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Oh, How I Love Your Word!
Messiah conference, 2006
The Psalmist exudes, “How I love your Torah! I meditate on it all day.” 119:9.
How about you? Do you love the Torah as a treasure of your heart?
Last week I taught you a bit about how I study the Bible—the wonderful,
precious Word of God.
Today I will introduce five basic principles of bible study, with
examples and tools (including computer-based tools):
First, study the original meaning of the word, in its original language.
Second, study the word or text in its local context, the paragraph.
Third, study the text in its historical context, in order to understand
the author and his audience.
Fourth, study the text in its thematic context, the wonderful web of
the whole word of God.
Finally, apply the word to your own life, with the help of the Ruach Kodesh.
Are you ready?
First, study the
original meaning of word, in its original language.
As Psalm 119:130 says, “Your words are a doorway that lets in light,
giving understanding to the thoughtless.” To go through the doorway of Hashem’s words, you may need to look beyond your
translation.
And you don’t need to be a Hebrew or Greek scholar to do it!
You can look up the words of the bible in a lexicon, or dictionary of word meanings.
Thanks to Dr. James Strong and his concordance and other scholars who gave us Hebrew and Greek lexicons using Strong’s numbers,
you can study the original words of the bible yourself.
And thanks to computer software, all these resources are available, at the push of a button!
You can download a bible program for free, from either www.onlinebible.net
or www.onlinebible.org.
The free version comes with the King
James Version and other materials whose copyright are now in the public
domain, including Strong’s Concordance and those handy, scholarly
lexicons!
Another free bible
program called e-sword, available ate-sword.net.
It looks very good, though an advantage of onlinebible
is that you can install copyrighted bibles such as the NIV or Complete Jewish Bible, each for $15.
Once it’s installed
on your PC, it’s easy to search for words, phrases or specific verses.
Suppose we search for Jeshua (as the KJB and NIV spell Yeshua).
At the top of the list of verses that the program finds, it indicates that the name Yeshua appears 29 times in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Most of the time, as
you can see in Ezra 4:3, it’s the name of a Cohen Hagadol or High Priest.
He returned with Zerubabbel from exile and helped rebuild the Temple, at the behest of Cyrus, King of Persia.
After switching to the KJV and viewing the Strong’s numbers (in angle brackets), I clicked on the number after Yeshua and Voila!
It shows a lexicon entry showing the original Hebrew word, Yeshuwa', and its meaning.
Note that the
Hebrew pronunciation is indeed Yeshua, not Jeshua (in English, “Y” hardened to “J”).
Then I notice that
it’s related to another Hebrew word, which I check out via the hyperlink.
The related word is Yehoshua,
the Hebrew from which we get the English spelling Joshua.
Note also that both
of these names can refer to the same individual, either the successor of
Moses or the son of Yehotzadak, high priest
after the restoration of the Temple.
I knew that Yeshua was related to the word meaning salvation, so I did a search for that word.
Then I looked up the Hebrew and sure enough, it’s Yeshuah—the name plus a heyh.
Count this spelling and the name of our Lord appears at least 187 times in Tanach!
Our second principle is: study the word or text in its local context. How many of you
know that people often come up with unusual interpretations of Scripture? For example,
consider a passage from Romans 11 (you might to turn there).
I recommend another handy resource: you can study the bible on the web at bible.crosswalk.com. It even includes the Complete Jewish Bible, and it’s
free on the web!
Once upon a time,
my brother-in-law James Wikkerink invited me to
dialog with his Lutheran pastor. James,
like his sister Pamela had been raised in the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod,
was now becoming interested in Messianic Judaism. After some conversation, it was
becoming clear that the pastor and I weren’t on the same page concerning
God’s promises to Israel.
So I took him to this passage in Romans 11 and asked the pastor—when in
verse 26 Paul says “all Israel will be saved”—who is he talking about? And he said, the Church—because only
the believing church will be saved.
So I took a breath, looked around the local context, and asked,
when verse 25 says that “a stoniness has come
upon Israel,” to whom is that referring, the nation of Israel or the Church? And he replied without hesitation, oh, that’s the nation of Israel.
And going back to verse 26, when it says “he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” to whom does Jacob (or Ya’akov) refer?
That’s the nation of Israel, he said, in unbelief. .
Finally I asked the pastor, don’t you think there’s a problem, thinking that the meaning of “Israel” switches from the
Jews to the Church and back to the Jews, in two verses? He acknowledged that it was difficult, but didn’t budge.
That’s how he had been taught to read the Bible, in conservative Lutheran schools and seminary.
Replacement theology has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries
and it is not easily uprooted. People
believe what other people tell them, rather than what the Word actually
says, in context. Replacement
theology depends on a habit of reading into the text, allegorically.
There’s a simple code: if the Scripture promises something good
about
Israel,
it’s the Church. But if it warns
or judges Israel,
that’s the Jews. I hope you all
agree, such an approach dangerously distorts the
intent of Scripture?
Consider another
example in this passage: verse 29 says “God’s gifts and his call are
irrevocable.”
Some Christian teachers cite this verse as evidence that gifts of the
Spirit are permanent. For example
one web site quotes this verse and says “if God has used you in spiritual
gifts or ministries in the past, they are still there, still valid in
your life.” But is that what this
verse is about, in its local context?
In the local context, to whom have God’s gifts are irrevocable
call been given? Israel!
So let me
underscore this principle: instead of reading into the text, read the text
in context.
The third principle
of bible study is: study the text in its historical context. Why?
Because we want to understand what the author intended and his audience
understood.
An Israeli seeker
once asked me, was Yeshua’s name ever mentioned in the Hebrew Bible? As we’ve already seen, the answer is
yes! I took him to one fascinating
prophecy in Zechariah 6, and I read verse 12 to him: “Tell him this is
what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and
he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD.”
Well, he didn’t
immediately understand this prophecy, and maybe you don’t either. The first thing we need to understand
is its historical context. Who was Joshua or Yehoshua
the son of Yehotzadak? He was the High Priest, who had come
back from exile in Babylon,
along with the exiles such as those mentioned in verse 2, Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, like those in the book of Ezra. They
returned at the behest of Cyrus, King of Persia, to rebuild the Temple. One of the
returning exiles was Zerubabbel, a descendant
of David and now governor of Judah. Another of the returning exiles was the
High Priest—only what was his name according to Ezra? Yeshua, the son of Jehozadak.
The same as Joshua the son of Jehozadak, here
in Zechariah. Zechariah was
encouraging the same generation of returning exiles to rebuild the Temple. Yeshua and Yehoshua
were two variants of the same name—Yeshua might have come into Hebrew
from Aramaic, a related language spoken throughout the Middle
East. So Zechariah
6:12 is saying, “Behold the man, whose name is the Branch!”
And what was the name of this man? Yeshua!
But to really
appreciate what the prophet is saying, we need to consider our fourth
principle:
Study the text in its thematic
context—ideas interconnected in the web or hypertext of Scripture.
When Zechariah says
“Behold the man, whose name is the Branch!” he is expecting his hearers to
remember an important theme that has been developed elsewhere. he Bible is an
amazingly rich hypertext, with myriads of texts quoting or alluding to
other texts. There is no other
book like it! That’s the first thing I realized when I first started
studying it,
as an English major in college, before I was even a believer….
Written in a period
of over 1200 years by over 40 different authors, yet it all hangs
together as one book, an intricately coherent whole. Truly it proclaims, “Shema Yisrael! Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
One … Echad!”
And the more you look, the more glorious and
awesome it is … all inspired by one Holy Spirit.
There are many
resources available to help follow themes through the Bible. Here my bible program took me to Easton’s Bible Dictionary—it’s closer than Easton, PA!
Here we see that the theme of
the Branch starts out as a symbol of kings descended from royal
ancestors—i.e., just as a tree has a branch, so a royal line has a branch
of descendants.
Let’s look
at some of the Scriptures that develop this theme, including Isaiah 4:2: “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and
the fruit of the land
will be the pride and glory of the survivors in
Israel
.”
When a prophet says “in that day,” he is referring to the last days,
the days of Messiah. So this verse introduces the fruitful Branch as a symbol of the
Messianic hope.
This theme continues in Isaiah 11: “A shoot will come up from the
stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will
rest on him.” The prophet now sees the Branch as a royal person, descended from
Jesse, the Ruach on him.“And He shall reign over all the earth; he shall reign over all the
earth!”
Who shall reign over all the earth? Who is this shoot
from Jesse, the Branch or Son of David?
Jeremiah also picks up the theme of the Branch in chapter 25.
“The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise
up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”
What does verse tell us about the Branch?
• He is associated with the days to come.
• He is a descendant or son of David.
• He will be a King himself, who will reign wisely—like Solomon, only
better: for “he will do what is just and right in the land.”
The prophecy continues with a wonderful promise of salvation (yeshuah) for Yehudah and Israel. Then it has a bold claim about the name of the Branch: the LORD, our
Righteousness.Adonai Tzidkeynu! What is the prophet saying?
The Branch, the King-Messiah-Savior is none other than God himself! How could the Lubavitchers possibly think
their Rebbe Schneerson could be the Messiah! What, was he God? Then how come he is still
moldering in his grave? But I know one Rabbi who rose up from the grave!
Zechariah himself picks up on the theme of the Branch in chapter
3:
“Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you,
who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant,
the Branch.” Zechariah, after the exile, re-introduces a theme of the great prophets
before the exile: the Branch, still symbolic of things to come, the
promise of Messiah and the redemption of Israel. By calling him “my servant,” the prophet alludes to another prophetic theme:
Messiah as the servant of Hashem.
So now do you see the significance of the prophet saying, “Behold, here is the man whose name is the Branch”?
What was this man’s name? Yehoshua or
Yeshua—and to emphasize the point, the prophet puts a crown on the
Yeshua’s head!It was absolutely unusual to crown a high priest, because priests,
descendants of Aaron and Levi, were never crowned as kings and kings, descendants of David and Yehudah, were never priests.By crowning this high priest, the prophet was prophesying that the
Messiah the Branch, whose name is Yeshua, would be both King and Priest—as he says emphatically in verse 13, “And he will be a priest on his
throne.”
Of course, this New Covenant picks up this theme in a mighty way. Messiah Yeshua is both our priest and king.
As Hebrew 5:10 says, —designated by God to be high priest in the order
of Melchizedek.” Indeed, Malchi-tzadik’s name means “righteous
king.” In his first coming, Yeshua came primarily as our priest, making
atonement for our sins on the tree.
In his second coming, Yeshua will come as our king, ruling over Israel and the nations from Zion. V’eemru? (And let us say?)
The fifth principle of bible study is to apply the word of God, with the
help of the Ruach Kodesh.
The prophet supplies an application for Yehoshua the high priest and his associates: " Since you are symbolic of something awesome and wonderful to come, be
encouraged, and complete the Temple! Those who are far away will come and help to
build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty
has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your
God." Therefore, diligently obey Hashem your God!
Can we make a simple application to ourselves? That’s how application should work. First understand the Scripture in
its context—what the original words meant, what they mean to their original author
and audience in context,
local, historical and thematic—then look for application in your life.The same Ruach HaKodesh who inspired all of Scripture will reveal what
it means for you. V’eemru?
Scriptures makes many promises to those who seek to study and apply God’s
word. Here are a few from Psalm 119:
105. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
In other words, the word of God will guide you in the right way to go.
114. “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your
word.”
In other words, the word of God will protect you from harm, giving you
hope and confidence.
133. “Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over
me.”
In other words, the word of God will help you to walk in the way of God
and to resist sin.
With such promises,
what should our response be?
Read the Bible! Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to apply to your
own life.
Read it all and read it frequently!
Read at least a chapter a day, until you’ve read it all, then go back and read
it again, and again.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalm 119:102.
How many of you meditate on the Bible every day?
Then at least once a week, maybe on Erev Shabbat, give yourself more time to study.As the good book says, in Psalm 119:72,
“The Torah from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of
pieces of silver and gold.”
V’eemru?
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