TCoY's Bible Commentary

WHY NOT TODAY? I can write on all of these issues rather extensively. After I cover the basics (like guidelines to study the Bible - not telling people what to think but how too) and the info above... I can continue on with the ABC's of systematic theology...

And I don't necessarily mean confining it to these areas, nor do I necessarily mean that it has to be from a systematic theology perspective, rather that we could cover theses areas.

It would require (to do it right) at least a month (four lessons) per each major theme. This would delve into Old Testament commentaries (Tanakh) and New Testament info (B'rit Hadasha) [both my commentaries, and other relevant ones], study guides, q and a (if you would allow me to have access to the email it generates). It could go into an examination using the 5-fold consciousness (Individual, Societal, Environmental, Universal, God) as it relates to each theme. Another main theme I could add would be the Jewishness of the New Testament. Maybe showing them how this all relates to the MODERN click-and-go society.

Well Ahyh, let me know what you think. As for context I think it would be a cross between a course towards Universal God Consciousness and how we should live...

Love ya, Pheonix

I've known Will (aka Pheonix) for a couple years now. One of the great joys of "doing" TCoY is being able to meet people like Will.

To make a long story short....Will is taking upon himself this task. I am proud to offer it as a part of TCoY's Opus.

I'll let him introduce the topic and himself. I just want to make a few remarks.

Will's Introduction

Baruch atah Adonay (Whenever I recite these blessing(s) I always use The Divine Name. So, I actually say "Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), Eloheynu melech ha'olam, tsur kol-ha'olamim, tsadik bechol-hadorot, ha'El hane'eman, ha'omer ve'oseh, hamedaber umekayem, shekol-devarav emet vatsedek. Ne'eman, atah hu Adonay ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh") Eloheynu, vene'emanim devareycha, vedavar echad midvareycha achor lo-yashuv reykam, ki El melech ne'eman verachaman atah. Baruch atah Adonay ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), ha'El hane'eman bechol-devarav. Rachem al-Tsiyon, ki hi beyt chayeynu, vel'aluvat nefesh toshia bimherah veyameynu. Baruch atah Adonay ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), mesame'ach Tsiyon bevaneyha. Samechenu, Adonay ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh")Eloheynu, be'Eliyahu hanavi avdecha, uvmalchut beyt David meshichecha. Bimherah yavo veyagel libenu, al kis'o lo yeshev zar, velo yinchalu od acherim et kevodo, ki veshem kodshecha nishbata lo, shelo yicbeh nero le'olam va'ed. Baruch atah Adonay ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), magen David.

Blessed are You - the Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh" - If I am in private, or around people who know anything at all about the Bible, I still say "Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh" even in "English." Each letter matters, the Name matters. That is, after all, entirely what TCoY is about.) our God, King of the universe, Rock of all ages, righteous in all generations, the faithful God, who says and does, who speaks and fulfils, for all His words are truth and righteousness. Faithful are You, O Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh") our God, and faithful are Your words, and not one of Your words returns unfulfilled, for You are a faithful and merciful God and King. Blessed are You - the Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), who art faithful in all His words. Have compassion on Zion for she is the source of our life, and save her that is grieved in spirit speedily in our days. Blessed are You - the Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), who makes Zion rejoice through her children. Bring us joy, O Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh") our God, through Elijah the prophet, Your servant, and through the kingdom of the house of David Your anointed. May he soon come and gladden our hearts. Let no stranger to sit upon his throne, nor let others inherit his glory; for by Your holy name You swore to him, that his light would never be extinguished. Blessed are You - the Lord ("Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh"), the shield of David.

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Will Dunn I also use “Pheonix” when posting to this site. I am a 22 year old college student, living in Missouri. I was called to be a minister when I was a kid (16) but it took some time before I could be rooted enough to do my faith justice.

I would like to devote the rest of my life toward the service of others, I am going to school for a degree in international business administration, hopefully out of college I can do work with the Peace Corps in Africa.

I have been on a lifelong quest to find out more and more about God. To love him more, learn more of him, to search out who He is and what He wants of me. This church has helped me greatly. Both in the discussion board of the past, and with our rabbi-preacher Ahyh. Ahyh has become a close friend, and this church will always have a place in my heart for its fearless preaching of the truth, that we all are somehow connected in this endeavor of life, and that the Name of God must be glorified in thought, word, and deed. To that end I hope you enjoy this joint effort between me and Ahyh. I will comment, and he will comment, and hopefully the church can grow as a result.

If any of you have any questions about my work, contact me please at: wrd979s@smsu.edu. I look forward to our discussions.

The Bible is the source of life and light in a world that is dying and dark. As a work of literature it is unparalleled. As a source of faith it is a pearl of great price. It chronicles the creation of man, his journey to understand his place in the world, and his struggle against his ego. The Bible is not perfect, only God alone is, but the Bible does have a place for modern man despite its discrepancies. Theology plays a role in trying to explain some of these discrepancies, and that is why it will play a role.

The view as to how to approach the Bible is one of the most important issues a spiritual seeker can have. Did God dictate it? Were the author's "channeling God?" Is it just nice human stories? There are about as many different approaches as there are people.

I will give you mine. The Bible faithfully recounts man's struggle to understand what "God" means, and who man is in relation. The book, taken as a whole, shows mankind starting with a view of God as small, vindictive, war-like. The dramatic pulse, so to speak, is mankind coming to understand that God is everywhere, in All, and that In Him we live, move, exist. This is a God of pure love. The entire process is one of God directing & unfolding, meeting mankind where it is, always trying to take human consciousness to the next level.

The major character in this story is Yahweh who, as the truly eternal God, sacrifices eternity to live in a moment (thru Yeshua) to bring eternity to man. This is the nature of nurture, the nature of love; that a being of infinite compassion could intervene in a world that was desperate for healing. This healing comes as we embrace Yeshua as Messiah (Jesus as Christ) and as we model our lives after His, including dying to ego (which we will discuss as the source of evil in the world, in detail in the commentary).

For those of you who can hear what I am going to say I bless you, and for those who can’t I pray for you that eventually you will. The true miracle of the messiah is that we can pattern our lives after him in a very practical way. The Bible, as much as I love it, is useless unless we do more than just listen to the preacher as he defines what it says. We must search that out for ourselves. The messiah is more than an object of worship (but He is that), he is also a real human being who lived in history. His life is a model for us, His love is a light for us. And if we want too, we CAN live like him.

I am utterly convinced that, in the fullness of time, we will come to see the same mind in ourselves as was in Christ....That we have ALL sacrificed Eternity to live in Time. God dies, so we can live, so we can die, so God can live.

It is a book that is thoroughly Jewish in origin. It is for this reason that you will notice I quote a lot of Jewish sources; I do it to honor the past, while preserving the meanings for modern man.

So, as a brief overview of the Bible as a whole, here is what I have learned after years of study. I will keep it as condensed as possible.

This was a book that has its roots in oral tradition. After a long time of these stories being told about the great men of our faith were codified. This means that people gathered the stories that were written down and they chose what was allowed to be kept in the Bible as we know it today. The books were originally written in Hebrew (a later form of Aramaic) and in a very old language called Aramaic that is not spoken anymore (except by a few in the world) [known as the Targum’s].

It went thru a process (like the new covenant I will discuss in a moment) in which certain books were kept, and others were not. This process is known as canonization. The books that were kept were granted a special authority as the truly inspired words of God, while those that were not were confined to the title “apocrypha” or “Pseudepigrapha.” To spare you the complications of a lot of history beyond our current scope, it is important to know that the Old Testament as we have it today was closed as a Cannon at the Council of Jamnia around (roughly) 70 A.D.

Simply put, we do not have the “original” document of ANY book in the Bible (old or new testament). The oldest parchments of Old Testament are from about 900 C.E. The “original” documents would be at least 1000 years younger than that date.

Also, as you will see momentarily the books themselves are often the product of revision and editing. In some cases this is thru the documentary hypothesis, in others it is thru the scribes who copy the documents.

The Bible you see today is the product of a process. For instance, did you know that the oldest copies we have of the O.T. books were written without vowels or punctuation marks. Due to equidistant lettering even the space in the words was added later. The chapter and verse numbers you read were likewise added later by scribes as were distinct paragraphs in the Bible. Look at the next sentence for what equidistant lettering would look like today (without the vowels that would have been added later too).

Would you have been able to comprehend that that sentence meant: "Today I am going to talk about the Old Testament and the New Testament." No. So what we have is a group of Jews who get together and they say, “we need to be able to tell when there is a vowel some how, and some punctuation marks would be nice too.” So the Masoretes who are responsible for the Massoretic text do just that, they put points on the bottom of the letters, they event a system for punctuation (which is called cantilation marks).

The Massoretic text then is the text that most scholars go to when studying the Old Testament, their other choice is the Samaritan text.

After they had the Tanakh (discussed shortly), they went about writing their own commentaries on it. So we have the Talmud (Palestinian and Babylonian), and the Mishna, Midrash, Tosefta, and Kabala. These various “commentaries” on the Bible are from thousands of years of rabbis studying the Bible and trying to teach it (usually one on one with disciples) to the people. These are sources of unspeakable wealth for any student really interested in knowing what the group of people who actually wrote the Bible had to say about it (the Jews on the Jewish Bible).

They also had legends about a lot of different topics, and these legends are known as Aggadah (or Hagada), and the teachings on the law were known as Halakah. It is like we have legends about George Washington, and Columbus. The Aggadah are a great source of beauty when studying the Bible and you will see some in this commentary. The Halakah is an excellent source if you want to know how the law was interpreted by the rabbis.

The Old Testament (also known in Hebrew as the Tanakh – for the first letters of the groups of books underlined in the following) contains a few sections. These are: Torah (the first five books), Nevi’im (Prophets, both early and later, and the twelve (the last 12 prophets in our version, from Daniel – Malachi), and K’tuvim (writings, like psalms, proverbs and others).

Another way to classify them, that is more “English” is to say that it starts with the Pentateuch (first five ‘books of Moses’), then followed by historical books (basically Joshua – Esther), poetical books (basically Job – Songs of Solomon), and prophetic books (from Isaiah – Malachi).

The major themes of the Old Testament is God working thru several covenants to chisel out a people with a distinct history and purpose (The Jews, whose purpose was to be the people of the covenant, later our Messiah would come from them). As Yahweh works with these people, they fail at times miserably.

After the period of the judges they chose for God to stop being their king, and they then become people with a distinct state history. After Solomon dies, the kingdom splits into two distinct areas; Israel in the north, Judah in the south.

This is when the prophets come along. These men were the vessels of the voice, carrying divine messages from God to man, concerning their need for repentance; and the coming calamities if they didn’t. Also, it was with these people that Yahweh finally reveals His plan to bring about the messiah, our kinsman redeemer and lord.

These men were the vessels of the voice, carrying divine messages from God to man, concerning their need for repentance; and the coming calamities if they didn’t.

The purpose of the New Covenant is to reveal to mankind the promised messiah, who is to take away the sins of the world and restore the kingdom of Yahweh. To this end, it records the deeds of Yeshua Messiah (His name means “salvation” and His title means “anointed one”) that prove Him to be the messiah promised in the prophecies of old. His works prove Him to be unique, His love proves Him to be worthy of the title Son of God. He is the manifestation of Yahweh on Earth. The New Covenant begins with the lineage of the messiah, and it ends with His promised return to set up an everlasting kingdom of peace.

Its purpose is also to show us our true destiny, calling mankind to a "quantum-shift"" in consciousness.

His works prove Him to be unique, His love proves Him to be worthy of the title Son of God.

The New Covenant is a collection of books that were originally written in Hebrew and were translated into Greek (and later Latin); though the oldest copies are Greek (we have lost the Hebrew originals to time).

Possibly...The Hebrew origin of the NT is a disputed theory, one which I personally accept, but that is not universally acknowledged. In addition, none of Paul's letters are thought to have Hebrew antecedents, at least that I know of.

What we know as the New Testament also went thru a process of canonization. There were three main “councils” where they decided what would be kept as a part of the new cannon, and what would be left out.

This process was largely politically driven. Several “heresies” were running rampant in the church and so the Catholic Church convened councils to address these issues. “To form a New Testament canon was to give special importance to the written tradition, imparting a fixity which protected it against adulteration (McManners, 31).” These three councils were held in Nicaea, Ephesus, and Trent. The Bible that we read today, as far as the New Testament goes was found in a list by Athanasius in the early 300’s A.D.

Let’s look at a theological concept that fits well here shall we. Inspiration. As in the inspiration of the scriptures. There were in the old day’s two basic views. One was that “inspiration was an enhancement of natural, rational discernment, not a suspension or abolition.” The second view was that “inspiration was mantic possession: the divine… took over the voice of prophet or prophetess, and employed the human agent as a musician plays a lyre which has no mind of its own (McManners, 33).” In other words, when the Bible is said to be the inspired word of Yahweh, you can look at it in two ways. Choice one says that Yahweh enhances their abilities to hear and to speak and to write. Choice two says God more or less possesses the person and literally speaks thru them or literally writes thru them. I hold to choice one.

I honestly hold to choice three...They contemplated God and His Will to the best of their ability. Sometimes they got it right, sometimes not so right. We must, each and every one of us, do the same in our daily lives: Contemplate God, proclaim & live the Highest we know.

So, after we have the Bible then what? The early church community was historically considered a Jewish sect. Only after years of divergence did we come to a different “religion” “apart” from Judaism. It is my belief that we must get back to the historical roots of our faith if we are to understand its place in modern times.

After several years we developed the Catholic faith. They were our ancestors, and we owe a lot of our theological stances to them. There was a major spilt in the church after a man named Martin Luther posted the 95 theses at Wittenberg in 1517 citing problems he had with the catholic church of his day. Why is this important? It is this event that created the split of the Christian faith into three distinct parts. One is Catholicism, the other (following Luther) is Protestantism, and a third is Eastern Orthodox.

After many, many years; the protestant church has splintered into thousands of subgroups called denominations. The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church however, haven’t fractured much in several centuries.

The New Covenant (which in Hebrew is called the B’rit Hadasha) is divided into a few sections too. The first books are the four gospels (or the Good News of our Messiah). The first three are called synoptic, because they go together. This is followed by the Acts of the Apostles (who was the central figures in the establishment of the early church, including Paul [Sha’ul]) which chronicles the history of the early church as they learned to live for the messiah and to love each other. After this you have several letters (epistles) that Paul wrote to the churches he started up. Then you have some pastoral letters. This is followed by general letters, and finally you have Revelations.

It has been said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. When you eat your meal, at least in the days of sanity that have left us, we would pray a blessing over the meal. Sometimes these were formal, and other times not.

The Torah is like the bread of life (metaphorically speaking, not literally speaking). It is the word that sustains us, and compels us to be more humane in our daily lives. As a sign of respect for the Bible, the Jewish people in today’s world pray a blessing before they read it, and after they read it.

These are just one set of blessings you can read before and after reading the Bible. Just like at the dinner table the blessings may vary there are many blessings for the Torah and Haftara. What matters is that we take time to be thankful for the word we have in front of us, after all men have died to preserve it, prophets have preached to come back to it, and the Messiah came to fill it, and to fulfill it.

Baruch atah Adonay (YHWH) Eloheynu melech ha'olam, asher bachar banu mikol-ha'amim, venatan lanu et-torato.

Blessed are You - the Lord (YHWH) our God, King of the Universe, who has chosen us from all peoples and has given us His Torah.

Baruch atah Adonay (YHWH), Eloheynu melech ha'olam, asher natan lanu torat emet, vechayey olam nata betochenu.

Blessed are You - the Lord (YHWH) our God, King of the universe, who has given us the Torah of truth, and has planted everlasting life in our midst.

Al-hatorah, ve'al-ha'avodah, ve'al-hanevi'im, ve'al-yom haShabat hazeh, shenatata lanu, Adonay (YHWH) Eloheynu, likdushah velimnuchah, lechavod uletif'aret. Al-hakol Adonay (YHWH) Eloheynu, anachnu modim lach umevarechim otach, yitbarach shimcha befi kol-chay tamid le'olam va'ed. Baruch atah Adonay (YHWH), mekadesh haShabat.

For the Torah, for the divine worship, for the prophets, and for this Sabbath day which You, O Lord (YHWH) our God, have given us for holiness and for rest, for honour and for glory. For all these we thank You and bless You, O Lord (YHWH) our God: Blessed be Your name by the mouth of every living being continually and for ever. Blessed are You - the Lord (YHWH), who sanctifies the Sabbath.

There are two theories as to who wrote the Pentateuch. One says it was Moses, another, the documentary hypothesis, believes that it is a collection of authors from different sources.

Those who say it was Moses who wrote it site Philo (the life of Moses 3:39), and Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 4:8, 45; Contra Apion I.8), the apocrypha (Ecclesiasticus 45:4, 2 Maccabes 7:30). Nelson Reference Bible page 3.

However, there is another view, which I personally hold. It is known as the documentary hypothesis. This theory basically says that there are four sources that go into making the Pentateuch (Torah, first five books of the Bible). These sources are J, E, P, and D. J is the Yahweh source, E is the Elohim source, P is the priestly source, and D is Deuteronomy. The following quoted material is from: Interpreting the Old Testament ©1964 by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, INC. Written by: Walter Harrelson, pages 29-30 and 38-39 are quoted.

“In 1711 Witter published a study of the Pentateuch in which he showed that Genesis 1:1-24 (“…created”) and Genesis 2:4 (“In the day…”) were parallel accounts of the creation, which used very different names for God. In 1753 Jean Astruc developed the understanding (in reference to Genesis) that two parallel sources ran throughout the entire Pentateuch. He assumed Moses wrote Genesis, but that he employed a number of sources to do it. Eichhorn (1780-1783) carried the analysis of Witter and Astruc much further. Ilgen in 1798 identified two other sources which used the divine name Elohim [as in Gen. 1:1-24 (“…created”)] and one (possibly two) which used the divine name Yahweh. (Holt, Reinhart, Wilson: 29-30)”

“Geddes (1792 and 1800) and Vater (1802-1805) found it difficult to trace actual sources throughout the Pentateuch and thus formulated the view that the Pentateuch had been composed of a number of fragments, the composition of which being the work of an editor. Geddes recognized that the fragments must have come from two distinct circles, the one using Elohim as the name of the deity, the other Yahweh. Vater argued that the basic element among the fragments was the law book Deuteronomy (Holt, Reinhart, Wilson: 29-30).”

“The next stage in the process of analysis was the argument that one basic document (that using the name Elohim) provided the core of the Pentateuch. Other documents and fragments, some early some late, supplemented the contents of this basic document. Ewald (1831) was the foremost representative of this position (Holt, Reinhart, Wilson: 29-30).”

“The so-called new document theory began to take shape with the work of Hupfield (1853). Hupfield identified the three major documents of the Pentateuch which (together with Deuteronomy) were to be considered the basic strands of the Torah literature for many generations. In Genesis, Hupfield distinguished an ancient source which used the name Elohim for God, a later source which also used the same divine name, and a still later source which used the name Yahweh. His oldest Elohist source was the one later designated P; hence the dates of the sources were in exactly the reverse order from that subsequently adopted by literary critics: Hupfield – P, E, J; later critics J, E, P. Hupfield also argued that a redactor or editor had combined the three sources into the present book of Genesis. (Holt, Reinhart, Wilson: 29-30)”

“The classical position of documentary analysis of the Pentateuch was the creation of Reuss (1833), Graf (1866), Kuenen (1869-1870) and Wellhausen (187601877). The last named scholar developed the theory into its most attractive and compelling form and it has subsequently been linked inseparably with his name. The question of the dates of the four sources: J, E, D, and P were debated hotly, but the majority of judgment was the order was JEDP. Wellhausen’s argument is brilliantly stated and defended. He places the Judean source J, characterized by the divine name Yahweh, in the ninth century BC. He assigns the North Israelite or Ephramitic source E, marked by the use of the divine name Elohim, to the eighth century BC. The book of Deuteronomy (identified by de Wette in 1805 with the law book found in the temple in Josiah’s day, 2 Kings 22-23), together with the other materials in the Pentateuch (the source D), comes from the seventh century BC. Finally, the priestly source P is assigned to the exilic or post exilic period. Redactors or editors were held responsible for the combination of the various sources into the present Pentateuch, the entire process having been completed by about 400 BC. We may indicate the process as follows: J(850) + E (750) = JE (700) + D (650) = JED (600) + P(500) = JEDP (400). (Holt, Reinhart, Wilson: 29-30)”

Don't get me wrong; I'm glad Will is covering it here, and I think all informed persons should be aware of the "Higher Critical Method." In many ways it is a great form of honor & respect to the Scriptures...Every word, every verb-form, is analyzed & compared to its context. So often those who "most worship" the Scriptures just ignore it.

That being said, my personal approach is one of a Radical Existentialist Religion. What exists? The text. What it says, etc. Its history and origin, frankly, matters almost not at all.

Look...We are presented with this Book, the Bible, almost from birth. As informed, aware beings, we owe it to ourselves to encounter this Book, and glean from it the most we can. For me, the historicity is important, but not nearly so much as what is says & matters to me, here & now. Sometimes historical context can help inform the text, and let us know more about how we should relate to it today. For example, the historical context of Jesus' remarks about "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's" greatly affects a correct interpretation of those words' application today. But whether a document was written by one person or many does not change the text on the page.

In the extreme, if someone was to produce a video tape proving that the whole Hebrew Bible was written in 1912 by a guy in the Bronx named "Frank," I would not care at all. It would mean nothing. For I have lived the life of deliverance, I have talked to the Burning Bush, and know its Voice.

The following table indicates the basic literary blocks of the Pentateuch material:

v Basic Yahwistic Materials (J):

GENESIS:

2:4-chapter 4

Portions of 6-9

Chapters 12-13

15:3-4, 6

Chapter 16

Chapters 18-19

Chapter 24

Portions of chapters 25-35

Portions of chapters 37-50

EXODUS:

Chapters 1-2

Portions of chapters 3-5

Portions of chapter 7-11

Portions of chapter 13-15

Portions of chapter 17-24

Portions of chapter 32-34

NUMBERS:
Portions of chapter 11-14

Chapters 22-24

v Basic Elohist Sources (E)

GENESIS:

15:1-2, 5, 7-12, 17-21

Chapters 20-22

Portions of Chapters 25-35

Portions of chapters 37-50

EXODUS:

Portions of chapters 3-5

Portions of chapters 7-11

Portions of Chapters 13-15; 17-24

Portions of 32-34

NUMBERS:

Portions of chapters 11-14

v Basic Deuteronomy Source

All of Deuteronomy

v Basic Priestly Sources (P)

GENESIS:

1:1-2:4 (“…created”)

Chapter 5

Portions of chapters 6-9

Chapter 10

Chapter 17

Chapter 23 (?)

Chapter 36

Small sections of chapters 37-50

EXODUS:

Chapters 6, 7:1-13, 12:1-20, 16, 25-31, 35-40

LEVITICUS:

Chapters 1-27

NUMBERS:

Chapter 1-10

Chapters 15-21

Chapters 25-36

A Brief Guide to God, the Church, and How to Study the Bible:

I would like to discuss how to study the Bible to maximize pleasure and minimize confusion, which will help you develop the ability to interpret passages in scripture more accurately, which I feel will help you not be confused or bored. I would also like to talk about the main character of the Bible in detail, because other characters in the Bible with this commentary will likewise get a character sketch. I would also like to talk to you about the church, its history and its present situation.

How to Study the Bible:

IF YOU DO NOT READ ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS ENTIRE SECTION PLEASE READ THIS!!!

I am a man that has been in the educational system since I was five (I am 22 now, so do the mathJ). I have learned many things, but this is what matters the most.

I want the Bible to be fun and enjoyable. And I know from personal experience that confusion hurts, and I want to spare you that suffering if possible.

The education system is designed to teach you What to think and not How to think!

Because of this, and I am sorry but tact is not a personal strength; there are a lot of educated idiots out there.

When I started going to college I didn’t know HOW to learn. I could spit out more useless facts than most, but I couldn’t think

independently. I didn’t know how to research, and I did very poorly in the beginning of school. THEN I LEARNED HOW TO LEARN, and now, my grades are excellent.

You, yes you reading now, are important to me. So, I want to try to teach you HOW TO LEARN, HOW TO STUDY the Bible.

Once you know how to learn (and this is the really great part) WHAT YOU LEARN IS UP TO YOU, not me, not the pastor, not the neighbor or the TV or the media at large, that’s right – YOU GET THE POWER TO STUDY (or not to) whatever you want. That, I think, will make the “good book” a heck-of-a-lot more interesting TO YOU!!!

Here then are some principles to help you learn how to minimize confusion, and maximize pleasure when studying the Bible.

The Bible is essentially one big book, divided into 66 smaller books. Not to confuse you, but you could look at it like in the Bible there is one ‘chapter’ called Genesis, another Exodus, another Matthew, and ect.

To minimize confusion it is important to remember CONTEXT, CONTENT, and CONCEPT.

Context means that you read something in the way the author would have wanted you to read it if s/he was alive to give you a personal commentary. It means that you read what is in front of the verse and after it. It means you understand the framework of the passage, its perspectives.

Content means you understand what the passage, theme, or other study MEANS. What is the verse or chapter actually saying, what is the content of what they are saying? It means you understand more than the words on the page, you understand the thoughts behind them.

The concept is when you finally understand and can apply what the content and context is telling you. So this is the part where you actually put into practice what the passage was saying.

If I take something you say out of context, that would mean, for instance that I quoted something you said, but it had nothing to do with what you meant.

To understand the context of scripture start with the biggest and go to the smallest. Pick any topic that interests you in the Bible, any topic at all.

I will examine a few things here:

First understand that you always want to understand context within the largest framework to the smallest. Specifically this means understand the text within the context of the whole big book Bible (all 66 little books or “chapter” metaphor). Then narrow it down to testament (the context and content of the Old Testament is significantly different in some respects than the content and context of the New Testament). Let’s say Old Testament. Then book (lets say Genesis). Then section of the book. Let’s say the section from creation to the flood. Then chapter within the section. Lets say chapter one. Then verse within the chapter. Lets say verse one.

By doing this you are almost assured of always seeing the scripture (whatever it may be) within context, and this is good because it clears up confusion J!

So the order is: Bible, Testament, Book, Section, Chapter, and Verse. By the way, in this commentary it is how I will organize all of it.

DO NOT go thumbing thru the Bible picking verses out without reading what is in front of it, or behind it. A perfect example is to say the Bible says “There is no God.” While it does say this, it is NOT AT ALL IN CONTEXT since the context says “the fool has said in his heart there is no God.”

Context also means that when examining the passage please ask the following questions (I will explain why these questions directly after):

v Who wrote this? Who did they write it too?

v When was it written?

v What is the main theme? What are sub themes (if any)?

v What does this mean to me personally? What use is this knowledge?

Will is perfectly right here. I remember these steps in even a simpler form:

What does it say?
What does it mean?
What does it mean to me?

A lot of confusion comes when we read a passage and don’t think about these questions. Who wrote the passage tells you a lot about the character of the passage, if you know Paul wrote it for instance, there are certain things you can guess about its meaning by comparing it to other writings by the same author. Also, if you know who it was written too, then you know who primarily is affected by this passage, and that matters a lot. If it is a passage written by Paul to the gentiles, it has a different context than if it is written by Paul to the Jews. This helps to realize that primarily this passage is for X person, then you can gleam what it means to you personally. We have a saying in our culture, “If the shoe fits wear it!.” If I am what I am saying has to do with you, then take it that way, but if not, butt out the “shoe” is not for you. What does this have to do with this part of the truth. Well, if the passage is written to a specific person and you try to interpret it as if it were written to you, you are taking it out of context in some (NOT ALL) cases.

By answering when it was written you have the historical setting of the passage. This helps you to determine what this passage means in the greater world, the world outside the Bible itself. Why did Yeshua talking to the Samaritan at the well cause such a ruckus? (see John 4:5-42) Historically there was a rift between the Jews and the Samaritans after Solomon’s death when the kingdom split into Judah (with ‘Orthodox’ Judaism) in the south and Israel (with the capital at Samaria) in the north. A new religious order was instituted in the North with the worship of 2 golden calves, and the institution of a new priestly line. Jews didn’t like this, and they considered Samaritans inferior since.

HISTORY MATTERS!!! And no where does it matter as much as in the Bible which covers so much time. I don’t expect you to memorize the entire biblical outline, but I do expect you to know the basic history of the passage you read if you are to take it in context. If you have to, go to a commentary that will cover the specific chapter, theme, and person, whatever you want to study, and get the basic history of the situation.

By answering what is the main theme you are actively participating in the learning process. This will allow you to understand the content of the passage. This will also allow you to understand the essence (concept) of the passage. Thus this is the point where you bridge the gap from context to content and content to concept.

By the time you are finished studying whatever you want to study, it should have an application in your life. Genesis is all well and good, creation and the fall is a nice story, but what does it mean for me? The problem is too many people want to cheat and pass this step up. They want preachers to tell them, or the TV or the media... and, I hate to tell you this… but those people don’t always know themselves what the passage is saying.

I just told you that you need to know who wrote the Bible, when, etc. Hermeneutics is a field that deals with the interpretation of the Bible. It is an entire field that deals with how to properly understand the scriptures. Some basic aspects of it are as follows.

You need to understand what type of writing it is. If it is an allegory then it is a “figurative discourse where abstract ideas are personified (Broadman: 111).” An example is Galatians 4:21-31. If it is allegorical, then it means it is figurative NOT literal. It is metaphorical NOT literal, so don’t look at it as a literal meaning. In this case, the literal historical meaning of the passage is not what is to be examined.

A lot of aspects of the Bible are TYPES of something else (an Old Testament event can be a foreshadowing of a New Testament concept, like the offering of Isaac and the sacrifice of Yeshua), so understand that sometimes a passage can have a literal meaning, and an allegorical one. If it is purely allegorical ignore the historicity. If it is a mix, first examine the literal meaning, then look for “hidden” meanings BUT YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE HIDDEN MEANING IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PLAINLY REVEALED MEANING!

Also, if it is a parable in the New Testament, it is NOT to be taken literally. It is in essence an allegory.

Another hermeneutical principle is to understand what the scripture would have meant to those whose generation it was in. Noah would have looked at the ‘scripture’ different than Moses (for one thing it would have been taught orally, it wouldn’t have been written at the time), and Moses would have looked at the scripture different than Yeshua.

I’m going to give you a technical term o.k., but I will explain it. Eisegesis is the fallacy of reading into the scripture what is not actually there (Broadman: 112). This is an extremely dangerous thing, so beware that you don’t do this. Context, content, and concept should help you with this, as well as a clear understanding of the scriptures. Those people who are guilty of this are sinning, simply put, and it can easily lead to them teaching OPINIONS and not FACTS.

What is the literary form? You have to know what kind of literature it is if you are going to properly interpret it. We have already examined allegory vs. literal passages. “Not until the type of literature has been identified can literature be properly interpreted… If a passage is meant to be figurative and we interpret it literally we have sinned against it. Furthermore if it is history and we spiritualize it we have likewise erred (Broadman: 113)

Broadman refers to The Broadman Bible Commentary Volume 1, the number is the page it is found on.

Everything to here has been when studying a specific chapter or verse in the Bible.

If you want to do word studies (love), or character studies (are you interested in Moses for instance), or studies on themes (like redemption) it requires a slightly different approach.

First identify what you are interested in. If it is a word study, then you need to look up the word in the original language (I suggest Strong’s concordance, but there are other things available), then look up the word as it appears in both testaments, this is where though, for context sake, you need to at least read it within the context of the chapter section the verse is in.

If it is a character study, determine which one. Then try to find his/her place in a basic timeline of the Bible. Study all of the passages that are connected to the individual. I suggest having a question to guide you in your search. What did Moses do after he killed the Egyptian? How did it affect his ministry? This is only one of a number of examples. Try to identify context, content, and concept.

If you are going to study a theme, first decide what it is. Then what are the major issues in it. For instance, redemption can be studied, dividing it into areas of interest. Try to understand the historical setting (if there is one), if there is not one (like love) try to divide it into the different types of that theme (brotherly love, friendly love, sexual love, familial love, ect.).

If you really want to go deep, take a book in the Bible, determine its basic outline, read it once completely thru for enjoyment (not analyzing it yet). Then go back and read it again trying to determine: who its major characters are, what are the major themes, where are the major cities, what are the major countries involved in the story, what is the historical background, who wrote it and to whom, what does it mean to me personally. You can read a chapter, come across a word that sounds weird, and study it to see what it means in the original language. Just remember: context, content, concept and you should be fine.

Along these lines...I have written about the broader question of how we determine the criteria by which we will evaluate truth. A bit advanced, but I highly recommend it to serious students.

The Character of Yahweh:

Have you ever wondered why in the world this church spends so much time talking about God’s name? It is because the name of an individual houses their identity. It tells about an individual’s character, and it allows people to become familiar with each other. The first thing you read, in theory, was my introduction. In it I first gave my name. Why? In our culture we share our name with those whom we wish to become familiar. If you want to become familiar with God, start with his name. Imagine you were introduced to God, someone says “Yahweh, I would like you to meet Sue, Sue, Yahweh.”

God’s name, Yahweh, means self-existent one. It can also mean I AM. His name Ahyh Asr Ahyh means I WILL BE what I WILL BE. I know that many of you don’t know where to go to prove the AHYH ASR AHYH is in the Bible ‘for real’. To help those of you out there, here are a few places you can go to satisfy that question (know that the proof for this is so vast that the following doesn’t even scratch the surface):

Journal of Biblical Literature, Volume 79, June 1960; The Name of the God of Moses By David Noel Freedman (Pg. 151-156)
Journal of Biblical Literature; Volume 80; 1961, The Divine Name Yahweh by Raymond Abba (Pg 321-328, specifically pg 324-326)
The Torah A Modern Commentary Edited by W. Gunther Plaut, Page 400
The Broadman Bible Commentary Volume 1 Revised 1973, (concerning Genesis and Exodus), Page 315
Believers Bible Commentary By William McDonald Edited by Art Farstad, 1995; pg 92
The Complete Jewish Bible, An English Version by David H. Stern, Page 62

If you need more proof, let me know. But please know I don’t cheat. Let me explain what I mean by that. If I give you the answer to a question, and I specifically show you the proof (i.e. exactly where I found it) it would be “cheating” if I had to look it up further for you, and put it on here. In other words, if it matters LOOK IT UP! The library is your friend.

O.K., now that we are on a “first name basis” with God, we are interested in knowing more about Him… Who is He? Where is He from? What does He enjoy doing? If He is the main character of our story, and a legitimate living ‘person’ we are interested in knowing more.

That's what the real story of the Bible is...Humanity getting to know more & more about who & what this God is, and in so doing discovering our own true nature.

If I was interested in knowing more about you I would want to talk with you, have a conversation, ask questions. I would like to validate your existence by being interested in what you have to say. I hope to show you throughout this extensive project that God is an interesting person, He is real, and He wants to have a relationship with you.

I have studied about many MANY religions in this world. I am a Christian Mystic, not because I followed the “family faith” of what my mom taught me. It is because after all of the studies, all of the years in searching, I have come to believe our faith (though not infallible) is the most accurate.

What keeps me coming back to the Bible, and to the studies about it is a deep, profound love of God. The facts are nice, but they are not what keep me coming back for more. I am far from perfect people, I have done a lot of stupid things in my life, but my God has loved me in a way NO OTHER BEING (human or otherwise) EVER HAS BEFORE. He is my soul mate, my provider, my comforter, my counselor, my hope and my heart. He is the greatest person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and of searching. And for that, I am interested in what He has to say.

Personally, I believe you can learn a lot about an individual by trying to find out about their character, what they believe in, what they value, what are their hopes and dreams.

Yahweh has left us a wonderful legacy of written testimony, oral testimony, and physical testimony; all of which can help us learn about His character, His hopes, and His dreams.

By the way, just for an interesting sidebar; if you are going to try to “prove” some historical person exists (like George Washington, Alexander the Great, or Yeshua), this is the method you would use to prove it (not the scientific method, which is used for other purposes). This method is known as the legal-historical method of investigation.

We have written testimony in the form of the Bible, as well as from others who lived in the past (Josephus, Philo, Justus Martyr, and more). We have oral testimony in the form of modern man “testifying” to what Yahweh has done in their lives. We have physical testimony in the form of archeological finds.

What does all of this proof lead me to believe about the character of Yahweh?

Yahweh is a creator, sustainer, and keeper of what is seen and unseen (Gen. 1:1, Isaiah 40: 12, 22, 26)

Yahweh is a loving individual, full of mercy and a sincere concern for the well being of mankind (1 John 4:7-8, 19; Deut. 6:4; Lam. 3:21-23; Psalms 136; John 3:16-17 and John 17 (all)).

By nature He is alone; He is truth, light, love, life and spirit. He is also pure, kind, incomprehensible [yet He wants us to search for Him like a lost love], and infinite. He does not change, does not fail, and does not lie. He is without equal or fault. (Deut 6:4; Num. 23:19; John 4:24, 8:12; Isaiah 60:2, 1 John 4:8, 5:11; 2 Sam 22:27; Romans 11: 33; Isaiah 40:28; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 18:30, 77:1-6, 90:4; Habakkuk 3:6, Rev 15:3)

I would like to elaborate on Yahweh being “incomprehensible [yet He wants us to search for Him like a lost love].” I will use a metaphor. God is like a woman. As a man, I think woman are incomprehensible BUT that doesn’t mean they don’t want us to search out the mystery, to TRY to understand them. As a matter of fact, that is the source of their “power” over us, as we try to understand the incomprehensible it draws us closer to the unveiling of the beautiful mystery that is the “feminine mystique.” I hope that makes sense.

He expresses His emotions in a variety of ways, thus He expresses fears, grief, repentance, jealousy, joy, and concern. He is very empathic (He feels others pain as if it was His own). He is compassionate and zealous. He laughs, and cries. (Deut: 32:26-27, Gen. 6:7, Ex. 34:14, Psalms 2:4, Luke 15:7, Mt. 9:36, 15:32, 20:34, Rev 3:19

He walks with men, talks with men, and works thru men. He is active in all facets of our life (the idea that He doesn’t care about us is wrong). He shows He cares by a multitude of ways. Every time you read “angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament, it is the pre-incarnate Yeshua manifesting Himself to man. The theological term for this is Christophony. (Gen. 17:1, Joshua 1:6-9, Psalms 91:11-16)

I ask you, not as a sacrilegious question, but rather one that is of crucial importance, does God have a place in the modern world?

It is my belief that yes He does. But how? The world seems to be loosing its sanity daily, and this causes us to question our faith. Why do good things happen to bad people, why do bad things happen to good people? For that matter, why do good people do bad things, and bad people do good things?

Yahweh is as active in the modern world as He was in the world of the past. Miracles still happen, God still saves lives and hearts, and He still exists.

So many people have a legitimate doubt (which is one where you question any given thing, but are open to an answer concerning it) and are afraid that this makes them less ‘holy’, but it doesn’t, it makes them honest and Yahweh, who is truth, respects truth.

Yahweh, who is truth, respects truth.

God is not afraid of doubt. Further, God can respect doubt more than un-honest faith. God exists independent of belief, which means if every person in heaven, earth, and hell were to all simultaneously stop believing that God exists, He would still exist. Belief is important, but only when it is an active aspect of our lives.

God’s place in our modern world is the source of many books. Earlier I said “by nature He is alone; He is truth, light, love, life and spirit.” As we explore these aspects of our creator we can start to internalize these aspects, and then we can start to model our lives after them.

I can put this another way that might make more sense. Have you ever had a picture of someone in your family that you lost? When you go thumbing thru these pictures you come across a picture of this person in some event in your life (one you probably thought was minor at the time) and all of a sudden it becomes so real to you that you can hear their voice, smell there perfume or cologne, you can hear their laugh. AND FOR ONE MOMENT you can see that they are still alive in the memories we share with them. In that moment you are acutely aware that though they are no longer physically present with us, they are still REAL, they still have a place in YOUR modern life.

The Bible is like a picture of God, and though He is not physically with us anymore, His spirit lives on. And when I open that book and I read about His life, for that moment I hear His voice again, I smell His cologne, I hear His laugh. And in that moment I am acutely aware that He still has a place in my modern life.

God is the anchor and stability in a world that is ever changing; He is the hope of mankind learning to love, because He is the model of love. He is the hope of life eternal, because He is life, the giver and sustainer of it. He still cares about you; He sacrificed everything to help you personally. If you (or I) were the only person in the world, our sins would be enough to have warranted judgment, and His love would have been enough to sacrifice everything to see you saved. Because He faced his ego we can face ours, and ego is the source of all evil in the world.

The modern Messiah still raises men from the dead, He still feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, visits the people in prison (to set them free) heals the hurting, cares for those whom no one else cares for. He is still present and perfect. He is still holy and pure, loving and longing. Longing for what you might ask? Longing for the day when He can return to be with us.

Whether it is fate or destiny I don’t know, but history has chosen our generation to be special. We stand at a critical point in the history of our race. Several of the last day prophecies are being fulfilled (I will just leave it at that). We are unique in history, and the Messiah will meet that uniqueness with a modern demonstration of the Glory of His name. Again, it all comes to the name – and to the identity behind it. Hallel HaShem (praise be to the Name).

When we gather together to worship Yahweh in this church, in any church we become one with the One being worshiped, and we become one with those who worship the One (other believers). This is how the modern Messiah still has a place… if we love Him, and love those who love Him.

I hope you will all learn the joys that can be experienced when you debate the truths in the Bible. When you read them, analyze them, when you apply it to aspects of your life. Then you will see Yeshua is as live today as He was 2000+ years ago.

Just so you know how I intend to approach the rest of this, know that there are other major themes that cross the Bible, but I have time constraints, and you have constraints as to what will keep you reading.

For those of you out there who are like me and just MUST KNOW MORE, here are some themes you can study in your spare time that cross the whole Bible. I call them the ABC’s of systematic theology. On this one if you have specific questions, go ahead and let me know and I can help you with the basics of how to approach this. I would be glad to help you all explore things that interest you in any way I can, so if you ever have questions, let me know and I will try to help if I can.

The ABC’s of Systematic Theology:

v Apologetics (tries to PROVE that the Bible and its teachings are accurate with various means)

v Bibliology (studies the Bible, its history and development, its theological implications)

v Christology (studies Christ, the Messiah)

v Ecclesiology (studies the church)

v Eschatology (studies the end times, and prophecies)

v Pneumatology (studies the Holy Spirit)

v Soteriology (studies salvation)

The Church:

Ecclesiology is the study of the church in systematic theology: its origins, development, and dispersion throughout the world.

The church’s history spans thousands of years. It was originally considered a Jewish sect. The book of Acts in the New Covenant chronicles the history of the early church.

The church as we know it today was founded on the works of the apostles. But what is it that allowed this extremely diverse group to found a new faith? After all, any moderately well read student of the Bible would know that while the Messiah was alive the apostles had several ego driven arguments (like James and John “sons of Thunder” who wanted seats on the right and left of Yeshua) usually centered on who was the best. When the Messiah died, ALL of them doubted that he was coming back (not just Thomas) and all of them abandoned the Messiah (not just Judas Iscariot).

The event that catalyzed this group of believers into witnesses of Yeshua Messiah was Pentecost (a.k.a. the feast of Weeks). With the outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) these people were ready to transform the world.

After this 3000 were added to the Messianic movement, shortly after that 5000 were members of the movement. Now approximately 1/5 of the worlds population believes (or claims too) in the Messiah.

After Pentecost the 12 disciples each went to different parts of the world to preach. Peter stayed at Jerusalem as the head of the movement there. I don’t know where all of them went, but they all did end up sharing the gospel all around the known world of the day.

What we know as Christianity today is the result of one person who was “technically” not an apostle, and that was Paul. I do not downplay the works of the others, but NONE OF THEM contributed as much to the current Bible as Paul did (and yes we have the canonization process to thank for that).

Paul took the message of the Messiah all over the Middle East, as well as to the very heart of the world’s lone superpower of the day, Rome. He debated the truth in Athens Greece, and in Rome, Italy. He did much work until he was martyred in about 67 ad.

After centuries of persecution (including a Christian ‘holocaust’ of sorts) Constantine makes Christianity the official religion of the empire. This allows its spread to be even faster throughout the known world.

Catholic’s trace the papacy to Peter, in other words, according to Catholic tradition Peter was the first pope. Centuries later the church faces what was tantamount to a civil war. The protestant movement headed by Luther manages to split off from the Roman Catholic Church. Easter Orthodox also splits.

Some of the earliest protestant faiths were the Lutherans and the Anabaptists. There were several others however. Some early protestant groups are still around today some 486 years later (October 31, 1517 is the date Luther posted the 95 theses at Wittenberg).

Centuries later we have the current melodrama. Protestant churches range in the thousands of differing denominations. This group of the church blames that group of the church – and what we are left with is nothing similar to what we started with. The protestants fight the Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox fights the other two; AND THE WOLD SITS BY AS WE LOSE ALL LEGITIMACY IN IT.

I would like to share some opinions, as opinions I am not saying you must agree with this. It is my opinion that the church is a position of constant in-fighting because we have lost sight of the only new law the Messiah gave us. He told us that by our love for each other the world would know that we were His disciples. WHERE IS THE LOVE???!!!

We were founded on diversity, we grew with diversity, and now we fight against it. We were founded on all races working together (there are early theologians from all over the known world of that day). We ague over THE VERY DOCTRINES THAT WE INVENTED!

God will eventually return to the world, and He is coming for one church bride. If we are to regain any legitimacy in the current modern world, we must stop fighting each other. We must put our PETTY DIFFERENCES beside and work together. Only when we show love for each other will we truly be Christ-ins.

Ahyh's Preface

Will's Introduction