Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — If your book isn’t a buzz, it’s not the Bible.
GOD & ABRAHAM & ISAAC: HONEST QUESTIONS — 4th PROPOSITION OF 4: Part 2
Ancillary information: Shamar, the miracle of obedience
Introduction
(You can skip this introduction if you’ve read the post on LIGHT)
For anyone who may have been following this series about the honest questions arising from the incident of Abraham offering Isaac, I had promised to answer the question, “If you have or had a son and you believe God asked you to kill him for the sake of testing your dedication, would you automatically do it without hesitation as the story indicates,” in this post. But, because the Bible is like a Divine Onion which gets bigger with each layer that is peeled away, extra information is necessary before addressing that question. The extra information has been serialized because to put everything in one article would test the patience of Job.
This article is a follow-on from the previous post which concerns God’s Logic.
The organizing principle when gathering this information has been 1 Corinthians 2:13–14 || These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Lost in antiquity.
In my part of town, the NT Saints are normally Torahfied and regard the OT as yesterday’s news. Consequently, there are many nuggets lying around that go begging an owner. One of these is a bonus blessing that Yehovah gives for obedience to Him.
For want of a better name the term, Shamar Principle, has been coined.
If you haven’t discovered that His Ways are higher than your ways, and He knows more about you than you do yourself, you haven’t been paying attention. Perhaps that’s why things aren’t going as well as they could for you.
Show me why I should do it.
There seems to be a fear of being caught for a fool in this highly educated Western Culture. This is the same Culture that has, “Educated itself into imbecility,” as the 20th Century Satirist and Christian Apologist, Malcolm Muggeridge, opined. He was speaking in hyperbole at the time. (Oh, for the Good Old Days!)
But that’s blind faith.
Indulge me as I share a personal story. It is not virtue signaling. There is a point to it. A sad point, sadly.
Every city has a seedy district where the Lost often live on the street. I spent some time in the outreach of a Church which is located right in the heart of Babylon. It provided emergency relief (food, clothing, shelter, advocacy) for the poor and dispossessed.
As I was interviewing a middle-aged man to assess how we could help him it was suggested that he come to the Sunday Evening Service which really rocked — and it was warm with coffee and biscuits later.
His response: But church involves blind faith. I won’t do that. I’m a rationalist.
My response: You are in what should be the most productive time of your life. You have lost your wife and kids. You have lost your job and your house. You are living on the street. You literally lost a fight last night to prevent someone stealing the miserable possessions you had. Now you are here begging for money, food and clothing. How well do you reckon you’re doing so far by yourself?
To his credit, he admitted he had brought it all upon himself. He didn’t come to church but kept coming to beg. I don’t know if he’s still alive. The survival rate on the street is not high.
Unfortunately, he was an example of the culture I grew up in, “Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.”
Just in case you’re interested, Jesus was into evidence.
SO, WHAT HAS THIS TO DO WITH SHAMAR?
In Deuteronomy 6:4–5 Yehovah gives the Command, “Hear (Shamar, H8085), O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Hear: Shamar (H8085) has shades of meaning. When God speaks it means, “You will Stop! You will pay attention! You will obey!” There is no argument.
[NOTE: a better English word in this case is the archaic, “hearken/harken” meaning to give respectful attention; to regard; to give heed to what is uttered; to observe or obey. NOT just hear an instruction and ignore it.]
But what happens when mere mortals say, “Shamar”?
In Gentile versions of the Bible, Exodus 24:7 is translated, ‘Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient (Shamar, H8085).”’
However, in the better Hebrew versions the last sentence is translated, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and will hear (Shamar, H8085).”
Which is correct?
Let the Hebrew Grammar decide. (←Remember Hebrew flows right-to-left. ←)
H8085 = we will harken
H6213 = we will do
The Hebrew interpretation for this is that, when you obey God’s Command, He will give you the revelation why it should be done.
The sequence of the two verbs, H6213 — ʿāśâ, “do,” and H8085 — Shamar, “hear,” should be self-evident. In case it’s not, the doing happened before the hearing.
This is the opposite to the Western logic, “Explain to me why I should do it. It makes no sense to me, so I won’t.” (My derelict friend, mentioned earlier, was in desperate need of God’s Wisdom but ignored the need.)
WHEN YOU OBEY GOD’S COMMAND, HE WILL GIVE YOU THE REVELATION WHY IT SHOULD BE DONE.
That sounds good but surely it doesn’t really make sense.
Repeating the question asked of my derelict friend, “How well do you reckon humanity has done so far by itself?”
When Yehovah gives us the option to choose between life and death (Deuteronomy 30:19). It should be a trick question, but He knows He must give us the answer, “Choose life.”
The first direct Commandments of God Incarnate were about obedience, not opinion (Mark 1:15). Both repent and believe carried the same message.
Speech: Verb — an action.
Person: 2nd Person — the people listening were to do the action.
Voice: Active — the people listening were to do it.
Tense: Present — they should do it now and keep on doing it.
Mood: Imperative — a command, not a suggestion.
Number: Plural — all those listening should do the action.
Layman’s definition of repent = turn around from doing things your way and do them God’s way (which you may not initially understand).
Where does this Shamar stuff happen in the Bible?
There are quite a few and it would be a good exercise to ferret them out.
The illustration at the beginning of this post shows Joshua and Israel crossing the Jordan. The river was in flood and the Priests had to put their feet in the water before the flow stopped. No feet — no Canaan. Later on came Jericho. Perhaps you believe these; perhaps not.
Well, I’ve tried it, but it doesn’t work!
There was a Pantene shampoo commercial back in the 90’s which claimed unhealthy hair would be repaired. The punch line was, “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.” It was a successful message because it started a series of similarly themed commercials. Obviously, people believed what the beautiful women said. But they won’t believe God.
So how does it happen?
I can’t explain.
As for me, on the advice of a Jewish Apologist, I started thinking with the Bible rather than about it.
Like the shampoo ad, it didn’t happen overnight, but subtle changes occurred. What did happen in the wee small hours was that I was shown that the type of person I had been was one that only God could Love — and He proved it. No one owes me anything and it doesn’t matter for the Lord is my Portion. (Of course, there are days that I’m blind-sided, and have to be washed by the Living Water. The Blood has already done Its work.)
Then came discoveries rather than concerted effort.
I’m still a work in progress but: -
• Formerly I thought sin a pleasant thing, but now I have changed my mind about it.
• Formerly I thought the world an attractive place, but now I know better.
• Formerly I regarded it a miserable business to be a Christian, but now I think differently.
• Formerly I thought certain things delightful, now I think them vile.
• Formerly I thought other things utterly worthless, now I think them most precious.
• Formerly I thought my neighbor was an arsehole, now I see things to like about him (no love yet).
• Formerly I had to be loved, now I see that loving is better.
That is a change of mind, and that is repentance. No life can be truly changed apart from such a change of mind, and it doesn’t come from me — I can only give what I have on the day and some days, like the lady with the two pennies, that isn’t much.
What is Salvation?
A common question amongst the Saints is, “Can you lose your Salvation?”
There is a post on Medium which explains there are three tenses of Soteriology.
I am Justified → I am being Sanctified → I will be Glorified. = I am saved → I am being saved → I will be saved.
All Saints are now in the middle bit — Sanctification. The physical metamorphism of say, a butterfly, is the natural pattern for spiritual Sanctification. Keeping this visual aid
In mind may help you visualize the process as you see the change develop in Abram → Abraham. You too. Just think! You may be a bit of a grub now, but you will become a beautiful butterfly.
And you can’t stop it for it is written, in Philippians 1:6 || being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
1 John 3:2–3 || Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
What next?
The honest question will be answered. This post and the one on LIGHT will be referred to in that post.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
