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“‘My lord, king, didn’t you swear to your servant, “Your son Shlomo will be king after me; he will sit on my throne”? So why is Adoniyah king?’”
In this week’s haftarah Chaye Sarah, we explore the mindset and character of King David as well as politics in the bible as the kingship passes from King David to Shlomo.
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“He’s here, he’s right ahead of you. Hurry now, he just came into the city today, because the people are sacrificing today at the high place. ”
Shaul, the first king of Israel meets up with the Prophet Samuel at an intriguing place. We discuss high places in Israel as we study 1 Samuel, chapter 8.
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This week’s Torah Portion, Vayera (and He appeared), tells us about the second departure of Hagar from Abraham and Sarah. Listen in on our weekly bible class as Yoel walks us through a textual comparison of chapters 21 and 16, as well as Abraham’s covenant with Avimelech.
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“Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside.”
The prophet Elisha cares for two widows in this week’s haftarah Vayera.
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“Sh’mu’el was not pleased to hear them say, “Give us a king to judge us”; so he prayed to YHWH..”
In part 6 of our Light of the Prophets: Samuel series, Israel worries about losing the leadership of Samuel and asks for a king. We examine this event and compare Samuel’s warning with the Torah’s instructions for having a king.
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There are lessons for the modern ger (stranger) in the account of Avram. We also explain historic and legal points about Melchizedek, Hagar and circumcision in this week’s torah portion, Lekh-Lekha (GO!).
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“I will make you into a threshing-sledge, new, with sharp, pointed teeth, to thresh the mountains and crush them to dust, to reduce the hills to chaff.”
When do you know when biblical text is literal or metaphoric? We look at how to understand biblical metaphors and idioms with this week’s haftarah in Isaiah 40 and 41.
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Who stole my bible?! In this week’s torah portion, Noach (Noah), Yoel further addresses the claim that parts of the Tanakh were stolen from other cultures and writings by examining elements of the account of the flood.
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“For me this is like Noach’s flood. Just as I swore that no flood like Noach’s would ever again cover the earth, so now I swear that never again will I be angry with you or rebuke you.”
We learn about Samaritans and the origins of the haftarah readings as a supplement to this week’s haftarah from Yeshayahu 54.
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“If it does, [YHWH] is responsible for this great tragedy; if not, we will know that it is not his oppression which has been over us, but that what has been happening to us has been only by chance.”
Do things happen by chance? The Philistines test for evidence of God’s hand and successfully transport the Ark of the Covenant by oxcart. We also look at the direct hit on Baal the storm god in part 5 of our Light of the Prophets: Samuel series.
The class is done in a virtual class room with multiple participants. We meet on Sundays at 11:45am US eastern, or 6:45pm Israel time. You do not need to know Hebrew for this class, and you also receive a recording of the classes every month. For the link and how to join, click the More Info Button to email us.
