“In the beginning, GOD …” In our last study, we noted that the story of the beginning of all things started with a RIGHTeous GOD. Like Hebrew reads from RIGHT to left, our life story would do well to be read from the perspective of “RIGHT FIRST.” In everything we do, it’s RIGHT to put GOD in the beginning—to consider His Ways, His Word, His Will … FIRST. Over one hundred years ago, Charles M. Sheldon, through the characters in his fictional story, “In His Steps,” posed a similar challenge that, before making any decisions, of first asking “What would…
Hebrew text is written from right to left. Why is that? The way language is written and read, or its “directionality,” was apparently established when those languages began to be inscribed and the first alphabets were created. Languages originating in the Middle East, such as Hebrew and Arabic, were first written where people used stone and clay tablets. Presumably, a right-to-left directionality made more sense for this method, assuming most people are right-handed (an estimated 90% of the world’s population). For stone, those early writers would have held the mallet with their left hand while chiseling letters with their right in a right-to-left direction. This same directionality would eventually carry over to clay and later to pen and ink on vellum and parchment. It made good sense back then to start at the RIGHT. In modern times since the development of the printing press, books written in Hebrew and Arabic may look odd to the readers of Latin-based languages (like English, French, and Spanish). They are bound on the RIGHT side—the back of the book in English is the front of the book in Hebrew. In fact, people who READ from right to left often have a right-to-left sense of…
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie ten Boom In our last study, we explored the peculiar Hebraic concept of “past” and “future.” The perspective in Hebrew is that the “past” is “in front”—we walk, in essence, backward with our eyes facing the PAST. All you really can see and KNOW for sure is what has already happened. But, in contrast, the FUTURE is “behind the back.” No one, but God, can see the FUTURE, unless you have eyes in the back of your head. In fact, attempting to “see” or predict what is in the future, by witchcraft, divination or astrology, is strictly prohibited in God’s laws. Nehemiah 9 retells the story of God’s continual patience and mercy to Israel as they approached, and possessed, their Promised Land. They confessed: “Nevertheless (our forefathers) were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast thy law behind their backs …” (Nehemiah 9:26 KJV) They wanted nothing to do with God who had done so much for them. They wanted His laws and His judgment out of their sight. But just because you cannot see something, does not mean that it does not exist. You can…
God’s appointments cannot be cancelled—only postponed. The book of Nehemiah provides a beautiful chronicle of the reconstruction of the nation of Israel after the exile—the rebuilding of the walls and the people. We read in Chapter 9 that the Levites led the reformed citizens of Israel, cloaked in sackcloth and ashes, as they together repented and recalled the faithfulness of God. The first fifteen verses of that chapter are a prayer of thanksgiving as they praised God with a loud voice, reciting the awesome accounts of Creation, their forefathers’ Exodus out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and God’s miraculous…
We all love the story of “The Good Samaritan” … the uber-compassionate “certain Samaritan” in the parable of Jesus, found in Luke 10—on Page 1095 of my Thompson Chain Reference KJV. There he was, traveling along, minding his own business, when he—BY CHANCE—saw another poor traveler who had been stripped, robbed, wounded, and left laying half dead by the side of The Jericho Road. He alone stopped and tended to the man’s dire plight, unlike the proud Priest and the lazy Levite who had just walked on by. The GOOD Samaritan bandaged, medicated, and ambulanced the man on his own donkey to the nearest hostel to recuperate—sparing no expense for his recovery. What a good neighbor he was! Jesus ended the story, as if to shame the Jews for their ethnic prejudice by saying, “Go and be just like that SAMARITAN” … a real stand-out stand-up kind of guy! But what’s the deal about him being a “Samaritan?” Was he the only “good” one out of the lot? Who were the Samaritans anyway? And why did the Jews hate them? When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was conquering most of the Middle Eastern world, he used a method of “homogenizing” the…
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1, ESV) The world’s population now exceeds 8 billion people, each of whom has a name. And of those billions of people, God knows every name, including mine and yours. Somehow the fact that the Creator of everything knows my name amazes me and thrills me at the same time. My dad liked to collect unusual surnames from articles he read. Whether it made him feel better about our own long name or was just an amusing pastime, I do not know. Names are funny things. While we may not like the one our parents gave us, we still do not appreciate anyone mispronouncing or misspelling it, making a joke about it, or simply forgetting it. Our name is important to us. Pronouncing Bible names can be challenging. I use a reading schedule that takes me through the entire Bible, but I confess I do not enjoy all passages equally. The first nine chapters of I Chronicles contain more unpronounceable names than any one person should…