Newsletter 9

Issue Number 10/22/06

This past week the yearly cycle of Torah study has started again. The new Study Schedule is online now at the website. I hope more of you will study along with the cycle this year. I know that I have made a commitment to be more attentive to my Bible Study this year. I feel that through the study of God’s Word, we can come to know him far more intimately. I cannot tell you the times that I have read over the same verses and come to a whole new understanding of what it was saying.

I think that the more we read The Word, the more we understand. The more we understand, the more we CAN UNDERSTAND The Word. It is all about “frame of reference”. If I know “A”, then it is easier for me to understand “B”, and once I know “A” and “B”, I can apply that to “C”,”D” and “E”. I also think that there are things that happen in our lives, possibly orchestrated by HaShem Himself, that let’s us understand His Word better.

Praise Be to Him that teaches us through our lives!

There are a couple of things about last weeks readings that I would like to point out. The first has to do with the creation of Eve. It is fairly standard for us to think of Eve coming from Adam’s rib. I think that leads to many people (i.e. men) thinking that Eve was made from a small part of Man, and thereby throughout history, helping with the idea that Women are somewhat less than Men. Now I am not saying that this is what totally caused this because the same thing has happened in cultures that do not know our Bible. But I do think that it helped among the Christian nations to frame this idea. One of the big things I noticed in reading what the Sages taught about the Creation of Eve was that she was created from HALF of Adam. That God in His Wisdom, took one HALF of Adam and created Eve, making the ONLY time that we are WHOLE is when we are joined together in marriage. Only then are we complete! I think this is a much better way to look at it. Did the rib thing come from Male biased translators? I don’t know. The words in Hebrew are Adam’s “side”, not necessarily just a small portion. I don’t know where it started, but I think I like the Sages view better. And I think it runs true with what God tells us about marriage.

            The second thing that touched me quite a bit is about Adam himself. I came across part of this in my studies and thought about this for a good while, and to me, it just SHINES as part of the picture that God has painted for us in His Holy Word!

A lot of people have a hard time dealing with “original sin”. The fact that Adam’s act of disobedience ruined it for all of us. They don’t want to believe that one man’s actions affected all of us.

Well, Paul speaks eloquently of it in Romans 5

¹² Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that  all have sinned

And…….

¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

So, more or less, Adam’s sin affecting all of us was a foreshadow of Christ’s perfection saving us!

Paul also said in 1 Cor. 15:45….

45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

One thing you need to know is that the word “Adam” means “Man”. So when Yeshua was saying that He Was The Son of Man, in Hebrew, He was saying that He Was The Son of Adam. There are definite connections in The Bible between Adam and Yeshua. Adam was called by the Sages “a son of God” because he was not sired by a man; he was created directly by God. Yeshua of course, was also not sired by man, but by God. For these reasons and many more, one of Yeshua’s titles in The Bible is “The Last Adam”.

The first Adam caused us all to fall, to be cast out of Eden, to be saddled with a fallen world. The Last Adam, by his Perfection and Sacrifice, has provided us with a way to rise above this, to gain everlasting life in Heaven!

Just as ONE MAN cast us into darkness by his sin, ONE MAN has brought us into the light by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!

As Jesus told us, HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!

The whole Bible is full of pictures that tell us what was and what is to be, all at the same time.  Pictures that explain difficult concepts and make things written much more clear. I find it awesome that as soon as The Word begins, it is already painting that picture. I know that I am only seeing small glimpses of small pieces of the picture, but I am slowly seeing more and more of them. It is almost like a jigsaw puzzle that you don’t have the box top for. But I am already sure of what the picture is. I know that it is a picture of my beautiful Jesus! I just want to get more and more of the pieces put together so I can see Him more clearly!

Blessings in The Name of The Last Adam,

Tony and Robin