What do Rosh HaShannah, Noah, the Aramaic Targums, Messiah rising from the dead, Moses, and Exodus 12:2, Ex 23:16, and the Creation of the World all have in common? Tune in and find out! One of the things I love about teaching context is introducing the kids to some of the extra-biblical writings because we can sometimes find surprising historical tidbits. Now, not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and not all of the Targum material is inspired, but when the material answers questions to things that look like inconsistencies in the Bible we definitely need to give them a closer look.

The Targums were Aramaic interpretations – in other words, they are what Jews believed the Bible was saying around the time of Yeshua and much of that information found it’s way into the Gospels and Epistles – especially when it comes to the Targumic writings about the coming Messiah! The Targumic writers clearly saw two Messiahs – a suffering servant and the conquering king. What they didn’t know was this – “would it be two separate Messiahs or one Messiah who comes twice?” Of course, we know the answer to that now!

This week’s extra resource is called The Bible Project – I really enjoy the animation:

I just noticed that my meme for this portion looks like a demented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.. hmmm. So anyway, totally weird Torah portion because it doesn’t feature anyone we know! Just this strange prophet Balaam who isn’t even necessarily an Israelite but lives in Northern Ammon. This week we are going to look at actual documents from Mari that contain references to Balaam himself, even making mention of his father’s name, which we also know from Scripture.

This week’s featured link is to my friend Sarah Hawke’s Valente’s latest book called, “Marriage, a Mystery, and Me.” If you are like most parents, discussing sex with kids is like pulling teeth and so you might want to consider allowing Sarah to help you out with that. I’m afraid I just flat out answered my kids when they asked, but then I am a scientist and hard to embarrass.

http://www.whatislovely.com/marriagemysteryme/

Korah had a great job, he and his immediate cousins had the privilege of carrying the ark of the covenant, the table of shewbread, the menorah and the golden altar when Israel travelled! They were the most honored out of all the clans of the Levites – but Korah was jealous of Moses and Aaron and so he gathered up 250 other leaders and challenged the right of Moses and Aaron to lead the people!

Can you even believe it? Didn’t he see Moses go up onto the Mountain with God? Didn’t he see the plagues in Egypt and in the Wilderness? Didn’t he see all of the miracles? The rock split open at Horeb? The Manna and Quails? Everything that Moses and Aaron said would happen, happened!

Korah was guilty of a specific sin called encroachment, which is coveting, theft and rebellion against God all rolled up into a big mess of sin.

If your kids want to laugh at the ancient video game system I referred to this week, here’s a video – and yes, I played about half these games. I was disappointed that Pitfall wasn’t there as I played that a LOT.