It is scary to think 'what if I don't believe in God.' Where else shall I go? Not by emotion, but by knowing (hearing, reading, etc...) God from many possible ways I want to stay with God. The emotion is natural, God gave it to us. So where else shall I go? The LORD has the word of life! Fortunately I don't doubt that God loves me (Lord, let me keep the faith) because it is about His love coming to me totally, and nothing to do with my deeds or even my personality. God is love. So he loves even me.

I read Malachi this week. 4:1 says, "For the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble; the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says Adonai-Tzva'ot, "and leave them neither root nor branch. (Complete Jewish Bible)

Adonai Tzva'ot = The LORD of hosts


The LORD is the Almighty God. This verse suddenly reminded me that He is the one who is in control! Is it bad to be happily grafted into the root? We should keep reading and studying the word of God in the Bible, and yet not be proud about discovering the root (Judaism) and dwell in the satisfying state that we are grafted into the olive tree, the root of Christianity. Some churches focus on evangelism and I see that we need the love they have towards the neighbors. God loves variety. Balance must be the key. Am I reading the word? Am I loving others???


Micah 6:8 (New International Version)

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

ויקרא
This says "And He called". "Vayikra".
I hear that it is well known that the letter Alef (the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet), the one on the far left above, is written in a smaller size than the rest of the letters in the Torah.

Let's look. This website shows the English text on the right and the Hebrew text on the left. In the first verse, you can see in this one that the letter alef is written in a smaller size. (Hebrew is read from right to left,)

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0301.htm

I learned that there are special-trained scribes who copies every little thing in the Torah. If the reader find an error, then the scroll would be given to the special place and the scribes would correct it. So every little thing counts. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (KJV)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. " (NLT)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."(NIV)

I learned that this small alef represents the LORD's small voice calling Moses from behind the tabernacle. The LORD is in many little things, not just in the big thunders and lightnings.

This is one of the treasures that the Hebrew readers understand. I cannot imagine what more they would understand from the NT with both the knowledge and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 13:52 explains perfectly what those people are. In the back of one of my CD's, "Old and New" by Avner and Rachel Boskey, I read this verse. ( I am not sure which translation it was.) All the disciples must have been like the householder the verse talks about - someone who can pull out treasures from the OT and NT.

Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (KJV)

I am going to Leviticus!
Don't ask me what happened to Joseph's story and Moses.... I want to go back there definitely, and I will keep working on my projects ( family tree and Abraham's life).

ויקרא This is the title of the first part of Leviticus. It says "and He called". It is at the beginning of the book. The whole book of what we call "Leviticus" is titled "And He Called" in Hebrew.

Leviticus 1:3 is interesting.
I found an interesting website. When we compare different translations in one page like this we notice that the Hebrew word that means "of his own voluntary will" is not translated. I think this word's presence makes a big difference in understanding who God is. Immediately I thought of a verse from the Bible: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Book of Hebrews). We call our God and Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever but we think God in the OT is not a loving God. He has always been a loving Father! My desire is to know my Father and Jesus who was sent by our Father more from the entire Bible.

I wrote down the summary of Abram/Abraham's life, then erased it. It was long.

It is good to organize my thoughts. When I write some organized notes, I see something that I could not see.

It is interesting to know that Abraham told a lie again regarding Sarah after the LORD and two angels visited Abram and told him that Sarah will have a baby. Then God visited the king in his dream and told him not to touch Sarah. (Then it is clear that Isaac was not from this king.) Then Abraham prayed for him. Then "God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again". I believe what God just did was to show Abraham that God can close and open the womb. I wonder what Abraham thought of this.

Well, I am way behind if I compared myself with the rest of the world. The prescribed reading schedule of Torah is in Exodus, but I am still with Jacob. And now I am going back to Abraham because so many things are repeated in the second and the third generations and I want to have a basic knowledge of their lives a little more clearly and in an organized way in my head. For example, Jacob was at a well when he met Rachel. Was this the well Abraham's servant met Rebecca? I would like to create a cheat sheet.

I am encouraged by the following verse ( my excuse??).

Paul said this in his letter to the Galatians:

"Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct."