I used to ask myself a lot of questions about a lot of things. Bit by bit, I found some of the answers. I’m sharing some of them here.
Since I published Messiah ben Joseph in 2016 I often get questions about this mysterious Messiah son of Joseph. Here are some of the questions I am asked most often and the answers.
This is quite a long video. So, if you want the full info, stay tuned. Or if you want an overview of the questions that interest you most, you’ll get the list of questions and their time-slots down below. Let’s go.
THE CHERUBIM are one of several orders of angelic beings that we meet in the Bible. Others include the Seraphim, the Ofanim, and the Hayyot. But the cherubim, or more accurately keruvim, are more mysterious than most.
The Talmud is the core text of rabbinic Judaism. It’s a vast early-medieval compendium which I find totally fascinating. Here are just a few of the reasons why it’s worth getting to know.
YEARS AGO, I sat at my desk reading my Hebrew Bible. Then I fell into a deep reverie, wondering where the lost music of the Psalms had gone and how I could find it. I asked myself, “Who would know this? Could the secret be with some rabbi or cantor in Yemen or Bukhara? Or is it buried in a cave somewhere, waiting to be found, like the Dead Sea Scrolls? Or is it just lost for ever?”
Little did I know that the lost music of the Psalms was lying right there, in front of my eyes…
THE SATOR SQUARE is an ancient “rebus” or word-square. Similar word-squares are known to us from ancient times. But, among them all, the SATOR square is an especially ingenious little construction. Yet more ingenious still is what is concealed within it. Once we decipher it, it will teach us something very significant about the earliest creeds of the Christian faith.
The Bible tells us that the name of Jesus is the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9–10). Is this just enthusiastic rhetoric? Or is this there really something special in this name?
Recently, my good friend P**** asked me for some spiritual guidance. (He is an amazing Brussels-based musician, who can play everything from early Baroque harpsichord to Bossa Nova with a 2-3 clave.) After thinking about it a bit, this is what I had to say to him…
If you ever visit Brussels, and drive out past Zaventem Airport, then you will come to the pleasant Flemish town of Vilvoorde. The town maintains a Tyndale Museum. It also has a little patch of green called Tyndale Park. There football pitches jostle with a monument erected in honour of the English Reformer William Tyndale, who was martyred at the town’s south gate on 6 October 1536. This is the tale of Tyndale and his triumph in translating the Bible into English.
THE PARABLE of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 is, I think, one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible. Like other people, I spent years misunderstanding it and worrying about what it meant. But once you find the key, it makes perfect sense.
There are fifteen Psalms of Ascents. And there are several very good reasons why there are fifteen of them. Here’s fifteen fun facts about the Psalms of Ascents.