September 2026
Ha’azinu
Brit Hadashah Reflections 47
Torah portion Deuteronomy 32 : 1 - 52
Haftarah portion Hosea 14 : 2 – 10, Micah 7 : 18 – 20
Brit Hadashah Acts 16 : 1 - 18 : 28
Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua
Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement about taking John Mark with them on, what turned out to be, Paul’s second missionary journey. So, Paul chose Silas as his companion and Barnabas took John Mark with him. Paul’s intent was to re-visit the places in Galatia where he and Barnabas had brought many to faith in Yeshua, in order to encourage them, and to continue teaching there. Passing through Derbe, they arrived in Lystra, where they met Timothy, a young man who was brought up as a Gentile even though his mother was Jewish. Now here is a revelation for those who do not have a “Hebraic” understanding of Paul. Read verse 3 carefully. “Paul took him (Timothy) and circumcised him”. IF Paul had been ‘converted’ from Judaism (as we are often taught) why on earth would he circumcise Timothy? Selah. (ponder)
Well, of course, the answer is that Paul intended to have Timothy accompany him into the Synagogues and to partake in the teaching. No Gentile would be allowed to do that. (some time later, Paul actually left Timothy behind in Ephesus to pastor the “ekklesia” there) However, as we read about the detail of Paul’s teaching on this trip we find that his main goal, apart from bringing new people to faith in Yeshua, was to emphasize the teaching of the “letter to the Gentiles” which had been written by the Jerusalem Council. We are told that there was a daily increase in their numbers as they taught the people, both from the Scriptures and by making known the contents of the letter from the Jerusalem Council. What a blessing!
For reasons which we do not know, the Holy Spirit forbade Paul and Silas to teach in some of the places along their journey. Eventually, Paul, Silas, Timothy and possibly Luke came to Phillipi, a Roman city in Macedonia, north eastern Greece. It is likely that there were no Jews there, and certainly no Synagogue. Paul stayed there many days and established an “ekklesia” there of some ladies who met for prayer on the Sabbath Day near a river. Here we are introduced to Lydia, a seller of ‘purple’, and to a slave girl who had a ‘spirit of divination’, from which her masters made a lot of money! Paul cast the “spirit” out of the girl, and for his trouble received a severe beating and was put into prison. The Lord miraculously saved them from custody, caused the jailer and his household to come to faith in Yeshua, arranged a pardon and apology from the magistrates, and shared fellowship and hospitality at the home of Lydia. Then they moved on again.
Next stop was Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews. For three Sabbaths Paul reasoned with them about Yeshua from the Scriptures (we must not forget that the only Scriptures then were the Hebrew Scriptures of course) Some Jews and many Greeks joined the “ekklesia” in Thessalonica. Other Jews remained unconvinced, and out of jealousy stirred up a mob against them and eventually the “ekklesia” arranged for Paul and Silas to leave by night to go to Berea, a town about 70 Km away, still in Northern Greece. Of the Bereans, the Bible tells us that “they were more fair-minded than the Thessalonians because they searched the Scriptures daily” to check what Paul was teaching!!
That is possibly the best lesson to be gained from this ‘reflection’. To be a “Berean”. They were cautious, they were sceptical, they were suspicious, and they were FAIR. They actually searched the scriptures to verify for themselves what they were being told. (It is a lesson I learned some years ago. I put everything I had been taught in Sunday School and Church on the ‘metaphorical’ shelf. Then I took off that shelf those things which I personally verified from the Scriptures. There are still many things on that shelf!). I recommend it to you.
Paul left Berea alone. Silas and Timothy remained there until Paul sent for them. Athens first, with Paul’s famous sermon on Mars Hill. “to the unkown God”. Then Corinth, where he met up with Aquila and Priscilla who had recently been expelled from Rome by the Emperor Claudius .It was here in Corinth, having preached in the Synagogue for several weeks and gained many more adherents to the “ekklesia”, that Paul grew weary of the continuous opposition of the orthodox Jews. The last straw came when they blasphemed against Yeshua. Paul retorted “Your blood be on your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles”.
Paul remained there for another 18 months before moving on to Ephesus. The travelogue is exciting as Paul consistently preached salvation through the Sonship of Yeshua. Be a Berean, check it out.
Shabbat Shalom
RS