Jealousy

This is a continuing look at the Sabbath reading portion titled Naso, meaning "to elevate, lift up". The first part of this study began last week, and is posted on an entry just below this one. We will start our story in the New Testament this time to see an example of the elevation of naso. The Pharisees and the chief priests, who were the religious leaders at the time, "...sent officers to take (piazo/biazo - take, caught, apprehend, lay hold of in order to imprison, arrest/apply force, inflict violence upon) Him (Jesus)...Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, 'Why have you not brought Him?'. The officers answered, 'No man ever spoke like this man!" (Jn. 7:32-45, excerpt). The Pharisees told the officers that they too were deceived like the ignorant crowd, saying, "....this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." (v. 47-49). The Pharisees were very confident that they, unlike the ignorant people, knew the law. One of their members, a secret disciple of Jesus, spoke up against the arrest action: "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" (v. 50-51). So the law was to fairly handle accusations, and not judge someone guilty without a hearing. What had Jesus said that had caused the temple officers to come back empty-handed? One thing He said during this time was 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). On another occasion, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman by the well who had had several husbands, and "not-quite husbands": "...whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (Jn. 4:13-14). Then these debates of the religious leaders concerning Jesus broke up, and they returned to their homes. Meanwhile, Jesus had headed in a different direction. He went to the Mount of Olives, and early the next morning, He went to the temple in Jerusalem. There all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them (Jn. 8:1-2). We can imagine how these same Pharisees felt when they saw all the people going to Jesus in the temple, and Him teaching them instead of themselves, as "the experts". Many times in Scripture, the religious leaders were described as jealous, envious, and enraged at the Words and miracles of Jesus (see Mt. 27:15-18, Lk. 6:9-11, Lk. 11:52-54, Jn. 11:47-53, 57). In their resentment of Him, the scribes and Pharisees immediately brought a woman before Jesus there in the temple that they said had been taken/caught (katalambano - apprehend, lay hold of, seize, come upon, perceive, to make a trial of) in adultery. From the meaning of the Greek word used here, this does not necessarily mean that the woman had already been proven guilty, but she had been seized under the allegation of adultery. However, they told Jesus that the woman was caught "in the very act" (Jn. 8:1-4). Were they telling Jesus the truth? These leaders had already proven that they had no problem bending the religious rules for their convenience, and Jesus had often condemned them for it. Jesus, who was without blame, had Himself been the victim of their false accusations many times. Jesus was about to give these religious leaders a demonstration of His superior, even omniscient knowledge of the Scriptures (He is the Word of God), as He applied the Law of Jealousy from Numbers 5, which is one of our Sabbath reading portions. This is the law of jealousy as given by the LORD to Moses: The spirit (ruah - breath, wind, spirit, mind, blast, vain, anger, seat of emotion, bitter, discontented, an unaccountable uncontrollable impulse) of jealousy (qinah/qana - jealousy, envy, zeal, ardor of anger/jealous anger) has entered into a man. Either his (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wife has indeed committed adultery (defiled herself), but it was done in secret with no witnesses, having not been caught (tapas - taken, surprised, caught, seized, captured), or his (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wife has not defiled herself, but is an innocent accused by the spirit of jealousy that has entered her husband. He is to bring his wife to the priest, and along with bringing a jealousy offering "for bringing iniquity to remembrance", she will be given holy water brought in an earthen vessel to drink in which dust (apar - dust, earth, powder, ashes) from the floor of the tabernacle has been mixed (Num. 5:11-.18). The priest would then have the woman swear an oath that if she is guilty of this iniquity, certain physical curses would come upon her (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) thigh/loins, and her (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) belly (womb) that would prevent her from having children, and cause her to be a curse among the people. The priest would write these curses in a book, "and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter." (v. 23-24). The LORD concluded His command saying: "This is the law of jealousy...". (Num. 5:29). This law, as we can see, is not about adultery, which has its own specific place in the law. It is about a spirit of jealousy that holds both the man and his wife in bondage. The husband cannot prove his wife's guilt, and the wife cannot prove her innocence. God provided a way in which an innocent may be supernaturally proven innocent, and both husband and wife may be delivered from the effects of this destructive spirit. Otherwise, there is no remedy for this situation which cannot be proven either way. Let's look at what Jesus did with this law of jealousy, and these religious leaders, whose motivations of jealousy, envy and rage, He was already very familiar with. The scribes and Pharisees said of the woman: "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?' This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up (nasa/naso in Hebrew - lift up, rise up, bear, carry in the arms, support, forgive, aid, assist, help, hold up, pardon, spare, to lay sin upon oneself) and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up (nasa/naso in Hebrew: see above meaning) and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers (kategoros - "against" + "the assembly", accuser, name given to the devil, as against one in the assembly) of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neiither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (v. 5-11). We see the elements present here from the law of jealousy. The woman is accused of adultery. Jesus, had just taught that HE is the source of "the holy water", the living water of everlasting life of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:39). He wrote on the ground (ge - ground, earth) of the temple (tabernacle). Many believe that Jesus was writing the sins of her accusers in the ground. That's a good conclusion. Remember, though, that the law of jealousy required that the curses of that law be written. Jesus would know if the accusation against her was false, but He didn't say that it was. If the accusation was true and proven, why hadn't the men already stoned her before this? It was very convenient for them to come with this accused woman at that very moment when they were so angry with Jesus, in order to test Him. Jesus "raised Himself up" twice during the incident. Was He exercising the true meaning of nasa/naso in which the law of jealousy is found? The true meaning in "elevating or lifting up" of nasa/naso includes forgiveness, pardon, help, to spare, to lay sin upon oneself, as we saw above. We like the idea of ourselves being elevated, but the true elevation comes when we elevate others with us. All of these things are food for thought as we read and meditate upon naso, to elevate, to lift up. If you would like to know more about the grace of naso, you can pray with me: Heavenly Father, You made a provision to vindicate the innocent, and righteously judge the guilty. However, we are all guilty in our hearts, and need the forgiveness, pardon, and help of Your naso Son, Jesus. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." (Jn. 12:32). Fill me with Your Spirit, so that I can walk in the truth of elevation in Christ. You sent Your Son, so that I might be raised up with Him (Eph. 2:6). Let me be slow to accuse, and quick to elevate in forgiveness and prayer. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."