Posted by Navah on Jan 22, 2025 in Bible Study
There is a passage in Matthew 8 that always perplexes a sensitive reader who tends to read the Scripture carefully. Moreover, it is extremely confusing, when we look only at what has been revealed to us in the narration. We need to resort to the Torah to make better sense of this short episode in the Apostolic Writings. It is the object of this work, therefore, to explain what is not satisfactorily explained by the commentators and expose certain misconceptions that still...
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Posted by Navah on Sep 29, 2024 in Bible Study
According to Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides, the sacrifices have no intrinsic value in the Temple service. They are part of a legal procedures, which do not benefit the Eternal but humans, for nothing that men do has an effect on Him. But what men do can affect others. And the Eternal does not look at what is offered but rather who offers it. Thus, the Torah concept of charity differs greatly from the world notion of it. When gentiles give, they see charity as a kind...
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Posted by Navah on Mar 10, 2024 in Bible Study
It seems that what we call natural disasters, such as wildfires, floods, etc., are not “acts of God” in tests and trials but are simply unavoidable consequences of the physical world which are vital for the regeneration of the nature. These events are seen as the way the physical world continues its existence as a whole by cleansing and repairing itself. Yet, it is said, “The Eternal has done whatever pleased Him” (Psa 135:6). Everything He does, He...
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Posted by Navah on Mar 8, 2024 in Bible Study
If the Second Commandment of the Covenant has explicitly forbidden the making of anything that is like a creature on earth or in heaven, why is the making of the keruvim that are on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant exempt from this? This question becomes even stronger when we bear in mind that King Shlomoh made huge keruvim in the Temple he built for the Eternal. These issues call aloud for an explanation, for it is incomprehensible that the Eternal has forbidden the...
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Posted by Navah on Jan 31, 2024 in Bible Study
The rabbis teach that the Eternal gave Mosheh other teachings and revelations aka the Oral Law, which he did not write down but transmitted orally to the children of Israel. These orally transmitted laws were eventually written down in the Mishnah and interpreted in the Gemara. The Mishnah and Gemara constitute the Talmud. According to the rabbis, “the Oral Law” had been given to Mosheh orally at Mount Sinai (hence, “Oral Law”), which he did not...
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Posted by Navah on Oct 8, 2023 in Bible Study
Tanach rarely speaks of “heaven” (only in Gen 1:1) and “hell” (only on a few occasions which we will expound below), and whenever the Hebrew Scripture refers to them, it always mentions them “passing by” and never as a reward or as a threat respectively. Yet, good and evil are laid out for everyone to see. Tanach does not concern itself with the concepts of “heaven” and “hell”, for all the laws given by Mosheh in...
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Posted by Navah on Sep 10, 2023 in Bible Study
A radical approach suggested by all Christian interpreters is that “Do not muzzle an ox while it is threshing” refers to the clergy staff in the churches. But those interpreters are giving the wording of the law a meaning that it does not have. We can understand their efforts to justify the collecting the tithes in the churches, but the situation is hardly parallel. The theologians have invented an issue in the Torah that does not exist. Besides, their...
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Posted by Navah on Sep 3, 2023 in Bible Study
Considering the unique standing of the Sabbatical year in Torah, we will explain why the Land needed to be first conquered and inherited by Israel, and then the law of the land observed. This will be further explained in the following vein. We will explore the law of the Sabbatical year in the context of the story of the greatest leaders of Israel: Mosheh and Yehoshua. That said, hereafter we will address the law of the Sabbatical year and how it was first observed in the...
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Posted by Navah on Jul 4, 2023 in Bible Study
Pinechas was son of El’azar and grandson of the first high priest of Israel, Aharon. As a result of a single act Pinechas did, he was given the title of “High Priest” of Israel for eternity in an everlasting covenant: the Covenant of peace. But what did Pinechas do to receive the highest position in the priesthood of Israel? He killed two fornicators who committed an act of perversion in front of the Tabernacle before the eyes of Mosheh and the elders....
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Posted by Navah on Jun 8, 2023 in Bible Study
In the law of jealousy, a wife who allegedly has been disloyal to her husband and defiles herself with another man, and jealousy comes upon the husband, because he has suspected her fidelity, is required to drink bitter water. When the law is read at first glance, it appears that the wife has no say in her defense. It also appears that the law applies only to the suspected woman who has been accused by her husband of infidelity. But is the opposite also in force when a...
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Posted by Navah on May 21, 2023 in Bible Study
Yeshua did signs before the people, which were indeed signs from above for no one was able to do them unless he had been sent from heaven. When Nicodemus met Yeshua by night (for Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin), he referred to those signs. Yeshua addressed them saying, “Unless one is born again, he is unable to understand the signs of the kingdom”. In the preceding article, we were faced with the dilemma of equal options, namely, as to what Yeshua must have said...
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Posted by Navah on May 14, 2023 in Bible Study
There was a pharisee who was the reason we have today the phrase “born again”. This pharisee named Nicodemus was one of the rulers of the Jews in the first century Judea; he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He came to Yeshua by night, for he was his secret follower, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from Elohim, for no man is able to do these signs you do, if Elohim is not with him”. But Yeshua answered Nicodemus, saying, “Truly, truly, I...
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