The Real Yeshua

The canon of the Hebrew Bible was defined, if not yet finally closed, by the end of the first century CE. The Pharisaic canon became the canon of Rabbinic Judaism, because the majority of those who re-founded the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans were Pharisees. The process that led to this canonization needs to be explored. How should we think about the books that were eventually included in the canon? Unlike the early church, ancient Jewish communities did not have a central authority that defined the books of the canon. The formation of the Jewish canon was not prescribed by the priests of the Temple of Jerusalem, it emerged from the bottom-up with each community holding to its own collection of authoritative texts. See pictures and read article at -- http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/04/The-Canonical-Process-Reconsidered

The calendar was very important in Yeshua’s Jewish world. A week in his life consisted of seven day, just like our weeks today. There were some important differences, however. Each week reminded Yeshua and his fellow Jews of the seven-day period of creation recorded at the beginning of the TORAH scroll . The creation of the first day is recorded in Genesis 1:5 (the words in bold type are transliterations of Hebrew words; ELOHIYM is usually translated “God”): ELOHIYM called the light “Day” ( יום - YOM ) and the darkness He called “Night” ( לילה - LAYLAH ).   And there was evening, and there was morning — YOM RISHON (First Day). A Jewish day begins and ends at sundown -- “ and there was evening , and there was morning .” Every afternoon, as the sun disappeared beyond the western horizon and the first three stars appeared, Yeshua viewed it as the beginning of a new day – a day that begins and ends with the fading of light in the western sky . The beginning and end of a...

It’s a Shabbat morning in 27 CE and you are at the synagogue in Nazareth in the Galilee. You are attending the regular morning service when the leader of the synagogue picks up the Isaiah scroll and calls a young man from the audience to come up and read from it. You are familiar with the words because it is one of the scheduled readings. The man unrolls the scroll to find the section and says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, sight to the blind, deliverance t o the downtrodden and those overwhelmed with troubles ; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 1 He then rolls up the scroll, gives it back to the leader, turns to the audience and says – “ Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing .”  This was definitely something you were not expecting! This reader had lived in Nazareth all of his life and his father was a carpenter. Everyone knew h...