A foundational command in scripture is to fear the LORD (Yahovah) your God (Elohim). I don’t know about you, this was something I was occasionally told about, but was never explained in a way I could apply it to my daily life.
Just a side comment before I continue with the main point of this article: understanding and using Hebrew words and names of men with precise pronunciation does not make anyone more holy or spiritual, despite the fact that some groups like to make it a point of contention or superiority. However, I do find it beneficial when trying to understand its original meaning and intent, specifically with words like “god”. Often, we have a very mystical, “divine”, and philosophical interpretation of that word, especially among trinitarian circles. The word translated as “god”, “gods”, or “God” is the same word, “elohim” (pronounced “el-oh-heem”) in Hebrew (theos is the Greek equivalent). It can be singular or plural depending on context and simply means a ruler or judge—very similar to “lord”, which means master (the superior to an inferior). So you can see “Lord God” is not a name at all. “Elohim” is a title, position, or description of political capacity/power. In one of the Psalms, it is written “I said, ‘you are gods'”, speaking of the judges of Israel. Is he saying that those men are divine beings? No, there are many “gods”, but there is only one Almighty (1 Corinthians 8:5-6).
Moving on, one of the first places we get this instruction to “fear the LORD” is from what is often referred to as the “Shema”. You can read it all (which I recommend), but I will condense it for brevity.
4 “Hear ("shema" in Hebrew), O Israel! Yahovah is our Elohim, Yahovah is one! 5 And you shall love Yahovah your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 [. . .] 8 You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead...
12 "...be careful that you do not forget Yahovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 You shall fear only Yahovah your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for Yahovah your God who is in the midst of you is a jealous God; so follow Him, or else the anger of Yahovah your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 6:4-15
As we continue through the scriptures, you will see that fearing Yahovah is directly tied to obedience. Job says that Yah told mankind, “Behold, the fear of Yahovah, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). That immediately reminds me of Deuteronomy 4:5-6, “See that I have taught you statutes and just as Yahovah commanded me… So keep and do them as that is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
“Be not wise in your own eyes, but fear Yahovah and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:7). So again, true wisdom is not by our standard; it is to fear Yahovah and turn away (the literal definition of repent!) from evil. We see this with scripture after scripture, “The fear of Yahovah is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7). “The fear of Yahovah is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His commandments have a good understanding.” (Psalms 111:10). “The fear of Yahovah is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the holy (or Holy One, depending on interpretation) is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10). “To fear Yahovah is to hate evil.“ (Proverbs 8:13) “For Yahovah gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (Proverbs 2:6)
The connection is apparent. To fear Yahovah is to turn away from evil and to despise evil, which is wisdom and understanding. Those with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding follow the commandments and do not despise instruction, the opposite of a fool and evil.
Just to lay out all of the connections within all these verses:
• Fear Yahovah is Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge.
• From Yahovah’s mouth comes Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge.
• Wisdom and Understanding is to keep the commandments.
• To turn away from evil is Wisdom and Understanding.
• To do evil is to not keep the commandments.
• To turn away from evil is to keep the commandments.
• A fool despises Wisdom and Instruction.
• A fool despises the commandments.
• A fool does not fear Yahovah.
• A fool rejects the law of God.
(Does the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 make a little more sense now?)
This is not just an “old testament” understanding that is no longer relevant or has been changed because of Christ. If you fear Yahovah, you will turn away (repent) from your evil ways (that which is contrary to His law) and keep His commandments. Fearing Him causes you to obey Him because you revere His power, authority, and that He will judge all of mankind according to their deeds (righteous or evil).
Hebrews 10:26-31 tells us that if we continue sinning willfully (1 John 3:4, sin is transgression of the law), then there is no longer a sacrifice for our sin but a terrifying expectation of judgment—a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries of Yahovah. This is why Yeshua said, “everyone who believes (places trust in) in him (the only beggotten Son) will not perish (the literal definition “perish” means to utterly destroy) but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). This is not a fear that you are constantly afraid, watching over your shoulder to make sure you don’t do something that He doesn’t like. It is a great respect that He is the Almighty God (ruler, judge) who will judge all of mankind according to their deeds, some to eternal death and others to eternal life. So, yes, there is a part of you that should worry or be afraid of Him when you sin intentionally because of that judgement, that is healthy, just like a parent who keeps a child from disobeying through discipline, it should keep you from doing what you shouldn’t—but when you do not continue to sin, you have no reason to fear judgement (I talked a little bit about this in another article, Perfect Love, towards the end).
The writer of Hebrews continues to warn us, “For we know of Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘Yahovah will judge His people.'”
This is why we do not (well, should not) fear man but fear God instead. As King David often wrote, “What can mere man do to me?” It doesn’t matter what man will do to us if we do not rebuke Yahovah or His ways, because we know that Yahovah is the judge of all and will reward us if we remain faithful and bring justice against those who persecuted us because of our faithfulness.
“Do not fear man”, Yeshua said, “who is only able to kill the body, but fear God who is able to kill both body and soul in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10:28). Gehenna is symbolically the lake of fire, Gehenna is the Greek for the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, which is where the Israelites would burn their sons and daughters in fire to Molech (Jeremiah 7:31-32, 19:5-6; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6). So Yahovah prophesied against them and said it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but it will be called the Valley of Slaughter for their will be no other place for them to bury their dead after the Day of Yahovah, the day of great slaughter of all the wicked (Jeremiah 7:31 through chapter 8). So, this place that they revered for worship of their god, Molech, will be defiled with their own bodies, bringing upon them great shame and torment for their wickedness.
So, in this case, while we remain unperfected, fear and love are not exclusive. Because we fear Yahovah, we keep His commandments. And in order to show Yahovah our love for Him, we keep His commandments. And this commandment is not too difficult for us (Deut 30:11) nor is it burdensome (1 John 5:3).
It is well established that Yahovah is not near to those who transgress His law. “Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is abomination.” (Proverbs 28:9). “For the eyes of Yahovah are on the righteous and His ears are inclined their prayer. But the face of Yahovah is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12). “Yahovah is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” (Proverbs 15:29).
“But we know that God does not listen to sinners, but does to the one who fears Him (note, some translations do not do this word justice—it is the Greek equivalent to the same word used in all these passages about fearing Yahovah) and does His will.” (John 9:31). Yeshua affirms this in Matthew 7:21, “Not all who say to me, ‘lord, lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.“
There are many trails that we could run here, but to keep this article in a digestible form, I feel this is a good place to end it. Comment, and we can keep this discussion going.
So my exhortation is for us to pray, seek, and learn to fear Yahovah. Let us amend our ways and our deeds (Jeremiah 7:3), letting our light shine before men so that they may see our good works and glorify Yahovah our God (Matthew 5:16), choosing life that we may live (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) and inherit all things (Revelation 21:7).
Shabbat shalom!
