Why is the Festival called “Shavuot”? Why are we to count the days and weeks between Pesach and Shavuot? What were the historical events which occurred on Shavuot and how do these reveal the lessons we are to learn as we celebrate the Festival? All of the appointed times offer us a special
The pages that follow comprise an Excursus found in my Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Vol. 2, pp. 463–94, TorahResource, 2008). Apart from these opening comments and a few additional comments added at the end of the Excursus, these pages are identical with the Commentary pages. I have simply
The Chronology of the Passion: An Updated Look at Tim Hegg’s View
Traditionally, in Christian circles, the Ten Words are called the “Ten Commandments.” However, the biblical text uses the expression ‘aseret hadevarim, “Ten Words” when referring to what God inscribed on the two tablets which Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. In fact, referring to these as Ten Word
In the Tanach, the concept of a “month” is usually represented by the word, chodesh, formed on the noun, chadâsh, “to make anew,” “to renew” or on the noun, châdâsh, “to be new.” The new moon (the reappearance of the thin crescent) marked the beginning of the month for the Hebrew calendar
Thoughts on Shavuot: Shavuot, the Torah & the Arabbon of the Ruach
In Exodus 19:1 we read: In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on this very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. What is curious about the wording of this verse is the phrase “on this very day” (bayom hazeh), which seeks to mark a specific day, yet with
What is meant by “zicharon” in Lev 23:24? The word itself is formed on the verb “zachor”, “to remember,” and is usually translated a “memorial,” a “remembrance,” or a “reminder.” Thus, Yom Teruah is a day on which the shofar is to be blown, and the purpose of blowing the shofar is to evoke
Time of our Freedom in Messiah: Thoughts on the Freedom We Have in Messiah
As the disciples of Yeshua, each year as we celebrate Pesach we see the remarkable ways in which the themes of the festival are fulfilled in Yeshua’s death and resurrection and why, the divine calendar of the universe, Pesach was chosen as the time when our Savior, our Pesach sacrifice (1Cor 5:7)
To Read or Not to Read?: Traslating the Qere/Ketiv in Modern English Trasnations
Traslating the Qere/Ketiv in Modern English Trasnations
In the emerging Torah Movements, we rightly desire to distinguish between holy and profane. This desire has become all the more intense since we have realized how much paganism was intertwined with some of the religious rituals in the Christian Church, which, for most of us, was the place of our
