Continuing on in the series of biblical words from the ESV next up is Melchizedek. This is a curious one since little information has survived about Melchizedek but presumably he was quite well known in Old Testament times such that both Abram and David would pay him homage (and more). Although he lived in the time of Abram and was even known to him, David may only have known of him through divine revelation.

From Genesis 14 we know that Melchizedek was both priest and king. This is an interesting combination as we will see in a moment. Version 18 states:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

So we know that Melchizedek was king of Salem as well as a priest of God. Salem could be a shortened version of Jerusalem. More convincing evidence is found in Psalm 76:1-2:

In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem, his  dwelling place in Zion.

And according to 2 Samuel 5:7 we know that Zion refers to the city of David:

Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

And later in 2 Samuel 6-7 its clear that this refers to Jerusalem:

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

So Melchizedek was king of Jerusalem long before king David and he was priest of God Most High. You get the feeling that being both priest and king trumps just being a priest in the order of Aaron and the Levites. It also trumps David who was just king and no priest. But now we get to the heart of the matter.

The last reference in the Old Testament comes from one of David’s Psalms where God, that is Yahweh, speak to the one whose thrown shall be established forever, that is Jesus. Psalm 110:4 reads:

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

The writer of Hebrews talks quite a bit about Melchizedek. He makes reference to both Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Although he doesn’t reveal any more than what is found in the Old Testament he does make plain the connection to Jesus. Jesus is the one who will rule forever as king and priest. He is king because he is God and he is high priest forever as he alone can intercede on our behalf.

Here begins a new series of short blog posts where I will attempt to define various biblical words I come across to the best of my ability. This is more for me than anyone else as it is a useful way for me to remember but I hope it can help others too. Naturally different translations may use different words so for the sake of consistency I’m going to stick with the English Standard Version (ESV) which I really enjoy and hold in high regard.

In the New Testament the word proselyte refers to Gentiles who have converted to Judaism. The word is only used three times in the whole Bible, although it was apparently used in the Septuagint to refer to foreigners living with the Israelites - what the ESV refers to as sojourners.

Here is a good example from Matthew 23:15:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Here Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees for converting Gentiles only to place them under the full weight of the law of Moses and the traditions of the Jews and in doing so condemning them to hell since no human being can keep the law perfectly. Although the law brings knowledge of sin, it in itself is insufficient to save. I think Jesus here is also referring to all the extras that the Pharisees added to the law that became such a burden that no one could carry and making themselves out to be such hypocrites.

I have really enjoyed learning from this book. It has shown me that  I need to reference the bible always, ensuring that it is the baseline I must use for teaching, guiding and disciplining my children. I highly recommend this book.

Deuteronomy 6:7 (ESV)
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

This recipe is one that I found online and “tweaked” they have all come out great with crispy edges and a soft chewy center, just the way I like them.

Ingredients

250g Butter
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
1 t Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
1 t Baking Soda
1 t salt (I forgot this and they still taste good)
1 1/2 t Cinnamon
3 Cups Oats

I like to add one or all of the following to the total of about 1 Cup

• chopped dried fruit; apricots, pineapple, cranberries, raisins
• nuts
• chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugars well
2. Add Vanilla E
3. Mix in Eggs well
4. Add Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cinnamon
5. Fold in “other” ingredients of choice

Bake 190 deg C / 375 deg F for about 8-10 min

Enjoy and let me know how they turn out :)

I heard about this movie from the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, a new group of film makers dedicated to making and producing Christian films. I am very excited about this because it means I won’t have to look to hollywood as my only source of movies. In recent years I have found it increasingly difficult to watch movies and enjoy them, as they are often full of profanity and a level of worldliness that I find hard to call entertainment.

The story revolves around a fire chief, played by Kirk Cameron, and his wife who is the public relations officer at a local hospital. Although both have gained worldly success, they have failed at marriage as they have both lived their separate lives consumed by their own selfish desires. It represents many married couples that have not embraced God’s direction for their lives and is a good reminder even for those of us who are actively trying to follow God’s will for our lives however imperfect our attempts are.

I loved this film, it had suspense and romance and most of all it had God, I am so happy that there are people out there that are willing to forgo the trimming (and trappings) of hollywood and make good films, that we can share as a family.  I hope you will all get to see this one.

The B-I-B-L-E

This is the place to start if you are thinking of homeschooling your children, it really has lots to say about children and parents. We start every day with reading the Bible and prayer. On days that we don’t, things always seem to go amuck. God wants to be part of our everyday lives, it is so fulfilling to teach our children about Him and see them understand God and know Him more, and teaching them draws me closer to Him too as I don’t want to lead them astray in any way. We have just come across a new version of the Bible called the English Standard Version which we are enjoying as a true ‘word for word’ translation and have just bought the children their own ESV Bibles and pray they will grow in Gods word as they grow up in our family.

Sonlight

This is our main curriculum and definitely a good place to start out. It is a Christian Homeschool curriculum with the option to buy single items or one box with all your resources for a year. When we started off we did that, but I found that we wanted to tailor our school year more to our style and life so this year ordered just the Language Arts and History for J. I really like that SL is easy to use and that they have done a lot of the preparation for me.

Explode the Code

We buy this through Sonlight. It was not included in ‘the Year in a box’ but is on the schedule they provide so was easy to use alongside the regular Sonlight stuff. The kids really enjoy these workbooks and they have really encouraged the kids with their reading.

Rod and Staff

We decided to use R&S for M & D this year. I didn’t think they were ready for Sonlights Grade one work but had surpassed Kindergarten. I have found the R&S Grade 1 curriculum easy to teach and fun for the kids. I think I would like to get geography and science from them too as I have heard great reviews about how they stay true to the bible which is something I appreciate about their reading/writing programs.

Footprints on our Land

A really fun South African curriculum that we bought to help us teach about our homeland. We use it when we’re tired of world history and just want to read some good South African stories/history and learn about where mommy and daddy are from.

Learn to Read

My kids think these are video games, a great little program encouraging children to read along with a story/game.

Learning Page.com

Lots of worksheets and things to do on days when we need something easy-going. I use this a lot at the end of a term or during holiday’s and weekends, when believe it or not the kids ask to do school.

Math U See

Our Maths curriculum is so cool, we are loving it and has really made Maths fun to learn and teach.

Ambleside Online

A Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling, something I’m very interested in and have adopted a few of the ideas especially lots of time out doors (when possible) and free time each day for the kids to think and learn about the things they are interested in personally. Even if you are not homeschooling I would highly recommend reading some of Charlotte Mason’s work that explains her philosophy and gives very good insight into children.

The Home Service

We recently became members of this group that gives support and help to other Home Educating families here in the UK. I believe they also have a homeschool camp once a year.

Well we did it! we started early this year to get a head start and we did great. The kids were really stoked about their new workbooks (M&D) and J really got into his new subjects and even said that he likes school now :) We learned the continents and oceans and have the whole family singing the song to remember them, J and I looked up where Jericho is and saw how important it must have been for the Israelites to conquer that city when entering the "promised land", we learned that the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers are in Iraq, and kicked off our MathUsee with learning decimals.

We also watched an old cartoon Narnia movie with them and are once again interested in learning more about C.S. Lewis. It was very interesting to discuss with the kids afterwards and see how they could immediately relate Aslan to Jesus. For D the story was a little too 'real' (even with the horribly old animation) but they enjoyed the story  and even had Kenny begin reading them the Chronicles of Narnia. (wonder if he'll finish it?)

I am so excited about teaching them this year, I love that God has given us this passion to maximize our children's education and teach them at home. We feel blessed to have happy and healthy children, and they certainly keep me on my toes with daily questions like "when are you going to let us have chocolate?" and "why do we have to die to go to heaven?"  They just keep them coming and I just keep asking God for wisdom to answer them well.

Facebook Album

January 2009

Definition: A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present. Catechisms are doctrinal manuals often in the form of questions followed by answers to be memorized. (Wiki)

If that doesn't make sense to you, then this is how I understand catechism; it is a question and answer format for remembering what you need to know about what you believe. Essentially it helps you remember what you believe and why you believe it and allows you to communicate that effectively to others.

We believe the bible to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but in a conversation where someone might question the bible how can we answer intelligently. Voddie Baucham uses this statement which I am memorizing and find to be concise and to the point, I have broken it up to visualise it more clearly.

I believe the bible to be:

• a reliable collection of historical documents
• written down by eye-witnesses
• during the lifetime of other eye witnesses
• they report to us super natural events
• that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies
• and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin

Where in the bible does it say this?

2 Peter 1:16-21 (ESV)

16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," 18we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

See Voddie Baucham's sermon for more.

I’ve been listening to Albert Mohler’s PowerLine Bible study on my Zune. One of the misconceptions he debunks is that of the nativity scene that is so vivid in the minds of most people despite the fact that it is factually incorrect in many ways.

The three wise men... Who said there were three? Matthew 2 only says that wise men from the east, also called Magi in some translations, came to Jerusalem. There’s no indication of how many wise men but it seems likely that they would have traveled in a large caravan for safety.

Three gifts... Who said there were three? Matthew 2 also tells us that they opened their treasures and offered the child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. There’s no indication of how many gifts but it’s likely that there may have been quite a bit more than three items. We can imagine that God provided richly so that Joseph could take care of his family during their exile to Egypt.

Even more misleading is the assumption that the wise men visited Jesus around the time that the shepherds, mentioned in Luke 2, went and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. Now a manger is a trough or box of some kind used to hold food for animals so presumably the shepherds found them in some sort of shelter for animals. This would probably have been a cave, most certainly not a house. Yet when the wise men arrive they enter a house where they find the child with Mary his mother.

There’s also the issue that the wise men followed his star when it first appeared. Presumably the star rose, or was visible, when Jesus was born. Herod also asks the wise men when the star had appeared. After being tricked and not learning the whereabouts of the child he orders that all male children two years old or under be killed according to the time he ascertained from the wise men. So it is conceivable that the wise men arrived in Jerusalem as much as two years after his birth but before Joseph was instructed by an angel to flee to Egypt.

Fascinating stuff! I’m sure you’ll find his teaching far more enlightening than my brief summary of some of these events. Enjoy!