{"id":12738,"date":"2018-06-30T13:11:50","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T20:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=12738"},"modified":"2018-06-30T13:11:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T20:11:50","slug":"phinehas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/30\/phinehas\/","title":{"rendered":"Phinehas: Who Will Stand Up Against Evil?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Psalm 94:16<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By in large, most Bible believers (no matter the label: Christian, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Messianic, Hebrew Christian, Hebrew Roots or whatever) are nice, and well meaning people who want to do right, but, at the same time, are sit-on-your-thumbs do nothing pacifists. They refuse to actively confront evil.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

These folks suffer from a spiritual disease called ‘none-rock-the-boat-itis.” <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Make no mistake. Yeshua wasn’t a go-along-to-get-along kind of person! Nor were the prophets, apostles, disciples and preachers of righteousness whose lives and actions the Bible record. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Those who suffer from this spiritual malady of super-spiritualism are lukewarm believers. Period! They need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves a serious question: “What am I doing to be salt and light in the world? To help fulfill the great \u00a0commission? To help advance the kingdom of Elohim? To spread the gospel?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone can do something no matter how little or large. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Too many people are like the unprofitable servant in Yeshua’s parable who lazily buried his talent in the ground and chose, instead, to live a selfish, me-centered life. Remember what Yeshua’s response to this person was on judgment day in Matthew 25?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:\u00a0Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.\u00a0For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.\u00a0\u00a0And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 25:26\u201330)<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Numbers 25:7, Phinehas\u2026took a javelin.<\/i><\/b> Phinehas, the priest, rose up against evil and took a stand for righteousness and YHVH commended him for it. In this case, the grandson of Aaron the high priest was not acting as a self-appointed vigilante as it may appear. Rather, YHVH had given the priests the authority to act as judges in Israel and to pronounce sentence in criminal matters (Deut 17:9\u201311). Additionally, Phinehas was doubly justified in his action against the fornicators, since he was an eyewitness of these sexual crimes, and the Torah teaches that the hand of the eyewitness was to be the first to rise up in executing judgment against the criminals (Deut 17:6; Ezek 44:24). So as an eyewitness and as a priest, he was legally justified in his actions. The priests and Levites were to act as Israel\u2019s legal experts (Lev 10:10\u201311; Deut 24:8; 33:10; 2 Chron 17:9; 30:22; Neh 8:2, 8; Hag 2:11; Ezek 44:23; Mal 2:7) and to make determinations between the holy and the profane (Ezek 22:26; 44:23).<\/p>\n

Who are YHVH\u2019s priest on the earth today? According to Peter, and John the saints are those priests (1 Pet 2:7; Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). As such, the saints presently possess the divinely mandated legal authority to fulfill the responsibilities of the priesthood of old when it comes to teaching the laws of Elohim to the nations in which they live (Lev 10:10\u201311). Moreover, Yeshua, our Great High Priest, has tasked his disciples with the responsibility and authority to judge righteously (i.e. to make judgments according to YHVH\u2019s standards of righteousness, John 7:24), and to be spiritual fruit inspectors (Matt 7:15\u201320). Today, this responsibility is primarily exercised within the congregation of the righteous (1 Cor 5:12; 6:1\u20136). However, besides this, the righteous saints are to act as spiritual salt in this world and to be like a spiritual light on a hill for the world to see (Matt 5:13\u201316). This means that they are to preach the gospel to the world, to make disciples and to teach those around them all that Yeshua has commanded them (Matt 28:18\u201320; Mark 16:15\u201316). This means that the saints have heaven\u2019s authority and commission to act as the spiritual and moral compass and conscience for the nations in which they live. This means that they will be standing against evil wherever and however they can as directed by the Spirit of Elohim, even as Phinehas did.<\/p>\n

It is time that the righteous servants of YHVH Elohim begin to stand up in a more vocal and demonstrative way against the evil that is being foisted upon our society by those who are bent upon destroying the family, morality, and any vestiges of biblical standards of righteousness that may still exist around us. In Psalm 94:16, YHVH asks the question of his servants, \u201cWho will rise up for me against the evildoers or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?\u201d With this in mind, the question we need to ask ourselves is this: If not me, who; if not now, when? If you have something worth living for, then do you have something worth giving your life for? If those who are caught up in demonically inspired religious systems are willing to die for their faith calling it \u201ca holy war\u201d and \u201cmartyrdom for their [demon] god,\u201d can the saints of YHVH at least not take a verbal stand against the tide of evil that is sweeping our society?<\/p>\n

The Bible is full of examples of YHVH\u2019s servants standing against unrighteousness in their day and their receiving YHVH\u2019s blessing for it. Several examples include the Hebrew midwives disobeying the edict of Pharaoh to commit infanticide (Exod 1:15\u201322), Phinehas executing judgment against the fornicators (Num 25:7\u20138), the three Hebrew children refusing to worship the golden image (Dan 3:8\u201318), Daniel violating the king\u2019s edicts by praying to YHVH (Dan 6:10\u201312), John the Baptist criticizing Herod for his adultery (Mark 6:18), Yeshua turning over the money changers\u2019 tables in the temple (Matt 21:12), and Peter and John for disobeying the Jewish leaders\u2019 command to not preach the gospel (Acts 4:18\u201320). Many more examples could be given. Remember all the biblical prophets?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Numbers 25:11, Has turned back my wrath\u2026because he was zealous. <\/i><\/b>Read Psalm 94:16. What are some other examples of righteous men and women in the Bible who stood up against evil in their day whom YHVH praised for doing so? Did Phinehas rise up against evil in his own carnally-minded, emotionally-based zeal? If not, then whose zeal was he full of? (Read verse 11 again.) When we take a stand against evil as led by the Word and Spirit of the YHVH Elohim, can it ever be wrong to do so, even though the world may not agree with us and may even criticize or persecute us for doing so? Not only that, Phinehas placed his life on the line between the righteous judgment of Elohim and those who were sinning. Many times, the servants of YHVH actually have to leave their comfort zones and place themselves in harm\u2019s way on the ragged edge between good and evil to take a stand for YHVH Elohim. (Note Aaron\u2019s actions in Num 16:46\u201350.) The examples of such actions from the pages of the Scriptures are too numerous to list. Some notable examples include:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n