Soil from Stone

Extra-Biblical Works Named in the Bible

This list includes anything written by God's people that is mentioned in the Bible, but not included in the Biblical canon. It might not be complete. Many other extra-biblical works are quoted in the Bible, but not named, and I have not attempted to include those here. Inclusion doesn't imply anything at all about the inspiration or authority of any works on the list.

Wars of YHWH (Numbers 21:14)

Jasher (Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18)

Joshua's Census (Joshua 18:9)

Rights and Duties of Kingship (1 Samuel 10:25)

Further Proverbs and Songs of Solomon* (1 Kings 4:32)

Natural History of Solomon* (1 Kings 4:33)

Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41)

Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 14:19, etc.)

Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (2 Kings 15:6, etc.)

Chronicles of King David (1 Chronicles 27:24)

Chronicles of Nathan the Prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29, etc.)

Chronicles of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29, 2 Chronicles 9:29)

Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chronicles 9:29)

Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29, 2 Chronicles 12:15, 2 Chronicles 13:22)

Chronicles of Shemaiah (2 Chronicles 12:15)

Chronicles of Jehu, son of Hanani (2 Chronicles 20:34)

Isaiah, son of Amoz (2 Chronicles 26:22)

Chronicles of the Seers (2 Chronicles 33:19)

Jeremiah's Lament for Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25)

Genealogy of the Aliyah (Nehemiah 7:5)

Council of Jerusalem to the Diaspora (Acts 15:23, etc.)

Introduction of Apollos from Ephesus (Acts 18:27)

Zeroth Letter of Paul to Corinth (1 Corinthians 5:9)

First Letter of Corinth to Paul (1 Corinthians 5:9, 1 Corinthians 7:1)

Second Letter of Corinth to Paul* (1 Corinthians 16:3)

Zeroth Letter of Paul to Ephesus (Ephesians 3:3)

Letter of Paul to Laodicea (Colossians 4:16)

Letter of Introduction from John (3 John 1:9)

Enoch (Jude 1:14)

* Presumed to have been written in some form.

Objections to Keeping Torah

Torah

Torah is a Hebrew word that means "instruction" or "law", depending on the context. It refers to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), also commonly known as the Pentateuch. When Yeshua (aka Jesus) spoke of "the Law and the Prophets", he was referring to the Torah and the rest of the Old Testament.

You might also hear of the "oral Torah", which refers to a semi-mythical tradition that was passed down to the ancient rabbis from Moses by word of mouth, as opposed to the written Torah referenced above. Those rabbis debated and discussed them, and the records of those discussions are recorded in the various Talmuds. I don't think there can be any doubt that Moses gave oral instructions that were never written down, because there is much in the written Torah that can't be fully understood otherwise. However, I don't think those instructions survived intact for the rabbis to discuss them. Clearly the religious leaders of Yeshua's day had a very confused understanding of the Torah, so it seems very unlikely that they had straightened it all out a few hundred years later. It's much more likely that they had gone even further astray.

That's not to say that the Talmud and rabbinic traditions are worthless. If you understand that it contains a record of debates, not just a straightforward recounting of oral tradition, then you can look past some of the more offensive and blasphemous contents to find some really profound and insightful bits. It's not divinely inspired Scripture, but it is useful for historical context and perspective.

The written Torah, however, most certainly is divinely inspired, parts of it originally written directly by the hand of God himself. It is the foundation for all later revelation. None of the books of history, poetry, and prophecy, the Gospels, and the Epistles can be understood without a solid foundation in the Torah.

The Torah Movement

At this very moment, there is a spontaneous, global movement of people who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to study the Torah and apply its instructions to their real lives. There is no leader, no central committee, no parent organization, and no headquarters of this movement. There isn't even a commonly accepted name. People in this movement call themselves Christians, Messianic Jews, Messianic Believers, Torah-Keepers, Hebrew Roots, Pronomians, Nazarene Israelites, and numerous other labels.

I don't particularly care for any of those labels, but I've used several of them for myself at times.

Regardless of the labels, they all have two things in common:

Yeshua is the Son of God, Messiah, and King of Israel.
The Torah still applies today to followers of Yeshua.

Beyond that, there is an almost infinite variation in their interpretations of Scripture.

There is also a lot of controversy within the rest of the Body of Christ as to what to do with these upstart Obeyers of God's Commandments. Some even deny that we are a part of the Body of Christ at all, claiming that we have rejected God's grace in favor of earning our salvation. (I'm sure they're right about a very small minority.) Some radicals say that any willful attempt to obey any of God's commandments is a rejection of grace. Fortunately, most Christians reject those people in turn.

The Controversy

Of course, all of this means I've put together quite a few words on the subject of whether a follower of Yeshua--or Jesus, if you prefer...it's the same man--ought to obey the full Law of God or not.

A point of clarification on "the Law of God"... Some people make a distinction between the Law of God and the Law of Moses. The distinction is mostly artificial. The instructions that God gave through Moses at Sinai are a written expression of the Law of God. The Law of Moses is the Law of God as it was conveyed in a specific time and space, to a specific people as part of a specific covenant.

Below, I have attempted to catalog all of my online teachings on Torah-keeping, organized by sub-topic, but not in any other kind of order. There's a lot of overlap, and I'm sure to forget some articles or videos, so please search American Torah, Soil from Stone, Rumble, YouTube, and other sites for more from myself and many other fine teachers.

A caveat if you do search for other defenses or refutations of Torah-keeping, though: There is a vast spectrum of quality in the content you will find. Unless you are very thoroughly versed in the Scriptures and confident in your beliefs, I recommend that you set aside the teachings of anyone who denies the divinity of Yeshua or who denies that God has any objective standards of morality for his people.

Salvation by Faith

New Covenant vs Old Covenant

Does the Law Apply to Christians?

Under the Law

The Weekly Sabbath

Other Appointed Times

Food and Not Food

Does Joshua's Long Day Disprove the Heliocentric Model of the Solar System?

At that time Joshua spoke to YHWH in the day when YHWH gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when YHWH heeded the voice of a man, for YHWH fought for Israel.
Joshua 10:12-14

A few years ago, I recorded this video addressing the idea that NASA or a computer could prove the historicity of Joshua's long day through mathematics and astronomical observations.

It's a short video, but if you really don't have time, let me summarize: No. That's ridiculous.

Someone (we'll call him Perry) commented on the video today, letting me know that Joshua's long day and Hezekiah's solar reverse disprove the heliocentric model of the solar system. How could the sun stand still or--even more amazing--go backwards if the earth revolves around the sun!?

I didn't reply to his comment. In fact, I removed it. I have no problem being friends with flat-earthers in the real world, as long as they're not evangelistic about it, but I have very little patience for it from strangers on the Internet.

I can see how someone who doesn't know anything at all about astronomy might believe that someone could calculate the exact date of an unusual event, like the earth pausing in its rotation, by observing the current positions, vectors, and velocities of hundreds of astronomical bodies and...doing some computer and math magic. It's a complicated problem. Since very few people have anything like a working knowledge of orbital mechanics, it's reasonable for most people to just shrug and say, "Sure, sounds like it could happen."

Perry, on the other hand, has made a pretty basic logical error, and you don't need any knowledge of astronomy, physics, or math to prove him wrong.

According to the flat earth model, the sun is somehow fastened to or suspended from the inner surface of a dome. It moves in a continuous circle at some relatively small distance above the earth. How would the sun stand still or move backwards in that case? Easy: God makes it happen.

According to the geocentric model, the sun and all the rest of the universe revolve around the earth (instead of the earth revolving around the sun) in a complicated system of cycles and epicycles. How would the sun stand still or move backwards in that case? Easy: God makes it happen.

According to the heliocentric model, the earth and the other planets in the solar system revolve around the sun. How would the sun stand still or move backwards in that case? Easy: God makes it happen.

Here's the thing about miracles: None of the usual rules apply. Although God usually works through the natural processes of the universe, a miracle is, by definition, an exception to the natural processes.

How did God separate light from darkness? By commanding it.

How did Yeshua raise Lazarus from the dead? By commanding it.

How did God make the sun stand still? By commanding it.

How did God make the sun move backwards? By commanding it.

In each case, trillions of trillions of separate events had to occur in concert and contrary to the natural order of things for the miracle to happen. That's God for you. He knows every star in the sky, every hair on your head, and every subatomic particle in the universe by name and commands them all to do his bidding whenever it suits his purposes. Gravity, entropy, inertia...all obey the word of YHWH.

Joshua 10 shows God's power over his own creation. It does not support flatearth notions in any way.

Is the Sabbath just for Israel and not Gentile Christians?

Someone on Facebook asked me, "How do you answer when someone says that the Sabbath is just a sign for Israel and not Gentiles?"

Good question! There are two approaches to this:

First, "we who were once far off have been brought near" and made one with Israel. The Greek word translated as "church" in most Bibles really just refers to "the congregation of the people"....in other words, it refers to the collective of God's people. God only has one people, Israel. If we have become God's people, then we have become part of Israel.

Second, the Sabbath is a sign of the relationship between God and Israel, but being used as a sign in one context doesn't preclude it being used as a moral imperative in another context. If God had said, "Wearing shoes will be a sign between me and Israel," would that mean that other people shouldn't wear shoes? The Sabbath is a good thing. It honors the Creator, promotes community cohesiveness, and shows kindness to one's servants, animals, and employees.

The commandment is very clear that one of the primary purposes of Sabbath is to show kindness to other people, and it doesn't work if everyone isn't doing it on the same day. If gentile Christians are supposed to love their neighbors, then they should be keeping the Sabbath for that reason. If they are supposed to love God, then they should be keeping the Sabbath for that reason also.

Chiasm on the Morning and Evening Sacrifices in Numbers 28

Chiasm in the morning and evening sacrifices in Numbers 28, Pinchas

Some chiasms are amazing, revealing relationships between people, assumptions that might have been hidden even from the author, and profound spiritual truths. Others seem a little more mundane.

This chiasm in Numbers 28:2-8 doesn't offer any deep revelations, but it's still interesting for practical reasons...at least if you're a priest at the Temple.

v1-2 - Preamble
v3 - Food offering to YHWH

v4a - Morning lamb offering

v4b - Twilight lamb offering

v5 - Grain offering

v6 - Burnt offering to YHWH ordained at Sinai

v7 - Drink offering

v8a - Twilight lamb offering

v8b-c - Morning grain and drink offering

v8d-e - Food offering to YHWH

This passage describes the daily morning and evening offerings, but it does so in a peculiar manner. It sandwiches a detailed description of the grain and drink offerings that accompany the evening sacrifice between two very brief mentions of the evening lamb and two very brief mentions of different aspects of the morning offerings. At first glance, it sounds like the evening sacrifices are supposed to be a bigger production than the morning ones, but the second mention of the morning offering indicates that the evening grain and wine are supposed to mirror the morning grain and wine. Just as the sunset mirrors the sunrise, the sunset offerings mirror the sunrise offerings.

The axis of the chiasm says that these offerings were established by God at Sinai. If you take it as straight narrative, it reads as if only the grain offering was instituted at Sinai, but it's position at the center of the chiastic structure indicates that the whole set of offerings--lambs, grain, and wine--both morning and evening--are intended.

Fortunately, we don't have to depend on a chiasm for that conclusion. The same thing is said explicitly in Exodus 29:38-42.

Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly...
Exodus 29:38

Although I say that there doesn't appear to be anything especially profound in this chiasm, I should clarify that I don't perceive anything especially profound. However, I suspect that every verse, every literary structure in the Bible holds deeper truths than we will ever know in this lifetime.

Is Revelation 20-22 a Later Addition?

Someone recently told me that he believes that the last three chapters of Revelation are in direct contradiction to the last eleven chapters of Ezekiel because of the timing of the resurrection of the dead (Ezekiel 37 and Revelation 20) and other details about the New Jerusalem. He couldn't see any way to reconcile these two passages, so he concluded that Revelation 20-22 must have been added after the early church had been heavily corrupted by Greek influence.

After reading the relevant chapter of his book twice, here was my response:

After reading chapter 9 of your book, Ezekiel 37-48, and Revelation 20-22 once again, here are my final thoughts on the matter:
Ezekiel 37 isn't a literal resurrection of the dead, but a restoration of the nation of Israel that happens immediately before or after the onset of the Millennial Era. Ezekiel 40-48 are mostly metaphor about an idealized people of Israel, their repentance and restoration, a righteous remnant of the priesthood, and the adoption of righteous Torah-keepers from the nations. The temple and city described in much detail aren't a literal temple and city, but a pattern to which God desires Israel to conform. I believe for at least two reasons that even the later description of the division of the land is almost certainly a metaphor: 1) The apportioned land is only a fraction of what God promised to Israel, 2) the tribal allocations are parallel strips of land with no regard to terrain, natural boundaries, or sizes of the tribes.
In Revelation 20, only vs 1-10 are about the Millennial Era, what you refer to as the Kingdom age. V11 begins the final resurrection and judgment and chapter 21 represents the onset of a recreated universe populated only by the resurrected righteous. It's possible that the new earth is metaphor, but since this follows the 1000 year reign, resurrection of all the dead, and the final judgment, it is clearly a different kind of world than what existed during the Millennial Era. During the Millennium, the nations still exist, sin and death are still present. Yeshua's rule will be absolute within the fully realized land of Israel, but the nations will be mostly autonomous. After the final judgment, all of those things have been abolished.
At first, Isaiah 65 seems to support the idea that the new heaven and earth of Revelation 21 is metaphor, but the new heaven and earth of Isaiah 65 still has death and sin, so I don't think they are talking about the same thing.
As for the validity of Revelation 20-22, the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers quoted from all three chapters.
Ireneaus (130-202 AD) quoted numerous passages from Revelation 20-21 in Against Heresies.
Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) made a direct reference to Revelation 20:4-5 in Dialogue with Trypho.
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) quoted from Rev 21:6 in an address on plagiarisms.
Tertullian (155-220 AD) quoted and referenced numerous passages from Revelation 20-22 in Against Marcion.
Hypolytus (170-235 AD) quoted from Rev 20:6 and 22:15 in his Treatise on Christ and Antichrist.
Cyprian (210-258 AD) quoted Rev 22:10-12 in his Treatise on the Advantage of Patience and Rev 22:4-5 in his Exhortation to Martyrdom.
There are more. If it were only a couple of quotes from one or two authors, it would at least be possible that Revelation 20-22 were added in a later century and then a few quotes inserted into those extrabiblical writers to add support. However, there are dozens of quotes from numerous authors throughout the second and third centuries. This shows that the final 3 chapters of Revelation were present by 165 AD at the latest and so it seems very unlikely that they were not original with John.

I should add that I do not believe any of those church fathers are reliable theologians and some of them were heretics of the worst kind, but that's beside the point. They all quoted from the last three chapters of Revelation. Whatever one might think of the men and their theologies, the textual witness is very strong evidence that Revelation 20-22 is legitimate.

Whenever anyone asserts that some part of the Bible should be removed because he doesn't agree with the content, you need to be immediately on your guard. Don't take anything at face value. Test everything. Verify every claim. Look for alternative explanations.

What Is Hebrew Roots?

"Hebrew Roots" is a term that some people apply to anyone who uses Hebrew-ish terminology and believes (or entertains) a set of ideas they don't like. They use it as an insult in the same way that some antisemites use the term "Jew" to apply only to those Jews who act or believe a certain way. Personally, I find the term to have only two useful definitions:

1) A pronomian of non-Jewish heritage who accepts Yeshua (Jesus, Yahusha, etc.) as the Messiah and believes he has been grafted (adopted, joined, etc.) into the chosen nation of Israel.
2) All of definition #1 with the addition of the adoption of Jewish-like traditions, such as tallit-wearing and using Hebrew terms for religious concepts, like Shabbat instead of Sabbath, mashiach instead of messiah, etc.

In either of these definitions, the only difference between "Messianic Judaism" and "Hebrew Roots" is ethnic heritage, although a Messianic Jew is not necessarily pronomian.

Ironically, most of the people who use "Hebrew Roots" as an insult *ARE* Hebrew Roots themselves. Of course, nobody else is obligated to accept my definitions of anything.

I have waffled over the years about whether or not I am "Hebrew Roots", but clearly by this definition I am. Labels are of limited value, though. Being "Hebrew Roots" is a little like being "Christian". It covers a lot of territory.

The Hebrew Roots Movement is a spontaneous, worldwide movement of Christians drawn to the Hebrew Bible, to keep God's commandments as he intended, and to live as Yeshua lived.

Because this movement is spontaneous and counter-cultural, it can be a little chaotic and attracts a lot of people who have an affinity for the fringes. There is no organization or central leadership, so there is a lot of opportunity for charismatic and just plain loud people to claim the stage.

When some people realize they have been taught some lies about the Scriptures, they react very badly, suspecting everything and everyone of trying to deceive them. Ironically, because they are emotionally driven, these people are easy targets for other deceivers. They can become bitter, angry, and even paranoid, making them easily sucked into the absurdities of Sacred Name and Flat Earth. They need true leadership, but they're too afraid to trust anyone. I don't know what to do to help them other than to keep trying to be a calm voice of sanity.

Fortunately, the vast majority of people in the HRM are not bitter and angry. They aren't Sacred Namers or Flat Earthers. They haven't rejected Jesus. They haven't rejected salvation by faith. They haven't rejected Paul. They don't demand that everyone spell God's name exactly like they do. They're good people who are just trying to do the right thing.

Unfortunately, the angry and bitter voices, the prideful and hateful voices are so much louder that they're the only ones that most people remember, and so the entire movement gets painted with that craziness.

Don't be the one holding that brush. Don't be a slanderer of God's people. Don't assume that every disciple of Jesus who has decided to take God's Law (aka Torah) seriously is a lunatic Torah terrorist. Don't violate the two greatest commandments as well as the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of the Ten just because you had a bad experience with a few people who do NOT represent the hundreds of thousands that didn't stick in your memory.

[Apparently, I didn't realize that I had written another article on the same topic with the same title just a month earlier. The question comes up a lot. lol]