Derek Leman Interview
I got a chance this past month to review a copy of Derek Leman's Feast. Feast is a new study that is being published by LifeWay. Derek is a Messianic rabbi and is the congregational leader of Tikvat David in Atlanta. His is a blog that I read daily and he has a new book out, The World to Come, which I just received and am hoping to read this next week.
Feast is very well done and expresses the importance of communal interaction especially as this relates to the Biblical feasts and the family. The lessons and the video clips have some beautiful moments that really help you see how God created us to enjoy what He has made, the creation, and each other. This resource is a great jumping in point for people who are interested in learning more about the Jewish context of the scriptures.
After reviewing Feast, I was able to submit some questions to Derek for response and I would love to share them with you. I'm going to post two of the questions today and another two tomorrow.
Be sure and check out Derek's blog and if the book is anything like his blog or Feast, you are going to want to pick
it up. Derek has great insight into the Jewish context of the scriptures and really brings alive what that means to us as we study the Bible and follow the teachings of Jesus.
Peace ~
1)
Do you find that the festival meals add to the sense of the
significance of the evening then morning order put forth in Genesis.
It seems that what I viewed on the video is a really beautiful start to
a day if we could ever get our minds re-oriented.
When you get used to knowing the time of sundown so that you know when
to light the candles on Friday night, you get in tune with Genesis
1:14. In Genesis 1:14, God says the sun and moon are there to show the
appointed times (usually translated seasons, but it is the same word
used of the festivals and Sabbath). Also, you get in touch with the
moon, since major holidays come at the New Moon (Rosh HaShanah) or full
moon (Passover, Tabernacles). Thinking of sundown as the beginning of a
day and the new moon as the beginning of a month is a new way of
looking at nature. It is seeing creation as God's tool.
Heschel writes about the significance of the sabbath being the only
thing in creation that God declares holy. From building a feast order
into our lives, what could Christians learn from this?
is a profound thought. He calls all else in creation good, but only the
Sabbath holy. God taught Israel a rhythm of life in the natural world,
in which the physical and spiritual are seen as one, not as separate
realms. We learn from Jewish observances (and Christian liturgies and
traditions sometimes accomplish this as well for those churches lucky
enough to have them) that creation and physical life are in God's
presence and there is no need to imagine worship without physical
things. When we learn that eating can be part of worship, we will learn
this lesson (think of the early believers breaking bread together and
of the Passover meal).
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