Who will you allow to be your guide in this life when it comes to Scriptural matters? Who is best suited to lead you into the light, and impart the truth? This video will reveal the answers.
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I have seen many Hebrews tout the teachings of certain individuals, and I hear them praising men and women of apparent intellectual stature in this walk, and the minute a Hebrew has a question on a particular passage of scripture, they are quick to rely on the opinions or overall guidance of these teachers in question.
They call them up, or email them, or seek them out in person to get clarification on a scriptural matter, and while this wouldn’t be frowned upon in certain respects, when that teacher is the main or only source of truth and verification on the Word, you are in danger of being led in circles of error. Yeshua himself said,
8 Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.
—Matthew 23
Here the word Rabbi is rhabbi, word 4461 in the Greek section of the Strong’s Concordance. According to Thayer’s Lexicon, the word means, my great one, or my honourable sir, andIt is a title used by the [Yehudim] to address their teachers (and also honour them when not addressing them). This is why Yeshua said, you have only one teacher, and it is Yeshua himself. A second witness to this can be found in Psalm 32, where Yah tells us:
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye.
—Psalm 32
It is Yah and Yeshua, who are one in purpose, who are to be our teacher and ultimate guide in life. They are the only ones truly qualified to teach us. But it takes great faith to allow this to happen, because they will not physically come down from heaven and sit in your living room to break bread. This teaching occurs completely in the spirit of faith. In the wise counsel of James, an emissary of Yeshua, we get this instruction:
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous Elohim, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in Elohim alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
—James 1
Early in my walk, when I first came into the truth in the summer of 1994, I was completely blind to many, many things, and I had literally no understanding of Scripture. But I was led to read an account of Solomon that changed all of that.
1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of Yah and the wall around the city.
2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of Yah had not yet been built.
3 Solomon loved Yah and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.
4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.
5 That night Yah appeared to Solomon in a dream, and Elohim said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
7 “Now, O Yah my Elohim, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.”
8 “And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!
9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 Yah was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.
11 So Elohim replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—
12 “I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!”
—1 Kings 3
Immediately after reading this decades ago, I prayed a similar prayer, and year after year I saw that prayer fulfilled, as Yah has continually added to my collective understanding. He has been guiding me ever since and I have never been at the feet of a man or woman in tutelage concerning Scripture. I only say that to say, Yeshua desires to teach us personally. In Matthew 11 and verse 29, some translations mistranslate an important clause. The text should read “learn from me” not “learn of me.” The Greek phrase is mathete ap'emou, learn from me. As in, let me teach you.
We can and should learn directly from Yah. Solomon did, and his father, David admits he did as well. In Psalm 119 we read:
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep your word.
102 I have not departed from your judgments: for you have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
—Psalm 119
Note that David did in fact have teachers, but his personal teacher/student relationship with the Most High caused him to excel above his teachers. Many times Hebrews go to men and women to inquire of Scriptural things that particular teacher may not have full light on. But Yah is willing to lead us into full light on certain subjects if we would but ask him in faith. But as I said, Yah and Yeshua do not come down physically. This is all a spiritual work, accomplished through faith. Of this Yeshua said:
26 But the Advocate, the Set Apart Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things. . . .
—John 14
Now having said all this, ancient Israel was appointed the Levites, who instructed them, but remember that all of Israel was to be a Kingdom of Priests according to Exodus 19 verse 6. Israel could not have a direct relationship with Yah through the priests of Levi. The same could be said for any congregation, church, or assembly today. No teacher or pastor can get you to have a personal, direct, teacher/student relationship with Yah. This goes back to Psalm 32 verse 8 and Matthew 23 verse 8.
No matter what scripture verses you dig up to try to refute these two powerful passages, they cannot refute this simple truth. This also means that sitting in front of your computer or having your eyes glued to a tablet or phone where two-, three-, and four-hour long scripture studies are taking you through scripture from another person’s or group’s perspective is also not having a one on one teacher/student relationship with Yah.
You would be wise to limit your video binging and instead opt to study scripture on your own with a Lexicon or Concordance by your side, being guided solely by the Spirit of Yah. Scripture also includes instructions on how to study scripture, including the following, in which we are told that we are not to delve into certain subjects:
29 Yah our Elohim has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.
—Deuteronomy 29
Yet some teachers and groups out there will lead you into all manner of territories and forbidden subjects that Yah never intended to lead you to, because they are in no way edifying or beneficial to strengthening your relationship with him. The Scriptures merely reveal Yeshua, and that is how we should approach them. We shouldn’t be looking for deep, dark secrets, or hidden knowledge.
39 You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
—John 5
Now, I’m not saying that there are no people Yah has raised up to teach his flock. I’m simply saying:
22 Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?
—Isaiah 2
Yah, on the other hand, should be the one we regard and esteem and look to for instruction. And we should be hanging on Yeshua’s every word, for he is in fact the way, the truth, and the life as stated in John 14 verse 6. When we learn directly at the feet of Yeshua, via the direction of the Set Apart Spirit, and follow his teaching, we fulfill Yeshua’s own words, in which he said:
47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.
—Luke 6
Keywords: mohreh, Rabbi, pastor, bishop, priest, read for yourself, study on your own, how to study scripture, how to read the bible
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