Matthew 23:2–3 in Context, History, and Theology One verse, lifted from its setting, can be made to carry far more weight than it was ever meant to bear. Matthew 23:2–3—“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you”—has often been invoked to …

Every year in Israel, life comes to a complete halt for one day. Shops close. Roads empty. Even the noise of ordinary existence falls silent. For twenty-four hours, an entire nation stops—not as individuals in isolation, but together. Whether religious Jew or secular, citizen or outsider, everyone is caught up …

For many believers, especially those new to Christian history, it can feel confusing that the Bible speaks clearly of the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday), yet most Christians today gather on Sunday. How did this happen? Is it biblical? Is it good? And why do some scholars say the shift to Sunday …

The story of Israel begins not with a nation, but with a man who would not let go of God. In the midnight struggle by the Jabbok River, Jacob wrestled with the divine until daybreak, and there received a new name: Israel — “the one who strives with God” (Genesis …

The Olive Tree: Grafting, Not Replacing Grafting an olive tree is an ancient agricultural skill used to preserve and strengthen trees. The process involves carefully cutting a branch from one tree and inserting it into a slit in the bark of another. The farmer then binds it tightly so that …

Few verses have been more misread than Paul’s declaration in Galatians 3:28–29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s …

The Crusades, pogroms, the Inquisition, blood libels, expulsions, and the Holocaust — so much Jewish suffering has occurred under banners displaying the cross, in Jesus’s name, or by individuals identifying as “Christians.” How can such horrors possibly square with Yeshua? They don’t. These acts were not obedience to Yeshua but …

Psalm 22: Possibly the most famous prophetic psalm about the Messiah! Much like Isaiah 53, it describes the Messiah’s torment, rejection and death: “To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me, from …

Long ago, the rabbis used to read Isaiah 53 in synagogues, but after the chapter caused arguments and great confusion, the rabbis decided that the simplest thing would be to just take that prophecy out of the Haftarah readings in synagogues.1 That’s why today when we read Isaiah 52, we stop …

There are two very different ways Christians have told the story of how everything ends.In the first version, the one that’s especially popular in many modern Western churches, the tale begins with Jesus returning in glory. At last, everyone sees the truth and admits He is Lord. The next scene …