Love Israel

Speaker 1

Shalom and welcome to Via Hafta Yisrael, a Hebrew phrase which means you shall love Israel. We hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher, Dr. Baruch, shares his expository teaching from the Bible.

Dr. Baruch is the Senior Lecturer at the Zarah Avraham Institute, based in Israel. Although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the institute, Dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English.

To find out more about our work in Israel, please visit us on the web at loveisrael.org—that's one word, loveisrael.org.

Now here's Baruch with today's lesson.

Speaker 2

Our God is a God who wants to be active in our life. God loves us. He has demonstrated perfectly his love for each of us by going to that cross, by shedding his blood, by offering us eternal life through redemption. So God is indeed a God of love. He has shown his faithfulness in so many ways, and now it's our turn to respond to Him. And it's through His Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer that we can demonstrate our love for him, that we can respond to his provision of salvation so that we can become his faithful servants.

And that should be the desire of every believer that we want to serve God and bring glory to him by living righteously and obeying his truth. Take out your Bible and look with me as we are in the midst of our study of the Book of Proverbs. And now we're ready for Proverbs, chapter 24. And we're going to begin with that first verse.

Now notice here there is much wisdom throughout the book of Proverbs, and there's no exception to this chapter. Notice what it says in chapter 24 and verse 1 where he says, do not be jealous or envious. Of who? Of evil people. Now, what we see here is a truth. And that truth is those who violate the will of God. Remember that word Ra. Evil is always that which is in opposition or simply different than God's plans, His purposes, his will. So we should not be envious of those people who are violating the will of God. Why? Because it's not going to end well with them. They are going to find that in the end they are going to experience God's consuming judgment, his strong condemnation. And they are going to experience eternal punishment, eternal torment, eternal sorrow, and eternal fear. There will be no end of these things.

And therefore, those of us who listen to God, who trust in His Word, who are wise enough to look at the Word and know how to respond to God's covenantal promises. We are those who are going to be first, forgiven, second, reconciled to God through redemption, and finally, we are going to have a wonderful future for all of eternity. And that wonderful future is rooted in the promises and the blessings of God. So it says here. Look again. Do not be envious of people of wickedness or evil, and do not desire to be with them.

Now, if we understand biblical truth, obviously we're not going to desire to be with them. Because when we look at things and hear this carefully, we should have a kingdom perspective. Let me say that differently. We should have a perspective that looks at all things from the perspective of eternity. A kingdom perspective is an eternal perspective. And where are they going to be for eternity? In the pit that is called that lake that burns with fire and brimstone. And where are we going to be? We are going to be forever in that new Jerusalem that is our eternity, where there is no fear, no darkness, no sickness, no disease, no sorrow and no death.

And what is there in the new Jerusalem? This is where we're going to inherit. And the name Jerusalem, Yerushalayim comes from two words which can mean to inherit the fulfillment of God's will. And who is our God? Our God is a blessed God. He rejoices. His nature, his character is to desire, to bless humanity. And when we are in his will, when we are in his covenant, therefore, we are in a position where we can experience God's blessings. So don't be envious of people who do evil and do not desire to be with them.

Look at verse two. Now, these wicked people, those who are rejecting the truth of God, and let's be more specific, those who are rejecting the commandments of God, what are they about? Well, notice the key word here. It says for. And we have the word showed. The word showed comes from a word which means robbery or stealing, and specifically to do so by force. Now, some Bibles will say that this word means violence or destruction, and I'm not disagreeable to that. But first and foremost, it's a desire to steal, to take from others by force what you want.

And there's a faithlessness here, because God is a giver of good things. What do we learn? It says, for those who love God and are called to his purposes, all things work together for good. And that God will not withhold from us, but will give to us with Messiah. What will he give? All things. Now, not only is God a blessed God, but we learned from this that God is a generous God; he gives abundantly, but he does so to his covenant people.

So notice it says here, for those who steal, and the implication is steal by force and their heart meditates on such thievery, on such theft. For those whose hearts meditate upon them and their lips work. And how do their lips work? Well, they speak that which is what we could say troublesome those things. This word here for working has to do with working out trouble, doing those things that are afflicting of other people. So we want to take from other people and we want to speak those things that are harmful, those things that are troubling. This is not how a true believer behaves.

So verse one. We don't desire evil, evil people. We don't want to be with them, we don't want to behave like them. Which how do they behave? They take by force and they speak things that are most troubling. Look now to verse three. With wisdom a house will be built, and with understanding it will be established. Now, I don't know why that so many times translators do not look at the tense. When we look at this, we find that this is in the future, that last word where it says will be established. So it speaks here that it is necessary. And notice what he's saying that wisdom is utilized. If the house is going to be built, if it is going to be established, then we have to use understanding.

And these things are all outcomes of the fear of the Lord. And not just the fear of the Lord, but also his word. When we take seriously God's commandments, well, that is an invitation to be wise. And when we desire to implement God's Word in our life, this is how we seek and find understanding. In fact, understanding oftentimes is an outcome of obedience, doing the instructions of God. Look now to verse four. It says here, and with knowledge rooms will be filled. And what are they going to be filled with? What we have here, all. And this word hoen in Hebrew, if you look at it, probably the best way to translate it is capital.

So you want to make an investment, you need capital, you need cash and wealth in order to make an investment. And what it's saying here simply is this. Look at this verse again, verse 4. With knowledge rooms will be filled and all precious and pleasing or pleasant capital, meaning wealth, with those things that have worth and have that which causes us to fill that which is pleasant. And what are we referring to here? Well, if you look at the rabbinical commentators, they talk about here, the Blessings of God. So when we use wisdom and understanding to build our house and to fill our house according to the knowledge of God then we're going to have those things that are pleasant and those things, the word is yakar. Those things which are precious or dear, those things that have significant value.

And we are not necessarily talking about value from a monetary standpoint, but those things that are precious to an individual. Look now to verse five. A wise man with power and a man of knowledge. He will. And what it literally says. I know many Bibles say increase but it's a word matz. Now that is a word for effort, putting, for effort or work. So notice what it says in the scripture Mel Metz is to work hard to be diligent. It says that with knowledge this man is going to work diligently and he's going to do so. How powerfully he is going to have and be a recipient of God's power in order that he can achieve, that he can do, that he can produce.

And that's what God wants to do in our life. He wants to make us prosperous. But be careful, don't listen to the false teachers always seeing prosperity in monetary terms. But prosperity is having what you need to carry out the will of God, being faithful to his call upon your life, his purpose, his will. So this is an outcome. Look at what it says of wisdom and knowledge. And having wisdom and knowledge work itself out in our life meaning produce. And when it does, it produces power and strength to overcome and achieve the will of God.

Verse 6. Now in verse 6 we're talking about warfare, making war. And the word that's used here, and this is what's interesting and as I went through this passage with my wife, believe that her translation said counsel. But when we look at this word, it is the same word that is used in regard to, in modern Hebrew terrorism. And likewise when we look in the Hebrew New Testament when God's wrath was about to begin, but it was delayed that one angel, and I'm speaking about Revelation chapter seven when one angel spoke to those four angels that had the wrath of God and they were ready to act, says to delay, don't harm.

So this is word of harming. And that's why we think of terrorism being harmful or destructive. And what's the council? Look at verse six. For with and we could say harmful activity, that which is going to cause terror. It says for with harmful activity make for yourself war. Meaning this when war is being fought you have to do so in a very harsh manner. You need to put the enemy to death. That is what war is. It is about killing the enemy. And today, much of the world, and unfortunately the leadership of the world, is confused about this.

Now, I am going to pause for a moment and go off on a brief tangent as this is being recorded. What is happening? Well, just tonight, in fact, just a few minutes ago, before I came into this room to record this teaching, I was watching the Israeli news. And what America is saying is this. If America, excuse me, if Israel does not increase and solve the humanitarian problem. Now, what is the humanitarian problem? Well, Israel is seeing firsthand that Hamas has much food. Israel, if you listen to the Prime Minister's speech at the United Nations a month ago or so, they have supplied enough food and nutrients for every person in Gaza to have 3,000 calories a day.

Now, are they getting that? No. Why aren't they getting that? Because Hamas is taking the food. And unfortunately, the current President of the United States is not speaking true. He said food will be brought in, but if Hamas takes control of it, then it will stop. Well, they're taking control of it. And because they have so much, and the people, many of them don't have. Now, there's food in the marketplaces, but it's very expensive. Why? Because Hamas dictates the price. But what America said was this. If Israel does not increase the humanitarian aid to Gaza. Well, wait, the people of Gaza are our enemies. Understand that they frequently are participating with Hamas.

Every person in Gaza? No, didn't say that. But the majority are very loyal and submissive to Hamas, and therefore it makes no sense. This is a violation of what we're looking at here. If you do a good study of this word, look again at our text, verse 6, key ve takbulot. Takbulot is a Hebrew word which speaks about harmful and destructive activity. And it says, do this when you are fighting for yourselves a war. That's how a war is called to be fought.

And if you do so, notice it says, and salvation. And remember, I've said this word, salvation, Teshua, is a word of victory. So victory is going to be in abundant counsel. Now, what we see here is wise counsel is the implication not just in many counselors, but in many biblically based counselors. So those people who tell you fight a war by providing food and water and different things for your enemies in the midst of war, let me simply say such a person is violating the word of God. Such a person is behaving foolishly, not with wisdom and understanding, and this is the problem today for much of the world's leadership.

If we talk about the United Nations, we talk about the European Union, we talk about the United States making foolish decisions. And that's why, when we look at America over the last 80 years, outside of World War II, what has America done? Lost war after war after war. Why? Because they are not fighting it according to biblical truth, what do we do? We behave harshly and harmful to the enemy. That's how you wage war for yourself. If you want to be victorious, move on to the next verse.

Verse 7. It has a word here for that which is lofty. Now, what's important is this. It's a word in the plural. And many times the plural is used for abundance to convey that which is given out in an abundant way. So we might translate this verse. Look again at verse seven. Too lofty for the fool is wisdom. And wisdom is also in the plural. So too lofty for the fool. What's a fool? A fool is someone who knows the truth but rejects the truth, does not want to obey God, even though he knows that obedience to God is what God is requiring, what God desires for there to be a good outcome.

But he's not seeking good. Why? He's not interested in God's will. He's interested in his will. So it says here, too lofty for the fool is abundant wisdom at the gate. He will not open up his mouth. He what? He speaks silent. Why? Because he has no wisdom and he's not interested in what's done at the gate. Well, a gate is a place of judgment. The gate is where justice is called to be administered. And what we find here is that this fool doesn't want justice. He doesn't want judgment.

And again, we can go back to the situation in the Middle East. Why isn't the leadership of the world calling for accountability, bringing those who did the heinous crimes to judgment? Why aren't we talking about that? No, the world in its satanic perspective. And to me, and if this is offensive, so be it. But I believe it's extremely biblically sound. When we look at the direction of the United Nations, what they're saying, first of all, they lie. Secondly, they are about things that are not about justice.

So when we look at the United Nations and the European Union and the United States of America, as it is being administered through the White House today, it is most satanic. Why? Because it doesn't want justice. There is no sense of accountability. What we find is that people do evil things and they get away with it we see today in many of the states that are controlled by one of the parties, people commit crimes but they're not prosecuted. They're released, they tolerate. And when you release criminals who do violent crime, what are you doing? You are a participant in evil. And who participates in evil, that is Satan. That is why I say Satanic.

We see that more and more. Why? Well, because we are moving towards that Satanic empire which is the Antichrist empire. This is where that empire and its ultimate leader, the Antichrist, gets their power, gets it from Satan. So this is where the world is going and we see evidence of that today. So look at the text. Look if you would to our next verse, verse 8, where it speaks about. About one who. And this is a word, the root of it means to think. But in this case it's not the word kosher. But we look at this word and it's word which means to devise. It's a word of devising or planning something through much thought.

Now that should be good. But unfortunately here this is much thought for evil. So look at verse eight. The one who devises or thinks thoroughly for evil that it will be evil unto him, what does that mean? He doesn't want God's will. He is committed to that which is in opposition to God's will. This is what we learn at the beginning of verse 8. And what is he going to be a possessor of? Well, we have the word BAAL which means a husband or a master. And it says here he is going to be a possessor of schemes. And these schemes mean schemes that have much intelligence has gone into these plans, but they're plans for evil and not good.

So this one who devises evil for himself, he is going to be a possessor of many evil schemes. This is what they are going to be called. One who is a possessor of evilness. One who is committed to plans and schemes that are not connected to the will of God. Look now to verse 9. The schemes of folly is sin, meaning those who are foolish. Those who desire folly, which is a frivolous lifestyle, doing things that just gratifying the flesh. Such a one who makes desires and schemes based upon such a desire to gratify the flesh. What are they going to be doing? Sins and also an abomination to a man is let's.

And what's that? A scoffer. Now what is this scoffing of? Well, scoffing at the plans of God, scoffing at the commandments of God, the will of God, the Purposes of God. He's not interested. He scoffs at them, thinking that they will never produce anything that's desirable to him. And this is the problem with such people. So when you are committed to that which is foolish, that which is folly, that which is frivolous, you are going to be a possessor of evil schemes and they are going to lead to sin and abominations.

And this is what happens when one scoffs the things of God. Look at verse 10. Now, this begins with a word of weakness. I believe most Bibles will translate it as one who faints. And what the scripture is literally saying. Look at it again. Verse 10. You who have fainted in the day of trouble. Now this word for trouble is the most common word for tribulation. So it says here, you who have fainted in the day of tribulation. It's because narrow is your power. Now, when it means narrow, that word narrow can mean afflicted or being full of stress. And what it is saying is your power is what being adversely affected.

Why? Because you are of that wrong mindset. So if you succumb to the time of tribulation, you are not someone who is pleasing to God or understanding the purposes of God or faithful to God. This is what this verse is saying. Look at verse 11. Now, what does a real believer do? Well, notice we have a word, Hezel, which is to save or to rescue. Then we have the word for being taken away. So the scripture says save those or rescue those who are being taken away to death. And the ones who are falling, and the implication is falling into a massacre, to a slaughter. It says don't, don't hold back, don't save anything.

Now's the time to respond

Speaker 1

Well, we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others. Please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love israel.org again.

To find out more about us, please visit our website love israel.org. There you will find articles and numerous other lectures by Baruch. These teachings are in video form; you may download them or watch them in streaming video.

Until next week, may the Lord bless you in our Messiah Yeshua, that is Jesus, as you walk with Him. Shalom from Israel.