Image from www.christianbooks.co.za

[First posted 2015. The “new”covenant claimed by Christianity as God’s covenant with the Church is found nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, even as Jeremiah 31:30-33 is cited as the ‘Old Testament’ prooftext. When you read those verses carefully and closely, you will discover that the same parties that cut a covenant at Sinai are named as covenant-partners: YHWH, and Israel. When you read further what the covenant is about, you will find out it is about the same “law” or Torah given on Sinai.

What is different is clearly stated, instead of the Law or Torah being written on tablets of stone, this is what the God of Israel says:

I will place My Torah within them

and I will write it onto their heart;

I will be a God for them

and they will be a people for Me.

They will no longer teach —

each man his fellow, each man his brother

—saying ‘Know YHWH!”

For all of them will know Me,

from their smallest to their greatest

—the word of YHWH —

when I will forgive their iniquity

and will no longer recall their sin.

Who is being referred to by ‘they’, ‘their’ and ‘them’? Vs 30:

‘when I will seal a new covenant

with the House of Israel and

with the House of Judah.

When?

‘Behold, the days are coming” and

‘For this is the covenant that I shall seal

with the House of Israel after those days’.

Who are YHWH’s ‘covenant people’?

The same chosen people with whom

the Covenant on Sinai was made and

renewed in the prophet Jeremiah’s time.

How long will this covenant between YHWH and Israel about His Torah last? Are His Laws to be done away with, replaced by ‘grace’?

vs. 35 If these laws could be removed

from before Me –the word of YHWH —

so could the seed of Israel cease

from being a people before me forever.

This is chapter 11 of Jon D. Levenson’s Sinai and Zion, our MUST READ/MUST OWN feature. It is downloadable as ebook from amazon.com for those who have gotten curious enough to want to read the whole book! It is worth not only the expense but more importantly the time spent on reading from beginning to end. Additional posts from this same source are:

Reformatting and highlights ours.—Admin1.]

Image from www.cswisdom.com

The renewal of covenant was a central aspect of Israel’s worship in biblical times. Psalm 81, chanted today on Thursday mornings, seems to have related the Sinaitic experience in some kind of regular liturgical celebration, also in its original setting. Although much of this psalm is obscure, v 4 would seem to locate its context in the celebration of the first day of the lunar month, on analogy with the celebration of New Year’s Day (Rosh HaShanah) so well known from later tradition, and comparable festivities for the day of the full moon, two weeks later.

What is most pertinent to us is that the liturgy for these holy days seems to have stressed the Decalogue. Vv 10-11 are a transparent restatement of the Second and First Commandments, according to the Jewish enumeration. Vv 6b-8, in which YHWH becomes the speaker, perhaps through the mouth of a priest or prophet, and v 17 restate the historical prologue, with its emphasis upon all that the suzerain, in his graciousness, has done for his vassal. The curses of covenant can be heard in vv 12-13, in which YHWH disowns a disobedient people, but in vv 14-16, the blessings balance this with their promise of victory if only Israel walks YHWH’s path. In short, Psalm 81 evidences a regular liturgical occasion in which the Sinaitic covenant and the great choice it entails were represented to the Israelite congregation.

In the case of the book of Deuteronomy, the book of covenant par excellence, this insistence upon the relevance of the covenant of Sinai (“Horeb” in Deuteronomy) to the present generation reaches a pitch of intensity:

1 Moses called together all Israel and said to them:

Hear, Israel,

the laws and ordinances which I am proclaiming to you personally today.

Study them,

observe them,

put them into practice.

2 YHWH our God made a covenant with us on Horeb.

3 It was not with our fathers that YHWH made this covenant,

but with us—us!—those who are there today, all of us, the living.

4 Face to face YHWH spoke with you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire.

(Deut 5:1-4)

The concern in this passage is that Israel may come to think of themselves as obliged in a distant way by the covenant of Sinai/Horeb, but not as direct partners in it. Lest the freshness of the experience be lost, v 3 hammers home the theme of contemporaneity in staccato fashion, with no fewer than six separate expressions:

“with us”—

“us!”—

“those who are here”—

“today”—

“all of us”—

“the living.”

The goal of this speech, as of the covenant renewal ceremony in which it probably originated, is to induce Israel to step into the position of the generation of Sinai, in other words, to actualize the past so that this new generation will become the Israel of the classic covenant relationship (cf. Deut 30:19-20). Thus, life in covenant is not something merely granted, but something won anew, rekindled and reconsecrated in the heart of each Israelite in every generation.

Covenant is not only imposed,

but also accepted.

It calls with both the stern voice of duty and the tender accents of the lover, with both stick (curse, death) and carrot (blessing, life) in hand. But it biases the choice in favor of life (Deut 30:19).

It is conventional to trace the influence of the covenant renewal ceremony and the formulary until the time of the disappearance of the Dead Sea community (first century C.E.) and no further. The tacit assumption is that these institutions did not survive into the next phase of Jewish history, the rabbinic era. In this, there is a certain truth. The idea of covenant does not seem to have had in rabbinic religion the centrality it had held since at least the promulgation of Deuteronomy in the seventh century B.C.E., although its importance for the rabbis must not be minimized. There is no rabbinic ceremony in which the Jews are said explicitly to be renewing their partnership in the Sinaitic covenant, as the eight day old boy is said, for example, to be entering the covenant of Abraham (Gen. 17:1-14) during his circumcision. There is, however, a text which is central to the rabbinic liturgy, in fact arguably the central text of the rabbinic liturgy, which is composed of three Pentateuchal passages (Deut 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Num 15:37-41) expressive of the classical covenant theology.

The prayer is known as the Shma, after its first word. The first verse of the Shma is correctly rendered,

“Listen, Israel:

YHWH is our God,

YHWH alone”

(Deut 6:4).

Image from www.shemayisrael.net

It is manifestly an echo of the requirement of the old suzerainty treaties to recognize one lord alone. Since in the biblical case the lord is divine, the verse is a classic statement of covenantal monotheism, i.e., the prohibition upon the service of other suzerains.

In fact, we sense apprehension about the possibility of just such defection in each of the three paragraphs.

In the second one, we hear of the danger of seduction, in language that recalls the career of Hosea (Deut 11:16-17), and in the last paragraph, such defection is termed “whoring” (Num 15:39). It is the passage from Numbers which establishes the ground of obedience to YHWH precisely where we expect it, in the redemption from Egypt (v 41). This verse, like the First Commandment of the Decalogue (Exod 20:2), is a condensation of the historical prologue.

The central stipulation of the Shma is one familiar to any student of Near Eastern covenants,

the obligation to love YHWH,

which is inextricable from the requirement

to carry out all his commandments.

As we shall see, the rabbis, like the more ancient architects of covenant, saw in the acclamation of divine lordship and the love commandment of the first paragraph the basis for the acceptance of all other commandments.

The second paragraph, which stresses performance of the stipulations, derives mostly from the blessings and curses of the covenant formulary.

Fidelity to YHWH

and the exclusive service of him

will bring abundance;

defection will result

in drought, famine, and death.

Finally, we should note that the insistence that the “words” be—

constantly recited,
bound to one’s body,
written upon one’s house,
and the commandments symbolized in one’s clothes,

—is also a reflex of part of the covenant formulary, the deposition of the text and the requirement for its periodic reading. In short, the idiom and the theology of covenant permeate the Shma.

What is interesting in light of the putative disappearance of the covenant renewal ceremony is that the rabbis selected these three texts to make up one prayer, for the three are not contiguous in the Torah, and the first of them there, Num 15:37-41, appears last here. What links the three paragraphs is that they constitute the basic affirmation of covenant. They confront us with the underpinnings of the entire Sinaitic dimension of the religion of Israel. The link between them is theological, and it is that theology that the rabbis considered basic to their own appropriation and adaptation of the biblical heritage. For they made the Shma a staple in the liturgy they wove for Jewry.

In the requirement to “recite them…when you lie down and when you get up,” they saw a mitzvah to recite the Shma twice daily, in the morning and evening every day of the year. The Shma thus became one of the pillars around which those two services developed.

What, precisely, did the rabbis think happened when one recites the Shma? We find an answer in the reply of the Tannaitic master Rabbi Joshua ben Korhah to the question of why Deut 6:4-9 is positioned before 11:13-21:

so that one might accept upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven first;
afterwards, he accepts upon himself the yoke of the commandments.

“Heaven” in Talmudic language is usually a more delicate way of saying “God.” Rabbi Joshua sees the Shma, therefore, as the acclamation of God’s kingship. Only in light of such an acclamation do the mitsvot make sense. In light of the biblical ideas, we can say that one must first accept the suzerainty of the great king, the fact of covenant; only then can he embrace the particulars which the new lord enjoins upon him, the stipulations. If God is suzerain, his orders stand. But his suzerainty is not something irrational and threatening. It follows from his gracious character:

I am the Lord Thy God.

Why were the Ten Commandments not said at the beginning of the Torah? They give a parable. To what may this be compared? To the following:

A king who entered a province said to the people: May I be your king? But the people said to him: Have you done anything good for us that you should rule over us? What did he do then? He built the city wall for them, he brought in the water supply for them, and he fought their battles. Then when he said to them: May I be your king? They said to him: Yes, Yes. Likewise, God…

His past grace grounds his present demand. To respond wholeheartedly to that demand, to accept the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, is to make a radical change, a change at the roots of one’s being. To undertake to live according to Halakhah is not a question of merely raising one’s moral aspirations or of affirming “Jewish values,” whatever that means.

To recite the Shma and mean it is to enter a supra-mundane sovereignty, to become a citizen of the kingdom of God, not simply in the messianic future to which that term also refers (e.g., Dan 2:44), but also in the historical present. Thus, one can understand the horror a rabbinic Jew would have of failing to say the Shma, as exemplified in this story: There was a law that a bridegroom was exempt from the commandment to recite the Shma, probably because he was in no mental condition to give the prayer the concentration it required. But concerning one early rabbi, we read this exchange in the Mishnah:

It happened that Rabban Gamaliel got married and recited the Shma on the first night. His students said to him, “Our master, have you not taught us that a bridegroom is exempt from the recitation of the Shma on the first night?” He said to them, “I am not going to listen to you and annul the kingdom of Heaven from myself for even a moment!”

In other words, one who neglects the Shma when its recitation is due is rebelling against the sovereignty/suzerainty of God. Or, to put it positively, the Shma is the rabbinic way of actualizing the moment at Sinai when Israel answered the divine offer of covenant with the words—

“All that YHWH has spoken we will do” (Exod 19:8).

In short, the recitation of the Shma is the rabbinic covenantal renewal ceremony. It is the portal to continuing life in covenant.

There is, therefore, no voice more central to Judaism than the voice heard on Mount Sinai. Sinai confronts anyone who would live as a Jew with an awesome choice, which, once encountered, cannot be evaded—the choice of whether to obey God or to stray from him, of whether to observe the commandments or to let them lapse.

Ultimately, the issue is whether God is or is not king, for there is no king without subjects, no suzerain without vassals. In short,

Sinai demands that

the Torah be taken

with radical seriousness.

But alongside the burden of choice lies a balm that soothes the pain of decision.

The balm is the history of redemption, which grounds the commandments and insures that this would-be king is a gracious and loving lord and that to choose to obey him is not a leap into the absurd.
The balm is the surprising love of YHWH for Israel, of a passionate groom for his bride, a love ever fresh and never dulled by the frustrations of a stormy courtship.

Mount Sinai is the intersection of —

love and law,
of gift and demand,
the link between a past together and a future together.

Image by Edward Lear, from www.wikigallery.org

Q & A

Q&A: “Let US make man in OUR image”

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

S6K: We have heard it explained that Genesis 1:26 “Let US make man in OUR image” is simply the language of majesty, just like a king addresses his court. But if His heavenly court consists of God and His angels, “OUR” image doesn’t make sense . . . since we understand that man is made in God’s image, but not the image of angels and angels were not made in the image of God, as far as we understand from Scripture. So why use “our” thereby giving Christians one TNK verse to support their Trinitarian Godhead ? Surely our Creator God in His foreknowledge would have foreseen that using the plural pronoun would be misused and misapplied, so why give Christian interpreters justification for their three-in-one God using this one line as “prooftext”? Thank you.

A: Rabbi M. Younger/Aish.com

Shalom —

Thank you for your note.Your observation is very correct and, in fact, was first raised by Moshe/Moses.The Midrash Rabbah explains that when Moshe came to this verse, he asked G-d what the meaning of this was, and why He was giving the opportunity for heretics to claim that there is more than one G-d.

G-d answered,

“If someone will err, let him err. But let those who are righteous understand that when it came to creating Man, G-d sought counsel of the Ministering Angels.”

This shows that Man was created with thought and wisdom, rather than just with physical effort. “Let us create…” rather than “let the Earth bring forth…” I hope that this has been helpful.

With blessings from the Holy Land.

————————————-

S6K postscript, ca. 5/22/14:

Revisiting this Q&A, may we add this insight two years later.

We have insisted nonstop about not lifting isolated verses out of their literary context and emphasize reading only IN CONTEXT. ‘Context’ includes not only the immediate surrounding verses, but the whole chapter as well, and in fact throw in all the teaching on the topic/subject in the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures, the TNK.

That said . . . if the “Old Testament” God, the God of Israel, the God Who speaks and Whose words are recorded in TORAH, and the rest of the TNK —if that God keeps repeating He is ONE, “there is none before, none after”, then that consistent declaration is part of “context.” If the language of God includes expressions similar to formal language such as when a king would say “we” when referring to himself, just as that self-reference does not change the king’s singularity, as one person, it applies as well to the One True God. The peculiarity of royal language has nothing to do with the king’s being more than one which he is not.

It is the peculiarity of the dialect I speak, Tagalog, that when strangers are addressed, we use the plural form . . . so we say “who are they please?” referring to just one person knocking at the door; and that person answers “may we are ask for directions please” . . . the exchange continues using expressions of politeness. It is rude to simply say “who are you and what do you want?”

The Hebrew language has peculiarities of its own and English translators attempt to reflect those. Isolated verses using “we” and “us’ do not make the OT God a plurality when He consistently emphasizes His ONENESS throughout the TNK.

It is man who changes God’s nature by insisting on his own made-up theology, then tries to justify it by looking for isolated verses which are fewer than verses that keep repeating the ONENESS of God. This dishonest thinking leads to dishonest teaching if the teacher is aware — or ignorant thinking that leads to passing on ignorance if the teacher is not aware. We could give them all the benefit of the doubt, for who indeed would want to fool anyone in matters relating to the God of Truth Who insists He is ONE? Why don’t we simply listen to YHWH’s self-declarations and self-revelation?

Hear O Israel, (hear O Gentiles),

YHWH is ONE.

That should settle this Q once and for all as it does for Israel but obviously not sufficient for others who have a different explanation for ‘monotheism’ and a different definition of One.

SINAI 6000, Genesis/Bereshith

The Serpent, the Tree, and the ‘I’

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[First posted June 20, 2015.—Admin1]

————————-

What comes to mind when you read the three images in the title of this post? If you’re biblically-oriented:

the walking-talking serpent in the garden of Eden,
one of the 3 categories of trees in Eden,
and the “I” in Eden.

What? There was an “I” in Eden? Actually there were two; you might think there were three but that’s what this post will endeavour to explain..

We have posts explaining the serpent:

We have a post about the specific Tree: The Tree of – ‘the Knowledge of’/’the Knowing of’ – Good and Evil

Image from sinandglory.org

We also have a post about the “I”: The “I” in Image vs. the “I” in Idolatry

What is the point of revisiting these articles? After all the effort to explain the Serpent, we failed to satisfactorily address this question:

Q&A: “If the devil doesn’t exist, how come the snake/serpent in the story was punished by the Creator for tempting Eve?”

When we get stumped with a question we had not yet figured out the answer (to our satisfaction), we go to the logical ‘resource person’ whose Scriptures it is we are seriously studying for the first time minus our former Christian orientation.

Ask the Rabbi is our fallback; so here is Rabbi M. Younger’s answer:

“Free choice is given to Man but his choice will impact on the entire universe, for the whole cosmos was created to be the canvas of Man’s free choice. When Man sins the whole of Creation becomes degraded and downgraded.

The physical snake is the representation of the spiritual force which challenges Man to follow God’s will. When Man fails his test and the spiritual universe suffers there will be a manifestation of that in the physical world which mirrors the spiritual one. When we see the snake crawling we need to associate back to the original story and see the consequences of Man’s sin . . . .”

Great answer, requires reflection, has universal application and relevant to any people, culture at any time in history, even in this day and age. So what, if any, is the loose end?

Here’s what should be the question specific to our position:

If the serpent

is the figurative expression

of humanity’s inclination to go against

the expressed Will of the Creator,

why a literal curse

on a figurative serpent?

Who or what is this figurative serpent? It is the inclination within each individual to do the opposite of good/right, not in line with God’ standard of behavior. Call it the ‘serpent of desire’ as in ‘I want’.

Image from plus.google.com

If my ‘I want’ happens to be different from another’s ‘I want’ and specifically against God’s ‘I WANT’, conflict results.

Why is the serpent an appropriate symbol for desire?

Because the nature of desire is serpentine: winding, twisting, complex, cunning, treacherous, unrelenting— until satisfied.
Desire when focused on the wrong object (prohibited, dangerous, destructive, belonging to someone else) could lead to disastrous consequences (the serpent’s poison), both for the desirer and the object of desire, particularly if the latter is another individual (someone else’s spouse).
When the object desired is good (in line with the will of the other and the Will of God), then there is harmony, peace, joy and blessing for all concerned. Sounds simplistic but this is one ‘antidote’ to the serpent’s poison.
The other ‘antidote’ to the serpent’s poison, just like the medical antidote to a serpent’s poisonous bite — is from within the serpent itself, it’s own poison. Puzzled? Read this post for the answer:
- Prooftext 1d – Serpent Symbolism – Postscript

Now back to the Q: why is the figurative serpent cursed at all?

If the Creator Himself infused into humankind two inclinations, why should God curse what He in His wisdom designed into human nature, when one is intended to counteract the other?

Read how the ‘serpent’ is literally cursed in the narrative:

(EF is Everett Fox, AST is ArtScroll; highlights added)

[EF] 14 YHVH, God, said to the snake:

Because you have done this,

damned be you from all the animals and from all the living-things of the field;
upon your belly shall you walk
and dust shall you eat, all the days of your life.

[AST] Because you have done this,

accursed are you beyond all the cattle and beyond all the beasts of the field;
upon your belly shall you go
and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.

Image from kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.com

Snakes do move on their belly as we see them today; does the curse imply they used to move in another way? Our former bible teacher taught us to read literally so he explained that snakes originally did walk and talk, and so the curse means they are now deprived of both abilities and have to crawl, ‘bite the dust’, demoted to a lower state.

If that is all that the serpent suffers, from the looks of snakes today they still get around pretty well even on their belly and no, they can’t talk like humans but neither can any other beast, so where’s the curse in that? With no self-consciousness, deprivation of former superior status is simply another condition any beast can automatically adjust to, so where’s the curse in that? However, if one is to read ‘devil’ into this figurative serpent, then there is a whole theology based on angelic spirits who fell from grace. We don’t believe in devils so . . . end of that story.

Perhaps it is in the enmity between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed where the curse moves to the figurative level:

[EF] 15 I put enmity between you and the woman,

between your seed and her seed:

they will bruise you on the head, you will bruise them in the heel.

[AST] 15 I put enmity between you and the woman,

between your seed and her seed:

they will bruise you on the head, you will bruise them in the heel.

To save us from explaining this, please read this post:

Prooftext 1c – Gen. 3:15 – Who are the “seed,” “offspring”?

Ponder these:

The Creator infused into man two inclinations: one for good, and its opposite.
Humankind has free will which has to be exercised; free will presupposes freedom to make a choice.
Freedom to make a choice cannot be exercised if there is only one option available; you might have freedom to choose, but there is no way to exercise that freedom.

Image from www.picturequotes.com

For man to fully exercise God-given freedom, there has to be outside of him external factors that enable him to exercise it; i.e., options, alternatives, a minimum of two. Those external factors are best and ideally represented in a democratic context where constituents are at liberty to choose their leaders, determine how their society will function with laws, freely live their religious faith, etc.

Unfortunately there are also autocratic, despotic, tyrannical, oppressive, repressive; dictatorial, totalitarian, intolerant governments which suppress individual rights and freedom, where the powerful and mighty lord it over the weak and helpless, depriving them of choice and rights.

One leader or group of leaders who are like-minded in leading for good can influence all others who are similarly-inclined to create a righteous and just society; hence the existence of democratic governments. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true in societies from which in fact, trapped citizens/members flee at risk of everything —- to experience freedom.

The ‘I’ in Idolatry (‘I am’ over God’s ‘I AM”) is bad enough in one individual will, worse in collective wills; this causes evil for all others including planet earth. Just look at the movement of multiplying misguided fanatic-terrorists who now threaten the world in the Name of their God and misuse their claimed religion’s Scriptures, victimizing even people of their own ethnicity, faith and culture.

That ‘I’ in Idolatry — that serpent of desire inside every person— is cursed by the Creator as early as Eden because of its potential to destroy all that the Creator declared as ‘good’ and ‘very good’, yet He allows it to assert itself. That ‘serpent’ lies dormant in every individual until challenged by a commandment that it refuses to yield to; it is then aroused, overpowers the opposite inclination and causes a curse (automatic and natural consequences) upon itself and others.

That ‘serpent’need not be yielded to; it could be overcome. Individuals are not helpless in overcoming it.

How do we know? God said so! Where?

The Creator’s warning to Cain in Genesis/Bereshith 4:

6 YHVH said to Kayin:

Why are you so upset?

Why has your face fallen?
7 Is it not thus:

If you intend good, bear-it-aloft,

but if you do not intend good,

at the entrance is sin,

a crouching-demon,

toward you his lust-

but you can rule over him.

Each individual could resort to the innate inclination to do good, overcome the potential evil within himself; align his will with God’s Will, causing blessing to himself and to others.

Image from Pinterest

Here’s a Navajo fable that says it so simply and shows that the wisdom of Torah is indeed written in hearts and minds of those who might never have heard of Torah (Jeremiah 31:31):

A wise grandfather explained to his grandson that the conflict inside every person is like a fight between two wolves:

One wolf is evil.

The other wolf is good.

Grandson asks “which wolf wins?”

Grandfather replies, “The wolf that you choose to feed.”

In behalf of Sinai 6000 core community,

NSB@S6K

P.S. Update 2017

We have changed our mind about this: that freedom to choose is exercised only when there is a minimum of 2 options available. Now we think — that even if there is only 1 option, freedom of choice may still be exercised. How so? Choose that one option available, or . . . refuse it! That’s still exercising freedom . . . read more in the “Readers Comment” below and leave a comment if you don’t agree.

Genesis/Bereshith

Prooftext 1d – Serpent Symbolism – Postscript

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[This was first posted in 2012, reposted 2014, 2016 and now we’re into year 2019! Anytime is a good time to review a basic MISinterpretation of this figure in Genesis 3.

If you haven’t done so, dear reader, please read through the whole series about the ‘Serpent’ symbolism in the Christian Bible and be further enlightened so that you can make an informed decision on whether you will continue to think ‘devil’ or ‘satan’ and link it with the serpent of Genesis 3.

This is part of the answer to the post: Q&A: “If the devil doesn’t exist, how come the snake/serpent in the story was punished by the Creator for tempting Eve?”

Check these previous posts:

—Admin1]

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Four characters are introduced in Genesis 1-3 in this order:

Creator
Adam [‘adamah’, representative humanity]
Eve [‘havah’, mother of all living]
serpent

In past discussions, we have suggested that the first 3 are literal while the last, the serpent, is both figurative and literal.

The first three continue in the narratives that follow:

We increasingly get to know about the Creator as He continues to communicate and interact with specific individuals through generations and even more so when He forms and sets apart a people to whom He gives a one-time historic revelation and with whom He makes a covenant;
The offspring of the first man and woman multiply and fumble through the meaning of life, even after a specific people is formed and develops into a distinct nation chosen to live a particular lifestyle required by the Creator God.

The serpent is the perfect animal symbol for Genesis 3 for reasons already discussed in Prooftext 1b and 1c but here are more connections:

After the creation of living things to inhabit the earth, sky, water, Adam is assigned to name them; the serpent is singled out to take part in this narrative about the first violation of a specific commandment given by the Creator.
Careless readers miss this point: among the animals, the serpent is the first named, not necessarily the first animal to be given a name but the very first animal we readers get to know in this book of beginnings.
The serpent is among the species that moult, shed its skin to regenerate. . . one Jewish interpretation suggests that when Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness and God made garments of skin to clothe them, the one animal whose skin God can use without the shedding of blood is guess who? This interpretation is so unexpected yet it is not far-fetched and in fact it works perfectly with the serpent symbolism.
The antidote to the poison released in a snake bite is snake venom, just as the antidote to the bite of a rabid dog is the blood serum of the endangering animal, used particularly to provide immunity to a pathogen or toxin by inoculation or as a diagnostic agent.

The remedy for giving in to the “serpent” in us—that baser nature that wants to get its way— is the antidote. What is the antidote?

First, the realization that there is potential ‘poison’ in our system that could be unleashed, though we could avoid its potential harm by not giving in to it however, if we have succumbed to it,
the second part of the antidote is the same realization that we have done wrong, gone against God’s will, learn our lesson from it and overcome any future temptation to repeat the sin.

Judgment [of sin] is not the last word from a merciful God who has wisely designed that from failure we learn and gain wisdom, grow and mature, and regenerate should we fall from grace; the last word is . . . forgiveness, that it is not only available but accessible, except that God requires repentance [that 180° turnabout in direction] to return to the path from which we strayed, that leads back to Him.

It is the chosen pattern of committing sins, habitual sinfulness, that reaches a point of no return, only because God releases us to the path we insist on taking out of our own exercise of free will. Disobedience to specific instructions, commandments, laws have natural if not automatic consequences; not all disobedience is ‘sin’ but all will have specific consequence(s) related to the violation. Sample: eat unclean animals and in due time, your health will suffer.

TheTorah-Giver is serious when He says “choose life” and that “life” is connected with obedience to instructions, principles, laws and commandments that are life-nurturing, life-extending, life-preserving, etc. Stress in life is a killer, and guess what are the sources of stress? Ultimately, violations or ignorance of basic Torah principles, particularly in connection with relationships in whatever setting — marriage, family, workplace, community.

Ignorance is excusable only if there is no access to truth; but when verifiable truth stares us in the face and the choice is to remain ignorant or to refuse to believe it, God releases us to our chosen belief and willful ignorance and the consequences of that choice.

This is reinforced in another episode involving fiery serpents in Numbers 21:4-9

[EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Mosest]

4 They marched from Hill’s Hill by the Reed Sea Road,to go-around the land of Edom,and the people (became) short-tempered on the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moshe: Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water,and our throats loathe the despicable food! 6 So YHWH sent upon the people vipers, burning-snakes:they bit the peopleand there died many people of Israel. 7 The people came to Mosheand said:We have sinned! For we have spoken against YHWH and against you,. Intercede to God, so that he may remove from us the vipers! So Moshe interceded on behalf of the people. 8 And YHWH said to Moshe: Make yourself a burning-snake and put it on a banner-pole;it shall be:

whoever has been bitten and then sees it, will live.

9 So Moshe made a viper of copper, and he put it on a banner-pole,

and it was:

if a viper bit a man

and he looked upon the viper of copper, he would live.

Image from www.likecool.com

Serpent – bite – poison – death – antidote – bronze serpent – God’s specific command [“look at it and live.”]

The real antidote is not the bronze serpent; rather it is God’s word, the specific commandment to look at the bronze serpent. If the bitten person believes the “antidote” [faith in God’s word and obedience to divine instruction], he lives. It is not really the bronze serpent that reverses the poison’s effect; rather it is God — the One who placed within human nature the potential to do right as well as the potential to do wrong and the free will to choose between the two; and if the wrong choice is made, the freedom to right the wrong a second time around or as many times as needed.

As the Giver and Sustainer of Life, He has given instructions regarding right choice but He leaves it to mankind to “choose life” which is associated with choosing right. Belief in His word and faith that He will do as He says is never enough, one has to act on that belief. Ultimately it is our action that defines us; what we do as a result of what and how we think. Our deeds are observable, not our thoughts, not our intentions. You are what you do.

Whatever “serpent” you are facing now which God’s true revelation is warning you about, if it’s a ‘serpent’ in the guise of a wrong belief system that has poisoned your thinking and influenced the way you have lived your life, then take the antidote—the True word of God, the TNK, but specifically the TORAH, and repent of your former choice that led you to worship someone else other than the true God—-His Name is YHWH.

NSB@S6K

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 5th Sabbath of August 2019

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[This Sabbath liturgy is musical, intended to be sung — but if you’re not familiar with the music, reciting the lyrics works just as well. Remember, the hymn title cited is the original Christian title; the lyrics are revised to reflect the Sinaite’s creed. We use hymnology to reinforce teaching that is missed in study; not surprisingly it’s an effective tool! Have a peaceful and rest-full 7th Day, Shabbat shalom to all!—Admin1.]

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

[Tune: Of the Father’s Love Begotten/revised lyrics]

1. At the time before creation, ere the world began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega, He the Source, Eternal One, He.

Of the things that were, that have become and shall be,

all the future years shall see,

Evermore and evermore.

2. O those first words ever spoken,

Words that brought this world to be,

“Let there be light and there was light,”

and in sequence all came to be:

heaven, earth, land, sea, and everything in between,

Oh how awesome He must be . . .

Evermore and evermore!

3. Sun and moon and stars in heaven,

Day and night each one set apart,

Creatures of the land and waters, all in variation be.

Balance, harmony, such beauty, diversity,

were the order of six days,

Evermore and evermore!

4. Then His Vision turned toward the dust,

This one He spoke not but He formed—

from the earth made, not created, breath of LIFE infused within.

This one given free choice, freedom of the will,

yes the one and only one,

In God’s image ‘human’ was made.

5. Each day God declared how “It is good”

and declared the 6th “very good!”

Signifying satisfaction, and completion of His new world.

Still He set apart a different kind of day,

yes, this blessed Seventh Day,

Rested Yahweh on His Sabbath.

[Tune: Whiter than Snow/Revised Lyrics]

1. Dear Lord how I long to be perfectly whole;

I beg for Your mercy and grace for my soul.

I broke down my idols cast out every foe,

Forgive me, if there are more sins I don’t know.

2. I made sure that no things ‘unholy’ remain,

I cleaned up my act and removed every stain;

To finish this cleansing, all sins I forgo—

forgive me, if I missed some sins I don’t know.

REFRAIN: What should I know,

what more could I know,

Forgive me transgressions that I still don’t know.

3. Dear God, please look down from Thy throne in the skies,

And help me to make a complete sacrifice.

I set right all wrongs, knowing I should let go,

I do this because truly, I love You so!

4. Dear God, just to You do I humbly entreat,

I wait, blessed Lord, to kneel down at Your feet.

Repentance, confession, my tears surely show,

I do this because truly, I love You so!

REFRAIN: Yes, I should know,

my sins, I should know,

Forgive my transgressions,

please Lord, make it so!

5. It’s I who should change my own heart that You made,

There’s none who can save me, my debt can’t be paid.

I need to repent, I need to change ‘me’!

My will and my heart I should change, now I ‘see’!

REFRAIN: Yes, I now see,

it’s all up to me,

Forgive me for not being all I could be!

BLESSINGS

[Tune: In His Time/Revised Lyrics]

Image from www.bdtrends.com

All we are,

All we have,

All we treasure surely come from Your Hand,

Lord Yahuwah, we’re so blest,

for this Sabbath, for our ‘Rest’,

Joyful sign, this bread and wine,

All is fine!

Bless each one of us here,

Bless our children, whether far, whether near,

Keep them safe where’er they are,

May they know just Who You Are,

May they choose to live Your Way,

In their time.

May we all choose Life, Your LIFE,

In Your Time.

SABBATH MEAL

DVE@S6K/Sinaites on Erev Shabbat

TORAH STUDY

Image from www.sabbathofrest.net

HAVDALAH

[Tune: Lord, make us instruments of Your peace

/based on prayer of St. Francis of Assisi,

Original Lyrics]

REFRAIN:

Lord, make us instruments of Your peace,

Where there is hatred, let Your love increase;

Lord, make us instruments of Your peace,

Walls of pride and prejudice shall cease

when we are Your instrument of peace.

1. Where there is hatred, we will show His love;

Where there is injury, we will never judge;

Where there is striving, we will speak His peace

to the millions crying for release,

We will be His instruments of peace.

[Repeat REFRAIN]

[For this last verse, sing a capella — no music accompaniment]

2. Where there is blindness, we will pray for sight;

Where there is darkness, we will shine HIS LIGHT;

Where there is sadness, we will bear their grief

to the millions crying for relief,

We will be Your instruments of peace,

of Your peace, of Your peace, of Your peace.

Image from www.pinterest.com

Shabbat

Shalom

our

Christian,

Messianic

friends,

Sinaites,

and

all

worshippers

the

One

True

God,

YHWH—

On behalf of Sinai 6000

Core Community,

NSB@S6K

OPINION

Guess who wrote this?

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[First posted December 29, 2013;

reposting on the occasion

of the writer’s birth anniversary on June 19.

Year of his birth? 1861;

year of his death? 1898, at age 35.

What a waste of one of the most brilliant Filipinos

at the prime of his life!

Most heroes from other countries

were soldiers who fought wars;

not Rizal, his sword was his pen.

Sayang indeed! —Admin1]

——————————–

“Through reasoning and by necessity, rather than faith, do I firmly believe in the existence of a creative Being. Who is he? I do not know.

What human sounds, what accents are we to use in pronouncing the name of this Being whose works overwhelm the imagination? Can anyone give him an adequate name. . . We call him Dios but this only comes from the Latin deus and ultimately from the Greek Zeus. What kind of being is he?

I would attribute to him, to an infinite degree, all the beautiful and holy qualities my mind can think of, but the fear of my ignorance constrains me. . . Even so I venture to think of him as infinitely wise, mighty, good. . . when I behold the wonders of his works, the order that reigns over the universe, the magnificence and expanse of creation, and the goodness that shines in all. . .The thought of him humbles me and sends my mind reeling; and whenever my reason rises to reach this Being, who created planets, suns, worlds and galaxies without number, it falls back stunned, puzzled and crushed. Fear overcomes me and I rather remain silent. . .

Filled by this vague but irresistible sentiment in face of the inconceivable, the superhuman, the infinite, I leave this study to brighter intelligences and hold in abeyance what the religions have to say. Unable to pass judgment on what surpasses my powers, I settle for studying God in his creatures like myself and in the voice of my conscience, which only can have come from him.

I strive to read and find his will in all the surrounds me and in the mysterious sentiment speaking from within me, which I strive to purify above all else. The various religions claim to have God’s will condensed and written in books and dogmas; but apart from the many contradictions, conflicting interpretations of words and many obscure and untenable points I find in them, my conscience, my reason cannot admit that he, who like a wise father had provided his creatures with everything necessary for this life, proceeded to bury what was necessary for eternal life in the obscurities of language unknown to the rest of the world and hide it behind metaphors and deeds that go against the very laws of nature. .

But I do not mean by this that I completely disregard what the sacred books, religious precepts and religious dogmas have to say. On the contrary these books are, in the final analysis, the insights of men and whole generations put down in writing. . . When there arises a conflict among them, I decide in favor of that which most conforms with nature’s law because for me nature is the only divine book of unquestionable legitimacy, the sole manifestation of the Creator that we have here in this life – clear, perennial, living, powerful, capable of overcoming our blunders and errors, incorruptible, one that cannot play false in spite of human caprice, with its laws constant and unchangeable in all places and for all times.”

Dr. Jose P. Rizal,

Philippine National Hero

[Source: Father Raul J. Bonoan, S.J. The Rizal-Pastells Correspondence, the Hitherto Unpublished Letters of Jose Rizal and Portions of Fr. Pablo Pastells Fourth Letter and Translation of the Correspondence, together with a Historical Background and Theological Critique. (1994)]

Image from brokenarrowlove.wordpress.com

———————————————–

“I go where there are no slaves,

hangmen or oppressors;

Where faith does not kill;

where the one who reigns is God.”

“Mi Ultimo Adios” st. 13 – poem written on the eve of his execution

(29 December 1896)

————————————————————

“The war of the United States with Spain was very brief.

Its results were many, startling, and of world-wide meaning.”
–Henry Cabot Lodge

Hispanic Division, Library of Congress

From : http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/rizal.html

José Rizal 1861-1896

José Rizal, son of a Filipino father and a Chinese mother, came from a wealthy family. Despite his family’s wealth, they suffered discrimination because neither parent was born in the peninsula. Rizal studied at the Ateneo, a private high school, and then to the University of St. Thomas in Manila. He did his post graduate work at the University of Madrid in 1882. For the next five years, he wandered through Europe discussing politics wherever he went. In 1886, he studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg and wrote his classic novel Noli me Tangere, which condemned the Catholic Church in the Philippines for its promotion of Spanish colonialism. Immediately upon its publication, he became a target for the police who even shadowed him when he returned to the Philippines in 1887. He left his country shortly thereafter to return to Spain where he wrote a second novel, El Filibusterismo (1891), and many articles in his support of Filipino nationalism and his crusade to include representatives from his homeland in the Spanish Cortes.

He returned to Manila in 1892 and created the Liga Filipina, a political group that called for peace change for the islands. Nevertheless, Spanish officials were displeased and exiled Rizal to the island of Mindanao. During his four years there, he practiced medicine, taught students, and collected local examples of flora and fauna while recording his discoveries. Even though he lost touched with others who were working for Filipino independence, he quickly denounced the movement when it became violent and revolutionary. After Andrés Bonifacio issued the Grito de Balintawak in 1896, Rizal was arrested, convicted of sedition, and executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896.

————————————–

Update June 19, 2019: This appeared in a FaceBook page so we’re adding it to this already lengthy post but why not, there are lessons to be learned from the martyrdom of good and noble men:

Tao of Malayang Anyo is with Antonio P. Contreras and 2 others.- – – December 30, 2018 ·
“I SAW RIZAL DIE”
[There is one eyewitness to Rizal’s execution whose observation was told to a journalist in 1949, or 53 years after the event. A man named Hilarion Martinez, then 72 years old, relayed to Alberto Mendoza of the Sunday Times Magazine what he witnessed during Rizal’s execution.]
In 1896, a then 20-year old Martinez was a member of the Leales Voluntarios de Manila (Loyal Volunteers of Manila) and was assigned to the drum corps. Martinez and his fellow drum corps members accompanied the condemned man from the time he left Fort Santiago until he reached Bagumbayan. Because of his role in the drum corps, it is said that he occupied a good vantage point from which to observe the execution. Martinez’ complete account is reproduced below:

“It was six o’clock in the morning of December 30, 1896, when we woke up at our quarters at the corner of Sta. Potenciana and Magallanes Streets, in Intramuros, to attend the execution of Jose Rizal, about which we had been briefed the day before. We were in the Leales Voluntarios de Manila, a semi-military organization under the command of Capt. Manuel Leaño. Our immediate officer was a youthful Spanish lieutenant named Juan Pereira. I was twenty years old then, and a member of the drum corps.

“We marched out of Intramuros through the Puerta Real, or where Nozaleda (now General Luna) Street out through the walls on the south, clad in our cañamo uniforms and with our cajas vivas strapped around our waists. We proceeded to what is now Padre Burgos Street, under an overcast sky and a biting December morn.

“Bagumbayan is not the Luneta now. The waters of Manila Bay still reached the other side of Malecon Drive (now Bonifacio Drive) where the new Luneta is located. The Luneta of those days was as far back as the site of the old Bagumbayan police station, near which lush bamboo thickets grew.

“As we rounded the corner of P. Burgos and General Luna Streets, we got a glimpse of the cuadro, a square formation of about ten companies of Filipino and Spanish soldiers. The former occupied the inner portion of the quadrangle, while the latter were at the rear. This formation was strategic because the Filipino soldiers’ position within the cuadro signified that the Spanish authorities wanted Rizal to die in the hands of the Filipino soldiers. If the latter disobeyed the command to fire upon Rizal, the Spanish soldiers positioned at the rear would fire upon them.
“There were civilian spectators, too. The side of the cuadro near the bay was open.

“As we approached the quadrangle, we saw some Spanish military officers earnestly talking in low voices. Rizal was nowhere to be seen – yet. Not having had a glimpse of the man before, I began to wonder what he looked like. I remembered how my mother told me Rizal was so learned, nobody could poison him as he always carried with him his own spoon and fork with which he could detect whether his food was poisoned or not. I heard too, of his fighting for our (Filipino) cause aside from legends that were beginning to be woven around him.

“Soon the small crowd heard the muffle sound of our approaching vivas draped with black cloth during execution ceremonies. A slight commotion broke out at the right end of the cuadro near the bay as some soldiers with fixed bayonets entered followed by a man in black, his arms tied at the elbows from the back, on his head, a derby hat or chistera, on his sides, a Spanish officer and a Jesuit priest.

“When I saw the man, I knew he was Rizal.
“A group of Spanish officers who were standing nearby opened into a semicircular formation or media luna. Then a Spaniard (we would learn later he was Lt. Luis Andrade, one of Rizal’s popular Spanish defenders and sympathizers) affectionately shook the latter’s hand. When Rizal was near the center of the quadrangle, the mayor de la plaza, a colonel, announced at the bandillo: “En el nombre del Rey, el que se levante la voz a favor del reo sera ejecutado.” (In the name of the King, he who raises his voice in favor of the criminal will be executed.)

“A deep silence enshrouded the whole assembly.
“We in the drum corps were about seven paces behind Rizal who then faced the bay. Our commanding officer approached us and told us should Rizal attempt to speak aloud, we should beat our drums hard to drown out his voice. I looked at Rizal. He was of regular build, unshaven, quite pale, perhaps as a result of his confinement but he was visibly composed and serene. A Jesuit approached him, said a prayer and blessed him. Then a colonel approached him too, as our commanding officer ordered us to move two paces backwards, and the firing squad of six Filipinos came forward and took our former position behind Rizal. With visible effort, Rizal raised his right hand which was tied and took off his chistera or derby hat. My heart beat fast, as in all other executions I had witnessed before, I felt tense and nervous. Amidst the silence, Rizal moved his head very slowly up and down, his lips moving as if in prayer.

“Then the commanding officer by means of his saber, signaled the firing squad to aim. Then the saber dropped and there was a simultaneous crack of rifle fire that shattered the stillness of the morning. Jose Rizal wheeled in one last effort and toppled forward with a thud, his face towards the sky and his derby hat thrown ahead. He had fallen in the direction of the bay.

“Many of the reos [condemned criminals] had been caused to kneel and be hoodwinked before they were shot on the head. But Rizal was spared that humiliation.

“Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a small dog appeared and ran in circles around Rizal’s fallen body, barking and whimpering. This incident would much later be the subject of our talk in our quarters. Some of my comrades were quick to conclude that it was a premonition of a coming misfortune.
“Then the capitan militar de la sanidad (medical officer) stepped forward, knelt before the fallen man, and felt his pulse. Looking up, he beckoned to a member of the firing squad to come forward and give the final tiro de gracia, another shot done at close range. I thought I saw a faint haze rise from Rizal’s coat, but it might be a wisp of the morning mist. Seeing the body before me, I felt weak.

“The officers began to show animation again. They fell in formation and marched to the tune of the Spanish national air, the Paso Doble Marcha de Cadiz.

“As was customary in past executions, we filed past the body to view it for the last time. When we were commanded ‘eyes left,’ I did not shut my eyes as I did at the sight of the several reos whose heads were blown off by rifle fire. I wanted to see the face of the man for one last time. Rizal lay dead on the dewy grass. The day had started and I realized that I was gazing on the face of the great Malayan; that I was witnessing history in the making.”

[Source: Alberto Mendoza, “I saw Rizal Die,” Sunday Times Magazine 29 December 1949, pp. 10-11.]
*Original post by Emil Justimbaste

Image from www.photoworldmanila.com

Following the revolution, Rizal was made a saint by many religious cults while the United States authorities seized on his non-violent stance and emphasized his views on Filipino nationalism rather than those of the more action-oriented Emilio Aguinaldo and Andrés Bonifacio.

And when my grave by all is no more remembered,
With neither cross nor stone to mark its place,
Let it be ploughed by man, with spade let it be scattered

And my ashes ere to nothingness are restored,
Let them turn to dust to cover thy earthly space.

. . . Farewell to all I love; to die is to rest.

Image from www.gov.ph

“Mi Último Adiós”
Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida,
Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido eden,
A darte voy alegre, la triste, mustia vida;
Ya fuera mas brillante, mas fresca mas florida,
También por ti la diera, la diera por tu bien.

En campos de batalla, luchando, con delirio,
Otros te dan sus vidas, sin dudas, sin pesar.
El sitio nada importa: ciprés, laurel o lirio,
Cadalso o campo abierto combate o cruel martirio,
Lo mismo es si lo piden la Patria y el hogar.

Yo muero, cuando veo que el cielo se colora
Y al fin anuncia el día, tras lóbrego capuz;
Si grana necesitas, para teñir tu aurora,
Vierte la sangre mia, derramala en buen hora,
Y dorela un reflejo de su naciente luz!

Mis sueños, cuando apenas muchacho adolescente,
Mis sueños cuando joven, ya lleno de vigor,
Fueron el verte un dia, joya del mar de Oriente,
Secos los negros ojos, alta la tersa frente,
Sin ceño, sin arrugas, sin manchas de rubor.

Ensueño de mi vida, mi ardiente vivo anhelo,
¡Salud! te grita el alma, que pronto va a partir;
¡Salud! ah, que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo,
Morir por darte vida, morir bajo tu cielo,
Y en tu encantada tierra la eternidad dormir!

Si sobre mi sepulcro vieres brotar, un dia,
Entre la espesa yerba sencilla humilde flor,
Acercala a tus labios y besa al alma mia,
Y sienta yo en mi frente, bajo la tumba fria,
De tu ternura el soplo, de tu hálito el calor.

Deja a la luna verme, con luz tranquila y suave,
Deja que el elba envie su resplandor fugas;
Deja gemir al viento, con su murmullo grave;
Y si desciende y posa sobre mi cruz un ave,
Deja que el ave entone su cántico de paz.

Deja que el sol, ardiendo, las lluvias evapore,
Y al cielo tornen puras, con mi clamor en pos;
Deja que un ser amigo mi fin temprano llore;
Y en las serenas tardes, cuando por mi alguien ore,
Ora también, ¡oh Patria!, por mi descanso a Dios.

Ora por todos cuantos murieron sin ventura;
Por cuantos padecieron tormentos sin igual;
Por nuestras pobres madres, que gimen su amargura;
Por huerfanos y viudas, por presos entortura;
Y ora por ti, que veas tu redención final.

Y cuando, en noche oscura, se envuela el cementerio,
Y solos solo muertos queden velando alli,
No turbes su reposo, no turbes el misterio;
Tal ves acordes oigas de citara o salterio;
Soy yo, querida Patria, yo que te canto a ti.

Y cuando ya mi tumba, de todas olvidada,
No tenga cruz ni piedra que marquen su lugar,
Deja que la are el hombre, la esparza con la azada,
Y mis cenizas, antes que vuelvan a la nada,
El polvo de tu alfombra que vayan a formar.

Entonces nada importa me pongas en olvido,
Tu atmósfera, tu espacio, tus valles cruzaré;
Vibrante y limpia nota sere para tu oido;
Aroma, luz, colores, rumor, canto, gemido,
Constante repitiendo la esencia de mi fe.

Mi Patria idolatrada, dolor de mis dolores,
Querida Filipinas, oye el postrer adois.
Ahi, te dejo todo: mis padres, mis amores.
Voy donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores;
Donde la fe no mata, donde el que reina es Dios.

Adios, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mia,
Amigos de la infrancia, en el perdido hogar;
Dal gracias, que descanso del fatigoso dia;
Adios, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegria;
Adios, queridos seres. Morir es descansar.

Jose Rizal

Spanish (Original Version)

[“Then the immortal Ultimo Adios, which schoolboys are made to believe as written on the eve of his execution, might have been written 12 or 6 days before. Indeed it’s more reasonable to believe now that the verses came with a longer contemplation than legend allows.”— Update from Ambeth Ocampo, RIZAL WITHOUT THE OVERCOAT]

Image from www.hollandamericablog.com

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of August

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

Image from www.jordanaklein.com

O Gentiles of the Nations,

Let us join the nation of Israel,

chosen to be

“a light to the gentiles,”

“a light to the nations,”

—with whom the One True God made the only covenant with ‘representative humanity’;

and given the 4th commandment—

to set apart and remember the Sabbath day

as a memorial of their liberation

from bondage to Egypt and former gods,

to serve their Liberator,

the God Who revealed Himself on Sinai as YHWH,

and gave them guidelines for living in community,

particularly on how to relate with one another

and with Him as their God.

Let us welcome the “Queen of Days”,

a memorial to the Creator God

Who set it apart as a day on which

He Himself ceased from His completed and perfected creative work;

A specific day He blessed—

for the blessing of all Sabbath-keepers,

who recognize YHWH as ‘Lord of the Sabbath’,

as Master of the universe,

as King over all humanity,

as Creator,

as the One and Only God,

for indeed, there is no other.

Let us enter YHWH’s

‘sanctuary in time’,

for it IS about TIME—

time to set aside the cares of our work-week,

time to rest from our daily strivings,

time to fellowship with like-minded worshippers of the One True God,

time for spiritual enrichment,

that we might listen to the voice of YHWH who commanded—

“Be still and know that I am God.”

We Sinaites, Gentiles, join Israel in proclaiming—-

“Blessed are You,

YHWH, our God,

King of the universe,

Who has sanctified us by Your commandments . . .”

We trust that Gentiles who heed and obey YHWH’s TORAH

are indeed sanctified for having chosen YHWH,

as God, as Lord and Master, as King over our lives.

And so we kindle the Sabbath lights as a symbolic gesture

of dispelling the ‘darkness’ in hearts and minds,

brought about by ignorance of His Torah,

resulting in failure to obey His revealed Will—

failure to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul,

failure to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

We kindle the Sabbath lights

to make us look back to the kindling of the Menorah,

the only source of light in the Tabernacle in the wilderness,

and in His Holy Temple

when it still stood as the worship-center of His chosen people

in the Land of Promise—Israel.

We kindle the Sabbath lights to remind ourselves

that we are not only receivers of His Light,

but more so reflectors of His Light,

so that together with Israel, we might illuminate

and enlighten a world full of religious devotees

who, in this day and age,

have no more reason nor excuse

not to know Him as the One True God,

and know His Name, O YHWH,

and worship none other but Him —

except as a matter of self-will and individual choice.

We kindle the Sabbath lights,

to rekindle our resolve to be light-bearers ourselves,

in word, in action, in conduct, in all of life,

and to continue to pray for enlightenment

for all those who have yet to acknowledge Your call.

As the Shema well expresses:

“Hear O Yisrael, [hear O Nations!]

YHWH is our Elohim,

YHWH alone.”

We are not of ethnic Israel,

but as Gentiles to whom your call has reverberated

across six millennia in time,

recorded in the Scriptures of Israel,

we have heard, we have listened,

we have chosen to respond:

“O YHWH,

You are our God, You and You alone:

Creator, Master of the Universe,

Lord of Life, Revelator on Sinai,

Lord of our Sabbath.”

Image from men.colonial.org

Excerpts from ISAIAH 55, 56, 57

The righteous man perishes, and no one considers:

Pious men are taken away, and no one gives thought that because of evil the righteous was taken away.

Yet he shall come to peace,

he shall have rest on his couch who walked straightforward.

But as for you, come closer, you sons of a sorceress,

for soon My salvation shall come and My deliverance be revealed.

Happy is the man who does this, the man who holds fast to it;

who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,

and stays his hand from doing evil.

Let not the foreigner say, “I am a withered tree.”

For thus said YHWH:

“As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,

who have chosen what I desire and hold fast to My covenant—

I will give them, in My House and within My walls,

a monument and a name better than sons or daughters.

I will give them an everlasting name which shall not perish.

As for the foreigners who attach themselves to YHWH,

to minister to Him,

and to love [His Name],

to be His servants—

all who keep the sabbath and do not profane it,

all who hold fast to My covenant—-

I will bring them to My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar;

For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Thus declares the Lord God,

for the sake of YHWH your God,

the Holy One of Israel Who has glorified you:

seek YHWH while He can be found,

call to Him while He is near.

Let the wicked give up his ways,

the sinful man his plans;

let him turn back to YHWH,

and He will pardon him:

to our God, for He freely forgives.

“For my plans are not your plans, nor are My ways your ways”—

declares YHWH.

“but as the heavens are high above the earth,

so are My ways high above your ways

and my plans above your plans.

For as the rain or snow drops from heaven and returns not there,

but soaks the earth and makes it bring forth vegetation,

yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating,

so is the word that issues from My mouth:

it does not come back to Me unfulfilled,

but performs what I purpose, achieves what I sent it to do.”

Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure.

Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the brier a cypress shall rise; instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.

These shall stand as a testimony to YHWH as an everlasting sign that shall not perish.

BLESSINGS

[Original Tune: “In His Time” / Revised Lyrics]

Bless this bread, bless this wine,

Bless the celebrants who’re here,

It’s Your Time,

May Your Presence fill this space,

May You grant us peace always,

Bless our loved ones by Your grace,

In Your Time.

May this world keep Your time,

May all people worship You in due time,

May they know You by Your Name,

May they glorify Your Name,

Praise and worship in Your Name, in Your time.

Yes, we pray for all to know You, YAHUWAH.

Image from www.123rf.com

Image from apcod.wordpress.com

HAVDALAH

May YHWH, Lord of the Sabbath, bless us and protect us;

May YHWH deal kindly and graciously with us;

May YHWH bestow His favor upon us and grant us peace.

“Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel,

and I will bless them.”

“So are they to put my name upon the Children of Israel,

that I myself may bless them.”

—-[EF] Numbers 6:22-27

Image from hebraicdance.ning.com

SHABBAT SHALOM to all Sabbath Observers,

from Sinai 6000 Core Community,

NSB@S6K

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 3rd Sabbath in August

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[The Sinaite’s Musical Sabbath Liturgy —alternates with our regular recited liturgy. For visitors unfamiliar with this, we use Christian music but rewrite the lyrics to reflect Sinai 6000 creed, “biblical” according to the TNK or “Old Testament” theology. The hymns are familiar and music accompaniment is provided. Reciting the lyrics like prayers work just as well. Have a joyful celebration, dear Sabbath keepers, whatever religion you belong to, we’re all worshipping the UNIVERSAL GOD!—Admin1].

Image from www.pinterest.com

Image from www.jordanaklein.com

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

[Original Tune: “Praise the Name of Jesus”/Revised lyrics]

Light one Sabbath candle

as His blazing sun sets,

darkness fills all the spaces,

not in minds where His True Light dwells,

Let His Tree of Life be your Light.

Light two Sabbath candles,

Brighten up the darkness,

One is good, two is better,

More minds in harmony can see more ‘Light’

Let His Tree of Life be our Light.

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory . . .

[To the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”/Revised lyrics]

1. In the beauty of the desert, on the mountain of Sinai,

In the form of fire and burning bush, He came down from on high,

As His voice was heard in thunder and His Presence flashed as Light,

Oh what an awesome sight!

2. He came down just like the glory of the morning on the mount,

He gave wisdom to the multitudes in laws that none could count,

As they trembled at the awesome sight with fear within their hearts,

One could not help but sing:

Chorus: Hallelu, sing hallelu YAH!

Praise Yahuwah, hallelu YAH,

Raise our voices, hallelu YAH,

Yahuwah is LORD GOD!

3. Moses spent some forty days and forty nights with his ‘new’ GOD,

Moses learned as much as he could learn from his Almighty God,

And to simplify theTorah, God reduced it all to ‘ten’

Yes, ten, it’s only TEN!

4. And so Moses now descended with two tablets hand in hand,

Etched on stone were ten instructions, keep in heart and keep in mind,

And if that’s still hard to do, guess what? It was reduced to two,

‘Love God’ and ‘love mankind’!

Chorus: Glory be to Thee, Yahuwah,

Worship due to Thee, Yahuwah,

Honor to Thy Name, Yahuwah,

The One and Only God.

5. Now as Israel and Gentiles of the world have come to know,

He is God, the Only One, the Only Lord one needs to know,

There is None, no one before, no one comes after, all should know:

YAHUWAH is His NAME!

6. He’s the First and He’s the Last and He is all that’s ‘In Between’

He’s the same, He does not change, He always IS, that’s what He means,

He’s the One Eternal God , He is Existence, ALL there IS

YAHUWAH is His NAME!

Chorus: Glory, glory hallelu-YAH,

Glory, glory hallelu -YAH,

YAHUWAH is His NAME!

Be Thou My Vision [Original Tune/ revised lyrics]

Image from beizzweinull.wordpress.com

1. Be Thou my Vision O Lord of my heart;

nothing else matters but all that Thou art;

Thou are my best thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy Presence my Light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;

Thou my loving Father and I Thy dear child,

O Thou with me dwelling and I with Thee Lord.

3. Be Thou my Companion through pathways ahead,

Be Thou my Shepherd whose voice I have heard,

Lead me through the Pastures, to the Waters of life,

I’m thirsty to drink from Thy True Words—all my Life.

4. Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise;

Thou mine inheritance now and always;

Thou and Thou alone, always first in my heart,

O High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

5. Be Thou my vision, Yahuwah my God,

Be Thou my Light, through the darkness I’ve trod,

Never leave my side, LORD, till the end of my days,

When my final Sabbath comes, rest in You LORD, always.

BLESSINGS

[Original Tune: “We Gather Together”/Revised Lyrics]

Image from www.decalsforthewall.com

We gather together to seek the Lord’s blessing,

with joy in our hearts,

we delight in Your Day,

We welcome Your Sabbath, we seek Your loving Presence,

We bless Your Holy Name, Yahuwah our Lord.

We break bread together, we bless one another,

We drink to our health and this joy that we share,

We pray for all others, for all the Sabbath-keepers,

Who faithfully observe this blest day of rest.

For joy we derive from our loved ones, our family,

For daughters, for sons, and for grandchildren dear,

For blessings no end that Your gracious Hand has given us,

We bless you back, O Lord Yahuwah, our God!

SABBATH MEAL

Image from www.pinterest.com

Image from www.hebrew4christians.com

HAVDALAH

[Original Tune: “Onward Christian Soldiers”/Revised Lyrics]

[Image from thetorah.com]

1. Onward true believers in the One True God,

With God’s Truth before us, leave the false behind,

Once we followed other gods, once we swallowed lies,

That’s all past tense, that’s behind us, disconnect old ties . . .

Onward, onward, let’s move forward

from we were before,

With God’s Truth before us, listen not to lore.

2. Learn the ‘Old’, unlearn the ‘New’,

That’s the thing to do—

Start from the beginning, Genesis anew,

Learn from Him, Creator God, lay aside your fears,

Learn to reason, get some wisdom, open up your ears!

Onward, let’s move further forward

from we were before,

With ‘Old’ Truth before us, there’s more truth in store.

3. Exodus, Leviticus, read them with fresh eyes,

Don’t bring with you baggage from your former ties,

Numbers, Deuteronomy, these complete the five,

If that’s all that you can process, that is good for life,

Onward, let your search move onward,

leave the past behind,

There’s so much to cover, so much more to find.

4. Let us follow Joshua’s lead, conquer turfs for God,

Weaken the resistance of the ignorant,

Don’t miss opportunities, say a word or two,

Sow the seeds but better if they see His Life in you,

Onward tread on bad soil, dry soil,

sow God’s Word of Truth,

Somewhere there is good soil ready for ‘Old’ Truth!

A——–men!

Image from metanoiahits.blogspot.com

Shabbat shalom to all our friends all over the world—Sinaites, Messianics, Christians, believers in God—

In behalf of Sinai 6000 Core Community,

NSB@S6K

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Liturgy — 2nd Sabbath of August

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from www.pinterest.com

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

Image from www.pinterest.com

Lord God YHWH, Creator of the universe—

You bid all humanity

to “be still” for one day out of seven,

that we might find joy and refreshment

in Your ‘sanctuary in time,

a rest from our daily endeavors

at the end of our workweek.

You bid us “be still”

so that we might know not only that there is a God,

that there is only one God,

and that God is You, O YHWH!

You invite us to seek to know You not only as Creator

but as the First Sabbath Observer,

Lord of the Sabbath

Who added the seventh day

at the culmination of the 6-day Creation week,

the one and only day You sanctified and blessed,

and modeled as a day of rest,

later establishing it as the fourth commandment

in Your Ten Declarations on Sinai.

We praise You, O YHWH, the True Lord of the Sabbath,

and joyfully celebrate with the Sabbath-observant nation of Israel,

and all gentiles who are Sabbath-keepers;

We thank You, O YHWH, Life-Giver,

for being the Source of our breath of life,

for giving us the privilege of knowing

that You and You alone are God,

there is No Other.

As we relish this time of rest,

whether alone or with family and friends,

we ask for Your blessing upon our gathering

for fellowship, for worship,

for prayer and for study of Your Torah.

Thank You for Your Presence

amidst all the communities

who proclaim Your Name

and worship You and You alone,

O YHWH our Lord and our God.

Image from www.juliesanders.org

Psalm 49

Hear this, all your peoples;

listen, all who live in this world,

both low and high,

rich and poor alike:

My mouth will speak words of wisdom;

the utterance from my heart will give understanding.

I will turn my ear to a proverb;

with the harp I will expound my riddle.

Why should I fear when evil days come,

when wicked deceivers surround me—

those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?

No man can redeem the life of another

or give to God a ransom for him—

the ransom for a life is costly,

no payment is ever enough—

that he should live on forever and not see decay.

For all can see that wise men die,

the foolish and the senseless alike perish

and leave their wealth to others.

Their tombs will remain their houses forever,

their dwellings for endless generations,

though they had named lands after themselves.

But man, despite his riches, does not endure;

he is like the beasts that perish.

This is the fate of those who trust in themselves

and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah.

Like sheep they are destined for the grave

and death will feed on them.

The upright will rule over them in the morning;

their forms will decay in the grave,

far from their princely mansions.

But God will redeem my life from the grave,

He will surely take me to Himself. Selah.

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich,

and when the splendor of his house increases;

for he will take nothing with him when he dies,

his splendor will not descend with him.

Though while he lived he counted himself blessed—

and men praise you when you prosper–

he will join the generation of his fathers,

who will never see the light [of life].

A man who has riches without understanding

is like the beasts that perish.

Image from chaosandoldnight.wordpress.com

BLESSINGS

Blessed are those whose God is YHWH—

blessed are those who proclaim His Name!

Blessed are we who know YHWH

as the One True God

and enthrone Him as Lord of their lives.

Blessed are those

who seek YHWH’s Presence

in all Sabbath celebrations

on this second Sabbath of this August month;

Blessed are we who seek YHWH’s Hand upon each Sabbath-keeper in every Sabbath-gathering,

and upon the families and loved ones represented,

May each one of them have a deep yearning to know their Creator,

to learn how to live according to the Torah of the Giver of Life,

to worship Him as the One True God,

and love Him for all He has done.

[Take time to name every individual and institution you wish God to bless with the knowledge of Him: family and friends, special people.]

We thank YHWH for this bread and wine,

symbols of His daily provisions

and the joy we derive from obeying His commandments

and living His Torah life.

A toast to Life, to YHWH’s Torah Life!

L’chaim, Mabuhay!

SABBATH MEAL

Image from galleryhip.com

Image from www.pinterest.com

HAVDALAH

TORAH that remains simply in the mind

as knowledge;

TORAH that remains in the heart

as intention . . .

TORAH that is not lived . . .

is of no use to humanity

and does not glorify the Giver of the TORAH.

May we align our will with the YHWH’s Will;

May we align our lives with TORAH life,

Making the right choice–

moment by moment,

day by day,

from one Sabbath to the next,

until the end of our days,

until the End of All Days.

And because we have chosen to do so,

and in our lives we have done so,

May our names be written in

YHWH’s Book of Life:

Those of us who have partaken

of the fruit from YHWH’s Tree of Life,

And having done so,

have lived fruitful lives

dedicated to obeying YHWH’s commandments,

and making YHWH’s Name known

to a world that worships different gods,

other than the One True God.

Who is the One True God?

YHWH is His Name!

Worship Him!

Amen.

Image from www.pinterest.com

Shabbat shalom to —our dear Sinaites,

our Jewish friends,

Messianics, Christians,

and all people of faith

who are Sabbath-Keepers!

In behalf of Sinai600 Core Community

NSB@S6K

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

The Sinaites’ Musical Liturgy – 1st Sabbath in August

August 1, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from Traditions Jewish Gifts

[Our musical liturgy borrows from the music of Christian hymns—we love the music but we can’t use the original lyrics, so we superimpose our own, reflecting Sinai 6000 theology. We are grateful to Christian composers for their inspiring music!—Admin1]

————–

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

O Lord YHWH,

the Source of Life, our Source of Light—

we kindle these Sabbath lights at sundown Friday,

emulating the tradition of Jewry,

to signify the end of our work week by ceasing from our labors,

to welcome the beginning of our day of rest,

the Sabbath which You Yourself observed on Creation week,

if only to impress upon humanity and all living creatures,

the importance of rest . . .

for health, for longevity, for renewal, for refreshment,

for enjoyment of the only day sanctified and blessed by You,

The True Lord of the Sabbath.

[Original Tune: “Alleluia Sing to Jesus”/Revised Lyrics]

1. Hallelu Yah, all praise Yahuwah,

let’s worship Him, our God and our King.

Hallelu Yah, adore Yahuwah,

His Name we honor now as we sing:

Cho: God of Israel and the Nations,

we seek Your Presence as we celebrate,

Lord of the Sabbath,

You’re Lord over each and every day,

through our lifetime in every way.

2. Lord Yahuwah how can we thank You

for leading us to the knowledge of You.

Lord Yahuwah, our hearts are grateful

for teaching us what we have to do.

Cho: Torah guidance You have provided,

for Israel and for all humankind,

If every person could hear and would heed Your Words for Life,

How ideal this world would be!

3. Lord Yahuwah, how can we serve You

in ways that make us useful for You!

Learn and study and share our faith

to a world that needs to know more of You.

CHO: Speak out boldly, proclaim Your Name,

simply live Your Torah as best as we can,

kindness and mercy, compassion and care for fellowmen,

may Your Love show through what we do.

4. Lord Yahuwah, O how we love You,

we’ve searched for You through all of our life.

Long have we travelled through the pathway

that led us to the Mount of Sinai.

CHO: There we found You and there we heard

all the words You spoke to the mixed multitude,

all those who truly would seek You with all their heart and soul,

they will finally hear Your call.

Image from pray4usa.ne

The Love of God

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, my soul!
    All my being, praise his holy name!
²Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and do not forget how kind he is.
³He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
⁴He keeps me from the grave
    and blesses me with love and mercy.
⁵He fills my life with good things,
    so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.

⁶The Lord judges in favor of the oppressed
    and gives them their rights.
⁷He revealed his plans to Moses
    and let the people of Israel see his mighty deeds.
⁸The Lord is merciful and loving,
    slow to become angry and full of constant love.
⁹He does not keep on rebuking;
    he is not angry forever.
¹⁰He does not punish us as we deserve
    or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.
¹¹As high as the sky is above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who honor him.
¹²As far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our sins from us.
¹³As a father is kind to his children,
    so the Lord is kind to those who honor him.
¹⁴He knows what we are made of;
    he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for us, our life is like grass.
We grow and flourish like a wild flower;
¹⁶    then the wind blows on it, and it is gone—
    no one sees it again.
¹⁷But for those who honor the Lord, his love lasts forever,
    and his goodness endures for all generations
¹⁸of those who are true to his covenant
    and who faithfully obey his commands.

¹⁹The Lord placed his throne in heaven;
    he is king over all.
²⁰Praise the Lord, you strong and mighty angels,
    who obey his commands,
    who listen to what he says.
²¹Praise the Lord, all you heavenly powers,
    you servants of his, who do his will!
²²Praise the Lord, all his creatures
    in all the places he rules.
Praise the Lord, my soul!

BLESSINGS

Image from www.patriciaholland.org

[Original Tune: “Blest be the Tie that Binds”]

Revised Lyrics

Most gracious benevolent God,

Whose Presence inhabits all space,

You truly are Lord of the Sabbath, Yahuwah,

we welcome Your ‘Queen’ of all days!

We ask You to bless one and all,

who gather to answer Your call,

to rest from our strivings, enjoy one another,

in fellowship with one and all.

Each family here You have blessed,

as loving relations attest—

this bread and this wine represent all our joy,

our delight in Your Sabbath, our rest.

Should we from each other will part;

we fear not the loss nor the pain,

for all of us are with the Lord of Creation—

We pray we meet each one again!

[Thank God for your loved ones and special people in your life: parents, siblings, spouse, children, in-laws, extended kin, friends, staff, and lift up special concerns in your life at this time.]

A toast to LIFE: “L’Chaim, to Life, Mabuhay !”

Image from taste-of-torah.blogspot.com

HAVDALAH

[Bid goodbye to Shabbat]

O Climb Your Holy Mountain

[Original Music : Victory in Jesus]

1. I heard an old, old story,

How our great, great God of glory,

Descended on a mountain top on the desert of Sinai;

He’s chosen all these mountains

for some reason why, we wonder,

Aside from Sinai there are other famous ‘sacred mounts’.

CHORUS; O climb the highest mountain!

So many men aspire

to conquer heights beyond the reach

of common folk like me;

Take courage, faint of heart,

These peaks are worth the climb;

When God calls He enables

so leave all results to Him!

2. There is another story

about another mountain,

Where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son.

Unquestioning this Isaac,

just followed his father,

He carried all the wood and asked—

“But where’s the sacrifice?”

CHORUS: O climb your Mount Moriah,

Dear Abraham and Isaac:

The same God Who appeared on Sinai,

He appeared to you!

You’ve passed the highest testing,

You reached your peak, your mountain,

Moriah is forever etched in biblical history!

3. There’s yet another mountain,

where an ancient priest and king,

Melchizedek of Salem in the book of Bereishis;

This ancient place called Salem

was renamed Jerusalem,

All pilgrims journey up and sing their psalms, songs of ascent.

CHORUS: The Temple Mount is there,

where the Glory Cloud once rested,

Until it left and lingered on the Mount of Olivet,

This makes us realize, we have our peaks to conquer,

If God is on the highest mountain,

let us start our climb!

Image from pinterest

Have

a joy-full

and

restful

Sabbath—

dear Sinaites,

dear Israel,

dear

Sabbath-observers

among our

Christian

and Messianic

colleagues,

and all Gentiles

of the Nations.

On behalf of

Sinai 6000 Core Community,

NSB@S6K