Shows / YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
A short thought for each chapter/perek in Tanach for Tanach yomi/daily Bible study by Josh Blechner
Episodes
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 18: What Shifted for Shaul?
After the excitement of chapter 17, things begin to shift for Shaul and David. Why did it shift for Shaul? The chapter begins with three reasons: 1) Jonathan…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 17: A Metaphor is Born
David defeats Goliath. The weak defeats the strong. The upstart team that defeats the number one seed. The ragtag army that defeats a superpower. The story of…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 16: Fear
God instructs Shmuel to move on from Shaul and anoint someone else as king. Shmuel's response is surprising: “Samuel replied, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 15: Drama Class
Chapter 15 is full of drama. Shmuel tasks Shaul with a clear charge: wipe out Amalek- men, women, children, cattle. Shmuel invokes God’s longstanding promise…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
1 Shmuel 14: Judges Yet Again
This very long chapter details the attack against the Philistines Once again the text references the book of judges. Here, the three references are to Yiftach…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
1 Shmuel 13: Care v. Duty
A leader who says he will return at a certain time, but is delayed. A worried nation that is anxious. A second leader that gives into the crowd going against…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 12: Reluctant Support
Shmuel will ultimately appoint two kings, but he is also one of the most vocal critics of having a king. Chapter 12 is Shmuel’s extended chastisement of the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 11: Righteous Outrage
The references to the Concubine at Giva story in chapter 11 are impossible to miss. The most obvious one is Shaul’s dismemberment of his ox. “He took a yoke of…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 10: Ultimate Powerball
Shmuel sets up a very intricate future to do list for Shaul after his initial inauguration. Everything comes to pass and Shaul joins a band of traveling…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 9: Lost but Found
Judges ended on a very sour note. The Sodom redux story ended with eleven tribes almost wiping out the tribe of Benjamin. The country was leaderless, and the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 8: Long Live the King?
Is the idea of a king good or bad? Shmuel certainly seems to think it is a bad idea. He acts almost like a biblical Thomas Jefferson, warning the people about…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 7: Pour One Out
“They assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out before the LORD; they fasted that day, and there they confessed that they had sinned against…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 6: Golden Rats and Copper Snakes
The Philistines ended up with more than they bargain for. Thinking they were victorious having captured the Ark, their reward was a plague of hemorrhoids…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 5: Hemorrhoids of the Lost Ark
Chapters five and six are odd chapters. The main character is not a person. It is the Ark of the Covenant. The Philistines capture the Ark and place it in the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 4: Bad Advice or Bad Listeners?
And the LORD continued to appear at Shiloh: the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh with the word of the LORD (וַיֹּסֶף ה׳ לְהֵרָאֹה בְשִׁלֹה…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 3: Call Me Maybe
Chapter 3 is Shmuel’s first calling from God, and the setup—being called by name and responding “Here I am”—echoes earlier biblical callings, from Adam to…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 2: One of Seven
Traditionally, there are seven prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Chanah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther. Chanah never speaks directly to God, and she never…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
I Shmuel 1: Back to Normal
If Judges was all about chaos, Samuel I is all about a return to normalcy. The book of Shmuel begins in the time period of Eli the Kohen Gadol who was also a…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 21: Love in the Age of Judges
If one looks at chapter 21 with one eye closed, it seems like a very uplifting chapter. The tribe of Benjamin is nearly wiped out, and the other tribes are…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 20: Third Time's the Charm
Judges 20 parallels the story of the battle of Ai. After Jericho, the Israelites were overly confident. They battled Ai with a small force and were routed…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 19: Sodom Redux
Chapter 19 of Judges mimics Chapter 19 of Genesis and the story of Sodom. Visitors are taken in by someone in a city. In the middle of the night, townsfolk…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 18: Which Expulsion
In a throwback to the end of Joshua, the tribe of Dan is restless. They are not satisfied with their allotment and decide to go on a reconnaissance mission…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 17: Carry on My Wayward Son
The last few chapters of Judges have no judges.Instead, they are stories of the utter chaos the existed in Israel. The Navi willrepeat the phrase “at that time…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 16: No Strings Attached
Stop me if you heard this story before- boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl’s countrymen want to kill boy, girl’s countrymen try to get girl to…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 15: Dr. Dolittle
Last chapter, Shimshon had the assistance of a lion and some bees. This chapter its foxes and a donkey. Foxes: In Rabbi Natan Slifkin’s book- The Torah…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 14: Oh Honey Honey, You Are My Candy Girl
Chapter 14 foreshadows the story of Delilah in chapter 16. Shimshon has a secret—here it is his riddle, there it is the source of his strength. His love…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Judges 13: A Hero for Our Time
Shimshon is probably the most famous of all the Judges, and yet his story is very different than all others. The story begins in similar fashion to Gideon. An…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 12: Not so Great Expectations
One of the unique characteristics of Charles Dickens was his creative use of character names gave life and character traits for his characters. Names like…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 11: Daughter of Mine, Tell me Where Have You Been?
Eager to gain G-d’s support against Ammon, Yiftach makes a calculated mistake. He vows that the first thing that walks into his barn will be given as a burnt…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 10: Dodo Bird
Judges is a unique book. Each chapter or few chapters takes place in a different era with different leaders. Some of the Judges have long backstories, but some…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 9: Was Avimelech a Judge?
One of seventy sons, Abimelech kills his brothers and then is appointed leader of the people of Schchem and a band of hooligans. But is Abimelech a Judge? He…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 8: Wishful Thinking for a King
At the end of the chapter, there are two strange things that Gideon does. The first is after Gideon finally captures the two kings. Instead of killing them…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 7: Lapdogs
In chapter 6, Gideon tested God through special signs, in chapter 7, God uses His own test. Back in Joshua, after the defeat of Yericho, the people prepare to…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 6: Testing, Testing, 1,2,3
Chapter 6 begins with a messenger (or angel) of God again coming to the people and telling them that God took the people out of Egypt and so they should follow…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 5: Wake up Devorah! Wake up!
Like Moshe after the defeat of the Egyptians, the Israelites after the defeat of Og, and Moshe again at the end of his life, Devora composes an epic poem…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 4: First of Her Name
For the first time in Israelite history, the nation has a female leader. Females had played important roles in the past. The foremothers were integral in the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 3: Get in my Belly!
The era of judges begins with a bang with the story of Ehud and Eglon. After a brief generic interlude describing Otniel as the first of the judges, the text…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 2: In the Arms of an Angel
“An angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt and I took you into the land which I had promised on oath to your…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Shoftim 1: It was Fun While it Lasted
“Rav Adda, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: Had Israel not sinned in earlier times they would have been given the five books of the Torah and the book of Joshua…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 24: Joseph's Final Resting Place
The last chapter of Joshua contains Joshua’s review of the Israelites from Abraham until that point. At the end of the chapter, Joshua and Elazar pass away. In…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 23: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye
Chapters 23 and 24 of Yehoshua contain two farewell addresses by Yehoshua. In chapter 31 of Deuteronomy, Moshe gives his final address to the people. In it, he…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 22: Rebels
Joshua gives permission to the two and a half trans-Jordan tribes to return to their land. They kept their promise to assist in the conquest of the land. Now…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 21: Symbiosis
Now it is time for the Leviim to get their promised lands. The chapter begins with the Leviim approaching Joshua and Elazar the Kohen Gadol, but Joshua and…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 20: Cities on a Hill
Moshe set aside three cities of refuge in Deuteronomy and now Joshua completes the project. The three established by Moshe could not function without the three…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua Chapter 19: Scattered Shimon
All the tribes receive select portions of land except for Shimon. “The portion of the Simeonites was part of the territory of the Judites; since the share of…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 18: Seven Remain
Seven tribes remain without allocation of land. Reuven, Gad, Menashe, Yehuda, and Ephraim all had their land allocated already. Joshua sends cartographers out…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 17: You Get What You Get and You Don't Get Upset
“The Josephites complained to Joshua, saying, ‘Why have you assigned as our portion a single allotment and a single district, seeing that we are a numerous…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 16: One for All and All for One
Judah was the first tribe in the lottery and Joseph is the second. This continues the trend of setting up these two tribes as conflicting leaders of the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 15: Previewing the Spin Off
When a TV show or movie becomes very popular, the creators like to spin off to a companion series borrowing some secondary character from the main feature…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 14: The Canaanites are coming! The Canaanites are coming!
“The British are coming!” Paul Revere yelled as recorded in the famous Longfellow poem. “Paul Revere’s Ride” But Revere did not ride alone and Revere did not…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 13: Advanced Age
“Joshua was now old, advanced in years. The LORD said to him, “You have grown old, you are advanced in years; and very much of the land still remains to be…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 12: One King, One King, One King
At the end of the chapter, the Navi lists the 31 kings defeated as part of the conquest of Canaan. The kings are listed in column fashion and each king is…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 11: Sleigh the Horses
“But the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them; tomorrow at this time I will have them all lying slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 10: Did Yehoshua Invent Daylight Savings Time?
Frustrated in their attempt to defeat the Israelites, five kings in Canaan decide to take out their frustrations on the Gibeonites for making peace with the…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 9: How Much Wood Could a Woodchopper Chop
Faced with an ascendant Israelite army the Gibeonites try a little trickery of their own. They disguise themselves as foreigners and ask Joshua for a peace…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 8: Military Man
The conquest of Jericho was almost entirely divine. God help set up the miracle brought about by the Kohanim, the Ark, and the people. With the city’s defenses…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 7: Overconfidence
After six chapters of triumphs, things unravel quickly in chapter seven. There are important factors missing in the first attack on Ai as opposed to the attack…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 6: Shock and Awe
“Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down…” (https://youtu.be/IsEmF9urYDk). The story of the conquest of Jericho is one of the Bible…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 5: Eight are the days of the Bris
After crossing the Jordan, God instructs Joshua to make sure the people are circumcised. After the mass circumcision, the people celebrate Pesach. Both of…
- YINR 929: Tanach Yomi
Yehoshua 4: She Sells Sea Stones by the Sea Shore
In the middle of chapter 3 there is a verse that seems out of place: “Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Yisrael, out of every tribe a man”…