Parashat Ki Teitzei: Cursed on a Tree and the Covenant of Peace
Release Date: 08/19/2026
What the Greek Mindset Stole from Our Bible Reading and How We Get It Back
The Messianic Torah Observer
Most of us were never taught to question the lens through which we read Scripture. We inherited a way of thinking from Sunday school, seminary, commentaries, hymns, and Western church tradition that many scholars identify as a Greek or Hellenistic mindset. But beloved, the Bible was not written by Greek philosophers. It was written by covenant people who thought in Hebrew, lived in covenant, told stories, kept the appointed times of Yehovah, and understood truth as something embodied, walked out, guarded, and lived before the Great I AM. In this teaching, we examine what the Greek mindset...
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Parashat Ki Teitzei: Cursed on a Tree and the Covenant of Peace
The Messianic Torah Observer
Beloved, this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer takes us deep into Parashat Ki Teitzei, one of the most commandment-rich and, at first glance, challenging readings of the annual Torah cycle. But buried in the middle of its warfare ethics, family laws, property responsibilities, and moral instructions are powerful Kingdom truths that point us directly to Messiah, the nations, and Yah’s covenant faithfulness. In this teaching, we will examine Deuteronomy 21:22–23 and see why Paul, in Galatians 3:13, reaches back into this very passage to explain what happened on Golgotha....
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UFOs, UAPs, and the Unseen Realm: A Messianic Response to a World Looking Up
The Messianic Torah Observer
In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, we discuss one of the hottest topics and subjects of the day: UFO and UAP. In this discussion, we explore the UFO/UAP phenomenom from a Messianic/Hebrew/Biblical perspective and determine how we answer a questioning world on what these things and beings are and how we are God's chosen and elect must treat them. Be prepared to have your worldview challenged and even shaken. But more so, be equipped to be a light and salt to a world that is desperately in search of answers and direction.
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Re'eh: What Dos It Mean To Truly See?
The Messianic Torah Observer
In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we turn our attention to Parashat Re’eh, contained in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17, and to Moshe’s opening admonishment to Yah’s covenant people: “See.” Re’eh is not merely an invitation to notice something with our natural eyes. It is a divine call to perceive, discern, and rightly assess what Yehovah has placed before us: blessing and curse, covenant faithfulness and covenant compromise, life and destruction. Beloved, this teaching presses into the personal and communal nature of Moshe’s instruction. Re’eh begins in the...
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Hebrew Roots Versus Messianic Judaism: A Debate Every Torah-Keeper Needs to Understand
The Messianic Torah Observer
Beloved, this discussion is not about chasing titles, defending camps, or winning theological arguments for the sake of argument. It is about understanding where Hebrew Roots and Messianic Judaism agree, where they part company, and why that distinction matters to every Torah-honoring disciple of Yeshua Messiah. In this episode, Rod Thomas responds to the First Fruits of Zion article, “Hebrew Roots Is Not Messianic Judaism,” and carefully works through the questions of identity, Torah obligation, covenant membership, Jewish distinction, Gentile discipleship, and the body of Messiah. Along...
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The Commandments We Trample Underfoot Eikev the Wilderness Test and the Torah-Grace Question
The Messianic Torah Observer
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Tu B'Av: The Day Nobody Told You About
The Messianic Torah Observer
Saints, Tu B’Av is one of those days on the Jewish traditional calendar that most of us in the Messianic and Hebrew Roots community have simply walked past without ever realizing it was there. And although it is not one of the mandated Feasts or Moedim of Yehovah, this 15th day of the 5th biblical month bears within it a beautiful redemptive pattern that speaks directly to the redeemed of the Most High. Coming just six days after Tisha B’Av, Tu B’Av reminds us that Yah has a way of turning the darkest seasons of judgment, exile, mourning, and loss into seasons of restoration, joy,...
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Is the Hebrew Roots Movement a False Gospel? Answering the Critics
The Messianic Torah Observer
Beloved, accusations that Torah-honoring believers have embraced a false gospel, fallen from grace, or placed themselves back under the Law are serious and deserve a careful, Word-based response. In this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, Rod Thomas addresses three common criticisms against the Hebrew Roots and Messianic Torah communities and shows why grace-motivated obedience is not legalism, why Acts 15 does not abolish Torah for Gentile believers, and why Yeshua remains the center and proper interpretive key of the Torah-observant walk.
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One Messianic’s Perspective on Tisha B’Av: What Matters and What Doesn’t Matter
The Messianic Torah Observer
Beloved, in this second installment of our brief Tisha B’Av series, we turn our attention to what should and should not matter to the modern-day Messianic, Hebrew, Netsari disciple of Yehoshua HaMashiyach. Tisha B’Av is not one of the mandated Feasts of Yehovah. We are not commanded to keep it. But that does not mean the day is spiritually irrelevant. If our Master wept over Yerushalayim and the coming destruction of the Temple, then we who belong to Him should at least understand the grief, history, prophetic weight, and covenant lessons attached to this solemn memorial day.
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From Mourning to Comfort: The Biblical Calendar Signal for the Week of July 20–26
The Messianic Torah Observer
Greetings Saints. This is the week that pivots. There is one week in the Jewish calendar that moves from mourning to comfort in the space of just 48 hours. It begins with Tisha B’Av, the fast and memorial connected to the destruction of both Temples and other tragedies in Jewish history. But beloved, mourning is not the final word. The very next Sabbath brings Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Comfort, where Yah declares through Isaiah: “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people.” In this teaching, we look at the Biblical calendar signal for the week of July 20–26, the Vaetchanan Torah...
info_outline| Beloved, this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer takes us deep into Parashat Ki Teitzei, one of the most commandment-rich and, at first glance, challenging readings of the annual Torah cycle. But buried in the middle of its warfare ethics, family laws, property responsibilities, and moral instructions are powerful Kingdom truths that point us directly to Messiah, the nations, and Yah’s covenant faithfulness. In this teaching, we will examine Deuteronomy 21:22–23 and see why Paul, in Galatians 3:13, reaches back into this very passage to explain what happened on Golgotha. Yeshua did not become a curse because of His own sin or rebellion. He became a curse for us, redeeming us from the curse that our rebellion deserved. Torah did not hide the work of Messiah from us; Torah instead pointed to it all along. We will also look at the Torah of the captive woman in Deuteronomy 21:10–14 and consider how, from a deeper spiritual reading, this passage foreshadows the nations being brought near unto Yah through Mashiyach. Those who were once strangers to the covenants of promise are now brought into the household of Elohim, but not without the stripping away of the old identity, old garments, and old way of life. Finally, we will turn to Isaiah 54, the Haftarah reading for this week and part of the traditional Seven Weeks of Consolation. Here, Yah speaks comfort to the barren, scattered, and forsaken one, commanding her to sing, enlarge her tent, and trust in His unshakable covenant of peace. As we move through this traditional season of Elul and draw closer to Yom Teruah and the Fall Feasts, this word reminds us that Yah’s steadfast love has not departed from His covenant people. |