividing the ten commandments.
That there are expressly ten commandments (Hebrew literally, "words") is stated in Exo_34:28; Deu_4:13; Deu_10:4,
Some make the tenth commandment into two, the clause regarding coveting thy neighbor’s wife being made the tenth.
Examples are the Catholic and Lutheran traditions which divide the tenth
commandment into two separate commandments.
These traditions combine the first two commandments into one, which is about prohibiting the worship of pagan gods.
This results in a total of ten commandments.
(Ten Commandments - New World Encyclopedia.
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ten_Commandments.
How to Split the Ten Commandments - Catholic Answers.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/how-to-split-the-ten-
commandments.)
Those who arbitrarily choose to make the division here eliminate commandment number two, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, etc.", possibly becasue the second commandment is an embarrassment to their own unscriptural practice of "venerating" images in religious worship.
It seems clear that the first commandment forbids polytheism; the second forbids idolatry.
This tenth commandment is never cited in the Greek Scriptures as two separate commandments.
If one counts the separate prohibitions it contains, there are eight separate prohibitions, prohibitions against inordinate, unrestrained, desire for a neighbor’s belongings

(NOTE: Recollect Yeshua's teaching about just who is a "neighbor H7453 " (Luk_10:25-37)):(1) house H1004 ,(2) wife H802,(3) male H5650 slave H5650 [manservant - KJV], (4) female H519 slave H519 [maidservant -KJV], (5) ox H7794, (6) donkey H2543 [ass - KJV], (7) anything H3605 that belongs to your neighbor H7453, (8) and, (from Deu_5:21) his field H7704

Why should a division be made for a separately written commandment at the clause regarding coveting thy neighbor’s wife, when the subject of this commandment is about coveting, and the 8 items are examples of what is not to be coveted?
The first and second commandments are not cited as such in the Greek Scriptures.
Their subject matter is not always considered separately, for
• the subject of polytheism is found at Mat_4:10 and Act_17:23-25; 1Co_8:5-6;
• the subject of idolatry is found at Act_17:29; 1Co_8:4; 1Co_10:7; 1Co_10:14; 1Co_10:19-20; 1Jn_5:21.
There does not appear in this listing any reason why the tenth commandment should be considered as two, and the second commandment combined with the first, as some have done, particularly when the probable motive for doing so is considered. In fact, Col 3:5 NASB
(5) Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. Therefore, the tenth commandment specifically teaches that covetousness is idolatry too, clearly amplifying that we can give our devotion to things other than the true God.
Recollecting the central issue in each of the first several commandments (Exo_20:2-6), the first concern is WHAT humans worship.
Worship can be defines as the devoted service one gives to what s/he regards most highly. As Rom_1:24-25 and Col_3:5 teach, man can give devoted service to created things as well as the Creator.
What good can come from exchanging the truth for the lie?
In this context "the lie" is that one can profitably worship someone or something other than the true God.
Worshipping things other than the Creator turns the thrust and direction of our lives off the true path of YHVH's purpose.
Though those objects may be otherwise harmless in themselves, it is sin to give them the devotion that rightly belongs to the Creator.
Joh_4:23-24 proclaims:
Joh 4:23-24 NASB
(23) “But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
(24) “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The worship of YHVH involves the totality of a person's life, and it cannot be confined to a particular location or a mere hour or two on a given day.
Acceptable worship must be guided, motivated, and empowered by His Spirit.
Further, it cannot merely be sincere, but it must also be true.
Attitude is extremely important, but it alone does not replace the truth.
Coveting, in a sinful sense, as in 1Ti_6:10, was not merely an appreciation of something from a distance, but an uncontrolled, inordinate, selfish desire.
1Ti 6:10 NASB
(10) For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing G3713 for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. However, the Bible gives examples of coveting in a positive sense.
1Co 12:31 NASB
(31) But earnestly G2206 desire G2206 the greater gifts. And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.
1Co 14:1 NASB
(1) Pursue love, yet earnestly G2206 desire G2206 spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
1Co 14:39 NASB
(39) Therefore, my brothers and sisters, earnestly G2206 desire G2206 to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Notice the repeated Greek words G2206, used for emphasis.

According to Bullinger's Figures of Speech Used in the Bible:
"When the word is repeated in close and immediate succession, no other word or words coming between, it is called GEMINATIO, pronounced Gem-i-nâ´-tio, which means a doubling, duplication, a re-doubling. It is also called ITERATIO (It´-er-â-ti-o),iteration; CONDUPLICATIO (con-dû-pli-ca´-tio), conduplication, or full doubling.
It is a common and powerful way of emphasizing a particular word, by thus marking it and calling attention to it."
This tenth commandment governed an internal matter: the sin of coveting occurred in the mind.
This seems to demonstrate that YHVH intended the Israelites not only to avoid the actions named in the previous commands, but also to turn away from the evil thoughts that led to those actions.
Historically, in the ancient Near East the concept of coveting occurs in expressions such as “to lift the eyes” - but it is a crime that can be detected and punished only when the desire is translated into action.
Ancient Near Eastern literature shows that offenses such as theft and adultery can be described generally in terms of the desire that triggered the chain of events.
Whatever action it spawns, this illegitimate desire for something that belongs to someone else is the core of the problem and a threat to the community; any action taken to fulfill such a desire is sin.

NEXT
1/10/2024

Continue studying SALVATION from a Hebrew perspective with Deu_7:7-9.

Luk 12:41-48 NASB
(41) Peter said, “Lord, are You telling this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”
(42) And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? (43) “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. (44) “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. (45) “But if that G1565 slave says in his heart, ‘My master will take a long time to come,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; (46) then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. (47) “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will receive many blows, (48) but the one who did not know it, and committed acts deserving of a beating, will receive only a few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

DISCUSSION:
Notice the word, "that G1565 ", in Mat_24:48 and Luk_12:41 .
that G1565
- Original: ἐκεῖνος
- Transliteration: Ekeinos
- Phonetic: ek-i'-nos
- Definition:
1. he, she it, etc.
- Origin: from G1563
- TDNT entry: None
- Part(s) of speech:
- Strong's: From G1563; that one (or [neuter] thing); often intensified by the article prefixed: - he it the other (same) selfsame that (same very) X their X them they this those. See also G3778.
The definition of "that G1565 " appears to indicate that the slaves in question are one in the same.
That is, one slave who has a choice of two actions, and the results of whichever action the slave chooses. This is reinforced by the clarity with which Yeshua refers to different individuals in the Parable of the Talents and the two men in the field and two women grinding (see below).
Mat_25:14-30
Mat 25:14-30 NASB
(14) “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
(15) “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. (16) “The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents.
(17) “In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. (18) “But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. (19) “Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them. (20) “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ (21) “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ (22) “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ (23) “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ (24) “Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. (25) ‘And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’ (26) “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? (27) ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
(28) ‘Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ (29) “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. (30) “And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 24:36-44 NASB
(36) “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (37) “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. (38) “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, (39) and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (40) “At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. (41) “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. (42) “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. (43) “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
(44) “For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

QUESTION:
Being "led by the Spirit" - how to tell which spirit is doing the leading?

DISCUSSION"
If one truly "has the Spirit" and is "led by the Spirit", then whatever spiritual food s/he dispenses cannot possibly be wrong (in the sense of error, bias, contradicting, adding
or removing YHVH's word in the Scriptures, even if what they teach is incomplete. For example, the oft used Pro_4:18
Pro 4:18 NASB
(18) But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.
Just as in a furnished room, the true placement of the furniture is unchanged whether the room is light or dark, YHVH's Truth remains unchanged whether or not mankind is not understanding (dark) or fully understanding (light) of it.
Just as YHVH cannot lie (Tit_1:2), the (Holy) Spirit cannot lie or teach a lie.
A person who is "led by the Spirit", even though that person may not have enough understanding to fully explain a truth, what s/he can explain will still be true, even if it is elementary.
Continue studying SALVATION from a Hebrew perspective with Deu_7:7-9.

Deuteronomy 7:7 NASB+
(7) “R1The LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 did not N1makeH2836a you His belovedH2836a norH3808 chooseH977 you becauseH3588 you wereH7231 greaterH7231 in numberH7231 thanH4480 anyH3605 of the peoplesH5971a,
sinceH3588 you were the fewestH4592 of allH3605 peoplesH5971a,
R1
Deu_4:37
N1
Or become so attached to
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury
(UCRT))
The Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 . Psa_83:18,
Psa_115:1, Rom_9:11-15; Rom_9:18; Rom_9:21; Rom_11:6, 1Jn_3:1; 1Jn_4:10.
you were the fewest H4592 . Deu_10:22; Deu_26:5, Isa_51:2, Mat_7:14,
Luk_12:32, Rom_9:27-29.

NOTE:
The key is the idea that YHVH delivers Israel from SLAVERY.
For Christians, salvation is being saved from SIN.
It's not just sin, since being enslaved to sin leads to death, the ultimate enemy.
Yeshua dies and is resurrected helps usher in a whole new way of thinking.
Salvation is thought of differently - being saved from death.
Sin out of the picture means no death.
Most Christian organizations teach salvation to heaven or punishment in hell - with no thought of dying into nothingness forever.

NEXT
1/17/2024
Continue studying SALVATION from a Hebrew perspective with Deu_7:7-9.

There are no traces of such a belief in the earlier Hebrew Scriptures.
It is not to be found in the Pentateuch, in the historical books, or in the Psalms; for Psa_49:15 does not relate to this subject; neither does Psa_104:29-30.
The celebrated passage of Job_19:25-27 has indeed been strongly insisted upon in proof of the early belief in this doctrine:
Job 19:25-27 NASB
(25) “Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.
(26) “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I will see God,
(27) Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, And whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Most commentators seem to agree agreed that such a view of the text arises either from mistranslation or misunderstanding, and that Job means no more than to express a confident conviction that his then diseased and corrupted body should be restored to its former soundness; that he should rise from the depressed state in which he lay to his former prosperity; and that YHVH would manifestly appear (as was the case) to vindicate his uprightness.
That no meaning more secret or profound is to be found in the text is agreed to by most early commentators. That Job_19:25-27 alludes to a resurrection appears disproved because it is inconsistent with many passages in which the same person (Job) longs for death as the end of his miseries, and not as the introduction to a better life (Job_3:1-26; Job_7:7-8;
Job_10:20-22; Job_19:1-29; Job_17:11-16).
Further, resurrection is not proposed as a topic of consolation by any of the friends of Job; nor by Elihu, who acts as a sort of umpire; nor by the YHVH Himself in the decision of the controversy.
The Scriptures, when word definitions are exactly defined, contain no claim for such an interpretation; especially the phrase in Job_19:26 , “yet in my flesh shall I see God,”
[KJV] which should rather be rendered, "Yet from my flesh I will see God" [NASB] or, “out of my flesh I will see God" H4480 H1320 .”
Isaiah seems to be the first Scripture writer in whom such an reference can be traced.
Isaiah compares the restoration of the Jewish people and state to a resurrection from the dead (Isa_26:19-20); and in this he is followed by Ezekiel at the time of the exile
(Eze_37:1-28).
It in Dan_12:2 the Scriptures arrive at a clear and unequivocal declaration that those who lie sleeping under the earth shall awake, some to eternal life, and others to everlasting shame and contempt.
In the earthly time of Yeshua Messiah, the belief of a resurrection, in connection with a state of future retribution, was held by the Pharisees and the great body of the Jewish people, and was only disputed by the Sadducees.
Indeed, they seem to have regarded the future life as incomplete without the body; and so intimately were the two things - the future existence of the soul and the resurrection of the body-connected in their minds that any argument which, proved the former they considered as proving the latter also (Mat_22:31; 1Co_15:32).
This belief, however, led them into gross and sensuous conceptions of the future state, although there were many among the Pharisees who taught that the future body would be so refined as not to need the indulgences which were necessary in the present life; and they agreed with Yeshua's teaching that those resurrected would not marry, but would be as the angels of God (Mat_22:30; Luk_20:39).
So Paul, in 1Co_6:13, is goes so far as to teach that the necessity of food for subsistence will be abolished in the world to come.
In further proof of the commonness of a belief in the resurrection among the Jews of the time of Christ, see Mat_22:23-33; Luk_20:27-40; Joh_11:24; Act_23:6-8.
Josephus is not to be relied upon in the account which he reports the belief of his countrymen

(Antiquities, 18:2-6 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-18.html); War, ii, Chapter 8, 7 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-7.html)), as he appears to use terms which might suggest one thing to his Jewish readers and another to the Greeks and Romans, who scouted the idea of a resurrection.
It is clearly taught in the Apocrypha (Wis_3:1; Wis_4:15; 2Ma_7:14; 2Ma_7:23;
2Ma_7:29, etc.).
Many Jews believed that the wicked would not be raised from the dead; but the contrary was the more prevailing opinion, in which Paul once took occasion to express his concurrence with the Pharisees (Act_24:14-15).
But although the doctrine of the resurrection was thus prevalent among the Jews in the time of Christ, it might still have been doubtful and obscure today had not Yeshua given to it the sanction of His authority, and declared it a central part of His teaching
(e.g. Mat_22:1-46; Joh_5:8; Joh_5:11).
He and His apostles also, were careful to correct the errors which the Jews entertained on this subject, and to make it more obvious and intelligible than it had ever been before. A special interest is also imparted to the subject from the manner in which the Greek Scriptures represents Yeshua as the person to whom Christians are indebted for this benefit, which, by every kind of argument and illustration, the apostles connect with Him, and make to rest upon Him (Act_4:2; Act_26:3; 1Co_15:1-58; 1Th_4:14).
For the Second Temple Pharisees, who believed in resurrection, they were the more popular teachers of the people, whereas, the Sadducees were over the Temple.
The Sanhedrin included both, but mostly Sadducees.
So when the Temple was destroyed, the Sadducees ceased to exist.
They did not believe that YHVH did not interfere with the lives of the humans. They believed that YHVH created everything, then just watch from afar. While Yeshua's theology was more like Pharisees, He was not a Pharisee.
In many cases, His theology was much stricter than that of the Pharisees (adultery) and in other cases, less strict (Sabbath).
Paul studied under Gamliel. He must have shown promise in his intellectual ability, and became a life-long learner as a Pharisee.
For salvation, the average Jew went to their synagogue and their teacher for information.
According to Dr. Cindi Parker, Professor of Holy Land Studies at Israel Bible Center, at this time, there appears to have been no real separation between men and women in dialogue and discussion of the Torah, but not in leadership or teaching positions. After the destruction of the Temple and the end of Second Temple, it appears the rabbis became the arbiters of the current separation.
Samaritans believed in just the Torah (Samaritan Pentateuch
[https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/TheSamaritanPentateuchandMode rnCriticism_10065285.pdf]) and that Moses was the last prophet.
Yet, somehow, they picked up a belief in a resurrection.
According to their beliefs, the apocalypse, called "the day of vengeance", will be the end of days, when a figure called the Taheb (essentially the Samaritan equivalent of the Jewish Messiah) from the tribe of Joseph will come, be a prophet like Moses for forty years and bring about the return of all the Israelites, following which the dead will be resurrected.
The Taheb will then discover the tent of Moses' Tabernacle on Mount Gerizim, and will be buried next to Joseph when he dies.
Historically, the terminology used in Deu_7:7-10 of love, loyalty and obedience are common to the international treaties of this time.
Hittite, Akkadian, Ugaritic and Aramaic examples all show that the positive action of the suzerain (That is, a superior lord to whom fealty is due the overlord. Also, a dominant state controlling the foreign relations of a vassal state but allowing it sovereign authority in its internal affairs) toward the vassal is expressed as love, kindness and graciousness, and in return the vassal is expected to respond with obedience and loyalty.
The Israelites had no reason for pride, for they were the fewest of all peoples. Whatever privileges or possessions they enjoyed were due to YHVH's grace. Some say that YHVH does not pick a person, or nation, based on their own merit
(Act_10:34), yet it doesn't seem to be true.
Why did YHVH choose (not an exhaustive list):
• Noah (Gen_6:9);
• Abraham's (Neh_9:7-8) and his argument about sparing Sodom and Gomorrah
(Gen_18:1-33);
• Moses (Exo_3:4);
• Jeremiah ( Jer_1:5);
• the Nation of Israel (Lev_25:42; Lev_25:55; 1Pe_2:9-10), not to be confused with the current political nation;
• etc.

NEXT
1/24/2024
Continue studying salvation from the Hebrew perspective (Deu_7:7-9), beginning with
Deu_7:8.

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury
(UCRT))
because. Deu_4:37; Deu_9:4-5; Deu_10:15; +Deu_33:3, 1Sa_12:22, 2Sa_22:20, Psa_37:4; Psa_44:3, Isa_43:4, Jer_31:3, Zep_3:17, Mat_11:26, Eph_2:4-5, 2Th_2:13- 14, Tit_3:3-7, 1Jn_4:19. kept H8104 the oath H7621 . Gen_22:16-18, Exo_32:13, Psa_105:8-10; Psa_105:42, Luk_1:55; Luk_1:72-73, Heb_6:13-17. the Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 brought H3318 you out H3318 . Deu_4:20; Deu_4:31, Exo_12:41-42; Exo_13:3; Exo_13:14; Exo_20:2. by a mighty H2389 hand H3027 . Deu_4:34.

NOTE:
redeemed H6299
Physical deliverance from slavery (Paul - sin)
Salvation connected to a promise.
slavery H5650

NOTE:
The idea of deliverance from a Hebrew perspective is being delivered from something physical, as opposed to the Christian perpective of a spiritual deliverance.

From Br. Lee Anthony:
"In Hebrew, the 'olam H5769 ha-ba is the "world to come" and the 'olam ha-ze is the "world that is", or the former days."
"So the "former days" and the "latter days" make up one whole, or different parts of the whole, in the Hebrew thought."
"In our context here (Heb_1:1-2), the former being before Yeshua, YHVH spoke through the prophets; and the latter being after Yeshua."
"When we take an example of modern day sports, such as football, we have two halves in a game. It's the same teams playing both halves, the same rules, same players, same field, same refs, etc.. Sometimes players go in and out, but the key is that the game is the same all the way through when it comes to the rules and how things are going."
"For a little background on other ideas and their origin, there is another hermeneutical grid within which early Hebrew Christians interpreted the developing canon of the early Hebrew Bible; the idea of two worlds, or ages. This world, we talked about, the "'olam ha-ze" and the world to come, the "'olam ha-ba"."
"Early Hebrew Christians understood that they lived in a very special time during which the "world to come" has been inaugurated by the Messiah's first coming. Yet, this world was still very much in operation." "Even though the latter days of Israel's restoration had dawned, this time did not come in the way it was expected by those who were living and trying to decipher the Scriptures."
"The Messiah's reign was inaugurated, the Kingdom had come, but not in its fullest." "Moses first coined the term latter or last days (Deu_4:30-31). Not only does this term become a technical term regarding Israel's restoration among the prophets (Isa_2:2, Mic_4:1, Hos_3:5), it also made its way into the New Testament, in Act_2:17, Heb_1:2, Jas_5:3, and Jas_5:16, and I'm sure there are more."
"Just some examples of the use of these terms in the Greek and now in the English for us." "Similarly, from the Christian viewpoint we have what's called "dispensationalism". It's a Greek-Christian idea that was developed by John Nelson Darby around the 1830s. Some of you may recognize that name from the Darby translation of the Bible."
"Greek time as we know it is linear - it has a beginning point and an end point with a bunch of points in between, and it is always moving forward."
"With this construct we have what is coined, "Dispensations". To name a few, we have Pre-flood, Post-flood, Pre-Christ, Post-Christ, Law and Grace Etc. There is no end to the amount of doctrine based on dispensationalism as a result of Mr. Darby and others."

However,
"Hebrew time is circular. The past is in the future and the future is in the past, and we have these different parts together that make up one whole. We call this ages, or in Greek, aion."
"The question is, are these the same as dispensations?"
"At first glance it seems to be the same idea, just using different terminology. However, the way each is understood from a linguistic and cultural perspective, once we dig deeper into the two, we see that they are not the same."

Deuteronomy 7:9 NASB+
(9) “KnowH3045 therefore that the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 your GodH430, R1He is GodH430, R2the faithfulH539 GodH410, R3who keepsH8104 N1His covenantH1285 and N1His faithfulnessH2617a to a thousandH505 generationsH1755 for those who R4loveH157 Him and keepH8104 His commandmentsH4687;
R1 Deu_4:35; Deu_4:39
R2 Isa_49:7; 1Co_1:9; 1Th_5:24; 2Ti_2:13
R3 Exo_20:6; Dan_9:4
N1 Lit the
R4 Deu_5:10

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury
(UCRT))
Know H3045 . Psa_100:3. the Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 your God H430 . Deu_4:34. God H430 the faithful H539 . Exo_34:6-7, +*Psa_119:75; +*Psa_119:90; Psa_146:6, Isa_49:7, Lam_3:23, 1Co_1:9; +*1Co_10:13, 2Co_1:18, 1Th_5:24, 2Th_3:3, 2Ti_2:13, +*Tit_1:2, Heb_6:18; Heb_10:23; Heb_11:11, 1Jn_1:9.
God H410 . Heb. El, +Exo_15:2. who keeps H8104 . Deu_5:10, +Gen_9:16; Gen_17:7, Exo_20:6, +Lev_26:42, Jdg_2:1; +Jdg_5:31, 1Ki_8:23, 2Ch_6:14, Neh_1:5; Neh_9:32, Psa_103:18, +*Isa_41:9, Dan_9:4, *Mic_7:18-20, +*Mal_3:6, **Rom_8:28; **+Rom_11:29, 1Co_8:3, Jas_1:12. covenant H1285 and. +Gen_18:27, Gen_9:15, Neh_9:8. faithfulness [mercy - KJV] H2617 . Deu_7:12, +*Exo_34:6; +*Exo_34:7, 1Ki_8:23, 2Ch_6:14, Psa_100:5, +**Isa_55:3, Jer_32:18. a thousand H505 . 1Ch_16:15, Psa_105:8. generations H1755 . +*Psa_119:90. for [with - KJV] them who love H157 Him. +*Joh_14:15. and keep H8104 His commandments H4687 . Deu_7:12, Psa_103:18, +*Joh_13:17, **1Jn_2:3 note. **+1Jn_3:23; 1Jn_5:3.
Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury (UCRT)) repay H7999 . Deu_5:9; Deu_32:35; Deu_32:41, Exo_23:22, Job_21:31, Psa_21:8-9, Pro_11:31, Isa_59:18; Isa_63:3-6, Jer_32:18, Nah_1:2, +**Rom_12:19. that hate H8130 him. +*2Ch_19:2, Psa_68:1; Psa_81:15, *Rom_1:30. Hesitate [slack - KJV] H309 . Deu_32:35, **2Pe_3:9; **2Pe_3:10. hate H8130 . +Exo_20:5, Joh_15:23-24.

NOTE:
faithful God … for a thousand generations: Throughout all time, YHVH has
remained true to His commitment made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He is a faithful God (Exo_20:6; Heb_13:5).
love Him and keep His commandments: Loving YHVH always finds its expression in doing His will.
YHVH is a God of justice.
He will repay H7999 those who rebel against (hates H8130) Him
Deu 7:10 NASB
(10) but He repays those who hate Him to their faces, to eliminate them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates H8130 Him, He will repay H7999 him to his face.

NEXT
1/31/2024
Continue studying salvation from the Hebrew perspective, beginning with Isa_53:5-6.

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
But he H1931 was. Isa_53:6-8; Isa_53:11-12, *Dan_9:24, *Zec_13:7,
*Mat_20:28; Mat_27:26, Mar_15:24, *Rom_3:24-26; *Rom_4:25;
Rom_5:6-10; Rom_5:15-21, +**1Co_15:3, **2Co_5:21, Gal_3:13,
*Eph_5:2, Heb_4:15; *Heb_9:12-15; *Heb_9:28; *Heb_10:10;
*Heb_10:14, *1Pe_3:18. pierced [wounded - KJV] H2490 . or, tormented. or, pierced. Isa_51:9, Psa_109:22, Joh_19:34-37. for our H4480 . =Psa_106:32, Joh_10:15; Joh_11:51, Phm_1:18, +*Heb_4:15 note. 1Jn_3:5. offences [transgressions - KJV] H6588 . Heb. pesha, revolt, rebellion: sin against lawful authority (Isa_43:27, Psa_51:13, Pro_10:12; Pro_28:21). +=Lev_5:6, =Eze_40:39, 1Co_15:3. crushed [bruised - KJV] H1792 . Hebrew - daka: beat to pieces. Isa_53:10, +**Gen_3:15, +=Exo_27:20, =Lev_2:1; +=Lev_23:13, Mat_27:26-29, +=Heb_2:10. wrongdoings [iniquities - KJV] H4480 H5771 . Heb. avon, perverseness, from the root to be bent, or crooked. English wrong, i.e. wrung out of course, expresses it (compare 1Sa_20:30, 2Sa_19:19, 1Ki_8:47, Job_33:9). Job_21:19, *Job_31:33 h, Isa_6:7, Zec_3:9; *1Jn_3:5. the punishment [the chastisement - KJV] H4148 . Luk_23:16, Joh_19:1, *1Pe_2:24. well-being [peace - KJV] H7965 . Isa_9:6, Lev_7:29-30; +=Lev_23:19, *Rom_5:1, *Eph_2:14. upon him H5921 . Isa_53:4, =Lev_16:10, +*xPsa_80:17. by his [with his - KJV] G3739 . >1Pe_2:24-25. wounds [stripes - KJV] H2250 . Heb. bruise. Isa_1:6, Gen_4:23, Exo_21:25, 2Co_6:5. healed H7495 . Hebrew - rapha: cured, made whole +Exo_15:26, Lev_13:18; Lev_13:37; Lev_14:3, Num_21:9, Psa_69:4; +*Psa_103:3, Mal_4:2, $*>Mat_8:17, Joh_3:14-15; Joh_12:40, *Act_10:38, 3Jn_1:2. NOTE:
In the Hebrew, Isaiah probably did know about whom he was writing, the
Messiah. In Isa_53:3, it says "familiar with sickness H2483 ", and in Isa_53:4, it says "our sicknesses H2483 " - Strong's: From H2470; malady anxiety calamity: - disease grief (is) sick (-ness).

QUESTION:
Did Yeshua get sick? In the larger context, Isaiah 40:1-55:13 is addressed to the Babylonian exiles in a prophetic manner.
This book of comfort (Isa_40:1), written about 150 years before the time of Cyrus, promised the exiles from Judah that they would return to Jerusalem (Isa_40:1-2), where YHVH would meet them in the form of the Suffering Servant (Isa_42:1-4) - the same One who would become a great King (Isa_7:14; Isa_9:6-7; Isa_11:1-5).
The restoration after the Exile pointed to the coming of YHVH's kingdom.
In Isaiah's prophecy, this first taste of salvation merges with predictions of
the full salvation that Yeshua Messiah would bring, even though for most
Jews the concept of salvation had a different meaning than for Christians

(See Study Notes from 1/24/2024, located at:

PWLA: Intro podcast for Bible talk: Our Ministry

BUT, you may well ask, wasn't there a "Second Isaiah", or "Isaiah II", who
actually wrote these things?
On the ONE hand: One of the most impressive of the “near” prophecies of Isaiah is the specific, extended description of a monarch whose birth was 150 years in the future from Isaiah's time.
This, of course, is regarded as quite impossible by many critical readers of
the Bible. Without any evidence other than their "superior intellect and insight", they argue that a “Second Isaiah” who lived after the events of Cyrus and the return from Exile must have penned the words of Isaiah in Chapters 44 - 55. However, how does that theory harmonize with Isaiah's words concerning the coming of the Savior King?
Does than mean these passages must also be dated after the event?
And what can be said concerning the passages that describe the
millennium, heaven, and the eternal state?
The unbelieving logic that denies Isaiah, the son of Amoz (Isa_1:1), the
authorship of Chapters 40 - 55 could also be used to argue that large
portions of the book have actually not yet been written at all, for they
discuss events still future!
The whole point of the extended references to Cyrus in Chapters 41 - 46
seems to be that only the living God could have made this specific prophecy before the fact (Isa_45:3).
Those who suggest “Second Isaiah” wrote these sections after the fact have eviscerated the section of faith, wonder, and miracle.
Heroditus could write of Cyrus after the fact; but only the living God could
call him by name (as He gives names to the stars, Isa_40:26) before he was born (Isa_45:3).
The same God who named Cyrus ( Isa_44:28, Isa_45:1) also named the
Messiah (Isa_9:6), and even the place of His birth (Mic_5:2).

On the OTHER hand:
For those choosing the "Second Isaiah" school of thought,
Nothing is known about the author of Isaiah II, or "Second Isaiah", as an
individual, but much is known about his theology. In Isaiah II, YHVH is the King of all creation, who controls the fates of all nations, even the enemies of Israel and Judah. One major theme is YHVH’s complete control over the earth as creator of the universe. YHVH also declares that He is the creator of the earth and heavens
(Isa_45:12, Isa_45:12-18).
Additionally, Isaiah II places YHVH’s throne above the circle of the earth
(Isa_40:22).
A major part of Isaiah II is the four passages about the "Suffering Servant". There are many suggestions as to who the servant was such as Cyrus, Isaiah II, the nation of Israel/Judah, Joseph (son of Israel) or Yeshua Messiah in Christian theology who established YHVH’s rule.
The first Servant passage (Isa_42:1-9) has the Servant called to bring
justice and freedom to Israel and the coastlands beyond.
In the second passage (Isa_49:1-7), the Servant is called by YHVH,
restoring Israel, and making them a “light to the nations”.
The third passage (Isa_50:1-11) has the Servant calls people to the One
True God despite persecution. Finally, the last Servant passage (Isa_52:13-15, Isa_53:1-12) describes the Servant’s suffering as redemptive. These passages are still relevant and continue to provoke curiosity in biblical students today. Other themes associated with Isaiah II: Idol Worship. The command to reject useless idols for YHVH who is all-powerful is an important part of the theology. YHVH is very clear that He cannot be an equal to the powerless works of artists (Isa_40:18-20).
He tells the Israelites that He alone is God and cannot be compared to the
blind, mute, deaf, and helpless idols of Babylon (Isa_46:1-9).
Restoration Isaiah II has Jerusalem, or Zion, restored as the goal of the return from exile.
The Israelites are promised a return to Jerusalem (Isa_49:14-22).
YHVH promises to remake Zion into a rich, beautiful, and holy city
(Isa_54:11-13).
Redemption Another major theme of Isaiah II is that YHVH will redeem the Israelites in a second Exodus. He promises to be Jacob/Israel’s redeemer (Isa_41:14). The destruction of Babylon is even described in the same way as the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea before YHVH declares that what He is doing now is even greater than before (Isa_44:14-20).
It appears that the argument for one Isaiah or Isaiah + Isaiah II is at its
very best, fruitless and a confusion. Regardless of one's belief about however many Isaiahs wrote the book of Isaiah, the most important thing to remember is:
2Ti 3:16-17 YLT
(16) every Writing is God-breathed G2315 , and profitable for teaching,
for conviction, for setting aright, for instruction that is in righteousness,
(17) that the man of God may be fitted—for every good work having been
completed.

Returning to the Scriptural context, Isa_52:13 THROUGH Isa_53:12 is
often referred to as: The Suffering Servant.
This is the fourth of the Servant Songs forms the central unit of Isaiah
Chapters 40 THROUGH 66, predicting the Servant's death for the sins of
His people. This passage is cited many times in the Greek Scriptures, where the Servant is identified with Yeshua Messiah (Luk_22:37; Luk_24:27, Luk_24:46; 1Co_15:3; 1Pe_1:11).
This particular Scripture, Isa_53:5, contains repetition of the pronouns He,
Him, and His for our and we to underscores the fact that the Servant
suffered in mankind's place. The chastisement … His stripes: For a similar reference, see 1Pe_2:24. Peace sums up the Servant's ministry of reconciliation, justification, adoption, and glorification (2Co_5:17-21). By saying that we are healed, the remnant expressed its faith in what YHVH had announced in Isa_52:13. Historically, Isa_52:14. battered king.

During the Babylonian Akitu festival (at the New Year), the king was required to “take the hand of Bel” (Marduk) and proclaim his innocence as a righteous monarch. On the fifth day of the eleven-day festival the king was taken before the high priest, who stripped the monarch of his royal insignias (mace, loop and scepter) and struck him on the cheeks. The priest then dragged the king by his ears and forced him to bow to the ground before Marduk, again proclaiming his innocence.

Isa_53:4-10. substitutionary rites in the ancient Near East.
The rite of the substitute king was used in Assyria when evil omens
(especially an eclipse) suggested the life of the king was in danger.
It is attested primarily in the reign of Esarhaddon in the early seventh
century but had been practiced for over a thousand years.
It worked on the principle that evil could be transferred from one individual to another. When the dangerous period was to occur, the king was replaced by a substitute on whom the evil fate could fall.
In some cases this substitute was someone considered of no significance
and was perhaps even mentally or physically impaired.
He was then exalted to high status and office for as long as one hundred
days, though often a shorter period. During this time the real king was kept in relative isolation (a virtual exile) and participated in numerous purification rituals. Meanwhile the substitute was going through the motions of being king and sitting on the throne. He was portrayed as the shepherd (a common title for Mesopotamian kings), but one could understand that he was simply a sheep about to be slaughtered. At the end of the period the substitute was put to death so that the evident design of the gods would be accomplished. The omens had suggested that it was the will of the gods to crush him. As one text puts it, he died to save the king and the crown prince. He was given a rich state funeral and an offering was made and exorcism rituals performed (including washings and sprinklings) so that the omens would be cancelled and the days of the king could be prolonged.

Isa_53:1.Isa_53:4. healing of diseases.
The Ugaritic myth of the struggle of Baal and Mot contains the story of the Rapiuma (saviors or healers), led by Baal, who was resurrected from the dead. These venerated ancestors were believed to intervene on behalf of the living. They healed mortals’ diseases, helped in matters of fertility and protected them against the evils of society. The Rapiuma, however, did not take the infirmities of the mortals on themselves.
Isa_53:7. sheep silent before shearers.
Ancient Near Eastern texts often describe the shearing of sheep, who
underwent their lot in silence. Shearing was done annually in the spring, using shears, which were invented about 1000 B.C.
An individual could shear twenty to thirty sheep a day.

Isa_53:10. guilt offering.
The reparation offering was traditionally termed the guilt offering.
Though the term that is used is often appropriately translated as guilt, the
term serves a more technical function within the sacrificial system.
This offering is designed to address a particular category of offense - a
breach of faith or an act of sacrilege.
Breach of faith would appropriately describe the violation of a covenant,
while sacrilege refers generally to desecration of sacred areas or objects.

Lev 5:14-16 NASB
(14) Then the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh;
JEHOVAH] H3068 spoke to Moses, saying, (15) “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’S [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD [YHWH- YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068 : a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, as a guilt offering. (16) “And he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.
NOTE:
This passage, Lev_5:14-16, deals with the trespass, or reparation, offering
for a breach of faith against YHVH.
This could be with regard to the sanctuary, to its holy things, to one of the
commandments, or to another person.
In this context, Israel's violation of the covenant would be the most likely
cause for a guilt offering to be required.
There were contemporary Isaiah investigators who could identify these
Scriptures as referring to the Messiah.

NEXT
2/7/2024
Continue studying salvation from the Hebrew perspective, beginning with
Isa_53:6 (CONTEXT: Isa_51:1 THROUGH Isa_56:8), AND Mal_3:1.

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference
Treasury (UCRT))
All H3605 of us [we - KJV]. *Isa_64:6, Exo_12:6, 1Ki_8:46, 2Ch_6:36,
Job_15:14-16, Psa_130:3; Psa_143:2, +*Pro_20:9, **Ecc_7:20,
**Rom_3:9-12; **Rom_3:23, *2Co_5:14, Eph_2:3, **1Jn_1:8; **1Jn_1:10.
like sheep H6629 . Psa_23:1; Psa_23:3; +*Psa_119:176, Jer_50:6,
Mat_10:6; Mat_15:24; *Mat_18:12-14, Luk_12:32; *Luk_15:3-7, Joh_10:7;
Joh_10:11, *Rom_3:10-19, *>1Pe_2:25, 1Jn_1:8.
have gone astray H8582 . Pro_7:25.
turned H6437 . That is, turned the face towards. Isa_8:21; Isa_56:11.
his own way H1870 . **Isa_55:7; *Isa_56:11, Gen_8:21, Psa_119:101,
**Pro_14:12, **Eze_3:18, Joh_18:8, Rom_3:12; *Rom_4:25; Rom_5:8,
Gal_3:11, Php_3:9, *Jas_5:20, *1Pe_3:18.
the Lord [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH] H3068
hath. NOTE: Agency of the Father in making atonement.
Isa_53:10, =Deu_3:26, Eze_4:5, Joe_2:27, **Joh_3:16, Rom_3:25,
Gal_4:4-5, 1Jn_4:9-10. the wrongdoing H5771 of us all H3605 To fall H6293 on Him. [laid H6293 on him H853 the iniquity H5771 of us all H3605 - KJV]. "yet Adonai laid on him the guilt of all of us." - CJB.
Isa_53:4-5, Isa_50:8, =Gen_22:6; =Gen_22:10, =Exo_28:38;
=Exo_29:10, =Lev_1:10; Lev_3:2; Lev_3:8; Lev_3:12-13; Lev_4:4;
Lev_4:24; =Lev_10:17; Lev_16:10; Lev_16:17; Lev_16:21; +=Lev_23:19,
=Num_18:1, Psa_69:4.

the wrongdoing [iniquity - KJV] H5771 . Isa_53:5-6, Efficacy of the
atonement, or "the Lord our righteousness."
Num_15:31, Psa_40:12, Jer_23:6, Dan_9:24, *Joh_3:17; Joh_6:51;
Joh_6:55; Joh_10:9, *Rom_1:16; *Rom_1:17; Rom_3:21-22; Rom_5:10-11;
Rom_5:15-21; *Rom_10:3; *Rom_10:4, **2Co_5:14; **2Co_5:15, Eph_5:2,
Php_3:9, 1Pe_2:24, *1Jn_2:2; *1Jn_3:5; 1Jn_4:9-10, Rev_5:9.
of us all H3605 . This figure of speech is called, Epanadiplosis; or,
Encircling, as in, Gen_9:3, involving repetition of all, by which the
statement is emphasized as containing the essence of the whole chapter.
1Ki_8:46, Job_40:4, Psa_14:3; Psa_53:3; Psa_130:3, Isa_64:6, 1Ti_2:6.

NOTE:
In ancient Israel, suffering was attributed to Israel suffering on behalf of
the world. In hindsight, prophets suffering was viewed as a result of the prophet's righteousness, as a sign of being a prophet.
It could also be viewed as a punishment for doing something wrong (Job).
Today, it seems just the opposite: those who are doing great with no
problems may be considered as not serving YHVH to the fullest.
All we like sheep have gone astray:
For a Greek Scriptures perspective
1Pe 2:25 NASB
(25) For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have
returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
wrongdoing [iniquity - KJV] H5771 This is not "missing the mark" H2398 G266

This is outright rebellion H6588
1Jn 3:4 NASB
(4) Everyone who practices sin G266 also practices lawlessness G458 ; and sin G266 is lawlessness G458 .
In both the Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and in the Interlinear Greek
New Testament with Strong's Numbers (IGNT+), the use of the original
Greek Definite Article, "the G3588 " is included:
1Jn 3:4 YLT
(4) Every one who is doing the G3588 sin G266 , the G3588 lawlessness
G458 also he doth do, and the G3588 sin G266 is the G3588 lawlessness
G458 , The Definite Article (the G3588 ) refers to something specific.
the G3588
ὁ, ἡ, τό
ho hē to
ho, hay, to
The masculine, feminine (second) and neuter (third) forms, in all their
inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others
omitted, in English idiom): - the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.
Total KJV occurrences: 8497
For an in-depth discussion of the Definite Article, check out the Blue Letter
Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g3588

NEXT
2/14/2024
Continue studying salvation from the Hebrew perspective with Mal_3:1.

R1 Mat_11:10; Mat_11:14; Mar_1:2; Luk_1:76; Luk_7:27 R2 Hag_1:13; Joh_1:6-7 N1 Or angel, messenger from God R3 Isa_40:3 N2 Or that is, the R4 Isa_63:9

Cross Reference Scriptures (from: The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury (UCRT))​ Behold H2009 . >Mat_11:10. I am sending [I will send - KJV] H7971 . *Mal_2:7; *Mal_4:5, *Mat_11:10; *Mat_11:11, *>Mar_1:2; *>Mar_1:3, *>Luk_1:76; *>Luk_7:26-28, *Joh_1:6; *Joh_1:7. my messenger.  *Mal_4:5

(While John the Baptist was not the person of Elijah risen from the dead, many interpret that he was the Elijah that was to come. The first messenger is often identified as John the Baptist. He is seen as the one who prepares the way for the coming of the Lord. The second messenger, referred to as the “messenger of the covenant”, is typically identified as Yeshua Messiah. He is seen as the one who fulfills the covenant and in whom people find delight.);

*Mal_4:6, Gen_16:10; Gen_32:3, *Exo_3:2, Jdg_2:1, Job_33:23, Ecc_5:6, Hag_1:13, Zec_2:8; Zec_3:1; Zec_12:8; Zec_13:8, +**Mat_11:14; Mat_17:9-13, Mar_9:11; Mar_9:13, Luk_1:15-17; Luk_1:76-77; Luk_7:27; Luk_9:52.

and he will clear H6437 a way H1870 [and he shall prepare the way- KJV].

Deu_33:7, *Isa_40:3-5; Isa_62:10, *Mat_3:1-3; *Mat_17:10-13, *Luk_1:16; *Luk_1:17; *Luk_3:3-6, *Joh_1:15-23; *Joh_1:26; *Joh_1:31; *Joh_1:33; *Joh_1:34; *Joh_3:28-30, *Act_13:24; *Act_13:25; *Act_19:4.

and. *Psa_110:1, +*Isa_7:14; +*Isa_9:6, *Hag_2:7-9, *Luk_2:11; *Luk_2:21-32; *Luk_2:38; *Luk_2:46; *Luk_7:19; *Luk_7:20; *Luk_19:47, *Joh_2:14-16. the Lord H113 Note: NOT the TETRAGRAMMATON - Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra (1089-1167, Spanish biblical exegete (one who proclaims and interprets Scripture)) acknowledges that "the Lord" whom they sought and the "messenger of the covenant" are the same, the same thing being intended under a double expression; and David Kimchi says, "He is the King Messiah, He is the Angel of the Covenant."

+Gen_22:15 note. Exo_23:20 <rp. Exo_33:14; Exo_33:16 <rp. +*Neh_9:6, Psa_110:1, Zec_13:7, Mat_22:41-45, Joh_13:19; +**Joh_20:28, Act_2:34-36; +*Act_10:36, +*Heb_1:8; Heb_9:11.

whom H834 you are seeking H1245 [whom ye seek - KJV]. Amo_5:18, +*Luk_24:27; +*Luk_24:44, Act_13:32; Act_26:6.

suddenly H6597 come H935 . (at a set time), +*Gen_49:10, Exo_29:43, 2Ch_7:1, Psa_96:13, Isa_35:4; Isa_40:10, Jer_33:14, Eze_21:27, Zec_2:10, Mat_21:12, Mar_11:11; Mar_11:27; Mar_13:1, $Luk_2:1; $Luk_2:2; $Luk_2:7; $Luk_2:49; Luk_12:56, Joh_7:14; Joh_11:27, Act_2:2, *Gal_4:4, Eph_1:10.

to His temple H1964 . (Messiah to come to the second temple.),

Psa_24:3; Psa_24:7, Eze_44:4, *Hag_2:7; *Hag_2:9, Mat_12:6; $Mat_21:12, Mar_13:1, $Luk_2:27; Luk_2:32.

the messenger H4397 . Gen_48:15-16, +Exo_3:2 note. *Exo_23:20, +*Isa_63:9, Hos_12:3-5, +Zec_12:8, *Act_7:30; *Act_7:38, Heb_8:6; *Heb_9:15; *Heb_12:24.

of the covenant H1285 . Num_25:12, +*Isa_42:6; Isa_49:8, +*1Co_15:45, **Tit_1:2, +*Heb_13:20, **1Pe_1:20.

He is coming [he shall come - KJV] H935 . Deu_18:18, *Hag_2:7, Mat_3:10; Mat_11:3; Mat_25:6, Luk_10:1; Luk_17:24, Rev_7:2.

the Lord H3068 of armies H6635 [the Lord of hosts - KJV]. [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]  H3068 +Mal_1:4, +Psa_24:10, +Jer_6:6,

NOTE: In the prophetic sense, not only is there going to be a second coming, but another Elijah will come to prepare the way (the hearts of the people of the world for the second coming of Christ) (Mal_4:5-6).

Mat 17:10-13 NASB(10)  And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”(11)  And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;(12)  but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”(13)  Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

Mar 9:11-13 NASB(11)  And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”(12)  And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?(13)  “But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

There is an unspecified gap of time between the close of this verse and what is predicted in the next.

This is called a Synecdoche (suh-NEK-duh-kee) ; or, Transfer.

Synecdoche of the Genus.

(Genus for Species: Synecdoche is a type of synecdoche where a genus is used to refer to a specific species. For example, “The avian” refers to a specific kind of bird such as an eagle, a parrot, or a swan. “The bovine” refers to a specific kind of cow such as a bull, a steer, or a calf.)

"All" is put for "the greater part". Exo_9:6.

IOW, a part of time is put for the whole time: a year is put for time, definite and indefinite.

Examples include Isa_63:4, Jer_11:23; Jer_48:44, +Gen_2:4, where "day" is put for "time," definite and indefinite, and the light this sheds upon 2Pe_3:7, "day of judgment," and Peter’s comment immediately following in 2Pe_3:8, as if to reinforce the significance of this figure, by alerting his readers to the fact, citing Psa_90:4, that "one day is with the Lord G2962 as a thousand years."

Isa_49:8, *Lev_25:9-13, Luk_4:19, **2Co_6:2, A reference to the year of acceptance, or jubilee year (Lev_25:11 note, Lev_25:52 note). Yeshua ends his quotation of this passage with this clause. He stated that "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luk_4:21 )

He did not quote the next clause (so "rightly dividing the word," 2Ti_2:15), for it relates to a future time.

There are a number of such passages in Scripture where a period of time intervenes historically or prophetically between adjacent statements: Psa_22:21-22; Psa_118:22, Isa_9:6; Isa_16:5 note. Isa_53:10-11, Lam_4:21-22, Eze_26:14 note. Dan_2:39-45; Dan_7:3-28; Dan_8:3-25; **Dan_9:26; **Dan_9:27; Dan_11:20-21; Dan_11:35-36; Dan_12:2, Hos_2:13-14; Hos_3:4-5; Hos_5:15—Hos_6:1, Amo_9:10-11, Oba_1:21, Mic_2:12-13; Mic_5:2-3, Hab_2:13-14, Zep_3:7-8, Zec_8:2-3; **Zec_9:9; **Zec_9:10, Mal_3:1-3, Mat_10:23; Mat_12:20, Luk_1:31-32; Luk_21:24; Luk_21:26, Joh_1:5-6; Joh_5:28-29; +**1Pe_1:11, Rev_1:19; Rev_4:1; Rev_12:5-6.

NOTE: clear [prepare - KJV] the way: Here is one of the great, explicit prophecies relating to the messianic age.

In its specific detail, this verse resembles the prophecy of Mic_5:2concerning the birthplace of the Messiah.

Matthew and Mark identify the messenger of this verse as John the Baptist (Mal_4:5; Mat_11:10; Mar_1:2-3). the first occurrence of  "The Lord"  - translated from H113 ( Strong's - sovereign that is controller) seems to refer to Yeshua Messiah (as is the case in Psa_110:1).

There are three personalities in view in this verse: The second occurrence of  "the Lord" H3068 (the Father  - Tetragrammaton) speaks about of sending a messenger (John the Baptist) who will prepare the way for the coming of the first occurrence of  "the Lord" H113 (Yeshua Messiah - NOT Tetragrammaton).

This highlights the danger of accepting ENGLISH translations as, if you'll pardon the expression, "Scripture". suddenly  … His temple: Both the righteous and the wicked will be surprised when the Messiah arrives. Messenger of the covenant: This is a messianic title, referring to the One who will initiate the New Covenant (Jer_31:33-34; Mat_26:28; Heb_12:24). He is coming: As in Psa_96:13, this dramatic wording indicates something that was just about to occur. However, it would be four hundred years before these words would be fulfilled.

Joh 1:21-23 NASB(21)  And so they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”(22)  Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”(23)  He said, “I am THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE THE WAY OF THE LORD STRAIGHT,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.

QUESTION: Does this mean there will be another Elijah/John "calling out in the wilderness" proclaiming the Messiah before He returns?

Mal 4:1-6 NASB

(1)  “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]  H3068 of armies [the Lord of hosts - KJV] , “so that it will leave them neither root nor branches.(2)  “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall.(3)  “And you will crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the LORD

[YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]  H3068 of armies.[the Lord of hosts - KJV].(4)  “Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.(5)  “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD [YHWH-YahWeh; YHVH-yehôvâh; JEHOVAH]  H3068 .(6)  “He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”

NOTICE: Most Hebrew mss (CJB, Alter, JPB) have these verses in Mal_3:19-24, where as most Greek mss have Mal_4:1-6.

QUESTIONS:

Will this person be a contemporary of the returned Messiah, like John was to Yeshua?

How does this relate to the "two witnesses"

Rev 11:3-14 NASB

(3)  “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”(4)  These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord G2962 of the earth.(5)  And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.(6)  These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.(7)  When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.(8)  And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.(9)  Those from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.(10)  And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.(11)  And after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.(12)  And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.(13)  And at that time there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.(14)  The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

QUESTION: What connections, if any, between this and Daniel?

NEXT

2/21/2024

Begin studying some Scriptures from the Bible that summarize what the Greek Scriptures teach with Joh_3:13-21 (CONTEXT: Joh_3:1-21)

Joh 3:1-8 NASB

(1)  Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;(2)  this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”(3)  Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(4)  Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”(5)  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.(6)  “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.(7)  “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.(8)  “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

NOTE:

Yeshua explains to Nicodemus that religious knowledge and ethnicity are not a sufficient basis for a relationship with YHVH; one must be born into His family by the Spirit.

John often contrasts water rituals and the Spirit (Joh_3:5)

Also, in Joh_4:7-26, Yeshua’s gift of the Spirit supersedes:

(1) the Ritual waters of John the Baptist (Joh_1:26, Joh_1:33),

(2) Ceremonial purification (Joh_2:6),

(3) Proselyte baptism (Joh_3:5) and,

(4) the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh_7:37-39; Joh_9:7).

It also apparently supersedes water having other religious symbolism associated with holy sites, such as healing sanctuaries (Joh_5:2-8) and Jacob’s well (Joh_4:7-26).

To those who have the Spirit but lack many of the rituals of their opponents, these contrasts could constitute an encouragement.

Joh_3:1.

Pharisees G5330 .

The Pharisees [HEB = perushim], the most influential and numerous of the Jewish sects, were so named from a Hebrew word which means to separate, not as dissenters from the national religion, but as professing a peculiar devotedness, and more strict observance of the law.

To the Mosaic law they added an oral law, which they represented to be of equal authority, as having been given to Moses during his forty days’ stay in the Mount, and handed down by their own tradition, but really consisting of "commandments of men" invented from time to time, by which (as Yeshua teaches in Mat_15:2-9) "invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Some of their traditions were on a different level, for example, the Sabbath.

However, other traditions Yeshua would follow as a good and faithful Jew.

By observing both these laws (Torah and Mosaic) the Pharisees believed that a man might not only be justified before YHVH, but also award to themselves excessive and meritorious righteousness (WITHOUT works) [Eze_33:12-13; Luk_17:10].

Most Jews did not, and do not, see the Torah as a means to salvation (admission to the "world to come"), but rather, as a privilege to be able to follow the Law.

Consequently, Pharisees were for the most part characterized by pride and self-righteousness, which made them violent opposers of the gospel doctrine of justification by faith and salvation by grace, as exemplified (Luk_7:39; Luk_18:9).

Laying the greatest stress on ceremonial purity, and external observances, to the neglect of morality and vital religion (Mat_23:23; Mat_23:25), they were rebuked severely by Yeshua as mere "hypocrites."

Many of the Scribes were also Pharisees, which is the reason they are mentioned together in Mat_23:23 and Mat_23:25, and elsewhere frequently.

Nicodemus G3530

The same Nicodemus who brought spices to Yeshua's tomb at his burial (Joh_19:39-40).

A wealthy and prominent Nicodemus is known in Jerusalem in this period, though there is no evidence whether or not John means the same one.

As a highly educated “ruler” or leader in the Jewish community, John’s Nicodemus was surely well-to-do.

ruler G758 of the Jews G2453

One of the Sanhedrim as appears from Joh_7:50 with Joh_7:45,

Also, Joh_12:42, Luk_23:13,  Act_4:5; Act_4:8.

The Sanhedrim, or Great Council of the Elders, seventy in number: see Luk_22:66, were  comprised of "the Elders of the people, and the Chief Priests and Scribes."

Compare Mat_26:59; Act_5:21; Act_5:27; Act_5:34; Act_5:41; Act_22:30with Act_23:1; and, for its probable origin, Exo_3:16; Exo_3:18; Exo_4:29; Exo_12:21, with Gen_46:27, and Num_11:16-17; Num_11:3,

Joh_3:2.

One might come by night to avoid being seen, or because Jewish teachers who worked during the day could study only at night (Psa_119:148; however, the latter seems to not be the case with Nicodemus, who, being a "ruler" would not need to work - Joh_3:1).

But John apparently includes the detail because it serves the theme of light and darkness (Joh_11:10; Joh_13:30) that brackets this narrative (Joh_3:19-21).

Joh_3:3-4.

Yeshua speaks literally of being "born again G509 , literally “from above, from the first, anew,” which means “from YHVH” (“above” was a Jewish circumlocution, or roundabout expression, for YHVH).

One can also construe the phrase as meaning “reborn,” which Nicodemus seems to take literally. (Ancient writers, including those of the Old Testament - Jer_1:11-12; Mic_1:10-15 - often used plays on words, and John includes quite a few other puns; they also sometimes used other characters as less intelligent foils for a narrative’s main spokesperson.)

Because Jewish teachers spoke of Gentile converts to Judaism as starting life anew like “newborn children” (just as adopted sons under Roman law relinquished all legal status in their former family when they became part of a new one), Nicodemus probably should have understood that Yeshua meant conversion; but it never occurs to him that someone Jewish would need to convert away from or in addition to Judaism.

When looking that the Jewish practices of being "born again", a proselyte, towards the end of the process, is immersed in water and considered a newborn baby, a full-fledged Jew.

Repentance precedes becoming a proselyte.

Nicodemus was thinking about physical, outward things as opposed to spiritual, whereas Yeshua was focusing on spiritual things.

OTOH, Nicodemus' question and statement may have been sarcastic hyperbole - he should have understood the concept of being "born again" with proselytes.

Converts to Judaism were said to become “as newborn children” when they were baptized to remove Gentile impurity.

“Born of water” clarifies for Nicodemus that “born from above” means conversion, not a second physical birth.

The Greek wording of Joh_3:5 can mean either “water and the Spirit” or “water, that is, the Spirit.”

Eze_36:24-27 used water symbolically for the cleansing of the Spirit, so here Yeshua could mean “converted by the Spirit” ( Joh_7:37-39) - a spiritual proselyte baptism.

Whereas Jewish teachers generally spoke of converts to Judaism as “newborn” only in the sense that they were legally severed from old relationships, an actual rebirth by the Spirit would produce a new heart (Eze_36:26).

This could be a "doublet" - very common - where the same thing is said twice in two different ways, such as "you will conceive and bear a son".

Could "water" and "Spirit" be a doublet, since both are used for life-giving?

Joh_3:6-7.

The “spirit” that is born from YHVH’s Spirit may reflect the “new spirit” of Eze_36:26.

Joh_3:8.

One could also translate “sound of it [the wind]” as “voice of the Spirit”.

The wind is unpredictable and uncontrollable (Ecc_8:8;  Ecc_1:6, Ecc_1:8, Ecc_1:14, Ecc_1:17; Ecc_2:11, Ecc_2:17, Ecc_2:26; Ecc_4:4, Ecc_4:6, Ecc_4:16; Ecc_6:9).

The Spirit was symbolized as wind in Eze_37:1-28, which some Jewish interpreters linked with Gen_2:7 (Joh_20:22).

NEXT:

2/28/2024

Continue studying some Scriptures from the Bible that summarize what the Greek Scriptures teach with Joh_3:13-21(CONTEXT: Joh_3:1-21), beginning with overview of Joh_3:9-12.