Grafted Together Flyer 1 Draft.pdf

1.18.2010...that the Hebrew word for "charity", actually means "righteousness" or "justice"?

The Hebrew word for charity is tzedeka. In fact, the Hebraic concept of righteousness is synonymous with caring for the poor, the widow, and the alien or stranger. You must remember that the Israelites were slaves. They were strangers in a foreign land. Throughout the Torah, Yahweh instructed Israel to hear the cries of the oppressed; to provide for the widow; to remember the orphans; to treat with dignity and respect the foreigner who entered their land.

Over time, a tradition became associated with the Sabbath. At the final meal, the Havdalah, a box was placed on the center of the dining table. As family and friends joined together to discuss and learn the Torah, and to ask for a blessing on the coming week, they would place gifts into the box. The money in the box would be used to care for the widows, orphans and strangers in the community. That box became known as "The Tzedeka Box."

Isaiah 1:16-17
Wash yourselves clean! I am disgusted with your filthy deeds. Stop doing wrong and learn to live right.
See that justice (tzedekah) is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need."

1.17.2010...that some of the most prolific Protestant preachers believed and taught that the Torah (commonly called "the Law" in Christian circles) was central to understanding Salvation by grace?

John Wesley - "Before I preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, Law and judgment." Later advice to a friend: "Preach 90 percent Law and 10 percent grace."

Charles Spurgeon - "They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law."

Charles Finney - "Evermore the Law must prepare the way for the gospel; to overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts."

John Wycliffe - "The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the Law of God."

D. L. Moody - God, being a perfect God, had to give a perfect Law, and the Law was given not to save men, but to measure them."

1.15.2010...that Yeshua was referring to a well known Hebrew parable when He asked the people if they went looking for a "reed blowing in the wind"?

Matthew 11:7 - As they were leaving, Yeshua began speaking about Yochanan (John the Baptist) to the crowds: "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed blowing in the wind?"

At the time of Yeshua, there was a well known Hebrew parable called, "The Reed and the Oak Tree". A mighty oak and a thin reed were both planted by a river. Whenever the wind and rains came, the oak stood firm because of its deep roots. However, if the wind became too great, it could break the oak and bring it down. The firmness of the oak was the point. There was no compromise, even in the face of the greatest opposition. However, the reed could withstand any wind. It simply bent from one side to the other. The imagery is designed to teach us that standing firm on the truth, or in other words "living in black and white", can cost us everything.

This adds another layer to Matthew 11, as Yeshua referred to this parable in light of the news that Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) had recently been placed in prison. Yochanan had refused to compromise on the Truth. He was a picture of Living in Black and White. We must remember that we will face opposition when we stand against the shifting winds of society.

1.14.2010...that a significant number of Jews accepted Yeshua as Messiah during the 1st century?

The traditional teaching is that the Jews have yet to recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah that they have longed for. And while that is true today, Scripture clearly teaches us that a multitude of Jews accepted Yeshua as Savior and Messiah.

At the end of Sha'ul's (Paul) missionary journeys, he traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders of the early Church. Acts 21 recounts a story where Ya'acov (James, the half brother of Yeshua and leader of the Church in Jerusalem) confronts Sha'ul regarding the rumor that he had instructed the believing Jews to forsake Torah and live as Goyim (commonly translated as "gentiles", but more accurately translated "pagans".) Sha'ul assures these Jewish Believers that he is passionate about obeying the Torah, and he eventually goes to great lengths to prove this (that's for another day).

But there is an interesting mistranslation in nearly all English versions of the Bible. Acts 21:20 says, "And when they heard [it], they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the Law:" The key word is thousands. For most of us today, this is a surprising verse. Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem, who were zealous of the Torah (Law), were Believers? Maybe we should look closer at the word "thousands".

The Greek word here is myrias. Looking into the concordance, we see the following definition:1) ten thousand 2) an innumerable multitude, an unlimited number 3) innumerable hosts.

Now, if we look at the success of the early church we see that this number holds up. In Acts 2 we learn of 3,000 Jews, who had journeyed from throughout the world to Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot, who believed. In Acts 4, we learn of Kefa (Peter) and Yochanan (John) teaching in the Temple. Verse 4 says that the number of men who believed was about 5,000. Just those two events within a short time of what we call "Pentecost", indicate that the number was well over 10,000 (remembering that women and children were not included in the number).

The Scripture even teaches that a great number of priests were believers. Acts 6:7 says, "So the Word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim (disciples) in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim (priests) were becoming obedient to the faith."

When you note that the non-pilgrimage population of Jerusalem is estimated to have been between 80,000 and 200,000, and that tens of thousands of these Jews were Believers, we are forced to take a different view of the early Church.
1.13.2010...that Kefa (Peter) didn't "miss" when he cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the High Priest?

First, we must recognize that Malchus was not an ordinary servant, but was the segan hacohanim - the chief assistant to the high priest. While many assume that Kefa intended to cut off Malchus' head, a deeper understanding of Torah and Hebrew oral law gives us another perspective. In Hebraic oral law, to lose one's ear not only shamed the servant, but also disqualified him for service in the Temple. Leviticus 21:18-21 says, "No one with a defect may approach - no one blind, lame, with a mutilated face or a limb too long, a broken foot or running sores, or damaged testicles - no one descended from Aharon the cohen (Aaron the priest) who has such a defect and is not to approach to offer the bread of his God." A man with this type of defect or blemish was forbidden from working in the Temple.

In fact, this wasn't the only time this type of incident occurred. In 40 B.C., Antigonus, a Persian candidate for High Priest (by this time the position of High Priest was a political appointment usually obtained through bribery), had the ear of his uncle, Hyrcannus II, cut off to shame him and disqualify him for the office. This also happened numerous times during the reign of Herod the Great, as mentioned by the Jewish historian, Josephus. The Mishnah (Jewish commentary on the Torah and the Oral Law) states that the practice involved cutting off the ear lobe, rather than the whole ear.

Imagine the astonishment of Yeshua's talmidim (disciples) as Yeshua not only heals Malchus' injury, but also restores him to a place where he would be able to continue to serve in the Temple. Malchus came to condemn Yeshua. Yeshua extended grace to him.

1.12.2010...that the Name of God appears over 6,500 times in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament), but doesn't appear a single time in most English translations?

The English form of the letters for the Name of God are YHWH, pronounced Yahweh. The Hebrew scribes so revered the Name, and were so careful about taking the Name of Yahweh in vain, that they began a tradition of substituting a title in its place - ADONAI. By the time of Yeshua (Jesus), the Name of Yahweh was only said one time per year, on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and then only by the High Priest.

In English, ADONAI is translated as The LORD. If you look beginning in Genesis 2 and throughout the rest of the Scriptures, you will often see LORD (in all caps). Lord is simply a title, not the Name of God. But if you look at any concordance, you will see that the original Hebrew letters were YHWH - Yahweh.

Properly translated, Joel 2:32 reads: "And everyone who calls on the Name of Yahweh will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as Yahweh has said, among the survivors whom Yahweh calls."

Halleluyah (Praise be to Yahweh)!

1.11.2010...that the Hebrew word for corner is the same word for wing. This brings a moving understanding of a story from Yeshua's ministry.

In Matthew 9:19-22, we read of a time when Yeshua was making His way through a crowd toward a rich ruler's home to heal his daughter. While on His way, a woman with a blood disorder touched the hem of His garment and was healed. This is a great story of the healing power of Messiah. But to fully understand what happened we must look into the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament).

In Deuteronomy 22:12, the men of Israel were instructed to attach tassels or "tzitzit" to the corners of their garments. These tassels are specially tied into a series of knots, each thread and knot with a numeric significance. These numbers add up to 613, and remind Israel of their obligation to honor the Torah. The Hebrew word for "corner" is kanaph. Thus, the men attached the tzitzit to the kanaph of their garments.

A Messianic prophecy is recorded in Malachi 4:2 which states that the "Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings." The Hebrew word for wings is kanaph. The Torah teachers of Yeshua's day all understood and taught that this meant that the Messiah would have healing in His tzitzit.

Now we see more clearly what is being taught by Matthew in this story. This woman, who had been "unclean" for twelve years, had reached a point of ultimate desperation. By entering into the town, she was in violation of the Torah. She was unclean, and forbidden to be in contact with anyone who was clean. This was magnified even more but the fact that she was touching the hem of the garment of a kosher rabbi. This violation of Torah could result in her stoning. What motivated her to take this risk?

She wasn't simply touching the hem of the garment of Yeshua. She is reaching out and grabbing hold of the tzitzit attached to the kanaph of it. She is trusting that Yeshua is the promised Messiah, who will have healing power in His tzitzit, or she is dead. This act of faith is a bold declaration that she believed Yeshua was Messiah.

"But Yeshua, turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once the woman was made well." ~ Matthew 9:22

1.10.2010 ...that in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, also called the Pentateuch) there is an amazing Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS). An ELS is when you take every 3rd, or 10th, or 100th letter (whatever number you want), and together those letters show a pattern.

If you take every 50th letter in Genesis, from left to right, the ELS repeatedly spells "TORAH, TORAH, TORAH." The same pattern continues through Exodus. In Deuteronomy, if you skip every 49th letter, from right to left, it repeatedly spells "TORAH, TORAH, TORAH". The book of Number has this same pattern, right to left, every 50th letter.

The book of Leviticus, the central book of the Torah (both in location and importance) has an ELS as well. If you skip every 7th letter (the number of perfection), the letters spell, "YHWH, YHWH, YHWH", the sacred name of God, Yahweh.

Therefore, the first two books of the Torah point toward "YHWH" in Leviticus. And the last two books of the Torah point toward "YHWH" in Leviticus.

The odds of this occurring randomly are in the 1 in the millions. We serve an amazing God!