Welcome to Voices from Zion, Robbie and the Rabbi. a podcast where ancient truth meets today's hunger for God. I'm Robbie, a Christian pastor and broadcaster, and joining me is my dear friend and teacher, Rabbi Chaim Eisen, a renowned Torah scholar, the founder and dean of Yeshiva Shershim, Zion Bible Studies, and a lifelong bridge builder between Jews and Christians. For over 40 years, Rabbi Eisen has stirred hearts and minds across Israel, North America, and Europe, teaching the depths of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish thought, and the eternal relevance of God's Word. As a senior rabbinic lecturer, a Talmudic scholar, and an IDF Torah educator and mentor to many, his voice carries the weight of tradition.
and the urgency of today. This podcast is more than a conversation. It's a journey. A meeting at the crossroads of Covenant. A shared longing to honor the God of Israel and to speak His truth in the global marketplace of ideas with clarity, reverence, and bold love.
Together, we'll explore the scriptures in their original Hebrew. wrestle with hard questions, and celebrate the beauty of what unites us. and the respect that deepens when we acknowledge what doesn't.
So welcome to the dialogue. Welcome to the wrestle. Welcome to Voices from Zion. Robbie and the Rabbi.
So how fun we get to join Rabbi Heim again on the Voices from Zion. I'm excited as the second episode again has just given us an idea of the amazing things that God Has already done to kind of highlight what's coming, which should be. uh well it will be I shouldn't say should be will be more than amazing and so is As we detail out again how the Bible tells us what Uh was going to happen that now we're seeing you know right before our very eyes so Rabbi, I'm excited again. I am too, and I think we should all be excited. In just appreciating that we live in such extraordinary times.
You know, um They say I I don't know if this is true or not, but um So it's claimed that um the Chinese have an expression may live in interesting times and it's supposed to be a curse. Yeah. But um Whether it's true or not. Um we definitely don't live in dull times. But it's also a blessing.
That is compared with Our ancestors? Going back. Almost the time immemorial. The extent to which we can bear witness. to God's hand.
in history so manifestly. is breathtaking. Oh, I was just going to say. You know That we got the the that they that the Lord blessed us on Mount Sinai with his words that that we're going to cover today. Um That would allow us to see.
And by the way, the story that you told yesterday, last week, about the runner, I mean, of the bicycle rider in. Um Colorado. Uh, I have pondered that and used it in my sermon on Sunday and just seen the wonder of it. But isn't it so true as you talked about? how wonderful it is we are to live in interesting times as God is bringing all sorts of things that we might see who he is.
That we might get an idea of how amazing. But how righteous he is, that we might see the standard by which heaven is actually going to be. And all these things that you're describing. As you say, It it it all is coming for our good. Yeah.
Uh once again You you hit the right button right now.
So before I launch into what I had intended. To say I I just need to add a kinda post script. on what you just said. In reference to what we read. In the first chapter of the Bible, the story of creation.
And in the story of creation. We read Over and over again, actually, in every day of creation except for the second, the expression that God saw that it was good. And of course the implication, obviously, is not that. God is Some kind of an artist who doesn't know how the work is going to turn up, and he takes a couple of steps backward to evaluate that it's good. Rather, It's making a fundamental statement.
A statement that is Perhaps The utmost negation of deism. There's some The doctrine that God is like the clock maker who winds up the clock and just Sets it. to go on its own. That's not. The god in whom we believe.
God continues to be involved in the world. And so, at every step along the way, when there is some aspect of creation that is complete. The Bible emphasizes God saw. Meaning God continues to relate to the world after he creates it. That it was good?
And God continues to evaluate the world. But It continues to be inconsonants. With His will. In the manner in which he created it. That's all background.
I just want to note. In the last Verse Chapter one Which is last verse that pertains to the sixth day of creation. We read something different, something exceptional. God saw all that he had done. And behold.
It was very good. And you know Inevitably, the question Why the upgrade in the grade here? The the grade all along was good. In Isen Elementary School. Good was a grade, but very good was a lot better than good.
So what occasions this change in grade? And we have an ancient tradition. It is recorded in the midrash from two thousand years ago. That ironically This very good. Pertains to All of the things In the world.
That strike us. As not being very good, in fact not being good at all. And that wouldn't earn the grade good. if they were to be evaluated in isolation. The whole point here in this final verse is Yet when God saw all that he had done, everything together.
The gamut That is very good. There is a higher threshold of very good that is attained specifically by all the pieces of the puzzle coming together. And Seeing how they all fit. And they all produce this. Very good world.
In which we live. The specifics? might not earn the grade of good. But the Conglomerate Taken all together. That's Very good.
I just have to tell you that that is. Absolutely profound, and knowing a little bit of the Hebrew behind that, very good. speaks to it as well, this unbelievable potential. For goodness. Um That When I when I think of that He allows certain things into my life.
because he knows they will make me hunger for him. He he knows. That it's gonna leave me bewildered. He knows that I'm gonna feel like, oh, what in the world is hitting me now? Um but he knows that those are necessary for me.
uh to get beyond myself. Uh which is So necessary. Uh For repentance.
so necessary for Shuva, as you would call it. Uh wouldn't happen. You know, I wish it would. No. that he knows and so even though it looks really tragic that that these some of these things happen Like, oh my goodness.
How else would I discover? You know, I I myself am a cancer survivor and had a horrible brain abscess that came from the cancer surgeries, etc. That almost took my life, but I always have said Those were the worst of times, but they were the absolute best of times because I had my Bible and. In those days, all my notes were written in red pen. And I spent so much time in the Psalms about how wounds would fester and all those things.
They were so, so, so precious to me because. Again, I know. I had an amazing adventure with God in that time that I would not have had. Had not wetted all these things. But even if it had taken my life, it was it was it was that.
Closeness to God. that that I knew um that that that the changed uh my ability actually to even share God. And so it's been amazing.
Well You know There are a couple of things that I must say come flooding into my mind. as you recount that. May maybe first. In Deuteronomy and this course is on a national plane, but I think it very much resonates. With what you just said on an individual level.
We read. In Deuteronomy chapter eleven. The the land That you are. Coming there. To possess.
Is not like the land of Egypt. that you have less In which you sow your seed. And you irrigate. By foot. Like a verdant garden.
And of course inevitably the question is, so which alternative is better here? Because the next verse tells us. The land That you are passionate. Passing over there to possess. is a land of mountains and valleys.
It drinks of The Reign of Heaven.
Now let's contemplate what that means. Egypt, of course, doesn't drink of the rain of heaven. Egypt has the Nile. And so too. Many lands.
Have amazing rivers that provide an. On Broken Ongoing continuous source. of water. But of course you have to irrigate.
Well, at least when you do irrigate. You've got the water. The land of Israel? It's a land of mountains and valleys. Not only Does it not have A river like the Nile.
Uh by the way, you've seen the Jordan? Yeah. No nigh, or was it? Not even close. Yeah.
Um and Again, not only do we not have a river anywhere near approaching the scale of the Nile. If it's a land of mountains and valleys. The water flows through the valleys. It doesn't get up the mountains. It drinks of the rain of heaven.
And drink of the rain of heaven? Mix it. an extraordinarily precarious land. Because If the rain comes, that's great. This rain doesn't come.
Then it becomes a parched wilderness, and and indeed In the continuation. of Deuteronomy chapter eleven, that's exactly what we read as warning. That If you Truly Harden. to God's Commandments Then I will give The reign of your land in its proper time, and so on. And And if You don't.
If you become wayward. and serve other gods and bow down to them. The consequence will be There won't be rain. The earth will not bring forth its bounty, and you will be lost. to the good land that God is giving you.
And of course someone might say What good land? It didn't have any produce because it didn't get the rain. precarious in existence. Yeah, but that's exactly the point. that precariousness means we need to constantly be I didn't know.
Dialogue with God. And indeed, immediately after describing this land as a land. That drinks of the rain of heaven? We meet in Chapter 11. Verse twelve.
to land Take God your Lord. looks after. Always. The eyes of God your Lord are upon it. from year's beginning until year's end.
It's a lamb that veritably imposes upon us a constant discourse with God.
So does that make it? Good? Or bad. And of course ultimately the answer is, well, it depends on how you define good. And we get a very biblical definition.
Of what Good means. From Assaf. One of the authors of the Psalms. I'm referring in particular To the Closing verse. Psalm seventy-three which is The Psalm of Asaf And The last verse, verse twenty-eight.
begins with As for me. Mirus of God It is to me the good.
Well, if that's what defines good. Then it's good for living it. Kind of precarious existence. That constantly keeps you focussed. on having that meaningful ongoing relationship.
Because the worst thing Would be till Think that we're In business for ourselves. Yeah, I I One of my favorite Favorite verses, or actually, the whole 16th Psalm because it speaks to so much of what you're referring to. But at the end, you can't help but note that You know, it says, In his presence is fullness of joy. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. In other words, joy and goodness, you know, kind of go hand in hand.
And there you have. Joy being different than happiness, from happiness comes what's happening makes you feel whatever you, but joy is a completely different substance, right? Inside of you. That when you're in his presence, in spite of what shenanigans might be going on around you. And I love the rain, and I'm so grateful for what you just taught.
Because when you really think about it, um You know, the first rain they experienced. in in in the history of the world was judgment. Right, here comes Noah's boy I mean, you know, and it and this rain from heaven is cleansing the place. And you might not think that was good. But it's exactly what was required in order to get us to where we are today.
Well, you know, I I have to know You're certainly right. to the first place that we explicitly read about rain is ironically the flood. But um I'll just know. an implicit illusion. And it's implicit because certainly it's not explicit in the text.
But um I I feel compelled So Share with you a kind of Shall we call it a hypertext? A midrashic Uh understanding What The implications are of Genesis chapter two, verse five. Where it speaks about rain, it speaks about rain. But we have negation. That is.
It tells us That This is taking place. Before They were Any shrubs? On Earth And The grass of the field. had not yet sprouted. Because God the Lord had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth.
And there was no man. To work the earth.
So what exactly is this working the earth? That is contingent upon man's existence.
So an extradition. The answer to that question is linked precisely to God the Lord. had not caused it to rain upon the earth. What's the necessary prerequisite of the rain coming? You need someone.
who appreciates the need for rain, To pray for it. Obviously God could send the rain without any man. But that's not the way God, as it were, operates. As we've noted, the greatest gift that God gives us is He invites us to be His junior partners.
So God isn't going to bring the rain. Until there's someone who appreciates We need rain. I need to pray. Because again, that realization But The greatest gift that God gives us. is that we have needs.
and those needs. Bind us to him. You know, I I feel compelled to add an additional dimensions here. I know where we're kind of a meandering, but maybe the meanders are really more important than whatever else we had on the agenda. Um and Yeah, since since we're At the beginning of Genesis now.
I feel compelled to make an observation. that pertains to Genesis chapter three.
Now Genesis chapter three. Is A very dismal note, of course. It's the sin of Adam and Eve. Um When we consider what we read in the chapter, Of course. The explicit text of the Bible refers to three culprits.
Which three?
Well, there's I don't mean even there's Space. And of those three culprits, Of course. There is punishment. But how many of the three Actually get cursed. In the literal text of the Bible.
Who gets cursed? To Adam and he get cursed? Answer No. When I read what the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 3. they are punished.
The way I would express the punishment. Is And admittedly this is a longer story, but. Just to condense. by then having chosen to eat of the tree of knowing good and evil, They have become Creative beings. Until that point they were purely perceptive beings.
You choose to become a creative being.
Well creativity. Hurts.
So what's the most supremely creative act in which any human being could possibly engage. The most supremely creative act granted, not every human being can engage in this act. Only half of them can. To bring another life into the world. That's going to be painful.
It hurts. Creatively hurts. In anguish. You will bring forth Children. That's of course addressed to Eve.
And what about the other half of humanity that cannot engage in that supremely creative act? What's the most creative thing? That other half can do. Coaxing sustenance from a recalcitrant soil in order to feed those babies. And that's also gonna hurt.
That is. God Says to Adam. The Earth Is cursed because of you. Not you, you're not cursed, but the earth is cursed. And In sorrow, you will eat of it all the days of your life, and you will bring forth.
Thorne's And Breyers And eat. Of the grass of the field. And by the sweat of your nose You will eat bread. It's not going to come easily.
So getting creative to beat her hurts. It is that curse. And if anything Um ironically, we have a tradition that That last verse. That I just read. Um Verse 19 By the sweat of your noses.
You will eat bread? is actually a consolation. Because you're not going to be eating the grass of the field like another Beast. you will be able to eat bread. It's just unbelievable easily.
The point that I want to stress, of course, is the one Culprit, that is cursed. Because In verse fourteen. God says to the serpent, Because you did this. You are cursed. From all livestock and all the beasts of the field.
You will go on your belly. And eat dust all the days of your life. And you know, there's an obvious question here.
Now I don't know what your home looks like, but in our home, I have to admit. If you go on your belly, You will find dust. Yeah. you'll find dust galore.
So what's the curse? If God would have said to the serpent, You'll have mile a high legs and eat dust all the days of your life, that's a curse because, after all, how are you going to get to the dust if you're a mile high? But if you go on your belly You'll have no shortage of dust. We're not speaking about The familiar biological state. Snake in the Garden of Eden.
That is explicitly described as Eating dust. and going on its belly. And we ask ourselves, where is the curse? When Going on your belly You'll never run out of dust. And There's a a comment here that We find among the The rabbis Of the last couple of centuries, noting.
First of all. Apropos of That verse that we already shared. From Assaf. From Psalm 73, verse 28. That They Good.
So far as Asaf is concerned, and I hope so far as all of us. are concerned. is being near to God. And the additional dimension, the additional dimension, I admit. is somewhat Enigmatic But you also read it in the Psalms.
In Psalm one hundred four. Verse twenty one. The Young Lions. Roar for prey. And Implore of God.
They're food. I don't know exactly what that means. I've never interviewed any young lions. But the implication in this verse is. Yeah.
When the young lions roar for prey, Okay. Initiates a relationship with God. Because They have a need. And ultimately the one who supplies that need always. It's God.
So the young lions, by roaring for prey. Have a relationship with God. And Everything. Every creature on Earth. has a relationship with God because every creature has needs.
Ah, every creature that is except one. That serpent in the Garden of Eden. That God is saying to the serpent, I have decreed upon your existence. and you will exist. You'll have everything you need.
Dust. The lore everything that is except the one thing that really matters. A relationship With God. Take your sustenance and get out of here That's the curse. Wow.
This one was devastating first. Then feeling Oh, we're we're we're independent. We've got everything we need. We're we're set. Oh my god.
What could possibly be more horrific - a fate? than being set and thinking that we're done. The other thing that always occurred to me in that verse, since we're on it, and I'm like, okay. Um Dust has this implication of I don't know how you pronounce it. I would pronounce it.
Adama, the idea of man was made from that stuff. And absolutely, they were. It would appear that that particular snake It is continuing to eat us. Um to some extent. Um More credit than he deserves, as we eat ourselves quite often.
But no doubt he's involved in the process somehow. But what a curse. And I'd never seen it that way, but it speaks to exactly what we're talking about. That um The needs require the relationship, and the relationship. It is actually the abundant life.
It just is. And uh it's uh that's that's beautiful. And what I'll also note, of course, with respect to That Afar the the word for dust, which indeed is the word that appears in Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, with respect to the formation of man, afa minha'adama. Of the dust. of the earth Dust Is potentiality.
it can be formed into into a human being. It can Serve as the substrate. For everything to sprout to grow. It all depends on what one's attitude is. That is, if indeed It is I've got everything I need and I'm finished.
It's not causing anything to sprout. If anything. It is The worst Nemesis Of the human condition. But if I can Just uh stress on on a Countervalent positive node. And again, this gets back From my perspective.
So what you shared about your own background. Turn To Maica. Chapter seven, verse eight. And it's A verse That's Always rivets me with its implications. Do not be happy.
Oh my enemy. Whereas I have fallen. I have risen. Whereas I sit in darkness. God Is my light.
And uh I feel compelled Once again, the share An ancient tradition that we have. On this verse. If I had not Swollen. I would not have risen. If I had not.
Set. In darkness. God would not be my life.
So ultimately, of course. I need to feel That Debt of gratitude? Four having Fallen. For having sat in darkness when it was happening, boy, it certainly wasn't pleasant But That Very reality. Ultimately.
Is The basis of my being able to rise. And of my being able to See how God. is Ultimately. My life. Yeah, and can I speak to that?
Although we don't have much time, it's so awesome.
So awesome that the Hebrew letter nun, as you're describing that to me, I can't help but just go, oh my gosh. That that that is exactly You know, if you in the 119th Psalm in the Nun version, obviously, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. that that letter is this idea of the fallen. But it goes into the soil, which is dark, and in that secret place. Right?
with between it and God, it it it puts roots down. and springs to life with all that potential that you describe. That is a phenomenally rich Rich. Understanding to me. Of again, so very many things.
It it I just uh you just blew my mind again, and I never had put that verse to that idea. But Are we traction? You know, having said that, you get me started again. I feel compelled Something we talked about last week. There's been talked about tho those Terrifying words.
In Yeah. Chapter five Verse two. Fallen not to rise again. The Virgin of Israel. And you have been noted that We have this tradition of repunctuating verse.
not to fall again. Arise, Virgin of Israel. But simultaneously, I'll add an additional dimension since you focused on the letter noon. Uh Place where The letter none is conspicuously Absolutely. I'm referring.
to psalm 145. That is, Psalm 145, like so many of the Psalms, is anachrostic. And do you have a verse? For every single letter of the alphabet. Except none.
The node is missing.
So why is the nun missing? There is this ancient tradition. That of course A tradition like this. Doesn't Really? take into consideration Problems of chronology.
That This Psalm of David. Of course David is writing in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit. He sees. Amos So many centuries later.
Writing these terrifying words. Which of course begin with the letter Nun, Nafela. Nafshlav lotos is cum. That The Virgin of Israel is folded. Full and starts with the letter No.
So David Omitted the letter noon. From this psalm, which I must note liturgically is a really central. Psalm for us in our prayers, we recite. Psalm 145, at least. three times every day.
And it's It's glaring. The noon. is missing. And yet Simultaneously, there's a postscript on this tradition also. And that is, well, you know, in the progression of the alphabet, the letter that comes after noon.
is Samich. First of all, Just consider The Apparent etymology of Samech itself, which is To Support. But in particular The verse That Begins with Sameh, that is, as it were, the verse that appears where we would have expected the verse. of the letter nun. to appear begins Somech adonai the whole honor them.
God supports. all those who fall.
So Even though there is that Oh yeah. Yeah. There's simultaneously the restoration. Right. Again, as we already know, and really, this was, as we discussed last time, the implicit message.
in the amazing tension Between Amos chapter five. And what we read at the end of Amos in chapter nine. That in chapter five it is that the Virgin of Israel is fallen and At the end. of Amos's prophecy. What we read.
In The the final Promise. The restoration. is that on that day God will raise up. The Sukkah, the tabernacle of David. That is falling.
And of course that's not a contradiction because. On her own, the virgin Israel isn't going to rise. And that's the amazing thing about it. In chapter 9, verse 11 as we discussed that God will God will raise up. Compelled.
I'm compelled to say this because we're out of time by all ways, but anyway, I'm gonna say it anyway. We didn't get to where we were planning to go to, but I think this was a divine appointment. W between the two of us and the Bible. And uh just one thing after another. The letter summit.
Scared. Worry, I shouldn't say scared, but I love the last verse in the psalmic section, 119th sound. It says, my flesh trembles for fear of thee. And again, based on that idea. of the power Of the the psalmic You know it.
I think of a horse when I think of that. Here's this force to be reckoned with, and it's almost always a miraculous force. In other words, it's coming from God. In other words, that nun it does fall, but it the only way it's coming up Like like you pointed out. is is this unbelievable ring of the Samic.
Um And again, how How rich? I guess I guess that to put a period on my thoughts. Yeah. Great. Is that we will study the word of God for eternity and not scratch the surface?
That every single letter, every single jot, every single tittle, every single little distance, every difference in size. Have up. The different things that he wrote through his prophets, through Moses, et cetera. Interest. is mind-blowing.
The deeper you go, the more your mind gets blown. And so those of you that are following this, and I hope that We just are wetting your appetite like ours has been wetted. If you can't see how excited you both are, then you are missing something. In other words, dialogue because We were uh We're egging one another on in the most wonderful biblical sense possibly. And uh of course you know that Um in our tradition This is precisely the way we study God's Word.
We have study pairs. Yep. We're partners in the word. Absolutely. If I if I could just just append briefly to again another appendix.
But um Yeah, of course there there obviously is that theme of fear and reverence in the last verse of the letter Samach in Psalm one hundred nineteen. But um I'm just going to Peg on. Granted, it's it's using a different verb, but nonetheless the the theme that we read In Psalm 2 Verse eleven. Serve God. In Trembling, but that verb does appear in that last verse in Psalm 119.
But additionally... Exalts. Exult in literally quaking.
So yeah, there's this happiness that comes precisely from knowing It is only God we fear. Everything else just Falls by the wayside is inconsequential. What more exhilarating message could it possibly be than that? Yes. Yes, shalom, my friend.
Shalom Salam. God bless you. We are so honored that you would join us today on Voices from Zion, Robbie, and the Rabbi. For more information about Rabbi Haim, Go to his website, zionbible studies.org. That's zionbible studies.org.
Or visit me, Robbie Dillmore. at the Christian CarGuy website. That's ChristianCarGuy.com. Once again, Shalom from Jerusalem, the Holy City, God's City.
