The Tabernacle Experience - The Table and the Bread

Make a table of acacia wood. . .Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. . . and make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings. Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.
~Exodus 25:23-24, 29-30

Inside the Holy Place, just outside the Most Holy Place, was a table on which sat the items used for the pouring out of sacrifices. On this table also sat twelve loaves of bread. They were called the Bread of Presence because of their nearness to the Most Holy Place and therefore standing in the presence of God. These twelve loaves represented the twelve tribes of Israel and the union they shared with God.

One important thing to note is the Jewish culture in this time believed two lives were bound together by sharing a common meal. This is why the bread being set out before the Lord on the tables at all times represented the bond between Israel and God. In addition, bread is a symbol of life in the Jewish culture. The twelve loaves offered to God each Sabbath acknowledged their dependence on Him in their lives.

This understanding bring deeper meaning to Jesus' statement of "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) It also brings deeper meaning to communion. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 Paul talks of communion being a participation in the body of Christ because we all partake of one loaf. We become on body. By taking communion with our fellow believers we are bound to our Lord and to one another into one body.

Tabernacle Experience - The Lampstand

This was one of Tyler's favorite parts of the Tabernacle Experience we visited just prior to Easter. She liked the fact that after we listened to the recording for that station, she was able to extinguish one of the branches and then re-light it.

The Lampstand stood inside the Tabernacle proper. It consisted of six branches and a center stand, seven lamps in all. These lamps were oil lamps containing pure olive oil. Exodus 25:31-40, gives instructions regarding the lampstand. It was made of pure gold and the entire stand (flowerlike cups, buds, blossoms, base, and shaft) were hammered from one piece.

Exodus 27:20-21 gives instructions regarding the oil. It was to be the clear oil of pressed olives. Aaron and his sons were to "keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning." This was the only light provided in the Holy Place.

Light is symbolic of the presence of God. He gives grace (light) to his people to keep us from stumbling in the darkness of this world.

Here are just a few verses regarding God being the light for us in this world.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;" Numbers 6:24-25

"Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell." Psalm
43:3

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness, has not understood it." John 1:4-5

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5

"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." John 1:9

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of the darkness', made his light shine in our hearts to give us light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

As the lampstand was the only light in the Tabernacle, Jesus Christ is the true pure light in this world. He shines through our spiritual blindness so we can see God's glory and experience it in our lives.

To read other posts regarding the Tabernacle Experience click here.

The Passover Lamb

I had heard before about how the Passover Lambs had been brought into the homes of the Jewish families in Egypt and cared for prior to being sacrificed. The book I am currently reading has a good summary of this that I'm going to share word for word with you because I just don't think I can paraphrase it any better than they've put it.

Christ in the Passover
by Ceil & Moishe Rosen

"God began His object lesson to Israel with the Passover lamb. First, the people had to single out from their flocks the handsomest, healthiest looking yearling. An animal of this age, just approaching the prime of its life, was frisky and winsome. Then the family had to watch it carefully for four days before Passover to make sure it was perfect in every way. During this period of close observation, they fed and cared for the lamb and grew accustumed to having it around. By the end of the fourth day, it must have won the affection of the entire household, especially the children. Now they all must avoid its big, innocent eyes as the head of the house prepared to plunge in the knife. While meat was a treat in ancient times, how could they enjoy eating their lamb's flesh? The lesson was painful. God's holiness demands that He judges sin, and the price is costly. But He is also merciful and provides a way of escape (redemption).

The innocent Passover lamb foreshadowed the One who would come centuries later to be God's final means of antonement and redemption."

Can you imagine having picked out a cute fluffly lamb like the one pictured above on Thursday. It is living in your home with you, your kids play with it, you care for it and feed it, and then come tomorrow at sundown you'll have to sacrifice it? Think of how hard that would be. Now you can just start to understand what Jesus did for us!

Passover - (Pesach)

Tomorrow (April 2nd) at sundown is the beginning of Passover, lasting until sundown on Tuesday, (April 3rd). After Passover (Pesach) begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasting seven days.

I've found a wonderful article on First Fruits of Zion regarding these two Feasts of the Lord (often referred to collectively as Passover in our modern times). Most articles on this site require membership, however you can join for free to receive emails and to access a treasure of resources. I recommend membership to anyone wanting to learn more about the Lord and Christianity's Jewish roots.

The article I found is Passover - Remembering Our Redemption. It does require membership to read the entire article, however it takes only a few moments to join and is definitely worth it! I recommend taking the time to read this in honor of this upcoming Feast.

The Tabernacle Experience - The Laver

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die.
~ Exodus 30:17-21

As you can imagine, the priests had need to clean up after their sacrificial duties, however per the Lord's command they were to clean themselves before they began the Lord's work as well. This cleansing was not so much an actual cleansing as it was a symbolic cleansing. This ritual washing represented their purified life of service to God in the Tabernacle.

This cleansing was necessary because as humans with our sin nature we are not pure and holy to stand before the Lord or to do His work.

They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
~Exodus 38:8

Some believe it is significant that we can see our reflection in the water which cleanses us from our sin.

Jesus cleanses the church (his bride) "to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (see Ephesians 5:26-27)

By washing ourselves in God's Word we purify ourselves and enable ourselves to do His work, holy and pure. Continually washing ourselves in His Word keeps our focus on God, not on the world.


Tabernacle Experience

Tabernacle Experience - The White Linen Garment

Weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen . . . Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh. Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die.
~ Exodus 28:39,42-43

The linen cloth worn by the priest symbolized his righteousness and his worthiness to enter God's sacred tent. Prior to dressing in the linen garments, they would wash their entire body as a rite of purification. The sacred linen garments made the priests holy as they worshipped the Lord.

We are also to be "clothed in righteousness" when we come to God in worship. This covering of righteousness comes in the form of our High Priest, Jesus Christ who is holy and pure. He does not have to offer sacrifices day after day as the Israelite Priest did though, because he has already offered up the ultimate sacrifice to once and for all redeem us of our sins.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
~ Isaiah 64:6

All that we do, no matter how good, is no better than filthy rags in the sight of our Holy God. However, Jesus covers us in His garments, His Righteousness, so we can approach our Most Holy God.

Original post can be found here: The Tabernacle Experience


Tabernacle Experience

The Tabernacle Experience

Tonight my house church visited a traveling display (for lack of a better term) called the Tabernacle Experience. This is a replica of the Tabernacle Moses was instructed by the Lord to create in Exodus.

I took my daughter with me. It was an amazing experience and even her attention was kept for the 50 minute tour. She actually was able to understand the meaning behind many of the items and relate them back to me after. She said she really enjoyed the experience.

Basically a replica of the Tabernacle was built in a side yard at this church. Most all items are to the exact measurements given in Exodus. Where they are not, it is noted. You get to take a 50 minute self guided tour through the replica. They have a recorded tour that Tyler and I were able to listen to together. You can hook up to three headphone onto the one recording.

The tour consists of ten stations. Each station represents an important part of the Tabernacle including its history, the meaning behind it in Moses' time and how it relates to/points to Jesus.

The ten stations included:

1. The White Linen Garment
2. The Altar of Burnt Offering
3. The Laver
4. The Golden Boards & Silver Bases
5. The Lampstand
6. The Table and the Bread
7. The Altar of Incense
8. The Curtain
9. The Ark of the Covenant
10. The Atonement Cover

Over the next few days, I'll be posting about each of these stations, what I learned and my experience.

If this group comes to your town I highly recommend going. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I have regarding the original Tabernacle may see discrepancies that I did not, however it was amazing to walk through something that is very similar to what the Israelites would have experienced. It was especially meaningful to me as I've been on a journey to grow closer to the Lord lately by learning more about his chosen people, the Jews and their history, culture and traditions.

If you want to learn more about the Tabernacle Experience and not have to wait for my postings you can visit their website. The Tabernacle Experience. The site includes 5 easy steps to bring the Tabernacle to your church.

Keep visiting to see more on this experience in the next few days!


Tabernacle Experience

Blood on the Door - Passover

Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until the morning.
~ Exodus 12:22

At the first Passover the blood of the lamb on the doorposts set apart the homes of those who believed and obeyed God from the homes of those who did not. The blood was a special mark for those who feared the Lord, which exempted them from the coming destruction. This is not the only time a special mark is used to single out and save those who followed the Lord.

In Ezekiel 9:4-6, Ezekiel has a vision from God regarding Jerusalem in which a man clothed in linen with a writing kit went through the city and marked the foreheads of those who "grieved and lamented the detestable things" done in the city. Other men armed with "deadly weapons" followed and slaughtered "without pity or compassion" those without the mark, whether women, men or children.

In Revelation a special mark on the forehead seals the 144,000 prior to the four angels being given power to harm the land and sea (7:2-3) Later the locusts released from the Abyss are instructed not to harm those marked on the forehead as believers/followers of Christ in Revelation 9:4.

To better understand the sealing of the early Israelites it helps to have knowledge of what the ritual would have entailed. The basin mentioned in Exodus 12:22 was a ditch dug in front of the doorway. This was done in Egypt at that time to avoid flooding and would have held a container to avoid seepage.

The Passover lamb would have been killed by the Israelites right by their doors, therefore the blood would have ran into the ditch and collected in the basin. A hyssop branch would have been dipped into the blood caught in the basin and touched first to the lintel (top horizontal part of the doorframe) and then to each side post. In this way, the door was effectively "sealed" on all four sides (the basin on the bottom, the lintel on the top and the door posts on each side). Those within the home were also considered to be "sealed" by the Lord as followers and therefore exempt from the Angel of Death passing through that night. (Note, none were allowed to go out the door of the home until morning in order to be "sealed".)

Even more thought provoking is the fact that Jesus says in John 10:9, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture."

The Israelites of that first Passover went in through their blood-sealed doors that night and found safety. They were protected and redeemed by the sacrificial blood. The next morning they went out and began a journey to the Promised Land, their good pasture.

For us, the exemption seal is the blood of Christ (our Passover lamb). When we believe and obey Christ we are entering through Him, our gate. We then go out and begin our journey to the "Promised Land" of a future, eternal haven built by the Lord, where we will spend eternity in His Presence.

(Thanks to be given to Christ in the Passover by Ceil & Moishe Rosen)

Passover_Blood on Door

Leaven

Passover (Pesach) this year begins at sundown on April 2nd and ends at sundown April 3rd. On the Hebrew calendar this Feast falls on Nisan 14. With the upcoming Feast I figured now would be a good time to start posting what I’ve been learning about the Feasts of the Lord again. Today I’m gong to be posting about leaven and the symbolism of the unleavened bread eaten at Passover.

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.

Exodus 12:8

One of the traditions of the Passover meal is to eat unleavened bread. When the Hebrews left Egypt they were instructed by the Lord to eat unleavened bread that night with their Passover lamb and bitter herbs. In addition, they were not to eat leaven for another seven days (the Feast of Unleavened Bread).

Jews take this very seriously, in that they not only ensure they eat bread without leaven, they clear the entire home of leaven. Preparations for Passover usually begin up to a month prior to Passover in order to clean the home from top to bottom to ensure there is no leaven left. (For tips on preparing your home for Passover visit Preparations for Passover at Hebrew for Christians.)

While many know this tradition symbolizes the haste in which the Hebrews left Egypt, there is an even deeper meaning to be found.

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

This passage is powerful, however understanding the underlying concepts makes it come even more alive.

The Hebrew word for leaven is chometz which means bitter or sour. In the Bible, leaven is almost always a symbol of sin. The Hebrew word for unleavened bread is matzo which means sweet, without sourness.

Jesus even refers to leaven as false doctrine and hypocrisy. (see Matthew 16:11-12, Mark 8:15 and Luke 12:1)

Why is leaven so often used to symbolize sin?

Just a little amount of leaven (yeast) permeates the entire batch and causes dough to rise and become puffed up. It adds volume to the bread while remaining at the same weight. This is similar to when we become prideful and puffed up, thinking we are more than we really are.

During the time of the first Passover Jewish women used the sourdough method of making bread. This consisted of tearing off a chunk of the raw dough to be set aside in a cool moist place prior to forming the dough into loaves to be baked. The next time a batch was prepared for baking, this chunk would be mixed in with the new dough of flour and water and a new chunk would be torn off and set aside for the next batch. By doing this each “generation” of bread was linked by common yeast spores to the previous loaves.

This parallels our sin nature passed down from Adam, which connects each of us to the rest of the human race. Sin left unchecked will quickly flourish and multiply, permeating the entire batch of dough (our life, our community, etc). By becoming a new batch without sin we become like unleavened bread, which is sweet with sincerity and truth, no longer full of malice and wickedness.

For the Hebrews, the putting away of leaven symbolized breaking the cycle of sin and starting a fresh new walk with the Lord. They put away the leaven not to become redeemed (this occurred when they spread the lamb’s blood on their doorposts) but because they were redeemed!

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Information for this post was gleaned from Christ in the Passover by Ceil and Moishe Rosen and Hebrews for Christians at www.hebrew4christians.com

Leaven

More Jewish History

I figured I would share with you a few more things I've learned lately. I'm hoping I'm correct on all of these, however I'm finding in my search that a lot of different writings that I read sometimes contradict one another, so I'm not always sure about the validity of what I'm reading. But I'm still digging in and will share what I learn. I am praying for the Lord to lead me in my search so I'm trusting He'll lead me to the Truth.

At the time of Jesus' birth, the Jews in Galilee, Judea and Syria spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. Aramaic is a Semitic tongue and at one time was as widespread in the Middle East as Arabic is now. Although it is one of the oldest continuously spoken languages in the world, it is today almost extinct. There is a project currently underway that began in 1985 to produce a Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon.

This information I discovered thanks to a book I've started reading called Rabbi Jesus by Bruce Chilton. I'm not sure how much I'll rely on this book. I'm only on the first chapter and can see already some of what the man writes may not align with my beliefs (it is kind of hard to tell yet though).

However, I'm going to continue to read with lots of prayer. I don't believe challenging my beliefs is a bad thing, because I know I probably don't have it 100% correct. However, I obviously want to be careful of what I read and make sure I'm asking the Lord for his guidance. I'll keep you posted on what I find with this book.

He wrote another called Rabbi Paul that I think will be interesting as well. The basis of his books are to help others understand the Jewishness of Jesus and Paul based on his studies. He is wanting to give an accurate historical portrayal of their lives and how things would have been done at that time. Since that is what I'm interested in learning about right now, his books are perfect for me.

Something else interesting mentioned in this book is the fact that those living in the small rural (and poor) villages such as Bethlehem usually could not read. I never really thought about this before, but it does make sense. Much of what they knew about God's Word was not from the written Word, but from their oral targum (Aramaic for translation). The villages would have a meturgeman who was responsible for memorizing and reciting oral Scripture.

He also speaks of the fact that many believe Joseph was a widower and some of Jesus' brothers mentioned in the Bible are actually his older brothers, from Joseph's first wife. James is one the author mentions as being Jesus' older brother born of Joseph's first wife.

Needless to say, this book brings up some interesting points. The first chapter has some very good stuff about the circumcision ritual at Jesus' time that I'll share later as I get my head around it a bit more. So far I would not recommend this book for someone who does not consider themselves strong in their faith. The first chapter deals a bit with the virgin birth and different theories around it. It could cause alot of confusion for someone who is not grounded in their faith and trust of the Lord to lead them. As I mentioned before, I think challenging what we believe is good, but we want to be careful to not move faster than the Lord wants us to or down a path that He is not leading us. I personally know what it is like to have too much thrown at you at once and the confusion that results. My faith has become stronger for it, however it was a tough road at times (and still is sometimes).

Jewish Day

Some of the next few posts regarding Jewish roots will be things I've touched on briefly back when I first started this blog and was looking at the Feasts of the Lord. So if you've been with me since then you may already know some of this. I'm just diving into it more now than I did before. If you know of something I've not touched on please share. I'm still learning and by no means know it all (and may not even get it all right!). I also have so much I'm learning right now that I won't be sharing every little tidbit, so I'd love your comments!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The U.S. along with most of the world is based on Roman time, in which the day begins at midnight. The Jewish calendar however is based on God's time in which the day begins at sundown. This is reckoned by the fact that six times in Genesis 1 God describes as day as "the evening and the morning". That is the evening hours are mentioned prior to the morning hours. (v. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). In addition, the Lord commanded the Jewish people to celebrate Yom Kippur from evening to evening.

It will be for you a Shabbat of complete rest, and you are to deny yourselves; you are to rest on your Shabbat from evening the ninth day of the month until the following evening. (Leviticus 23:32)

Therefore, as mentioned in my previous post about Tu B'Shevat holidays actually begin at sundown when the new day begins.

Sundown is usually determined as being when three stars can be seen in the sky. This obviously means that the new day will begin at different times from day to day, week to week and even place to place.

Based on this and the fact that the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) is the seventh day (our Saturday), if we were to celebrate the true Jewish Shabbat, we would begin our celebration/rest at sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.

Tu B'Shevat

Isaiah 55:12b

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

The 15th of Shevat is the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) for trees. In our current day it is a sort of national Arbor Day for Israel that is celebrated in various ways including tree planting ceremonies to beautify the land of Israel and dontations made to the Jewish National Fund for the promotion of horicultural improvements in Israel.

Why do I bring this up, you may ask? Well, today corresponds to the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar. Technically, the 15th of Shevat began yesterday (Friday, Feb. 2nd) at sundown and will end today (Saturday, Feb 3rd) at sundown. (I'll share a bit more about the Jewish day in my next post).

The Jewish calendar has more than one "New Year" which may seem weird to us western thinkers at first, but is makes a bit more sense if you think of how we have our calendar year (Jan - Dec), our school year (Aug/Sept - June) and businesses often have fiscal years that do not end in December.

Tu B'Shevat which literally means the 15th of Shevat, is the only Rosh Hashanah that occurs on the full moon. All the others begin on the new moon. (Note: Jewish months are lunar, more on this later as well). Historically this has been a day for tithing produce from fruit trees. It also traditionally marks the first day of Spring in Israel.

Here are some more links if you are interested in learning more about Tu B'Shevat

Tu B'Shevat - Judaism 101
Tu B'Shevat - Rosh Hashanah for Trees (Hebrews4Christians)
Chabad.org - Holidays (Tu B'Shevat)
OU.org - Tu B'Shevat

Website to check out!

First I want to thank Traver for telling me about this website. I took some time tonight to check this out and believe it is a great resource.

FFOZ - First Fruits of Zion

If you are interested in finding out more about Christianity's Jewish roots, I recommend this site. Especially, the following pages:

FAQs
Vision and Mission

I have not had the chance to check out all the resources they have on this website yet, but I've look at everything regarding who they are and what their mission is. I've bookmarked this as one of my frequent visit sites.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Why the Interest in Jewish Roots?

Most of my close friends understand why I'm interested in my faith's Jewish roots, but I also have been getting my fair share of weird looks. Especially since I started carrying the Complete Jewish Bible around with me for reading material.

Jonathan on Flock's Diner has made a post today that sums up the conclusion I have come to (with God's guidance, I truely believe) and the reasoning behind it. Who Is Your Jesus? Check it out!

The bottom line is I believe in order to understand Jesus and grow closer in my relationship with Him, I need to understand who He was and how He lived.

I'm by no means ready to throw out everything I've learned regarding Jesus and the Bible throughout my life, but I am ready to challenge certain things to ensure they are a true picture of Jesus and not my culture's picture of who He was.

More Did you know?

Some more Jewish tidbits I've picked up recently. . .

1. Genesis 10:21 - Shem is the father/ancestor of all the sons of Eber ('Ever). This is why the Hebrews descendants are called Semites. Abraham (Avraham) was a descendant of the clan of Eber ('Ever).

2. Hebrew was originally written using pictograph script.

3. By the time Jesus was born the common language among the Hebrews was Aramaic, however Hebrew was used in the synagogues and during Temple worship. Jesus would have known both Aramaic and Hebrew.

4. Hebrew does not depict numbers in the way we as Westerners are used to seeing. Instead of having specific characters for numbers, Hebrew uses letters of the alphabet to express quantities. This helps to explain why you'll sometimes hear about certain words having a numerical value, (ie. the number of YHVH is 26). In addition, the Hebrew numbers have masculine and feminine genders. Therefore, the character you use to depict a certain quantity depends on whether the noun being described is masculine or feminine.

5. The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) is the core Hebrew prayer and is the central prayer of the Jewish prayerbook (Siddur). Many Jews will recite this prayer at least two times a day, in the morning and at bedtime.

There is so much more to each of these items that I can not even begin to get into tonight. Just a little bit of a teaser to get you interested in learning more!

HaShem - The Name (הַשֵּׁם‎)

הַשֵּׁם‎

My Aunt sent me information regarding the name HaShem. Outside of prayer and Torah readings, this is what most Jews use when refering to God. It literally means "The Name".

She wrote: (posted with her permission)

Just wanted to give you a bit more information on use of God’s name. I’ve never heard any Jews use the word Jehovah and the ones I know would only consider that to be a Christian term being used. That’s pretty much along the same line as the article you referred to in your blog. I wanted to give you info on something they didn’t seem to mention.

What I’m familiar with is the use of Adonai in prayer, but in casual conversation they would use “Hashem” which means “The Name”. Ha = the and Shem = name. If you do a search on HaShem I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding all kinds of references to it. It is one of the most common usages in casual conversation I’ve heard among Jews I’ve been around.


She also referenced the following:

"HaShem" - (both and neither masculine nor feminine and absolutely no plural); the word means, literally, "The Name," and it is the way that Jews refer to G-d when not in a Prayer or Torah Reading or Torah citation context. The reason is that the Torah forbids us from pronouncing the four-letter Name of HaShem in other than ritual contexts, and even then using only certain Names (other than the four-letter one, known as the Tetragrammaton) that embody characteristics, such as A-donai, E-l, E-lohim.

(Information from Judaism 101 at Orthodox Union)

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The link from yesterday's post regarding YHVH also included a short section about HaShem part way down the page, saying this is what most Jews use during everyday reference to God. Hebrew4Christians - YHVH

This is all very new (and interesting) to me. If you've found anything further, please let me know. I've done studies regarding the names of God before, but this was not covered during those studies.

The Name of God

Johnny posted a comment of clarification regarding the "Christian" name of God, Jehovah. Here is what he posted in case you did not read the comment.

The name Jehovah is actually not a name for God, but a protection against saying the name of God. It is literally the name Adonai and YHWH, superimposed to prevent anyone coming across the name YHWH from saying the name. This was done sometime after the exiles, when the Jews were fearful that their scrolls would be lost and someone may come across them and accidentally say God's name. The reason that it was not acceptable to say God's name came about after the exiles when the Jews began to take a literal rendering of the commandment to not take the Lord' name in vein. In the 16th century a scholar came across the name "Jehovah" and assumed it was another name for God. You can read about this at http://www.jerusalemperspective.com/ by clicking on articles and typing "Jehovah" in the search block. You will have to get a membership to read the entire article ($60 per year and worth it), but you'll still get the gist of the article.

Here is a link to the article he refers to that you can read without subscribing to the website.

"Jehovah" - A Christian Misunderstanding

Another really good article I found regarding this "name" of God is found on the Hebrew4Christians website (which I have found very useful since I found it!) It has quite a few other names of God explained as well.

The Sacred Name YHVH - The Unutterable Name

I find it so amazing what I'm finding out by digging into our Jewish Roots as Christians. My faith and relationship with the my Lord is becoming so much richer! I know different people have been worried about where this journey may lead me, but so far it has drawn me closer to Jesus and increased my desire to learn more about Him.

Did you know. . . ?

1. The Tanakh was originally written without any vowels and the Torah scrolls read in the synagogue today also contain only consonants.

2. Without the vowels, Hebrew words could be pronounced in many different ways which can mean different things (just like English, how would you pronounce st?) The reader would know how to pronounce the word and therefore the correct meaning by the context of the surrounding words.

3. When the Hebrew language started to fall into disuse, scribes called Masoretes developed a system in the 6th to 9th century for notating the correct vowels. Masoretes comes from the Hebrew word masoret meaning tradition.

4. The name of God given to Moses at the burning bush consists of four letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (known as a tetragrammaton). Because the third commandment prohibits taking the Lord's name in vain, by Jesus' time on earth, no one ever spoke the name of God. Many times in Jewish writing instead of Jehovah (the English representation) you'll see J-H-V-H or you'll see God as G-d.

5. The word Adonai (meaning My Lord) is often used instead of the name of God when reading aloud the Torah.

6. Where the Hebrew text is translated as Adonai Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, it is read as Adonai-Elohim, to avoid repeating the name twice.

7. In ultra-orthodox Jewish congregations even the names of Adonai and Elohim are not used except in very specific religious situations. In some cases the names are intentionally misspelled and mispronounced. For example, Elokim instead of Elohim.

8. Traditional Judaism follows a yearly schedule of weekly Torah readings for each Shabbat (Sabbath, which falls on Saturday) followed by selected portions from the Prophets which have a related theme. This weekly reading is called a parashah. The following site has a really good explanation of these as well as a table detailing the weekly readings. Weekly Torah Readings. There are additional readings that are done for the Jewish Holidays.

Jewish "New Testament" (B'rit Hadashah)

What Christians label (and separate out) as the New Testament is called the B'rit Hadashah. There are four different sections, the Gospels, the Acts of the Emissaries, the Letters and Revelation.

In the introduction to the Complete Jewish Bible, David Stern makes a good point (at least in my opinion). He has chosen to not separate out the Tanakh and the B'rit Hadashah into two distinct separate sections.

"The two parts of the Bible, the Tanakh and the B'rit Hadashah, form one Bible. These two parts deal with parallel material in complementary ways...the New Testament apart from the Old is heretical, and the Old Testament apart from the New is incomplete - two testaments, one Bible."

Due to this he has not divided the Complete Jewish Bible into the Old and New Testament, but rather into seven sections. The Torah, the Prophets and the Writings which I detailed out in my previous post and the four additional sections detailed below.

The Gospels (The Good News of Yeshua the Messiah as reported by . . .)
1. Mattityahu (Matthew)
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. Yochanan (John)

The Acts of the Emissaries of Yeshua the Messiah

Letters/Epistles

1. Sha'ul's (Paul's) Letters to Communities
a. Romans
b. 1 Corinthians
c. 2 Corinthians
d. Galatians
e. Ephesians
f. Philippines
g. Colossians
h. 1 Thessalonians
i. 2 Thessalonians

2. Sha'ual's (Paul's) Pastoral Letters (to Individuals)
a. 1 Timothy
b. 2 Timothy
c. Titus
d. Philemon

3. General Letters
a. Messianic Jews (Hebrews)
b. Ya'akov (James)
c. 1 Kefa (1 Peter)
d. 2 Kefa (2 Peter)
e. 1 Yochanan (1 John)
f. 2 Yochanan (2 John)
g. 3 Yochanan (3 John)
h. Y'hudah (Jude)

The Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah to Yochanan (John)

Things that make me go. . .HMM?!

While studying the Jewish roots of Christianity a couple of things have struck me recently as interesting:

1. While the entire Bible is God's Word and was originally a "Jewish" book (written by Jews with God's inspiration), nowadays you'll note many Jews (excluding Messianic Jews of course)deny what Christians call the New Testament or New Covenant as well as Jesus as the Messiah. On the other side you have many Christians discounting the importance of the Old Testament. I believe we need both to fully understand God and develop a deeper relationship with Him. One without the other gives us an incomplete picture of our awesome Creator.

2. Currently you find Christians trying to convert Jews to "their" religion of Christianity. Sometimes in doing so they are expecting them to give up their Jewish heritage/traditions/customs/culture. However, the question in the early church (which was originally 100% Jewish) was whether Gentiles (non-Jews) could be followers of Christ and if so, did they need to convert to Judaism in order to do so.

Maybe we should think about finding the true answer somewhere in between? Seems the church over time has gone from one extreme to the other. Just my thoughts.