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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...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, reminds us of something fundamental: "If they were not, you would not have come to the world." Your parents, your ancestors... they paved the way. And what...
The Book of Ben Sira, a treasure trove of wisdom literature, gives us a glimpse into this very idea, specifically through the lens of the priesthood. It speaks of one called to "mi...
Ben Sira, in chapter 46 of his wisdom text, paints a vivid portrait of Samuel, a leader renowned for his unwavering faith and powerful connection to God. It's a portrait that reson...
Forget the sterile descriptions in history books. Let's try to feel it, to breathe it in, to almost see it shimmering before us. Ben Sira, in chapter 50 of his wisdom book, gives u...
The Book of Jubilees, a text that gives us a unique retelling of the Torah, certainly seems to think so. It’s a book overflowing with warnings and rebukes, a call to remember the c...
We all know the story: the forbidden fruit, the serpent, the expulsion. But what were those first moments like outside of paradise? The Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text conside...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories in Genesis, gives us a fascinating, detailed timeline of those pivotal moments. It's like having a cosmic c...
After all that devastation, how did Noah make things right again, not just with God, but with the very earth itself? Well, the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating ancient Jewish text, ...
When Noah finally stepped onto dry land, one of the first things he did was offer a sacrifice. But what was so special about it? The Book of Jubilees, a text that expands on the st...
This book, considered scripture by some and a valuable historical source by others, gives us a detailed look into the life of figures from the Hebrew Bible. Today, we’re focusing o...
We get a fascinating, if slightly scandalous, glimpse in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exo...
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work of 2nd century BC origin. It retells parts of Genesis and Exodus, but with a unique spin,...
For a home, for a future, for a connection to something bigger than himself. And then he arrives at Shechem. The Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text that expands on the stories we...
It paints a vivid picture of Abraham’s arrival and his immediate actions. Imagine this: Abraham, having journeyed from Ur of the Chaldees – a long and arduous trek, no doubt – fina...
It tells us, plainly and powerfully, that "Abram was very glorious by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and camels, and menservants, and maidservan...
That feeling is ancient. It’s woven right into the stories we tell about our ancestors. Let’s look at one such moment with Abraham, from the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubi...
That unsettling feeling is something Abraham, our ancestor, knew all too well. Let's look at a particularly vivid scene from the Book of Jubilees, a text that expands on the storie...
It's a little different than what you might expect. In Jubilees 14, we find Abraham in a very familiar role: making sacrifices. He offers up pieces of animals, birds, fruit-offerin...
The Book of Jubilees, a text bubbling with detail about the early days of humankind and covenants with God, offers a fascinating glimpse. In the 15th chapter, we find Abraham – sti...
It's explored in fascinating detail in texts like the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories from Gen...
We often trace them back to the Torah, to Moses at Sinai. But what if some of those traditions, the feel of them, actually predate the Torah itself? to the Book of Jubilees, a fasc...
We often think of holidays as something ancient and unchanging, but every tradition has a beginning. Let’s peek into one possible origin story, found in the Book of Jubilees, a tex...
The Book of Jubilees, a text revered by some ancient Jewish communities but not included in the standard biblical canon, gives us a glimpse behind the curtain of one of the most ch...
He said, "Because thou hast obeyed My voice, and hast not withheld thy son, thy first-born, but hast offered him up to Me, in order that I might make a great nation of thee, and (b...
That’s the heart of one of the most powerful, and frankly, disturbing stories in the Hebrew Bible: the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac. We all know the basic story from Genesis 22. G...
We all know the story of the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac, from Genesis 22. But other ancient texts offer us glimpses that fill in the emotional landscape, adding layers of meanin...
The ultimate test of faith, a moment of divine intervention, and the substitution of a ram in the nick of time. But where exactly did this all go down? The Book of Jubilees, an anc...
Like one wrong step and… well, you know. In the Book of Jubilees, we find this intense father-to-son talk that feels exactly like that—a guide to staying on that path. It’s like a ...
The altar is ready, the fire is burning, and the priests are preparing the offering. Jubilees says: "offer them all together on the altar of burnt-offering; it is a sweet savour be...
Ancient texts give us some pretty specific instructions! to a fascinating little corner of the Book of Jubilees and see what we can uncover. The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamil...
To a tiny but fascinating corner of the Book of Jubilees, a text brimming with instructions and insights into the lives of our ancestors. Specifically, we're looking at chapter 21,...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not found in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a peek behind the curtain, fleshing out stories we think we know. And one of thos...
Our focus today is on Jacob, later to be named Israel, and a very specific moment in his journey. The text places him at the "Well of the Oath" – Beersheba in Hebrew – in a very pa...
When we look at texts like the Book of Jubilees, we see just how far that went. The Book of Jubilees, considered scripture in some traditions, particularly Ethiopian, offers a uniq...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not included in the standard Hebrew Bible but valued in some Jewish traditions, certainly has something to say about it. Jubilees chapter 30, in partic...
Our scene opens with Jacob, newly blessed and carrying the weight of his future. He ascends to Bethel, a place already heavy with significance – the very spot where he had that ear...
The tribe of Levi receives a unique blessing—and with it, a sacred role. They will "speak the word of the Lord in righteousness, and they will judge all His judgments in righteousn...
The Book of Jubilees gives us a peek into the morning after. Imagine Jacob, still buzzing with the memory of his encounter with the Divine, rushing to tell his father, Isaac. He re...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells stories from Genesis and Exodus, but with a unique spin, adding details and interpretations not f...
Jacob certainly did. Imagine this: you've just wrestled with an angel (or at least, a really tough guy who might as well have been an angel!), you're about to face your estranged b...
Sometimes, they're right there in the Torah. Other times, we find echoes of them in texts that didn't quite make it into the official canon. Take the Book of Jubilees, for example....
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis, often filling in gaps and offering unique perspectives. In this particula...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text, speaks directly to that feeling, especially when it comes to sacred obligations. It pulls no punches: "That man who is clean and close...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not included in the standard Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, offers just that kind of fascinating glimpse. Today, let's pull up a chair and...
It's considered apocryphal by some, pseudepigraphal by others (meaning, falsely attributed to a biblical figure), but no matter what you call it, it's a fascinating window into a w...
To a fascinating, and sometimes surprising, peek into the origins of Passover and Shabbat, as seen through the lens of a text called the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees, som...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the Torah, gives us a glimpse. It paints a picture of a day so special, so infused with the divine, that it forever alt...
