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(Numb. 25:4:) “Take all the heads of the people, and impale them [before the Lord in the sun].” R. Judan said, “He hanged the heads of the people, because they had not protested ab...
“When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall beware of everything evil” (Devarim 23:10). There should be no levity among you so that you do not incur any liability. From w...
(Deut. 29:9:) “Your tribal leaders, [your elders, and your law officers].” Although I have appointed for you heads, judges, elders, and law officers, you shall all be equal before ...
Jewish tradition is filled with stories of those who dared to try. One of the most famous of these accounts involves four prominent sages who, according to the Talmud (Hagigah 14b)...
We often picture Moses on Mount Sinai, receiving the divine word directly from God. Forty days and forty nights of dictation. But what if I told you there's another story, a fascin...
The land was barren. A terrible famine gripped the region, forcing Abraham and Sarah to seek refuge in Egypt. They first tried Hebron, but the hunger was everywhere. So, they journ...
I'm talking about the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. We all know the story: Abraham, tested to the absolute limit, raises his knife to sacrifice his son Isaac. It's a scene that chi...
Jewish tradition is rich with stories of dreams and visions, and the power they hold. One particularly striking tale, found in Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, tells of a dream th...
The story goes that one night, long after leaving Eden when Cain and Abel were young men, Eve was shaken awake by a horrific vision. As The Penitence of Adam (22:2:1-23:3:2) tells ...
Today, let's talk about Yehoshua Ben Nun – Joshua, son of Nun – a figure who embodies that very idea. Ben Sira, in his wisdom, paints a vivid picture of Yehoshua. He calls him "a w...
Or Eliyahu, as he's known in Hebrew. He wasn't exactly known for his gentle touch. Ben Sira, in chapter 48, paints a picture of a man of intense zeal. “And he shattered their staff...
It's considered part of the apocrypha or deuterocanonical texts by some, and is especially important in Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. It's an ancient Jewish writing that retells th...
We're not talking politics here, but something far older, something almost mythical. Let's turn to the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text also known as Lesser Genesis, that o...
Sometimes, the answer is simpler – and more personal – than you might think. Take the story of Madai. We find him in the Book of Jubilees, hanging out in the land of Media, close t...
Jubilees, considered deuterocanonical (meaning it's included in some versions of the Bible but not others), gives us some incredible detail about Abraham's life, filling in gaps an...
That’s exactly where Jacob found himself in the Book of Jubilees. He'd been living with his uncle Laban for years, working hard, and things were...complicated. The Book of Jubilees...
After Jacob's direct encounter with the Divine, something unexpected happens. The text says, "He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Jacob looked till He had a...
Rebecca, the matriarch of our people, certainly did. The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories in Genesis, gives us a glimpse into her final days. It...
Our story comes from the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church but not by most of mainstream Judaism. Think of it as a kind of ...
That sense of, "Which way do I go?" That's precisely where we find Jacob in the Book of Jubilees, chapter 44. He's facing a dilemma of epic proportions. His son, Joseph, is a power...
That's the world we're stepping into today, with the opening of the Book of Judith. It all starts in the seventeenth year of an unnamed king's reign. Now, right away, some scholars...
We're not talking about gentle parables here. This is war. This is conquest. This is the kind of brutality that makes you want to look away – but we won't, because within it lies a...
That’s the feeling you get reading about Holofernes in the Book of Judith. He was that terrifying. We’ve talked about Judith, about her courage and her faith. But to truly understa...
They're facing Holofernes, the general of Nebuchadnezzar's army, and things are looking bleak. "Behold we have fallen before you to the ground," they plead. Can you imagine the des...
Holofernes is about to lay siege to the Jewish city of Bethulia. And you, Achior, have just given him a history lesson – a warning, really. You've explained to him, in no uncertain...
The heroine of our story, Judith, had something to say about that. We find ourselves in the Book of Judith, a story set during a time of great crisis for the Jewish people. The Ass...
And it's right at the heart of the Book of Judith. Now, Judith isn't just any story; it's a powerful tale of courage, faith, and a woman taking matters into her own hands. It's set...
Judith certainly did. After days of prayer and careful planning, she and her maidservant finally approached the Assyrian camp. Think about the courage it took! Remember, her city, ...
Judith certainly knew the feeling. We’ve been following her story, this brave and beautiful widow who's about to face down Holofernes, the fearsome general of the Assyrian army. Sh...
, shall we? So, here we are on the fourth day of Judith's stay in the Assyrian camp. Holofernes, the ruthless general, decides it’s time to… well, entertain her. But not in a frien...
Okay, technically Judith did lay a hand on him… and a sword. But let's rewind. We're talking about the story of Judith from the Book of Judith, a powerful tale of courage and faith...
Let’s set the stage. We're in the ancient world, amidst powerful kings and shifting empires. The passage in question drops us right into the aftermath of a royal assassination. Acc...
to his story, a tale pulled straight from the Book of Tobit, a text found in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and considered part of the Deuterocanonical ...
Specifically, we're looking at Tobit chapter 12. Here, Tobit, blind and weary, is overflowing with thankfulness. His son, Tobiyyah, has just returned from a long and perilous journ...
And it all starts with a letter. I'm talking about the Letter of Aristeas. It's not actually part of the Bible itself, but it's a fascinating ancient text that claims to tell us ho...
The Letter of Aristeas, an ancient text, gets right to that point. It tells us that the joy of learning, the pursuit of wisdom, it's just… different. More profound than any fleetin...
And it all begins with a king and a library. Our tale comes from the Letter of Aristeas, a fascinating document that purports to be a firsthand account of the translation. Whether ...
We're about to dive into a story where freeing a people became not just a political act, but an offering to the Divine. Imagine this: King Ptolemy Philadelphus, ruler of Egypt in t...
That’s precisely what happened back in the 3rd century BCE, according to the Letter of Aristeas. This fascinating text, attributed to a courtier named Aristeas in the service of Eg...
Picture the weight of it, the gleam of it. The Letter of Aristeas tells us it was two cubits long, one cubit broad, and one and a half cubits high. Now, a cubit is an ancient measu...
Around the edge, where the surface curves upward to meet your gaze, there's a mesmerizing pattern. What is it? A series of precious stone "eggs," meticulously carved. The Letter of...
The Letter of Aristeas gives us a tantalizing glimpse. This ancient text, purporting to be a letter from an official named Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, describes the proces...
We catch a glimpse of it, not from the Bible itself in this case, but from an ancient letter – The Letter of Aristeas. This fascinating text, though not part of the core biblical c...
That’s the kind of artistry we encounter in the Letter of Aristeas, a fascinating document that purports to describe the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, creating what w...
It's not just about the bling, you know. It's about the dedication, the artistry, the sheer audacity of the project. Take, for instance, the story told in the Letter of Aristeas. W...
The Letter of Aristeas, though not strictly a sacred text, offers us a fascinating glimpse, a sort of travelogue, into that world. It paints a picture, quite literally, of the land...
Let’s journey back in time, to a world of kings, scholars, and a burning desire to bridge cultures. Our tale begins with a concern. A very practical concern, actually. Imagine your...
It recounts the story of how the Septuagint – the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible – came to be. And tucked within that grand narrative, we find a little gem about the importa...
