Scribal Error
Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give,” when you have it by you. Proverbs 3:28
Neighbor – The scribe asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Yeshua answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan. But we will miss some of the impact of this parable if we don’t realize the irony that the question came from a scribe. Why? A scribe should have known this verse in Proverbs. It uses the Hebrew word rea’ka. As any scribe would know, this word is not limited to the one next door, the one of my tribe, the one of my village or the one like me. The root rea’ is very broad, basically meaning any second party in a relationship. It is generally applied to anyone who has come into contact with you. Who is my neighbor? The one God brought across my path.
Just like the parable of the Good Samaritan, the proverb defines the neighbor as someone in need. That’s anyone in need. Not the ones I like or the ones I value or the ones who will be eternally grateful. Anyone in need whom God sends to encounter me is, by biblical definition, my neighbor. Yes, I might argue that the fictitious starving child in Mongolia is not my neighbor. She is a marketing ploy intended to elicit my emotional reaction. But that doesn’t mean the real child God brings to my attention is not my neighbor just because there are geographical distances. A neighbor is defined by only two things: need and divine encounter. Whenever those two come into contact before me, I stand before the heavenly throne as God’s emissary of goodwill.
As an extension of the previous verse, this proverb does away with the “good intentions” excuse. There is no tomorrow when need and divine encounter cross paths. I will either respond to the moral obligation God places before me, or I will allow it to pass me by. And the train leaves the station only so many times before it no longer will stop here.
We’re nodding in agreement. Yes, this is the way it’s supposed to be. Yes, this is how God treated us. Yes, we know we have an obligation based on His grace. But I don’t have enough to share with another. I am barely getting by. My time is so limited. I’m doing all that I can now. We walk away guilty – but we still walk away. “Come back tomorrow when I will have more.” How foolish! You will never have more than you have right now to step into the crossroads of need and divine encounter. God didn’t bring this opportunity into your life without providing the grace you need to take care of it. “If it is within your power” means “do exactly what you can do.” Not more. Not less. God does not expect you to do more than you can do, He just expects you to do what you really can do. The only sin here is to not do what you can when you can. The circumstances are digital. You either do it, or you don’t. God is not grading on the curve. This is a pass/fail opportunity.
When I withhold benefit by deferring good, I sin. It’s as simple as that. I say to the Lord, “Lord, I really don’t believe You govern the universe. You didn’t bring this person in need before me. It’s merely an accident. And since it’s an accident, I have no obligation to act on this now. I can wait until a more opportune time. Fate will make it happen again if it’s supposed to be that way.” In other words, I decide how the universe should be run.
Who’s my neighbor? The next person I encounter who needs help.
Topical Index: neighbor, help, rea’, moral obligation, good Samaritan, Proverbs 3:28
The scribe asks one question and Jesus answered a different one. Jesus’ answer does not tell the scribe who his neighbor is, but instead who he should be a neighbor to. The emphasis is on our actions and not the party needing help. Skip has correctly defined neighbor as one in need that is brought into our lives by Divine encounter. Adherence to this teaching would most likely change our lives.
This is just from my own experience, but I find we can take Scripture and use it as a formula when it is meant to be taken to the Author for His instuctions for the use of it. I work for a church that has thrift stores that sell donations inexpensively for the needy and the money is used to feed people. We have found just because a person comes in and says they need some money does not mean that God is instructing us to give them some. His descernment is needed because they can claim then need that and go next door to the package store to buy alcohol with it. Also sometimes we are not the ones meant to give it too them and we send them to the ones who can. In my own life I have found that my use of Scripture rules without the Author beside me giving wisdom and His use of them through me correctly according to His view and plan for that situation, can be very exasperating because my flesh profits none of His kind of good.
Have a great day.
Kay
Kay, & All, I hope many will read this. I wish I did not have to write this until I had printed and study througly and prayed much over the above teaching of Skip’s. But alas, every day is so filled with all the things, The Lord puts in front of us to do, that will not happen for weeks, and then there will be something more current that I will want to write on.
The past three weeks have been ones filled with people put in our lives with serious real needs. So many immediate needs. Recall that I am three-fourths of a century plus one, Ed is 80 years old. But it seems that what Kay Harvey has written above and in the last one, too.
Throughout 56 years of marriage, we have tried to use the above principals from God’s Word, and do whatever was in our power to help others here, or wherever. BUT GOD HAS SHOWN US OVER AND OVER, THAT SOMETIMES THAT WAS JUST WHAT WE WANTED TO DO FOR THEM and often it only came through the form of money, That great wisdom is needed in giving. THAT DISCERNMENT IS NEEDED, SPENDING TIME WITH HIM IN PRAISE, WORSHIP, PRAYER, STUDY, WILL GIVE US THAT. —— There are so many millions, billions of people asking asking asking,- just to read the material that comes in the mail ( the U.S. Postal one), would keep us broke & in debt, and even worse; if we checked them all out, would take our time from the things of the” Heavenly father, the Creator of the Universe, the God of Israel,” I listed above that we must do for wisdom.
Speaking of giving, have you given away your only means of transportation? ( it was not any luxury car either! Well, we did two weeks ago, our only beloved 2002 truck. We had not planned to ever have to buy another vehicle. But the Lord began to show us differently, we could get a loan for another truck, this young man could not.
Please LISTEN,. let me say, the young minister that we gave it to, did not in anyway ever speak of his need to us or anyone that we knew, not even a hint of it at all! The Lord shows His people the needs. The young man tried to say no to taking it, we asked him & his wife, to go away and discuss it, then to write down how a better car would help him. He did not even want to give us the list. Then we explained that the Lord had shown us his need , and his need was for greater for that truck than ours. He must travel long distances each week, his car had broken down almost each time he was gone . The credit cards were maxed out with repairs. He had gone out of the traditional church in Aug. He has a young family and the wife can not work now. SO ANOTHER IMPORTANT RULE, IN THIS CURRENT WORLD, BE CAREFUL OF THOSE WHO ARE ASKING!!! IF YOU REALLY HAVE A NEED, AND YOU ARE WALKING WITH THE LORD, “SEEKING FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS—” YOU TELL GOD, AND HE WILL RELAY IT TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE. EVEN AS KAY SAID, SOMEONE ELSE MAY RELAY IT TO THE RIGHT PERSON. –
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—– I recall that George Mueller, prayed in the needs of the orphans in the Orphanage he established with the HELP OF THE LORD___ and the Lord used people to give the money. I am fairly sure that is an excellent model for all of us today. England was a very poor and needy country in that period of time.— —-
Skip warned us a few weeks ago, about Matthew 7 on judging, & I agreed with his point, I WANT TO ADD, STUDY THE rest of the CHAPTER, — ” To obey Christ’s commands in this chapter, we must first evaluate a person’s character— “Scripture repeatedly exhorts believers to evaluate carefully and choose between good and bad people and things sexually immoral, false prophets, those who masquerade as angles of light, —! John 4:1 The Christian is to “test” everything” 1 Thes 5:21″ — from the footnotes of NIV ——- and I add, If we do not, we will become nothing more than a legalistic cult. God gave us a brain, he gave us his Word, His Son, Jesus, and through him the power of the Holy Spirit, and we need all of these things.
—– Please, Do Not forget that praying for people may be the greatest gift we can give, and speaking things from God’s Word to them. These are the things I have learned repeatedly!
What an excellent word of sound advice! Thank you. I have counseled that charity is a mark of those led by the Spirit. It is not a noble cause or “the right thing to do”. God brings needs before us and sometimes those with a hand out are not the ones who need our help. Of course, Yeshua did respond to those who asked and sometimes to those who didn’t ask. So, the principle is the same. We must be lead by God before we act. The secret is walking close – and letting Him handle the consequences.
I have been searching for the words “need and Divine encounter” for an awareness of an urge to do something because it feels right or I have felt the Holy Spirit’s urging to act on/for something or someone having come in to my realm of awareness. I do believe we are called upon to be reactive and responsible for that which comes into or across our path. There are no coincidences. Our God is a mighty and purposeful Master. Skip, thanks for the message.