Category: Tanakh
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Noahide Laws
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: Genesis 2:16 (KJV) This one verse is the basis for the Noahide laws; a set of seven laws that Rabbinic Judaism has established for all nations to follow. But for the Jewish nation, 613 commandments were given in the…
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Cursing God
10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and…
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Isaac and Samson
It is said that when two stories overlap each other in uncommon ways, they are commentaries of each other. The story of Isaac and Samson are such occurrences. Below is a list of uncommon relationships that eventually unfold to reveal a hidden revelation.
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Sabbath as Eden
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:15 (KJV) Took the man, put him into the garden, to dress it, to keep it. Notice that God created Adam outside the garden. He took the man from somewhere not great, and placed…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…