CHESHVAN
12
My
Own Good
“And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to
serve יהוה your
Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, to guard the commands of יהוה and His laws which I command you today FOR YOUR GOOD?” (Deu 10:12-13,
emphasis mine)
Some years ago, I
heard a statement that I have since referred to many times: “The banks of a river are what DEFINE the
river; without its banks, the river would soon become a flood, a lake, a marsh,
and a swamp. The banks of the river are
what determine the functionality of the river, to move water from one place to
another.” We can apply this same principal to the Torah given to us by our
Creator; Torah is the bank on either side of us, defining who we are, and
determining how we function.
The Hebrew word that
has been translated as ‘good’ is the
word tov (Strong’s H2896), and, as
with many of the Hebrew words, means more than what has been translated. This is the same word that is used in Genesis
chapter one, where our Creator defined what He had created as ‘good’. In
Hebrew, this word also means “functional”, or “Fulfilling the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted
or used, or for which a thing exists”[1].
How does this relate to our opening verses? Our Father, our Creator, is asking us to accept,
acknowledge, follow, and do five
basic requirements that we might function in the capacity we were created
for. These requirements have been the
focus of this series, and are as follows:
(1) to fear and revere Him who created us; (2) to walk in the ways He
has laid out for us in Torah; (3) to love
our Abba with everything in us; (4) to serve Him with joy and obedience; and (5)
to faithfully watch over and guard His Torah, that we would not compromise what
He has given to us. It is only when we
meet these requirements, when we are faithful to do them that we will then ‘fulfill the actions for which we exist’.
“Oh, that they had such a heart in them, to fear
Me and to guard all My commands always, so that it might be well with them and
with their children forever!” (Deu 5:29)
“Walk after יהוה
your Elohim and fear Him, and guard His commands and obey His voice, and serve
Him and cling to Him.” (Deu 13:4)
©2020
[1]Ancient
Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible; ©2006 Ancient Hebrew Research Center; ISBN: 1589397762
Author: Jeff Benner
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