JustJudge

The following is a quote from automaker, Henry Ford: "Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish, arrogant, or greedy, the money brings that out, that's all." Scripture also says through Paul, "And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Tim. 6:8-10). God does not forbid us to prosper. In fact, the Hebrew word for "salvation", which is yesua/yasa, which is also the root of Jesus' name, includes the meanings: welfare, prosperity, to be spacious, ample", in addition to what we think of when we hear the word "salvation". It also includes the idea of "avenging". The scripture from Timothy above warns us though that we need to have our minds renewed in regard to money. The desire for wealth or money, especially, when that desire is a priority to us, can become a snare that destroys even those in the faith. So money, and our attitudes toward it, is of importnce to God. This week's sabbath reading titled Va-yeitze, meaning "and he left", deals with wealth as it reveals the just and the unjust. Have you ever been cheated, or been taken advantage of, or have you perhaps taken advantage of others? The avenging God of Salvation has His eyes towards you either way because He has vowed to uphold justice. We are continuing in the Book of Genesis, or B'resheit, the book of Beginning, where God will establish His spiritual principles regarding how He will deal with injustice, especially as it is revealed in the acquiring of wealth. In Gen. 28, 29, and 31, we read about Jacob's dealings with his father-in-law, Laban. Jacob is the son of Isaac, and the grandson of Abraham. He was running for his life from his twin brother, Esau, who had despised his birthright, and "sold" it to his younger brother, Jacob (see previous blog entry "Kings"). In his fleeing, Jacob left Beersheba to go towards Haran, the place of his mother's relatives. "Beersheba", which means "the well of the sevenfold oath" is the name of a well established by Abraham, and confirmed to be of his ownership by a covenant that Abraham made with King Abimelech of the Philistines by sacrificing seven ewe lambs in Gen. 21:22-34. When leaving Beersheba, Jacob is leaving a sure provision established by his grandfather by covenant. He is going towards Haran/harar, which means "a place dried up or parched, burned, dried, angry, scorched, to roast, shriveled from drying, kindle (contention)". Not only was Jacob running for his life, but he was leaving behind his guaranteed provision, even a life-sustaining well established by his revered grandfather, Abraham. We can be sure that God is watching this. We know this to be a fact by what happened next. Jacob is given a dream in which he sees a ladder between earth and heaven with angels ascending and descending (Gen. 28:11-12). The LORD stood above this ladder and declared to Jacob: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth...and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." (v. 13-15). Jacob, upon waking, said: Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it:, and he was very afraid. He said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven", and he anointed a stone with oil, and called the place "Bethel", meaning "the house/family/descendants of God" (v. 18-19). He swore to give God a tenth of all that the LORD would give to Jacob in the future if the LORD would give him bread to eat and clothing to put on. Notice the similarity to what Paul wrote above in 1 Timothy 6 regarding food and clothing. Finally on his journey, Jacob found himself at another well, and discovered that this well was near his destination of Haran. There was a large, heavy stone across the top of this well, which the people only uncovered once a day when all of the flocks had been gathered. Three flocks were already there waiting, so they remained at the closed well waiting for the fourth flock. Since the meaning of Haran is a place of burning, scorching, melting dryness, we can perhaps guess why they kept the well covered, and opened it only once a day. Evaporation from the intense heat would have dried the water supply in the well. We can see a connection between the heavy stone that covered the well at scorching Haran, and the heavy stone that covered the "well of eternal life", the tomb of Jesus, a provision from God in the middle of a burning, scorched, dying world. Jesus had once cried out with a loud voice at a Feast of the LORD: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (Jn. 7:37-38, Isa. 55:1). Jesus is the well that can never dry up. As that stone was rolled away from Jesus' tomb, came the knowledge that Christ had risen from the dead. At the well in Haran, Jacob met his beautiful kinswoman, Rachel, who was a shepherdess of her father's sheep, and would become Jacob's future wife. Upon meeting this daughter of his mother's brother, Laban, Jacob kissed her and wept. (Gen. 29:9-11). When Rachel took Jacob to her father's house, Jacob told Laban all that had happened to him (v. v. 13). From that moment, Laban did nothing but deceive and cheat Jacob, both in the matter of marrying Rachel, and in his wages as he worked for his father-in-law (v. 20-25, Gen. 31:4-7, 38-41). Laban had been prospered and favored while Jacob had worked for him, and wanted to keep Jacob bound to him. Laban said to Jacob: "Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake." Jacob agreed saying: "For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the LORD has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?" (Gen. 30:27-30). However, Laban again cheated Jacob (v. 32-36). The LORD then miraculously provided flocks for Jacob: "Thus the man (Jacob) became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys." (v. 38-43). Jacob's labor for Laban had lasted twenty years. The LORD then spoke to Jacob in a dream and said: "...I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel...where you made a vow to Me. Now, arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family." (Gen. 31:12-13). Jacob took his wives, children, and flocks that belonged to him, and fled from his father-in-law, who chased after him. In a dream, God warned Laban about how he should speak to Jacob (Gen. 31:22-24). Jacob then confronted Laban at Gilead (meaning "hard, stony region"), where Laban had caught up with Jacob. Jacob said to him: "Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night." (v. 42). Jacob then continued his journey home with his wives, children, servants and flocks, and was able to make a kind of peace with his brother, Esau. The other sabbath readings for this week also have something to say about the unjust actions of those who have fallen into the trap of the corrupt desire for money or wealth of some kind. Again, money and wealth are neutral. It is what the desire for it magnifies about a man's soul that becomes a problem in God's eyes. Christ was sold into betrayal for the price of thirty pieces of silver. The silver offered to Judas Iscariot only revealed and magnified the resentment and bitterness that was already in the heart of the betrayer. In some cases as shown in this week's sabbath readings, God has used an oppressive enemy of Israel's love of money to entrap him into his own appointed destruction (1 Kings 20), but God's own people have also fallen into this trap (Hosea 11 and 12). In the end times prophesied in scripture, the single-minded pursuit and love of wealth will be one cause for destruction (Rev. 18, 2 Tim. 3:1-2). In the words from another of this week's sabbath readings appointed for our wisdom, the scriptures say: "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold." (Prov. 22:1). Again the question that was asked in the beginning of this post: Have you been cheated or taken advantage of? Hopefully it was something similar to these words of Jesus: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (see Ex. 21:24-25).' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two...You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust...Therefore you shall be perfect (teleios/telos - finished, perfect, lacking nothing to completeness, fully grown, adult, mature/the end, the goal, the purpose, eternal), just as your Father in heaven is perfect (teleios/telos - same as above)." (Mt. 5:38-48, Lk. 6:27-36). The sabbath readings for this week, to me, require an honest examination of our hearts regarding the question asked at the beginning of this post. Our own welfare and future prosperity will be affected by these issues. After fleeing from home, Jacob was repeatedly cheated for twenty years by the relatives with which he had sought safety, until God miraculously provided wealth for him, and told him to leave and return to his homeland. Would we have reacted in the same way as Jacob did if placed in a similar circumstance of long-term betrayal and greed? God sees the injustices, and turns them against the enemy, and for His people: "...they hired against you Ba'laam the son of Beor...to curse you. Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Ba'laam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. You shall not seek (daras - search after, require, resort to, demand, ask for, follow, to frequent, consult) their peace (salom/salam - welfare, prosperity, safety, friendship, covenant relationship/reward, repay, restore, restitution, recompense, covenant of peace) nor their prosperity (tob - good, wealth, prosperity, precious, happiness, bounty, cheer, delight) all your days forever. You shall not abhor an Edomite (descendants of Esau and a continual enemy of Israel), for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian (former haven and then slavemasters), because you were an alien in his land." (Deut. 23:5-7). While the LORD is saying not to hate a person or people who have grievously injured us, He also is saying that we are not to search for, nor ask for or demand, their wealth, their peace, their happiness, a covenant relationship, even rewards, restitution or re-payment from their wealth. God's eyes are upon them, and upon us. He is using what is revealed in the heart by the exchange or pursuit of wealth and prosperity in order to make His determinations as the Just Judge. God prospers His people in a time and a manner that will not draw them into traps of destruction, if we will learn His B'resheit or foundational principles, and walk in them. He wrote to His people by the Holy Spirit: "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." (2 Jn. v. 2). If you would like to know more about the snare of the love of wealth to our hearts, you can pray with me: "Dear Father, Your eyes are upon my heart, and the hearts of all men. Renew my mind and a right spirit within me regarding the difference between how God's people are to prosper, and how the world pursues prosperity. Let me always be content as You prosper me as You also prosper my soul. Teach me the wisdom and power found in Christ's words regarding the difference between the Kingdom of God, and the kingdoms of this world regarding prosperity, and its acquisition. Fill me with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that keeps me from temptation, and from the love of money. Fill my heart with the understanding of the Just Judge. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."