Preparing to Sow to a Jew Part 4 of 4

(2) Reflect a Proper Reverence and Awe for God: Jewish people have a reverence for the name and word of God that is unfamiliar to the Gentile believer. Jewish people rarely, if ever, speak the name of God. To treat the name of God in a common manner is to profane the name of the LORD. Often, substitutes to reference the name such as “HaShem” (His name) or El Shaddai (LORD Almighty) are used. When God’s name or a variation is spoken, the name is often followed by the phrase, “blessed be His Name”. We see a unique reverence to God’s name in the Gospel of Matthew, written to the audience of the Jewish nation, that refers to the “Kingdom of Heaven” to avoid using the name “Kingdom of God”, which occurs in other gospel accounts with the same meaning. When the name “God” appears in Jewish writing, it is typically hyphenated “G-d” so it can be erased without erasing the name of God. Almost never is the most holy name of God spoken, “Yahweh”, which is translated with all capitals in the Bible as “LORD”.

The written word is still contained on scrolls, like in the days of Jesus, and is housed in “the Ark” at the front of the synagogue. All the people stand, dance, praise God, and even cry when the scrolls are brought out to be read and remain standing until the completion of the reading (Luke 4:20). The Ark is at the front of the synagogue because no person should ever turn their back on the word of God. Even at home, no book is allowed to be placed on top of the Bible because no word should be above the word of God. When the useful life of a scroll is reached, the scroll is buried, like a body, in a “Genizah” following a specific set of worship and regulations that honors the body of God’s word. Some believe that the Dead Sea scrolls where originally documents retired from use and placed in the community Genizah adjacent to Qumran.

In the days of Jesus, every Jew began to memorize the word of God at the age of five. A boy learned the first five books written by Moses while a girl studied Psalms and Proverbs. The praise spoken by Mary (Luke 1:46-55) reflected her knowledge of the Psalms, while Jesus largely quoted the Psalms when talking to women. Memorization was both a commandment, “I have hidden your word on my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psa 119:11) and a practical necessity since the written word could not be easily duplicated. Since scriptures were not numbered, Jesus often used a technique called “allusion”, which spoke a partial passage from the text, but the implication was either the sentence before or after. It was the first century way of saying “John 3:16” without quoting the passage. That tradition of scripture memorization continues into the present, with the average Jew able to quote considerable scripture, while the Gentile believer relies on Bible software.

Such reverence for God’s name and written word are foreign to the Christian, who more often relates to God in a cavalier manner and comes dangerously close to treating “as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him” (Heb 10:29). Our actions and attitudes set a stumbling block before the Jew. For a Jew cannot easily accept the word of God from a person that does not hold the proper awe and reverence for the word, but instead treats that which is holy as if it were common.

No amount of words spoken will be sufficient to overcome a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the words of Jesus. Remember, "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Matt 10:24-25). We must live the Message.

(1) Pray: “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing” (1 Tim 2:8). Without question, we greatly underestimate the power we have in prayer. I know we underestimate the power because we do not pray as we should, “continually” (1 Thes 5:17), the standard in scripture. Prayer should be the first and continuing action toward any individual or group who we hope to impact.

We are often not motivated to pray because we can not see the direct effect our prayers have in the physical realms. Consider this story. Shortly after the Exodus from Egypt, the Amalekites attacked the nation of Israel.

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands , the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up — one on one side, one on the other — so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Ex 17:10-13)

The scripture tells us that as long as Moses was holding up his hands, Israel was prevailing, but when Moses lowered his hands, “the Amalekites were winning”. How does the simple placement of Moses’ hands affect the outcome of the battle? Was Moses somehow signaling to Joshua how to conduct the battle? Indeed, Moses was signaling to Joshua and to us how to conduct the battle.

The lifting of his hands signified that Moses was either praying (Ex 9:33) or blessing (Lev 9:22)(Luke 24:50). When Moses prayed or blessed, Israel prevailed, but when Moses’ hands became heavy and he could not pray, the enemy prevailed. By example, an outreach to any individual or group, must be preceded by frequent and fervent prayer to achieve any measure of success.

Prayer must be made for the opportunity to witness (Col 4:3-4), for the words to be spoken (Eph 6:19-20), for the message to enlighten the heart and give hope to those who hear (Eph 1:18-19), and for the word of the LORD to spread rapidly and be honored (2 Thes 3:1).

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (Col 4:3-4)

Scott