Mark Uraine, Author at He Walks With Us

Unclean Meats for Food?

Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
Deuteronomy 12:15 (KJV)

The unclean and the clean may eat thereof – whoa whoa whoa… is God suggesting that we might be able to eat unclean meats? Anything that we desire?? And it is a blessing of the Lord our God??? If we take this verse out of context, it sure appears that way.

Made Himself God

³³The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
³⁴Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
John 10:33-34 (KJV)

Makest thyself God – I have often heard this verse used to support that Yeshua was God, but there are a few problems with that claim which I will outline here.

Stoned for gathering sticks

And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
Numbers 15:32 (KJV)

The man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day was never explicitly identified in the Torah. He has no name here, but is used as an example for what it means to break the Sabbath. He is stoned to death.

Why Did You Stop?

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Matthew 14:31 (KJV)

Doubt – In ancient Hebrew, the word “doubt” did not exist. Jesus, speaking Hebrew as He did with His apostles, would not have asked Peter why he doubted. In fact, Sefaria.org notes:

Safek (doubt) is a term of Rabbinic origin—it doesn’t appear in the whole of the Bible.

Where Eldership Often Fails

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
²Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
³Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
1 Peter 5: 1-3 (KJV)

Feed the flock – I often find this amazing that Peter saw it fit to remind the eldership to feed the flock. Is that not what is expected of their service simply by them being elders? I guess sometimes something happens to elders in positions of authority. Sometimes elders forget to feed the flock.

Comma or Semicolon?

And Abraham said, “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.
Genesis 22:8 (JPS)

, my son – When the text we read includes punctuation (periods, commas, quotes, etc.), it is important to note that the punctuation was added at a later time. None of the original manuscripts, or relative copies, were written with commas or periods, etc. So now in this verse, the comma indicates that Abraham is speaking to his son; “, my son.” but what if the comma was a semicolon; “; my son”? Do you read a change in what just happened?

The Four Species

And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs [fruit] of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
Leviticus 23:40 (KJV)

On Sukkot (Feast of Booths), God instructs us to take up four elements from four different species of trees. We hold these in our hands… for what? To understand this, we need to reflect on the details of this verse and contrast it with another one earlier in the Bible.

Judge Ourselves

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1 Corinthians 11:31 (KJV)

Judge ourselves – During the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, these words of Paul ring loudly. If we examine ourselves and discern our own actions, then we’d be free of the final judgment. God’s punishment today is accepted as merciful and loving compared to what is coming upon the world.

Paul, the Theological Rebel

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
Deuteronomy 25:4 (KJV)

Muzzle the ox – The Rabbis have long suggested that the word “ox” can apply to all animals that are used for the purpose of work, but clarify that this verse does not apply to humans.

New Israel

The church was now God’s true synagogue, and its people the new Israel. The purpose of the office was to create a new society, the Kingdom of God, to institute the new creation by means of the discipline of its law-world. The seal of God’s approval on the church as the new Israel, and the elders as the new office-bearers of God’s law, was the laying on of hands and the implied anointing of the Holy Ghost (1 Timothy 4:14).
Rousas John Rushdoony

New Israel – It has long been the belief of many Christian religions that they are the New Israel. This term is not owned by any one religion. With the advent of the separation of Christianity from Judaism due to the Ecumenical councils, the church had to find another way to declare their importance in God’s plan and establish themselves as God’s chosen people.