Face Forward?
But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 NASB
Looking back – What do you think Yeshua is saying when He gives this warning? Most of us read the verse as if it were Greek. Therefore, we think that He says something like this: “When you start to work in the Kingdom and you look back at your past life, desiring once more its seductive pleasures, you show yourself unfit for true Kingdom duty.” We assume that “looking back” means casting our glance toward those things in the past. We think Greek. The past is behind us. The future is in front of us. Therefore, to look back is to desire what we left behind.
Was Yeshua Greek? Not a chance! When we read this statement, we need to read it in its Hebrew context, not its Greek point of view. And when we realize that it is Hebrew, everything changes!
In Luke’s Greek text, the key words are blepon eis to opiso, literally, “looking into the behind.” But in Hebraic thought, this is an expression of trying to see the future, not the past. In Hebraic thought, it is the future that is behind us. That’s why we can’t see it. It is behind our heads, out of the capacity of our eyes, and therefore unknown. We see the past. That’s what is in front of us. We can look into the past to see what God has already done. We remember His faithfulness because it is already visible to us. We are men and women rowing in a boat, always looking where we have been but never actually seeing where we are going.
Now read the text again. “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and trying to see where God will take him, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Why? Because only God knows where He will take us. When we try to manage the future, we attempt to usurp God’s sovereignty. And no one who wishes to still be in charge of his own life is fit for Kingdom duty. In Hebrew the imagery is exactly the opposite of our usual Greek interpretation. This is not a matter of wistfully desiring life’s past pleasures. It is a matter of trying to control God’s purposes.
So now you know that the expression in Hebrew reorients your entire interpretation. Now, perhaps, you realize just how subtle your Greek saturation really is. Now what are you going to do about it? To be useful in the Kingdom means to let go of your natural desire to run your own life. Put your hand to the plow and stop being concerned with what will happen. Plow! And let God choose the field.
Topical Index: blepo, look, see, opiso, behind, back, past, future, Luke 9:62
Want to know more about the Hebrew view of the future. Read this article.
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Thank you Skip, that makes so much more sense and adds such dynamic to the whole chapter for our walk with and trust in the Living God. Praise His Glorious Name.
Shalom
Mind-boggling…How does this all connect with the previous verse, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house”?
Wow! This was “timely” in the Hebraic sense of the word. Also, as I’m having trouble sleeping at 3AM PT, I suspect this was some thing God wanted me to absorb RIGHT NOW. Thanks Skip. Now I can sleep. 🙂
Hi Skip,
My first thought was back in the book of Genesis the story
of Lot’s wife, was it the same thing?
{The looking back?}
thanks
Wow! Praise Yah! Great lesson.
Could this allude to Moses asking to see YHWH’s glory and He tells him, “You are unable to see My face……….Then I shall take away my hand and you shall see my back”?
We are all looking “forward” to you being here Skip!
David
When I want to know how to ‘face’ the future, to me the penultimate, gut-level example to follow is the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant as they dip that leading foot into the flood-swollen waters of the Jordan River that lies between them and the Promised Land. Forget what they might have been thinking; what were they EXPERIENCING? When I look at how the future seems to me a lot of times, especially when I am trying to put service to my King first, I realize that stark terror of the possible consequences of following the Word and the will of God in a world that is almost totally set up along the lines of “do as you are done by”. Now THERE is two different paradigms, thank you, Skip!
I like Jeff Brenner’s explanation of time on http://www.ancient-hebrew.org which confirms this:
“Another example of differing cultural perspectives is how different cultures perceive time. In our modern Western world we view the past as behind us and the future as ahead of us. In Biblical Hebrew, the word for “yesterday” (the past) is תמול (temol), which comes from the root מול (mul) meaning “in front.” The Biblical Hebrew word for “tomorrow” (the future) is מחר (mahher), which comes from the root אחר (ahher) meaning “in back.” Therefore, from a Biblical Hebrew perspective, the past is in front and the future is behind. We see time from the perspective of passing through it. As we have walked through the past, we see it as behind us and the future, which we have not yet walked in, is in front of us. The Hebrews saw time from the perspective of observance. The past is known and therefore can be seen (in front of the observer), but the future is not known and therefore cannot be seen (behind the observer).”
Please provide the EXACT URL for this. Thanks.
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/iah/iah.htm
Skip I love ya, love your thoughts, but this one is out there on the proverbial limb. Putting my hand to the plow is me taking action of my own will toward a future outcome that I pray is His purpose. But to say we do not worry about or try to plan our future is saying we become inactive participants who never render decisions or ever have to employ judgement.
Inactive? NOT SO! You still have to PLOW, but you are not in charge of the direction. In fact, the oxen direct the plowing. All you do is make sure to cut into the soil. So you are an active participant but NOT the one who decides where you are going.
Thank you for the link!
Combined with the Parable of the Seed, I am reminded (again) how my life is no longer my own. If the cares of this world are choking me, then I am being duped from being lead by God.
Along with Suzanne, I too feel this is timely.
Let’s not forget God’s language: REVELATION!
When God reveals Himself and His purposes to each of us,
we KNOW what He’s saying! And we TRUST Him! And what
He tells us is revolutionary — unlike anything in the world!
Paul, for instance, after receiving his revelation, said human
wisdom was no longer his direction. “For I determined not to
know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
1 Cor 2:2
Paul was changed and steadfastly began following God’s lead
“in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should
not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Cor 2:4-5
We, too, are in God’s hands. Following His lead. Straight ahead.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Ps 46:10
“He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.” Ps 23: 2-3
I love your interpretation of this saying, but how do you know Hebraic thought defines looking back as really looking forward or to the future?
I love your interpretation of this saying, but how do you know Hebraic thought defines looking back as really looking forward or to the future?
See comment by H. Worff in TWOT and here by Rein de Witt
Why, then, is the imagery of plowing included? Is this a double-entendre about the uselessness of attempting to plow a straight line while staring over your shoulder?
Yes, that possible. But I think if you have ever plowed you know that the oxen lead, the plowman follows and his job is to keep the plow in the dirt, not lead the oxen.
Oxen?! You had oxen?!?! 🙂
Why do you think the tool was mentioned?
HI SKIP… I think that this is pretty neat concerning the things that are behind us are the very things yet to be revealed.
I accept and see this concept .. THANK YOU
Hi Skip,
I so appreciate the Hebraic perspective you bring to the table every day. But sometimes I feel you needlessly slam the Greek. Maybe that is what you are called to do! If God wanted us to have the New Testament in Hebrew, we would have had it in Hebrew. And surely, most all of us who have bought into the superiority of Hebrew versus Greek mindset wish it were so. Yet there are many many places in the NT where biblical Greek minus the Hebraic tinted glasses works very well too. And , it seems to me that Luke 9:62 is one of those verses.
This is a hard world for followers of Messiah. The King would have it be so! He is allowing us to be tested severely before He hands out the “crowns” of kingship to those who have qualified to rule in His Kingdom The world floats downstream. We swim upstream against the current. We get tired. (some of us are always tired!) The temptation to let up, to look backwards and to float backwards for a while is very great. Many quit completely! I have been keeping Shabbat since 1973. I have seen many people come and go. They have failed to keep in mind God’s reward for faithfulness – rulership with Yahshua in His Kingdom. They have not valued the “pearl of great price” that God gave them which is way above all the deception of the “shiny objects” – the fools gold the world offers to all of us: the power trips, the temporary pleasures, the ego gratifications, the material possessions, the lying and cheating to get ahead etc.,
Do not tell me that this is not a hard ride. Being a follower of Messiah is not for wimpy men and wimpy women. Yahshua knows that and we know it too. He made the rules, He created these difficult circumstances not you and me. As we find plastered all over the Word: we are soldiers in a battle, we are runners in a marathon He is asking us to endure to the end of this age or till we die. When He comes back, He tells us He is bringing His reward with Him for those who have been faithful and true and endured to the end.
This is the theme that I notice in Yahshua’s words in context towards the end of Luke chapter 9. Here we find Yahshua asking someone to follow Him. And the man responds with what seems to me to be a legitimate excuse: “First, let me go and bury my father”. And Yahshua used the moment to make a profound point about priorities for those He is calling: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead,but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:60) In verse 61 Luke records another excuse that did not fly with Yahshua. It is interesting that we find the great Elisha giving a similar excuse when Elijah came and found Elisha plowing in a field and cast his mantle on him (see 1Kings 20:19-21) Elisha ran after Elijah and said to him: “Let me kiss my father and mother and then I will follow you”! Excuses! Excuses! Human nature does not change much through the centuries, does it?
To me, Skip, the warning from Yahshua about “looking back” would also seem to legitimately include (using your words) “to look back to desire what we left behind.” There are huge lessons for all of us with either viewpoint, for many of us not alone look back, we foolishly go back to the world!
Thanks for this blog, Skip. With Passover around the corner, this is a wonderful time of year to ponder our level of commitment to the Way and to rededicate ourselves to keep our hand on the plow that we may receive our crown>
There’s so much more to the “let me go and bury my father” excuse. If the disciple’s father had just died, the son would have been with the family sitting shivah, not out walking around doing something or plowing. His father would have already been in the ground within 24 hours, for seven days the family would sit shivah and not do any regular activities, not even the festivals. So clearly this disciple was in the 11 month period of waiting for decomposition before RE-burying the bones. Thus Yeshua’s point to him was that “you’ve already done the respectable thing by your father. Now let the dead bury their dead.” If you aren’t really intending to follow Him (active verb of doing, not just gaining information), any excuse will do. And the point about looking back is not about regret but about trying to figure out the future for yourself.
The real question remains: am I on the path? I can only know that by looking at where God has been and then determining what adjustments I have to make to align my “wake” with His — I can’t see that by looking to the Greek future. My son is in the Navy and when we discussed this he totally got it because that’s how the Navy guides it’s aircraft carriers — by the appearance of the wake.
Thank you for providing this Hebraic view, something I was about to do.
Thanks Suzanne for your comments!
I do not find myself challenging Skip Moen too often! I confess I have used Luke 9:62 in some teachings I have done on “hanging in there to be in Kingdom of God” and nobody threw tomatoes at me! It is a strong scripture that seemed to fit so well with that plow metaphor that I have no regrets having used it. Of course there are plenty of other places for me to go such as Philippians chapter 3
My heartfelt rant in my earlier post was because I am bothered by how easily people seem to quit for whatever reason or excuse in the many Sabbatarian communities I have participated in over the years!
As I know Skip reads this, I will take a moment to address a mini challenge to him on a point he made on the Face Forward blog and in the Row your Boat blog which I did not read or have time to address this morning.
Skip, I loved the Row your Boat metaphor from you and HW Wolff on this concept about Hebrew time. Wolff says as you quote him:’He backs into the future. It is entirely unknown to him because it is behind him. Then you say in your Fast Forward blog: “We are men and women rowing in a boat, always looking where we have been but never actually seeing where we are going.
And then you say in next paragraph: “Because only God knows where He will take us.”
From a secular world perspective, I have no problem with these statements.
But from a Biblical perspective, I find God giving us plenty of revelation about our future and where He is taking us, particularly about the Kingdom of God. Yahshua spoke extensively about His future Kingdom. The prophets of the Tanakh give us plenty of detail on the Millennium. I think we have been shown the big picture fairly clearly. All the prophecies that we see fulfilled in the past with amazing precision gives me confidence that our future is as He has told us in His Word – it will be. The apostle Peter tells us: “we have the sure word of prophecy” (2Peter 1:19) The prophet Amos tells us:”Surely YHVH Elohim does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)
In Isaiah 46 God brags that He tells us the end from the beginning etc.,
God is not asking us to follow the Way in darkness or blind faith, best I can tell.
The Kingdom of God (theme of Luke 9:62) may be behind us in Hebrew time but by “looking into” the Word we see it out in front of us! Hence my difficulty with this part of your blogs today
No argument at all that GOD knows where He is going. My only point is that YOU don’t know where you are going in a specific sense. God reveals the pattern of His purposes. He gives us the general direction. But until He tells YOU precisely what He wants from you in these circumstances on this day at this time, you and I are merely following the general scheme of things (like keeping the commandments). When you try to manage your own future, when you start making your own directional decisions, then you usurp His authority. That makes you unfit for the Kingdom.
But the problem, as all will acknowledge, is that Yeshua did NOT SPEAK THIS IN GREEK. And that means if he used the Hebrew word for “looking back,” He implied the future, not the past. It really doesn’t matter that we have it is Greek. His language is the real medium of communication.
On another note, there is significant evidence that at least Matthew was in Hebrew and we have translations, not originals. When the Alexandrian library burned, we probably lost all the Hebrew originals. AND, there was real motivation by the early Church to make sure we kept the Greek and not the Hebrew. Of course, that does not apply to Paul who would have written to the Gentile audience in Greek, but even Paul uses words in ways that only make sense in Hebrew.
Thank you heavenly Father for the Hebraic wisdom that you have blessed Skip with to share with those of us who do not have the time to dig as deep as he does. I so can see the validity of “not looking back” in this Scripture text. It goes with Mat.6:34 “Do not, then, worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall have its own worries. Each day has enough evil of itself.” My mother used to say, “Tomorrow never comes.”
Let us rest in the assurance that our Father is in charge today and He will be again tomorrow. All we have to do is keep our hand on the plough. He is even responsible for the direction of the furrow. Praise YAH!
“We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Master has led us, and His teaching in our past.”
Think Different
~Behold, I AM making all things new..~ (Revelation 21.5)
~ if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation..~ (2 Corinthians 5.17)
Think Different. Decidedly different. What once was, -no longer is. We have a new Master now. Old things have passed away. “Behold, all things (the past) have become (the present) “new!” New and Improved. As my English professor might be disposed to say,- “more gooder!” There has been a transformation in this man’s life, “long story short?”- from a mess to a message. And may I testify as to “Who did this?” Furthermore.. “He is stlll doing this..” This. Sanctification is a work in progress. A man is being made. “We” are in the process of being conformed into the image of the Son. ~ It is God who is at work in you (and you and you!) – both to will and to do of His good pleasure ~ Get it? Got it? Good.
Basically, – what do you want? Who (he inquired) is your Master? We, (who are HIs) have a choice. Today, I and every other living, breathing carbon unit will make the choice, to obey Someone. It is an “either/or” situation, no matter who we are, or where we live. The Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker all (today) will have a choice. ~ Choose you (Carl) this day- “WHO” you (Carl) will serve ~ (You gotta serve somebody!) Who’s it going to be? Self? or the Savior?
Choose wisely. Why? Because every choice (large or “seemingly” small) is followed by a ?? – consequence. Good choices will result in? Good consequences and bad (or poor) choices will result in? – not so good consequences. Horrible, stupid and sinful choices will result in? Can Any man testify? No one (ever) has made any poor choices- or have they? Oh, friends!- May I share with you- my scars? I am covered with them, and no man, – no, not one escapes this life “scar free.”
The first Adam was scarred and marred by sin. Wounded deeply. A pain and a problem he had never known before, because Mr. Adam made a very poor choice. He (willingly) chose to disobey the clear and concise command of his Creator: “do not eat this fruit.” And God even went so far as to instruct Mr. Adam “why.” ~ For in the day you shall eat of it, you shall “what?” -“You shall die.”
Come on people, now.. – let’s not be so stupid!! That was a really dumb “mistake!” (er.. choice!) As a result, (a consequence) to the disobedience of Mr. and Mrs., both of our “not so great” great-grandparents, were booted out of Eden. Paradise Lost. Tell me that didn’t hurt. And tell me for the rest of their time spent on this green planet, with regret and remorse, did they recall “the good old days” in Paradise? And Adam? Remember when you attempted to blame me (Eve talking’) for our transgression? Oh Adam! How did that work out for you -it had to have done wonders for your intimate relationship with Eve.
Death is (the ultimate) separation. And Sin (always) separates. Not only between God and man, but also between man and man. Relationships damaged and destroyed, – this, is the “wages of sin..” How does “any man” know this? We are all “too well acquainted.” Though scarred and marred myself, I will speak. And I will also speak and testify of “sins forgiven!” Of relationships restored.. Why? ~ Because God was in Christ reconciled the world unto Himself ~ Say what?
From a mess to a message, – to a man with a mission- ~ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.. ~ (2 Corinthians 5.18-20)
May we? May we join with Paul in his mission? ~ for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.. “Think Different..” ~ we have the mind of Christ..~ (1 Corinthians 2.16)
Thank you Carl with the appropriate counsel from on HIGH.
Appreciate the words of your heart.
Thank you to ALL who have commented and encouraged us to continue to STUDY to show ourselves approved by GOD.
Still following on in the LIGHT and towards the LIGHT.
May JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED.
What a big difference the correct perspective makes!
” When we try to manage the future, we attempt to usurp God’s sovereignty. And no one who wishes to still be in charge of his own life is fit for Kingdom duty.”
How often we make that mistake trying to insure our future, in health, wealth, travel insurance and such, saving up in bank accounts, getting into debt purchasing property/ies for investment/s, versus wise accountable spending.
We plow, not certain of weather conditions, but pray for light and rain in its essential seasons of growth for the seeds sowed.
“God’s faithfulness marks the way we have already come and God does not change course.” Amein! By looking at YHWH’s faithfulness in my past providences I am so assured I am on the right course.
I recently talked with someone who actually plowed in his life many decades ago. It seems operating a plow is a lot like water skiing. Even if you can trust the animals to steer themselves, a straight furrow depends upon the worker’s skill and uninterrupted attentiveness. You have to be ready to signal the team to halt at any time. Looking over your shoulder is highly discouraged. Check out this page on harnesses: http://www.durham.net/~neilmac/harness.htm