Study Notes Week 55

Torah Study Notes for Week 55 of the Torah Reading Cycle

• Torah (T): Shemot (Exodus) 5:1-23
• Prophets (P): Isaiah 30:1-7
• Apostolic (A): John 8:21-45
• Additional (ADD): Jubilees 48:1-4

Torah Summary
Context and coherence (Nehemiah 8:8)

Shemot (Exodus) 5:1-23

1 Afterward Mosheh and Aharon came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what יהוה, Elohim of Yisra’el, says,’ Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. ‘” 2 Pharaoh said, “Who is יהוה, that I should listen to his voice to let Yisra’el go? I do not know יהוה, and moreover I will not let Yisra’el go.” (cf. Job 21:15; Exodus 3:19) 3 They said, “The Elohim of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and slaughter to^* our Elohim, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.” (cf. Exodus 3:18) 4 The king of Mitsrayemah said to them, “Why do you, Mosheh and Aharon, separate^*# the people from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let us go and^*# slaughter to our Elohim.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men so they may labor at it and pay no attention to lying words.” 10 The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says:’ I will not give you straw. 11 Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished. ‘” 12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Mitsrayemah to gather dry stalks for straw. 13 The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your work quota, your daily amount, as when there was straw.^*#” 14 The officers of the sons of Yisra’el, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?” 15 Then the officers of the sons of Yisra’el came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants? 16 No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, ‘Make bricks.’ And look, your servants are beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are slackers! Slackers! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and slaughter to Elohim.^*‘ 18 Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The officers of the sons of Yisra’el saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks.” 20 They met Mosheh and Aharon, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: 21 and they said to them, “May Elohim^* look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Mosheh returned to יהוה, and said,^* “Master, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people; neither have you delivered your people at all.”

Apostolic Summary
Context and coherence (Nehemiah 8:8)

1. If you’re like me, there are times that the discourse in John can be difficult to follow.
   1. John has a tough job trying to record a conversation between Jesus and a crowd of people.
   2. It can feel like Yeshua’s statements don’t follow a clear line of reasoning.
      1. For example, in verse 27 it says, “They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father”. 
      2. Yet just a few verses earlier in verse 18, Yeshua is explicitly referring to the Father. 
         1. “I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me. So, they were saying to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.'” (John 8:18-19).
   3. Many commentators place a gap of time, potentially even a few days between verses 20 and 21. 
2. Today we’re going to try to explore the important context of Yeshua’s teaching. 
   1. What are fathers and who are their children?
   2. Who are disciples?
   3. How do we apply these truths to our lives?

Apostolic Exhortation
Counsel, comfort, and encouragement (Acts 13:14-15)

1. In today’s portion from John 8:21-45, Yeshua provokes anger in the crowd in the Temple by presenting some stark contrasts.
   1. “And He was saying to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
   2. “’I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father’” (John 8:38,44).
   3. “’He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God’” (John 8:47).
2. What are we to make of Yeshua’s words here?
   1. Is He speaking with hyperbole (i.e. exaggeration) to make a point?
   2. Is this prophetic language or is it meant literally?
      1. Remember that his audience includes at least some who believed in Him.
         1. “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So, Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him…” (John 8:30-31).
   3. The Lord was speaking truth to the crowd; however, their perspective and mindset made it difficult to accept and understand His words.
      1. “And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).
   4. The Word of God renew our minds by turning back (lit. “converting) our soul from error.
      1. “The Torah of YHWH is perfect, restoring the soul” (Psa. 19:7).
3. So, what does it mean to be “of” a father — in this case, either the heavenly Father or the devil? 
4. In nature, fathers are the head, source and origin of life.
   1. Males contribute seed (sperm) to initiate the conception of life.
   2. Mothers sustain and nurture the life that comes from fathers.
      1. Supply the womb to receive the fertilized egg and provide the nourishment to grow and sustain life.
   3. The same principle can be seen with plants. 
      1. Seeds are planted into soil.
         1. They contain the potential for life, and soil provides the conditions and nutrients necessary for that life to grow and develop.
5. Spiritual life follows the same principles.
   1. “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46).
6. YHWH is the Source of all life. 
   1. “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7).
   2. “[N[or is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25).
7. He is the Father of all fathers and the One who defines fatherhood.
   1. “To us is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we to Him” (1 Cor. 6:8).
8. The Word was the Seed through which all life was created. 
   1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-4).
9. At the appointed time, the Father sent forth His seed (monogenous) to establish His (eternal, zoe) life in His creation.
   1. “And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).
   2. “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Messiah” (Gal. 3:16).
   3. “For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26).
10. To obtain this life, each individual has to receive the Word/Seed by faith in the soil of their heart.
    1. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).

KEY POINT:

YHWH Elohim is the Father (i.e. source and origin) of all life, both natural and spiritual; moreover, Yeshua the Son is the Word/Seed that imparts that life to mankind.

1. “Everyone is a child of God.” 
   1. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? [Show a thumbs up to agree or a thumbs down to disagree].
      1. Can we say from scripture that every human being is a child of God or just those that receive His covenant of eternal life through Messiah?
   2. In the left corner (“thumbs down”), we have a couple of passages from John.
      1. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13).
         1. This would seem to teach that only those who received the Word/Seed become children of God.
      2. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:1-2).
         1. Again, John seems to be saying that only Believers are children of God.
2. However, in the thumbs up corner, we have some clear words from Paul in Acts 17.
   1. “So, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “’Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’  Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man” (Acts 17:22-29).
      1. Paul quotes Greek philosophy and then affirms it as true – “being then the children of God, we…”
   2. So, who is correct?
      1. This little debate reveals a couple of important ideas.
3. First, because we are immersed in a Greco-Roman mindset, we tend to view truth as “either/or.”
   1. If one idea is true it can only mean another idea is untrue.
   2. However, in the Hebraic mindset, truth is “both/and.”
      1. Therefore, truth is established (i.e., filled out) by contradictory ideas.
   3. In this case, YHWH Elohim is the Father of all life, which makes every human being with the breath of life His seed, or child. 
      1. At the same time, because the spiritual life created through the new birth only belongs to those who believe, an unbeliever is not fathered by Elohim in the same way as a Believer. 
4.  Second, this discussion reveals the difference between truth and theology.
   1. Paul quotes a Greek poet to affirm the idea that all human beings are children of (the Unknown) God.
      1. How many people would attack him in an online forum for this? Or “shared some thoughts” with him after his sermon at the Areopagus?
         1. The loudest voices these days are the ones who claim to have the purest version of the truth.
   2. Paul saw these men as image-bearers of God.
      1. “To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it” (1 Cor. 9:22-23).

KEY POINT:

We should present the truth in a way it can be received in the soil of the heart and then let God purify and refine it as He sees fit. 

1. Having laid this foundation, let’s look back at our passage and then close with some application.
   1. “And He was saying to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’ So, they were saying to Him, ‘Who are You?’ Yeshua said to them, ‘What have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world’. They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father” (John 8:23-27).
      1. The majority of the crowd saw Yeshua merely as a man, born from the same Creator who gives all people breath and natural life.
      2. He was their equal and had no special connection to the Heavenly Father.
   2. “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him” (John 8:30). 
      1. We can’t know the exact state of their hearts, but these people were receiving the teachings of Yeshua with faith.
      2. The seed of the Word was being planted in the soil.
         1. “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ‘Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear”” (Mat. 13:3-9).
   3. “So, Yeshua was saying to those Judeans who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’ (John 8:31-32).
      1. Having scattered seed, Yeshua perceives life beginning in the hearts of some.

KEY POINT:

Life – both natural and spiritual — is a process not an event. 

1. All living things are either growing or dying. 
   1. There is no such thing as “static life” – it is an oxymoron.
2. Yeshua is teaching us that the same principle applies spiritually.
   1. The difference between a disciple and someone who merely believes is that a disciple continues (lit., “abides”) in His word thereby growing into freedom.
   2. “Abide” is the verb form of “abode”. 
      1. Think of a dwelling place, where you live, where you exist. 
      2. Living in Yeshua’s Words – and by extension, the Father’s – provides the womb where spiritual life can develop.
         1. It is an environment of nurturing and nourishment perfectly designed to grow and sustain life.
      3. Freedom comes to those who remain in this womb or soil by listening to and obeying (shamar) the Word of Elohim.

1. They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’? Yeshua answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:33-36).
   1. Having initially believed in Yeshua, these individuals are the group beside the road.
      1. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road” (Mat. 13:19).
   2. They believe in Christ but have not repented of their own sin.

KEY POINT:

Repentance from sin that produces crucifixion of the flesh is the prerequisite to becoming a son and heir in God’s Kingdom.

1. Recall the specific words of John 1:
   1.  “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (#1849) to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 
      1. G1849. exousia – “authority; power.”
         1. Used 102 times in the Greek New Testament, exousia describes the right, privilege, or jurisdiction to act.
      2. We can equate this to the birthright, which was the legal standing of a child to receive their father’s inheritance.
2. In Week 49, we discussed Galatians 4 and how Paul distinguishes between children, slaves and heirs (https://thecord.life/notes/week49/).
   1. Point #1: We are children of God (Gal. 3:26) who have been given the status of Abraham’s heir (Gal. 3:29).
      1. This status is not ethnic, socioeconomic or any other characteristic of the flesh (Gal. 3:28).
      2. Rather, we are heirs because, “we have put Messiah on” and therefore have a status equivalent to the Seed, Messiah Himself (Gal. 3:27).
   2.  Point #2: “[A]s long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave” (Gal. 4:1).
      1. When a child is an heir by lineage but still only a minor, they are not legally able to receive their inheritance and have the equivalent status of a bondservant.
   3.  Point #3: “So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world” (Gal. 4:3).
      1. Before coming to faith, we were like slaves and orphaned children, outside of God’s house, waiting for our adoption as sons (Gal. 4:4-5).
3. Returning to John 8, we see that the many in the crowd were still trusting in the flesh for their lineage and status.
   1. “’I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father.’ They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Yeshua said to them, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do” (John 8:37-40).
      1. Yeshua affirms that while their natural or biological lineage can be traced back to Father Abraham, their failure to receive and nourish the Word/Seed reveals they are illegitimate children.
         1. Their father (i.e. source) is actually the devil, HaSatan.
4. “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:42-44).
   1. Because the soil of their hearts is still rocky, they have no understanding and cannot recognize their own sin.
      1. Specifically, they are slaves to their own desires (i.e. the flesh) and as a result, prefer deception (e.g. darkness) over truth (e.g. light).
         1. “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

1. So, how can we apply these truths to our lives?
   1. #1 – Commit to growth, not just living.
      1. Too many Believers misinterpret grace as an excuse for passivity.
         1. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
            1. “Anything but pure faith equates to works and displeases God.”
      2. You and I are children of God – but will we become heirs?
         1. The Exodus generation provides the pattern for us.
            1. 3 million men left Egypt but only two possessed their inheritance in the Promised Land.
   2. #2 — Cultivate your soil to bear fruit. 
      1. What is the soil of your heart like?
         1. Do you lack understanding (Mat. 13:19)? 
         2. Are your roots shallow and susceptible to trial and difficulty (Mat. 13:21)?
         3. Are you distracted and weighed down by the cares of this world? (Mat. 13:22)?
         4. Or are you abiding in His Word and the fellowship of Believers in order to gain understanding and bear fruit 30-, 60-, 100-fold (Mat. 13:23)?
   3. #3 – Invest yourself to be the very best father or mother you can be.
      1. Men, you are the source of life in this world for your children. 
         1. Are they getting your best so they can truly thrive?
      2. Women, you nurture and sustain life in your home. 
         1. Is it where your heart, time, treasure and talents are going?

Does anyone have specific questions or need any clarification from what was said during the Summary or Exhortation?

Application & Discussion
Living the Word and following Yeshua (Acts 2:37; Romans 2:13)
Questions, input, and sharpening (Proverbs 27:17; Luke 2:46)

Romans 2:13 For it isn’t the hearers of the Torah who are righteous before Elohim, but the doers of the Torah will be justified.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

1. 1. What questions or comments came up during your family’s discussion of this week’s study?
   2. “What other related Scriptures did you find during your study of this week’s portion?”
   3. Have you ever experienced something from this study or something related to it?
   4. “What changes do you need to make in your life to align with what you learned during this week’s Torah Study?”
   5. What does a good father look like? A good mother?
   6. What fruit reveals to us the condition of the soil of our heart?
   7. What are you doing with the seeds that God has given your through Messiah?

Additional Notes