In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Salt prevents corruption and decay and it is a natural preservative. Many commentaries agree that Jesus meant that being the salt of the earth means that we have to resist decay and corruption, to stop the rot, to prevent things getting worse!

Scientifically speaking

Salt is essential for our bodies to function, but only in small, regular quantities. Large quantities will make us ill and too much could kill us.  It has a unique taste that has its category in the four categories of taste: sweet, sour, umami (meaty) and salt.

Salt does not truly enter the substance that it affects; it brings out the natural flavour of the food. When you eat a properly salted food, you do not taste food with salt; you taste a food whose own flavour has been brought out by salt.

God’s judgment over Sodom and Gomorra

The first time we encounter salt in the Bible is in the story of Lot and his wife. In Genesis 19:26 Lots wife looked back, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and got turned into a pillar of salt. It seems like a very harsh punishment for a very small mistake. The Hebrew verb used here –  nabat[1], means to look at and show regard to, pay attention to and consider. Lots wife didn’t just look, she took time to think about and consider Gods judgement over the cities.

In Genesis 15:5 The Lord used the same verb when He told Abraham to consider His promises,  to draw conclusions and act accordingly.[2]

The angel forbade Lot and his family to look back and concern themselves with Gods judgement over Sodom and Gomorra and the other cities – it was none of their business.

There are judgements, that God has reserved for Himself and for those He has chosen to share them with.  We are easily tempted to concern ourselves with Gods judgement over other people’s sin. We even have an opinion about Gods judgement over the sins of whole cities and nations. Unless God Himself invites us to be involved, it is none of our business. When disaster strikes someone else Christians are often first  to pronounce it a judgment from God. Even though we have not spoken to God about it and have never interceded for those affected. We do it without love and without mercy.

God rescued Lot but He did not discuss His plans with Lot. Lot was very aware of God’s grace and mercy. On the basis of that mercy, Lot asked God to allow him to take shelter in a small town called Zoar. Lot believed that God was generous and merciful.  He was not concerned with God’s judgment over his former home. His faith was in the goodness of God and not in his own merit or the pros and cons of the situation.

We say we believe that God is good, but do we really? Are we concerned with issues we have never discussed with Him, and even more importantly issues He has never discussed with us? Sometimes it is enough just to be grateful that God has protected us. We don’t always need to have an opinion about everything and there are times when it is none of our business

However sometimes God does involve us.

A friend of God

When God, heard of the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorra, He shared His plans with Abraham. Abraham, reacted exactly the way God wanted him to.  Instead of saying : “Amen Lord, it’s really terrible what’s been going on there, it’s about time You wiped them out,” Abraham came near to God, and started to negotiate with Him to spare Sodom and Gomorrah! The basis of Abrahams negotiations were not whether or not Sodom and Gomorra deserved to be destroyed. Abraham’s first concern was Gods own Name and reputation.

Real intercession always begins with what God thinks of the situation and not what we think God thinks. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to find out Gods opinion. The Spirit of greatest intercessor ever, the Spirit of Christ, longs to teach us the mind of the Father and share with us what Gods will is.[3] The basis of powerful intercession is a deep conviction of Who God is – His grace and mercy and love and righteousness and the honour of His Name.

The view from above

When Lots wife, not only looked back, but concerned herself with and began forming her own conclusions about Gods business, she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

In Genesis 19: 28 Abraham did exactly the same and nothing happened to him at all. When Abraham looked at Gods destruction of the cities, a completely different Hebrew verb is used for ‘to look’, which means to look down on, or upon[4] – as if from a position of elevation, from higher ground. Abraham went back to the place that God spoke to him, (see verse 27). His starting point was not the place where he personally was at, it was the place he last met with God.  When we take the time to go back to the place where we met the Lord and then look at things happening around us, from Gods perspective, then somehow He lifts us above what is going on. We look in a different way and we are comforted. Because in the very next verse we are told that, with Abraham in mind, God had already rescued Lot.

A Pillar – appointed to take a stand

Lots poor wife was not as wise. The word pillar (in Hebrew netseeb) literally means an officer or someone appointed or placed in charge of something. It comes from a verb that means to take a particular stand or position. It is often translated with the words garrison (or military presence), officer, official or even governor.

To judge requires a position of authority derived from somewhere. When Lots wife presumed to judge, she appointed herself to a position of authority that God had not given her. God’s judgements are fair and righteous and His goal is always to bring us back to Him and to give life. Our judgements, when they are made without God do the opposite. They bring guilt and accusation and death. Being turned into a pillar simply confirmed the position that Lots wife had appropriated for herself.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Lots wife’s opinions or conclusions were. We need to avoid making the same mistake in judging or having an opinion about her and about what happened to her, that she made over Sodom and Gomorrah.

Salt in the Bible a symbol of judgement.

When enough salt is scattered over a piece of land, it becomes completely infertile. This was Gods judgment over Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities around them. They went from being incredibly productive and fertile to being a desert. The land was so salt nothing could grow there anymore. It was the custom in Biblical times, when you captured the land of an enemy, to scatter salt on their fields as a punishment, so that they could no longer grow food or crops.[5]

Salt as seasoning

The Hebrew word for salt is melach. It comes from a verb meaning to season or to make something tasty. Hebrew words often have more than one meaning. It also means to disperse, tear away or to be dispersed and dissipated – in other words scattered and used up.

For salt to fulfill its role as seasoning it has to bring out the individual taste of the food and make it stronger. To do that effectively, the salt needs to be evenly mixed and dispersed through the whole dish and not concentrated in one place.

That is why God sometimes puts us in places where we would rather not be. It is saddening that so many well-meaning believers retreat from the world and try to build communities for themselves to feel safe and to live their faith, cut off from everything. We were meant to go and mix with the world. We are not of the world, but we are definitely intended to be in the world.

An offering seasoned with salt

The other place we encounter salt in the Bible, is in the instructions for the sacrifices in Leviticus.  Aaron and the priests were instructed to season every sacrifice with salt.[6] It couldn’t have been as a preservative because the offers were either immediately completely burnt, or cooked and eaten by the priests and Levites and those who brought them. In fact, the first offers mentioned that needed to be seasoned with salt were grain offerings. The grain offerings had to be either completely consumed or burnt on the same day they were offered. They were not allowed to be kept till the following day. The role of salt was therefore not as a preservative.

God wanted the offers to taste good. The Hebrew word for offering is the word korban, which means literally, ‘to draw close to someone.’ The sacrifices in the Bible were not to placate God, but to bring us closer to Him. The Lord wanted to spend time with His people, share a tasty meal with them. It’s all about relationship.

In the New Testament we read in the book of Revelation that the bread of life, Jesus Himself, longs for exactly the same thing when He says to the Laodicean church:  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3;20).

A covenant of salt

In Numbers 18:19  and in 2 Chronicles 13:5 we read about a covenant of salt[7] made  with Aaron and his descendants and with David and his descendants.  The covenant of salt was for two groups of people:  Those called to be priests and those called to be kings.

We as believers are called both as priests and as kings in the Kingdom of God.

Salt is about relationship and about judgement

To have a relationship means sacrificing a piece of yourself. Most of the time it’s our natural selfishness.  When we choose for self-centeredness, our impatience and our pride then our relationships always suffer, both with God and with our fellow man. We have to look at ourselves and judge ourselves and add salt – to ourselves.

Too much salt however makes it impossible for anything to live or for anything to grow. Constantly criticising yourself, guilt and shame, only increase the distance in a relationship. It becomes all about you, instead of all about the other.

The salt of the earth 

Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. (Matthew 5:13)

Jesus always took things a level further. It is not our job to add salt – it is our job to be the salt!

Jesus was talking about people who are extraordinarily blessed, and full of indescribable joy. They are poor in spirit, in mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for doing the right thing, and reviled and lied about because of Jesus.

If you are poor in spirit, it is because you have been broken; if you mourn it is because you have lost something of value to you. You are hungry and thirsty for righteousness when you are surrounded by injustice. You can only be merciful if you have been hurt and offended. A heart that has been purified must once have been filthy. Peacemakers only exist where there is conflict. If you love Jesus, you will be persecuted and lied about.

A taste of the Kingdom

In the middle of all of this you will be blessed and full of indescribable joy.  This is what it means to be salt. You will bring out the true flavour of everything God is doing amongst us. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours, you will be comforted, you will inherit the earth, you will be filled with righteousness, you will obtain mercy and will see God. You will be called sons of God and you will have a great reward in heaven. These are the flavours that you will enhance.

Jesus didn’t tell us to impose our own taste or our own flavour on everyone and everything else. If you have added the right amount of salt then all the lovely flavours of a dish are much stronger, but you should not be able to taste the salt.

Being salt means bringing out the best in others.

In Matthew 5, Jesus made being good even harder than it was before. If you are angry with your brother and call him a fool, it is as bad as murder. When someone has something against you, you are the one who has to make the first step to reconcile with them. It even takes priority over approaching Gods altar. Jesus said, leave your sacrifice at the altar and go and make peace first and then come back. When we draw close to God, He will often, first, send us off to mend relationships before He takes us further.  Jesus taught us about reacting to our enemies in a most astonishing way – bless them, do good to them and pray for them.

This means that we are a people who react to things completely differently to the way the rest of the world does. We are in the world, but we are not of the world.  If we react in a completely natural and understandable way to the difficult circumstances in our lives we will lose that unique taste. Jesus warned that we will then be rejected and trampled on– by the world!

What was important to Jesus was not to preserve something or to try and stop the rot. He spoke about seasoning, about making things delicious. He came to give us life and life in abundance.

Seasoned with fire

“For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. “Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Mark 9:49-50

In Marks gospel Jesus talked about how we need to be prepared to destroy things in our own lives if need be. That if our foot or our eye causes us to sin we would be better off entering the Kingdom of heaven lame and with only one eye than not at all. He called this being seasoned with fire and with salt. Again it’s all about relationship – having peace with one another.

So often, we as believers, think that being salt means pointing out what is wrong and judging others.

The gospels talk about judging ourselves, and never about judging other people.

In all three gospels Jesus emphasizes the fact that salt is there to make things taste good. It’s not about stopping the rot or preserving things. It’s about bringing out and enhancing the true flavour of everything and everyone God made.

In each case Jesus talks about salt that has lost its taste being rejected, not by Him, but by other people. That salt that had lost its saltiness, that no longer enhanced the flavours of the Kingdom of God, could not be mended but would be thrown out by men.

We taste a lot better when we take ourselves with a pinch of salt.

Speech seasoned with salt

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Speech seasoned with salt does not mean you can say everything you think. It’s not about what we need to say, it’s about what the other person needs, or doesn’t need to hear.  We are sometimes so determined to give other person the benefit of our opinion we do enormous damage. We are inconsiderate of their needs and sensitivities because our focus is own need to get something off our own chest.

So what is speech seasoned with grace? Well the word grace (in Greek – charis) means joy, pleasure and delight, goodwill, lovingkindness and favour, thankfulness. That’s what speech made delicious by being salted with grace must contain, mixed evenly throughout and tasty.

As salt, our role is to bring out the best in other people. The salt in our own lives, the things we have judged and wrestled with, enable us to humbly be of service. We taste a lot better when we take ourselves with a pinch of salt.

[1] Hebrew: nabat – Strong number 05027, in the Hiphil form.

[2] “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

[3] 1 Corinthians 2: 12 – 14  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Romans12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.[/3]

[4] In Genesis 14:28, when Abraham looked at Sodom and Gomorrah, ‘looked’ in Hebrew is shaqaf see Strong number 08259.

[5] Deuteronomy 29:23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

Judges 9:45  So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. Ezekiel 47:11 “But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.

Zephaniah 2:9 Therefore, as I live,” Says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah—Overrun with weeds and saltpits, And a perpetual desolation….”[/5]

[6] Leviticus 2:13  ‘And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

[7] Numbers 18:19  The Lord instructed Aaron:  “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD with you and your descendants with you.” 2 Chronicles 13:5  “Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?

Het bericht Seasoned with salt verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.

The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings are part of the (Earlier) Prophets’ (see the Hebrew Bible).
They are not historical books but prophetic books.

Historical books are about things that happened a long time ago. Prophetic books are for now – the time in which we are living.

The book of Joshua – when translated into Greek in the Septuagint is called ‘Iesous’ – Anglicized to Jesus. There is a whole book in the Bible called Jesus! The first five books of the Bible are about a people chosen by God, their deliverance and their journey through the wilderness. Moses gave them the ‘law’ – Gods covenant and instruction, but only Jesus/Joshua could bring them into the Promised Land.

In the book of Joshua we read that as soon as they entered the Promised Land, God demanded that the Israelites be circumcised. They also needed to be circumcised in order to celebrate Passover. This took place at a place called Gilgal. Joshua 5:9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”  We read that Gilgal means ‘rolled away’ because it was the place where God rolled away the shame, the accusation and the blasphemy of Egypt[1]. Although this was a physical act, there were spiritual consequences for their hearts that were extremely important.

We read in Deuteronomy 10:15 – 16 that circumcision of the flesh was not enough but that there was also a circumcision of heart: The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.

In Deuteronomy 30:5-6 the LORD God makes a connection between possessing the Promised Land and the circumcision of heart. First He would rescue them from slavery, from the consequences of their own bad behaviour and idolatry, Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Gilgal was a foreshadowing of something much bigger that was yet to come. The clue is in the name Gilgal. In Hebrew, Gilgal is written with the letters גלגל which is equivalent to our letters GLGL (Hebrew has no vowels). The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a Tav. In Modern Hebrew it looks like this ת, but in ancient Hebrew it looks like this Ϯ – a cross. If we add the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet to Gilgal, in other words, if we add the cross to the place where their shame was rolled away, we get a word in Hebrew or Aramaic that many of us know well: גֻּלְגֹּלֶת  Gulgolet or Golgotha. Golgotha was the place where Jesus was crucified and rolled away the sin of the world (Matthew 27:33).

The next prophetic book of the Bible is the book of Judges – how to judge or discern between what is good in man’s eyes and what is good in God’s eyes. After that the books of Samuel and Kings talk about kingdom principles[2].

Prophetic portions in the Hebrew Bible

In Luke 24:44  Jesus says to the eleven apostles, after His resurrection: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written  in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. The Torah is often called the ‘Books of Moses’, and the Psalms refer to the Writings. Jesus made use of Jewish order of books the Bible – in other words the entire Old Testament.

A selection of examples of scriptures that talk about Jesus coming.

Some of the things that were said about the Messiah – centuries before He came:

A number of the conditions that the Messiah had to fulfill, have already happened, for example, He had to be killed before the destruction of the temple Dan 9:26c, Matthew. 9: 27:50-51.

The Messiah must have visited the temple – before it was destroyed Malachi 3:1-4.

Today no-one can prove that they are directly descended from Jesse, nor from David.

There are no Jews living in Bethlehem any longer.

[1] See Strong numbers: 02781 and 02778

[2] The early Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament combined the books of Samuel and Kings under the title of ‘Kingdoms’, or ‘Reigns’.

Het bericht The Hebrew Bible III verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.

Sons of Leah

1. Reuben רְאוּבֵן‎   “Look A Son” (is born to me)
2. Simeon  שִׁמְעוֹן   “One Who Hears”
3. Levi לֵוִי   “Being Attached” “Joined”
4. Judah יְהוּדָה   “Praise” (be to God)

9. Issachar יִשָּׂשכָר   (He is my) “Reward/recompense”
10. Zebulun זְבֻלוּן   (He is my) “Honor”

Sons of Bilhah

5. Dan דָּן   “To Vindicate/Judge”  (he has judged me)
6. Naphtali נַפְתָּלִי   (He is) “My Struggle”

Sons of Zilpah

7. Gad גָּד   “Good Fortune”  or “troop, company”
8. Asher אָשֵׁר   (He makes me) “Happy”

Sons of Rachel

11. Joseph יוֹסֵף ‎ “May He Add” (another son) – (God has) “taken away” (my disgrace)
12. Benjamin בִּנְיָמִין “Son Of My Right Hand”

Each of the names illustrate a different aspect of the Messiah Jesus Christ:

See the son (Reuben), hear him (Simeon), be attached or joined to him (Levi), and praise him (Judah).
He brings the reward (Issachar) and is our honor (Zebulon).
He adss / gives increase and takes the shame/disgrace away (Joseph).
He is the son of Gods right hand (Benjamin), the judge (Dan) and warrior (Naphtali)
who provides happiness (Gad) and joy (Asher).

Het bericht Messiah and the Tribes of Israel verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.

The Torah is full of types and shadows of Christ.

Hebrews 10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. …

The three most holy sacrifices described in Leviticus,  the burnt offering (olah or ascension offering), guilt offering and sin offering, all had to be killed at the North side of the altar.  The place where Jesus later gave his life, was at a place on the north side of Mount Moriah, outside the city walls. It was the same place where King Solomon quarried the stones with which the first temple was built. On this spot  Jesus was crucified.
The whole temple service speaks about Jesus.
The temple services and the tabernacle were the earthly shadow (a model) of an heavenly reality.

Hebrews 8:5 They (the priests) serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

The way in which Israel was encamped around the tabernacle in the desert speaks about Christ.

The feasts in Leviticus 23, Gods appointed time (and not ‘Jewish feasts’ as they are sometimes called) speak about both Jesus’ first coming and His return.

Colossians 2:16 Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, 17  which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance (the body) is of Christ.

The first four feasts are:

1. Passover,
2. Unleavened bread (which is seven days long),
3. First Fruits,
4. Feast of Weeks.

Passover: Jesus was crucified at Passover

Unleavened bread: He was the bread of life and He was completely without sin or leaven

Firstfruits: He was the first to be raised from the dead, on the first day of the week (which Biblically speaking began at sunset on Saturday evening).

Feast of Weeks: Exactly 50 days afterwards, at the same feast that the Law was given on Sinai, the new covenant, the Holy Spirit was sent to inscribe Gods instructions, not on tablets of stone, but on our hearts. Pentecost derives its name from the counting of 50 days from Passover. It does not have a specific date but the counting of the days means that Passover is only complete at Pentecost.

The second cycle of feasts are the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonements (in Hebrew atonement is plural not singular) and the Feast of Tabernacles (which is seven days long).

The Feast of Tabernacles concludes with a special Sabbath (called a shabbatton). On the 8^th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, you are no longer allowed to sit or dwell in your little tent or shelter. It speaks of things beyond this world, a time when heaven and earth meet. Many believe that Jesus will return during the Feast of Tabernacles.

It is important to know Gods plan and His appointed times. Jesus castigated the Pharisees for knowing everything about the weather and yet not understanding Gods timing.

The genealogies in the Bible also reflect the Messiah.

The names of the first ten generations from Adam to Noah form a sentence that tells the story of the whole gospel See: The Gospel in Noah’s geneaology.

The names of the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob, are all about Jesus.

See: The Messiah and the tribes of Israel.
The typology in the stories – for example: the stories of Joseph and of Jonah

A few parallels between the lives of Joseph and Jesus (in no special order).

1. Both born through a miracle  Gen.30:2 and 22    Isa. 7:14  Matt. 1:20-23
2. Both went to Egypt in their youth Gen. 39:1 – Matt. 3:13-14
3. Both began their life’s work at the age of thirty Gen.41:46 Luke.3[ 23]
4. Both were shepherds of their father’s sheep Gen. 37:2 – John 10:11, 14
5. Both were loved by their fathers Gen. 37:3 – Matt. 3:17, 17:5; John 3:35, 5:20, 2Pet. 1:17
6. Both were hated by their own  Gen.37[ 4, 8 – John 7:7
7. Both were sold for the pieces of silver Gen. 37:28  Matt.27:3, 9 (Jospeh 20, Jesus 30)
8. Both were between two prisoners Gen.40[ 1] – Mark.15[ 27]
9. Both were falsely accused Gen.39[ 14-18 – Mark.14[ 56]
10. Josephs brothers ate a meal while he was in the pit (Genesis 37:25). Jesus people ate a meal (Passover) when He went down into the pit (John 13:1).
11. Both stood up out of the pit Genesis 37:28, John 20
12. Both had garments dipped in blood    Gen. 37:31 – Rev. 19:13
13. Both returned to their father Gen.46 [29] – John 14:28
14. Both became a servant and were then exalted highly Gen. 39 – Phil. 2:7
15. Both were a blessing to others Gen. 39:5 Eph 1:3
16. Both were a provider of bread Gen. 41:48 – John 6:48

Het bericht The Hebrew Bible II verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.

When Paul, in his letters in the New Testament, talks about the relationship between men and women, he constantly refers back to something known as ‘the creation order’. He is not giving arbitrary advice based on his personal assessment of the situation, but he teaches and reinforces the values and principals laid down when God created first humans. Paul saw this information as not only still valid but also necessary, thousands of years later. [1]

To understand what the Bible says about relationships and how God created us to relate to each other, we need to go back to the beginning.
Genesis offers a great deal of information in a compact form. There is enormous depth of meaning in the text, which would be impossible to cover in a few articles. So this is just a summary of some of the more important principles.

People are created in Gods image and likeness

Genesis 1 says that ‘man’ was created in Gods image and likeness. This has in some cases unfortunately led to speculation over whether or not women have also been accorded the same honour. The Bible however is very clear. In Genesis 1:27 it is clearly stated that not just men, but all humans were created in Gods image and likeness: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

This was, and unfortunately still is, a radical idea in many cultures. Women are regarded as being ‘lesser’ than men; an inferior type of person. However the Bible is very clear that both masculine and feminine traits, male and female, are very much in Gods image.
When the Jews began to spread the good news about the coming of their Messiah and the Kingdom of God amongst the Greek gentiles this was a shocking piece of information. Greek and Roman culture regarded women as inferior beings, not equal to men. They were a necessary evil whose only quality lay in having children. Greek women were either regarded as their personal property – to be kept indoors, do the housework and breed. Or as prostitutes whose only function was the entertainment of men. Women were not allowed to hold a position of leadership, own property or do business and the handful of women that attempted to do so were regarded as dangerous and unnatural. Greek literature is full of shocking references to how depraved and inferior women are.

Converts to the new faith in Jesus Christ brought their heathen cultural values with them. Many church fathers in the early church, otherwise godly men, continued to regard women inferior to men in every way. While the Bible speaks about women who were judges, leaders and prophets, women whose advice was sought by kings, women who owned businesses and property and knew how to handle money. Jesus allowed them to follow Him and learn from Him. They financed his ministry and did a better job of it than even His disciples [2]. He entrusted them with authority, and recognized them as reliable witnesses [3].

Greek cultural values have had an enormous influence on Western European society and values, and still do. During the last several centuries, Greek language, philosophy and literature were regarded as a necessary part of higher education – even in the church. Instead of reading the Bible as it is written, most theological education started with Greek language, philosophy and literature, and then when they had firmly established their grip on the wrong end of the stick, they read the Bible.

All they really needed to do was read their Bible – because both men and women, every male and female characteristic, are created in Gods image. Women –though they are different from men – are neither superior to men, nor are they inferior. Both sexes have divine characteristics.

Dominion – called to reign

God gave both men and women not only a command to rule over creation, but also the authority to do so.
In Genesis 1:26 God gave ‘man’ dominion over all of creation. From Genesis 1:27 it is very clear that ‘man’, includes both male and female. Both male and female were present in one person, one being. Only later did God separate them and differentiate them.
Scripture is also very clear about what exactly they had dominion over: have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. They were not given dominion over each other or over other people.

In fact God told them to subdue the earth, by force if necessary. The Hebrew word for dominion here is the word “radah” (רדה), which means to dominate, subjugate, to tread down in order to rule. It means reigning by force if necessary.
It is interesting to note that Hebrew has another word for ruling and reigning that is used in Genesis.

Reigning by example

In Genesis 3:16 God says to the woman: Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.
It is important to note that it was not the man, who said this, but God; and God didn’t say this to the man, He said it to the woman.

Secondly the context here is clearly a marriage. Scripture does not teach that men in general must rule over women in general.

The Hebrew word for ‘ruling over’ someone in this text is the word “mashal” (משל). It differs quite significantly from the dominance and subjugation God commanded over creation. “mashal”, means to rule and have dominion, not by treading someone down or subjugating them, but by providing an example for them. Instead of forcing someone, you prepare the way for them and show them how, by doing yourself what you want them to do. The Hebrew word “mashal” also means ‘a parable’. It is a way of teaching someone by giving an example.

When Paul tells men in Ephesians 5 that they are the head of their wife (their own wife and not all women) He explains how it should work. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Paul talks about the example Christ set us of loving your wife by laying down your own life in order to sanctify her. He talks about using Gods word as to wash her – to make her clean, and not to accuse her and oppress her and confront her with all her failures. He describes nourishing and cherishing her in the same way Jesus does with this church.

The wife’s role in all of this is to subject herself to her husband, not as a slave or a servant but as an equal who chooses to submit because she recognizes the value of it. They are equals, but in performing their duties they have different roles.

“Mashal” is used for the first time in the Bible on the fourth day of creation in Genesis 1:16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. The two great lights refer to the sun and the moon who ‘rule’ the day and night by giving of themselves, giving light and warmth, providing the means to grow but also to rest, nourishing and cherishing.

[1] For example 1 Timothy 3:12 “Husbands of one wife”: nowhere in the Bible is it explicitly forbidden to have more than one wife, however it is obviously preferable to have only one wife and this is derived from the Creation order. See also: 1 Corinthians 11:3, 7-12, Ephesians 5:23-33,

[2] John 12:6 Judas was stealing. Luke 8:3 The women who ministered to Jesus out of their substance – in other words – financially.

[3] Matt 27:10, John 20:17-18. According to Roman law the testimony of a woman was not legally valid in court.

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Paul wrote to the Colossians:

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:13-15 NKJV

Various Christian Bible commentators are of the opinion that the ‘handwriting of requirements that was against us’, referred to the ‘Tora’, or the first five books of the Bible. They perceive the Law of Moses as a heavy burden of demands and commandments that was ‘wiped out’ by Christ’s death on the cross. Others conclude that the Ten Commandments, written by God’s finger on tablets of stone, are therefore no longer valid.

The question is did Paul mean to say that God’s Torah was nailed to the cross and is therefore no longer valid. If he did then he contradicts Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17 where Jesus explicitly says that He did NOT come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. The Greek word translated with ‘destroy’, literally means that it no longer functions and is no longer valid or binding.

To understand what Paul really meant in his letter to the Colossians, we need to look more closely at the Greek word ‘handwriting’.

The ‘cheirographon’

The word for handwriting that Paul used in this text is the Greek word ‘cheirographon’. A ‘cheirographon’ is a handwritten official document.

We find an example of a handwritten official document in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 referring to a written certificate of divorce. This certificate describes the agreement that has been reached and is signed. In order to make the divorce official, a scribe was hired to write up the certificate of divorce, which was then signed by both parties involved. Mark 10:4 also refers to a certificate of divorce.

The word ‘cheirographon’, was also used for a handwritten acknowledgement or note of debt, something like an I.O.U. When the debt was paid in full, the ‘cheirographon’, was invalidated by piercing it with something sharp like a nail.

A ‘cheirographon’, was also used in the case of the crucifixion or punishment of a criminal. All the charges of which the person had been found guilty (frequently a whole list) were written on a piece of parchment and nailed to the cross on which the person convicted of those crimes would be crucified. Everyone could then see why he was hanging there and what he had done to deserve such a cruel punishment. This written indictment or accusation was called a ‘titlos’, in Latin. John used the word ‘titlos’, to describe the accusations that were hung on the cross on which Jesus hung (John 19:19). It was written in three different languages (John 19:20).

The accusation against Jesus was extraordinary: ‘King of the Jews’!

“And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (Mark 15:26).

It was the list of things of which the person was accused and found guilty that was nailed to the cross. Their crimes were listed and displayed. The list was a description of the things in which someone had broken the law, not the law itself.

Paul used this example to make it clear to us that the list of crimes, the handwriting of requirements that was against us, was nailed to the cross with Christ. Every accusation against us, has been paid for and dealt with and can no longer be used against us. Jesus has wiped out the things of which we are guilty and for which we should have been severely punished.  He did not wipe out the law or the Torah. He wiped out our guilt.

Accusation and guilt

Many believers struggle with feelings of guilt or shame about things that they have done in the past. It is important to confess our sin (to tell God and to tell someone who will hold us accountable), and to make reparation for any damage we have caused. Zacchaeus was willing to pay back the money he had cheated and extorted when he abused his position as chief tax collector (Luke 19:8). He was even prepared to pay back four times the amount, which was a lot more than his legal obligation. According to Torah, he had to pay back the full amount plus twenty percent (Lev 6:3-5).

When we confess our sin to God, He places all of our guilt on Jesus (Isaiah 53:6). That means that we acknowledge what happened, and our responsibility for it. But the accusation against us, which demands that WE be punished, has been nailed to the cross with Him and is therefore no longer valid for us (Col 2:14).

This means that the devil and powers and principalities no longer have any legal basis to accuse us. In Colossians 2:15 Paul says that they have been disarmed. Their chief weapon against us is the fact that we are guilty. It is not the law, but the fact that we are guilty of breaking the law that the devil uses against us. Even though we are guilty, and deserving of punishment, the list of our crimes has been completely wiped out and is no longer legally valid. The devil has no legal right any longer to demand our death or punishment.

There is a simple but effective technique to remind yourself of this amazing truth. When the devil keeps on accusing you of things that you have already confessed and dealt with, make a list of them. Then use a sharp object to pierce every item on your list. As you do so, take time to pray and thank the Father that all these crimes and trespasses are nailed to the cross with Christ, and everything that stands against us (is contrary to us) is no longer valid. The devil has no basis any longer to keep accusing us, and we resist his every attack in the name of Jesus our Lord who paid for our freedom (1 Peter 5:6-11). Then destroy the list completely.

Each of those accusations is no longer legal or valid and therefore no longer has a right to influence us. People often feel bad about themselves because they feel guilty. Feelings of recurring guilt are dangerous because when we feel ashamed of ourselves it makes it difficult for us to come close to God. This can result in a kind of paralysis. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of something we have done wrong, He always brings us back to Christ, so that we can confess what we have done and be forgiven and changed. He is the Comforter and Helper who guides us to take responsibility for what we have done to sort out the things from our past. He never accuses us and leaves us feeling guilty and hopeless and ashamed. He is always specific about what we did wrong and what we need to do now, instead of vague feelings of guilt and powerlessness. He helps us not just to come closer to God but to run to God, desperate for and confident in His forgiveness. He doesn’t play with our emotions, or keep us hanging on a line. When we deal with the sin with the help of the Holy Spirit, it always brings us closer to God and guilt and shame are replaced by peace and joy.

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The Hebrew alphabet

Old Hebrew

The Old Hebrew or the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is an offshoot of the ancient Semitic alphabet, identical to the Phoenician alphabet. It dates at least back to the 10th century BCE. Some Paleo-Hebrew fragments of the Torah were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Modern

This square typeface style of writing is the one most commonly seen in Hebrew, like printed Hebrew Bibles and most printed Yiddish books. It is referred to as block print or sometimes Assyrian text.

Cursive

There is different style used for handwriting, in much the same way that cursive is used for the Roman (English) alphabet.

Rashi

The Rashi script is a semi-cursive typeface for the Hebrew alphabet. It is customarily used for printing rabbinic commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. It is based on 15th century Sephardic semi-cursive handwriting.
The purpose of this special script was to distinguish the rabbinic commentary from the text itself, for which the square typeface was used. The Rashi typeface is also traditionally used for printed Ladino.

Value

The Alefbet or Hebrew Alphabet consists of 22 letters. Hebrew letters are also used to denote numbers. (The modern numeral symbols like 1, 2 and 3 did not exist till the 7th century of the Common Era.)

Note that there are two versions of some letters. Kaf, Mem, Nun, Peh and Tsadi. They are written differently when they appear at the end of a word than when they appear in the beginning or middle of the word. The version used at the end of a word is referred to as Final Kaf or Kaf Sofit, Final Mem or Mem sofit, Final Nun or Nun sofit, etc. The version of the letter on the right is the final version. In all cases except Final Mem, the final version has a long tail.

See Wikipedia for more on the Hebrew letters.

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The order of the books of the First Testament in most Christian Bibles differs from the Hebrew Bible. The order of the books is derived from the Septuagint – a Greek translation of the Old Testament that endeavoured to place the books in some kind of chronological order. The Hebrew Bible, however orders the books not according to when they happened but according to three main categories: Instruction, Prophecy and Writings (or additional information).

In order for us to understand the Bible, it is important to know how Jesus read the Bible. For example in Luke 11:49 – 51, Jesus taught: Therefore the wisdom of God also said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.”

What does Jesus mean from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah? Why are these two people specifically mentioned out of all the murders and violent deaths in the Bible?[1]

The murder of Abel takes place at the beginning of the first book of the Bible – Genesis, and the murder of Zechariah takes place at the end of the last book in Jesus’ Bible – which was 2^nd Chronicles. He is therefore talking about all the blood that was spilt in the Bible.

TANACH

Tanach is the name of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Tanach is also called, The Mikra (Miqra) or the Hebrew Scriptures.
At the time of Jesus (Yeshua), the Hebrew Scriptures had already been divided into the three sections: Torah, Prophets, and Writings. He referred to this order: “the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).

Tanach [תַּנַ”ךְ‎] (also spelt Tanakh) is an acronym[2] for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament).

The letters of each part of TaNaCH:

Torah, (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning ‘teaching’ and ‘instruction’.

It primarily refers to the first section of the Tanach: ‘the Five Books of Moses’.
It is also called the Chumash or Pentateuch (= ‘The Five’), or ‘The Law’.
(See also God’s blueprint)

Nevi’im, (נביאים) (‘The Prophets’)

Ketuvim, (כתובים) Ketuvim is the third and final section of the Tanach. The Hebrew word כתובים (ketuvim) means ‘writings’.
In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled ‘The Writings’ or ‘Hagiographa’.

THE BOOKS OF TANACH

Torah – The Five Books of Moses

Genesis               Bereshit (בראשית = in the beginning)
Exodus                Shemot (שמות = names)
Leviticus             Vayikra (ויקרא = and He called)
Numbers            Bemidbar (במדבר = in the dessert)
Deuteronomy    Devarim (דברים = words)

Nevi’im – The Prophets

The Earlier or Former Prophets

Joshua                 Yehoshua (יהושע)
Judges                 Shofetim (שופטים)

1 Samuel             I Shemu’el (א׳ שמואל)
2 Samuel            II Shemu’el (ב׳ שמואל)

1 Kings                I Melakhim (ב׳ מלכים)
2 Kings               II Melakhim (ב׳ מלכים)

The Latter Prophets

The Major Prophets

Isaiah                   Yeshayahu (ישעיה)
Jeremiah             Yirmeyahu (ירמיה)
Ezekiel                 Yechezkel (יחזקאל)

The Trei Assar – The Twelve Minor Prophets

Hosea                Hoshea (הושע)
Joel                    Yo’el (יואל)

Amos                 Amos (עמוס)
Obadiah            Ovadyah (עובדיה)

Jonah                Yonah (יונה)
Micah                 Mikha (מיכה)

Nahum              Nachum (נחום)
Habakkuk         Chavakkuk (חבקוק)

Zephaniah        Tzefanyah (צפניה)
Haggai              Chaggai (חגי)

Zechariah         Zekharyah (זכריה)
Malachi             Mal’akhi (מלאכי)

Ketuvim – The Writings

Psalms             Tehillim (תהילים)
Proverbs           Mishle (משלי)

Job                     Iyov (איוב)
Song of Songs Shir HaShirim (שיר השירים)

Ruth                   Rut (רות)
Lamentations  Ekha (איכה)

Ecclesiastes    Kohelet (קהלת)
Esther                Ester (אסתר)

Daniel                Daniyel (דניאל)
Ezra                    Ezra  (עזרא)
Nehemiah         Nechemyah (נחמיה)

I Chronicles      Divre HaYamim aleph (א׳ דברי הימים)
II Chronicles     Divre HaYamim beth (ב׳ דברי הימים)

NOTE

The Book Daniel is nowadays considered part of the Writings, or Ketuvim, in the Hebrew Bible. In Christian Bibles, Daniel is grouped among the Prophets, following the Septuagint or LXX. The Septuagint has four groupings: The Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Prophets and the Poetic Books.

Daniel is not considered a prophet by the Rabbis of the Talmud. Prior to the publication of the Talmud (500 CE), Daniel was called a prophet. The Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100 CE) calls Daniel: “one of the greatest of the prophets,” (Antiquities 10:11.7 [266, 268]) and the Dead Sea Scrolls speak about: “the book of Daniel, the prophet” (4Q174 II.4). Jesus also called him a prophet in Matthew 24:15-16.

Samuel and Kings are each counted as one book. In addition, the twelve Minor Prophets are counted as one single collection called Trei Asar or ‘The Twelve (Prophets)’. In the Jewish liturgy, selections from the books of Nevi’im known as the Haftarah are read publicly in the synagogue after the reading of the Torah on each Shabbat, as well as on Jewish festivals (Moadim) and fast days.

[1] Someone commented that it was all the blood shed from A to Z. Nice idea; but Zechariahs name in Hebrew begins with a Zayin, which is the 7^th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet and not the last letter – as in English.

[2] An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of words.

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In order to understand God’s plans for the future, to understand the prophetic books of the Bible and to be able to interpret them in a biblical way, it is imperative first of all to understand God’s blueprint [1].

A lot of people are concerned about the future of the world. The current spate of natural disasters around the world, the political upheavals of the last decades and the shift of economic power, demand our attention. Many turn to the apocalyptic books of the Bible for answers.

The most well-known apocalyptic book is the book called ‘Apokálypsis’ (αποκάλυψις), which is simply Greek for the name of the book otherwise known as “Revelation”.

It is the last of the sixty-six books of the Bible, and often the least understood. One of the main reasons for this is that Christianity has distanced itself from its Hebrew and Jewish roots. The book of Revelation was never meant to stand on its own and cannot be properly studied or understood without understanding its origins.

Even though it was received by the early church as a deeply comforting book, full of consolation and hope, this view changed over time. For various reasons the book of Revelation tends to be sidelined, as often by Jews as by Christians. Both groups tend to ignore how typically Jewish it is. The language and the symbolism all come from the TaNaCH (the ‘First Testament’ of the Bible or the ‘Hebrew Bible’) and it follows the pattern of Gods blueprint – the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible).

For many Church fathers their rejection of the Jewish roots of their faith, also made the book of Revelation inaccessible for them. In spite of their valuable contributions to Christianity in so many other aspects, Martin Luther, amongst others, even felt that it should not have been included in the Bible.

The Blueprint

These days there are people who travel far and wide to all kinds of interesting meetings and speakers on the subject of ‘The End Times’ or the book of Revelation. Many of them forget that the book of Revelation is part of a package. It is a book that is a rightful part of our Bible; full of descriptive language and expressions that are only fully to be understood by those who understand the basis on which it was written.
Why would God give us a book and guard it for two thousand years, so that it would not be lost, but available to everyone who wanted it, even giving it the name ‘Revelation’, only to make it completely incomprehensible?
The problem is not the book, it’s the reader. The book of Revelation works on the assumption that the readers already have a basic knowledge of a number of things. This is not unusual in the Bible. Jesus himself, when teaching, used many symbols and examples and expressions that His audience already knew and were familiar with.

The question is therefore, how can we acquire this knowledge? The answer is easy. Jesus audiences were all familiar with the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. The same is true for the believers in the first century, who received with great joy ‘the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John’.

God’s blueprint can be compared to an architects drawings and plans. Without good drawings and plans and detailed measurements and materials made by a trained architect, it is impossible to build a house with everything in the right place, or even to understand at which stage the building process is. So it is with God’s blueprint, the Torah.

The Torah in Judaism

The Torah [2] is the name given to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In the Bible it is often referred to as the ‘law’, or ‘Moses’ or the ‘Books of Moses’. It is sometimes called the ‘Pentateuch’ (from the Greek word for ‘five’), or the ‘Chumash’ (from the Hebrew word for ‘five’).

For the Jews, the Torah still has a central place in religious life, even today. It was divided into portions, one portion for every week of the year and then subdivided into 7 portions, one for each day of the week. In this way, the Torah is read every day all year round [3] (or in some cases in a triennial reading cycle). Every year, when the end of Deuteronomy is reached they start straight away all over again at the beginning in Genesis. This is celebrated at the end of the feast of Tabernacles and is called ‘Simchat Torah’ (the Joy of the Torah). Besides the Torah, a portion from one of the other books of the First Testament is also read, frequently from the prophetic books [4]. This is called the Haftara (Haphtarah).

In the synagogue, in the time of Jesus, it were mostly Jews from the tribe of Levi who were allowed to read the Torah portion aloud, and Jews from other tribes who read from the prophetic books. It was an honour for Jesus to be asked to read aloud in the synagogue in Luke 4, and as he was not a Levite, the portion he was to read was from the prophet Isaiah. The portion for that week was from Isaiah 61 and spoke about the Messiah and his ministry. Jesus spoke often of the fact that the Torah and Prophets spoke about him (Luke 24:27).

There are Christians who believe that the Torah is no longer valid for believers and no longer has anything relevant to tell us. However Jesus himself said that he had not come to invalidate the Torah, but to fulfill it! He emphasized the importance of even the smallest letter in the Torah (Matthew 5:17-48). Jesus himself gave us even more commandments than those contained in the Torah (there are 613 commandments in the Torah and more than a thousand in the New Testament).

The Torah contains Gods instructions for the whole of mankind but many of the things God commanded were specifically for the children of Israel, and were never a requirement for the gentiles.
Paul knew and emphasized the importance of the Torah and the First Testament. In his first letter to the Corinthian church he explains that the First Testament told us that Jesus would die for our sins and after three days he would rise from the dead (1Corinthians 15:3-4). In his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 3:12-18) Paul talks about being in Christ and reading the Torah (he uses the expression ‘when Moses is read’). Knowing Christ removes a sort of veil that made us (and the children of Israel) blind to what the Spirit of God is saying and doing through the Torah and the Old Testament (Isaiah 25:7, 2Corinthians 3:14). When Jesus opens our eyes, the Spirit of God reveals the glory of God to us through the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). Paul then describes the powerful effect it has. As we look into it and study it, it changes us so that we begin to reflect Gods glory ourselves: “… from glory to glory”…

The believers in the early church were nearly all Jewish, and had grown up with the Holy Scriptures (see 2Timothy 3:15-17). Scripture was for them the collection of the 39 books that form the Old Testament or the First Testament in our Bible. They studied these Scriptures daily (see Acts 17:11). The New Testament didn’t exist yet.

God’s instruction

The Torah is the ‘Word of God’ and was given on Mount Sinai, with a trumpet call. The Messiah, the ‘Word made flesh’ will come in the same way: with a trumpet call.

The Torah familiarizes us with specific biblical principles, expressions and symbolism. In order to fully understand and appreciate and enjoy the New Testament it is important to begin with Gods blueprint.

The Torah is God’s Word (Hebrew: DaBaR – דבר) and was given in the desert (Hebrew: MiDBaR – מדבר). The two words are related in Hebrew. As the blueprint of God’s plan of redemption for mankind the Torah points continually toward “the word made flesh”, the Messiah – Jesus.

The Torah is not a book of rules. The word Torah is in most Bibles, generally translated with the word “law”. This is not really an accurate translation of the Hebrew word Torah.

The word Torah comes from the Hebrew verb, ‘yarah’ (ירה), which means amongst other things: instruction or teaching. The Torah is Gods instruction for us, to teach us how to receive eternal life and how to serve God and how to love our neighbour.

Both the names Jerusalem and Moriah are derived from the same verb. Moriah was the place where Abraham was to offer his son Isaac, which is the area where Jerusalem is later built. Jerusalem is the city in which Jesus laid his life down for our sin. In this prophetic place the Lord gives us a wonderful instruction. The Bible also connects Moriah with Gods provision.

The Torah roll

The Torah is still today written on a roll made of parchment made from animal skin. The first time we come across animal skin in the Bible, God gave an animal skin to the man and woman in the Garden of Eden to cover their nakedness.

The parchment is rolled around two wooden staffs. Each staff is called an “Etz Chaim”, meaning a “tree of life”, in Hebrew. The tree that gives life is a reference to the cross in the Bible.

The structure of the Torah

The five books of the Torah are like the fingers of a hand. They are different, but each is connected to the others. The first four books are very similar in form and content. In Hebrew, each book begins with the word: “…and…”, connecting them to each other.

Deuteronomy, the fifth and last book, is a sort of summary that repeats elements of the first four books and complements with them, just as the thumb works together with the four fingers.

In the Bible, the hand is symbolic of action and specifically of when God acts, which is a central theme of the Torah.

Just as the human body is built up symmetrically, with not only two limbs, but also a number of organs in pairs, so the Torah is built up in a clearly symmetrical pattern like the pattern of the menorah, the lampstand with seven arms that stood in the Temple. This symmetrical pattern is also evident in other parts of the Bible, such as the book of Lamentations and the five books of Psalms (that together make up the 150 Psalms in the Bible).

The contents of the Torah

The Torah speaks of what was and what is and what is to come (compare Revelation 1:19). It was not meant to be a sort of history book for us, nor an archaeology book, or even literature. It is a prophetic book (Luke 24:27,44). The Torah speaks, sometimes using the events in peoples lives, about Gods plan to save humanity and the future of the world.

It explains how we can be part of Gods great deliverance and which role Israel played in it all. It is a book of freedom for people in slavery and comfort and hope for those who live in a broken world.

The other books of the Bible, including the prophetic books and the New Testament expand on the things revealed in the Torah and God has never deviated from His plan (see Hebrews 6:17).

The building blocks of the Torah

The Torah is constructed with the help of 22 little ‘building blocks’, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet or ‘Alefbet’. Hebrew is the language of the Old Testament and each Hebrew letter is not only a letter but also a number. This means that every word in Hebrew has a numeric value.

This information makes it possible to understand what was meant by the number of the Antichrist in Revelation. The number of Antichrist is recognizable in the numerical value of the letters that make up his name (written in Hebrew letters not English). Revelation tells us that that value is 666. However the Greek text is very clear that the numerical value is not six, six, six as many people believe, but six hundred and sixty and six. (The numerical value of six, six, six, is eighteen 6+6+6=18).

The Hebrew letters

Each Hebrew letter also has its own meaning.
The Aleph (א), the first letter, with the numerical value 1, means head, and refers to God. We are told in Deuteronomy 6:4 that God is one. He is the first, the basis of everything.

The Bet (ב), the second letter is a house (בית), and is the first letter of the Bible. The Bible is a book about a house that God is still building – a blueprint.

The third letter, the number three, is a Gimel (ג), a camel (גמל) – a method of transport from one place to another in the lands of the Bible. The number 3, in the Bible represents preparation and is all about the price of freedom, or in other words redemption. Abraham travelled for three days to reach the place called Moriah where he was to sacrifice Isaac. Moses was hidden for three months before his mother put him in the river in a basket of reeds. It took all three men, Aaron, Moses and Hur, standing together on the rock, in order to defeat Amalek. Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights.

The fourth letter, the Dalet (ד), means door (דלת). Jesus told us that He is the door to God and He is from the tribe of Judah, the fourth tribe of Israel.

The fifth letter, the Heh (ה) means breath, and is a symbol of the Holy Spirit (the word for spirit and wind are the same word in Hebrew). After his encounter with the Angel of the Lord, Abram (אברם) received the letter Heh in his name and became Abraham (אברהם) the symbol of a Spirit-filled believer, saved by grace through faith.

It is possible to go through the whole alphabet like this.

The importance of the numbers

Some Scriptures are difficult to understand until you look at the numbers as well as the letters. For example in Genesis 49:10 we read:  The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. The numerical value of the phrase ‘Shiloh comes’, is 358 (three hundred and fifty and eight), which is in Hebrew the numerical value of the word Messiah [5]. This is consistent with the context of the text and is points towards Jesus Christ.

The lampstand

In the book Revelation we encounter the lampstand in the context of the Church of Jesus Christ. The lampstand is a concept already established in the Torah in various forms. In Exodus 25, God instructs Israel to build a golden menorah, the lampstand with seven arms, for the tabernacle. The Torah itself and the books of the Torah are structured according the model of the menorah.

The pattern of the menorah or lampstand in the Torah all refer to Jesus, who is the light of the world. The oil which was burnt in the lampstand is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The lampstand or menorah in the Temple was made of solid gold, which is a biblical symbol of perfection, as gold does not rust like other metals.

The menorah or lampstand has seven arms. There are three arms on either side of the central arm. The central arm is called the ‘shamash’ meaning servant. It both supports and serves the other arms, and the other arms all come together in the central arm.

The central arm is the Lord Jesus – the ‘servant’ of God (Isaiah 53:11). In him everything comes together (Col 1:17, 20). When we give Jesus the central place in our lives, we allow ourselves to be formed by Him until everything we are and do is ‘in Him’.

One of the significant features of the menorah is that the arms on either side of the central arms are a reflection of each other. The similarity between the arms on one side and the arms on the other side is called parallelism. The prophetic books make use of parallelism in various forms. But it is important to realize that the most important sections are often not in at the beginning or the end, but in the middle.

Western European and American cultures are based on a Greco – Roman world view, and are very different to the Semitic, biblical way of looking at things. African and middle-eastern cultures are often actually much closer. The most important though is going back to the biblical roots and Hebrew origins of the wonderful message of the gospel that has been entrusted to us. The things God longs to build in us and with us are based on a blueprint that is not only valid but also necessary.

Where do I start?

Many verses in the New Testament are citations from the First Testament. Most Bibles give a reference to the book, chapter and verse that is quoted. To get the full meaning of a verse it is important to look up these reference verses and read them in the context. This will often shed a fresh light on the Bible text and will help you to understand what the writers had in mind while writing God’s Word.

[1] A blue-print is a photographic print (contact print) of a drawing or other image rendered as white lines on a blue background, especially such a print of an architectural plan or technical drawing. The term “blueprint” has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan used as a guide for building or action.

[2] Torah (תּוֹרָה‎) is Hebrew for ‘Instruction’. The word ‘Torah’ is derived from the Hebrew root ‘Jarah’ (ירה) which means ‘to teach’, ‘to shoot an arrow’ or ‘to hit the mark’. The meaning of the word is therefore not ‘law’, but ‘teaching,’ ‘doctrine,’ or ‘instruction’; the commonly accepted ‘law’ gives a wrong impression.

[3] During Temple times the practice in Israel was a triennial reading cycle. The Jews in Babylon and other countries outside Israel used to read the Torah in one year.

[4] In the Hebrew Bible the book Joshua belongs to the ‘Early Prophets’, but in the Septuagint and the Christian Bibles Joshua belongs to the ‘Historical Books’.

[5]  The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 49:11a reads: “Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah … until King Messiah comes”.

Het bericht God’s Blueprint verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.

Many of us deeply desire to see the power and glory that was visible in the early church being manifested in our churches today. What did they do differently to what we do today? The Bible gives us a number of ‘keys’ that contribute to the making the Kingdom of God more visible. One of these keys is fasting.

In the time of the early church it was the custom amongst both the Jews that believed that Jesus was the Messiah and Jews that didn’t, to fast regularly. There were scriptural fasts – such as on the Day of Atonement, but also voluntary fasts. Most Jews fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, the market days, when the Torah was read out aloud in public. In the time of the early church, gentile believers adopted the same practices when they became Christians, and continued to do so for several hundred years, until it was forbidden to fast on these days.[1]

What is fasting?

Both the Hebrew and Greek words for fasting mean simply to refrain from everything that goes in your mouth. So fasting meant refraining from food or drink. The purpose of fasting was to seek fellowship with God. It is therefore very different to trying to lose weight. The time you save by not having to acquire, prepare and eat food is meant to be spent in prayer. If you stop watching television or reading the newspaper during the period of fasting you can make even more time available for prayer. However just not watching television for a period is not, as some people think, a fast.

Is fasting still valid for us?

Jesus assumed that people fasted regularly, and even gave them instructions on how to go about it “… moreover when you fast…” (Matthew 6:16-18).

Many Christians though are still not sure whether or not fasting is valid for New Testament believers.
A lot of people in the Old Testament fasted – Moses, Elijah, Ezra, Nehemiah, David, Daniel, Esther.[2] The Lord Jesus – our greatest example, also fasted (Matthew 4:2).
The only exception we read about were the twelve disciples, who did not fast during Jesus’ ministry on earth. However Jesus assumed that after He went up to heaven, they would fast again (see Luke 5:34-35). In the book of Acts and in the letters in the New Testament we see that the early believers fasted regularly. It was normal to fast and pray before taking an important step. The church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabus on their way with fasting and prayer (Acts 13:2-3). When elders were appointed they prayed and fasted (Acts 14:23) before taking up their duties. Paul even names fasting as one of the things by which you can recognize ministers of God (2Corinthians 6:5).

Many influential men that were powerfully used by God fasted regularly, such as Wesley, Finney, Booth and Spurgeon.

The goal of fasting

Fasting is not meant to be a way of punishing yourself or trying to make reparation for something. One of the goals of fasting is to teach your spirit to rule over your body (your hunger and weakness) and your soul (your thoughts and emotions). Fasting teaches obedience and discipline. Making a decision is not so difficult, but sticking to your decision when the going gets tough is sometimes very difficult. Fasting helps us to practice this. It is nearly always an uncomfortable physical experience and our bodies generally object to the process. The Bible even calls it ‘afflicting your soul’ (Leviticus 23:27). Your body will certainly rebel and in the beginning you often feel unpleasantly weak and hungry and even miserable. However after two or three days, the hunger pangs simply go away and your body begins to feel better.

Through fasting regularly we learn to take spiritual authority over our body. Normally our body dictates when we eat and how much, so it is very good to let your body know regularly who is really in control.
Regular fasting helps us to practice walking according the Spirit and not according to our physical senses and our flesh (Romans 8:13, 1Corinthians 9:27).

Sometimes fasting is used as a sort of hunger-strike to try and get Gods attention, or to force Him to respond to a particular prayer. This is not a Biblical basis for fasting but can be found in some forms of pagan idol worship. The God of the Bible loves us and longs to bless us and give us every good thing. He paid an enormous price so that we could enter His Kingdom where we have access to every good thing that He has already prepared for us. That is why the Bible promises that we will receive everything we need if we will just seek Gods Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).
We don’t have to fast and pray for things that according to Gods word, already belong to us; things like food and shelter and the things we need to live.
One consequence of this way of thinking is the lie that we can only receive something from God through our own efforts.

Fasting is not a sort of sacrifice that we offer in the hope that God will give us something in return. But fasting is meant to direct our attention completely toward God, so that we become a bit less sensitive to the demands of our own body and feelings, and a lot more sensitive to Gods voice and the leading of His Spirit. God has so much He wants to share with us and bless us with once He has our attention.

Fasting is also not a method of warfare. Many people suddenly spend more time praying because of a crisis or a period of great need. The same thing happens with fasting. The normal lifestyle of a ‘minister of God’ includes regular fasting, which means that when a crisis happens, or the battle gets heated, we are prepared and ready. In Matthew 17:21 when Jesus talked about a “kind that does not go out except by prayer and fasting”, what he meant was that we should have a lifestyle of prayer and fasting (this is much clearer in the Greek text than in most translations).

Conclusion

There is a lot of resistance to fasting because of ignorance: fasting is bad for your health, and is extreme and fanatic. Scientific research however has shown that when done in a responsible way, fasting has a positive effect not only on your soul and spirit but also on your body.

It has been found that regular fasting reduces the risk of cancer and diabetes and even extends your lifespan.[3] It is wise when you start, to begin with sort periods from one to three days. There are also various forms of fasting. In cases of pregnancy, diabetes or someone who is receiving medical treatment it’s also strongly advisable to consult a doctor before you begin as fasting can have an effect on an unborn child and on the working of some medications.

It is also advisable to gradually decrease your food intake for several days before starting a fast. To suddenly stop drinking coffee will often give you headaches, unless you reduce your intake gradually. After a fast it also advisable to start eating again slowly and carefully.

During fasting your body breaks down fat cells which release the toxins and poisons that are often stored there. This can result in feelings of extreme tiredness, headaches and weakness which can last several days, and but will eventually disappear. It is also normal to feel quite emotional during a fast.
It is important during fasting to drink enough, either water or weak herbal tea is recommended.
When fasting, don’t be legalistic but find a form of fasting that is most appropriate for you. Keep a logbook while you fast and write down what you experience both physically and spiritually.

If your fast involves missing one or two meals a day, don’t miss breakfast as it will result in very low blood sugar levels which will make it difficult for you to function during the day.

Fasting is a wonderful tool for those who long for more spiritual growth. As our relationship with God deepens His Kingdom will become more visible in every aspect of our lives. No one who invests in their relationship with Christ will ever be the same again and they will infect others with a desire find out what or who has touched them and changed them so deeply.

Scriptures for further study: Isaiah 58, Zachariah 7:5,6, Matthew 6.

[1] Council of Carthage 436AD

[2] See Deuteronomy 9:9, Ezra 8:21, Nehemiah 9:1, 1Kings 19:8, Esther 4:16, Psalm 35:13, Daniel 9:3)

[3] Articles:
– “Every Other Day Fasting May Reduce Cancer Risk”. WorldHealth.net. 2005-03-23.
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/every_other_day_fasting_may_reduce_cance. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

– Woods, Michael (April 29, 2003). “Mice live longer fasting; How about humans?”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20030429lifehealthp2.asp.

– “On-off fasting helps obese adults shed pounds”. Reuters. November 12, 2009.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AB4HM20091112.

– USA (2002-10-18). “Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake”. Pubmedcentral.nih.gov.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=156352. Retrieved 2010-10-18.

– “Study: Fasting improves health as much as cutting calories”. USA Today. April 28, 2003.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-04-28-fasting_x.htm. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
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Het bericht Fasting – is it still valid for us? verscheen eerst op Peter & Vanessa Steffens.