The law and the prophecies

My photos are from yesterday. I did chores instead of walk this morning.

8 a.m. Tuesday January 24, 2023. 25F/-4C.

Waiting. Two feral cats huddle in a corner of the cabin porch, one golden red, the other hardly visible, is deep gray, the color of a shadow. They watch as laundry is carried out the door, but they do not move. As soon as a human footstep hits the lowest step, paws scurry. Wet laundry freezes rapidly. The last load is already stiff. The cold air will extract all moisture and leave the laundry extra soft when it is dry. The dry air carries a scent of freshness. Bubbling noises, soft ones, arise from the area of the creek. Two birds circle overhead. When their wings catch the sunlight, they appear white at the wing tips. Otherwise, they are just more dark birds of prey. Only one streak of cloud adorns the blue sky. Jet planes roar overhead. A storm might hit tonight. Waiting.

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter seven

Heavenly Father, please guide us as we read your word, our Bible. In the name of Yeshua Jesus, I ask. Amen.

“Ask of El, and he will fulfill your request. You are willing [or search] and you will find. Knock on the door, and it will be opened to you. For every man who asks, receives, and he who searches, finds, and he who knocks, will enter. Who of you, if his son asks him bread, will give him stones? And if he asks him a fish, will give him serpents? Thus, you – if you know with your discernment to give good things to your sons, how much and how much more does the heavenly El know that he should give good things to those who ask him? Everything that you want that men should do to you, you must do to them. This is the Torah and the Prophets.”

from the Hebrew Gospels, Matityahu, chapter seven, translation by Justin van Rensburg

Yeshua told his disciples that they should ask of God and he would fulfill their request.

The prophets lived under the wings of the almighty. The disciples did as well. Yeshua’s words were aimed at his disciples, his talmidim. No other.

When Justin van Rensburg translated the above, he discerned a spelling error, which changed “You are willing and you will find,” into “If you search, you will find.” I don’t think it was a scribal error. I believe it was a statement from Yeshua, who already knew his disciples, his core twelve men, and knew them well. There was no “if” concerning the twelve. They were searching.

Knock on the door and it will be opened to you. Again, this was a statement of Yeshua’s. It was a sure thing. But to what door did Yeshua refer? Was that the door to the kingdom of heaven? Yeshua was the door. They need only express a need to enter the kingdom, and it was opened to them.

To prove his point, Yeshua suggested that if each of them was a father, and his son asked for food, would a father give less? If the disciples, with everyday common sense, knew to give food to their children, how much and how much more in his daily custom would God display, and give good things to his children.

Then Yeshua seemed to veer off subject, but did he?

“Everything that you want that men should do to you, you must do to them. This is the Torah and the Prophets.”

Was Yeshua speaking of the disciples relationship to each other? Was he speaking of how our heavenly Father greatly desired that man should act toward him? Both?

Both ways, the purpose of the law and the prophecies was to promote love and friendship.

Life in the hollow, Tuesday

Jewish mealtime prayers. I’m learning them as a way of learning enough Hebrew to understand the language better. They are different for me. We always bow our heads, close our eyes, and thank God for our food and ask him to bless our food. Amen.

However the traditional blessing in Hebrew says, “Baruch ata adonai eloheinu, melech ha olam. B’reh p’ri adamah,” which means, “Blessed are you Yahweh our God, king of the universe. You bring food from the earth.”

Attention should be shifted from blessing the food toward blessing the God who created the food! Which is better? Which expresses the way we want our relationship with God to go? Think! Is there a right answer?

What would Yeshua, the son of God who adored his heavenly Father, what would he pray? Should we read that as, “Everything that we want that our God should do to us, we must do toward him”?

Let him speak? Read his words? Say please and thank you to him? Bless him? Repeat his truths? We are, in the end, still learning.

Everything that we want that men should do to us, we must do to them. For of such is the law and the prophecies.

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