Fig Tree Ministries Podcast

Today's lesson examines the concept of an ancient Near Eastern Covenant. In Biblical times covenants were everywhere. God uses the idea of a covenant to help the Israelites understand the type of God he is and the nature of the relationship they are entering. Simply put, God is a god who covenants and wants to covenant with us. But what does that mean? What is the nature of an ancient Covenant tha...

In today's lesson, we explore the structure of the final fifteen chapters of Exodus and look at how the concept of creation or re-creation is woven into the narrative. We mentioned in our previous lesson that the final chapters in Exodus are written in a Chiastic structure. A Chiasm – which gets its name from the Greek letter chi – is a method of helping the reader or listener focus their attentio...

There is a concept within spirituality known as "Awakening from Above/Awakening from Below." God's revelation comes down from Heaven, but an aspect of our spiritual growth emerges from below. When we implement God's commands and become "doers of the word," a lasting transformation takes place. When we "do," we gain insight. We learn at a deeper level and begin to experience the wisdom behind the c...

The section of Exodus that scholars refer to as "The Book of the Covenant" consist of chapters 21-23. Within these chapters are numerous commandments that, contrary to popular belief, do not concern individual holiness. Instead, they focus on structuring a good and just society where the presence of God dwells and humanity flourishes. Additionally, most of these commandments are found within the l...

So often, in the modern Western context of Christianity, we view the commandments in the book of Exodus only through the lens of individual salvation and getting into heaven. This is a misreading of the biblical text. The concern of Exodus, and the commandments within, is found in the final two paragraphs of the book, where the presence of God finally dwells within the community. God dwelling with...

We hope you have enjoyed this series on the Transfiguration of Jesus and that it helps you see deeper into this fantastic event. Today's lesson is the seventh and final in our series on understanding the background to the Transfiguration of Jesus. In this video, we summarize what we discovered during the first six lessons and see if we can't come up with two overarching categories that will help u...

In today's lesson, we arrive at what I believe to be the foundation of understanding the overall message of the Transfiguration. This foundation is Psalm 42 & 43 and then a subsequent interpretation - called Midrash - of Psalm 43. The number of details shared between the Rabbinic interpretation of Psalm 43 and what we find in the Gospels, and the Transfiguration is simply remarkable. Finally, in t...

In today’s lesson, we explore the literary progression found in the Gospel of Mark that concerns “seeing” and “hearing” as the disciples ascend on their journey toward the Transfiguration. The rabbis taught that the kingdom of God comes through “seeing” and “hearing.” Through the prophet Isaiah, God chastises Israel for having “eyes” but not being able to see and having “ears” but the inability to...

In today's video, we explore the Transfiguration through the lens of Mystical Judaism. A concept prevalent in first-century Judaism concerned the existence of a "Heavenly Man" - or, as in Mystical Judaism, the Adam Kadmon - the Original Adam. Humanity is made in the image of God, yet God has no image. The "Heavenly Man" solves this paradox." Join us as we connect Paul's use of the term "Heavenly M...

In today's lesson, we continue our series on the Transfiguration by exploring the connection between the First Adam and Jesus, as the Last Adam. This connection takes us back to Eden and the loss of glory that Adam and Eve experienced after their sin. According to Rabbinic writings, when the Messiah comes, he will restore the glory that Adam lost. Moreover, Paul will use this line of Rabbinic theo...

This video is the second in our series on the Transfiguration of Jesus. In today's lesson, we explore how the details of the Transfiguration event bring to mind the stories of Moses on Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus. Jesus, through his actions, and the Gospel writers, through the details they choose to present, pull in the story of Moses on Mount Sinai and the understood meaning to communicate...

The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most enigmatic stories in the Bible. Understanding the overall message of this event requires us to understand the cultural context within which it took place. In this short series, we will explore the cultural context of first-century Israel and how the Transfiguration would have been viewed by its first-century audience. Today's video lays out a spiritu...

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 2-17) contain tremendous wisdom for how to structure society to bring about God's kingdom. This wisdom is contained within the underlying structure of the order of the commandments and is not always easy to see when doing a surface reading. In today's lesson, we take a deep dive into the biblical structure to see how this ancient wisdom transcends time and still ap...

In today's lesson, we explore Wisdom and the importance of striving toward wisdom in our spiritual journey up the mountain of the LORD (Psalm 24:3). Wisdom is a gift from God that gives us insight into the nature of God's cosmos or His will for how we are to live. When we implement wisdom in our lives, we manifest goodness over a long period of time. Since we exist across time, our behavior from m...

Psalm 24:3 asks, "Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?" Throughout the ancient Near East (ANE), the "Cosmic Mountain" idea was of vital importance within their view of the cosmos. So when the Israelites are taken out of Egypt to meet God on a mountain, they already have a preconceived notion of how God interacts with the world at the peak of a mountain. The theme of ascending the mountain of t...

Today's lesson is part two of our previous video, "The LORD My Banner." In our previous lesson, we examined the story of Moses raising his hands on a hill while the Israelites were battling against the Amalekites. Moses builds an altar upon victory and calls it, "The LORD is My Banner." In this week's lesson, we expand the concept of the banner from Exodus through the Bible and up to Jesus. There...

In today's video, we look at the story from Exodus 17, where the Amalekites attack the Israelites. Moses goes up onto a hill with the "staff of God in his hand." When Moses' hands were up in the air, the Israelites were winning. When his hands lowered, the Israelites lost. After winning the battle, Moses builds an altar and calls it "The LORD is my banner." The context for this story and Moses' co...

Today’s video explores the Hebrew word for wilderness – Midbar. If we take a step back and watch the movement of the Israelites from Egypt out to the wilderness, we see something unique. The Israelites move from a place of order – food, water, shelter – to a place of chaos – no water, no food, no shelter – and must become fully reliant upon God and his provisions. God has a purpose for bringing th...

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Today's video explores the Last Supper as a Passover Seder. The Gospel writers include details about the meal found within traditional Passover Seder celebrations. We can even discern where some of the disciples would have been sitting relative to Jesus that evening by looking closely at these details. Finally, we explore an element of the celebration called the Afikomen. Many scholars believe tha...

In this week's lesson, we look at the details about the Passover in Exodus chapter 12. We can then compare the details about Jesus that are included in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are nested within the holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. The Gospel writers, in particular, are sure to include seemingly small detai...

In this video, we begin short three-part series on Passover. Passover is the most important holiday within the Hebrew Bible and for the nation of Israel. This lesson takes a ten-thousand-foot view of the Passover holiday and how it connects throughout the Old Testament and into the events surrounding Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. We look into the "four expressions of redemption" (Exodus...

Exodus is not only a book that tells of the redemption of the Israelites, but it is also a book about the spiritual redemption of all humanity. On a spiritual level, Exodus provides a metaphor for a spiritual journey from slavery to the indwelling of God's presence. Exodus communicates this through the ancient near east use of symbols and repetition. In this lesson, we look at two seemingly insign...

Did Pharaoh repent? We tend to think about Pharaoh during the Ten Plagues as entirely immovable. We imagine that he is consistent and unemotional in his responses as he rejects Moses' requests to release the Israelites. However, a careful study of the text gives us a different picture. Pharaoh does change along the way! He negotiates with Moses, and his responses loosen up as the plagues' nature i...

The story of Pharaoh's heart has both fascinated and perplexed Biblical scholars over the years. Considering the Biblical emphasis on humanity having free will, the fact that it appears that God is taking away Pharaoh’s free will is difficult for many Christians to accept. Most Christians don't know that not all scholars agree that God "hardened" Pharaoh's heart. Join us in this video as we explor...