Philippians 1:27
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Besorah of Mashiach.
The Text of the Hebrew Scriptures in Deuteronomy 12 tells us about the reverencing of the Name of God.
When the Children of Israel entered the Land, they were to shun all forms of idolatry. God told them to tear down pagan temples and sites, burn trees used for worship, destroys groves; in a sense, to obliterate the name of pagan gods before establishing Hashem’s Name in the Land (Deuteronomy 12:1-4). They were told specifically that they were not to worship Hashem in the way these nations worshipped their idols (Deuteronomy 12:4). This wasn’t meant to be a worldwide campaign against idolatry; these commands were only incumbent to the Land of Canaan the Children were soon to possess (Deuteronomy 12:1). To establish Hashem’s Name on the Land meant to establish His character, His ways defined in the Torah, His culture, and His authority. To obliterate the names of idols was to consequently obliterate their character, ways, culture, and authority.
The nations had not yet been introduced to Hashem, so they were allowed to worship other gods like the sun, the moon, and the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19), it wasn’t necessarily a sin to them since they didn’t know any better; it is the way they did it that was despicable unto Adonai (Deuteronomy 12: 30-32). In order to keep Israel as far away as possible from any of the vile idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, God gave very specific instructions as to how He should be honored and worshipped. This teaches us that religion without the instruction of Torah leads to idolatry. As soon as they were in the Land,, they were to implement them in a very detailed manner, and not live according to their own thinking anymore (Deuteronomy 12: 8-11). Of course, the place where God would write His Name would not be fully revealed until the days of King David who purchased the piece of land where the Temple should later be built (2 Samuel 24), a place established by divine decree long before.
There is another place where the Father writes His Name: our hearts (Numbers 6:22-27). Yeshua also declares Hashem’s Name in us by revealing to us His character, His ways, His culture, and His authority (John 17:26).
As the Children of Israel were to ensure the sanctity of the Name by cleaning the Land of all forms of idol-worship, we should also make sure that the Name of God is sanctified in our hearts by cleansing ourselves from any selfish and proud ways that don’t testify of His presence in us. To claim holding His name while denying it though our daily walk renders us worse than the pagan who doesn’t even know God. This is what Yeshua had against the Pharisees; not their teachings, but their practices. They didn’t walk their talk (Matthew 23:2-3), which is the essence of hypocrisy.
Let us not be the same, and may we learn to sanctify God’s name, not just in verbal praises, but in deed and in truth from our hearts.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Besorah of Mashiach.
The Text of the Hebrew Scriptures in Deuteronomy 12 tells us about the reverencing of the Name of God.
When the Children of Israel entered the Land, they were to shun all forms of idolatry. God told them to tear down pagan temples and sites, burn trees used for worship, destroys groves; in a sense, to obliterate the name of pagan gods before establishing Hashem’s Name in the Land (Deuteronomy 12:1-4). They were told specifically that they were not to worship Hashem in the way these nations worshipped their idols (Deuteronomy 12:4). This wasn’t meant to be a worldwide campaign against idolatry; these commands were only incumbent to the Land of Canaan the Children were soon to possess (Deuteronomy 12:1). To establish Hashem’s Name on the Land meant to establish His character, His ways defined in the Torah, His culture, and His authority. To obliterate the names of idols was to consequently obliterate their character, ways, culture, and authority.
The nations had not yet been introduced to Hashem, so they were allowed to worship other gods like the sun, the moon, and the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19), it wasn’t necessarily a sin to them since they didn’t know any better; it is the way they did it that was despicable unto Adonai (Deuteronomy 12: 30-32). In order to keep Israel as far away as possible from any of the vile idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, God gave very specific instructions as to how He should be honored and worshipped. This teaches us that religion without the instruction of Torah leads to idolatry. As soon as they were in the Land,, they were to implement them in a very detailed manner, and not live according to their own thinking anymore (Deuteronomy 12: 8-11). Of course, the place where God would write His Name would not be fully revealed until the days of King David who purchased the piece of land where the Temple should later be built (2 Samuel 24), a place established by divine decree long before.
There is another place where the Father writes His Name: our hearts (Numbers 6:22-27). Yeshua also declares Hashem’s Name in us by revealing to us His character, His ways, His culture, and His authority (John 17:26).
As the Children of Israel were to ensure the sanctity of the Name by cleaning the Land of all forms of idol-worship, we should also make sure that the Name of God is sanctified in our hearts by cleansing ourselves from any selfish and proud ways that don’t testify of His presence in us. To claim holding His name while denying it though our daily walk renders us worse than the pagan who doesn’t even know God. This is what Yeshua had against the Pharisees; not their teachings, but their practices. They didn’t walk their talk (Matthew 23:2-3), which is the essence of hypocrisy.
Let us not be the same, and may we learn to sanctify God’s name, not just in verbal praises, but in deed and in truth from our hearts.
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