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Tag: moses

According to the Custom of Moses
Paul and Barnabas have returned from Cypress and the mountain cities of nearby Asia minor after nearly two years of an amazing first missionary journey from Antioch.

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Acts of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION, some preach. — We all know the type (and EACH of us in our own way have danced the dance).
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. – Acts 15:2 ESV

ἔθος – Ethos of Μωϋσῆς

Controversies of the Custom of Moses Continue

ethos – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1485 – ethos
- custom
- usage prescribed by law, institute, prescription, rite
ἔθος – Ethos from the Greek of Paul, Barnabas, the local language of the church at Antioch Syria from where these apostles had been sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit and the church — Ethos from the common Greek Jesus preached to the crowds of Galilee and Judea nearly two decades earlier

ἔθνος – Ethnos NOT of Μωϋσῆς

— ethos, so similar and applicable to ethnos, that is, ἔθνος, used for ‘the nations’ or gentiles.

ἔθνος – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1484 – ethnos
- a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  - a company, troop, swarm
- a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  - the human family
- a tribe, nation, people group
- in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
- Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
Circumcision (and other Mosaic traditions)

~ A.D. 60-62 – Luke’s two accounts of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are published for a church suffering severe persecution throughout the Empire, including Jerusalem which is about to be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70.

~ A.D. 49 – Luke’s records this encounter between some men of Judea and Gentile Christians of Antioch Syria. This takes place after their first missionary journey, leads to a council at Jerusalem and consequently to a second missionary journey (into the world of the gentiles).

So my first reaction to such opposition is WHY is circumcision such a BIG DEAL with these men?

~ A.D. 32 [Jerusalem]

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. .. and they set up false witnesses who said, “..we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 6:9-14 ESV – excerpt from Jewish accusation of Stephen

The issue of the LAW, covenants and traditions is NOT who has broken with tradition but who the LORD now separates to HIMSELF by the Sacrifice of Christ.

The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
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Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.
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Acts of the Apostles

Paul and Barnabas have prevailed over such opposition by the power of the Holy Spirit throughout their first missionary Journey already.

Opposed to the Gospel at the Gate: Bar-Jesus

Acts 13:9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Acts of the Apostles 13:47 ESV

The issue of salvation of the Gentiles NOT the traditions of Moses, Israel, Abraham or David.

Unworthy of Eternal Life

But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. – Acts of the Apostles 13:50 ESV

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Act of the Apostles 14:1-2 ESV

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds [at Lystra], they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
Acts of the Apostles 14:19 ESV

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. – Acts 14:23 ESV

Acts 15 of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas

So several months back before this year of our Lord 49, the Holy Spirit anointed these apostles to be sent out from the church at Antioch. Their mission was first to the Jews, but also to Romans in the Roman cities and Greeks in the Greek cities — men NOT of the circumcision AND women as well – the ethos of the ethnos as it were — the uncustomary customs of the gentiles accepted into the Church by its Apostles and Elders as new traditions of grace in Jesus Christ.

2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

Journey from Antioch to Jerusalem via Roman roads to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, Caesarea on the Samarian coast and Joppa on the Judean coast to Jerusalem is approximately 350 miles.

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

NEXT: The Council at Jerusalem

Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem (by the church at Antioch Syria) from where the Holy Spirit had sent them into the lands of the Gentiles.

These apostles of Antioch continue to proclaim the Gospel as previously on this next journey of more than three-hundred miles to Jerusalem.

The Samaritans and certainly Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon are NOT of an ethos like the Judeans either (but Jesus had brought the Gospel to these towns too).

The church has also added Romans in Caesarea when Peter previously visited, as had Samaritans witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit in Joppa.

In Jerusalem Peter, Paul, Barnabas, the Apostles and many others will sort it all out as the Holy Spirit continues to bring both Jew and Gentile together in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued…
December 29, 2022
Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 4- Tragic Death of a shepherd

I had opened my eyes (just for a moment) and thought that I saw a sunrise from long long ago.. Watching for a long time (it seemed) or maybe for just an instant (I could not tell). I then observed the sun waning beneath the surface of this paradise.

Tragic DEATH!

This instant of time quickly reverted into a darkness.. and my eyes (I thought) were not even closed again. I quivered and held my breath (I thought), as an eerie sense of a chaotic scene drew me down beneath the place where I thought I had just stood above the once magnificent paradise.

So I was no longer filled with any breath of joy at what I had already seen.

Then a scene planted my mind into a still and horrific place which pierced the ash-like fog into which I had fallen. I knew that this place emerging into the strain of my blinded eyes was not only beyond the garden, but it is beyond the fields where I had just witnessed a contentious conversation between two brothers.

I looked deeper into the darkness.. and then, I now realize, — beneath it.

Just then, I remembered my Guide, who I guessed had not only led me to the garden east of Paradise but also to this place. And I remembered straining to hear what the two brothers were saying: Kahyin, the gardener, and Heḇel, the shepherd whose offering had pleased the LORD.

.. It was only then that a dark and joyless truth wounded my briefly revived heart.

HE KILLED HIM!

So it came about in the course of time that Cain [qayin] [Smith {like Moses’ father-in-law}] brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.
Bereishit (Genesis) 4:3 :: קַיִן The same as קַיִן (H7013) The KJV translates Strong’s H7013 in the following manner: spear

Once again I wanted more knowledge from my Guide about what I had just seen.

So CAIN, a disgruntled gardener, KILLED his brother, a shepherd?

You have just witnessed its result, my Guide confirmed.

So Cain was ALSO the Hunter, wasn’t he?

No.

I was wrong already..

Who then, I wondered as my Guide continued His response.

He murdered Abel, just as later in your timeline you know that Moses would murder a Hebrew brother.

WHY? Why did the Lord allow it?

I plead for the bloodied body I had just seen of the shepherd brother of Cain not even thinking (in my response) of the man Moses had killed.

I reasoned with my Guide:

This shepherd, Abel, was a righteous man. AND the LORD even accepted his offering at the same time He rejected what Cain brought Him.

And logically I added:

HE could have stopped Abel’s murder.

Yes, of course the LORD could have prevented Cain from killing Abel.

AND The Almighty could have prevented the guilty man to whom HE gave this story, Moses, from killing a Hebrew slave when he lived as a prince in Egypt.

I had no answer..

You asked why the LORD allowed these things to happen to Cain who mostly lived as a good man trying to please God.

I thought of Moses (this time)..

and Joseph in Egypt before their slavery..

THEN I remembered what my Guide had just asked me an instant ago, “Why would it make any difference to you if one brother’s offering is better than the other’s OR if either brother knows about the offering of the other?”

And I even remembered that David was also a later shepherd, just like Abel, yet like Moses and Cain King David had murdered a man.

Do you think it would be better for these men to have NO choice in what they do and just have God lead them here and there to do as the Lord their God pleases?

I began thinking about Cain and Able BOTH being FREE to choose their own actions and reactions in the paradise of God.

Each of them Slaves!!? — I thought. IF we are NOT FREE to choose wrong, it would make us like slaves of GOD..

I’m thankful that I am free from slavery, even to GOD.

I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud.

Of course you are free to say whatever you would like to me.. and to God.

And even though you may say anything to any other man you encounter on the earth the LORD does not restrain you, think of those words you cannot hear. You just witnessed the consequences of only one such encounter.

Now look ahead to right judgment of the LORD when we freely choose to accept His Word.

IN THE BEGINNING…

For an instant I looked back.. further to the west of the endless line..

I thought I heard sobbing.. and “I’m so sorry I didn’t raise you right” and “We didn’t want you to know the mistakes we made..” ..and yet more wailing the way I felt over the death of Abel. Adam and Eve loudly lamented all of this.. and the separation of a father and mother from one sinful son: Cain, who had just killed the other son they loved..

I could only imagine my own father or mother IF I had actually killed any of my siblings.. (or anyone, for that matter).

“Not only is this tragic death of their son Abel new to them,” my guide pointed out to me, “the impact of DEATH itself has just gripped Adam and Eve — two parents who the LORD had told many years before,

‘You shall surely die.’”

I thought of those times one of my brothers had been MAD at ME… What if it were my blood in that field?

Then the LORD said to Cain,
“Where is Abel your brother?”
And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:9 NASB20

Then He said, “What have you done?

The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

“Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

“When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you;
you will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth.”
Genesis 4:12 NASB20

4:16 וַיֵּצֵא קַיִן מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־נוֹד קִדְמַת־עֵֽדֶן׃

קַיִן [

Once upon a time there was a man named Kahyin.. who brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

I heard the Voice of my Guide in Hebrew, yet somehow I understood every word.

I have told you about qayin and heḇel his brother for good reason.

Now it’s time for me to introduce you to the hunter.

3:1 וְהַנָּחָשׁ הָיָה עָרוּם מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה אַף כִּֽי־אָמַר אֱלֹהִים לֹא תֹֽאכְלוּ מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּֽן׃
Genesis 3:1 – Masoretic Text [Click this link to meet the Hunter, the first character Moses mentions here]

The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter

Roger Harned, Christian Author

April 23, 2022
The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter: a shepherd
Once upon a time there was a man named Kahyin Smith. (His friends called him Cain, a nickname long forgotten since his time near the beginning.)

Now I know that if you think back to ACT 1, SCENE 1 or most recently SCENE 2 of our story that you might think of Cain in Moses’ story. I mention this not only because we will momentarily continue with ACT !, SCENE 3, but in keeping with our LINE of thought,

I’d like to ask you a question:

IN the beginning..

Do you think that ‘Once upon a time..’ mirrors Moses’ story ‘IN THE BEGINNING’ in some way?
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Please add your ANSWER to a COMMENT at the end of any of these SCENES.
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Continuing with SCENE 3 of our Story:

Now Abel was a keeper of flocks..

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

Abel, on his part also brought an offering, from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering; but for Cain and his offering He had no regard..

Does Cahyin know that Heḇel made an offering that the LORD accepts while this brother of his worked even harder EVERY DAY as a farmer cultivating the soil full of weeds and thistles, I wondered?

I struggled to keep my eyes covered to keep out so many pictures of this world. And without me saying a single word, my Guide answered me with a question of his own.

Why would it make any difference to you if one brother’s offering is better than the other’s OR if either brother knows about the offering of the other?

Hmmm.. I had not considered that they may not have had just one place to make their offerings. Since Cain worked the farm while Able wanders the fields as a ‘keeper of sheep..’ maybe goats.. and other creatures roam the earth too.., I wondered; then I asked my Guide,

But even if they worshiped at the same stone altar, how would they know if God accepted either offering? Could both brothers see the LORD?

Look closer.. What do you see?

Two men approaching each other from a distance.

It seems to be the end of a day — twilight — and a stone altar stands at the edge of one field and also near a field — I think it’s wheat — the one coming from a partially cultivated field behind him has an armful of early, small stalks.

And he seems to have some tinder, like thistles and dry stocks, too. (It must be to start a fire.)

Do YOU see the LORD?

I hear a young lamb in the arms of the shepherd as he also approaches the altar of sacrifice.

I don’t see anyone else.

.. And do you hear His Voice?

I looked back on the scene then listened.. But now the scene had quickly progressed and both men had reached the altar.

I could hear a quick crackling of dry branches and thistles burning away in an instant.. then a low roar of burning fat as the fire brightened where the slain lamb had been laid..

And a bright smoke rose into the darkness from the sacrifice of the lamb, while the fire faded into coldness where so many thistles and an unripened harvest had been lain so hastily.

Do you hear His Voice?

YES!

The LORD’s Voice sounds in my own hearing like a Fatherly rebuke of a child who has done something he shouldn’t have.

“Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy?
“If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door;
and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:6-7 NASB20 – :וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה

a change of Scene..

And Cain talked with Abel his brother..
Genesis 4:8a KJV

What do you suppose Cain said? (I couldn’t hear his words.)

AND What words do you think Cain and Abel had in their conversation of our NEXT Scene?

Synopsis (so far)

I’m going to have to leave our story right here for now.

So far: I had discovered that the garden near Eden was not exactly paradise. And you must realize by now that Cain was a Gardener, and just now that his brother Abel was a Shepherd.

NEXT: We will meet a hunter. (Any guesses who?)

Don’t forget to COMMENT on Moses’ IN THE BEGINNING compared to ONCE UPON A TIME..

The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter

Roger Harned, Christian Author
April 16, 2022