Welcome to First Fruits!

New to our site? Sign up for a free First Fruits Core account and enrich your First Fruits experience.

Sign up for a First Fruits Core account:

  • Access to more online resources and greater connectivity! Premium content, email newsletters and special offers from our Store. Find out more »

I can't remember my login. »

Magazine Articles

Browse, read and study through our extensive library of original articles, from previously published First Fruits of Zion magazines. Updated regularly!

Category: The Life of Messiah

Encountering Yeshua in the Gospels

Tags:  commentary, Franz Delitzsch, Gospels, life of Yeshua, parables, sayings, translation, Yechiel Lichtenstein

By Robert H. Morris

It's not like he's looking straight into my face. But I feel I'm standing up close, hearing him speak and watching him touch people in all kinds of ways.

Since May 2008, I have been privileged to work on a translation of the Gospels and Acts from the Hebrew edition of Franz Delitzsch, and on a commentary on the same books by Yechiel Tzvi Lichtenstein. The following are some fresh impressions of Yeshua--the Yeshua I have believed in all my life--that I received during this time, along with scattered reflections.

Written on the Heart

In the Gospels we find hundreds of snippets, and at times more lengthy accounts, of Yeshua in action--his words and deeds. We get the vivid memories of his apostles and of others who followed him. Think of this: There have been certain events in your life so vivid that you can still see expressions on faces and can hear exact words that were spoken. Surely Yeshua's teachings and actions were so powerful that his followers could remember not just a few words here and there, as skeptical scholars hold, but whole paragraphs and entire sermons that he spoke, and many details of healings and verbal exchanges; how could these ever be forgotten? Besides, Yeshua himself had promised that the Holy Spirit would help them recall his words (John 14:26).

Recently someone asked, "Why is it that Jesus Christ himself never wrote down a single word?" Jewish tradition gives the answer: It was the custom for sages not to write down their words on paper but on the minds and hearts of their disciples. I could have added that on the part of the disciples, it was paramount to store the teachings of their master and to transmit them verbatim. Clear evidence for this is the fact that rabbinic sayings before and after Yeshua were not put in writing until Rabbi Judah the Prince recorded these in the Mishnah about 200 CE, and that for the most part, the Mishnah and Gemara are composed of transmit...

End of Guest excerpt:
Access more valuable online content. Sign in, or register for a free Core account.

Sign in to read more...

Username :
Password :
Forgot your username or password?
  Keep me signed in...

I don't have a Core account.

Create a First Fruits Core account. It's free and only takes a minute.

AN ACCOUNT INCLUDES: Premium online content, Access to our Core catalog, Discount coupons for our Store, Free downloads and newsletters, etc. More info here...


© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission. Adapted from Messiah Journal #101 .

For more information about this issue, click here.

Proclaiming the Torah and its way of life, fully centered on Messiah, to today's People of God.

Contact Us

PO Box 649
Marshfield, MO 65706-0649, USA

Telephone +1 417 468 2741
Toll-free 800 775 4807
Fax 417 468 2745

About First Fruits of Zion

Feeds

Copyright © 2012 First Fruits of Zion, Inc., All Rights Reserved | Home | Copyright & Terms | Privacy Policy