In this study

Tree of Life: Immortality isn’t automaticTree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad: When wisdom isn’t so wiseTree of Life = Torah = Word of God‘Did God really say…?’: Deconstructive criticism

The two key trees in the Garden of Eden represent two paths, of life or of death. “In the beginning” (Genesis 1–3), there were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad, but in the “new heavens and the new earth” (Revelation 21–22), those who are in the New Jerusalem will only have access to the Tree of Life.

The apostle Yokhanan (John) wrote that there are sins that lead to death (1John 5:16–17), but we are told that we can turn away from the path of death. But that’s not enough to get us towards the Kingdom of Heaven. We also have to turn towards life. If all we do is turn away from the path of death, we have no defense when death comes back to tempt us.

Tree of Life: Immortality isn’t automatic

The Tree of Life has a fruit that leads the one who eats from it to live forever. But it can only be accessed by God’s permission. Humans don’t have automatic access to it.

One fact that people often ignore is that the Creator made both of the trees. God was not setting Adam and Eve up for failure. He gave them a free choice, because He created them in His image (Gen. 1:26–27). He created humans like Him, not equal to Him.

Here are some of the traits that humans possess that animals don’t:

* Creativity. Only God can create from nothing, we create with the things God has created.* Language. For language to mean anything, both the speaker and the receiver must understand the code. God used language to bring the world into existence and humans change the world by the words we speak.* Reason. The Holy One of Israel creates order not chaos. Reason helps us create both intellectual and physical order in our sphere of influence, where otherwise there would be disorganization and chaos.

Although animals have some rudimentary ability to create tools or change their environment, they do not have that ability to make tools or change their environment on the same scale that humans have. Animals also do communicate with each other in a form of language but they can’t communicate on the scale that humans can. They also can observe their world and function in it, but they can’t overcome their programmed instincts. Animals have no understanding of abstract ideas.

Humans, on the other hand, can make observations about their world, adapt to their world and even act in ways that contradict their instinct.

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad: When wisdom isn’t so wise

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.Proverbs 14:12 NASB; Prov. 16:25; 18:17

The Tree of Knowledge of Good (טוֹב tov, Strong’s lexicon No. H2896b) and Bad (רַע ra, H7451b) also had edible fruit. It look like it could nourish and give life but within was the seed of death. Its fruit lead to “in dying you will die.” The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge wasn’t a poison that killed one instantly. The Tree of Knowledge could also be accessed, but God warned against eating from it,

In this study

Song of Moses and Song of the LambDavid’s lesson in full salvation (2Samuel 22)Is God a petty reactionary? (2Samuel 22:26–27)

Being “Torah observant” is not supposed to be a “holier than thou” pursuit of perfection. The Torah section הַאֲזִינוּ Ha’azinu (“listen,” Deuteronomy 32) is Moshe’s warning for Israel to be aware of the high calling of the nation to save the world and not to bec9me in snared by its distractions.

We see a lot of the foibles of God’s people recorded in the Bible. The reason they are recorded is so we can learn when we are heading in a wrong direction. When you head down a bad path and end up in a place that you don’t want to be, learn from those things and move on.

That is why sometimes bad things happen to good people. Even “good people” sometimes go off track and need some fine tuning and adjustments.

Righteous people accept correction and are grateful for it, while unrighteous people ignore correction and blame others, including God for the problems they caused to themselves (Prov. 9:8; 14:16).

The Jewish people call those gentiles who helped rescue Jews in Europe from the Holocaust the “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Many of these holocaust rescuers have been asked how they were able to stand up for what was right as most of their neighbors succumb to evil. The answer a number of them have given is simple. They just didn’t go off the edge like everybody else did. That was the only thing. They went up to the edge, saw where the edge was, and they didn’t go over it with everybody else and all of society. And that was enough. They saw Europe going in a bad direction and simply refused to follow.

We see what’s happening right now with this coronavirus pandemic, what it’s doing to other countries. Not only is it creating a divide, but it is also creating people who are turning in their neighbors, turning in their family members. And they are smug and self-righteous about it.

Certain states in Australia are reverting back to their penal colony roots right before our eyes, with parole-like daily check-ins to make citizens are adhering to the lockdown orders.

We have not seen anything like this in Western countries since the times of the ghettos, and it’s horrifying. We can see how quickly people can switch from being kind, good “civilized” people into being people who will turn other people into the authorities, chase other people down, drag them into prison, do horrifically bad things for the sake “of the greater good.”

Remember that Germany right before World War II was one of the most educated, sophisticated cultures in the world. Their schools of higher learning — economics, philosophy, science — had a lot of brain power. Yet when you read some of the writings that came out from that time, you read all kinds of incredibly educated justifications for the most barbaric things you’ve ever seen in your life.

When the apostle Paul was before Festus, giving a defense of his faith in Yeshua, Festus told Paul, “Your great learning has driven you mad” (Acts 26:24).

That could be said of a lot of people, whether you’re looking at pre-World War 2 Germany or today. It’s a serious warning to be sure that your great learning doesn’t ...

In this study

The what of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16)The why behind Yom Kippur (Hebrews 9–10)Fasting as a lesson on setting boundaries

The ceremonies and services undertaken on Yom Kippur are a live-action tutorial God used to show us how He addresses our willful infractions, misdemeanors and felonies. The sin offerings that were offered in the Temple the other 364 days of the year were to atone for accidental, absent-minded mistakes.

We all have our weaknesses, our rebellious moments, those “I don’t want to do the right thing and you can’t make me” kind of unforced errors.

The regular sin offerings don’t atone for these more serious breaches of the Torah. Once a year, God instituted a way to atone for the willful, rebellious transgressions and iniquities that we all do.

The what of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16)

Leviticus 16 lays the foundation for our Yom Kippur lesson today.

The objective of Yom Kippur is for the High Priest to cleanse himself, the congregation and the Temple itself from all of their sins before YHVH.

How can inanimate objects such as an altar, a building, structures made of wood and cloth become unclean?

God knows us better than we know ourselves. Our brains are extremely good at rationalizing ourselves to anything imaginable. We can convince ourselves that our accidental sins were truly accidental, when most of the time, they were actually willful. Our brains are very powerful. We can convince ourselves anything is true, even if it’s dead wrong. Our brains very good and God made them extremely powerful. So I can convince myself that I did something accidentally, though in reality, God knows better. I did it on purpose. I can rationalize away a large transgression and fool others into believing that it was trivial. I can offer an offering whatever animal for the “accidental sin” or the “unintentional sin” but in reality, it was intentional.

When we give a sacrifice for an accidental sin that was actually willful, we have killed an innocent animal for no good purpose. When you kill an animal for an insincere offering, what have you done? As the Torah points out, when you kill an animal with insincerity, you’re just spilling blood, you’re guilty of murdering the animal. You’ve brought a false sin covering. By giving an offering that had no real value, you’ve contaminated the Temple with your insincerity.

The Israelites could fool themselves, they could fool the High Priest, but no one can fool God.

When the High Priest confesses the sins over the goats, what sins are he confessing. He’s not confessing his own, because he already did that when he sacrificed the bull. Since he can’t possibly know the sins of each individual Israelite, he is confessing them all.

However, since the High Priest is doing all the hard work, can we just kick back and relax? No, we are told that we are to “afflict our souls.”

Why would we bother to afflict our souls if the High Priest is already doing all the work? What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?

The Torah mentions that the High Priest had to cast lots to chose which goat went to the wilderness and which goat was sacrificed, but there’s a long standing Jewish tradition, that provides a lot more detail. The Talmud tells us more about how the process of casti...

In this study

Hope amid seeming hopelessness (Hosea 14)2 steps to repentance: turn away, turn towardFaithful in compassion (Micah 7:18–20)The most important of what was lost in correction will be restored in compassion (Joel 2:15–27)

The Torah section וַיֵּלֶךְ Vayelech (“he went,” Deuteronomy 31) discusses Moses giving the mantle of leadership to Yehoshua ben Nun (Joshua son of Nun).

It’s a good reminder that human leaders come and go. There are some who were really good, some who were really bad and some in between. No matter what administration is in charge of things where you live, it is the Rock of Israel, who is the most dependable king.

We see that in people such as the patriarch Joseph, who was Pharaoh’s right hand. Joseph was dependable and Pharaoh knew it. The same was true for the Prophet Daniel. He was a rock-solid, dependable man. Both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius sought out and followed his counsel. Both men had been slaves, they were captive and subjugated. Yet, because of their noteworthy character and God’s hand upon them, they were elevated into positions of great responsibility, and also great favor.

Yeshua (Jesus) told a parable about building one’s house on the sand compared to building one’s house on the rock (Matt. 7:21–27; Luke 6:46–49). If you want to be a real leader of men (and women), building your life upon an opinion poll is not how to do it. You can put your finger and make decisions based on which way the winds blowing and then going in that direction. That’s not the way to live your life.

So many in our country have allowed their moral judgements to be unmoored from reality. What many in America thought was dependable has proven unreliable. Ecclesiastes warns us about chasing after things that are vain and not lasting.

This brings us back to looking at what is dependable. If we spend our time cultivating friends online, for example, when hard times come to us, either by our mistakes or by life challenges, these “friends” turn out to be quite unreal and unreliable. Those connections we thought were real are often fake and vacuous.

Often, it’s only when we have run out of luck, when we are at the bottom, that we are ready to remember and practice every words that proceeds from the mouth of God. We ponder, guard and protect them.

Think about it as “spiritual gravity.” One of the laws of thermodynamics is that things will tend to go from order to chaos; they’ll go from heat to cold. For example, if you leave your dinner out on the table, and it was cold, it just doesn’t suddenly get hot. However if the dinner starts out hot, then you set it on the table, it will get cold.

Likewise, with our spiritual lives, we can start out hot and go cold. Yeshua, in one of His admonitions to the seven congregations in Revelation, warns about the spiritual dangers of being lukewarm. He says, “I wish you were either hot or cold” (Rev. 3:14–22). What is in between hot and cold is what we call lukewarm and Yeshua warns strongly against this.

It’s very clear where you are this lukewarm thing where you’re neither hot nor cold,

In this study

What’s with the trumpets?First trumpet: Hail and trees burned upSecond trumpet: Water turned to bloodThird trumpet: Wormwood as a rebuke of disloyalty to GodFourth trumpet: Sun, moon and stars are the people of Israel itselfFifth trumpet: Death and the graveSixth trumpet: Sin and rebellion are sweet only for a short timeWhat’s with this ‘little book’? (Rev. 10:8–11)Seventh trumpet: The Temple of God is torn open

The Feast of Trumpets (aka Rosh Hashanah) is a festival of remembrance for Israel. It’s not a feast of the Chinese or of the Aztecs — unless they were to have joined the Commonwealth of Israel. Its celebrations and its warnings are for Israel to hear and understand. If you are serious about understanding the lessons of this feast and apply them to your eschatology, keep this truth in the back of your mind as you study.

What’s with the trumpets?

Trumpets in Scripture represent God’s prophets. More specifically, the “voice” of a trumpet is a symbol of prophets who proclaim God’s warnings and speak in His name with His authority. When we hear this kind of trumpet, we are hearing God’s voice instructing us to either come to Him or to perform some task in God’s service.

Back in the days when cities had walls around them for protection, watchman would walk on top of the walls, patroling them for signs of danger. When the watchman was alerted to dander, he would sound a trumpet to warn of an incoming army or other enemy. If the watchman or a prophet fails to issue a warning, than God holds them guilty of the blood (Ezekiel 33:1–9).

God has given us two ways to test a prophet: we look to see if his/her prophesies come true and we also look to see if he uses his prophetic office to lure people to worship a god other than YHVH. A prophet has to pass both tests for his/her word to be valid. This is important because sometimes a person may feel they have been given a word from God for us. They feel so strongly that they have the same duty to warn us and give what they believe is God’s instruction for us. My advise? Just take their instruction aside and test its veracity the way Torah tells us.

If we choose to ignore a warning from God, if we fail to repent and come back to Him, that is on us, not on Him, or on the person He sent us to warn us.

The phrases “end of days,” “Lord’s day” and the “Day of the LORD” are synonymous, and all are full of trumpet imagery. We also associate the book of Revelation with trumpets.

“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to P...

Moses said effectively, “Choose life, not death” (Deut. 30:19–20). It sounds like such an easy thing to do. But the truth is that it’s easier to walk the path of death than it is to walk the path of life. Our “flesh” drags us to follow our own inclinations, what we think is right rather than what God thinks and what He has taught us is right. In the Torah portion נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,” Deut. 29:9–30:20), Moses tells us that the Torah is not too hard for us, but it can be immensely difficult for us if we are not following through in letting the Spirit of God lead us.

In this study

Choosing life that leads to deathWhy are the punishments against Israel’s disobedience so severe?God’s Law ‘is not too difficult’? Seriously?Is the LORD’s vengeance being poured out in wildfires, floods and hurricanes?Lesson of the Flood and Sodom: ‘God and I have an understanding.’ ‘Oh, bless your heart!’ (Deut. 29:14–21)

The theme of the Torah portion נִצָּבִים Nitzavim (“standing,” Deut. 29:9–30:20) is that we should choose the “worldview,” the way to live that ultimately will last and will lift up the world long-term, rather than contribute to its downfall.

Choosing life that leads to death

That should be self-explanatory, but there are many who prefer destruction, chaos and death rather than creating, order and life. People covet power and use chaos, destruction and domination to do so. People easily get drunk on their own power over others. Power is very seductive.

However, life is also seductive. In times of panic and chaos, people have trampled others to preserve their lives at the expense of others’ lives. In choosing life over death, one has to ask, “At what cost?”

For example, Daniel’s friends chose life, even as they were facing martyrdom because they refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol (Daniel 6). They chose loyalty to God and eternal life over a few more hours or years of life on this earth. They didn’t know they were going to live to see another day.

The fiery furnace was very painful and uninviting. They had no idea God was going to miraculously save them, because to them, choosing life meant obeying God no matter what the king or anyone else said.

Look at what is happening with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Afghanistan. Several thousand have been rescued so far, and there are a number still on the run or in hiding. They have made their decision to follow Yeshua. They are walking in the way of the Messiah.

For us, following Yeshua may get us in trouble with our employer or with the local government, but in other parts of the world, harassment and persecution for the sake of Yeshua have been going on for decades and generations.

Yeshua said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 NASB). Yeshua gave us the best example on how to lay one’s life ...

Thanks to social media and cable news, many of us have found ourselves overly caught up in politics. We have our own opinions about how the government should work for us and we vote every two to four years. But what we should have in our minds first is the Word of God, and knowing that He’s in charge. Our obedience to God is more important than our voting record. Our obedience to God is everything. Here are some lessons from major Bible leaders.

It’s very difficult to pull away from all that. We repeatedly get caught up in worldly affairs.

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14–16 New American Standard Bible 1995

Sometimes, we have to realize there are situations that all we can do is pray. We can still pray for people who are like very dangerous places like Afghanistan.

“you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.” 2Corinthians 1:11 New American Standard Bible 1995; cf. 2Cor. 1:8–11

On the other hand, He doesn’t want us to worry about politics.

Politics: The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.“Politics,” New Oxford American Dictionary

We read the Bible to learn how to engage in politics. Most governments today do not operate in the way politics operated in the times the Bible was written. Most of the Biblical authors lived under monarchies, and most of them were quite cruel.

Dare to be a Daniel

A worthy example of how to engage in politics is the prophet Daniel. Daniel is an example of someone who politically active over the course of several administrations, so to speak. He was a high-ranking official serving multiple empires: Babylon and Persia. But who was Daniel at the core of his being? He was not attached to Babylon or to Persia. He was the same person throughout his life. The monarchs of Babylon and Persia were all attracted to him because they could sense God’s blessing on him. Daniel spoke the word of God in all those administrations.

In the Bible, one got involved in politics for one reason: to gain favors from the king or whoever was in charge. Politics was a way to get unique favors at the expense of others who may have deserved them more. We call this “favoritism.”

The fact we live in a democratic republic and we vote for our representatives and the laws that govern us is not an exercise of favoritism, per se, although you may favor one candidate over another.

In the days of the Bible, the people of Israel were under the boot of Rome, under the “pax Romana.” Only 10% of the people in the Roman empire were considered citizens of Rome.1 Paul was one of them (Acts 22:25–29).

Only citizens had any protection from the law, under the law. Everyone else was considered conquered peoples and were out of luck. You were just lucky if you weren’t steamrolled by Rome. You just did your best to stay out of the way of the empire and its agents — and not attract their notice.

They had no say in what laws they had to follow, but we do. (See influential early American pastor James Mayhew’s mid-18th century “

These are not just a list of curses and blessings. This list was prophetic in Moses’ time and historic in ours. These things didn’t come upon the Israelites all at once, in a simultaneous fashion. These blessings and curses ebbed and flowed, came in waves through history as the people would live in obedience to God for a few generations, than slide into disobedience, then reformation would come and they would return to obedience for a while and then disobey again.

Ki Tavo starts off with instructions on to commemorate the yearly festival of First Fruits (Deut. 26:1-11), which is probably the most ignored of the LORD’s appointed times in the Torah. It also is so intertwined with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

We are given a liturgy of what the supplicant is supposed to say to the priest when he brings the first fruits of his harvest and also what the priest is supposed to do with these gifts.

Supplicant: “I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.”Priest: (Receives the gift basket and sets it in front of the altar)Supplicant: “An Aramean [sought to] destroy my forefather, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a small number of people, and there, he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation. And the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us, and they imposed hard labor upon us. So we cried out to the Lord, God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders. And He brought us to this place, and He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground which you, O Lord, have given to me.”Supplicant: (Prostrates himself before the Lord.)

Aram was in the territory we call Syria now. This is the land where Abraham’s family settled after leaving Ur of the Chaldeans. Abraham and Lot moved on but most of them stayed behind. Who are the “The Aramean” and who is the “forefather”? This line is a reference to Laban “the Aramean” and Jacob “the forefather.”

This is the only time in the Torah where we read about a military army coming after Jacob and his family to kill them. At this time, Jacob has 11 sons, all of them young. Benjamin isn’t born yet. Yet, Laban is sending a military cohort to try to kill his own nephew. The only reason Laban didn’t kill Jacob is because of God’s direct intervention. Jacob was supposed to die, but he didn’t and the only reason he didn’t die is because of God’s direct intervention.

Jacob’s flight to Egypt was also due to God’s direct intervention, following Joseph down there. The Egyptians enslaved them after the death of Joseph and the 12 patriarchs. Slaves aren’t allowed to be a nation. Slave revolts are rarely successful, so God’s liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt was truly miraculous, even more so because the Israelites did not lift a finger militarily to liberate themselves.

God is the one who should get the credit for every success and good thing that happens in our lives. We should give credit where credit is due. We like it when God sends good things, but He also warns us that He can send bad things as consequences for evil actions.

Canaanites would pass their children “through the fire” to appease the...

Nine-fold path or mishmash?

One way to view Deuteronomy is that much of it (Deut. 6:1–26:15) is a systematic explanation of each of the Ten Commandments.1 By that approach, Deut. 24:17–26:15 seems to cover the Tenth Commandment, rather than being a collection of disjointed sayings.

Ki Tetze covers eight topics, and the next Torah passage Ki Tavo picks up the ninth (first fruits). In this study we’ll cover seven of topics, skipping the straight-forward instruction, “You shall have fair and just weight” (Deut. 25:13–16):

In this study

Do not distort justice (Deut. 24:17–18)A proper balance of charity and work (Deut. 24:19–22)Err on the side of mercy in meting out justice (Deut. 25:1–3)Of oxen and men (Deut. 25:4)Protect Godly legacy (Deut. 25:5–10)Why this wife’s underhanded move to save her husband was so bad (Deut. 25:11–12)Refuse to honor nations who attack the weak (Deut. 25:17–19)

Do not distort justice (Deut. 24:17–18)

“You shall not pervert justice”

One of the things that we’ve already seen is that Heaven’s reputation for impartiality in judgment is there. So when the people of God distort justice, they distort the Holy One’s character in the eyes of the world?

This particular instruction focuses on the Torah’s common triumvirate of the oppressed: fatherless children, widows and foreigners (Ex. 22:22; 23:9; Lev. 19:33; 16:19; 27:19).

The Hebrew word natah (H5186) is translated as pervert, as in perverting justice.2 God warns us, don’t נָטָה natah justice for foreigners and fatherless.

To drill down the meaning a little further, it means to stretch, pull out of shape or bend.3 It’s not OK to stretch the law and bend to do something it wasn’t meant to do or say something it didn’t say either as a way to defraud the poor and vulnerable or to defraud the wealthy by using the vulnerable as an excuse.

Are you going to take advantage of “fish out of water”?

If you ever traveled to a foreign country where you don’t understand the language, the legal system, the customs, you are almost helpless. You have to put yourself in the hands of someone who can knows the language and knows what is right and wrong in that country.

I remember the first time my wife and I traveled to South Korea, we were at the airport, trying to get through customs. The customs agent was physically directing us to go towards a certain place. Our Korean handler, the one who were there to help us, was having an argument with the customs official. Without him there, we would have been totally lost trying to figure out what was going on and where we were really supposed to go.

So in this case, you’re dealing with people are not familiar with your particular system. Think of the fatherless, who don’t have a father to help guide them through life, and to fend off anyone trying to take the child in the wrong direction. It falls to the extended family, neighbors, the community to bring forth justice,

The practical application of the Fifth Commandment to honor one’s mother and father (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16) goes far beyond our parents. In the Torah passage שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim (“judges,” Deut. 16:18–21:9) and via the teachings of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), we learn that this instruction also applies in our we interact with and respect those who have power over us.

First, we need to clean up our own hearts, with most importantly involves letting God address our problems. As Yeshua said, take the plank out of your eye before you try to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye (Matt. 7:3–5; Luke 6:41–42). When we humble ourselves and submit ourselves to God’s discernment and judgment, then we are ready and prepared to help God address the problems in our community.

Second, we need to respect our judges and our elders, even though we may vehemently disagree with their decisions. We are to follow their rulings without deviation, full stop. The New Testament is full of reminders that we are to respect their office, their position in the community.

We also must be wise to the fact that it’s human nature for rulers and kings to do whatever they can do to centralize their own power and authority. However, God tells us not to act as authoritarians over our own households. We also should push back when our leaders try to exercise undue control over the people. We must do this with utmost respect, but we have a duty to protect ourselves and those around us from overreaching abuses of government power.

When we honor our parents, our elders and our leaders, we are also honoring God.

Summary: Tammy