the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Voice of the Lord
I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yod or a stroke will pass from the Torah (Matthew 5:18).
Yeshua may be alluding to an ancient Jewish story here to help reinforce his point about the authority of Scripture. Some early sages noticed that when Sarai's name was changed to Sarah (Genesis 17:15), the smallest Hebrew letter, yod, was taken from her name. The rabbis recognized how sorrowful an occasion this deletion must have been for the yod. They record that the yod cried out to God from generation to generation, complaining, "God, you have taken me out of the Bible! I am disgraced and humiliated! When will you stick me back in?" Finally, when Hoshea (Hosea) received the name Joshua (Numbers 13:16), a yod was added in the Bible. "So you see," the sages pointed out, "not even a single yod can pass from the Bible."
Some of the teachers told another story. King Shlomo (Solomon) wanted to remove a yod from the Bible, but the yod cried out to God for help. "Don't worry," God assured the tiny letter, "A thousand Shlomos will be uprooted, but not a single yod will be removed."
Yeshua is probably alluding to these stories, reminding us that God's Word is eternal.We cannot pick and choose what we like to hear. We must pay attention to all that God has to say to us in the Scriptures.
...consider what areas in Scripture I need to be more obedient to.
CK
The Voice of the Lord, Copyright © 1998 by the Lewis and Harriet Lederer Foundation, Inc. Published by Messianic Jewish Publishers, Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission. No part of this article may be reproduced in print or on the web, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of the publisher.
