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SOMETIMES
IT IS GOOD TO BE AN EXTREMIST Our modern perception of being zealous about a particular cause is often viewed in a negative light. People point to Muslim fundamentalists, suicide bombers, or leaders like David Koresh of the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas and see these zealots disparagingly. The message by the political correct crowd is to not be an extremist, be a moderate, and be balanced. Most people say that you shouldn’t be absolute in an opinion. Democrats often point to Republicans as “right wing extremists,” while Republicans label some Democrats as left wing socialists. Even in the world of food, our mothers can often remind us that we need to eat everything in moderation, while doctors tell us not to have an extreme diet. So, being moderate is the prevailing stance among most. So it seems that people want us to be mainstream when it comes to religion, politics, and food. But, is all this advice healthy? Is it important to be a more balanced open-minded individual? Is this doctrine in line with Scripture? Let’s see what the Tanach has to say about zeal and zealous. Zeal comes from several related Hebrew words. 07065
anq
qana’ kaw-naw’ to
envy, be jealous, be envious, be zealous 07067
anq
qanna’ kan-naw’ jealous 07068
hanq
qin’ah kin-aw’ ardour,
zeal, jealousy [Now compare and contrast those above to the next two words. 07069
hnq
qanah kaw-naw’ to
get, acquire, create, buy, possess 07066
anq
q@na’ (Aramaic) ken-aw’ (P’al) to acquire, buy, purchase Notice
that zealous and jealousy is related to the words for possession or
acquisition. This is a future study or we may go into that later during
our question and answer discussion.] Let’s evidence some examples of people being zealous in Scripture. Be-Midbar (Numbers) 11:24-29 24
And Moses goeth
out, and speaketh unto the people the words of YHWH, and gathereth
seventy men of the elders of the people, and causeth them to stand round
about the tent, 25
and
YHWH cometh down in the cloud, and speaketh unto him, and keepeth back
of the Spirit which is on him, and putteth on the seventy men of
the elders; and it cometh to pass at the resting of the Spirit on them,
that they prophesy, and do not cease. 26
And
two of the men are left in the camp, the name of the one is Eldad,
and the name of the second Medad, and the spirit resteth upon them, (and
they are among those written, and have not gone out to the tent), and
they prophesy in the camp; 27
and
the young man runneth, and declareth to Moses, and saith, ‘Eldad and
Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ 28
And
Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses, one of his young men,
answereth and saith, ‘My lord Moses, restrain them.’ 29
And
Moses saith to him, ‘Art thou zealous (07065 anq
qana’) for me? O that all YHWH’s people were prophets! that YHWH
would put His Spirit upon them!’ (YLT) Now notice two points that are profound by Moses’ statement; he is saying that Joshua needs to be zealous for YHWH and not Moses. Don’t follow a man be zealous for YHWH. Second, Moses would like ALL of YHWH’s people to prophets and doing what YHWH wanted. He would like ALL to zealous for YHWH! Now that is extreme, that is intense! There is no moderation needed here. Be-midbar (Numbers) 25:1-13 1
And
2
and
they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people
eat, and bow themselves to their gods, 3
and
4
And
YHWH saith unto Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang
them before YHWH—over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger
of YHWH doth turn back from 5
And
Moses saith unto the judges of 6
And
lo, a man of the sons of Israel hath come, and bringeth in unto his
brethren the Midianitess, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes
of all the company of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening
of the tent of meeting; 7
and
Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, seeth, and riseth
from the midst of the company, and taketh a javelin in his hand, 8
and
goeth in after the man of Israel unto the hollow place, and pierceth
them both, the man of Israel and the woman—unto her belly, and the
plague is restrained from the sons of Israel; 9
and
the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand. 10
And
YHWH speaketh unto Moses, saying, 11
‘Phinehas,
son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, hath turned back My fury from
the sons of Israel, by his being zealous with My zeal (07065 anq
qana’) in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in
My zeal (07068 hanq
qin’ah). 12
‘Therefore
say, Lo, I am giving to him My covenant of peace, 13
and
it hath been to him and to his seed after him a covenant of a priesthood
age-during, because that he hath been zealous (07065 anq
qana’) for his God, and doth make atonement for the sons of Phinehas’
zealousness caused YHWH to refrain from doing any more destruction. He
did what was right even though it was extreme. He made atonement for the
sons of Why does YHWH want us to zealous? Is it not because YHWH himself is a zealous and jealous El? It is an attribute of him. Let’s see some examples. Shemot
(Exodus) 20:5 Thou
dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I,
YHWH thy God, am a zealous (07067 anq
qanna’) God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third generation,
and on the fourth, of those hating Me, Shemot
(Exodus) 34:14 for
ye do not bow yourselves to another god—for YHWH, whose name is
Zealous (07067 anq
qanna’), is a zealous (07067 anq
qanna’) God. Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 4:24 for
YHWH thy God is a fire consuming—a zealous (07067 anq
qanna’) God. See also Dev. 5:9 and 6:15. YHWH
does things with zealousness. Do we not have an intense El? YesheYahu
(Isaiah) 9:7 To
the increase of the princely power, And of peace, there is no end, On
the throne of David, and on his kingdom, To establish it, and to support
it, In judgment and in righteousness, Henceforth, even unto the age, The
zeal (07068 hanq
qin’ah) of YHWH of Hosts doth this. YesheYahu
(Isaiah)
37:32 For
from YesheYahu
(Isaiah)
42:13 YHWH
as a mighty one goeth forth. As a man of war He stirreth up zeal (07068 hanq
qin’ah), He crieth, yea, He shrieketh, Against His enemies He showeth
Himself mighty. Several
times YHWH says he is jealous or zealous for Zekaryah
(Zechariah) 1:14 And
the messenger who is speaking with me, saith unto me, ‘Call, saying:
Thus said YHWH of Hosts: I have been zealous (07065 anq
qana’) for 8:2
‘Thus
said YHWH of Hosts: I have been zealous (07065 anq
qana’) for Yow'el
(Joel) 2:18 And let YHWH be
zealous (07068 hanq
qin’ah )for His land,
And have pity on His people. YHWH
gets zealous to correct Yechezqe'l
(Ezekiel) 5:13 And
completed hath been Mine anger, And I have caused My fury to rest on
them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, Jehovah,
have spoken in My zeal (07068 hanq
qin’ah), In My completing My fury on them. YHWH
is zealous for his name. Yechezqe'l
(Ezekiel) 39:25 Therefore,
thus said the Lord Jehovah: Now do I bring back the captivity of Jacob,
And I have pitied all the house of YHWH
does not want to see His name polluted nor His people polluted because
it affects His reputation in the other nations’ sight. YHWH wants us
to be zealous for His name, His law and His people. We need to follow
the example of Eliyah who was zealous for YHWH. 1Kings
19:10 And
he saith, ‘I have been very zealous (07065 anq
qana’) for YHWH, Elohim of Hosts, for the sons of When we compare our situation to Eliyah we see that many of our fellow countrymen have turned from morality. They call evil good and good evil. But most people don’t want to take a stand on issues because they don’t want to be labeled an extremist, zealot, or some other label. So nothing changes for the benefit of our people because we don’t want to do what is right. Now we cannot repeat the very acts of Phinehas but we can have his zeal for the law in our own personal lives. We can be zealous for YHWH. We develop intensity for following what is right and pleasing in the sight of YHWH. SOMETIMES IT IS GOOD TO BE AN EXTREMIST! Questions
for consideration: 1) Why is zealous often compared to fire in the Tanach?
Examples Tehillim (Psalms)
79:5; Yechezqe'l
(Ezekiel) 36:5; 38:19; Tsephanyah (Zephaniah) 1:18; 3:8. 2.) How is zeal like a cloak? YesheYahu (Isaiah) 59:17 3).
What is the “image of jealousy” in Yechezqe'l
(Ezekiel) 8:3, 5? 4).
Are there any ways other than simply obeying Torah that we can be
zealous for YHWH and his Law? |