A response to document from Chabod entitled:
Searching for G-d,
Can “hide and seek” work if the seeker stops searching?
I responded, with only 1000 characters, to only one portion, that of a quote from Deuteronomy 31:18 “….I will surely hide My face in that day…..” The actual text is “18 And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” The context of this verse is contained in Deuteronomy 31:16-18.
I will strive to recap –Moses is told that the Children he has been leading, will turn away from the LORD when Moses dies and worship other gods. What follows is a song GOD teaches to Moses, then Moses teaches to the Children of Israel as commanded by GOD “put it in their mouths, that this song/poem may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel”.
The purpose of the song/poem is that we should know why we have so much trouble, especially for the Children of Israel, Over and Over and Over again. This has been laid out for us in Leviticus Chapter 26, Deuteronomy Chapters 28 thru 32, which includes the above verses.
Counter Point: We are to do; ALL that which the LORD has spoken, not SEEK GOD.
GOD’S complaint against Adam: verse “Genesis 3:17:…He said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying: ….” Adam heard GOD’S voice and turned away from GOD, choosing Eve instead.
We are to do according to the WORD OF GOD.
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; 6 and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.’ –Why be a JEW? For me it is to be ONE of the Holy Nation, to sever Hashem.
What did the Children of Israel Say: “Exodus 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.’ And Moses reported the words of the people unto the LORD.”
Exodus 20 All the people heard the first ten sayings and become so afraid so that:
Exodus 20:15 And they said unto Moses: ‘Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’
Moses tries to reassure them, Exodus 20:16 And Moses said unto the people: ‘Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not.’ GOD’S response: Exodus 20:18 “And the LORD said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.”
Then GOD continues giving Moses the LAW, Until Exodus 24.
Moses turns back to the people, Exodus 24:3″ And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said: ‘All the words which the LORD hath spoken will we do.'”
Up until this point it, the LAW is Verbal, but stated to the Children of Israel as the WORD OF GOD. So Exodus 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD,…..7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people; and they said: ‘All that the LORD hath spoken will we do, and obey.’ The intervening space 4 and 7, Moses makes 12 alters and offers twelve sacrifices, which are used now: Exodus 24:8 “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said: ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you in agreement with all these words.'”
Hence the LORD and the Children of Israel agree that this writing is the Covenant by which all are bound to observe.
Notice that there is NO SEEKING GOD ANYWHERE. Seeking is for personal reassurance. Seek should never be done prior to or instead of Obeying GOD’S WORD.
“Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 None of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.” Notice “live is not the body you are using now, it is what the body transports –Your SOUL, the Breath of GOD. It is your actions, the results of which are the witness for you.
You actions are the witness so: Ezekiel 18:24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be remembered; for his trespass that he trespassed, and for his sin that he hath sinned, for them shall he die.
So what do we learn with this? Stop doing that which is according to GOD, Evil and do that which is right(Obey the WORD OF GOD) in your every action.
Warning: If you think that you can do evil and then later just do that which is Righteous so that you will be Righteous at your death, REMEMBER You do not know if the next heart beat will be there, nor your next breath, so now, turn back to the LORD GOD and do that which is Righteous. Do that which the LORD declared and caused to be Written.
In all of the Tanakh(Old Testament) no one, ever, was declared by the LORD as evil for not obeying the laws of man, only that we walk contrary to HIS WORD and Covenants. Your soul hangs in the balance, as does you children’s soul for your are the TEACHER that your children and everyone that sees you and learns from your actions. Yet it is your soul first.
Seek in the Prophets:
Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have compassion upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob: ‘Seek ye Me in vain’; I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Isaiah 51:1 Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD; look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.
Isaiah 58 starts with a nation that appears to seek GOD to know HIS Ordinances –Done in the Negative.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances
Yaakov
P.S. I forgot to explain something. Getting your sins forgiven does not get you a positive soul. I mean to say, your’s and my job is to “Choose GOD” that is the purpose of your soul. Either you are for GOD or you are against. Hence, when you are forgiven of your sins, the consequences of your actions are still in force and you have no positive actions for your soul. You are a Zero with a rolling deficit which builds causes repercussions in the world. You must: “Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” as one place this is stated.
This is very important to understand, just receiving forgiveness is not enough, you must act righteously.
Yaakov
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