Author: Steven R. Bruck

How To Properly Interpret the Bible, Lesson 1: Read the Book, Yourself

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That’s right. How can anyone really know what is in the Bible if they have never read it?

(I am having issues with my webcam so there won’t be a video today)

And I don’t mean to go buy one of those “Read a Bible Passage a Day” calendars. That’s like telling someone you are bringing a cake to their party and showing up with eggs, flour, salt, and some water. It may be what is in a cake, but it ain’t the same thing.

Maybe you’re thinking, “But Steve, I hear the Rabbi or Priest or Minister tell me what is in there every time I attend services.”

No, you don’t.

What you hear is what that person thinks the Bible is saying, and most likely because that is what he or she was taught it means, from people who were taught, from people who were taught, from…well, you get the idea.

Christianity has been teaching the same stuff for millennia, and they have never gotten most of it right. Why do you think there are so many different Christian religions? If they had it right, they wouldn’t have so many followers think it should be something else. In truth, if they had it right, they would be Jews, but now we’re getting way off-topic.

If you ask me, most of the religious leaders are doing nothing more than parroting their teachers. “Parroting” means repeating what you have been told without understand what you are saying, and that is what you learn when the only thing you learn about the Bible is what others tell you.

Do you know who Tarzan of the Apes is? Do you agree with me (and you should) that Johnny Weissmuller was the best Tarzan portrayer, ever? And that Tarzan lived in a treehouse, spoke English worse than Tonto, and had an adopted son named Boy?

The truth is quite different: I have read the entire series of Tarzan books (there are 27 of them) and Tarzan was fluent in French (his first human language), English, and some African dialects, as well as being able to converse with animals. His son was not called “Boy” but had a name, Korak. And they lived in a large plantation deep in the jungle, protected by a fierce warrior tribe of Africans who were Tarzan’s friends.

Now ain’t that a kick in the tuchas! You thought you knew about Tarzan, but I’ll bet very few of you did. So, do you think maybe, just maybe, there might be more to learn from the Bible than what you have been told or seen on TV?

You bet there is! And you will never know what is in there until you read it for yourself. If you don’t read the Bible, it is possible you are being taught an improper understanding of God’s word and you need to understand this- you will be held accountable for what you have learned, whether it is right or wrong.

When you get a new job, you read the Employee Handbook (if you’re smart) so you know what is expected of you and to stay out of trouble. When you get a new power tool, you read the instructions so you know how to use it without hurting yourself. When you have a new medication, you read the warning label so you know what to be aware of if you have a bad reaction. You read these instructions to ensure you are safe while alive, so why wouldn’t you read the instructions for how to be safe for all eternity?

One of the most wonderful things about the Bible is that no matter how many times you read it, there is always something new in there for you. When we get to a later lesson about the Jewish exegesis system called PaRDeS, you will see that underneath the written word is a spiritual message, and often you will not understand or comprehend that message when reading the words. But then, many readings later, you suddenly have an epiphany and say to yourself, “WOW! So that’s what it means…how come I didn’t see that before?”

When this happens to me, and it has many times over the past two decades or so I have been reading the Bible, I figure the reason I didn’t see it before was simply that I wasn’t ready for it. There is a certain level of spiritual maturity at which we all have to be in order to grasp the deeper meaning of the words we read, whether in the Bible or even in an Employee Handbook. There is a lot to be “read between the lines”, but until you have had enough exposure to the lines, you won’t be able to see what is between them.

I know many people don’t read the Bible because they tell themselves they don’t have the time or they can’t deal with all the “begots” and “begets” or the tough language. Well, don’t use a King James Version (I would never recommend that version, anyway, but that’s for a different time); use an NIV or CJB or some other version of the Bible written in easy to understand language.

As for not having the time, do what I do: I keep my Bible in the bathroom. Yes, that’s right- it is on the back of the toilet tank in a little basket with other reading material. I keep it there because that is the one place I know I will be spending 5-10 minutes, every day, with no one disturbing me. I read a chapter or two each day, and if you follow my example, you will be surprised how quickly you go through the book.

It makes me feel a little closer to God, knowing that he is on his throne and here I am, on mine.

And, one last thing: the Bible is from the first line of Genesis to the very last line of Revelation: it is one book, about one God, who choose one people to bring his instructions for how to worship him and treat each other to the world; it also tells of the Messiah he sent to help us to be forgiven of our sins so that we can be with God throughout eternity when this life is over. Don’t skimp on what you read, even the boring parts (and yes, there are some pretty boring sections but you have to muddle through them) because you never know what God will reveal to you, and to you, alone.

I believe there is something for everyone in the Bible that is uniquely for them, and God is just waiting for you to come to that point in your spiritual growth when he can show it to you. But you will never get there if you do not read the book.

Reading the Bible is not just part of being able to properly interpret it, it is the very keystone of interpretation. Without reading the Bible, you will never really know what is in there.

In our next lesson, we will begin learning about some different methods of Bible exegesis.

Until then, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah Toldot 2020 (These are the generations) Genesis 25:19 – 28:9

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In this parashah we have one of the best known stories of the Bible, the selling of the birthright.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

This parashah begins by telling us that Isaac prayed to Adonai for Rebecca to no longer be barren. God granted his wish and she gave birth to Esau and Jacob. Esau was firstborn, and became a hunter, whereas Jacob was a shepherd and more studious. Isaac loved Esau for the game he brought to him, and Rebecca loved Jacob. This doesn’t mean the parents only loved one child, but they definitely had favorites.

One day after hunting and being ravenous, Esau comes in and happens upon Jacob making a lentil stew. Now, Esau was a man who today we might call the poster boy for existentialism: he was all about himself and the moment, with no regard for what might happen later. When Esau told Jacob without some of that stew he would die of hunger, Jacob (being somewhat devious) saw the opportunity to gain the birthright, so Jacob offered Esau a trade: he would give Esau food if Esau sold Jacob the birthright of the firstborn. Esau, without hesitating, agreed.

Later, when Isaac told Esau that it was time for him to receive the blessing of the firstborn, he asked Esau to get fresh game and make it for him so he could eat of it and then give Esau the blessing. Rebecca overheard and had Jacob take Esau’s place, dressing him in Esau’s clothes and putting sheepskin on his hands and neck to fool Isaac, who by then was blind. The ruse worked and Jacob received the blessing for the firstborn; later, Esau comes in for the blessing but it is too late, and Isaac gives a second-in-line blessing to Esau.

Esau, understandably enough given his rash and hasty nature, vowed to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies, so Rebecca (hearing of this) has Isaac send Jacob to her brother, Laban, to find a wife. This was in the hope that after time Esau’s anger would subside, knowing that he was a man of immediacy and that anything long-term was not in his nature.

The parashah ends with Esau, who had wives from the local people, being told that his parents wanted him to have wives from their own people, so what did he do? He married descendants of Ishmael!

One thing we can say about Esau- he just didn’t get it!

Regarding the selling of the birthright, it is true that Jacob could have given Esau food just because he is his brother, and in many Bible’s it seems to be implied that by making Esau sell his birthright in order to get food, what Jacob did was unjust. Yet, the Torah says that Esau hated his birthright, so even though what Jacob did was questionable, what Esau did was worse in that he had no respect for the responsibilities of the position he was to inherit.

And in many Bibles I have seen, the paragraph about Isaac giving the blessing is titled something along the lines of “Jacob steals the blessing of the firstborn.”

In my opinion, even though asking Esau to sell his birthright might be somewhat underhanded, Jacob did not steal the blessing.

I would say what Jacob did might also have been for the good of the nation, for it was clear to Jacob, as to Rebecca, that Esau would not be a good patriarch and might fall short of the proper worship of God. Isaac seems to have been clueless as to Esau’s true nature, even after Esau married out of the family to women of the local, pagan community, which was further proof of his disregard for doing what was right.

So, maybe, what Jacob did when he asked to buy the birthright was not really for his own good, but for the good of the family?

As for the stealing of the blessing, well… how could he steal what was his, by right? He was now the firstborn, so he was entitled to the blessing of the firstborn. I believe it was necessary to fool Isaac because Isaac so loved Esau he may have refused to give Jacob the blessing he was legally and morally entitled to.

What we learn from this story, as we have seen before and will see throughout the Tanakh, is that the greatest heroes of Judaism were, when it comes down to it, just regular people. They lied, they cheated, they used subterfuge, and they sinned- often. They were not some holier-than-thou saintly paragon of righteousness. They were plain folk, just like you and me.

And that is great news!

It means that if God can use ordinary people to achieve such wondrous results, then there is hope that we, too, can do wonderful things for the glory of God. All we need is to be faithful and try our best to do what pleases God. We know that we will fail, often, but the Tanakh shows us that no matter how often we fail to follow God’s instructions, we can always be returned to righteousness if we repent, ask forgiveness, maintain our faith and keep trying to be better.

I will end with this, which is what I often say: We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, check out my books, and share these messages with everyone you know.

And I always welcome your comments or questions.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

How To Properly Interpret the Bible: Introduction to the Lesson

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Properly interpreting the Bible is about as easy to do as digging a tunnel through a sand dune. With each new shovel full of sand you remove, another shovel full takes its place; the same thing happens when we delve deeper and deeper into the Bible, and as our understanding of what it says increases.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

There is just so much to learn from this book, and the more we mature, spiritually, the more deeply we will understand what is written. Just like digging in a sand dune, as we remove some sand, more comes to fill in the hole we just made. So, too, when we get past the plain understanding of the words, the spiritual meaning will then be made clear to us. And the deeper we dig, the deeper our understanding, until we even get to a level of nearly mystical knowledge of what God is saying to us.

It is like when Yeshua (Jesus) taught during his Sermon on the Mount: the Pharisees and Scribes had taught the people only the literal meaning of the words, but Yeshua taught them the spiritual meaning, which is why they said he taught as no one had before.

In these lessons, I will share with you what I have learned over more than 2 decades of studying the Bible. I do not profess to be a “Bible expert”, but I have learned a bit and have had many people over the years confirm that I have a gift, if you will, for understanding God’s word and teaching. I say this not to brag, but simply to justify why it might be worth spending the time to go through these lessons with me. They will be short and at a very introductory level, and even maybe a little entertaining.

After all, what could it hoit to listen?

The lessons will be covering what I consider to be the basic building blocks for properly interpreting the Bible, which are:

– Reading the book yourself;

– Different methodologies of biblical exegesis;

– Use of extra-biblical resources; and

– Knowing the history and languages used, especially the cultural usage of the languages at that time.

These lessons will be posted on Tuesday and Thursday instead of my normal “Drash to Start the Day” messages until we complete the series. On Friday I will still post the Shabbat parashah message.

As we go through these lessons, please do not hesitate to make comments or ask questions about the topic I cover. Let me repeat that this is what I believe are the basic tools to use when interpreting the bible, and (as I said before) I am not professing to be the ultimate expert or that what I am teaching is the only means of properly interpreting the Bible: it is just what I have learned and what has helped me to better understand the Bible.

I pray that it will help you, as well.

This coming Tuesday, the 23rd of November 2020, we will cover the first lesson: read the book, yourself.

Until then, L’hitraot and Baruch haShem!

How Can We Help Sinners If We Are Separated?

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That’s a good question, isn’t it? I mean, if we are to be separated from sin, and not take part in sinful activities, how can we ever reach the sinners?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Yeshua ate and drank with sinners- all four Gospels write about that, and how it was used as an attack against him. Yet, he said it best when he replied that he came to call the sinner, not the righteous.

We are also commanded to be holy, as God is holy, but how can we be holy, which means separated, if we are in the midst of sinners?

It seems to be a complicated situation, but the answer is really quite simple: the separation we need to maintain is not a physical one, but a spiritual one, which we demonstrate in the real world through our speech, actions, and lifestyle.

In Mark 7, Yeshua said that what makes us unclean is what comes from our hearts. Now, in that case, he was talking of ceremonial uncleanliness with relation to traditionally washing the hands before eating, but I think we can safely take that teaching one step further.

Being in the company of sinners doesn’t make you a sinner, nor does it make you unclean, so long as you, yourself, maintain separation from what is in the hearts of those sinners, and by doing so, you become a symbol and example to them of righteousness.

We need to be separate but not separated- what good is a lamp if it is placed under a bowl, right? We need to let our light shine, but not in the sunlight- that is useless. We aren’t told to preach to the choir, we are told to be a light in the darkest of places.

In other words, we are to work in a fish market for hours at a time, and come out still smelling like a rose. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But, as Yeshua said, with God, all things are possible.

When we are told to be holy as God is holy, that is a spiritual condition. We are humans, born into and with iniquity and to think that we could ever be really holy, inside and out, is a pipe dream. God told Cain that sin is crouching at his door, and that means we cannot ignore the existence of sin within us. That is what the Enemy wants us to think because that is how he can sneak sin into our lives.

When we are always aware of the potential to sin, we will always be on the alert. There are a number of biblical parables Yeshua gave about always being prepared, and I believe that also means to always recognize the sin within ourselves, which is how we can be in the midst of sinners and stay separated from their sin.

If you want to fulfill the commandment to find new disciples, you will have to go where angels dare not go. You will have to go into the lion’s den, into the fiery furnace, and do so willingly. That doesn’t make you unclean- remember those three guys came out of the furnace without even smelling like smoke, so you, too, can be amongst sinners without getting your clothes stained.

Be the light in the darkness, and always be aware of your own weakness- that, and being guided by the Ruach HaKodesh, is how you can be surrounded by sinners and still be separated from them.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe; share these messages with everyone you know, check out my website and consider buying my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah Chayye Sarah 2020 (Life of Sarah) Genesis 23 – 25:18

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This parashah begins with the death of Sarah, at 127 years old. Isaac would have been 36 years old at that time, Ishmael 50, and Abraham 136. He buys a burial cave and buries Sarah there, later to join her; eventually, this cave would also house the remains of Isaac, Rebecca, and Jacob. It is located in Hebron, most of which today is under Arab control.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

We read next that Abraham sends his servant, Eliezer, back to Ur to find a wife for Isaac, and after finding Rebecca he returns to his master with her, who immediately is taken as wife to Isaac.

Abraham remarries, has more children, and this reading ends with the death of Abraham and the lineage of Ishmael.

Normally, I would talk of the interaction between Laban and Eliezer, which gives us an idea of what type of person Laban is, to be confirmed later in the Torah when we read about his dealings with Jacob.

Or I might talk about Isaac, or Eliezer’s faith.

But not today.

What I felt when I read this today, even just reading the title, is that we should discuss Sarah a little bit, and her relationship to Abraham, and to God.

And let me open this discussion with a really hot question: Do you think Sarah was faithful?

I mean, the title of this parashah is “Life of Sarah”, so let’s look at her life, which we are told very little about. First off, when she is told that she will have a child in her old age, whereas Abraham accepted that right away, she didn’t believe it. And when the angels told Abraham it would happen the following year, she laughed, then denied that she laughed (if you didn’t know, Isaac, in Hebrew, is Yitzchak, which means “to laugh”.)

We really don’t know anything about Sarah’s level of faithfulness, but by all references, Sarah was an obedient wife. In fact, obedient to the point of submitting to Abraham’s request that she says she was his sister and not his wife; and, not just once, but twice, even after the first time she was taken to be another man’s wife (which happened the second time, also.)

Now, we could say that she was faithful enough to trust in God not to allow her to be defiled, but there is nothing in the Torah to substantiate that. In truth, all we know about Sarah is that she was faithful to Abraham.

We know that she was of Abrahams’s family because, in Genesis 20:12, Abraham tells Abimelech that Sarah is the daughter of his father but not from the same mother. Therefore, she was raised in Ur, but can we assume she was given the same education regarding God as Abraham was?

I believe Abraham was taught about God by Noah, who was still alive for some 58 years after Abraham was born. In Genesis 9:28, we are told Noah lived for 350 years after the flood. Counting the years since the flood using the lineage of Shem, outlined in Genesis 11:10-24, we can see that when Abraham was born, Noah was still alive, and lived for another 58 years.

In those days, the wife was in charge of the household and the husband was the spiritual leader, so what the sons were taught about God would not necessarily be taught to the daughters, even within the same family unit.

So what does that mean for us? Well, what if you are unevenly yoked within your marriage? We are not allowed to just divorce our spouse if she or he isn’t as faithful as we are. In fact, Yeshua says the only justification for divorce is adultery (Matthew 5:32), and Shaul tells us that we should stay together because the one might help the other to come into a relationship with God (1 Corinthians 7:13.)

I think the lesson for us today is that even if you are in a marriage that is unevenly yoked, as the expression goes, it doesn’t mean you can’t still be blessed by God, or both of you used by God to do his work on the earth. And when we say “unevenly yoked”, does it have to mean a Believer and a non-Believer? Can it mean two people who believe in God, and that Yeshua is the Messiah, but have different levels of spiritual understanding and faith?

I am a Jewish man from birth, raised as a Jew, who later became a Torah observant Jewish Believer but my wife was raised in a Gentile religion and, because of that, doesn’t have the same level of faithful obedience I have. Does that mean she isn’t saved? If we both believe in God and Messiah, but at different levels of faith and spiritual maturity, are we unevenly yoked?

Yes, and no: yes, we don’t have the same level of spiritual maturity, but we both believe in God and Messiah, so it’s not like she isn’t saved and I am. In truth, who am I to say if she is saved or not? Who can really say that except God, who is the only one who can see a person’s heart? If she believes being a good person is all you need because that’s the line she got from her religious upbringing, is that wrong? She doesn’t murder, she is faithful to our marriage, she does try to do what is right and good, and in many ways, she is a better person, overall, than I am!

Sarah may have been less spiritual than Abraham, and I believe she was, but yet she was blessed to become the mother of God’s chosen people! Could it be that her faithful obedience to Abraham, who was faithfully obedient to God, was seen as being faithfully obedient to God, as well?

If we do as Yeshua taught (which, for the record, has nothing to do with traditional Christian teaching) but aren’t as faithful as he was, can we still be considered righteous by God because of our relationship with Yeshua?

Of course we can! That’s the way we are saved- God sees Yeshua’s righteousness in us when we accept him as our Messiah and receive the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.

Of course, it isn’t really all that easy, and there are marriages which are totally unevenly yoked, meaning one spouse is a true faithful Believer and the other couldn’t give two hoots about God or obedience to Torah. In those cases, it is very hard for the faithful spouse, but stay he or she must, in order that they help the other to find God through their example.

This is good news for anyone in a marriage where faithfulness and spiritual maturity is different between spouses. Don’t let the traditional understanding of the term “unevenly yoked” throw you, because just as there are different levels of spiritual maturity, there are different ways of being yoked to each other. For all any of us know, there may come a time when the unevenness goes in the opposite direction!

Now, wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants?

So, nu: if you are in a relationship where the level of faithfulness is different, work towards coming together in that faithfulness through education, example, and patiently loving each other. If you can do that, I am sure that God will lend a hand.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages to help this ministry grow. Subscribe, check out my books (available on my website) and I always welcome discussion and comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

I Got Nothing! (Again)

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Usually, I come up with messages, inspiration, whatever you want to call it when I am riding my bicycle and praying. Too often I can’t stop and add it to my calendar, and by the time I get home, I forget what it was. I don’t know if that’s because it wasn’t really what God would want me to say, or just a result of my age.

Whatever.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

In any case, I have nothing on my calendar except to make a blood donation at 1100 this morning. That, and a whole lot of complaints about the Facebook postings I see, which reminds me how easily people can be manipulated.

And why is that? Why does it seem to be so easy to manipulate thousands, if not millions of people? Josef Goebbels did it to the German people, the Creel Committee (under President Wilson) did it to Americans so we would enter WWI, and it seems that both the news and social media are now the means to get people to believe whatever propaganda the “powers that be” want them to accept.

And maybe that’s the message for today- don’t believe anyone. And you can believe me when I tell you that.

I saw a post about a secret government unit that identifies cyber-security infractions and it is being used to register and document all the voter fraud that is happening in the current US election. It has captured the use of a CIA program designed to manipulate voting results, which has been used in foreign elections but is now being used in this Presidential election.

And here’s what I found interesting: they posted a picture of what is supposedly the room where this is done, and all the computers were running Windows 8:

So I have to wonder how did anyone manage to get a picture of such a secret unit, and why is a top-of-the-line tech unit using an operating system that was replaced many years ago?

The obvious answer is something ain’t kosher about this. Maybe it’s the picture or maybe it’s the whole story, but whether or not it is legit, I am taking it as nothing more than some fertilizer someone is trying to spread to grow their story.

And you know what? It might all be true! But not for me; at least, not until it becomes public knowledge in a verifiable way.

The problem is that so many people will buy into this, immediately, because it is what they want to hear. And that is how people can be manipulated: tell them what they want to hear and they will buy into it, ASAP!

So when you listen, don’t listen with your glands but with your brains, and don’t believe anything you hear, no matter how wonderful it sounds, or (for that matter) how bad it sounds. Do your own research, realizing that if you research on the Internet, you are trying to smell a rose which is hidden in the middle of a fertilizer factory, so be careful, use discernment, and believe only that which seems to be believable.

As the old saying goes: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

One last thing for you: this system of reviewing and thinking about what you see and hear is not just something that is good to do when listening to the news or on social media, but it is really important to develop this talent because we are warned about false messiahs and how many will be turned from the true faith by them. Those will be the people who want to hear only what they like and ignore what they don’t like; they are the ones who tell you they love the Lord but will be first in line to take the mark when it is offered. And how can that happen? It will happen because they will hear what they want to believe and not use discernment.

When people do not think with their brains but, instead, believe with their emotions, they are easily led astray.

God has given you not just a brain, but through his Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), you have the opportunity to call upon his divine discernment so PLEASE! -for your own sake, use it!

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to the website and the YouTube channel (they are different lists), check out my entire website and I always welcome discussion.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!