YO, searchers, can we help you? – March 2014

[Last year we called this “the AIDS of MARCH”.  This serves as an aid for searchers who have difficulty finding articles that address their specific query; we get some interesting search terms and assist the searcher — if we have no post on it, we do research and refer the searcher to other websites.–Admin1.]

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3/31  “scripture joseph in pharohs court” – Genesis/Bereshith 41: From Prison to Pharaoh’s Court

3/30  “former bible student” – Revisited: To a former bible student . . .

3/30  “name spring well outside nahor town” – Genesis 24:10 

10 The servant took ten camels from his lord’s camels and went, 
all kinds of good-things from his lord in his hand. He arose and went to Aram Of-Two-Rivers,
to Nahor’s town.
Notes from P&H, EF:

Aram-naharaim. i.e. Aram of the two rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, Mesopotamia.

the city of Nahor.  i.e. the city in which Nahor and his family dwelt, Haran.

[EF]  Aram Of-Two-Rivers: Others leave untranslated, “Aram-Naharahim.”

3/29  “robert alter the shema”- Deuteronomy 6:4-6 

Hear, Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your might.

Compare with Everett Fox:
 

Hearken O Israel:  YHWH our God, YHWH (is) One!
You are to love YHWH your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your substance!
 

To us, Sinaites, there is a big difference in reading and hearing the Name YHWH in verses where it belongs; Who is One? When the answer is “the LORD” — that does not identify that One and Only God, “YHWH, our God”, the God Who chose Israel to represent Him and His way of life to all humanity.  If only the title “LORD” is used, even when it is explained that all caps refers to the Tetragrammaton Name, anyone who doesn’t know about the translator’s substitution will think it is his/her God, if they worship any other God than the One named YHWH.

 

The other difference in wording between the two translations is EF/”substance” and RA/”might.”  The words are not synonymous, the first suggests possession/wealth, the second suggests strength/power/the level of loving instead of how much is one willing to give up in loving YHWH which is what “substance” seems to suggest.

3/29  “tsipporah’s sons”- Check this link, Jewish Women’s Archive: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zipporah-bible

3/28  “discuss the view that the origins of lsraelites prophecy remains veiled in obscurity” – This is the third time this search phrase has come up, most likely by the same searcher.  We’ve answered it on two different dates;  however, it turns out that the post from which “remains veiled in obscurity” comes from is one of our sourcebooks titled:  The Prophets of Israel – Christian Perspective.  Ay, there’s the rub as Hamlet would say:  “Christian Perspective.”

 

In the context where the phrase is embedded, it is understandable that Curt Kuhl the author of the recommended book explains that at his time of writing his book, his sources were limited [highlighted and reformatted for emphasis]:

 

The lack of precise data for the dating of individual prophets, and still more for the dating of the many isolated utterances, has rendered our task all the more difficult. On the other hand the defective nature of what has come down to us has become all the more perceptible.

 

  • For long periods of time, sources are lacking.
  • There are thus entire ages of which we have no knowledge.
  • The origin of Israelite prophecy remains veiled in obscurity.

All the information we possess on many a prophet (especially in the earlier monarchy) consists either in brief utterances or in narratives of a legendary nature which are insufficient to give us a true picture of the prophet and his work.
 

But let us not leave it at that; here’s part of his concluding statement [highlight and comment ours]:
Yet the greatness of the prophets of Israel and their significance for religion and spiritual life does not lie in these prophecies but in the lofty and exceptional knowledge of God that the best of them possessed. [AMEN!!]

 

Their call and their other mysterious spiritual experiences bring them to the knowledge of God as a living powerful Person, the One whose almighty will rules in righteousness and love over the lives and destinies of nations and men. His holiness and majesty bring home to man what a vast distance separates him from God.

 

It is true that the prophets were unable to save their people from downfall and could not prevent its religion from degenerating into cultic religiosity and legalism [a Christian misperception resulting from their NT writers]. Yet they preserved the faith of their people during and after the Exile. Form of worship, moral action and social sensibility–the particular expression of these is not fundamental.

 

What is authoritative and decisive is a new vision and knowledge of God leading the nation and men one by one into a new spiritual attitude to Him which must then be expressed in their life and their faith.

S6K comment:  No, there was no “new” vision and knowledge of God by the time of the Prophets—there was a reiteration of all that the God on Sinai had already revealed to the first generation of Israelites and gentiles mixed among them and reiterated to the 2nd generation that entered the Land. YHWH had revealed Himself and His Way of Life to them and repeatedly emphasized the importance of keeping the Covenant and obeying His Torah.  Israel’s Prophets were merely sent to redirect them back to Him and His Torah. Israel was taught from the start, learned the hard way through disobedience and resulting judgment, and started over with a strict religion “Judaism.”  Why call their strict observance of YHWH’s Torah “legalism”?  As long as they did not add to the original Torah, they were simply obeying.  Is obedience “legalism”?  To the Christian, yes, because their NT scripture had declared it thus — ‘thus saith Paul of Tarsus’, that’s the source, unfortunately.

3/27  “why was a goat rather than some other animal chosen as the “scapegoat?” – Sacrificial goat, Scapegoat . . . what about the Lamb? Not on Yom Kippur.

 

3/27  “what were the views that the origins of israel prophecy remains veiled in obscurity” –
Pasting a previous answer to this same query, this was posted on 3/20/14:

 “origins of prophecy in israel veiled in obscurity discuss” – Think about this:  if you were God, YHWH the Revelator on Sinai, the Creator who gave instructions to the first couple, spoke to Cain, Noah, Abraham and others—-would you not make your instructions CLEAR as clear as can be?

 

What is the point of giving “prophecies” to be fulfilled in the future if the recipient or hearer at the time it was given has to guess what it means?  Why would the Self-revealing God who speaks through his human mouthpieces, the prophets of Israel, “veil in obscurity” the important declarations He would want His people to understand? No, No, NO!
 

Surely in communication, YHWH is perfect and wishes the recipients of His messages to understand, specially if it has to do with JUDGMENT!  The purpose of sending prophet after prophet to HIS PEOPLE, was to remind them to return to Him, to His Torah, to live it individually, in community, and as a ‘chosen’ people whose lifestyle the nations who were not privy to the Torah (as yet) would envy.
 

He says so in Davarim or Deuteronomy, for instance 28:9-10.  YHVH will establish you to be a people holy to him, as he swore to you, when you keep the commandments of YHVH your God and walk in his ways. Now when all the peoples of the earth see that the name of YHVH is proclaimed over you, they will hold you in awe.

 

The prophecy/revelation is “obscure” only for those with eyes but cannot or refuse to see, with minds but refuse to disengage it from previous religious orientation.   Why not simply read the books on the prophets of Israel with a Hebrew mindset and in the context of Israel instead of looking for justification for futuristic religions unrelated to these prophecies.

Religionists misinterpret the declarations of Israel’s prophets because of their religious agenda.  Fortunately, we have posts from the literary perspective, whereby the commentators understand figurative language and stick to simple reading rules applicable to any piece of writing, including the Hebrew Scriptures.

3/27  “artscroll deuteronomy “32 35” – Here is ArtScroll’s translation of Deuteronomy 32:35 –

“Mine is vengeance and retribution at the time their foot will falter, for the day of their catastrophe is near, and future events are rushing at them.”  

When reading verses in isolation, please make sure you go to the chapter context, book context, historical context of the isolated verse to know who is being referred to by pronouns “their” and “them”, and to who is the verse being addressed. Why is the Speaker saying this at this time of Israel’s wilderness wandering?

3/27  “pilate ce veritas” – Pilate: ‘Quid est veritas?’ – Gospel Truth? – 1

3/27  “joshua 1 8-9” – Scroll: Joshua 1:8-9

3/27  “is 2014 sabbath year” – Please go to this link: http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

3/27  “morasha kehillas yaakov don’t read morasha” – Check this out:

  • Thinking Torah /www.yehatzvi.org/shiurim/…/Simchat%20Torah%205766_10_06.rtf

    Rav Hamnuna says: Torah Tziva lanu Moshe Morasha Kehillat Yaakov” (Talmud Sukka 42a) … {Take a second before you read on, to read the passuk a couple of times, and to think this …. You don’tneed to be a Talmid Chacham to dance.

3/27  “gilgal house of prayer : blessing & cursing” – check this out:

3/26  “teaching ezekiel “37 1-14″ within judaism” – “Can these bones come to life?” – Ezekiel 37:1-14

3/26  “double fulfillment ps2 and handel’s messiah” –  Q&A: Who is the Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6

3/26  “what problems did prophet daniel have?” – Correction: Daniel was not a prophet, just another ‘divinely-enabled’ interpreter of dreams, like Joseph of Genesis.  The book of Daniel was not originally placed with the major prophets of Israel, not even in the minor prophets.  In the TNK, Daniel belongs to the Writings (Ketuviim) and not to the Prophets (Neviim). The Writings are simply inspired literature, not “the very word of God” which is the TORAH and prophetic warnings to Israel.
 

Strangely, in the tampering and rearrangement of the Christian Bible’s “Old Testament”, the book of Daniel was moved to the category of ‘major’ prophets, together with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Why?  Well, because the book was made to figure quite prominently to partner with the last book of NT, Revelation, to suggest prophecy and fulfillment.  Why?  Easy to figure out, but you have to do it for yourself.

 

Here are helpful posts on the ‘problematic’ book of Daniel:

3/26 “ reconciling the vengful god of the old testimate with jesus” – “Angry, vengeful God” of OT vs. “Merciful loving God” of NT

3/26   “6000 men who have not bowed to balaam” – The Adversary & Balaam

 3/25  “how long is the distance between mamre and keriath arba” – 

 

Genesis 23:2 Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of  to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), whereAbraham and Isaac lived as …. long there had been a tradition that the original site was some distance from the  
Genesis 35:27 Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. Genesis 49:30 in the  

 

3/25  “without god everything is permissible” – “Quid is veritas?” – 5 – “Without God, everything is permitted.” – Dostoyevsky

3/23  “https://sinai6000.net/bible-study/a-literary-approach-to-the-book-of-leviticuswaiqrah” – A Literary Approach to the book of Leviticus/Wai’qrah

3/23  “saul and the medium contacts samuel from messianic perspective” 

3/23  “bible verse about jews wiping out canaanites” – Deut. 20:10/Israel wiping out Canaanites

3/22  “http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:https://sinai6000.net/doctrinal-issues/whose-voice-do-you-listen-to – Whose ‘voice’ do you listen to?

3/22  “jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1351-amalek-amalekites” – Exodus/Shemoth 17 – Who is the Rock? Who are the Amalekites?

 

3/21 “why jewish calendar reads 5774 and not 6000” – Why? Because we are in biblical year 5774, moving in time toward the 7th millenium which begins after 5999. The world goes by the count-up from the supposed birth of the Christian savior Jesus of Nazareth so the Gregorian calendar is only in year 2014, but if the ‘calendar-revisers’ never had a countdown to the supposed date of Jesus, the biblical calendar would be what the world will go by.  Tampering with the True God YHWH’s timetable and timeline, how presumptuous of men indeed! Sadly, the world simply follow whoever is in power to make such changes but sadder is the fact that majority did follow a different drummer.

3/20  “origins of prophecy in israel veiled in obscurity discuss” – Think about this:  if you were God, YHWH the Revelator on Sinai, the Creator who gave instructions to the first couple, spoke to Cain, Noah, Abraham and others—-would you not make your instructions CLEAR as clear as can be?
 

What is the point of giving “prophecies” to be fulfilled in the future if the recipient or hearer at the time it was given has to guess what it means?  Why would the Self-revealing God who speaks through his human mouthpieces, the prophets of Israel, “veil in obscurity” the important declarations He would want His people to understand? No, No, NO!
 

Surely in communication, YHWH is perfect and wishes the recipients of His messages to understand, specially if it has to do with JUDGMENT!  The purpose of sending prophet after prophet to HIS PEOPLE, was to remind them to return to Him, to His Torah, to live it individually, in community, and as a ‘chosen’ people whose lifestyle the nations who were not privy to the Torah (as yet) would envy.
 

He says so in Davarim or Deuteronomy, for instance 28:9-10.  YHVH will establish you to be a people holy to him, as he swore to you, when you keep the commandments of YHVH your God and walk in his ways. Now when all the peoples of the earth see that the name of YHVH is proclaimed over you, they will hold you in awe.

 

The prophecy/revelation is “obscure” only for those with eyes but cannot or refuse to see, with minds but refuse to disengage it from previous religious orientation.   Why not simply read the books on the prophets of Israel with a Hebrew mindset and in the context of Israel instead of looking for justification for futuristic religions unrelated to these prophecies.

Religionists misinterpret the declarations of Israel’s prophets because of their religious agenda.  Fortunately, we have posts from the literary perspective, whereby the commentators understand figurative language and stick to simple reading rules applicable to any piece of writing, including the Hebrew Scriptures.

3/20  “volcanic eruption+fire and brimstone” – It would not be farfetched to think that the Creator would use natural phenomena for what writers of scripture interpreted to be ‘divinely caused’.  Natural phenomena ARE divinely sourced and divinely caused.  Scientists and archeologists keep finding clues that even the crossing of the sea of Reeds was actually timed during a natural phenomenon when such was possible.  So, was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from volcanic eruption? Most likely. Even if scripture says YHWH did it from the heavens, remember the point of view of humankind is from where he is . . . earth.  Here’s a post:  Genesis/Bereshith 19: “But YHWH rained down brimstone and fire upon Sedom and Amora, coming from YHVH, from the heavens,”

3/19  “gentile wannabes jews make believe” – Are you Jew-wannabes? If not, what are you?

3/19  “eden” – We have no post about “eden” except for what happened there according to the opening chapters of Genesis/Bereshith.  So here are posts that might help:

3/19  “death of death by neil gillman” –  Must Read: The Death of Death

3/18 ” melchizedek vs levitical preist order” – Discourse: S6K/Messianic – 13 – Levitical Priesthood vs. Order of Melchizedek

3/17  the five books of moses everett fox pdf – See same entries below.

3/17  the origin of prophetism in israel.pdf –

3/17  pdf the schoken bible – PDF] – THE SCHOCKEN BIBLE

toby.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/4/8/2748917/everett_foxxstorah.pdf

 THE SCHOCKEN BIBLE. Translated by Everett Fox.

3/17  toby.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/4/8/2748917/everett_foxxstorah.pdf …; pdf the schoken bible; the five books of moses everett fox pdf – 3 entries in search of the official translation we use here: http://toby.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/4/8/2748917/everett_foxxstorah.pdf

3/17   “rebekah givin water to the camells” – Genesis/Bereshith 24: ” . . . go to my land and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son, for Yitzhak.”

3/17  “what was religious in islamic in first century bc like” – What about the 3rd world monotheistic religion, Islam?

3/16  “mt sinai vs sermon on mount” – The Sermon on Sinai vs. The Sermon on the Mount

3/16  “may your name be inscribed in the book of life” – May you be inscribed in the Book Of Life.”

3/16  “best torah study sites” – DDS (Dead Sea Scrolls) in English ONLINE? Thank Israel Museum and Google!

3/16  “jewish marrano and filipino” – ISRAEL & RP

3/16  “heavenly messiah” – Revisited: The Messiahs – 5 – A Heavenly Messiah?

3/14  “discourses of isis to horus” – Jesus and Horus

3/13  “what are the political implications to korach” – Refer to this article from a Jewish link:  website: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246641/jewish/Korahs-Rebellion

3/13  “why antisemitism” – Revisited: Why Anti-Semitism?

3/13  “leviticus 5:20-26 in the tanach” 

3/12  “origin of messianic ideas” – Revisited: The Messiahs – 1 – The Origin of the Messiah Idea

3/11  “images of the midwives shifrah and puah” – ART by BBB@S6K – Hebrew Midwives: Shiphrah and Puah

3/11  “garden of eden” – Here are posts on what happened in this garden:

3/11  “moses expression of momotheism in deuteronomy 6:4 is known as dabar, misphat, berith, or shema” – 

3/11  “jacob and esau” – 

3/10  “wheamatic irony used in the book of exody” – Dramatic Ironies in the Book of Exodus

3/10  “yhvh” – The WAY of YHVH

3/9 “grammatical errors in tanach 1 samuel 4, 15″ – Will get back to this searcher . . . not sure what “grammatical errors” are in the scripture cited.

3/8  “ecumenicism debate 1263 ramban” – THE REAL MESSIAH by Aryeh Kaplan – Jews for Judaism www.jewsforjudaism.ca/publications/…/the-real-messiah-by-aryeh-kapla‎ ECUMENICISM AND DIALOGUE—1263 C.E. by Berel Wein. 6.  4) Do not debate, dialogue or argue with missionaries. …… Later events proved to the Ramban how costly the exercise of this freedom would prove to him personally. I would  

3/7   “rabbi sacks the book of good and evil” – Not sure where this specific topic is discussed but hey, why not read all our posts about Rabbi Sacks; it will be worth your time:

3/7  “israelofgod q&a” – Q&A: “Israel means, ‘he will rule as god’ and so the question is . . .”

3/6  “every religion is idolatry”  – No Religion is an Island – 2 – “To equate religion and God is idolatry” – AJHesche

3/5  “restoring abrahamic faith free download” – Abrahamic Faith – 1 – Knowing God

3/3   “shemoth 7:10″ – Exodus/Shemoth 7-10: Mosheh at 80 – The Plagues 3/3  “composed largely of ritual ordinances which have warmed the hearts of few” – A Literary Approach to the book of Leviticus/Wai’qrah 3/3  “dictionary qodeshiym” – As far as we know, qodesh is the Hebrew word for “holy” or “set apart” and when the word ends with “im” or “iym” it is the plural form. 3/2  “sacrifice is my food” –  במדבר Bemidbar 28-29: “My sacrifice, My food for My offerings made by fire, of a pleasing smell to Me, you will observe to offer to Me in their due season.”

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