Fox Bytes - The Barking Fox

Fox Bytes

Fox Bytes began in 2010 as a series of short pieces posted on Facebook for the youth group at Ohev Yisrael Messianic Jewish Congregation. The first series, which concluded on October 14, 2014, progressed as a narrative on faith and the transformation of believers in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as they grow in obedience to His Word. Beginning with the Hebrew year 5775 (2014-2015), Fox Bytes serves as a means of going through the annual Torah and Haftorah cycle.[1] Each year, Jews and Messianic believers in Yeshua go through the Torah (the Books of Moses) and the Haftorah (selected passages from the other books of the Tanakh (Old Testament)) in weekly portions. Messianic believers add selected passages from the Apostolic Writings (New Testament) to bring forth the full meaning of the Law and the Prophets in Messiah Yeshua, just as He Himself taught us.

Fox Bytes #1-4

Fox Byte 5776 #4: I’m Still Here

November 3, 2015 No Comments

If Treasure Island is any indication, a young person’s transition to adulthood has always been awkward and painful. At least it was so in the

Fox Byte 5776 #3: Questionable Consolation

October 27, 2015 2 Comments

Pompous people lend themselves so readily to ridicule. Unconsciously, of course. By their very nature they would not stoop to the indignity of common humor

Fox Byte 5776 #2: Uncomplicated Good, Unrelenting Evil

October 18, 2015 No Comments

Great art retains its appeal through time. This is true even with works created for children – including cartoons such as The Rocky and Bullwinkle

Fox Byte 5776 #1: When Good is Not Enough

October 9, 2015 2 Comments

The Barking Fox just completed the annual Torah Cycle and is ready to embark on another year of Bible commentary. Rather than embark on another

Fox Bytes 5775 (2014-2015):
A Year of Torah Commentary

Fox Byte 5775 #54: V’Zot Habrachah (This is the blessing)

October 2, 2015 No Comments

וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה Even superheroes have their weaknesses. If it were not so, the stories about them would be over very quickly and would not be

Fox Byte 5775 #53: Ha’azinu (Give Ear)

September 25, 2015 4 Comments

הַאְַזִינוּ The one element of Steven Spielberg’s movies which has remained just beneath my consciousness for nearly thirty years is not his stunning cinematography or

Fox Byte 5775 #52: Vayelekh (And He Went)

September 21, 2015 No Comments

וַיֵּלֶךְ Isaac Asimov could have written I, Robot without Karel Čapek’s help, but he would have needed a different word for the artificial life forms

Fox Byte 5775 #51: Nitzavim (You Are Standing)

September 12, 2015 No Comments

נִצָּבִים The worst fate a person can endure? That would be loss of self. It is not the same as selflessness, a desirable state of

Fox Byte 5775 #50: Ki Tavo (When You Enter In)

September 5, 2015 2 Comments

כִּי־תָבִוֹא When General Lew Wallace published Ben Hur in 1880, he had no idea that his tale of a wrongfully condemned Jewish prince would have

Fox Byte 5775 #49: Ki Tetze (When You Go Out)

August 30, 2015 No Comments

כִּי־תֵצֵא As with all good spy stories, the 1968 movie adaptation of Alistair MacLean’s Ice Station Zebra does not reveal the full truth until near

Fox Byte 5775 #48: Shoftim (Judges)

August 23, 2015 4 Comments

שֹׁפְטִים What does it take to remove a head of state? This question concerns situations in which a nation finds cause to remove a leader

Fox Byte 5775 #47: Re’eh (See)

August 15, 2015 No Comments

רְאֵה It is understandable why Peter Jackson had to take considerable license with The Lord of the Rings when he brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s mammoth work

Fox Byte 5775 #46: Eikev (Because)

August 7, 2015 3 Comments

עֵקֶב What is this tendency of human minds to discard unpleasant things and cling to what is pleasant, nice, and amusing? This can be useful

Fox Byte 5775 #45: Va’etchanan (And I Pleaded)

August 1, 2015 No Comments

וָאֶתְחַנַּן Left to right: Vittorio Orlando (Italy), David Lloyd George (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France), Woodrow Wilson (United States).In a sense one might say that

Fox Byte 5775 #44: D’varim (Words)

July 24, 2015 No Comments

דְּבָרִים One wonders whether Lewis Carroll required chemical substances to help him create the absurd worlds of his literature. Readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Fox Byte 5775 #42-43: Mattot (Tribes); Massei (Stages)

July 20, 2015 3 Comments

מַּטּוֹת / מַסְעֵי William Shakespeare has such as way with murder. With so many characters meeting violent death in his plays it would seem that

Fox Byte 5775 #41: Pinchas (Phinehas)

July 13, 2015 1 Comment

פִּינְחָס One of the great depictions of American historical events is John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence, which hangs in the Rotunda of the United

Fox Byte 5775 #40: Balak

July 4, 2015 2 Comments

בָּלָק The great military leaders of World War II include nine who attained the highest rank awarded by the United States of America. Those five-star

Fox Byte 5775 #39: Chukat (Decree Of)

June 28, 2015 1 Comment

חֻקַּת Is it possible to be a hero without paying a price? A hero is one who does something worthy of esteem on behalf of

Fox Byte 5775 #38: Korach (Korah)

June 21, 2015 3 Comments

קֹרַח What would happen if the Vice President of the United States committed murder and got away with it? It is not a rhetorical question;

Fox Byte 5775 #37: Sh’lach L’cha (Send For Yourself)

June 13, 2015 No Comments

שְׁלַח־לְךָ About the time that Gideon of Manasseh delivered Israel from oppression of the Midianites and Amalekites (Judges 6:1-8:35), a war of (literally) epic proportions took

Fox Byte 5775 #36: Beha’alotcha (In Your Going Up)

June 7, 2015 No Comments

בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ In a response to a reader’s question about his works, author Stephen R. Donaldson provided this enlightening comment about the motivation behind his writing:

Fox Byte 5775 #35: Nasso (Elevate)

June 1, 2015 2 Comments

נָשֹׂא This post-modern generation of the industrialized West has lost sight of the power of the Oath. That is why there is so little understanding

Fox Byte 5775 #34: Bamidbar (In the Wilderness)

May 22, 2015 4 Comments

בְּמִדְבַּר Was Sam Houston a Cherokee? It is a fair question. The man who won independence for the Republic of Texas at the Battle of

Fox Byte 5775 #32-33: Behar (On the Mount); Bechukotai (In My Statutes)

May 15, 2015 No Comments

אַחֲרֵי מוֹת / קְדֹשִׁים What is this fascination with the possibility of life beyond this planet? Are we so insecure in our human existence that

Fox Byte 5775 #31: Emor (Say)

May 8, 2015 No Comments

אֱמֹר At some point between the withdrawal of Rome’s legions in 410 CE and the advent of Saxon England in the 6th Century, a Celtic

Fox Byte 5775 #29-30: Achrei Mot (After the Death); Kedoshim (Holy Ones)

May 2, 2015 1 Comment

אַחֲרֵי מוֹת / קְדֹשִׁים How do we love the unlovely? That is one of the questions Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise explore in Rain Man.

Fox Byte 5775 #27-28: Tazria (Leprosy) / Metzora (Cleansing the Leper)

April 24, 2015 No Comments

תַזְרִיעַ / מְּצֹרָע Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote a story about how a dead fish ruined a man’s life. To be honest, it was not the

Fox Byte 5775 #26: Shmini (Eighth)

April 17, 2015 3 Comments

שְּׁמִינִי The problem with great satire is that it can be so irreverent. Then again, that is the strength of satire: using humor and ridicule

Fox Byte 5775: Matzot (Unleavened Bread)

April 11, 2015 5 Comments

מַצּוֹת It was in May of 1986 that I first visited the great World War I battlefield at Verdun. Along with Auschwitz, Verdun is on

Fox Byte 5775: Pesach (Passover)

April 2, 2015 3 Comments

פֶּסַח Professor J.R.R. Tolkien insisted that there was no hidden meaning behind his works on Middle Earth. Such was his assertion in his Foreword to The

Fox Byte 5775 #25: Tzav (Command)

March 28, 2015 3 Comments

צַו Consider the fragility of human existence. We survive within a specific set of environmental parameters – a fixed range of temperature, hydration, radiation, and

Fox Byte 5775 #24: Vayikra (He called)

March 20, 2015 4 Comments

וַיִּקְרָא A standard feature of civilization is the rules of the house, the guidelines by which a person can be welcomed into and remain peacefully

Fox Byte 5775 #22-23: Vayakhel (And He Assembled) / Pekudei (Accounts Of)

March 14, 2015 3 Comments

וַיַּקְהֵל / פְקוּדֵיּ What is the secret of the success of Star Trek? Since 1966 three generations of science fiction fans have followed the adventures

Fox Byte 5775 #21: Ki Tisa (When You Take)

March 6, 2015 2 Comments

כִּיּ תִשָּׂא At the distance of two hundred years the specter of Napoleon Bonaparte is no longer frightening. Now he is nothing more than a

Fox Byte 5775 #20: Tetzaveh (You Shall Command)

February 26, 2015 5 Comments

תְּצַוֶּה One of the compelling images I recall from childhood is the opening scene of Branded. This Western TV drama starred Chuck Connors as a

Fox Byte 5775 #19: Terumah (Offerings)

February 20, 2015 1 Comment

תְּרִוּמָה Raiders of the Lost Ark did not launch the film career of Harrison Ford, but it did bring him his first top billing as

Fox Byte 5775 #18: Mishpatim (Ordinances)

February 13, 2015 2 Comments

מִּשְׁפָּטִים How would one describe hell? Dante does a nice job in his Inferno, depicting levels of escalating unpleasantness corresponding to the earthly misdeeds of

Fox Byte 5775 #17: Yitro (Jethro)

February 6, 2015 3 Comments

יִתְרוֹ Just because a person enjoys the favor of the king does not mean they can do as they please. This is not some antiquated

Fox Byte 5775 #16: Beshalach (When He Let Go)

January 30, 2015 3 Comments

בְּשַׁלַּח The “snake oil salesman” is another of those characters to whom writers and performers have turned for an endless source of entertainment. Perhaps he

Fox Byte 5775 #15: Bo (Go)

January 24, 2015 10 Comments

בֹּא Is there anything more ridiculous among beasts of burden than a donkey? They are hardly the picture of a noble animal. On the contrary,

Fox Byte 5775 #14: Va’Era (And I Appeared)

January 17, 2015 No Comments

וַיֵּרָא One of those cultural icons of the post-modern era is Gary Larson’s cartoon series, The Far Side. Larson retired the series in 1995 after

Fox Byte 5775 #13: Shemot (Names)

January 9, 2015 3 Comments

שְׁמוֹת No one remembers the kings of Arnor. Why should they? After all, they existed only in the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien. Yet if they

Fox Byte 5775 #12: VaYechi (And He Lived)

January 2, 2015 4 Comments

וַיְחִי The timeless appeal of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is in its depiction of selfless love. Cyrano’s bigger-than-life character captures our attention instantly. How

Fox Byte 5775 #11: VaYigash (And He Drew Near)

December 27, 2014 4 Comments

וַיִּגַּשׁ It has been more than 500 years since Christopher Columbus mistakenly identified the indigenous peoples of the Americas as “Indians”, and yet that name

Fox Byte 5775 #10: Miketz (At The End Of)

December 19, 2014 No Comments

מִקֵּץ There are occasions when a story so compelling meets with a portrayal so moving and produces an effect so profound that it leaves the

Fox Byte 5775 #9: VaYeshev (And He Settled)

December 12, 2014 No Comments

וַיֵּשֶׁב Everyone knows about Joseph and his fancy coat. He was the one with the dreams of greatness about how his brothers and his parents

Fox Byte 5775 #8: VaYishlach (And He Sent)

December 5, 2014 8 Comments

וַיִּשְׁלַח There was a time I wrestled with God. The wrestling match began in my teenage years, when I detected certain inconsistencies in the instruction

Fox Byte 5775 #7: VaYetze (And He Went Out)

November 28, 2014 3 Comments

וַיֵּצֵא The 1970 movie Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman, follows the story of Jack Crabb, a white boy adopted by a Cheyenne warrior and

Fox Byte 5775 #6: Toldot (Generations)

November 21, 2014 4 Comments

תּוֹלְדֹת Who invented the concept of the “Evil Twin”? This is not just a literary device. It is a byword, a running gag, a recurring

Fox Byte 5775 #5: Chayei Sarah (Life of Sarah)

November 14, 2014 2 Comments

חַיֵּי שָׂרָה J.R.R. Tolkien’s works had secured for him a lasting place among the giants of English literature long before Peter Jackson ever brought The

Fox Byte 5775 #4: VaYera (And He Appeared)

November 7, 2014 1 Comment

וַיֵּרָא On a certain winter’s day early in my Army career a distinguished visitor stopped by our office. This gentleman was Chief of Staff of

Fox Byte 5775 #3: Lech Lecha (Get Yourself)

October 31, 2014 2 Comments

לֶךְ־לְךָ It is quite possible that the greatest literary accomplishment of the year 1844 was the publication of The Three Musketeers. The swashbuckling adventures of

Fox Byte 5775 #2: Noach (Rest)

October 24, 2014 No Comments

נֹחַ Darren Aronofsky made a valiant effort to tell the story of Noah in a fashion worthy of Hollywood. His 2014 film, starring Russell Crowe

Fox Byte 5775 #1: Beresheet (In The Beginning)

October 18, 2014 4 Comments

בְרֵאשִׁת This is the first Shabbat (Sabbath) of a new Torah cycle. Each year, Jews and Messianic believers in Yeshua go through the Torah (the

Fox Bytes 5774 (2013-2014)

Fox Byte 5774 #30: The Truth About Transformation

October 14, 2014 No Comments

What is Yeshua really teaching us through the Sermon on the Mount? Yes, He explains that it’s good to be connected to the Maker of

Fox Byte #29: An Eye For. . . .

October 8, 2014 No Comments

From what we have seen so far in the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua is indeed correcting our understanding of what His Father really meant

Fox Byte #28: An Acceptable Sacrifice

October 3, 2014 No Comments

If Yeshua really did make it possible to understand and live out God’s commandments (Torah) as our Creator originally intended, then we would expect Him

Fox Byte #27: About That New Heart

September 26, 2014 No Comments

What did Yeshua mean when He said He had come to fulfill the Law (Torah)? Some people would say that He came to complete the

Fox Byte #26: Where Salt Gets Its Flavor

September 19, 2014 2 Comments

Where would we look to find a connection between Christians and ancient Israel? We need look no further than Messiah Himself. That’s what God told

Fox Byte #25: When Peculiar is a Good Thing

September 12, 2014 No Comments

At this point someone might say, “Wait a minute! That old Law of Moses doesn’t apply to Christians!” Are we really sure about that? How

Fox Byte #24: Working Without Tools

September 5, 2014 No Comments

If we want to follow Yeshua, should we expect trouble? Yes. He said so Himself: Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant

Fox Byte #23: Scary Things Beneath the Surface

August 29, 2014 2 Comments

You may be thinking by now that this decision to follow Yeshua seems to come with obligations that weren’t in the original advertising. It looks

Fox Byte #22: Obeying Without Understanding

August 22, 2014 2 Comments

Following Yeshua really is a matter of the heart. No matter what we say we believe, we will only do what is in our hearts.

Fox Byte #21: Pretend Soldiers

August 14, 2014 No Comments

Now we come to something very important. We should want to produce “good fruit” and store up treasure in heaven, but just doing good things

Fox Byte #20: About Those Heavenly Treasures

August 1, 2014 2 Comments

If we are to take Yeshua at His word, then His expectations of us to produce “good fruit” means that somehow we are to store

Fox Byte #19: Rusty Priorities

June 23, 2014 2 Comments

What kind of good fruit does Yeshua expect His followers to produce? The kind that produces lasting change for good. That’s what He meant when

Fox Byte #18: A Tree of Good Fruit

June 8, 2014 No Comments

Would it make any difference in how we live our lives if we are about to go through the end of the world? Some people

Fox Byte #17: Don’t Panic!

May 23, 2014 No Comments

Seriously, how does the possibility that we may be at the end of this age affect the way you live each day? Notice I said

Fox Byte #16: When The World Shakes Apart

May 16, 2014 No Comments

This talk about life and death should mean something to anyone who has paid even a tiny bit of attention to the great upheavals in

Fox Byte #15: The Trouble with Death

May 8, 2014 No Comments

Why exactly does God want to kill us? Sure, He wants us totally committed to His team, but where does death come into it –

Fox Byte #14: The Trouble With Divided Loyalties

May 1, 2014 No Comments

Let’s look some more into this question of God wanting to kill you. Am I serious about that? Yes, deadly serious. God Himself is deadly

Fox Byte #13: Living in Enemy Territory

April 24, 2014 No Comments

What’s the point of Yeshua giving us this example of how to die? Why would He teach the world how to be humble by letting

Fox Byte #12: It’s All About Me . . . Right?

April 11, 2014 No Comments

One big problem people have with this being saved thing is that it just seems too easy. They think, “You mean that’s all I have

Fox Byte #11: Getting to the Point

April 4, 2014 No Comments

Do you believe God really wants us to be reconciled with Him – to be friends with Him again? And do you really believe that

Fox Byte #10: Avoiding Unpleasant Places

March 27, 2014 No Comments

The work God does for us is to make us able to be around Him again. Remember what that incident in the Garden of Eden

Fox Byte #9: The Works of Grace

March 20, 2014 No Comments

One of the big things people miss about grace is its connection with good works. God made us for good works, but because each of

Fox Byte #8: When Life Happens

March 11, 2014 No Comments

What is this grace? Isn’t that one of those Bible words no one really understands anymore? Why do I need to worry about it anyway?

Fox Byte #7: A Boatload of Grace

February 27, 2014 No Comments

Fox Byte #6 ended with this question: why are we still here? If God said He would destroy all of humanity because we couldn’t be reformed,

Fox Byte #6: Why Are We Still Here?

February 20, 2014 No Comments

Let’s see what we have so far: Some super-powerful being named God made the universe and everything in it. Every human being has a choice

Fox Byte #5: Momentary Right vs. Eternal Good

February 13, 2014 No Comments

Fox Byte #4 examined how our ancestors in the Garden of Eden chose to educate themselves on the knowledge of good and evil rather than get

Fox Byte #4: Not Ready To Drive

February 6, 2014 No Comments

Continuing from Fox Byte #3, what did our ancestors gain from eating fruit that made them super smart? If Adam and Eve were made “in the

Fox Byte #3: Kicked Out of the Kitchen

January 23, 2014 No Comments

Continuing from Fox Byte #2, how do we learn what God’s definition of order is? How do we learn anything? Reading is a good way to

Fox Byte #2: A Commission

January 17, 2014 No Comments

To build on the Fox Byte #1, let’s assume that you decide you do believe this Supreme Being made the universe and everything in it. Now

Fox Byte #1: In the Beginning

January 13, 2014 No Comments

The very first words in the Bible are, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). If you believe that, then

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