This book captures many ancient voices, a collection of literary excerpts from ancient Jewish books: Jubilees, Josephus, 4 Ezra, Qumran Scrolls, Talmud, Enoch, Baruch, Maccabees, Mishna, Judith, Apocalypse of Moses, Philo, Mishna, Ben Sira, and many others, fifty passages to be exact. The excerpts are mostly short, sometimes even intentionally
Apostle Paul was a first-century religious Jew, trained at the feet of the best rabbis of his time. Though he addresses primarily non-Jewish audiences, Shaul often writes as a rabbi, resorting to midrash and employing metaphors to illustrate his ideas. Sadly, his readers are not used to this
I wanted to share with you a Morning Prayer and, more specifically, a musical piece I created based on it. The words of this song are inspired by the words of the traditional morning blessings found in the Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book). The person who is praying in the early
What is this Sign of Jonah? The traditional thinking is that it's Jesus' resurrection, three days and three nights... But the passage may not be so simple as it appears on the surface. Interested in taking a closer look and discovering another way to read the text?
Over the years of teaching, I have often referred my students to the books of Enoch. But most of the time, I did so with some reservations. I knew that the broadly distributed copies they would likely come across would be littered with archaic and hard-to-digest language. Finally,
Dr. Brad Young is head of the Gospel Research Center and author of several books on Jesus' parables and ministry in their Jewish context. In this lecture, Dr. Young discusses why rabbinic literature is, unfortunately, so often dismissed as
I find the words of Psalm 27 comforting, and they always lift my spirit. God is my stronghold in so many ways. I pray that these words and music will lift your spirit as they do mine, and the deep
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? In the area of biblical and historical studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. That is not an exaggeration. The documents were awaiting the day
A while back, I was asked to teach a course surveying the prophetic books of the Bible to a college class. As I compiled my notes together, I wanted to present my students not merely the information about the ancient
Ancient Scrolls found in Israel, in the caves of the Qumran region near the Dead Sea in the 1940s, were the find of the 20th century. An impressive collection of ancient Jewish writings contained what is now the oldest known
Some commandments in Torah are more elaborate and detailed, and others are somewhat straightforward and simple. Yet all of them teach how to apply wisdom in life in all situations. This week, I pondered over a commandment concerning the bird’
The Gabriel Revelation is an inscription on a stone found in Jordan dating back to around the beginning of the Common Era, roughly to the time of the birth of Jesus. It is the subject of a book by Israel
Prof. Israel Knohl shares curious evidence for a messianic precursor to Jesus who is described as the "Suffering Servant" in recently published fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many scholars have long argued that the concept of a
Thanks to everyone who supports the PSHIR.COM publication with a subscription! For only $7 per month, you help me develop and publish new learning resources week after week. I am excited that I finally finished the "World of
The verses in the Prophets I want to highlight today, I like to call the divine promise of Israel’s salvation. Ezekiel is known to be the exiled prophet, and Chapter 36 speaks loudly and vividly about Israel’s salvation
What is this Sign of Jonah? The traditional thinking is that it's Jesus' resurrection, three days and three nights... But the passage may not be so simple as it appears on the surface. Interested in taking a
Psalm 139 meditates on God's pervasive presence in this world. There is no place where we can go that we escape God's presence, and there is no such place as too far away for God. Living
