BIBLE STUDY LESSON 12

SERIES R --- THE GOOD SHEPHERD

FOOD FOR THOUSANDS

A MIRACLE OF LOAVES AND FISHES

From John 6:1-14

After this, Yeshua went back to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, sometimes called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd followed Him, for they had seen His miracles of healing. They even followed Him up into the hills where He went to teach His disciples. Many, of course, were on their way to the Passover feast in Jerusalem. When Yeshua looked around at all the people, He turned to Philip. [Where will we ever find enough bread to feed all those people?] He asked. Of course, Yeshua knew what He was going to do, and He said this only to test Philip. [To feed everyone a bite or two would cost more than we have,] said Philip. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother said, [There is a boy here with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what will that do among such a large crowd?] When He heard that, Yeshua gave the disciples instructions. [Tell the people to sit down,] He said. This place was covered with grass, so the people sat down on it as they had been told. Altogether, there were more than five thousand people there. Then Yeshua took the five barley loaves, gave thanks for them, and began giving pieces to His disciples. When the disciples had served all those who were sitting, they distributed the fish in the same way. Everyone had all that he could eat and more. When all of the people had eaten their fill, Yeshua gave His disciples some further instructions. [Now gather the leftovers so that we do not waste anything.] The disciples gathered the leftovers and put them into baskets. When they finished, they had twelve baskets filled with pieces of the barley loaves.

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT BECOME KING

From John 6:14-15

When the people realized what Yeshua had done, they said, [This man is certainly the Prophet Who has been promised to the world.] Yeshua knew that these people wanted to force Him to become the king over Israel, so He left them and went away to be alone in the hills.

COMMENTARY

THE MOSAICS OF TABGHA

Along the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee is a peaceful place called Tabgha. For centuries, pilgrims have come to this place as the traditional site where Yeshua multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed the five thousand. In the fifth century, a beautiful church was built at Tabgha to commemorate the feeding of the five thousand. Through the centuries the church was destroyed, and a new one built. But some mosaic floors still remain from the fifth century church, with scenes of birds and flowers familiar to the people who lived around the Sea of Galilee. One large mosaic contains about seven million little pieces of coloured marble pressed into mortar that held them in place. It is so large that it could have taken six people about three years to finish. Since each tiny tile is only about a fraction of an inch square, it took hundreds of them to cover a square foot of floor. One of the mosaics shows two fish and a basket, commemorating the event for which the church was built, it is located behind the altar. Others show birds, flowers, and other wildlife which was familiar to the people there in the fifth century.

Praise Yah??

This week's Torah portion includes Numbers 10. The first verses talk about two special trumpets which are not shofrot, they are chatsoserah, a totally different word which means silver (metallic) horns. Only the High Priest could authorize these chatsoserah to be blown for marching, new moons, and other specific things. In the NT, some sacred Name or Hebraic-ish bible translations use shofar for the horns being blown in NT prophecy. It's almost a certainty those are chatsoserah, not shofrot. A key difference is that we laypeople may own and blow shofrot. We will never have our lips touch the holy trumpets of the Temple or those in the New Testament.
When you consider decisions about new moons and such, do you consider authority? In Torah, authority trumps accuracy (no pun intended). If the Kohen Gadol says to go out, you go out. If the Kohen Gadol says it's the first day of the 3rd month, it's the first day of the 3rd month. Those of us in the west consider accuracy over authority because we are raised to be, effectively, sovereign in our lives. But in Torah, we do not have the authority to make certain decisions, they are reserved for the Kohen Gadol. In Yahweh's kingdom, we will be subjects, not sovereign people who need to be convinced. We will either obey or find ourselves out of the kingdom. We should also consider who have the authority to order the prophetic chatsoserah to be blown and take heed not to follow men, but to follow Yahweh and His Messiah, trusting that their timing is just, regardless of our perspectives. #shabbatshalom

This week's Torah portion includes Numbers 10. The first verses talk about two special trumpets which are not shofrot, they are chatsoserah, a totally different word which means silver (metallic) horns. Only the High Priest could authorize these chatsoserah to be blown for marching, new moons, and other specific things. In the NT, some sacred Name or Hebraic-ish bible translations use shofar for the horns being blown in NT prophecy. It's almost a certainty those are chatsoserah, not shofrot. A key difference is that we laypeople may own and blow shofrot. We will never have our lips touch the holy trumpets of the Temple or those in the New Testament.
When you consider decisions about new moons and such, do you consider authority? In Torah, authority trumps accuracy (no pun intended). If the Kohen Gadol says to go out, you go out. If the Kohen Gadol says it's the first day of the 3rd month, it's the first day of the 3rd month. Those of us in the west consider accuracy over authority because we are raised to be, effectively, sovereign in our lives. But in Torah, we do not have the authority to make certain decisions, they are reserved for the Kohen Gadol. In Yahweh's kingdom, we will be subjects, not sovereign people who need to be convinced. We will either obey or find ourselves out of the kingdom. We should also consider who have the authority to order the prophetic chatsoserah to be blown and take heed not to follow men, but to follow Yahweh and His Messiah, trusting that their timing is just, regardless of our perspectives. #shabbatshalom

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
Luke 2:46

When Yeshua stayed at the Temple after Passover when he was 12, he probably taught the Jewish teachers a lot, but he was there to learn from them, not the other way around. If the Son of God humbled himself to listen to the religious experts of his day, how prideful must we be to insist we don't need teachers or that we know better than them all?

Oregon Road Trip, Days 6-7

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
Luke 2:41

Joseph, Mary, and their children, including Yeshua, kept the Passover in Jerusalem every year. We can't all go to Jerusalem and there's no Temple or altar there anyway. It's impossible to keep Passover today strictly as God commanded it to be done. Yet we still keep Passover as much as we can where we are as a memorial of God's salvation in Egypt, but more importantly, of God's salvation at Golgotha.

Exodus 22:21, “You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Believers are instructed to do what is reasonable to live in harmony with each other and that includes the people who may not live near you. Because believers should be the example for the world we live in, we should try to treat everyone equally. Of course this does not intend for believers to allow themselves to be taken advantage of…

Thought for Today: Shabbat June 10:

Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are opt to sink into dispair. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Moshiach and let us go on into the invisible future with Him. Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step, Amen!