Careful Not to Worship Ba'al

"My people perish (are destroyed) for lack of knowledge," says Adonai through the prophet Hosea in his scroll, chapter 4, verse 6. Every time I read this, I think, "What an unusual statement." I always think that lack of wisdom would be a bigger issue, but as Hosea clarifies what he meant, things begin to make more sense:

"Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children," the same verse concludes.

What a serious statement. This should be very alarming and taken seriously by every believer. If not for our sake, then for the sake of our children and the next generations to come. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there is an evident moral decline amongst young people today. Life is becoming progressively hedonistic as the sense of what is right and wrong is increasingly forgotten. As lines become more and more blurred and the consequences of living such a life become more and more evident. All the consequences of neglecting God's laws and truth. The verses that follow verse 6 seem to describe exactly what is happening to us today:

"The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness. And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 'They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted Adonai to give themselves to prostitution; old wine and new wine take away their understanding.'" verses 7-11

It almost sounds like a news headline of what is happening to our country and the world today. We have forgotten God's laws, and because we do not know or teach them, the next generation is neglecting them due to ignorance. But Adonai will punish both the "priests" (our leaders and false teachers who are not properly teaching about sin and God's laws) and the people. No distinction is made because justice is blind. With this picture, we can see that we are indeed facing a lack of knowledge and not wisdom.

In this week's Torah double portion, Massei-Mattot מַּטּוֹת־מַסְעֵי (Tribes-Journeys based on Numbers 30:2 to 36:13), we learn about a war the people of Israel were commanded to fulfill against Midian to carry out a sentence from Adonai. To carry out His justice. Back in Numbers 25, Midian defiled the temple and tricked the Israelites to worship Ba'al Peor בַּעַל פְּעוֹר by seducing them with beautiful women. To understand the gravity of this situation, we need to talk about the type of deeds these nations performed to worship this entity. Ba'al is a Hebrew word that means "owner, husband, or lord," and Peor is a Hebrew word that means "openings." So Ba'al Peor means the "lord of openings" and thus was worshiped by causing any openings in your body to be "opened wide." This involved depraved sexual encounters, but also defecating in the altar and making new openings in the body through cutting. It is no wonder that the scriptures abound in warnings against this disgusting type of worship. Yet we see time and time again when Israel betrayed Adonai by engaging in Ba'al worship (1 Kings 18:17, 2 Kings 17:13-16, and 2 Kings 23:3-5 are a few examples).

How does all this have to do with what is going on today? 2 Kings 17:16 gives us additional clues: "So they left all the commandments of Adonai their Elohim, made for themselves a molten image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all hosts of heaven, and served Ba'al." As we forget His commandments, we get further and further from Him and begin to live according to the world's standard (other nations' standards). And the world, without an example or moral compass, becomes more and more deprived.

God's law being written by His own finger (Exodus 31:18). Must be important!

Hosea's statement becomes clearer and clearer as we ponder these statements and facts. We are being destroyed for lack of knowledge of God's commands and laws. Most Christians today cannot even define what sin is because they are ignorant of God's laws. Luckily, the scriptures define what sin is clearly:

"Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4

Which brings us to the next logical question: "If sin is breaking God's law, then what are God's laws?" Yeshua said, "If you love me, keep my commandments," in John 14:15. But again, we ask, "What are His commandments?" Most people cannot answer these questions, and each person will give you a different answer because we simply do not know. We lack knowledge.

Here is what Yeshua said concerning His words and commands: "'My teaching is not My own,' Jesus replied. 'It comes from Him who sent Me. If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.'" John 7:16-17 and "Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me." John 14:24

My suggestion to you is this: If you do not know the answer to these questions, then I suggest you begin to find out. Seek out these things, and He will happily guide you. You need to search it out. Study the Word and put it in your heart. Not so we can be saved, but because sin has consequences on this earth, and we serve a just God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Galatians 6:7 Often, we become victims of our ignorance because ignorance of the law does not exclude God's justice. He is a perfect and faithful God.

"A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash." Proverbs 15:14

King David, so wisely said, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

But Van, we are living under the "new covenant," and these things no longer apply. What does scripture say about the new covenant? Let's see:

"'Behold, days are coming,' declares the Adonai, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares Adonai. 'But this is the new covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares Adonai, 'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim (God), and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares Adonai, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" Jeremiah 31:31-34 (repeated in Hebrews 8:6-13)

A covenant that was put into effect by the blood of Yeshua as described in Luke 22 and other Passover/Last Supper verses. But the new covenant did not involve new laws, nor did it negate the old ones. What it did was allow the Spirit to write His law into our hearts as we study and learn, and allow His Spirit to change us. We do this by transforming our minds as we learn and study the Word of God. As we put these Words into practice: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Shalom Ve'Shavuah Tov. I love you all and hope you will apply wisdom in this week's important plea placed in my heart by God's Holy Spirit. Lehitraot!