Roots of Faith

In this week’s class, I focus on 2 topics, from the selected readings from this 10th seder of the ancient triennial torah cycle; (1) the “walk” of Abram (and his person), and (2) the Promised Land.

Beginning with the person and walk of Abram, I show that the initial call of Abram was for him to “walk for himself” - Lekh lecha! Often, when people begin to search for religious truth they have feelings of fear and uncertainty. In former faiths, things were figured out for them and yet Abram, leaves his country, his family and his father’s house without knowing where this will take him. I seek to show that many today are being called to a similar walk of faith. Many from the nations are now realizing that, in fulfillment of the words of Jeremiah, their fathers have inherited lies, vanity and things wherein there is no profit (Jeremiah 16:19).

We are told in Isaiah to look to Abraham (Isaiah 51:1-2). This great figure of faith is respected by the faithful of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Paul calls him “faithful Abraham” in Galatians 3:9 and the “father of us all” in Romans 4:16. The Koran mentions Abraham in no less than 188 passages.

He is called the “friend of God” in Isaiah 41:8, II Chronicles 20:7 and James 2:23.

I also point out that the ancient rabbis preached on the “Blessings and curses” from this particular Torah reading (Genesis chapters 12 and 13). It is shown that this subject of “blessing” aligns well with the season in which we find ourselves being that we are in the month of Kislev and from Haggai we learn that the 24th day of this month is a day from which God will bless (See Haggai chapter 2).

One such promised blessing is a promise of land - the Promised Land! In this week’s lesson, the word “land” is used 15 times in the torah reading and 5 more times in the prophets section (Joshua 24).

As a result of the overwhelming textual support for God’s eternal promise of a specific land to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I state that I am a Zionist…if by Zionist one means to infer that:

“I support a homeland for the modern descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob on the land given by God to the Patriarchs.”

Here are some of the texts that I use in my teaching to build the Biblical case for an Israelite presence on the soil as promised by God to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Joel 3
Deuteronomy 6
Deuteronomy 11
Genesis 13:14-17
Genesis 15:7, 18-21 (notice the boundaries!)
Genesis 17:1-8
Genesis 26:2-5
Genesis 28:3-4, 13-15

Notice in Genesis 28 that God promises to bring Jacob back to the land.  This is the most dominant theme in the Hebrew Prophets, mentioned in over 40 major sections of the texts.

Jeremiah 32:37-41 - God says that he will plant Israel in the land in faithfulness with all his heart and all his soul.
II Samuel 7:10-11 / I Chronicles 17:9
Isaiah 14:1-2
Jeremiah 3:14, 17-18
Jeremiah 12:14-17
Jeremiah 16:14-15
Jeremiah 23:7-8
Jeremiah 24:6-7
Jeremiah 30:3
Ezekiel 28:25-26
Ezekiel 39:25-29
Amos 9:15

I Kings 8:46-53

I hope that you take the time to listen to this class. You will gain a better understanding of and deeper appreciation for the miraculous Israelite presence in the Holy Land today….and hopefully recognize that this is the beginning of a greater fulfillment of an oath sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Shalom, Ross

 

 The Promised Land - Genesis 12-13 [100:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Genesis 12-13 - The Dialogue [58:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download