Archive - He Walks With Us

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.

Absolute, but Flexible

Make two cherubim of gold—make them of hammered work—at the two ends of the cover.
Exodus 25:18 (JPS)

Make – There is no question in what is going on here. God has just instructed the fashioning of two cherubim, an entity found in heaven. The people are to make a graven/sculptured image of something in the heavens. Does this cause you to ponder? Was there not another commandment directly forbidding this?

When Translations Become a Lie

“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
Jeremiah 8:8 (NIV)

Lying – Is Jeremiah indicating that the scribes have lied – that they have corrupted the law by writing into it lies? It would appear so if we read the NIV version of this verse. The NIV suggests that the scribes have lied with their pen and handled the law falsely. This is quite serious! How can we possibly trust that the Torah is true if the scribes have been seeding inaccuracies into the text?

The Mikvah of Israel

O Hope of Israel! O LORD!
All who forsake You shall be put to shame,
Those in the land who turn from Youe
Shall be doomedf men,
For they have forsaken the LORD,
The Fount of living waters.
Jeremiah 17:13

Hope – There is something fantastic happening here with the language. Jeremiah writes, Oh YHVH, You are the hope of Israel, the fountain of living waters. Hidden behind the word “hope” is the relationship that pairs it to the fountain of living waters. The word “hope” here is actually the Hebrew word Mikvah ( מִקְוֵ֤ה ).

A Prayer for Little Children

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:13 (KJV)

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: – Although Yeshua gave profound insight and offered a depth of knowledge, He enforced a simplicity in worship. Just take a look at the Lord’s Prayer.