Hebrew Gospel Pearls #11 – Matthew 4:17-22

In Hebrew Gospel Pearls #11, Matthew 4:17-22, Nehemia and Keith delve into the functions and roles of the prophet in the Tanakh and compare that to how Yeshua is portrayed in the New Testament.

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Hebrew Gospel Pearls #11 - Matthew 4:17-22

You are listening to Hebrew Gospel Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: The one that comes to mind for me is, “Forgive them, for they know not what they have done.” He’s actually praying for the people as he’s dying. So this intercession is one of the roles of the prophets, and the New Testament is portraying Yeshua as a prophet.

Keith: Welcome back to Hebrew Gospel Pearls, episode number 11, which I never thought we’d get to, Nehemia, but we are here. We’re continuing in this series. We had 10 in what we called the Pilot Season, but so many people are responding, we’re having so many things happen, we decided to continue on. However, before we get started, Nehemia, controversy. [laughing]

Nehemia: What’s the controversy?

Keith: Controversy is this, folks. We have been in what I call “production radical”, where we are trying to do both the public and the Plus episodes, the amount of time, the amount of energy, the amount of resources have been enormous. I have to give you a lot of credit, your patience has been amazing. You’ve been scouring the earth, and I mean this, for people that could actually help us with production. You’ve had people from different parts of the world, Europe and other places that have tried their hand at it. But you went to one organization, Nehemia, and you sent me the email, and it caught my attention. And I want to take a moment to address this.

Nehemia: I want to set up for people what the challenge is here.

Keith: Okay, please.

Nehemia: So when we’re doing these programs, you know, there are really two types of podcasts, for those who don’t know. There’s the podcast where you set up a mic, another guy sets up a mic and you just chit-chat for an hour, or for three hours, right? It’s the Joe Rogan model. The other model is the NPR model, where you do a 28-minute segment and they put 10,000 man-hours into it. We’re somewhere in the middle, right? We’re setting up the microphones, we’re having the conversation, but we also want it to look good, and the most important thing to me is I want somebody who understands the content. I want the production team to understand the content.

So if I say something incorrect, they can say, “Well, wait a minute. Whoa. Nehemia, you meant to say ‘Greek’, and you said, ‘Hebrew’.” And I’ve literally had that happen, where I was talking about the Maccabees and I meant to say “Greek”, and instead, I said, “Hebrew”. And they were able to fix it. And you can’t fix every one of those. You know, that’s really what I’m looking for, somebody who has some idea where we’re talking about a Bible verse, they understand what we’re talking about, and they understand that on the post-production side.

So to find someone like that is really challenging, right? Most people are like, “Oh yeah, we’ll fix your audio.” “Wait a minute. Is the audio correct?” “We don’t know if it’s correct. That’s your problem,” right? So I’m actually looking for people who could help us with that, because there’s a lot of content here. We want to get it right. And sure, there’ll still be mistakes even after the post-production, but we want to fix as much of it as we can. And, you know, I say, “Deuteronomy”, I meant “Leviticus”. They could throw that up on the screen and fix it there in post-production, at least for those watching the video.

So we contacted this one very prominent… I’ll let you take it from here.

Keith: [laughing] If you want to know why I got a little gray right now, it’s partly because of this story we’re about to tell. We’re trying to do Hebrew Gospel Pearls, and what Nehemia didn’t tell you, in terms of raising the production quality, I think right now we’re using two different camera situations, two different audio situations. And so when it’s time to do this production, it’s not as simple as someone just doing, like you said, the audio. It’s the video, it’s the audio, it’s the green screen, and the list goes on and on. It’s caused me to lose my hair and turn a little gray.

But when Nehemia sent me this particular thing, I thought I would like to bring this to you all that are listening, as a matter of prayer, concern and accountability. He found someone that looked at what we were trying do to and they said, “Oh, absolutely. I could do it. This is something…” The company said, “We could do it.” And everything was sort of progressing until… And now, Nehemia, I want you to take the story and act like you’re explaining it to me, because you did a phenomenal job of helping me understand the frustration and also, can I say, the surprise.

Nehemia: Well, one of the companies I contacted, one of the top podcast producers in the world, this is what they do all day long. They do podcasts. We get millions of downloads a year. They do people who get a million downloads a week. And they looked at the video production quality and they said, “Actually, we can’t do that. We’re audio people. What you guys are doing - we don’t have somebody to do that.”

So then I found this one company that one of the things they’re known for is they’re evangelical Christians. They’re devout, evangelical Christians. So I thought, “This is perfect, right? This isn’t Hebrew Voices. This is Hebrew Gospel Pearls. We’re talking about the Gospels. They’ll actually understand what we’re talking about, and they’ll be able to bring that side of it into the equation.”

And I was a little bit surprised. [laughing] They said, “Oh, it sounds great. We’ll check out your website and let you know if you’re a good fit for what we do.” And the guy writes back after checking out the website. And at first, he’s like, very positive on the phone. “Oh, you’re doing something about the Gospels. You know, we’re evangelical.” He says, “I do think there will be things you’re teaching that I would not agree with, so I’d prefer not to work on your content.”

Keith, I feel like I went in to get a cake [laughing] and I was told, “We don’t want to make your cake.” It’s like, “Dude, I’m not…”

Keith: Part of me, folks, is that I’m partly laughing because Nehemia and I have this kind of relationship where we go back and forth, but it really broke my heart that there was an opportunity to have someone… that Nehemia would reach out to someone, and he didn’t say, “Look, I’m only going to reach out to someone who believes like I believe or thinks like I think.” It had to do with what we are trying to do, and he thought, “Well, this would be great. We’re opening up the Gospels and we’re looking at language, history and context. We’re even going back to the language, the original language.” And the response was so narrow, Nehemia.

Nehemia: And look, if he doesn’t want to work on it, great. Please tell me up front, don’t waste my time. So I’m actually happy he was honest. I’m disappointed though, that…

Keith: But his reasoning…

Nehemia: …that was his attitude.

Keith: But the reasoning is, “I’m not going to agree with what…” How does he know what you…?

Nehemia: So he went to the website and checked out some other teachings, and I guess he said, “Okay, this is a Jewish guy who doesn’t believe in Jesus, we want nothing to do with him.” That seems to be what he’s saying here. So look, I’ve had this problem for a number of years. One of my objectives, Keith… we did the Torah Pearls nearly 10 years ago, in 2011, 2012. And one of my goals with Torah Pearls was to get them transcribed. And I wanted to do that for two reasons. Number one, was that we have people who are deaf who write to us and say, “Great. You did a podcast, but I have no access to this information.” So that was goal number one.

Number two is, I talk a mile a minute, I acknowledge this. And I’ve had people say, “I have to listen 10 times and I still can’t figure out what Nehemia is saying.” So I wanted it transcribed, and I wanted it transcribed as accurately as possible. So one of my rules was, there have to be two fluent Hebrew speakers who are part of the transcription, part of the transcription process. It has to be vetted twice by fluent Hebrew speakers. And it took quite a number of years, but we finally just finished not only transcribing the entirety of Torah Pearls, but also the entirety of Prophet Pearls. Now, all of those are available to people who can’t hear. They’re also available to people who can’t follow what we’re saying so quickly.

And also on top of that, if you’re searching for a specific thing we talked about - I get this all the time - “Nehemia, where did you talk about tattoos?” “I don’t know, there are 300 hours of material. You think I know where I talked about it?” Now, you can go to the website, nehemiaswall.com, and you could do a search and type in the word “tattoo”, and it’ll come up. And that’s the beauty of having the transcriptions. And are they 100 percent accurate? I don’t know, but they’ve been checked by two native Hebrew speakers. I didn’t check them, because I simply don’t have the time. This was a full-time project that took a number of years just to get this done. Right now, we’re in the process of having the Hebrew Gospel Pearls transcribed. I don’t want to wait years. I want this done ASAP.

And then, on top of that, the other thing we’re doing was, we’re now getting them translated into Spanish, because once you have a transcription, the translation is much easier.

Now, what does this have to do with the production? So for years, I tried to find people with the skills who were both fluent in English and understood the subject matter we’re talking about. They had to be fluent in Hebrew as well and understand the subject matter. Most of the people with those skillsets were Orthodox Jews who wanted nothing to do with the program. They’d say, “But you’re talking about Jesus. I don’t want anything to do with that. You’re a Karaite. You don’t agree with our Rabbis. I want nothing to do with this.”

I literally had one guy tell me, “My rabbi says I’m not allowed to work on your project.” And these are people I was going to pay, right? And so it took years to get that done. And now, we’re coming at it from the Christian side. [laughing] We’re running into the Christians saying, “We don’t want to work with you,” which is fine. We’ll find people who want to work with us, and who want to get this information out, and, you know, who will do a professional job. That’s what we’re looking for, is professionals.

Keith: Well, I want to say something. The people that have been working on it, the head producer, the people that have been working on the episodes up to this point, have done a phenomenal job. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Thank you to them. However, it’s an overwhelming process at times. That’s all you’re doing, okay. But there are other things that have to be done. We actually have other things going on in the ministry at Nehemia’s Wall, BFA International, et cetera. And so really what you had done is, you really took all of your time, energy and resources for a while, and had your team working on production, which means you couldn’t do anything else.

Nehemia: Well, and we had to expand the team, and we’re continuing to expand the team. So that’s a little bit of background. Can we jump into the Gospel, now? All right, let’s do it.

Keith: [laughing] Absolutely.

Nehemia: Matthew chapter 4 verses 17 to 22, I’m going to read it real quick in Hebrew. We’re going to talk about it a little bit, and then we’re going to go over to the bonus episode.

So just from the beginning, it’s a little bit odd, because verse 17 feels like it’s part of the previous section. Yet, in this Hebrew version of Matthew preserved by Shem Tov Ibn Shaprut it’s called Section 11, starting in verse 17.

Keith: In fact, the English actually does separate it. Like if I’m reading in the NASB, it has it in a separate section.

Nehemia: Oh, it does? Okay.

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: Meaning, it’s part of verse 16, which makes sense - it’s a continuation. So I don’t know who made these chapter divisions in Shem Tov. We’re not saying this is part of the original Matthew that Matthew wrote. I don’t know if he had any chapter divisions, right?

All right, our chapter divisions were made in the 13th century by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Who made Shem Tov’s? We don’t know.

Mi kan v’elakh hitkhil Yeshua lidrosh, uledaber, ‘Khizru betshuva shel malchut shamayim krovah.’” We can spend the entire time on this verse. Actually, we probably will. “From here and on, Yeshua began to preach,” or it could also mean “to seek”, “and to speak,” or “to say”, “‘return in repentance for the kingdom of heaven is close.’” “Vayelech Yeshua al sfat hayam haGalil, vayar shnei akhim, Shimon she yikrei Simon, venikra Pietros, ve’Andrea, akhiv, mashlikhim mikhmoroteihem bayam shehayu dayagim.” “And Yeshua went on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and He saw two brothers, Shimon, who is called Simon, and is also called Pietros, and Andrea, his brother, who were throwing their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen.” “Vayomer lahem, ‘Lekhu akharai ve’eseh etkhem medayagim anashim.’” “And He said to them, ‘Go after me and I will make you fishers of men.” “Veya’azvu mikhmoroteihem be’ota sha’ah vayelkhu akharav,” “And they left their nets at that very hour, and they went after Him.”

Vayeit misham veyar shnei akhim akherim, Yakov veYokhanan, akhim benei Zavdiel, bela’az Zavadao, veZavada, ve’avihem be’oniya mechinim mikhmoroteihem, vayikra otam.” “And He turned from there and He saw two other brothers, Jacob and Yochanan, brothers who were the sons of Zavdiel, in the foreign language Zavadao and Zavada, and their father in a boat, preparing their nets, and He called them.” “Vayemaharu veyanikhu mikhmoroteihem ve’et avihem vayelkhu akharav.” “And they quickly left their nets and their father and they went after Him.”

Keith: Now, Nehemia. Before we start with this verse, I just want to give one other little reminder of something that’s happened in the midst of our last episode and now - is that folks, as we’re listening to Nehemia both read and translate, we have an interlinear, but we now made it so that if you’re a free member, you can actually get that interlinear at Hebrew Gospel Pearls. So regardless of Plus or not, you have the availability to do that. And the reason that’s important - we’re going to talk about it later - is that all of these resources, the things that we keep doing, keep doing, keep doing, is to help those folks everywhere that are listening and that are watching and they can study along with us.

Let’s keep going.

Nehemia: So that’s at bfainternational.com, you can get that.

Keith: At BFA International, if you’re a member, you can look at the interlinear. Yes.

Nehemia: Okay, excellent. All right. So I want to save some of the discussion for episode 12, for part 12. But verse 17, I think, is so rich and deep that we could [laughing] spend the entire time… Honestly, I think we could spend maybe the entire time just on the phrase “khizru betshuva”, “return in repentance”. But where do we begin here?

Keith: Well, can we remind them that we saw this phrase. Can we just talk about this for a second? Because when we looked at the phrase before, which was very close, we said, “We’ll wait until we get here to go in depth.” And if you remember, folks, I don’t remember which episode it was, but John actually gave a very similar phrase, was preaching a very similar phrase, and we talked about it then.

Nehemia: Right. It was Matthew chapter 3 verse 2, which is section 6 in the Shem Tov division, so it would be episode 6.

Keith: Episode 6, excellent.

Nehemia: It would have to be. Yeah, so in episode 6, John said virtually the same words. And we had this discussion yesterday. You said, “Isn’t it the same words with the exception of the words, ‘lavo’, “to come”, right? Otherwise, it’s verbatim the same. And I pointed out that if you compare what Yeshua says in Matthew 4 with what John says in Matthew 3, whether in the Hebrew or in the Greek, and then you compare it to the other Gospels which quote Yeshua as making this statement, that what Yeshua says in Matthew is closer to what John says in Matthew than what Yeshua is quoted as saying in the other Gospels.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: And that’s actually pretty amazing. What do I mean by that? So let’s see, what does Mark quote Yeshua as saying? That’s the question here. Let me pull this up here. And again, it’s Matthew Chapter 4 verse 17. So what are the actual words he says, according to the Hebrew version of Matthew? “Return in repentance, for the kingdom of heaven is close.” And then in Mark 1:14, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled.’” Wow, so that phrase doesn’t appear in Matthew. “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news.”

So what Yeshua says in Matthew, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, is closer to what John says in Matthew than what Yeshua says in Mark. “Repent and believe in the good news.” It doesn’t say anything about believing in the good news in Matthew, at least in verse 17 of Matthew 4.

And then Luke, “But He said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.’” So what is the good news that Yeshua’s preaching? Because if it’s the same thing he said in Matthew, I mean, either there are two different messages, right? And maybe he said lots of things, right? Maybe on Tuesday he said, “I’m preaching the good news,” and on Wednesday he just preached repentance. That’s one possibility. The other possibility is this is Matthew and Mark and Luke, all three of them, recording the same message, just with slightly different wording, in ways that maybe different audiences would understand.

Keith: Yeah. And I think that’s why, what I like about us looking at Hebrew of Matthew is that it’s very, if I could say… it’s concise, maybe if I could say that. It’s very, very concise. And it’s funny, when Howard translates it, he translates that first phrase and he says in verse 17, “Henceforth, Jesus began to preach and to say…” and here’s what Howard says He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” He uses one word, “repent”, and I think, Nehemia - correct me if I’m wrong - he’s really looking at two words to come up with one word.

Nehemia: Right, “khizru betshuva” is a phrase, “return in repentance”, yeah.

Keith: Yes. So he’s looking at… there are two words. He’s coming up with the word “repent”, which is obviously, from my background, we understood what the word “repent” was. Repent was like, okay, “Listen, you’ve realized, here’s the situation. You’ve got to stop. You’ve got to change your actions.” We used to use the image kind of like a U-turn. You’re going a certain way, you see that it’s a problem, you stop, you change your thinking and you go back the other way. That was what repentance sort of meant. But I know that we’re going to go a little bit deeper in terms of what the Tanakh says.

Nehemia: Well, so let’s start with saying something we’ve talked about, I’m pretty sure, in Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls, which is that in ancient Hebrew there’s a tendency to avoid abstract terms. A great example is the phrase, “to confess”, right? And so you could say, “he confessed”, or you could say, “he spoke his sins”. And those both mean the same thing. Or there’s the phrase in Exodus in one of the commandments, it says, “She was a virgin. She did not know a man.” That’s in Genesis 24, right? So “She was a virgin” is the abstract concept, and “she did not know a man” is explaining in concrete terms what that means. So Hebrew tends to explain in concrete terms, and “khizru betshuva” is a concrete term, “return in returning” is literally what it means. “Return in turning around.”

Keith: [laughing] That’s right.

Nehemia: So that’s literally what it means. And so we translate it with this abstract concept of repentance, but in Hebrew it’s very concrete terms. And those terms come from Ezekiel and other places, and Jeremiah. We’ll get to that, maybe, or Lamentations.

All right, I want to talk about a couple of things here, and the first thing I want to talk about before we get to this whole thing of Yeshua teaching repentance, and what repentance means, I think we’ll have to get to that in the Plus episode, is what I think, at least, the function of describing what Yeshua’s teaching here is. In other words, it starts out saying, “And then He began lidrosh.“Lidrosh” is a very interesting term. It could mean “to seek”, but here, it means “to preach”. You could even translate it as “to sermonize”. A drasha is a sermon. So he’s preaching something. It could also mean “seeking God in prayer”. It could mean a bunch of different things.

And then, what does he actually say in his sermon? “Turn in returning,” that is repent, “for the kingdom of heaven is close.” And what I think it’s doing here is describing him in the Tanakh role of the prophet. And what do I mean by that? We think of today, at least my background, we think of the prophet as sort of like this fortune teller. He tells you what’s going to happen in the future. If you look in the Tanakh, the meaning of prophet is a little bit different. It’s actually much broader, right? So what is a prophet? And they have different roles. I made a list here of nine different roles of a prophet. I’m sure there are many others.

Keith: Excellent.

Nehemia: Let’s start with number one, which is Moses, who is unique among the prophets. Moses is described in this prophetic ministry, I’m going to use that word, really in three main passages, in Numbers 12, 6 through 8. And this is when Moses’ brother and sister are essentially speaking against him, and then God says, in verse 6, “Here these, My words. When a prophet of Yehovah arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant, Moses. He is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth-to-mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of Yehovah,” whatever that means. “How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses?” Then, “Yehovah would speak to Moses,” Exodus 33:11 which reiterates this. “Yehovah would speak to Moses face-to-face as one man speaks to another. And he would then turn to the camp’s attendant, Joshua, the son of Nun, a youth would not stir out of the tent.” So Joshua’s overhearing these conversations.

But Moses had some prophetic experience which at least, according to the Torah, was unique. Deuteronomy 34:10 reiterates this. It says, “Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom Yehovah singled out…” or literally, “Whom Yehovah knew him face-to-face.” And people have pointed out in ancient times, what does this mean, “Never again did there arise in Israel”? Who wrote that? Moses wrote that? Joshua wrote that? So what does Joshua mean? In the last 30 days there was nobody like Moses?

So this is understood, at least by Jewish interpreters, as what’s known as the “prophetic past”. That is, a prophet would often say things in the past tense to indicate this is a certainty that it’s going to happen. So the phrase, “Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet” means, “Never again would there ever arise in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom Yehovah knew face-to-face.”

So Moses has a unique type of prophesy. He’s a law giver, he gives the Torah. In Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32 it says, “Don’t add or take away to all that He’s commanding,” that God is commanding through Moses. So that’s unique. That’s what we call in Latin, “sui generis”, it’s a unique situation.

Now, Deuteronomy 18:18-19, that’s the institution of prophet for the generations, right? That is, the people said, “Hey, we heard God’s voice, and it was too scary. We don’t want to hear that again. It scared us.” So they asked for a prophet.

And God says, in verse 18 and 19 of Deuteronomy 18, “I will raise up a prophet for them from among their own people like yourself,” meaning like Moses. “I will put My words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him. And if anybody fails to heed the words he speaks in My name, I Myself will call him to account.”

So we’re to obey the prophet, but what are we specifically to obey of what the prophet says? When he speaks Yehovah’s words, we are to obey that prophet. Now, if he speaks something contrary to what the Torah says, well then, we don’t listen to him. That’s in Deuteronomy 12:32 into 13. So Deuteronomy 13 tests, we’ve talked about that before. So that’s one role of the prophet - speak the words of Yehovah.

Another role of the Prophet, Genesis 20, and there are many verses here, but we’ll look at a few of them. Genesis 20:7 is the first time the word “navi”, that is “prophet”, appears in the Tanakh.

Keith: Avraham.

Nehemia: It’s Avraham, or it’s God speaking about Avraham to Avimelech, the Philistine King. And God says, in the dream… And it’s interesting, because Avimelech hears God speaking to him in a dream but he’s not a prophet. Prophet doesn’t mean God speaks to you only. It’s more than that. “Therefore, restore the man’s wife,” God says, “since he is, ki navi hu,” “for he is a prophet. He will pray for you,” and it translates here in the JPS, “He will intercede for you.” That’s correct, “but he will pray for you, to save your life. If you fail to restore her, know that you shall die and all that are yours.”

So why does God need Abraham to come and pray for Avimelech? God could just say, “Hey, I know you didn’t mean to do this, Avimelech. I don’t need a man to pray for you,” but that’s one of the roles of the prophets…

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: …to pray for the people. Jeremiah 7:16, God says to Jeremiah, “As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf. Do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.” And then again, in 11:14 of Jeremiah, “As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me on account of their disaster.”

So praying for the people is one of the roles of the prophets. So let me ask you this question, Keith. As the New Testament expert, does Yeshua ever pray for the people? Does He ever intercede for the people?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So give me an example where He prays for the people.

Keith: So in John chapter 17 would be a good example, where He’s praying. In fact, they even use in the English Bibles, they talk about it being the High Priestly prayer.

Nehemia: So here for example, in verse 20 he says, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father in me, and I am in You. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me. The glory that You have given me, I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one.”

All right, so this is understood as a prayer. He’s praying for the people.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Okay. The one that comes to mind for me is, “Forgive them, for they know not what they have done.” He’s actually praying for the people as he’s dying. So this intercession is one of the roles of the prophets, and the New Testament is portraying Yeshua as a prophet. I think that’s surprising to some people, because I think a lot of Christians think, “Well, Jesus is just the Messiah. He’s more than a prophet.” Okay, well that may be. You know, that’s a theological statement.

The New Testament is describing him as a prophet, and the clearest example of that, by the way, which we jumped over, is Luke 24:19, when Yeshua’s walking with the disciples and they don’t know who he is. He asked them, they said, “Don’t you know the things that have happened?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who is a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” So this is a very deliberate description of Yeshua as a prophet.

Now, another type of prophetic role that we see in the Tanakh is what’s called the “literary prophets”. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel - they write these very long books that are full of prophesies. Some of them are long prophesies. Most of them are actually quite short. They seem long to us because of our chapter divisions, but if you look at the way they’re divided in Hebrew, they’re actually a series of very short prophesies.

In contrast to the literary prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, people like Elijah and Elisha, or Eliyahu and Elisha, who are the miracle worker prophets. That is, Eliyahu and Elisha, as far we know, didn’t write anything. And almost nothing was written about their prophesies. Their prophesies are very short prophesies. Even when they have prophesies, they mostly are performing miracles.

And if you look throughout the New Testament, each thing that we’re listing off here, Yeshua is portrayed in these different ways. The literary aspect is what we’re going to get to in season two. Can we talk about season two?

Keith: Can we talk about it for a second?

Nehemia: So we’re going to do what we call season two. We were originally going to do 10 episodes as a pilot, and then we realized if we do 12 we get to the end of Matthew 4. And then, season 2 can be the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is Yeshua’s equivalent of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. It is literally, Yeshua’s giving a sermon, and it’s not just he went here and he did this and he did that. He’s actually speaking, so it’s very similar in some ways to what Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel did.

Now, you and I had this encounter where we had an evangelical - I think he was a professor - who made the statement that the Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew chapters 5 through 7 and arguably Luke 11, sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain, that there was no single event in history like that, this man said to us. He said, “Matthew sat down years later and he concocted this story in his study, compiling numerous teachings that Yeshua had presented on different occasions.”

And so I think what that approach is doing is robbing from Yeshua this opportunity to be an Isaiah, to be a Jeremiah, to be an Ezekiel, to give a long, literary sermon. So I can’t wait to get to Matthew chapters 5 through 7 in season two. Really, to me that’s much more exciting in some ways than this, in that we get to delve in it in a completely different way. It’s just such a deeper way that we can delve into it than what we’ve been doing up till now.

All right, number five is to call people to repentance. A few examples of that are Jeremiah 7:21-28, Jeremiah 35:12-15, Jeremiah 44:4. I want to look at Ezekiel 33, we’re going to come back to that, probably in the Plus episode, I don’t think we’ll have time to get to it now. But I want to come back to Ezekiel 33, because that is key to understanding the role of the prophet, and I think to what Yeshua was preaching here, in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17.

But quickly, I want to read Jeremiah 7:21-28. “Thus says Yehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh.’” So normally a burnt offering was something where the entire animal was burned, except for maybe small parts of it. He’s like, “Forget about it. Just eat the whole thing.” “For in the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Is that true? That’s right. At the Ten Commandments, God never mentioned sacrifices. “But this command I gave them, ‘Obey My voice and I will be your God, and you shall be My people, and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey, incline their ear. But in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own councils and looked backward rather than forward. From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all My servants, the prophets, to them day after day.”

So this is the role of the prophets. Day after day, He’s sending them the prophets, and literally it says in Hebrew, not day after day but, “hashkem veshaloakh”, “rising up,” it says, “Yom hashkem veshaloakh”, “every day, rising up early in the morning and sending them.”

So what is one of the key roles of the prophets? From the day that they left Egypt, according to Jeremiah, is to tell the people to repent. Exactly what Yeshua’s doing in Matthew 4:17, telling the people to repent. “Yet they do not listen to Me or pay attention but they stiffen their neck, they did worse than their ancestors did. So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.” Wow. “You shall call them but they will not answer you. You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of Yehovah, their God, and did not accept discipline. Truth has perished. It is cut off from their lips.’”

So look. This is when we read in Deuteronomy 18 that you have to listen to the prophet. What is the prophet telling you that you need to listen to? To repent.

Keith: To repent.

Nehemia: Jeremiah 35:12-15, obviously we’re not going to bring every place where the prophets talk about repent. “Then the word of Yehovah came to Jeremiah. Thus says Yehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Can you not learn a lesson and obey My words?’ says Yehovah. ‘The command has been carried out that Yonadav, son of Rekhav, gave to his ascendants to drink no wine. And they drank no wine to this day, for they have obeyed their ancestors’ voice.’”

So this was a custom, a tradition in the family of the Rekhabites, the descendants of Rekhav. Nothing to do with Rehab. In Joshua it’s spelled differently in Hebrew.

“But I myself have spoken to you persistently. You have not obeyed Me. I have sent you all My servants, the prophets, sending them persistently saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from your evil way, and amend your doings. And do not go after other Gods to serve them. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors,’ but you did not incline your ear or obey Me.”

And then, 44:4 of Jeremiah, “Yet I persistently sent you all My servants, the prophets saying, ‘I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate.’” Wow, amazing. And then the other translation doesn’t have “beg”. It’s, “Please don’t”, is the word “nah” in Hebrew. “Al nah ta’asu et devar hatoievah hazot,” “Please don’t do this abominable thing,” “asher saneti,” “that I hate.”

And that reminds me, Keith, of a prayer that you prayed years ago about loving the things God loves. Can you tell people about that?

Keith: Hm-hmm, it’s changed my life. I was standing on the mountain in Colorado, and I looked up and I said, “Yehovah, teach me to love what You love.” And I say, I should have stopped there, but then I continued and said, “and teach me to hate what You hate.” And it’s as if He raised His hands and started putting together a symphony. But that changed my life, that prayer.

Nehemia: Wow. Don’t you know, God is all love? He doesn’t have hate. Well, according to this, there are things God…

Keith: Unless you read the book. [laughing]

Nehemia: …despises, and things He hates.

Keith: Before you go on, can you do me a favor?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: What number are you at right now?

Nehemia: I’m at number five, although I already did number nine, so I’ve got three left. I’ll do them real quick.

Number six, is the war and the future punishment if the people don’t repent.

And number seven is, future promise of reconciliation. That is, “Okay, you’re not going to repent. I know you’re not. You’re going to be punished. But eventually, God will take you back.” That’s the reconciliation.

And then, we have number eight, and I already did nine which is miracle worker. Number eight is, specific future events to prove God’s providence, which is somewhat rare, but that happens. And that’s what we think of the prophet as doing, is number eight. But it’s actually quite rare.

For example, where the prophet comes and he foretells there’ll be a man named Josiah, there’ll be a man named Cyrus, a child will be born named Emmanuel. Those are relatively rare within the body of what the prophets did, but they’re an important part, because they prove God’s providence. It’s a theme throughout Isaiah 40 through 66.

Keith: Isn’t it interesting, Nehemia, that if you if ask many people, you ask them, “What is the role of the prophet?” they would say, “Well, they prophesy.”

Nehemia: Right, they tell the future.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: Like they’re these little fortune tellers. Now, they do tell the future, and they tell of specific events, right? I would argue that if you look throughout the Gospel of Matthew, and maybe all four Gospels, that you will see these nine functions of the prophet, at least numbers two through nine to some extent, and some people would even say number one, they describe Yeshua as carrying these out. And I think that’s very intentional that they’re trying to describe him as an Old Testament prophet.

Okay, we’ve got to talk about repentance, [laughing] because that’s what he actually preached. But I think we have to save the whole issue of repentance for the Plus episode, because there’s so much to talk about there.

Keith: Okay, well we’re going to do that. I want to say this to people. Some people get to challenge. They say, “Well, you guys talk about the Plus, et cetera, and you don’t need to, it sells itself.” Many of those people that say that are already Plus people. We talked to so many people, Nehemia, and literally, thousands and thousands of people that are listening. And I want to encourage them, because you said something earlier and I want to say this for them now. We’ve actually made some changes at bfainternational.com. This is where the Plus episode will be, for those that are interested in the Plus episode, you go to bfainternational.com. Become a Premium member and you get access to all the Plus episodes.

But I also want to encourage people in preparation for something that you’ve already brought out, and I’m hoping we’ll talk about it both in each of the episodes, 11 and 12, is that we are planning, by God’s grace, to continue with season two, which is going to be based on the Sermon on the Mount. And as Nehemia mentioned, this is going to be an amazing opportunity to dive into it. As I say, it’s one thing to talk about the idea of Yeshua, it’s different to talk about what He actually taught. [laughing] You know, the idea can be these theological games back and forth, but when you look at what He taught and ask, “How do I apply it in my life?” The Sermon on the Mount is the best example of a great sermon that you both understand it, as Ezra says, “He taught it, understood it, and then you can apply it into your life.”

So for those that are interested in becoming a free member, you’re going to get access to everything that we have for free members. It’s free, free, free. And those that want to be Premium members will get the Plus for BFA. As we said earlier, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 are at BFA International. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 are at Nehemia’s Wall. Nehemia, do you want to say anything about that? Because some really good episodes are over there, and there are other things there that are available too, so do you want to say anything about that before we…?

Nehemia: What I do want to talk about is, you know, we’ve had people say, “Well, I just go and listen to the Plus episode, because I want the good stuff.” [laughing] Well, the good stuff’s in both of them. You’ve got to watch both of them. We encourage people to watch both of them, because I think there’s really a lot of good stuff that we just covered. I think it’s key stuff, and we get to even go deeper in the bonus episode in the Hebrew Gospel Pearls Plus, number 11. Like you said, it’s going to be at bfainternational.com.

You know, I’ve had some people complain - and you’ve heard this as well - they say, “Nehemia and Keith, you spent two hours and you never got out of the first verse of the section.” That’s a good thing, guys! Look, in the Jewish way of thinking, there are actually two ways of studying. There’s what’s called “bekiut” and “be’iyun”. Bekiut is broad swathes of text. And I’ll bring an example that we had at Hebrew University.

So we had a class where we were tested on all the historical books of the Tanakh. And you went home and you read those books and they would say, “What were the three things that happened at Bethel? What were the two different events that happened with King Ahab and Jezabel?” Right? And you had to know these just broad swathes of text. And that’s extremely important.

Most of the study, though, was be’iyun, which is in-depth. And in be’iyun you could spend an entire semester or an entire year on one chapter. And that was a good thing, because then when you get to the other chapters, you’re sharpening these textual tools. You’re getting yourself a deeper understanding, so that when you go and you study the next thing, “Okay, now I know what a prophet does, right? I don’t need to re-invent the wheel.”

Keith: It’s really something, because I want people to understand this, too. We are giving you access to a whole lot of information. But as we go forward, we’re inviting you to come along with us. So as we go to season two and we get to the Sermon on the Mount, we’re expecting that you’re going to study along with us. We’re preparing, and I’m telling you right now, and Nehemia’s already said it, it’s going to be a different experience when we get to season two, if all goes well.

Nehemia: I can’t even wait. It’s exciting.

Keith: It’s really going to be amazing, because we’re going to be diving in. We’re going to be looking at the language, history and context of the words. And it’s all him, preaching.

So again, folks, we want to invite you to…

Nehemia: Yeshua preaching, not me, right? [laughing]

Keith: [laughing] Sometimes, you might get caught up, you guys. I’ve had it happen. It’s exiting. But again, just to remind everyone, those that are Plus members, Premium members, you can have access at bfainternational.com. Go to Nehemia’s Wall and become a Support Team Member. You get a chance to get access to all the Plus episodes there.

But this week, episode 11 is at bfainternational.com, and, if you become a free member, you’ll have access to the interlinear and the other episodes that we have that are available to you.

Nehemia, I want to thank you for giving us that list. I want to challenge people, and maybe you could… I don’t know, you’ve done this before…

Nehemia: We’ll post it on nehemiaswall.com.

Keith: Yeah, where you put that list up there, and let people study. Because that’s just so rich. That’s so rich. So we’re going to continue…

Nehemia: What I want people to do is to read the list of the nine different roles of the prophets, and look, I divided them as nine. You could have divided them differently.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: You could say, “Well, there are actually 14, because this is 2. Or we can combine these two.” That’s a bit subjective. I broke it up into nine different functions. But each one of those is what the Prophets did do in the Tanakh.

What I’d love people to do is to look into the Gospels, but especially Matthew, but all four Gospels, and find, okay… And post this in the comments on nehemiaswall.com and bfainternational.com. Give us the verses where Yeshua is described in these different roles. I think that would be an amazing study for people to do.

Read it from this different perspective of, rather than, “Okay, now we’ve got to find the prophesies Yeshua fulfilled in the Tanakh.” How about, read the Gospel of Luke and say, “Where is Yeshua described as telling the people to repent? Where is He described as an Eliyahu and Elisha miracle worker? Where is He described as the literary Prophet, Luke 11, for example?” I think that’s an amazing study that people could do.

Keith: I want to tell you, I was listening to the list and I was already like, “Okay, I see that, I see that.” Oh, wow. [laughing] It really is kind of fun. So you guys, we want you to keep coming along with us. We really want you to pray for us. And I want to say this. Back to the original issue regarding production. I do want to challenge people that are listening to continue to support nehemiaswall.com, bfainternational.com, because we’re going to continue the production.

Nehemia: One last thing before we end in prayer is I want to call on people to do three things. Number one, watch or listen. Number two, share or tell your friends and family. And subscribe them to Nehemia’s Wall, subscribe them to Keith’s podcast so that they can listen to this. And then, go to iTunes or Podchaser, whatever those things are, I don’t even know all of them, and give us a review, because that’s actually really important. I’ve had people say, “Oh, I found out about your podcast because I was looking for something on the New Testament, I was looking for something on Judaism, and you were listed in the reviews.” I’m like, “Wow, I didn’t even know people wrote reviews.” So give us a 5-star review on iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts.

If you find somewhere where you look for your podcasts and you don’t find this podcast, let us know, because that’s actually how we’re able to add to different… You know, these new services pop up and disappear all the time, and there are all kinds of technical aspects to it. So please let us know.

So watch, share and review. Those are extremely important, guys. Go, give us a thumbs up on YouTube. Share it on Facebook. Give us likes on Facebook. Share it on Twitter. But this is actually extremely important for us to get the message out, because we could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising this program. We don’t have that kind of money. And so we’re relying on you guys to put this information out by posting links, sharing it with your friends, subscribing your friends and family with their permission. That’s extremely important.

Keith: And remember, folks, this is number 11, so we’ve got 11 [laughing] public versions right now, plus 11 Plus versions. 11 plus 11 is what? 22 already. [laughing]

Nehemia: 22, wow.

Keith: Amazing.

Nehemia: Holy cow.

Keith: Okay, so we’re going to continue, folks. Those who want to come along with us, we’re going to be over at the Plus episode. Can we say a prayer?

Nehemia: Yehovah, Avinu Shebashamayim, Yehovah, our Father in Heaven, we’re getting so close to the end of episode 12 of this first season. Thank you for giving us the wisdom and the perseverance and just the facilities and the resources to be able to get as far as we’ve gotten. This is more than I ever expected, and I’m so grateful, Yehovah. Please be with all those people out there who are struggling with the pandemic, this year and in years to come, who knows what they’re struggling with. Please be with those people, and Yehovah, Rofeinu, Yehovah, our Healer, put Your healing upon the world. Amen.

Keith: Father, I want to thank You for the inspiration to do this series. The way we have done it up to this point has been by faith. Thank you to all that put their hands to the work, the producers, the people that are listening, the people are taking audio, video, all of that. Father, I especially want to thank You for those that have been supporting us through our Plus episodes, that they would continue to pray for us, and continue to support us. And for those that are in the public, we could reach just as many people as possible with this wonderful message. Thank you for Your goodness, Your grace, and for this opportunity. In Your name, amen.

Nehemia: Amen.

You have been listening to Hebrew Gospel Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

We hope the above transcript has been a helpful resource in your study. While much effort has been taken to provide you with this transcript, it should be noted that the transcript has not been reviewed by the speakers and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. If this teaching has been a blessing to you, please consider supporting Nehemia's research and teachings, so he can continue to empower people around the world with the Hebrew sources of their faith!


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Related Posts:
Hebrew Gospel Pearls PLUS #11
Hebrew Gospel Pearls #6
  • Ronald Wilson says:

    i finished Josephus the complete works. i did not see where he said Yeshuas’ ministry was 70 weeks . is it in another writings?

  • Marta says:

    I deed, Yeshua is a prophet. The curious thing I thought Nehemiah said was that Yehovah did not command burnt offerings and sacrifices. Please expound on this. Thank you. Marta

  • pinenutpam says:

    Shabbat Shalom Nehemia and Keith,
    Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the hard work on this project.
    I first learned of you Nehemia in 1997 through our mutual friend Dot who sent me your email newsletter which gave the new moon reports. You were just beginning to discover these Hebrew Matthew texts and were giving a cursory report on what you were finding. I was so skeptical at the time but so grateful to be learning how to keep the calendar under the conditions I found myself in not being able to have anything “Rabbinic” around because it created conflict in the ministry setting we were in at the time. It was not only exciting but life changing to realize that I didn’t have to rely on a wall calendar to keep track of the Moedim. And even though we couldn’t actually celebrate we could stay in sync with God’s appointed times. None of the work that you’ve done since then has been so impactful to my faith walk until now. From that time on I’ve hoped for the day that you would bring these texts to light. I must commend you I never dreamed that you would do such a spectacularly thorough job of it. This is by far your best work and in my not so humble opinion your most profound contribution to the biblical community’s faith. But most importantly it’s clear to me that this is the most pleasing of aroma’s you’ve ever presented to our Father in Heaven. Grafting this broken branch text back into it’s original trunk the Tanakh requires a husbandman of particular breeding and training.
    YHVH Bless you for so diligently laboring to enter into this. Toda

  • Sheila Price says:

    Listening for the 2nd time… and I thought this the first time but didn’t say anything… but it seems like I should… maybe if you contact Sid Roth… A Messianic Jew who has a lot of contacts… he may be able to make some suggestions for help.

  • Juan Beltran says:

    I can help u with the Spanish transcript.

  • LG says:

    Part 3.
    7. Jesus speaks of a future reconciliation in Mat. 16:24-28 and Mat. 24:29-31. One may include the crucifixion passages into this category since Paul sees Jesus’ death as bringing us to reconciliation with God (Eph 2:16 and Col. 1:29). However this reconciliation is something that already happened according to the NT and thus is not in the future.
    8. We see Jesus prophesy of future events, for example, in Mat. 24: 1-25:46 and John 2:18-22.
    9. We are almost all familiar with Jesus’ many miracles. I’d suggest if you want to know where Jesus performs miracles go read the Gospels for yourself!
    Keep reading.

  • LG says:

    Part 2
    4. We see Jesus function as a literary prophet in various passages like Mat. 5:3-7:29 (note verses 28-29), Mat. 10:5-42, Mat. 23:2-9, Luke 6:20-49, Luke 8:4-18, Luke 10:13-16, John 8:12-59, and John 14:1-17:26. Jesus’ woes in Luke 10:13-16 (and the parallel passages) sound very much like some of Isaiah’s prophecies in Isa. 9:8-23:18 and 28:1-34:17.
    5. We very clearly see Jesus’ call for repentance in this section of Hebrew Matthew but we also see it in Mat. 11:20-21 and Luke 13:3-5.
    6. We see Jesus warn of future punishment if there is no repentance in Mat. 11:22-24.

  • LG says:

    Part 1.
    1. Jesus’ role as a Torah-giver is recognized by some commentators in Mat. 5:17-48. In this passage Jesus is not giving a new Torah but rather recovering its original meaning in a time when Pharisaic Judaism interpreted the Torah in a way contrary to what the Torah said. Jesus may have been preaching against an ancient Pharisaic interpretation of Lev. 19:18 in Mat. 5:43-48 considering some of the Jewish commentators like Radak on Lev. 19:18.
    2. Jesus’ role as speaking the words of Yehovah can be seen, for example, in Mat 26:39 and John 7:16.
    3. We have a clear example of Jesus interceding in prayer in John 17:9-26. You might include Luke 25:34 however there are textual problems with this verse and it may it may have been an added to the text.

  • Donald Smith says:

    Nehemia – YeHoVaH is using you to build this beautiful tapestry of understanding that gives us the clear picture of Yeshuas’ mission. To call people back to the Father. Praise YHVH!

  • Aron says:

    Tanakh Roles of the Prophets that Yeshua exhibited
    1. Yeshua’s “I say unto” = Mat 3:9; 5:18-44; 6:5
    2. Yeshua’s “It is written” = Mat 4:6,7,10
    3. Yeshua’s intercessions = Mat 14:23; 23:37; Luk 23:34; Jhn 17:9
    4. Yeshua’s literature = Book of Revelation
    5. Yeshua’s call to repentance = Mat 4:17; Mat 9:13
    6. Yeshua’s warning of future punishment = Matt 23-25
    7. Yeshua assures future reconciliation = Mat 17:11 w/ Acts 1:7; Mat 23:39
    8. Yeshua’s telling of specific future events = Mat 24:1,2 [ch]; Book of Revelation
    9. Yeshua the Miracle-working Prophet = Mat ch14, ch15; and Mat 4:24; 8:8,13,16; 12:15,22; 14:14; 15:30; 19:2; 21:14

  • Tony Joyal says:

    Hi Nehrmia,
    So happy you guys are continuing the Gospel Pearls.
    I have a question for you about the Hebrew concepts of repentance.
    In Hebrew is there a difference between a Jew or a God fearing person that walks away from God and then turns back to God VS one who didn’t know God and asks forgiveness for his sins for the first time and comes to God vs coming back to God?

  • Richard Morris says:

    Thank You both for Hebrew Gospel Pearls and the Plus discussion, I decided to do the study you and Keith suggested, and identify Yeshua in all the Roles of the Prophets found in the Tanakh. I remembered Deuteronomy 18:15 as Moses told us of His coming.

    Then I picked up my copy of Michael Rood’s compilation in the Chronological Gospels,and realized it is all their in the index along with the date it happened.

    I can hardly wait for “The Sermon On the Mount” IT IS THE GOSPEL!

    Bless everything you are doing, you truly are ushering in the Kingdom and joining the two sticks.

    Rich Morris

  • barbara graham says:

    blessings……I agree need to watch both segments regular and the plus

  • lkorkames says:

    ROLES OF THE PROPHETS Found in the Tanakh
    1. Torah-giver (Moses – Num 12:6-8; Ex 33:11; Deut 34:10)
    2. Speak words of Yehovah (Deut 18:18-19)
    3. Prayer intercession (Gen 20:7; Jer 7:16; 11:14)
    4. Literary prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)
    5. Call people to repentance (Jer 7:21-28; 35:12-15; 44:4, Ezek 33)
    6. Warn of future punishment if they don’t repent
    7. Future promise of reconciliation (Isa 40-66)
    8. The telling of specific future events to prove God’s provenance (e.g. Josiah; Cyrus)
    9. Miracle-worker (Elijah, Elisha)

  • Richard Gutknecht says:

    Thank you for continuing! Can’t wait for season 2!

  • Sheila Price says:

    I finally just copied and pasted the link address and was finally able to get it on my FB page.

  • Sheila Price says:

    I tried to share this to Facebook and it would not allow… I have had that problem with FB an another site or two of Godly nature… huh… no surprise there… but I thought you need to know… I tried it 3 x and it wouldn’t share it.

  • lkorkames says:

    It makes me sad that this group of Christians refused to work with you. They will miss the blessing of enjoying your work and of participating in the strengthening of the foundation of the greater body of believers. YHVH bless you with the help you need!

  • Shirley says:

    You two are a treasure! And a gift to the world. Thank you so much for your dedication, honesty and love of Yahovah and the people of the earth. Blessings on you and yours

  • a0sc020 says:

    Thank You so very Much Nehemia & Keith for this Pearl #11. Explaining what goes on Behind the Scenes and all you do to make the content true to what you are teaching. I helps me appreciate even more what you and your team are doing and helps me know how to pray over all of you.
    It is so disheartening to hear how that one Evangelical group were so narrow minded and were not ready to get out of their box. But, it just shows that what you are doing is for “such a time as this”.
    Bless You and please continue to do what you do so well.
    Dori M

  • Sheila Price says:

    Could the term for to seek or to preach also mean both at the same time? I constantly seek God’s wisdom as I speak with someone so that what is said comes from The One Who Knows what that person needs to hear…. would not Jesus also be doing that… seeking from The Father what needs to be spoken?

  • You are wise to share the need for people with particular skills to help with production. Certainly someone will rise up to the challenge to help!

  • Cynda says:

    Thank you Nehemia and Keith for all your work and devotion in providing understanding into the Word of Yehovah (The Scriptures). Torah Prophets & Gospel. Blessings to you both and your ministries.

  • Jimmy Ray Fink says:

    Thank you for all your kindness and generosity and teaching. Blessings and God’s love.

  • David Heilbron Price says:

    Many thanks, Nehemia and Keith.
    A question: In Hugh Schonfield’s Translation of HebMatt 4:18, he has Kepha not Petros. Schonfield uses Shem-Tov like Howard but also versions of du Tillet and Munster. Doesn’t this (and other similar variations) show that there were several Hebrew versions of Matt? The use of Kepha would imply it is older. Schofield translated in 1927, before Howard, 1995.

  • Phillip Bradshaw says:

    It would save a lot of money for the content to be doubled and unrelated conversation to be reduced appropriately. When I study or present a subject, I always go for the complete discourse, so that the context and balance is included.

  • Rick Winkler says:

    I have been waiting for 35 years to hear a knowledgeable Jew explain the words which Yeshua spoke in the “sermon on the mount.” Thank you.

  • Erin says:

    Blessed be The Most High Elohim for opening our eyes and giving us the opportunity to be renewed. Shalom to you all

  • Julie Hofer says:

    Ever so grateful. Thank you!