SIVAN 10
Evil
“but deliver us from evil …” (Mat 6:13 KJV)
The word that has been translated as ‘evil’ is the
Greek word ponēros
(Strong’s G4190), and included in its meaning is the sense of a bad nature or condition, and in an ethical sense: evil, wicked,
and bad. The Hebrew word that is most
related to ponēros is
the word ra‛
(Strong’s H7451), and means basically the same thing. Interesting to note, this Hebrew word ra‛ is part of a phrase we used yesterday – the yetzer hara, or the evil inclination, the earthly, fleshly, worldly part of us that
always attempts to dominate.
Biblically speaking, ‘evil’ is everything that is in opposition to
Torah. I want to say that again: ‘evil’
is all that is against the precepts we are taught from the Torah. We know from Scripture that Torah is all that
is good (see Neh 9:13; Pro 4:2; 2Tim 1:8); therefore, it would stand to reason
that those things (people, activities, desires, etc) that are against the
divine instructions in moral and righteous living are bad, wicked, and
evil. What exactly, therefore, are we
seeking to be delivered from? I would venture to say that it would be
anything and everything that would endeavor to pull us away from our
walk of Torah.
The westernized church system has thoroughly deceived
us into believing that this verse is in reference to the “evil one”, haSatan. That is incorrect, as there are many ‘satans’ in this world, just as
there are many bad and evil people
that we need to stay away from. Add to
this mixture our own yetzer hara, those
desires and inclinations that we get that do not line up with Torah, and it is obvious that the need for
deliverance is great.
The Amidah
offers a petition for deliverance from affliction, of which ‘evil’ could be
considered as an affliction. Please
remember that our Messiah Yeshua was well familiar with the Amidah, and was using the standard
prayer of the day as the foundation for His teaching on prayer. The section from the Amidah is as follows:
“Look upon our affliction and plead our cause, and
redeem us speedily for Your Name’s sake, for You are a mighty redeemer. Blessed are You, oh Lord, the Redeemer of
Yisra’el.”[1]
“Yet the Lord is
faithful, and He will strengthen [you]
and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil [one].” (2The 3:3 AMPC)
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