Shalom Chaverim,
As I continue work on the Scripture Restoration Project, I cannot help but feel blessed by the depths of understanding I am discovering in the original Hebrew text as it is restored.
Yesterday I started to share with you about the work on the restoration of the original Hebrew of Matthew 5:21-26 and it’s parallel in Luke 12:58-59. In that blog I shared with you about the qualifier “without cause” found in the KJV of Matthew 5:22, which did not appear in the original Hebrew.
Today I want to share with you about the depth of meaning in the original Hebrew of Matthew 5:23-24 which reads:
ואם תקריב קרבנך אל המזבה ושם תזכור כי יש לאחיך מאומה עליך
הניה שם קרבנך לפני המזבה ולך תהילה לכפר את פני אחיך ואז תבא ותתן קרבנך
And if you are offering your offering at the alter, and there remember that your brother has something against you.
Leave your offering there before the alter, and go first to reconcile before your brother. And then come and give your offering.
In the Hebrew the phrase “before the alter” (לפני המזבה) and “before your bother” (פני אחיך) are parallel to one another. Moreover the word for “reconcile” is כפר “kippur” which also means “atonement” (such as in “Yom Kippur” the “Day of Atonement”).
There is a Jewish tradition which says that the ten commandments were on two tablets so that the first five paralleled the second five, which the commandment against idolatry parallel to “thou shalt not kill” because man is made in the image of Elohim, thus killing a man, is destroying the image of Elohim.
Remember, this section of Matthew (5:21-26) is also expounding upon the commandment “thou shalt not kill” and his Jewish audience is well aware of the tradition above.
In the original Hebrew, Yeshua is teaching us that because our brother (our fellow man) is made in the image of Elohim, he is like an alter to YHWH and that reconciling with our fellow man helps reconcile us to YHWH. He is teaching us that such reconciliation is making making atonement on the alter of our fellowman, to YHWH.
This project will take months, even years, but we will publish the work as we go, so you will not have to wait months and years to reap the rewards of this work!
This work will take hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.
The last six weeks have hit us very hard. It has been a long time since our situation was this dire. Any donation will help, and any donation is better than no donation.
Now is time to step up to the plate!
I realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.
Donations can be sent by paypal to donations@wnae.org.
Donations can also be made out to “Nazarene Judaism” and sent to:
Nazarene Judaism
PO Box 471
Hurst, TX 76053