Volume 2                                                                                           © 2015 – D.v.D.                                              Vol2Blog#10                             #25

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  Thought for the Weekend of Adar 22 & 23, 5775   .

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By Rev. Dirk J. van Dalen, Ph.D.                                          [March 13 & 14, 2015]                                                      – Dr.vandalen@gmail.com

The “Fear factor”

When thinking of the “fear” we are alleged to have for Avinu Malkenu - our Father, our King – we must do so within relationship to His awesomeness. Then when we grasp the enormity of our relationship as a Believer to the position of Adonai Eloheinu as our Creator, in the light of His Glory and the reality of eternity, we will be able to transform our feelings of perceived angst into a surge of awe-inspiring conviction or extreme profound respect without falling into the trap of emotionalism.

“The fear of the LORD is clean (pure), enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” –Psalms 19: 9

Some of us are familiar with some of the different aspects of worship and some of us have seen that in some places some people can get carried away somewhat as they lose some of their spiritual sense of balance and forget about the awesomeness of Adonai that demands some measure of dignity, reverence, and decorum. (Did you count the ‘some’s?)

“Now that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and all His commandments which I command you,…” -- Deut. 6: 2a, b.

The ‘fear’ in Psalm 19: 9 and Deut. 6: 2a, & b, does not equate to ‘fright’ as in being in fear of, or being fearful as in being genuinely afraid of something such as that which could cause an adrenaline surge or cardiac arrest.

The word fear has no less than fifty synonyms in modern English, not counting the colloquialisms. Unfortunately, King James’ translators must have had a hard time coming up with the best translation of teknogonew (tĕknôgônĕō). Considering that the first English language dictionary did not come into existence until 110 years later^1/, they must have tossed a six-pence or something like that and decided on the word “fear” to describe the emotion of the Believers of the early Church. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible takes us via five different references to ultimately arrive at: “Esteem of the highest degree” (5092). In other words, someone or something we regard with the deepest or highest respect. It is not a condition that can be described in one word. A better description of that “fear” is that the congregation came under an awe-inspiring conviction.

Fear or fright is an emotion that is directed inward. Esteem and awe are emotions that go outward and toward the object of the emotion, in this case the object is:        

-- Avinu Malkenu, Adonai Eloheinu. –

Our Father our King, the LORD our God.

“So great fear came upon all the Church and upon all who heard those things.” -- Acts 5: 11

A Different Fear.

The new Believers were serious about their new spiritual status as they quickly learned that they were dealing with a serious God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was newly revealed to them through His Son and Messiah Yeshua of Nazareth. We see here a rather detailed episode of instantaneous divine retribution with a fatal ending for the perpetrators of breaking the ninth Commandment. Seeing that, “Messiah Yeshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13: 8), our God is still a serious God putting fear in this context in a slightly different light.

In current Evangelic/Apostolic congregations, by some erroneously referred to as the New Testament Church, -- which is wishful thinking -- the worship services do not seem to excite those in attendance sufficiently to turn them from being the audience into worshippers and see them come under awe-inspiring conviction. And even the alleged “fear factor” that may be preached doesn’t seem to “scare” the congregants into a spiritually healthy awe for our heavenly Father.

The generally lukewarm condition of today’s average Believer’s Community is often equated to the condition of the church of Laodicea (Rev. 3: 15). But the awe-inspiring conviction of the Believer, even in a serious congregation, is not the only thing that is lacking. Could it be that there isn’t enough well-directed discipline in the Church today? Could it be that the reason is because many of us do not know whom we are dealing with. You Believe in “God” but, you do not know Him as most of you don’t even know His name(s). His name is not “God”, that is a generic for any divine entity. Capitalizing the word god when we write or print it does not make it more divine. Knowing that we are speaking or writing about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob makes it divine.

And then, realizing the awesomeness of Adonai, remember that He said: ”…if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6: 15) And you do need forgiving, at least as much as I do. Remember, withholding forgiveness is to be feared as it will make you ill, don’t live with it!

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Think About It, Shabbat Shalom

Volume 2                                                                                        © 2015 – D.v.D.                                                                                                     #24

><> SHABBAT -- פָורים -- MUSINGS <><

Thought for the Weekend of Adar 15 & 16, 5775   .

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By Rev. Dirk J. van Dalen, Ph.D.                                           [March 6 & 7, 2015]                                                      – Dr.vandalen@gmail.com

For Such a Time as This…,

[I have been asked to finish the story.]

Last week’s Musing on פָורים (Purim) ended with the following paragraph:

Esther, with about five years experience as Queen, knew that she had to prepare the heart and mind (compassion and common sense) of her husband before she should approach him with “her” problem (remember that ladies). As the first Executive Order could not be altered according to Persian law, a second one from the King but authored by Mordecai would virtually deflate the first one as an armed Jew in conflict will always prevail. But, this was not the end of the story.

Queen Esther had some powerful spiritual backing as her people in the city, and her own staff in the house, fasted and prayed for her. (Est. 4: 16) [Fasting does not only pertain to not eating, fasting means denying oneself those things that we customarily engage in for the sake of pleasure or routine. One way is indeed to abstain from eating and drinking. But we  also may abstain from watching TV; taking hot showers; having romantic involvement; sleeping-in; skip your afternoon tea; etc. Time normally spent in these activities you now spend in prayer. That’s Fasting with a capital “F.”]

After three days of fasting and praying Esther appears at the door of the Throne Room. She literally crashed the King’s stag party against established protocol and at the risk of her own life as doing so unannounced and uninvited, causes her to come under a virtual death sentence of which she was well aware as she had said, “if I perish, I perish!”

The king however, is happy to see her, extends her the invitation to approach him and asked her why she has come to see him. Esther has now been queen for about five years. Obviously she knew that the way to a man’s heart (and mind) is through his stomach. During two consecutive days Esther arranges for the King and his Second in Command to have dinner with her. She needed the King’s heart to be right while Haman’s (*^_#@!!) mind needed to be deflated.

After the second dinner date with her husband in the company of his Prime Minister, Ahasuerus again posed the question as to what it is that the Queen wants.

“Then Queen Esther answered and said,...Let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.”  (Est. 7: 3 - 4e). Upon the king’s interrogatory, Esther pointed at Haman and with words such as “he is the culprit” she informs his royal highness about the evil

details of the Prime Minister’s plot of annihilation.

 In the year 474 BCE, Haman the Agagite from the line of the Amalekites, the progeny of Esau, had cast Lots = Purim (lot=pur) to determine on which day his nation-wide pogrom would take place. The pogrom was legislated by royal degree and writ-ten into law and, as with all laws of the Persians, could not be rescinded or changed. As we would see throughout history, the Jewish people were expected to be sitting ducks. This time, however, “our man in Damascus” was a woman in Shushan. After listening to his royal wife, the king issued another executive order ca. two months after the one which would have doomed the Persian Jews. This latter one gave the Jewish people the right to stand their ground. They now could legally defend them-selves and even respond in kind. This latest E. O. was written into law also and, as history shows, the Jewish Persians not only prevailed but annihilated the followers of Haman who was hanged on the gallows he had especially built to hang Mordecai.

So, therefore, on the 14^th and 15^th of Adar  (which this year coincided with the 5^th and 6^th of March on the ‘Pagan’ calendar) we commemorated the events that took place in the country we now know as Iran, in ca. 473 BCE. The most recent former leader of Iran, Ahmadineyad is also believed to be of Amalekite heritage.

It is well-known that the Creator is never mentioned in the Book of Esther. It should however be obvious, even to the least Bible oriented reader that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, supremely ruled and ordained in every facet of the events.

The fact that Amalekites were still in existence at that time, -- as they do today-- dates back to King Saul ignoring God’s command to utterly destroy them (1^st Sam. 15: 18). Recently the progeny of the Amelekites have again began to make themselves heard as they have multiplied by attracting criminal elements and low-life individuals from other tribes and nations.

“Mordecai,… great among the Jews, well received by the multitude…” (Est.10:3) not only moved into Haman’s position as Prime Minister, he also moved into his house. Queen Esther lived happily ever after, or at least until her husband the King was assassinated in ca. 465 BCE. This time Mordecai had not been able to save the king’s life.

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Think About It, Shabbat Shalom