The Naked Truth
“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” Isaiah 58:7 NASB
Hide yourself – So you want to love the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength? So you want to please Him, serve Him and delight Him? So you want your life to be a living sacrifice, a pleasant aroma, an offering of gratitude? Mazel tov! Now let’s see if all of these good intentions become a reality that God recognizes. Now let’s examine the naked truth.
YHVH says, “If you want to show yourselves observant of My fasts.” This is a challenge to all of our religious practices. The fast is an expression of deliberate attention to the Lord. It is a commitment to set aside my needs in favor of His. It is the height of ritual obedience since it deliberately denies the body in favor of the spirit. The fast measures our commitment in ways no other action can. Now, says the Lord, let’s see if your idea of a fast (of a serious religious commitment) is the same as Mine.
Here are signs of a serious religious commitment (a fast) from God’s perspective.
- You divide what God has given you with those who are in need, particularly those who are hungry. Oh, by the way, this word is only used twice to describe breaking bread. All the rest of the uses are about clean animals. Do you suppose there is another message here? How are you doing on serving kosher to those who depend on you?
- You shelter the homeless. You bring them into the house that Lord has provided for you. You do not withdraw from the poor. By the way, the word in this verse is aniyyim, those who are poor due to oppression, forced submission or affliction. This includes, but is not limited to, those who have experienced emotional and physical abuse, who have been raped, whose livelihood has been forcibly taken away, who have been mistreated by enemies or government, who have been punished without cause. “Homeless” is a much broader category than the ones with signs you see along the road.
- You clothe the naked. And not by proxy! Again the word is much broader than “without clothes.” ‘arom is found in Genesis 2 and 3. It is about the acute awareness of guilt! It is about exposure, vulnerability and embarrassment. You can contribute used clothing to Good Will, but are you willing to “clothe” the ones whose guilt has driven them to despair? No wonder God says we are not to hide from our own flesh. We too are guilty under our coverings.
How did you score? God’s point is harsh. What good are your religious rituals if they are not His fast?! If you think you love Him, but these personal involvements do not characterize your life, who are you kidding?
Topical Index: hide yourself, fast, ‘anaw, ‘arom, hungry, naked, abused, Isaiah 58:7
Skip, I think you’re being too harsh here. Maybe this is the point God wants to share with you at this moment, your personal point of arrival on the way. But there are a million other things for millions of people which need to be learned and given attention to. Yes, maybe someone else needs this Today’s Word just like you. But today God points MY attention to something completely different. I am not in a position to do what you write today and that does not bother me. It’s just not for me, for today. Maybe for some point in the future? Who knows.
I have been hungry: both calorie-wise and because my body could not assimilate food well. In the worst of those times, I found not only how meaningful it was for those around me to recognize my hunger and share what they had, BUT ALSO how imperative it was for me to share even the very last I had with those next to me that were worse off than me; and there was always someone who was! There is a shared sweetness at the bottom among those who have not, that no party thrown by those who have, for each other, can possibly equal. A meal shared at the bottom is a very religious act. Yes.
I have been afflicted; have had others walk carefully on the other side of my road – both in my family, in society and in the law, but most certainly in the church. I saw things there; things that exposed the nakedness of all those above that I will not soon forget. Ways that they could have done something but didn’t. Mindsets and beliefs that kept them ‘safe’ and blind so that they would not have to feel responsible, get involved, with the likes of me. I felt their judgment, their rationalization, their BIGOTRY against me. Why? Was I really so different? Was not my only difference that I was oppressed? The rationalization was the worst, to me, from my own church. There was a strong sense that my family was being judged, and we were shunned because of that. It hurt!
One of the ways you know you are at the bottom is that you run out of ways to hide how bad off you are. Don’t we instinctively know that if we stumble or appear to be weak, the others of our kind are going to take advantage of us, or JUDGE US? Don’t we expend resources beyond our means to hide ourselves from this view of others? We know we are at the bottom when we look as bad off as we are. We are most afraid of that place because we can anticipate being jumped by those around us, are we not? The righteous reaction to someone in need is to reach out and protect someone from these actions, is it not?
I have found that serving kosher to those around me is a way to share the very fabric of my identity. Most of all with my family. Am I completely there yet? No. There is an edge of love and respect in that I am not going to FORCE those dependent on me to eat something they don’t like. I respect their reality and choices, too. But when the choice is mine and they are dependent on me for hospitality, then they should expect me to treat them (love them) as I treat (love) myself. Only within that circle of love and care is someone going to be able to experience the motivation to change. Why? Because it is better, of course! And why is it better; besides the obvious physical, of course? Because they can find me, and my love, there. My love for my Creator, myself, and for them. In that order.
When I can look around me at everyone else, and see only myself in other skin, AND LOVE MYSELF PROPERLY ENOUGH THAT I CAN FEEL THEIR NEEDS AS IF THEY WERE ME, AND KNOW BY THAT HOW THEY NEED ME TO RESPOND TO THEM, then I will know that I finally am seeing reality through true eyes. This is my sight test. This is the vision I am to share through His eyes, because this is how my Saviour, Who has walked in all our shoes, sees us. There, but for the grace of God, go I, because there, BY the grace of God, went He. Amen.
I am studying Isaiah 58 today. It’s really a hard hitting chapter. The fact of the matter is, it really doesn’t matter how much you know – there are very simple things that need to be done and are you doing them? I reflect back on this past year and I can honestly look at many of my Shabbats and many of my morning Shema’s as just doing it for the sake of doing it. There was not joy or gratitude behind it (at least by actions). I would have to say to myself, “Wow the shabbat is great” when it really felt like detention to me. My hands stayed idle and my feet stood still. If there was gratitude behind the gifts, it wasn’t expressed by action or hesed. This is why Shabbat had no joy.
This is where I sometimes feel that when I was part of, ‘the church’ I was better off in a lot of ways. I did community service I had a joy, I may have not fasted in the sense that I was hungry but I was actively trying to be the hands and feet of the people that were in need. Today that’s not the case. In search for truth I have slowly dropped actions and have picked up knowledge to replace it. It’s very easy to get caught up in the details and lose sight of the bigger pictures.
The cognitive differences that we have at the end of the day don’t stack up to much, what is looked upon is how do you help the people in need? The orphans, were they taken care of? The hungry, did you help feed them? It’s humbling. When I have said I need community, I think it’s for the wrong reasons. This is WHY you need community. It’s because to practice Torah, you can’t feed the hungry by yourself, you can’t take care of the orphans by yourself. The rituals mean nothing without that. When you take a step back it’s far less important that your community believes in exactly what you believe. It’s far more important your community is doing something communal.
Or am I wrong in this?
Shalom Derek,
So appreciate your seeking. May I suggest that though you were actively involved in “church”, did you truly feel fulfilled, or was there a hunger for more? That it could be in vain, as in simply being occupied?
Though I had been busy in and out of many churches, “enjoying” fellowship and ministering, I had felt emptiness and somehow sensed I was missing something. I find it so easy to make friends in compromising truth, not standing for what YHWH delights in, but, somehow He will always ensure that I see the wrongs, the unclean around me, to discomfort me.
“…I have slowly dropped actions and have picked up knowledge to replace it.” Knowledge leads to actions,versus without knowledge we perish. Knowledge trains us , more so with the word of YHWH, to discern truth.
Possibly we are on a narrow path, few can find it unless they seek, and that SEEMS like loneliness, or, perhaps we are not yet ready to be manifested, we are under training still?
Better to hear ABBA say ‘well done, you are a faithful servant’, than ‘get out, I do not know you, though you have done many wondrous works in My name !!
A true community not only listens, encourages, strengthens, but also corrects to sharpen, and not merely to gather as a group for activity, lots of such around, it all depends on what one’s goals is.
I hope that helps?
So glad you are part of Skip’s community here as YHWH’s earnest sojourners. Blessings!
To tell you the truth I was pretty happy. I was Catholic and volunteered a ton. Around 13-14 years old (I’m 29 now) I knew that Mithra lived a very close life to Yeshua or Jesus so did Buddah and like 20 other people. It didn’t bother me that much. Same as I know that Canninte gods are very similar to Hashem in their names and their qualities. At the end it was you subscribe or you don’t – if it was blatantly obvious then there wouldn’t be much free will/free choice and everyone would agree. I actually stumbled across Skip 4-5 years ago when I was trying to disprove my girlfriend at the time and now my lovely wife wrong about the meaning of John 3:16 (I was saying that it didn’t mean the plain text). Since then my world has been shooken.
That’s the bitter truth, with enjoying fellowship and ministering now. I’m truthfully too scared to see what it’s like because I’m afraid it would be very light. The fact of the matter though is that no matter what path I go down I can’t be ‘truthful’. I can go to Jewish synagogue I would have to be fake in Yeshua. Even a messianic one, I don’t believe in the trinity, virgin birth necessarily, meaning of a lot of the verses, or even the fact that Yeshua died on the cross for my sins. So it’s one of those, who are you closer aligned with? I have no idea.
I know without vision we perish, I also know that the fruit of the spirit doesn’t have knowledge in it. I’m not totally disagreeing with you I am however saying I can either spend 3 hours studying Torah on Shabbat or I can spend 3 hours volunteering doing something. While I’ve been in “Hebrew Roots” I would choose that latter verses when I wasn’t I would have chosen the first. Which one is more important? I’m not the judge but I figure we have a kingdom to build.
I read the verse you refer too about, “Get out i never knew you”, I figure He is talking to me. I don’t read it aimed towards Christians that don’t know better or person xyz. I use to when I first came to this search, but now I read it as I know what to do, and yet I willingly follow the flesh. Doesn’t matter if it’s: buying into an argument, not keeping the peace, lashon hara, being judgmental, not being humble etc. These are all principles that I know and that will build Gods kingdom. Truthfully God opens people’s eyes and people can only be judged in what they know and He knows the heart. I don’t hold it as a badge of honor that I know we should keep about 20 things that I didn’t know, because that’s really what it amounts too ie, nidah, lev 11, feast days, shabbat being on Saturday. Truthfully it’s not HUGE differences when it comes to horizontal relationships. Really the big thing that changes learning Torah is that your vertical relationship approach changes – you can’t just approach how you want.
I think we are agreeing more then disagreeing at the end. Torah is a mirror and yes you can make it way more complicated then that but it is a mirror. When you reflect on it you see yourself in a different light. And as far as community I’m not even sure if it’s something that I want to bounce ideas off of. It’s something that I want to do things with and not like BBQ of fish with but rather to help be the hands and feet.
Shalom Derek,
How nice to hear from you! You are very matured at this young age, if I may say so, my compliments!
I definitely relate with what you wrote on being “truthful”! But I have come to terms that we are at different stages of understanding, growth and relationship level with our ABBA.
It is certainly not coincidental, nor have you “stumbled across Skip 4-5 years ago”, ABBA has guided you in your hunger and seeking! Same “story” as most of us here. Isn’t He wonderful and so amazing?!
You have gotten most theological truths correct, we are on the same page re trinity; I can’t comprehend that Yeshua is ‘God’, god -yes, as we are also called to be gods in doing righteousness, justice and having correct judgment according to Scriptures /Torah. Yeshua can’t be divine being both human and ‘God’, meaning he has two minds, to think, and to decide which mind to obey? Sounds ridiculous.
“Hebrew Roots”, is another disappointment, personally, most have one foot in and another foot out, that reveals instability. Again, that is probably where they are at spiritually.
I ask ABBA to reveal how blessed you are to be here, at a very unique calling that Skip has in writing these TWs that has been changing and challenging many to a paradigm change to Hebraic perspective that truly sets us free from Babylonian bondage.
Stay strong in your spirit in His. You are an encouragement to many, especially to your wife, as she sees the changes in you! Hope to hear from you often!
Shalom and brachot!
Hi Skip, have you ever given any thought to reading the verse like this to share your bread with the hungry as sharing the bread of Life and to cloth the naked as those without Christ. Giving the natural is great but the Spirit is greater i agree fulfill the physical need. i Think God is pointing to Jesus here the true. i enjoy the insights i gleam from you thank you Sir for feeding the flock.