Straight Ahead
His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Psalm 112:2 NASB
Upright – What does it mean to be upright? In biblical terms, this is not an inherited condition. It’s not about having a conscience. It’s learned behavior. God grants man the ability to learn the Torah, but He does not build a man’s conscience so that Torah is automatically exhibited. That means each man must learn God’s ways for himself. Ah, but there is an assistant in this process. It is the father of each person. The reason the psalmist calls a man blessed is because he sees his children living in a way that pleases God. Then the generation will be called “straight.” That’s the Hebrew word here—yesharim—the straight ones. What a state of bliss it is for a father to see his children following God!
Notice that the psalmist extends this blissful state to the children themselves. They are also blessed. But here the word is barak where we might have expected ashre. After all, barak is typically associated with God’s actions, not the actions of men, while ashre is associated with something that men do to cause delight. But barak is also a term describing favor passes from a superior to someone in a lesser position, and that is precisely the case here. The father of the family passes a great blessing to his children when he himself is a man of yashar. The influence of straight living becomes the measuring rod of the children. Yes, they are still responsible for their own choices, but the yashar father is likely to produce yesharim. The opposite is also true. Fathers without straight ways pleasing to God are likely to produce children whose lives reflect chaos and confusion. Measuring sticks are crucially important and a father is responsible for a great deal more than putting bread on the table.
There is a difference between uprightness and righteousness. The difference is important. “Uprightness as the manner of life is a characteristic of the blameless (Prov 11:5) and of the man of discernment (Ps 119:128, ‘I have lived uprightly’).” [1] Uprightness can be accomplished by discipline alone. A man can commit himself to the narrow way. But that won’t bring him into relationship with His creator. “Righteousness is exhibited only through conformity to standards set out in the word of God.”[2] That conformity is a sign of hesed, and hesed always requires relationship. This is what Yeshua meant when he spoke of the vital connection between hands and heart in fulfilling the commandments.
This verse is a challenge to fathers. You are the evidence of God’s involvement with your family. You are the measuring stick. And you have the potential to pass an immeasurable blessing to your children. If you walk straight ahead.
Topical Index: yashar, straight, upright, barak, bless, Psalm 112:2
[1] Wiseman, D. J. (1999). 930 יָשַׁר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (417). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Stigers, H. G. (1999). 1879 צָדֵק. , Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (753).
Question…..if the woman is the ezer and has tried to walk as one and the children are brought up as much as possible seeing that but the husband is rebellious to the ways of the word and continually speaks against women as far as respect and authority why do the children seem to follow the fathers ways?
I don’t understand when they can see with their own eyes the difference in one life lives over another?
Babs, the women could write the book on this one, unfortunately. I have been impressed a lot lately about how much the Bible is descriptive as well as proscriptive. The children seem to be hardwired to follow the father and not the mother, or else why would this verse be important to understand?
It is heartbreaking when the father gives a bad example, for the kids will have to check it out, even though they may have hated what it did to the family. My mama said that we don’t get the next lesson until we learn the last one. If the father refuses to learn, he will pass the ‘family problem’ down to the children, “to the third and fourth generation”. I set out one time, soon after I reached puberty and was starting to see the family flaws, to follow those blind and perverse areas through the generations, while I still had access to those generations, to see what each one did with them. What I saw was enlightening. I think I concluded at the time that the first generation, generally speaking, that exhibited perversity, had hardness of heart and arrogance, too, and they did not care what it did to the children, for sure. The next generation rebelled and was angry, but they mostly just acted out the anger (as well as the perversity), but could not see why they were so angry. THEIR children, who were raised by that blindly angry parent, generally were shamed and depressed and super sweet, and KNEW what they hated, but still lacked the power for change. The fourth generation, however, who loved their sweet but unhappy parents, had decided enough of the bull aftereffects. They had no part of the family flaw; it was not personal to them, they just wanted to be rid of what clearly was stupid and nonfunctional. These kids tended to be able to articulate the problem AND the solution, as well had the motivation (disgust) to walk away from the family perversity.
Jewish children inherit the mother’s bloodline, generationally speaking (as do a lot of tribal cultures, I have interestingly observed). I have wondered if this is because they do NOT get the hardwired propensity for the family stuff through her, but through the father, and THIS is why the father must work so hard to be the family example, for the children will tend to get his unlearned lessons as a genetic and epigenetic (active) inheritance, whereas the mother’s family flaws are more of learned behavior? The children, in Nehemiah stand and confess (take responsibility for) the sins of the fathers, I have noticed; not the PARENTS. I have been intrigued for years, even as I have pulled out my hair over this one.
I have also wondered why the man traditionally asked the woman to marry him. I was upset about it, and wondered why the women didn’t get to ask, as a societal norm, but then I began to reflect that the man asks because only the woman can tell if it will actually work or not! Still thinking about a lot of this
One thing I DO know, however, is that families that have those praying mothers are the ones who seem to have children that end up converted by the end, even if they did not start out that way. So, let’s keep praying and taking responsibility for the family stuff!
Good insight!!! I have noticed some of those same issues. Its funny I was made aware of shall we say curses passed down and really worked to break some of those effects from my own past in my life only to marry the same things to have them reimplanted.
Only the grace of YHVH and his spirit can break the chains and yokes of the past!
The influence of culture is 24 hours a day. School, internet, peer groups, role models, celebrities, etc. form the absorbed culture even if we work against it. It takes deliberate effort and continuous teaching BY BOTH to overcome this. With only one, it’s more than twice the work.
Yes and it feels like a lot of wheels spinning!
I have posted this in the past, but since today’s TW is specifically looking at this word, I am posting again.
‘yashar’ is spelled: yod, sheen, reysh
And as we see in this TW, it means to be “upright.”
Here are some other verses:
Isaiah 40:3 – “make straight”
Psalm 119:128 – “right”
Proverbs 15:19 – “upright”
Now the interesting part.
Look at the spelling of Israel:
“yod, sheen, reysh,” alef, lamed
Now read the Shema (Deut 6:4)
Shema, Israel (Shema, yashar El)
Shema (hear and obey), “yashar” (the straight, right, upright way) of El!
Hebrew is fascinating!