Deuteronomy 20:19 often translated to English as “man is like a tree of the field” carries a far richer meaning. The Hebrew translation reads, "Because Man Is A Tree of the Field".
The story of Jonah is not only the account of one prophet, but an ongoing challenge that confronts every generation. How do we respond when the God of Israel extends His mercy toward those we consider enemies?
Ezekiel 34 is one of the sharpest and clearest chapters in the Tanakh concerning the essence of leadership. It is a chapter that serves as Urim and Thummim for every public and spiritual leader, because it defines in a precise way what proper leadership is and what leadership that deviates from its calling is.
I once heard an excellent illustration of our lives under pressure. There are moments in life when a person feels as if he is lying on the ground with the metal track of a heavy tank passing over him. Each link in the track presses him further and further into the earth.
In our time, the patterns of Noah’s days have returned: violence, moral decline, self-centeredness, irreverence, and spiritual indifference. Yet just as Noah entered the ark and was saved, we also have been given an ark.
In the Scriptures there appears a unique figure called the man of the wall, the one who stands in the gap (watchmen on the wall). This is a person willing to take his place in the breach.
David admits that his enemies are many, but his deepest pain comes from the reproach and disgrace he bore for the sake of God’s holiness: “For zeal for Your house has consumed me.”
In the Hebrew Bible, the month of Tishrei is called “the seventh month” or “Yerach Ha-Eitanim” (“Month of the Strong Ones” (1 Kings 8:2). It is filled with holy days that carry deep spiritual meaning: