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SOME STUDY GEMS:
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Father
Luke 15:21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
Maybe for some it would be surprising to learn, that the concept of “God the Father”, or YHWH our Father, is NOT new and only for the “new testament”. It wasn’t something new Yeshua was teaching, as Israel should know that YHWH is their Father. Reading through the old testament, we have made several posts on the theme and word “Father”, click here to see those posts.
In Deuteronomy we see YHWH calling Israel their children, and Moses asks Israel.. “is He not your Father?!”. In Numbers we learned what the meaning and role of a Father and Husband is, and that is exactly the role YHWH has from the beginning. In Jeremiah we learned that there is no such word as “ancestors” in Hebrew, but it always uses the word “father”. But what Yeshua did come to teach, is to get to know the Father. He came to reveal the Father’s Heart, that even though we were lost children and not worthy to be called His child, He would still take us back in an instant! What Yeshua showed us, is we should know who our real Father is, Matthew 23:9, “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” In Psalm 45:10 we read, “Forget your own people also, and your father’s house“.
Remember, in Scripture “father” means your ancestors as we understand it in English. That means, how you were brought up with tradition, religion and beliefs. YHWH is saying, forget what your ancestors taught you.. leave that behind.. do not call your ancestors and their teachings your “Father”... Become part of a new family – call only Him your Father, because He created you, and you are His. In Luke 8:21 Yeshua says, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of YHWH and do it.”
Wealth, Mammon
Luke 16:8 “the sons of this world are more clever and shrewd than the sons of the light, when it comes to dealing with others”. What this verse is saying, is people of this world, who live after this world, is very clever with money and how to make money, and how to deal with people to get what they want. One can truly admire sometimes the things people in this world get right, and mostly with some ways of dishonesty.
What Yeshua is saying in verse 9, is “although wealth is often used in dishonest ways, you should use it to make friends for yourselves“. Wealth in this world are used for all the wrong things and reasons. But if you are blessed with wealth, use it to make friends. If you can be trusted with money in this world, you will be trusted with real wealth. But beware, you heart will be tested! Do you tithe to be blessed? Do you give to the poor so you can be praised? Are you giving.. because you know you will receive something in return? This is a double edged sword.. you cannot serve two masters.
Today when people mention “mammon“, they refer to it as if is or was a god, but that was not the original meaning of the word. There was no mammon god, but wealth (mammon) is personified to something that is worshipped. That means that anything in this world can also be worshipped, not just some “false gods”. The greek word for mammon is mamonas G3126 – mamōnas, meaning wealth, treasure, riches, and even confidence. Is that not what riches do.. it makes you very confident? But the word comes from the Aramaic māmōnā, which simply meant “wealth” or “profit”. The related Hebrew word hāmōn also means “accumulation,” and māmon is found in the Damascus Document in the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are many teachings and warnings when it comes to wealth from the old testament, especially books like Job and Ecclesiastes, click here to see some of the other posts about wealth.
Torah
Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”
When you look at the original greek translations, there is no “were” word. The sentence could be really confusing, as it might sound that the law and prophets were valid until John came. But what it really is saying is: The law, and the prophets until John came, and since John the kingdom of YHWH was heavily focussed on and many are coming forward to enter it.
The very next verse, confirms that verse 16 isn’t saying the Law was until John, as verse 17 says, “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail”. These words are exactly what was spoken in Matthew 5:18, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
What is this jot or tittles? The jot, or yod in Hebrew, or iota G2503 – iōta in Greek, is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Hebrew letter “`”, which is the smallest letters of all hebrew letters. A tittle or stroke, or Keraia G2762 – keraia in greek, is the little extremity on certain hebrew letters that set them apart from each other. For example the letters chet (ח), hay (ה) and tav (ת) look a lot the same, but the little tittles makes them unique.
Yeshua goes on to give an illustration of the rich man in hell, that is crying to Abraham to go warn his brothers about hell. But in verse 29 and 31 Yeshua says, if they would not listen to Moses’ teachings (the Torah), then they will never listen to Abraham who would have to go from the dead (resurrected) to the living world. That is the same for Yeshua, who was dead and resurrected. Verse 29-31, “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’” And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
If one is not willing to look at Torah for oneself, and willing to ignore all the rumours and traditions around you – then Yeshua is saying, not even the dead or resurrected will be able to persuade them.
