1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources

Names – Exodus 3:14
The Children of Israel were languishing under the whip of the Egyptian taskmasters and their outcry rose to the heavens. God appears to Moses in the burning bush and He tells Him that He has seen the pain of His people. God then commissions Moses with the task of bringing Israel out of Egypt. Moses asks the Lord; when the people will ask me “what is His name?” what shall I tell them? God responds “I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:13,14).
What is the meaning of this enigmatic exchange? What does God mean when He calls Himself “I will be”? Isn’t God’s existence eternal? He was, He is and He will always be, so what is the significance of this focus on the future? The mystery is only compounded when we consider the fact that nowhere is it recorded that Moses actually used…

Who is the Messiah?
Boyarin wraps up his arguments by telling his readers that the followers of Jesus did not “invent” the idea of a divine savior, but rather that they drew this idea from the well-springs of Jewish thought that was current in their times. Boyarin argues that the Jewish concept of Messiah as it was understood in the generations preceding Jesus included, or at least allowed for, a second divine figure that is to suffer and die (TJG, pg. 160). The followers of Jesus simply applied these ancient Jewish teachings to Jesus of Nazareth, but they did not invent these teachings.

Aside from the fact that Boyarin ignores the evidence of the Christain Scriptures which clearly indicate that Jesus’ followers did NOT expect Jesus to suffer and die, this after they had positively identified him as the Messiah, Boyarin has also missed the heart and soul of the…

Comfort and Assurance

“I have said: my strength is lost and my hope from the Lord… “The Lord is my portion”, says my soul, therefore I will hope to Him.” (Lamentations 3:18:24)

There are times when all seems lost. Sometimes we wonder; what assurance do we have that we are on a path that ultimately leads to goodness and to light? How can we, the people of Israel, be comforted while we are still in exile from our land and our Temple lies in ruins?

The prophet took comfort in the fact that God is his portion, that was his hope and assurance. The comfort and the assurance of the Jewish people is the fact that their portion is God.

What does this mean? How is God our “portion” and our “lot”?

We tend to think of our faith and belief in God as something that is coming from us towards…

Mourners of Zion
The three weeks; from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av, were designated by the spiritual leadership of Eternal Israel as a time of mourning for the destruction of the Temple. The fact is that a Jew who walks in the ways of his or her ancestors will carry the heartache of the destruction all the time. The “Three Weeks” are unique only in that they are a time for a more explicit outward expression of this steady mourning.

In the book of Isaiah we learn that the attitude of mourning for Zion is not a peripheral aspect of our relationship with God. In Isaiah 61:3 we find that the term: “Mourners of Zion” is synonymous with Israel as the servant of God. The promise to the mourners of Zion in this verse (61:3) directly parallels the promise to Israel in verse 60:21. The fact…

Unauthorized Negotiator

Tom and Joe were partners in a business. As they walked up the path to the office one day they encountered a man exiting the door that they were about to enter. The man asked them what they were doing here and where did they think they were going. They responded by explaining that this was their office and that they were going to work. The man then informed them that he had just bought the business from the lady behind the desk and that they no longer had the right to enter the building. They informed him that the “lady behind the desk” was simply their secretary and that she had no right to sell the business and that he had just been the victim of a scam.

In this parable, we are in the position of the “lady behind the desk”. The business does not belong to us…