The Upper Room

Have a happy Chanukah

Chanukah is an amazing time of the year. It speaks of the Lord's salvation in the darkest times and a miricle of light. This rememberance was so important Jesus made a point of participating. For those of you who have children and don't know much about Chanukah, here is a fun vid.

 

 

John MacArthur gives some words of wisdom on Joel Osteen

John Macarthur responds with clarity on Joel Osteen. This is well worth watching.

 

Homes not settlements

The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them  and unite with the descendants of Jacob.  Isa 14:1

One of the best ways to end conflict is to unite people and not divide them. So is the case with building in Israel. The nations complain that the building of homes in Jerusalem and Judea produces conflict. But I ask, "why would it"?  Why not build a world where we can live along side each other in peace? There is already one Palestinian state in Gaza. Do we really need another? I think not.

This is a time for couragous leadership, and my hope is that Israel will stand against a sinful world demanding separation of peoples rather than unity.

Wayne Grudem does it again

With the recent American elections come to a close. We have seen a large number of Democrats looking for work.  We have also experienced numerous sermons on government and how the Christian should vote.

Maybe it is time to take a break from the hype and settle in some good study on the subject. Who better to lead us in such an enterprise than Wayne Grudem. Dr Grudem is author of that best selling work "Systematic Theology". ST was a land mark effort and awakened so many Christians to the glory of GOD and the bible. Well, Wayne has done it again with "Politics according to the bible".

This tome is both meaty and relevant to our times. Dr Grudem wrestles with the scriptures on Government and responds to many errors held today.  No matter what you politics opinions are, this book is well worth the read.

 

 

Great Hebrew Resources

The Bible Society of Israel has some great resources. If you would like to read the Bible (OT & NT) or Psalms in Hebrew click HERE.

Why I dance

 Many people are starting to discover the Hebrew roots of their Christian faith. This is not a new phenomenon but it has been picking up in intensity.  I was especially surprised when I was last in Jerusalem. There were so many Christian's who felt called to be there. It is almost like a great in-gathering is taking place.

I still encounter the odd person that has not become aware of these things. For them Christianity is molded by the culture they are in.  Jesus appears as a blond haired, blue eyed European. Their Christianity is shaped by their culture. To the British Jesus is a socialist, ready to reach out with kingdom help for the poor. Americans see Jesus as the great individualist, standing for the free market and everything that brings. Few really know the Rabbi they claim to follow.

There was once a violinist who travelled to a remote town. No-one knew this man and he began playing on the street corner. At first one person stopped, then another, and another. Soon many people were in the street. After awhile they all began to dance. The whole street was filled with dancing. Soon a poor deaf man turned the corner. He did not see the violinist, he just saw the people dancing. He thought, "why are they doing this, has the whole world gone mad"?  That poor deaf man could not hear the tune.

So it is for those of us who have discovered the Jewish roots of our faith. We dance with joy because we hear a tune others cannot. We follow a Rabbi that few really know.

"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." Matt 13:16-17

 

Hebrew: Alaph

From pulpits around the nation I hear churches bragging about their teaching. But to be honest I find that most teaching is lacking meat, a  man centered concoction designed to please those listening. So just what is teaching? What should teaching look like in a church, and how do we develop those purchased by the blood of the lamb?

In the next few posts I am going to expound on several Hebrew words related to education. These posts will not be long, but hopefully meaty.  To get us dinning on the fair cuisine of Hebrew text, we will start with the word ALAPH  אֱלַף.

This  word occurs only four times in the Old Testament. It is somewhat a rare jewel and has to be sought out. It basic meaning is "to befriend, to become accustomed to, and to become familiar with". We see an example of it in Proverbs 22:24-25:

"Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways  and get yourself ensnared."

Here we see education in something bad coming from familiarity.  By making friends with a hot tempered man we will learn that same behavior. 

Before we go any further I need to give a brief introduction to Hebrew verbs. There are seven different verb types in Hebrew. Each verb type slightly changes application of the verb.  Lets use the verb "to cut" as an example.  The qal form means "he cut". The niphal form would be "he was cut". The hiphil form "he made cut". The hophal is "he was made cut". The piel is "he slashed".  Pual form is "he was slashed".  I have left out the hitpael as I think you are getting the drift. 

The following three uses of Alaph occur in the Pielform.

In Job we see alaph used three times. Job 15:5:

"Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty."

Eliphaz states that Job's mouth taught Job to sin. 

In Job 33:33 Elihu stated that he would teach (cause Job to be familar with) wisdom:

"But if not, then listen to me;  be silent, and I will teach you wisdom" 

Finally Job 35:11 GOD teaches us more than animals.

Through the use of Alaph we can see that to teach is to make someone familiar with. It is also something that is done through association.  I think there was a lot of wisdom in Jesus way of teaching.  He took his disciples to himself, he taught not just in words but by living life together. Those disciples learned through words and actions.

So maybe our teaching should be through familiarization and association. Just think about it.

Aleppo Codex

Like many of you I have had a busy season. But not to busy to miss an on-line gem. The Aleppo Codex is on-line.  The introduction reads, 

"The Aleppo Codex is a full manuscript of the entire Bible, which was written in about 930. For more than a thousand years, the manuscript was preserved in its entirety in important Jewish communities in the Near East: Tiberias, Jerusalem, Egypt, and in the city of Aleppo in Syria. However, in 1947, after the United Nations Resolution establishing the State of Israel, it was damaged in riots that broke out in Syria. At first people thought that it had been completely destroyed. Later, however, it turned out that most of the manuscript had been saved and kept in a secret hiding place. In 1958, the Aleppo Codex was smuggled out of Syria to Jerusalem and delivered to the President of the State of Israel, Izhak Ben-Zvi.

Once the Aleppo Codex reached Israel, precise study of it began in many areas. Scholars of the Masora and of the text of the Bible took note of its special status among the manuscripts related to it. It was found that the match between the spelling of the Aleppo Codex and the comments of the Masora was excellent, far better than the match of other manuscripts. Similarly, the vocalization signs in the Aleppo Codex were examined and described, along with the cantillation marks, the system of ge’iyot (a kind of accent mark), and the apparatus of the Masora. All of these terms will be explained and demonstrated in this site."

This document is vital to Biblical study.  You can read the codex: HERE.

Codex Sinaiticus Online

The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the oldest Christian bibles in existence. Written in the fourth century using Koine Greek, the codex is a wealth of information for anyone who loves studying the bible.   Once locked away in a monastery deep in the Sinai, now this text can be read on-line.

The Codex Sinaiticus project was formed to study and produce an on-line reference to this amazing bible.   On-line you can pick a book of the bible, go to the verses and read them in Greek.

The on-line bible can be found HERE.

Useful Links

Just like many of you,  I enjoy good research on biblical topics. Bethlehem College and Seminary has created are very useful links page.  Subjects such as Hebrew/Greek, theology etc can all be found here. There is also some links for general research.

You can find the site HERE.