The Book of Revelation was never meant to be read as a newspaper of the future. It was written as a prophetic unveiling to communities already suffering under empire. Its imagery is not futuristic fantasy but ancient political language rooted deeply in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish thought world of the Second Temple period. When John speaks of dragons, beasts, heads, and horns, he is not inventing symbols. He is inheriting them.

A Torah-faithful, First-Century Jewish Study Introduction: When God Defines Himself When Moses encounters God at the burning bush, he asks a question that every oppressed people eventually asks: “When they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’—what shall I say to them?” (Exod. 3:13) This is not idle curiosity. In the ancient world, a name defined character, authority, and reliability . Moses is asking: Who are You, and how can Israel trust You? God’s answer is not a noun, a title, or

Torah Reading: Shemot (Exodus) 1:1–6:1 Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6–28:13; 29:22–23 Introduction The book of Shemot opens not with miracles, plagues, or revelation—but with names . This is not accidental. The Torah begins Israel’s redemption by reminding us that before there was a nation, there were individuals known and remembered by God. Redemption in the Torah never begins with power—it begins with identity. From Family to Slavery Israel enters Egypt as a family of seventy sou