God’s Problem: Part 2

 

In my previous email I stated that “God’s problem is getting people to love Him.” This wasn’t a surprise, because for people to “love,” they must be “free to not love.” If people did not have that choice, they could not love. God created humans to be “choice making creatures” (Genesis 1:24, 26-27):

 

“And God said, ‘Let the Earth bring forth a living soul

according to her kind . . . Let Us make ADAM in Our image,

according to Our likeness . . . God created ADAM with His image . . .

male and female He created them.”

 

The words “Us” and “Our” have created many theological debates. To whom do they refer? We use linguistic models in our work and in this context, they refer to “God and the Earth.” Prior to creating ADAM, God and the Earth were both involved in creating the animals.

 

1. God told the Earth to bring forth an Earth soul for the animals and the Earth did it.

 

2. After that God created ADAM.

 

3. Our models indicate the Earth also brought forth an Earth soul.

 

4. Then God created ADAM.

 

5. ADAM is “a couple” -- one male and one female human – not an individual.

 

6. God created the couple with His image. Note that I said “with,” not “in His image.”

 

7. The only thing revealed about that in this story is found in Genesis 1:2 – RUACH ELOHIYM -- “Spirit of God” (“the presence of God”).  

 

8. All humans are created with the Spirit of a Being that values TOV; a  Being that is unlike humans, and compared with all else is incomprehensible to humans.

 

9. Each human has an Earth soul with earthly appetites, desires and longings that drive animal and human behaviors.

 

10. God created humans with conflicting forces and the ability to choose between them. That is what makes it possible for humans to love.

 

This is reflected in teachings of the rabbis about yetzer hatov (good inclination/impulse) and yetzer hara (evil inclination/impulse). It supports the idea that humans are created with contradictory forces pulling away from each other. 

 

God created all humans to be alike, but He did not create them to function like preprogramed robots that love Him. However But God did something that makes it possible for humans to love Him and each other – He blesses them.

 

I will discuss this blessing in my next email. But I will close with an amazing fact from science that is related to what I have been discussing. Our bodies are created from a DNA code and the DNA code in humans is over 99% identical. Genetically we are alike!

 

May your Shalom increase,

Jim Myers

 

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God’s Problem

 

God has had this problem since He created Adam and Eve. It is a problem that He cannot resolve unless He changes what humans are or humans learn to do it for Him. So, what is God’s problem?

 

It is getting people to love Him.

 

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor explained the meaning of the ancient Hebrew word translated “love” in the May 2014 edition of our newsletter Discovering the Bible.

 

When we in the modern world hear the word “love,” we think of an emotion, but when we look to the Bible we see a different meaning. In the Hebrew Bible, the word for “love” is “AHAVAH.” The root of the word is “HAV”, which means “to give” – “to love is to give.”  The Hebrew Scriptures have a strikingly pragmatic character. There, “love” includes “conscious acts done in behalf of the person who is loved.” So, “to love the Lord” and “loving your neighbor and yourself” involve “concrete acts.” This is what both the Jewish tradition and the Jewish Jesus teach. Real love is the guide as we walk through the darkness.”

 

What concrete actions of love can people do to demonstrate that they love God? The only thing a human can do “to love God” is “to love what God loves” – God loves people. God measures all actions involving people with His “TOV Standard.”

 

● Acts of love protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional, and increase the quality of life.

 

● Acts of love are also acts of TZEDAQAH – acts of loyalty to God and loyalty to God’s family (everyone created in His image).

 

● Acts of love increase SHALOM – “a social environment in which people’s lives are complete, healthy, and wholesome; relationships are harmonious and successful; homes are safe; places are secure and restful.”

 

● Acts of love also make TESHUVAH possible – the mercy required to forgive so relationships will be repaired and harmony restored in the society.

 

And, as Rabbi Leynor said, “Real love is the guide as we walk through the darkness.” Bookmark the BHC Vocabulary Page and make sure your Explorers Vocabulary is up to date. In closing I want to tell you what the opposite of AHAVAH is:

 

“It is indifference; unbiased impartial unconcern;

apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions.”

 

So, unless God changes what we are, it will be up to us to love Him by loving other people -- and teaching them how to love.

 

May SHALOM Increase in 2021,

Jim Myers

 

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What Did Evil Mean to Jesus?

 

In my last email, What Did Good Mean to Jesus, I used Psalm 34:13-14 as a context to understand what “good” meant. In the Psalm below, I use transliterations of three key Hebrew words that are very important in the teachings of Jesus. Their English translations are in ^superscript.      

 

Keep your tongue from RAH ^evil,

and your lips from speaking deceit ^MIRMAH.

Depart from RAH ^evil and do TOV ^good;

seek SHALOM ^peace and pursue it.

 

In order to accurately understand the movement and teachings of the Jewish Jesus of history (Yeshua), a “Kingdom of Heaven Vocabulary” is a prerequisite. It gives you not only “meanings of words;” it also gives you the ability to “recognize actions that reflect them” in the teachings of Jesus. Below is what “good” (TOV) to Jesus:

 

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional,

and increase the quality of life.

 

In my previous email I pointed out that “good” is part of a standard we are taught as young children – “good / bad.” The meaning of “bad” is dependent upon the meaning of “good.” In the ancient Hebrew language of the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus, the opposite of TOV (good) is RAH which is translated “evil.” Therefore, for Jesus, this is the meaning of “evil” (RAH):

 

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that destroy lives, harm lives, make lives less functional,

and decrease the quality of life.

 

Now let’s use this information to update our translation of Psalm 34:13-14.

 

Keep your tongue from talking about things that destroy lives,

harm lives, make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life,

and your lips from speaking deceit.

 

Depart from things that destroy lives, harm lives,

make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life.

 

Do things that protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, and increase the quality of life.

 

Seek SHALOM ^peace and pursue it.

 

I will discuss the meaning of “SHALOM” in my next email.

 

Thank you for Exploring with me,

Jim Myers

 

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What Did Good Mean to Jesus?

 

As a person with a Christian Biblical Heritage, the words of Jesus have always been very important to me. But I didn’t know that the Hebrew words he spoke were buried beneath many layers of English translations of Greek words from ancient manuscripts of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I was reading Greek words written by scribes translated by English translators, instead of the Hebrew words of Jesus translated into English.

 

Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus of history, was a very knowledgeable teacher of the Hebrew scrolls of Jewish Scriptures. He used a style of teaching, in which he often “hinted at” things recorded in those scrolls, gave a “commentary” about them, and ended with ways to apply that information in life experiences.

 

Without an awareness of “those hints,” however, we are unable to “hear his teachings.” But, thanks to the hard work of many scholars from multiple disciplines over the past 150 years, we can now “hear the teachings of Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus of history” again.

 

A scroll that was very important to Yeshua contained Psalm 34; he “hinted at” sections of it many times. Below are verses 13 and 14.

 

Keep your tongue from RAH ^evil,

and your lips from speaking deceit ^MIRMAH.

Depart from RAH ^evil and do TOV ^good;

seek SHALOM ^peace and pursue it.

 

“TOV” is the Hebrew word translated “good” -- one of the most important words in the English language. “Good” is part of a standard we were taught as very young children – “good / bad.” The meaning of “bad” is dependent upon the meaning of “good.” It is a fact that people subconsciously move towards “good” and away from “bad.” This is what “do good” meant to Yeshua:

 

Think about, talk about, and do things

that protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional,

and increase the quality of life.

 

● If people did those “good” things, would life in America be better or worse?

 

● Would life in your town be better or worse?

 

● Would life in your family be better or worse?

 

● Would your life be better or worse if just you did “good”?

 

WWJD? He would do good.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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Three Essential Hebrew Words Bible Readers Must Know Part 2

 

TZEDAQAH is a difficult word for English speakers to understand. At first glance it appears to mean something that simply makes no sense -- a combination of charity and justice. In English, charity is voluntary while justice is mandatory. This problem was created when translators incorrectly linked the Hebrew word charity to TZEDAQAH. They should have linked it to loyalty.

 

TZEDAQAH is a combination of loyalty and justice.

 

1. Loyalty to the community in conduct and honesty.

 

2. Justice by eliminating things that decrease SHALOM or create disorder in the community.

 

There is a far cry between TZEDAQAH, with its implications of social justice, and the word “charity.” In the case of “charity”, the recipient sees himself beholden to the donor, whose action is voluntary. TZEDAQAH, on the other hand, has to be performed as a matter of obligation and the recipient is in no way indebted to the donor. The needy have a right to TZEDAQAH, while those possessing means have a duty to give it. Even a person who receives TZEDAQAH must in turn give TZEDAQAH.

 

In the Jewish culture, people do not ultimately own everything. What people have is ultimately God's and He merely lends it to people. He gives it to people in trust and one of the conditions of that trust is that “people must share what they own with people who have less than they have.”

 

TZEDAQAH is the foundation of social justice because acts of TZEDAQAH fulfill legal and moral obligations of community members to do what is right in all relationships. Acts of TZEDAQAH are concrete acts, not abstract notions.

Members of the community must be taught about TZEDAQAH because it is not an inherent human characteristic. It is a learned trait resulting from the sustained performance of obligations through the constant pursuit of justice by performing acts of TZEDAQAH.

 

TZEDAQAH & SHALOM

 

Isaiah’s prophesy (32:11-18) helps us see the big picture better.

_____________________________________

 

“Tremble, you complacent ones! Quake, O confident ones. Strip yourself naked and put cloth around your loins. Beat your breasts, lamenting for pleasant fields and fruitful vines.

 

Thorns and briers shall spring up on the land of My people, even over the houses of joy in the jubilant cities, because the palace has been forsaken, the multitude of the city has been abandoned, rampart and tower are instead caves until forever, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks – until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high.

 

Then the desert becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. MISHPAT (justice) shall dwell in the desert, and TZEDAQAH shall reside in the fruitful field. The work of TZEDAQAH will be SHALOM, and the service of TZEDAQAH will be tranquility and safety until eternity. And My people will dwell in homes of SHALOM – safe homes in secure resting places.”

_____________________________________

Now let’s review what we learned in the discussions about TOV, TZEDAQAH and SHALOM -- and put the pieces together.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH measure TOV and increase SHALOM.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH demonstrate one’s loyalty and faithfulness to the community.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH are acts of justice because they eliminate things that decrease SHALOM or disrupt order in the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH measure evil and decrease SHALOM and/or disrupts order in the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH is being disloyal and unfaithful to the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH makes a person guilty of a crime because SHALOM is decrease.

 

A person who does acts of TZEDAQAH is called a TZADIQ –

a good and/or innocent person.

 

A person who fails to do acts of TZEDAQAH is called –

an evil and/or guilty person.

 

Understanding this is an absolutely essential requirement for understanding the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of the Jewish Jesus.

 

The status of each person – innocent or guilty –

at the moment of death or on the Great Day of Judgment,

determines his or her ultimate destiny.

 

I will continue this discussion in my next email.

 

May your Shalom increase,

Jim Myers

 

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Three Required Hebrew Words for Every Bible Reader’s Vocabulary

 

The three Hebrew words above have no English equivalents. The English words used to translate them are not accurate meanings. At a minimum, it would take a sentence or more to convey the Hebrew meanings to English readers. In order to understand TOV, SHALOM, and TZEDAQAH in the context in which they appear, you need to do two things.

 

1. Add their transliterations and meanings to your vocabulary and use the transliterations when you read and discuss verses in which they appear.

 

2. Use an interlinear Bible (it has Hebrew and English words) to locate the Hebrew words or use BHC translations of Bible portions in your Bible studies. (See Website Page)

 

The Story of TOV

 

The Hebrew word TOV appears seven times in the first story in Genesis. The first appearance is in Genesis 1:4.

 

And God saw the light, that it was TOV.

 

Most translators translate “TOV” as “good.” Translators generally use lexicons (dictionaries) that list several English words as options for translating. In addition, we must look for “contextual meanings that emerge from the context in which they appear.” As I said above, TOV appears seven times in Genesis 1 and from that context this contextual meaning emerged:

 

“TOV is the standard the Creator used to

measure the results of His actions.

 

Acts that measure TOV protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, and/or increase the quality of life.”

 

As you can see, the English word “good” doesn’t reflect the meaning of the Hebrew word TOV.

 

The Story of Shalom

 

Dr. William Chomsky, Noam Chomsky’s father, provides the following meaning for “SHALOM.”

____________________________

 

“The word shalom, usually rendered by ‘peace,’ has in effect little in common with its English equivalent. Shalom does not have the passive, even negative, connotation of the word ‘peace.’ It does not mean merely the absence of strife. It is pregnant with positive, active and energetic meaning and association. It connotes totality, health, wholesomeness, harmony, success -- the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu.”

____________________________

 

A description of “the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu” was given in my previous email. It is the Creator’s vision of “what human life in His kingdom would be like.”

 

● People will reflect the image of God through their TOV acts. The will be actively engaged in protecting each other’s’ lives, preserving each other’s lives, making each other’s lives more functional, increasing the quality of life for each other.

 

● People will also be actively engaged as the Creator’s Co-Shepherds over all life on earth.

 

Acts that measure TOV increase SHALOM.

 

I will discuss TZEDAQAH in my next email. It is one of the most important words in the Hebrew Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus. But in closing I want to give you a chance to put what you learned above to work. Below is the BHC translation of Psalm 34:14. Using the above information, write your commentary about what the verse meant to the author and readers of the ancient Hebrew text.

 

Depart from evil and do TOV;

seek SHALOM and pursue it.

 

May you SHALOM increase,

Jim Myers

 

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Return! Walk with God and His Kingdom.

 

“The Great Day of Judgment” plays an important role in the teachings of Jesus. Everything that happens to people on that day will be based on whether God sees them as being innocent or guilty.

 

God will punish the guilty and deliver the innocent.

 

In the Story of the Great Flood, God saw that Noah was innocent (a TZADIQ) and God saw that others were guilty. The guilty were wiped from the face of the earth by a flood. God gave Noah instructions about how to build the thing that would deliver animals and birds, as well as Noah and his family. Noah built the ark and it saved their lives.

 

As I said in my last email (click here to read), in the teachings of Jesus, the ark is “the Kingdom of God.” It will deliver the innocent from being destroyed like the guilty. The people listening to Jesus wanted to know the answer to one question.

 

What does one have to do to be in the Kingdom of God?

 

Jesus said one word and they knew exactly what it meant.

 

Return!

 

English translations say, “Repent!” The Hebrew word Jesus spoke was “TESHUVAH!” Neither of the English words above communicate an accurate translation of the meaning of the Hebrew word Jesus spoke. As a matter of fact, the English language is incapable of accurately communicating any ancient Hebrew message in a word-for-word translation. We equip Explorers of Biblical Heritages with guidelines and models that remove linguistic and cultural barriers that are between them and the meanings of the ancient Hebrew words.

 

Thinking in Ancient Hebrew Model #1

 

● An action is regarded as being either completed or incompleted.

 

● Hebrew knows of no past, present, or future tense.

 

● Hebrew has a perfect tense (a completed action) and an imperfect tense (an action that has not been completed).[i]

 

● Speakers of the English language view the world, and communicate what they see, through past, present, and future tenses. We see the world through time-based models.

 

● Jesus viewed his world, and communicated what he saw, through actions-based models.

 

So, the first thing we need to know about the Hebrew word Jesus spoke (TESHUVAH) is this -- What actions must be completed for people to be innocent? The answer to that question is found in the Story of TESHUVAH in Ezekiel 18. Below are verse 26 and 27):

 

If an innocent person turns from his acts of TZEDAQAH

and commits sin, he will die for it;

because of the sin he has committed he will die.

 

If a guilty person turns from the acts of RAH (evil) he has committed

and does acts of MISHPAT (justice) and TZEDAQAH,

he will save his life.

 

TESHUVAH occupied a central place in the Judaisms of the time of Jesus (and still does today). Broadly defined, TESHUVAH is more than “just repentance from sin.”

 

TESHUVAH is a spiritual reawakening:

a desire to strengthen the connection between oneself and God,

and a desire to strengthen one’s connections to people.

 

All forms of TESHUVAH, however diverse and complex, have a common core:

 

The belief that human beings have it in their power

to effect inward change.[ii]

 

Now let’s apply the information above to the words of Jesus:

 

Return to God now.

Walk with God every day.

Then when the Great Day of Judgment comes,

you will be in the Kingdom of God and be saved.

 

TESHUVAH is not a religious ritual. It involves specific steps that must be done in a specific order to become “a completed action.” I will tell you about those steps in my next email.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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---

[i] A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Second Edition) by J. Weingreen; © 1959 by Oxford University Press; New York, NY; p. 56.

[ii] TESHUVAH: A Guide for the Newly Observant Jew by Adin Steinsaltz © 1982 by The Domino Press, Jerusalem Israel. Translation © 1987 by The Free Press, a division of Macmillan, Inc., New York, NY; p. 3.