Stinks To High Heaven
He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
Abomination – The Hebrew principle of measure for measure applies to a lot more than eyes and teeth. Waltke points out that “if a man, on his part, is deaf to instruction, then God, on His part, is deaf to prayer.” This is measure-for-measure applied to disobedience and prayer. We could translate this verse as follows: If a man rejects hearing and obeying Torah, then God considers that man’s prayer to’evah. On the one hand, mishmoa tora (turns from hearing torah). On the other hand, tefillato to’evah (prayer is abomination). Even the alliteration is memorable.
There aren’t many things that God considers abominable.  Proverbs uses the word only twenty-one times. Eleven of those are connected with what is repulsive to God. It might be worthwhile to consider the other eleven in order to provide context for the severity of this verse.  From God’s perspective, abominations include devious actions with intent to harm, stealing, evil acts, evil thoughts, lying, pride and idolatry. What characterizes all these actions is their connection with harmful, hurtful and hostile consequences. Every one of them is a violation of God’s moral character.
The implications are stark. Those who turn away from the Torah, who neither listen to it nor seek to live according to it, are going to find that their prayers repulse God. That’s right. Torah disobedience contains its own reciprocal consequence. Their prayers stink to high heaven.Â
We can probably see why this is applied to the wicked. After all, their lives are a total contradiction to God’s grace and goodness. How can they expect God to listen to them when they are in trouble if they have spent their lives dismissing His claims on them and His instructions about living?  Too often we act as if God will suddenly reverse His moral principles and rescue those who have never offered themselves to Him. Perhaps we need to rethink our stance that God responds to all prayers. Of course, God may respond to even the prayer of the wicked because His grace outweighs His wrath, but He is under no obligation to do so, and He tells us pretty plainly that these kinds of prayers smell like their originators.
There is another implication that might not be so acceptable. What about those of us who believe, who have signed up for the Kingdom life, but who don’t follow the Torah? This verse should scare us. God is gracious, patient and long-suffering, but this verse clearly says that Torah obedience is near and dear to God’s heart and the deliberate refusal to adopt His way of life has some potentially terrible consequences. It did for Israel. Do we somehow think that we are the exceptions to the rule?  Measure-for-measure.
There’s a lot at stake here, isn’t there?
Topical Index:Â Torah, prayer, abomination, Proverbs 28:9, to’evah, measure-for-measure
“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses [Torah] dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of GOD, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which He was sacrificed, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” -Heb 10:26-29
First of all, isn’t it a fiction that we are at any moment in our lives “Torah” obedient? Isn’t that the point? That we stand before a Holy God with our prayers and must be in a perpetual state (in terms of fellowship with this God and not in the justified sense) of repentance. Remember the one who beat on his chest, looked to heaven and cried out: “Have mercy on me, a sinner?” He went away justified….It was the one who thought in his self-righteousness (and that is the key here) that he was right with God (but wasn’t) who was the reprobate…the one God had no use for.
When I pray today, I can cry “Abba Father” because the life of Christ, through the Spirit of God, in-dwells me and testifies with mine that I am a child of God. I am assured of being heard in my prayers when I can truly say “Our Father….etc.” (the non-Christian has no such assurance of either heard or answered prayers). I do not plead my “Torah obedience” before God as if I was somehow righteous so that He will hear my prayers. I plead the blood of Christ and my unworthiness before Him and it is Christ’s righteousness and the Spirit who testifies with mine, so that when I pray (yes, even in my unrighteousness), I know that my Father hears me. Yes sin by any description (whether it is idolatry, disobedience or maligning the character of God, or not having right relationship with my wife etc.), breaks my fellowship with a Holy God and will impede (get in the way) of my prayers….How could it not? After all, such a prayer asks of God while slapping God in the face. But to think that my “Torah obedience” (or the failure of my “Torah obedience”) is somehow akin to my own ability to be righteous before God and therefore in tit-for-tat fashion to be heard by God, to me makes a rather large presumption about both my ability to keep Torah (which we have an entire Old Testament that tells me what self-righteousness in keeping the Torah looks like and leads to) and by implication diminishes/lessens the righteousness and mediating ministry of Christ as my High Priest today….For me, my unworthiness before a Holy God is always before me. Question is not am I worthy (or Torah obedient) but whether I regularly recognize my utter unworthiness and so claim and plead in repentance for Christ’s righteousness on my behalf….Does this then change how I live or how I pray? It should. But this is because God’s perfect will and commands are written not on tablets of stone but on my fleshy heart….
These are beautiful, trustworthy and encouraging words from brother David Salyer. But what I don’t see in his response is evidence of the understanding of what Skip is saying in a nutshell: it boils down to this–salvation is by faith alone, BUT by pursuing Torah to the best of our ability will sanctify us and help us grow more into the image of Yeshua.
In our Messianic Jewish Congregation, we use the term ‘Torah Pursuant’, and the meaning is evident. We love and trust Yeshua to save our eternal souls because we have put our trust in Him and follow Him. As followers of Him, we pursue His Torah, because we know that although we can never be 100% observant, we can pursue Him via Torah observance. It is a beautiful way to show Him that we love Him (If you love Me, you will keep my Commandments)…
It all goes together so well. ADONAI, You are wonderful and glorious to behold!
Brother,
The life of the redeemed that we are called to lead does not lead itself to salvation, but rather is a product of the undeserved salvation that we have received through the blood of our Savior. I encourage you to read/re-read Skips response from yesterday.
Remember that the fullness of the New Covenant is that He will write His Torah on our hearts -Heb 8:10; 10:16; and originally Jer 31:33-34.
When that happens, we will all be “Torah pursuant”! đ
PS Brother:
Being ‘Torah pursuant’ and realizing our intrinsic unworthiness are NOT mutually exclusive. Many of my brethren and I have found that as we pursue His Torah, we have had many more opportunities to ‘fall short’ and are frequently reminded of the continued grace that He extends to us. o/o/o/ When we pursue His standard- His Torah, it becomes even more obvious of our own unworthiness. đ Those who are forgiven little, love little. Those who have been forgiven much love much. đ
PSS: It is true that man has a mistaken tendency to think that his own righteousness (even if it comes from following GOD’s Torah) merits GOD’s favor. That does not mean that we should abandon what GOD has given us. It does mean that we should pursue His Torah with humble and contrite hearts. -Psm 51:17 and Isa 66:2 đ
OHMY! you really hit home there– the more I pursue Yeshua via His Torah– the BIGGER and MORE HOLY He becomes in my understanding. HE IS HUGE! HE IS MIGHTY! He is so MUCH MORE than I was ever taught ibefore I began to search out the Hebraic Roots…and all because I received the revelation that His Torah belonged to me đ
todah rabbah abba!!
Thank you Skip for your service to God’s people!
“Stinks to High Heaven” was funny.
Maria’s suggestion to throw out the Torah, which I read as ironic, was pretty funny too.
Personally, I think it would be easier to argue that Jesus was not a Christian than to argue that He was not an observant Jew.
Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of God or the Son of Man over and over again and the Jews knew exactly what He meant (The Jewish Messiah).
As I recall, the first point Matthew makes, speaking to a Jewish crowd, is that Jesus is a descendent of David, King of the Jews.
My understanding is that Jesus was the incarnation of God but, as far as I know, He did not bring anything new to the party.
God was always Here with Humans with His Laws and Grace and Love. (Omniscience, Omnipotent, Omnipresent)
He sent Jesus to focus our minds on two things (10 Laws): Loving God and Loving our neighbors (including our enemies).
Jesus “raises the bar” in my view.
Personally, I think not lying, cheating, stealing, killing, committing adultery, etc is relatively easy .
Call me Ishmael, if you will, but my darned problem (sin) is Alienation from God.
Truth be told, I spend relatively little time loving God and loving my enemies.
Although I pray for Help almost every day.
“Abomination” is a word of increasing significance to me. Proverbs 20:10 says, “Differing weights and differing measures, both of them are abominable to the LORD.” This verse, and this subject matter (economics), needs to be near the top of the list today regarding concerns for us as Christians.
We are in very serious trouble economically, far worse than what we are being told on the news, and it all has to do with ‘differing weights and measures.’ Nations are brought down when their economic practices are in violation of God’s Law.
I suggest that we take the lead in showing the world why it is important to bring the authority of God’s Word to a sphere of life in which ALL people must operate- economics. I would be happy to share a plan with those who have an interest.
Skip, in layman’s terms could you explain what “obeying Torah” means exactly? I know it means law, but are you talking about all 613 laws? The law leads me to God by showing me how impossible it is for me to follow the law WITHOUT the righteousness of Christ in me through salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Once He comes in don’t I get a new heart? A good heart? Don’t I have His mind? So does the guy who doesn’t eat pork out of his “Torah” obligations but doesn’t “KNOW” God still get His prayers heard? I am really not trying to be argumentative. Just trying to sort it all out.
Sister- this is from a post 3/15:
-First remember that if they come from the Bible (not the Talmud- sage teachings), they are not âJewish lawsâ but the teachings and instructions from the Almighty Himself.
-Consider that all the âlawsâ from the Torah do not apply to any single individual. Some apply to men, some to women, some to children, some to parents, some to Levites, some to priests, and some to the high priest- and I am probalbly missing some other categories. We should only keep the commandments that apply to us. đ
-Consider that while all of YHWHâs laws are expressions of the Lawgiver and His attributes and therefore are eternalâ not all laws/commandments/statutes/judgments have current application.
-We understand that Yahushuaâs blood atones for us before the throne of GOD Most High. According to Torah, an animal sacrifice must be brought to the Temple (therefore it only applies to being in the Land) and to the Levitical priesthood. Since we are not in the Land, there is no Temple, and no fucntioning priesthood- even by Torah we cannot offer animal sacrifices! So by not offering animal sacrifices today we are in fact keeping Torah! o/o/ The pictures of these sacrifices and the intercession of the priests do show us the means by which YHWH accepts His atonement through the blood of Yahushua- which is eternal!
From today:
Remember that in the New/Renewed Covenant it is the Torah that is written in our hearts! -Heb 8:10; 10:16; and originally Jer 31:33-34.
As for “knowing GOD:
1 John 2:1-6 NAS
2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4THE ONE WHO SAYS, “I HAVE COME TO KNOW HIM,” AND DOES NOT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, IS A LIAR AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. [and He walked according to the Torah blamelessly đ ]
I think the bottom line is that once we know Him [ie, we have come into covenantal relationship with Him through the blood of Messiah] out of love for Him and what He has done for us- we respond by keeping every commandment [remember that they come from our loving Father] of His [not mens laws or doctrines] that applies to us that we may glorify Him who gave us His ways! o/o/o/
Just a short note of apology for not seeing Skip’s reply to the devotional of “Purpose Driven.” I think I knew better but my wife and I are still chewing (probably more like chomping because we are reading these devotionals and Skip’s other downloads on Ezer and Hebrew worldview etc. like we have just pulled up to a feast) on the thrust of what we are being introduced to. Not with skepticism but with Berean-like study. We were trying to understand terminology as much as precepts and when we kept hearing “Torah Observant” it kept throwing us because we had not heard a good definition of just precisely what that meant – which laws, who picks, how much law etc. Sounded a lot like a return to works. I know that Skip is not promoting works salvation and I did not mean to imply that with my reply….However, I don’t believe that God’s Word says that my usefulness post-justification (again sorry for Greek boxes) is anything that, with my own power and striving, I can attain. Still the the life of Christ through the power of the Spirit of God – without Him I cannot observe nor pursue Torah obedience. And that is a constant, “I am not worthy, You are…I can’t but you can…” prayer.
AMEN!!!
Baruch atah baShem YHWH!!!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH!!!
o/o/o/
Wow, we are really cooking, aren’t we? Isn’t it great to have a forum where we can openly discuss all these aspects of Scripture without falling down over doctrine or being put down over denominational differences. This is what the community is all about. Every day I learn something from all of you. A better way to say something. A point I missed. A conviction that I need to deal with. All of it in pursuit of the Lord of life who rescued me.
So, now, one more time. We must make a very conserted effort not to confuse salvation, rescue, deliverance and election with Torah pursuit or obedience. One more time, my righteousness before God has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME! God elected Abraham before Abraham demonstrated faith. God elected Israel when Israel was still without a covenant. God drew each of us to Him while we were still sinners. God is the Great Hunter and He pursues US. Nothing we can do, even after we have been “saved” will ever affect God’s desire to choose us. That is GRACE ALONE. It has always been grace alone. It was for Abraham (and for Adam) and it is for you and me. Put that in the bank. Set it aside. No further discussion needed. đ
But this is not the same as inheriting the land, fulfilling God’s purposes, knowing His will, being in conversation with Him, enjoying His fellowship, becoming human or having our prayers heard. All the rest, the scope, depth and intensity of my relationship with Him as I live as a citizen in His kingdom depends on my willingness and effort (and God working in me at the same time, as mysterious as that might be). But remember, this has nothing to do with God bringing me into the Kingdom in the first place.
OK, so, does that mean I have to keep all 613 Torah commandments? Wouldn’t that be nice? Just think of the relationship that you would have with the Father. Kind of like Jesus, huh? Oh, and by the way, even Jesus didn’t keep all 613. Why? Because there are a whole lot for women, not men, for children, not adults, for married people, not singles, for priests, not the rest of us. Jesus kept all the Torah commandments that APPLIED to him. That’s all that any of us hope to do because keeping them allows us to be of maximum use to God. Think of Torah as a pipe. The more obedient we are, the bigger the pipe, the more God can pour through us.
Now, of course, God will use any size pipe that we provide. Most of us came into the Kingdom WITHOUT Torah on our minds. God still uses us, sometimes in powerful ways. But if we love the King and want to be the best citizens possible because we are grateful for all He has done, then we govern our lives according to His requests. That’s all it’s about. Getting into alignment so that God can use me.
And here’s the side benefit. I am most satisfied when God is most glorified in me. That means that as I let the size of my pipe increase, I discover I am more and more joyful. I become more human when God has more of me at His disposal.
I am so glad that we are talking about all this. It would be wonderful (from my perspective) if we could all understand what a radical change this is. We were not taught this. I wasn’t, and I went to some of the best theological educational institutes in the world (I guess, in hindsight, maybe they weren’t all the top-notch after all because they missed it too). But when we being to recover our heritage in Abraham, the world starts to look a little different. So, we decide to stop listening to the professors and start reading the text for what it says. Some of us will decide not to eat bacon. Hooray! Some of us will decide it doesn’t matter. But God directs us all, and over time, as long as we have an open, pressing need to hear God’s Word, He will move us toward greater usefulness.
I always tell my students (who are mostly pastors) that the way forward in GENTLY, GENTLY, GENTLY. We have a lot of unlearning to do before we can follow Abraham to a place God will show us.
Skip
BEAUTIFULLY PUT! thank you Skip– that’s a keeper đ
I’m the same way, David. I am just so “gun shy” towards religious works that anything that hints of it makes my red flag go up. See, I came from a background of trying to “follow all the rules” in the name of Christian “holiness.” So many who were genuinely zealous for God, did their best to live up to the strict moral codes, but because they had no roots, and hadn’t ever known the unconditional love of our awesome God, they quickly burned out. A lot of them are walking around wounded today because A + B did NOT = C, like they were told it would. When the hard times came, they blamed God, or decided this God thing doesn’t work. On the other end of the spectrum are all the “loosey Goosey” Christians that do whatever they want in the name of Grace. That makes me crazy too. I am so excited to learn the WHOLE word of God and love the way Skip is unlocking it. When I ask questions it isn’t because I think Skip is teaching something that is heretical, I am just trying to get to the bottom of a lot of info. with 3 boys running underfoot at the same time. I feel like there is so much to “catch up on” and that I don’t have the time to read it all. Loving this community thing, though.
Sister,
May the Holy One of Israel heal you of all the wounds inflicted by religious men.
May He cast His countenance upon you and yours and give you peace.
May His Spririt burn in you that you may discern His Word in truth, and guide others.
May the joy of the sure knowledge that His blood has indeed redeemed you, that you are precious in His sight, release you to be free to serve the Living GOD!
May this be so in the Name of the one who redeems us, Yahushua HaMachiach- Jesus the Christ
Amen o/o/o/
Wow, Tom. That really blessed me. I receive it. Thank you!
Glory
Beautifully said, Skip….thank you!
Please read my late blog on Wed. March 25, Skip’s “The Real Purpose Driven Word”. I wrote one longer on it for last night, but alas, the pop-up said that there was an error in sending it. Just got around to writing it tonight, before I read this. But think it is valuable, and especially for those that do not want just the intelligentsia side of this.
I lost it again! Not finished, this should be a great help in an extremely important area to every person! None exempt! This book is the greatest help–Yes, straight from the Torah__-Never mentions that word though— ‘NONE OF THESE DISEASES” tHE BIBLES’S HEALTH SECRETS FOR THE 21ST. CENTURY–S. I McMILLEN, MD. & DAVID e. STERN, MD Flemin H. Revell $l4. 99. third edition. —
We have had a copy for over 30 years, the earlier ed. were some different, and I liked them. better. BY OSOMOSIS, we became Torah observant ( never heard those word though)
EXod. 15:26 ” God told the Israelities when He brought them out of Egypt, ” If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decress, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” At ages 80 and 76, we have had the best health of any we know, and so so so many we know far younger than us have already died. God KNOWS What is right for us. –
— But we be VERY VERY careful , remember what Jesus said in Matt. 23:5, “BUT ALL THEIR WORKS THEY DO TO BE SEEN BY MEN. THEY MAKE THEIR PHYLACTERIES BROAD AND ENLARGE THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS.” NKJV
L.B.
How can I read the comments people make without having to make a comment myself?
If you click on the following link at the end of Skip’s message, I think you can read all the replies without replying yourself:
Click here to add a comment about this on SkipMoen.com
Dear David, (and perhaps a few others along the way). Usefulness is not a THING that I attain. It is an action and attitude that I perform. So, there is never any fear about not getting there. I am either useful at this moment or I am not. I am either open to God’s actions through me or I am not. Then the next moment comes and the process occurs all over again. Usefulness in Hebrew would be a VERB, not a noun. So, since it is a moment-to-moment encounter in open surrender to the Lord’s leading, I never really ATTAIN it as though I can store it in a bottle on the shelf. Instead, I am IN it, doing it, being it (except in Hebrew we would drop the “it”). I am usefully doing, being, surrendering.
Now, God loves usefulness. So, He pushes us toward more and more doing, being and surrendering. As long as we keep going forward with Him, He will use us to the max. When we resist, He will train us to become more useful. God’s intention is to USE US UP. That’s what it means to be fully human – as Jesus demonstrated.
So, don’t worry about the “works” attainment stuff. Just keep asking if you are fully useful and if God is prodding you toward another level.
Skip
Skip, in an earlier post you mentioned not eating bacon as a law to be followed. But, didn’t the LORD say to Peter thru lowereing the sheet filled with unclean animals, & instructing him to eat, that all is permissible? I’m confused!
Lots of people are confused about the vision that Peter saw – INCLUDING PETER. Now, if the vision were really about food, do you think Peter would have been en eauto dieporei. Literally, it means âwas thoroughly confused in himself.â Itâs a synonym for the idea of being double-minded. Peter just couldnât figure out what God was trying to tell him. This should give us an important clue. Peter knew that the vision wasnât about clean or unclean animals. Violating the commandment about food was simply impossible for a Torah-observant follower like Peter. The vision was just the analogy. The meaning had to be about something else, but he didnât know what it could be. Itâs time to do some detective work.
First, we see that ten years after Pentecost Peter is still a torah-observant Jew. When the animals are presented to him, he says that he has never eaten anything unclean. Ten years after the supposed beginning of the âchurchâ, Peter is still following the Torah. It never crosses his mind that there is any other way to live in obedience to God. He is confused because he knows that the Torah was never abolished. Clean animals are still the only kind of acceptable food. He just canât figure out what God is talking about because he knows that God would never set aside the torah. Jesus didnât set it aside, and he wonât either.
Secondly, we must notice that for ten years Peter has been a leader in the Messianic movement in Jerusalem. Ten years ago he preached that famous sermon proclaiming that the prophecy of Joel was now fulfilled. Ten years ago he announced that Godâs grace had come to both Jew and Gentile. But for ten years he still continued to withdraw from Gentiles. In spite of what he said, he wasnât living it. He could preach it, but he wasnât demonstrating it. In fact, Peter doesnât realize that the vision is about people until he sees what is happening at the home of Cornelius. Notice what Peter says in verse 28. Peter still believes that it is unlawful for a Jew to even come near a Gentile. Of course, there is no such provision in the torah. This is strictly tradition; a tradition that was preventing Peter from fulfilling the commission of reaching the Gentiles; a tradition that God decided to break.
Finally, we discover that once Peter realizes what God has done in the house of Cornelius, he is no longer confused about his vision. He realizes that his traditional practice concerning Gentile interaction stands in the way of Godâs plan and his own previous announcement. Peter is changed. But the change is not about the way he eats. Itâs about the way he evangelizes. And it only took ten years.
All of this, by the way, was written in a Today’s Word from November 28, 2008.
Skip
Thank you. That is a tremendous help. So, when Peter ate what the gentile, put before him, he was not breaking any Torah laws. Just tradition. Suzi
Of course remember, that the new believing gentiles would not have been serving any unclean animals, so there would be no “Torah laws” to break. The only think broken was the (very common in its day) traditions of some sages that just eating with gentiles was an unclean act.
[ from Mar 14 -except corrected for grammatical errors đ ]
Sister,
I would encourage you to re-read Acts 10. Consider:
-The Almighty uses an example of things that He has determined to be clean vs unclean (animals), and contrasts that with things (men) that He has NOT called unholy or unclean [yet Jewish traditions and oral law did].
-Cornelius and his household were already a âGOD-fearersâ. They were already set-apart in all ways except circumcision, including their diet. Thus they were in fact already holy.
-Peter never changes his eating habits and in fact rejects three times the possibility of eating anything GOD considers unclean. In fact he was âgreatly perplexedâ as to the meaning of his dreams.
-Peters own summation was that the Holy One was showing him that he needed to change the way he regarded gentiles coming to faith in the GOD of Israel through Messiah [Acts 10:28-29; 10:34-35].