Musing – How many times have you heard “Father knows best”?

Hebraic Musing – How many times have you heard “Father knows best”?

(No musings for the next two weeks, so enjoy this one)

My earthly father never gave me a serious ultimatum, except for the incomplete statements like “Do it or else.”   But Father God gave us an ultimatum when He said to us “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.  But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.”  NIV  Deut. 30:15-18 

Fathers hear protests from their children when they tell them they need to be home at a certain hour, or that they can’t attend a certain event. The child thinks you are just being mean and don’t want them to have any fun.  Younger children are told by their fathers “Don’t play in the street”; and what does the child try to do?  Do they understand why their father made up that ‘silly’ rule?  Later in life the grown child learns the “why” for the commands, decrees and laws.

I’ve said it before – “Everything a good father tells his child to do is for the child’s own good.”

The above quote from Deuteronomy and the agreement of the people constitutes a covenant created between God and His people at Sinai, thus called the Sinaitic or Mosaic covenant.  The people promised to obey God’s Word and His Mitzvot (commandments, decrees and laws) — all 613 of them contained in the Torah. In return for their obedience, God promises to bless and reward the Israelites and the people.  BTW, some have counted 1,050 commandments in the NT!  So which is the book of Law?  Yeshua did not make it easier; how many times did He say “Don’t even think about it”?

The Hebrew word for “commandments” is “Mitzvot” which translates as “Good Deeds.” Selah!

While 613 may seem like a lot of rules, each one was designed by our Heavenly Father for our own good, just as our parental rules are designed for our children’s benefit.  God did not give us His commands, decrees and laws to make our lives difficult, to burden us, or to punish us.  Rather, He wants to protect our relationship with Him. And He wants us, His children, to live long and blessed lives.  He knows better than we do that a life of joy will be found when we act in harmony with His will.  Disobedience causes sorrow and hurt for both the child and the father.  Thus, our Father wants us to realize that keeping His commands, decrees and laws should be pure joy, not a chore or legalism.  And doesn’t a child enjoy hearing his father say “Good job, son!”? 

In case you are wondering what’s included in the 613 Mitzvot our Loving Father has given us in the Torah, I’m attaching Insight #22 from my book Hebraic Insights – Messages Exploring the Hebrew roots of Christian Faith.  Some of you are already thinking that all the commands in the Torah are not relevant and/or cannot be performed today. That is partially true, so let’s look at the “can do and can’t do” status of Mitzvot as analyzed in the attachment.  Do you think we should be obeying those we can?  

Points to ponder

Should we hear and obey simply because “Abba says so”?

Shalom

Yosef