Post Did the Israelites cross the Red Sea or the Reed Sea? After allowing the Jews to leave Egypt, Pharoah suffered a change of heart and gave chase. The situation seemed hopeless as the Jews stood trapped between the sea and the… Read More
Post Does God Have a Finger? When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, his court magicians tried to refute their demand to release the Hebrews by mimicking their miraculous acts. This proved to be within the magicians’… Read More
Post Free Will and Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart God sent Moses to demand that Pharaoh release the Hebrews from bondage, threatening that should the Egyptian king refuse, the country would suffer. So it seems incredibly unjust that God… Read More
Post God’s Outstretched Hand Moses’ first encounter with God is fraught with unexpected challenges. God addresses the anticipated incredulity of the Hebrews, emphasizing the longstanding covenant with the patriarchs. He then addresses the probability… Read More
Post Mount Sinai: The Burning Bush to the Giving of the Torah The Burning Bush described in this week’s Torah portion has become the archetypal symbol of the divine call to action. Referred to in theology as a theophany, the bush was… Read More
Post Jacob’s Deathbed vision of the Messiah Before dying, Jacob blesses his sons in a burst of prophetic vision, blessing Judah as the father of the Davidic dynasty by saying: In this verse, the Hebrew word for… Read More
Post Jacob’s Redeeming Angel More than any other character in the Bible, Jacob encounters angels. In his nighttime vision after fleeing Esau, Jacob sees angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. Upon returning,… Read More
Post Sheol: The Grave or so Much More? The concept of Sheol (שְׁאוֹל, pronounced “sh’ol”) emerges in biblical literature as the primary understanding of the afterlife in ancient Jewish thought. This concept first appears in Genesis during the… Read More
Post The Biblical New Year Establishing a calendar in Judaism requires a total reset from how time is marked on a secular calendar, realigning the days, weeks, months, and years according to Biblical principles. Days… Read More
Post The Clouds of Glory and the Feast of Tabernacles God watched over the Children of Israel as they traveled through the desert toward the Promised Land, guiding them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of… Read More