IYAR 9
Distortions
“Hear this, please, you heads of the house
of Yaʽaqoḇ and you rulers of the
house of Yisra’ĕl, who DESPISE
right-ruling and DISTORT all that is straight …” (Mic 3:9, emphasis mine)
The Hebrew word that has been translated into the word ‘despise’ is the
word tâ‛ab (Strong’s
H8581), and means, literally, to regard as an abomination. Many versions of the Scriptures use the word
‘abhor’ instead of ‘despise’, both are correct.
Noah Webster defines ‘abhor’ as “To hate extremely, or with contempt; to loathe, detest or abominate; To despise or neglect; To cast off or reject”[1]
(emphasis mine). Regardless of which
definition we use, the word tâ‛ab has a
strong, negative connotation.
‘Distort’ is the word translated from the Hebrew ‛âqash (Strong’s H6140) – a word which is only found five
times in the Tanakh (Old
Testament). To twist, to pervert, and to
make crooked are all meanings found within this word ‛âqash,
further endorsing the ugly and negative undertones we discovered with the word tâ‛ab.
And what is ‘right-ruling’, and ‘all that is
straight’? Is it not the divine
instructions in moral and righteous living that our Elohim has laid out for us
in His Torah? To ‘loathe, detest and
despise’ the Word of our Creator, and then to ‘turn and twist it’ to mean
something that is completely unrecognizable – is this not something that we are
STILL seeing today? And what is disturbing is that it is
predominantly those who are in the positions of authority, those who are in
leadership, that continue to operate in this fashion. They
are the ones who dictate just what is
the proper interpretation of the Scriptures, when in reality, the truth is far
from them (see John 14:6; Mat 15:8).
Look at the fruit of those people you see in
leadership positions (Mat 7:16-20).
Please, folks, do not confine this search to just those in the
westernized church system, but include all within the Messianic/Torah Observant/Hebrew
Roots circle as well. Do they truthfully
love the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (see Deu 6:5)? Or are they in love
with the power that their position gives them?
Do they cling to the Torah of our Creator, and strive with everything in
them to walk in all His ways (Deu
10:12-13)? Or do they pick and choose –
like a smorgasbord – only those parts of the Word that they believe are relevant for today (see Mark 7:6-9)? Do they genuinely love and care for those of
the ‘flock’ that have been entrusted to them?
Or do they run rough shod over them, bleeding them dry, and not
concerned whether their people live or die?
Be careful, folks, whom you follow.
©2021
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