The Torah Network

2 yrs

But Moses said to YHWH, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
#exodus 6:12 ESV

The use of "uncircumcised lips" shows that the ancient Hebrews always knew circumcision is only an outward sign of an inward condition. This wasn't an idea invented in the first century or even by the prophets of Israel. It predates them all.

Comment

2 yrs

SERIES E --- YHVH’S LAWS --- LESSON 10

THE CLOUD

MOVING AT ADONAI’S COMMAND

From Numbers 9

During the first month of the second year after the people of Israel left Egypt, Adonai gave many Instructions to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai. Here are some of the Instructions He gave him concerning the Passover: Celebrate the Passover each year on the fourteenth day of the first month {about the first of April}. Begin the celebration in the evening and proceed exactly as I shall tell you. Moses told the people that the Passover celebration would begin at the time Adonai had Instructed them, the evening of the fourteenth day of that month. Now it happened that some men had handled the dead body of a man and were thus considered unclean. Since that would have kept them from eating the Passover lamb, they came to Moses and Aaron and complained. We are considered unclean because we had to handle a man’s dead body, they said. Must we then be kept from offering our sacrifice at the time Adonai Commanded that we should? Wait, said Moses. I will ask Adonai about this. He took the matter to Adonai and got this reply: Tell the people that they may still keep the Passover if they have touched a dead body or happen to be away on a trip on the fourteenth day of the first month, Adonai said. They may celebrate the Passover a month later, on the fourteenth day of the second month. They will start the celebration in the evening of that day and will eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They must leave no food until morning and must not break a bone of it, following all the other instructions concerning the Passover. However, anyone who refuses to keep the Passover at the regular time, not being ceremonially unclean or away on a trip, will be cut off from the people. He will bear his own guilt for not making Adonai’s offering at the scheduled time. If a stranger lives among you and wants to celebrate the Passover to Adonai, he must follow the same regulations I have given to you. There is only one set of rules for the Passover. On the same day that the tabernacle was set up, Adonai’s cloud covered it. In the evening the cloud changed in appearance so that it looked like fire. All through the night the cloud kept the appearance of fire. It was the same every day and night. By day it was a cloud, and by night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud moved, the people of Israel followed it until it stopped at another place. Wherever it settled, the people set up camp. The people of Israel broke camp at Adonai’s Command and set up camp in a new place at Adonai’s Command. As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, the people camped in that place. No matter how long the cloud remained, the people also remained. Sometimes it stayed a few days, so the people stayed a few days, staying or going at the Command of Adonai. Sometimes the cloud remained only for a night, from evening until morning or for a day and a night. Either way, the people moved with the cloud. Whether the cloud remained above the tabernacle for two days, a month or longer, the people camped for that length of time and would not leave until the cloud left first. They camped at Adonai’s Command and set out at Adonai’s Command. They did all that Adonai through Moses; said they should do.

COMMENTARY

LIFE THEY LEFT BEHIND: BOARD GAMES OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Even before the time of Abraham, people in the Near East loved to play games, especially board games. The poorest peasant scratched outlines of the game boards into the dust. Others used boards made of glazed clay. The rich played on beautifully crafted bone, ivory and wood boards. The game boards could be anywhere from miniature “pocket size” to as large as a table. One of the oldest games in the Near East was called {tau} {it rhymes with now}. Tau was played on a board with twenty squares set up in a {T} formation. Some squares were marked as lucky, others were left blank. It was played much like Parcheesi. One of the games invented in Egypt became so popular it spread to Palestine and other places in the Near East. Its original name is not known. It is usually called {hounds and jackals,} because the playing pieces were pegs shaped like the heads of hounds and jackals. It was a race game that was played by two people. Another board game, now called {the serpent,] is even older than tau. Though the Egyptians played it, they did not invent it. The board for this game was marked with a snake’s body wound in a spiral and divided into segments. The playing piece was in the shape of a lion. No one knows exactly what the rules were, but the idea was probably to guess the number of pebbles or marbles in the other player’s hand and then to move the playing piece closer to the centre. It was not played in Egypt for very long. One of the most popular games in ancient Egypt is a complete mystery to people today. No one has any idea how it was played. The game is called {senet.} Two players sat facing each other across the long senet board. It was marked with thirty squares set in three rows of ten each. The playing pieces were shaped like spools and cones. It appears that the game pieces were never taken off the board, as is done in checkers or chess and senet does not seem to be a race game. After that, no one knows anything about the game, except that it was played by almost everyone from the pharaoh on down. The dice used in board games looked nothing like the little cubes thrown today. The knucklebones of pigs were often used because they had two distinctly different sides. Sometimes throw sticks were the dice, one side blank, the other side marked in some way. Which side came up determined the number of moves. The ancient Egyptians were an active, happy people. No doubt indoor board games like these helped them pass many enjoyable hours of play.

Comment

2 yrs

I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Exodus 6:4-5 ESV

The land of #israel belonged to Israel before Israel was even a people. God never forgets a covenant. When Israel cries out to God, He refocuses on His covenant with them.

Comment

2 yrs

In #exodus 6:3, God said Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn't know him by the name YHVH. It doesn't mean they didn't know the word "YHVH" but rather a manner of relating to Him. The Bible uses different names for God to emphasize different aspects of his character or the roles he plays in his creation. El Shaddai works through the world. Elohim creates and judges the world. YHVH is hidden from/revealed to the world in relationship with his people. These are three modes in which the same God operates.
#biblestudy #torah #vaera

Comment

2 yrs

I mentioned in the last comic that Adonai was my introduction to God having a name besides "God" or "LORD". The Bible I got that used Adonai had other names transliterated as well, so names like Moses and Matthew were instead Moshe and Mattithyahu, respectively. This caused me to get interested in Hebrew and looking more into names. There are so many cool "hidden" aspects about the people of the Bible we never see in English because we have these other names in place of a translation. For example using Moses again, when Pharaoh's daughter draws him out of the water (with the word "draw" being pronounced "masha" in Hebrew), she names him Moshe (mo-shay), a play on the word "draw". Most of the names I have researched follow this pattern, especially when the person naming the child announces why they named the child such. It is a slight alteration of the important word in their announcement.

I say all that because seeing this made me want to go and look and see what was the meaning behind Adonai. If all these other people's names had meaning, certainly God's did, too. This is where I found out that during this time I had swapped from calling God "the LORD" in English, to calling Him "the LORD" in Hebrew. Adonai was not His actual name, but a title that is used in reference to Him about 430 times in Scripture, usually "Lord" (just L being capitalized). While the word behind "LORD" (all caps LORD) in Scripture is used over 6,500 times. This put me back on the "what is Your Name?" path, which we will cover those Names I researched in the next few comics.

https://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/569

#bible #bibleverse #bibleverseimages #biblestudy #biblestudynotes #church #christian #webcomic #webcomicseries #cartoon