Book Review: A Prayer to Our Father, Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer

This book is absolutely amazing!  I loved it!

This was written by two men with different perceptions; a Jew and a Christian.  The Lord’s Prayer (The Avinu Prayer) is one which both, those of the Jewish faith and the Christian faith, can apply to their life.

The authors laid the ground work of the biblical text that they were going to use; Hebrew Matthew and the Hebrew Bible.  The King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), and others are Greek translations.  There is a version of the Gospel of Matthew (Hebrew Matthew) that was written in Hebrew and text within Matthew is consistent with how Hebrew was written.

Six chapters describe the six possible locations of where Yeshua (Jesus) could have taught this prayer to his disciples.  They visited each site, described what they saw, and researched Scriptures and other Hebrew materials to draw their conclusion on each location.  As I was reading each chapter, it felt like I was in a treasure hunt.  In the end, with what they described, I too came to the same conclusion as to where the location was.

The authors then broke down each of the eight statements of the Lord’s Prayer by devoting a complete chapter to each statement.  Within each chapter they talked about Hebrew mannerisms and customs in a very understandable fashion.  It is truly amazing to see when a word is translated this way or that way (Hebrew vs. Greek), how different the statement means.

This book has caused me to thirst for more.  There are other books that the Jewish author has written that also intrigue me.   He is an expert in translating the Dead Sea Scrolls and as a researcher deciphering ancient Hebrew manuscripts.  In addition, I want to dig into the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament and  of the Hebrew Matthew Version.

Below I have included the KJV version and the Hebrew Matthew Version of the Lord’s Prayer.  I invite you to read both versions and think about the differences.

King James Version
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory,
for ever.

Amen.

Hebrew Matthew Version
Our Father in heaven,
May your name be sanctified.

May your kingdom be blessed.

Your will shall be done in heaven and on earth.

Give us our bread continually.

Forgive us the debt of our sins
as we forgive the debt of those who sin against us.

Do not bring us into the hands of a test,
and protect us from all evil.

Amen.

Come Here, Stay

Not Charlie

We have a dog named Charlie.  I always wanted to name my dog, “Ask Him” for a boy or “Ask Her” for a girl.  So when someone asks me what the name of our dog is I could say, “Ask Him”.  I know, lame.  But it would be a conversation starter.

Well,  I have  friend who wanted to name their dog, “Stay”.  So when he would call him he would say “Come here, Stay”.  My kids got a real kick out of this.  Can you imagine what the dog would do when called, “Come Here, Stay.  Come here, Stay.”  Talking about giving a dog a complex.  I think it would be hilarious.

Notice what happened when Jesus called certain men to follow him:

Matthew 4:18-20
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.  They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’  At once they left their nets and followed him.”

Matthew 4:21-22
“Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.  They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets.  Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Matthew 9:9
“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  ‘Follow Me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”

The men immediately stopped what they were doing and followed Him.  They didn’t ask questions or hesitate, they just went.  Some left the family fish business to follow someone who they really didn’t know yet.

We always seem to ask for God’s Will.  Just tell me and I’ll do as you say … honest.  But when we are told are we listening, will we do as He asks … immediately?  Or will we be like my friends dog name, “Come here, Stay”?

Who is this Jesus?

For a good number of years my weekly schedule would be something like this:

• Go to church on Sunday morning … check
• Read your Bible a few times … check
• Say a few prayers … check
• Tuck in the kids and give a 15-second prayer … check

That routine should make me good to go, right?  Is there more to the Christian lifestyle?  Is that the Christian lifestyle?   Surely this is not what Jesus intended for us to be.  However, for years that is what I seemed to have learned from

The Church Bowl

attending church … the typical Sunday morning church service (the church bowl).  I would hear over and over to have a morning devotional time (read the Bible and pray), go to church each Sunday (don’t forsake the assembly), and don’t forget your tithe and offerings (don’t rob God).  If I didn’t do one of those things I would have failed, then guilt would set in for letting down the church.  Now don’t get me wrong, I take full responsibility for what I have done or not done, but the environment inside some church services that I have been in is not conducive to living something other than what my weekly routine was.

Ephesians 5:1-2 states:

” 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

So I ask myself, which better reflects those verses in Ephesians, my weekly “checks” or the chorus from the song below, “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath that talks of Jesus?

“Give Me Your Eyes”

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

So I, like numerous people, allowed the weekly Sunday morning church service to my guide so to speak.  Get right with the church and you’ll be, by default, right with God.  However, I’ve come to the conclusion that there must be more to cause Jesus to be so passionate in what he believed in and die a brutal death.  To do that, I must get out of the church bowl and explore what that is.

“The Adventure is in the Go”

I recently toured Israel with my daughter and visited the sites you read about in the Bible.  On this trip, I had a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and saw the same topography that Jesus saw, baptized with my daughter in the Jordan River, and visited Golgotha (where Jesus was crucified) and the Garden Tomb (where he rose again).  I got to know more about Jesus on that trip.  But I don’t want to stop there, I don’t want to just know about Jesus (like our Jewish tour guide), I want to know Jesus.

The title of this blog entry, “The Adventure is in the Go”, are words of the pastor at the current (and final) institutional church that I am attending has said numerous times.

I have decided that I will begin the transition from the church (the building, the performances) to The Church (the people, the followers of Jesus as in the first century New Testament).  So in this transition, the words of that pastor are resonating with me.  I anticipate that as I go, I am embarking on an incredible adventure!

I have not connected with anyone in my area who are on this adventure.  I’m not concerned about that now, that will happen in His time.  The bottom line for me is to just get going on my adventure and get to know Jesus.

If are in this transition, please share your experiences.  I would love to hear about them.