#bible learning

Wisdom is the most important science for man, because wisdom is the science that orders all other sciences towards blessedness; technology is useless if men only follow the desires of concupiscence and develop strategies of concealment to achieve selfish ends; in this context, technology can only serve to increase suffering and social oppression. And this is a spiritual truth that the sapiential literature in the Bible, through its different books, expresses in one way or another. And the Book of Ben Sira, after leaving a series of tips on daily life to achieve success in life, taught how this wisdom that comes from God manifested itself throughout the history of Israel through notable figures, and one of them was the prophet Samuel. It can be said that with Samuel, the era of the prophets began in ancient Israel, which concluded with the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonian tyrant Nebuchadnezzar. The First Book of Samuel teaches that the prophet had a miraculous conception since his mother was sterile, and that for this reason his life was consecrated to God from his very birth. Samuel never followed the dictates of concupiscence and was free from error; in this way, the prophet acted with righteousness and integrity throughout his life. This is why Ben Sira recalled in his book a very important moment in the prophet's life, and that moment was when in Gilgal, after the coronation of Saul, the prophet gave a speech about his validity as the Lord's spokesman, and with these words Ben Sira remembered him: "When the time drew near for his eternal sleep, Samuel bore witness to the LORD and his anointed: 'I have never taken from anyone any property, not even a pair of shoes.'" Ben Sira 46:19 This appointment of Ben Sira about Samuel is a reminder that the prophets in ancient Israel were like spiritual sentinels who warned the Israelites when they strayed from the fear of God. Samuel opposed all oppression and deception in Israel, and for this, he was remembered.

Many of Jesus's teachings are a reverberation of those of Ben Sira in the Old Testament, because the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, with some creative modifications, is essentially not a continuation of the Pentateuch and the Law of Moses, but rather a continuation of the sapiential literature. Like the sapiential literature, and in this case the Book of Ben Sira, Jesus in the Bible emphasizes the necessity of wisdom, the divine science, to attain true happiness and blessedness. And the master of wisdom Ben Sira, praising the importance of the perfect and eternal science, wrote: "She will feed him with the bread of learning, and give him the water of understanding to drink" Ben Sira 15:3. According to the teachings of Ben Sira, the devotees of wisdom are blessed in a metaphorical sense with a spiritual bread and a spiritual water that nourish the soul and mind; wisdom somehow nourishes man not in a material sense but in a spiritual, mental sense. And Jesus, in teaching about wisdom, expressed practically the same thing, only that Jesus in the Gospels is the personification of wisdom itself; that is why the Gospel of John teaches: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" John 6:35. For the evangelist John, Jesus, as the true bread from heaven and living water, came into the world to satisfy men with the knowledge of God, a knowledge that can only be accessed through the divine science, or in other words, the word of God. There are many parallels between the sapiential literature and the New Testament. Ben Sira in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament, in their teachings, always go to the same point: human virtue and imperatives are not enough to guarantee the life of man, because that corresponds to wisdom, the divine science, which is the way, the truth, and the life. Any other spiritual analysis is to fall into heresy, the teaching of error.

Isaiah was a prophet who lived during the final years of the Kingdom of Israel and had to confront widespread corruption. The Israelites had lost their fear of God and trusted more in military alliances than in the support of the God of Israel. And to denounce this situation, the prophet compared Israel to that vineyard that had not yielded the expected fruit, and the Assyrian empire was that instrument that God had chosen to uproot the vineyard of the Kingdom of Israel from its soil. This metaphor used by the prophet is very interesting, but the truth is that the idea of ​​Israel as a vineyard predates even Isaiah; this teaching is expressed in Psalms 79 and 80, a book attributed to King David. But Isaiah went further, the prophet even used this idea of ​​the vineyard to make a messianic prophecy about the birth of Jesus, and he did so with these words: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of advice and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD. He will gladly bear the fear of the LORD" Isaiah 11:1-3. Jesus, according to the words of Isaiah, was that shoot that the family of David, understood as the vineyard of the Lord, had to make fruitful in order to carry out the divine plan, the mission of the messiah was to build, according to Isaiah, an imperishable kingdom. Isaiah's words about Jesus had a profound impact on the Christian faith. Isaiah, in a time when hardness of heart prevailed, was able to anticipate the arrival of the one who would change the history of the world to fill the earth with the knowledge of God. And Jesus especially mentioned Isaiah in many moments of his earthly life. Isaiah was a very special prophet for Christianity, because ultimately, with his prophecies, he spoke of a hope that is still being built and developed today, a hope that must culminate with the second coming of Jesus.

The Bible is not just ink on paper—it is the living Word of God, breathing hope, conviction, and renewal into every person who opens its pages with faith. Yet so many believers today feel disconnected from Scripture. Some aren’t sure where to start. Others feel overwhelmed by how much there is to read. And some have simply lost their rhythm of devotion. This new faith-filled series, A Journey…

Entering the Kingdom of Heaven means understanding that happiness is not an end in itself, happiness is a prize, a return to assertiveness. When we live the spiritual gifts inherited from God, we are assertive, that is, we are precise and accurate, we also act with a progressive mentality because the spiritual gifts are way, and when the truth is not enough, gifts are life, as in the case of white lies (”I am the way, the truth and the life” John 14:6). From this point of view, Aristotle's philosophy, the practice of human virtues to achieve happiness, is a form of error, a heresy. The teachings of Jesus make clear to us an opposition, precision and accuracy or error: two mentalities, two paths, two retributions Those who follow the path of truth and are assertive receive the spiritual gift of eternal life (John 17:3), while those who practice error go to their ruin: “For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction” Psalm 1:6 That is why the teaching of heresy, that is the teaching of the error, acquires a very specific seriousness for the church. The apostle Peter dedicates part of his second epistle to the study of this subject, and explains the problem in this way: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" 2 Peter 2:1-3. The apostle Peter also adds: "For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error" 2 Peter 2:18.

Jacob, A Long Night Of Exile

The stories in the Torah are often full of hidden message and revelation that awaits us to uncover. Instead of simply comprehending the direct meaning in a particular passage, often times there’s a life lesson for the audience to learn. From which we can glean, grow and be inspired. In this parashah, Jacob (ya’akov יַעֲקֹב) the son of Isaac had just been running away from his brother Esau (esav ע…

The Scapegoat, Jesus and Crimson Red

Torah reading from (Leviticus 16:1-34). Every year during the Jewish Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר) and in the morning service (avodah), the traditional reading focuses on the offerings that Aaron will bring before God as atonement. He is to first make expiation for himself and for his household. Only then, an offering for the entire community. Thus, in the day of Atonement, Aaron the High Priest…