Life in the Noose
“Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.” Deuteronomy 28:66 ESV
Hang – What picture does the word tala paint? Tala is defined as “to be suspended in the air with the minimal amount of hooks, to be in an emotional state of future anxiety and dread, with a focus that the object of horror has not actually occurred.”[1] In pictographs, the sign of control over strength. We have similar metaphors like “hanging by a thread.” You probably know the experience. But you might not recognize the connection between the noose around your neck and the absence of Torah obedience in your behavior.
This verse comes in the midst of God’s declaration of the consequences of rejecting His path for living. It describes perfectly the state of mind of those who dismiss God’s instructions. When you and I don’t follow God’s directions, it is as if our lives are suspended in front of us, dangling in the breeze. No wonder God describes this as terror. Anything might happen! The possibilities of tragic ends present themselves with every sway of the body. The noose pulls tighter the more we fight our inevitable demise. There is no relief from this fear day or night. We may attempt to submerge it in distracted living, but it will not be excised. Underneath it all is the sound of the oarsman on the river Styx. We might only catch fleeting glimpses of the flailing spasms of our bodies, but we feel the reality of the rope.
Why would God prescribe such torture for those who sidestep His ways? In truth, He does not. God is interested in life and all that promotes life. We are the ones who bring about this suicide. God clearly reveals His path, designed only to bring us to the place of full humanity in perfect harmony with our Creator. We are the ones who construct the gallows, fasten the noose, insert our own heads and spring the trap door. We do it in the name of self-interest, self-fulfillment and the right to choose. We do it because we listen to the heartthrob of the yetzer ha’ra, actually convincing us that our acts of “freedom” are acts of genuine personal development. We seduce ourselves with our desire for control, for fulfillment, for deciding what is good and what is evil.
“Yes,” you say. “I see that God desires life for me. I see that His ways are instructions in righteousness.” But you hesitate. Why? Because the yetzer ha’ra convinces you that God’s motives might be questioned, that perhaps you won’t find the satisfaction you seek. You doubt His purposes. And so, night and day you dread the choices. Assurance evaporates because it can arrive only through acting, not contemplating. “Choose this day,” says Scripture. There is only one way to overcome the enticement of the yetzer ha’ra, enticements that would turn us against ourselves in flights of fancy. That way is choosing obedience, flinging ourselves on to the promised protection of God even if we fall! It is a choice: the yetzer ha’ra with all its cunning conditioning or the Word of the Lord – bare, harsh, demanding. The man who chooses God’s way does not do so because he is assured of comfort. He does so because he sees himself as he truly is – hanging.
Topical Index: hang, tala, assurance, Deuteronomy 28:66, life
[1] Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains
Additional note: The ESV and NASB translations add the words “in doubt” to this text. There is no Hebrew equivalent for these words. The Hebrew verb could be translated “anxiously hang,” but the introduction of “doubt” is a misplaced paradigm shift. As we shall see in a few days, this kind of doubt doesn’t exist in Hebrew thought.
I was up very early this morning, still having trouble with the time zones after the flight from Africa. I read this. Since I have to post TWs before I leave for trips, I had forgotten what I wrote. I read this as if someone else had written it and I spoke directly to me – as reader, not author. I am the man hanging by the noose. I feel the strain caused by hesitating to surrender everything. My own evil inclination wants to convince me that God’s way will not be satisfying, that I will miss out on something valuable and necessary. I am the one who must HEAR Him and OBEY.
It was a unique experience to read my own words and realize that this morning they are God speaking to me.
Welcome back Skip. I can totally relate to the jet lag. But, I must say, it makes for some VERY productive mornings. I was getting up at 3:00, 4:00 or 5:00 am for several days last week. 🙂
I heard a powerful sermon recently about the cross. The speaker mentioned that the the first purpose of the cross is to vindicate G-d, (for those who violated His glory.) We deserve His wrath.
But, he went on to say that, “we are saved FROM G-d, BY G-d.” While this is a concept I understand and believe, I had never heard it stated in those exact words…saved from G-d, by G-d.
As I read your post above, I found myself making an analogy… this morning, you (Skip) were saved FROM Skip, BY Skip.
And of course…to G-d be the glory…because we know that He is your source of knowledge. Thank you for your faithfulness and obedience to speak His truth. And praise Him that the work He does through you is not just for us, but for YOU as well.
May He continues to provide you strength as you overcome the enticements of the yetzer ha’ra.
Praying for that!!
I can relate to the idea or truth that our life hangs in the air when we are NOT in HIS HANDS but I can not relate to anyone who is HIS .
I do not have those thoughts of suspension . I feel very secured and procured by HIS hand upon me and under me.
I understand also anyone who is IN His hands and playing around with sin will lose their assurance of being eternally saved . That is understandable as the LORD does not reward us for going or being out of HIS WAY.
We have similar metaphors like “hanging by a thread.”
Hi Skip,
I can relate to that metaphor, because my mother used it all the time
Most of the time I either feel pretty connected or that the thread has broken
Hard for me to stay on the middle of the road most of the time 🙂
We must learn to see that GOD is holding us and HIS hands are UNDERNEATH us.. HE WILL NEVER LET US GO once we have come HIS way and have repented and turned to HIM as OUR GOD and acknowledge the remedy for sin which is the BLOOD.
HE WILL NEVER LET US GO
Hi Carol,
About 5 or 6 years ago my friend Michelle gave me a book to read called “Never Let Me Go”
Never Let Me Go was the 2010 British dystopian science fiction film based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel above
Michelle is the friend who has the sister named Dominiq and the Corsican friend named Dom
At the time that she gave me the book, I was getting sort of frustrated with her and David
Nothing serious, but every time I saw them, over dinner I would share the latest news from work
And they would say things like “well that doesn’t make any sense”
And “Why do you keep getting into trouble,” and “why do they keep moving you around so much?”
And “you should be getting ready to retire, not fighting with fools at work”
I would tell them it was some sort of “game,” but I didn’t know the “rules” or “end game”
So they began to think I was losing my mind, and I began to wonder myself
Actually the book Never Let Me Go is much more subtle and eerie than the movie
And the point of the book is that the Power above will “never let us go”
Because we have been designed specifically to sacrifice ourselves for Him
Thank you so much for your reply Michael. Who is the author of the book may I ask ?
Hi Carol,
His name is Kazuo Ishiguro (I think ish means man in Hebrew or Hindu or both 🙂
Mike
“Corsican friend named Dom and the Bourne Identity”
Some time ago I related a story about my friends Dominic and David
We were flying from Paris to Rome and sailing from Rome to Greece and Rhodes
David and Dom flew directly back to Paris but I wanted to take a boat back to Corisca
Then to Belgium to see my GodSon Giancarlo (I named him) and his mother Giovanna
I traveled in a rather small fishing boat with a 7-8 Corsica sailors
Most of the time we were down in the cabin where they drank and laughed
And made fun of me
In the first Bourne Identity movie, Matt Damon is shot and thrown in the sea
Where he floats around in the Mediterranean Sea half dead until he is saved
By a small fishing boat with 7-8 Italian sailors
The Doctor on board who saves Bourne
Is named Giancarlo
“take a boat back to Corisca”
Of course the most famous Corsican character in American film
Was played by Fernando Rey, the great Spanish movie actor primarily known
In the United States for his role as “Frog One” in The French Connection
Frog One is a “hands on” kind of guy who orchestrates the delivery of Heroin
From overseas to the streets of New York with an aristocratic smoothness
And he is a formidable adversary for the Hero/Irish cop, played by Gene Hackman
Who is known as Popeye (I am what I am) Doyle
The movie is directed by William Friedkin who also directed my all time favorite
To Live and Die in LA
When I’m off the path, I feel like a boy in men’s clothing.
Hurray Skip, Well said.
“We are the ones who construct the gallows, fasten the noose, insert our own heads and spring the trap door. But you might not recognize the connection between the noose around your neck and the absence of Torah obedience in your behavior. We seduce ourselves…” Too true! I am my own worst enemy. My constant prayer is “God save me from myself”
Living Torah, that is what I am trying to figure out. What is it exactly? Believing God? Well that is a no brainer isn’t it? Do I do it perfectly, without wobbling? Fraid not. I wouldn’t have my neck in the noose if I did, would I? I believe God can do anything, but for me? lol I believe Lord help you my unbelief. Is it Sabbath and Holy Day keeping? There is a treasure trove in there. Define an ass in a pit will you. Are the Laws of Truth written on my heart? I hope so, but then why is the opaque future so frightening? Is it tithing or eating Kosher? I don’t buy meat blest by a Rabbi. Is that sin?
May I digress here for a little to rant about my hot button of the day? God said to not even plant crops that could cross pollinate next to each other. But you would be hard pressed to find any food that has not been selectively bred, cross pollinated, or hybridized, and now we have Frankenfoods!
Tomatoes with flounder antifreeze DNA, well that ‘s not so bad flounder is a clean fish isn’t it? What about the shell fish genes to slow ripening and increase shelf life? Or potatoes with moth DNA to make it produce it’s own BT pesticides. Bt is species specific isn’t it? Can’t hurt people. You want to eat it? I don’t.
Did you hear about the seed framer who sold non GM (genetically modified) corn to framers in Europe and the UK without realizing that it had been contaminated by BT10 from a field of GM corn four miles up wind? BT10 corn, which is not approved for human or animal consumption, contains a gene that is ampicillian resistant. The entire crop had to be destroyed at a cost of millions.
Then there is Round Up resistant soy, cotton seed oil plants modified to be resistant to the pesticide bromoxynil proven to cause birth defects in humans, GM modified farmed salmon with growth hormone from a non Kosher eel like fish called Burbot, and rice with human DNA! Gives a whole new meaning to being one with the brethren.
Millions of acres in this country and around the world are now growing GM crops. Seventy five% of processed foods on American grocery shelve have at least one GM ingredient in it. Even Products labeled organic are only required to be 50% organic. The other 50% can have GM ingredients in it without being labeled. The only products that are, by law, GM free are organically labeled produce.
Years ago I read a scripture, don’t ask me where, that in effect said that in the last days the people of God would have a problem with unclean food. At the time I thought that it meant an obedience problem and that could apply with so many folks believing that the Law, including the food laws were done away with. But now I can see where even the most sincere followers of those common sense laws face an almost insurmountable challenge.
More than ever we need to be “flinging ourselves on to the promised protection of God.”