©2011-2025, David E. Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries

 

Lessons from the Wilderness, Volume 61

…What We Know… Part One

Introduction to The Truth ^{[i] [ii] [iii]}

¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see⁴⁶ that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,⁴⁷ and you people⁴⁸ say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”⁴⁹

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman,⁵⁰ a time⁵¹ is coming when you will worship⁵² the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

²² You people⁵³ worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.⁵⁴

²³ But a time⁵⁵ is coming—and now is here⁵⁶—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks⁵⁷ such people to be⁵⁸ his worshipers.^{59 24} God is spirit,⁶⁰ and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”^[iv]

                When I first got into the ministry of teaching what is called “the faith entrusted once for all [see Jude 1:3]”, I never realized how contentious it would be, and how rejection would become the outcome, the norm, not acceptance. I learned early on, before I began, that Bible reading is not Bible Study. This was not how I was supposed to approach the Word of God: I was to approach the God of the Word – and that required diligent and determined (faithful) study of His word. How would I do this I wondered. Then I discovered that I would have to dig, I would have to search, I had to learn at the least a rudimentary understanding of Greek and Hebrew. I needed to be able to follow along in scholarly dissertations, in commentaries, in dictionaries that spoke of strange words, like Cognate language/literature, parsing, tense, cultural concepts and worldview. I had to learn the difference between exegesis [the process of careful analytical study of the Bible to produce useful interpretations of those passages or, in other words, what conclusions does the text say and support] and eisegesis [the practice of interpreting a text by imposing one's own ideas, biases, or interpretations onto it, rather than drawing out the intended meaning from the text itself].

                     Bible study does not rely on my thoughts, or a creed, or a denomination, or a modern mindset; it relies upon what the text in its original context meant to the original hearers of the words – their worldview, their culture, their understanding of health, space and time, of their concept of the cosmos; and their understanding that the natural order of the world was controlled by the supernatural order of the Creator and His creation.

                 Now, I did not come upon all of these things at once. It took practice, trial and error, and much research to learn these things. It took a year of me learning Biblical Hebrew from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and of teaching myself the basics of Biblical Greek. It also has resulted in me continuing this learning process, to refine what I know and get better at it. It has also led me to a most basic understanding of the other languages that influenced the Bible, like Aramaic, Ugaritic, and others. A lifetime of learning awaits me, and I have spent 16 years getting to this point, God willing, I will have more. I am grateful for the strides I have made, and I have only scratched the surface.

                 I do not tell you these things to make myself out as someone special; I am just a seeker, like any of you. But what I do know is that my calling is to be a teacher; but I cannot teach what I do not know, and that is why I study – it is the highest form of worship any of us can do. I was blessed with the few jobs that paid me well enough to invest in the tools required for this endeavor, and that is only because God allowed it. I am humbled by His faithfulness in bringing me to the now – only He knows the depth of my past, and what He rescued me from, and the admonition He placed upon me: that I would serve Him and His for the rest of my days. That is why I do what I do.

              I said in the beginning of this epistle (and epistle is defined simply as a letter, derived from the Greek epistolē, and from epistellein ‘send news’), that as I began to teach in Christian settings what Jude called “the faith entrusted once for all”, would become a source of great joy for those I taught, and a source that many pastors and preachers would reject and bar me from their “flock”, simply because they understood not the message of the God of the Word.

 Even though I was shown the door in many of these Christian settings, and even though it felt at the time it was I being rejected, that really wasn’t the case. It was God that was rejected, not I. I’m just a messenger, trying to bring back that which has been lost, the original context and understanding of God’s Word, and the God of the Word. In every page of Scripture, in every chapter and verse (which by the way are not in the original texts) is a back story – a backdrop that sets the stage, introduces the players, and add context and depth to the Word. From a simple context to the more profound theological concepts, the words we read today have stood the test of thousands of years – they stand because they are true, and because the messages they speak require an intellectual honesty that can only be found in study. We have a guide – the Ruach Ha’kodesh – the Holy Spirit who leads us in all truth, if only we want to look beyond the stale denominations and biases that have clouded the message of truth for the last two thousand years.

Any what is that truth?

Yeshua (Jesus) was and is a Jew. That truth changes everything,

So, in this introduction, we begin a new series on the Word of God and the God of the Word.

 

We are in Search of Messiah

And the God of the Word

Join me as we continue in Part Two of

…What We Know…

 

May He richly bless you all, Amein

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[i]NOTICE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: Unless otherwise cited, all material found on this blogsite (original text, opinions, conclusions, and other material not related to cited sources remains the collected intellectual property of the author of this site, David E. Robinson, Elder, teacher, and minister, and are owned and controlled by myself and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions. Any errors found within, rest solely upon me; please do not blame the Father for my mistakes. I am teachable and correctable, not infallible. 😊

 [ii] FAIR USE DISCLAIMER: This blog site may contain content that is not authorized for use by its owner. All such material will be cited back to its original source. According to Section 107 of the Copyright Act: “…the fair use of a copyrighted work […] for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright…” I have made and will continue to make every effort to stay within all ethical and moral guidelines in the use of material presented here, and the use of these materials is solely intended for educational purposes only, and all efforts to obtain or sustain fair use of non-owned material will be made. That being said, this site is for education only and is not affiliated with any institution, organization, or religious group. It is the sole production of its editor/author. Use of information from Jewish-themed websites (or any other source material) should not be construed as these sites endorsing or confirming any thesis introduced by the author of this epistle. I present the information from their respective sites for instructional purposes only and/or to aid in the readers understanding of the subjects discussed.

 [iii] Author’s note:  Throughout these studies, I will be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within the notes you will see symbols like this: ( א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in translating the Old and New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/  and see their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete explanation on these symbols and other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible uses them. This is not to say that the NET® Bible will be our only source of God’s word but will be used as seen fit.

 

Also, in these studies, I have used the notes that come along with the passages I cite from the sources that I cite: these need a bit of a disclaimer though. As in all things, not everything that is footnoted is something that may I necessarily agree with [nor specifically disagree with]; the only instances will be where I may find it not compatible with what I believe pertains to any matters of the Torah or the commandments of God. I give you the notes as they are written by the authors of the material I cite from, so that you can see the information contained within them. It truly is not my place to edit or ignore them; if they state anything that is in opposition to what I teach, then so be it. I will address these issues if requested. That is not to say I should not challenge something I believe, in my humble opinion, might contradict the truth of God’s word; that I will do in the main body of my epistles for that is where my gentle dissent belongs.

Most (but not all) of the differences will come when a QUOTED source displays a decidedly Western/Greek mindset, as opposed to one of the Hebraic perspectives. I must be intellectually honest – I am biased toward the God of Avraham, Issachar, and Yakob, and his son, Yeshua, the Messiah. I pray we all can find common ground as we study the Scriptures. Also, some may be put off by the length or depth of the notes; not everyone has access to the references I do, so therefore, I try to include the notes that come with the material I use, so each can see for themselves the information the originator has pointedly gleaned. I hope you avail yourselves to these inclusions – they help us to understand how the material in scripture is laid out and the thought process of the original writers of Scripture.

 NET® Bible Notes: {the numbered notations are unique to the NET® Bible and will be separated by this notation.}

⁴⁶ tn Grk “behold” or “perceive,” but these are not as common in contemporary English usage.

⁴⁷ sn This mountain refers to Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritan shrine was located.

⁴⁸ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “say” is second person plural and thus refers to more than Jesus alone.

⁴⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵⁰ sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208–9 s.v. γυνή 1), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.

⁵¹ tn Grk “an hour.”

⁵² tn The verb is plural.

⁵³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “worship” is second person plural and thus refers to more than the woman alone.

⁵⁴ tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.

⁵⁵ tn Grk “an hour.”

⁵⁶ tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.

⁵⁷ sn See also John 4:27.

⁵⁸ tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”

⁵⁹ tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunountas) as the complement.

sn The Father wants such people as his worshipers. Note how the woman has been concerned about where people ought to worship, while Jesus is concerned about who people ought to worship.

⁶⁰ tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (theos) is the subject.

^[iv] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible, Second Edition. (Denmark: Thomas Nelson, 2019), Jn 4:19–24.

{End Net® Notes}