Looks that Deceive
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.” Psalm 66:3 NASB
Feigned obedience – Why do you obey the laws of the land? Specifically, why do you pay taxes? Why obey speed limits (sometimes)? Why don’t you steal from the grocery store? Or cheat on your insurance claims? You’ll probably answer that you are a law-abiding citizen. But think harder. Most of the time we keep the law because we fear the consequences of breaking it. That’s why there’s a big difference between taxes and speed limits. If we disobey one, we are likely to get caught and have real trouble. If we disobey the other, we know there isn’t a policeman on every road. We won’t get caught. We have radar detectors.
This is what the psalmist calls yekahasu, “feigned obedience,” in the NASB, “cringing behavior” in the ESV. The verb is kāḥaš. It is quite unusual. Consider the remarks by Oswalt:
The word kāḥaš which, with its derivatives, occurs twenty-nine times in the Old Testament, has an unusually large range of meanings. This might suggest two, or even three separate, but homophonous roots. . . . The Hebrew usage seems to stress the relational aspect of the word, emphasizing the undependable nature of a person or thing in a given relationship. . . . In thirteen other places the prominent idea is that of dealing falsely with someone to that person’s detriment. In such cases it is associated with treachery and robbery. . . . Both BDB and KB suggest that feigned obedience or fawning are involved here. The remainder of the occurrences are translated by “deny.” Here the idea is to fly in the face of the facts (Gen 18:15; Job 8:18). Five of these references have to do with denying God. [1]
Do we serve God in this way? The psalmist notices that even God’s enemies show the signs of obedience, but they do so because they fear Him. This is not genuine obedience. It is obedience by compulsion, the same kind of obedience we once offered begrudgingly to our parents before we realized they knew some things we didn’t. What a tragedy when our obedience to the Lord is rooted in kāḥaš. As with any parent, such obedience does not bring joy. It brings heartache. I wonder if God would rather have us disobey from a true heart than obey because we have to. I wonder if we are more likely to come into real fellowship with Him after real rebellion rather than forced submission. I wonder if righteousness is built on a foundation of sin.
Topical Index: kāḥaš, feigned obedience, rebellion, fear, Psalm 66:3
[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 975 כָחַשׁ. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (437). Chicago: Moody Press.
Good question raised Skip.
My reflection is will God rather accept us ignoring his existence and rewuests from a pure heart or accept our submission to his order out of fear.
The history shows that God prefers working through ignorant or defying individuals rather than obedient followers… Moses is a good example as is Paul. Samson, Saul, Gideon etc are also examples of defying individuals.
As on previous TWs you have explained the importance of a very personal relationship with God rather than a generic conditioned worshipping.
So I have come to accept that it is when we search out and do from a pure heart is more acceptable than when we do because it is the norm…
“I wonder if God would rather have us disobey from a true heart than obey because we have to?” This is very reminiscent of a message that said, “I would that you were hot or cold, but because you’re lukewarm I will spew you out of My mouth.”
Colossae was known for its cold refreshing water and Heropolis for its hot medicinal waters. Ladocia was in the middle and received water from both but by the time it reached there it was lukewarm and not refreshing or medicinal. So the term hot and cold is not a negative he prefers you to be refreshing or healing( hot or cold).The lukewarm does neither therefore Yahoshua will spit you out.
Who had a deeper understanding of father’s love… the prodigal son or his older brother who stayed home and followed the rules? Many would argue for the prodigal son yet the story concludes with father confirming that the older brother will inherit everything he has. At least the younger son has a place to stand, no doubt working for his brother … complicated.
“I wonder if righteousness is built on a foundation of sin.” Well, because we have all sinned, the answer for us (post-Fall anyway) is, of course, “yes”, but I know what you mean.
I don’t think there is a child – even the best-behaved of children – out there who truly understands, from the perspective of their parents, anyway, WHY they should obey. (Um, that would be after they became parents, themselves, most likely.) This is one of the dangers of relying on the conversion of very young people; they haven’t lived long enough for their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to all show up, so how can you repent for what you haven’t seen yet? None of us knows who we really are until we meet ourselves in the depths, for none of us can imagine the darkness of the soul until we have experienced it ourselves. Until then – however earnest and well-meaning I think people are – we are, at best, summer soldiers. For sure, until you have experienced the bottom of yourself for yourself, you lack the tools to help others in those places.
Our first parents chose for all their children the limitation of learning only through experience. Yeshua limited Himself the same way when He came to us; He “learned obedience” the same way we have to; one experience at a time, until He had drunk the dregs of all our cups of woe; He became our obedience for us, and thus built a road back out of the pit. To follow Him to the cross is only to find that He bore our sins before we even knew them.
Complete obedience is impossible to achieve unless and until we have reached the place of repentance for the heart of darkness at the core of each one of us. Until then, we may pretend – “put on Christ” – but the dregs we must taste for ourselves are the dregs of our own despairing condition without Him. Until then, we suffer from illusions of (self) righteousness. At the foot of the cross, I finally gave up all those illusions. If I can’t depend on His righteousness – the re-connection of my fractured self with all else that my all-powerful and able Big Brother gives back to me – I know I am done for because I have seen for myself that I completely lack those connections. I have had to see (experience) it to believe it, though. I repent! Halleluah!
It’s so true that this 20/20 hindsight is what God is seeking from His children. We need to remind ourselves of this truth when feeling discouraged or overwhelmed by some of our past choices. Thank you for this insightful teaching today, Skip. And, to Laurita, for your additional insightful comments.
If “real righteousness is built on a fountain of sin”, it is only because the fountain of His love, mercy, and unmerited favor that has overtaken it. But, those who have sinned much (and have also been, therefore, forgiven much), love much. That is true.
And no, I definitely do not think “God would rather have us disobey from a true heart (quite an oxymoron, isn’t it?) than obey because we have to”. To be truthful about one’s disobedience is better than to lie about it. That’s for sure. However, to justify disobedience because one is “humbly” truthful about it (another oxymoron) is quite another thing. All of this is a grand foolishness.
Unfortunately, sometimes we lack the wisdom to even obey out of fear, which is the beginning of wisdom, and that is foolishness, we all know. However, obedience is still obedience, and though it is better to obey out of love, it is still better to obey out of fear than to rebel. Would any one of us really give pause to answer whether it would be better for someone to kill us than to just hate us in their heart with their “feigned obedience”? I’m clearly decided about that for myself.
Also, most often if not always, our disobedience does not just affect ourselves and, for that reason alone, “feigned obedience” is better than rebellion, isn’t it? When raising my children, I certainly would have preferred they obeyed out of love than fear, but still, given the choice of feigned obedience as compared to rebellion, I think it would have been better for all that they would have obeyed out of fear rather than to have rebelled, for certain. Does anyone truly escape the consequences of the sin of another? Somehow, in the cosmic view of things, when one sins, all suffer.
Besides, as Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” And also, both now and in the end, God is neither deceived nor mocked, so there are no “looks that deceive” HIM, at all, even if we think we can make Him the fool. So, generally speaking, besides those who lack discernment because they have not received a love of the truth, it is only we ourselves who deceive ourselves in our “feigned obedience”, and even then it is only that the truth is suppressed by our own unrighteousness.
So, when it is all said and done, let us obey out of both fear and love. and not fear alone, as Joshua admonished us, “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.” [Jos_24:14]
What is obedience? Is it not love? None of us can manufacture love. That is the very definition of “feigned obedience”, and nobody wants fake love. BTW, children ‘act out’ so that adults can fix the real problems. The ‘good’ children who hide the problems only end up perpetuating them. The Pharisees of Yeshua’s day did not walk what they talked; He called them “whitewashed sepulchres full of dead men’s bones”. Apparently He didn’t think much of feigned obedience, and preferred the poor man who beat his chest as a sinner.
Where do we get the love to obey with? I have only found it in one place, and that is on the other end of repentance for sin. Obedience is not even possible short of repentance, so, whatever gets us to that place faster, well, even Paul recommended turning resistant folks over to the devil for a while, whatever that means.
I know not all love experiences are violins some are getting down and dirty in the muck because you love…it is very hard to separate between bone and marrow as to what is going on within ourselves for us to choose to do righteousness in either circumstance. Motivations……Sometimes for me I have leaned on the fear side because my spirit was not up for the violin love in a mucky situation but the honoring of another to shine light is deserved for no other reason than our example is to do it for the sake of what is greater than my immediate emotions….despite a sacrificial inadequacy on my part. Even El get’s frustrated and so did Yeshua. I just hope to be in the zone of doing, hoping I will get practice toward actually putting on the light yoke by not giving up. Blessings. F J
I have just one brief observation. The matter contends with knowing the law as a teacher.. If I did not know the law I would not have known what sin is. to describe it in one word I would use boundaries. just like a sign that would say do not enter caution high voltage, if you ignore the sign, and go beyond the limits .the results are shocking. No pun intended. Should grace abound so sin can even more about, heaven forbid.
Also thinking of white-washed sepulchres.?
Hi, Brett, its always refreshing to see your perspective! I really love your analogies. I am trying hard to learn about electricity these days, and see some good parallels between it and love type stuff. Thanks!
About the point you brought up – deliberately going beyond known boundaries: I don’t think most sins are blatant, and for sure we must avoid doing things we know are wrong, but I believe most sin comes disguised as something else (and so we believe about it things that are not so) because all sin is based upon lies that we want to believe. The reasons we still want to believe those lies are actually what continue to hold the place open for sin. Those are the places we are still resisting the truth. We need to see sin for what it really is.
What sin is that, in particular? That would be the sin that we already are carrying in our lives; the smoldering subtle seeds of contempt or superiority or the secret attraction to forbidden fruit. In the interests of being “whitewashed:” we can suppress this stuff for decades, but it does not go away! Why? Because suppression is NOT REPENTANCE. We cannot repent for something that we cannot see clearly. Unless and until we sincerely come to a place of true repentance, the propensity for sin still exists, and if there is smoke, there is fire.
I am convinced that we will be judged for the sins we would have committed if we had had opportunity, and also for righteousness we should have committed, but didn’t, because these reveal the areas of our lives that have not been turned over at the foot of the cross – pockets of continued rebellion. How will we ever know just how bad we are if we never dare to look? In these places, feigned obedience out of fear might just keep us out of the hereafter. Far better to turn around and face the enemy, for he is surely us.
Like, like, like, like, like, like, like!!!
(Since I’m only allow “ONE” Thumbs Up.
Judi, about fear: the ones listed outside the city in Rev. 22 include all those who “love and make a lie” but the head of the list in Rev. 21 that are destined for the lake of fire (same crowd) are the fearful. That tells me there is no such thing as love that is based on fear; they are mutually exclusive, and that those who are obeying out of fear have to be believing the lie that fear can produce love.
I had to wrestle this topic of fear a LOT, as you know, and I eventually came to the conclusion that if it is fear, I have to stop and start over, because I have something wrong. When I feel fear, I feel like I have no options. Fear rises out of force; we feel we ‘have no choice’, but love never forces. Fear is healthy for us only as it shows us places we are still believing things that are not so (lies), but I don’t think fear, as a negative emotion, anyway, is required for those who are walking in the truth, because there is nothing there that requires it. People who are walking in the truth are people who have no reason to fear.
We translate the word ‘fear’ in English to mean being afraid (negative emotion), which is an experience where we are totally self focused, but awe (the experience of the numinous,which is on the edge of the transcendence of emotion altogether), which we also translate as ‘fear’ is about completely forgetting self in the Other. These are opposite experiences!
I see Hebrew has its words that can be taken one way or the other, but I think we have them, too.
One thing for sure, I think we are only going to know the doctrine about fear correctly when we have gotten to the place of accomplishing the will of the Father. Only in that place have I found that “perfect love casts out fear”. I don’t think the will of the Father in heaven produces fear; I think there is only love there.
Well said Laurita.
Joel Barker phrased our unwillingness to change or start anew as paradigm paralysis which is assuming things will stay the same if we do the same thing. Now Scott Simmerman phrased this insanity is expecting things to change while we continue doing the same things.
Both the said industrial change agents are applying the same faith principle and may be worth reading about.
For our destination to changes we must change our course. For our course to change we cannot continue travelling on the well known path. We need to travel on the unfamiliar waters, face new obstacles etc and those are the things that shape our self worth not the moss growing because we stopped rolling.
Now you wants to continue living by wondering around. Or is it as Isaiah said. We must settle down to become independent while creating a supporting neighbourhood. My own words…
So which is faith. A rolling stone that gathers no moss. Or a settlers community for support groups. To become doers of YHVH will…