Deceptive Serpent or Satan?

 The Deceptive Serpent - Nahash the Whispering Spirit Within

When we read the Genesis account of Adam and Eve, we are also introduced to the Serpent character (in chapter 3). So there are three characters that play a vital role in defining the first story of the Bible. Each character should be seen in relation to the meaning of their names. Adam, is the Hebrew word of “of Earth” or “Soil” and is representative of mankind being created from the dust of the earth. Eve (Chavah) means “life” or that from which life comes (ie, a breath or a vessel that brings new life into the world). And the Serpent’s name in Hebrew is Nahash, which means to “hiss” or to “whisper” into the ear of another.

It's right here we need to stop and realize that the Hebrew text is written in poetic fashion (not a historical didactic) and is painting an allegory for the reader to learn spiritual insights. The characters are portraying spiritual aspects of the allegorical teaching as a whole. We are not to simply imagine a rugged man named Adam, and his attentive wife being pestered and then deceived by a crafty talking snake. Once we get rid of our preconceived notions about what we have been taught by traditions, or by our own imaginations on these scriptures, the simple spiritual meaning is very easy to grasp.

If I were to approach someone that has never heard this story about Adam, Eve, and the Serpent and I gave the story to them this way:

Let me tell you a story about these three characters. There was a man and a wife in a garden, and a third character came walking up to the wife and spoke to her about the tree in the garden. This third character was a very crafty and deceptive fellow. He knew how to get the wife to see the appeal of the things he spoke to her about and he even was able to speak about spiritual things about God and distort those things to seem reasonable to her. And he convinced her to do something she shouldn’t do.  

Now tell me, does the third character in this story portray the attributes of a reptile, specifically a snake? No, of course not. Surely the third character is human as only a human has the traits that are described in this story. This is simply an allegory in Hebraic-poetic form, using the Hebrew word pictures and symbolic names, like the term for “whisperer” (which is like a hissing snake). The third person is a symbolic picture of a deceiver and an ear whisperer. It’s symbolic and thus uses the name “Nahash”. Just as Adam, which means “Soil” and Eve which means “Life giving” are words adding symbolic imagery to this allegory. 

The three characters are three images with deep spiritual meaning. The Man (the first part of humanity) is a picture of soil, the dust of the earth that mankind was made from. Eve (the second part of humanity), is the vessel that gives life, becoming the mother of all the living. When Adam and Eve come together (dirt and life) all of humanity is born. And the Nahash, the whispering one, is the third part of humanity. The inner part of man that seeks self desire and deceives itself into disobeying God. 

Eve was not talking to a snake. She was talking to her own humanity. The inner ‘whisper’ of her own self that was telling her to partake of the forbidden fruit for her own pleasure and desire. The third character in the story is human (not reptile) and is portrayed with human characteristics because it is Adam and Eve’s own human selves. Their inner voice that seeks self desire over obeying the will of God.

This whole story is simply teaching us the very basic story of the inception of the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, the ‘beast’ or ‘snake’ soul that is within humanity. The free will ability for man to choose to disobey God and obey his own passions is called the Yetzer Hara. This evil inclination is the concept that within each and every person is the “Nahash” , the deceptive nature that influences our conscience. Humanity is made up of “Adam” (dust, soil) “Eve” (life, breath), and “Serpent” (deceptive whispers). But why did God put the Serpent in the Garden to begin with? Why is the serpent part of mankind’s DNA?

Because of free will. God would have created mankind without a free will if he did not provide the serpent to be part of man’s makeup. The serpent nature gives mankind the ability to have free will. The ability to choose to obey God, and merit righteousness and blessings, or to choose to disobey God and please our self desires. God wanted to create man with this dualistic nature so that by man’s own free choice he could choose to love God. The serpent nature allows for choices. It also allows us to do battle with and overcome one nature (the evil inclination), and strengthen the other nature (the obedient inclination). How could there be true piety in the universe if we did not have an opportunity to overcome the bad serpent nature within us? 

We see in verse 15 of chapter 3 right after Adam and Eve give in to their serpent nature, a great battle is laid out by God. God speaks to the serpent nature within mankind and says:

And I shall place hatred between you and between the woman, and between your seed and between her seed. He will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.

   The battle will be real. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and gave a strong foothold to the serpent nature, it will be part of their everyday life. How do we know this is Adam and Eve’s battle and not a specific curse to the serpent? Because there are three curses given. Adam will have to get food to sustain life from toiling the earth. Eve will have to give new life and birth with pain. These are both human in nature. So too then the third curse is human in nature (it's illogical that God is here cursing a physical snake). Mankind will be infused with the serpent nature and have to do battle with the choices between “Good and evil” all the days of their life. This is mankind’s battle (not a reptile's curse). Let’s remember, they did eat from the forbidden tree of the “knowledge of good and evil”, is it no wonder now they will forever deal with having to struggle with that knowledge (just as they struggle with toiling the soil and bringing children into the world). And that battle is with the serpent nature that is infused into humanity.

But there is hope. Ultimately we know that mankind is to be victorious over their own sinful nature. For though the serpent nature, our own evil inclination, keeps striking at our heel, we will crush its head. 

So we see that there are no talking snakes in this story. Nor is there any “Devil” or some sort of evil being or fallen Angel. No enemy of God that sneaks into the Garden of Eden and messes up God’s plan. God beautifully created all three characters in this story. Adam, Eve, and Nahash. For these three characters are the makeup of mankind himself. The Nahash was given to our nature as a tool so that we could have free will, and so that we could learn to ignore the bad and choose God. So we could battle with the lies of self deception, and seek to obey God, and thus with our free will prove our love to our creator. Baruch HaShem. 

The Nature of God

God is One

The Abrahamic faith is strictly monotheistic. It believes in a singular “one unity” of God, that is indivisible, without parts or persons, without comparison, without equal or opposite forces, and is unique and self-existent. There are no other so-called gods, a god head, a pantheon of gods, or a division among God. Essentially, God’s oneness, his perfect self contained unity, makes him truly all that there really ever was, is, or is to be. Everything that is not God is merely transient and temporal to the degree that when compared to eternity, which exists in God alone, is as an illusion or a temporary flicker of energy that is here and then gone. As magnificent as our Sun is, as brightly as it burns, if it endures with all its energy bursting out for 100 billion years, it is still just essentially, in comparison to God, an illusion, a momentary flicker of energy that appeared and disappeared as something transient and temporal. God is all that really truly exists, and everything else is just a transient manifestation of his creative power and nothing exists without or apart from Him. The God of Abraham is God and besides him there is no other and nothing compares. 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is One” Deuteronomy 6:4

The “oneness” of God or the unity of God is to be understood in both 1) there is no other God but the one God alone, and 2) God is himself one, in perfect unity with himself, as one in substance and essence and without parts or divisions. God therefore cannot be one thing and also another thing, or be this as well as that. He cannot be “God the Father” as well as a different person “God the Son” while also being a distinct and sent “God the Spirit”. There is no tri-unity of God or a separation of parts or persons. There is only the eternal God in all his fullness as one in complete personhood and unity within himself. 

By default God can also never be both God as well as a created thing, being, or person. That which is eternal cannot be transient. God has no parts or persons and cannot be a man or a force of nature or anything in creation (though he is the cause and originator of all things). It is completely contrary to the nature of the God revealed in the Hebrew scriptures (which some call the Old Testament) for God to come to earth as a man or any other creature. God cannot be both the eternally existent oneness of all that there is, was, or ever will be, while at the same time being a temporal transient man walking on earth.  

Not only is it unscriptural to imagine God as a creature or a man, it is completely illogical and unreasonable, and has no place within the laws of physics, science, theology, or philosophy, or any reasonable manifestation of the intellect. Such thinking really only falls within the realm of fantasy, mythology, and religious paganism. The pagan religious mind, which was wholly engrossed in all manner of the human imagination, mythology, and fantastical other worldly abstractions, is really the only realm in which the idea of god and man merging can be found. In the ancient Greco-Roman religious cults the idea of a god becoming a man, a man becoming a god, or god fathering a son (demi-god) by procreating with a human woman, is commonplace. But these ideas all fall in the realm of mythology and fantasy and not in the realm of reality, reason, philosophy, and intellectual theology.  

Even the Greeks themselves (famous for their mythology) did intellectually and logically evolve over time. The most reasonable and brightest thinkers of Greek philosophy did eventually rise above this fantastical and mythological way of thinking about the “Theos” (god) concept, and together they with the brightest minds in the East/Persia (from which originates Zoroastrian philosophy) concluded along with the Jews of course, that God is transcendent and outside of time and space, and as being such does not or cannot be a created being and definitely cannot be or become a man. And being transcendent and eternal in nature, cannot then exist in parts, but eternally exists in perfect unity of self outside of space and time. 

This oneness understanding of God as the sole eternal and transient creator, without parts or body, was the common view of the intellectual and educated civilizations in the ancient world across many cultures. There was however a revival of ancient pagan mythologies throughout the Roman empire at the beginning of the common era. It is here, in the Roman Empire in the first century, that we find the trend of what’s called “Mystery Religions”. In these mystery religions we get a revival of mythologies from ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian paganism, where the concept of the “God-Man” is a common theme. Departing from the rational realm of the established Monotheism of the day by the Jews, many Greco-Romans began diving into the mystery cults of ancient paganism, where the concept of a god becoming a man or the incarnation of a god into a man was imagined and integrated into their religious practices.

The rise of these mystery religions and the popularity of the “God-Man” concept of ancient paganism, though starting out as “secret cults”, became mainstream from the 1st-3rd century CE. This had a tremendous influence on Christianity which was beginning to form during this same time period. Because of this we see many schisms and divisions in the early Christian church. Some Christians were being heavily influenced by the “Mystery Religion” cults and their views on the nature of God and man, and other Christians were holding onto the traditional Monotheist view of the Jews. 

The very first Jewish Christians (called Ebionites or Natsarenes) held to the Monotheist view that God is One and there is no other (the view their own teacher Jesus had). And they believed that their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, was the Jewish Messiah, thus a man and nothing more than fully human with no divine nature. And then 100s of miles away and nearly 100 years removed from the first Jewish Christians in Jerusalem (those who sat under Jesus’ teachings first hand) were the Greco-Roman Christians. These Christians were the ones that were getting heavily bombarded with pagan ideas, and the “Mystery Religion” philosophies. And so we find among the early Greek speaking, Greek thinking, and Greek writing churches, their various documents (written in Greek) propagating both Gnosticism and mystery religion philosophies. Where the God-Man concept is revived. The nature of God is distorted to include “persons” in a “godhead”, and we begin to see Jesus, the man, become fully god himself in human form.  

These two different schools of thought in Christianity left a huge mark upon the history of the Christian church, which then carried over into all of western society. At the time of the early Christian church, there was a great division. Those who held to the more Jewish monotheism that had been well established for milenia, and those who held to the new concept found in the mystery religions where God had multiple person hoods, and that he had a son, who is himself also fully god. 

Historically this comes down to the Arianism vs Trinitarian debate. At the end of the day, the schism needed to be crushed and ended, as it was disrupting the Roman Empire. So the Emperor Constantine got involved and ultimately the mystery religion concept was decided on, and strict monotheism was “outlawed” (in place of a trinity) and the eternal transcendent god had now become fully a human being (in the form of a jew from Nazareth named Iesous). This ruling by the Roman Empire affected man’s thinking about the nature of God for the rest of history.

This is the reason for the short history lesson here–showing how man’s theology has changed because of man’s own inventions, and not because God’s nature itself has changed, for he is immutable. When God spoke from heaven to the whole world at Sinai and the whole world was enlightened to the word of God saying “Hear of Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is One”, He spoke an immutable fact that is never to cease to be true. No matter what the Roman Empire decides on, taking upon itself the power to decree a change to the nature of God, the fact of God’s spoken word cannot be undone and his nature cannot be changed or modified. If it could, then he is not God. The author is going to move forward in this work accepting only the traditional monotheistic view of the nature of God, and will reject the Roman Empire’s decision to make their god into a division in unity (ie, a Trinity) and make their god a human man referred to in Greek as “Christ”.

Jewish Reincarnation

 Jewish Reincarnation Explained in Story Format

The purpose of this story is to show how the divine mystery of reincarnation can be comprehended and point to divine providence and manifestation of HaShem’s will and His mercy in desiring the perfecting of the souls of His people. 

The Story Part 1- 

During the middle ages in a small jewish province in Eastern Europe there lived a devout couple who were devoted to HaShem and walking in all the ways of Torah. Though the couple had a lovely home, sufficient income, and all the blessings that could aid them in supporting a large family they remained childless. They were approaching their mid 40’s and began to lose hope of having a child.

Around this same time a master Rabbi from Spain moved to their province. This man was a Torah sage and full of wisdom and grace, a Tzadik. His wisdom and love for HaShem was so abundant it was as if it overflowed from him and many blessings would be bestowed to those who sought his blessings and instructions. The childless couple began to hear good words about the Rabbi and began visiting him in hopes of not only excelling in Torah but perhaps to receive a blessing. 

Week after week the couple inquired of the Rabbi and explained their dire situation of remaining childless. And week after week the Rabbi did not extend a blessing or prayer for the couple to receive a child from HaShem. After several years the couple finally broke down in front of the Rabbi and exclaimed “Why oh why does your blessing and good tidings fall upon all who come before you but you refuse to extend your blessing upon us as we remain childless?” The Rabbi briefly explained that it had not yet been revealed to him what manner of blessing HaShem has reserved for you to carry out his divine will and purposes. Weeks and months go by as the couple begins to despair. 

One week the Rabbi, still very reluctant and hesitant to bless the couple, informed them he has a blessing for them if they are willing to accept it and if they wholeheartedly desire to do the will of HaShem. The couple answered excitedly “Yes of course Rabbi, we seek your blessings and the will of HaShem to be done”. Thus the Rabbi blessed the couple. And some time later in hope they conceived and bore a beautiful baby boy. They named him Samuel (God has heard). He was a delightful child and brought tremendous joy to the couple. They circumcised the boy on the 8th day and blessed exceedingly, and brought him up under a home full of Torah. The boy was blessed with a faithful Jewish family to watch over his precious soul and to continually bless it and praise HaShem.

When the boy was three years old. During the time of a long harsh winter the boy developed a fever and became very ill. The boy’s father left quickly to fetch the local doctor and was to return in a hurry. The boy’s mother laid him in bed and put cold wet rags on his forehead and the boy drifted off to sleep. The mother was exhausted from all her worries and she also fell asleep. Just then the boy’s father and the doctor arrived in a commotion and abruptly woke the mother up. They went to attend to the boy and found no life in him. He lay breathless, his soul having passed on to HaShem who gave it.

After hours and hours of wailing and grieving for the child a root of bitterness began to take hold. The parents explained “the Rabbi has cursed us and not blessed us!”. Before burial arrangements were even made the couple stormed off furiously to go find the Rabbi. Upon finding him they exclaimed “Surely it would have been better to have never received a child then to have received him and have him stripped away at only 3 years old, what is this curse you have brought upon us Rabbi!” After much time of the Rabbi grieving with the parents and trying to console them he said “Let me please explain what I can by telling you a story if you please will just calm your souls for a moment and hear me”. 

The Story Part 2

The Rabbi told the story about the King of Elania who ruled some time ago. The King was very prestigious and his dynasty was vast and wealthy. Many Jewish communities began to form throughout his provinces as there was much peace in this area of the world. As prestigious as the King was, he was not a God-Fearing or religious man. He saw such things as a sign of weakness. The King was well aged in his late 50’s and was childless and had no heir to take over his Kingdom. He was jealous of the Jewish people as he saw that they had large thriving families. They were happy and blessed over and over again with many children and good health.

The King began interacting with the head Rabbi of one of his districts. Primarily over socio-political and community affairs and nothing regarding religion or their faith. But one day the King enquired of the Rabbi “Why is it that you Jews are blessed with such large families, and I the King over all the land have not a single child or heir to my throne?” The Rabbi candidly stated “Dear King, we Jews seek to please the God of Heaven, and He is the only one who has the power to give life and take away life, and we seek only to obey Him and he has commanded us to “be fruitful and multiply and have children”, so we dear King are only seeking to obey Him and that is why we bear children, for the sake of Heaven”. And the King replied “So you're not seeking an heir for yourself but rather are seeking heirs for the Kingdom of God?” And the Rabbi replied “Indeed dear King, and that is well said, and being you comprehend this great wonder I will pray for you that HaShem, the God of Heaven, that he will provide you with a child and that the child will indeed  be born for the sake of heaven and an heir to the Kingdom of God”.

Now some time later the King was finally granted a child and his wife bore him a beautiful baby boy. The King was delighted and exclaimed “I finally have an heir to my Kingdom!” The King was ecstatic and celebrated with a month of great feasting and parties. 

Now around that time, even though the Jews coming into his provinces were outstanding and morally upright citizens, and he was working with the community affairs in managing the affairs of the new community, he saw their devout service to the God of Heaven as a hindrance. Their sabbath law, their various sabbath days and festivals, their ways of conducting commerce and business were not aligning well with the governors of the provinces. The general populace began to grumble against them. The King's governors and magistrates all frowned upon the Jews and the Jews began to withdraw and subside from normal interactions in society. Eventually the King made an edict to dispel all Jews from his provinces.  

When the King's son was 6 years old he came to realize that the child was no normal child and that he was a prodigy. He was already well advanced in reading and arithmetic and could solve the most advanced of problems. The King decided that his son needed a full time tutor to guide him in all learning and education and set the boy up for maximum success and excelling at his gifts. After interviewing dozens of men with vast arrays of knowledge he selected an older man who was humble, gracious, and kind, yet was well spoken, wise, and efficient with all matters of learning. The King's son was introduced to the tutor and there was an immediate connection. So the King hired the man as his tutor. But the tutor had one requirement and request from the King. He would do as the King says and spend all his time with the boy and instruct him and guide him, he would live in the King's appointed quarters and make himself available at all times. But the man requested that he could have 2 hours per day every single day to himself to be in absolute privacy and silence. The King agreed.

The tutor and the boy spent hours and hours day after day learning all the sciences, literature, arithmetic, and all the ways of logic and reasoning, and the boy excelled greatly. The King was very impressed with the Tutor’s commitment to his son and his son’s performance. As the boy got older he grew to love his tutor greatly and respected him dearly. But as much as he asked his tutor what he did with the 2 hours per day that he spent alone in his room in total privacy the tutor told him “it’s not for you to know dear boy, that time is my time”. The boy’s curiosity could not be restrained. 

One day the boy came up with a plan to sneak into his tutors room and hide in the closet to observe what would happen during that 2 hour time. His plan was successful and behold as he gazed through the crack of his closet door he saw the tutor go to his dresser drawer and begin pulling out items. The man was also speaking a language he did not recognize, and there was something spoken like chanting. The man took out a large scroll with writing upon it. He took out a large cloth with tassels on the corners with white and blue threads. He took out what appeared to be some sort of wrappings and a small box. The tutor placed the box upon his head, and the wrappings he wrapped up from his wrist to his arm. He covered himself with the large cloth with the tassels. The man began to seemingly mumble a lot of words the boy could not comprehend and the tutor was rocking his head back and forth. This continued on for quite some time. 

Finally the boy could no longer take it and he burst forth from the closet and exclaimed “Tutor, what on earth are you doing!”. “Oh my boy, you're not supposed to be here” the tutor responded with a tone of desperation and despair in his voice. The boy, being just a boy, was wise and observant for his age and his tutor knew this. So the tutor knew he could not tell a fib or a tale or make up an excuse to give the boy cause he would see through it. So the tutor explained in detail what he was doing and that he was a devout Jew. He also told the boy that you never can tell anyone about this incident or that I’m a Jew because Jew’s are not allowed in this province let alone in the King's own household. The boy was saddened when he heard that the Jew’s were not allowed in the King’s house because he loved his tutor dearly. But the boy having a very keen sense of seeing the good in people, and now knowing that his beloved tutor was a Jew, he exclaimed “Then I too must become a Jew, for if all the wisdom you have taught me has come to you firstly, and you are a Jew, then surely I your student should also be as you are”. The tutor could not deny the boy's sound reasoning and wisdom.

So the tutor began to teach the boy Hebrew in his language studies. Then from there the stories of the Jewish people, the history of the Nation, and of course the nature and beauty of the God of Heaven, HaShem the creator of heaven and earth. Over several years the boy grew in all the wisdom of Torah. But there was one thing that the boy was severely lacking, that he and his tutor both understood was holding him back. He could not practice what he was learning. Therefore he was hindered as the Jewish faith is all about doing and not just about theoretical knowledge. So it was then that they came up with a game plan.

The tutor appeared before the King and explained to the King “Dear King, your son has excelled greatly in all matters of learning and he is now educated beyond what can be learned here in his current situation. I advise that it is time for your son to travel and study abroad and begin to learn the ways of the world, other cultures and communities, economies and sciences, to diversify his knowledge base and excel even more” The King was delighted and saw the wisdom in such advice and then sent the boy and the tutor away with his blessings.

The boy and the tutor traveled many places abroad and learned a great deal. Being abroad gave the boy and the Jewish tutor the ability to express faith and to visit Jewish communities and attend synagogue and the Torah study halls. They became well established in a delightful jewish community and the boy was beloved by all his peers and elders. He was a zealous student of Torah and all the Rabbi’s and Elders who surrounded him were supportive of his heart's desire to convert to Judaism. And so he was circumcised and entered the Mikveh and became a Jew. He attended Yeshiva and he excelled greatly in the Jewish faith. 

The Tutor was delighted for the boy and the joy he had found in his conversion. But he had to have an honest discussion with him about his situation. He told the boy that he must recognize that he is still the Prince of a great dynasty. He is the only son of a great King and that he is bound to take the throne and inherit the entire kingdom and a vast array of riches and glory and have great dominion and power over many people. And that his own sons and children to come would also inherit such tremendous wealth and resources. The boy was surprised to hear this. He explained that the thought of that had never even entered his mind. And that when the tutor put it so bluntly to him he was saddened in a way. “Do I really have to go back to all that wealth and power?” he sighed “it means nothing to me, I’m happy serving HaShem and being a humble servant in His house and helping the meek and the poor in spirit with charity and living a life of Mitzvah keeping and Torah study”. As he spoke those words a sense of confidence came over him and he explained to his beloved tutor “No I’m not going back. My father’s kingdom is his own and it is for his own name's sake that he builds it. But rather this day I choose to serve HaShem and for His name only will I serve and magnify and for the benefit of HaShem’s people Israel will I devote myself wholeheartedly”. 

So the King’s son gave up all the wealth and glory of a vast dynasty. He lived a simple life and became a gracious and loving Rabbi in a small town in Spain. He devoted himself wholly to teaching the Torah with love and righteousness in his heart. He served HaShem wholeheartedly and walked perfectly in all the ways of Torah. He lived a long fruitful life full of good deeds, perfect love and charity. He had a wonderful life and many sons and daughters and brought them up in all the way of Torah and love of HaShem. He was a truly righteous man and walked upright before HaShem until the old age of 95 and he fell asleep and went to rest with his fathers. 

The King’s son was assured the merit of a blessed life in the world to come. Now his soul appeared in the presence of the divine counsel in heaven. And a divine ruling of great reward was decreed upon him. And he was told that he could enter the 6th highest realm of heaven (6 out of 7). And as the decree was being made, a voice interjected and said “Why is this righteous man, who gave up all the wealth of the world to humbly serve HaShem, and who walked in all the ways of HaShem perfectly and was kind and full of love, why is he not entering the 7th realm of heaven?”  and another voice in heaven spoke and said “All the things about this righteous man are true and just, however he is a proselyte, born of a heathen who feared not HaShem, and this righteous man did not fulfill the Torah completely as he was not circumcised on the 8th day in accordance with the divine Law nor did he receive the blessings of Hashem upon him in his infancy”. 

Then another voice in heaven spoke that shook the whole heavens, the voice of Him who sits on the throne “All my decrees are just and right, I love righteousness and reward all in justice and fairness. . behold, my eyes have seen upon the earth the devout prayers of a righteous couple. A couple that is seeking me with all their heart and who desire to fulfill my will and my purposes. They are longing for a child. So now they will complete the redemption for the king’s son, the righteous man who stands before us, this couple will fulfill what is lacking in this righteous man’s life, and will do my will, so that this righteous man is granted his full reward, he will be perfected and will enter the 7th realm of heaven. Therefore I decree now that this man’s soul be sent back to earth and given to this righteous couple as a child. They will bring about the man’s redemption and fulfill what is lacking so that he will be born into the Jewish faith and be circumcised on the 8th day and receive the infant blessings and bring joy to the couple for it will be a great Mitzvah for them to do my will.. And then I will call this soul back home and surely he will enter the 7th heaven”

When the couple who had lost their only son heard the story about the King’s Son they realized that their only son’s soul was that of the King’s son and that they had performed a great Mitzvot for HaShem by being willing to take part in the carrying out his will and the perfecting of the soul of the one whom HaShem delighted in. 

And so we see, it was the soul of the King’s son that was sent back to the earth to be perfected. The childless couple had prayed for their desire to serve HaShem’s will in their longing for a child. Their Rabbi was unable to bless them until their heart was completely aligned with that of the decree of heaven. When the decree in heaven was made to send the soul back to earth the couple was able to bear a child to aid in finishing the process of perfecting the soul. The king’s son had lived 95 full years. He was only missing a very small part for his 95 year life to have been perfected. So in divine mercy the soul was sent back to earth to that Jewish couple in order to complete the Mitzvot of the Torah to circumcise a male child on the 8th day. And the couple did a great deed on their part as well, hosting and caring for this soul to ensure its perfection to completion--albeit it was only for 3 threes but that was all that was needed for this soul to reach perfection.    

HaShem desired the perfection of this man’s soul, so it was decreed and so it was done. HaShem completed the redemption needed for all parties involved. And it was because of his great love and his mercy that all things happen by his providence. And that is an example of how HaShem may use the divine mystery of reincarnation. 

The end.

   

 

Faith in God - complete article

 

Chapter 1: Faith in God

The Soul

The mind and heart of man can only bring him so far along towards acknowledging his creator. The mind operates with its intellectual capacity and logic then demands it be trusted. The heart operates with its emotions, and signals feelings which are then trusted. But neither of these capacities can fully express faith in God–though both support and aid it. For faith to be expressed in its full capacity the soul must be called upon to lead the way. For our soul is the very breath of God himself. Our soul is that divine nature within us that connects us to our creator. It is our soul that ultimately finds relevance from union with God. Mind and heart aid faith, but the soul is the conduit.

Thus for faith to exist and be fully expressed by finding ultimate relevance and purpose in God, one must acknowledge and come into full awareness of his own soul. When man looks within himself and finds his true self, as a created being made in the image of God, he becomes aware of the divine breath that is within him. This breath, this soul, the Neshamah, can then connect outwardly to the God who breathed it. The mind and the heart look within and behold the soul is there! Wonderfully expressing the image of God himself. And then man looking within, with all three of his faculties (mind, heart, and soul) begins to take hold of that image and see the one who formed him. He finds the image of God by looking within. Now his capacities all together are ready to find ultimate relevance with God himself personally and man’s faith begins to be expressed.

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and they shall rule over. . . all the earth. And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27

This is the first instance where mankind is mentioned in scripture. Being this is the first mention of man then this must also be of first importance. Before God utters any commandments or instructions for man to live by, God expresses man’s nature as being made in the image of God. This then is of utmost importance. How can we expect to have any outward expressions of faith, religious devotion, worship, or mitzvah keeping, with proper reverence to God without first recognizing our own selves and our nature. Once we acknowledge our soul and the divine spark that is within us, then and only then can faith begin to operate in its full capacity and initiate the path to a Godly life.

What is faith?

Now that faith can operate and express itself because of the acknowledgment of the soul we possess, what exactly is faith? Well first what it is not. Faith is not believing in something that is unseen and thinking it exists while also possibly not existing. Faith isn’t believing in something you think is real and others think is not real. Faith is your soul’s connection to and finding ultimate relevance in that which is transcendent and eternal. Something that is transcendent and eternal cannot be analyzed as to whether it's real or not real. That’s an illogical debate. Because that which is transcendent and eternal is by nature beyond fully grasping and comprehending. But, through faith man is able to find relevance and purpose with that which is transcendent. So our faith is ultimately finding our relevance and purpose in our relationship with the Eternal One.

When we see our soul as the breath of God and we see our faith as expressing our relevance with God we can conclude that our life has purpose. This confident acknowledgment of purpose for our life and knowing God is the author of that purpose is faith manifested. Knowing these things allows us to then act–that is to express faith. Faith is not merely a belief or intellectual adherence to a belief system. The Hebrew word in scripture for faith is Emunah, from the root Uman. This is a verb, not a noun. As a verb it implies action. Living a Godly life by faith is not merely knowing our life has purpose and relevance with God, rather its acting out that purpose and relevance. The bible uses the life of the Patriarch Abraham, the Father of Faith, as a grand example of a life of acting upon and expressing faith. What does God himself say specifically about Abraham that gives him this title?

Because Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My instructions. Genesis 26:5

We see with Abraham God indicates faith is an action, a constant doing something specific while also trusting in and obeying God. Real faith is vibrant, an active pursuit of acting upon and doing God’s will, and nurturing and cultivating it. Faith is reciprocal in nature–God expresses His will and man acts accordingly. Then God rewards and man responds. It’s a continual process, an action and a re-action. That’s how a living relationship works and the reciprocal nature keeps things moving forward, just as a reciprocating motor drives a gear in motion. Man’s faith in God is also faith ‘with’ God, by working together to bring about the divine will. This example of Abraham expressing his faith by doing God’s will–by working with God–also is why Abraham was called “God’s friend” (or literally “beloved of God” per Isaiah 41:8, also see NT James 2:23). Faith is expressed in our living in accordance with the will of God.

A Living Faith

Now that we have an idea of what faith is, let's get into its practical application. For the one who believes in God and his soul has found relevance and purpose in God, he will then begin to live out that faith. For it is written “A righteous person shall live through his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). What does it mean to live through faith? If a person truly believes that God is the purpose of his life, the source of life, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him–then loving obedience to God will be manifested in one’s life. Again–Faith, love, trusting, in God, are all verbs and actions where one is actively doing and participating. What are the things we are supposed to be doing and participating in with God? Well that is essentially what this book attempts to answer and unfold throughout the chapters to come.

Living in accordance with the will of God is what we as faithful believers are supposed to actively be doing. Just like Abraham Avinu, our foremost example of a life well lived through faith. We are to hearken to God’s voice, keep his charge, keep his commandments, statutes, and instructions. All of these things together can be summed up in the Hebrew phrase “Shamar Torah”. To “Shamar” is to carefully watch over, guard, and protect. “Torah” is the Word of God, with its various statutes, instructions, and laws, for life. When we “hearken” unto this Word of God, we hear and do, this action then becomes a “mitzvah”.  Mitzvah can literally mean “obeying a commandment”, but that does not express the lively relationship aspect this word in Hebrew really implies, a better definition is “To draw near to God”. Obeying God by heeding his Word and instructions and obeying his commandments is itself man’s opportunity to “draw near to God”. Mitzvah are really relationship opportunities with God. Our obedience is not only an expression of faith, it essentially is our faith–our purpose and relevance with God is manifested in our relationship with him by our actions.

 “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no actions [Mitzvah]? Can such faith save him? Faith on its own, without action [obedience] is dead. . . Show me your faith apart from your actions, and I by my actions will show you my faith.” James 2:18

The above commentator expresses what the whole of the Hebrew scriptures teach, while defending against his first century opponents that distorted and spoke erroneously about the nature of faith. His main opponent made faith into an intellectual acknowledgment and an emotional expression and confession.  James on the other hand understood that the Abrahamic faith was one expressed through one's life in his actions and his obedience to God (doing Mitzvah, or as some translations use the word “works”). Faith is not merely a belief or intellectual acknowledgment about God. As James says “You believe that there is one God, so what, even the demons believe that” (James 2:19). Intellectual acknowledgment about God himself, or even acknowledging and believing in some story about God or some certain “doctrine” or creed is not faith. Faith is living, it's doing and acting in accordance with God’s revealed will and obeying and doing his instructions. Faith is fueled by our desire to draw near to God through obedience and action—through Mitzvah.

Trusting God’s Word

Establishing that faith is lived out in obedience to God, heeding his commands and his laws, we must come to trust in God’s word. There is no benefit in acknowledging that faith should be lived out in actions, then not trusting the commandments that are to dictate those actions. If a son believes that his father knows best and has the son's best interest in mind, and that father gives his son instructions, yet the son questions the validity of the instructions, then the son does not truly believe his father actually does know best. A living faith and trust in God, our father, is expressed in trusting God’s word and accepting his commandments without question. By faith we obey the commandment even if we cannot fully comprehend it, let alone have to come to complete intellectual rationalization of said commandment. If a father tells his young son not to touch the hot stove, that son does not need to understand all the intellectual details of why or how exactly the stove got hot in the first place or what that even entails. Simply heeding his father’s word the son will do well.

For example, when God commands his people to keep the Sabbath day holy, to work six days and to rest on the seventh, a complete intellectual understanding of all the details of this command is not essential. Are there practical reasons for this command? Surely, but what matters first and foremost is our “drawing near to God” by obeying this command. We need to trust God’s word and that his commandments are all perfect, just, and good. We obey all his commandments by faith. This obedience itself is faith and it is trusting in God’s word fully that initiates the action.  

Over time as our spiritual capacities grow and develop, by keeping commands and doing Mitzvah, we then come to understand more and more the beautiful details that are behind each commandment. Some commandments we may never fully comprehend, but this does not excuse us from performing them. At an early age we may come to fully understand and appreciate  why God commands us to “honor your father and mother”, but through years and years of obeying the command “do not mix wool and linen into a single garment” we may never fully comprehend. But both commandments we keep with zeal and delight and love for God who gave us the commandment to draw near to him by. 

Without doubting we keep the commandments through faith and by our love and devotion to God knowing that our obedience is drawing us close to him. Our intellectual capacity to understand God’s word and his commandments will come over time as we live out our faith in obedience. Devotion to studying God’s word and being advised from the Sages and Scholars of Torah is a noble endeavor towards finding balance between our intellectual, emotional, and spiritual faculties in the practice of faith and obedience. In fact, the endeavor to learn and meditate on Torah itself is a commandment.

“And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart. And you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Intellectually understanding God’s word and his commandments is a holy endeavor and is to be sought by all who live by faith, but one must keep in perspective that obedience itself always comes first. No intellectual capacity, or personal religious devotion, or self guided reasoning, can usurp that simple obedience to God’s word is of foremost importance. Obedience, without exception or question, is faith fully expressed. For God surely frowns upon the one who disregards obeying him perfectly and rather sets up his own idea as to how he chooses to be obedient. 

Adding Vanities to Faith

King Saul lost his position as King due to him thinking he was obeying God, yet was doing so in accordance with his own ideas, and not that of God’s clear instructions. Samuel came to Saul and rebuked him for not obeying God’s instructions completely. Saul’s response was an excuse that he was obeying God just that he added his own interpretation and modified how exactly he wanted to obey God. This though is not obedience and ultimately not faith. 

And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am′alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal′ekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken more than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king

1 Samuel 15:20-23

Letting our intellect and our own imagination and vain passions get in the way of obeying God’s word completely is a form of rebellion. We put our own imaginations above the word of God. By pretending we are obeying God, by obeying him in accordance with our own ideas and imaginations, we show that we only have faith in ourselves and not in God. We are not serving God but rather our own selves and our own pride. We delude ourselves with pretend obedience. But a solid faith, one of pure devotion to God and walking in his ways alone, is going to be obedient for the sake of obedience itself. When you obey God’s word, because you put obedience itself as the priority, then and only then can your vain imaginations be subdued. Obedience for the sake of obedience itself and for the sake of heaven leads to a Godly life. Mixing the appearance of obedience with your own vain imaginations feeds your own pride rather than serving God’s will.

So when we begin our journey of faith, and we are young in understanding all the aspects of God’s word, we should seek to obey by faith first and foremost. The intellectual understanding of doing a Mitzvah will come later with time and prayer, but the obedience itself is what’s truly to be sought. Faith and devotion to God will be expressed by living a Godly life which is manifested in wholehearted devotion to being obedient. Only those who have a sincere desire to be obedient and trust in God’s word can please God. As we have seen in comparing and contrasting Abraham who pleased God through his faithful life of perfect obedience, and Saul who only attempted to be obedient and failed by mixing in his own ideas with the appearance of outward obedience.

A practical example of this in today’s world is regarding Shabbat. Being the keeping of the Sabbath is a clear directive given in the 10 commandments at Sinai, and being most all Abrahamic faiths hold to these commandments as being valid expressions of God’s will for humanity, then the keeping of Sabbath is often practiced in some capacity by many people. And when you take the 3+ billion people on earth who believe the 10 commandments are God’s word, you're likely going to get various ideas and interpretations and practices. Some people keep only the concept of the Sabbath and they take one day in seven and rest (any day of the week). Christians generally take the sabbath as being changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week. Others follow the cycles of the moon and based on the full moon or a non-moon begin counting days to determine their sabbath.

These are all examples of the vain imaginations of men giving lip service to obedience unto the commandment of God. Many are just “obeying” God based on what is right in their own eyes. But as we have seen with Saul, this is really not obedience at all and is as the sin of rebellion, when one attempts to obey God but does so with his own inventions.

It is not the place here now to make an argument for what is proper Sabbath keeping according to the Hebrew Scriptures. The commandment was handed down (in person) to Moses and to the Israelites. They have been given the oracles of God and have kept it in accordance to the exact command of God for 3300 years. Simple obedience to the commandment would be consistent with doing things exactly as God had commanded them to do as they have passed that on to future generations (and still have with them to this day). My point is that man, coming up with his own imaginative way of keeping a commandment, is itself not obedient at all. It is pride and disobedience and it is the opposite of living by faith. Rather, Godly living is to seek first and foremost, simply being obedient to the command as it is and resist the temptation of adding your own vanities on top of it, or heaven forbid, to change or disregard the command completely. A living faith keeps the commandment in its purest and simplest form as it is given by God himself, and man is not to add to or take away from it.

“And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live. . . Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” Deuteronomy 4:2-3

Affects of Faith

I’ve expressed that obedience itself is the action of faith, but what are the affects of that faith upon a person’s life? When a person lives with complete faith in God, through actively pursuing obedience to the will of God, that person is constantly aware of the presence of God in their life. That person with constant awareness of God will  then naturally be ashamed to act contrary to God’s will. He will strive to perform his service to God in the most complete way possible knowing that God’s loving eye is always upon him observing all his ways and the motivations of the heart. As scripture tells us “I, the Lord, search the heart, test the thought, to give everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10). And again David expressing the heart of true faith says “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23).

A person of true faith, with fear, love, and joy, towards God, will live and thrive in the presence of God under the constant awareness of God searching their heart and their actions. They will delight in the idea that God is giving them an opportunity to be obedient and walk in belief and complete faith and that God is searching their hearts and motivations to help guide them along the path of righteousness. For an obedient heart of faith the constant awareness of God is motivation to Godly living–it's not a fear of a watchful judge looking for something to condemn you with. The watchful eye of God upon your whole life, heart, and mind, is a blessing to direct you and guide you into a life well lived, and to an obedience that comes from sincerity and love. For it would be a dreadful thing for God to turn his eyes from you and shut you up from his ever watchful and loving presence. Faith longs for God’s constant presence in every aspect of one's life. 

Another affect of this faith, and the awareness of God in one’s life, is the realization that God gives rewards and judgments. Not only the awareness that all the rewards and blessings in one's life come from heaven, but also so do the judgments and chastisements. Faith is always aware that the rewards and judgments, that come down to us from heaven in the form of blessings and chastisements, are a result of what our own motivations and deeds have merited. The presence of God in our life keeps us aware that all of our thoughts and actions are done in the presence of God and he will act and reward or chastise accordingly. 

God will in perfect justice bestow his blessings and bestow chastisements upon us as we so merit them. A loving Father cannot turn a blind eye to the needs of his child. He will most assuredly provide whatever rewards or chastisements needed that are going to be best for the nurturing of that child. Being aware of God’s presence helps us ensure that our faith is producing fruit–that our rewards and chastisements are put to good use by understanding that they are from the hand of God and his watching over us. This undoubtedly will have affects on how we live our lives and will motivate us towards obedience and Godly living.

Another affect of faith is the ability to live a life of trust in God. When we begin to develop our obedience towards God, being aware of his constant presence and guidance, we then begin to see that God is in control. We start to see God’s hand involved in every aspect of not only our own life, but in all of humanity and every corner of creation. Trusting God and seeing his providence at work in all things brings a sense of great peace upon those who serve God and long for Godliness. When a person realizes that a single hair does not fall from his head unless it was first decreed in heaven he surely can rest assured that his whole life is divinely preserved. 

Not only does this providence give us great peace that our loving God is in control of all things and is caring for us, it also helps us perform the mundane things in life in loving obedience to God’s will. If a hair cannot fall from my head without God’s decree, then my next business venture or employment opportunity, or my relocation, etc. will surely be directed by God’s will and providence. In this way every aspect of our life can be lived under an overwhelming sense of peace. Knowing that as long as we are seeking to be obedient to God in all of our life’s dealings, and in all of our ways we are working towards God’s righteous will, we then align ourselves with his good providence, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25). 

Conclusion

We first must understand that faith begins with self reflection and realization of the human soul made in the image of God. When we come to this realization we can then connect to the one in whose image our soul was made. With this connection we find relevance and purpose for life. As this self awareness and relevance of life begins to manifest our faith also comes alive via obedience to the will of God. A faith that is real will hearken unto the word of God, as the soul within, made in God’s image, aligns itself with God’s will. This obedience to the will of God establishes a reciprocal relationship with our Creator. We begin to work with God, through the keeping of his commandments and instructions, and faith is then put into action and produces fruit.

Being God is our creator, we trust in Him and thus obey his word even if we cannot fully understand or rationalize it. We obey in faith and trust with wholehearted devotion to him and we disregard the vain imaginations of our own passions and desires. Over time as we grow in our relationship with God by loving and obeying him, we learn more and more details about the nature of God’s word and his commandments, but knowing these details perfectly is not a prerequisite for obeying them as they are given in their most plain form.

A living and obedient faith begins to manifest the clear presence of God in a person's life. This presence results in a person becoming more Godly and living in peace and harmony with God and His creation. Through Godly living and trusting obedience, God’s presence helps align a person with God’s good providence and brings blessings into one’s life. We trust that God is loving and in control of all things, both good rewards and chastisements for our errors, are ultimately designed for our good and the glory of our Creator. Blessed be His name!