Author: Rabbi B

You can find Part 1 here. A Ram “Behind Him” “Abraham lifted his eyes and behold, a ram [behind him?] held in a thicket by its horns.” – Genesis 22:13 Usually, this verse is translated to read that the ram was “behind him”. However, the Hebrew word which has been translated “behind him” is achar. Achar does not mean “behind” directionally, but “that which comes afterwards, later, that which follows” – in other words, a direction in time. The well-known Hebrew phrase acharit hayamim means “the latter days” or “the end of days”. (In this sense, the word can have two understandings when two...

“Abraham saw My day…” In the book of John (8:56), we read that Jesus was speaking to a group of people at the Temple, and He said to them, “Your father Abraham earnestly desired to see My day; and he saw, and was glad.” What did Jesus mean by this statement?  Was He saying that Abraham had a vague idea about the coming Messiah, and knew some of the things He would do when He came? If so, why did the people to whom Jesus was speaking immediately respond, “you are not yet fifty years old, how could you...