Vayikra (He called) Leviticus 1:1-6:7

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

21st March 2026 (3 Nisan)

Vayikra (He called) Leviticus 1:1-6:7

There is a key word in this first portion of Leviticus, which opens the door to the needs of all mankind, and on which the purpose of all that follows depends. Indeed, one might say that it is a defining word for the history of redemption of all God’s people. The word is in the second sentence. It is also the first word of the second and third chapters. The word is, when. The key word is when not if.

The purpose of the Tabernacle is that the Priests, as representatives of the community of Israel, could enter the presence of God. The privilege is awesome, and is far from light or casual. From this time forward, it is clear to all Israel that it is a privilege, both necessary and costly, to come before the most Holy God.

Our passage reveals in clear detail that a need is to be met in coming to God. The when of verse two implies that the sacrifices and offerings will be needed. There will be times when the Children of Israel sin. They will sin, and when they come to realise that they have sinned, they will need a way back to God. Sin is transgression of the law of God – failing to do all that is required. At these times of need, the required sacrifice is described in our portion, whereby the sins may be covered.

These are chapters that we may prefer not to read, let alone do what is stipulated. The best of the herd or flock is methodically killed and cut up, its flesh burned and its blood scattered – it is a life given for the life of the one who sinned. Into Israel’s consciousness was placed the heartfelt need of a life to be given, that the sinner’s life could be spared. Sins against God are to be understood by comparison with the required sacrifice.

This is not how we conduct our human affairs outside knowledge of the Lord, when we do not understand the seriousness of breaking His laws. As an illustration, picture a child who has disobeyed its parents. At best, a child goes to its father or mother and says sorry, gains pity, receives forgiveness and the matter is over - a simple transaction of love, but at no great cost or depth of understanding. Picture the confessionary of some churches. A person relates what he considers to be wrong since the last visit, and obtains absolution with a brief penance of chanting some prayers. In both these cases, and a multitude of others, the knowledge of how deep sin can be is not present and a person may well sin again in the same way. Not so with our most Holy Father in Heaven. He certainly abounds in love for us but it is not superficial love. He requires us to be holy as He is holy, so that any unholy deed must be known for what it is – sin is a matter of life and death. Ultimately, it is eternal life that is in view through the lessons of temporal life. There can be no compromise.

Our need goes right back to the beginning of Creation, to the first time that mankind sinned. There was no use in Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent: the nature of mankind was revealed and the first man and woman were cast out of God’s presence.

Until the time of Israel in the wilderness at Sinai, no remedy was available for the people of a nation to take the first steps towards redemption from the curse of the Fall. At no time before this had God established a means by which men and women could return to the fellowship lost in the Garden of Eden.

The awesomeness of the Covenant was made known to Abraham when animals were cut in two, a burning torch passing between the carcasses and deep darkness descending (Genesis 15). Surely Abraham knew the depth into which he was being drawn at the making of the Covenant. It took place only 3-400 years since the Great Flood at the time of Noah – God’s remedy for sin before the covenant with Abraham. 400 years is also roughly the time that Israel was in slavery in Egypt, where they experienced first-hand what it was like to live among a people bowing down to false gods. God’s teaching came step by step through history.

It is good to have all this in mind as we consider the necessary sacrifices and offerings that were to be at the centre of Israel’s pattern of life from then on, and for hundreds of years following.

Gruesome though this is, it presents us with a picture of mankind’s ongoing need. We also learn from the later history of Israel, that mankind’s need was helped but not cured by even this.

The practices of substitutionary sacrifice could so easily turn into religious ritual, so that the cry of the prophet Samuel could come as is if bringing fresh revelation (1 Samuel 15:22):

Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

The thought that God had said through Moses, when not if you bring an offering, reminds us that we do not easily fully obey the ways of God. However, obedience is the issue, and if the prime focus shifts to the atoning sacrifices, then dry religion has taken over from the intended walk with God.

That same dry religion could also become slovenly as it did at the time of Malachi, when  a blemished animal was presented to God, as if God could be fooled.  The result was God’s distancing Himself from His people and the multiplication both of sin and difficulty for them:

For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall be great among the Gentiles;
In every place incense shall be offered to My name,
And a pure offering;
For My name shall be great among the nations,
Says the Lord of hosts.

But you profane it,
In that you say,
‘The table of the Lord is defiled;
And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’

You also say,
‘Oh, what a weariness!’
And you sneer at it,
Says the Lord of hosts.
And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;
Thus you bring an offering!
Should I accept this from your hand?
Says the Lord.
But cursed be the deceiver
Who has in his flock a male,
And takes a vow,
But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—
For I am a great King,
Says the Lord of hosts,

And My name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:11-14)

Our portion this week is the beginning of God’s making a way for mankind to be redeemed from the Fall at Eden. God can neither compromise nor will compromise.

Psalm 51 speaks to us across the years since David sinned greatly in both adultery and murder, and yet had a heart after God’s own heart. Sin is a matter of the heart. The Psalm is the cry of a repentant heart that knows that the religious acts of the Tabernacle sacrifices are for a purpose, but that the need goes even deeper:

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:14-17)

David also wrote Psalm 19, where, in his desire to walk with God, looked out into the Creation to learn of Him. Then, whilst also meditating on God’s wonderful Torah, the fulness of his need of God reached down into his innermost need:

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:12-14)

Our Torah Portion this week helps us to understand the fulness of God’s intent in establishing the sacrificial system at Sinai. By reading further into our Bibles, we must admit that of itself it was not sufficient to meet the needs of fallen mankind to permanently return to fellowship with their Creator God.

The way was prepared for the greater sacrifice of which the sacrifices of the Tabernacle were a shadow.

The full balance of God’s love, holiness, righteous requirements and atoning sacrifice were embodied in the sacrifice of the Son of Man, Yeshua the Messiah.

The authors of the New Covenant writings dig deeply into their understanding of Yeshua’s sacrifice for us and the way that it was made permanent where daily sacrifices failed. The blood of animals was not sufficient for the needs of mankind. Following Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice, God sent His Holy Spirit to bring the change of character that these sacrifices could not bring. With the clear understanding that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), the Apostle Paul wrote clearly and analytically to bring understanding of the truth, especially in the masterpiece of his Letter to the Romans.

The Writer to the Hebrews, likewise, considers the greatness of the New Covenant in the shed blood of Yeshua, to which the animal sacrifices pointed, exhorting us all to come to the Father through Him by faith:

 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

In a short while, we will come to the season of Pesach (Passover). Our portion this week, if considered in isolation, will be incomplete, awe-inspiring that it is, nevertheless. It was a simply a profound beginning of God’s providing a way back to Him for fallen mankind. Let us, therefore, also begin to search the Scriptures more meaningfully, to discover the fulfilment of His purpose, where, through His own Son, we might go beyond temporary forgiveness to a transformed character in preparation for eternal life with Him.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayakhel (And assembled) Exodus 35:1-38:20/Pekudei (Accountings of) Exodus 38:21-40:38

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

14th March 2026 (25 Adar)

Vayakhel (And assembled) Exodus 35:1-38:20/Pekudei (Accountings of) Exodus 38:21-40:38

This week, our Bible study takes us to the end of Exodus. It is a wonderful passage to read. Much had happened since the crossing of the Red Sea, and now the Tabernacle is constructed, the Priestly ministry is about to begin and, most glorious of all, the presence of Almighty God came to fill the Tabernacle, which the artisans had made.

When the people of Israel look back over their history, and consider the best of times, this was it. A pilgrim people were about to walk with God across a wilderness to the Promised Land. Viewed retrospectively, life was far simpler then, than at any other time since, with complete dependence on God for daily food, protection and instruction.

Considering the rebellion that had recently occurred, what happened to bring order back to the nation and peace with God was equivalent to what we call revival in the Churches today –  repentance, a new beginning and renewed purpose.

The call went out for everyone to bring articles of gold, silver, bronze, precious stones, animal skins, wood, the best of fabrics, coloured thread, oil and precious perfumes. Each one who was willing was moved to bring their contribution for the building of the Tabernacle, and all who were skilled gathered together to offer their talents. One can imagine, from among the hundreds of thousands of people, a groundswell of movement. From here and there among the crowds of people, one or another stirring, and each converging meaningfully towards the centre of the camp, as each brought what they had committed to Moses, for the use of Bezalel and Aholiab and other gifted artisans. Surely this was a movement of the Spirit of God, bringing response to repentant hearts. Among the simplest of gifts, which illustrate this truth, were the bronze mirrors  from serving women, for the construction of the laver (Exodus 38:8). The washing vessel for the Priests was made from the mirrors which women had previously used to contemplate their outward appearance: focus on outer beauty was symbolically submitted to the means of inner cleansing and beauty - the result of the priestly ministry.

Let us pause and consider the potential of what was coming into being, for the ordering of the covenant people of God. The Tabernacle with all its beauty and purpose was constructed in the view of all the people. The Priestly garments were prepared in all their grandeur. The cloud of the Presence of God descended on the Tabernacle. From this time on, the daily experience of the Children of Israel was for God to be in their presence.

We read about the number of men over 20 years old in the community at that time– 603,550 (Exodus 30:14, 38:26). This gives an idea of the size of the camp that was set out in an ordered way with the Tabernacle at the centre. There must have been tens of thousands of tents for each of the Tribes. They were set out as ordered groups of tents, to the north, south, east and west. Around the Tabernacle, whenever the camp was set up, an immense community was established, in splendid array – in size, the equivalent of a city in our day – something that artists have sought to convey over the years: but it is hardly ever attained to convey the full magnificence of the scene that was the nation of Israel with God in their midst in those wilderness years.

Do we gain all that we can from this description of Israel at Sinai? We should meditate much on it, because it is a teaching related to who we are as the covenant people of God in our own day. The word shadow is used to describe what went before in contrast to the greater fulfilment of the New Covenant (Colossians 2, Hebrews 9, 10). Bear in mind that even though the word shadow is used, the imagery of the Old Covenant is not trivialised as if now meaningless. It was not only a shadow, but a model and teaching for what was to come in the New Covenant community. If we see magnificence in what Moses was shown on the mountain and what was made manifest through the wisdom of the artisans, we must expect an even greater and more glorious fulfilment through the ministry of Messiah in the covenant community today and into the future.

Ultimately, we can compare the camp of Israel in ordered array around the Tabernace of God’s presence in the wilderness, with the scene in Heaven which John saw:

 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:1-8)

This is a vision of the heavenly reality to come that was represented on earth in the form of the Tabernacle, and also with direct relevance to today and into the eternal future.

Just as the Tribes of Israel surrounded the Tabernacle in the wilderness, so there will be an ordered community of 12,000 from each Tribe (Revelation 7:4-8) around the Throne in Heaven (a symbolic number denoting the redeemed community of Israel gathered for eternal life). These will be joined by multitudes from every other tribe of the earth, the final great fulfilment of Romans 11:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

After Israel settled in the Promised Land, Solomon’s glorious Temple replaced the Tabernacle, with a continued manifestation of God’s presence as in the wilderness (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). Later came the rebuilt Temple at the time of Zerubbabel, and later still the ornate Temple of Herod.

Then came Yeshua HaMashiach!

He spoke of the replacement of the physical Temple with His living body. At the time, He spoke provocatively to the religious leaders, as He ministered in the Temple courts prior to His sacrificial death:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:19-21)

The Temple did later fall, according to Yeshua’s prophecy from the Mount of Olives during the season leading up to Passover, recorded in Matthew 24:

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)

The reality is that after Yeshua gave Himself as our sacrifice for sin at that Passover, neither the Tabernacle nor the Temple would afterwards be adequate for the ministry of the worldwide community of His people. As He had said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well:

Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.(John 4:21-24)

The community of all God’s people worldwide is the New Covenant reality of the community of God’s people in their ordered array at Mount Sinai. When the Holy Spirit came to us at the first Shavuot after the Passover when Yeshua gave Himself as our sacrificial Lamb of God, it was in fulfilment of what happened at the dedication of the Tabernacle, when the Spirit of God came to earth. This was the time when the reality of the shadow of the Tabernacle and Temple began to be manifest as the body of Yeshua’s disciples, when they received the Spirit of God in their inner being. Later the Apostle Peter understood this more fully and wrote:

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ

……. you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter  2:4-10)

Just as by the Spirit’s moving at the time of Moses when many people brought their contributions willingly for the building of the Tabernacle, so God moves us by the same Spirit to bring ourselves to Yeshua at the centre, and to the service of the living body of His people. Paul spoke much of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit, especially in his letters to the Ephesians and Corinthians – a wide diversity of manifestations of the presence of God:

…..for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

We are in the intermediate stage between the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the eternal Kingdom, pictured in Revelation 7. Because God’s covenant community is now scattered all around the world and not concentrated in one place as it was at the time of Moses, we may sometimes forget that we are to be an even more glorious presence on the earth. The physical reality of what we are reading this week concerning the Tabernacle, therefore, must surely encourage us to turn more fully from the compromises of the world around and be the body that the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings of both the New and Old Covenants speak.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Ki Tisa (When you elevate): Exodus 30:11-34:35

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

7th March 2026 (18 Adar)

Ki Tisa (When you elevate): Exodus 30:11-34:35

How well do we know our God and Father? We who have known His love may find it hard to also understand His wrath. The question is, how can the heart of pure love also seem to flip to an anger that is only quietened when the perpetrators of evil are taken from this world, as in our portion this week? After the Children of Israel made a golden calf for themselves, first the sons of Levi killed 3,000 of the leaders of the rebellion, and then God sent a plague to the camp of Israel (Exodus 32:28 and 35). How well did the Children of Israel know the God of Abraham, to have turned so quickly from Him when Moses was away for what seemed like a long time?

Just at the point in time when the laws of God were becoming known, and after the death of those who transgressed, would the Israelites then have understood the true character of God? They may have found it difficult to see beyond God’s wrath to His loving mercy. Perhaps the God of Israel has continued to be misunderstood over many centuries and, for some, even to today.

Surely, however, the justice of God was not vindictive, hateful or simply retributional. The word punishment is used in Exodus 32:34, but is this the complete picture? God said to Moses that He would blot out the entire nation of Israel and build a nation again through him (Exodus 32:10). Out of the entire earth, at that time, it seemed that God would have been satisfied if there was just one man who would live in pure obedient relationship with Him, at the expense of all other men and women who would not. This is the same God who regretted creating mankind and had wiped all of them away at the Great Flood and built again through one righteous man, Noah, and his close family. It must be taken seriously what God said He would do again, this time through Moses. Yet, we must look beyond even this if we are to know God as He truly is.

We can begin to understand the Father heart of God if we are parents ourselves. This is the closest we can understand the heart of God through our own human experience. If we desire the best for our children borne out of loving relationship, does it not tear into the depth of our heart if they stray from the right path, as all do in small or great measure at some time? Our parental response is to bring discipline and establish a right path but at cost to ourselves, as deep love responds in corrective measures.

The parable of the prodigal son, told by Yeshua (Luke 15:11-32), for example, stands testimony to the loving heart of Father God.

This indicates how deeply we must seek to understand what we are reading this week. We are at the beginning of the time when God in Heaven sought to form a covenant family here on earth. We, like they, must mature in our knowledge of our Father in Heaven.

The great warning to us is that during the long time that Moses was on the mountain with God, his own people were not patient and trusting. This was despite all that they had witnessed by the Hand of God in bringing them out of Egypt to Sinai. The Golden Calf becomes a teaching of what can happen when human beings forget the promises of God and even the evidence of His care for them, and invent gods of their own making.

Beware over-reaction in times of waiting and seeming silence from God!

Look at the world today. We have the truths of the Bible accessible to every country, and we have the testimony of Yeshua proclaimed in the Gospel message over many centuries, and witnessed by those who have been called into His worldwide community of faith. We were not at Sinai with Moses but every generation can recount how God has intervened in the affairs of men, whether it be through spiritual revivals within the community of believers, through the testimony of God’s care and guidance of individuals, in families and even in nations that have sought to be founded on biblical truths and values. Many times we have been brought through major crises including, at the national level, recent wars, diseases and financial problems.

Yet the world is still full of images of false gods and distorted ideas about the way to live. It is as if mankind looks for every excuse to ignore or undermine the God of Abraham, be it through science or humanistic endeavours which cause us to look inward to ourselves and our potential, rather than upward to God. This influences our politics as well as our religion. The Book of Revelation prophesies a coming world system, whose people bow the knee to the false god called the antichrist. This is comparable to the Golden Calf of Moses’ day.

There is a parallel with Moses going up to the mountain with God for an indeterminate time, when Yeshua ascended to the Father after His sacrificial death. Indeed, His sacrificial death brings echoes of Moses’ intercessions for Israel, when God said that He would destroy Israel and build again through him. In the One Man Yeshua, all the building of the covenant community is now taking place. He is the single focus as Moses was not to be.

Returning for a moment to our first question, if we need to learn of God’s love, we have the entire life, ministry and sacrifice of Yeshua to consider. If we consider Yeshua on the Cross, we are witnesses to the full depth, breadth and fulness of God’s love for us. The outpouring of wrath that should come to mankind, was shared between Father and Son, in the deepest response to what the pure but uncompromising love of God means.

Evidence of the completeness of what occurred through the Cross came at the first Shavuot (Pentecost) following Yeshua’s death and resurrection. Were not the 3,000 who died at the hands of the sons of Levi in mind when, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 from many nations were redeemed to God (Acts 2:41)? Was not the giving of the Torah through Moses the first Shavuot, and the giving of the Holy Spirit to write the Torah on our hearts, the first Shavuot of the New Covenant? These are evidences of how the ministry of Yeshua was greater than but comparable to that of Moses.

The Father came and lived with His people through His Son. Yeshua made this clear to His disciples:

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (John 14:8-10)

We must consider the condition for our own lives as we reflect on what happened in Israel, when Moses went up to spend time with God on the mountain. Because of what seemed like a long time for Moses to be away, the people wondered if he was ever coming back. So let us also consider our own situation – personally, in our family and in our believing community - as we now wait for the return of Yeshua.

Remember first, what was said of Him when He ascended to be with God the Father:

…. while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

If we find ourselves wondering if Yeshua will return, we must stand firm on the promise that He will – at the right time. Always remember how this compares directly with the situation of Moses on the mountain at Sinai with God, preparing for the time when the community of Israel was to be organised as a nation under God. We do not want to lose heart, or be impatient, as the Children of Israel did.

Yeshua, using a parable about an unjust judge, caused His disciples to consider the difficulties of being in an unjust  world waiting for His return. He asked:

Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8)

It is a stark warning that it is possible to fall away from faith during the time when we wait for Yeshua’s return. Yeshua also emphasised this in His prophecy concerning troubled times before His return, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21:

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14)

There will be a falling away, typified by the Golden Calf at Sinai. Yeshua, time and again, warned us about difficulties in the period before His return and reiterated His warning that even among His people there can be those who fall away, illustrated by the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25).

Always, He told us to watch out for Him, prepare for Him and to constantly be in prayer.

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matthew 25:13)

This is a strong lesson for us from the Torah Portion this week. There is a clear parallel between Moses and Yeshua. Paul the Apostle, who studied the Torah under Gamaliel prior to his revelation of Yeshua, knew this very well:

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

We return to our initial question as to how well we know God - to have a personal trusting relationship with Him - that will keep us steadfast in the faith whatever comes.

Remember the purpose of Yeshua’s sacrificial life and death, as prayed in the High Priestly prayer of John 17:

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:1-3)

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Tetzaveh (You shall command): Exodus 27:20-30:10

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

28th February 2026 (11 Adar)

Tetzaveh (You shall command): Exodus 27:20-30:10

Imagine that you are called into the presence of the president of a big corporation for whom you work. Your future prosperity depends on how you appear, how you answer questions, how respectful you are and how good his reports of you seem. Most likely, you would tidy yourself up, and rehearse all your answers to expected questions, ready to make your case and defend yourself if necessary.

Now imagine going into the presence of an earthly king, perhaps as Esther went into the presence King Ahasuerus. This could be even more fearful. Surely, you would set out to look your very best, do all that the monarch required, following all courtly protocol. Esther, remember was prepared with precious ointments for one year in advance of her being taken to the King’s palace (Esther 2:12). Ahasuerus had earlier set up a court with curtains of white, blue and purple fine linen (Esther 1:6) for a special feast.

Now try to conceive how it would be, to be called into the presence of the Creator of the universe, to the heavenly throne-room: a place of awe, wonder, infinite beauty and purity. Isaiah was so privileged. Would our response be the same as his?

 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:1-5)

It is with such thoughts as these that we should read this week’s portion.

Aaron and his sons were to be dressed, and prepared for their priestly ministry as God specified through Moses. Only then, could they approach God in the place prepared for Him. Daily, they must tend the lamps, prepare the shewbread and perform the sacrifices, with the help of the Levites. Once a year the High Priest, first Aaron, and thereafter for future generations his appointed successor, must go into the very presence of God.

In what attitude should Aaron approach the throne of God? He was not to go in to have a trivial conversation, ask for a pay rise, or defend his actions to some human employer, or even defend his life, as in the presence of some worldly kings. He dressed in holy garments made for glory and honour (Exodus 28:2). Then he made his way from the brazen altar, through the outer court to the threshold of the inner court. The inner court was bathed in the light of the burning lamps on the golden menorah, showing the ornamental design of the curtains, woven with blue, purple and scarlet thread. Perhaps he would pause and prepare himself wondering at the symbolism before him. Is not blue symbolic of the heavens and red symbolic of the earth? Purple is made from an expensive dye, often symbolising kingship. Yet it is also a blend of red and blue, mixing the colour of earth with the colour of heaven, an intermediary as it were between heaven and earth, between God and mankind. Was this his role, to intercede for his nation, rather than look to his own personal needs?

The ephod and the breastplate were also woven with these same colours, of gold, blue, purple and scarlet. The High Priest carried symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel in engraved onyx stones carried on his shoulder, and also twelve precious stones, carried over his heart (Exodus 28).

This was not a personal visit to the King of the Universe, but a dutiful visit on behalf of his people, Israel. All the symbols point to the ministry of intercession. This was not simply a ministry of the spoken word but a complete embodiment of it. It is a necessary ministry, answering the need of fallen mankind in a fallen world. God, by His grace, brought His heavenly presence to earth and allowed a bridge to be built to Himself that He might, in all royal dignity and purity, give a means for mankind to regain fellowship with Him that was lost through Adam and Eve.

The tiny nation of Israel was chosen so that all of mankind could learn their need and a way for redemption.

Inevitably there was failure. It would take more than representatives of fallen mankind with fallen nature to make the way of redemption permanent. The outer appearance and magnificence of the ordinances of the Tabernacle and Temple were not sufficient. As God said, sometime later concerning King David, the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.(1 Samuel 16:7)

A crisis came for Judah when God allowed the Babylonians to take the nation into captivity. Ezekiel prophesied at that time concerning the great falling away of the nation. The Temple would soon fall at the time of the Babylonian invasion. The very place set aside for the High Priest to meet with God would soon be removed. Ezekiel 22 lays the sins of Judah bare, ending with the following:

The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. (Ezekiel 22:29-31)

This speaks of the importance of the ministry of the Priests of the Tabernacle, and how eventually even that wonderful system failed and God’s glory departed from the Temple. It speaks, therefore, also of the need for a greater priesthood, and a High Priest with a pure heart, willing to give Himself for His people. That High Priest is Yeshua HaMashiach. The writer to the Hebrews identifies Him as being typified by Melchizedek (Hebrews 7), a personal calling not in the line of Levi.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. (Hebrews 8:1-6)

But Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:11-15)

Just as Aaron and his sons carried the burden of intercession for the entire nation of Israel, so Yeshua HaMashiach carried the burden of the sins of the entire world. He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

Sin is both individual and corporate. We each affect others around us for good or evil so that we cannot avoid the consequences of our interactions with one another, whether it be through interactions in our family, our neighbourhood or our nation. What sometimes seem like relatively small matters can scar lives of others, and they us, for many years. At its height our corporate sins lead to all the problems in our world, even wars, hunger and poverty.

All these considerations move us to consider Yeshua’s sacrifice on the Cross, fulfilling in His death both the sacrifice and the ministry of intercession. His prayers were first for His own people, the nation of Israel. They were also for the wider world, both individuals and communities. His intercessory prayer for us all echoes through all time.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. (Luke 23:34)

Such prayer, at the moment of deepest personal pain, came from the purest and most sacrificial of hearts, the very heart of God, for us all. This is the fulfilment of the ministry of the High Priest which begins in our Bible study this week.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Terumah (Offering): Exodus 25:1-27:19

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

21st February 2026 (4 Adar)

Terumah (Offering): Exodus 25:1-27:19

Before reading this week’s portion, consider the world around us. Look at the trees, breaking forth in their seasonal colours. Consider the birds, each with its own specific beautiful design. What else do you see as you look out of your window at the world that God created and ordered – all designed in the mind of God and made through the power of His Word.

This same Creator God designed the Tabernacle and all that was to be in it, with precise measurements, specifications of materials for construction and appearance. He designed it as the specific place where He would dwell in the midst of His people and meet with  them in a carefully ordered way. We learn something of the heart of our Creator, Who has made all things well, as we meditate on His instructions to Moses.

How wonderful that He who spread out the heavens and all that is in them involved mankind in the construction of the place where they would meet with and worship Him.

We do not know what Moses saw on the mountain. Did he have sight of a heavenly reality which was to be brought down as an earthy representation? Did he see something like Ezekiel saw in the form of  a Temple (Ezekiel 40-48), where reference was given to setting their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost (Ezekiel 43:8)? Does this describe how the three-dimensional representation of the physical reality is within the unseen heavenly reality, each part alongside the other, three earthly dimensions alongside three heavenly dimensions? What we know, is that Moses was given an exact design of a heavenly reality, knowing that this was to be built with precision for God in Heaven to be also among His people on earth.

Of itself, the design is magnificent with architectural excellence, yet simplicity, creating an understanding of how God chooses to be among His people. That Creator God could design a means whereby He will come down to earth is awe-inspiring.

We are able to consider every part of the structure in this and, in succeeding weeks of our readings, wonder at the symbolism of each part. Every detail is worthy of careful and prayerful meditation. This can become a Dayenu moment (it would have been enough). Who wouldn’t want to construct this Tabernacle, learn about the priestly ordinances, carry them out day by day and be satisfied that God is among us?

Yet, as always with God, there is more! The writer to the Hebrews saw this clearly, when he compared the temporary nature of the Old Covenant with the fulfilment of the New Covenant in Messiah. It might seem as almost heresy as we are only just beginning to read about the glorious Tabernacle in the wilderness, to imply that there is something greater to consider. Yet the Tabernacle was a representation of a heavenly truth that we now know prepared the way for what Hebrews 9 unashamedly describes as coming in another, infinitely more wonderful way:

The first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;  and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.  It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered …… But Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation……

This all takes a bit of digesting if we have never thought of it before - and that is why Yeshua met such opposition when He declared:

 Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)

The beautiful Temple in Jerusalem, being modelled on the Tabernacle, performed the same purpose. No wonder:

the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” (John 2:20)

The reason was:

 … He was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:21)

At the beginning of his Gospel account, John said of Yeshua:

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:2-3)

From the heart and mind of our Creator God came, through His Son, the design of the Tabernacle, but this was only the beginning of the teaching of how He would eventually live among us. Just as the whole of Creation came through Yeshua HaMashiach, so the Tabernacle and Temple speak of Him.

Paul the Apostle understood this too, writing to the community of disciples in Colosse concerning Yeshua:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.(Colossians 1:15-17)

Beginning with the Tabernacle in the wilderness, opportunity was given for God’s people to learn to live with God in their midst. However, we know, by reading on through the biblical Prophets how there were many failures, making the way for the New Covenant. The Tabernacle and Temple were put aside hundreds of years after the time of Moses, but their pattern was still to be fulfilled, because God determined that He would dwell among His people.

Psalm 84 expresses our heartfelt yearning for God in our midst. It is a psalm that bridges between the Old and New Covenant. It can be read as a desire to be in the Tabernacle or Temple with Him - or the even greater fulfilment of His purposes, to find our abiding place in Yeshua:

How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God. (Psalm 84:1-2)

If God could come to earth and dwell in a temporary place constructed by men, glorious as it was, how much more glorious to come to earth and dwell among us in the form of a human being!

Mankind can be set in its ways and settle for the familiar, so the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, though foretold by Yeshua (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21), can take time to sink in as the beginning of a glorious new era. Yet, with 2000 years to consider this, we have had enough time to realise that Yeshua is indeed the Son of God.

The invitation to come to God our Father in Him is personal and so much greater than the Tabernacle where access was only through the Levitical Priesthood.

Moses surely rejoiced when he was privileged to meet Yeshua HaMashiach, when shortly before the Feast of Tabernacles that year, Yeshua went up on a mountain with three of His disciples. It is described in Matthew 17:

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

In Exodus, we read that Moses met with God and received instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. He was also one of the two witnesses who identified Yeshua as its fulfilment.

Yeshua issued a most wonderful invitation. The Tabernacle and Temple were established as the place of meeting God in prayer. His invitation was to a personal fulfilment of the same meeting with God in prayer, but listen to the strength of the invitation:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, youwill ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:4-8)

If, as we study the Tabernacle and its ordinances in the next few weeks with discernment, we can discover that every element, every precious thing, every colour, every ornament and design is fulfilled in Yeshua. There is always so much more with the God of Israel whose creative mind and great love and desire to live among us, brought us both the Tabernacle and His Son, Yeshua.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Mishpatim (Judgments): Exodus 21:1-24:18

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

14th February 2026 (27 Shevat)

Mishpatim (Judgments): Exodus 21:1-24:18

This week, we begin to consider how Moses recorded many specific judgments relating to issues that arose in the community of Israel. We must each consider carefully how they apply to us. The Ten Commandments are much easier to understand than the specific detail of the hundreds of other instructions especially when, thousands of years later, our world can be so different from that of the Israelites of Moses’ day.

This matter should be studied by Christians as well as Jews. But how must we study?

This has certainly been important to the leaders of developing Judaism over many years. The influence of the Jewish Sages goes on to today. These are the scholars and rabbis throughout Jewish history, particularly during the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras. Famous among them are Hillel, Shammai, Rabbi Akiba, Maimonides and Baal Shem Tov. Records of the disputes between prominent rabbis, particularly Hillel and Shammai, as to how to interpret various teachings, have been preserved for others to study even today.

Especially prominent is Maimonides. This is the name by which Moses ben Maimon is known. He was born in Cordoba, Spain on Passover Eve 1135 or 1138, leaving Spain when his family refused to convert to Islam, dying in Fustat in Egypt on 12th December 1204. He was also known as Rambam. His tomb is in Tiberias. He derived the most well-known list of 613 Mitzvot (Commandments), gleaned from the Torah, published as a basis of his fourteen volume work entitled Mishneh Torah (Repetition of the Torah), the foundations of modern Jewish Halakhah. These 613 Mitzvot are traditionally considered as 365 negative commands (one for each day of the year) and 248 positive commands (one for each bone of our body).

Likewise there are many well-known Christian writers who, over the years, have brought rich understanding to Scripture from their personal walk with God.

By studying such history of the interpretation of Torah, we see that it is no small matter to seek out a way of living in obedience to the Commandments of God. We pay much honour to those who have taught well in their own generation, leaving records that are still rich sources of insight. Even so, when He brought His Torah to Moses, did God intend us to glean only from the experience of others, or is there light for or own unique path?

We read this week of the treatment of servants, of animals, of property, of violent behaviour, of sorcery and of justice. We are also introduced to the annual cycle of the Feasts of the Lord. These matters are of great importance, emphasised by the fact that Moses was called back into the presence of God at that time.

Each of us must pause and linger prayerfully on what seems most relevant to us. As we do so, we surely see that there is much more than a checklist of 613 commandments to tick off day by day in our lives, or to spend our life reading only from the voluminous commentaries of others.

Take, for example, Exodus 21:22-25. Is there an interpretation for today?

If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.  But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

What is described may happen literally, from time to time when men fight, resulting in harm to a pregnant mother and her baby. We know what God specified as punishment for such a fight. However, we may never come across this exact thing: but is there still relevance? Surely we should look into the heart intent of the commandment. God cares about the safety of an unborn child and holds those accountable who violently cause premature birth and harm to the child. Surely, this is of extreme relevance in nations that have legalised the abortion of unborn babies, and has thereby become a major issue relating to God’s judgment across those nations in our day. In a few verses, we have insight into the heart of God and the urgent need to understand, teach and apply His laws. We will find infinitely many applications to what God taught through Moses when we take the judgments of God seriously and prayerfully dig deeply into them day by day.

Take another example that may seem irrelevant today.  At first sight it seems like a disconnected thought tagged on to the rest of the Commandments:

The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Exodus 23:19)

What has boiling a kid in its mother’s milk have to do with us? Yes, perhaps remembering kindness and respect to animals even though there is permission from God to eat the flesh of clean animals since the time of Noah. Yet, we can dig a little deeper with the help of archaeological evidence, which has suggested that it was an ancient Canaanite oblation to their gods to carry out this act. Now, it makes sense. This comes in the passage where God has specified how to come into His presence at the Moedim, the Appointed Times: do not come in the manner of the nations serving their gods, but come in the prescribed manner. Here we have a beginning of a meditation which points to the exact fulfilment that was to come through Yeshua. We can search this out for ourselves across the entire Bible.

So how do we approach the study of Torah when each Commandment of God has depths of revelation that apply to individuals, families, communities and nations in various ways and at different times?

There are some wonderful moments in the history of God’s people when light came on the path of life for some. These insights will lead us to understand how Yeshua taught us about the heart intent of Torah.

The writer of Psalm 119 exclaimed (Verses 97-104):

Oh, how I love Your Torah!
It is my meditation all the day.
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

When Ezra came back from the Babylonian captivity to establish Torah in Judah, it was said of him:

Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Torah of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.  (Ezra 7:10)

Micah understood the heart of Torah (Micah 6:8):

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Isaiah was given insight as to what God required of His people (Isaiah 66:1-2):

Thus says the Lord:

Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord.
“But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word.

Jeremiah spoke of the New Covenant when, because of the sacrifice of Yeshua, the Holy Spirit would be given to cleanse hearts and put God’s wonderful Torah into them:

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Torah in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

The starting point is our attitude to the teaching of God, which brings a love for all He has said, a desire to search it out for ourselves and, with a humble heart, want nothing more than to imbibe its teaching and live in accordance with it.

When Yeshua was on the earth, he spent a lot of time confronting those who wrongly interpreted Torah. For all our efforts, we can simply get it wrong. We can read the precepts of Torah, skim over the surface and think them irrelevant. We can also strive to codify them into philosophical compartments so  much that we have a dry religion rather than a living walk with our Living God.

Yeshua did not bring such dry religion. He encouraged us to live by the heart truths of Torah.

As Isaiah had already proclaimed, God begins by looking into our hearts.

When he taught the parable of the Sower of good seed (Matthew 13), Yeshua spoke of the heart of people, some of whom have a soft heart to learn so that God’s teaching matures in their inner being, and others, for various reasons who, even hearing the wonderful teaching of God, fail to retain it.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), He spoke of those whom God could bless: the humble, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers and those with a pure heart. These are the ones whom Isaiah also highlighted as him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at My word.

Those who listened to Yeshua may not have yet achieved what they sought, but many desired to become what He was describing, compelled to follow Him, witness His sacrificial crucifixion and accept forgiveness of their transgressions. Such people echo King David’s cry in Psalm 51 - create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10): thereby, by receiving the empowering of the Holy Spirit, a new possibility of a walk with God begins for them – the true Halakhah.

How then do we read the Commandments of God, this week and in the coming weeks? Are we studying superficially, looking for ritual or even the philosophical interpretations of others - or to deepen our personal relationship with the God of Israel?

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Yitro (Jethro): Exodus 18:1-20:23

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

7th February 2026 (20 Shevat)

Yitro (Jethro): Exodus 18:1-20:23

Before God gave His Ten Commandments to Israel, a structure was implemented to enable them to be understood and obeyed:  interpretation of God’s teaching was delegated to elders of Israel. This was because of the advice given by Jethro (Yitro) to his son-in-law, Moses, and it has had implications for the many generations that were to come.

The pattern of delegated responsibility for interpreting Torah goes on even into our day. The 70 elders with Moses (Deuteronomy 24:1) is the same numerically as the 70 leaders with the High Priest of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period. The number also suggests why Yeshua chose 70 disciples to go out and bring the Gospel to the towns of Israel (Luke 10). Later there were to be Bible teachers in every community of disciples of Yeshua.

Torah must not be simply an intellectual pursuit. That is what Jethro knew when he advised Moses:

Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.  Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. (Exodus 18:19-22)

To show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do is the responsibility of every Bible teacher – it is a high calling.

Torah must result in Halakhah – how to walk out the teaching of God in every aspect of life. This has been the pursuit of the people of God from the time of Moses right up to our present day. Indeed, one might consider Torah (God’s teaching) as being Halakhah in the sense  that we are to embody Torah into our very lives in every way.

There are, however, many different points of view concerning the application of Torah. The written code of commandments, statutes and laws are the same for everyone - but their interpretation into a way of life has differed according to whichever rabbinic school or Bible teacher is followed.

Israel could not have been more clearly shown the importance of God’s requirements and right interpretation, as they witnessed the majestic and awesome scene at Mount Horeb, when they heard the voice of God midst the thundering and lightning and the sound of the trumpet from the smoking mountain. Deuteronomy 5 confirms that all the people heard the voice of God directly at that time:

The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.  The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 5:2-4)

Though they each heard the voice of God for themselves, they nevertheless asked that Moses become their intermediary, so they could be taught by man and not directly by God:

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:18-19)

From that time forward, for many generations, the advice given by Jethro was implemented. Teaching how God expected His people to live was in the hands of appointed leaders, first under Moses and then through parents, Elders, the Levitical Priesthood, Judges, Prophets and Kings, through revival at the time of Ezra and on to the Rabbinic system which continues to today – and also into the ministry of Bible teachers in Christian Churches.

As well as there being a variety of interpretations of God’s teaching, there is also a danger that Torah can become a dry intellectual exercise for some, even a means of control. Nevertheless, throughout all the years of Israel’s journey there have been many people who seek to have pure hearts towards God, emulating King David who wrote such wonderful Psalms, being a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 14).

This is why Yeshua constantly confronted some of the Rabbis of His day on their interpretation of Torah. He did this out of love for God’s people Israel, so that they could realise that a new and better way was beginning, even to that which began at Mount Sinai under Jethro’s advice and up to that time.

Yeshua was appointed by God the Father to bring in the New Covenant that was announced by Jeremiah:

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Yeshua is the full embodiment of Torah. He opened the way for the life of the Holy Spirit to bring more meaningful interpretation of God’s teaching to the covenant people of God. This would restore balance to what happened at Sinai when Israel preferred to be taught by man rather than directly by God. That new life began through Yeshua’s own teaching.

Sometimes Yeshua’s teaching seems so different from what many Rabbis taught that it is thought to be a beginning of a new religion. Indeed, both Jews and Christians have fallen into this trap. Not so! In what is called The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Yeshua was speaking to those of a soft heart towards God and giving a balanced and deep understanding of God’s Torah.

In our study this week, we read of the beginning of God’s Commandments, statutes and laws – ten things that are like a spectrum of light, from the highest respectful worship of the God of Creation to the simplest daily respect and duty to one’s neighbour. These Commandments are the beginning of all God’s teaching. Yeshua was clear that His own teaching conformed to this and indeed, was in accord with the two foundational teachings into which the Ten Commandments fit, to love God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbour as oneself (Deuteronomy 6:5/Mark 12:30, Leviticus 9:18/Mark 12:31).

Within the Sermon on the Mount He clearly stated:

 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)

Yeshua came in fulfilment of God’s promise of the New Covenant given through Jeremiah. This is the pivotal point of history that must not be misunderstood. What began at Mount Horeb came to fulfilment through Him.

 A mistake is made when people think that Yeshua would turn away from those who rejected Him of the nation Israel, forming a new body which later came to be known as the Christian Church. This mistake comes from a wrong understanding of something He said:

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.(Matthew 21:43)

This is how this verse is read from a number of popular translations, but by linking the words back through the Greek to the Hebrew, a better translation of this particular verse is:

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people bearing the fruits of it.

Yes, Yeshua confronted those people whose interpretation of Torah was not good, but he was not cancelling the ongoing promises of God for Israel. Through wrong interpretations of this verse, a breach has become too wide between the Christian Church and its foundations in the New Covenant first given to Israel and Judah  - indeed a breach between Christians and Jews, is so wide that it is wrongly taught that God began again with Gentile believers and that Yeshua turned away from His people Israel.

Yeshua cursed a fruitless fig tree (Mark 11), which did not symbolise the cursing of the nation of Israel, but was a warning to those who interpreted Torah in a lifeless way. The fruit of the fig tree is better understood as symbolic of the true life-giving interpretation of Torah. It is therefore linked to those with authority given to a Bible teacher to interpret Torah.  For example, when Nathanael was called to be a disciple of Yeshua, He had seen in his heart one who truly sought God as he studied under a fig tree, symbolic of seeking to study under the right interpretation of Scripture (John 1).

Today, Messianic Judaism is growing apace as never before since the first century CE. This is surely in fulfilment of what Luke wrote concerning Yeshua’s teaching about the end times:

Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Luke 21:29-33)

The budding of the fig tree has often been thought to refer to Israel returning to their Land in the Last Days, but a better interpretation is the strengthening of authority to those who rightly interpret Torah, arising again from among Jewish leaders. This is coincident with Israel returning to their land. Of course, it can be one and the same thing if Israel as a nation could embody the true meaning of Torah, as Yeshua alone has done. Nevertheless, through the grace of God and within His New Covenant purposes, Israel is wonderfully gathering again in their own land.

This moment in history signals the time for all believers in Yeshua to rightly search out and proclaim the life-giving truths of Scripture, both Jew and grafted in Gentile believer together. There are teachers across the entire world and in every believing community, appointed to interpret the Scriptures, in balance with the New Covenant promise that, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, everyone can now know God personally with God’s teaching growing to maturity in their heart – leading to the free and full Halakhah with God.

This fulfils Jethro’s advice to Moses, which is still relevant, but in the life-giving way that is in accord with Yeshua and His sending the Holy Spirit to all His disciples and also to inspire appointed teachers and interpreters of Torah.

If the giving of the Ten Commandments was profound in the history of Israel, the bringing in of the New Covenant is even more so. The writer to the Hebrews understood this, as we must today. We are exhorted to grow into maturity within the glorious new thing that the Lord has done in fulfilment of what went before. The contrast is both awesome and life-giving:

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24)

We are in the days of renewal and for deepening our walk with God, a day for coming to unity in faith and truth: all who are disciples of our teacher Yeshua.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

B’shalach (When he let go): Exodus 13:17-17:16

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

31st January 2026 (13 Shevat)

B’shalach (When he let go): Exodus 13:17-17:16

What a deliverance! Who would not sing as Moses sang? Who would not dance as Miriam danced?

Though the God of Abraham would help His people through many other battles – even the one against the Amalekites that we read about in this week’s study – the victory over Pharaoh was entirely the Lord’s doing. In all history we rarely, if ever, can recall such a direct act of God. Moses was told to tell the people:

Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. (Exodus 14:13-14)

A miracle was accomplished that has never been repeated. The fearful Israelites only stood still and looked on: the Red Sea parted and then they went through on dry ground, to safety from their defeated foes.

So surely it was right for the Children of Israel to gives thanks and rejoice on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The old life was over: a new life was before them.

While it was good for them to pause and give thanks, it was also necessary for them to move on. A journey was ahead of them – a walk in which they would be moulded into a nation under God, learning new things as they went. As such, it is a pattern for the life of anyone who would become a Hebrew by nature: trusting God for every stage of the journey, pausing to reflect and give thanks at appropriate times, and then moving on again. It is the journey of life. To be over-analytical on life’s journey, trying to work it all out logically, can be an enemy of being Hebraic. We must not let the enemy of doubt enter our minds concerning the security of our steps and our future with God. This can be so if we linger too long. So it was for the Children of Israel, who only three days later were confronted with lack of water and rejoicing turned to complaint.

Already, we hear the first echo in the teaching of Yeshua:

….do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31-34)

These words could have been spoken by Moses, encouraging the Children of Israel in their circumstance, just as much as by Yeshua encouraging the Israelites of His day - and as much as He is encouraging all His covenant family today.

Before drawing other parallels between Moses’ ministry in the wilderness and Yeshua’s greater ministry of fulfilment, let take an overview of what we are reading.

When we consider the journey of God’s people through history, it is sequential – one thing follows another. That is the experience of life on this earth. But surely God sees things differently. Yes, He is with us on our journey, but He also has the privileged position of eternity where He sees the end from the beginning, as He outworks His purposes fully.

Through Isaiah He said:

Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Who have been upheld by Me from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:

 Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to grey hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

…… I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.’  (Isaiah 46:3-10)

We cannot fully understand why and how God created the world and put fallible mankind as the priority of His created order. We can understand enough to know that from the beginning of time until the fulness of His Kingdom, He has a purpose. Though Adam fell, His purpose is that a new kind of being – created and redeemed human beings – will inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven with Him, be around His throne with the angels, serving Him forever, despite the free will that is a hindrance at every earthly step.

That God could choose individuals in each generation to fulfil part of the overall covenant plan is amazing – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses being among the most prominent up to this time in our Bible readings. Through each one of these specially chosen people we could think that history reached its peak at that time, and seal it with a song like Moses sang. Yet our timeline of history is caught up into one everlasting purpose in God. We perceive it piecemeal: He is always contemplating the whole.

It is as if the present purposes of God are part of an ever expanding universe of purpose, moving from the lesser to the greater – the mortal to the immortal. For us there is a process, each part coming to pass at the right time. For God, everything has a harmonious outworking. Thus, it should be no surprise that God had the end in view even at the time of Moses, so that the present experience would be in harmony with the completion of the plan of redemption. God would eventually take a covenant family from all mankind to be with Him forever, for them reversing the curse of the Fall in Eden.

In that there is harmony with all God’s purposes, what we learn from the wilderness journey is a preparation for later fulfilment. Later we will hear Moses promise Israel that a prophet like him would one day come to lead God’s people to the ultimate future that is planned (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). This led to Israel waiting for that prophet over many years. Elsewhere in the history of Israel, an expectation grew for a king, following the pattern of David. It was hard to imagine whom this kingly prophet might be. With growing discernment there could also have been expectation that whoever God chose would have the calling of a Priest. Looking ahead, despite a glorious expectation, no-one could foresee that the three ministries of Prophet, Priest and King would be given so wonderfully to one Man. In hindsight it is clear, but Israel was to take a journey of faith rather than sight. A greater ministry lay ahead even than that which Moses accomplished.

The victory over Pharaoh was entirely under the Hand of God. Isaiah foresaw a time when another great victory would be won for Israel also entirely under His Hand:

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

The miracles that were accomplished through Moses were unique and planted into the minds of God’s people for a purpose, that they would be enabled to understand the later fulfilment. Moses took Israel to the Promised Land, but an even greater leader would lead the Israel of God to eternity with their Maker.

Thus the miracles in the wilderness, which met immediate needs and became encouragement to faith on the journey, were also planned by God for a future fulfilment, in a most harmonious way.

The greatness of God’s fulfilment is that the miracles were raised to a level that became embodied in the One who was born to be the Saviour of the world. In our portion this week we find some examples.

Water is an absolute essential for life, as the Children of Israel knew. God’s miraculous provision was also intentionally prepared as a sign of the Messiah. This was why Yeshua spoke as He did of God’s provision of life, likened to fresh water:

Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”  Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:6-14)

Yeshua is the water of life to which the miracle of the provision of water from the rock at Meribah pointed. Yeshua spoke even more powerfully about Himself as the embodiment of that miracle, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem:

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Food as well as drink are necessary for life. The miracle of the provision of manna was also a pointer to the greater fulfilment in Yeshua. After His miracle of the multiplication of bread to feed a great crowd, Yeshua compared it to the provision of manna, to show the He is the Bread of Life, in a greater interpretation of what is needed for eternal life:

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:28-35)

On our journey with Moses to Canaan, we must bear in mind that God’s plan of redemption for eternal life was always in mind. Just as Moses was appointed, so was Yeshua and the entire tapestry of God’s covenant plan is woven perfectly together so that the lighter shades of physical provision through Moses give glory to the brighter shades of fulfilment through Yeshua.

Moses led the people to rejoice at the deliverance from Egypt. There is an even greater rejoicing in store through the deliverance to eternal life, where all sickness and disease will be no more, just as God promised when Moses made bitter waters sweet at Marah. At this time, the Song of Moses will be in complete harmony with the Song of the Lamb (the now glorified Yeshua):

 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:

“Great and marvellous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”

After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened……. (Revelation 15)

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Bo (Come): Exodus 10:1-13:16

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

24th January 2026 (6 Shevat)

Bo (Come): Exodus 10:1-13:16

Pesach is in just over two months’ time, when the events we are studying this week will have special remembrance in every Jewish home. It is amazing that what God commanded thousands of years ago retains its prominence. The remembrance is both testimony to the importance of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and a testimony to the world, of the truth of what happened. It is, therefore, good to begin our meditations this week on what God has done, as an early preparation for this year’s Feast of Pesach.

This was the beginning of Israel as a nation. Israel still survives today, in fulfilment and continuance of the promises of God. This too is testimony to both God’s existence and His faithfulness to His promises to His people. If He has been faithful over thousands of years of history, we can depend on His faithfulness to complete His covenant purposes today and into the future.

The eighth and ninth plague continued to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Not even a deep and supernatural darkness, that sent awe and fear across the entire land of Egypt, broke his stubborn resolve. But this was the last opportunity before an even worse judgement came upon the Egyptians. Moses was commanded by Pharaoh never to be in his presence again (Exodus 10:28-29) lest he die, and so it was. The deliverance from Egypt was about to take place.

At the time appointed, twilight on 14 Nissan, Israel was to slaughter the Passover lambs, paint their blood on the doorposts, then roast and eat the lambs with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in readiness for their Exodus from Egypt. The 14th day of Nissan was thereafter to be the beginning of a memorial week each succeeding year. Whilst the firstborn of all Egypt died on that awe-filled night, the firstborn of Israel lived and in that and future generations, were to be consecrated to God.

This was an unrepeatable moment in history. We must dig deeply into its implications.

A song is sung at Pesach called Dayenu, which means it would have been enough. It has been a tradition for many centuries, to sing this song. The earliest known full text of the song occurs in the first medieval Haggadah, taken from the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram.  It is about being grateful to God for all of the gifts given to the Jewish people. It consists of 15 statements of what God did in freeing Israel from slavery, showing His miraculous provision and establishing them as His people. After each statement everyone around the seder table says together both solemnly and joyfully – Dayenu! The statements are:

1. If He had brought us out of Egypt – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

2. If He had executed justice upon the Egyptians – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

3. If He had executed justice upon their gods – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

4. If He had slain their first-born – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

5. If He had given to us their wealth – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

1. If He had split the sea for us – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

2. If He had led us through on dry land – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

3. If He had drowned our oppressors – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

4. If He had provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

5. If He had fed us manna – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

1. If He had given us Shabbat – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

2. If He had led us to Mount Sinai – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

3. If He had given us the Torah – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

4. If He had brought us into the Land of Israel – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

5. If He built the Temple for us – Dayenu (it would have been enough)

What other nation remembers and celebrates in such a humble way what God has done? To begin with the awesome experience of what we read this week - what it took to bring Israel out of Egypt - and to declare that if this was all God did for us, it would be enough, yet to remember step by step that God did yet more: this is highly commendable.

There are other places, in Scripture, similar to this. For example,  Psalm 136 begins:

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

Then many wonderful things that God has done for Israel are recalled sentence by sentence, followed each time with the exclamation, for His mercy endures forever.

With these reflections and the attitude, it would have been enough,  we might consider all God’s work as being complete in our lives and rest content on our privilege and His goodness.

But we must not stop here and limit God only to the past! He is ever-present today and He still does wondrous and new things. Indeed, He Himself declared that greater things were ahead.

To Isaiah He said:

Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 48:18-19)

Through Jeremiah God said:

Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land. (Jeremiah 23:7-8)

God also said through Jeremiah:

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

We have a paradox – to look back and celebrate Passover, yet forget the former things and look to the new. God clearly said that Israel was always to celebrate, on 14 Nissan, the awesome things that were done for them in Egypt, and thus they have done. Yet He also points to greater things that are to come which will put even the deliverance from Egypt in a different light.

Where shall we begin? We will follow the journey of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, step by step in the coming weeks. We will consider how many of God’s provisions and deliverances, such as recalled in the song Dayenu, one by one, find greater fulfilment in the life and ministry of Yeshua HaMashaich. They all pointed to Him. This can be said of no other man in history.

Just as each year, the remembrance of God’s deliverance of Israel proves to us the existence of God and His character and purpose for His people, so we can simultaneously declare the fulfilment of God’s New Covenant purposes in Yeshua. This resolves the paradox. Each great thing that God did in the past brings higher and greater esteem to Yeshua, the sacrificial Lamb who, by His sacrifice, took away the sins of all who will believe in Him.

We can find relevance to our studies this week at the beginning of the Gospel account. In the days of the Second Temple, there were fields near Bethlehem where lambs were born and raised for sacrifice. The shepherds in the Bethlehem fields, who cared for these lambs to be sacrificed at Pesach and other Feasts of the Lord, were among the first to see the One who would be the sacrificial Lamb of God, as a new-born baby lying in a manger in Bethlehem. He had only just been born like one of their own lambs had so often been, to be raised spotless for sacrifice (Luke 2:8-12). Lambs like this had been raised for sacrifice since the first Passover in Egypt was inaugurated. These shepherds would be the first who could understand the higher purposes of God, focussed as they were daily on raising unblemished lambs.

Then on, through each Gospel account we, who have eyes to see and ears to hear, can see how all God’s purposes were brought to their highest fulfilment in Yeshua.

The centurion who stood by the Cross on which Yeshua was crucified said of Him, Certainly this was a righteous man (Luke 23:47). But Yeshua was more than just a righteous man. God the Father, the same God who brought Israel out of Egypt, said of Him, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17), and this understanding has come as a shaft of spiritual light to all who have since found faith in Yeshua, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

It is right to obey God’s command to celebrate the Feast of Pesach on each 14 Nissan, remembering all that God has done, but it is now possible to raise the Feast to the highest level as we realise the how much more,of God’s purposes and also celebrate within the Feast, the greatness of God’s provision in Yeshua. This is as much true for the Christian Church as it is for Israel.

The greatness of God’s gathering, again in our day, the people of Israel into their own land, prophesied by Jeremiah, points to the special time that we are now in. We must not be stuck in the past. God’s ongoing purpose for Israel in the Land is the preparation for the return of Yeshua, as King.

Christians should not have separated the great fulfilment of Pesach - the sacrifice of Yeshua - to a different date as if disconnected from Israel’s release from Egypt. 14 Nissan is the appropriate day for the Israel of God and those grafted in, to celebrate all that God has done and look forward together to what is yet to be accomplished. This should be a point of unity for all of God’s covenant people. Pesach must no longer be only a celebration of a nation wonderfully led to their physical Promised Land: it is a foundation for the greater promise of eternal life.

Stephen, one of Yeshua’s early disciples may, if he had known it, have approved of the song Dayenu - but did not stop with only those truths when he was confronted by the council of the High Priest prior to his martyrdom. Beginning with Abraham, he recounted God’s deeds including the deliverance from Egypt, but also went on to the fulfilment of God’s New Covenant in Yeshua (Acts 7). He rebuked those who had witnessed the three and a half years’ ministry of the Son of God on earth and who had rejected what God was doing through Him.

Yeshua Himself taught how He was to be found in all the Scriptures: beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27).

We have the opportunity, starting with our Bible study this week, to begin our preparations for Pesach this year, and to raise our Feast to the highest level – both believing Jew and believing Gentile.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Va’era (And I appeared): Exodus 6:2-9:35

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

17th January 2026 (28 Tevet)

Va’era (And I appeared): Exodus 6:2-9:35

For hundreds of years, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was silent, but silence does not imply lack of care. When the set time was completed, just as He had appeared to Abraham, so He drew near to Moses and Aaron. His promise was firm and was summarised in the four statements that are remembered each year, when drinking four cups of wine at Pesach:

 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan…. Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord; 

I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,

I will rescue you from their bondage,

and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

I will take you as My people, and I will be your God….’ (Exodus 6:4-7)

The confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh began. This could be considered simply in a down-to-earth human context: Moses demanded that the Children of Israel should be allowed to leave Egypt to sacrifice to their God and Pharaoh resisted the demand. Yet there was also a consciousness of the spiritual powers. Egypt lived under their own gods and there was experience of supernatural power. Thus, this was also a confrontation between the gods of Egypt and the God of the Hebrews.

Surely the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could deal with the false gods of Egypt with one word, but He chose instead to go through the process of the plagues. At first, the Egyptian magicians were able to reproduce the same supernatural signs as Moses and Aaron, but then they realised that their power was limited after the third plague:

Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”  (Exodus 8:18-19)

The plagues of Egypt are unique in the history of mankind, but there have been other times when God has used physical signs to speak. At the time of Amos, for example, as recorded in Amos 4, Israel suffered a scarcity of food, which was followed by lack of drinking water, then mildew on crops, locusts, then loss of life by the sword. God, through Amos, when judging Israel, made comparisons with Sodom and Gomorrah (verse 11) and the plagues in Egypt (verse 10). The pattern is a series of judgements that increase in intensity when God continues to be resisted. This is the gracious Hand of God, always offering mercy, but requiring human response. This is what Pharaoh experienced.

Yet, he was stubborn and did not fully discern the uncompromising intent of the God of the Hebrews to fulfil what He had promised them.

In various places we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and also that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, which can seem to be a paradox. This is understandable in the following way. God knew the character of Pharaoh who, like other Pharaohs, also considered himself to be a god. His entire being was challenged by the God of Abraham through Moses and Aaron. Pride, stubbornness and arrogance would be stimulated by each plague, so God knew it was inevitable that He would provoke Pharaoh’s resistance. Thus God could say that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart by the provocation of the plagues, whilst Pharoah himself reacted with hard-heartedness.

What we are learning here is not only for our understanding of the history of Israel. It is  characteristic of fallen mankind to seek after gods of their own design and to set themselves above the One True God of the Hebrews. In our day spiritual forces are rising to persuade human beings that they are themselves gods. It is the same temptation that beset Adam and Eve when the serpent told them that they could be like God (Genesis 3:5)

What happened in Egypt, and even when Israel at last settled in the Promised Land, was not a completion of God’s covenant purposes. The four promises, listed above, were to have a greater fulfilment through Yeshua.

Yeshua, the Son of God, was one with God throughout history, not entering the world as a man until the right time. God’s covenant purposes, in Egypt, before and afterwards, were always a step along the way to the final and greater fulfilment when God would become manifest through the man Yeshua. The eyes of John, one of Yeshua’s Apostles, were opened clearly to this. He wrote as the first words in his Gospel account:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

John goes on to say that:

…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (verse 14)

And:

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (verse 18)

We can go over and over these words, indeed the whole of John 1, followed by the entire Gospel account, and still not fully rationalise in our human minds the entirety of what God has done in coming to earth as a man. Yet we can understand enough to realise that in the very being of God there has been a part of Him that one day would express itself in the form of a man. That intent has been with Him since before Creation and at every stage of the Covenant.

The intent was with Him when He made the four profound promises to the Children of Israel through Moses, and when He confronted Pharaoh and the unseen gods of Egypt.

God knows the nature of the people that He created. Some can have the character of stubbornness, who like Pharaoh become hardened to God’s purposes. This is in evidence when the truth about Yeshua is preached. An individual is able to allow his or her inherent resistance to become manifest to even reject the offer of eternal salvation (the personal fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel), or have the humility of heart to gratefully receive God’s free gift. Yeshua Himself put it this way, describing how even the most wonderful invitation to eternal life can be resisted:

 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

Yeshua also said, not just of individuals but of wider application:

But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:

‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’ (Matthew 11:16-17)

These are metaphors to teach that neither through the wonderous and free invitation of salvation through the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua, nor through personal or earth shaking woes, some people will not turn to the God of Israel through Yeshua. It is a paradox for us, relating somehow to the way that God created mankind with what we call free will. Paul the Apostle put it this way:

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:20-25)

Here, Paul did not make a theological statement about the nature of God and the people He had created, but causes us to leave such matters to God, recognising that there are those who, like Pharaoh, have the reaction to oppose God’s purposes and harden their hearts, and those who, with humble hearts, gladly receive God’s truth.

This paradox has immense application when we consider the nations of the world responding to God’s covenant purposes, based on His promises, first to Israel and then to those from the Gentile world who are grafted into the same olive tree, by faith. Of Israel He says:

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honoured,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life. (Isaiah 43:1-4)

All this was in God’s mind at the time when Moses confronted Pharaoh, as well as being a truth for all time. The fulfilment of God’s promises was at the expense of the suffering of the people in Egypt. In the latter days, those whose hearts are not hardened will see, like John the Apostle, that Yeshua, the Son of God, is the final and full way that the covenant promises will be fulfilled. The shaking of nations in the Last Days will bring forth a great salvation for many even at the cost of many people, under the Hand of God.

The Book of Revelation describes a world that we are surely entering in our day, which turns, as a whole, away from the one True God and His Son Yeshua. As in Egypt at the time of Moses, we will see an increasing confrontation between the powers of darkness, that come in the form of false gods, and the One True God. The intensity will increase as in Egypt until we come to the great woes of the Last Days described in Revelation Chapter 9.

Just as Pharaoh’s heart could be hardened so it will be for many people who refuse the gift of deliverance, salvation, redemption and, through Yeshua the Messiah, membership of God’s eternal Kingdom - the four covenant promises of Exodus 6. The effect will be even more awesome than at the time of Moses, when God’s people were led out of Egypt and when Egypt was left in ruins. Hard-heartedness against the God of Israel will be provoked, as it was with Pharaoh:

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:20-21)

The difference with the time of Moses is that, now, anyone from the entire world can be saved by faith in Yeshua. We must remember that God still has ongoing promises relating specifically to the people of Israel, but Yeshua’s invitation is widened to encompass people from the entire world, including, of course, the country of Egypt today.

Indeed, the entire world is soon to be likened to Babylon of old. Each of us will be tested. It is a paradox, but true, that pressures will either turn us to God or turn us away from Him. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Ours need not be. As the pressures of the world mount on God’s people, it is good to remember Israel in Egypt. For us, however, it will not be “Let my people go”, but “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

We must stand in faith and not fear. Just as the Israelites were safe from the plagues in Goshen so God will provide protection, at the time of the last great woes, for all who know Yeshua as Messiah. All Scripture points to this great and awesome Day of the Lord.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Sh’mot (Names): Exodus 1:1-6:1

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

10th January 2026 (21 Tevet)

Sh’mot (Names): Exodus 1:1-6:1

In our torah portion this week, we begin to study one of the most significant events that have taken place in the history of the world. We can put it in the same context as the Creation of the world, the banishing of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the Flood at the time of Noah, and the Covenant given to Abraham. This is why the descendants of Jacob (the Children of Israel) are instructed to remember the deliverance of their people from Egypt each year at Pesach, looking back in order to have faith in the present and for the future.

To raise our study to this level is to lift it away from mere theological perspectives. How easy it is for us to read our Bibles, analyse the stories philosophically and bind our thoughts into books of theology, as if we have uncovered some of the mysteries about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a sufficient purpose for Bible study. In doing this we so easily separate the deeds of God into sermons for our congregational meetings rather than live in the relevance of them for all people every day, whether we be a farmer, a carer, a monarch, a president, a cleaner, a politician, lawmaker, teacher, businessman, craftsman, entertainer, artist or a person pursuing anything else, great or small, in our everyday lives together. What happened in Egypt is as relevant today as it was at the time of Moses. While the world moves on to the next great thing in God’s covenant purposes, we must live in the light of that which has gone before, or we will misinterpret what is happening all around us today.

Why did Israel go down to Egypt and live there in increasingly difficult times for over 400 years? God made a great promise to Abraham (Genesis 15) that his descendants, uncountable as the stars in the heavens, would be given the Land of Canaan as their homeland, but they must be strangers in a land that was not theirs (verse  13) until evil in the nations inhabiting Canaan was at its height (verse 16) and therefore ripe for judgement.

This seems to be sufficient information to answer the question. Experience, however, also shows that God teaches us through contrasts. Israel was being prepared to forever compare life in the world of Egypt with life in the Kingdom of God.

Egypt was a prosperous nation where one could live in comfort, but this was not the permanent place for God’s covenant people. Also, Canaan until then, was a land where God’s people could have assimilated and lived in peace, but this too was contrary to God’s purposes. Both Egypt and Canaan were ruled by false gods.

In Egypt, God was preparing His own people to live apart from all other nations and their gods, in their own land. The process of bringing them out of Egypt demonstrated this, and the preparation for living in the Promised Land was that that they would always remember the experience of living under the rule of false gods. Despite hard labour under the Egyptians, the seductive pull to the possible comforts of life in Egypt was to be forever resisted. When the Israelites came out of Egypt they were never to return. They were to be a nation under the Hand of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and a light to all other nations.

Notice how God raised up Moses as a deliverer of his people. This was not announced nor was Moses like other leaders before him, except that God always chooses human beings to take His covenant plans forward. Even Moses did not understand God’s purpose for him, except that when he slew the Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-12) his concern for the burdens of his people was growing in him. It took many years in the Land of Midian before he was ready, but then he felt unable to do what God required (Exodus 4:10). Indeed, it seemed that he and his older brother Aaron, now appointed as his spokesman, faced an impossible task. Pharaoh rejected them on their first visit to him (Exodus 5:1-2) and the children of Israel despised them (Exodus 5:20-21). This has been a pattern with all of God’s prophets.

Remember that we are studying the outworking of God’s covenant purposes. It was so for Moses when he was reminded of the Covenant with Abraham (Exodus 6:1-4). We must always live in the light of His covenant purposes or we too will be so taken up with daily affairs that we are not ready for the time of the next stage of covenant completion. At the time of God’s taking the next step, there are often times of difficulty all around, with such pressure that we could be so intent on getting through each day that our eyes are more earthwards than heavenwards.

It was like this at the time of the coming of Yeshua. Israel was dominated by the Roman Empire which was under the rule of the Caesars who followed their own gods. The contrasts that were to be learned in Egypt had encroached on the Land of Israel in the form of another worldly empire. Life was hard labour again.

The context of the birth of Yeshua has parallels with the birth of Moses. For example, Pharaoh ordered the killing of innocent babies, and Herod ordered the killing of young children in Bethlehem when he heard from the Magi about the birth of Yeshua (Matthew 2:16). Another similarity is that Yeshua was taken to Egypt for safety (Matthew 2:13-15), so that He too would come out of Egypt.

Yeshua was to fully identify with his people, just as Moses had done before Him. He was to be a deliverer in different circumstances, but in continuation and completion of what was begun through Moses and the wilderness journey. For example, we read in one of the wonderful passages in John’s Gospel that Yeshua said of Himself:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1)

If we are awake to Yeshua speaking of Himself as God’s chosen deliverer, just as Moses did in his day, we would understand how Moses was a preparation for Yeshua. He was inferring that what we read in Psalm 80 must now be read as fulfilled in Him:

Restore us, O God of hosts;
Cause Your face to shine,
And we shall be saved!

You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
You have cast out the nations, and planted it.

You prepared room for it,
And caused it to take deep root,
And it filled the land. (Psalm 80:7-9)

Yeshua identified with His people and asked that they identify with Him. The vine out of Egypt was to be interpreted in Him.

It was said that Moses was the humblest man on earth. Likewise, Yeshua spoke out of love and humility in order that, through our response to His invitation to be grafted into Him the true vine, we might follow Him through the next stages of God’s Covenant purposes for His people. This began in His earthly ministry and His great sacrifice on the Roman Cross. We will find many parallels in Yeshua’s life as we travel in future weeks through the wilderness journey to the Promised Land. Moses led his people to the Promised Land; Yeshua leads us to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us, therefore, remember the “big picture” of redemption. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, there has been need of redemption from this world of sin to an eternal homeland where we are reunited with God. Moses was the great leader to take the covenant plan forward from Egypt to the Promised Land, where Israel would live as the people of God. But the Land of Israel is not the Garden of Eden and more is needed. Whilst God will not forget all His covenant promises to Israel, He will complete what He started when He gave Abraham the Covenant for all people who are called to live by the same faith as he had.

Yeshua presented Himself to His people as the deliverer to complete God’s purposes to fully restore us to the eternal Kingdom – the greater fulfilment of the journey to the Promised Land. He made it clear that this greater purpose was to be fulfilled in Him, when He said to Pilate:

“My kingdom is not of this world … now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36)

Just as pressure increased on Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of the land of Egypt and for them to believe that God appointed Moses as their deliverer, so pressures will mount again on this entire world as the time comes for the fulness of Yeshua’s Kingdom to be manifest for all who will follow Him.

This truth is not held sufficiently in books of theology. It is the truth that we are compelled to live by each day.

Israel, while in Egypt, were to live in the light of a promise given to Abraham. 400 years is a long time to wait for deliverance: though the promise was sure and true, but could sadly be forgotten over centuries of waiting. It is the same with Yeshua. We must wait in the light of God’s promises through Him, as we study them in the entire Bible. We must read the New Testament as founded on Torah and abide in the truth. Light does shine on that truth when we read and pray with an open heart. Abraham, through the Covenant, foresaw the physical Promised Land but also knew that there was a greater and higher meaning to the Covenant. The Writer to the Hebrews understood this clearly in the light of Yeshua. In the summary of the faith of those from Abel to Moses, in Chapter 11, it is said of Abraham:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Verses 8-10)

Abraham was promised the Land of Canaan as the physical homeland for his descendants, but also knew that the Covenant with God would be fully complete in the eternal home, away from this world of sin. As we read our Torah portion this week, let us begin to dig deeply below the surface of what God did long ago, so that we find the fulness of understanding for our own day. Surely, we live in days as momentous as when Israel was in Egypt, with God’s promises still being fulfilled.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayechi (And lived): Genesis 47:28-50:26

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

3rd January 2026 (14 Tevet)

Vayechi (And lived): Genesis 47:28-50:26

Our portion this week is filled with prophetic meaning. The ways of God are made known through the lives of men and women. There has been much focus on Joseph who became a means of salvation for his family. Likewise, on other occasions in the future, whether it be in times of famine or any other difficulty, there is continued expectation that God will raise up a saviour for His people. In this study we will consider how the prophecies were to be fulfilled in Messiah.

Joseph was not an expected saviour. He was not Jacob’s firstborn son. His dreams had been rejected by Joseph’s brothers as the boasting of a favoured son. Yet Joseph was God’s choice. When all was fulfilled, the famine now over and with the family living in Egypt, Jacob died and his body was taken back to Canaan. Joseph could now declare to his brothers concerning their mistreatment of him:

… you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20)

This must always be borne in mind when we consider how God will bring about His purposes. We may trust Him for the outworking of our future, including deliverance from the most difficult times, but He may surprise us as to His choice of through whom and how we will be helped. As God said through the Prophet Isaiah:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Within the expectation of what God will do for us there must always be an element of “wait and see”.

Expectation for an anointed one to be the saviour of God’s people was typified by Joseph. It also focussed on Judah. Judah was to be the tribe from which a future Messianic ruler would come. This was prophesied in Jacob’s final blessings of his sons (Genesis 49).

We see here the prophetic power of blessing. Jacob had already distinguished between Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, foretelling that the younger brother would be greater than the older (Genesis 48:19). God had given Jacob prophetic insight so that, just as Joseph’s dreams had been fulfilled in a way determined by God, so would the prophetic blessing be fulfilled for Ephraim and Manasseh.

Likewise, each of his twelve sons was told how their descendants would fulfil the prophecy that was spoken over them. The coming history of each of their tribes began at this time and was influenced by the character of their forefather.

For our purposes in this year’s Torah studies, Judah is of special interest. The prophecy over him in full was:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Genesis 49:10-12)

This prophecy is full of meaning concerning Israel’s promised Messiah. Every word is relevant to what God purposed in the future for His people. As with much prophecy, there is some clarity and also some mystery. We have an expectation that will be clarified at the right time. Judah was chosen by God to bring forth a ruler of his people of great significance, called Shiloh. A word study of what shiloh  means is that it is a person with specially appointed status, who would rule and bring prosperity and rest. There was sufficient mystery in the word shiloh as to give scope to understand what this meant through continued prayerful study over the centuries. The reference to the donkey tethered to a choice vine can build the expectation of prosperity in a land full of ripe and good fruit.

Thus began the expectation of a kingly line from Judah and, at a time appointed by God, a ruler would emerge with special anointing. King David was appointed by God despite, as we shall see in later studies, the warning through Moses (Deuteronomy 17) and the sorrow of Samuel (1 Samuel 8) that Israel should not ask for a king to be like other nations. David’s appointment as king, nevertheless, was in line with Jacob’s prophecy over Judah, but the expectancy of an even greater king was cultivated through God’s covenant promise to David (2 Samuel 7).

So it was that all Israel waited for the coming Messiah, fulfilling prophecy enshrouded with mystery. This Messiah would come from the line of Judah and of David, and would be appointed by God as King of the Jews.

Not only does all Torah speak of this Messiah, but so does the rest of Scripture. There is a word that occurs regularly which carries a hint of the nature of the coming Messiah. It often appears when there is a cry of hope. The word is yeshua, which means salvation. It appears for the first time when Jacob had prophesied over Dan (Genesis 49:18):

I have waited for your salvation (yeshua), O Lord!

We can link this to the last part of Jacob’s prophecy over Judah, by considering another element of the mystery. Interestingly, there is not much reference to be found to this part of the prophecy in biblical commentary. Yet it must be as important as the rest, and worthy of careful study as to what might be implied. What was meant by His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk? It could, of course, be that this refers to the physical beauty of the coming Messiah.

The reference to eyes and teeth becomes more relevant when we consider the justice of the laws of Moses, eye for eye and tooth for tooth (Exodus 21:24). Is there a hint to the perfect justice in the character of the coming Messiah, who is prophesied as having perfect eyes and teeth?

To take this further, we see that there are two letters of the Hebrew language, ayin and shin, that symboliseeyes and teeth. These two Hebrew letters,  ע  and ש appear in the spelling of the word yeshua (ישוע); a word which therefore contains the two letters relating to God’s balance of justice, hinted at in the prophecy given to Judah for the coming Messiah. If this Messiah is in some way a saviour (yeshua) of Israel, the symbols of eyes and teeth are in the letters of his ministry as saviour. Could this be the reason for eyes and teeth being part of Jacob’s prophecy? His ministry of salvation embodies a perfect representation of the law.  Perfect justice is foreseen.

There is more! The word yeshua, meaning salvation,  is also a name. It is the root of the name of Joshua who brought Israel into the promised land. Joshua is a type of Messiah for this reason. His name embodies his ministry.

The name Yeshua was also given to Mary for her son, who was to be born by miraculous birth. This name has been modified by Christians to Jesus, but it was originally Yeshua. The angel spoke thus to Joseph concerning Mary to whom he was betrothed (Matthew 1:21):

 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.

This prophecy contains a play on words, which we can see in an English translation of the words:

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Salvation, for He will save His people from their sins.

In Hebrew:

והיא ילדת בן וקראת את שמו ישוע כי הוא יושיע את עמו מעונותיהם

v’hi yoledet ben v’qara’at et shmo Yeshua ki hu yoshia et amo mechatoteyhem

Matthew began his Gospel account with the genealogy of Yeshua (Jesus) to verify that He was of the line of David and therefore eligible to fulfil prophecy as the expected Messiah King. Out of the many who might have been named Yeshua in the land of Israel, this Yeshua  was the one chosen by God, whose birth Matthew went on to describe.

God’s ways are not our ways. Yeshua grew and then, as the Son of Man, fulfilled His earthly ministry. Just as it was for Jacob’s son Joseph, it was not easy for His brothers to recognise who He was. Indeed, He suffered like Joseph because of this - to the extent of crucifixion.

There are two other letters that, with ע  and ש, make up the name ישוע (Yeshua). They are the small letter yud( י ) and vav ( ו ). Like ayin and shin, these two letters also have symbolic meanings. The letter yud is a symbol of a hand and the letter vav  is a symbol of a nail. Together they can point to the nail-pierced hands of Yeshua on the cross when, through His sacrifice, He embodied eternal salvation for all who will believe, first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles.

There is, therefore, even more to see! The name Yeshua, meaning salvation, is a balance of two letters symbolising the justice of the law and two letters symbolising the mercy of God through the sacrifice of His Son. This wonderful balance of justice with mercy was the result of Yeshua’s sacrifice for us, when He took our sins upon Himself.

The mystery of Jacob’s prophecy over Judah speaks for all time of the one who would be our anointed Saviour, whom Isaiah prophesied:

….was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)

What a Saviour!

When any one of Jacob’s sons (and all others who are called to faith in Yeshua) bows before Him, they may well remember the words of Joseph spoken afresh to them through Yeshua:

 … you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20)

In summary, all of Scripture points to Yeshua. The prophecy of Jacob over Judah is a profound statement of expectation of the coming Messiah, in which every word – indeed every letter – has meaning.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayigash (And drew near): Genesis 44:18-47:27

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

27th December 2025 (7 Tevet)

Vayigash (And drew near): Genesis 44:18-47:27

At the heart of our study this week is the journey of Israel to Egypt. A family of seventy is to settle there and grow, over many years, into a large nation. Jacob’s life was nearly over, but it was to be completed in Egypt rather than Canaan. Already his son Joseph has become the main focus of our attention, but soon it will be the generation following who were to become responsible to God. There is a pattern of God’s covenant purposes as one generation is succeeded by another.

We all have a limited time on earth. If we are sensitive to God’s purpose in our life, we seek to fulfil that purpose and complete the ministry He has given for us to accomplish, before we leave responsibility to the next generation. So it was with Jacob.

It is significant that they stopped at Beersheba to offer sacrifices to God (Genesis 46:1). There are appropriate times in our lives when we must pause, reflect, and recommit ourselves to God and His purposes. These are times when God may speak to us as He did to Jacob to both encourage him and clarify what was to happen:

Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.” So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.  I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” (Genesis 46:2-4)

Jacob was weary, as he expressed through the words he spoke to Pharaoh on meeting him:

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 46:9)

Nevertheless, he would have been clear that the journey to Egypt was completely in God’s will.

There are times when God gathers His people together for the next stage. We will see this, for example in the Book of Numbers when the census was taken in the wilderness of Sinai and the nation was put in order with various responsibilities for the wilderness journey. Similarly, there was a preparation made under Joshua prior to crossing the Jordan, including the circumcision of the men (Joshua 5). Another example is when Solomon dedicated the Temple (2 Chronicles 7) and when God appeared to him. There are such transitional times in God’s purposes, when God gathers His people. There are also the times in the regular cycle of life, especially the yearly feasts which are God’s holy convocations (Leviticus 23:2).

In all these cases, we are reminded over and over again that God knows us by name and has a particular purpose for us to fulfil. Just as for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the twelve sons, we know that the journey may not be easy. There are periods when God seems silent, but there are also moments along the journey of life where His purposes are made clear. These are times when we need encouragement and understanding of His particular purpose in our life.

For Jacob it was essential to go down to Egypt and settle with his family. We are now given the names of the next generation. It is good to read them in full, and honour them here, reminding us that God knows each of His family by name:

 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul.

The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron.

The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.

To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim.

The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

The son of Dan was Hushim.

The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 

In God’s purposes, one generation follows another. Prominent though the ministry of an individual may be, the time comes to hand on to the next generation. This is a pattern for all mankind, and God’s purposes for the next generation are in continuity with what went before. It is essential that each generation learns to live closely with God to fulfil their own purpose. We know from the Patriarchs that this is never easy – yet God always has a purpose and He will be sure to complete it, even if the world shakes around us. Recall Haggai’s prophecy, yet to be fulfilled in these end days:

For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:6-9)

In addition to the struggles and division that beset Jacob’s family, including Joseph being sold as a slave, God used a famine upon the land to bring Israel to settle in Egypt. We will soon be reading about the immense signs and wonders that accompanied Israel’s leaving Egypt 430 years later. In all of this there was a growing family of named and known individuals called together, each with a part in the fulfilment of God’s covenant promises.

It is the same for us. When we review the history of the world, we have thousands of years of human interaction to consider. Much of this is a history of striving among nations, times of warfare and upheaval. In the days of Jacob, one could so easily have focussed entirely on survival. If it were not for the gathering together of God’s people to reassure them and remind them of His own purposes, they could be completely forgotten - lost in the day by day striving.

In any phase of history, we can seek to understand God’s purpose at that time. The most recent time of struggle for survival across the entire world was the Second World War. At that time, almost everyone focussed on personal and national survival as priority. Yet those with insight , especially when called to prayer, realised that a covenant purpose of God would emerge: the restoration of the nation of Israel. When Jacob went to Egypt, he could not claim that his family was in perfect order. Neither is the gathering of Jacob’s family today, but God has a purpose.

Over 2000 years the message of salvation through Yeshua has been proclaimed across the world, bringing multitudes into God’s covenant purposes from among the Gentiles, as well as the Jews.

Now, as tensions rise again across the entire world we must gather before God together and consider what He is bringing about through His covenant family. Yeshua made it very clear, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, that we will live in a world where we will encounter evil arising, a time of famine, sickness, earthquakes and wars. Yet, despite all this, and because of it, God will fulfil all of His purposes - it is what will result out of this seeming chaos that matters in the light of eternity. Indeed, the time is coming when, out of this time of tribulation, all nations will gather before Yeshua. A final census will be taken on a scale much larger than when Jacob and His family met with God at Beersheba. Now is the time of preparation, not for taking our family in carts to Egypt, but for when Yeshua will gather His people for the eternal Kingdom.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Miketz (At the end of): Genesis 41:1-44:17

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

20th December 2025 (30 Kislev)

Miketz (At the end of): Genesis 41:1-44:17

Despite all the modern-day aids to teaching which are available to human teachers, from computers to whiteboards, books and films, no-one can teach like our Creator God. Only the God of Abraham can create the universe where mankind dwells, give each person life and, through all the peaks and troughs of experience in that life, teach a person about themselves and about Himself. All God’s teaching is relational and is likened to a walk together.

He can also teach us through the lives of others. He shows us ourselves as if in a mirror, through what He has already done in the lives of other people. This is why the Bible, especially the first five books, is called Torah – teaching. Not only does God do this, but He prepares us for what is yet to come through the patterns and principles of what has been.

Our Bible studies must be part of our Hebraic way of life. Unfortunately, we could treat the Bible as a textbook of philosophy and miss the point. After all, the translation of the word philosophy is lover of wisdom. But a seeking after this kind of wisdom can be a lifeless pursuit, if one simply has a desire for academic knowledge, compared with what is intended - a personal walk with God. Joseph was a real person, not a character from fiction. We are also created beings, made in the image of God. Likewise, valuable though some books of theology might seem, they too can be lifeless for us, offering us theoretical knowledge of God rather than relational knowledge from our walk with Him.

It is a matter of wonder to us that the portions of Scripture we read week by week allow us to enter into the lives of those who went before us thousands of years ago, as if time has stood still.

In our portion this week, we continue to follow the way God fulfilled His purposes, despite what seemed like the impossible circumstances that beset Joseph, his father and brothers. God’s timing was perfect and His ways infallible. They were for Joseph and will be for us today and in the days to come. There is no precise formula from which we can predict how things will work out in our lives, or in the way God will complete His covenant purposes in the world, but Joseph’s life, nevertheless, has prophetic significance for the future.

A succession of dreams was the means by which God established the promise in Joseph’s life. Interpretation of dreams he himself had, and others which he interpreted for the butler and baker, made it possible for him to be called out of prison by Pharaoh. Thus, he became promoted to high office in the land of Egypt. God then used a famine to bring Jacob’s family to Egypt, and take a place of honour in Egypt. There, Israel would become a nation, fulfilling prophecy that was given to Abraham (Genesis 15:13). Dreams and physical signs are still used by God but there is no exact formula for any given situation, meaning that we must always be alert and wait patiently to see how He will act at each stage of history.

The important encouragement we get from our Bible study is the faithfulness of God and the certainty of His promises. God is gracious to record these things for us in the Bible. The lives of Jacob and his family were far from easy during the years when God seemed silent. Jacob was taken to his limit several times. He thought he had lost Joseph and feared that he would also lose Benjamin – the two sons of his beloved wife Rachel who had died in childbirth on the road to Bethlehem. Yet the need for food gave him no option but to do what Joseph required and go down to Egypt.

We have a wonderful insight into the outworking of God’s purposes through Joseph. What we are shown clearly was hidden from Jacob’s family. The brothers would find themselves doing exactly what God had prophesied through Joseph’s dreams, when they came and bowed down before him, while there was nothing selfish and proud in Joseph to bring it about. There was an overflow of God’s love when Joseph drew aside to weep when his brother Benjamin was brought to him (Genesis 43:30). These things help when we consider our own personal journey through life, especially when difficulties beset us. We can be sure that all God’s promises will be fulfilled and that He really does care.

The manner of Joseph’s brothers rejecting him, causing him to be put into prison, whilst he was chosen by God as their saviour in time of famine, reminds us of Yeshua.

The Gospel accounts describe clearly how Yeshua was chosen by God to be the Saviour of His people – His very Name means salvation. He entered a troubled world dominated by the Roman Empire. God’s purpose in Yeshua did not fit logically into the expectation of many Jews of the day, especially many leaders whose interpretation of biblical prophecy did not identify Yeshua as Messiah. Eyes were blind to God’s purposes in Yeshua, just as they were to Joseph’s brothers for God’s purpose in Joseph. This was even to the extent of their being willing to take our Saviour’s life by the cruel death on a Roman cross.

Even now, God has not finished and fulfilled everything He has promised. His final purposes are as sure to be fulfilled in God’s own way as they were in the life of Jacob’s family through Joseph, and through Yeshua’s great sacrifice. Furthermore, His timing will be perfect.

There will come a day when all that has been promised through Yeshua for His brothers, the Jewish people and all the Tribes of Israel, and for those grafted into the Israel of God, will be completed. The Bible, in both the Tanach and the New Testament, tells of the troubled times that will precede the final stages of God’s covenant purposes, as unchangeable as was the prophecy given to Joseph that the brothers and the father would bow before him. Yeshua spoke much of this. His return will be in the context of what the Bible calls Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7, Daniel 12:1-3, Revelation 6-12).

Just as surely as prophecies concerning Joseph were fulfilled when his brothers bowed down to him, the prophesies and purposes of God will come to pass for Israel’s present-day descendants exactly as God intends and through whom He Himself has determined. Yeshua was clear about His own purpose in coming the first time as Saviour and second time as Judge. He spoke even more clearly about these things than Jeremiah or Daniel whose prophecies pointed to Yeshua and in harmony with Yeshua’s own prophetic words. This is recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, leaving us no doubt about Yeshua’s own certainty of His prophetic call:

Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Luke 21:32-33)

Yeshua did not say these things lightly or without showing the compassion of the Father. Just as Joseph demonstrated his love for his brothers when he wept after they returned with Benjamin, so Yeshua wept for His people:

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

He also made it clear that He would not return until the appointed time and this would be signified by a time of preparation and expectation growing among His people. Drawing to Himself the Messianic welcome from Psalm 118, He said of the time of His return, speaking specifically to the Jews of His day, whilst also speaking to those living in our day:

…I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Luke 13:35)

We are living in days of greater and greater fulfilment of the prophecies of the last days, which cannot be separated from God’s purpose in Yeshua. There will be difficult times, just as in the days of famine in Joseph’s day, when all that God has purposed through His Son, Yeshua, will come to fulfilment. Learning from our Bible studies, and discerning these times, we can be more prepared than Joseph’s brothers. We have had 2000 years since Yeshua ministered on this earth and told us what to expect.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayeshev (And settled): Genesis 37:1-40:23

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

13th December 2025 (23 Kislev)

Vayeshev (And settled): Genesis 37:1-40:23

Abraham is the father of all who live by faith in the One True God. He was the first Hebrew,  ivri (עברי), one who “crossed over”,  avar ( עָבַר) in the Hebrew language. The two Hebrew words are linked. He crossed over, physically, from the land of the Chaldeans, to Canaan, the land of promise. He crossed over, spiritually, from a life of self-reliance to dependency on God, which he was willing to learn on his life’s journey. His son Isaac, his grandson Jacob and Jacob’s family were called to the same life of faith. What does this life of faith involve? The Hebrew language is a great influence on the way life it is to be lived.

The Hebraic life is typified in the verb tenses of the Hebrew language. Rather than past, present and future, the Hebrew verb tenses are perceived as completed action, present action and uncompleted action. Life is seen as the ever present, the events of life coming to us and we going through them, typified by the phrase that occurs many times in the Bible, “and it came to pass”. This is quite different from the modern-day concept of time, and planning more for tomorrow than living today in all its fulness. The Hebraic way of life is to live in each moment of each day, neither dwelling overmuch on the past nor overplanning the future. To be mature in this is to live the life of faith, as God taught us through Abraham,  making the best of every opportunity, concentrating on and enjoying the present task and responsibility, sharing each moment with others and trusting God for the rest. It is a life that has found rest in God. It is discovered naturally rather than by scientific method.

Yeshua confirmed this as the way to live, when He taught:

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ for after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31-34)

The Hebraic principle of living day by day was also included in the simple phrase, give us today our daily bread, a part of The Lord’s Prayer, that we are encouraged to pray in full (Matthew 6:5-15).

Our Bible studies give us clear descriptions of the lives of the patriarchs of the covenant family. They do not omit the errors made on the journey of life, whilst living day by day as a Hebrew. When Jacob lived with Laban in Padan Aram, his main focus was on building his family and raising his flocks. Like Abraham and Isaac before him, he lived in the light of each day, attending to the tasks in hand. Of itself, this is the right Hebraic way to live. His encounters with God made him ever conscious of His presence in his life and that he had been chosen for the next step in God’s covenant purposes, as promised to Abraham. Yet, his life was far from perfect.

This week, the focus moves more to the lives of Jacob’s sons, each called in a particular way to take forward the covenant purposes of God. They too are Hebrews, living day by day through the activities before them – in many ways, the lives of “ordinary people”. They attend to the needs of their flocks, eat and drink, take their rest, eventually marry and raise their own family. But in the ordinariness of their lives, their call as heirs of the covenant was not held so firmly as to avoid the errors that they made. There was division among Jacob’s sons: Joseph, being so greatly favoured that jealousy arose. This jealously nearly led to murder. It did lead to Joseph being sold to slavery and to a terrible lie and great grief when Jacob was presented with the special cloak that he had made for Joseph, now stained with blood.

Then we have the account of Judah. If Judah could have known how important the multitude of his descendants, the Jews, would be in the covenant purposes of God, would he not have learned self-control and not allowed himself to lie with a harlot, who in fact turned out to be his own daughter-in-law? The consequence was the birth of the twins, Perez and Zerah, through the sin of incest.

Because of his dreams, Joseph had a greater sense of God’s purpose in his life and was able to walk with integrity in the years he spent in Egypt. During the years when Judah fell to temptation, Joseph resisted the temptation and seduction of Potiphar’s wife. Both paths are possible: to live Hebraically and either drift from God’s purposes, or to stay close to Him.

There is one question that we cannot ask, though we would like to: “What if?” There would not be a need for God’s covenant if humankind were capable of a totally sinless life. We live with the paradox of what ought to be the pure walk with God, especially of those called into covenant responsibility, and the degrees by which all have fallen. This is especially so when we consider the lives of the Patriarchs of the faith, observed through the contrasts before us in this week’s Bible study.

It is as the Apostle Paul described it when personalising this struggle to himself:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (Romans 7:14-20)

We have yet to come, in our weekly readings, to the laws of God given through Moses at Mount Sinai, but there was, nevertheless, a basic knowledge of right and wrong that Jacob and his sons lived by, and the presence of God calling them to walk with Him. Hence Judah could be convicted of his sin with Tamar (Genesis 38:26), Joseph knew it would have been wrong to lie with Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:9) and the sons of Jacob knew that they had done wrong in selling their brother to slavery after almost murdering him (Genesis 37).

They had a very special call, which goes beyond the need to live by law. They were called to walk with God day by day, just as Abraham and before him, Enoch, had done. The Hebraic life is not only to live within the tasks of today, it is also to bind oneself to God in the life of faith. One can be attentive to one’s daily tasks but drift away from God. As we consider Jacob and his sons, therefore, we discover a Hebraic life but also the human errors of the imperfect life of faith.

The greatness of God’s covenant lies in His mercy. How, in all His majesty and perfection, He was willing to walk with sinful men – even the fallible patriarchs of the covenant - to fulfil His promises of redemption, is awesome to contemplate. He does not delight in sin, but abhors it, yet He can allow the “what ifs” of human failure, even foreseeing them, and still chart a course, painful though it is, to the ultimate purpose of His Covenant.

This greatness is shown in how magnificently He came to earth to abide in a man, the promised Messiah. The expectation of the character of the Messiah was, for many generations, likened by the people of Israel to Joseph, who was taken down to Egypt as a saviour for his family when famine beset the land. There are many aspects of Joseph’s life in what we will read over these weeks that echo the life of Yeshua HaMashaich. Yet He alone was able, through His perfect life, to redeem us all from our sins.

Let us, therefore, consider this week the amazing way the Messiah identified Himself with His people, eventually taking onto Himself the sins that had so spoiled their covenant walk. When Yeshua was baptised in the Jordan at the beginning of His public ministry (Matthew 3:13-17) this was the first sign of identification. He submitted Himself fully to the will of His Father and immersed Himself in the waters where repentant sinners expressed desire to have their sins removed.

There also is something quite special in the line of His birth.

Judah, despite all the faults that the  Bible recounts to us, was specially chosen to be the leader of the Jewish tribe that would remain in the Land of Israel up until the time of the coming of Yeshua. His was the kingly line and from his descendants one would inherit the title, King of the Jews. Matthew gives us the complete genealogy from Abraham to Yeshua (Matthew 1).

It begins:

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach), the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram….

It concludes:

….Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus (Yeshua) who is called Christ (Mashiach).

Matthew lists 42 generations from Abraham to Yeshua (Jesus). Right at the beginning is a reminder that Yeshua came from Judah, through the line of Perez, the son of Tamar, with whom Judah had an incestual relationship. Yeshua unashamedly identified fully with the line of descent which, for this reason and others, was full of sinfulness. He is the King of the Jews and He came to complete the Covenant that was promised to Abraham, the first of His genealogy.

Abraham learned to walk by faith on his Hebraic journey with God. All who by faith enter this same family, either by direct descent or adoption, are invited to walk in this same Hebraic way. Like Jacob and his sons, whose lives we consider in hindsight, we live with the potential errors that can lead to our own regrets and  “what ifs” but if we are willing, we can learn to minimise them, studying the lives of those who went before us, helped by the Holy Spirit, waiting for the return of the King.

Ours too is a walk. Paul  put it this way:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:16-18)

Reminding us of the time of Noah’s flood and the continued potential of us all to walk as we ought, or to deviate into sin, Yeshua warned of the time before His coming:

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be …. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:37-44)

With our Bible studies to help us, with the anticipation of Hebraically living the life of faith day by day, in these challenging times, these words of Yeshua could not be more important.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayishlach (And he sent): Genesis 32:3-36:43

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

6th December 2025 (16 Kislev)

Vayishlach (And he sent): Genesis 32:3-36:43

As we consider Jacob’s struggles in this portion of Scripture, it is important to remember the context. Human history had only gone forward five to six hundred years since the Great Flood at the time of Noah The first clear stage of the covenant purposes of God were revealed when the sign of the rainbow was given to Noah - God would no longer judge the world in the same way. The nature of human beings was not changed but a plan of redemption began. It should not be a surprise that Jacob struggled in many ways on his journey through life.

Human history is short. The time from the Flood to our day, is only a few thousand years. We too should not be surprised at continuing struggles for all who live in this world which has suffered the consequences of the Fall of Adam and Eve. There is, therefore, much for us to learn from Jacob’s walk that helps us to understand our own walk.

After Laban had pursued him from Padan Aram, there was no way back, following the covenant made between Jacob and Laban at the rock named Galeed. The way forward was also filled with potential peril, because Esau would soon appear with four hundred men to carry out the threat to Jacob’s life, made before Jacob left his home to travel to Padan Aram just over twenty years previously. Jacob was at a crisis, and if that was not enough, God took the opportunity to send an angel to wrestle with him through the night at Peniel.

A victory was declared in Jacob’s life. He had struggled with God and with men and prevailed (Genesis 32:28). Jacob recognised that this was an encounter with God. It may not seem like a great blessing in human terms when, from then on, he was to walk with a limp, but this was a major milestone in his walk of faith. It was necessary for his responsibility relating to God’s continuing covenant purposes. From now on his new name, Israel, defined the character of both him and his children that would soon grow into a great nation, denoting one who struggles with God and who is a prince with God.

As it happened, the feud with Esau dissolved away and the brothers were reconciled, later burying their father Isaac together, then going on to dwell in different areas of the country.

Nevertheless, Jacob’s struggles did not end with the wrestling near the brook Jabbok at Peniel. The way his daughter Dinah was treated by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, which provoked Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi to slaughter all the males in Hamor’s city, heaped trouble on trouble. Jacob also lost his beloved wife Rachel during the birth of her second son, Benjamin. One may be chosen by God for His covenant purposes but this does not necessarily lead to an easy life on the journey through this troubled world.

There is an important theme in our study this week which is easy to miss. Horrendous though the slaughter of Hamor’s community was, a problem was averted that has arisen many times over in the life of the nation, Israel. Either by resisting assimilation with other nations or through warfare, there has been a constant struggle to retain identity. Shechem’s fascination for Dinah, at that time, was potentially the beginning of a seduction that would have caused intermarriage between Jacob’s family and the tribes of Canaan at that very early stage of God’s purposes. This would have ended their distinct call to be the identifiable covenant nation that God intended – a struggle that has beset every generation of Israel since then.

In this context, it is interesting that we have an entire chapter devoted to the family of Esau. Thankfully, Esau did not inherit the covenant blessing given by his father Isaac. He took wives from the surrounding nations and was all too ready to sell his birthright. That would surely have resulted in assimilation of Isaac’s family, if Esau had become the head of the covenant family.

In this world, such has been the continuing nature of the struggle for Israel’s identity. In all of the conflicts we can find imperfection from Israel in the struggle but that is the nature of this fallen world. The sadness for Israel’s constant suffering is echoed in Jeremiah 31. This is the chapter which contains God’s compassion for Israel and the heart-rending passage which recalls Rachel’s sorrow:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more. (Jeremiah 31:15)

That was loud lamentation indeed, for the sound to be carried from her tomb in Bethlehem to Ramah, in the hills where Samuel lived. That weeping also echoes through the centuries of struggle even to the present day, with still recent remembrance of the horrific holocaust. Yet, God’s faithfulness continues to our day through all the wrestlings of Israel’s life. The nation is back in the Land once more, fulfilling God’s promises in Jeremiah 31.

No wonder the modern day song Am Yisrael Chai, עם ישראל חי (the nation of Israel lives) is so meaningful.

Also in Jeremiah 31 is the promise of the New Covenant, whose power was released through Yeshua Hamashiach at His sacrifice, bringing multitudes into the covenant promises of God, now possible for Gentiles as well as natural descendants of Israel. Gentiles, grafted into the Israel of God, now share in the blessings of Abraham (Galatians 3:14).

Yet the struggle goes on. Everything must be tested. We live an Hebraic faith – learning through life’s walk and not through academic theology. Every one of God’s covenant family has his or her times of struggle which can be paralleled with Jacob’s wrestling at Peniel. Jacob would have surely endorsed the Apostle Paul’s understanding of God’s way of both testing and refining our faith:

…we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 3:5)

Paul also understood that in the bigger picture there is a massive spiritual battle against an enemy whose sole intent is to destroy God’s people:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

In the physical line of descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came Yeshua the Messiah.  In Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 3, we read of Yeshua coming to the Jordan river to be baptised. As he immersed Himself in the waters for baptism, He fully identified with those who were immersing themselves as repentant sinners in seeking cleansing and hoping for a place in the eternal Kingdom of God. By His identification, Yeshua committed Himself to the path before Him through to His sacrifice on the Cross and beyond. This was to enable the redemption of the Israel of God and all others from the nations who would be grafted into this nation through faith.

Jacob fulfilled His purpose before God to bring the physical nation into existence through his sons, holding fast to the covenant promise despite the difficulties and struggles on the journey. Yeshua came to fulfil the promise, yet He too was subjected to testing and wrestling with the spiritual powers. In Matthew Chapter 4, we read how immediately after His baptism He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him…..

Three times satan came to Yeshua to challenge Him with a clever but distorted use of Scripture, which Yeshua countered with the truth. The final temptation came when satan took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Esau’s birthright comes to mind, sold so cheaply, as does by contrast, all with which the Nation Israel has ever struggled in order to retain their identity and not be lost among the nations who serve false gods. Jacob was once victorious to retain God’s covenant purpose. Yeshua’s victory was greater still, when He dismissed the evil one with a word:

Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’

What a Saviour!

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayetze (And went out): Genesis 28:10-32:2

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

29th November 2025 (9 Kislev)

Vayetze (And went out): Genesis 28:10-32:2

The Covenant was confirmed with Jacob soon after he began his journey from Canaan towards Haran (Genesis 28:13-15). Just when he needed encouragement, God came to him in a dream. God’s faithfulness was also to remain with Jacob despite the difficult twenty years he would spend with Laban’s family.

In every generation, God’s covenant purposes move forward. What began with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to be broadened into the family of twelve sons born in Padan Aram. Despite the deception of Laban towards Jacob in bringing Leah to Jacob as wife before Rachel, and despite the fact that the maidservants of both Leah and Rachel bore some of Jacob’s sons, God used the circumstances for His own purpose. He was active in the most intimate relationship of husband and wife:

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” (Genesis 29:31-32)

It is appropriate to list all the sons of Jacob, because in them is the beginning of the next stage of the covenant plan. The numbers indicate the order of their birth:

Leah’s sons                                                                 Rachel’s sons

Reuben (Behold a son) 1                                      Joseph (And will add) 11

Simeon (Heard) 2                                                     Benjamin (Son of my right hand) 12

Levi (Attached)  3

Judah (Praise) 4

Issachar (Wages) 9

Zebulun (Dwelling) 10

Rachel’s Maidservant Bilhah’s sons               Leah’s Maidservant Zilpah’s sons

Dan (Judge) 5                                                       Gad (Troop or Fortune) 7

Naphtali (My Wrestlings)  6                                  Asher (Happy) 8

Also Leah bore a daughter named Dinah, meaning judgement, born after Zebulun and before Joseph. The names of the children were influenced by the circumstances of their birth. Following Jacob, the history of Israel is the history of the tribes bearing the names of Jacob’s sons, and continues to our day.

Jacob’s time with Laban is described in some detail and nothing is hidden from the family struggles, especially concerning the wealth that was acquired and divided between Laban and Jacob as the flocks and herds grew. In a human court of justice, we might consider arguments both in favour and against Laban’s and Jacob’s behaviour through all of this. Yet there is no doubt about God’s continued favour resting on Jacob:

So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and grey-spotted. Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and grey-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ (Genesis 31:9-13)

God’s ways are beyond our human logic. He separates to Himself, as Jacob divided the flocks of Laban, those who are called and respond to His covenant purposes, and cares for them as a shepherd does his flock. This thread of truth goes right through Scripture and is fulfilled in the imagery of the Matthew 25 where in the final judgement, the sheep are separated for eternal life from the goats who are excluded:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:31-32)

As with his father Isaac, despite human failings, Jacob took most seriously his covenantal relationship with God. His response to meeting with God in a very special way at Bethel, was to commit himself to giving back to God from what God had given to him, in the form of tithes. In this he revealed the heart issues of tithing, to be a response to the God who cares for us and to be bound to Him through faith:

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” (Genesis 28:20-22)

Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending from heaven on a ladder symbolised God’s confirmation of His presence with him, as His chosen means of fulfilling the Covenant He made with Abraham. This same imagery was used by Yeshua when He gently proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah, the fulfilment of God’s covenant purposes.

The imagery is recalled in the Gospel of John where Yeshua called Nathanael. Here Yeshua is seen as both the Son of God and the Son of Man. As the Son of God, comparable to the way God called Jacob for His Kingdom purposes, Yeshua called Nathanael into discipleship. As the Son of Man, He revealed Himself as chosen by God for the fulfilment of God’s covenant purposes. The call of God on Yeshua was to complete what was promised to and began with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons.

The broad leafed fig tree that Nathanael sat under for shade when Yeshua called him was symbolic of sitting under the authority of Scripture as interpreted by the Bible teachers of the day – the Jewish Rabbis. Was Nathanael reading the very Torah portion that we are reading this week? Was this a preparation for meeting Yeshua and hearing what He had to say to him, which brought forth the declaration that Yeshua is the Son of God? Was Nathanael praying to God from a pure heart motive to understand this passage of Torah, which was answered in his meeting of Yeshua? Quite likely.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:47-51)

This was confirmed at Yeshua’s baptism:

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-24)

This fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah (Chapter 11, Verse 2):

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Covenant history has moved on since then, with its lessons from Torah to be applied to us as well as Jacob and Nathanael. God continues to seek those with whom his covenant promises and blessings can reside. Yeshua is still gathering the flock of God. As He said to a woman from Samaria (John 4:23-24):

…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

We, who are called through faith in Yeshua to be heirs of God’s covenant purposes in this earth and for all eternity, are greatly privileged, as were those who went before us.

The Holy Spirit will be given to us as well, both as a confirmation of our part in the covenant purposes of God and enabling us to fulfil them:

… you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Toldot (Generations): Genesis 25:19-28:9

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

22nd November 2025 (2 Kislev)

Toldot (Generations): Genesis 25:19-28:9

Far less detail is given of Isaac’s life than that of his father Abraham. Our reading this week takes us from when he was forty years old and Rebekah became his wife, to when he was an old blind man. At that time, Jacob received the covenant blessing and Isaac faded from the biblical account as we begin to follow Jacob in more detail. In fact we hear no more of Isaac until the time of his death at the age of 180 years (Genesis 35:29).

Many questions come to mind concerning Isaac. The great victory of faith for Abraham on Mount Moriah was a climax of covenant history. Isaac seemed to be a quiet trusting son, to let his father raise a knife to him on the altar there. Then followed the magnificent account of his chosen bride Rebekah coming to meet her future husband, their eyes first seeing each other from afar, as Isaac meditated in the fields. What a wonderful, profound beginning to the successors of Abraham and Sarah as the bearers of covenant faith through the next generation!

Yet, in our portion this week, it is far from a glorious continuation of their lives together. We cannot easily read this without comment or question. Isaac made the same mistake as his father in lying about his wife to Abimelech. Then there is the tension between the twins, Esau and Jacob. Was Isaac too passive in his  fatherly role? Why was the precious birthright of the older son no more valuable than a tasty meal? Why was a central factor at the time of passing on of covenant blessing also a tasty meal? Why did Rebekah scheme to bring about the blessing on Jacob rather than Esau? Why was this necessary when God had already promised her (Genesis 25:23) that His hand was on Jacob to be the more prominent son? What had gone wrong with the relationship between Rebekah and Isaac that deception was felt to be necessary? Why was the anger of Esau so strong that he threatened to kill his brother – no less an evil than that which befell Cain and Abel at the dawn of time? Many questions, but we do not have clear answers in our study.

We might excuse some of this in our human way of thinking. Many years had gone by and perhaps God did not made things clear enough to Isaac and Rebekah. Much of their life would have been according to the customs of the day. They were farmers and keepers of animals, constantly seeking food and water. Isaac inherited all of Abraham’s wealth (Genesis 25:5), both his earthly possessions and his servants. This was a big company of people to manage and feed. Yes, they had great covenant privilege and responsibility, but also a very ordinary life too.

As we consider this we might also consider our own situations as present-day custodians and witnesses of God’s covenant promises. How many times do we start well and then drift from the pure path before us? It is no wonder that we are stirred by the sad outcomes in the lives of the patriarchs, because Torah is truly a mirror that we look into and see through our spiritual eyes what we are also like.

Indeed, consider for a moment the entire history of God’s covenant purposes from Adam to today. Study every person whose life is written into the Bible and find anyone who lived his life perfectly. They are just not there – except one.

The Apostle Paul confirmed this with his clear statement in Romans 3:23: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

This is not to excuse ourselves, because we must earnestly seek to grow towards that perfection. Yet, total perfection is not achieved in this life for us any more than for Isaac.

One thing that we can say for Isaac as we read our passage this week: it is that he retained conscious responsibility regarding the covenant. He was old and must pass on the blessing to the next generation. He knew too that the blessing that he spoke over Jacob had spiritual authority and power. It endowed Jacob with responsibility before God regarding the covenant, and the blessing could not be taken back. Wonderfully, despite Isaac’s many failings as a father and a husband, when he spoke the words of blessing over Jacob, God Himself affirmed it.

This lifts our study into the higher heavenly place. Throughout all history, God’s own purposes stand firm and will not fail. The covenant promise that He gave to Noah, that mankind would continue on this earth despite their human weakness stands firm. The unconditional covenant that He made with Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, continues to be remembered.

For all the weakness of mankind, there is a higher purpose being fulfilled over all history. The golden thread is to be found in all Scripture, that God Himself would bring forth His own Son of promise from the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who would not fail. This was the Messianic promise and the Messianic hope of all Israel. Yeshua was already within God the Father when the covenant was made, waiting to be manifest as a human being at the time appointed by God. At that time, through the birth of Yeshua, by the power of the Holy Spirit, at long last there was a sinless human being able to fulfil all the covenant plan perfectly. As His disciple John recalled Yeshua saying of Himself when challenged by the religious rulers of His day:

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. (John 5:19-20)

Read the Gospel account in parallel with our portion this week and realise why God could confirm Isaac’s blessing of Jacob, two human beings much like us. Through our studies of Torah we see reflections of our own human weakness, yet the grace of God has been over all history, for all who desire to respond to the covenant call of God. Grace came to its highest fulfilment in the giving of Yeshua as our redeemer from our sin and weakness. We will not find the climax of the covenant purposes of God in any other. Yet we, like Isaac, have a part to play, as God continues to keep His hand for blessing on this fallen world for all who will believe. For our part we must remain faithful, learning from our mistakes and the mistakes of our forefathers, trusting in God for the greater fulfilment of His covenant blessings to all who seek Him in faith, abiding in His grace and forgiveness.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Chayei Sarah (Life of Sarah): Genesis 23:1-25:18

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

15th November 2025 (24 Cheshvan)

Chayei Sarah (Life of Sarah): Genesis 23:1-25:18

Our reading begins with the death of Sarah and ends with the death of Abraham. Their long lives on this earth ended. They fulfilled their part in God’s covenant plan, growing in faith as they walked before Him and passed into their eternal life in dignity and honour. God’s purpose moved forward into the next generation.

When Abraham and Sarah were visited by angels at the time of Sodom’s judgement (Genesis 18), this was said of Abraham (Verses 17-19):

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.

Abraham was chosen as the father of people from all nations who would join his family through faith in the God of Abraham. The responsibility of fatherhood was to beget children and teach them to live in the way of the Lord. That was his life’s purpose and his relationship with God was to bring this about. Thus, it is not surprising that once their earthly task was accomplished, both Sarah and Abraham left this world.

Our study in the central chapter of this week’s Bible portion (Genesis 24) is strengthened for us through understanding this. The final important purpose in Abraham’s life was to find God’s choice of a wife for his son Isaac. What is described is the model arranged marriage, which still speaks powerfully and beautifully to us today. The task was entrusted to Abraham’s oldest and loyal servant, whose name is not mentioned in the passage. What follows is a wonderful arranged marriage in the tradition of those days. A bride for Isaac was chosen carefully, not from the nations around who followed many gods, but from Abraham’s own family who lived in Mesopotamia.

Abraham was now old and mature in his walk with God. It was under God’s guidance that the decision was made as to where a bride for Isaac would be found. This was a marriage arranged by God, who was with the servant at the well when he prayed for God’s confirmation (verses 12 -14) that Rebekah was the chosen bride. This is the beautiful account of the faithful servant bringing back God’s choice of the bride for Isaac. It is full of the traditions of those days and filled with depth and meaning. Just as God chose Abraham and Sarah, so He now moved His covenant purposes forward in His choice of Isaac and Rebekah. The account is filled with the pure intent of God for His chosen people. The climax is when Isaac sees his future bride in the distance while meditating prayerfully in the field, meeting her graciously, and taking her to his mother’s tent where she became the wife whom he loved.

Such marriages in the covenant purposes of God can still go on as they have for many generations, as God seeks those fathers and mothers who live by faith like Sarah and Abraham, bringing their children up and building up the household of God. Jewish parents in particular are conscious of their responsibility before God in this matter, including such sabbath prayers for their children as the following - for their daughters:

May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.
יְשִׂימֵךְ אֱלֹהיִם כְּשָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה

Yesimech Elohim k’Sarah Rivka Rachel v’Leah

In seeking to live by the faith of Abraham, all parents would be wise to seek God for wives and husbands for their children. All parents, like Abraham and Sarah, are privileged with the responsibility to bring up godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). This principle is in the mind of all who study Torah carefully and would certainly be behind the Apostle Paul’s teaching on marriage, including Ephesians 5. Here Paul showed how marriage is a human representation of God’s relationship with all His people through Yeshua.

The account of Isaac and Rebekah sets the foundation for the New Covenant teaching about marriage. We are, therefore, intended to discover the fulfilment of Torah in the eternal family of God.

Yeshua used imagery of bride and bridegroom in His teaching. He spoke of Himself as the Bridegroom when asked about fasting:

Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. (Matthew 9:15)

We might easily recall Isaac’s taking Rebekah to Sarah’s tent when we read about Yeshua preparing a place for His bride:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2)

The account of the arranged marriage between Isaac and Rebecca rises to a higher level, helping us to understand the ways of God in the preparation of a bride for Yeshua.

The imagery continues into the Book of Revelation (Chapter 22, verse 17):

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

It is with this fulfilment of God’s purposes that we should study our Bible this week. The servant who goes at the command of Abraham to find a bride for his son is a pattern that can be followed in all marriages, and also models God’s purpose for all His chosen covenant family as a bride for His Son Yeshua. The Holy Spirit, like Abraham’s trusted servant, is sent to prepare the bride of Yeshua to be with Him at His coming:

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:19-21)

These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. (John 14:25-28)

The account of Abraham and Isaac is a study through the lives of human beings pointing to God the Father and Yeshua His Son. Rebekah, Isaac’s bride points, to the bride of Messiah. The servant bringing the bride to Abraham’s son points us to the Holy Spirit preparing a bride for Yeshua. This is not a drama invented by man to be played out on a stage, but history woven into God’s covenant people, waiting for the greater fulfilment in the eternal family of God.

The teaching of God is full of layers of truth and interacting themes of God’s covenant purposes in Yeshua HaMashiach.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org

Vayera (And appeared): Genesis 18:1-22:24

Weekly Torah Studies for 2025/26 ( 5786).

On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.

8th November 2025 (17 Cheshvan)

Vayera (And appeared): Genesis 18:1-22:24

All the covenant purposes of God, not only for Israel, but for the entire world, hung in the balance when Abraham raised his knife above his son of promise, bound onto the crude altar on Mount Moriah. The faith of Abraham was tested and was victorious. The victory that was later manifest in Yeshua was enabled, so that the victory of faith for all who would believe in Him would be the granting of eternal life. Such is the magnificence of what we read in our Bible study this week.

Abraham needed to grow in faith on his long journey through life. It was his willingness to learn such faith that commended him to God. There were failures along the way, but redeemed failures are learning points. Fear of Abimelech led him to hide the truth that Sarah was his wife, even when he had been promised so much by God. This is an indicator that he was then not yet ready to trust God in the most challenging matters of life and death, which were soon to be tested on Mount Moriah. Just like us, through many trials, we must be willing to learn on the journey of life. Abraham grew more strongly in faith, so that in his human weakness, he could stand strong in faith at the appointed time.

Abraham had been told that he was to be the father of many nations, so he cared enough to pray for the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He had enough faith to bargain with God but not enough understanding of sin and its consequences. Yet his intercessions did enable the escape of Lot and his family from the impending judgment. We learn much from this concerning our own prayers for the world today, as our Covenant Father continues, without compromise, to build up the family of Abraham. Just as at the time of the judgment of Sodom, God sees a darkness over the world that we do not.

The Prophet Isaiah spoke of such darkness covering the world, but that a great light would come to Israel:

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Searching the Scriptures reveals that Yeshua HaMashiach is that light, so clearly understood by His disciple John:

In Him (Yeshua) was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:4-5)

Yet Yeshua Himself warned that for those who do not believe, it will be worse for them than for Sodom. When He sent out 70 disciples to teach about His fulfilment of the Covenant purposes of God, He said:

 Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’  But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.  (Luke 10:8-12)

When the light of the sun shines over the earth each day, we can easily forget the spiritual darkness in which all mankind can live. Our focus on the physical world alone can blind us from the darkness of sin that God sees more clearly. This leads to the same level of understanding that Abraham had and limits our clarity for intercessory prayer. Abraham needed to learn such lessons before the ultimate test of his faith, where his entire trust was put in God for not only his son but for the multitude that he was promised as his heirs, from all nations. This was a significant and unrepeatable moment of history.

But for our Bible record, this could have been lost in history. Indeed, did not people offer human sacrifice to their gods in Abraham’s day – what was unusual? Anyway, who witnessed this moment on Mount Moriah other than Abraham, his son and the invisible God?

When Abraham raised his knife, it was not a sacrifice in the manner of others. That was just the outward manifestation. The inward reality was that Abraham gave back his son to God, and God looked as much on his heart as he did on the raised knife. How measured Abraham had to be in his act of obedience. Any rash movement would have pre-empted God’s intervention:

 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. (Genesis 22:12-13)

All the symbolism is here for us to understand that in saving Isaac, through the substitute of a ram, God planned an even greater work for the salvation of all who would be heirs to the covenant promise given to Abraham. It is one of those points of Bible teaching where we understand the  how much more of God. If Abraham would not spare his only son, how much more will God not spare His only Son?

Around 2000 years later, just as Abraham had gone to Mount Moriah with his son, where an altar of sacrifice was erected, so God the Father was with His Son Yeshua. He was taken as sacrifice for the sins of all who would come by faith and join the family of Abraham and Isaac. The Gospel accounts help us to understand, through prayerful study, that Yeshua was in the place of Isaac as a sacrifice. He is the fulfilment of the ram in the thicket, which Abraham used as a substitute for Isaac.

We must not simply leave this as a logical exercise for comparison across the Scriptures. Isaac was allowed to live and bear children who, generation by generation, built up the physical family of Abraham. Not only did they live on this earth, but all the pain that their sins would bring to God was also released over many generations. We must not forget the judgement of Sodom as we appraise the depth of painful sacrifice that was put on Yeshua’s shoulders.

He warned that in every generation, especially concerning the time of His return:

 … as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)

Even Jerusalem, without faith, can be likened to Sodom. Speaking of the death of two witnesses in Jerusalem in the end times, the Apostle John wrote prophetically:

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8)

Ezekiel too (Chapter 16) did not compromise his prophetic word at a time when Jerusalem was likened to Sodom.

Just as God did not compromise with the sins of Sodom, so He will not compromise with the sins of even of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were given life when the ram in the thicket was substituted for Isaac. Yet deep in the heart of God is forgiveness for all who can live by faith. It was an immense moment of history when Isaac was spared. It was infinitely more immense when God did not spare His own Son, in prophetic fulfilment on Mount Moriah. The faith of Abraham is now to be through belief that Yeshua has saved us from our sins, and from the spiritual darkness of this world, for all eternity.

Dr Clifford Denton

Founder and Director

Tishrei Bible School

www.tishrei.org