When He made the world, He decided He would take the role of Kindness. That way, when we would be kind, we could bond to Him with our kindness.
He decided to have Wisdom. That way, by being wise, we could bond to Him and His wisdom.
He decided to be conscious of Himself, so that we could attain consciousness of that which is beyond knowing.
And all this He gave to us in His Torah.
He gave us Himself.
~Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
What is it then that we learn from Miriam and what do we know about her?
At the Red Sea Moses led the men in song; possibly singing a line at a time and the men echoing or repeating it. Many Jewish sources believe that this song was prophetic and some even believe that all the men sang simultaneously with Moses as God released this prophetic song in their hearts. Then we see an interesting moment when Miriam the sister of Moses calls forth the women and she leads them in the song. Commentators noting that she is called here a prophetess, think that she led the women in the same song as the men not needing to learn it.
Miriam as a woman of God is often overlooked; perhaps because she and her brother Aaron sinned against Moses and against God by challenging Moses authority. We remember her and are encouraged to remember her as having being struck with leprosy and kept out of the camp for 7 days and then we hear nothing of her until her death, yet we have the prophetic statement about her role from the prophet Micah. She was a leader along with Aaron – Jewish sources say that she helped the women with how to interpret and apply the laws of the Torah.
Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 24:9
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Micah 6:4
Yet God forgave her and blessed her: she was healed and although it is not mentioned in the bible; according to Josephus she went on to marry Hur. Interestingly the first time Hur is mentioned is when he goes up the mountain with Aaron and Moses during the battle against the Amalekites and he and Aaron hold up Moses arms. (Ex 17:8-13) We read that his grandson was Bezalel (Ex 21:2) who was appointed by God to build the Tabernacle and the first person in the Bible whom we read was filled with the Spirit of God. If as Josephus tells us that she married such a man it provides us with a wonderful picture of God’s forgiveness and loving kindness: of how he takes a life twisted by sin and restores it and then blesses. Miriam repented and knew God’s blessings; at the very least she is honoured in God’s memory as a leader of the people as we read above in Micah. But perhaps there is more to her.
She was a brave young girl who watched her mother place her brother in a basket and place him by the river. When her mother left, she remained waiting to see what would happen to her little brother and when he is found by Pharaoh’s daughter she steps forward and offers to find a midwife who could nurse the child. She was able to reunite her mother and brother. She was probably only about 9 or 10 years old at the time.
When we read of her again it is at the Red Sea singing the song of Moses but we read something here that presents a challenge to us. She challenges our faith because while she was still in Egypt, still enslaved, there was worship in her heart: she had faith. Not only had she heard and believed that the Lord would deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh, she prepared for it. It appears that she encouraged the other women to do so too. She was an encourager who built up the faith of the other women. How do we know this? The women were prepared: they took with them tambourines. While still in slavery the women learned how to play tambourines so that they could worship God, they were ready and waiting for what God would do for them.
Rashi the great Jewish Commentator wrote that the “righteous women of that generation were [so] certain that the Holy One, blessed be He, would perform miracles for them, they took timbrels [with them] out of Egypt.”
http://www.messianictestimony.com/resources_beshalach.html
Beshalach – Exo 13:17-17:16
In Jewish tradition there are 10 ‘Songs of Redemption’
John tells us about this ‘New Song” in his vision:
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!” Rev 15:3
Your place is the wilderness. The bread you eat falls from heaven. The basket you collect it in is your attitude.
Clutch your basket tight, and your manna will have no place to rest. Open it up and look to the heavens, and your basket will always be full.
~Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
How can today’s Messianic movement widely advocate that the Law of Moses is still valid, when the Bible is clear that Christians are not “under the Law”?
Any person who believes in the final authority of the Holy Scriptures, Genesis-Revelation, will have to take the admonition “for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:4) very seriously. For anyone who believes in the continued validity of the Torah or Law of Moses in the post-resurrection era, to disregard something like this—or somehow claim that the Apostle Paul is “wrong”—would indicate that he or she does not hold to a very high view of the whole Scriptural canon.
There are various challenges present when approaching the issue of what “under the Law” should be viewed as meaning, that too many of your average Bible readers are simply not aware of. Much of this has to do with the fact that being “under the law” in too much of contemporary, modern speech, has become synonymous with “according to the law,” whether such law is Biblical or secular. When “under the Law” terminology is witnessed in the Scriptures, it is automatically assumed to mean “according to the law” or “being obedient to the law.” But, does it really mean this? And, few are aware that in various mainline English translations, like the New American Standard or Revised Standard Version, that there are a variance of Greek clauses rendered as “under [the] law.”
Our ultimate appeal as Bible readers and examiners, as it pertains to what “under the Law” really means, has to be made to the source text that sits behind our English translations. It would not only be too convenient, but even a bit haphazard, for any of us to simply type in a few search criteria via some Bible software program for “under law,” and then conclude that the results include just the places where the Greek clause hupo nomon (upo nomon) appears. The only places where “under [the] law” legitimately appears in the Bible are: Romans 6:14, 15; 1 Corinthians 9:20 (four times); Galatians 3:23; 4:4, 5, 21; 5:18. Where an English version may employ “under [the] law,” and something else actually appears in the source text, we need to carefully determine if something like “in the law,” “by the law,” or “according to the law” is used instead.
While for many Bible readers, being “under the Law” means being obedient to the Torah or Law of Moses, few laypersons are actually aware of the fact that there are actually three main interpretations of “under the Law” accessible to interpreters. Douglas J. Moo, who himself believes that obedience to the Torah was only a part of the pre-resurrection era, is quite fair in summarizing the three main options of what “under the Law” could mean:
“We do not presume that ‘under the law’ must connote the same idea in each of its occurrences, although the stereotypical flavor of the phrase may point in this direction. Three general meanings of the phrase are popular: (1) under the condemnation pronounced by the law; (2) under a legalistic perversion of the law; and (3) under the law as a regime or power in a general sense.”[a]
Within a great deal of today’s broad Messianic movement (in no small part due to the influence of David H. Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible), “under the Law” meaning some kind of legalistic perversion of the Torah, has been a common view one will encounter. Ultimately, though, Bible readers have to recognize that the redeemed in Yeshua not being “under the Law,” has to serve as an appropriate counterpart to them being “under grace.”
It is the viewpoint of Outreach Israel and TNN Online, that “under the Law” being subjected to the condemnation pronounced by the Torah, is actually the best way to view the clause hupo nomon in all of the locations where it appears within the Pauline letters. For, it is quite obvious that those who have received Yeshua and His salvation into their lives are redeemed from the high penalties of the Torah (cf. Colossians 2:14), yet the Messiah Himself bid His followers to follow Moses’ Teaching (Matthew 5:17-19). Being “under the Law,” then, is a status in which unsaved persons will find themselves—not saved persons who know Yeshua as their personal Savior. Being “under the Law” regards a condition of condemnation and punishment if not rectified, not the steadfast requirement that God’s people obey His commandments and live in holiness.
The editor has written two articles on this topic: “What Does ‘Under the Law’ Really Mean?” and “What Does ‘Under the Law’ Really Mean?—A Further Study.” Both of these should inform you a great deal about the meaning of hupo nomon in the Greek Scriptures, and how “under the Law” meaning obedient to God’s Torah is a poor conclusion. (The second article goes into much more detail than the first, and is engaged with a wider array of scholastic perspectives.)
NOTES
[a] Douglas J. Moo, “The Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses: A Modified Lutheran View,” in Wayne G. Strickland, ed., Five Views on Law and Gospel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 361.
Your most heroic acts are those of which you may not even be aware.
Like the time you could have gotten even with the guy in the next cubicle, and nobody would have known. And you really wanted to. But you didn’t, just because it’s not right.
You may not have been impressed—you may even have been disappointed with yourself. But the angels burst into song, as all your world rose up a niche. It may have been the most elevating act of a lifetime.
Heroic acts are wonderful, but that could be just your nature. When you break out of your nature, you enter the realm of the G‑dly.
~Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
How do you respond to the claim that Christ has done away with the ceremonial law, but that the moral law of God remains?
The divisions of the Torah of Moses among sets of “moral law” and “ceremonial law” are artificial. While we certainly commend Christian theologians for wanting to maintain the integrity of at least some of the Torah, the Torah does not categorize itself in terms of a commandment being “moral” or “ceremonial.” What many Christian denominations advocate is that some of the Torah’s commandments, those pertaining to the Sabbath, the holidays of Israel, the kosher dietary laws, male circumcision, etc., were abolished by the sacrifice of Yeshua—things believed to fall under the classification of “ceremonial.” They do not, however, advocate that Yeshua abolished commandments relating to personal relations, and how we are to love others, treat others with respect, not murder, steal, adulterate, etc.—things believed to fall under the classification of “moral.” This is different from some other Christian denominations and traditions that advocate that the entire Torah was abolished by Yeshua.
When approaching the Torah and studying it on a regular basis, one quickly discovers that it makes no distinction between “moral” or “ceremonial” commandments. The Torah, rather, divides its commandments among one’s status in society. If one is a male, one does commandments that are applicable for males, either married males or unmarried males. If one is female, one does commandments that are applicable for females. There are also commandments for children, priests, those in business, farmers, the Levites, and those living only inside the Land of Israel. The Torah is not difficult to follow as a Believer in Yeshua with the Holy Spirit, as not all of its commandments can be applied to our lives in a modern-day, Diaspora setting.
We have good news!!!
We will be meeting in the fellowship hall of The Lord’s Vineyard Church. Now you will have plenty of parking spaces and everyone will be able to see the speaker.
The church address is: 427 S. Main St. (on the corner of S, Main and Chatham Ave.) Cornelia GA 30531
Turn onto Chatham Ave off of S. Main, then and immediate right into the lower parking lot. You will see the Fellowship Hall entrance.
I have attached a map showing the directions from the new Wal-Mart in Cornelia. It is actually a straight shot into Cornelia on S. Main, go through downtown Cornelia. You will see the church on your right.
From the traffic signal in Baldwin head north on Main Street and the church is a short distance on your left. If have thoroughly confused used you, sorry about that J, take a look at the attached link.
~Marie
If the doesn’t open, copy and paste into your browser.http://mapq.st/zTEpbS
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