Thoughts on "Words" July 22,2023

Shabbat Study Thoughts on Devarini - Words

It is almost 3 a.m., and once again, I am scrambling to prepare myself to have intelligent relevant questions for today's Torah portion taught by Messianic Rabbi David Stone Jr. in Beaumont Texas. Messianic Rabbi David Stone Jr, once mentioned that he grew up in the Catholic faith, I had no idea that if you were not born a jew you could be a Messianic Rabbi or even a member of a Messianic Torah observant congregation - then I did some research and it turns out that many Messianic Torah observant people were not born Jews, but come from many different faith backgrounds.

This made my heart leap with joy. If you had peeked in my tiny kitchen window you would have seen a funny sight indeed as I danced joyfully around singing, 

"I can be a Jew!

You can be a Jew!

We can all be Messianic Jews!

C'mon ev'ry body sing-

We can all be Messianic Jews!" 

Shortly after that, I discovered people who were born Jews are not happy with people who are Messianic Torah observant believers calling themselves Messianic Jews. So.... perhaps the best description of my faith according to people could be MTO - though I'm not sure exactly how Torah observant I am, 

Anyway, back to the scriptures recommended for today - or as some might think of it -these two days - Friday evening to Saturday evening.

Rabbi David posted on Facebook that the readings for this Shabbat are:

Torah- Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 

Haftarah- Isaiah 1:1-27

New Covenant- Acts 7:51-8:4

and that the name of this particular section of the study is called "Devarim" which means "Words".

Reflecting on Devarim - Words

Interesting, how Our Father's timing is perfect. As I am typing this, I am listening to a Christian Meditation from YouTube on the following scriptures:

"Therefore, Every person who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." - Yeshua  Matthew 7:24 

           "Be doers of the word - James 1:22

As I listen to this meditation I am also put in mind of the scripture where Our Saviour states,

"Whoever hears the word of the LORD and obeys them - they are my brothers, sisters, and mother."

So, let's look in the book and see how we might be able to apply the words of today's scriptures into practice.

Thoughts on Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 

Have you ever wondered what Deuteronomy means? According to an article on the  Christian Today website, Deuteronomy comes from the ancient Greek word Deuteronominion meaning "second law" or "copy of the law" so the English translators of this Hebrew book must have taken the name of this book from the ancient Greek translation! However, the Hebrew name for this book is Devarim or Words. This is from the first verse in Words.

The first verse of Deuteronomy is  

Screenshot Deuteronomy 1:1 Masoretic Text - Blue Letter Bible

Something I have often wondered is - why on earth when people translated the Bible from its original languages did they change the names of places and people?  Something I treasure about the Blue Letter Bible is how easy it is to listen to the pronunciations of the original names of people and places in the Bible. I have written the scripture below  to help me to try to learn the correct pronunciation of the people's and place's names in this passage:

These are the words which Mose (Moshay) spoke to all Yisra'el (Yeez rye ale) acrossYarden(Yardane) in the wilderness at Araba (Aravah), opposite Sup (Soof) between Paran and Topel (Towe phe) and Laban (Lah vahn) and Haserot (Hat say rowe f) and Dizahab (Deez ah hav)

Using Audio to Study Scripture

Everyone learns differently, but since I have been having problems with my eyes, I have been finding it useful to listen to the scriptures using an extension on my browser, However, the extension is just like me- practically imperfect in every way, so sometimes what I heard was very funny indeed! This morning I was blessed to be led to several free online audio Bibles on the Blue Letter Bible website!

Screenshot- Blue Letter Bible- Highlighting Audio Bible Tab

There are many different audio versions of the Bible on the Blue Letter Bible website in English as well as an audio Bible in Spanish and even one in Arabic! This morning, I was led to listen to several audio Bible versions  of the passage at the beginning of Deuteronomy

• NKJ- (Dramatized) - This version has an interesting paragraph at the beginning telling that this is the fifth book of Moses!
• ESV (Narrated)
• NIV (Dramatized)

In this first part of Deuteronomy, Mose is recounting their adventures in the desert with the people of Yisrael from the time just before they disobeyed the LORD chose not to go into the Promised Land- up to the defeat of the kingdom of Og.

The scriptures that stood out to me in the readings this morning were:

• Deuteronomy 1:3 -  This verse gives the exact timing of when these words were spoken by Mose - the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year. Previously, I have wondered how many months the original calendar of G-d had. From this, we can safely surmise that there were at least 11 months. It also says that the LORD told Mose to wait to speak to the people on this particular day. This makes me wonder about the significance of this particular date, as I have personally seen that Our Creator's timing is ABSOLUTELY perfect.
•  Deuteronomy 1:10 - In this verse, Mose points out that they have become as numerous as the stars in the sky. This sticks out for me as a fulfillment of the promise Our Creator gave so very many years ago to a despondent Abram who hadn't had any children yet and was starting to think that he never would have any children. I also find it curious that in Deuteronomy Mose left out that it was his father-in-law who advised him to appoint leaders of the groups of people.
• Deuteronomy 1:36 -38 Mose twists the reason he is not going into the Promised Land  - blaming the actions of the people and the Creator being angry with him - not owning up to the mistake he made in his anger - hitting the rock. In addition, he doesn't give Yehoshua (Yeh howe shoo a) Ben (Bane) Nun(Noon)his full due as he does Kaleb (Kah lave) Ben (Bane)  Y'punne(Yeh fun ay).    In Exodus, the LORD had said that these two men who had returned with joyful reports of the Promised Land and Joshua would go in because they had followed the LORD with their whole hearts.. However here, Mose only says this of Kaleb and gives what seems to me to be a very weak endorsement of Yehoshua that he will be able to go in "because he will be able to enable Yisrael to inherit the land! This difference in the two accounts of what happened makes me want to re-read Deuteronomy very carefully and compare it to what was written previously in the accounts of what happened in the wilderness.
• Deuteronomy 2:4 - This I find interesting Mose shares that he was told by the LORD to be very careful when travelling through the land where the descendants of Esav (Ay sahv) lived because they would be afraid of them. I wonder if Our Creator said this because He did not want there to be any blood shed and to ensure that they would pass peacefully through their country. I know that an animal that is fearful will attack before it can be attacked. 
• Deuteronomy 2:9 Mose says he was told not to bother Moab (Mowe ahv) nor provoke them to war as He had given the descendants of Lot (Lowe t) this land.
• Deuteronomy 2:14- Here Mose gives the length of time it took for them to travel from Qades Barnea (Kah daysh Bare nay a) (written in English as Kadesh) to where they were cross over the brook Zered (Zair ed) (English translation - Wadi Zered) as 38 years. Why on earth would they translate the word brook as Wadi makes no sense to me at all! This makes me want to learn Hebrew all the more so I can really read what was originally written in these ancient writings.
• Deuteronomy 2:19- Here Mose tells how they were not to bother the sons of Ammon(A mahm)(English the Ammonites) because their land was also set aside for the descendants of Lot (Lowe t)
• Deuteronomy 2:24 - Mose urges them into war at the behest of the Creator to take the valley of Arnon. (Air rr non) saying the LORD has already given their  Emori (Em oar ee) (English Amorite) king Sihon(See khawn) of Hesbon (Khesh bon)  into their hands. I found it interesting that  Sihon  and Heshbomn means stronghold. The valley they were to take was called "rushing stream". I wonder if they would have been able to put that rushing stream to use as water power.
• Deuterononmy 2:20- Mose shares how his initial offer of them peacefully pasing through their land was denied by the king of Arnon because the" LORD had made him "obstinate and stubborn"Interesting war tactic - make your enemy declare war against you , so you are merely seen as defending yourself! This reminds me of how the Creator  hardened the heart of Pharoah in Egypt so the everyone would see the amazing things that the LORD could do in the miraculous plagues.
• Deuteronomy 2:27 - Mose tells how they did not touch any of the places that the LORD had forbidden them to touch. When I think of the many people who died at the hands of Mose and his troops - even women and children, I have to admit that I have a really tough time seeing Our Creator as the Loving Heavenly Father I know. 
• Deuteronomy 3:11 Mose tells of the sarcophagus of Og(Owe guh)(long-neck) king of Bashan (fruitful) (Bah shawm) being made of iron and 9 cubits long and four cubits wide by the common cubit. I found it interesting that the word translated here as sarcophagus actually is bedstead or couch. It is conjectured here that the translators might have chosen sarcophagus as the word to use meaning "final couch". It is also interesting that Mose says that this immense couch was still on display at the time of his saying this. I wonder if any evidence of this item might yet be found by archeologists.  It might be an interesting thing for students to construct a model of this sarcophagus. I also found it interesting that the people who were so afraid previously to enter into the promised land  because of the giants living there, went into battle against many giants and wiped them entirely out! According to a cubit converter I found on  Google, one cubit equals one and a half feet or 45.72 cm. Converting these measurements could also be a good Mathematics lesson. ( Yeas, teachers might appear to be on vacation, but the educator mindset rarely takes more than a couple of minutes off! )

Applying Deuteronomy 1-3 to Our Lives

Hmmm... here is how I find this section of scripture relevant to my life.

1. People frequently tell different versions of the sane story- if Mose fell into this, almost anyone can.Frequenyly they will cast themselves in the best possible light in their retelling.If you want an accurate retelling, you might want to invest in a body cam .

2. Get your letters of reference from people , when they first say the most complimentary thing about you. Poor Yehosua! I wonder what happened over those 38 years of being the assistant to Mose to not get the same glowing recommendation as Kaleb?

Thoughts on Isaiah 1:1-27

The Haftorah reading for today is from the book of Ysayah (Yee shay yah)(Isaiah)  the prophet. Listening to the dramatization of Ysayah 1,  I was struck first of all of how depressing it starts out! It is a terrible vison of what is going to happen to the people of Yisrael for being rebellious. If you ever had rebellious children, you might identify with what is said in this chapter and how you loathe seeing what has become of them because they didn't pay heed to what you had to say. At the end of the chapter the LORD reaches out with a tender heart towards them and asks them why on earth they want to keep going the wrong way, when if they would stop being so rebellious, he would welcome them back.

Scriptures that stood out for me in this chapter were:

• Ysayah 1:1 - The word hazon (kha zone) is translated as vision, but I believe the more accurate translation from the choices given , would be prophecy, because there are no pictorials words given here such as "I saw"
• Ysayah1:10 - This scripture surprised me, as the prophet is seems to be address the rulers of S'dom (Se dahm) (English - Sodom) and  Amora (A more ah) (English - Gemorrah)
• 1:15 - To me, this is the most depressing verse in the chapter. Can you imagine being told that Our Father cannot bear to look at you and will not listen to your prayers?! How could the people of Yisrael have fallen so far away from Our Creator? It says their hands are full of innocent blood. 
• 1:16 -This is where it stats to be more hopeful, almost cajoling and persuasive -trying to get them to clean themselves up and live better lives.
• 1:19 - This is one of my favourite verses from the Hebrew scriptures! "Come, let's reason this together says YHVH -even if your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow,though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. This reminds me of when Yeshua was defending His disciples actions telling their critics that you do not put new wine into old wineskins. There is a lot of pink on the way to white - it does not say this will happen overnight.
• 1:31 -This is a rather diffcult verse in the KJV to understand as it is filled with references of ancient things.What on earth is tow? Apparently it is the refuse left over from flax making the burns quite easily and snaps when it is incinerated. To me it seems that Our Creator is saying that these rebellious people are fit for the pit!

Thoughts on New Covenant Reading - Acts 7:51-8:4

Acts 7:51- 8:4 is the horrific stoning of Stephen.

Oh, my, I have run out of time, and it is time for the Shabbat services led by Messianic Rabbi David Stone Junior out of Beaumanot Texas.  I'll need to catch up on this part later. Perhaps someday, I will be better prepared for the Shabbat studies.

About This Author

Sister Su is grateful to God for keeping her alive. She is a Trent/Queen's Concurrent Education graduate with over 20 years of teaching experience. She writes on several blogs, has a YouTube channel and is most easily reached through Twitter @Sister_Su See her link tree for more details:@Sister_Su | Linktree