Torah, Prophets, Gospels and Revelation are the only books that could be distinguished as Scripture because ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations to become a ‘chosen’ people, for an abundant earthly life and to inherit the kingdom to come are written in these books.
In fact, the only book written by ADONAI is the Torah, prophesied about the Messiah in Prophets, prophesy fulfilled in the Gospels and Yeshua the Messiah prophesied of the world to come in Revelation.
There is no Church or religion today that fully obeys the Holy Bible. Every church or community merely obeys a portion of Scripture but not completely!
Note. Judgment is based on ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations written in the Torah. Obeying theology, traditions or institutional laws do not substitute or replace ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations; nor do they absolve us from blame, guilt or responsibility.
Isaiah 55:11
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth—
it will not return to me unfulfilled;
but it will accomplish what I intend,
and cause to succeed what I sent it to do.”
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998), Is 55:11.
About Judgment:
Exodus 32:8
8 So quickly they have turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have cast a metal statue of a calf, worshipped it, sacrificed to it and said, ‘Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ”
Deuteronomy 9:16
16 I looked, and there, you had sinned against ADONAI your God! You had made yourselves a metal calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way ADONAI had ordered you to follow.
Psalm 106:19
19 In Horev they fashioned a calf,
they worshipped a cast metal image.
Nehemiah 9:18
18 Even when they cast themselves a metal calf,
saying of it, “This is your god
that brought you up from Egypt,”
and committing other gross provocations;
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998), Ex 32:8–Ne 9:18.
Numbers 15:16 (CJB)
16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’ ” (vi)
Matthew 7:1–2 (CJB)
1 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For the way you judge others is how you will be judged—the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you.
Matthew 19:28 (CJB)
28 Yeshua said to them, “Yes. I tell you that in the regenerated world, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Isra’el.
John 3:17–18 (CJB)
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. 18 Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.
John 3:19–21 (CJB)
19 “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. 20 For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. 21 But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”
John 5:22–24 (CJB)
22 The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father.
Whoever fails to honour the Son is not honouring the Father who sent him. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life—that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life!
John 5:27–30 (CJB)
27 Also he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be surprised at this; because the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. 30 I can’t do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don’t seek my own desire, but the desire of the one who sent me.
Exodus 20:3–6 (CJB)
3 “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot. ג
Deuteronomy 26:16 (CJB)
16 “Today Adonai your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being.
Note. Replacing, altering or manipulating ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations lead to lawlessness, idolatry and blasphemy. Throughout history, we have made ‘carved images’ of all sorts to fulfil our desires, and perfectly justifying the need to replace, circumvent or theologize Scripture:
Mark 7:6-7 (CJB)
‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
7 Their worship of me is useless,
because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.’
Jeremiah 24:7
7 I will give them a heart to know me
that I am ADONAI.
They will be my people,
and I will be their God;
for they will return to me
with all their heart.’
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998), Je 24:7.
The Bible Seems to be God’s Word
Its breadth of subject matter, its wisdom, its deeply felt honesty, its understanding of the human condition, its expressions of joy, wonder, sadness, anger and every other emotion, its way of dealing with history and politics all delineate as the character underlying the Bible an entity, a person, worthy of being called and honoured as God, lover and creator of you and me and the universe. Some readers may find portions which seem less than divine or even contrary to their view of what God ought to say. I suggest that these readers consider changing their concept of God. For only in the Bible will one find the authoritative description of the God of the Bible, who he is and what he “ought” to be. It is there where one should look for the paradoxes to be resolved—and also where it becomes clear that some antinomies (contradictory elements that resist resolution) will not be fully resolved, at least not in this world (two examples: free will and predestination, and Job’s problem—why bad things happen to good people).
Why It Makes a Difference to Believe that God “Wrote the Bible.”
On principle I would not give science the last word in determining truth, because I don’t think faith should be relegated to a category of knowledge inferior to science. The philosophical underpinnings of the Western World are centered on two cities—Athens and Jerusalem. The Greeks developed philosophy in a rational manner, but largely at the expense of separating heart and head. Many psychological and spiritual ills stem from this separation (one can also speak of this separation as between body and soul). The Jews kept head and heart, body, and soul, together, and the Bible reflects this unitary view of human nature. The head has its way of knowing, and the heart has its way of knowing, and neither should be ignored. If head and heart are connected, there is the possibility that what the Bible claims, seems, and proves to be will move the heart to respond in faith. If one believes that in the Bible God is speaking, one will be much more likely to take seriously its promises, threats, suggestions, and commands; and the result, I propose, will be a better life for oneself and the others one meets.
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998).
Matthew 5:19 (CJB)
19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Note. Other books in the Bible must not be read as Scripture, laws, and instructions in particular because they are manifestations, fulfilment, praise, testimonials, thanksgiving and letters to individuals and communities.
For example, of the thirteen letters, seven Pauline epistles are considered authentic by most scholars, and the others considered pseudepigraphic. Pauline Christianity was the emerging theology in the early centuries, embraced by the church.
Revelation 2:23 (CJB)
23 and I will strike her children dead! Then all the Messianic communities will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and that I will give to each of you what your deeds deserve.
Some literary critics of Christianity argue that Paul distorted the original and true faith or claim that Christianity is largely his invention. The former include such secular commentators[30] as the philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell. Nietzsche’s criticisms are based upon his moral objections to Paul’s thought. Other writers, such as Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou, also agree with this interpretation, but hold much more positive opinions about Paul’s theological influence.[citation needed]
Christian anarchists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Ammon Hennacy, believe Paul distorted Jesus’ teachings. Tolstoy claims Paul was instrumental in the church’s “deviation” from Jesus’ teaching and practices,[31] while Hennacy believed “Paul spoiled the message of Christ.”[32]
Note. When comparing passages from the Torah, Prophets, Gospels and Revelation (literal meaning) with theology from other books of the Bible (allegorical interpretation), also consider the emotions communicated by the author and complex grammar which needs full and clear understanding.
“Literal Translations” Versus “Paraphrases.” There is a scale on which translations can be measured. At one end of the scale are “literal” translations, which reproduce in the receptor language (English) the grammatical forms of the source language (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek); translators call these “formally equivalent translations.” The King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Version and the 1917 Jewish Publication Society version of the Hebrew Bible are examples; an interlinear version (or “pony”), which renders the original-language text word by word, is the ultimate literal translation. At the other end of the scale are “dynamically equivalent translations,” which aim at reproducing in the receptor language not the grammatical forms of the source language but the meanings that the original readers would have understood. Popularly these are sometimes called “paraphrases,” although that term ought to be reserved for documents in which the source and receptor languages are the same (for example, a paraphrase of the Gettysburg Address might begin, “Eighty-seven years ago the founders of our nation …”). The Today’s English Version (“Good News Bible”) and the New Jerusalem Bible (Roman Catholic) are examples of dynamically equivalent translations. The New English Bible, the New International Version, and the modern JPS edition fall somewhere between.
On this scale the Complete Jewish Bible tends toward the dynamically equivalent end of the scale. And at certain points especially related to Jewish issues, the New Covenant portion becomes militantly so. For example, the Greek phrase upo nomon (literally, “under law”) is usually rendered “under the law.” But because this phrase has become a buzzword in anti-Torah Christian theology, the Jewish New Testament and now the Complete Jewish Bible spell out the meaning of these two Greek words in thirteen English words: “in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism.”
The Translator and His Interpretations. This example raises the question of whether the translator should “inject his opinions” into his translation. I cautiously answer in the affirmative, on the ground that it inevitably happens anyhow; so that the translator who supposes he “maintains neutrality,” merely channeling ideas from the source language to the receptor language without influencing the result, deludes both himself and his readers. For necessarily every decision as to how to render a word or phrase from another language into English expresses the translator’s opinion. A translator ideologically committed to not intruding his opinions does so in spite of himself, but without taking responsibility for it.
Therefore, I believe a translator should decide what a word or phrase means—in his opinion—and then convey that meaning as clearly as possible. For example, in the case of upo nomon, precisely because wrong meanings have been conveyed in the past, I consider it my responsibility to convey what I believe to be the one and only correct meaning in as unmistakable a way as possible. Even when an expression in the original language seems vague, capable of more than one interpretation, I don’t think a translator should transfer the ambiguity into English. Rather, he should decide on one of the possible interpretations and render that one well. In editions that supply alternative readings, ambiguities can be addressed in a marginal note. This edition does a little of that, but very little; that is not one of its major purposes. A commentary is the right place to deal with such matters fully, and that is one of my purposes in the Jewish New Testament Commentary.
On the other side of the picture, this approach lends itself to abuse. The fact that the translator’s opinions will necessarily be reflected in his translation does not mean that he should exploit his role, attempting with a partisan rendering to sway his readers toward a partisan position.
Since this is my philosophy and my working rule, I caution readers who want to check whether a word or phrase means what the CJB says it means to look at other versions, to use concordances and other Bible helps, and to go back to the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek originals. To expect that the CJB will render perfectly, and with all the necessary nuances for every reader, the sense of every word and phrase in the Bible to ask for more than it or any translation can do.
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998).
Mark 7:8–13 (CJB)
8 “You depart from God’s command and hold onto human tradition. 9 Indeed,” he said to them, “you have made a fine art of departing from God’s command in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moshe said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
11 But you say, ‘If someone says to his father or mother, “I have promised as a korban” ’ ” (that is, as a gift to God) “ ‘ “what I might have used to help you,” ’ 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this.”
Jeremiah 23:26 (CJB)
26 How long will this go on? Is [my word] in the hearts of prophets who are prophesying lies, who are prophesying the deceit of their own minds?
Exodus 19:6 (CJB)
6 and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.’ These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra’el.” (v)
Deuteronomy 17:18 (CJB)
18 “When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L’vi’im use.
Jeremiah 17:10 (CJB)
10 I, Adonai, search the heart;
I test inner motivations;
in order to give to everyone
what his actions and conduct deserve.”
Matthew 6:9
9 You, therefore, pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
Matthew 6:10
10 May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Matthew 6:11
11 Give us the food we need today.
Matthew 6:12
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
Matthew 6:13
13 And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’
David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), 1st ed. (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998), Mt 6:9–13.
Matthew 13:52
52 He said to them, “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”
Matthew 26:29
29 I tell you, I will not drink this ‘fruit of the vine’ again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
Mark 14:25
25 Yes! I tell you; I will not drink this ‘fruit of the vine’ again until the day I drink new wine in the Kingdom of God.”
John 3:3–7 (CJB)
3 “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above!
John 4:3–14 (CJB)
3 Yeshua left Y’hudah and set out again for the Galil. 4 This meant that he had to pass through Shomron.
5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh’khem, near the field Ya‘akov had given to his son Yosef. 6 Ya‘akov’s Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from his travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon. 7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water; and Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.) 9 The woman from Shomron said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?” (For Jews don’t associate with people from Shomron.) 10 Yeshua answered her, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”
11 She said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Ya‘akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle.” 13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”
Revelation 3:12
12 I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also, I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God’s city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
Revelation 21:1
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away, and the sea was no longer there.
Revelation 21:2
2 Also I saw the holy city, New Yerushalayim, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
Romans 11:1–24 (CJB)
1 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Binyamin. 2 God has not repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el, 3 “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!” 4 But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.” 5 It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) 7 What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, 8 just as the Tanakh says,
“God has given them a spirit of dullness—
eyes that do not see
and ears that do not hear,
right down to the present day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their dining table become for them
a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see,
with their backs bent continually.”
11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world—that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter—how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!
13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work 14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! 15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!
16 Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you—a wild olive—were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, 18 then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. 19 So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you! 22 So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you—provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! 23 Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. 24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!
Note: In comparing Romans 11:1-24 with John 15:1-5 below, we identify ‘replacement theology’ at it’s destructive best. The detail is in the replacement of an olive tree instead of the Vine in theologising an untruth. We must only learn from the Torah, Prophets, Gospels and Revelation what we need to know, and obey to be in the kingdom; that is ‘repudiation, called to provoke, and other storylines are false and misleading. The only metaphor used by Yeshua the Messiah is written in John 15:1-5; we hope you will immerse in Scripture and be saved!
John 15:1
1 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener.
John 15:2
2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:3
3 Right now, because of the word which I have spoken to you, you are pruned.
John 15:4
4 Stay united with me, as I will with you—for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me.
John 15:5
5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing.
Revelation 21:3 (CJB)
3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God-with-them, will be their God.
Note. The example below is about equilibrium in all creation because even the smallest particle which supports or opposes another is to cause equilibrium.
Understanding the Torah is to understand the laws which make the universe to work without a glitch for long periods of time in equilibrium.
Humans have many ways to maintain homeostasis, the state of relative stability of the body’s internal environment. Disruption in homeostasis often set in motion corrective cycles, called feedback systems, that help restore the conditions needed for health and life.
Tortora. G J., Derrickson. B (2019): Principles of Anatomy & Physiology: 2nd Asia-Pacific Edition.
The zero-energy universe hypothesis proposes that the total amount of energy in the universe is exactly zero: its amount of positive energy in the form of matter is exactly cancelled out by its negative energy in the form of gravity.
Other cancellation examples include the ‘expected symmetric prevalence of right and left-handed angular momenta of objects’ (spin), ‘the observed flatness of the universe’, the ‘equal prevalence of positive and negative charges’, ‘opposing particle spin’ in quantum mechanics, as well as the ‘crests and troughs of electromagnetic waves’, among other possible examples in nature.
We will examine a single example that involves King David, Uriah and Bat Sheva in relation to the sins of adultery and murder. ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations are to cause balance and harmony among all creation.
For example, the guilt of an offender or the pain and suffering of a victim needs reconciling to a state of balance. King David’s offences of murder and adultery is within a single family.
We hope you will immerse in this example to appreciate ADONAI’s perspective and solutions based purely on Love. ADONAI’s love is evident in our own intuition.
1a. Guilt incurred
ADONAI’s mitzvot, rule or regulation (1-4):
Exodus 20:1–11 (CJB)
1 Then God said all these words:
א 2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.
ב 3 “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.
ג 7 “You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who uses his name lightly.
ד 8 “Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. 9 You have six days to labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work—not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. 11 For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why Adonai blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself. ה
1b. Guilt Incurred
ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulation (5-10):
Exodus 20:12–14 (CJB)
12 “Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land which Adonai your God is giving you.
ו 13 “Do not murder.
ז (14) “Do not commit adultery.
ח (15) “Do not steal.
ט (16) “Do not give false evidence against your neighbour.
י 14(17) “Do not covet your neighbour’s house; do not covet your neighbour’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” (A: vii)
On Reconciliation:
Numbers 5:6–8 (CJB)
6 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When a man or woman commits any kind of sin against another person and thus breaks faith with Adonai, he incurs guilt.
7 He must confess the sin which he has committed: and must make full restitution for his guilt, add twenty percent and give it to the victim of his sin.
8 But if the person has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the guilt, then what is given in restitution for guilt will belong to Adonai, that is, to the cohen—in addition to the ram of atonement through which atonement is made for him.
2. The Offence:
2 Samuel 11:2–27 (CJB)
2 Once, after his afternoon nap, David got up from his bed and went strolling on the roof of the king’s palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. 3 David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bat-Sheva the daughter of Eli‘am, the wife of Uriyah the Hitti. 4 David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”
6 David sent this order to Yo’av: “Send me Uriyah the Hitti.” Yo’av sent Uriyah to David. 7 When Uriyah had come to him, David asked him how Yo’av was doing, how the people were feeling and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriyah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriyah left the king’s palace and was followed by a present of food from the king. 9 But Uriyah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord and didn’t go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriyah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriyah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” 11 Uriyah answered David, “The ark, Isra’el and Y’hudah stay in tents; and my lord Yo’av and the servants of my lord are camping in the countryside. So should I go into my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 David said to Uriyah, “Stay here today also; tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriyah stayed in Yerushalayim that day and the following day. 13 David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on his bed with his lord’s servants and did not go down to his house.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Yo’av and sent it with Uriyah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriyah on the front lines of the fiercest fighting; then pull back from him, so that he will be wounded and killed.” 16 So while Yo’av had the city under siege, he assigned Uriyah to the place where he knew the toughest defenders were. 17 The men of the city went out and fought Yo’av; a number of people fell, including some of David’s servants, with Uriyah the Hitti among the dead.
18 Yo’av sent a message to David reporting all the news concerning the war, 19 and he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the news about the war, 20 he may become angry and ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Didn’t you think about the person who struck Avimelekh the son of Yerubeshet, that a woman threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall, so that he died at Tevetz? Why did you go so near the wall?’ If he says this, tell him, ‘Your servant Uriyah is dead also.’ ” 22 So the messenger left, and on arrival he told David all that Yo’av had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men were overpowering us and came out after us into the countryside. But we chased them back all the way to the entrance of the city gate. 24 The archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; also your servant Uriyah the Hitti is dead.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Yo’av, ‘Don’t let this matter get you down—the sword devours in one way or another. Intensify your battle against the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband. 27 When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
But Adonai saw what David had done as evil.
2 Samuel 12:1–10 (CJB)
1 Adonai sent Natan to David. He came and said to him, “In a certain city there were two men, one rich, the other poor. 2 The rich man had vast flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing, except for one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared. It had grown up with him and his children; it ate from his plate, drank from his cup, lay on his chest—it was like a daughter to him. 4 One day a traveler visited the rich man, and instead of picking an animal from his own flock or herd to cook for his visitor, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David exploded with anger against the man and said to Natan, “As Adonai lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 For doing such a thing, he has to pay back four times the value of the lamb—and also because he had no pity.”
7 Natan said to David, “You are the man.
“Here is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el says: ‘I anointed you king over Isra’el. I rescued you from the power of Sha’ul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives to embrace. I gave you the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah. And if that had been too little, I would have added to you a lot more.
9 “ ‘So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil? You murdered Uriyah the Hitti with the sword and took his wife as your own wife; you put him to death with the sword of the people of ‘Amon. 10 Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house—because you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriyah the Hitti as your own wife.’
3. The Confession:
2 Samuel 12:11–14 (CJB)
11 Here is what Adonai says: ‘I will generate evil against you out of your own household. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to your neighbor; he will go to bed with your wives, and everyone will know about it. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this before all Isra’el in broad daylight.’ ”
13 David said to Natan, “I have sinned against Adonai.”
Natan said to David, “Adonai also has taken away your sin. You will not die. 14 However, because by this act you have so greatly blasphemed Adonai, the child born to you must die.”
4. ADONAI’s Punishment:
2 Samuel 12:15–25 (CJB)
15 Then Natan returned to his house.
Adonai struck the child that Uriyah’s wife had borne to David, and it became very ill. 16 David prayed to God on behalf of the child; David fasted, then came and lay all night on the ground. 17 The court officials got up and stood next to him trying to get him off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. The servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, because they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to us; if we tell him now that the child is dead, he may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw his servants whispering to each other, he suspected that the child was dead. David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” and they answered, “He is dead.”
20 Then David got up off the ground, washed, anointed himself and changed his clothes. He went into the house of Adonai and worshipped; then he went to his own palace; and when he asked for food, they served it to him; and he ate. 21 His servants asked him, “What are you doing? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!” 22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; because I thought, ‘Maybe Adonai will show his grace to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he’s dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 David comforted his wife Bat-Sheva, came to her and went to bed with her; she gave birth to a son and named him Shlomo. Adonai loved him 25 and sent through Natan the prophet to have him named Y’didyah [loved by God], for Adonai’s sake.
2 Samuel 13:1–39 (CJB)
1 Now Avshalom the son of David had a beautiful sister named Tamar. Some time after the previous events, Amnon the son of David fell in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he became ill, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it would be impossible to approach her. 3 But Amnon had a friend named Yonadav the son of Shim‘ah David’s brother; and Yonadav was a very shrewd fellow. 4 He asked him, “Why, son of the king, are you growing thinner every day? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon answered him, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Avshalom’s sister.” 5 Yonadav said to him, “Lie down on your bed, and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food to eat, and have her prepare the food where I can watch. I’ll eat what she serves me.” 6 So Amnon lay down and pretended he was sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes here where I can watch, and I’ll eat what she serves me.” 7 David sent this instruction home to Tamar: “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare him some food.” 8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes while he watched, and baked the cakes. 9 Then she took the pan and turned them out in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me”; and everyone left him. 10 Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, so that I can have you serve me. Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother. 11 But when she brought them near, so that he could eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come to bed with me, my sister.” 12 “No, my brother,” she answered him, “don’t force me! Things like this aren’t done in Isra’el; don’t behave so disgracefully! 13 Where could I go with such shame? And as for you, you will be regarded as one of Isra’el’s vulgar brutes. Now therefore, please! Speak to the king, because he won’t keep me from you.” 14 However, he wouldn’t listen to her; and since he was stronger than she, he overpowered her and raped her. 15 But then he was filled with utter revulsion for her—his hatred of her was even greater than the love he had had for her before. Amnon said to her, “Get up, and get out of here!” 16 “No,” she objected, “because throwing me out like this is an even worse thing than what you’ve already done to me!” But he wouldn’t listen to her; 17 he called his personal servant and said, “Get rid of this woman for me! Throw her out, and lock the door after her!” 18 She was wearing a long-sleeved robe (this was how they used to dress the king’s daughters who were virgins). His servant took her out and locked the door after her. 19 Tamar put ashes on her head, tore her long-sleeved robe that she was wearing, laid her hand on her head and went off, crying aloud as she went.
20 Avshalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now, my sister, keep quiet; because he’s your brother. Don’t take the matter to heart.” But Tamar remained desolate in her brother Avshalom’s house.
21 When King David heard about all these things, he became very angry. 22 As for Avshalom, he refused to say a word to Amnon, either good or bad; for Avshalom hated Amnon for having raped his sister Tamar.
23 Two years later, when Avshalom had sheep-shearers in Ba‘al-Hatzor, near Efrayim, Avshalom invited all the king’s sons. 24 Avshalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has sheep-shearers; please let the king and his servants come along with your servant.” 25 The king replied to Avshalom, “No, my son, let’s not all go—we don’t want to be a burden to you.” Avshalom pressed him, but he wouldn’t go; however he gave him his blessing. 26 Then Avshalom said, “If you won’t go, then please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” 27 But Avshalom kept pressing him, so he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.
28 Avshalom ordered his servants, “Pay close attention: when Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine, and I say to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ then strike him down. Don’t be afraid—I’m the one ordering you to do it—but take courage, and be bold.” 29 Avshalom’s servants did to Amnon as Avshalom had ordered. At this, all the king’s sons jumped up, mounted their mules and fled.
30 While they were on their way, the news came to David that Avshalom had killed all the king’s sons, and not one of them was left alive. 31 The king got up, tore his clothes and lay on the ground, while all his servants stood by with their clothes torn too. 32 But then Yonadav, the son of Shim‘ah, David’s brother, spoke up; he said, “My lord shouldn’t think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons. Only Amnon is dead; for Avshalom has meant to do this ever since the day he raped his sister Tamar. 33 So my lord the king shouldn’t take it as seriously as if all the king’s sons are dead; only Amnon is dead.”
34 However, Avshalom took flight. The young man keeping watch looked up and saw many people coming along the road behind him on the hillside. 35 Yonadav said to the king, “Here, the king’s sons have come; it’s just as your servant said.” 36 The moment he finished speaking, the king’s sons came, cried out and wept; and the king too, with all his servants, cried out in great pain. 37 Avshalom fled and went to Talmai the son of ‘Ammihud, king of G’shur. David mourned for his son every day. 38 So Avshalom fled, went to G’shur and stayed there three years. 39 But as King David became reconciled to the death of his son Amnon, he was increasingly filled with longing to see Avshalom.
2 Samuel 14:1–33 (CJB)
1 Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah perceived that the king missed Avshalom; 2 so Yo’av sent to T’koa, brought from there a clever woman and said to her, “Please, pretend you’re a mourner. Put on mourning clothes, and don’t anoint yourself with oil, but appear to be a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time. 3 Go in to the king and speak to him in this fashion—” and then Yo’av told her just what to say. 4 When the woman of T’koa spoke to the king, she fell down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself, and said, “King, help!” 5 The king said to her, “What’s the trouble?” She answered, “I’m a widow. After my husband died, 6 my two sons were out in the field; and they got into a fight with each other. There was no one to separate them, and one hit the other and killed him. 7 Now the whole family has come against me, your servant; they’re saying, ‘Hand over the one who hit his brother, so that we can put him to death for killing his brother.’ They want to destroy the heir as well and thus quench my one remaining coal; then my husband will have neither name nor survivor anywhere on earth.”
8 The king said to the woman, “Go back home; I myself will decide what to do about you.” 9 The woman of T’koa said to the king, “My lord, king, let the guilt be on me and my father’s family; the king and his throne be guiltless.” 10 The king answered, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me; and he won’t bother you any more.” 11 “Please,” she said, “let the king swear by Adonai your God that the blood avengers won’t do any more destroying, so they won’t destroy my son.” He said, “As Adonai lives, not one of your son’s hairs will fall to the ground.”
12 Then the woman said, “Please allow your servant to say something else to my lord the king.” “Go on,” he replied. 13 The woman said, “Why is it, then, that you have produced a situation exactly like this against God’s people? By saying what you have said, the king has virtually incriminated himself—in that the king does not bring home again the son he banished. 14 For we will all die someday; we’ll be like water spilled on the ground that can’t be gathered up again; and God makes no exception for anyone. The king should think of some way to keep the son he banished from being forever an outcast. 15 Now the reason I came to speak about this matter to my lord the king is that the people were intimidating me; so your servant said, ‘I will speak now to the king; maybe the king will do what his servant is asking. 16 For the king will listen and rescue his servant from the hands of those who would destroy me and my son together from our share of God’s inheritance.’ 17 Then your servant said, ‘Please let my lord the king say something that will give me relief; for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good from bad—and may Adonai your God be with you.’ ”
18 The king then answered the woman: “I’m going to ask you a question, and please don’t hide anything from me.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.” 19 The king asked, “Did Yo’av put you up to this?” The woman answered, “As you live, my lord the king, when my lord the king speaks, no one can avoid the issue by turning either right or left. Yes, it was your servant Yo’av who had me do this, and he put in my mouth every word you have heard your servant say. 20 Your servant Yo’av did this in order to bring about some change in the situation. But my lord is wise, he has the wisdom of an angel of God when it comes to understanding anything going on in the land.”
21 The king said to Yo’av, “All right, I am granting this request. Go, and bring back young Avshalom.” 22 Yo’av fell to the ground on his face, prostrating himself, and blessed the king; Yo’av said, “Today your servant knows that I have won your favor, my lord, king, because the king has done what your servant requested.” 23 Then Yo’av got up, went to G’shur and brought Avshalom to Yerushalayim. 24 However, the king said, “Let him return to his own house, but he is not to appear in my presence.” So Avshalom returned to his own house and did not appear before the king.
25 Now in all Isra’el there was no one more praised for his beauty than Avshalom—there was no defect on him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 26 He would cut his hair only once a year, at the end of the year; and the only reason he cut it then was because it weighed him down. He weighed the hair from his head at 200 shekels (using the royal weight) [about five pounds]. 27 To Avshalom were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar; she was a beautiful woman.
28 Avshalom lived two years in Yerushalayim without appearing before the king. 29 Then Avshalom summoned Yo’av, planning to send him to the king; but he refused to come to him. He summoned him a second time, but he still wouldn’t come. 30 So he said to his servants, “See, Yo’av’s field is close to mine, and he has barley there; go, and set it on fire.” Avshalom’s servants set the field on fire. 31 Then Yo’av got up, went to Avshalom at his house and asked him, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?” 32 Avshalom answered Yo’av, “Look, I sent a message to you to come here, so that I could send you to the king to ask, ‘Why did I come from G’shur? It would have been better for me if I had stayed there. So now, let me appear before the king; and if I’m guilty of anything, he can kill me.’ ”
33 Yo’av went to the king and told him; and when he had called for Avshalom, he went to the king and prostrated himself with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Avshalom.
5. ADONI’s Forgiveness
Numbers 14:18 (CJB)
18 ‘Adonai is slow to anger, rich in grace, forgiving offenses and crimes; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and even by the third and fourth generations.’
Luke 17:3–4 (CJB)
3 Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Also, if seven times in one day he sins against you, and seven times he comes to you and says, ‘I repent,’ you are to forgive him.”
6. Reconciliation
Matthew 6:14–15 (CJB)
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
Matthew 18:20–22 (CJB)
20 For wherever two or three are assembled in my name, I am there with them.”
21 Then Kefa came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven!
A victim’s forgiveness upon restitution; that is a restoration of love for one another.
ADONAI’s mitzvot, rules and regulations:
Leviticus 4:3 (CJB)
3 then, if it is the anointed cohen who sinned and thus brought guilt on the people, he is to offer Adonai a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he committed.
Leviticus 16:29–30 (CJB)
29 “It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you. 30 For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before Adonai from all your sins.
Leviticus 18:3–5 (CJB)
3 You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena‘an, where I am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws. 4 You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am Adonai your God. 5 You are to observe my laws and rulings; if a person does them, he will have life through them; I am Adonai. (LY: vi)
Leviticus 18:28–30 (CJB)
28 If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out too, just as it is vomiting out the nation that was there before you. 29 For those who engage in any of these disgusting practices, whoever they may be, will be cut off from their people. 30 So keep my charge not to follow any of these abominable customs that others before you have followed and thus defile yourselves by doing them. I am Adonai your God.’ ”
Leviticus 19:15-18(CJB)
15 “ ‘Do not be unjust in judging—show neither partiality to the poor nor deference to the mighty, but with justice judge your neighbour. 17 “ ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbour frankly, so that you won’t carry sin because of him. 18 Don’t take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people; rather, love your neighbour as yourself; I am Adonai.
Scripture vs theology comparisons:
Numbers 5:6–8 (CJB)
1. Forgiveness from ADONAI
6 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When a man or woman commits any kind of sin against another person and thus breaks faith with Adonai, he incurs guilt.
Exodus 20:13-14 (CJB)
13 “Do not murder.
ז (14) “Do not commit adultery. י
Romans 7:7
7 Therefore, what are we to say? That the Torah is sinful? Heaven forbid! Rather, the function of the Torah was that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if the Torah had not said, “Thou shalt not covet.”
Romans 13:9
9 For the commandments, “Don’t commit adultery,” “Don’t murder,” “Don’t steal,” “Don’t covet,” and any others are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Allegorical Interpretations:
Hebrews 9:22 (CJB)
22 In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 10:18 (CJB)
18 Now where there is forgiveness for these, an offering for sins is no longer needed.
Acts 2:38 (CJB)
38 Kefa answered them, “Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh!
Acts 10:43 (CJB)
43 All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Exodus 13:9 (CJB)
9 “Moreover, it will serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, so that Adonai’s Torah may be on your lips; because with a strong hand Adonai brought you out of Egypt.
Exodus 15:26 (CJB)
26 He said, “If you will listen intently to the voice of Adonai your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvot and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians; because I am Adonai your healer.” (A: v, S: iv)
Exodus 24:12 (CJB)
12 Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.”
Numbers 15:16 (CJB)
16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’ ”
Deuteronomy 4:2 (CJB)
2 In order to obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it.
Ezekiel 11:19 (CJB)
19 and I will give them unity of heart. “I will put a new spirit among you.” I will remove from their bodies the hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh.
Luke 24:25–26 (CJB)
25 He said to them, “Foolish people! So unwilling to put your trust in everything the prophets spoke! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to die like this before entering his glory?”
Matthew 26:26–29 (CJB)
26 While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, “Take! Eat! This is my body!”
27 Also he took a cup of wine, made the b’rakhah, and gave it to them, saying, “All of you, drink from it! 28 For this is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have their sins forgiven.
29 I tell you, I will not drink this ‘fruit of the vine’ again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
Revelation 19:9 (CJB)
9 The angel said to me, “Write: ‘How blessed are those who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb!’ ” Then he added, “These are God’s very words.”
Allegorical Interpretations
Hebrews 10:1 (CJB)
1 For the Torah has in it a shadow of the good things to come, but not the actual manifestation of the originals. Therefore, it can never, by means of the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, bring to the goal those who approach the Holy Place to offer them.
Romans 2:12 (CJB)
12 All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will die outside the framework of Torah; and all who have sinned within the framework of Torah will be judged by Torah.
Romans 2:13 (CJB)
13 For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who will be made righteous in God’s sight.
Romans 7:9–10 (CJB)
9 I was once alive outside the framework of Torah. But when the commandment really encountered me, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. The commandment that was intended to bring me life was found to be bringing me death!
Romans 7:14–15 (CJB)
14 For we know that the Torah is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave. 15 I don’t understand my own behaviour—I don’t do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate!
Romans 3:28 (CJB)
28 Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands.
1 Corinthians 11:23–25 (CJB)
23 For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you—that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; 24 and after he had made the b’rakhah he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me”; 25 likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me.”
Exodus 12:14 (CJB)
14 “ ‘This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to Adonai; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation.
Note: It is imperative that we distinguish Scripture from theology because judgment is based on Scripture, not theology. For example, Pesach (Passover) is the first feast on 10-14th day in the month of Nisan (April) in the Biblical calendar.
Matthew 26:26-29 vs 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 is clear ‘replacement theology’ because, Pesach is a feast day whereas 1 Cor 11:23-25 instructs us to follow a ritual replacing Pesach. It is a mockery of ADONAI’s feast.
Why practice 1 Cor 11:23-25 when Yeshua HaMaschiach himself instructed us to keep the Pesach in Mat 26:26-29 which only the Jewish people obey? Obedience to Torah is the key to be ‘Born Again’ and Salvation not the best theology that is practiced.
Numbers 15:16 (CJB)
16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’ ” (vi)
Genesis 6:18 (CJB)
18 But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
Genesis 15:18–20 (CJB)
18 That day Adonai made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants—from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River—19 the territory of the Keni, the K’nizi, the Kadmoni, 20 the Hitti, the P’rizi, the Refa’im,
Genesis 17:7 (CJB)
7 “I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you.
Allegorical Interpretation:
Hebrews 8:13 (CJB)
13 By using the term, “new,” he has made the first covenant “old”; and something being made old, something in the process of aging, is on its way to vanishing altogether.
Hebrews 9:1 (CJB)
1 Now the first covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy Place here on earth.
1 Corinthians 7:19 (CJB)
19 Being circumcised means nothing and being uncircumcised means nothing; what does mean something is keeping God’s commandments.
Numbers 15:16 (CJB)
16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’ ” (vi)
Leviticus 19:18 (CJB)
18 Don’t take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people; rather, love your neighbour as yourself; I am Adonai.
Isaiah 40:1 (CJB)
1 “Comfort and keep comforting my people,” says your God.
John 13:34 (CJB)
34 “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other.
Matthew 25:40 (CJB)
40 The King will say to them, ‘Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!’
Allegorical Interpretations:
Romans 11:9–10 (CJB)
9 And David says,
“Let their dining table become for them
a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see,
with their backs bent continually.”
Romans 11:11 (CJB)
11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.
Romans 11:13–15 (CJB)
13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work 14 in the hope that somehow, I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! 15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!
Numbers 15:16 (CJB)
16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’ ” (vi)
John 3:3–7 (CJB)
3 “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above!
Romans 7:6 (CJB)
6 But now we have been released from this aspect of the Torah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.
1 Corinthians 15:9–11 (CJB)
9 For I am the least of all the emissaries, unfit to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the Messianic Community of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain; on the contrary, I have worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me. 11 Anyhow, whether I or they, this is what we proclaim, and this is what you believed.
2 Corinthians 11:5 (CJB)
5 For I don’t consider myself in any way inferior to these “super-emissaries.”
Genesis 3:19 (CJB)
19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground—for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
Allegorical Interpretation:
Romans 6:4 (CJB)
4 Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life.
1 Corinthians 15:35–55 (CJB)
35 But someone will ask, “In what manner are the dead raised? What sort of body do they have?” 36 Stupid! When you sow a seed, it doesn’t come alive unless it first dies. 37 Also, what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare seed of, say, wheat or something else; 38 but God gives it the body he intended for it; and to each kind of seed, he gives its own body. 39 Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds and another for fish. 40 Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else. 41 The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is “sown,” it decays; when it is raised, it cannot decay. 43 When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it will be strong. 44 When sown, it is an ordinary human body; when raised, it will be a body controlled by the Spirit. If there is an ordinary human body, there is also a body controlled by the Spirit. 45 In fact, the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being; but the last “Adam” has become a life-giving Spirit. 46 Note, however, that the body from the Spirit did not come first, but the ordinary human one; the one from the Spirit comes afterwards. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven; 49 and just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also, we will bear the image of the man from heaven.
50 Let me say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, nor can something that decays share in what does not decay. 51 Look, I will tell you a secret—not all of us will die! But we will all be changed! 52 It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. 53 For this material which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is mortal must be clothed with immortality. 54 When what decays puts on imperishability and what is mortal puts on immortality, then this passage in the Tanakh will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 “Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?”
Acts 10:44–48 (CJB)
44 Kefa was still saying these things when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on all who were hearing the message. 45 All the believers from the Circumcision faction who had accompanied Kefa were amazed that the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh was also being poured out 46 on the Goyim, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Kefa’s response was, 47 “Is anyone prepared to prohibit these people from being immersed in water? After all, they have received the Ruach HaKodesh, just as we did.” 48 And he ordered that they be immersed in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Then they asked Kefa to stay on with them for a few days.
Matthew 5:17–20 (CJB)
17 “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah—not until everything that must happen has happened. 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Matthew 19:28–29 (CJB)
28 Yeshua said to them, “Yes. I tell you that in the regenerated world, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Isra’el. 29 Everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times more, and he will obtain eternal life.
Romans 3:18 (CJB)
18 For many—I have told you about them often before, and even now I say it with tears—live as enemies of the Messiah’s execution-stake.
Romans 8:17 (CJB)
17 and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah—provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.
Deuteronomy 9:5 (CJB)
5 It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that Adonai your God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word which Adonai swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.
Isaiah 1:26
26 I will restore your judges as at first
and your advisers as at the beginning.
After that, you will be called
the City of Righteousness, Faithful City.
Isaiah 48:18
18 If only you would heed my mitzvot!
Then your peace would flow on like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Isaiah 54:17
17 No weapon made will prevail against you.
In court you will refute every accusation.
The servants of ADONAI inherit all this;
the reward for their righteousness is from me,” says ADONAI.
Romans 9:31 (CJB)
31 However, Isra’el, even though they kept pursuing a Torah that offers righteousness, did not reach what the Torah offers.
Romans 9:32 (CJB)
32 Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness as being grounded in trusting but as if it were grounded in doing legalistic works. They stumbled over the stone that makes people stumble.
Romans 10:5 (CJB)
5 For Moshe writes about the righteousness grounded in the Torah that the person who does these things will attain life through them.
Leviticus 19:15 (CJB)
15 “ ‘Do not be unjust in judging—show neither partiality to the poor nor deference to the mighty, but with justice judge your neighbour.
Leviticus 19:17–18 (CJB)
17 “ ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbour frankly, so that you won’t carry sin because of him. 18 Don’t take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people; rather, love your neighbour as yourself; I am Adonai.
John 13:34 (CJB)
34 “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other.
Matthew 18:21–22 (CJB)
21 Then Kefa came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven!
Hebrews 10:18 (CJB)
18 Now where there is forgiveness for these, an offering for sins is no longer needed.
Hebrews 10:26 (CJB)
26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Exodus 34:6 (CJB)
6 Adonai passed before him and proclaimed: “YUD-HEH-VAV-HEH!!! Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai] is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth;
John 1:17
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
Mark 12:29–31 (CJB)
29 Yeshua answered, “The most important is,
‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], 30 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this:
‘You are to love your neighbour as yourself.’
There is no other mitzvah greater than these.”
One Flock and One Messiah!