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Daniel and his three companions are being groomed for service in the Babylon royal court. They are determined not to violate the Torah and eat potentially unclean food. In this they find favor, both with the eunuch in charge and with God Himself.

Paul continues his discourse on the purpose of the law by explaining why the Jews have had a great advantage because God gave them the Torah. He did that because of His love for His people. The expectation was that they would then spread this blessing to the rest of humanity.

This year's election was anomalous in many ways. There is a temptation to view the results with despair. This would be an error. The believer's attitude is that there is now work to be done to change things in a direction favorable to God and His people.

At Sinai God made a big deal of the fact that the reason He took them out of Egypt was to set them free. The idea that the covenant at Sinai, as delivered to Moses by God, is something that puts you under bondage is in contradiction to what God said when he gave them the Torah. The purpose of the Torah is so that you stay out of bondage and have a fruitful society that is pleasing to God.

There is a very human tendency to assume that God's mercy will be applied to oneself and that He will give that other fellow what he truly deserves. Such presumption is a grave error. God will judge everyone according to His own standards, not man's standards.

The standard Christian interpretation of the binding of Isaac is that it was a rehearsal for the crucifixion. While this is correct, there is an additional layer of meaning. What was God saying to the world of the Patriarchs?

Paul uses two metaphors to describe the effect of the Torah: that of an heir under a guardian and that of the son of Hagar, Sarah's slave. These examples are often cited as evidence that the Torah is done away with. This is a misunderstanding. Just as the two sets of tablets given to Moses were identical, the conditions of the New Covenant are the same as the Old. The difference is where God's law...

The letter starts with an assertion of the TANAK principle that righteousness is by faith. The first chapter describes the pathologies of those who deny God, lack faith and follow after their own vain imaginations.

In both Luke 16 and Matthew 6 Y'shua warns against a wrong view of worldly wealth. The parable of the unrighteous steward, which ends with the advice not to serve mammon, has some seemingly strange aspects. Were the tenant farmers in on the deception? Why did the master commend the unrighteous steward after he learned of the unauthorized rent reductions? Why did he not take any action against the...

The Galatians had received the Spirit when Paul taught them the Gospel. Paul is telling them here that that Spirit is sufficient evidence of their salvation and that adding anything beyond that risks them falling away from Grace.

Continuing from chapter 51 the prophet declares God's vengeance on Babylon. This because she used her economic power to lead the nations away from God. Since much of this chapter is echoed in Revelation 18, it is not always clear when Jeremiah is speaking of the conquest by the Medes or of the eventual destruction at the end.

The Torah is a very compact book. Why is this story included? What are we to learn from it today? In light of the globalist project to create an overarching world government and to thoroughly mix ethnicities via mas migration, the story of the Tower takes on a very contemporary significance. God did not approve of homogeneity then, perhaps He still doesn't.

In the early church there were many competing voices advocating how gentiles were to behave as members of the Kingdom of God. Paul had established the Galatian church and was distressed that they had listened people advocating adult circumcision. He starts the letter by establishing his own credentials.

Beginning a two chapter prophecy about the end of Babylon, Jeremiah lays the blame for Israel's exile on her shepherds. Those leaders who were supposed to keep the nation on course but instead exploited the flock. The prophecies extend to the end times and are repeated in Revelation.

Biblical wisdom literature is directed at the 'young fool.' Such a one is not necessarily evil or stupid, just naive. As we look at the Garden, the only recorded instructions God gave the man were: "be fruitful." "assume dominion," and "don't eat of that tree." Perhaps a perfect environment was not the ideal environment for cultivating wisdom. The young woman certainly took some bad advice from th...

Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia deals with the question of whether gentile believers in the Gospel needed to be circumcised. This introduction goes over the background to this question. It explains Peter’s vision of the heavenly sheet in Acts 10 and the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 that dealt with the question.

Beginning with Egypt the prophet describes what God will do to the surrounding nations. In the case of Egypt, part of the problem is the flight of the remnant after the assassination of Gedeliah. In the case of the other nations it is because of their treatment of Israel when God was chastising her.

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, there are two aspects that are of special messianic interest. On that day, water from the Pool of Siloam is poured out on the altar. As that was happening, Y'shua announced that He was the living water. There were also four massive lamps whose illumination could be seen all over Jerusalem. Y'shua healed a blind man at the Pool of Siloam and announced th...

The angel speaking to Daniel gives him a prophecy that extends to the end of days and covers the events of Revelation. It includes some very specific events and time spans.

Gedaliah was left as governor of Judah by the Babylonians. He was murdered by Ishmael at the instigation of the Ammonites. This caused the rest of Judah to panic and flee to Egypt against the wishes of God. In Egypt Jeremiah called them to cease making offerings to the Queen of Heaven. This advice was angrily rejected.

We read Ecclesiastes during Succot because both the book and the holiday are about the same subject. Ecclesiastes reminds us that the accomplishments we make in this life - under the sun - are transitory and eventually we must leave them behind and go to the grave. Succot reminds us that this world is not our ultimate home and that we, along with the saints who have gone before, are looking forwar...

After his death, Alexander's empire was divided among his four top generals. The Selucids and the Ptolemys were above and below Israel respectively. Chapter 11, describing their competition over a span of three centuries, reads like an ancient 'Game of Thrones.'

Most of Christianity does not observe Yom Kippur. They often cite Hebrews 9 which clearly states that the sacrifice of Christ was done once and never need be repeated. While that is true, the Song of Moses in Dt 32 provides a perspective on how believers can fall away from God and into idolatry. Observing God's special days, including Yom Kippur can prevent that falling away.

Daniel had been fasting and praying for three weeks without apparent result. In this vision, the curtain is pulled back a bit and he learns that the manifestation of answers to prayer may involve conflict among spiritual beings.

Jeremiah warns the king and other government officials that Jerusalem is about to be destroyed and gets thrown into a muddy cistern for his efforts. His prophecy is fulfilled and the Babylonians take the city completely eliminating the leadership of Judah and giving the cities and fields to the poor. The Babylonians have been given instructions to treat Jeremiah well in all of this. (Note that my...