For Whom the Bell Tolls (2)
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you from priestly service for me. You have forgotten the instruction of your God; so I too will forget your children. Hosea 4:6 (translation J. A. Dearman)
Forget – When you think of the Hebrew verb forget, think of Robert Frost, the American poet. “Fences make good neighbors,” wrote Frost. In Hebrew, shakah does much more than make good neighbors. To forget is to tear down the fence that provides life. The pictograph of Shin-Kaf-Chet is “what destroys the fence around the open palm.” God fences us in on purpose. The broken world is a dangerous and unhealthy place. God protects with His instructions, often in ways that we cannot comprehend. When we forget, we tear down the fence that keeps life and chaos apart. When we forget, we let sin in. When we forget, we open the door (as Paul says) and life tumbles.
You’ll say, “I haven’t forgotten the Lord. I pray. I read my Bible. I am involved in a believing community. God is real to me.” Wait a minute. Let’s step back and take a deeper look at this verse. Of course, these are words of the prophet Hosea to Israel, so in the historical sense it isn’t written to us. But the principle applies. We can experience the destitution of silence if we reject the Way. There is something here for us in spite of the fact that the words are thousands of years old. Here is the principle: “measure for measure.” Forgetting works both ways. If we forget, God forgets. Now look closely at what we are likely to forget (and what Israel is accused of forgetting). Hosea doesn’t say, “You have forgotten Me!” That would be a non sequitur. If the people actually forgot God, then His words to them would be like hearing thunder in the distance. Who knows what that means? No, YHWH says, “You have forgotten My instructions!” Now we have specificity. Now we know exactly what has happened. These people claim to follow YHWH but they do not do what YHWH tells them to do. The bell tolls for them, not because they don’t have a “relationship” but because they don’t act according to the obligations of the relationship. They have a “saving knowledge” but their lives are examples of sinful acts. Consequently, they are forgotten.
We learn a very important linguistic (and spiritual) lesson here. The opposite of forgetting is not remembering. The opposite of forgetting is obeying. In the cognitive world of Greek epistemology, forgetting is a mental state. Therefore, its antonym is also a mental state. In the Greek world, forget is the opposite of remember. But in Hebraic metaphysics, forgetting is not about a mental condition. It is about a moral failure. To forget is to tear down the fence between chaos and life. Forgetting is failing to bring something into action. Forgetting is the failure to respond to the demands of the Lord. It’s not mental. It’s moral.
Now we can ask ourselves if we have forgotten God. How? By comparing our lives with the standard of His instructions. Where we find a mismatch, forgetting should come to mind. Check out the 613 for starters. If you want to see the rest of the obligations, take a look here. You might be surprised to find that there are more commands in the New Testament than there are in the Torah. Then ask yourself if you are remembering or forgetting.
Topical Index: forget, shakah, measure for measure, Hosea 4:6
Seven words I never want to hear: “I never knew you, depart from me.” (Mt 7:23).
All we like sheep have gone astray..- we have turned every one to his own way..- and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity (twistedness) of us all.. (Isaiah 53.6).
How did this happen? How did we wander so far from the Way? Little by little, step-by-step, slowly, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, precept upon precept, line upon line- something has crept in unaware, something barely perceivable. A little yeast perhaps? A little leaven? A small sin?
G-d’s book of instruction states: “neither give place to the devil”. A toehold is all he needs. Somewhere to stick that crowbar in where he can work it. A small sin. Is there any such thing?
What if I were to prepare a glass of water and then add (only) a drop of gasoline before offering this to a thirsty soul? After all- it’s only a little poison..
No, we need “alethia.” We need to “not forget”. What is it we are forgetting? How many times in G-d’s word have we been instructed to “remember?” Should we pay a little more attention? (heed) And should we “kick it up a notch” and actually do (hearken) according to the instructions of our Elohim- Father, Son and Holy Breath? Should we be “doers of the Word and not hearers only?” What is G-d’s promise (according to what is written) if we do these things? “This man” shall be blessed in his doing. “Do this” and you will live. It is to our everlasting benefit to obey G-d. Or are we blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other? lol!- “Try it (obedience)- you’ll like it!
Was Yeshua highly motivated to go to the tslav? Yes, He was. According to “it is written” in Hebrews chapter 12: “So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment – that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement – and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us, looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting,d Yeshua – who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before Him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of G-d.”
One little (big) point I would like to share this morning. Yeshua (though He was fully G-d) lived out His life while here on this green planet, as a man- the second Adam. He showed us (in the flesh) the “how-to” of living. How do we do it? How then, shall we live? Like He did. He went about “doing good.” Be kind, be compassionate, be tender, be merciful, be gracious, be loving. Love as He loved. Can we do it? -Why not? There is nothing to prevent us except for our own stubbornness and selfishness. If we can deal with these two things (and by His Spirit, -we can) then perhaps we also may live as He lived. With G-d, all things are possible. Today, LORD, today, may these things be. Amein.
Morning Skip,
Great article as usual. You said toward the end that, “there are more commands in the New Testament than there are in the Torah”. I sure would appreciate hearing you expound on that.
The link in the Today’s Word takes you to a list of New Testament commands for you to examine.
What stands out for me in the Hosea verse is the fact that God will forget the children. That is even more horrific. I think as in Hosea’s day, we need the instructions in our hearts which have to be guarded with all diligence. The Lord is very concerned about memorization. I seem to recall several verses that speaks to memorization and telling the good news to our children and to the world. I can only repeat —the time is upon us for repentance for judgement begins in the house of God.
Confusion?
Skip, your two references for OT mitzvot and NT commandments provides an interesting list. But the NT webmaster tells us that the 10 Commandments were abolished with the law of Moses, which raises the question of the meaning of Yeshua’s words in Matt. 5:17ff: “I did not come to abolish”.
Is it 613 + 800 = 1,413 or just the 800 NT “commandments”?
Yeah, forget what the webmaster said. I just wanted people to see the list in the New Testament. Anyone who thinks that the new covenant only has the single command of “love” hasn’t been reading very closely.
Yeshua said if you love Me, keep My commandments. He also said the two commandments were to love God and love our neighbor.
The REAL problem is that the word love is understood in terms of soft-core Enlightenment romanticism (i.e. feelings), rather than hard-core Biblical principles ( the commandments).
Great reminder. Thanks for the post.
Thanks Ian. Also, Yeshua’s summation of the Mosaic code in the two commandments does not set aside all the rest. Like the great prophets of the past, He only offers a summary that includes all the others in their implications.
Every word of G-d is pure. This include the “jots and the tittles.” Hebrew and Greek- “it’s all good!” It has been said and we are certainly discovering – the N.T. is commentary and a fuller revelation on what has already taken place in the Old(er) Covenant. Both Covenants are part of a larger covenant- the New Covenant given to “whosoever will,” -freely, through the blood of the Lamb. It is, as our Bible tells us- the gift of G-d.
Yes, “love one another” is a commandment. So is “rejoice evermore” and “pray without ceasing.” So is “love your neighbor.” So is “love those who hate you.” We certainly have enough to keep us busy, don’t we? Now how can we expect to accomplish all these things? (the rubber is getting quite close to the road right here..). How are these things (every command/request) of our Elohim, “fleshed out” (yes, incarnated) into our daily living?
Does our Bible (G-d’s word) have an answer to this?
Hallo Skip
Absolutely love your work, it constantly blows my brain, shatters my paradigms and clears the greek brain fog.
I worked through Dakes NT Commandments because he mentioned 1050 commandments. If you add them all up you only get 772 unless he counts all the Scripture references.
Shalom
I am sure he counts all the references including those that are duplicates.
Can someone please help me to find the list Skip mentioned about there being more commands in the New Testament than the Old Testament? This is important to me. I still can’t find it.
Thank you,
John