BHC Bible Studies

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Return! Walk with God and His Kingdom.

“The Great Day of Judgment” plays an important role in the teachings of Jesus. Everything that happens to people on that day will be based on whether God sees them as being innocent or guilty.

God will punish the guilty and deliver the innocent.

In the Story of the Great Flood, God saw that Noah was innocent (a TZADIQ) and God saw that others were guilty. The guilty were wiped from the face of the earth by a flood. God gave Noah instructions about how to build the thing that would deliver animals and birds, as well as Noah and his family. Noah built the ark and it saved their lives.

As I said in my last email (click here to read), in the teachings of Jesus, the ark is “the Kingdom of God.” It will deliver the innocent from being destroyed like the guilty. The people listening to Jesus wanted to know the answer to one question.

What does one have to do to be in the Kingdom of God?

Jesus said one word and they knew exactly what it meant.

Return!

English translations say, “Repent!” The Hebrew word Jesus spoke was “TESHUVAH!” Neither of the English words above communicate an accurate translation of the meaning of the Hebrew word Jesus spoke. As a matter of fact, the English language is incapable of accurately communicating any ancient Hebrew message in a word-for-word translation. We equip Explorers of Biblical Heritages with guidelines and models that remove linguistic and cultural barriers that are between them and the meanings of the ancient Hebrew words.

Thinking in Ancient Hebrew Model #1

● An action is regarded as being either completed or incompleted.

● Hebrew knows of no past, present, or future tense.

● Hebrew has a perfect tense (a completed action) and an imperfect tense (an action that has not been completed).[i]

● Speakers of the English language view the world, and communicate what they see, through past, present, and future tenses. We see the world through time-based models.

● Jesus viewed his world, and communicated what he saw, through actions-based models.

So, the first thing we need to know about the Hebrew word Jesus spoke (TESHUVAH) is this -- What actions must be completed for people to be innocent? The answer to that question is found in the Story of TESHUVAH in Ezekiel 18. Below are verse 26 and 27):

If an innocent person turns from his acts of TZEDAQAH

and commits sin, he will die for it;

because of the sin he has committed he will die.

If a guilty person turns from the acts of RAH (evil) he has committed

and does acts of MISHPAT (justice) and TZEDAQAH,

he will save his life.

TESHUVAH occupied a central place in the Judaisms of the time of Jesus (and still does today). Broadly defined, TESHUVAH is more than “just repentance from sin.”

TESHUVAH is a spiritual reawakening:

a desire to strengthen the connection between oneself and God,

and a desire to strengthen one’s connections to people.

All forms of TESHUVAH, however diverse and complex, have a common core:

The belief that human beings have it in their power

to effect inward change.[ii]

Now let’s apply the information above to the words of Jesus:

Return to God now.

Walk with God every day.

Then when the Great Day of Judgment comes,

you will be in the Kingdom of God and be saved.

TESHUVAH is not a religious ritual. It involves specific steps that must be done in a specific order to become “a completed action.” I will tell you about those steps in my next email.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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[ii] TESHUVAH: A Guide for the Newly Observant Jew by Adin Steinsaltz © 1982 by The Domino Press, Jerusalem Israel. Translation © 1987 by The Free Press, a division of Macmillan, Inc., New York, NY; p. 3.

Monday, May 17, 2021

God Punishes the Guilty and Gives Instructions to the Innocent

The Hebrew Scriptures reveal that the Creator of the Heavens and Earth created human life as the pinnacle of creation. He fashioned the first humans in His own image. The Torah teaches that human life has purpose and dignity because God is a moral being who alone created the entire universe. God expects that just as He is holy, so too humans will be holy. God’s moral nature is a guarantee that He will sustain and protect the world. In order to do so, God gave a moral law and judges humans by its strict standards, meting out reward and punishment accordingly.[i]

This is clearly seen in the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, and Noah. The story of Noah adds a new lesson to what the previous stories taught – it was the judgment of the entire human population. “The Day of the Vengeance of God” in Isaiah and “The Great Day of Judgment” in Malachi are related to “The Story of the Great Flood.”

In my last email, that is why I said that Jesus used the “The Great Day of Judgment” as “a call to action,” not “an unchangeable ultimatum,” in his teachings. In “The Story of the Great Flood” many people lost their lives, but one family and a pair of each of the animals and winged creatures did not die. Why didn’t they die? The answers are found in Genesis 6:5-9.

● Yahweh saw that human evil (RAH) was great in the earth. (People were doing many things that destroyed lives, harmed lives, made lives less functional and decreased the quality of life.)

● Every imagination of the thoughts of human hearts was only evil (RAH) all day long. (People were imagining and thinking about doing things that would destroy lives, harm lives, make lives less functional and decrease the quality of life all day long.)

● Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. (Noah was chosen so that the blessing bestowed on the first humans [ADAM#1] should be realized in him and in his seed after him).[ii] The Hebrew word translated “blessed” means “to endow and give the capacity to achieve the assigned functions.” The first humans were given the capacity to function as the Creator’s Co-Shepherds over all life on earth, and be the Guardians and Protectors of human lives.)

● Noah was a (TZIDIQ) man. (TZIDIQ is a Hebrew word that in this context means “innocent.”)

● Noah walked with God. (Noah followed God’s instructions.)

Below are key points from The Story of Noah that Jesus and his Jewish followers clearly understood.

1. God punishes guilty people.

The people who died in the flood were guilty of doing acts that were evil (RAH) – acts that destroyed human lives, harmed human lives, made people’s lives less functional, and decreased quality of life of other people.

2. God provides innocent people with instructions for a way to safety.

Noah was an innocent man because he did acts that protected human lives, preserved human lives, made people’s lives more functional, and increased the quality of life of people. The things that Noah did are called “acts of TZEDAQAH” (a word that has no English equivalent).

3. Innocent people must follow those instructions.

God gave Noah instructions for how to build an ark. Noah and his family built it. God did not build it for him. God closed the door of the ark after the animals, Noah’s family, and Noah was safely on board.

This is why I said Jesus used the “The Great Day of Judgment” as “a call to action.” The followers of Jesus viewed him as “a person like Noah.” What they wanted to know was the answer to one question:

What instructions did God give Jesus that

will be a way to safety on “The Great Day of Judgment”?

This is the answer Jesus gave them:

Turn around!

The Kingdom of God is now here!

The ark in the teachings of Jesus is “The Kingdom of God.” The instructions for building it is – “Do TESHUVAH!” (the Hebrew word translated above as, “turn around.”) I will tell you “The Story of TESHUVAH” in my next email.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Yeshua, the Anointed One, Son of God and King

We still have one more word to explore before we will know what the words “Jesus Christ Son of God” meant to Jesus, his Jewish followers and other members of the Jewish culture. That word is “Jesus.” The history of the name “Jesus” begins in an account in the Torah (first five books in the Bible). Yahweh commanded Moses to choose one man from each of the twelve tribes to spy out the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:8, 16).

Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun . . .These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Yehoshua (Joshua).

The root word of Hoshea means "salvation," but at that time salvation did not mean “saved from Hell.” It meant “being delivered from some danger or threat.” When Moses changed Hoshea to Yehoshua the meaning of the name changed to "Yahweh-is-Salvation."

In the 5th Century BCE, the name Yehoshua was shortened to Yeshua (Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 8:17):

Those who came with Zerubbabel were Yeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah . . .

So the whole assembly of those who had returned from Babylonian

Captivity made booths and sat under the booths;

for since the days of Yeshua the son of Nun until that day

the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness.

By the 1st century CE, probably due to Hellenistic influence, Yeshua was shortened to Y'shua. In the Greek New Testament, the name Yeshua appears two times as Iesous (Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8):

Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Iesous

into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out

before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David.

For if Iesous had given them rest, then he would not

afterward have spoken of another day.

In 382 Jerome made a Latin translation of the Christian Scriptures called the “Vulgate,” or “Common Bible.” Jerome translated the Greek word Iesous as Iesus. The Latin spelling and pronunciation of Iesus dominated the Western Christian world for almost 1,000 years.[i]

It should be noted that in the Talmud (6^th century CE) the name Yeshu is used as a reference to the “Christian Jesus” instead of Yeshua. Yeshu is an acronym for “yemach shmo u'zikro,” which means "may his name be blotted out."[ii] This clearly reflects Jewish views that will be repeated in Rabbinic Judaism.

The Norman invasion of 1066 introduced the letter "j" to England, but the sound of “j” did not exist in Old English. In 1384, John Wycliffe made the first English translation of the New Testament from Latin. He preserved the Latin spelling and pronunciation of Iesus.[iii] The letter “J” was first distinguished from “'I” by the Frenchman Pierre Ramus (1515 – August 26, 1572) in the 16th century. He was a Protestant convert who was killed during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.[iv]

The letter “J” did not become common in Modern English until the 17th century. The 1611 edition of the King James Version, continued to use the name Iesus.[v] It would be in later editions of the King James Version that the hard "J" sound replaced male names that began with I or Y -- Iakob became Jacob, Yohan became John, and Iesus became Jesus.

The word “Jesus” did not appear in any Bible until the 18^th century CE.

Columbus had arrived in the Americas over 200 years earlier.

That was when people began calling him “Jesus.”

Now let’s update what “Jesus Christ Son of God” meant to the Hebrew speaking first century CE Jewish culture:

Yeshua, the Anointed One, Son of God and King.

“He is the One called by God to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh.”

Understanding “Yeshua’s Kingdom” requires an understanding of “the different Judaisms” that existed then. The Late Second Temple Period is one of the least understood periods in Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Yeshua specifically targeted “conflicts between those Judaisms” in his teachings. His goal was to “prepare people to be gathered together by God” before He did to them what He did to Noah’s generation -- except this time He would use fire instead of water! And, Yeshua expected that to happen in his lifetime.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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[i] http://jesus8880.com/chapters/gematria/yehoshua.htm

[ii] http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/transliteration.html

[iii] http://jesus8880.com/chapters/gematria/yehoshua.htm

[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrus_Ramus

[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_%28name%29

Monday, May 10, 2021

The Meaning of “Son of God” to Jesus

I began this series by asking what “Jesus Christ Son of God” meant to Jesus and his Jewish followers. By the end of my previous email, we discovered that “Jesus Christ” meant “Jesus the Anointed One.” Conveying the meaning of those words requires a paragraph:

Jesus – The One Anointed (called by God to preach the gospel

to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and

recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed,

and proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh) – Son of God.

Now let’s find out what “Son of God” meant to Jesus and his followers. Of all the things said about Jesus, the words “Son of God” create the most confusion and generate the most serious conflicts. Obviously, the words “son” and “god” are two words in every language that are so common people just assume they know what they mean.

● A “son” is “a male offspring of something.”

● In gentile cultures there were “many gods.”

● Male gods had sex with goddesses and female humans who gave birth to sons.

The problems arose in Early Christian groups as Gentiles became members and were introduced to beliefs Jesus and his Jewish followers held about God, since their only God was “Yahweh.” Yahweh had no ancestors or descendants -- but He had “Sons.” How could that be? The answer is found in 2 Samuel 7:4, 12-17 and the Covenant of David.

“But it happened that night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying, ‘Go and tell My servant David . . . When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My loyalty shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.’ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.”

That is the covenant Yahweh made with David. It established his throne forever. From Solomon forward Kings of Israel were sons of David and sons of God. David had many male descendants, but only those who became king were “Sons of God.” The next question is when did they become a “Son of God”? The answer is found in Psalm 2:1-2, 6-7. It was part of the Coronation Ceremony of the King.

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,

against Yahweh and against His “Anointed One”?

Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” I will declare the decree:

Yahweh has said to me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten you.”

The Anointed One, King and Son of God are titles that were bestowed on the new king at the coronation ceremony. So, when did Jesus become the “Son of God”? Let’s take another look at Mark 1:9-11:

And immediately, coming up from the water, Jesus he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

After the “Spirit anointed Jesus” the voice from Heaven – God -- declared “You are My beloved Son.” Jesus became the Anointed One, Son of God, and King at his baptism! Now let’s update our understanding of the verse we began this study with -- “Jesus Christ Son of God.”

Jesus, the Anointed One (called by God to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh), Son of God (a Son of David who is the King).

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Friday, May 7, 2021

Understanding What God Anointed Jesus to Do

Before I address what God anointed Jesus to do, I want to make sure you know when he was anointed. The four Gospels agree on this; below is the account of Mark 1:9-11:

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from

the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon him

like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

That was the moment Jesus became “The Anointed One” (“The Christ”) and “The Son of God.” Jesus announced what God anointed him to do at his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. The account of his announcement is found in Luke 4:16-21.

So Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Shabbat, and stood up to read. And he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of Yahweh is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh.”

Then he closed the scroll, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he said to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The words Jesus read are found in Isaiah 61:1-2a. This is what God anointed him to do.

● Preach the gospel to the poor.

● Heal the brokenhearted.

● Proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.

● Set at liberty those who are oppressed.

● Proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh.

Now we can update our understanding of the words “Jesus the Anointed One.”

Jesus – The One called by God to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim that the year of favor of Yahweh has begun – Son of God.

Is W.W.J.D. – What Would Jesus Do – important to you? Now you have a much more accurate understanding about what he had been anointed to do. Before you read this series of emails about the meaning of “Jesus Christ Son of God,” did you understand what those words meant to him and his Jewish followers? Very few readers of English translations do. In my next email I will explain the meaning of “Son of God.”

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Thursday, May 6, 2021

Discovering What “Christ” Means

In my previous email I explained how we know the word “Christ” is a transliteration of a Greek word and what a transliteration is. (Click here if you have not read it.) You understand that there is a big difference between a transliteration and a translation. A transliteration does not tell us what the Greek word that was transliterated meant. The graphic above traces the journey of English word “Christ” back to the Greek word “Christos” and provides its translation -- “anointed.”

In another email I explained how we know that Jesus spoke and taught in the Hebrew language. (Click here to read it.) Someone wrote down the Hebrew words of Jesus spoke, someone else translated them into Greek, others copied and recopied the Greek translations, and some of those copies were used by the people that made English translations of the New Testament. The next step is identifying the Hebrew words behind those Greek translations.

We used the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures, to find verses in it with Greek words related to “Christos.” Then, we went to the Hebrew Bible and found those verses and were able to locate the corresponding Hebrew words. In the graphic above you can see the Hebrew word behind the word “Christos.” It is transliterated “mashiach” and translated “anointed.” “Christos” and “mashiach” are both translated into English as “anointed.”

Our next project was discovering what “mashiach” meant in the first century CE Jewish culture in which the Jesus Movement took place. The “anointing” of persons and objects was a widespread ritual in ancient Israel. It played a central role in the ceremonies in which kings were inaugurated and high priests were consecrated. The ultimate source of the anointment was God. Those who were anointed acquired the title “Mashiach” ("Anointed One").

Anointing conferred the "Spirit of Yahweh" only upon kings. The king received Yahweh’s support, strength, and wisdom. The anointment of high priests conferred neither the Spirit of Yahweh nor any other divine attribute on them because they had different functions. Other concepts related to the title “Anointed One” appear in the Second Temple Period.

● The “Anointed One” will be a great political leader descended from King David. (Jeremiah 23:5)

● The “Anointed One” will be well-versed in Jewish law and observant of its commandments (Isaiah 11:2-5).

● The “Anointed One” a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example; a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel; a great judge who makes righteous and just decisions (Jeremiah 33:15).

● The “Anointed One” will appear at the End of Days when God judges all mankind.

Now we can update the first two words from Mark 1:1 -- “Jesus Christ Son of God” to reflect the information we gathered above. Instead of calling him Jesus Christ, we should call him:

Jesus the Anointed One

This allows us to view him the role he saw himself, and the way people saw him. In first century CE Judea and Galilee, when people heard the words “Jesus the Anointed One,” two questions would have immediately popped into their minds:

● What was Jesus anointed to do?

● When was he anointed?

Those questions will be answered in my next email. Thank you for exploring biblical heritages with me.