The Greatest Threat to Mankind

Excerpt from the Rabbi's Son   Friday's Study for Week 52

READINGS:   Torah Vayalech:   Deuteronomy 31:24-30 

Haftarah: Isaiah 56:6-8 B’rit Chadasha: Romans 7:13-14

Ra [i.e. what feels like drama, trauma, and/or calamity to your flesh] 

will befall you in coming days – because 

you will bring forth/make ra 

[i.e. what feels like trauma, drama, and/or calamity to your flesh].

 [Deuteronomy 31:29]

The greatest threat to mankind and Creation is Torahlessness. Torah is the Holy One’s antidote for the ingestion by human beings of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Any time you take away the Torah from the world; or stop its dissemination and implementation; or misappropriate it to use it as a tool of judgment - the world is thrown back into the pre-Flood cataclysm in which every intent of the heart of man is only evil continually. Genesis 6:5.  

...All of mankind is thoroughly infected by the rebellion/stiff-neck virus. That is why the Holy One has given us the Torah – to enable us to overcome, and model for the world how they too can overcome, the toxic effects of that virus. This is not designed to be a one-time miracle cure; it is a day by day, year by year...We are no worse than any other ethnic group – but without embracing and walking in the Torah we are certainly no better than any other ethnic group...Even with the Torah, we are imperfect healers. But despite all that, we are the vessels the Holy One has chosen to use. 

What is it in us that we still need to let the Holy One work on?  Moshe describes the fallen state of man as consisting of five primary symptoms:  1. ‘rebellion’, 2. a ‘stiff neck’, 3. ‘corruption’, 4. ‘doing evil’, and 5.‘provoking’ the Holy One.

1. REBELLION In the Hebrew that Moshe wrote the term used is meri – mem, resh, yod. This is the same word that Moshe used in Numbers 20:10 right before he lo sh’ma-ed [disobeyed] the Holy One’s instructions and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Interestingly, meri is a form of the ancient verb root marah, meaning to strike or to smite in anger or other selfish motive.

...The fallen human condition is to over-react, to lash out, and to smite. Some do it with icy stares. Others do it with harsh words. Some do it with bare hands; some with the power of the pen or computer keyboard.  Others do it with sticks, stones, knives, or guns. But at the root of it all is marah. Flowing from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, meri is the natural reaction of man’s flesh to anything that does not please it.  It over-reacts. It lashes out.

Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for me and for thee!  We are not to judge the meri in others; we are to recognize and deal with it in us. We are to know the enemy within, and anticipate his strategies. We are to learn to recognize the ‘tells’ of the meri in us. And we are to stay in humble submission to the Holy One and His Words in order to keep the meri in us in check. ... If we are to overcome the meri that thrives in our flesh, we absolutely must cling to the Holy One and walk humbly in the instructions of Torah.

2. STIFF-NECKED The second symptom universal among fallen men pointed out by Moshe is the tendency to exhibit a stiff neck.  The Hebrew phrase we translate as ‘stiff neck’ is oref qasheh. Oref means neck. Qasheh is an adjective meaning hardened, firm, and difficult to work with.  Picture a sheep that will not turn its head toward – or turns away from – its shepherd.  Not only will it not sh’ma [listen to] the shepherd’s voice, it resists closeness and subordination.  It is unresponsive and independent – even when it would be in its best interest to respond and cooperate. It is a state of self-obsession and self-will, and of loyalty to one’s personal agenda rather than the Kingdom’s agenda.  That is the default state of the human race since the Fall.   Jew, Gentile; man, woman; white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, it does not matter.  

How flexible is your neck, Dear One?  When the Holy One speaks, do you turn your head and incline your ear?  Or is your neck too stiff?

3. CORRUPTION  The third universal symptom of fallen man is that he is ‘utterly corrupt’. In the Hebrew text the operative phrase used by Moshe to describe this condition is sh’chet tash’chitun.   It is a doubled form of the Hebrew verb shachat. The first usage of this word in Torah is found in Genesis 6:11-12, when the Holy One describes the state of men of earth prior to the Flood.  It means infected with and spreading a highly contagious and extremely toxic form of tumah [i.e. uncleanness].  

With what are men infected? ...whatever form it takes, the causative agent is always what Torah calls tumah, and our English Bibles translate as ‘uncleanness’. We all encounter tumah every day. Such is life on planet earth. Something is always growing, and looking for nurture; something is always deteriorating; and our yetzer ha-ra is always looking for something that it can take, consume, manipulate for its own ends, kill, or destroy. Tumah is found in all the ‘biodegrading/garbage eating agents’ of Creation – i.e. bacterium, viruses, snakes, crawling insects, predatory animals and birds, scavengers, bottom-feeders, dogs, cats, pigs, catfish, shellfish etc. – and is found as well in all the ‘natural’ processes that result in death and decay among humans. These prominently include:

1. bad diet [e.g. eating things or consuming quantities of ‘food’, or eating at times, that the Holy One never intended; seeking comfort or pleasure from ‘food’, and]; 
2. substance misuse, abuse, and/or dependence;
3. hyper-sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, and sexuality;
4. obsession over appearance;
5. hyper-materialism [e.g. hyper-territoriality, competitiveness, jealousy, envy, and covetousness; deceit, manipulation, occult arts, and witchcraft];
6. racial, national, ethnic, regional, social, or economic pride/prejudice;
7. isolationism/hiding from social interaction;
8. selfishness in relationships:
9. voyeuristic levels of curiosity;
10. pursuit of abstract ideas [i.e. ‘knowledge’, ‘truth’, ‘information’, ‘education’, ‘happiness’, ‘justice’, ‘morality’, ‘fairness’, ‘salvation’, ‘religion’, ‘power’, etc.]
11. slothfulness and leisure-seeking;
12. thrill-seeking and wanderlust;
13. seeking from men respect, honor, fame, glory, tribute, or homage;
14. indulgence of dark energy-fueled feelings and emotions/emotional reactions [e.g. boredom, stress, anxiety, worry, fear, pride, disappointment, discontent, depression, anger, offense, unforgiveness, outrage, etc.];
15. wastefulness/profligacy; 
16. ingratitude;
17. irreverence [lack of fear of the Holy One, and respect of that which He calls ‘holy’];
18. over-valuation of human beings and/or their deeds & ideas [e.g. idolatry, hero worship; and all other forms of humanism]; 
19. closed-handedness toward the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner; and
20. lawlessness.

Because we are human, and because we live in a world that is constantly biodegrading, we all have seed beds of tumah all around us. They are in our fleshly appetites, urges, drives, attitudes, moods, opinions, philosophies, ideologies, information sources, and sentiments.  If we do not use the tools the Holy One has given us, in the Torah, to keep it in check, it will invariably [a] adversely affect our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies; [b] attract ‘unclean spirits’; and ultimately [c] turn us into agents of tumah ourselves, who infect people around us with our unique strain of the disease.

4. DOING EVIL [Hebrew: ra], The fourth universal symptom that Moshe identifies with fallen man is that he ‘does evil’. In the Hebrew text the operative phrase used by Moshe to describe this condition is asu et-ha-ra.  It means to build/make/construct a state of calamity. It means to lay the groundwork for epic failure, disaster, and ruin.  In Hebrew thought, you see, ra – which English speakers call ‘evil’ – is not a matter of morality at all. It is just a matter of attitude, thought, speech, or behavior that degrades/acts negatively on whatever it touches, and therefore inevitably lead to what to our flesh feels like trauma or calamity.  If left unchecked, ra will corrupt and destroy whatever – and whoever - it touches. The natural state of man – in the flesh – is to mess up everything. It is the opposite of the ‘Midas touch’ or the ‘healing touch’; it is the ‘Serpent’s touch’ – a kind of bull-in-the-china-shop touch that puts everything and everyone with whom the person comes in contact on a road that – if not course-corrected by Torah – will careen toward destruction, calamity, disaster, and ruin, and

 (Interesting to note: Ra, ie, evil, is the name of the sun god of Egypt, another name for Nimrod, leader of the religion Mystery Babylon, although under a seemingly different name (he has several), which has corrupted Christianity with a mixture of pagan idolatry and harlotry, i.e. christmas which is actually Nimrod's birthday; easter, the goddess Ashtoreth, wife of Ba'al; harvest festival--halloween trick or treating; "Sun"day worship=worship of Ra, the sun god.)

5. PROVOKING THE HOLY ONE  The fifth universal symptom that Moshe identifies with fallen man is that he ‘provokes’ the Holy One. The Hebrew word our English Bibles translate as ‘provoke’ is ka’as – kaf, ayin, samech.  Our English Bibles add the phrase ‘to anger’, but no word for ‘anger’ is present in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew text does not present the Holy One – Who is Eternal, Omniscient and totally confident in His ability to bring good out of every situation – as being ‘angry’. What He does get is ka’as.  That just means displeased.  The Holy One looks at human lives – which He created and cares about – two ways. On the humble and contrite, He looks with FAVOR.  On the rebellious, stiff-necked, calamity-making ones filling the beautiful world He created with corruption He looks with KA’AS - displeasure.  On which of the two groups – those He looks upon with favor, or those He looks upon with ka’as – do you think He will pour out His blessings? On which of those groups do you think He will pour out wisdom and revelation?  On which group, on the other hand, do you think He will He release a series of disciplinary actions designed to bring them to teshuvah (repentance), and give them a chance at redemption?

THESE THINGS ARE WHY WE NEED TORAH!   Torah is our antivirus, the antidote for the plague we are infested with. We can rejoice because we have Y'shua, i.e. Jesus,  Who IS the Torah, the Word of YHVH, the Holy One. He is our way to healing, redemption, and restoration. He FULFILLED the law/Word of YHVH, He didn't get rid of it. The commandments of the Lord reveal His Character which never changes, giving us the proper boundaries for expressing His character through our individual and corporate lives. Torah is the standard of Almighty God throughout all eternity. Without Y'shua and Torah, we have no way to combat the infection resulting from ingesting fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have no way to combat death, disease, and all types of calamity, nor any way to fulfill the calling and hope for the destiny Adonai has in mind for every one of us. Nor have we any access to redemption and salvation EXCEPT THROUGH HIM. We need Y'SHUA, our Redeemer, and we need TORAH because they are one and the same thing.

May the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, open our eyes to His Word and His Ways.