THE BALM OF GILEAD

Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turneth away wrath:
But grievous words stir up anger.

How difficult this is. How many times do we find ourselves having to rub shoulders with people who rub us the wrong way; of whom we feel unjustly abused or tormented by;

Our dear Rabbi, Lord and King Yeshua echoed this proverb with the following words:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

He equated this attitude with perfection by terminating this sermon with:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Critics of Scriptures have often taken these words to the extreme portraying someone passively allowing an enemy to hurt him or his family. This was not the vision. We need to remember that any truth taken to an extreme becomes error. What is eluded in these Words spoken by our Master is more concerning the position of our heart towards that enemy. A careful Scriptural study on the subject reveals that the Father has nothing against self-defense and the preservation and protection of what He has given us. He has issues though with revenge; with gloating over an enemy’s loss and demise; as well as with the unjust treatment of even the belongings of an enemy. We are allowed to defend and protect land and goods; we are allowed to hate evil; but we are not allowed to give way to hatred of people.

Whereas like the patriarchs we may find ourselves in need to defend land, kin and well, let us never indulge in the practice of revengeful hatred. Let us be perfect and not let our heart slide to such low-levels as practiced by the ungodly. May we instead, always allow the Balm of Gilead to heal our wounds and our hurts. Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose life is an early representation of the life of Messiah, never hated his brothers for what they did to him.

He wanted them to learn, but he never hated them.

The caravan he was sold to traded Balm of Gilead.

REPORT CARDS

Proverbs 14:35
The king's favour is toward a wise servant:
But his wrath is against him that causeth shame.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, Our Father and King tells us of the disappointment He experienced because of his unfaithful servants: the Shepherds of Israel. Those pastors were self-serving and used the flock of God as some sort of income. They did not serve the flock as they should. They used to spoil the pure God-given waters of the word with their personal doctrines thus rendering them toxic for the flock. They would flee at the sight of the wolf so not to endanger their lives protecting the flock. They were more mercenaries than shepherds. Their poor representation of the King cause shame to His name and procured them His wrath.

The situation was so bad that the king sent His Son, His ability to be gentle even in deep indignation; to be true while remaining merciful; to be unselfish even to last ounce of Himself; all these became part of the Son’s damage-repair mission of declaring unto us the character and nature of the Father towards us. For this mission, He had to demote Himself from Son to Servant. He then became known as the ‘Suffering Servant’. This reminds me of the story of Joseph the son of Jacob, who unbeknownst to him at the time, had to become a slave and a servant in order to accomplish the future redemption of his people. As a ‘faithful servant’, Yeshua incurred the favor of His Father who then, like Abraham bestowed his kingdom on Isaac His son, also bestowed His whole kingdom upon Him.

The Son is now our King. This king came to conquer the world in a way no earthly king would dream of doing so, but Yeshua won. He will return very soon and will judge between servant and servant. Our vindication before Him will not come from erudite sermon but from lives lived in loving attention to his Commandments. We are promised to rule and reign with Him. Even now in His absence, His Spirit watches us evaluating our sense of responsibility towards His Commandments and His flock.

His standard of obedience was pretty simple He said: if you love Me keep My commandments. What will our report card day when His comes?

THE JUST WEIGHTS THAT EXALT A NATION

Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exalteth a nation:
But sin is a reproach to any people.

It is difficult to render an exposition of this proverb as whereas in English the meaning seems pretty straightforward, the Hebrew original, especially for the second part of the verse, leaves us with different options, noticed even by various translators and commentators. The Stone Edition of the Old Testament translates the second part of the verse as, ’…the kindness of regimes is a sin.’ and is commentated by Rashi as: “…regimes that steal from one group in order to dispense ‘kindness’ to others…’ The idea given to us here is of regimes using favoritism in judgment, which in an Hebraic world view would be seen as using ‘unjust weights’, and therefore constitute a good definition of unrighteousness.

This view of the verse also works with the contrast properties of the book of Proverbs, so in a way it could be translated as, (my translation) “Just weights in judgment exalts a nation, but favoritism destroys even a small community.” Favoritism has a way of leaving people bitter against their rulers, may it be in a family, the work place; in a political or religious organization. We should always use just weights and judgments, establishing the same standards of righteousness and retribution to all straight from the Scriptures, and fear to deviate from them. Only then will the Father bless our nation and the communities that compose it.

Franz Delitzsh, the 19th century Lutheran Hebraist theologian mostly famous for his faithful rendition of the Hebrew New Testament comments about this verse in this manner:

“History everywhere confirms the principle, that not the numerical, nor the warlike, nor the political, nor yet the intellectual and the so-called civilized greatness, is the true greatness of a nation, and determines the condition of its future as one of progress; but this is its true greatness, that in its private, public, and international life, conduct directed by the will of God, according to the norm of moral rectitude and rules prevails.”

WISDOM AND TRUTH CRY

Proverbs 14:33
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding:
But that which is in the midst of fools is made known.

The syntax of this proverb tries to stay faithful to its Hebrew original, but as a result becomes a confusing English sentence. The Renaissance commentator Rashi rewrites it in the following terms: ‘Wise men keep their virtues private, but fools rush to publicize whatever little bit of wisdom they may have.’

One who has truly found Wisdom and Truth (not as compared virtues but as incarnate persons) obtains a certain quietness of mind, heart and spirit. He knows that the ‘persons’ of Wisdom and Truth are at work in the world, so he doesn’t feel that he has to go on ‘crusades’ to immediately ‘convert’ the whole world to his mode of thinking and operation. He is at peace even in the midst of conflict. He can quietly wait for people to themselves, in their own time, come to the identification of Wisdom and Truth in their lives. He has immersed himself (‘immerse’ is the proper translation for the Greek word ‘baptize’) in this Wisdom and truth. Their current lead his life which then becomes a silent quiet testimony in the plain view of all.

But there lies on the sidelines those who merely dabbled in Wisdom and truth. They have only dipped their toes or sprinkled their foreheads in them, but did not immerse in them nor let themselves be taken away by their current. In guilt, they have to justify themselves to themselves by trying to prove to others how wise and knowledgeable they are, so they go on crusades to change others and call it ‘witnessing’. They are on a constant warfare with themselves and others. They constantly feel that they have to school people. They even feel

themselves as ‘essential’ in others lives. They can’t be at peace anywhere at anytime.

When Pilate asked Yeshua, What is the Truth?’ Yeshua stayed silent. But to His disciples Yeshua identified the Truth as himself. He also said that the Torah (the Word) is the Truth, Himself being identified with it. The King narrates in the Proverbs and says:

Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

Proverbs 8.

My humble suggestion is to let Him do His job while we quietly go about ours of supporting Him living a Torah-based/Words based life.

DEATH: RELEASING THE CONTROLS

Proverbs 14:32
The wicked is driven away in his wickedness:
But the righteous hath hope in his death.

Thus the apostle concurs:

For to me, to live is Messiah, and to die is gain.

Phillippians 1:21.

Ah, the sweet mystery of death! The days of our living can profess the greatest of faith. We may have climbed heights of theology; conquered mountains of faith; crossed oceans of charitable accomplishments but herein is the final test none can escape. We can claim trust in the ways of the Father during our living, but herein is the litmus test of our faith: our reaction towards death. Those who truly have trusted God for their lives, can also trust Him for their death. Others freak out.

I mean not to be so morbid this morning, but some of us are more consciously faced with death than others: soldiers for examples even though statistically speaking, driving a car is no less dangerous than going to war. We may have fought it all our lives, but death teaches us the main lesson the father tries to get through to us all throughout our pilgrimage on this earth: we are not essential. On our deathbed, we finally have to yield to the possibility that the world will get along fine without us. We finally come to the point when we release the controls and realize God was all along in the driver-seat. What peace must be felt then.

Releasing the controls brings peace; why don’t we do it before? In France I learned to drive in a car where the instructor had brake and acceleration controls on the rider side of the car. I was so worried in my driving, but the instructor is the one who really had the controls. We so worried about things, and we forget that the Instructor has the controls.

As the world goes its own way, may we be able to trust Him in joy and sadness; in health and sickness; in abundance and poverty; as well as in life and in death.

TO HAVE MERCY ON THE POOR IS TO HONOR GOD

Proverbs 14:31
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker:
But he that honoureth Him hath mercy on the poor.

Careful studies of toratic Instructions unveil a very sound financial system that reflects the heart of the Creator concerning the poor. The Maker of the universe knows the world in which we live. He is aware of weather catastrophes; He is not in denial of family tragedies; but most of all, He knows the selfishness of man. The Torah actually teaches us a financial system with pre-emptive built-in elements to counteract the effects of bankruptcy.

Tithes were designated for the support of Levites who were disseminated within the country as Word teachers. Tithes were also to be welfare system for the orphan, the widow and the stranger who did not have a possession in the land. Every seven years there was a jubilee year when every debt was forgiven. The whole financial system rebooted for the sole reason that the rich would not become too rich and the poor would not become too poor. You could not refuse to lend just because you knew the jubilee year was soon coming. On that year also fields were not cultivated. This allowed for people to have less work; to spend more time interacting with each other and get off the daily ‘money’ grind. When someone faced bankruptcy, he was to be bailed out by his relatives. The family would take ownership of the land and house of their bankrupt relative to guard it for him. They were then supposed to give him a job in their household until he got back on his feet, at which time he could regain his land and house. I believe that this will be our financial system during the millennium.

With so much food production, our contemporary world should not know hunger yet, W.H.O statistics estimate that 1/3 of the world is over-fed; 1/3 of the world is under-fed; and 1/3 is starving. The culprit for this modern-day famine is not the weather or any tragedy other than the selfishness of man reflected in today’s global financial system.

Many financial experts agree that the present financial debacle is due to greed.

Could it be that the God who is the side of the poor is judging man for not honoring Him through having mercy on the poor?

Could it be that many today just reap the financial whirlwind cause by the wind they have sown?

A HEALTHY HEART

Proverbs 14:30
A sound heart is the life of the flesh:
But envy the rottenness of the bones.

The word ‘sound’ is very generic, but again the contrast properties of these proverbs reveal the original intent of the author. In this case, the word ‘sound’ contrasts with the word ‘envy’. Further etymological research also show that the Hebrew roots for the word ‘sound’ come the words ‘healing; health’, and that the Hebrew word ‘envy’ comes from the words ‘jealous; jealousy’. A ‘raw’ literal reading of this proverb then teaches us that jealousy and envy causes sickness, and that health is to get rid of our spirit of envy.

Maybe this is why the last of the ten basic commandments the Father gave to Moses to pass on to the people warns us about covetousness. Actually, it seems that the root of breaking the nine others stems from covetousness, envy and jealousy, so it is a good closing.

If we look at it, we acknowledge other Gods because they entice us with the things God in his wisdom keeps away from us. We then bow to them in thanks and honor them with images. We refrain from keeping the Sabbath because we either want to keep making money or do our own lucrative pleasure. The inherent meaning of ‘honor your mother and father’ is to financially support them, especially in their old age. In this day and age, it cramps our lifestyle and keeps us from making enough money to live with the necessities of the 21st century. We kill to take what belongs to another. We commit adultery and steal because we want what we don’t have or what the neighbor has. And finally, we lie when it is to our advantage. No wonder we are not only morally sick, but also psychologically and physically.

Many illnesses such as asthma, stomach ulcers and depression are psychosomatic. They are cuased by an internal mental or spiritual condition. The good news is that a return to a proper mental and spiritual attitude has the reverse effect. Our same author proclaims,

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear Adonai, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Proverbs 3:7-8

May we live healthy as we respect the health advice given to by the greatest Physician of all, the very One who created every single intricate cell of our body and of the universe. He knows how it all works.

THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WISE

Proverbs 14:29
He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding:
But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

The same is true of all passions: anger; love; discouragement; frustration; elations: these are all emotions. They are therefore unreliable and cannot be used as sole foundation for important decisions and actions. The apostle who extensively wrote about the evils of uncontrolled speech referred to this verse when he said:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. James 119-20.

Jewish sages taught that a strong man is not he who conquers a city, but rather he who controls his passions. Many a warrior has failed to conquer his most dangerous enemy: himself. Many an exhorting preacher has passed by the most dangerous demons: his own. To paraphrase the apostle Paul: I can conquer the whole world but if I conquer not my own spirit, I am but a boasting hypocrite. I can bring masses to repentance with the most eloquent sermon, but if I fail to bring my own sprit to its knees, I failed in my mission.

There are many programs today such as ‘Anger management’ and others to help us control he effects of our attitudes, but it is not enough to control the ‘hands’, we need to control the inside. Our proverb to day tells us that the ‘inside’ of being slow to wrath Is ‘great understanding’. This contrasts with the ‘hasty of spirit’, which exalts folly (lack of understanding). Leaders especially must learn to react slowly; maybe even not to react at all, but to respond.

May the Father of all Wisdom help us to inherit the comprehension that we need to make levelheaded decisions and act with understanding instead of with folly.

IDENTITY THEFT

Proverbs 14:28
In the multitude of people is the king's honour:
But in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.

Yeshua haMashiach also knows this, but He will not compromise standards for numbers.

Believers in Yeshua today are in great numbers in the world. One could almost conclude that they are the majority. It seems to me though that our beloved King is a victim of identity theft. Imposters use His name. It started right at Mt Sinai when Aaron formed and carved the golden calf at people’s requests. When he was done he said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Right then, God’s credit was given to something else: an idol. That is identity theft.

Don’t we have the same situation today? The words of Yeshua our King are specifically recorded in our Bibles; His apostles also give account of His practices and ways but many today, just as happened at Mt Sinai, have succeeded to create their own form of righteousness and call it by His name. That is probably why Yeshua projected the following endtime scenario of His return: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (the Greek word for ‘iniquity’ means: lawlessness). Matthew 7:22-23. He said, shall Hhe find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8

He knows His own and even though His present true followers may be few, His devotees will be as the sand of the sea and as the stars of the heavens. Not lukewarm adulterated devotees, but red-hot with the Truth of the Word that created the universe.

THE FEAR OF DEATH

Proverbs 14:27

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Our beloved Master told the woman by the well of Samaria, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The fear of death is worst that the knowledge of death. There is peace in the knowledge and acceptance of coming death. But the fear of death traps us in its snares: it causes us to be unnecessarily agitated; to do things we otherwise would not do; to not obey God. Without an intimate knowledge of the Master, death is the day when all our humanist theology crumbles and when we are faced with either the empty nothing that defines our origins, or with a God which will require accounts from us. When we intimately know the Master, death is simply the day He has chosen from the foundation of the world for us to come meet Him. It is the day we will finally behold His loving face; the day He will wipe our tears away; the day all will finally become clear.

The book of Hebrews speaks of those who all their lives live in the fear of death. There is more that biological death that keeps us in fear. There is the fear of death to self; of death to our own dreams and desires; death to our reputation; death to our pride. The fear of those is also a snare that keeps us from serving God in the joy that belongs to the believer.

The only antidote against these unhealthy fears is the fear of God. Instead of our reactions being controlled by the fear of death, they need to be controlled by the fear of Adonai. The ‘fear’ of Adonai, in other words, the loving respect that we have for Him causes us to do good things; good things of course as defined by Him. It gives us the peaceful assurance that we can go about the business of serving him; that he holds us in His arms. As we only desire to do His will, we are spared the traps of worry (which is fear) and of self-preservation.

John, the beloved apostle teaches us, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Let us not allow fear of the enemy to bully us out of our responsibility for the Master. Let us not give him the victory of defining our attitude and lifestyle. Pray today to be delivered from this fear and regain the joy of Adonai which is your strength, and even your health.

COME HOME

Proverbs 14:26
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence:
And his children shall have a place of refuge.

There is something about coming home. We are doing the right thing and we know it. It may be a bumpy road but we have the protection of the Father. We walk in His Instruction and in spite of the world crumbling around us we know that we have His blessing. Even now with the economico-political framework of the world is in the balance; even with morals thrown out door in favor of the promises of more advantageous economic reforms, we can have peace if we come home.

The world has to go its way, but God’s children need to come home. Only in coming home there is peace. One of my sons came home recently. He came home for peace, security, growth, and as an attempt to secure foundations for his life. As he comes home he also knows that house-rules still apply, but under those, peace ill be found, security, provision and growth.

Coming home with God is coming under the jurisdictions of His home rules expressed in His Instruction book. When we finally say ‘uncle’ to His advice on life for us, we’ve come home; we’ve come to the place of refuge.

I know an Indian fable about a reed that grew by an oak. Though the reed itself was weak, it lived under the protection of the oak. If the wind blew from the West, the oak protected the reed from its futy. But if the wind blew from the East, the tempest pressed the reed against the oat. Come and grow by the mighty oak of His presence. Let the wind blow; it will either protect you or bring you closer to Him.

TORAH: THE BOOK OF GRACE

Proverbs 14:25
A true witness delivereth souls:
But a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

Here is a little lesson in ancient pictographic Hebrew. Each Hebrew letter has a meaning. The word witness is ‘ed’ composed of two letters: the ‘ayin’ meaning ‘eye’, and the ‘daleth’ meaning ‘door’. The word ‘witness therefore has the meaning of one who saw as he peaked through the door of someone’s tent.

The witness tells the story of what he saw.

This same word is used to describe the two witnesses who have to appear in a court of Jewish Elders to give account of a crime. In John 8 of the Messianic Scriptures, legalistic rabbis try to catch Yeshua in a disobedience to the Torah, which of course He would never dream of doing, and never did (see footnote). To test Him, they bring to Him a woman caught in adultery. Yeshua in full knowledge of Torah goes through the regular toratic judicial process and asks the woman where are her witnesses; He says, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Of course, through His wisdom, he had beforehand convicted the conscience of her accusers/witnesses who left, and without witnesses, according to Torah, no judgment could be held. He then proceeded to forgive her advising her to sin no more. The Master was wise. He wanted to show everyone, including those who would read this story through the ages, that the Torah is actually a book about the grace and mercy of God. He wanted to expose the wrong legalistic attitude of the religious leaders of His day, showing that the intended application of Torah was grace, mercy and justice and that this could be done only though an appropriate understanding of Torah obedience. In his Torah teaching in the Book of Romans and Galatians, Paul is very specific about the grace application of Torah.

Yeshua is our true witness to how the Torah (the Instruction book Moses received from Mt Sinai) is to be applied. He Himself is the Living Torah, the Beginning of the Creation of God as is mentioned in Proverbs 8 and John 1, so He should know. And being this true witness, he is able to deliver souls as our proverb tells us today. Yeshua delivers souls, while those with a distorted perspective of the Word of God create death.

It is sad that today’s dispensationalists and replacement theology advocates have created this fictional concept that the “Old Testament’ is about ‘Law’ and the ‘New Testament’ is about ‘grace’. No bigger lie has ever been taught to deceive humanity. It is strange that those who promote this lie have either never seriously studied the Old Testament cause they find it dry and boring, or if they did, they did it through the lens of already preconceived seminarian ideas. The whole book from Genesis to Revelation is one book all about the grace of the Eternal God who does everything in His power to reach out to us.


Footnote: Yeshua broke the legalistic traditional rabbinic interpretation of Torah obedience, which he defined as, ‘commandments of men’, but He never broke the commandments of Torah as outlined by Moses.

FREEDOM IN KNOWLEDGE

Proverbs 14:24
The crown of the wise is their riches:
But the foolishness of fools is folly.

A crown is defined as an encircling of the head marking authority. It marks an authority which is displayed to all; riches and accomplishments we are proud of.

We will go ‘double-dip’ for this one. I always believe that the ‘Book’ provide the interpretation for the ‘Book’. Let us then compare this proverb with the following one, The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. Proverbs 14:18 I think that it is more appropriate to associate the riches of the wise with his intelligent knowledge of the Word rather than with an excess of personal abundance. The contrast of the second stanza also confirms the interpretation.

In the Revelation that Yeshua gave to John at the end of the Messianic Scriptures, it is written that we shall reign with the Messiah in the Millennium. This ‘reigning’ though is not a ‘given’. It is conditional. The Messianic Scriptures specify that it is he that ‘suffers with Him’ who shall also ‘reign’ with Him. It is those who were beheaded resisting the beast’s government who inherit that crown (Rev 20:4).

The prophet Hoseah proclaims under the inspiration of the Most High, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: He then explains what he means in the following words: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hoseah 4:6. Many believers today swallow an uninformed form of godliness without the power thereof while rejecting an honest and sincere form and though it, their faith is destroyed. We need to each one of us be responsible for our knowledge of Scripture. Our intelligent knowledge of Scripture is what keeps the sneaky hands of the ‘beast’ off of us, and is the crown of our ruling.

Our Master did say, Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.

Let us therefore not be lazy, just satisfied with other’s re-ingurgitations of the Word.

Let us take responsibility to know It so we escape the oppression of bondage as well as the lies of bigotry.

THE PROOF IN THE PUDDING

Proverbs 14:23
In all labour there is profit:
But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Therein lies one of the big differences between the Greek culture that influences our society and the Hebraic mind that permeates the Jewish Scriptures. It is easy to love and praise God, to proclaim His Name and truth, to be sorry and repentant, to confess to new life and rebirth, all with the talk of the lips. People will listen to an emotional speech and confession and cry wondering how one could express such truths and not be real. Words will lure them into false doctrines and financial scams and in the end they will wonder how they could have been so dumb.

Words are cheap! Words fool us for action. Words rob us from the reality of action.

Greek grammar, like ours, revolves around the noun of the sentence. We talk about things. Hebrew grammar revolves around the verb: the action. We actually know very little about what the Hebrew Bible heroes looked like, but we know what they did. We know that because that’s what matters.

Who cares what they looked like?

I told one of my students yesterday, “you can express repentance all you want, but until you have been faced with the same type of situation and made a different choice, it’s all just words”. The Hebrew mind believes that we praise and love God by our actions and decisions; that we proclaim His Name and Truth by our daily walk and attitudes; that we confess to new life and rebirth by showing ‘fruits meet for repentance’. Maybe this is why there was no revival in Jerusalem until Yeshua actually resurrected from the dead. Until them, as far as they were concerned, it was just words and tricks. But the resurrection was the action that sealed Yeshua’s words into Truth and verity, and that is when there was a revival in Jerusalem which eventually got flooded with disciples.

Let us not fool others, and especially not ourselves into ‘faith’ because of words easily and quickly spoken.

The ‘proof’, is in the proverbial ‘pudding’:

a life lived by His commandments:

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

2 John 1:6

WE END UP WHERE WE LEAD OTHERS

Proverbs 14:22
Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.

We live in a world where good and evil would want to blur together in a single deceitful falsity. Constantly devising evil, the spirit of antichrist has finally succeeded to deceive nation after nation, individual after individual to endorse the confusion (Confusion in Hebrew: Babel, or Babylon) of his evil ways thereby causing many to go astray as himself is astray.

Many desire to tell us what to do and what to believe. Many call us to their cause. Having no valuable truth to help them shed light, they have to try to outshine others by attempting to blow out their candle. Nothing seems to be ‘off the table’ when it comes to convincing others of the evil ways of their opponent. Oh yes by the way, they all proclaim to believe. Believe in what?

We can be thankful that we have the inspired Words of the Almighty to help us make the difference between their words and their actions. We are told in our passage today that those who devise evil err. This kingly advice does not include a motivation. It doesn’t tell us that the end justifies the means. It does not tell us that erring is a result of devising evil. It merely tells us that we err when we devise evil.

Paul, our Jewish messianic Rabbi concurs the point. Himself the victim of evil plots fomented by those who would wish to silence him he said, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21.) This Pauline statement was not conceived from a so-called new found Christian doctrine of love as many would believe, but is simply a reflection of his training in applying the principles outlined in the following sort of Scripture: If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again (Exodus 23:4.)

It is so tempting to want to repay evil; to devise plots to the demise of those we have issues and problems with. But when we do so, we lower ourselves to their ethics; we become like them; we end up where we desire to lead them. Let us who believe therefore represent well the One in whom we believe and not stoop down to such low-blows as devising evil against our ‘should-not-be’ enemies. If we do, we will find ourselves in the same pit where we wish our enemies to fall.

THE IMAGE OF THE KING

Proverbs 14:21
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth:
But he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

This passage is so rich I don’t know if I can give it justice in my daily few words.

We are created in the image of the Creator. We are the representation of the King on earth. Being created by the commandment of His mouth, we literally are the ‘spitting’ image of our Father. When we see out brother (sister), the fear of God should enter in us as if it were someone bearing the seal and authority of the King.

When a king of flesh and blood conquers a country he puts up portraits and statues of himself. He mints coins with his image. After a while, when the people of the country are not happy with him anymore, they overturn his portraits, break his statues and invalidate his coins. They show their contempt by breaking, spoiling and defacing anything that bears the image of the King.

We see it happen around the world. People who hate the U.S.A. vent their anger by burning ephygies (images) of the President or of our flag. That is man’s way to reduce his enemies. So, too, one who sheds blood, he reduces the image of the King as it is written (Genesis 9:6): "One who spills a man's blood... for in the image of G-d He made man."

One thing I have noticed while studying biblical history and principles is that the Father is always on the side of the victim. The conflict may involve a righteous person against another righteous person. It may involve a righteous person against an unrighteous person. Maybe it is about an unrighteous person against a righteous person. It may also involve an unrighteous person against another unrighteous persons. Whatever the elements are, the Father is always on the side of the victim.

These principles should create the fear of God in us about despising, spoiling, defacing and reducing another human being made in the image of the King in any way shape or form.

No human being is accountable to another, but we are all accountable to God.