TEVET 10
Evil
“Who does dwell in Your set-apart mountain? … He who …has not done EVIL to his neighbour” (Ps 15:1-3, emphasis mine)
The Hebrew
word râ‛âh (Strong’s H7451) is what has been translated as
‘evil’ in our opening passages, and I have heard this word described as everything that is against the precepts
of Torah. However, I discovered another
definition of râ‛âh that
I perceived to be very interesting: “Dysfunctional; Impaired or abnormal action other than that for which a
person or thing is intended. Something
that does not function within its intended purpose”[1]
(emphasis mine).
We, as children of the Living
Elohim, were never intended to function in an evil capacity. For the most part, these types of actions are
associated with the yetzer hara, or
the evil, carnal persona and inclination
that resides within us. When we again
consider that everything evil is that which is in opposition to Torah, we can
better understand that Torah was designed as guidelines for community living,
how to deal with each other, and how to live with respect and honor for one
another. And if we study Torah in depth,
we can see that those who operated from an evil standpoint were most often “cut
off’, and removed from the camp (see Num 15:30-31; Deu 17:2-6; 19:16-19).
When we have deliberately and maliciously done
something to cause harm and injury to one who lives in peace with us, we are in
open defiance and rebellion to the One who created us. What we have done, by our actions, is
cancelled any reservation we might have had in the olam haba, the world to come.
A person of this ilk would never dwell in the ‘set-apart mountain’ of
Elohim.
“Do not follow a crowd to do EVIL, nor bear witness in a strife so as
to turn aside after many, to turn aside what is right.” (Ex 23:2, emphasis mine)
“See, I have set before you today life and good, and DEATH AND EVIL, in that I am commanding you today to love יהוה
your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to guard His commands, and His laws, and
His right-rulings.” (Deu 30:15-16, emphasis mine)
“And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed EVIL REASONINGS,
adulteries, whorings, murders, thefts, greedy desires, wickednesses, deceit, indecency, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these wicked matters come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:20-23, emphasis mine)
©2020
[1] Ancient
Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible; ©2006 Ancient Hebrew Research Center; ISBN:
1589397762 Author: Jeff Benner
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