Shalom, my dearest sisters and brothers,
If you are a Follower of Yeshua, then if there is anything you learn from him – one thing, then learn that the right way to approach problems in life is with compassion and understanding. There are too many religious people who claim to follow him, and then don’t apply his teachings when it comes to the difficulties of life. Instead, they follow their own prejudices and animal reasoning, and base their ethical standards on their own hatreds.
For some people, their religion is so much about beliefs, that the quality of their conduct in life becomes irrelevant. There are others whose political beliefs and ideology mean more to them than their spiritual values – so much so, that they create a god who fully accords with their political values. Their god is ultimately therefore a god whom they themselves have fashioned and moulded – an idol; and then they wonder why their god does not work for them when things go wrong.
The Prophet Yeshua said that the Kingdom of God is within you. This means that the ways, values and principles of YHVH are in your heart. They were written on your soul when you were created in heaven. These ways are the ways of Tsédeq – the religion of heaven, and part of the very first Covenant that YHVH cut with the whole of humanity. The ethics of Tsédeq are therefore the ethics of the Kingdom. A true Follower of YHVH strives all their life to live out these ethics, by rediscovering what God has written on their very soul.
However, if you live your life according to a different set of values – one where profit and wealth mean more to you than God – then you will never find the Kingdom of God. The way of life that leads you to experiencing God as a living Being will be beyond your reach, for as long as you value wealth, status or power more than God.
If you read the Book of Proverbs, you will see that it is basically about ethics. It is a guide on how to live a successful personal life. If you live God’s values and principles, then the things which are in your control in life will go well with you; what is beyond your control is in God’s hands. If you treat others with dignity and respect, you can expect most people to treat you in like kind. If you are a leader, and you do your best to look out for the needs of all sectors of your society, and not just your own, then you will be a respected leader.
In the golden age of the Israelite faith – the Davidic and Solomonic era – what defined the Israelite faith was not just the worship of one God, but also the quality of its ethics. Good ethics – right thought, right speech and right action – are a quintessential part of the Yahwist Israelite faith.
One ethical value that recurs time and time again in Torah, is God’s concern for the poor – especially those in abject poverty. One of the greatest signs of a decent society, is that it does not allow its citizens to fall into abject poverty. Some people think that if you are poor, then it’s your own fault. But there are some who fall upon unfortunate circumstances; there are also the least able in society, who will never be able to be financially successful.
Worldly governments only know how to support the poor while bashing the rich, or support the rich while bashing the poor. Limited human beings are incapable of seeing any other possible way. However, God’s way is to enact laws which ensure that there is no one in Israelite society who is abjectly poor, nor those who worship wealth to such a degree that they give back nothing to society. There will always be those who are less well off, as well as those who are more well off. The important thing to realise, is that both rich and poor are a part of human society – they are not two separate species. Each must contribute in some way, so that they each receive the benefits of being part of society.
Paleo-anthropologists studying ancient human societies, have discovered that groups which were co-operative were more likely to be successful and survive, than groups made up of individuals who only looked out for themselves; in ancient times, selfishness meant extinction for you and your progeny.
Settlements have been found in central Europe, at the climate-boundary of what would have been glaciers and temperate forests at the end of the last Ice Age. After testing their DNA, it was found that the larger settlements had members who were not at all related – this would have been extremely unusual for a hunter-gatherer society. It suggests that they had come together from distant lands for mutual benefit and support. Furthermore, the existence of the settlements over several generations suggests that this tactic was successful. In the frozen wastes, they had travelled long distances and sought out others of their own species, so that they would be more likely to survive in times of hardship.
Our Torah portion begins with the commandments that the corners of one’s fields be left for the poor, and that a farmer should not harvest their trees so completely, that their trees are left bare, and there is nothing left. If we accidentally drop wheat that we have harvested, it is to be left where it has fallen; and if there is fruit which has fallen on the ground, it should be left there. All these things are done to leave gleanings for the less fortunate in society, so that the bounty of the earth – which God has given – is there for them to take, without cost.
When the rich give very little of their wealth back to the society in which they live, or when the poor feel that society has no interest in whether they live or die, then you have the recipe for the collapse of that society. God’s laws show a deep concern for the stability of Israelite society, because a stable society survives. If a society that lives on YHVH’s principles survives forever, while all other nations and societies collapse around them over the course of thousands of years, then it speaks volumes for the values of our living God. It is therefore little wonder that the biblical prophets – and Yeshua – spoke up so often for social justice, and against the rich who cared little for those less able in Jewish society.
A wealthy person who pays their fair share of taxes, and who gives back to the society from which they have gained their wealth, is a blessing to that society. However, the rich person who evades their taxes, plates their mansions in gold and silver, while all around them their fellow citizens cry out for food, are a curse to their society.
Just government is also a deep concern of YHVH. Those of us who live in societies where their government scorns basic ethical principles, are generally distrustful of government, and have learned to look upon government as a curse and a burden. However, you will be surprised to learn that there are countries where most people actually do trust their governments. In the Nordic countries, and other countries around central Europe which have open governments, and laws which ensure that everyone is taxed fairly, and where there is not a great social divide between rich and poor, have the most confidence in their government.
One planning principle that is upheld widely across Europe, is that when building a new town, there should be shops, public services and schools planned at regular intervals, within easy walking distance of most people, or at most, a short bus ride away. This ensures that the poorest do not have to go far to obtain food or basic necessities. However, in a place where there are houses – and only houses – for as far as the eye can see, everyone has no alternative but to own a car and use fossil fuels to get to a place where they can buy the basic necessities of life. How you plan your cities affects quality of life.
Another sign of a decent society, is how you treat someone who is not one of you. Torah is full of laws which command the Israelite not oppress foreigners who were resident in their land. If you treat an outsider as if they were one of your own, and do not abuse, ill-treat or disadvantage them, then they are more likely to want to learn your values, and become part of your national culture. They will see what a great nation you are, and when times get bad, they will be more likely to want to defend your nation, which has taken them in.
However, if you treat outsiders with utter contempt, make life difficult for them and generally make their lives miserable, then do not be surprised if they go back to their birth-countries to tell them what wicked and evil people you are, and how there is no need to go to your aid in times of war, or give you any assistance when your country struggles from debt or shortages. Like it or not, we live in a global society now – no country is an island, and those who help others are more likely to find quick and easy friends among other nations during times of hardship or war.
Then there are the ethics of looking after the environment. In Israelite culture, it was a basic ethical value to look after the land, because if you didn’t, so the saying goes, ‘The Land will vomit you out’. It is also a basic Yahwist principle to have care and concern for the welfare of animals – in Israelite society, you could judge if a person was good or bad, by how they treated animals. Human beings are part of the environment, not on a separate planet in a universe apart from it. A good Yahwist will not mistreat either the earth or the life on it, because the earth is the means by which YHVH provides. If we mistreat the earth and abuse it, we should not be surprised if YHVH no longer provides.
Then there are moral problems which are really difficult issues for most people. I won’t mention what they are, because most people will just get angry and stop reading (which in itself says a lot about the nature of human beings).
There are some people who are not strong enough to deal with the most difficult moral issues in life, and instead they default to hate and anger as their base-line response. However, YHVH is the God of the outcast and the rejected – Yeshua’s actions, by seeking out the unwanted of society, taught us this. So when you yourself create outcasts and reject people, you are rejecting YHVH. YHVH is testing you, and you have the power to either succeed in the test, or fail it.
Whenever we come upon a difficult moral issue, our default position should be compassion and mercy, understanding and forgiveness. Before we encounter these issues therefore, we need to think to ourselves, ‘What if that person were someone I loved and really cared about? What if that person were someone who means more to me than my own life? Would I approach the dilemma any differently then?’
If your response would be to love that person regardless, and say to them, ‘You are my sister, you are my brother, and I don’t love you any less!’ then you are a blessing to God’s Kingdom, and a shining light within it. However, if your reaction is still to curse that person and disown them, then you have failed the test that YHVH has set for you.
Yeshua said, ‘Those who reckon themselves first will be last, and those whom others reckon last, will be first in the kingdom of God.’
Then those who have judged others, treated others as subhuman and rejected them, will protest to God, defiantly proclaiming how they have upheld God’s values and teachings. These are the people Yeshua spoke of when he said, ‘When they die, God will gather together all the religious phonies. And on that day, they’ll say, “Adonai! Adonai! Did we not prophesy in your Name? Did we not do many mighty deeds in your Name?” And God will say to them, “I had nothing to do with what you said or did! Get away from me, you evildoers!’
However, those whose default position is compassion and mercy, further the Kingdom of God in the world.
Yeshua` said, ‘If people say to you, “Look, the kingdom of God is in the sky,” then the birds will have gotten there before you. If they say, “It’s in the sea,” then the fish will have gotten there before you. Rather, the kingdom of God is within you, and all around you.’
A soul that is filled with God’s light spreads light to the world around them. Those who reach out their hands selflessly to others are a blessing to God and to their society. Those who respond to the difficulties and vulnerabilities of others with kindness, are the ones who build up God’s Kingdom. When they do that, the Kingdom of God is not only within them, but all around them too.
Blessed be the Holy Name of Yahveh!
your brother in service and humility
Shmuliq
“I have set Yahveh clearly before me always” (Ps 16:8)