What is the Temple? – New Talmidim Teacher Hangout *FREE**LIVE* Wednesday 9/7/16 @ 8pm EST

wit-newThe Wisdom in Torah Talmidim teachers are back with some new faces (but without mine – I am too busy getting my house ready to sell for our move to the wilds of Idaho!). The topic will be:

What is the Temple? The Use of Metaphor in Paul’s Writings

If you want to do some prep work ahead of time (recommended) it is suggested that you read I Cor 1-3

Scheduled for the round table discussion are Rico Cortes, Ryan White, Matthew Vander Els, Matt Nappier and Nathan Mancuso.

You can find the teaching at the following link on Wednesday night



Los Cuarenta Días de Teshuvá y la Tentación del Mesías

Tentacion-del-MesiasThanks so much to Lisa Velazquez for translating this morning’s blog and creating the Spanish meme “just in time” for the Season of teshuva to commence!

Gracias a Lisa Velazquez por traducir este articulo. Puede escucharla a traves deTeshuva.tv los Domingos a las 6pm en el programa radial: Caminando en Obediencia.

Un consejo que mi maestro del Templo Joseph Good, me enseñó acerca de esto – y mucho más que simplemente no puedo compartir con ustedes, ya que sería un blog de mil partes. Si esto le interesa, esto es sólo una pequeña muestra (una muy pequeña muestra) de su serie de la enseñanza La Reunión The Gathering (haga clic en el enlace rojo), vale la pena cada centavo para las personas que quieran entender el Nuevo Testamento y especialmente el libro de Revelación, que fue escrito en el lenguaje del Templo de acuerdo a las creencias escatológicas judías en el tiempo.

Los Evangelios judíos de Mateo a  Juan, así como las Epístolas y en especial el libro de Revelación, están llenos de referencias a las creencias escatológicas judías del primer siglo – si conocemos el  lenguaje. Por desgracia, este lenguaje apenas ha sido estudiado por nuestros antepasados cristianos lo largo de los siglos, dando paso a las creencias basadas en lo que la gente presume que los autores estaban hablando y dando lugar a mucha especulación popular sin estudios serios – de los cuales yo misma he sido más que culpable. Así, que en lugar de ser testigo del tan repetido Día del Señor, el reino milenario del Mesías a partir de la tribulación, Juan estaba en su lugar teniendo una visión en un domingo. La “Final Trompeta” hace referencia una y otra vez en los escritos judíos como la Ultima Trompeta soplada en la ceremonia del Templo en Rosh Hashaná, la cual se convierte simplemente en una explosión al azar del Cielo llamando a casa los elegidos, y la Gran Trompeta de Yom Kippur se agrupa con la Séptima trompeta de Revelación o la ya mencionada Final Trompeta de Rosh Hashaná ¡como si fuera todas las mismas! Oímos palabras como “levántate” y “despierta” y porque no estamos familiarizados con lo que sabían los autores – las ceremonias del Templo – nos parece completamente extraño y malinterpretamos lo que estamos leyendo. No sabemos cuándo se abrían y se cerraban las puertas ” ni cuando se abrían y se cerraban los “libros”. Teologías enteras han surgido en el Cristianismo, el Judaísmo Mesiánico, y en el movimiento de Raíces Hebreas, que ignoramos por completo el contexto que nos encontramos a lo largo de las Escrituras hebreas y escritos extra bíblicos del Segundo Templo – pero sí tenemos un gran perjuicio a los Judíos como el Apóstol Juan cuando ignoramos lo que sabían, lo que nuestros antepasados optaron por alejarse de u olvidar, o tal vez nunca tuvieron la oportunidad de conocer en primer lugar.

Esto ha sido tristemente acoplado con una creciente y preocupante tendencia a escribir de todo lo relacionado con el judaísmo que tienen sus raíces en la religión babilónica – sin una demanda del peso de presentar pruebas. Habiendo estudiado la religión babilónica, que ahora sabemos mucho acerca debido a los avances arqueológicos y lingüísticos del pasado medio siglo, no llego a ver las conexiones. Babilonia no era más abiertamente pagana que cualquier otra cultura del Antiguo Medio Oriente, y en algunos aspectos, era bastante menos pagana (es difícil imaginar que nadie fuera mas pagano que los hititas). En la Escritura, es Egipto y Canaán que se asociaron en varias ocasiones con el paganismo, mientras que Babilonia se asoció con el gobierno en la rebelión, comercio, orgullo y la guerra. En cualquier caso, cuanto más estudio las liturgias judías asociadas con las fiestas (que son un testimonio de las oraciones y canciones que se ofrecen a Dios durante sus fiestas), veo más el idioma aparecer en los Evangelios y Epístolas. Yeshúa (Jesús) mismo hace repetidas referencias positivas a las oraciones Amidá (de pie) en sus sermones (lo cual detallare en futuros blogs), así como a muchos de los rituales practicados durante las fiestas que apuntaban directamente hacia Él mismo.

Mañana comienza el primero de Elul, el comienzo de los 40 días de arrepentimiento nacional corporativo que apuntan hasta Yom Kippur. Muchas personas no van a participar, lo que no tengo ningún problema con ello, pero algunos de los que le citan como razón los orígenes babilónicos como si fuera un hecho probado, si tengo un problema con eso. Como alguien que solía decir esas mismas cosas, me siento avergonzada de admitir que estaba simplemente repitiendo lo que había oído de todos los demás – sin tener que estudiar la abrumadora cantidad de información que tenemos ahora sobre el tema. Ellos utilizarán los “40 días de llanto por Tamúz”, que es un mito total. Tamúz no se lloró durante más de un periodo de 40 días – He leído la mayor investigación sobre Tamúz (Dumuzi), y cada mito asociado con él y su esposa Ishtar (Inanna) y no hay nada que sugiera tal cosa – a pesar de que muchos sitios de Internet de fabricación religiosa afirman estas solicitudes como si de hecho hubiesen pruebas. Ciertamente, hubo llanto, pero no fuera de cualquier sentido de arrepentimiento, y no fue por 40 días. Si desea leer lo que la investigación realmente qué dice sobre el ciclo agrícola y el llanto simpático en el culto a Tamúz, haga clic aquí.

Pero vemos un episodio de cuarenta días en el comienzo mismo del ministerio del Mesías que es muy importante. Después de su bautismo en el Jordán, Yeshúa es llevado por el Espíritu al desierto durante 40 días. Creo que este período de tiempo es, precisamente, estos cuarenta días de arrepentimiento por un par de razones:

(1) Aunque muchos escritos judíos del período del Segundo Templo propusieron que el Mesías vendrá en Yom Terúa (que es el día en que los reyes eran coronados), Yeshúa mismo dijo que vendría en Yom Kippur después de los dolores de parto del Mesías (llamado tribulación en el cristianismo):

Mateo 24:29-31: 29 “Inmediatamente después de la tribulación de aquellos días, el sol se oscurecerá, y la luna no dará su resplandor, y las estrellas caerán del cielo, y será sacudido las potencias de los cielos. 30 Entonces aparecerá en el cielo la señal del Hijo del Hombre, y entonces todas las tribus de la tierra se llorar, y verán al Hijo del hombre venir sobre las nubes del cielo con poder y gran gloria. 31 Y él enviará a sus ángeles con gran voz de trompeta, y juntarán a sus escogidos de los cuatro vientos, desde un extremo del cielo hasta el otro. ”

En hebreo, este “fuerte toque de trompeta” no es la última trompeta de Rosh Hashaná, sino el Tekiá Gedolah – el sonido muy fuerte y largo que también se asocia con el inicio del Año del Jubileo (¡una vez oí a un “estruendo” que se prolongó durante más de un minuto por un shofarista maestro!). A medida que el Jubileo marca el regreso de herencias ancestrales, y la libertad de todas las deudas, esta trompeta señala tanto la restauración y la libertad. Después de una ausencia de cuarenta días, Yeshúa habría reaparecido después de un no un día, pero desde hace mucho tiempo de cuarenta días de ayuno y oración, en Yom Kippur – el cuadragésimo día. Su primer acto de su ministerio fue aparecer, por así decirlo en Yom Kippur, anunciando Su segunda venida.

(2) Cuando los discípulos de Juan vieron Yeshúa, Juan dijo: “He aquí el Cordero de Dios que quita el pecado del mundo” (Juan 1:29) y la mayoría de la gente históricamente tomaron esto como el Cordero de Pascua – sin embargo, voy a publicar una cita del excelente libro de Oscar Cullmann “The Christology of the New Testament” [“La Cristología del Nuevo Testamento”] pagina 71:

“Pero incluso el Cuarto Evangelio no se refiere únicamente a la necesidad de la muerte de Jesús en general. Contiene una referencia directa y precisa a Isaías 53 en 1:29 y 1:36 en el testimonio de Juan el Bautista: “. Este es el Cordero de Dios, que quita el pecado del mundo ‘… que la frase aramea טליא דאלהא lo que significa tanto “Cordero de Dios” y “Servidor de Dios,” muy probablemente se encuentra detrás de la expresión griega αμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ. Dado que la expresión “Cordero de Dios” no es de uso común en el Antiguo Testamento como una designación para el cordero pascual, es probable que el autor de Juan pensó principalmente en ebed Yahweh “.

Aquí vemos un excelente argumento de Cullmann que se refiere a Yeshúa, en términos arameos del primer siglo, como el Siervo de Dios, que quita el pecado del mundo. ¿En qué estación cercana estuvieron ellos cuando Juan el Bautista habló? ¡Los cuarenta días de arrepentimiento que culminarían en Yom Kippur, cuando se llevaban lejos los pecados de la nación por el macho cabrío Azazel! Aunque Cullmann, escribiendo en la década de 1950, por error vio el Cordero Pascual según la tradición cristiana como un sacrificio del pecado (que no era, no se menciona jamás se ha hecho del pecado – la sangre del cordero pascual en lugar marco los hogares como el pueblo de Dios solo como la sangre de Yeshúa marca al creyente), su observación conduce a Yeshúa en lugar de ser comparado con la Fiesta en la que surgiría en la plenitud de su ministerio, habiendo soportado fielmente la tentación – nos muestra el camino. ¡También nos enfrentamos a la tentación, por supuesto, pero no hasta ese punto! Él, siendo perfecto, tenía que pasar por mucho más de lo que podríamos manejar y ha satán realmente no tiene un horario suficientemente libre para ser profundamente invertido en cualquiera de nosotros como individuos.

Cuando pase el tiempo de Elul 1 a 10 de Tishri haciendo un examen de conciencia muy profundo, me acuerdo del Mesías siendo tentado por el enemigo en el desierto. De hecho, como un reloj sincronizado, las cosas suceden en mi vida desde Elul 1 hasta (empezando después de Shavuot / Pentecostés) que me retan muy profundamente – generalmente hay dificultades y traiciones y una gran cantidad de locura que me revelan mis defectos de carácter todavía muy vivos – defectos que tengo la tentación de justificar, mecanismos que me quiero revolcarse en ellos, rencores que siento la tentación de nutrirlos, en las necesidades que me siento tentada a celebrar mi propia pequeño fiesta de compasión personal,  recuerdos de la justicia que he negados a otros en el pasado y la restauración estoy obligada a hacer, o nuevos dilemas para los que no tengo respuestas. A veces incluso hay éxitos que me tientan ya sea hacia el orgullo o la sensación de que estoy siendo reivindicada por mis enemigos. Este año estoy experimentando todos ellos al mismo tiempo, y me siento como si yo fuera (de nuevo) siendo llevada al desierto con el fin de tratar con ellos.

¿Pero es esto lo que se supone que suceda cuando seguimos a Yeshúa? Cuando lo seguimos, ¿no nos llevan en los mismos caminos que Él mismo caminó? No, no estamos llamados a ayunar durante 40 días, pero sentimos que hemos sido llamados al desierto de nuestras propias almas con el fin de orar y luchar contra las tentaciones de satanás en esta temporada muy profética.



The Forty Days of Teshuva and the Temptation of Messiah

wildernessHat tip to my Temple Teacher Joseph Good, who taught me much of this – and a whole lot more that I just cannot share with you because it would be a one thousand part blog. If this interests you, this is just a small taste (a very small taste) of his teaching series The Gathering (click on the red link) and worth every penny to people who want to understand the New Testament and especially Revelation, which was written in Temple language according to Jewish eschatological beliefs at the time.

The Jewish Gospels of Matthew through John, as well as the Epistles and especially Revelation, are filled with references to the Jewish eschatological beliefs of the first century – if one knows the language. Sadly, this language has hardly been studied by our Christian forefathers over the centuries, giving way to beliefs grounded in what people presume the authors were talking about and resulting in a lot of popular speculation without serious scholarship – of which I myself have been more than guilty. Thus instead of being witness to the oft repeated Day of the Lord, the Millennial reign of Messiah beginning with the tribulation, John was instead having a vision on a Sunday. The “Last Trumpet” referenced over and over again in Jewish writings as being the Last Trumpet blown in the Rosh Hashannah Temple ceremony becomes simply a random blast from Heaven calling home the elect, and the Great Trumpet of Yom Kippur gets lumped in with the seventh Trumpet of Revelation or the aforementioned Last Trumpet of Rosh HaShannah as though they were one in the same! We hear words like ‘arise’ and ‘awake’ and because we are not familiar with what the authors knew – the Temple ceremonies – we utterly miss and misinterpret what we are reading. We do not know when the ‘gates’ were opened and closed or when the ‘books’ were opened and closed. Whole theologies have sprung up in Christianity, Messianic Judaism, and in the Hebrew Roots movement, that utterly ignore the context that we find throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and extra-biblical Second Temple writings – but we do a great disservice to Jews like John the Apostle when we ignore what they knew, what our ancestors chose to walk away from or forget, or maybe never had a chance to know in the first place.

This has been sadly coupled with a growing and disturbing tendency to write off everything concerned with Judaism as having its roots in Babylonian religion – without a demand for the burden of proof to be presented. Having studied Babylonian religion, which we now know a great deal about because of the archaeological and linguistic advances of the past century and a half, I fail to see the connections. Babylon was no more overtly pagan than any other Ancient Near Eastern culture, and in some ways it was a good deal less pagan (it is hard to imagine anyone being more pagan than the Hittites). In Scripture, it is Egypt and Canaan which were repeatedly associated with paganism, whereas Babylon was associated with government in rebellion, commerce, pride, and warfare. In any event, the more I study the Jewish liturgies associated with the Feasts (which are a witness to the prayers and songs offered up to God during His feasts), the more I see the language showing up in the Gospels and Epistles. Yeshua (Jesus) Himself makes repeated positive references to the Amidah (standing) prayers in His sermons (I will be detailing these in future blogs) as well as to many of the rituals practiced during the Feasts that pointed directly towards Himself.

Tomorrow begins the First of Elul, the beginning of the 40 days of corporate national repentance leading up to Yom Kippur (a practice based on the Book of Haggai, where in chapter one we see God repeatedly calling the returned Israelites to “Consider their ways” beginning on the first day of the sixth month, Elul 1). Many people will not participate, which I have no problem with, but some of those will cite as their reason Babylonian origins as though it is a proven fact, and I do have a problem with that. As someone who used to say those same things, I am embarrassed to admit that I was simply repeating what I had heard from everyone else – without actually studying the overwhelming amount of information we now have on the subject. They will draw upon the “40 days of weeping for Tammuz” which is an outright myth. Tammuz was not wept for over a period of 40 days – I have read the major research on Tammuz (Dumuzi), and every myth associated with him and his wife Ishtar (Inanna) and there is nothing there to suggest such a thing – despite many religious internet sites making said claims as though there is in fact proof. There was certainly weeping, but not out of any sense of repentance, and it was not for 40 days. If you would like to read what the research actually does say about the agricultural cycle and sympathetic weeping in the Tammuz cult, click here.

But we do see a forty day episode at the very beginning of the ministry of Messiah that is very important. After His baptism in the Jordan, Yeshua is led by the Spirit into the desert for 40 days. I believe that this time period is precisely this forty days of repentance for a couple of reasons:

(1) Although many Jewish writings of the Second Temple Period proposed that Messiah will come on Yom Teruah (which is the day that kings were coronated), Yeshua Himself said that He would return to Jerusalem to reign on Yom Kippur after the Birthpangs of the Messiah (called the tribulation in Christianity):

Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

In Hebrew, this ‘loud trumpet call’ is not the Last Trumpet of Rosh Hasahhah, but the Tekiah Gedolah – the very loud and long trumpet call that is also associated with the onset of the Jubilee year (I once heard a ‘blast’ that went on for over a minute by a master shofar blower!). As the Jubilee marks the return of ancestral inheritances, and freedom from all debts, this trumpet signals both restoration and freedom. After a forty days absence, Yeshua would have re-emerged after not a one day, but a forty day long time of fasting and prayer, on Yom Kippur – the fortieth day. His first act of ministry was to emerge, as it were on Yom Kippur, foreshadowing His second coming as Messiah ben David, the conquering King.

(2) When John’s disciples see Yeshua, John says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29) and most people have historically taken this to mean the Passover Lamb – however, I am going to post a quote from Oscar Cullmann’s excellent book “The Christology of the New Testament” pg 71:

“But even the Fourth Gospel does not deal only with the necessity of the death of Jesus in general. It contains direct and precise reference to Is 53 in 1:29 and 1:36 in the testimony of John the Baptist: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ … that the Aramaic phrase טליא דאלהא which means both ‘Lamb of God’ and ‘Servant of God,’ very probably lies behind the Greek expression αμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ. Since the expression, ‘Lamb of God’ is not commonly used in the Old Testament as a designation for the paschal lamb, it is probable that the author of John thought primarily of the ebed Yahweh.”

Here we see Cullmann’s excellent argument for Yeshua being referred to, in first century Aramaic terms, as the Servant of God, who takes away the sins of the world. What season was nearly upon them when John the Baptist spoke? The forty days of repentance which would be followed by Yom Kippur, when the sins of the nation would be taken away by the Azazel goat! Although Cullmann, writing in the 1950’s, mistakenly saw the Paschal Lamb according to Christian tradition as a sin sacrifice (which it was not, no mention is ever made of sin – the blood of the paschal Lamb instead marked households as the people of God just as Yeshua’s blood marks the believer), his observation leads to Yeshua instead being compared to the Feast at which He would emerge into the fullness of ministry, having faithfully endured temptation – showing us the way. We also face temptation of course, just not nearly as much! He, being perfect, had to go through a lot more than we could ever handle and hasatan really doesn’t have a free enough schedule to be deeply invested in any of us as individuals.

When I spend the time from Elul 1 to Tishri 10 doing very deep soul searching, I am reminded of Messiah being tempted by the Enemy in the wilderness. In fact, like clockwork, things happen in my life heading up to Elul 1 (starting after Shavuot/Pentecost) that challenge me very deeply – there are generally hardships and betrayals and a lot of craziness that reveal my still very much alive character flaws – flaws that I am tempted to justify, coping mechanisms that I want to wallow in, grudges that I am tempted to nurse, hardships that I am tempted to celebrate my own personal little pity party over, memories of justice I have denied to others in the past and the restoration I am required to bring, or new dilemmas for which I have no answer. Sometimes there are even successes that tempt me either towards pride or the feeling that I am being vindicated over my enemies. This year I am experiencing all of these at the same time, and I feel as though I am (again) being led into the wilderness in order to deal with them.

But should this not be what happens when we follow Yeshua? When we follow Him, does it not lead us in the same paths that He Himself walked? No, we aren’t called to fast for 40 days, but I do feel that we are called into the wilderness of our own souls in order to pray and fight against the temptations of hasatan in this very prophetic season.

I have been asked – “Could this by the inspiration for the Catholic Lent season?” Quite possibly – they traditionally put the Temptation of Messiah in the spring before Passover, and the fasting of Lent mimics the 40 days of Yeshua in the wilderness in preparation for public ministry. That being said, I haven’t actually done the footwork to prove the connection so all I can say is, “It does make a logical argument.” Though I have to say, that according to the available material on the subject – I sincerely doubt it was a conscious choice and had more to do with what they thought Yeshua was doing than with what He actually was doing.

 



Redefining the Paradigm of Children’s Bible Studies – College Level Material at Their Speed

C4K2blogOur kids are under assault, and even in Bible Colleges they will be told that the Bible wasn’t written when it says it was written, or by the people it says it was written by – that’s the kind of propaganda that usually accompanies this kind of information – I have eliminated that in order to provide your family with College level material, without the College cost, and most importantly without the baggage – all at a pace and in language that kids can grasp. Kids picked up on Honor and Shame in the Bible very easily, so how about something a bit more challenging for kids 10 and up?

Amazon.com surprised me yesterday by making my book available almost immediately – before I had my blog post completed – so here I am a day late! So here is Ten Commandments and the Covenants of Promise, my newest publication!

Serious covenant study has been at the forefront of Bible College education since the 1950’s and 60’s but hasn’t made its way into the pulpits – sadly it has remained largely the domain of scholars. However, in an age where even children have easy access to Bibles – I believe they should also have easy access to answers about what they are reading.

The Bible starts out with a Covenant relationship between God and Adam and Eve, and when that Covenant was broken, Godvol1-book1-contextforkids-cover-final.indd began a quest to restore what was lost – a quest that we see ending in the last chapters of Revelation when death is destroyed and the entire world dwells once again in Covenant with the God of the Universe. Between those two bookends, however, are pages filled with Ancient Near Eastern Covenant language – language that has been illuminated by the finding of hundreds of thousands of cuneiform tablets in the sands of Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. What archaeologists found was a treasure trove of artifacts, but what linguists deciphered was an important key to understanding the Bible – a culture where a Covenant was more than just a promise, beyond simply a treaty, stronger than a marriage, or wills or any other modern legal contracts.

Our ancestors walked away from an understanding of Covenants long ago and opted to live in such a way that we can no longer assume that the phrase “I swear to God” even means anything – and we certainly can’t trust contracts drawn up by lawyers that can be overturned, violated, and cast aside when they become inconvenient.  In ancient times, in Bible times, Covenants were a matter of life and death; they were about the honor or their gods; they were the foundational underpinnings of society (dang, that sounded fancy – don’t worry, I don’t write my books like that).

Like Honor and Shame in the Bible (which I recommend for 7 and up), Ten Commandments and the Covenants of Promise will revolutionize the way your family studies the Scripture together… yes together. I designed the books to be read as a family, around the dinner table even. Most adults will never have even heard of this material, because, like I said, Pastors study this in Bible College but rarely teach it.

But understanding Covenants will transform your faith, and like Honor and Shame, it will cause your love for God and for His Son, our Messiah, to grow. I want you and your children to come to appreciate exactly what He did – beyond the Sunday School stories. Children in Bible times understood this context, it was their context. They knew what the word Covenant meant, and they could have a level of assurance in that word that we no longer possess. The gentiles coming into the faith also knew about Covenants, and so when Paul talked about adoption as sons, they understood it at a level that our society has largely lost (even someone like me, an adoptive mother myself.

KKC1For High School Students, I also have King, Kingdom, Citizen: His Reign and Our Identity, which establishes God as our literal King, the Kingdom of Heaven as a real Kingdom, the Laws of God as the Constitution of that Kingdom, Yeshua (Jesus) as the Heir to the Kingdom, and what that means for us as real life Citizens of that Kingdom as per Paul’s writings – tackling the tough passages in Ephesians, Romans and most of Galatians as well.

If you haven’t caught my weekly videos where I teach Bible context to kids, check it out on youtube and at www.contextforkids.com!



Biblical Honor/Shame Dynamics: Reversal of Fortune, Reversal of Status

honor shame gtnBy Rico Cortes and Tyler Dawn Rosenquist

Last year, Rico and I put together an article for the second issue of GTN magazine – it was a great magazine but failed to garner support from the Hebrew Roots community and so this has been sitting on my shelf for a year now. If you are thinking that this doesn’t sound like my style, well you’d be right. This is not my normal writing voice – this is my “have to sound impressive and impersonal” voice lol. When I write this way I have to actually do it on purpose!

Our Cultural Disconnect

It can be exceptionally difficult for modern Biblical readers to grasp the full ramifications and contemporary significance of Yeshua’s verbal battles with the Judean elites. We have been brought up in a society whose justice system is founded on the presumption of innocent until proven guilty. It can be challenging to wrap our minds around the ancient principles of honor and shame – yet we see honor and shame language throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.

Western minds look at a situation and, based upon what is legally right and wrong, determine guilt or innocence. During Biblical times, and indeed today in many cultures, there existed a zero sum economy in the commodity of honor. The presumed guilty were shamed until proven honorable.

 

Living in a Zero-Sum Economy

Imagine living in a village with a limited number of gold coins – there will never be any more or less. Some people have a lot of the gold, and some have very little. Those who have many coins came into their wealth through inheritance or acquisition. Those who have few probably inherited very few. If a man who has many decides to gain more coins, he must take them from someone else or earn them in some way. That means that another man will be losing coins – because there are only so many to go around. Now let’s look at this same principle in terms of honor and shame dynamics.

In the Ancient Near East, and during the First Century, people’s entire lives were focused around the retaining and gaining of honor. Whereas people in modern times are more interested in the achievement of fame and the acquisition of wealth, neither of those things were of any value to ancient people who lacked honor in the eyes of their community. To be shamed was worse than death – a cultural attitude we still see in the Middle East, India, and Japan.

A man’s honor was either ascribed or acquired. Ascribed honor came in the form of a good family name, a respectable lineage, or an honorable city of origin. In ancient Israel, being of the Davidic or Priestly line would naturally carry a certain amount of honor. Acquired honor was gained through public acts of benefaction (good works), military victories, and athletic achievements. Another very common means of acquiring honor was through public discourse in the form of the verbal honor challenges. We see Yeshua engaging in these battles throughout the Gospels.

Your family’s ascribed good (or bad) name was your starting point in life, your natural source of standing within the community at large; in order to raise that level of prestige, you had to acquire honor at the expense of someone else.

 “…And David his ten-thousands.”

I Sam 18:7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

 Outside of the honor/shame context, the trouble between King Saul and David can be a bit perplexing. It needs to be understood that in the Ancient Near East the person with the most honor was the king. If the king lost enough honor, he would cease to be king – his subjects would naturally rally around whomever had more, resulting in the death or subjugation of the former king and his family. The women’s praise of David was no mere blow to Saul’s fragile ego, but instead the public exaltation of David’s honor at Saul’s expense. For all intents and purposes, the women were declaring David to be the next king of Israel. David was rising, and therefore Saul was falling.

Along a similar vein, did you ever wonder why John the Baptist’s disciples were so concerned that Yeshua was gaining followers and fame?

John 3:26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, “Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.”

What are they really saying here? “Rabbi! Now this guy you were talking about is baptizing, and people are going to him instead of to you! He is gaining honor at your expense!” What did John say in response?

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Translated into plainer honor and shame language, it reads, “He (meaning Yeshua) must increase in renown, and I must decrease in renown.” In terms of influence and public position, Yeshua and John were in the same peer group (both being perceived as prophets), the same community; it was the natural order of things for John’s reputation to decrease as Yeshua’s fame increased. Unlike King Saul, John wisely saw things from a Kingdom mentality and happily made way for the Messiah who deserved all honor.

 

Honor Killings

Time and time again in the Torah, we see honor killings executed by the “wrath of God.” Whenever Israel, in the wilderness, did something to shame the Name of YHWH, there was a blood penalty – sometimes one man, as in the case of the Sabbath breaker, and sometimes thousands, as in the episode of the Nation whoring with the Moabite women at Ba’al Pe’or. We also see this during the time of the Judges, when the Philistines, or some other nation, would be called in to discipline the twelve tribes. It came down to this: God’s people’s behavior was causing His Name to be blasphemed among the neighboring nations; for the sake of His honor, He was forced to act.

We see the principle of honor and shame today, albeit in a completely unjust way, in the Islamic honor killings – usually of female family members. A woman who is sexually immoral, marries outside of Islam, or even one who is raped brings grave dishonor to the family. The community will shun and refuse to do business with the family until their honor is restored – which involves killing the source of dishonor whether or not she is guilty. In Islamic honor/shame society, guilt and innocence are completely irrelevant; the only concern is restoration of the family name. Of course, YHWH is always just in His actions, and He is very longsuffering – bearing with grievous insults over long periods of time before taking action to restore His honor. But, He is God, and His honor must be restored. The soul who sins (has diminished the honor of God) shall die.

 

Honor Reversals

A recurring theme throughout Scripture is honor reversal. Two of the most obvious examples are in the account of the enslavement and exodus of the Israelites, and in the death and resurrection of Messiah.

When the Israelites journeyed into Egypt during the great worldwide famine, they went in with honor as family of the second-in-command of Egypt. No people had a greater status apart from the actual royal family and the priests. This changed, however, after Joseph’s death; through a series of events the Israelites were subjected to the shame of slavery. Adding to this shame, they were shown to be powerless against even the confiscation and killing of their male babies. In the Ancient Near Eastern world, trial by water was seen in several law codes as a way of determining guilt or innocence. One accused of a crime was thrown into deep water. If they were innocent, the gods would save them from drowning. If they drowned, the gods themselves were pronouncing guilt. When the Israelite babies drowned in the Nile, it was a sure sign to the world, not of Egypt’s barbarity but instead of Israel’s wickedness – thus their shame status, and their deservedness of enslavement, was unquestionable. Now it should be clear why Moses’ survival in the waters of the Nile was seen by the household of Pharaoh as a sign of his innocence and honor.

Everything that YHWH performed in the plagues against Egypt was relevant in terms of honor and shame – against Pharaoh and against his gods. Pharaoh himself set the stage for this battle when he dared to shame the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

Ex 5:2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”

Pharaoh refused to acknowledge the supremacy of God over him; to further the insult, he shamed Moses and Aaron as well when he reminded them of their slave status and told them, in verse four, to get back to work. Even though Moses was never a slave, Pharaoh included him with his people when he said, “…get you unto your burdens.” Still not satisfied, Pharaoh further displayed the powerlessness of the Israelites by denying them what they needed in order to do their work. Pharaoh shamed Moses and Aaron, not only in person, but also in the eyes of their people. In verse thirteen, we see that the Israelite leaders themselves were beaten for not being able to complete the work. Challenge, oppression, insults and beating were all ways of reducing the honor of others in the ancient world. Pharaoh’s goal was to shame YHWH, Moses, Aaron, the leaders of the people, and the people themselves.

The ten plagues that followed were specifically designed by God to dismantle the honor of the major Egyptian gods, one by one, as well as the honor of Pharaoh. YHWH shamed them individually, and in the process He elevated the esteem of YHWH in the eyes of the world. Remember that this was about honor within a peer group, like Yeshua and John the Baptist, and although the gods of the Egyptians were not gods at all – the Egyptians and the world didn’t know that. As YHWH overpowered the domain of each god, His honor rose higher and higher. This is why those in the mixed multitude were willing to leave their homes and travel into the wilderness – by the time the Exodus happened, the gods of Egypt had been reduced to nobodies, and Pharaoh’s honor had been severely depleted.

The crippled state of Pharaoh’s honor explains why he chased the Israelites into the Yam Suf. In order to restore his honor, he had to conquer and/or re-enslave them – or at least try. If he failed to go after them, then he was finished. Even if he still had a remaining son, there would not be enough family honor left over to sustain his own reign, much less a dynasty. When Pharaoh entered the sea with his army, he was issuing an honor challenge to God Himself – a challenge that God met with the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in a massive trial by water; not one survived. Thus, as Egypt had subjected the Israelite males to judgment by drowning, Egypt was judged in turn and found guilty – not only in the eyes of God and the Israelites, but also in the eyes of the world. In the end, Israel was elevated to a nation of priests, and Egypt was devastated in every way.

 

First Century Honor Challenges

Once we know what to look for, we find the Gospels filled with honor/shame language. John’s disciples weren’t the only men concerned with the honor of their teachers, or of themselves. In fact, we see the Pharisees and scribes, as well as priests and leaders, engaging in these verbal battles with the hope of gaining honor at the expense of their peers.

The pattern we see repeatedly is claim, challenge, riposte, and verdict. Someone, like Yeshua, would make a claim, which would then be challenged by someone else. The person making the claim would have either to come up with a compelling answer (the riposte) or refuse to answer, and the public would give a verdict as to who had won the honor match. The winner walked away victorious, and the loser lost face.

A great example of this is found in Luke Chapter 13:10-17

And he (Yeshua) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Yeshua saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, (claim) Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 

 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Yeshua had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, (challenge) There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, (riposte) Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: (verdict) and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

 The problem for those challenging Yeshua was that they were always losing the battle. Yeshua was increasing in honor, and everyone else was losing honor. Not everyone reacted badly to this. In fact, many praised His wisdom and answers, but all who sought to dishonor Him were themselves dishonored. It became so unbearable for them that they started seeking out ways to kill Him. There was a catch, though: They couldn’t kill Him unless they dishonored Him first, or he would become a martyr, and verbal battles weren’t working.

 

The Shame He Endured

I can hardly overstate what I am about to describe to you. To be arrested as a common criminal, in and of itself, was intensely humiliating in the ancient world. An innocent verdict in a court case would not undo the shame brought onto a family by the arrest of a relative – especially if the arresting officers were among the chief priests, certainly the most honored Jews in the land in light of the fact that there were no longer legitimate kings sitting on the throne of David. Even Pilate mocked Yeshua by pointing out that it was His own nation and chief priests who had handed Him over.[1] It was not an unruly mob of dishonorable nobodies who had brought Yeshua in, but the highest officials in the Land.

Even before He came before Pilate, however, He was subjected to great shame. In the ancient world, a man’s head and right arm were the visible symbols of his pride. Therefore, common shaming techniques involved hitting a man about the head,[2] spitting in his face,[3] and blinding him.[4] In addition, His character was slandered, and He endured mocking[5] – which in the ancient world was considered worse than enduring physical pain.

When He came before Herod and the soldiers, again He was mocked.[6] When Pilate turned Him over to his own soldiers, Yeshua was stripped down naked, mocked and flogged – but that is the nice way to say it. A Roman scourging was carried out in public, in the nude, and according to historical accounts was generally accompanied by a loss of bowel and bladder control – much to the delight of the crowd. It is important to remember that the pain inflicted was only the means to the true goal of utter and complete shaming. They mocked His Kingship with robes and a crown of thorns, shedding more blood – another shaming technique meant to reveal powerlessness. He carried His own crucifixion beam through a city full of Passover celebrants, and then He was nailed and tied to the Roman cross – his arms (symbolic of a man’s power) immobilized.

Of course He was hung up high, between two criminals, probably absolutely naked because it is unlikely that the Romans would have spared Him any measure of shame. As He hanged there, his body would have become misshapen, insects would have gathered in His wounds, birds might have come near to harass Him, and certainly we see that bystanders did. If He did not lose control of His bowels and bladder during the scourging, He most certainly did on the cross as His strength ebbed away in the endurance of grotesque pain. Possibly most humiliating of all, His genitals (the ultimate symbol of a man’s honor) would have become swollen, in full sight of everyone present. Despite having willingly laid down His own life, He died as a shamed, disfigured criminal.

Even in death His body was mutilated, as it was pierced with a spear. But right before His legs were to be broken, the honor reversal of the Father was beginning. He would declare His Son to be the ultimate vessel of honor. Yeshua’s humiliation was over, and His vindication was underway!

Because He was already dead when they came to check on Him, His legs were not broken – ensuring His position as the Lamb of God, being that the bones of the Passover Lamb were not to be broken. Instead of being permitted to hang and be eaten by the birds, He was taken down by men of honor and given a kingly burial in an undefiled tomb. And most importantly, on the third day He was raised up and declared not only to be innocent, but to be the Son of God. When God raised Him up, He vindicated every claim, every teaching, everything Yeshua had ever said in the Name of the Father. God gave Yeshua the ultimate honor, and the ultimate honor reversal.

 

What does this mean for us?

The lost and exiled Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Gentiles had one thing in common – shame. Israel had been exiled as an adulterous wife – after having shamed her Husband and her God, causing His Name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. They were cast outside of the Covenants of promise spoken of by Paul, enslaved to sin, without God in this world – existing as vessels of shame. When Yeshua died in the place of adulterous Israel, He restored the honor of the Father. When we covenant with the Father through Yeshua, our family Name is changed – we go from shamed and discarded, outside of the Kingdom, to honored citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We take upon ourselves the ascribed honor of the Name of Yeshua, and in gratitude we are indebted to spend the rest of our lives bringing honor to that Name.

Paul states best, the mission of Messiah in Phil 2:5-10.

 Let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth.

Rico Cortes is the founder of Wisdom in Torah Ministries and an international lecturer on the Ancient Near Eastern and First Century context of Scripture. He holds a degree in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Bible History. The Rico Cortes Show airs regularly on Hebrew Roots Network. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in California, he is of Sephardic Jewish heritage and came to a saving knowledge of Yeshua in 1998. Before coming to Torah, Rico was a former professional baseball player for the New York Yankees and New York Mets in the minors before spending ten years as a baseball scout for the Chicago White Sox. New teachings can be found weekly on his website, and The Rico Cortes Show airs regularly on Hebrew Roots Network. Rico has a passion for bringing Bible context into the home of every believer. His newest venture is Teshuva.tv, a 24 hour Spanish language radio broadcast featuring many talented Bible teachers.

www.wisdomintorah.com and www.teshuva.tv

Tyler Dawn Rosenquist is the author of The Bridge: Crossing Over into The Fullness of Covenant Life, which is aimed at bringing mainstream Christians into an understanding of Torah. Her second book is entitled, King, Kingdom, Citizen: His Reign & Our Identity from the Ancient Near Eastern and First Century Context. Tyler is one of the Wisdom in Torah Talmidim Teachers, and she writes on scriptural context and character for her own website, The Ancient Bridge. Tyler has a degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. She is a stay at home, homeschooling mom and wife. Her current passion and project is the development of Context for Kids, a series of homeschool curriculum books devoted to teaching Ancient Near Eastern and First Century context to whole families around the dinner table.

www.theancientbridge.com and www.contextforkids.com

[1] John 18:35

[2] Matt 26:67;  Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63-64; John 18:22

[3] Matt 26:67; Mark 14:65;

[4] Mark 14:65; Luke 22:64

[5] Matt 26:68; Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63-64

[6] Luke 23:11