Hebrew Word Study | Skip Moen

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Two-Minute Warning

Tuesday, July 06th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season, reprove, warn, encourage with all long-suffering and teaching

Preach – We often hear this verse used to support evangelistic activity. We are urged to follow Paul’s exhortation. Get out there and tell everyone the good news. Time is short. Many are lost. We must hurry.

All this is true, of course, even more so now that nearly 2000 years have passed since Paul wrote these words. But if 2000 years have passed, maybe what Paul had in mind isn’t quite the same sense of immediate judgment that we tend to imagine. There is no doubt Paul meant to say epistethi (urgently), but 2000 years later we might wonder, “What’s the rush?” Perhaps we need to examine the verb kerusso a bit more carefully.

Kerusso means “to preach, to herald, to proclaim.” It is generally associated with public announcement (for example, the activity of John the Baptist). Because we think of preaching as the mode of evangelism, we tend to use this verb as synonymous with “proclaiming the gospel,” “saving lost souls,” or “sharing the good news of Jesus.” But those twentieth-century meanings might not apply to Paul’s audience. Paul is writing to Timothy, a man who already oversees a congregation of Jewish and Gentile Messianic believers. Preaching to them can’t mean evangelism. They are already in the fold. Of course, Paul could be urging Timothy to get out among the pagans and preach salvation, but this would be inconsistent with the Jewish apologetic approach he practiced nearly everywhere else. Paul taught Jews and Gentile proselytes. Only on the rarest occasions did he proclaim Yeshua to pagans. Most of the time, he was occupied with Gentiles who already had a connection to Judaism.

If kerusso is not about standing on the street corner with a sign or shoveling fire and brimstone at the audience in the pews, then what is it? We might look at the statement of James. “For in every city from ancient generations Moses has those preaching him, having been read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:20). Clearly, the use of kerusso in James’ account is not about evangelism. It’s about instruction in Torah. What would make us think that Paul wouldn’t be anxious to do the same? Perhaps what Paul is exhorting Timothy to do is to proclaim Torah as fervently as possible to those who are adopting the ways of the God of Israel. Rather than offering a message of salvation, maybe Timothy is supposed to be bringing current followers into a deeper understanding of the Torah. Even if there has been a 2000 year hiatus between Paul’s instructions to Timothy and the return of our Lord, the necessity of teaching Torah hasn’t diminished one iota (to use a Greek letter).

If Paul wrote to you today, would he be telling you to pass out tracts, knock on doors, offer an altar call; or would he echo James? Proclaim the importance of observing the ways of God’s people.

Topical Index: preach, kerusso, proclaim, Torah, 2 Timothy 2:4

If you didn’t see the announcement that you can sign up for a free 1 hour discussion this coming Thursday, go here. We will join others around the world to talk about living the Hebraic model in daily practice, plus some other interesting bits and pieces. Hope you will join us.

Skip

Category: Today's Word | Tags: 2 Timothy 2:4, kerusso, preach, proclaim, Torah | 12 Comments

Verbs And Adjectives

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

They feared YHWH and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among who they had been carried away into exile. To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear YHWH, . . . 2 Kings 17:33-34

Feared – This just doesn’t make any sense. Verse 33 says they feared YHWH but served their own gods. Then verse 34 says they did not fear YHWH. What? How can people who truly fear the Lord practice the kind of fertility cult behaviors described in this section (like burning children alive)? How can the text tell us that these people “feared” YHWH and then turn right around and tell us they didn’t fear Him? The problem is the difference between adjectives and verbs.

Verse 33 reads et-YHWH hayoo yere’eem. If we carefully analyze the construction, we see that et-YHWH marks the direct object, but the verb we expect (yare’- to fear) appears as an adjective (yere’eem – plural “afraid” or “fearful”). The real verb is hayoo (“they became”). So the sense of this verse is not, “They demonstrated awe and reverence toward YHWH.” It is rather, “They became emotionally fearful of YHWH.” In other words, they were scared of what YHWH might do, but that didn’t stop them from worshipping the fertility gods. They had an emotional reaction of fear, not a reverential and obedient reaction of awe and respect. They simply accommodated YHWH into their current pagan practices as one more god to be appeased.

We see this clearly in the next verse where the Hebrew reads eynam yere’eem et-YHWH. The sense here is “not fearing YHWH.” This is behavioral, not emotionally descriptive. Here we have a statement about disobedience, expanded in the subsequent text concerning their disregard for the statutes, ordinances and commandments of Torah.

So we cleared up the confusion, right? The two verses use two different senses of yare’. We are linguistically satisfied. But this isn’t the end of the story. Now it’s time to reflect on what this text implies. A priest from exiled Israel is sent to instruct these people in the ways of God. They are in trouble. Lions are eating people. They want the danger to pass. But after the priest gives them an archery demonstration and lessons, they simply incorporate what he teaches into their current practices. They might shake a little over this new god, YHWH, but they aren’t willing to follow Him exclusively. They just add Him to the pack. As the text says, “To this day they do according to their customs.”

What about us? To this day are we still doing according to our customs? Have we merely added God’s instructions to our already pagan attachments? Is God just another deity among the ones we worship? Don’t we celebrate Eastre (or Tammuz or Astarte) on Easter and Saturn (Mithras) on Christmas? Doesn’t Christendom worship human saints and a human mother? Haven’t we changed a simple meal into a religious miracle? Haven’t we altered the Scriptures time and again to fit our theological needs?

Maybe we need some man-eating lions in our midst? On second thought, that didn’t seem to work either. As soon as the danger passed, people went right back to their old ways. Maybe what we need is a radical change of heart – and a new quiver of arrows.

Topical Index: yare’, fear, fearful, pagan, Torah, 2 Kings 17:33-34

Category: Today's Word | Tags: 2 Kings 17:33-34, fear, fearful, pagan, Torah, yare’ | 9 Comments

Archery Practice

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear YHWH. 2 Kings 17:28

Taught – Lions were eating people. Not a very pleasant thought. But in Near Eastern thinking, this isn’t about lions. It’s about offense. The question is not, “How did these lions get there?” or, “Why are these lions man-eaters?” The question is “What does this mean?” And what it means, according to the people who lived there is this: we have offended the God of Israel.

What is the solution? Build a fence? No. Hunt down the lions and kill them? No. This is not a scene from The Ghost and the Darkness. The solution is to send a priest to these people to instruct them how to shoot straight. The Hebrew verb translated “taught” is moreh. It means to shoot or throw. But in this verse, it is about instructing the people in the straight way that will hit the target of pleasing YHWH. The priest taught them the proper way to worship, the way that was acceptable to God, the way that shot the arrow right into the bull’s eye.

This verb, moreh, is derived from the root Y-R-H. It is the same root that produces the word torah. To shoot straight is to practice Torah. To hit the mark is to follow Torah. If you want to be spiritually accurate in your life, line up with Torah.

The incident in the history of Israel is remarkable. A priest is sent to foreigners in order to instruct them in Torah so that the danger to their lives will pass. This is a clear case of Hebrew evangelism, but it’s unusual because a foreign king (Assyria) sends the priest, the priest lives with the people and the people are given Jewish religious instruction. Each one of these actions is unexpected. Foreign kings don’t send Jewish priests. Jewish priests don’t live with Gentiles. And Gentiles don’t get Jewish instructions. By the way, the lions stop eating people.

Y-R-H (Yod-Resh-Hey) is the pictograph “What comes from (or “behold”) a person’s work.” Do you want to know the character of a man? Look at how he shoots his arrows. Look at his aim. Look at his target. Forget all the vocabulary and concentrate on the flight of his efforts. What comes from a person’s work is the Hebrew understanding of character. It’s the verbs, not the nouns. Isn’t it interesting that Torah is derived from a verb about the target and path of our arrows? Does it help you to grasp the Hebrew idea of instruction in life (Torah) to see the picture of an arrow in flight? Suddenly it’s not about rules, is it? It’s about the artistry of directed flight. It’s about the feel of the tension on the bow, the adjustments for wind and geography, the stretch of the string, the delicacy of the feathers, the razor-sharp point and the connection between eye, hand and target. Torah is the art of shooting straight.

Sometimes it takes a priest to show us how. I don’t know anyone who learned archery by reading a book. They had to go into the field, string the bow, pull the line and practice many, many times before they could hit the target. Torah is an art that requires experiential involvement. So, how’s your aim? Do you need some help from an instructor?

Topical Index: torah, moreh, instruction, arrow, 2 Kings 17:28

Category: Today's Word | Tags: 2 Kings 17:28, arrow, instruction, moreh, Torah | 9 Comments

Diet, Dress and Holidays

Tuesday, May 04th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

When a person commits a trespass, being unwittingly remiss about any of YHWH’s sacred things, he shall bring as his penalty to YHWH a ram without blemish from the flock, . . . Leviticus 5:15

Penalty – A few days ago Matt and I looked carefully at the list of the 613 Torah commandments. You can find them here. We spent about an hour and a half going through each one in order to determine if it applied, how it applied and what we were doing about it. Of course, we immediately discovered that the vast majority of these 613 are things that we either already do or would have no problem doing. We don’t lie, cheat, steal. We do love God. We honor His name. We know that He is the only God. We want to take care of others. We wish to worship correctly. When we were all done, we looked over the list of the ones we thought might present some debate. None of them included sacrifices before the priest at the temple (because there isn’t any temple so we couldn’t do them even if we wanted to). None of them included any commandment that presupposed inheritance of the land of Israel since we (as Gentiles) aren’t part of that group. Of course, we also aren’t Levites, so those didn’t count either. When we were done with the list, we had about 12 commandments that might be controversial. Almost all of them were about what we eat, which days we celebrate and what we wear. That was it. Nothing theologically earth-shattering. Just diet, dress and holidays.

Then we realized that for us Torah observance simply meant deciding to eat what God tells us to eat, dressing as God asks us to dress and celebrating His festivals. Everything else we already were doing or could quite easily do. Suddenly the very big issue about law and grace seemed quite inconsequential. It all boiled down to this: am I going to live the way God asks me to live even in these simple things, or am I going to offer any number of excuses for living some other way. There was absolutely nothing on the list that was impossibly difficult to do; nothing that would require a revolution in my life. Everything left on the list of the 12 things were simple, tiny, insignificant changes. If I did them, I would have the joy of knowing that I did them simply because I wanted to be closer to what He said.

This reminded us of Moshe Kampinski’s comment when we heard him speak in his store in Jerusalem. He said, “You silly Christians. You think that keeping Torah is about keeping rules. We think that keeping Torah is about 613 opportunities to love God.” It all depends on perspective, doesn’t it? And that perspective is usually the direct result of an attitude of the heart. Look at this verse from Leviticus. It requires the one who has unintentionally offended God in some element of worship to bring a sacrifice as a penalty. Of course, we could react to this and say, “Penalty? Why do I have to bring a penalty? Doesn’t God love me? Why do I need to follow some rule about removing guilt about something I didn’t even know I was doing?” That is the same attitude that says, “Shrimp? Why can’t I eat shrimp? What’s wrong with shrimp? We have food processing today. Eating shrimp is my right.” What’s wrong with all this? It’s the attitude – seeing God’s instructions as impediments to my freedom instead of seeing God’s instructions as opportunities to enter into His presence.

So, what will it be? Are they 613 ways to love God or are they infringements on my right to do what I want? How you answer that question will probably determine the direction of the rest of your life.

Topical Index: 613, Torah, penalty, attitude, Leviticus 5:15

Category: Today's Word | Tags: 613, attitude, Leviticus 5:15, penalty, Torah | 20 Comments

Shem-Tov

Friday, April 30th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. Matthew 23:3

They – You may want to digest this one sitting down. Open your favorite English Bible to this passage. Notice that Yeshua is giving instructions about the necessity of observing Torah. If we read this verse in English or in Greek, it appears as if Yeshua is telling His disciples to follow the commands of the rabbis, but not to do them in hypocritical ways. This is the usual standard interpretation of the verse. It is still a difficulty for those who have been taught that the Torah doesn’t apply to Christians, but once you see the real place of the Torah, it looks as if Yeshua is also encouraging compliance with the teachings of the rabbis. In this case, that would mean the teachings of the oral Torah and the additional instructions provided by rabbinic thought.

But there’s just one tiny, tiny problem. Nehemia Gordon investigated this Greek text by comparing it to a Hebrew text of the gospel of Matthew preserved by a 14^th Century Spanish Jew named Shem-Tov Ibn Shaprut. Textual investigation of this copy demonstrates that it faithfully retains the wording of an original Hebrew gospel of Matthew. That conclusion is further substantiated by remarks of the early Christian church fathers and considerable analysis of the Hebrew syntax and grammar of Matthew’s account. When we sort through all the scholarly examination, we discover that the Hebrew text of this verse doesn’t read “all that they tell you.” The verse in Hebrew says, “Therefore, all that he says to you, do and observe, but according to their reforms and their precedents do not do, because they talk but they do not do.” In other words, Yeshua is telling His disciples to stick with Moses. Do what the Torah tells you to do, but don’t follow the opinions, additions, reforms or patterns established by the rabbis.

This is a very big deal! It provides evidence that supports what we already know about the teaching of Yeshua. He called the people back to God’s Word. He wasn’t as much a reformer as He was fundamentalist. Over and over, He points back to the Hebrew Scriptures as the only source of faith and practice. His commentary on Scripture always returns to God’s original intention. We see it in His remarks on marriage and divorce, on tithing, on the treatment of enemies and on the purpose of Israel’s calling. Now, in this Hebrew gospel of Matthew, we find strong support for single Torah observance. Life is to be lived by the Book, not by the accumulation of theological opinion that surrounds the Book.

For those who recognize the fundamental place of Torah in the life of the believer, this is clarifying news. Many other passages come into focus. Even Paul’s remarks take on a new emphasis. For those who have not crossed the gap between Torah and “grace,” this discovery might take some of the pressure off. Either way, isn’t it nice to know that our Savior was a Biblical conservative? Gives us direction, doesn’t it?

Topical Index: Torah, seat of Moses, Shem-Tov, Matthew 23:3

Category: Today's Word | Tags: Matthew 23:3, seat of Moses, Shem-Tov, Torah | 31 Comments

Implications, Implications

Friday, April 16th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; Romans 8:7

Does Not Subject Itself – The expression is strong in Greek: ouk hupotassetai. The negative (ouk) is the unconditional kind. It is never the case. The verb for submission (hupotasso) means “to place in proper order.” The person who is hostile toward God always refuses to put God in the proper place. Such a person will not acknowledge God’s rightful sovereignty. Such a person does not recognize (because they choose not to recognize) the duty we have to serve the Creator. In other words, their answer to life’s most important question, “What does God demand of me?” is “I choose to do what I wish. As far as I am concerned, God has no demand on me!” Such a person foolishly believes in the right of self-determination.

We recognize the foolishness in this direction, but we might not have noticed the implication behind Paul’s claim. The Torah is not set aside because this man rejects it. In fact, his guilt is established precisely because He does reject God’s instructions. We can see the great implication in this verse by writing its opposite. “. . . because the mind set on the Spirit is at peace with God; for it does subject itself to the Law of God because the Spirit enables it to do so.” The opposite of the man hostile to God is not the man free from the Law. The opposite of the hostile man is the man who submits to the Torah, who subjects himself to it. This is the man at peace with God!

Paul’s statement endorses obedience to the Torah. Men are found guilty when they refuse to obey it and found at peace when they do. The wicked reject God’s Torah. The righteous embrace God’s Torah. That’s about the summary of life under God’s banner. How Christianity came to believe that the righteous are released from Torah is a long story of politics, philosophy, persecution and bias. But that story is nearly as important as seeing the implication in Paul’s statement. Torah is our guide for peace with God. It does not produce righteousness nor is it the basis of our redemption. But it is vital for our usefulness to God, for our witness to the world and for harmony among men. Without it, we are no better off than the redeemed man who is left to himself to determine his way in the world.

Reading Paul often requires a new set of glasses; a set of glasses that fit the face of a rabbinic Pharisee who found the Messiah. The worldview seen through those lenses is very different than the worldview we normally associate with Christianity. It takes some time to get used to these new views. But it is so important. After all, we aren’t in this game to prove our theology. We are here to do His bidding, to follow His directions and to see His will become reality on earth as it is in heaven.

Topical Index: Torah, law, hupotasso, submit, Romans 8:7

Category: Today's Word | Tags: hupotasso, law, Romans 8:7, submit, Torah | 9 Comments

The Consequences

Tuesday, February 09th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 5:21

Might Reign – Mark Seifrid makes an interesting observation about Paul’s tension between law and grace. He points out that the same tension is found in the apocryphal literature of Paul’s time. Paul’s choice of verb (basileuse)[1] seems to suggest that one of the functions of the law is “to provide a way to obedience that gives life in the age to come.”[2] This echoes the thought of the apocryphal book 2 Esdras 3:20, “And yet You took not away from them a wicked heart, that Your law might bring forth fruit in them.” Is Paul in line with the author of the book of Esdras? Is he suggesting that the law will guide obedience in the next age? Oh, there’s one other question that comes along with this: Does Paul incorporate the theology of the apocryphal books in his writing?

Let’s see if we can answer this last question first. Why wouldn’t Paul be inclined to use thoughts from other literature in his letter to believers in Rome? Jude does it. Even Yeshua seems to use words and phrases that indicate his awareness of Greek culture. Paul’s letters are filled with local references. Since Paul was a scholar, he would certainly know the literature of the period. He just used what was already part of his background. Perhaps that will help us take advantage of our own cultural elements. Wherever we find opportunity, why not use what the culture provides to further the message of the good news? We have the truth. There is nothing to fear from the opposition.

What about the idea that the law has a place in the world to come? Doesn’t Jeremiah’s revelation of the new covenant say that in those days all believers will serve the Lord because Torah will be written on their hearts? That certainly sounds like the instructions of the Lord will continue “until heaven and earth pass away.” As far as I know, that will be a long time! Should we be surprised that the same idea is found in books which are not included in our canon?

Now, just a minor addition. Yeshua tells us that God’s Torah is eternal. Jeremiah writes that the Torah will be the operating system of the new world. Paul makes that same claim. But in one sense, the new world begins the moment God takes rule and reign in our lives. This is the “already” but “not yet” tension of the Kingdom. We experience it already, right now in our submission to His authority. But it is “not yet” fully arrived. We wait for the day that all the earth will be filled with His righteousness and everyone will serve the Lord. That is the essential tension of the Kingdom. So, while it is true that Torah will provide a way to obedience in the age to come, it is also true that Torah provides a way to obedience right now. Those who live by Torah will simply continue to enjoy its blessings. This is practice time for the real game; the one that begins when all creation worships Him once again.

Paul used all the literature at his disposal to communicate a message of hope. This world isn’t the end. That message was, at the same time, a message of urgent appeal. Obedience is the watchword of the Kingdom, here and in the age to come. What are you waiting for? A second invitation?

Topical Index: Torah, Romans 5:21, 2 Esdras 3:20, might reign

[1] this is the subjunctive aorist of the Greek verb basileuo, to rule or reign. The subjunctive mood implies that something is probable or possible, depending on certain other factors.

[2] Mark Seifrid, Romans in Carson and Beale (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, p. 629.

Category: Today's Word | Tags: 2 Esdras 3:20, might reign, Romans 5:21, Torah | 2 Comments

Mental Telepathy

Friday, January 22nd, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts. For they have not listened to My words and My law, they also rejected it.” Jeremiah 6:19

Fruit Of Their Thoughts – Why must we take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5)? Why should we be held accountable for desiring what doesn’t belong to us even if we do nothing more than think about it (Exodus 20:17)? As long as I don’t actually do anything, does it really matter what I think?

We have been taught to place a priority on our thoughts. But we might not appreciate the full extent of our spiritual mental telepathy. Jeremiah reveals God’s declaration on this subject. Israel is about to fall into captivity because the thoughts of the people turn away from God’s torah. The Hebrew phrase is peri machshevotam. Let’s dig a little deeper and see what this involves.

Peri is fruit, like apples and oranges. But notice that fruit is the natural production of the plant. You can’t get lemons from an olive tree, just as you can’t get righteous behavior from a wicked heart. What matters is the source of the fruit. The results will always exhibit what is found in the source. Just as God observed in Genesis 6, when the imaginations of men are turned toward wickedness, nothing good is produced no matter how it is dressed up. The pictograph demonstrates the reality here. It is “the voice of the person’s work.” Your fruit speaks who you are. Sha’ul understood the Hebrew concept perfectly when he reminded us that the fruit of the Spirit stands in contrast to the production of disobedience (Galatians 5). What you do shouts who you are. But what about the things you never do but only think about?

What about machshevotam? This is the word for thoughts, intentions and the resulting products that come from cognitive activity. The verb behind this noun is hashav (Chet-Shin-Bet). It covers all kinds of mental acts, from thinking, devising, reckoning and esteeming to considering, planning, meditating and imputing. The pictograph shows us “a fence between consuming and the house.” In other words, mental activity is intended to separate what will consume and destroy from what will build up the house. There is a reason for this fence. Left unchecked, desire will overwhelm. What Jeremiah says is this: The people no longer regard the fence. Therefore, what was intended to act as an agent of protection has become a source of evil. Thoughts without boundaries lead to destructive consequences.

Did you notice that this is another example of twisted reality? God intended our thoughts to be a power for good, a fence of protection. Sin twists that power into something else. Released from boundaries, our imaginations are corrupted. I am quite sure we all know the reality of this pretzel. The question isn’t, “Why are we twisted?” The question is, “What is the fence that protects me from being twisted?” God answers. Torati – My Torah. The reason that the thoughts of the people are twisted is this: they have rejected the Torah. They have thrown away the fence. They are no longer protected from themselves. As a result, God Himself will bring evil upon them.

There is a terrible implication in Jeremiah’s declaration. Removing torati causes disaster. Unlike the scientific view of the physical universe, mental activity has direct physical consequences. In the Biblical worldview, what I think brings about real, tangible events. When I refuse to listen to God’s Torah, when I reject His instructions for life, terrible things happen in this physical realm. There is a straight line from hashav to ra’ (evil). The Bible teaches us that we become what we think and without the protective fence of Torah, our thinking will lead us astray. We follow our thoughts straight to destruction.

Now how do you feel about all those “laws”? Do you see that Torah is protection, not restriction? When we live without Torah, we live on the open plain, without shelter, without boundaries, where anything can happen to us – and sometimes does. Just think about it.

Topical Index: torah, thoughts, hashav, peri, fruit, Jeremiah 6:19

Category: Today's Word | Tags: fruit, hashav, Jeremiah 6:19, peri, thoughts, Torah | 17 Comments

Prophetic Connection

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Put a horn to your mouth. He comes like an eagle against the house of YHWH because they have broken My covenant and have sinned against My law.” Hosea 8:1

Covenant/Law – Why could Abraham Heschel say, “A Jew without Torah is obsolete”? Heschel recognized that the covenant is directly tied to the Torah. If I don’t have the Torah, I don’t have the covenant. I am effectively no longer a Jew and I am no longer a part of God’s covenant community. To be His is to live according to His instructions. Hosea couldn’t be more straightforward. But we might miss it in English, so let’s take a closer look at the text: avru veriti veal-torati pashau.

Avru – to pass over, to cover, to cross over. “They went beyond the bounds of” is the sense of this verb. Israel didn’t simply ignore God’s instructions. They pushed the envelope wherever the opportunity arose. How did they do this? They trod on God’s compassion and forbearance. In other words, they thought to themselves, “Well, this isn’t really that big of a deal. God’s promise is unbreakable, so He won’t really turn away.” The same verb that describes God’s overlooking the sins of His people is now used to proclaim their arrogant assumption of His forgiveness. Does this sound familiar?

Veriti – from berit (“my covenant”). Ah, now we see why Hosea uses the verb avar (avru, third person plural). Israel took God’s covenant for granted. This isn’t about individual and corporate sins. It isn’t about disobedience. That comes next. This is about an attitude of superiority. Israel assumed that because God made a covenant with them, they were not expected to be 100% committed. They assumed that because God loved them, they could slide a bit. They assumed that because God was compassionate and merciful, they didn’t really have to work at fulfilling His assignment. They were a divinely protected class, different from all those pagans. Does this sound familiar?

Veal- torati – “and against my Torah”. Now comes the disobedient part. It’s bad enough to have an attitude of religious superiority that insults the benevolence of the Creator. It’s sinful pride to assume that God will continuously overlook our failures to embrace His covenant agreement. But it’s worse when His people violate His directions for living. It is His torah, not ours. Israel exists because of its prophetic tradition. The prophets gave Israel God’s instructions for life. To disobey is to reject the God who gave Israel its very existence. We might say precisely the same thing about the Church. It exists because God gave it life. To disobey God is to reject the life He gives. We don’t get to choose which set of instructions we will follow. It isn’t our Torah. It is torati – “my Torah.”

An African bishop once commented on the Church in America. “I never knew you could do so much without God.” I wonder if Hosea wouldn’t say the same thing.

Now I am sure you are going to ask, “But what about Billy Graham? What about Mother Teresa? What about my friends or my pastor? They don’t keep Torah. Are you saying that they don’t belong to God’s kingdom?” No, I am not saying that. Neither is Hosea. What I am saying is what Hosea says. If those who call themselves by His name continue to live in disobedience to His instructions once they know what He requires, then they are on very dangerous ground. There are sins of ignorance. They do not damage our relationship with the Father until we realize they are sins. Then we have to do something about them. Once you know, you’re stuck. Welcome to the mud! Now life is going to get a lot more messy.

My greatest concern is for those who refuse to consider rethinking the foundations. It is one thing to be unconvinced. It is quite another to reject the consideration. Hosea speaks to those who should have known better. There are so many today who don’t know because no one has taught them. Those who do know are obligated to live according to their understanding, and to help others see the Way by the way they live.

Topical Index: torah, abar, Hosea 8:1, torati

Category: Today's Word | Tags: abar, Hosea 8:1, Torah, torati | 9 Comments

National Treasure

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“for they have despised the law of YHWH, and they have not kept His statutes. Their lies after which their fathers walked led them astray.” Amos 2:4

Law of YHWH – The prophet Amos lays a charge at the feet of the nation of Israel. It is not simply a declaration of the guilt of individuals. It is a proclamation of the collective guilt of the nation and its history. The people have not followed the torah YHWH. Neither did their fathers follow the torah YHWH. The result is disaster. The kingdom is coming to an end. Israel’s national treasure is its possession of God’s instructions. Violating them is the equivalent of treason.

Amos describes the moral decline of the people in graphic terms. He rails against their unrighteous business practices, their social deceit and their religious hypocrisy. In Amos’ view, torah YHWH certainly isn’t limited to religious ritual. It governs every aspect of life. In spite of the long-suffering patience of the Lord, these people have reached the limit of God’s forbearance. Now He will act with swift judgment. He will bring punishment designed to demonstrate His sovereignty and recall His people to His ways. God’s people are to live according to God’s instructions. When they don’t, it’s only a matter of time before chastisement comes.

The Christian Church has a history of reading these passages as if they apply only to Israel. In this view, Israel loses its place in God’s governance of the world. Because of its disobedience, Israel is usurped by the Church. While this interpretation has been popular for nearly 1800 years, it fails to thoroughly read the text. God does not reject Israel. God punishes Israel with the intention of bringing Israel back into alignment with His instructions. Israel never loses its covenant arrangement with God. It just fails to perform the assignment God gave it. But He doesn’t ever give up on Israel.

However, let’s suppose that the Church does take Israel’s place in a new “dispensation.” If that’s the case, then isn’t the Church called to act as if it were Israel? If Israel is guilty of not following Torah, and the Church replaces Israel, then doesn’t it seem logical that the Church should embrace wholeheartedly the very book of instructions that Israel failed to obey? If the Church replaces Israel, doesn’t it take on the same obligation and the same code of conduct that formerly belonged to Israel? Of course, the Church has argued that it had no obligation to accept the instructions God gave Israel in spite of the fact that it took Israel’s place in God’s government. Now, how is that possible? If you are the vice president of operations and you are fired, and I take your place, what logic allows me to say that I now have your title but I am not required to do your job? Do you suppose that God will overlook the failure of the Church to radically transform the culture according to His instructions simply because the Church wanted the title but didn’t want to do the work as He directed? I wonder if Amos isn’t the prophet for our generation. Do you suppose that we too have been led astray by the lie of our fathers?

Topical Index: church, torah, Israel, Amos 2:4

Category: Today's Word | Tags: Amos 2:4, church, Israel, Torah | 9 Comments