To Obey
“And in your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed, because you have OBEYED MY VOICE.” (Gen 22:18, emphasis mine)
Looking further into Parashat vaYera, our opening verse is another passage of
Scripture that catches my attention. What
did Abraham obey? He heard, then obeyed, the voice of his Elohim. It was when I began to take a serious look at
this word ‘obey’ I discovered something of interest. In the Hebrew language, the word that has
been translated as ‘obey’ is the same word that also means ‘hear’ (Strong’s
H8085, shâma´), as we find in Deu
6:4:
“Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: יהוה our
Elohim, יהוה is one!” ("Sh'ma, Yisra'el! Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh echad”)
Noah Webster defines ‘obey’ as
the following: “To comply with the commands, orders or instructions
of a superior, or with the requirements of law, moral, political or municipal;
to do that which is commanded or required, or to forbear doing that which is
prohibited[1]. It becomes apparent to us that there is a
need for attentive listening; how do we know what these instructions are if we
first do not hear them, or, as is our
case today, read them? I would also venture to suggest that there is
a sequence: first, we focus our
attention on, and listen/read; then
we do according to what we have
heard/read.
I perceive there is an
imbalance in this procedure in our modern day and age. People are either not listening with their
complete attention; or they are not applying what they are hearing with a
corresponding action. This equals danger.
Our Father has given us many, many promises throughout His Word, but
they are contingent on our obedience.
Is it worth the risk?
“Guard, and OBEY all these words which I
command you, that it might be well with you and your children after you
forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of יהוה
your Elohim.” (Deu 12:28,
emphasis mine)
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