| Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps. |
ellauri092.html on line 198: The United Methodist Church delegates met in St. Louis February 26, 2019, and voted 438 to 384 to maintain its policies defining marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman and barring "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from serving as clergy.
ellauri108.html on line 110: Practitioners of Rastafari identify themselves with the ancient Israelites—God's chosen people in the Old Testament—and believe that black Africans broadly or Rastas more specifically are either the descendants or the reincarnations of this ancient people. This is similar to beliefs in Judaism, although many Rastas believe that contemporary Jews' status as the descendants of the ancient Israelites is a false claim. Rastas typically believe that black Africans are God's chosen people, meaning that they made a covenant with him and thus have a special responsibility. Rastafari espouses the view that this, the true identity of black Africans, has been lost and needs to be reclaimed.
ellauri108.html on line 187: Rastas use their physical appearance as a means of visually demarcating themselves from non-Rastas like the whites. Male practitioners will often grow long beards, and many Rastas prefer to wear African styles of clothing, such as dashikis, rather than styles that originated in Western countries. However, it is the formation of hair into dreadlocks that is one of the most recognisable Rasta symbols. Rastas believe that dreadlocks are promoted in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Numbers, and regard them as a symbol of strength linked to the hair of the Biblical figure of Samson. They argue that their dreadlocks mark a covenant that they have made with Jah, and reflect their commitment to the idea of 'naturalness'. They also perceive the wearing of dreads as a symbolic rejection of Babylon and a refusal to conform to its norms regarding grooming aesthetics. Rastas are often critical of black people who straighten their hair, believing that it is an attempt to imitate white European hair and thus reflects alienation from a person's African identity. Sometimes this dreadlocked hair is then shaped and styled, often inspired by a lion's mane symbolising Haile Selassie, who is regarded as "the Conquering Lion of Judah".
ellauri108.html on line 463: Practitioners of Rastafari identify themselves with the ancient Israelites—God's chosen people in the Old Testament—and believe that black Africans broadly or Rastas more specifically are either the descendants or the reincarnations of this ancient people.[102] This is similar to beliefs in Judaism,[103] although many Rastas believe that contemporary Jews' status as the descendants of the ancient Israelites is a false claim.[104] Rastas typically believe that black Africans are God's chosen people, meaning that they made a covenant with him and thus have a special responsibility. Rastafari espouses the view that this, the true identity of black Africans, has been lost and needs to be reclaimed. Some Rasta sects reject the notion that a white European can ever be a legitimate Rasta.
ellauri112.html on line 790: When shall we eat supper? First or last day of the week? This has nothing to do with the Sabbath being changed. I do not believe that it has, but that it is obsolete. The Sabbath is “Saturday”, the 7th day, which I am convinced to be for the rest that Christians will take with the Father (Heb. 4:1-11) and for weekend shopping. I find keeping the Sabbath day is a part of the 10 commands. Exodus says “And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exo. 34:28, also see Deut. 4:13, 9:9, 11). Jeremiah said “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31). Look further for Jeremiah said, “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers”
ellauri112.html on line 792: Not according to which covenant? Jeremiah says the covenant “in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke” (31:32). Again which covenant is this? Exodus says “And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exo. 34:28). Christ’s covenant is “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers”, but “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13). The Old Covenant of the 10 commands with the Sabbath keeping is obsolete and vanishing away in the 1st century.
ellauri112.html on line 894: In the Lord’s Supper, Christ blesses His people in many ways. He calls His people to remember Him and His saving work, as often as they partake of it. Christ uses it to remind them of His coming again in glory for them. The people of God renew their covenant with Him. They commune with Him, as their ministers, acting in His name, administer the sacrament according to His appointment, to their own growth in grace. As they recall how all Christians eat from the same consecrated bread, they are reminded of the love and unity that binds all Christians in one body and one faith.
ellauri164.html on line 483: Moses is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament. While Abraham is called the “Father of the Faithful” and the recipient of God’s unconditional covenant of grace to His people, Moses was the man chosen to bring redemption to His people. God specifically chose Moses to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt to salvation in the Promised Land. Moses is also recognized as the mediator of the Old Covenant and is commonly referred to as the giver of the Law. Finally, Moses is the principal author of the Pentateuch, the foundational books of the entire Bible. Moses’ role in the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the role Jesus plays in the New Testament. As such, his life is definitely worth examining.
ellauri164.html on line 493: The rest of the book of Exodus and the entire book of Leviticus take place while the Israelites are encamped at the foot of Sinai. God gives Moses detailed instructions for the building of the tabernacle—a traveling tent of worship that could be assembled and disassembled for easy portability—and for making the utensils for worship, the priestly garb, and the ark of the covenant, symbolic of God’s presence among His people as well as the place where the high priest would perform the annual atonement. God also gives Moses explicit instructions on how God is to be worshiped and guidelines for maintaining purity and holiness among the people. The book of Numbers sees the Israelites move from Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land, but they refuse to go in when ten out of twelve spies bring back a bad report about Israel’s ability to take over the land. God condemns this generation of Jews to die in the wilderness for their disobedience and subjects them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. By the end of the book of Numbers, the next generation of Israelites is back on the borders of the Promised Land and poised to trust God and take it by faith.
ellauri164.html on line 508: As mentioned earlier, we also know that Moses’ life was typological of the life of Christ. Like Christ, Moses was the mediator of a covenant. Christ too was a little recalcitrant, so he got crucified. Again, the author of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate this point (cf. Hebrews 3; 8—10). The Apostle Paul also makes the same points in 2 Corinthians 3. The difference is that the covenant that Moses mediated was temporal and conditional, whereas the covenant that Christ mediates is eternal and unconditional. Like Christ, Moses provided redemption for his people. Moses delivered the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land of Canaan. Christ delivers His people out of bondage and slavery to sin and condemnation and brings them to the Promised Land of eternal life on a renewed earth, like Azrael in the forthcoming third season of His Dark Materials. Like Christ he returns to consummate the kingdom He inaugurated at His first coming. Like Christ, Moses was a prophet to his people. Moses spoke the very words of God to the Israelites just as Christ did (John 17:8). Moses predicted that the Lord would raise up another prophet like him from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus and the early church taught and believed that Moses was speaking of Jesus when he wrote those words (cf. John 5:46, Acts 3:22, 7:37). In so many ways, Moses’ life is a precursor to the life of Christ. As such, we can catch a glimpse of how God was working His plan of redemption in the lives of faithful people throughout human history. This gives us hope that, just as God saved His people and gave them rest through the actions of Moses, so, too, will God save us and give us an eternal Sabbath rest in Christ, both now and in the life to come. But don't get your hopes too high, you may not be among the chosen after all.
ellauri164.html on line 709: He has reached the end of his rope. He has been patient with these complaining and rebellious people, but he couldn’t take it any longer. Their constant ingratitude and rebelliousness caused Moses to lose faith in the people. This is the people that were supposed to be God’s treasured possession, a holy nation of priests who had agreed to be in a covenant relationship with God (Ex 19:5-8). What a disappointment they had turned out to be and Moses was finished interceding for them. God knew Moses was not going to intercede for the people at Meribah, therefore He doesn’t ordain punishment for them.
ellauri164.html on line 711: So, how does this connect back to Moses being barred from entering the Promised Land? Because the people were unfaithful and so difficult to lead, Moses’s own faith suffered. This caused him to lose confidence that God could develop the Israelites into a faithful covenant people who were meant to be a nation of priests and a means of blessing the nations.
ellauri164.html on line 731: That's the Biblical explanation, but frankly, the punishment just doesn't seem to fit the crime. In reading the whole story, Moses was an exemplary leader, the ideal mediator between the people and God, and always faithful to the covenant. One little mistake and he's punished forever! It hardly seems just.
ellauri164.html on line 883: The third mention is in Deuteronomy 4:21-23, where Moses has moved past the historical recounting and is now warning Israel of the danger of idolatry. He says ““Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land. So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.” Now Moses uses his own tragic story as an illustration on the importance of avoiding idolatry in the Promised Land. So Moses’ failure to enter the Promised Land was related to the continuous rebellion of Israel, and was an illustration of the dangers of violating the covenant promises.
ellauri164.html on line 885: Reading the Numbers 20 passage the way that has been suggested makes sense of what Moses says in Deuteronomy. He’s not shifting the blame to Israel for his own failures, but highlighting that their constant rebellion was what caused him to lose his faith in God. Moses lack of faith led him to forget the promise and covenant of God, so he is using that illustration to demonstrate the dangers of forsaking the covenant: just like Moses, Israel will be forbidden the Promised Land if they don’t maintain faith in the covenant promises of God. That’s really one of the main points of Deuteronomy. It’s not just the covenant laws for the new generation, but Moses exhorting the new generation to never lose hope in the promise of God. Moses, knowing Israel, recognizes that there will come a day when they fail to uphold the covenant and they will be punished for it, but he also recognizes that God’s promises will stand no matter how badly Israel fails to uphold it. This, then, is the main point we should derive as well: God will always keep His promises. We, as the heirs to the promises to Abraham and Israel, should always firmly believe in the power of God to bring us, a broken people like Israel, to the shores of the Promised Land!
ellauri180.html on line 187: Others believe that circumcision arose as a mark of defilement or slavery (fig. 1). In ancient Egypt captured warriors were often mutilated before being condemned to the slavery. Amputation of digits and castration was common, but the morbidity was high and their resultant value as slaves was reduced. However, circumcision was just as degrading and evolved as a sufficiently humiliating compromise. Eventually, all male descendents of these slaves were circumcised. The Phoenicians, and later the Jews who were largely enslaved, adopted and ritualized circumcision. In time, circumcision was incorporated into Judaic religious practice and viewed as an outward sign of a covenant between God and man (Genesis XVI, Fig. 2).
ellauri184.html on line 518: The Book of Genesis explains circumcision as a covenant with God given to Abraham,[Gen 17:10] In Judaism it "symbolizes the promise of lineage and fruitfulness of a great (???) nation," the "seal of ownership (???) and the guarantee of relationship between peoples and their god." Some scholars look elsewhere for the origin of Jewish circumcision. One explanation, dating from Herodotus, is that the custom was acquired from the Egyptians, possibly during the period of enslavement. An additional hypothesis, based on linguistic/ethnographic work begun in the 19th century, suggests circumcision was a common tribal custom among Semitic tribes (Jews, Arabs, and Phoenicians).
ellauri217.html on line 680: According to the Genesis flood narrative, a deluge covered the whole world on account of violent corruption on the earth, killing every surface-dwelling creature except Noah, his wife, his sons, their wives, and the animals taken aboard the Ark. According to the biblical narrative, all modern humans are descendants of Noah, thus the name Noahide Laws refers to the laws that apply to all of humanity. After the Flood, God sealed a covenant with Noah with just the following 2 admonitions as written in Genesis 9:4-6.
ellauri217.html on line 707: The purpose of the meeting, according to Acts, was to resolve a disagreement in Antioch, which had wider implications than just circumcision, since circumcision is the "everlasting" sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:9–14). Some of the Pharisees who had become believers insisted that it was "needful to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses" (KJV).
ellauri300.html on line 638: Titus’ background is not explained, other than the fact he was Gentile and apparently never circumcised (Paul had checked, Galatians 2:4). This is an interesting point, since Timothy was half-Greek, and not circumcised either! Still, Paul chose to circumcise Timothy to honor the Jews in an area that the two of them were ministering in (Acts 16:1-5). Paul repeatedly mentions in his letters that circumcision is not necessary under the new covenant (though great fun), and even tells Titus to silence Christians who try to promote it (Titus 1:10-14). So, Paul’s choice to circumcise Timothy would suggest that he had a pragmatic thorn in his side. He did not require his disciples to be circumcised, but if the situation called for working among Jews and it made things easier, he would gladly do it. Whether Titus ever ministered to Jewish believers is not stated, and both he and Titus worked at churches in Gentile areas (Timothy in Ephesus, Titus in Crete, and Corinth and Dalmatia).
ellauri375.html on line 700: Divine Call: According to the biblical narrative, God called Abraham to leave his homeland and go to a land that God would show him (Genesis 12:1). This divine call is seen as the beginning of God's covenant with Abraham, promising to make him the father of a great nation and to bless all the families of the earth through him.
ellauri375.html on line 702: Promise of Land: God promised Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8). This promise of land was a central aspect of God's covenant with Abraham.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 688: he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that a significant portion of its members are descended from or adopted into the tribe of Ephraim, believing that they are charged with restoring the lost tribes in the latter days, as prophesied by Isaiah. Along with members of the tribe of Judah, members of the tribe of Ephraim are believed to be playing an important leadership roles for covenant Israel in the last days. Members' lineage is declared through patriarchal blessings.
xxx/ellauri166.html on line 318: It is probable that after the entrance into Canaan this glory-cloud settled in the tabernacle upon the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. We have, however, no special reference to it till the consecration of the temple by Solomon, when it filled the whole house with its glory, so that the priests could not stand to minister ( 1 Kings 8:10-13 ; 2 Chr. 1 Kings 5:13 1 Kings 5:14 ; 7:1-3 ). Probably it remained in the first temple in the holy of holies as the symbol of Jehovah's presence so long as that temple stood. It afterwards disappeared. (See CLOUD .)
xxx/ellauri186.html on line 803: a) Good reasons existed for rejection of canonicity for the spurious book. The book failed to meet the 5 requirements for canonicity: 1) apostolic authority (Was it written by the apostles or early eye witness news?), 2) orthodoxy (Does it line up with clear OT and NT teachings?), 3) antiquity (Has it been used within the covenant community for an extended period of time?), 4) inspiration, (Does the book make a tangible and testable claim of divine inspiration?) and 5) usage (Was it accepted by the catholic church at large?). 6) The early Church also viewed their discussions and debates surrounding the issues of canonicity as being directed and superintended by God. The determinations and deliberations concerning the canon were in some sense within the will and superintending of God working through his church.
xxx/ellauri307.html on line 426: Reply in response to David Penitente: First we are more important than ants as we have free will to be aware and 7-613 covenant connectors to grow our souls with.
xxx/ellauri416.html on line 872: total devotion to the Lord within a renewed covenant
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