Friday, 02 May 2008

Introduction to Torah

Deuteronomy 32:45 “And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

The Word is truly alive and powerful!!!!

Imagine a tree. There are roots, a trunk, branches, leaves and fruit. Elohim is the Roots – John 15:5 :”I am the vine, and you are the branches”. We are the branches that need to yield fruit. But the part that I want to discuss is the trunk! The trunk is the “middle way” between the roots (Elohim) and the branches (the children). The trunk is the Torah!

When there is no trunk, you get cut off branches!!! You get people desperately seeking roots! This is dangerous because people use foreign (man made/ non-biblical) explanations and substitutions for the trunk.

The 5 books of Mosheh (Moses) is called the Torah:

1. Genesis/Bereshit (Hebrew) – “In the beginning”
It is the beginning of the first verse of the Word. It shows us where Yisrael comes from. Yisrael had a beginning and will also have an end! It shows the purpose of Yisrael.

2. Exodus/Shemot – “The book on names”. It shows us who the people were that left Egypt (Mitsrayim). It is also the book where the Father, Y'HWH, reveals His name to His people. He wants them to know Him by His Name, this leads to the Tabernacle...

3. Leviticus/Vayikrah – “And He called” – He calls the Levites from birth. It teaches the Priests how to serve Him in the Tabernacle.

4. Numbers/Bamidbar – “In the wilderness”. People who played a significant role in the plan of YHWH, from Mosheh, the prophets and Yehshua (Jesus) had to spent time in the wilderness! Because there you will find spiritual instruction and learn to listen from the Mountain!!

5. Deuteronomy/Devarim – “Words” –Repetition of the Law/Teaching

1. Terms:

1. 1. Old Testament = Genesis to Malachi . This is the Jewish Bible and is called the TANAKH. The word Tanakh is actually an acronym! It was made up from the following 3 words. Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (The rest of the old testament).

NB: it is important because it shows that the Torah is acrostic of nature! It has layers of wisdom and teaching!

1.2. Haftorah – it means “after” Torah. That is the Nevi’im and the Ketuvim - The Prophets and the rest of the Old Testament.

1.3. Talmud - These are many Jewish writings / commentary on the Tanakh and Jewish Culture. They were written about 250 ad – 450 ad, thus after the Brit Hadashah. Please note, I do not keep/teach the Talmud. It is man made laws and leads to self-righteousness.

1.4. Brit Hadashah – “New Testament” – NB: RENEWED COVENANT

1.5. Parashot – Weekly teaching / Torah portions = 7 (daily portions) Sedrah’s.

NB: YOU CANNOT USE JUDAISM AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE TEACHINGS OF MOSHEH!!!
Yehshua (Jesus) himself said: “Have you believed Moses, you would have believed in Me also, because you didn’t believe in Moses, you didn’t believe in Me!”

2. Levels of Torah:

There are 4 different levels of the Torah that we will explore:

2.1. The first level just explores the plain sense of what is written. The facts: who, what, where and when?
2.2. The homiletic level – teaching how to make sermons, in other words take a principle from Torah and teach others.
2.3. The esoteric level – this is the hidden/secretive level. When you read a piece, and it is talking about a specific object/subject, but the word is never used.
2.4. The fourth level is all about mystery - it covers from numerology to bible codes!

THE PERSUIT OF TORAH IS GETTING TO KNOW Y'HWH AND YeHSHUA THE MESSIAH!

No comments:

Post a Comment