TAKE A STAND AND RESIST THE ENEMY

Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge:
But the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

The heart of the fool (fool: one who is devoid or ignorant of the rectitude that is from God) wants for wisdom. He lacks everything that generates from God. It is good to recognize these factors because in the same manner and for the same reasons, the heart of the fool is arrogant.

A fool comes in and appears to know right and thereby can be very deceiving to the believer who is not strongly founded in the principles of the Word. It is important therefore that before any personal endorsement, any would-be speaker, preacher or teacher goes through the test required by the Word of our contract. Paul was very strong on the subject keeping theology pure, clean and singular. He said,

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all

(Ephesians 4:4-6).

He also affirms that ,

though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed

(Galatians 1:8).

Paul undoubtedly took his model from Moses who by the inspiration of God admonishes that any would-be teacher, priest or prophet; may he be acquaintance, kinsman or stranger, who declares and teaches to do the things that are abominable and contrary to the Spirit of God, should be put to death.

We certainly cannot practice this commandment today (Biblical death sentence was Land related. It requires a Sanhedrin of Levites elected by the people and who serve in front of the Ark, and even Paul recommended excommunication for such cases.), but its principles are not nevertheless abrogated. The God who found abominable the idolatry of the fool is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

So because we live as foreigners and strangersin an ungodly world , it behooves us to regularly check that our lifestyle hasn’t been subtly polluted by the doctrines and traditions of man. We are not under penalty of death when we are found guilty, but we simply discover the reason why we feel out of fellowship (excommunicated) with Messiah and therefore, with the Father.

This year, Christmas falls right in the middle of the Feast of Chanukah. Chanukah is the Feast that commemorates the time when Israel compromised with Hellenist idolatry. Israel realized its error, repented, and decided to take a stand. As Israel resisted the Greek enemy, spiritual and physical, it won against Antiochus Epiphanes, a foreshadow of the Antichrist.

This story can be found in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Book of 1 Maccabees, and describes a spiritual situation not unlike that of today.

I hope you read it.

THE AUDITOR CAME

Proverbs 15:6
In the house of the righteous is much treasure:
But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

How could we read this proverb and fail to contemplate this world’s present-day economic troubles?

The God who in His Word advised us towards a greed-proof economic system must be looking with disgust at how we got ourselves in such a mess to start with. We are like young adults who considered our cautious parents old-fashioned and not in ‘sync’ with the times. We thought that we had better ideas, but now, as it has before, the whole system is unraveling leaving many people without even some of the basic necessities, while a few line their pockets with gold. There is no better recipe for abuse than an economic system independent from God’s paremeters.

It is when the ‘stock’ of Egypt, the supply afforded us by the world fails, that our faith is tested. Then the question pops up. ‘Is our faith in ‘Egypt’ or is it in the Almighty God? Are we dependable to this world’s unreliable granaries, or to the God owns the cattle on a thousand hills?’ Whatever may the hand that brings the paycheck home, believers may do well to always remember that the original Giver is our Father Which is in Heaven. He is the only reliable Giver, the only dependable source of supply. Any other one will fail when the bell counts midnight and the books are open for review and scrutiny.

In that day, every penny earned, lost, wasted, given, invested and received will be accounted for. Questions will be asked. The Auditor of all auditors will come and require that we turn in the books. He will ask hard questions; demand explanations. Payments will be required for His investments in us; He will require seeing tangible returns.

All revenues will go through the fires of His scrutiny.

Only silver and gold will remain.

Everything else will burn.

Can we stand the final audit of our lives?

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Proverbs 15:5
A fool despiseth his father's instruction:
But he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

I have spent many years working with dysfunctional families. I have seen and heard of many a father unworthy of the title. Such is the iniquitous world in which we live. I therefore could not expound on this proverb solely towards the submission to earthly fathers. It would be abuse. Only a husband who submits in love to the Almighty can earn a wife who submits in love to him. Only a father who yields to his own Heavenly Father is worthy of children who in turn yield to him.

The Hebrew word used for ‘father’ is ‘ahv’. Each Hebrew letter has a meaning. The first letter of the word father is ‘strength’, the second is ‘house’: the strength of the house. The Semitic nomads did not live in houses but in tents. The word ‘ahv’ therefore refers to the strength and stability of the main pole holding the tent up. The ancient meaning therefore of the word father was: ‘the tent-pole’. He holds the structure of the house together.

Not every father is a spiritual giant, but such a father who holds his family together, who works hard, loves his wife, spends time with the children has accomplished a lot and deserves to be looked upon. One who has done all that is the ultimate Father and Creator of us all.

Our Almighty Father is the ultimate example to follow. His wife cheats on Him but He does His best to preserve the marriage. His children stray but if they only but look back in His direction he runs towards them crying. He is just, but merciful. He is merciful, but not lenient. He is not lenient but He still takes upon Himself the price of our backsliding. A tough act to follow.

It is the Instruction of such a Father that we should not despise. It is the regard of His reproof that is birthed of prudence, and His Word is to submit to our earthly fathers as much as we can. On this issue the apostle which Yeshua sent to us wrote in these terms,

. . . we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Hebrews 12:9-10.

If we expect our children to mind our ‘torah’, let us make sure that we ourselves mind the ‘Torah’ of our Father.

A FATHER’S TONGUE IS HEALTH TO HIS CHILDREN

Proverbs 15:4
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life:
But perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

The Hebrew word used for ‘wholesome’ in this proverb is ‘healing’. Let us remember here that in the World to Come the Tree of Life will be accessible again for the healing of the nations.

The Hebrew word for a ‘breach’ is a ‘breaking’, not as beneficial breaking that provokes goodness, but as a breaking provoking insalubrities.

This proverb tells us that a godly tongue procures health while the ungodly tongue, sickness of the spirit.

I had to use my tongue to correct my son last night. He has bad habits concerning his school assignments, so I had to give him a tongue-lash. I had to use the weapon of speech to convict his spirit and demand that he fulfills his responsibilities. My sermonizing, haranguing, yelling and demanding were not for the mere purpose of exercising power and authority over him. Just as we attach a rod by a seedling to help it grow straight, my words were for the purpose of creating a rod that will keep my son grow upright. My tongue became the ‘rod of correction’, which hopes to force on him upright growth.

This is healthy.

This is tree of life for my son’s spirit.

On the contrary, the tongue that would allow leniency, deny retribution for sin and unfaithfulness is guilty of false pity. It applies a cicatrizing balm on a dirty untended wound. Later on, this wound may become an infected sore festering with puss.

A son may resent the temporary discomfort of the tongue-lash, but it is nevertheless health to his soul. May we, as mature Sons and Daughters of the Almighty, learn to appreciate the ‘tongue-lashes’ we receive from our Father in whatever form they come. May we learn to know that these are only premises of the Tree of Life which will eventually fully heal our spirits in the World to Come. May we, though them, learn to grow as upright citizens of the Creator’s Kingdom.

THE EYES OF THE PRESENCE

Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

The eyes of the Almighty are everywhere: within our innermost intimacy, as well as over the whole earth.

The eyes of Adonai, behold with a penetrating look the evil and the good.

They observe; they examine men whether they are good or evil, keeping them closely before His eyes, so that nothing escapes Him.
This is an awesome reality, but do we walk in such a fear and respect of The Presence that we feel His eyes are over us at all times?

Driving the many roads that cross this city, I often notice how orderly every vehicle behaves, exactly at the speed limit, when around a police car. These drivers drive differently than they normally would; they clean up their act because at that moment, they feel the presence of the authority of the road.

Would we walk differently and would we clean up our act if we could see the Master right by our side wherever we went?

Whatever we did?

At every moment of the day?

Not seeking to over spiritualize the proverb, I still acknowledge that each and every word, their spelling and even their order within the Sacred Writs are not random but have a reason. By the order of the words, I see that the author of this proverb must have had a good handle in the knowledge and understanding of the program of the salvation of mankind. It would not be surprising, since this program has been written from before the foundations of the world, in the Scriptures as well as in the stars.

Our author here presents the fact that the Almighty first looks at the evil and then the good. In His redemptive program, in the same manner that Moses came down twice from the mountain, Yeshua comes twice. The first time, He saw the evil. He paid the price for our evil and even left us with a ‘Comforter’ to teach us: The Spirit of Truth. (John 14). The second time will be different. Having made the evil responsible for itself, He will be able to concentrate on the good, and extend rewards to those who deserve it. He does truly behold the evil, then the good. Let us therefore conduct our lives with the knowledge that like the police car on the road, His eyes are upon us at all times, beholding the evil, and the good in our daily walk.

WHO IS THE ‘HARPIST’?

Proverbs 15:2
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright:
But the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

The Hebrew text in this verse offers a beautiful poetry. The Hebraic word used for ‘useth’ is the word ‘etiv’, which means ‘to strikes the harp well’. We consequently understand that the tongue of the wise has the ability to ‘play’ ‘wisdom’, harmoniously; to use it in way that inspires people towards the Almighty, just as a man who elegantly plays the harp. Let us not forget that the father of our author, King David, was himself a harpist who was employed at the Israeli court to sooth King’s Saul tormented spirit.

On the other hand, (and sad to say, there is always another hand), the wisdom which has been made available for mankind’s own good is not always ‘played’ wisely. Satan, our archenemy, was the right-hand man of the Almighty. Ezekiel prophesied about him, By thy wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Ezekiel 28:5

The same wisdom used to lead people to their Creator, can be used to lead them towards false leadership. The same wisdom we employ to impart the knowledge of the Father can also be used to proclaim heresies. The same wisdom that will teach a man the ways of God, can also be used to teach him the foolishness of ungodliness and of life without His Instruction.

When we hear the music, before we dance to it, we need to learn to recognize who plays the ‘fiddler’, or to continue the poetic analogy of this proverb, who is the ‘harpist’. Our Rabbi and Master Yeshua has taught us how to recognize the prophetic harpists that fill this world. He said, ‘by their fruits ye shall know them’.

Let us remember that the word use for foolishness tells us of someone who is devoid of desire to follow in then ways of his Creator. He is his own ‘self-made’ man, if there can be such a thing.

In this day when the world seems to titter back and forth like a drunken man trying to find its place in a history that seems to repeat the same foolishness of its past, let us not be mused by the tender words of smooth tongue preachers, politicians, motivators or to-good-to-be-true financial deals. Let us not allow our God-given desire for peace and tranquility to make us settle for the heresies of untruth and the glitter of false peace and security. Let us always learn to unveil the ‘harpist’.

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.

WEALTH: A STATE OF MIND.

Proverbs 14:20
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour:
But the rich hath many friends.

This proverb is rich in perspectives. One of them, in its literal sense, is really a testament to the dark side of human nature. We should take notice of it and not give more value to the friendships of our comfortable days than is meet. We should not be surprised to see all our ‘friends’ disappear when the well is dry and the party is over. Penury is a great relationship sifter: those who stay with us through it are the real friends.

Another perspective lays in the realm of spiritual values. I have heard it said that the real true rich person is not the one who can spend a lot, but the one who has everything he needs and is satisfied. I have also heard it said that wealth is not to be counted by what a person has but by what a person gives.

Viewed in that light, I dare submit that such a person has many true friends. A person who is content and satisfied from the inside out is agreeable to be around. Such a person does not whine always wishing for more and for better days. Such a person doesn’t feel the need to hoard and is not afraid to share of themselves with others. Let us not forget that contentment and satisfaction are a state of mind, not a financial achievement.

As disciples of the Master, we claim to have found the pearl of great price. We claim that we have found that wealth that is more precious than anything else, but yet, we often seem to act like beggars or people who have been cheated of the best. Doesn’t that sound like the Children of Israel in the desert? They were fed with food from heaven; their water came from the Everlasting Rock; their clothes and shoes never wore out; they were carried on eagle’s wing and yet, they complained about their condition. Do we really value what we have? Do we really need more and better than what He, in His great wisdom has decided to give us?

They say that the worlds financial systems failed because of greed. Does our option to happiness fail because of greed? In these times of financial uncertainty we should reevaluate these things in our hearts and make sure that we don’t repeat history on our own lives.

THE WORD IS ITS OWN REWARD.

Proverbs 14:19
The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

Indeed in this scripture the just, the righteous, he who has on this side of the grave given his life to the works of the father, he who live under the atonement of the only Righteous One whose blood represents us in the sight of the Creator, finds comfort and final justice from the many woes of this world.

Finally justice is rendered. Finally the righteous is avenged. Finally things are right side up and the Righteous rules; the righteousness of Messiah is the commanding factor.

A friend of mine has for a long time been troubles as he had been taught about prosperity of the righteous in this age as part and parcel of making a decision for the Almighty. His situation is not financially as good as he thinks it befits the righteous so he wonders if these promises of righteous rule and prosperity are valid, or just poetry.

In the Gospel of Luke, the adversary reminds Yeshua that this present wold ha been given to him. Believers should do well to remember that. Jewish sages always taught that in this world there is no reward for following the Word; that the Word is its own reward. They teach that any other form of rewards for our good decisions in this world are reserved for the world to come when Messiah finally distributes rewards.

The Word, the torah, the indwelling of the Spirit should represent our only satisfaction in this world. Anything else is extra. Do we deserve more? I should say no. Our very breath is a gift we do not deserve.

In this day of financial insecurity, may we learn to keep things in the right perspective.

May we learn to be thankful.

May we learn in whatsoever state we are to be content, for contentment with godliness is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

FLEE SIMPLICITY

Proverbs 14:18
The simple inherit folly:
But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Our last three proverbs have one principle in common: careful scrutiny and meticulous self-evaluation are the characteristics of the righteous. Impulsive actions and superficiality are the mark of fools.

This Book where the Words of the Father are recorded, even before it found its way on sheep skins and parchments, was the first book to keep records of anything. It was the first book to be ever printed on Guttenberg’s press. This Book as suffered the most threats of any other book and according to logic should have been lost many times. Instead, it is today the most printed book and the yearly best seller. There are also more commentaries and information about this Book than for any other book. Yet, it is still the most misunderstood Book.

It seems that God certainly did His part in preserving the Book through the rage of the ages and in publishing it. What seems to have failed is our faithfulness to properly study it, all because of our simplicity. The answers to the most complicated issues of life are right there in front of our noses in the Book and yet, we do not see them. The word ‘simple’ in our text refers to one who is easily seduced and manipulated. He is easily seduced and manipulated because he doesn’t live consciously and prayerfully. Due to our simplicity and lack of depth, instead of true knowledge we, in the end, inherit folly and lies that sometimes we even claim come from the Book.

Let us cease from simplicity.

Let us turn off the entertaining media that lulls us into the sleep of death.

Let us walk for a change with the prudent.

Let us steer away from the glitter of popular preachers/speakers/entertainers and

let us learn from the sages; from the ancients whose spirit is matured by the prejudice of ignorant masses, and whose crown of knowledge is stained with the blood of martyrdom for the truth.

Let us leave behind the falsities of Babylon, Greece and Rome.

Let us walk with the Son Adam who died and rose, that we may with Him, die to our childish foolish simplicity, and rise in godly knowledge and maturity.

DISTINCTIONS

Proverbs 14:17
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly:
And a man of wicked devices is hated.

The great majority of these proverbs teach us principles through the development of contrasts. In this proverb, the contrast is not between good and evil, wisdom vs foolishness; it is rather between two forms of evil: between one who foolishly and thoughtlessly allows his anger to vent hastily, and one who, with all due process of though, slowly premeditate his evil. The first is just foolish and only gets the reward allotted to fools, but the second incurs the hatred of every man.

The Father in Heaven is a God of distinctions. He distinguishes between righteous and unrighteous; between good and evil, between and good and good, between evil and evil. His very nature is a nature of distinction between pure and defiled, between clean and unclean, the holy and the profane. The word ‘Holy” actually means: separated; set-aside for the use of God. If our Father, which is in Heaven, makes distinctions between one thing and the other, shouldn’t we, being His children do the same?

Many, in their attempts towards political correctness and undue tolerance want to let go of all standards. They consider their successful unity with the human race dependant on their horizontal earthly relationships styles rather than on their vertical relationship with their heavenly Father. But even then, there is a difference between the person who lets go of godly standards in a hasty frustrated angry decision that he may regret later when his spirits are leveled, and the person who premeditates his rebellion with all due consciousness of thought. The first can be forgiven with a reprimand; the second leads others astray who later hate him. The first is a sin of the head, the second a sin of the heart.

All in all though, the proverb is here to warn us. As we read and acknowledge its virtue, we should stand warned and without excuses, our eyes now being opened. When our eyes are opened with the knowledge of His truth, our Master said that we become without excuse. Let us therefore learn from this great wisdom. Even though distinction is made between foolish hasty sins and those that are premeditated, let us be guilty of neither.

AN ELECTION YEAR PRAYER

Proverbs 14:16
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil:
But the fool rageth, and is confident.

Were we not in an election year at such a pivotal time of world history, this verse would not seem so significant. The onlooker watches world events unfold and cannot help but ask:

does history repeat itself?

About two millenniums and half ago, the kingdom of Babylon was so confident in its strength and destiny. God himself wrote on its palace’ walls. The prophet came to interpret the writing. Yet the people kept on partying and arguing over petty things. They had grown to such a state of lethargy, complacency, pride arrogance that God could have appeared in all His glory and screamed at their ears, they would not have heard.

Could this scenario describe this generation? Is the world so confident in its obviously failed and broken down systems that it does not see the handwriting on the wall? That it does not hear the prophet’s call? I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. In its deafness to God’s voice, the world want to heal its financial woes by using the same ‘toxic’ financial methods that caused it to be sick in the first place. It may work with human biology, but unlike the human body, financial systems do not develop anti-bodies.

Can any prayer be prayed? Yes. A prayer can always be prayed. The prayer I pray today is that God may give us the spirit of the Wise Man who fears from evil, and delivers us from the confident arrogance of the fool.

THE RULER

Proverbs 14:15
The simple believeth every word:
But the prudent man looketh well to his going.

We live in the age of information. We live in a time when many make their living through their much talking. They cater to those who, like the Greeks in the Aeropagus, spend their time browsing channels and the Internet constantly in search of a new thing. These people want to see a new show, hear a new sermon, by a new preacher, provoking a new revival. They want a new self-help program with a new idea born of a new concept. Once that novelty has tickled their heart, they fell that they are given what they need and they go on their merry way.

How many go astray? How many loose their way in the fickle glitter of the world? How many hear, see and receive without proving the length, the width and the height of what they are being offered? And most of all: what is the Bureau of Standard by which we measure all idea? What ruler should we use?

Yes my friend; you guessed it. What could be more appropriate for establishing truth and untruth than the Divine utterances of the Holy Book? But here lies our next problem: how can we measure all truth with the Word if we are not familiar with Its measuring system? Coming from Europe, I learned metrics and decimals. Until today I have difficulties with the feet, inches and yard system, but if want to be accurate in my measuring in this land, I must fully familiarize myself with this new system. The same applies to our hearts. Our hearts is God’s land. What comes into it has to be measured by the standards of God’s Word, but to be able to do so, we must have a working knowledge of It from Genesis to Revelation.

Let us not be therefore like the ‘simple’ who believes every word of doctrine, but let us be like the ‘prudent’ who looks well to his going, establishing everything by the standard of the Word of God.

THE WAY OF LIFE

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Therewith we are warned.

I had a theological discussion with a friend the other day.. I felt that my friend lacked important information on the issue at hand, and therefore was impaired in making a full intelligent judgment. When faced with that fact, as if trying to save face, he pulled out of his arsenal the only argument he had left and said, “But I know I am right because I am convinced in my heart about it.”

For millenniums, in spite of biblical evidence proving otherwise, scientists thought that the earth was at the center of the universe. They could prove it by showing the sun circling around it, but hey were wrong. Our new ability to find people’s D.N.A. continually embarrasses our judicial systems as we discover that innocent people have been falsely locked away for life and even sentenced to death. In the zeal of youth, while convinced we are so right, we are often drawn us into words and actions we often regret and have to recant at a more mature time of life. How many times does the Bible tell us the story of God’s people being so wrong, even though at the time they were led by so-called priests and prophets? Even so today, we may have learned something all of our lives, when suddenly it dawns on us that we have been taught lies (Jeremiah 16:19).

Because we are so easily deceived, whether by internal or external forces, we are not at liberty to establish what is right and what is wrong. Because of our sinful state, we are not able to define what is just and what is unjust. Because of our limited scope, we cannot understand righteousness as God understands it. Therefore to help us in our earthly walk, God gave us the Torah which is the parameter by which we establish right and wrong, just and unjust, righteous and sinful. Only the Torah gives us the right elements of judgment.

Oh, that we would return; that we would return to following the Lord; to see justice and righteousness through His eyes.

Someday soon, we will!

WATCH OUT WHAT YOU PRAY FOR

Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways:
And a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

There is old gypsy blessing that says, “May God give you want you want’. King David, then Father of our author wrote that we are gods. Of course, he didn’t mean that we are ‘God’, but he meant that our ability to live by choice instead of by instinct like animals is a godlike faculty. Yet freedom of choice, as wonderful as it is, has its drawbacks. One of them is that it imputes us with the responsibility of our decisions, good and bad.

This proverb leaves us on a sad fatalistic note. One who has a backslider’s heart, like the proverbial prodigal son, will be filled of the perverse things which he enjoys. He will be recompensed with the things which he desires. I personally cannot think of a greatest curse. I saw a short movie recently about a gangster who died in a shoot out with police. After he died he was taken to a place where his every whim received compensation: Women that responded to his every want; food and wine to his fill; casinos where he won every game. He could even fake a bank robbery where he of course, would succeed. In the end he got bored to death with the predictability of it all and desperately wanted to leave, but couldn’t. Our gangster then asked his ‘guardian angel’ guide what in the world gave him a place in heaven instead of the ‘other place’. The guide then answered him, ‘this is the ‘other place’.

On the other hand, a good man, a man whose heart desires the things of God more than things of the world, will also receive compensation from the desires of his heart. But since his heart loves the Father, He will receive the heavenly compensation that only the father can give.

Let us be mindful of what we ask for; we might just get it!

OF JOY AND SORROW

Proverbs 14:13

Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

Every human heart knows its own sorrow. It carries within itself the natural melancholy that comes with the knowledge of its separation from its true spiritual home. The nothingness and temporal nature of the joys of this world only add to its secret sorrows grown from infancy on. But oh how men like to hide it; yes especially men.

Even the when the heart indulges in the joys of this life, even in spite of mirth and merriment, sadness makes itself perceptible. It reveals the subconscious nature of joy: a momentary earthly tool to escape the sorrow of the soul until that day, when reunited with its Creator, it will finally experience and own the true joy that it was created to own. The German writer Euchel knowledgeably writes: “No, man is not made for joy. Why weep his eyes when in heart he laughs?”

The Father made us so. He created us unable to experiment the full nature of joy and happiness on this earth so that we would long for home, for Heaven. Just like with the Children of Israel of old, life had to become tough in Egypt for them to desire to return to their land. The twentieth century saw the purchase of the state of Israel by the British right after WWI, but it wasn’t until the tragic events of WWII that the Jewish people decided to return to their Land. It was by the river of Babylon that they hang their harps unable to sing the songs of Zion because of the sorrow that captured their hearts. They knew that their own sins kept them away from their home. Today, melancholy also reigns in our heart because of the knowledge that our own sins keep us away from the Father’s beautiful garden.

The Father has created all things for us freely to enjoy, so let us enjoy life on this earth, but as we do, let us always remember one thing. Let us always remember that we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. That do not belong to this reality, but that our lives is merely in transit here, waiting for the day when we will enter the true joy of the Father, a joy that is ours by the covenantal blood of Messiah.

We will then experience the fullness of the Sabbath of which we today only get a weekly foreshadow.

HIS WAY/OUR WAY

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

In the very beginning, when God established the foundations of the earth and of the seas; when He established the boundaries of the cosmos, He also established the ways of righteousness. In His magnificent wisdom, the Creator of the universe imbedded the principles wherewith we are to live within the very elements and schedules of His creation; He taught us to live in rhythm and harmony with the world He created for us. According to His command, we are to live a 7-day work week; work 6 days and enjoy a rest in an appointment with Him on the seventh day. We are to start our twenty-four hour schedule at end of the day, our month with the new moon, and our year according to rain and agriculture in the place where He has set His Name. If we remember and follow this schedule, we will work in rhythm and harmony with the Creator of it all, and we would never be lost.

Sad to say, there are always people on earth who claim to know better than God. They are like immature teenagers who think they always know better than their father. Two thousand years ago, Julius Caesar, a sun-worshipper, wanted to change the calendar to honor his god. He proceeded therefore to create the solar calendar upon which our whole world depends today. A few hundred years later, a monk called Gregory, implemented this calendar for the whole Roman Empire.

God’s calendar is ruled by the stars in the cosmos. Imbedded within, we find not only the rhythm of the seasons, but alongside, we find the plan for the redemption od the world. Paul wrote to the disciples in Thessalonica that he did not need to teach them about the time of the coming of the Antichrist nor of the return of Yahoshua because he knew that they were familiar with the calendar that taught them these things. As a result he said: you are not of darkness, but of the light.

Without the light of God’s plan to lead us, we go establish our own form of righteousness in our own calendar and our own feast days. In the end, because we do not walk anymore in step with the Creator who leads us to life eternal, in our blindness, our way becomes the way of death.

May we rediscover the plan of the Almighty by rediscovering His calendar. May we be bold and courageous enough to step out of the ways of blindness leading to death through ignorance, and start walking in God’s life’ rhythm.

TENT OR HOUSE?

Proverbs 14:11
The house of the wicked shall be overthrown:
But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.

It is interesting to see how in this saying, the wicked lives in a firmly founded house, while the righteous lives in a temporary tent (tabernacle = tent). In another one of his proverbs though, Solomon assigns the house to the just, but the term ‘house’ can also refer to ‘lineage’.

Believers should be reminded that this age is not the end. This age is the means to bring us to the end; it procures the process that brings us to our final destination. Our end, our destination, is the restoration of all things: Yeshua, living on earth with us as it was in the Garden of Eden. We should therefore not grow our foundations too deep. Even today’s present volatile geo-political and economic situations should remind us that nothing is certain in this world. We should consider ourselves like righteous Noah who saw his generation come to an end, and like Abraham who considered himself a pilgrim and stranger on this earth.

The wicked on the contrary is pleased with the present world. In his arrogance, he establishes a strong house in it, which he thinks will last forever. He doesn’t mind the confusion, the wickedness, the pollution, the dirt, and the spiritual contamination of all things. He feels right at home in it.

The strong firmly founded house of the house shall be overthrown. When the day of judgment comes, the arrogant wicked who felt right at home in the filth of this present world will see his world unravel and come apart. Dusk will take him by surprise and the wintry night will encompass and overcome him. But the just, who put his trust in the Father of the heavens, in the One who created and who holds the universe in place, will see his tent flourish and rise over the destruction of the wicked. The sun of a new day will bring him the buds and blossoms of a renewed season of life.

WHO KNOWS THE HEART OF MAN

Proverbs 14:10
The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

This enigmatic proverb actually has a very simple meaning. The saying, “Every one knows where the shoe pinches him”, touches some on its message. Only the heart of man, the element in the center of his individuality, knows what brings bitterness to his soul. He only knows what troubles him, what brings him grief. That is why a ‘stranger’, one who is not ‘us’, cannot fully experience the joy that comes to us when these grieving elements in our life are superceded by the things that bring us joy.

This principle explains the relative properties of joy and happiness. One who has experienced hunger has a deeper appreciation for his daily bread; he is less picky about his food. One who has experienced loneliness is more grateful for the company others; he more easily overlooks their flaws. One who has seen the miseries of the world rejoices more when good news come his way; little joys are more easily found.

This principle is also true of salvation. The clearer we understand our sinful nature, the greater our joy of salvation. The better we understand the final end of our fallen spiritual state, the more we appreciate our redemption. The more, through the personal experience of persecution, we can relate to the sufferings of the Master, the more we appreciate what He has done for us.

A lonely woman recently died as her car crashed into the church of a small town in Western Oregon. She was unknown to most of the town’s people so for most, the story will quickly die as common daily news. A closer look at Linda’s life through the heart and eyes of the very few people who knew her, reveals a kind woman exposing the flaws of our spiritually broken and sick society. This woman was never noticed during her life, but now, in her death, she has made state news. Who was she? What happened? Will anyone ever know? Our appreciation of her earthly contribution in our midst can only come by knowing more about her, but we don’t know much. How many people on this earth, be they teachers, soldiers, firemen, parents, common folks like you and me are overlooked for accurate appreciation, just because we don’t know them?

GRAB HOLD OF THE SACRIFICE

Proverbs 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin:
But among the righteous there is favour.

It is the Hebrew of this verse which reveals its contrast nature. The word used for sin really is actually a word that means the ‘atoning sacrifice for sin’. In the Hebrew there is also a subject change to where it is the ‘atoning sacrifice for sin that mocks the fool’. What we have here is an instance where the sacrifice chides the fool for his carelessness disobedience towards God’s commandments to sacrifice. The commandment exposes the fool as a sinner separated from God. The commandment shows the fool he needs the sacrifice to restore him to his relationship with God. The sacrifice stands there in full view of the fool who is to foolish and proud to reach out to it so he could come again close to the peace of God. The fool is being chided through the confused emptiness of his life while the righteous, one who is straight in his relationship with God, because he cares about the commandments, finds favor meaning, and true purpose.

The sacrifice of Messiah stands near to all us ready to restore us unto the Father. But we first must let the commandment convict us as sinners. It is the Torah, the instruction erroneously called in English ‘the Law’, which teaches us the knowledge of sin and therefore reveals to us we are sinners. Through this Instruction we are meant to discover that we need the sacrifice of the ‘Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world’ to erase these sins from us so we can again find peace in the arms of the Almighty Father.

Let us stop the scoffing right now. Let us grab hold of the atoning blood of Messiah for a whole guilt and sin offering. Then we will, as the elders did at Mt Horeb, seat at the millennial bridal banquet table of the Prince of Peace for the most grandiose of peace offering feast. The we will, in the presence of the Son, find final peace for our souls.

LET US NOT BE IGNORANT

Proverbs 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way:
But the folly of fools is deceit.

How easy it is to passively walk our life. How tempting it is to let status quo, habits, fads and flows lead our step without any understanding of our ways. After all, aren’t we supposed to walk in consensus? ‘This is the way people have believed for hundreds of years, they certainly cannot be wrong. Forget trying to dig deeper into the roots in order to uncover the true foundation of faith. Let us just continue drifting with the flow asking no question for the conscience.’

The problem with that is that we are not made as the animals who walk by instinct. The great Creator of the universe has seen fit to give us a mind and a soul so that we can walk by choice. To properly walk by choice, we must intelligently understand our way, otherwise, we can easily be deceived by smooth-tongued teachers.

It is the responsibility of each one of us to understand our faith, the things we believe and why we believe them. I was told about God’s care for me when I was 11. I received Yahoshua as my Messiah when I was 17. For a long time I learned all that others had to offer me until one day, when I was 40, I decided that I wanted to know why I believed the way I did. This research took me straight back to Mt Sinai and to the first Jewish Messianic church of first century C.E. It is there, in the Pentecost Sinaitic connection that I discovered the roots of my faith and that I understood what I believed and most essentially why.

This is wisdom beloved: to understand our way.

The folly of fool is deceit in the passivity of voluntary ignorance.

CHOOSING FRIENDS

Proverbs 14:7

Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

The concept of excluding those who do not reflect our values from our midst is not as unpopular as the one that defines: ‘lips of knowledge’.

In our present context, ‘lips of knowledge’ refers solely to a practical and applied knowledge of the Word. Practical and applied, because whereas it is foolish enough not know the Word, it is utter foolishness to know it and not do it.

The reasons for ‘going’ from the presence of the ‘foolish man’, from the man who either does not know the Word, or knows it but doesn’t practice it, are given us in the following proverbs, let it therefore now suffice to say that wisdom demands that we do not enter intimate dependant fellowship with such people.

The application of such in this day and age certainly does have the potential of leaving us lonely, but lonely is good. Lonely brings depth as we are one on one in the presence of God. Lonely takes us away from the games we play in the presence of others and close to God as we are faced with the reality of our true self.

If anything can teach wisdom, that does.

Of course, this proverb also has to be balanced with other proverbs who tell us to utter wise words to the ‘fool’ so maybe he would repent from his foolish ways. What we are told here is not to enter intimate fellowship with such. In the old days, potential friends had to be brought home for approval.

Do we bring our friends to the Father for His approval?

LIVE CLOSE TO THE SOURCE

Proverbs 14:6
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not:
But knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.

Life has a tendency to make us cynical. It is difficult today to believe in purity, truth, love, justice and integrity. It is much easier to become cynical and doubt all the good we see and could imagine. That is why it is of the utmost importance that we stay close to the Master in our heart, mind and Spirit.

Knowledge is easy to him that understands because he lives close to the source. Scorners do not live close to the Master. They actually doubt His presence; mock the pure goals He tries to accomplish; they laugh at His attempts to restoration of the world; they are distant to him. Because of their ‘distance’ between them and Him, they cannot find the wisdom that could bring virtue to their lives.

On the other hand, those who live close to Him have no difficulty in finding wisdom. How do we live close to Him? Ancient Jewish sages used to disciple their students. Elijah did it when he met Elishah. Prospective Torah student would often renounce all other worldly ambition in order to live close to their Rabbi; they even became part of the Rabbi’s family. We see this dynamic illustrated in the New Testament. Paul claims to have begotten the community of believers in Corinth. John calls the assembly of believers his ‘children’. This is what He referred to when Yahoshua said that those who follow and obey God’s commandments are his mother and brethren (notice he did not say ‘father’). He was defining His relationship with his followers, not that with His relatives. He was bringing his disciples to His close family circle, not distancing himself from His family in favor of His disciples. That would have been anti-contextual.

And what do we learn from that? If wisdom is to be found easily, we have to live close to the Master; to live close to the Master and be a part of His family of disciples, we have to obey God’s commandments.

There is no big secret: water, pure water, is found by living close to the source.

LYING BY INCONSISTANCY

Proverbs 14:5
A faithful witness will not lie:
But a false witness will utter lies.

The Hebrew word for witness is ‘add’: to repeat.

The faithful witness is not necessarily an eloquent preacher, an intelligent expounder or a smooth lips teacher. The witness doesn’t technically have to explain the message nor, as in the case of Balaam’s donkey, doesn’t have to understand it. The job of the witness is to repeat; to repeat what he has heard, to repeat what he has seen. All the witness has to do is to repeat what he has heard and what he has seen with integrity; without adding, without embellishment; just to repeat.

As witnesses of the El Shaddai, we on earth repeat and concur the Words of the Father with our mouths, but most importantly with our lives. People will understand the love of the Father much more by our action than by our wise rhetoric. It is important therefore that the ‘walk’ matches the ‘talk’. If the ‘walk’ is inconsistent with the ‘talk’, we find ourselves uttering lies and our lot will be thrown with that with that of false witnesses who lead people astray from the father. We will be like the parents who try to teach their children to be wise with their time and money, while they themselves indulge in shallow, foolish expensive activities.

Friends, may we not be found guilty of working against the father and His will to establish righteousness on earth as it is in Heaven.

May the language of our daily ‘conversation,’ be in sync with the rhetoric of our wise proclamations.

May we not be found guilty of lying by inconsistency.

HE CARES FOR THOSE WHO BEAR THE BURDEN

Proverbs 14:4
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:
But much increase is by the strength of the ox.

The Father has ordained that we should work on the earth. He actually has commanded us to work the earth to make it fruitful. It is our duty to subject creation to our will to bring us all we need; not all we want, but all we need.

Abundant harvests and increase are even sometimes indications of His blessing.

To do the hard work of farming, our Father has given us help, mainly the strength of the ox, but no energy is free. If the farmer refuses to properly feed his ox, eventually the beast will become weak and die. At the least he will not work to his complete abilities. The increase of the farmer is dependant on the health and well being of his ox.

Today, especially in western cultures, less and less of us are farmers. We create business-like companies where people are the ‘oxen’. People are the strength of the company. In India, we used to tell prosperous Sikh factory owners that if they provided more sanitary conditions to their Hindu workers, such as clean water, clean food and a clean work area, his workers would not be sick so often, that they would be healthier and therefore produce more. Thailand prides itself to have never been invaded by a western foreign power, and that they have always kept the communists at bay. The present King, Rama IX, is like a father to his people. He uses his position to travel all over the poor areas of the country to help people develop their resources and better their lives.

As a result, people in Thailand deeply love, respect and obey their king.

The principle also works here. A worker whose needs are not met will not be as functional as one whose needs are met; not only his needs but also those of his family. It is contrary to God’s way of doing things when C.E.O.’s pocket multi-million dollars profits, but their workers struggle to get health insurance. If the worker is well tended to by his boss, like the ox, he will put in the effort just out of love and gratefulness.

Let us make sure to properly reward those who work for us, be it man or beast, and doing so, serve and worship Him in the purest sense of the words:

by obeying His Words.

‘PEH’ THE MOUTH

Proverbs 14:3
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride:
But the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

James, the New Testament apostle, compares the tongue to a bridle leading a horse. He also compares it to a small rudder that can change the direction of a vast ship. He must have known about this proverb from King Solomon.

The tongue certainly leads a person in the direction in which it speaks. If we were fully aware of this fact, we would be careful to speak less and listen more. Maybe this is the reason why we have one mouth and two ears: we should do twice as much listening as we intent to speak.

It is impossible that we set ourselves to hear the Voice of the Father without getting humbled; as we listen to Him, we are then protected from the sin of pride. A teacher and speaker to the Body of Messiah should spend as much time as, if not twice the time to listen to the Father as he intends to speak. This will keep him from the snares of the foolishness of pride that will lead not only himself, but others astray. The concept of foolishness in the Bible refers to one who is ignorant of, oblivious to, spiteful of, and careless to obey the Word.

Foolishness therefore is certainly rooted in pride.

The mouth is not just a part of the body; it is a concept. The Hebrew word for mouth is ‘peh’: ‘orifice’. Things go in and out of an orifice. This is why Yahoshua said that from what goes ‘out’ of our mouth, we defile our body, inferring thus that something goes in every time we speak. It is actually a scary thought. Every time we open our mouth, we stand to defile our body; anything can come in even as we thoughtlessly chatter.

What is then the concept of the lips of the wise that shall ‘keep’ (the Hebrew word is ‘guard’, ‘defend’) them? Maybe to keep their mouth closed and only open it when spoken ‘through’, and even then, with prudence and prayerfulness.

ATTITUDE; ATTITUDE; ATTITUDE

Proverbs 14:2
He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD:
But he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.

When we digress from walking in our uprightness, when we are less than He expects of us; when we stray from the straight and narrow to the right and to the left; we show spite for the Almighty and His ways and we deface Him in the heart of others.

There are some of us who are called to lead. We are called to lead as teachers, pastors, leaders or worship leaders. One cannot lead the flock into an upright walk unless he knows the way. One cannot know the way unless he’s walked it before. A leader who has properly walked and investigated the way has located pitfalls. He is therefore able to warn others by his words, but mostly, people will follow his footsteps. They will walk where he walks; they will follow his example. That is why a novice, one who is still prey to the pitfalls of pride and arrogance attached to any type of office, should never be given a position of leadership. His attitude will misrepresent that of the Great Shepherd and thereby deface Him in the sight of the people. Moses himself did not get away with it.

All believers are called to leadership. From the instant we confess in any shape of form to be representatives of The Almighty, we put ourselves in a position of leadership towards the unbelievers. They will judge every one of our steps in attempts to either prove or disprove our statement of faith. Great eloquent and talented words and performances can do much, but when accompanied with a wrong attitude of pride and arrogance, they become as vomit in a plate on top of a tasty dish; inedible.

If we are meant to know better, we also become responsible before God.

May we take this responsibility seriously. As leaders, may we represent The Almighty in a way He would have us do. May we walk in our uprightness, which is Yahoshua, and be accurate representations of His Image to both believers and unbelievers.

WIVES: THE GLUE OF A HOUSEHOLD.

Proverbs 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house:
But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

The depth of this saying is found in its cultural and etymological roots. The ancients qualified a wife/mother as the root and foundation of the house. Isn’t the unity of a household more dependent on the mother than on the father? A wise mother can, if her husband be dead or neglectful of his duty, always keep the house together; but if the house-wife has neither understanding nor good-will for her calling, then the best will of the house-father will still find it very difficult to prevent the dissolution or separation of the household. The mother always tries to get everybody to come back to the ‘nest’. She is at rest when she knows her brood is together in one place. The Hebrew word for mother, (eemah), literally means glue. Hebrew women used to take the remaining parts of animals, such as hooves and hides, and boil them in water. A thick substance would then float to the top of the water to be collected and used as glue. This was the word for ’mother’, the’ glue’ of a household. Yet, if that woman is not wise, she will have the total opposite effect.

As the Bride of Messiah, we also function as ‘mothers’. Teachers of the Body have the responsibility to ‘glue’ the body together in unity. This is actually one of the on-going missions of messiah, to re-unite together as one the greater House of Israel. It is sad when teachers, preachers and expositors of the Divine Word of the Almighty, like foolish women, use knowledge to draw people after themselves, and that, at the cost of the greater unity of the overall Body. This shows how little knowledge and understanding of the purposes of God they really have.

May we, those who have been given the responsibility of teaching His Words by the Almighty El-Shaddai, be like Moses of old, and do so in the spirit of bringing all the families and tribes of Israel behind the Lord Tsavaot , the Lord of hosts. Let us rally the troops behind one standard, one faith, one doctrine, one immersion in water, that we may all receive together as one body the reward allotted to those who follow Him in integrity and sincerity.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

Proverbs 13:25
The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul:
But the belly of the wicked shall want.

There are a couple of ways we can expound on this proverb from our wise King Solomon. First we can relate it to our daily life. The righteous, because he is righteous, does not have an inordinate appetite. He has learned to be content with whatever the Father has chosen to give him. He receives it with thanks and is satisfied to his sufficiency with what he receives. The wicked on the other hand is a glutton and is insatiable. He is selfish, self-centered, narcissist and always wants more. He doesn’t need more, but he wants more.

He also believes that he deserves more than others.

The other way to look at this proverb is the eschatological way. Notice how the first clause is in the present tense, and the second clause in the future. In our world today, the righteous often suffers want and persecution, while the wicked seem to enjoy all the pleasures life has to offer. The day is coming for a reversal of fortune.

Today, the righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul by exercising restraint and thankfulness. He does this while the wicked indulges himself in gluttony and wanton waste. It shall not always be so. A time is coming when the belly of the wicked, who has received his pleasure here on earth, will want. It will suffer the pangs of hunger and the discomfort the righteous has suffered through the ages.

It can be a temptation for a believer who owns a business to want to use the same crooked methods as their ungodly successful counter-parts do. But we cannot fix our eyes on today’s outcome. We must fix our eyes on the outcomes of eternity, when the Father righteously rewards humanity. At that time, the righteous will be recompensed for his integrity with the satisfaction of his main desire: to be in the presence of the Father; while the wicked will reap the fruits of his ungodliness and hunger for the Kingdom.

FATHERLY DISCIPLINE

Proverbs 13:24
He that spareth his rod hateth his son:
But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The word for “betimes’ in the Hebrew text is ‘in his youth’.

Many of us can certainly agree that a child needs to be regularly and appropriately chastised in his youth if he is to grow into a responsible and mature human being. The problem is that for that to happen, his parents have to be intimately involved in his life. Many teenagers today claim independence when they haven’t really earned it. Independence can be only granted once a child pays his own bills; until then he is a dependant and has to live under the ‘golden rule’:he that has the gold, makes the rule (pun intended).

In order for parents to be intimately involved in their child’s life, the child has to be home and educated by the parents. Sad to say, today’s western society makes it very difficult. Parents feel that they each need a job to keep up, so they send their children to public school. As a result, children receive their educated from an ungodly system and they derive their values from their peers, which becomes a case of the ‘blind leading the blind.’ To top it all, after a long week of hard work, parents want to relax. Ass a result, the child spends most of his time watching TV, playing cyber-games, listening to his music, on the phone or visiting friends. He is really only physically home, and his parents only correct him when he gets in their way. Our next generation will be interesting, to say the least.

Our statement needs also be understood on a corporate level. Jews, and our author is a Jew, always referred themselves as children of God. Paul reinforces the idea by mentioning that those believers grafted into the Covenant of Israel are adopted, and also become children of God. Throughout history, Israel has certainly received its share of correcting for its sins; it is probably ready now to receive again the favor of the Father. Paul explained his troubled ministry to timothy saying that, all those who live in a godly fashion in the Messiah shall receive tribulations. Trials and tribulations are God’s intolerable compliments. They are the marks in our flesh that make us sons and not bastards.

Let us not therefore despise the discipline of the Father. Let us not loathe His reproof. For whom the Father loves He reproves, as a Father the son whom He delights in.