*His Instructions, law, teaching.
*The Word of the Lord(Yahweh) your God(Elohim).
*The first 5 Books, Old Testament, Tanakh Pentateuch.
*His Instructions, law, teachings revealed to Moses and recorded.
Barashith/Berashith, that’s the Hebrew word for Genesis.
It means?
In the beginning.
The first five books of the Torah are named after the first phrase in the book.
English translations don’t really bear that out of the words, but that’s what it means, that’s what it is in Hebrew.
Barashith, is from Paleo Hebrew, Berashith is from Biblical/Classical Hebrew.
The history of the Hebrew language can be divided into four major periods:
• Biblical Hebrew, until about the 3rd century BCE; the language of most of the Hebrew Bible
• Mishnaic Hebrew, the language of the Mishnah and Talmud
• Medieval Hebrew, from about the 6th to the 13th century CE
• Modern Hebrew, the language of the modern State of Israel
Biblical Hebrew is also known as classical Hebrew
John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
You know what he saw?
He saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ(Yeshua Messiah), that’s what he’s talking about, the resurrection, that’s His day, that’s what he’s talking about. He saw it coming, and he was glad, that’s how the Torah was revealed to him.
You have to keep in mind, earlier in life, Abraham and his father were just idol worshipers. Then he was told to leave that land, and then God(Elohim), taught him all those things and Abraham passed it down, that’s why Joseph said you got to get me back to that land. That’s the place of the resurrection, and why it’s so important to him.
Paul talks about this too in
Romans 2:8-13 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. 12For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law; and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.
One thing we have to understand, look at the key words that Paul uses, when he uses the word truth, he’s talking about the Torah. When he uses the words righteous or righteousness, he’s speaking about following the Torah and being obedient to it. When he says unrighteousness that’s being disobedient to the Torah. When he talks about sin, sin is lawlessness, breaking the Torah. If we understand these definitions, His words become a lot clearer.
Romans 2:8-13
but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth,
(the truth is His Torah)
but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
(We have to look at what doing good is, doing good means doing what He says)
11For there is no partiality with God. 12For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law; and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;
(It doesn’t matter if you have the Torah or not, you are going to be judged by it, you are going to perish by it if you don’t follow it.)
13for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.
Rom 10:5-7
For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6But the righteousness based on faith(fulness) speaks this, “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), 7or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
This passage that Paul is quoting is capitalized because he’s quoting Moses. He’s quoting Moses telling the people that Torah is right there in front of them. It’s right there in their hearts, and in their mouths.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13“Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14“But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Paul writes the same thing, only instead he places Jesus(Yeshua) in place of the Torah, why would he do that? Why did he say Jesus(Yeshua) there instead of the Torah? Because He’s the Torah made flesh, He’s the Torah that walked among them.
Romans 10:8-10
But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
(I always believed, all you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart, read the next verse)
10for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness
(what is righteousness again? Following the Torah),
and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
If you don’t believe in following the Torah, what do you have? Nothing. That’s the Old Covenant and New Covenant, that’s the difference. There’s one thing they lacked, it was a heart that feared God(Elohim) to cause them to be obedient, that’s what they lacked.
1 John 2:5
but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 7Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
Paul says in many places that the Torah was written for our instructions.
Romans 15:4
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
People have the mindset that the Torah can’t be the answer because no one could follow the Torah as well as the scribes and the pharisees. Jesus(Yeshua) called them a den of vipers! Just because they were teachers doesn’t mean they were obedient and righteous and good people, because they weren’t. When our Messiah was being criticized for healing on the Sabbath and He said “can’t one do good on the sabbath, isn’t that allowed?” And no answer, He said you have to look at things a little bit differently here, -I’m paraphrasing-, I’m doing good for the people on the Sabbath and what are you doing on the Sabbath? You’re plotting to kill me, but I’m the bad guy? You’re telling me that I’m the one that isn’t keeping the Sabbath? I’m telling you; you don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to be Torah observant, not even close. What do you really have to do? Be obedient. To what? You must essentially, have to party a few days a year. Celebrate Passover, every seventh day no work, rest, don’t eat unclean food and don’t have anything to do paganism and stupid things like that. That’s the majority of it right there, not that difficult.
Deut 4:30
“When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
Look at this verse real closely, in the latter days it says His people will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice, that’s the Torah, His words. In all of Scripture, the Torah is the main place where the words came directly from the Father. In the gospels, when Messiah spoke too, of course we’re talking about the prophet like Moses too, that’s where His words really came from, was from Moses who received them from God(Yahweh). When all the other prophets say Moses said, they know what that meant. But it said it would only happen in the latter days. Who was following the Torah 100 years ago? Just the Jewish people, they were adding to it and taking away from it, but they were the only ones. This is a recent anomaly and I think this is what we’re witnessing today. People are turning to His Torah today, why? He opens the eyes, ears and hearts of whom He chooses.
Gen 13:13
Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD.
When they split up, Lot taking the plain of Jordan and Abram dwelling in the land of Canaan. Lot picked a bad place to pitch his tent, not a good idea. It would appear he was dazzled by the affluence of the people and I think he turned a blind eye to their immorality. It says the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked against God(Elohim). Whether or not they knew of the Torah of Elohim is essentially irrelevant, it did exist at this time because they were called sinners. The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against God(Elohim). How can you be a sinner against God(Elohim) if there are no rules to break? How’s that possible? You can’t, if there are no rules, there are no sinners. Paul writes in
Romans 4:15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
That makes perfect sense, if there are no instructions how do you violate the instructions?
Romans 5:13 for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
That says a lot, that’s huge!