Tammuz
13
Reprobate
“In
whose eyes a reprobate one is despised …” (Ps 15:4 ISR)
Dictionary.com
defines a ‘reprobate’ as “a person rejected by God and beyond hope of
salvation.”[1] The implications of this are terrifying – to be
rejected by the One who created me. And
does this not go along with an individual who has no ‘fear of Elohim’, does not
care if he/she disappoints, rebels against, and rejects our Creator?
The
Hebrew word mâ'as (Strong’s 3988) is the word that has been translated as ‘reprobate’,
and in other translations, it reads as ‘vile’.
However, mâ'as is a verb, requiring an action, and it loosely means to strongly
reject, to despise and abhor. Often times
throughout the Scriptures, mâ'as is used in connection with the nation of
Israel rejecting Elohim, and His Torah (see Num 11:20; 2Kin 17:14-15), but
there are other references to our Elohim rejecting His people, ultimately for
their disobedience to Torah (2Kin 17:20; Jer 6:19).
The most
well-known example we have from the Scriptures of one who was rejected by
Elohim is that of King Saul, Israel’s first king. In 1Samuel chapter 13, we find Saul offering
up an illegal and invalid burnt offering.
Saul was not a Levite, and it was against Torah for him to even make
this sacrifice in the first place (see 1Sam 13:8-14; Num 18:1-7). Chapter 15 relates to us Saul’s final fall
from esteem. Given the command to
utterly destroy all of the Amalekites, including all of their livestock, Saul
disobeyed, leaving the King of the Amalekites alive, as well as the livestock. The prophet Samuel pronounces the final
sentence upon Saul:
“Then
Shemu’ĕl said, “Does יהוה delight in burnt offerings and slaughterings, as in obeying the
voice of יהוה? Look, to obey is better than an offering, to heed is better
than the fat of rams. For rebellion is
as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as wickedness and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of יהוה,
He also does reject you as sovereign.” (1Sam 15:22-23)
The
words “to obey” are the necessary key to never being part of the group called ‘reprobate’. When we reach the place of treating the kadosh
– holy – words of our Elohim as something common and ordinary, and only to be
acted upon when we feel like it, we are headed toward the quicksand called mâ'as,
or a rejected reprobate. May these words
that I have written here be the exhortation needed for all of us to stay on
this path called Torah, and may we totally despise the idea of rejecting the
words and person of YHWH our Elohim.
“My
people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected (MÂ'AS) knowledge,
I reject you (MÂ'AS) from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the
Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.” (Hos 4:6 ISR)
“My son,
do not despise (MÂ'AS) the discipline of יהוה,
And do not loathe His reproof; For whom יהוה
loves He reproves, As a father the son whom he delights in.” (Pro 3:11-12 ISR)
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