Skip to main content

What Did Evil Mean to Jesus?

 


In my last email, What Did Good Mean to Jesus, I used Psalm 34:13-14 as a context to understand what “good” meant. In the Psalm below, I use transliterations of three key Hebrew words that are very important in the teachings of Jesus. Their English translations are in superscript.      

 

Keep your tongue from RAH evil,

and your lips from speaking deceit MIRMAH.

Depart from RAH evil and do TOV good;

seek SHALOM peace and pursue it.

 

In order to accurately understand the movement and teachings of the Jewish Jesus of history (Yeshua), a “Kingdom of Heaven Vocabulary” is a prerequisite. It gives you not only “meanings of words;” it also gives you the ability to “recognize actions that reflect them” in the teachings of Jesus. Below is what “good” (TOV) to Jesus:

 

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional,

and increase the quality of life.

 

In my previous email I pointed out that “good” is part of a standard we are taught as young children – “good / bad.” The meaning of “bad” is dependent upon the meaning of “good.” In the ancient Hebrew language of the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus, the opposite of TOV (good) is RAH which is translated “evil.” Therefore, for Jesus, this is the meaning of “evil” (RAH):

 

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that destroy lives, harm lives, make lives less functional,

and decrease the quality of life.

 

Now let’s use this information to update our translation of Psalm 34:13-14.

 

Keep your tongue from talking about things that destroy lives,

harm lives, make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life,

and your lips from speaking deceit.

 

Depart from things that destroy lives, harm lives,

make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life.

 

Do things that protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, and increase the quality of life.

 

Seek SHALOM peace and pursue it.

 

I will discuss the meaning of “SHALOM” in my next email.

 

Thank you for Exploring with me,

Jim Myers

 

Helping People Examine Their Beliefs & Realities

● Adopt Shared Morals & Values ● Network to Do Good

● Donate ● Subscribe ● “Like” on Facebook ● Visit our Bookstore


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did they lay their coats at Saul's feet?

The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew   sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the   sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Are Saul and Paul the Same Person?

There has always been some confusion over whether Saul and Paul is the same person. The confusion begins in the Book of Acts. ● “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul . . . he brought him to Antioch . . . for a whole year they taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called ‘ Christians ’ in Antioch .” ( Acts 11:25-26 ) ● “ Then Agrippa said to Paul , `You almost persuade me to become a Christian .’” ( Acts 26:28) ● “ Then Saul , who also  is called   Paul . . . ” ( Acts 13:9a ) Based on the three verses above, we would assume they are references to the same person – but is he the Paul we read about in the Epistles? The name “ Saul ” doesn’t appear in the Epistles. In order to answer that question we must examine the stories of the “ conversion experiences ” of Saul in Acts and Paul in Galatians . Pay close attention to the time periods and places mentioned in both accounts. Saul’s experience is found in Acts 9 and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s Sermon at Synagogue on Jewish Jesus Causes a Storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise#/media/File:Stephen_Samuel_Wise.jpg Rabbi Stephen S. Wise gave this sermon in late December 1925 and it set off a storm of protests in Jewish communities.  Before you read the article, it is important for you to be aware of some of the accomplishments of Rabbi Wise. ● a founder of the New York Federation of Zionist Societies in 1897 ● first vice-president of the   Oregon State Conference of Charities and Correction in 1902 ● appointed Commissioner of Child Labor for the State of Oregon in 1903 ● co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ● founding of American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) in 1918 ● founded the   Jewish Institute of Religion, an educational center in New York City  in 1922 ● founding president of the World Jewish Congress in 1936 (created to fight Nazism) ● co-chair of the American Zionist Emergency Council in WWII ● hel...
Post a Comment
Read more