John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem (John 5:1, NKJV). The first major festival period in the Jewish calendar year is the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, which commences with Passover. The festival commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, when the angel … Continue reading –>
(Luke 2:21-24) God established His covenant with Abraham, saying that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4). When God made this covenant, the ninety-nine year old Abraham had only recently fathered Ishmael and had not yet seen the birth of his promised son, Isaac. Nonetheless, he was commanded to circumcise himself along … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 2:21-24; Exod. 13:2, 12; Luke 2:41-52; Matt. 17:24-27; John 8:1-11; Deut. 22:23-24. Memory Text: If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me (John 5:46, NRSV). Many Christians have been raised on stories about Jesus’ supposedly negative relationship to the Jewish religion, an unfortunate misconception … Continue reading –>
Elizabeth Kimongo was born into a traditional Maasai family in Kenya. In her culture girls are expected to marry soon after their twelfth birthday. Women have little to say about their lives, but Elizabeth refused to leave school to marry. She had a dream. While home for vacation before starting high school, Elizabeth learned that … Continue reading –>
Further Study: Read also Ellen G. White, Oath Taking, pp. 201-204, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1. If Adam had not transgressed the law of God, the ceremonial law would never have been instituted. The gospel of good news was first given to Adam in the declaration made to him that the seed of the … Continue reading –>
However much Roman law, Mosaic law, and rabbinic law impacted the lives of Jews living in first-century Israel, many people who followed the religion of Israel lived outside of Palestine and beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Thus, many of these laws would not have played a big role in their lives. At the … Continue reading –>
In addition to the Mosaic laws, Jews at the time of Jesus were also familiar with the law of the rabbis. The rabbis were the scholastic arm of the Pharisees, and they took the responsibility of ensuring that the Mosaic law remained relevant to the people. The rabbis counted 613 laws in the five books … Continue reading –>
Read Leviticus 1:1-9, 2:14-16, 5:11-13. To what are these laws referring? What was their purpose? What important truths were they meant to teach? Besides the civil laws in ancient Israel, there was also what is often called the ceremonial law. This law centered around the sanctuary and its services, all of which, of course, were … Continue reading –>
Although the Jews were under Roman rule at the time of Jesus, they were granted authority over those issues that were unique to their customs and religion (see Acts 18:15). The legislative body responsible for administering Jewish law was called the Sanhedrin. Sometimes referred to as the council (John 11:47, Acts 5:27), the Sanhedrin consisted … Continue reading –>
Read Luke 2:1-5. What lessons can we learn from the ways in which these two faithful followers of the Lord interacted with their political environment? A medieval depiction of the Roman Senate picture from Wikimedia commons Since the time of the early republic, the Romans recognized how important written laws were for the governance of … Continue reading –>
